The LSE Phelan US Centre's regular podcast, The Ballpark, will be 10 years old in 2026. Ahead of our anniversary, and after more than 140 episodes speaking to academic experts on topics from across the social sciences, we'd like to find out what you think about the podcast with a listener survey.  

It only takes 10-15 minutes, and you'll have the chance to enter a prize draw to win £250 in vouchers.  

The Ballpark brings academic commentary to a wide audience, including to students, policymakers and a global community of academics. Recent highlights include The US’ changing relationship with NATO and Europe with Dr Celeste Wallander and an ongoing mini-series on AI and the US covering topics including AI’s effects on the workplace and the US-China AI race. 

Fill in our listener survey, here: https://forms.office.com/e/Vcj8V8uGM1  

Voucher prize draw terms and conditions are available here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/united-states/the-ballpark/ballpark-listener-survey-prize-terms-conditions-2025  

Thanks for listening! 

Take our Ballpark podcast survey and you could win £250 in vouchers!

In this episode, we discuss Annie Ernaux’s writing in The Years alongside a paper by Jenefer Robinson entitled ‘Style and Personality in the Literary Work’. We consider Robinson’s assertion that an author’s style expresses their personality, and set it in the context of influential views of style formulated by such modernists as Flaubert, Joyce, and T.S. Eliot, and by such literary theorists as Barthes, Bakhtin, and Kristeva. Ernaux’s own study of literature coincided with the heyday of literary theory in France. We use Robinson’s paper as a starting-point for reflection on the purposes and effects of the impersonal style Ernaux crafts in The Years.
 
Hosts: 
Scarlett Baron, Associate Professor of English at University College London
Alice Harberd, PhD student in the Philosophy Department at University College London.

Guests: 
Clare Carlisle, Professor of Philosophy at King’s College London.
Lucy O’Brien, Richard Wollheim Chair of Philosophy at University College London.
Emmanuel Campion-Dye, PhD student at University College London.

Transcript link here: https://share.transistor.fm/s/d080500d

Season 2, Episode 3 - Style and Personality: Jenefer Robinson

History Hit podcast presenter Dr Anthony Delaney reveals the real people that inspired Gentleman Jack and the gay romances in Bridgerton, long written out of the nation's story and now lovingly restored.

Mother Clap's Holborn coffee house is open to all comers, a place of companionship and community, until a tip-off leads to a midnight raid.

Two women, exiled from their families, set up a utopian homestead in a remote Welsh cottage, inspiring a generation of Romantic poets.

The celebrated Chevalier d'Éon, soldier, diplomat and spy, challenges a rival to a fencing match. The sweepstake is not over who will win, but whether the Chevalier is a man or a woman.

In this dazzling work of restorative history, Dr Anthony Delaney has traced the stories of people daring to challenge society's expectations, unearthing archives and court records to reveal the tragedies and the joys of queer life three centuries ago. Breathing new life into the forgotten and offering radical new interpretations of celebrated figures such as Anne Lister, Queer Georgians is an invitation to view our shared history in a whole new light.

Queer Georgians, written and read by Anthony Delaney

To talk about social media and politics, and how AI can help spread – or tackle – disinformation, the Phelan US Centre spoke to Dr Josephine Lukito, Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Journalism and Media. Her research specializes in malicious political language in the public sphere, focusing on cross-platform flows of messages and frames about global economic and political issues. 

The discussion covers how social media and AI are influencing political communication, disinformation, and election strategies in the US and globally and about the evolving role of platforms, algorithms, and AI tools in shaping elections and democratic governance.

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Avan Fata.  

Further reading and resources
•	Lukito, J., & Pevehouse, J. C. (2022). Competing for attention on Twitter during the 2012 and 2016 U.S. presidential debates. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 20(2), 125–138. 
•	Rodarte, A. K., & Lukito, J. (2024). Does Social Media Level the Political Field or Reinforce Existing Inequalities? Cartographies of the 2022 Brazilian Election. Political Communication, 42(3), 382–404. 
•	Lukito, J., Lee, T., Martin, Z., Glover, K., Hu, A., & Cui, Z. (2023). Connective action in Myanmar: a mixed-method analysis of Spring Revolution. Information, Communication & Society, 27(7), 1422–1440. 
•	Candidata - https://www.candidata24.org/ 

Take the Ballpark Listener survey and enter the prize draw for £250 in vouchers!

The Ballpark will be ten years old in 2026, and we want to hear from you to make the podcast even better, so we’re running a listener survey until 1 November 2025. 

•	Fill in our listener survey – it only takes 15 minutes – here: https://forms.office.com/e/Vcj8V8uGM1 
•	Voucher prize draw terms and conditions are available here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/united-states/the-ballpark/ballpark-listener-survey-prize-terms-conditions-2025 

LSE Ballpark | AI, social media, and political disinformation with Dr Josephine Lukito

Loretta Ross is a public intellectual, professor, activist, and author of Calling In, a collection of stories from five remarkable decades working in social justice movements, including reproductive justice, white supremacy, and women of color organizing. Loretta and Leader’s Way host Brandon Nappi go deep into conversation about why calling people in—inviting them into conversation instead of conflict by focusing on your shared values over a desire for punishment—is a powerful and strategic choice toward making real change.

Host: Brandon Nappi
Guest: Loretta Ross

Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast

You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders


68: A World Thirsty for Accountability with Loretta Ross

What was the inspiration behind Philip Pullman’s Northern lights series? How does he want readers to feel on Lyra’s final adventure in The Rose Field? And has his demon changed now that he has got to the end of this writing journey? How do you say goodbye to characters you love? And, how does storytelling help us all learn to live? 

In this special edition of Ask Penguin, host Rhianna Dhillon visits Philip Pullman at his Oxford home, surrounded by books (and barking cockapoos), to mark thirty years since the world met Lyra Belacqua in Northern Lights. The two reflects on a lifetime of storytelling and returning to Lyra’s world one final time in the conclusion of The Book of Dust series, The Rose Field.

Discover all the books mentioned in this episode here:  https://www.penguin.co.uk/discover/articles/ask-penguin-podcast-phillip-pullman/

To put a question to future podcast guests, and for exclusive content and book giveaways, join our Broadcast channel on Instagram: @PenguinUKBooks  

Philip Pullman is one of the most highly respected children's authors writing today. Winner of many prestigious awards, including the Carnegie of Carnegies and the Whitbread Award, Pullman’s epic fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials has been acclaimed as a modern classic. It has sold 17.5 million copies worldwide and been translated into 40 languages. In 2005 he was awarded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. He lives in Oxford.

Is never growing up the secret to great storytelling?

In this episode, we discuss the experience and the representation of the self in time. We consider philosophical approaches to the question of personal change, focusing on a paper by Marya Schechtman entitled ‘Glad it Happened: Personal Identity and Ethical Depth’. Is the self diachronic, extending over time? Or is it episodic, identical with itself only for short periods? 

For Schechtman, self-experience is multiperspectival, comprising both temporally extended and temporally local perspectives; we contain many selves and this fact is central to the complexity of our moral life. We look closely at pages 137-182 of Annie Ernaux’s The Years to see whether the author’s rendering of her own self in time reflects such multiperspectivalism.
 
Hosts: 
Scarlett Baron, Associate Professor of English at University College London.
Alice Harberd, PhD student in the Philosophy Department at University College London.

Season 2, Episode 4 – The Self in Time: Marya Schechtman

Caswell Barry and Lucy Unwin talk about the neuroscience behind their new children’s book – Inside Your Brain. Inside Your Brain takes readers on an irreverent gallop through history to uncover ten ground breaking discoveries that led to our current understanding of how the brain works.

 Date of episode recording: 2025-10-02
 Duration: 00:47:48
 Language of episode: English
 Presenter: Steve Fleming, Selina Wray
 Guests: Caswell Barry, Lucy Unwin
 Producer: Patrick Robinson

Transcript link: 	
https://share.transistor.fm/s/e7042743/transcript.txt

Ep #22 Caswell Barry & Lucy Unwin talk about the neuroscience behind their new book

Lauren Jackson is a religion columnist for the New York Times where she is the associate editor and writer for The Morning, the Times's flagship daily newsletter. Over the past year, she has been deeply involved in reporting on belief. Lauren developed 'Believing,' a project that explores how we experience religion and spirituality in contemporary times. Lauren's thought-provoking columns delve into the complexities of faith, spirituality, and society. In this episode of The Leader’s Way, Lauren discusses the powerful transformation that is possible when we turn our attention to the people around us, attending to hyper-local needs, longings, and joys within our own community.

Host: Brandon Nappi
Guest: Lauren Jackson

Instagram: @theleadersway.podcast berkeleydivinity.yale.edu/podcast

You can support our work at https://tinyurl.com/support-transforming-leaders


69: Believing with Lauren Jackson

 Date of episode recording: 2025-10-02
 Duration: 00:47:48
 Language of episode: English
 Presenter: Steve Fleming, Selina Wray
 Guests: Caswell Barry, Lucy Unwin
 Producer: Patrick Robinson


Episode 23- Jenny Lange on the gothic history of neuroscience, a Halloween special

For SATB unaccompanied
This lively reimagining of the traditional hymn is a thrilling a cappella arrangement which pairs the soaring legato melody with a rhythmic vocal accompaniment. Together, these elements capture both the gentle hope and the profound joy contained in the text.

More on the OUP site

How can I keep from singing? — Sarah Quartel

Oxford University Press’s academic insights for the thinking world combine authority, innovation, and excellence.  We share audio resources for students, scholars, and researchers.

How can I keep from singing? — Sarah Quartel

Oxford Academic (OUP)