series 3

Listen to this podcast if you are interested in how Sweden’s policymaking successes and failures since the Cold War have been perceived domestically and outside the region, including: 

• Sweden’s early involvement in humanitarianism;
• The ‘utopian trap’;
• Sweden-bashing;
• Perspectives on social engineering. 

Carl Marklund is a researcher and Research Director at the Institute of Contemporary History at Södertörn University,  and he talks to Nicola Witcombe, editor of nordics.info.

This is the tenth virtual visit around the Nordic countries in the podcast series ’The Nordics Uncovered: Critical Voices from the Region’ and was recorded in May 2021.

Find out more on nordics.info.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Listen to this podcast if you are interested in: 

• Women’s role in business from around 1900 to today.
• The Norwegian gender quota system on business boards.
• Why we should question our love of ‘quick fix’ global indexes which often place the Nordics at the top. 
• The fact that there is usually a host of other political reasons for gender-positive action that have nothing to do with equality.

Eirinn Larsen, Professor in History at the Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History at the University of Oslo, and editor of Gender Equality and Nation Branding in the Nordic Region , helps editor of nordics.info Nicola Witcombe understand why and how gender is used as a tool for branding the Nordics.

This is the ninth virtual visit around the Nordic countries in the podcast series ’The Nordics Uncovered: Critical Voices from the Region’ and was recorded in May 2021.

Find out more on nordics.info.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Listen to this podcast if you are interested in finding out more about:

• Minorities in Finland;
• Myths  of homogeneity in the Nordics;
• The politicising and categorising of minorities and migrants;
•  History-writing.

Miika Tervonen, Senior Research Fellow at the Migration Institute of Finland and Docent at the Centre for Nordic Studies at the University of Helsinki, helps editor of nordics.info Nicola Witcombe examine these issues, challenging commonly held assumptions about state, homogeneity and migration.

Learn more about the peoples, historians and other things mentioned this podcast by going to nordics.info.

This is the eighth virtual visit around the Nordic countries in the podcast series ’The Nordics Uncovered: Critical Voices from the Region’.

Sounds from freesound.org including big_lorry_engine.aif by jacobsteel.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Listen to this nordics.info podcast if you are interested in finding out more about:

• The traits of the Nordic Model;
• Examples of policy successes and policy challenges in the Nordics;
• The relationship between the Nordics and the EU;
• The provision of universal services, like early years childcare in Denmark and Sweden.

Editor of nordics.info Nicola Witcombe interviews Caroline de la Porte, a European political economist and Professor at the Department of International Economics, Government and Business at Copenhagen Business School. This is the seventh virtual visit around the Nordic countries in the podcast series ’The Nordics Uncovered: Critical Voices from the Region’ and was recorded in April 2021.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Listen to this podcast if you are interested in :

• How a collective mindset has been discernable in Denmark and the Nordic countries at points in history – and whether this still applies today;
• Mass education in the nineteenth century in Denmark and greater emphasis on vocational training;
• Labour market relations;
• Neoliberalism and threats to collectivism.

Join the editor of nordics.info, Nicola Witcombe, on her sixth virtual visit around the Nordic countries in the podcast series ’The Nordics Uncovered: Critical Voices from the Region’. Cathie and Nicola spoke over Zoom in March 2021.

Sound credits : freesound.org, including Lapping Waves.wav by Benboncan, and Short dance by szegvari.

Visit nordics.info for more information on this podcast.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Listen to this podcast if you want to hear more about:

• The North Atlantic Islands of Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands;
• Denmark-Norway colonialism in the modern-day Caribbean and Ghana and its legacies;
• The Greenlandic flag, 'Erfalasorput', and how it is used to respond to the Danish flag, the 'Dannebrog';
• Contemporary cultural and political debates on racism, including about: Is Scandinavian ‘colourblindness’ a good thing?;
• Breaking down the perception of the Nordics as innocent or exceptional.

Join the editor of nordics.info, Nicola Witcombe on her fifth virtual visit around the Nordic countries in the podcast series The Nordics Uncovered: Critical Voices from the Region. The sixth in the series is with  Cathie Jo Martin, Professor in Political Science at the Boston University.

More information about the podcast can be found on nordics.info.

Sound credits : freesound.org, including Lapping Waves.wav by Benboncan, and Short dance by szegvari.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Children being exposed to a certain level of risk is not always seen as a bad thing in the Nordics; exposure can give children the tools to deal with risk and help them to become resilient and independent. The attitude of caregivers, teachers and children in the Nordics to online risk also reflects this approach - while elsewhere in the world a more stringent view is often taken. How we tackle children’s online lives and behaviours is rather complex and is influenced by the cultural norms of where you live, the role of schools, as well as how policymakers and classification institutions decide to regulate in the area.

This podcast addresses everything to do with children's online behaviour, taking Norway and a range of other Nordic and non-Nordic countries as examples. On the way, it answers the following questions: 
- Is screen time harmful per se? 
- How do we protect children from online harm? 
- How has Covid-19 and online teaching affected children’s online lives? 
- And what approaches are prevalent in the Nordic countries?

Join the editor of nordics.info, Nicola Witcombe, on her virtual visit around the Nordic countries, this time to Elisabeth Staksrud, Professor in the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Oslo to discover the answer to these questions.

This podcast was recorded in February 2021 and is the third in the series: The Nordics Uncovered: Critical Voices from the Region. The fourth in the series is an interview with      Gunnþórunn Guðmundsdóttir, Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Iceland. She will be talking about Icelandic literature, Nordic Noir and how writers and cultural commentators frame the past - and how they help people to digest global crises.

Sound credits from freesound.org including mechanical keyboard sound by TolerableDruid6. 

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

This podcast tackles a wide-range of factors about the educational systems of the Nordic countries, focusing primarily on Sweden and comparisons with Finland. On the way, it answers the following questions: 

• Why does the Finnish education system have such a good reputation around the world? 
• After decades of reform, is the Swedish education system in crisis? 
• How does decision-making and the politics around education in Finland and Sweden differ and how is it similar? 
•  What role do schools and teachers play in the creation of our 'mental maps'? A term usually used by cultural geographers, mental maps encompass many different dimensions of our world view: from an awareness of our country and region’s place in the world, to our view of history and where we sit on an imaginary timeline.
• How is all of this influenced by national politicians and institutional systems, and even the international dimension? 

Join the editor of nordics.info, Nicola Witcombe, on her virtual visit around the Nordic countries, this time to Janne Holmén, Associate Professor in the Department of Education at Uppsala University to discover the answer to these questions. Janne is from the Åland Islands and this has influenced his research interests.

This podcast was recorded in February 2021 and is the second in the series: The Nordics Uncovered: Critical Voices from the Region. The third in the series is an interview with Elisabeth Staksrud, Professor in the Department of Education and Media at Oslo University in Norway. She will be talking about childhood in the Nordics and the online lives of children and young people.

Sound credits from freesound.org including school break noise outdoor.wav by Libra222.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

This is extra material on the The Nordics and Small State Theory  from the nordics.info podcast with Janne Holmén, 'Sweden: Uncovering Nordic Education and Society with Janne Holmén' from February 2021.  

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

This is extra material on the Icelandic pensions system and means-testing  from the nordics.info podcast with Stefán Ólafsson, 'Iceland: Uncovering the Nordic Welfare State with Stefán Ólafsson' from January 2021. 

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Social media is an important part of our lives but often we can find it overwhelming, negative and challenging to be part of. This weeks soundbite, the last in our series, takes a look at how we can use social media for good and that it can and should be a place of hope. Laura Young shares on her experience of learning to be real with her followers on her account @lesswastelaura while also recognizing the place of boundaries in how and what we share with others. This weeks episode will be sure to encourage you to use social media for good and bring hope to the online world.

For more on what Diamonds Scotland is all about follow us @diamondsscotland or visit www.diamondsscotland.org.uk for more information. 

Perfect. Thats often how we feel we should be. Wether we are talking about how we dress, how we act or how others view us the pressure to be perfect is huge. This weeks soundbite Bridget and Laura share on the importance of recognizing not just the negative impact of perfectionism but also the place of realizing that in accepting ourselves as 'imperfect' we create space for God in our lives and also his plan and purpose for our us. With real life stories and personal reflection this weeks episode will encourage you to value yourself as God does and inspire you to walk more closely with him.

For more on what Diamonds Scotland is all about follow us @diamondsscotland or visit www.diamondsscotland.org.uk for more information. 

What does your clothes say about you? Bridget and Laura have some honest conversations about what we put on our bodies and what messages we share with the world around us by how we dress. From fashion labels to sustainability this weeks soundbite will challenge you to think about the role you play and the message you share with the clothes you choose. Sharing helpful top tops to get you started Laura Young shares on the challenges of fast fashion and how taking responsibility as Christians is not just for ourselves but for others specifically within the industry of fashion.

For more on what Diamonds Scotland is all about follow us @diamondsscotland or visit www.diamondsscotland.org.uk for more information. 

Our bodies are important and how they are treated matters. This weeks episode uncovers some real life examples of learning to love our bodies and talks through some of the reasons we can struggle with our body image. Particularly thinking about how God has designed us and how he views us Bridget and Laura share personal reflections on learning to accept our body image and how we can learn to view it as an important part of our purpose given to us by God.

For more on what Diamonds Scotland is all about follow us @diamondsscotland or visit www.diamondsscotland.org.uk for more information. 

Who are you? How do you describe yourself? This weeks episode shares thoughts on the labels we are given by others and ourselves as well as exploring the impact of this on how we live our lives. Expect honest conversations that will help you reflect on how God views you and how we can learn to get the balance between his opinion and that of others right.

For more on what Diamonds Scotland is all about follow us @diamondsscotland or visit www.diamondsscotland.org.uk for more information. 

Introducing series three - shorter soundbites packed full of laughs and conversations that make you think. This weeks episode takes time to get to know our new co-host Laura Young who works for Tearfund Scotland and who has a passion for looking after the environment and empowering others to do likewise. Check her out here @lesswastelaura Our soundbite sessions will be taking a look at issues of identity, focusing on how we can learn to live out our identity in Christ. We will be chatting about everything from body image to fashion and social media. Leave us your comments and thoughts over on our instagram page @diamondsscotland and join the conversation we would love to hear from you.

For more on what Diamonds Scotland is all about follow us @diamondsscotland or visit www.diamondsscotland.org.uk for more information. Check out our Youtube channel Diamonds Sessions here.

Check out Charlie Macksey's Ted Talk here

In this episode of the Conquer Food Podcast, Craig Williams outlines the updated and upgraded goals for series 3 of the podcast this year but also:

• The aim for series 3 of the Conquer Food Show
• What you can expect in the future
• About the Conquer Food Show & the CF Show panel
• Who the podcast is for
• About TEAM Bootcamp and the Conquer Food Programme
• About the guests you can expect
• The food foundations at TEAM Bootcamp

Our farewell last week was so heartbreaking that we decided to sneak in one last episode before Christmas. So, here are Terry Wogan and John Barrowman to introduce a heartwarming episode of Flight Through Entirety, in which Nathan and James are joined by Steven B and Dan from New to Who to discuss the 2007 Children in Need special, Time Crash.

See you at Christmas!

Notes and links

A festive shout-out to Elizabeth Sandifer from TARDIS Eruditorum, whose essay on Time Crash James has been reading behind Nathan’s back.

Follow us

Nathan is on Twitter as @nathanbottomley and James is @ohjamessellwood. The Flight Through Entirety theme was arranged by Cameron Lam, and the strings performance was by Jane Aubourg. You can follow the podcast on Twitter at @FTEpodcast.

Steven and Dan are two of the hosts of the New to Who podcast, which discusses Classic Doctor Who stories which might be of interest to New Series fans. You can follow New to Who on Twitter at @NewToWhoPodcast, and you should immediately subscribe to the podcast in your podcatcher of choice.

We’re also on Facebook, and you can check out our website at flightthroughentirety.com. Please consider rating or reviewing us on iTunes, or we’ll (rather hypocritically) make snarky remarks about that bald patch that you think we haven’t noticed.

And more

You can find Jodie into Terror, our flashcast on Series 11 of Doctor Who, at jodieintoterror.com, at @JodieIntoTerror on Twitter, on Apple Podcasts, and wherever podcasts can be found. We’re planning to return in the New Year with our ill-considered hot takes on Series 12.

Our James Bond commentary podcast is called Bondfinger, and you can find that at bondfinger.com, at @bondfingercast on Twitter, on Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else as well. We’ve already recorded a Very Special Christmas Bondfinger, which should turn up in your feed any day now.

We’ve survived our first year of post–Camille Coduri Doctor Who, and our only full year in the company of the charming and charismatic Freema Agyeman. So, what did we all think?

Notes and links

The Angry Black Woman stereotype combines sexism and racism, and seems designed to discourage black women from speaking out. You can find out more about it in this article from the BBC; this article from Forbes discusses ways of combating it.

As we’ve said before, Derek Jacobi had previously played a weird robot version of the Master in Scream of the Shalka, a Doctor Who story written by Paul Cornell and released by the BBC as a Flash animation in 2003. (Amazon US) (Amazon UK) (Amazon AU).

Nichola McAuliffe as Vivien Rook (no, not that one) was awarded Richard’s very first Bonnie Langford in this episode. She had previously done seven seasons as the lead in the ITV sitcom Surgical Spirit. Catherine Tate’s first ever TV appearance was in the first episode of its third series.

Follow us

Nathan is on Twitter as @nathanbottomley, Todd is @toddbeilby and Richard is @RichardLStone. Peter doesn’t know what Twitter is and just wishes you would all stop asking him about it. The Flight Through Entirety theme was arranged by Cameron Lam, and the strings performance was by Jane Aubourg. You can follow the podcast on Twitter at @FTEpodcast.

We’re also on Facebook, and you can check out our website at flightthroughentirety.com. Please consider rating or reviewing us on iTunes, or we’ll confound your expectations by praising an episode that you don’t really like very much.

And more

You can find Jodie into Terror, our flashcast on Series 11 of Doctor Who, at jodieintoterror.com, at @JodieIntoTerror on Twitter, on Apple Podcasts, and wherever podcasts can be found. We’re planning to return in the New Year with our ill-considered hot takes on Series 12.

Our James Bond commentary podcast is called Bondfinger, and you can find that at bondfinger.com, at @bondfingercast on Twitter, on Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else as well. We’re planning to release a Very Special Christmas Bondfinger this year, so make sure you keep updating the podcast feed every few minutes between now and the end of December.

It’s the last episode of Series 3, so we’re walking the Earth and telling anyone who’ll stand still for long enough about our favourite television show in the whole world. It’s Last of the Time Lords.

Notes and links

Todd mentions the Voyager Reset Button™ — the overuse of the Reset Button Trope in Star Trek: Voyager. You can find a detailed fan complaint about this here.

Picks of the week

Todd

This week, Todd wants you to go back and watch Tom Baker and Louise Jameson in The Invasion of Time, which we discussed in Episode 55: Timothy Dalton’s Pyjamas.

James

Quite rightly, James recommends Life on Mars, in which John Simm plays a present-day police officer who finds himself stranded back in 1973.

Nathan

Nathan wants you to read Sally Rugg’s How Powerful We Are: Behind the Scenes with One of Australia’s Leading Activists. It’s an account of the campaign for the YES vote for marriage equality in Australia, whose successful outcome was finally finalised almost exactly two years ago today.

Richard

And Richard recommends John Lanchester’s article in The London Review of Books, Good New Idea, in which he makes an argument for the introduction of a Universal Basic Income.

Follow us

Nathan is on Twitter as @nathanbottomley, James is @ohjamessellwood, Todd is @toddbeilby and Richard is @RichardLStone. The Flight Through Entirety theme was arranged by Cameron Lam, and the strings performance was by Jane Aubourg. You can follow the podcast on Twitter at @FTEpodcast.

We’re also on Facebook, and you can check out our website at flightthroughentirety.com. Please consider rating or reviewing us on iTunes, or we’ll give you a manly hug and dribble snot in your eye.

And more

You can find Jodie into Terror, our flashcast on Series 11 of Doctor Who, at jodieintoterror.com, at @JodieIntoTerror on Twitter, on Apple Podcasts, and wherever podcasts can be found.

Our James Bond commentary podcast is called Bondfinger, and you can find that at bondfinger.com, at @bondfingercast on Twitter, on Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else as well. We’ve run out of Bond films, but there’s plenty of 1960s spy-fi nonsense to keep us going until James Bond returns next April.