Our Newsletters
The Newsletters are a pinch, punch, first-of-the-month update on our Altered State.
The Altered State- May 2025
THE ALTERED STATE - May 2025
You don’t you don’t need to be a mini Chris Van Tulleken to know that our diet has changed drastically since the 1970s and the principal change has been the emergence of new foods that are laden with fat, sugar and salt: ultra-processed foods. And we just love them, more than 50% of our diet can now be categorised as such. But are they as bad as their press? If so, why do we keep stuffing them down and is there a problematic part played in that by the ‘big food’ industry?
This Thursday May 1st we’re going to go deep on all this with a highly qualified panel who’ll discuss GUT ROT - ARE ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS THE NEW TOBACCO? Charlie Bigham is a household name having started his high-end ready meal business in his kitchen in the 90s, Heloise Balme is a director of Bristol Good Food 2030, which aims to deliver a food system that supports health, climate, biodiversity and social justice whilst Will Shotton of Tibico Health has had a Damascene conversion, he was a senior executive at Nestle and following cancer he now makes fermented probiotic whole fruit drinks. Our host is the marvellous Eliz Mizon who was recently hailed as one of 20 trailblazing women journalists and tickets (including a deal on a pair) can be got here - Gut Rot Tickets
​
​
The direction of travel for America First foreign policy is clear and that’s led to bewilderment and no little fear. Is the US really ending the Western Alliance we’ve been secure in all our lives? The Faustian pact with Putin that Trump is going to inflict on Ukraine has profound implication for all Europeans. Can the US be trusted to act post Ukraine? Do we need new defence alliances? There’s cross party support for the huge spend we’ll have to commit to, but how are we going to raise that money in a post Brexit quagmire of an economy? On June 24th we’ll get into TRUMP AND VANCE - WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE, WHO NEEDS ENEMIES? We have General Sir Tim Radford who’s been in the war room with NATO country leaders when he was Deputy Supreme Commander NATO Europe, Ana Juncos Garcia, a Professor of European Politics at Bristol University and Richard Graham who was MP for Gloucester and has extensive security and diplomatic experience. A panel with gravitas for a deadly serious subject. Our host will be familiar to Altered Staters, we welcome back Colin Gavaghan, Professor of Digital Futures at Bristol University. Super early bird tickets are still available - Trump and Vance Tickets
​
The Altered State elves are busy tinkering with the podcast from the Elon Musk talk, that’ll be up on the website in a jiffy. Link here to our Spotify homepage​
​​​​
Our May Book of the Month is the gloriously titled Gilbert & George and the Communists, by James Birch. Walking a tightrope to prove to both the British and Soviet elite that they’re artists, they put on a show in Moscow on the eve of the Soviet collapse. Fending off the FSB who fight over their art they get through it via a lot of vodka and luck.
​
Here are some articles that have caught our eye this month
​
Eliz Mizon rubs shoulders with the likes of Carol Cadwalladr - 20 trailblazing women journalists
Dystopian ‘murder profile’ UK Govt algorithm
The aforementioned Carol Cadwalladr on the Trump-tech broligarchy
Is the world ready for a black Pope?
And lest we forget, the Donald’s tariff fiasco rebounding on him, as seen by Marina Hyde
See you in the Hen & Chicken on the 1st May.
Now more than ever, WE NEED TO TALK…
Previous Newsletters
THE ALTERED STATE - April 2025
Well we’ve all added someone erroneously to a whats app group, it’s just that we’re fat fingered culture vultures above a pub in Bedminster, not senior members of the US Government and its defence team (ahead of a mission).
So on Tuesday June 24th we’ll get into TRUMP AND VANCE - WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE, WHO NEEDS ENEMIES? We can all feel the grinding of geopolitical gears and it hugely affects the UK. Will the US pull out of NATO? Even if they don’t, they cannot be trusted to act with certainty as they have done since 1945. Can we forge effective new defence deterrents with Europe? Might that include economic opportunity? And who is going to pay for all the soldiers and weapons?
This feels like one of the biggest issues in our lifetime and we’ve got a panel of real gravitas: General Sir Tim Radford was the Supreme Deputy Commander NATO Europe when the Russians invaded Ukraine in 2022, Tim’s been in the war room with the leaders of all the NATO countries. Ana Juncos is a Professor of European Politics at Bristol University’s School of Politics and International Relations and Richard Graham was the MP for Gloucester before retiring at the last election, he has considerable diplomatic as well as political experience. Super early birds are available now.
​
Our next talk is on Thursday May 1st when we ponder GUT ROT - ARE ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS THE NEW TOBACCO? We have a panel to offer differing perspectives, with well known food entrepreneur Charlie Bigham, Heloise Balme who is a director of the Bristol Food Network and Will Shotton of the Tibico Fermentary who is a functional nutrionist and fermentologist. We will find out what UPFs are, why they make up more than a half of the UK diet and ask are they really that bad of us? And what can we do to nurture our gut microbiomes? Eliz Mizon will lead the conversation. Early bird tickets still available.
​
Our podcasts are now available on Spotify. Yes, we share a platform with The Cure. Link here for the most recent, the entertaining and informative talk about HEALTH & HAPPINESS - THE MAGIC PROPERTIES OF CHOCOLATE AND MUSHROOMS with Tom Baxter of The Bristol Fungarium and Joe McDonnell of Radek’s Chocolate.
Also up is our blog from last week’s brilliant conversation about the walking tantrum that is Elon Musk. The podcast will follow featuring a truly high quality panel.
​
Our April Book of the Month is the much discussed ‘Careless People’ by Sarah Wynn Williams. Sarah was a senior executive at META and reveals the Zuckerbergtastic inside story of Facebook, its dubious practises and deplorable culture.
Some of the stories that sparked our interest last month:
In the face of democratic decline, I often ask myself “what would Vaclav Havel do?”
Kemi Badenoch ended cross party support for Net Zero
Just as the Government confirmed there would be no new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea - Greenpeace
The patriotic millionaires wanting to be taxed more
Fight! Fight! Fight! The great Reform meltdown
And are their policies actually, er, popular?
See you in the Hen & Chicken on the 1st May.
Now more than ever, WE NEED TO TALK…
Perhaps the next AS Book of The Month should be Donald Trump’s famed ‘Art of The Deal’. No, really. At least it would stop us looking at that ultra weird AI of Trump’s Gaza ‘plan’. How else are we going to understand the strategy and foresight of the purported leader for the free world as he castigated and humiliated Volodimir Zelenskyy in the White House in front of the world’s press? This followed on from Trump insisting Ukraine had started the war and that Zelenskyy was a dictator. At best it would seem a capricious Trump lost the plot after irritant-in-eyeliner JD Vance kicked off - it happens as we know - but more likely and at worst it would seem to enforce the sense that he looks at diplomacy as a trial of strength, that allies can be taken advantage of and autocrats are to be admired. That’s the clear direction of travel and perhaps we’ve all been in denial about a new world order forming in front of us.
Forgetting for a minute that Starmer gutted foreign aid to pay for weaponry, it led to him having his best week as PM as he meticulously played Trump’s ego in Washington and displayed leadership to Zelenskyy, the EU and Canada immediately after the Oval Office debacle. Just to top off the weekend, the real Vice President (one Elon Musk) condoned the US leaving NATO and the UN. Truly, we live in a changed world.
​
Speaking of the megaloMusk, we have a fantastic panel confirmed for our next talk on March 27th BEWARE THE IDES OF MUSK - TIME TO PUT THE BRAKES ON ELON? Cllr Cara Lavan is the deputy leader of the Green Party group on Bristol City Council and can offer us the perspective of an elected official as unelected and unaccountable Elon calls for UK regime change and casts himself post Rochdale as an unlikely protector of women and girls. Cara’s joined by Professor Colin Gavaghan of Bristol Uni’s law school. Colin specialises in ethics and where the law meets new technology. He spoke on our AI panel last year and his dry humour and legal focus can help with solutions for those that feel helpless under the deluge of Musk’s money and misinformation. Author Dr Marcus Gilroy-Ware lectures at SOAS, he specialises in new media and disinformation, the very essence of Musk’s public facing methodology.
Steve Bannon maintains that no Govt can withstand it “if Elon comes at it full bore”. Musk has called for regime change in the UK, he’s coming after us and we’ll talk about what we can do about it. Rudy Millard is our host. There is a deal on a pair of tickets and the usual discounted rates for students.
On May 1st we will have our talk: GUT ROT- ARE UPFs THE NEW TOBACCO? Food entrepreneur and business owner, Charlie Bigham, and other speakers will be talking to us about UPFs. We will find out why our supermarket shelves are still groaning with addictive crap that cause obesity and health problems. What can we do to stem the ride of sugar, fat and salt? And what are they doing to our gut microbiome? Super early birds now available.
Our podcast is coming shortly from HEALTH AND HAPPINESS - THE MAGIC PROPERTIES OF CHOCOLATE AND MUSHROOMS, the brilliant talk that opened our 2025 programme. Our blog from the night is here.
Our actual Book of the Month for March is Walter Isaacson’s biography of the winsome and fragrant Elon Musk.Tracing his epic journey from humble beginnings in apartheid era South Arica, it explores his relentless drive, ground breaking businesses and complex personality. It helps us understand the braggadocio and why a liberal voting father has gone full dark MAGA.
​
Some of stories that made us sit up and pay attention this last month:
The Byline Times looked at self-appointed Trump whisperer Nigel Farage’s Reform Party populist positions and asks if they are, er, actually popular, Byline Times Report.
Save the world by eating two less kebabs a week (how many per week is normal???). The Guardian’s guide to reaching net zero, The Guardian Article.
Prince Andrew, the Royal gift that keeps on giving to Republicans and those who wish to see a more accountable monarchy, The Guardian Article.
​
The Welsh Parliament intends to defenestrate its politicians that are caught lying, BBC Article.
See you in the Hen & Chicken on the 27th.
WE NEED TO TALK.
Gaza ceasefire, Washington inauguration V2, Robert Jenrick raising the ghost of Enoch Powell and, er, Andrew Tate entering politics with his BRUV party (trips off the tongue as Britain Restoring Underlying Values according to Luton’s self-styled misogynist). It’s been a head spinning start to the new year but we begin with an uplifting talk this Thursday 6th Feb when we discuss HEALTH AND HAPPINESS - THE MAGIC PROPERTIES OF CHOCOLATE AND MUSHROOMS. Local independents Joe McDonnell from Radek’s Chocolate and Tom Baxter from the Bristol Fungarium will be talking us through how these two totemic products can work for mind, body and soul. They’ll go deep on the science behind their wondrous properties, share their knowledge on how best to use and enjoy them and yoga practitioner Miranda Shaw will lead us in a mindful tasting of Radek’s Chocolate with Lions Mane. Our host is Eliz Mizon of The Bristol Cable - you can sign up to them on the night, and both Radek’s and the Fungarium will have their goodies available to buy also- tickets.
We need to talk about Elon Musk. So we are. Unelected and unaccountable, we saw the new breed of American oligarchs sitting next to each other in row 2 at Trump’s inauguration, behind only The Donald’s family (the cabinet were in row 3). But it’s Musk that’s publicly looking to interfere in the UK - calling for regime change, supporting the far-right and bombarding us with coarse misinformation from his bully pulpit on X. But British success and security this century would seem tied to his AI, Starlink and Space companies and him being embedded in the US military complex. Does he really want Reform in number 10 or is it just about them supporting deregulation that suits his commercial ambitions? Perhaps it’s both? Either way, he’s here, he’s in all of our lives and he’s not going to go away as he rains money down on his political vessels. We have a really strong panel: Cllr Cara Lavan is the deputy leader of the Green Party Group on Bristol City Council, Prof. Colin Gavaghan lectures on ethics, law and new technology at Bristol University and Dr. Marcus Gilroy-Ware is an expert on misinformation and new media at SOAS.
Early bird tickets available now.
We are pleased to present our first podcast this year, from the final talk of last year, the well received A LIFE LESS ORDINARY - TALES OF INNER STRENGTH AND RESILIENCE. It lifts the spirits to listen back to these stories of endeavour and bravery in the face of great challenges of differing nature. Listen now.
Our book of the month for February is the peerless James O’Brien’s ‘How They Broke Britain’. A forensic deep dive into the actions of the ten people that O’Brien considers are most responsible for Britain’s rapid decline in the last decade. Eviscerating and exhaustively detailed, it’s a brilliant and illuminating read.
​
We post on our social media about issues we’re interested in, if they vex or intrigue you, please let us know what you would like us to talk about. Here are some events and stories that got us going this last month:
Move over Jess Phillips with your career-long record of positive change. Elon Musk, Robert Jenrick, Tommy Robinson and Nigel Farage are now the unlikely protectors of women and girls. Marina Hyde weighs in as only she can, Gaurdian Article.
Gazillionaire Nick Candy installed as Treasurer and Elon looking to get his wallet out too. Byline Times looked at who currently funds Reform, Byline Times.
​
META ends fact checking. Strange to think we may one day look back at the ‘golden era of Nick Clegg’s influence’ at the company, Guardian Article.
2024 was the first year to pass the milestone 1.5 degrees warmer than pre-industrial levels, BBC Article.
And harking back to points well made in our Why Oh Wye rivers talk last February, the costs and challenge of cleaning up ‘forever chemicals’, Guardian Article.
See you on Thursday in the Hen & Chicken.
WE NEED TO TALK.