Jun 2, 20261h 5m
John Bell speaks with award-winning documentary filmmaker and author Saira Shah about the different psychological outlooks that are needed to deal with today's global political challenges. Drawing on her experiences in...
news
Upstream
Hosted by The Conciliators Guild · news · EN-CA
About this Podcast:
Upstream is a politics and society podcast that takes a deeper look at our world, going beyond conventional analysis and media punditry. We interview big picture thinkers on issues and events "upstream" at their source. We bring psychology, history, culture, philosophy and human nature into the mix to gain a better understanding of what is happening, and why. Episodes are co-hosted by John Bell and/or John Zada, two co-founders of The Conciliators Guild, an organization highlighting the role of underlying motivations in politics.
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Contact path
Verified email
Booking probability
29%
Guest openness
Selective
80/100
Required Score
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What is Upstream about?
Upstream is a politics and society podcast that takes a deeper look at our world, going beyond conventional analysis and media punditry. We interview big picture thinkers on issues and events "upstream" at their source. We bring psychology, history, culture, philosophy and human nature into the mix to gain a better understanding of what is happening, and why.
Who hosts Upstream?
Upstream is hosted by The Conciliators Guild. The show has published 16 episodes to date.
What has Upstream covered recently?
Recent episodes include "Is Anger Poisoning our Politics? A Conversation with Author and Journalist Saira Shah" (2 June 2026, 65 minutes), "How understanding India's past can diminish polarization today - Anirudh Kanisetti" (21 December 2025, 63 minutes), and "A Journalist’s 20 Years of Travel in the Middle East, “The Patchwork Cloak of Kamal Bey” | John Zada Interview" (20 November 2025, 40 minutes).
How often does Upstream publish?
Upstream publishes roughly monthly, with episodes averaging 51 minutes across 16 episodes.
How hard is it to get booked on Upstream?
Booking probability for Upstream is 29%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. Upstream requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. Upstream's contact route on record: verified email.
About the host
The Conciliators Guild hosts Upstream, a news podcast with 16 episodes published.
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Recent episodes
Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.
- Dec 21, 20251h 3m
Indian historian Anirudh Kanisetti takes us through a tour of medieval Deccan India, how its rulers used religion in politics, as many do today, and how it was part of an intricate web of commercial and cultural ties...
- Nov 20, 202540 min
Are 'East' and 'West' really as far apart as our notions of them suggest? Canadian journalist and author John Zada discusses his latest nonfiction work, The Patchwork Cloak of Kamal Bey: An East–West Memoir. The book, a...
- Aug 31, 202553 min
Johan Norberg, historian and commentator, describes golden ages throughout human history, what it took to build them and how they declined. Above all, what does this mean for today? Are the Anglosphere and its allies...
- Aug 21, 202532 min
Simon Lee Maryan, psychologist, resilience coach and former British Royal Marine, explains how his psychological training helped him survive dire straits and how that in turn can help others manage the highly emotional...
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- Jul 16, 202549 min
Author Naomi Alderman (The Power) examines how pasttechnological revolutions—writing, the printing press—reshaped human cognition and society. Her insights reveal a pattern: each wave of innovation brought both...
- May 30, 202545 min
Richard Overy, Honorary Research Professor of History at the University of Exeter and best-selling author, speaks with John Bell about the many causes of war, from evolutionary biology to the hubris of today’s leaders...
- Feb 13, 202558 min
Antone Martinho Truswell, an evolutionary biologist and Dean of Graduate House at St Paul’s College, University of Sydney, talks to John Bell about the rise of a global monoculture and the endangerment of local ideas...
- Jan 17, 202554 min
Ivan Tyrrell, the co-founder of the Human Givens approach to psychotherapy as well as Human Givens College in the UK, talks about the disorder in our world today, and the need for greater human flourishing and what is...
- Jan 17, 202557 min
Dr. Calum Nicholson, a scholar at the University of Cambridge and the Danube Institute, speaks about the cultural undercurrents of polarization impacting politics everywhere – including spurious Western attitudes...
- Jan 16, 20251h 20m
British author, scholar, and psychiatrist Dr. Iain McGilchrist argues that the quality of a civilization’s culture and ideas—and its tendency to flourish or self-destruct—depends on its habits of thinking. Hosted by...
- Jan 16, 202536 min
Dr. Patrick Ophuls (who writes under the pen name William Ophuls), an American political scientist and ecologist, talks about the rise and fall of societies and about his book Immoderate Greatness: Why Civilizations...
- Jan 15, 202539 min
Author Jason Webster talks about his book, Violencia, A New History of Spain: Past, Present and the Future of the West , which explores the outsize and little-known cultural impact Spain has had on the Western world...
- Jan 15, 202538 min
Dr. William Beharrell, the Founder and CEO of the Fathom Trust NGO, talks about his years working in community development, heritage preservation, and health in Afghanistan, and the lessons he learned from those...
- Jan 14, 202543 min
Former U.S. Army Green Beret, Scott Mann, talks about the political and military lessons learned during the American Afghanistan mission—and about his book, Game Changers: Going Local to Defeat Violent Extremists...
- Jan 14, 20251h 4m
Dr. Jonathan Wolff, a philosopher and professor at the Blavatnik School of Government at University of Oxford, talks about the potential for nationalism and group identity to be abused for political benefit. Hosted by...
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