Where Shall We Meet
Explorations of topics about society, culture, arts, technology and science with your hosts Natascha McElhone and Omid Ashtari.
The spirit of this podcast is to interview people from all walks of life on different subjects. Our hope is to talk about ideas, divorced from our identities - listening, learning and maybe meeting somewhere in the middle. The perfect audio diet for shallow polymaths!
Natascha McElhone is an actor and producer.
Omid Ashtari is a tech entrepreneur and angel investor.
Episodes
30 episodes
On Leadership with Jacinda Ardern
Our guest this week is Jacinda Ardern. She became the world's youngest female head of government at age 37. Ardern served as Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2017 to 2023, earning global admiration for her empathetic and decisive leadership t...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 12
•
56:47
On Science Fiction with Kim Stanley Robinson
Our guest this week is Kim Stanley Robinson, also know as Stan. He is an American science fiction writer best known for his Mars trilogy of novels. Over his career he has published over 20 books. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, ...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 11
•
1:07:40
On Friendship with Alain de Botton
Our guest this week is Alain de Botton. Alain is a London based writer and psychotherapist. His first book, Essays in Love was published when he was 23 years old and went on to sell two million copies. His books emphasise philosophy's ...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 10
•
1:02:57
On Moral Ambition with Rutger Bregman
Our guest this week is Rutger Bregman. Rutger is a Dutch historian and author. His books
•
Season 2
•
Episode 9
•
1:06:32
On the Future with Howard Covington
Our guest this week is Howard Covington. Howard is a Cambridge graduate in physics and maths. He has been a banker, a co-founder and chief executive of New Star Asset Management, and a trustee of the Science Museum. He’s also been and chair of ...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 8
•
58:35
On Death with Paul Bennet
Paul Bennett is a designer. For 23 years he worked at design and innovation powerhouse IDEO, where he was Chief Creative Officer and then co-CEO. There he was responsible for content excellence across the whole firm, and was active in developin...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 7
•
56:20
On Prisons with Carine Minne
Dr Carine Minne is Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis at England’s High Security Hospital, Broadmoor. She was also based at The Portman Clinic, London for three decades - an out-patient psychotherapy clinic f...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 6
•
1:06:12
On Consciousness with Anil Seth
Our guest today is Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Director of the
•
Season 2
•
Episode 5
•
1:03:39
On Climate Law with Laura Clarke
Our guest today is Laura Clarke. She is the CEO of ClientEarth. She was recognised as one of the most influential climate business leaders globally in Time magazines top 100 climate list. Her backgroun...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 4
•
53:46
On Meditation, Morality & Free Will with Sam Harris
Our guest today is Sam Harris. Sam is the host of the Making Sense Podcast and an the author of five New York Times best sellers. His books include The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lyi...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 3
•
1:33:31
On Overdiagnosis with Suzanne O'Sullivan
Our guest today is Suzanne O'Sullivan, the author of the book The Age of Diagnosis: Sickness, Health and Why Medicine Has Gone Too Far. Suzanne...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 2
•
1:00:18
On Life's Beginnings with Nick Lane
Our guest today is Nick Lane, who offers fresh insights on the theories of the origins of life. He is a Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry in the
•
Season 2
•
Episode 1
•
1:03:52
On The Precariat with Guy Standing
Our guest this week is Guy Standing, who is a British labour economist. He is professor of Development Studies at SOAS and co-founder of BIEN, the Basic Income Earth Network.He is best known as a long-standing and prominent advocate of B...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 17
•
1:08:24
On Consolations with David Whyte
Our guest this week is David Whyte. David is a philosopher poet who, is the author of eight volumes of poetry and four books of prose, as well as a collection of audio recordings. He travels and lectures throughout the world, bringing his own a...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 16
•
1:35:38
On Visual Effects with William Sargent
Our guest this week is William Sargent. He co-founded Framestore in 1986 and led its rise from an award winning commercials production house to world renowned film and digital studio. During three decades the company has worked on all the Harry...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 15
•
56:49
On Biomimicry with Janine Benyus
Our guest today is Janine Benyus, who is the Co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8. She is a biologist, innovation consultant, and author of six books, including Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. Since the book’s 1997 release, Janine’s work as ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 14
•
53:41
On Ancestry with Maya Jasanoff
We are talking about Ancestry today. Our guest is Maya Jasanoff who is the Coolidge Professor of History at Harvard University’s History Department.Maya’s teaching and research extend from the history of the British Empire to global hist...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 13
•
1:02:24
On Hypocrisy with Tim Minchin
Today we managed to catch Tim Minchin on his book tour between Brighton and Piccadilly London. He is an Australian actor, writer, musician, poet, composer, and songwriter. Tim is also a piano playing comedian extraordinaire. His recent book “
•
Season 1
•
Episode 12
•
51:56
On Sharing with Tessa Clarke
Our guest today is Tessa Clarke. She the is Co-Founder & CEO of Olio, the anti-waste app tackling the climate crisis by solving the problem of waste in our homes & local communities. Olio does this ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 11
•
1:04:42
On Yearning with Maria Popova
Our guest today is Maria Popova, who thinks and writes about our search for meaning — sometimes through science and philosophy, sometimes through poetry and children's books, always through the lens of wonder. She is the creator of
•
Season 1
•
Episode 10
•
56:14
On History with Ben Macintyre
In this episode we talk to Ben Macintyre. He is a columnist and Associate Editor on The Times. He is also an award winning authour and one of the most acclaimed writers of espionage history. His books Agent Zigzag A Spy Among Friends, The Spy a...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 9
•
1:02:25
On Psychedelics with Dr. Rosalind Watts
In this episode we speak to Dr. Roslind Watts. Dr Watts is a clinical psychologist, and a nature lover. Her work as the Clinical Lead for Imperial College London’s psilocybin trial has made her one of the most prominent voices and minds in the ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 8
•
1:01:12
On AI with Ali Eslami
In this episode we talk to Ali Eslami, who is a Principal Research Scientist at Google DeepMind studying artificial intelligence. He's currently also Director of Research Strategy for Google Gemini. Prior to this, he led a team at DeepMind work...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 7
•
1:14:52
On Exploration with Erling Kagge
In this episode we talk to Erling Kagge who is an explorer, author, publisher, art collector, and the first person to have completed the Three Poles Challenge on foot—the North Pole, the South Pole, and the summit of Mount Everest. He has writt...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 6
•
55:10
On Music with Nitin Sawhney
In this episode we are speaking to Nitin Sawhney, who is a multifaceted artist whose career spans music, film, theatre and dance. Nitin is a world-renowned composer, producer, and musician, celebrated for his ability to blend a wide array of mu...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 5
•
53:15