Best Mathilda Mallinson Podcasts (2025)

1
News Watch: Post-Brexit trade deals, Gérard Depardieu convicted, Starmer's immigration speech 45:35

2d ago45:35

45:35

LAST CHANCE TO GET YOUR LIVE SHOW TICKETS! Media Storm is back for SERIES 6! And we’re here to help you get your head around the headlines (however unhinged they are). But this week, we had a little identity crisis… should we be using the term ‘mainstream media’ when it’s become such a conspiracy buzzword? And if not, how do we point out all the ma…

1
Live show tickets ON SALE! 0:48

12d ago0:48

0:48

Date: Tue 20 May 2025 Location: The Podcast Show, ⁠Business Design Centre⁠, 52 Upper Street London N1 0QH Doors Open: 18:30 | Show Begins: 19:00 (1hr) GET YOUR TICKETS | ACCESSIBLE TICKETS | AMEX TICKETS The descent to dictatorship, the ‘invasion’ of borders, the war on free speech… what’s a global crisis, and what’s just another media storm? Join …

1
S5E10 Female asylum seekers: Healthcare, housing, and the hostile environment 38:42

29d ago38:42

38:42

Join us for the Media Storm LIVE SHOW with special guests Natasha Devon and Milo Edwards - Tuesday 20th May 7pm @ the Business Design Centre in Islington. Tickets are available HERE! Kim, an asylum seeker from Zimbabwe, lives on £7-a-day while supporting a newborn in cockroach-infested accommodation… HOW is she supposed to pay the £10,000 NHS bill …

1
News Watch: Katy Perry blasted, the rollback of LGBT+ rights, and making sense of the ‘Jihadi jail attack’ 49:30

1M ago49:30

49:30

Join us for the Media Storm LIVE SHOW! Tuesday 20th May 7pm, @ the Business Design Centre in Islington. Tickets available HERE Time for another weekly news debrief: we pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media, helping you consume the news critically. This week, Katy Perry was blasted - into space, and in …

1
S5E9 Free Speech: Is it all talk? 49:35

1M ago49:35

49:35

Join us for the Media Storm LIVE SHOW! Tuesday 20th May 7pm @ the Business Design Centre in Islington. Tickets are available at 10am today via AEG Presents HERE! Paid Patreon subscribers get access to tickets ONE HOUR EARLIER at 9am What’s the bigger threat to free speech: the ‘woke mob’, or the MAGA word police? Where’s the line between free speec…

1
News Watch: US protests, Trump's tariffs, and is Lucy Connolly a 'political prisoner'? 49:28

1M ago49:28

49:28

Join us for the Media Storm LIVE SHOW! Tuesday 20th May 7pm, @ the Business Design Centre in Islington. Tickets available at 10am on Friday via AEG Presents HERE Paid Patreon subscribers get access to tickets ONE HOUR EARLIER at 9am - support us on Patreon and get early access! Content warning: Rape and sexual assault. If you need support you can c…

1
S5E8 Image-Based Sexual Abuse: Not your 'revenge porn' 42:12

1M ago42:12

42:12

Warning: this episode contains mentions of suicide. If you need support, contact the Samaritans on 116 123 Reports of image-based sexual abuse in the UK have increased tenfold over the past few years. Women are five times more likely to be victims of intimate image abuse. The true scale of the problem is probably larger, as many victims do not come…

1
News Watch: ‘Two-tiered justice’ lies, Bournemouth femicide, and blame it on the migrants 45:20

1M ago45:20

45:20

Time for another weekly news debrief: we pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media, helping you consume the news critically. So many media storm’s blowing up our radar this week! The ICE abduction of a Turkish PhD student in the US (01:17); a coordinated effort by the Times, Telegraph, TalkTV, GB News, and…

1
S5E7 Sanctions: Do they help or harm civilians? 38:11

2M ago38:11

38:11

We live in the age of sanctions - with Trump dishing out punitive foreign policy willy-nilly, and Russia’s war in Ukraine attracting more sanctions then the next top-sanctioned countries combined. It’s time to ask: who are they really helping? Activists often call on their leaders to sanction foreign governments they see as breaking human rights la…

1
News Watch: Adolescence, ICC 'white man's justice', and should ketamine be Class A? 49:44

2M ago49:44

49:44

If you need help with drug addiction, you can find support here. Tickets for Unchained Nights here! Time for another weekly news debrief: we pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media, helping you consume the news critically. This week, the TV show on everyone's mind: Adolescence. We discuss our reaction to…

1
S5E6 Pregnant in prison: The case to stop births behind bars 41:42

2M ago41:42

41:42

Content warning: baby loss "When a court sentences a pregnant woman to prison, they sentence her to a high risk pregnancy" There are hundreds of pregnant women in UK prisons - a third of them yet to actually be convicted of a crime. Babies born to women in prison are 7x more likely to be stillborn than the norm. In recent years, two babies died whe…

1
News Watch: Labour's benefit-bashing, Gaza & Yemen airstrikes, and a new nuclear era for Europe 39:23

2M ago39:23

39:23

Time for another weekly news debrief: Europe’s surging defence budgets and the hidden realities of the nuclear armament debate (03:09), the attack on benefits in our government and media - which are cutting more disability voices from the debate, than actual costs from the budget (10:07), and the overlooked importance of US airstrikes in Yemen (24:…

1
TRAILER: The News Meeting x Media Storm 2:54

2M ago2:54

2:54

Introducing...The News Meeting from our friends at Tortoise. Your Media Storm hosts Mathilda & Helena were invited on Tortoise's podcast to pitch a story we think should lead the news. Are welfare reforms Labour’s only hope of saving money ahead of the Spring Statement? Who are the hundreds of Venezuelans who have been forcibly removed from the US?…

1
Abuse in academia: Are universities protecting predatory professors? 42:35

2M ago42:35

42:35

This week, Media Storm investigates how universities handle sexual misconduct cases - when their prestigious professors are at the centre of the scandal. It all started when our intern, a student at LSE, told us about student activism stirring at her university, after a dozen sexual misconduct allegations against one male professor resulted in no d…

1
S5E5 Maternity and paternity leave: Why parents are so angry at politics 48:16

2M ago48:16

48:16

This week, Media Storm delves into a vastly underreported topic - and one of the biggest potential barriers to gender equality, child welfare and family security. The UK has the least generous paternity leave entitlement in Europe, currently set at a measly two weeks. On the surface, maternity leave looks generous in length - but compared to OECD c…

1
News Watch: Trump v Zelensky, Gaza ceasefire sabotage, and the law putting Black boys in prison 38:00

2M ago38:00

38:00

Time for another weekly news debrief: we pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media, helping you consume the news critically. In this episode, we take you through the Media Storm mission: we’re not about conspiracy, we’re about media literacy. THAT Zelensky-Trump press conference set the tone for world news…

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S5E4 How to fight polarisation: With Jess & Nathan from Channel 4's Go Back To Where You Came From 39:32

3M ago39:32

39:32

Warning: strong language For the first time since they wrapped filming, Mathilda, Jess, & Nathan from Channel 4's four-part documentary Go Back To Where You Came From are reunited! In the documentary, Mathilda traced a common refugee route from Somalia to the UK - alongside Jess, from a small town in Wales, and Nathan, a trucker from Barnsley. At t…

1
News Watch: Palestinian child murder trial, BBC Gaza doc, and is history repeating in Germany? 43:42

3M ago43:42

43:42

Vote for Samfire to perform at Tramlines festival! Time for another weekly news debrief: we pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media, helping you consume the news critically. One murder trial unfolding in the US has all the ingredients for a media storm: a child’s 'grandfather-like' figure becoming his fa…

1
S5E3 Antisemitism: Israel, Anti-Zionism, and the politics of hate 47:49

3M ago47:49

47:49

Between the rise of the far-right and Israel’s ongoing warfare, today’s world is a feeding frenzy for antisemitism, and many Jewish people are afraid of prejudice and attack. But as many provocateurs turn antisemitism into a political weapon, the root causes of racism are being overlooked and enabled. All the while, the mainstream media has become …

1
News Watch: Chagos Islands, GB News queerphobia, and Sweden's mass shooting victims 30:58

3M ago30:58

30:58

Time for another weekly news debrief: we pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media, helping you consume the news critically. The UK agreed to hand the Chagos Islands “back” to Mauritius. But colonial history makes this decision complicated - and crucially, Chagossians were excluded from the discussions… mu…

1
S5E2 Why does asexuality make the media so angry? 36:54

3M ago36:54

36:54

It's Valentine's Day! A day full of overpriced chocolates, high expectations, and focus on how much sex you're going to have. So what about those who have no interest in it? 'Ace' is an umbrella term used to describe people who experience little, fluctuating, or no sexual attraction. There are also aromantic people - who experience little to no rom…

1
News Watch: Trump’s ‘war on women’s sports’, hostage handovers, and is Labour Reform-ing? 31:38

3M ago31:38

31:38

! JOIN US AT SAMFIRE’S EP LAUNCH PARTY TONIGHT ! This week’s political news reads like a playbook in fascist propaganda - and rule number 1 is throwing minorities under the bus. Whether it’s Trump’s America, Merz’s Germany or Starmer’s Great Britain, leadership apparently now means bowing to the myths of the masses - myths the media has miserably f…

1
S5E1 Female Genital Mutilation: Can we achieve zero tolerance with zero coverage? 33:50

3M ago33:50

33:50

This week, we’ve decided to cover a topic that’s hugely underreported in the mainstream media: FGM. Yesterday was FGM Zero Tolerance Day, so you may have seen a (very small) flurry of articles about the topic - but this week's guests say that it needs to be covered all year round. FGM stands for Female Genital Mutilation - the deliberate cutting or…

1
News Watch: Trump’s bid for Gaza, Congo’s conflict, Axel Rudakubana's missed misogyny 41:46

3M ago41:46

41:46

Welcome to the first episode of Media Storm series 5! Helena questions Mathilda about her motivations in taking part in a Channel 4 documentary about polarised immigration opinions, called Go Back To Where You Came From. Then it's onto our weekly news debrief: we pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media, …

1
ARCHIVE What is the refugee 'crisis'? Plus: Media Storm Series 5 announcement 48:51

4M ago48:51

48:51

Media Storm is returning next week! Series 5 will begin on Thursday 6th February - and there are now TWO episodes of Media Storm every week. Every Thursday, we'll be dropping Media Storm's News Watch - where Mathilda & Helena will run through the main stories of the week, picking apart the most unhinged headlines to help you make sense of the mains…

1
News Watch: Luigi Mangione mania, Dunkirk shooting, Trump and trans healthcare 37:22

5M ago37:22

37:22

Join Mathilda and Helena on their weekly news debriefs! We pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media - helping you consume the news critically. In our final News Watch before Christmas, we pick apart an outrageous claim in The Telegraph that the NHS 'catering to' transgender people is making more pregnant …

1
News Watch: PinkNews allegations, Syrian asylum claims, and don't forget about Georgia 36:22

5M ago36:22

36:22

Content warning: descriptions of violence, mentions of rape, descriptions of transphobia Join Mathilda and Helena on their weekly news debriefs! We pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media - helping you consume the news critically. This week, we point out a gaping blind spot in the international press: Ge…

1
News Watch: Syria, Sex Workers, 'Sickfluencers', and Gregg Wallace is sorry-not-sorry 36:08

5M ago36:08

36:08

Join Mathilda and Helena on their weekly news debriefs! We pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media - helping you consume the news critically. This week, Gregg Wallace turned his back on his target audience ("middle-class women of a certain age") while issuing a statement that will surely go down in histo…

1
News Watch: Another general election, ICC arrests, GRT discrimination, and... Wicked 28:28

6M ago28:28

28:28

Join Mathilda and Helena on their weekly news debriefs! We'll pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media - helping you consume the news critically. This week, it’s hypocritical calls for another general election (while legitimate calls for another Brexit referendum were ignored), Musk interfering in UK poli…

1
News Watch: Farmers' 'tractor tax', Trans awareness, Amsterdam attacks 28:51

6M ago28:51

28:51

Introducing: Media Storm's News Watch! Join Mathilda and Helena on their weekly news debriefs! We'll pick apart the most unhinged headlines and try to make sense of the mainstream media - helping you consume the news critically. This week, it’s farmers (protesting the UK’s new inheritance tax), football fans (bringing the Israel-Palestine conflict …

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ARCHIVE Assisted dying: What do terminally ill people think? 34:30

6M ago34:30

34:30

The End of Life Bill being debated in UK parliament marks a historic moment for a country with one of the most punitive approaches to assisted dying people in the liberal world. But here at Media Storm, something confuses us about the debate now unfolding in the news, which is the distinctive lack of voices of people for whom the bill is actually d…

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ARCHIVE ‘One man’s terrorist’: Israel, Lebanon, Iran and beyond 48:56

8M ago48:56

48:56

We bring back Media Storm's episode on 'terrorism' to reflect on the escalating war in the Middle East, and ask how geopolitical biases are playing into this week's headlines and restricting our understanding of events. The episode features Lebanese reporter Zahera Harb, Afghan refugee Gulwali Passarlay, former UN Security Council President Kishore…

1
S4E16 Nuclear weapons: deterrence or destruction? 1:02:05

8M ago1:02:05

1:02:05

Nuclear weapons: peace in our times, or destruction in our future? What you think probably depends on where in the world you are - because what journalists write generally depends on where in the world they are. Here in the UK, nuclear weapons are a necessary deterrent, and that’s the end of the story. The coverage is coloured by geopolitical consi…

1
S4E15 What the media won't say about the monarchy 56:58

8M ago56:58

56:58

Prince Harry’s 40th birthday, Kate Middleton back at work, and ANOTHER dramatisation of that Prince Andrew interview. Headlines about the Royals are frequent front pages - but is this actually news? The monarchy is given a fairly easy ride in the media - rarely questioned, often praised, history erased. But why don’t editorial guidelines about ‘due…

1
S4E14 Violence against women is a man's problem: Gisèle Pelicot, Rebecca Cheptegei, and millions more 1:03:25

8M ago1:03:25

1:03:25

Content warning: rape, sexual assault, and gender-based violence Headlines about gender-based violence are sadly not rare. But over the last week, two harrowing stories have sent shockwaves around the world. In France, pensioner Dominique Pelicot stands trial for recruiting 72 men to join him in drugging and raping his now ex-wife, Gisèle, over the…

1
S4E13 Why is no one talking about Sudan? Plus Jess Phillips NHS claim and pub garden smoking ban 59:31

8M ago59:31

59:31

Headlines about wars in Ukraine and Gaza have flooded front pages - yet, the "world's biggest humanitarian crisis" is battling for media attention. Why? In Sudan, a terrible war is raging. What started as a conflict between the Sudan Armed forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has exploded into chaos and bloodshed, with countless…

1
S4E12 Paralympics: An afterthought? Plus ‘two-tiered’ policing and Labour’s migrant ‘amnesty’ 53:18

9M ago53:18

53:18

The Paralympic Games are underway - and there's plenty to celebrate! More coverage than ever before, a public-participating opening ceremony, and over 160 nations televising the event. But is it enough? There were 10 million tickets available for the Olympics - and only 3 million for the Paralympics. What does it mean that the Paralympics will be b…

1
S4E11 Prisons: Overcrowding, Operation Early Dawn, and child strip-searches 59:25

9M ago59:25

59:25

‘UK PRISONS OVERCROWDED AFTER RACIST RIOTS!’ ‘A CHILD IS STRIP-SEARCHED EVERY 14 HOURS’ ‘SCORES OF CRIMINALS COULD BE FREED IN DAYS’ Headlines this week spotlight the UK’s criminal justice system, as prison overcrowding triggers emergency measures. Amazingly, serious talks about prison reform have entered the mainstream media - but a key voice is m…

1
S4E10 Just Stop Oil: Why do people hate them so much? 1:00:05

9M ago1:00:05

1:00:05

Cult members. Fanatics. Selfish. Evil. All words that have been used to describe climate activists in the mainstream media. Just Stop Oil have made many headlines since 2022, be it by stopping traffic or throwing powder on Stonehenge in their token orange shade. Last month, five members were sent to prison with the longest sentences ever given for …

1
S4E9 Bigotry & bad information: Islamophobia, far-right riots, and Olympic boxing row 53:56

9M ago53:56

53:56

This week has seen stories of bigotry, fuelled by bad information. Anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant riots sprung up across the UK, with no factual basis in the incident that triggered them - a stabbing attack that killed three young girls in Southport last Monday, founded on a widespread fake news story that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker wh…

1
Southport stabbings: Why do people join the far-right? 30:51

10M ago30:51

30:51

On Monday, three young girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport at a Taylor Swift themed dance class. They were 6, 7, and 9 years old. Eight other children were stabbed. A community, and a country, are in shock. Even though male violence against women and girls is commonplace, it can be hard to understand in these particular set of circumst…

1
Mina Smallman: Misogynoir, survival, and A Better Tomorrow 33:00

10M ago33:00

33:00

Warning: Strong language “Race is always seen as Black men's issue, gender is always seen as white women's issue. So Black women always fall through the cracks.” Preferential acceptance rates for White women applying to UK police forces have given a false impression of gender equality, hiding acute discrimination against Black women, Media Storm da…

1
S4E8 General Election, Gen-Z, and propaganda in the papers 56:34

11M ago56:34

56:34

It's VOTING DAY! How did you pick who to vote for? Hopefully not by relying too heavily on our mainstream media. Listen to this episode to find out why! It’s a dose of media literacy that is so essential, especially in this year of elections. We speak to CEO of independent press regulator Impress, Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana, and TikTok journalist Sop…

1
S4E7 Pride Month under attack: rainbow-washing, queerbaiting, and fears of "gender ideology" 54:03

11M ago54:03

54:03

Quite a lot to NOT be proud of this Pride Month, with corporations creeping away cowardly as ultra-Conservatives boycott their rainbow campaigns. Meanwhile, much of the mainstream media refuses to report on rising threats to LGBT+ equality. Luckily, there’s also lots to laugh about! From hilariously hopeless Pride ads to everything that comes out o…

1
S4E6 World Refugee Day: Inclusion and solutions 41:33

11M ago41:33

41:33

Today is #WorldRefugeeDay - an international day designated by the UN to honour refugees around the globe. World Refugee Day feels especially relevant at Media Storm, because refugees make one of the strongest cases for this podcast’s existence. They are one of the groups characterised most frequently and most voicelessly in our mainstream media, a…

1
Rape Off The Record: The price of open justice 37:21

11M ago37:21

37:21

This investigation contains discusses of rape, sexual assault, and suicide which some listeners might find distressing. If you need someone to talk to, you can call the Samaritans on 116 123 or Rape Crisis on 0808 500 2222. Warning: strong language Media Storm’s first series featured an investigation into ‘Rape justice: ‘What happens to the 98%?', …

1
S4E5 Media racism: Faiza Shaheen, Palestine coverage, and the limits of representation 56:17

12M ago56:17

56:17

This week, Faiza Shaheen announced she has resigned from the Labour Party, after a shock email revealed she had been deselected as a candidate in this year's General Election. The Labour Party candidate selection committee called into question tweets that Faiza had 'liked', some from 10 years ago. But behind the apparent distractions of old tweets …

1
S4E4 South Africa elections: worldviews in 'the West' vs 'the rest' 49:57

12M ago49:57

49:57

As South Africans head to the polls, Media Storm is seizing the opportunity to break out of the Western worldview. Last season, former UN Security Council President Kishore Mahbubani criticised the "arrogance" of the UK media and its failure to expose people in 'the West' to how 88% of the world's population see things differently to them. South Af…

1
S4E3 Police: misogyny, mistrust, and The Met 44:37

12M ago44:37

44:37

Content warning: mentions of violence against women, rape, and assault. This episode was recorded just before the general election was announced! Register to vote here. This week, it was reported the number of Met police officers being dismissed reached a new peak. A police officer has been handed a guilty sentence for assault, after arresting and …

1
S4E2 Ulez: Pollution or politics? Plus Eurovision boycott and Voter ID 47:01

1y ago47:01

47:01

The climate crisis is wreaking havoc in headlines this week: heatwaves in southeast Asia, flooding in Kenya and Brazil, and exotic spiders smuggling their way into the UK - all this marks a record leap in atmospheric CO2. One climate-related story has haunted UK news cycles for almost five years: The London mayor’s controversial Ultra Low Emission …

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Mathilda Mallinson Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen