Little Atoms

Dr Mark Vernon - Plato's Podcasts

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:02:08 +0000

Mark Vernon is a writer, broadcaster, journalist, blogger and an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck College. He has a PhD in Philosophy from Warwick University. Mark was a priest in the Church of England between 1994-96, but quit the church as an Atheist. Mark now sees himself firmly as an Agnostic.

His books include What Not To Say, The Philosophy of Friendship and After Atheism: Science, Religion and The Meaning of Life. Mark recently edited the latest edition of Chambers Dictionary of Beliefs and Religions.

Mark's most recent book is Plato's Podcasts: The Ancients' Guide to Modern Living.

http://www.markvernon.com

First broadcast on 30th October 2009

Marcus Chown - We Need to Talk About Kelvin

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Marcus Chown is an award-winning writer and broadcaster. Formerly a radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, he is now cosmology consultant of the weekly science magazine New Scientist. Marcus has written a number of popular science books, including The Magic Furnace, The Universe Next Door, The Never-ending Days of Being Dead and Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You.

His latest book is We Need to Talk About Kelvin.

http://www.marcuschown.com

First broadcast on 23rd October 2009

Dr Adam Rutherford - Professional Geek

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:20:20 +0000

Adam Rutherford is a professional geek. He holds a PhD in genetics, is an editor at the science journal Nature, and presents radio and television programs, including Cell for BBC4: a series covering four billion years of evolution and 300 years of biology, intrigue, betrayal and rather more sperm than is absolutely necessary. Writing for the Guardian's blog Comment is Free, his grouchy response to atheists being universally labelled as "intellectual cowards" briefly held the record for the most comments ever.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/adamrutherford

First broadcast on 16th October 2009

Peter Cave - This Sentence Is False

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:20:02 +0000

Peter Cave is the author of Humanism: A Beginner's Guide, which BHA President Polly Toynbee described as "A book for our times", and of the best-selling Can a Robot Be Human? and What's Wrong with Eating People? - both books containing 33 puzzles about religious belief as well as about reasoning, logic, ethics and political themes. His most recent work is This Sentence Is False: an Introduction to Philosophical Paradoxes.

He is involved in the media, most recently scripting and presenting a series of philosophical paradoxes for BBC Radio 4, set in a paradoxical fairground, and a BBC Radio 4 programme celebrating John Stuart Mill. He has taken part in many public debates concerning God and religious belief.

Cave is the current chair of the Humanist Philosophers.

Peter studied philosophy at University College London and King's College Cambridge and has held lecturing posts in Khartoum and London; currently he is associate lecturer in philosophy for The Open University and City University, London, and has been invited to give lectures in various European universities.

http://www.petercave.com

First broadcast on 2nd October 2009

TAM London Special

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

The Amazing Meeting (TAM), London took place on the 3rd and 4th October, and saw around 600 Skeptics converge for a fundraising celebration of science, critical thinking and entertainment in the heart of the city, on behalf of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF).

Neil Denny of Little Atoms, and Rebecca Watson (The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Skepchick.org) join forces to stalk the corridors of The Amaz!ng Meeting London and bother the guests. The show features short and irreverent interviews with Brian Cox, Sid Rodrigues, Joel Ronson, Bruce Hood, Jon Ronson, Gia Milinovich, Adam Savage, Chris Cox, Jane Goldman, Richard Wiseman, Iszi Lawrence, Chris French, Josie Long, Phil Plait, Christina Martin, George Hrab, Tim Minchin, Simon Singh and Tracy King.

http://www.randi.org

http://www.tamlondon.org

http://www.skepchick.org

First broadcast on 9th October 2009

The Atheist's Guide to Christmas

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:27:28 +0000

The 1st October 2009 sees the launch of The Atheist's Guide to Christmas. This episode of Little Atoms features Neil and Padraig in conversation with 3 old friends of the show, editor Ariane Sherine, and contributors Natalie Haynes and Josie Long. We discuss the genesis (!) of the book, our contributions, the ideal christmas, and argue over the definitions of atheism, agnosticism and secularism, then the rubbishness of various ex-boyfriends gift buying skills are discussed.

Edited by Ariane Sherine, The Atheist's Guide To Christmas features 42 contributions from the world's most entertaining atheist scientists, comedians, philosophers, writers and journalists, including: Richard Dawkins, Derren Brown, Charlie Brooker, David Baddiel, Ben Goldacre, Josie Long, Richard Herring, Simon Singh, Brian Cox, Jenny Colgan, AC Grayling, Simon Le Bon, Claire Rayner, Robin Ince, Natalie Haynes, Zoe Margolis, Phil Plait, Mitch Benn, Lucy Porter, Adam Rutherford... and many, many more (Including Little Atoms own Neil Denny).

http://arianesherine.blogspot.com

First broadcast on 25th September 2009

Francis Wheen - Strange Days Indeed

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Francis Wheen is a writer, broadcaster and journalist.

Francis can regularly be heard on Radio 4's The News Quiz, and seen on Have I Got News For You. His docudrama about Harold Wilson, The Lavender List, was broadcast on BBC4 in March 2006.

His latest book is Strange Days Indeed.

First broadcast on 11th September 2009

Little Atoms ClearSpot - Six Pillars to Persia

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:00:37 +0000

A Resonance FM ClearSpot show presented by Neil Denny of Little Atoms and Fari Bradley of Six Pillars to Persia.

The recent Iranian elections were mired in controversy and accusations of corruption. Early in August around 100 so called "opposition leaders" appeared in a Tehran courtroom, in what has been described as a Stalinist show trial. They had been accused of formenting a "Velvet Revolution". This program focuses on one of those accused, the Canadian Journalist and film-maker Maziar Bahari.

Joining Fari and Neil to discuss Maziar's current plight, and his life and career as a journalist, are the film-maker Simon Ardizzone, who collaborated as editor on a number of Maziar's films, writer Malu Halasa, co-editor with Maziar of the book Transit Tehran, And Little Atom's own Padraig Reidy, News Editor of Index on Censorship.
http://freemaziarbahari.org/

First broadcast on Wednesday 26th August 20.00 - 21.00 on Resonance 104.4FM www.resonancefm.com

Prof Donna Dickenson - Body Shopping

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Donna Dickenson talks to Neil Denny about who owns our bodies and the ethics of gentics, tissue and organ donation.

Prof. Dickenson is the first woman recipient of the International Spinoza Lens award for her contribution to public debate on ethics. She is emeritus professor of medical ethics and humanities at the University of London, and formerly John Ferguson Professor of Global Ethics at the University of Birmingham. Body Shopping is her first popular book on science and medicine.

http://www.donnadickenson.net

First broadcast on 21st August 2009

Andrew Mueller - The 21st Century and Where it All Went Wrong

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Andrew Mueller talks to Neil & Padraig about the 21st Century.

Andrew was born in Wagga Wagga, Australia in 1968, and has lived in London and hotels since 1990. He currently writes on various subjects for the Independent, Independent on Sunday, Guardian, Monocle, Arena, Uncut, High Life, New Humanist and anyone else who'll have him.

Andrew was previously the author of Rock & Hard Places and a contributing editor of Robert Young Pelton's The World's Most Dangerous Places. His latest book is I Wouldn't Start From Here: The 21st Century and Where it All Went Wrong.

According to Little Atoms regular Jonathan Meades, "Mueller is a gung-ho Candide with a taste for places that it is wiser to avoid. His book is graphic comic, bemused and properly contemptuous of faith and ideology" (Books of the Year, Evening Standard).

http://www.andrewmueller.net

First broadcast on the 7th August 2009

Prof Bruce Hood - Supersense

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Bruce Hood is currently the Director of the Bristol Cognitive Development Centre in the Experimental Psychology Department at the University of Bristol. He has been a research fellow at Cambridge University and University College London, a visiting scientist at MIT and a faculty professor at Harvard. Bruce's latest book is Supersense: From Superstition to Religion - The Brain Science of Belief.

http://brucemhood.com

First broadcast on 31st July 2009

Dr Evan Harris MP - Free Speech, Hatred and Blasphemy

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Evan Harris has been the Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon since 1997 and actively campaigns for refugee rights and against racism. He is also a civil liberties campaigner, member of the Oxford Diocesan Board of Social Responsibility, Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society, Honorary President of the Liberal Democrat Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights and vice–president of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA). He is one of the most outspoken secularists in Parliament and took a fierce stand against the proposed Incitement to Religious Hatred Bill. Evan Harris condemns discrimination on religious grounds in the employment of teachers in faith schools.

http://www.evanharris.org.uk

First broadcast on 24th July 2009

John Geiger - Surviving the Impossible

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:00:00 +0000

John Geiger talks to Neil Denny about The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible. John is an author of four other books of non-fiction, including the international bestseller Frozen In Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition, which describes the results of the Franklin Forensic Project. He also authored, with Dr Peter Suedfeld, the scholarly study, ‘The Sensed Presence as a Coping Resource in Extreme Environments.' His work has been translated into ten languages.

http://www.johngeiger.net

First broadcast on 17th July 2009

Kathryn S. Olmsted - Real Enemies

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Kathryn S. Olmsted is Professor of History at the University of California, Davis. She is the author of Challenging the Secret Government: The Post - Watergate Investigations of the CIA and FBI and Red Spy Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth Bentley. Her latest book is Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War 1 to 9/11.

First broadcast on 10th July 2009

Ariane Sherine - The Atheist's Guide to...

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Ariane Sherine is a television comedy writer, journalist and the creator of the Atheist Bus Campaign. She writes regularly for The Guardian's Comment is Free, and has also contributed to The Independent, The Sunday Times, New Statesman and the NME, as well as writing for television shows including My Family (BBC1) and Countdown (Channel 4). Ariane won a Special Award from the National Secular Society for the campaign, and was also a nominee for Secularist of the Year 2009. She was asked to give the first humanist equivalent of Thought For The Day on Radio 4 in January 2009.

Ariane is currently editing The Atheist's Guide to Christmas.

http://www.arianesherine.com

First broadcast on 26th June 2009

Jon Ronson - How to Find God

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Jon Ronson in conversation with Neil Denny and Padraig Reidy in front of a live audience at The School of Life, London.

Jon talks of his upcoming documentary, How to find God, conspiracies and looks back at his journalistic career and talks about his book "The Men Who Stare at Goats" being turned into a major motion picture.

http://www.jonronson.com

A podcast only special. First released on Friday 19th June 2009.

Dr Seth C. Kalichman - Combating AIDS denial

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Sat, 30 May 2009 09:17:34 +0000

Neil Denny and Seth talk about combating AIDS denialism.

Seth C. Kalichman is a Clinical-Community Psychologist and a Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Connecticut. He is also the Director of the Southeast HIV/AIDS Research and Evaluation (SHARE) Project in Atlanta Georgia and Cape Town South Africa. Dr. Kalichman has dedicated his life to preventing HIV infections and reducing the emotional and physical harms caused by the scourge of AIDS. His research is fully supported by the National Institutes of Health and he serves on numerous national (US) and international AIDS prevention panels.

He is the Editor-in-Chief of the scholarly journal AIDS and Behavior, and is the author of a number of books, the latest being Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience and Human Tragedy. All royalties from Denying AIDS are donated for the purchase of HIV treatments for people in Africa.

Dr. Kalichman was the 1997 recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology in Health awarded by the American Psychological Association and he was the 2005 Distinguished Scientist of the Society for Behavioural Medicine.

http://denyingaids.blogspot.com

A podcast only special. First released on Friday 29th May 2009.

David Aaronovitch - Voodoo Histories

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 29 May 2009 19:00:00 +0000

David Aaronovitch is a writer, broadcaster and commentator on international politics and the media. He started his media career in television, working as a producer on ITV's Weekend World, and The BBC's On The Record. He has previously written for The Guardian, The Observer and The Independent, winning numerous accolades, including Columnist of the Year 2003 and the Orwell prize for journalism in 2001. As a broadcaster he has appeared on the satirical TV current affairs programme Have I Got News For You and made radio broadcasts on historical topics. David is currently a regular columnist for The Times. David's latest book is Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History.

First broadcast on 29th May 2009.

Dr David Eagleman - Time, Sound and the Afterlife

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Neil Denny in conversation with neuroscientist David Eagleman about time perception, synesthesia and many possible afterlives. The interview includes David reading one of the short stories from his new book.

David Eagleman is is a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, where he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. He is best known for his work on time perception, synesthesia and neurolaw. He is also a fiction writer. David's most recent book is Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlives.

http://www.davideagleman.com

First broadcast on 22nd May 2009

Prof Chris French - The Anomalistic Psychologist

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Chris French is a professor of psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and heads the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, which he founded in 2000.

He is a Chartered Psychologist, Fellow of the British Psychological Society and is also Editor-in-Chief of The Skeptic magazine.

http://www.skeptic.org.uk

First broadcast on 15th May 2009

Dr Simon Singh: Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine (and the Media) on Trial

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Simon Singh is an author, journalist and TV Producer, specializing in science and mathematics. Simon studied physics at Imperial College, London before completing a PhD in particle physics at Cambridge University and at CERN Geneva. In 1990 he joined the BBC's Science and Features Department, where he was a producer and director working on programmes such as Tomorrow's World and Horizon.

Simon has previously written two best-selling books, Fermat's Last Theorem and The Code Book, for which he subsequently produced and presented television adaptations for Channel 4, and then another best-seller, Big Bang: The Most Important Scientific Discovery of All Time and Why You Need to Know About It. Simon's latest book, co-authored with Edzard Ernst, is Trick or Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial. Simon has been our guest on Little Atoms twice.

http://www.simonsingh.net

Interview first broadcast on 8th May 2008

Philippe Sands QC - It's Torture

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Philippe Sands QC has been Professor of Law at University College London since 2002 and has also taught at Boston College Law School, Cambridge University and New York University Law School. He is the author of the acclaimed Lawless World: Making and Breaking Global Rules as well as several other books on international law. He participated in the negotiation of the 1992 Climate Change Convention and the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. He is a practicing barrister at Matrix Chambers and has been involved in leading cases before English and international courts, including those concerning Senator Augusto Pinochet and the Guantanamo and Belmarsh detainees. Philippe's latest book is Torture Team: Uncovering War Crimes in the Land of the Free.

First broadcast on 1st May 2009

Prof Noam Chomsky - The Prolific Provocateur

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Professor Noam Chomsky has been described as the world's greatest public intellectual. Born in 1928 in Philadelphia, Chomsky earned his academic stripes as a young linguistics professor at MIT in the 1950s. His theory of transformational grammar, forged at this time, posits that the capability to form structured language is innate to the human mind. But the general public first came to know Chomsky for his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam war. For more than 40 years, he has been the academy's loudest and most consistent critic of US policies at home and abroad.

Chomsky has written more than 40 books, including American Power and the New Mandarins, Manufacturing Consent, Hegemony or Survival, Deterring Democracy and Failed States, and continues to lecture frequently, as prolific a provocateur as ever.

http://www.chomsky.info

First broadcast on 24th April 2009

Selected Works of Theodore Dalrymple

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Dr Anthony Daniels is a recently retired doctor and psychiatrist formerly working in a hospital and prison in Birmingham, England. Writing under the pen name Theodore Dalrymple, he is a prolific author of numerous essays and opinion pieces carried in the Wall Street Journal, Cato Institute, The Spectator, Daily Telegraph, New Criterion, City Journal and New English Review.

His books include Life at the Bottom, Our Culture, What's Left of It, Junk Medicine, and In Praise of Prejudice.

First broadcast on 17th April 2009

Jonah Lehrer - The Decisive Moment

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Jonah Lehrer is Editor at Large for Seed Magazine and the author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist.

Lehrer graduated from Columbia University and studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He has written for The New Yorker, Nature, Wired, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. Jonah is also a Contributing Editor at Scientific American Mind and National Public Radio's Radio Lab, and writes a highly regarded blog, The Frontal Cortex.

Jonah's latest book, The Decisive Moment, was published by Canongate in February.

http://www.jonahlehrer.com

First broadcast on 3rd April 2009.

Prof Richard Wiseman - Quirkology

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Neil Denny talks to Richard Wiseman.

Richard talks about his new Hauntings project, about parapsychology and the value of studying psychic phenomena, refuses to tell the worlds funniest joke, and finally exclusively reveals the line-up for The Amazing Meeting London.

http://www.richardwiseman.com

First broadcast on 27th March 2009

Dr Tracey Brown - Sense About Science

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Tracey Brown is the Director of the charitable trust Sense About Science which seeks to respond to "the misrepresentation of science and scientific evidence on issues that matter to society". It promotes the principle of independent peer review and scientific enquiry free from stigma, intimidation and political pressure.

http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk

Interview first broadcast on 20th March 2009

Dr Stephen Law - THINK!

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Stephen Law is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Heythrop College, University of London. He is also editor of THINK: Philosophy for Everyone, a journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy.

Stephen has published numerous books on philosophy, including The Philosophy Gym: 25 Short Adventures in Thinking (on which an Oxford University online course has since been based) and The Philosophy Files (aimed at children 12+).

First broadcast on 13th March 2009

Andrew Copson: The Rational Humanist

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Andrew Copson works for the British Humanist Association on education and public affairs. Andrew coordinates the BHA's campaigns for a secular state, for an end to religious privilege and discrimination based on religion or belief and for a rational humanist perspective on public ethical issues.

He also coordinates the BHA's education work promoting understanding of Humanism as a non-religious worldview both in formal school and college curricula and to the public at large. He has written on these issues for The Guardian and New Statesman as well as various journals and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Associate of the Centre for Law and Religion at Cardiff University.

http://www.humanism.org.uk

First broadcast on 6th March 2009.

Nick Cohen - Waiting for the Etonians

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Nick Cohen is a columnist for the Observer and The London Evening Standard.

His Latest book is Waiting for the Etonians: Reports From the Sickbed of Liberal England.

http://www.nickcohen.net

First broadcast on 27th February 2009.

100th Edition of Little Atoms - Prof Steve Jones

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Steve Jones is a professor of genetics and head of the biology department at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton laboratory.

Steve's books include In The Blood: God, Genes and Destiny, Y:The Descent of Man, Almost Like a Whale: 'The Origin of Species' Updated, The Single Helix: A Turn Around the World of Science and Coral: A Pessimist in Paradise. His most recent book is Darwin's Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England.

First broadcast on 20th February 2009

Jonathan Heawood - English PEN

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Jonathan Heawood joined English PEN as Director in November 2005 from the Fabian Society, where he was responsible for publishing a wide variety of political books and pamphlets, and editing the Fabian Review. He was previously Deputy Literary Editor of the Observer, and he continues to write on culture and politics for a range of publications, including the Independent on Sunday, the Guardian, Prospect, the New Statesman, the London Review of Books and Country Life. He wrote the introduction to Orwell: The Observer Years (Atlantic, 2003), and is now writing a book about the cultural history of the British landscape.

http://www.englishpen.org

First broadcast on 13th February 2009

Nick Davies - Bad News

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Nick Davies writes investigative stories for the Guardian, and has been named Journalist of the Year, Reporter of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year in the British press awards. Nick's books include Dark Heart: The Shocking Truth About Hidden Britain, and Murder on Ward Four.

His latest book Flat Earth News exposes falsehood, distortion and propaganda in the global media.

http://www.flatearthnews.net

First broadcast on 6th February 2009

Tania Glyde - How I Gave up Drinking and Lived

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Tania Glyde is an author, journalist and broadcaster. She has written two novels to date, Clever Girl and Junk DNA. Her short stories have appeared in the Disco 2000 and Vox 'n' Roll anthologies.

She was Time Out's Sex columnist for two years, and produced and presented the groundbreaking chat show Midnight Sex Talk on Resonance 104.4FM. Tania's latest book is Cleaning Up: How I Gave up Drinking and Lived.

First broadcast on 30th January 2009

Tim Minchin - So FU(c)King rock!

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Tim Minchin (with Rebecca Watson)

Tim Minchin is an Australian musician, actor, comedian and writer.

Rebecca Watson is a sceptical female activist at Skepchick who co-hosts the weekly podcast The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe.

First broadcast on 23rd January 2009

Josie Long - All of the Planets Wonders

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Josie Long is an award winning comedian.

In 1999 Josie won the BBC New Comedy Award at the age of just 17 - making her too young for the champagne that came as part of the prize. Despite the boost the award would have given to her comedy career, she took time off performing to complete her English degree at Oxford university, returning in 2003.

Following the break, she was named best newcomer in the Chortle awards in 2005, and best breakthrough act the following year. In 2006, she also scooped best newcomer in the if.comeddie awards for her solo Edinburgh debut, Kindness and Exuberance. Her next show, Trying is Good, is available on DVD. Josie is currently touring All of The Planet's Wonders (Shown in Detail) which is about "...the magic of learning and making sense of the world. It's about the little and big things in life. It covers the stars, wildlife, animals and museums, being inspired by books she has read and people she's met along the way".

First broadcast on 9th January 2009

Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

This week's Little Atoms consists of a number of interviews recorded backstage on 18th December at 9 Lessons and Carols for Godless People @ the Bloomsbury Theatre.

The show contains an extended interview with shows curator Robin Ince, and then short interviews with contributors Darren Hayman, Christina Martin, Waen Shepherd, Simon Singh, Natalie Haynes, Tim Minchin, Chris Addison and Josie Long.

First broadcast on 19th December 2008.

Dr Phil Plait - Death From The Skies!

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Philip Plait is a renowned astronomer with more than two decades of professional research and education experience. He has written articles for such magazines as Astronomy and Sky & Telescope, as well as national and international newspapers. He has appeared on television news and in documentaries many times, including the Sci-Fi Channel's Countdown to Doomsday and National Geographic's Is It Real? His website Bad Astronomy has won numerous awards, such as best Science Blog of 2007, and also a book of the same name (Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing Hoax).

Phil's latest book is Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End...

First broadcast 12th December 2008.

Kenan Malik - Strange Fruit

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Kenan Malik is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster. Currently Senior Visiting Fellow at the Department of Political, International and Policy Studies at the University of Surrey. His new book, Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides are Wrong in the Race Debate was published in June 2008, and From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and Its Legacy will be published in early 2009.

First broadcast 5th December 2008

Marcus Chown - Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:23:19 +0000

Marcus Chown is an award-winning writer and broadcaster. Formerly a radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, he is now cosmology consultant of the weekly science magazine New Scientist. Marcus has written a number of popular science books, including The Magic Furnace, The Universe Next Door and The Never-ending Days of Being Dead. His latest book is Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You.

First broadcast on 28th November 2008

Adam Curtis - Serious Issues

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:47:16 +0000

Adam Curtis is a producer, writer and director of television documentaries such as Pandora's Box, The Mayfair Set, The Century of the Self, The Power of Nightmares and The Trap. Curtis' programs, though always about serious issues, maintain a sense of tongue-in-cheek humour and are characteristic in their extensive use of archive footage. In his film making, Curtis strives to to find meaningful connections between historical situations and often focuses on the impact different ideologies have had on modern society.

First broadcast on 21st November 2008

Prof Colin Blakemore

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 13:21:21 +0000

Colin Blakemore is Professor of Neuroscience at Oxford University. He studied Medical Sciences in Cambridge and completed a PhD in Physiological Optics at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1968. He also holds Professorships at the University of Warwick and the Duke University – National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School, where he is Chairman of Singapore's Neuroscience Research Partnership.

First broadcast on 14th November 2008

Susan Jacoby - The Age of American Unreason

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:18:48 +0000

Susan Jacoby is an independent scholar whose work now focuses on American intellectual history, the author began her writing career as a reporter for The Washington Post.

Jacoby's Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism (2004), was hailed in The New York Times as an "ardent and insightful work" that "seeks to rescue a proud tradition from the indifference of posterity." Named a notable non-fiction book of 2004 by The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, Freethinkers was cited in England as one of the outstanding international books of the year by the Times Literary Supplement and The Guardian.

First broadcast 7th November 2008

The Jonathan Meades Collection

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:29:50 +0000

Jonathan Meades is a writer on architecture, culture and food, a novelist and television presenter. He was restaurant critic of The Times for 15 years. Jonathan's writing includes the short story collection Filthy English, the novels Pompey and The Fowler Family Business , as well as a collection food writing, a DVD box set, was released in September 2008.

First broadcast on 31st October 2008

Rose Shapiro - Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Rose Shapiro has written for newspapers, magazines and medical journals including the Independent, the Observer, Time Out, Good Housekeeping and the Health Service Journal. Her book Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All is described as follows;

'Alternative' medicine is now used by one in three of us. In the UK we spend an estimated £4.5 billion a year on it and its practitioners are now insinuating themselves into the mainstream. There are methods based on ancient or far-eastern medicine, as well as ones invented in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Many are promoted as natural treatments. What they have in common is that there is no hard evidence that any of them work.

Douglas Murray - Neoconservatism: Why We Need It

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Douglas Murray is a bestselling author and commentator based in the UK. His most recent book is the critically acclaimed Neoconservatism: Why We Need It , which Christopher Hitchens praised in the Washington Examiner as "a very cool but devastating analysis" and which caused Andrew Roberts to hail him 'The right's answer to Michael Moore', continuing, 'This book shows how to fight and win the War on Terror'.

He appears regularly on the television and radio across Europe and America. He is a trustee of the newly founded European Freedom Fund and a member of the Advisory Board of the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Since April 2007 he has been Director of the Centre for Social Cohesion in Westminster, London.

First broadcast on 17th October 2008

Richard Wilson - Don't Get Fooled Again

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:41:44 +0000

Richard Wilson read Philosophy at University College London and his first book, Titanic Express, recounts his search for the truth about the death of his sister Charlotte, who was killed in Burundi in 2000. He now works for a human rights organisation and lives in London.

Richard's latest book is Don't Get Fooled Again: The Sceptic's Guide to Life.

First broadcast on 10th October 2008

Dr Ben Goldacre - Bad Science

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:56:47 +0000

Dr Ben Goldacre is a writer, broadcaster and medical doctor from the UK who is best known for his Bad Science column in the Guardian, examining the claims of scaremongering journalists, quack health products, pseudoscientific cosmetics adverts, and evil multinational pharmaceutical corporations, as well as wider themes such as the medicalisation of everyday life and the psychology of irrational beliefs.

Ben's first book, Bad Science, was published in September 2008 by Forth Estate.

First broadcast on 3rd October 2008

John Harvey - Clothes: The Art of Living

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:59:43 +0000

John Harvey studied and taught English Literature at the University of Cambridge, becoming Vice-Master of Emmanuel College in 2002. He came to clothes literature by way of visual art and has written a number of books on visual subjects including Victorian Novelists and their Illustrators and, more recently Men in Black. He is author of several novels and has reviewed widely for national newspapers and journals.

In this interview Neil Denny and John Harvey discussed Clothes, John's book for the Art of Living series.

First broadcast on 26th September 2008

Ziyad Marar - Deception: The Art of Living

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:55:32 +0000

Ziyad Marar is the author of The Happiness Paradox, it reflects his interest in the way philosophy and psychology can contribute to a better understanding of modern identity. His forth-coming book, Deception (Art of Living), looks at our relationship with the truth, and asks whether it's possible (or even desirable) to live a truly honest life. Ziyad was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1966 and lived in the Middle East until the age of 10 before moving to London where he still lives. He has worked as Editorial Director at Sage Publications for the last decade. He holds a BSc in psychology (Exeter University), an MA in the philosophy and psychology of language, and did several years of post-graduate research in this field (London University).

First broadcast on 19th September 2008

Prof Raymond Tallis - Hunger: The Art of Living

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 08:51:47 +0000

Raymond Tallis was Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester until he left to become a full-time writer in 2006. Author of more than 250 medical publications, Tallis was, in 2007 presented with the Lord Cohen Gold Medal for Research into ageing and, in the same year, the Healthwatch Award for promoting evidence-based medicine. He was elected fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences for his research into stroke and epilepsy.

On this show we discussed Raymond's book Hunger from The Art of Living series of books.

First broadcast on 12th September 2008

Bishop Richard Holloway - The Monster And The Saint

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:27:37 +0000

Richard Holloway was Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. A former Gresham Professor of Divinity, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Chairman of the Joint Board of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen. He has written for many newspapers in Britain, Including The Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Herald and The Scotsman. He has presented several series for BBC television.

Richards books include Dancing on the Edge, Godless Morality, On Forgiveness, Looking In the Distance and How to Read the Bible. His most recent book Between The Monster And The Saint was published by Canongate in August 2008.

Alain de Botton - The School of Life

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 10:08:02 +0000

Alain de Botton is a writer of essayistic books, which refer both to his own experiences and ideas - and those of artists, philosophers and thinkers. It's a style of writing that has been termed a 'philosophy of everyday life.' His first book, Essays in Love [titled On Love in the US], minutely analysed the process of falling in and out of love. The style of the book was unusual, because it mixed elements of a novel together with reflections and analyses normally found in a piece of non-fiction. It's a book of which many readers are still fondest.

Julie Burchill & Chas Newkey-Burden

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Julie Burchill has been writing her often controversial journalism for almost 30 years, for publications as diverse as The NME, The Spectator, Daily Mail, The Times, The Express and The Guardian. She was also founding editor of The Modern Review. Julie's colourful private and social life has generated almost as many column inches over the years. She has written numerous novels, one of which Sugar Rush, has been adapted for television by Channel Four. Julie has also made a number of documentaries for Sky.

Chas Newkey-Burden is a journalist and the author of a number of books including Great Email Disasters and Amy Winehouse: She Told Us She Was Trouble.

Julie and Chas have co-written a book, Not In My Name: A Compendium Of Modern Hypocrisy, published by Virgin on 7th August 2008.

Apologies to everyone who tuned in last night hoping to hear Julie and Chas, due to a cock-up in the studio an old show was played instead.

This show will now be played in the Little Atoms slot next friday, meanwhile if you can't wait that long, you can download it from here

Lynsey Hanley - Estates: An Intimate History

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Lynsey Hanley writes for the Observer, The Guardian, The Word and the New Statesman. She was born in Birmingham in 1976. She moved to London in 1994 to study politics and history at Queen Mary and Westfield College, London.

Her first book, Estates: An Intimate History, is published by Granta Books.

Julian Baggini - Complaint

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Julian Baggini is editor of The Philosophers' Magazine. His books include Atheism: A Very Short Introduction, What's it All About?: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life and The Pig That Wants to be Eaten: And Ninety-nine Other Thought Experiments, Welcome to Everytown: A Journey into the English Mind and Complaint: From Minor Moans to Principled Protests.

His journalism has appeared in publications such as the Guardian, Independent, Times Higher Education Supplement, Times Education Supplement and the Sunday Herald. He is frequently heard on BBC radio in programmes including In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg, Off the Page and Nightwaves.

Philip Escoffey - 6 Impossible Things Before Dinner

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Philip Escoffey AKA The Grey Man, is one of the UK's top psychic illusionist/mind readers. A Psychology graduate, Philip has been earning a living as a mentalist for the last 10 years.

A confirmed skeptic, Philip is dismissive of spiritualists, mediums and astrologers. However, he has a deep academic interest in the reasons why people need to believe and is an expert in how techniques like cold-reading are employed by psychics the world over. To this end, Philip was recently seen adding a little balance to five's Britain's Psychic Challenge.

Philip is currently previewing his stage show "Six Impossible Things Before Dinner" in London, before embarking on a month long residency at the Pleasance Theatre Edinburgh.

Ian Haworth - Cult Info

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Ian Haworth is the General Secretary of the Cult Information Centre.

The Cult Information Centre is an educational charity providing advice and information for victims of cults, their families and friends, researchers and the media. Founded in 1987, and becoming a registered charity in 1992, it was the first educational organisation focusing critical concern on the methods used by cults to be granted charitable status in the UK.

First broadcast on 11th July 2008

James Delingpole - Coward on the Beach

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

James Delingpole writes regularly for the Times, Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. He is also TV critic at the Spectator. His books include Fish Show, Fin, Thinly Disguised Autobiography and How to be Right. His latest novel is the first volume of a planned series, Coward on the Beach, which tells the story of an ordinary chap's reluctant quest for military glory.

Mary Roach - Bonk

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Mary Roach has written for the Guardian, Vogue, GQ, Salon, Wired and the New York Times Magazine. She is the author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, and Six Feet Over: Adventures in the Afterlife.

Her latest book is Bonk: The Curious Coupling Of Sex And Science.

Photo by David Paul Morris

Austin Williams - The Enemies of Progress

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Austin Williams is the director of the Future Cities Project, an author and illustrator at NBS. An architect and project manager by profession, he was previously technical editor of the Architects' Journal and now writes for a wide range of publications on urban and transport issues. He was the coordinator of the 'Future of' series of festivals and is a founder member of ManTownHuman. He tutors at the RCA and was previously architecture critic at BBC London.

Austin has recently been seen convening the Bookshop Barnies salon discussions for writers, and has published a book called The Enemies of Progress: Dangers of Sustainability, about which economist and previous Little Atoms guest Philippe Legrain said "Austin Williams has a gift for lobbing well-directed hand grenades."

Mark Vernon - After Atheism

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Mark Vernon is a writer, broadcaster, journalist, blogger and an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck College. He has a PhD in Philosophy from Warwick University. His books include Business: The Key Concepts, What Not to Say: Philosophy for Life's Tricky Moments and The Philosophy of Friendship.

His latest book is After Atheism: Science, Religion and the Meaning of Life.

Mark was a priest in the Church of England between 1994-96, but quit the church as a conviction Atheist. Mark now sees himself firmly as an Agnostic.

Rosie Waterhouse

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Rosie Waterhouse is a lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Publishing at City University and a freelance journalist with extensive experience as an investigative reporter, having worked on the staff of five national newspapers and as a TV reporter. She has twice been a member of the Sunday Times Insight team and worked for the Independent and Independent on Sunday, where she was investigations editor, and for BBC Newsnight, where she contributed to a BAFTA for a film revealing how BSE had spread through the animal feed chain.

Prof Marcus du Sautoy - Finding Moonshine

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Marcus du Sautoy is a professor of Mathematics at Oxford, a fellow of Wadham College and a research fellow at the Royal Society. He has been named by the Independent on Sunday as one of the UK's leading scientists, and has written extensively for the Guardian, The Times and the Daily Telegraph, and has appeared on Radio 4 on numerous occasions.
He is the author of The Music of the Primes: Why an Unsolved Problem in Mathematics Matters and has presented Mind Games, and The Music of The Primes for BBC Television. He was the Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer in 2006, which was broadcast on Channel 5, and is currently filming The Story of Maths for the BBC. His latest book is Finding Moonshine: A Mathematician's Journey Through Symmetry.

Philip Spencer & Dave Rich

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Philip Spencer & Dave Rich

A pre-recorded interview on the subject of Holocaust denial, both historical and contemporary.

Philip Spencer is Associate Dean at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Kingston University. He has published works on Victor Serge, Rosa Luxemburg, The Holocaust and Nationalism. He is an advisory editor of Engage Online.

Dave Rich is Deputy Director of Communications at The Community Security Trust, which provides security and defence services to the UK Jewish community, and advises Government and the police on Anti-Semitism and terrorism.

Prof David Colquhoun - Improbable Science

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Professor David Colquhoun, FRS, held the established (A.J. Clark) chair of Pharmacology at UCL, and was the Hon. Director of the Wellcome Laboratory for Molecular Pharmacology. In October 2004, he became a Research Fellow. Like many previous holders of the chair (in particular, A.J. Clark, J.H. Gaddum, H.O. Schild and J.W. Black) his interests are in quantitative analysis of receptor mechanisms.

David also writes DC's Improbable Science blog, on which he regularly crosses swords with various quacks and purveyors of magic potions.

Damian Thompson - Counterknowledge

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Damian Thompson is a leader writer for The Daily Telegraph and editor-in-chief of The Catholic Herald. He blogs for the Telegraph on religious affairs and is the author of a number of books, including Waiting for Antichrist: Charisma and Apocalypse in a Pentecostal Church and The End of Time: Faith and the Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium.

In February 2008, Damian's latest book, Counterknowledge: How We Surrendered to Conspiracy Theories, Quack Medicine, Bogus Science and Fake History, will be published.

You can discover more by visiting www.counterknowledge.com.

Derek Pasquill

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Derek Pasquill worked as a civil servant at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in a unit dealing with engagement with the Islamic world. He grew increasingly concerned over the government's tacit support for the US's policy of extraordinary rendition, and with the Foreign Office's policy of consulting on issues of concern to the Muslim community exclusively via extremists in the Muslim Council of Britain.

Linda Grant - The Clothes on Their Backs

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Linda Grant is a journalist and author. Her first novel, The Cast Iron Shore, won the David Higham First Novel Prize and was short-listed for the Guardian Fiction Prize. Her second novel, When I Lived in Modern Times, won the Orange Prize for Fiction. Still Here was long listed for the Man Booker Prize. She is also author of Sexing the Millennium: Political History of the Sexual Revolution, The People on the Street: A Writer's View of Israel and Remind Me Who I Am, Again a family memoir.

Her latest book, The Clothes on Their Backs will be published in February 2008.

Philippe Legrain - Immigrants

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Philippe Legrain is a journalist and writer, based in London but interested in the whole world. He is fascinated by how economics, politics and culture combine to form the big picture and how the world is coming together through globalisation while becoming ever more diverse through cultural mixing and individual choice.

Philippe writes primarily about globalisation, migration and European issues, but through this his blog and his contributions to the Guardian's Comment is free he is now ranging more widely. Philippe isalso a contributing editor to Prospect and as of September 2007, is a Visiting Fellow at the European Institute of the London School of Economics.

His first book, Open World: The Truth About Globalisation, has been followed up with, Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them, making the case for freer international migration (immigration).

Claire Fox - A Battle of Ideas

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Claire Fox is the director of the Institute of Ideas (IoI), which she established to create a public space where ideas can be contested without constraint. Claire initiated the IoI while co-publisher of the controversial and ground-breaking current affairs journal LM magazine (formerly Living Marxism). The IoI has since worked with a variety of prestigious institutions in Britain and abroad.

Claire has a particular interest in education and social issues such as crime and mental health. She is highly critical of authoritarian developments such as New Labour's 'antisocial behaviour orders'. She is also a passionate supporter of the arts, and strongly believes that they should be valued for their own sake. She argues that efforts to dilute the arts for the benefit of 'the socially excluded' are patronising rather than democratic.

John O'Farrell - An Utterly Impartial History of Britain

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

John O'Farrell is an author and journalist. He has published three novels, The Best a Man Can Get, This is Your Life and May Contain Nuts, a memoir of his support for the Labour Party in the wilderness years Things Can Only Get Better, and three collections of his Guardian column, Global Village Idiot, I Blame the Scapegoats and I Have a Bream.

A former comedy scriptwriter for Spitting Image and Smith and Jones, he is the founder of the satirical website NewsBiscuit, and can often be seen on such TV programmes as Grumpy Old Men, Newsnight Review and Have I Got News For You. John's latest book is An Utterly Impartial History of Britain: (or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge).

Howard Jacobson - Roots Schmoots

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Howard Jacobson is a writer of both non-fiction and novels, and a journalist, with a regular column in The Independent. he has described himself as "a Jewish Jane Austen," and is often described as "A British Phillip Roth" by others. Howard's novels include Coming from Behind, No More Mr. Nice Guy and The Mighty Walzer.

His most recent novel is Kalooki Nights, which he described as "the most Jewish novel that has ever been written by anybody, anywhere."

Two of Howard's non-fiction books, Roots Schmoots: Journeys Among Jews and Seriously Funny: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime, have been made into television series.

Simon Ardizzone

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Simon Ardizzone is a freelance editor and filmmaker living and working in the UK. Since graduating from the National Film and Television School in 1995. Simon has worked on over 50 films for English and American broadcasters.

Hacking Democracy, his first documentary, co-produced and directed with Russell Michaels, was nominated for Outstanding Investigative Journalism at this year's Emmy Awards. Hacking Democracy which proved that vote-counting computers could reverse the results of an American election, was shown last year by HBO to widespread critical acclaim and has become a tool for election reform activists across the states.

Toby Young

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Toby Young is a journalist, author and critic. Currently associate editor of the Spectator, Toby founded the short lived Modern Review with Julie Burchill. After the magazines closure, Toby went to New York to work for Vanity Fair. His failure to make it as a glossy magazine journalist is documented in his best-selling memoir How to Lose Friends & Alienate People. Toby's latest book is The Sound of No Hands Clapping, which details Toby's failure to make it as a Hollywood screenwriter. Despite this, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is currently being made into a Hollywood film, starring Simon Pegg as Toby. Toby himself stars as a "background artist".

Johann Hari @ Miller's Academy

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Johann Hari @ Miller's Academy

A Little Atoms Live Event. Join us at the delightful Miller's Academy in Notting Hill, Where Neil Denny will be interviewing Journalist Johann Hari about his career, his writing and other stuff we haven't decided on yet. If you are familiar with Johann's work though you can be sure it will be challenging, possibly controvertial, and definitely interesting!

Tickets can be purchased from the Millers Academy website, and are £40 for non-members and £30 for members. This price also includes all wine and a lovely buffet afterwards.

Brendan O'Neill

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Brendan O'Neill is the editor of spiked, the online magazine with the modest ambition of making history as well as reporting it. He started his career in journalism at spiked 's predecessor, LM magazine, until that was forced to close following a libel action brought by ITN. Brendan's writing has been published widely on both sides of the Atlantic, including in The Spectator, The New Statesman, The Guardian, the Christian Science Monitor and Salon.

He is also a regular contributor to the Guardian's Comment is Free Blog, where he has written articles defending the fur industry and homophobic Jamaican singers, and criticising green aristocrats and Jamie Oliver.

Natalie Haynes

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Natalie Haynes is a stand-up comedian, journalist and author, and briefly a teacher of Latin and Greek. Her first solo comedy show, Six Degrees of Desolation, was nominated for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award in 2002.

Natalie has made numerous radio shows for Radio 4, most recently Laughing Matters and Classical Comedy. She is also a regular panellist on various Radio 4 shows, including Front Row and Loose Ends, and can also often be seen on More4's The Last Word and BBC2's Newsnight Review.

An occasional columnist for The Times, Natalie has recently written a book for children, The Great Escape.

Paul Evans

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Paul Evans is a blogger and an online activist. His CV includes helping to establish a successful web-development worker co-op, and establishing the 'Councillor.info' project to get local Councillors to become active users of web-technology. Paul has established online projects with almost all of the major trade unions in the UK, and he worked with the New Statesman to start their New Media Awards back in 1998. He is currently working on a project intended to make blogging on public policy issues more rewarding and he blogs himself at Never Trust a Hippy, and occassionally at Drink Soaked Trots.

Terry Glavin - Transmontanus

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Terry Glavin is an award-winning author and journalist, an adjunct professor in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, and the editor of Transmontanus Books. His publications include This Ragged Place:Travels Across the Landscape, which was a Governor General's Award finalist, and The Last Great Sea. His latest book The Lost and Left Behind is published by Saqi Books on the 30th of October. Terry blogs at Transmontanus and at Drink-soaked Trotskyite Popinjays for War.

First broadcast on 26th October 2007

Heather Couper - Stargazing

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Heather Couper is one of the UK's foremost broadcasters and writers on astronomy, space and science. She has produced and presented numerous radio and television programs, including the long running series "Seeing Stars" on the BBC World Service, and most recently "A History of British Rocketry" on Radio 4. She has written over 30 books, including Mars: The Inside Story of The Red Planet , and Philip's Stargazing 2007. Heather was awarded a CBE in the Queen's 2007 birthday honours list.

First broadcast on 19th October 2007

Anne Quesney - Abortion Rights

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Anne Quesney is the Director of Abortion Rights. Abortion Rights is a national pro-choice campaign, leading the drive to bring British abortion law into line with public opinion - so that women can make their own reproductive decisions without the current unfair obstructions. Abortion Rights also coordinate opposition to continual attempts by the anti-choice lobby to chip away at women's hard fought for legal rights.

First broadcast on 12th October 2007

Andrew Anthony - The Fallout

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Andrew Anthony is a feature writer and investigative journalist. He has written for the Observer for 10 years, and also writes for the Guardian, Vogue and the Saturday Telegraph. His features cover a wide range of subjects: politics, crime, sport, literature, TV and popular culture.

His latest book is a polemical memoir, The Fallout: How a Guilty Liberal Lost His Innocence.

Tom Standage - A History of the World in 6 Glasses

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Tom Standage is the business editor of The Economist. He started his career as the Science and Technology Editor at the Guardian, and has written several books which merge popular science and history including Victorian Internet , The Neptune File and The Mechanical Turk . He says of his books "I think the right attitude to new technologies is to regard them with historically-informed scepticism.

My approach is intended as a sort of antidote to the scourge of mindless product stories: when something new comes along, I like to point out that it isn't new at all. This isn't quite as gratuitous as it sounds; it is quite often possible to learn useful lessons from history, particularly the history of technology" His latest book is A History of the World in 6 Glasses in which he explores a notion that six drinks in history - beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and cola - could be seen as technological catalysts in advancing culture.

Christopher Hitchens - God is Not Great

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Christopher Hitchens is a British born, but recently naturalised American Author, Journalist, Essayist and Literary Critic. Based in Washington D.C., Christopher is currently a writer for Vanity Fair and Slate, and an (acrimoniously) ex-writer for The Nation.

Christopher's most recently published book is God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

Jonathan Meades - Abroad Again

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 11 May 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Jonathan Meades returns for a second visit to Little Atoms. Jonathan is a writer on architecture, culture and food, a novelist and television presenter. He has been a restaurant critic for The Times since 1986. Jonathan's writing includes the short story collection Filthy English, the novels Pompey and The Fowler Family Business as well as his collected food writing Incest and Morris Dancing.

Jonathan's latest series "Abroad Again" begins on 9th May 2007 at 19:00 on BBC2.

Jonathan Derbyshire

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Jonathan Derbyshire was born in Stockport but was brought up in the south east of England. He was educated at the Universities of Sussex and Warwick and at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He is a freelance literary journalist and part-time lecturer in philosophy.

He is a regular writer for The Financial Times, New Humanist, Prospect, Time Out and The Philosopher's Magazine. His excellent blog, to which he regularly posts his published writings, can be found here.

James Randi

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0000

James Randi is a magician and Skeptic, and founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation. James Randi has worked as a stage magician and escapologist since 1946, "The Amazing Randi" being a regular fixture on American television in the 1960's and '70's. Subsequently James has become a world famous skeptic and debunker of the paranormal, and a scourge of psychics, faith healers and other assorted charlatans, most famously crossing swords with Uri Geller and Peter Popoff.

David Aaronovitch

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +0000

David is currently a regular columnist for The Times.

Michael Collins - The Likes of Us

contact@littleatoms.com (Neil Denny) — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Michael Collins is a television producer and journalist, and has written for various publications including the Observer, Guardian, Independent, Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times. His book The Likes of Us: A Biography of the White Working Class was published by Granta in July 2004 and won the George Orwell Book Prize. The paperback followed in June 2005.

A Channel Four documentary based on the book, and presented by the author, was transmitted on July 10th, 2005.