99 episodes

How can you change the world? Join Krishnan Guru-Murthy and his guest of the week as they explore the big ideas influencing how we think, act and live.

Ways to Change the World with Krishnan Guru-Murthy Channel 4 News

    • Nachrichten
    • 4.7 • 9 Ratings

How can you change the world? Join Krishnan Guru-Murthy and his guest of the week as they explore the big ideas influencing how we think, act and live.

    Armistead Maupin on trans rights and growing up gay in a homophobic household

    Armistead Maupin on trans rights and growing up gay in a homophobic household

    Author Armistead Maupin is a pioneer - writing about AIDS and HIV for a mass audience and daring to include gay, lesbian, trans and queer lives when few others were.
     
    His ‘Tales of the City’ series, which started as a newspaper column in 1974, became worldwide best-selling novels and a Netflix series. It chronicles the lives of queer people in San Francisco and pokes fun at morality and social norms, touching millions of readers and viewers over 50 years. The beloved saga is now back for its 10th and final instalment, Mona of the Manor.
     
    Now in his late 70s and living in London, the American writer opens up to Krishnan Guru-Murthy about growing up in the South in a “sexist, homophobic” conservative family, how he came to embrace the LGBTQ community, what life was like at the peak of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s.
     
    Produced by Silvia Maresca.

    • 33 min
    Author Kiley Reid on Black artists, handling criticism and social media

    Author Kiley Reid on Black artists, handling criticism and social media

    “I don’t write fiction to preach my politics,” says Kiley Reid - an American author whose debut novel “Such a Fun Age” was longlisted for the 2020 Booker prize. The book gained recognition for its themes on race, privilege, and social dynamics in modern America.
    Fast forward to 2024, and Reid’s second novel, “Come and Get It” delves even further into the heart of societal complexities. It’s based in a US campus and centred around money and wealth - who has it and who wants it - and the impact it has, on even the most personal of relationships. 
    In this episode of Ways to Change the World, Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to Kiley Reid about the importance of finding stability whilst being a writer, the impact of having a theatre background on her writing, and her thoughts on being social media savvy as an author.
    Produced by Silvia Maresca and Shaheen Sattar.
     

    • 32 min
    Timpson’s boss on upside-down management and business secrets

    Timpson’s boss on upside-down management and business secrets

    How do you measure a business’s success? For James Timpson, CEO of the Timpson’s Group, it comes down to two things: the satisfaction of its staff, and what it gives back to society.
    His employees only have to “put money in the till and look the part”; for the rest, they have complete authority to do whatever they think is right to offer a quality service to customers. This “upside-down” style of management doesn’t mean the business is not profitable - quite the opposite, in fact.
    In this episode of Ways to Change the World, the boss of the shoe-repair, key-cutting and dry-cleaning group tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy the secrets behind his unconventional leadership style and why fostering a culture of kindness, giving ex-prisoners a second chance and cultivating a happy workforce are key to Timpson’s ethos.
    Produced by Silvia Maresca.

    • 41 min
    Bernie Sanders on Gaza, genocide and Trump

    Bernie Sanders on Gaza, genocide and Trump

    Bernie Sanders is the longest-serving independent senator in US congressional history and has brought income inequality, poverty and the “uber-capitalist” status quo into focus throughout his decades-long career. He nearly became the Democrats’ candidate for president, twice, and has recently been backing Joe Biden against Donald Trump, warning that Trump’s re-election could be the end of American democracy.
    In his latest book, “It’s Okay To Be Angry About Capitalism”, he presents his vision of what would be possible through a progressive agenda - one that would challenge the “corrupt” economic order that allows just 1% of super-rich to control more wealth than the rest of society, and where a decent standard of living for all is not an impossible dream.
    In this episode of Ways to Change the World, the US Senator tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy why the US should stop its funding for Netanyahu’s “horrific war against the Palestinian people”, why a second Trump victory could foment right-wing movements across the world with disastrous consequences, and why taking on the ruling class is a necessary but “long, long process”.
    Produced by Silvia Maresca, Shaheen Sattar and Alice Wagstaffe.

    • 25 min
    Crystal Hefner on her marriage to Hugh and being ‘trapped’ in the Playboy Mansion

    Crystal Hefner on her marriage to Hugh and being ‘trapped’ in the Playboy Mansion

    Crystal Hefner was 21 when she first entered the infamous Playboy Mansion in October 2008. Within months, she ascended its hierarchy to become the top girlfriend of Hugh Hefner, who was 60 years her senior, and went on to marry him in 2012.
    But she quickly discovered the house was not the glittering sanctuary she had believed, nor Mr Hefner’s Playboy was the place of freedom, expression and empowerment it professed itself to be. Crystal only left the mansion when Hefner died, aged 91, in 2017.
    Having made a promise to the Playboy tycoon to ‘only say good things’ about him, for years Crystal suppressed the truth of what really happened behind closed doors at the Mansion, and the lasting trauma it caused her. Now she's written a book, "Only Say Good Things", about her experiences.
    In this episode of Ways to Change the World, she tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy about life at the Playboy Mansion as one of Hugh’s three live-in girlfriends, how he made her ‘feel small and afraid for so long’, and why she’s finally decided to speak out.
    Produced by Silvia Maresca.

    • 32 min
    Hannah Ritchie on replacing eco-anxiety with 'cautious optimism' and how to build a more sustainable world

    Hannah Ritchie on replacing eco-anxiety with 'cautious optimism' and how to build a more sustainable world

    The past year has been a time of climate firsts, mainly for the wrong reasons. 2023 was the hottest year on record - with devastating wildfires, catastrophic flooding, ongoing loss of biodiversity and carbon emissions continuing to rise. But is there any hope for the possibility for a better future?
     
    Well, there is in fact room for ‘cautious optimism’ says environmental scientist, Dr Hannah Ritchie, whose book Not the End of the World offers a data-based analysis of environmental problems and their solutions. Her view stems from the significant strides made in human progress across the world, and the advancements of technology, especially within renewable energies.
     
    Today on Ways to Change the World, she tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy how her work taught her that there are more reasons for hope than despair about the climate and the planet we live on - and why a truly sustainable world can still be within reach.
    Produced by Silvia Maresca.

    • 40 min

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5
9 Ratings

9 Ratings

reverseswing ,

Wonderful!

Enjoying the great range of interviews: thoughtful questions asked. Guests show clarity of thought and honesty. Has become one of my best go to podcasts. Thanks.

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