DMA Politics Podcast Public Affairs

This week, Michael speaks to Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, Lord Duncan of Springbank.

Before resigning from the Government in 2019, Lord Duncan served as the Minister for Climate Change in Boris Johnson's Government. Prior to this, he was both the Undersecretary of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland, the latter of which involved overseeing the Northern Ireland Protocol aspects of the Brexit negotiations; the introduction of gay marriage; and legalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland. Before that, he began his ministerial position as Undersecretary of State for Wales. He was a Member of the European Parliament from 2014-17, playing key roles in Fisheries and Energy. First, he began his career as an academic and has a PhD Palaeontology.

As the window of opportunity to secure a Brexit deal gets smaller and smaller, Michael quizzes Lord Duncan on how we have got where we are on Brexit and the UK Government's strategy. They discuss how he feels about the Internal Market Bill dismantling his work in Northern Ireland; the other constitutional problems for the UK; and why reforming the House of Lords is like "juggling sh*t with white gloves"...

You can follow Lord Duncan on Twitter @IanDuncanHMG.

The podcast was recorded outside and socially distanced, so please excuse the occasional sound of wind and a screaming child.

This week, Michael speaks to the SNP's Spokesperson for Health at Westminster, Dr Philippa Whitford MP, about the Scottish Government's new contact tracing app, Protect Scotland. 

Prior to becoming the MP for Central Ayrshire, Dr Whitford was a breast cancer surgeon in the NHS for 30 years and has enormous experience in health in practice, and now, in health policy. 

As well as diving into the discussion around the Protect Scotland app, how it works and the various ethical issues surrounding their use, we chat about her experience as a doctor and how parliament is coping in the coronavirus pandemic.

You can read more from Dr Whitford and many other experts in policy, academia and industry, in our COVID-19 Contact Tracing App article series as part of the Value of Data campaign on our website.

Episode 17 is now live!

This week, Michael chats to Founder and CEO of Ethical Intelligence, Olivia Gambelin. Ethical Intelligence is the DMA's ethics partner, and they're doing amazing work in helping businesses bring philosophy and ethics into the way they use data, tech and AI.

As well as discussing Olivia's packed career to date and the role of Ethical Intelligence, Michael and Olivia discuss the NHSX Contact Tracing app and the myriad of ethical questions around the gathering of people's data; questions of functionality; trust in business vs government; perspectives on privacy and much more.

Episode 16 is now live!

In spite of being in (splendid) isolation, Michael is back with three special guests, all recording from their homes across the country. We hear from senior Conservative backbencher and former Chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Damian Collins MP; founder of Iconic Labs and co-founder of one of the world's most visited Facebook pages, Unilad, Liam Harrington; and SNP Shadow Secretary for DCMS and renowned journalist and Broadcaster, John Nicolson MP.

They discuss infotagion, a fact-checking service designed to tackle the wave of misinformation that has grown out of the coronavirus pandemic co-founded by Damian and Liam and supported by John.

Infotagion can be found on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

All three guests are on twitter at @DamianCollins, @MrJohnNicolson and @LiamFHarrington.

This time, Michael is at the DMA's flagship conference, Data2020. In Part 1, Michael sits down with Prof Anand Menon of the think tank UK in a Changing Europe. They chat about the recently released negotiating positions of the UK and EU governments for the upcoming trade talks; the prospect of a deal and the challenges for business. Anand lends his insight into the Labour leadership election and his Twittersphere fame. You can follow Anand's musings on Twitter: @AnandMenon1.

Episode 14 is now live!

This time, Michael sits down with one of the UK's top political analysts and commentators, Laura Hutchinson. Laura is the Dods' news Group's Principle Consultant on Brexit, International Development and Trade. Michael and Laura chat about whether Brexit will really be done after we leave the EU at 11 pm on 31 January (hint: absolutely not); what kind of future-relationship deal the UK and EU will be likely to strike; whether they can do it in 11 months and how the UK might choose to position itself after Brexit. They also chat about the Labour leadership contest and the prospects of a second referendum on Scottish Independence. You can follow Laura's musings on Twitter at @LauraHutch_Dods, and Michael's at @MichaelSturrock.