Reasons to be Cheerful with Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd

Reading Revival: why the bookshop is back

Hello! Have you ever dreamed of running your own bookshop? We are cheerful to report that the book industry is smashing it at the moment, with the number of indie bookshops at their highest level in six years, and book sales above pre-pandemi…

Bridging the divides: the world of modern diplomacy

Hello! Every day, remarkable acts of diplomacy are happening around the world to bring us one step closer to cooperation on our biggest conflicts and challenges. But how much do we really know about what goes on behind closed doors? And what are t…

Gary Younge Interview: Mandela, Trump, Obama and Black Lives Matter

Hello! This week Ed and Geoff sat down with writer, journalist and now Professor of Sociology, Gary Younge. Gary talks about his new book ‘Dispatches from the Diaspora: From Nelson Mandela to Black Lives Matter’, and how his upbringing in a new to…

Bernie Sanders interview: baseball, capitalism and mitten memes

Hello! While we generally aim for cheerfulness, it's also ok to be a little angry too. Senator Bernie Sanders is. After a long career of fighting for a more progressive politics, the self-proclaimed democratic socialist has had enough: capita…

Full steam ahead: the resurgence of international train travel

Hello! As you wearily stood in a queue for a flight that was four hours delayed, having been hit with a hefty fee for a bag that you swore would fit under the seat, have you ever wondered if there was a better way to travel? Well, you’re not alone…

Laying down the law: can litigation hold climate culprits to account?

Hello! Climate change litigation has come on a long way since the 2000 blockbuster film Erin Brockovich. There's been a huge rise globally in the number of cases being filed against negligent governments and corpor…

Beyond the nepo baby: the deep drivers of social mobility

Hello! Nepo-babies are a new-fangled term but the issue of social mobility goes much deeper…in this episode Ed and Geoff explore why the same kind of people often seem to make it to the top. Why does your starting point in life still strongly…

‘It’s not weird or morbid’: how confronting death can give us hope

Hello! This week we're speaking to comedian, actor and author Cariad Lloyd who's on a crusade to help us become better at talking about death and grief. Although it might not seem like the most cheerful of topics, Cariad believes that there's a lo…

Should you fight for your right to party?

Hello! This week on Reasons to be Cheerful Ed and Geoff are Going Out Out and talking about the night-time economy: generally everything that happens between 6pm and 6am. At the end of 2022, iconic Manchester venue ‘Night & Day’ was threatened…

Is this the future of humanity?

Hello! This week we’re talking about ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence language model that’s taken the world by storm. But is the hype justified? And what can it do beyond writing poems about your favourite podcast? We speak to Rory Cellan-Jone…