SotF 2017: Lobbying and the Distortion of our Democracy

Sorry for the long break. We'll really try our best to get out this last few podcasts and then we'll probably take an even longer break... who knows. Here's a full talk and interview from last year's Edinburgh Fringe run. Tamasin Cave will talk about the UK's £2bn lobbying industry and the tactics they use to bend government to their will: how lobbyists build relationships with government; their manipulation of the media; the way that they use academics, scientists, think-tanks, front groups and others to spread their messages; and their attacks on opposition groups. She will talk about how the private healthcare industry has lobbied to open up the NHS to more private operators – and how schools are going the same way; how energy companies have hired a small army of lobbyists to persuade government and local communities to support fracking; how the 'revolving door' works to support the arms industry; and more. Tamasin is a writer and campaigner with Spinwatch, which investigates corporate PR and lobbying. She is co-author of A Quiet Word: Lobbying, Crony Capitalism and Broken Politics in Britain, which shines a light into one of the darkest and least-understood corners of our political culture: the UK's £2 billion commercial lobbying industry. Twitter - @Spinwatch

You can listen to SotF 2017: Lobbying and the Distortion of our Democracy online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

SotF 2017: Lobbying and the Distortion of our Democracy is an episode from Edinburgh Skeptics Presents... by Edinburgh Skeptics Society.

This episode is 47:22 long.

This episode was published on Apr 17, 2018.

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