The 2020 Network

Latest Episodes:

Open to Debate: Where does toxic political polarization come from and what can we do about it? Dec 10, 2024

Show notes

Toxic political polarization is on the rise around the world – and it’s making a mess of things. Ordinary people who might otherwise disagree, even strongly, and yet get on with one another, are at each other’s throats over just about everything.

Too many political and economic elites reap short-term benefits from this divide, but the long term consequences for democracy – and society – are devastating. So, where does toxic political polarization come from and what can we do about it?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Kurt Gray, University of North Carolina psychologist and neuroscientist and author of Outrage: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground.

This is the final episode of Open to Debate. We’re winding down after five years and 112 conversations. We’ve run our course. And we’ve run it well. Thanks so much for listening.

Open to Debate: How did women’s hockey become so popular? Nov 28, 2024

Show notes

Women’s hockey has surged in popularity in recent years. That growth has been a long time coming. The history of the women’s game stretches back more than one hundred years, and includes the rise and fall of teams, leagues, and legends.

With the arrival of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, however, the game has entered a new era, and is set to be bigger than ever before. So, how did women’s hockey become so popular?

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks once more again with Ian Kennedy, women’s hockey writer for the Hockey News and author of Ice in Their Veins: Women’s Relentless Pursuit of the Puck.

Open to Debate: What’s actually getting better? Nov 12, 2024

Show notes

Everybody loves a pentalogy. In March of 2020, host David Moscrop and guest Amanda Watson discussed how we were managing early pandemic life. In the months and years that followed, the two rejoined to talk about anxiety and late-pandemic life. Twice. In early 2024, they covered what the new year might have in store for us. Now, for a record-shattering fifth time on the pod, Watson is back to talk culture wars, elections, affordability, academia, censorship, and to ask: Is anything getting better?

This episode was recorded before the U.S election. Now, in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory and return to the White House, the themes we discuss are, alas, even more relevant – and reason for grim concern.

On this episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks once more again with Amanda Watson, feminist theorist, Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University and author of The Juggling Mother: Coming Undone in the Age of Anxiety.

Redefining Progressive Foreign Policy Nov 08, 2024

Show notes

In the last of our series of highlight sessions from the 2024 Global Progress Action Summit, Antti Lindtman (Leader, Social Democratic Party of Finland), Kati Piri (Member of Parliament, Netherlands), and Gerald Butts (Vice Chairman, Eurasia Group, Canada) have an essential and timely discussion with Tarek Ghani (Professor, Washington University, US) on human rights, peace and security, and building solidarity in a more divided world.