Sketch Notes On....: Recent Episodes
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Sketch Notes On is a London-based podcast which provides an in-depth look into the most pressing news stories of our times.
The initial series, Sketch Notes On a Pandemic, has featured the views of experts including Professor Carl Heneghan, retired UK Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption, and Great Barrington Declaration authors Sunetra Gupta, Martin Kulldorf and Jay Bhattacharya, all of whom question whether lockdowns were the correct policy.
Comedienne Ruby Wax and Wimbledon winner Pat Cash also give their thoughts on how the virus and the consequent restrictions have affected their industries. Sketch Notes On is hosted by Lucy Johnston and Matt Gibson, both Fleet Street journalists, and is produced by Daniel Spiller, a songwriter, musician and sound engineer. It has rapidly gained a following and regularly appears in British newspapers and websites.
Welcome to ‘Sketch Notes On Censorship’. In this episode Health and Social Affairs Editor of the Sunday Express Lucy Johnston welcomes Professor Carl Heneghan, Director of the Centre for evidence-based medicine onto the show to talk about censorship.
Despite his distinguished academic standing, Carl is no stranger to censorship and over the past two years, his work has been branded fake news and false information by various social media giants.
Other academics and even a politician have also attempted to smear him on social media. During the pandemic, we've seen how cancel culture has been extended to academia and the sciences.
Some say the online safety bill currently going through parliament will likely increase the amount of material removed online. Some argue this will protect the public from potentially dangerous misinformation. But others say misinformation today can be tomorrow's facts.
Irra Ariella Khi stepped back from her company to set up Sunflower and facilitate the humanitarian response in her home country.
When the news of Russia’s invasion of her home country of Ukraine reached Irra Ariella Khi, she immediately set up a fundraising page for “people on the ground who have no means to survive unless we can help them directly”.
But as the first week of the war went on, it became clear to her that she needed to do more than raise money.
“I was speaking to people who knew I was Ukrainian, who were saying they didn’t have an NGO [non-governmental organisation] partner to receive the aid they wanted to send."
The Russian invasion of Ukrain has left Europe facing the worst cancer crisis in a generation as tens of thousands of seriously ill patients seek refuge from the bombing.
Richard Sullivan, Professor of Cancer and Global Health and co-Director of Conflict and Health Research Group at London’s King's College, warned European aid organisations are likely to witness “the biggest cancer disaster in a lifetime” as patients, whose treatment has been curtailed remain trapped in Ukraine without treatment or flee to neighbouring countries.
He said urgent steps are needed to ensure cancer and other longer term diseases are not overlooked in the chaos caused by President Putin’s bombing campaign. Professor Sullivan, who is a member of a team of experts working with the World Health Organisation fears death and disease on a mass scale will likely result from the loss of health services, access to medicines, infrastructure and amenities.
He said international agencies needed to ensure as many Ukrainian patients as possible continue receiving life saving treatment for infectious and non-infectious conditions whether they are in the Ukraine or have fled.
Matt Gibson News Editor of the Sunday Express in conversation with Toby Young General Secretary of the Free Speech Union.
As well as being a best selling Author Toby is the founder of website 'The Daily Skeptic' co-founder of several free schools and recently crowned contrarian of the year.
Entrepreneur Hugh Osmond famously ran Pizza Express in the 1990's floating the business and expanding to more than 200 restaurants.
He then launched Punch Taverns which became one of Britains largest pub chains and later investment group Sun Capital Partners.
Earlier this year Hugh described his shock at the mess on the High Street. "I have never ever seen this level of devastation to shops, hair dressers, cafes, pubs, bars, so many places that will not reopen when lockdown ends."
Matt Gibson News Editor of the Sunday Express in conversation with Toby Young General Secretary of the Free Speech Union.
As well as being a best selling Author Toby is the founder of website 'The Daily Skeptic' co-founder of several free schools and recently crowned contrarian of the year.
Professor Robert Dingwall updates Lucy Johnston of the Sunday Express with the latest on Pandemic Policy.
Molly Kingsley is the co-founder of the children rights group 'UsForThem' she talks to Lucy Johnston about why she formed the group, what its goals are and where we are now.
From a Notting Hill slum to the House of Lords where he once worked as a dish washer John Bird, now Baron Bird of the 'Big Issue', cross party Peer has worked tirelessly for the dispossessed.
Never more so than at the start of the initial Lockdown when those on the streets faced utter destitution. Thanks to campaigners like Lord Bird those with nothing have a voice.
From a Notting Hill slum to the House of Lords where he once worked as a dish washer John Bird, now Baron Bird of the 'Big Issue', cross party Peer has worked tirelessly for the dispossessed.
Never more so than at the start of the initial Lockdown when those on the streets faced utter destitution. Thanks to campaigners like Lord Bird those with nothing have a voice.
TV star and actress Denise Welch talks with Lucy Johnston of the Sunday Express. Denise is a regular panelist on ITVs Loose Women.
Denise has taken a strong stance on Coronavirus. So strong she has been branded as dumb, deluded and dangerous but she maintains that Covid restrictions have hit her industry hard and her family life too.
Lucy Johnston in conversation with Hugh Osmond.
Entrepreneur Hugh Osmond famously ran Pizza Express in the 1990's floating the business and expanding to more than 200 restaurants.
He then launched Punch Taverns which became one of Britains largest pub chains and later investment group Sun Capital Partners.
Earlier this year Hugh described his shock at the mess on the High Street. "I have never ever seen this level of devastation to shops, hair dressers, cafes, pubs, bars, so many places that will not reopen when lockdown ends."
FOOTBALL star Matt Le Tissier has watched his inbox switch from 90 per cent hate mail to overwhelming support as the nation’s attitude to Covid has changed.
Le Tissier, who played for Southampton and England, has frequently spoken out about his opposition to lockdowns and compulsory vaccinations.
His stance has seen him branded ‘anti-vax’ - a label he denies - and has also resulted in his being swamped with online attacks. But the star said he had detected a “remarkable” change in recent months as more and more people questioned the handling of the virus.
Le Tissier, 53, said he had initially spoken out in the first wave because he felt the restrictions would have “catastrophic effects on society as a whole”.
He believed the lockdown rules as they were imposed were an ‘over-reaction’. He explained: “So I made my feelings on it. And it’s been an interesting couple of years.
It has been an interesting social experiment, and to see the turnaround in the last few months, it's been quite remarkable.
Matt Gibson News Editor of the Sunday Express in conversation with Toby Young General Secretary of the Free Speech Union.
As well as being a best selling Author Toby is the founder of website 'The Daily Skeptic' co-founder of several free schools and recently crowned contrarian of the year.
Professor Robert Dingwall updates Lucy Johnston of the Sunday Express with the latest on Pandemic Policy.
Molly Kingsley in conversation with Robert Halfon MP.
MISSING months of school through illness made the chair of the Education Select Committee determined to ensure no youngster lost out on teaching in the pandemic, he has revealed.
Mr Halfon, Conservative MP for Harlow, Essex, and Chair of the Education Select Committee has been one of the leading voices calling for keeping schools open and ensuring children’s education remained front and centre when considering restrictions.
Now Mr Halfon has revealed his own experiences as a child made him determined to minimise the damage to today’s youngsters.
TV star and actress Denise Welch talks with Lucy Johnston of the Sunday Express. Denise is a regular panelist on ITVs Loose Women.
Denise has taken a strong stance on Coronavirus. So strong she has been branded as dumb, deluded and dangerous but she maintains that Covid restrictions have hit her industry hard and her family life too.
Molly Kingsley is the co-founder of the children rights group 'UsForThem' she talks to Lucy Johnston about why she formed the group, what its goals are and where we are now.
Entrepreneur Hugh Osmond famously ran Pizza Express in the 1990's floating the business and expanding to more than 200 restaurants. He then launched Punch Taverns which became one of Britains largest pub chains and later investment group Sun Capital Partners.
Earlier this year Hugh described his shock at the mess on the High Street.
"I have never ever seen this level of devastation to shops, hair dressers, cafes, pubs, bars, so many places that will not reopen when lockdown ends."
Matt Gibson News Editor of the Sunday Express in conversation with Toby Young General Secretary of the Free Speech Union.
As well as being a best selling Author Toby is the founder of website 'The Daily Skeptic' co-founder of several free schools and recently crowned contrarian of the year.
Professor Robert Dingwall updates Lucy Johnston of the Sunday Express with the latest on Pandemic Policy.
TV star and actress Denise Welch talks with Lucy Johnston of the Sunday Express. Denise is a regular panelist on ITVs Loose Women.
Denise has taken a strong stance on Coronavirus. So strong she has been branded as dumb, deluded and dangerous but she maintains that Covid restrictions have hit her industry hard and her family life too.
From a Notting Hill slum to the House of Lords where he once worked as a dish washer John Bird, now Baron Bird of the 'Big Issue', cross party Peer has worked tirelessly for the dispossessed.
Never more so than at the start of the initial Lockdown when those on the streets faced utter destitution. Thanks to campaigners like Lord Bird those with nothing have a voice.
Molly Kingsley is the co-founder of the children rights group 'UsForThem' she talks to Lucy Johnston about why she formed the group, what its goals are and where we are now.
Sir Graham, who chairs the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, said no administration should dictate “whether you see your family or when you start a new relationship with somebody”. He added: “I've always taken the view that government is there to serve the people, not the other way around.”
Sunetra Gupta is leading expert in the field of infectious disease and multi award winning Oxford Professor.
She talks about her background, how being female as child wasn't a barrier to pursuing an academic career a fact that, surprisingly only became pronounced when she came to study and work in the west.
Sunetra talks in detail about strategy and where we go from here with the pandemic.
Recorded in March 2021 Professor Robert Dingwall talks at length with Lucy Johnson - Health and Social affairs Editor of the Sunday Express.
“I see the entrenching of face coverings, aggressive testing, immunity documents to access jobs, public buildings, travel. It’s a failure to recognise what this vaccine does.”
“The vaccine is to protect you. Knowing about anybody else’s vaccine status is irrelevant.”
WIMBLEDON legend Pat Cash fears young tennis professionals will quit the game for good because they can't cope with the pressures of endless lockdown on the tour. Isolation, quarantine, constant testing and slashed prize money have all impacted on the mental wellbeing of tennis pros, he said, warning: "I don’t think the players can handle much more of it.”
Cash, who famously claimed the Wimbledon title in 1987, will be returning to the All England Tennis Club in Summer, this time as coach to Chinese star Wang Qiang.
News editor of the Sunday Express Matt Gibson talks to Martin Kulldorff, Professor at Harvard medical school and Brigham Women's Hospital.
He is one of the architects of the Great Barrington Declaration. Professor Kulldorff has called for a focused protection approach into the beginning of the pandemic and has suggested lockdown's will be shown to be a 'deadly terrible mistake'.
'We have to protect older 'high risk' people while younger 'low risk' adults keep society moving'.
Recorded in early July 2021 Journalist for the Sunday Express Lucy Johnston is joined once again by Professor of addiction and phsycology at London Southbank University Marcantonio Spada.
Professor Marcantonio has identified a new syndrome called 'Covid Anxiety Syndrome'. in this podcast he updates Lucy on the latest findings from his research.
Lucy Johnston talks to Professor Marcantonio Spada about Covid 19 anxiety syndrome.
“If you want to incubate anxiety in people you get them to repeatedly worry, avoid and check. In fact it is the royal road to anxiety. Over the last year we’ve been inundated with these messages.”
“There are difficulties for children in language development. Children go round immediately sanitising. Children absorb the feeling in the environment of threat. We don’t know how bad it’s going to be for young people with Covid 19 anxiety syndrome.
Lucy Thorne a 17 year old school pupil who wrote a letter to the Prime Minister published in the 'Sunday Express' tells of her experiences of the online dangers of social media.
“I had somebody who threatened to hurt themselves if I didn’t send revealing images of myself.”
In this in person interview, a first for 'Sketch notes on...' Karol Sikora talks to Sunday Express Journalist Lucy Johnston about Cancer care in the Uk during the pandemic, what inspired him to work in Cancer medicine and what measures need to be taken now with the backlog in Cancer care.
“If we all lived to 200 we’d all get cancer,”
Craig Russell talks to Lucy Johnston of the Sunday Express about the 'Catch up with cancer' campaign.
The #CatchUpWithCancer campaign was launched in conjunction with Craig and Mandy Russell who lost their daughter Kelly at the age of just 31 to bowel cancer. Her life expectancy was drastically cut short after her cancer treatment was stopped as a direct result of the Covid-19 response.
Francis Hoar, a barrister from Field Court Chambers talks to sketch notes on a pandemic.
Francis was counsel in a number of high profile court hearings last year challenging the legality of the lockdown. It ultimately failed, and in December the Supreme Court refused permission for a judicial review citing 'Eastside Cheese' as one of the reasons.
Carl Heneghan is Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and a practising GP. Here Carl talks extensively about the case for evidence based medicine and how the UK lockdown has effected scientific thinking and the public reaction to it.
Emily Cherry is a children's campaigner with lot's of experience in the children's sector working with the NSPCC and Child Line. Emily is most concerned about the online world, particularly child sexual abuse and exploitation.
In this podcast she speaks with Lorin LaFave. In 2014 Lorin's 14 year old son Breck was groomed and tragically murdered. His mother Lorin has since tirelessly campaigned to make sure that doesn't happen to another parent. She works with her organisation 'The Breck Foundation' to educate and empower teenagers and parents.
Top University Professor Jay Bhattacharya said for the first time in his career that he feared for his life after a secret campaign targeted him for his views on lockdown.
20 years ago the farming community was devastated by foot-and-mouth disease. Mathematical models from London’s Imperial College were relied on to create novel policies to curb infections – policies many established vets say increased the suffering.
With models playing such a key role in the current pandemic policy, Prof Michael Thrusfield, veterinary epidemiologist at Edinburgh University warns of the pitfalls.
MENTAL health campaigner Ruby Wax says the pandemic has forced us to face demons that affect all our lives but were brought to the fore by Covid.
The comedian says that the “big six’ human fears of death, difficult emotions, loneliness, chance, uncertainty and dissatisfaction “became the norm during lockdown, relentlessly firing at us: sadness, anxiety, panic, fear, shame, guilt, loss”.
The former Liberal Democrat leader reveals why he doesn’t think the government should be given extra powers to handle Covid-19. He also unveils stark new figures about the emerging mental health and cancer crises.
The former Liberal Democrat leader reveals why he doesn’t think the government should be given extra powers to handle Covid-19. He also unveils stark new figures about the emerging mental health and cancer crises.
In a passionate, sometimes heated conversation Dr Aseem Malhotra talks to Lucy Johnston about the impact of the food and pharmaceutical industry on health, covid-19, and the risks associated with a bad diet.
Has a political approach to a health crisis damaged democracy? Lucy Johnston Introduces Matt Gibson to Lord Sumption.
Lucy Johnston talks to world renowned cancer specialist Professor Karol Sikora about what drives him, the covid cancer crisis and how best to fix it.