About this podcast
Quillette's Zoe Sankey sits down each fortnight with scientists, writers, activists, and independent thinkers to interrogate the ideas shaping — and dividing — the Western world. From evolutionary psychology and gender to cancel culture, free speech, Islamism, and the collapse of progressive orthodoxies, no topic is too contentious and no question is off limits.
Guests have included policy researchers, evolutionary biologists, political dissidents, and some of the sharpest heterodox thinkers writing today.
If you're tired of being told what to think, this is the podcast for you.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 76 episodes
- Louis Sarkozy on France’s Riots · 1 h 0 min · Episode 75France’s student protests have turned into the country’s worst unrest in years. Schools have been set alight, thousands of shops looted, and curfews imposed in several cities…
- Robert Lynch on Why We Laugh and Why Status Rules Us · 1 h 17 min · Episode 74Robert Lynch went from Wall Street to addiction to a PhD in anthropology, and then to substitute teaching, where an eighth grader defaced his prized fossil with a Sharpie. Zoe…
- Inside Human Rights Watch: Danielle Haas on How NGOs Stopped Being Neutral · 55 min · Episode 73Danielle Haas spent almost 14 years as a senior editor at Human Rights Watch, overseeing the organisation’s thematic and geographic research. In November 2023, she left—and in an…
- Zineb Riboua on Iran, the Houthis, Israel and the Battle for the Middle East · 1 h 3 minZineb Riboua is a research fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East and founder of its China in MENA Project. She joins Zoe Sankey to…
- Why Populism Ends in Disaster with Richard Hanania · 56 minRichard Hanania is a political scientist and president of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology. He spent about a decade as one of the most influential voices on…
- The Truth About the Gender Pay Gap with David Maywald · 1 h 16 minAuthor David Maywald joins Zoe Sankey to discuss the female wage premium among young Australians, the collapse of male rites of passage, and why boys are told from primary school…
- Crémieux on Fertility Collapse, Ozempic, IQ & Why Pit Bulls Are the Way They Are · 1 h 14 minZoe Sankey sits down with Crémieux (the pen name of researcher Jordan Lasker), the formerly anonymous X writer-researcher whose data threads on genetics, demographics and…
- Is Ireland Europe's Most Antisemitic Country? | Rachel Moiselle · 1 h 19 min · Episode 69Rachel Moiselle is a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin and one of Ireland's most visible activists against antisemitism. In this episode of Quillette Cetera, she joins Zoe…
- Is Ireland Europe's Most Antisemitic Country? | Rachel Moiselle · 1 h 19 minRachel Moiselle is a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin and one of Ireland's most visible activists against antisemitism. In this episode of Quillette Cetera, she joins Zoe…
- The NGO Industrial Complex: Gerald Steinberg on How Human Rights Became a Racket · 1 h 5 min · Episode 68NGOs have a great deal of influence over our lives. This episode uncovers the hidden power structures behind the world's most powerful non-governmental organisations — and why…
- Oikophobia: Why the West Hates Itself | Benedict Beckeld · 1 h 9 min · Episode 66What does it mean for a civilisation to turn against itself? In this episode, Quillette's Zoe Sankey speaks with philosopher and author Benedict Beckeld — whose 2019 Quillette…
- Hava Mendelle: From Climate Activist to Critic of Radical Left and Gaza Flotilla · 1 h 12 minHava Mendelle defies easy categorisation. Openly gay and proudly Jewish, she is a fifteen-year Australian Army veteran, emergency department nurse, published author, and…
- Australia's Broken Justice System with Andrew Bushnell · 1 h 4 minZoe Sankey speaks with Andrew Bushnell — policy researcher, criminal justice expert, and fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs — about crime, justice, and some of the most…
- Does Western Civilisation Exist? James Kierstead on Ancient Greece, Christianity, and the West · 1 h 15 minDoes Western civilisation actually exist — or is it just a modern political myth? In this episode of the Quillette Cetera podcast, Zoe Booth speaks with classicist James…
- Oikophobia and the Crisis of Western Democracy with Shany Mor · 58 minIn this conversation, Zoe Booth and Shany Mor discuss the complex interplay between Australia's reputation in relation to Israel, the impact of anti-Israel activism, and the…
- Inside Iran’s Deadly Protests with Shay Khatiri · 1 h 1 min · Episode 61Shay Khatiri is one of the most clear-eyed analysts of Iran’s regime and its role in global geopolitics. Raised in the Islamic Republic before escaping to the U.S., he now serves…
- Adam Louis-Klein on Why He Founded the Movement Against Antizionism · 1 h 8 min · Episode 60In this conversation, Zoe Booth and Adam Louis-Klein delve into the complexities of antizionism, exploring its ideological roots, the language used to propagate it, and its…
- Exposing the Qatar Lobby: Chama Mechtaly on Islamism, Censorship, and the West · 1 h 15 minChama Mechtaly is a Moroccan-American artist, activist, and policy advisor whose work sits at the intersection of cultural preservation, deradicalisation, and Middle Eastern…
- How Audience Capture Fuels Antisemitism, Identity Politics, and Anti-Israel Hysteria | Corey Walker · 1 h 20 minFrom algorithmic incentives to progressive posturing, this episode explores how anti-Semitism has become a feature—not a bug—of influencer culture. Zoe Booth speaks with Corey…
- How Foreign Funding Is Shaping Australia’s Energy Debate: Gerard Holland · 1 h 0 min · Episode 58Zoe Booth speaks with Gerard Holland, CEO of the Page Research Centre and a founding member of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship. Together they explore how foreign funding…
