Broken Custodians

UsForThem
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Broken Custodians is a bold podcast with Molly and Ben Kingsley of UsForThem, hosting candid discussions of how short-termism in politics devastates children’s futures, with a particular focus on ethics, corporate capture, and accountability in public policy-making affecting children. Consistent with the hosts’ backgrounds as lawyers, and often joined by expert guests, Broken Custodians follows paper trails, interrogates official claims, and asks what has gone wrong, who has benefited, and, ultimately, what it would take to do better.

Episodes

  1. 11 Jun

    Episode 5 - How the UK's Online Safety Act Fails Children AND Free Speech

    In this episode of Broken Custodians, Molly and Ben Kingsley from UsForThem discuss the libertarian case for restrictions on children’s access to harmful social media, and why this is consistent with the free speech of adults. They explain why free speech matters to them as much as child protection, and why the Online Safety Act has been failing on both fronts: infringing the free speech of adults in problematic ways, while doing too little to protect children from the addictive and exploitative features used by social media and gaming platforms. The conversation also looks at how the House of Lords has recently forced the Government to announce bolder plans to tackle the harmful functionalities of online platforms, and the broader debate around age-based restrictions, digital IDs, and parental responsibility. More broadly, the episode insists that a stronger and more successful approach to child protection online is essential for restoring the free speech of adults. Broken Custodians follows paper trails, interrogates official claims and asks what went wrong, who benefited, and what it would take to do better.

    37 min

  2. 4 Jun

    Episode 4 - Why AI Will Make Our Kids Stupid (with Tom Richmond)

    In this episode of Broken Custodians, Molly and Ben Kingsley from UsForThem speak to education expert Tom Richmond about the infiltration of AI into UK schools, and the serious questions being missed in the rush to embrace it. Starting with the government’s enthusiasm for expanding the use of AI in education, they explore how these tools have already become embedded into classrooms through the software and devices that schools have been encouraged to use.  They discuss the science of learning, the difference between improved performance and better learning, and the emerging evidence that the use of AI weakens memory and long-term knowledge retention, especially for children and new teachers. The conversation also looks at plans to roll out AI tutoring, the pressure on teachers to use AI as a shortcut, and the risk of confusing teaching efficiency with better learning.  More broadly, this episode asks whether schools have been drawn into a giant uncontrolled experiment, and whether AI can ever support education without hollowing out learning itself. Broken Custodians follows paper trails, interrogates official claims and asks what went wrong, who benefited, and what it would take to do better. NOTES: Tom Richmond’s September 2025 paper for the Social Market Foundation, EducAItion, educAItion, educAItion: Could Generative Artificial Intelligence pose a risk to educational standards?, is here: https://www.smf.co.uk/publications/ai-and-learning/

    52 min

  3. 28 May

    Episode 3 - Questions The Pharma Regulator Wouldn’t Answer (with Dr. Alan Black)

    In this episode of Broken Custodians, Molly and Ben Kingsley from UsForThem speak to former pharmaceutical industry insider Dr Alan Black. They begin with a recent case in which Moderna was found to have allowed inappropriate payments to be offered to children to join a medical trial, and use it as a starting point to explore broader questions about ethics and accountability in the pharmaceutical industry. Molly, Ben and Alan discuss how the pharmaceutical industry is regulated in the UK, and why self-regulation is failing the public. They also examine the role of government-backed public health messaging, the rarely-discussed concept of conditional marketing authorisations and its significance during the pandemic, and the warnings raised by the government’s ethics committee before it was sidelined and then shut down. More broadly, this episode asks what the findings against Moderna reveal about public trust and the relationship between government and the pharmaceutical industry. Broken Custodians follows paper trails, interrogates official claims and asks what went wrong, who benefited, and what it would take to do better. Hosts: Molly Kingsley, Ben Kingsley  Senior Producer: Francesca Gilardi Quadrio Curzio Video Editor & Audio Producer: Andrija Klaric

    59 min

  4. 21 May

    Episode 2 - Unpacking the UK Covid Inquiry’s Module 4 Report

    In this episode of Broken Custodians, lawyers and campaigners Molly and Ben Kingsley from UsForThem examine the UK Covid Inquiry’s Module 4 report and contemplate the official account of that era now being constructed by the Inquiry. Drawing on their work during and after the pandemic, Molly and Ben discuss school closures, children’s health policy, government secrecy, the premature sidelining of the Government’s official ethics committee, the role of censorship, corporate influence and the long-term consequences of decisions made in those circumstances. They ask why the Inquiry is failing to confront  what went wrong, and examine how that threatens to embed a version of events that leaves the most uncomfortable questions unanswered. This episode considers why the Covid Inquiry matters not only as a record of the past, but as a guide to future policy-making, including policy impacting children. It looks at how children’s interests were weighed, what happened when senior government advisers raised ethical concerns, and why some pandemic decisions remain difficult to discuss in mainstream public debate. Broken Custodians follows paper trails, interrogates official claims and asks what went wrong, who benefited, and what it would take to do better. 1. For details of the polling commissioned by UsForThem which revealed that less than a quarter of UK parents of under-18s had understood that the JCVI had declined to recommend rolling out the Covid vaccine programme for 12 to 15 year olds, see page 62 of The Accountability Deficit, 2023, by Kingsley, Skinner and Kingsley. 2. All of the PMCPA case reports concerning Pfizer and Moderna, among other pharmaceutical companies, including those for complaints commenced by UsForThem, can be located via the PMCPA case reports portal at https://www.pmcpa.org.uk/cases/completed-cases. A short video published by UsForThem in March 2025, detailing the 53 serious rule breaches by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca in relation to Covid vaccine products between 2020 and 2024 is here: https://x.com/UsforThemUK/status/1901921340996620689?s=20. 3. The role of the Moral and Ethical Advisory Group is explained at https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/moral-and-ethical-advisory-group. Hosts: Molly Kingsley, Ben Kingsley Senior Producer: Francesca Gilardi Quadrio Curzio Video Editor & Audio Producer: Andrija Klaric

    32 min

  5. 14 May

    Episode 1 - An Introduction To Broken Custodians

    In this first episode of Broken Custodians, lawyers and campaigners Molly and Ben Kingsley from UsForThem introduce the questions at the heart of the series: how are decisions affecting children being made, who benefits from those decisions, and what happens to those who challenge them. Drawing on their work during and after the pandemic, Molly and Ben discuss school closures, children’s health policy, censorship, debanking, government secrecy, corporate influence and the expansive presence of technology in education. They explain why ethics, transparency and free speech are not abstract principles, but safeguards that really matter when children’s interests are at stake. This opening episode sets out key themes Broken Custodians will return to throughout the series: ethics, transparency, censorship, free speech and corporate influence. Broken Custodians follows paper trails, interrogates official claims and asks what went wrong, who benefited, and what it would take to do better. Hosts: Molly Kingsley, Ben Kingsley Senior Producer: Francesca Gilardi Quadrio Curzio Video Editor & Audio Producer: Andrija Klaric

    33 min

  6. Trailer

    Trailer - Broken Custodians

    Broken Custodians is a bold podcast with Molly and Ben Kingsley of UsForThem, hosting candid discussion of ethics, corporate influence and accountability in public policy-making affecting children. Hosts: Molly Kingsley, Ben Kingsley Senior Producer: Francesca Gilardi Quadrio Curzio Video Editor & Audio Producer: Andrija Klaric

    2 min

Trailer

About

Broken Custodians is a bold podcast with Molly and Ben Kingsley of UsForThem, hosting candid discussions of how short-termism in politics devastates children’s futures, with a particular focus on ethics, corporate capture, and accountability in public policy-making affecting children. Consistent with the hosts’ backgrounds as lawyers, and often joined by expert guests, Broken Custodians follows paper trails, interrogates official claims, and asks what has gone wrong, who has benefited, and, ultimately, what it would take to do better.

Information

  • Creator
    UsForThem
  • Years Active
    2k
  • Episodes
    6
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © UsForThem
  • Show Website
    Broken Custodians

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