Category: DailyShorts

Jessica Lanyadoo thinks civil war is coming — she has seen it in the stars. But it isn’t just astrologers who think we’re living through an age of upheaval. Peter Turchin, a Soviet-born professor who studies historical cycles, has already seen one political system collapse in his lifetime. He calls this decade the Turbulent Twenties.

Could our collective anxiety explain the rise of the new gurus?

The New Gurus is a series about looking for enlightenment in the digital world.

Written and presented by Helen Lewis

Series Producers: Morgan Childs and Tom Pooley Story consultant: Geoff Bird Original music composed by Paper Tiger Sound design and mix: Rob Speight Editor: Craig Templeton Smith

A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

When Peter McCormack made a fortune investing in Bitcoin, he knew exactly how to spend it - buying his local football team. Helen Lewis travels to the ground of Real Bedford FC, where you can buy a half-time bacon butty in Bitcoin, to hear whether McCormack’s faith has been shaken by the "crypto winter".

How are McCormack and other crypto gurus like Layah Heilpern keeping the faith as the price of Bitcoin tumbles?

The New Gurus is a series about looking for enlightenment in the digital world.

Written and presented by Helen Lewis

Series Producers: Morgan Childs and Tom Pooley Story consultant: Geoff Bird Original music composed by Paper Tiger Sound design and mix: Rob Speight Editor: Craig Templeton Smith

A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

At Oxford University, fellow students remember Tom Ralis as a quiet, nerdy biology student who played percussion in the college orchestra. But even then, he had one ambition - to become a guru.

He reinvented himself as Tom Torero, a pick-up artist who approached women in the street for dates - a practice known as “daygame”. His transformation led to tragedy.

The New Gurus is a series about looking for enlightenment in the digital world.

Written and presented by Helen Lewis

Series Producers: Morgan Childs and Tom Pooley Story consultant: Geoff Bird Original music composed by Paper Tiger Sound design and mix: Rob Speight Editor: Craig Templeton Smith

A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

In 2018, a New York Times article anointed a group of taboo-breaking intellectual provocateurs as the 'Intellectual Dark Web'. David Fuller was one of those who found this loose grouping of dissident gurus like Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan and Sam Harris intoxicating – enough to leave the mainstream media and start his own YouTube channel.

But, four years on, he is left wondering - where did it all go wrong?

The New Gurus is a series about looking for enlightenment in the digital world.

Written and presented by Helen Lewis

Series Producers: Morgan Childs and Tom Pooley Story consultant: Geoff Bird Original music composed by Paper Tiger Sound design and mix: Rob Speight Editor: Craig Templeton Smith

A Tempo & Talker production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds