Democracy:Differently

In this episode of Democracy: Differently, Jess chats to Tatton Spiller, founder of Simply Politics, to discuss how politics can be more engaging and informative.

Tatton Spiller is an author, journalist, former teacher and has worked at the Houses of Parliament delivering education sessions for school children. Simple Politics aims to help people have better conversations about politics by providing clear, impartial and accurate information about facts, topics and the opinions people hold.
For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://democracydifferently.org⁠

In this episode, Keith speaks to Molly Scott Cato about the nature and importance of constitutions and why the UK could benefit from a new one.

Molly Scott Cato is an economist and former South West Member of European Parliament for the Green Party. She has written widely on areas including green economics, anti-capitalism and cooperative studies.
For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://democracydifferently.org⁠

In this episode, Jess sits down with Professor Michelle Phelps to discuss what policing and prisons show us about democracy, and the politics of police reform in Minneapolis.
Michelle Phelps is a Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota. Her work focuses on the sociology of policing, probations and prisons and her latest book The Minneapolis Reckoning: Race, Violence, and the Politics of Policing in America won the 2026 Outstanding Book Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.
For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://democracydifferently.org⁠

In this special episode, host Jess discusses the first two weeks of the US-Israel war with Iran with Professor Faten Ghosn. They discuss the possibility for negotiations, events leading up to the strikes, and what this means for democracy.

Professor Faten Ghosn is Head of the Department of Government at the University of Essex and affiliated faculty (Non-UA) at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona. Her work focuses, in part, on enemy images as obstacles to cooperation, militarized interstate disputes, and transitional justice.
For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://democracydifferently.org⁠

In this episode, Jess sat down with Professor Karen Celis and Professor Sarah Childs. The discuss how women can and should be represented in a democracy, democratic listening and design, and their book Feminist Democratic Representation.

Karen Celis is Professor of Political Science and head of the research centre Democratic Futures, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, and Sarah is a Professor of Politics and Gender at University of Edinburgh and one of the principle investigators on the ERC Synergy grant QUALREP.
For more information on the episode and podcast visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://democracydifferently.org⁠