Babbage: From footies to selfies

On December 8th, 2024, rebels swept into Damascus and ousted Syria's dictator, Bashar al-Assad. One of the first things they did was open up the prisons. Syrians who disappeared years earlier began to emerge from their grim detention cells. Would missing American journalist Austi ... Show More

Growth is abysmal; wages are low. But seen from the outside, Britain is a great place to contract services and buy bargain-basement bonds. We explore the opportunities amid the challenges. After months of reporting, our correspondent shares what he learned about Austin Tice, a mi ... Show More

Immigration is a political lightning rod in part because the ageing global asylum pact is no longer fit for purpose. We examine how best to update it. As paycheques for top-notch AI researchers go stratospheric, demand for rank-and-file coders is quickly cooling. And what a gimmi ... Show More

Americans see a rise in body dysmorphia in the age of Zoom calls and photo filters, Facebook and Apple battle it out over privacy, and Ronny Chieng exposes the dire consequences of selfies. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com ... Show More

Ben Smith talks of the magic of your first matchday experience and also the evolution of football's global reach through social media. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 

Jesse Kelly says the lockdowns are doing real harm to America's children and that they need to go back to school in the fall to avoid further damage. Sports figures are beginning to comment on politics more and more and the NBA is even letting them wear jerseys with social issues ... Show More

Former England cricketer and national selector Ed Smith joins us to discuss his new book 'Making Decisions: Putting the Human Back in the Machine'. Tom Clarke sits down with Ed to discuss the analysis of data in sport and why it doesn't mean we'll simply rely on algorithms to pic ... Show More

Jarrod Kimber and Jon Norman are helped along the way by a former professional cricketer turned priest, a university lecturer and a gambling expert. The American sport of cornhole also gets a mention.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. 

In a special bonus podcast, Gab Marcotti and French football writer Julien Laurens discuss the racism scandal erupting in French football Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 

In this episode, we hear from Sara Creta, visual journalist and research fellow at the Institute of Future Media and Journalism at Dublin City University and Nicholas Mirzoeff who is a writer, visual activist and Professor of Media, Culture and Communication at NYU, working at th ... Show More

Join Sam Matterface, Alex Crook and Darren Lewis as we look back on what has been one hell of a Premier League season! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.