Oliver Burkeman's launch on BBC Maestro is another sign that organisations are rethinking what productivity really means.

Best known for his bestselling book Four Thousand Weeks, Burkeman has challenged the traditional narrative of time management for years. Rather than offering another system to squeeze more into the working day, he argues that accepting our limitations allows us to focus on what matters most—a message that is increasingly resonating with business leaders.

In a recent episode of In Confidence with Lisa Sun, Dr Helena Boschi explores what burnout really looks like through the lens of neuroscience.

Rather than treating burnout as a sudden event, Helena explains it as the cumulative effect of sustained stress on the brain and body. She discusses why forgetfulness, irritability and the feeling of being constantly busy without making progress are often early warning signs, not personal failings.

We are delighted to welcome Morgan McSweeney to the Speaking Office roster.

From chief architect of Labour’s landslide general election victory in 2024 to the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Morgan has spent his career at the sharp end of politics and power. He brings a rare understanding of how power is won, lost, rebuilt and exercised.

His keynote topics explore leadership in unstable environments, strategic risk, decision-making under pressure, the changing relationship between democracy and technology, and rebuilding credibility. He also addresses how leaders and institutions adapt when the old rules no longer apply.

We are very much looking forward to working with you, Morgan!

We are pleased to see that Nicolas Hamilton will be driving for the reigning BTCC champion EXCELR8 MotorsportVertu Motors plc in a Draper Tools car this year.

As the only person with a disability to have raced in the series since it was formed back in 1958, Nic's participation in the British Touring Car Competition has drawn attention to what living and performing with disability actually involves: adapting machinery, managing physical demands, and competing to the same standard as the rest of the grid.

It is true testament to Nic's discipline in preparation, precision in execution, and his willingness to work within — and gradually reshape — the systems around him.

In a recent conversation with The Health Review, Elaine explored how technology is reshaping our relationships, our attention, our sense of agency and even our understanding of what it means to be human.

We are delighted to welcome new speaker Lord Mark Malloch-Brown to Speaking Office.

Mark's career spans the United Nations, where he served as Deputy Secretary-General under Kofi Annan, the World Bank, the British government under Gordon Brown, and most recently the Open Society Foundations, the world's largest private funder of democracy and human rights.

Hospitality leader and keynote speaker Peter Avis features in the latest Fireside Chat from Hestia Guest Services, a wide-ranging conversation on culture, craftsmanship, and the human foundations of truly exceptional experience.

Dr Paul Redmond was a guest on The Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio2 earlier in the week offering a clear and practical view of how work is shifting with the advent of AI.

His view is that AI is reshaping tasks rather than replacing people outright, which puts the emphasis on how effectively individuals can work alongside it. At the same time, as intelligence becomes more accessible, distinctly human capabilities—judgement, communication, and the ability to navigate uncertainty—are becoming more valuable, not less.

His argument moves the focus away from traditional markers like job titles or qualifications, and towards where someone can add unique value in more fluid, less predictable environments

Ahead of the publication of his new book Braver New World: The Countries Daring to Do Things Others Won’t, John Kampfner was a guest on BBC Radio's Start The Week - Challenges and Solutions yesterday, to discuss the places and people that bravely and imaginatively confront some of our most pressing problems, from climate change to health, housing and education.

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Candice Brathwaite’s podcast Conversations with Candice has been featured in The Independent’s top podcast picks this week.

The show is exactly what it sets out to be: a straightforward, thoughtful conversation about real-life themes.

In the recent episode, Candice looks at how much weight we give to other people’s opinions—and how that can quietly shape our confidence, decisions, and sense of self. A familiar topic, Candice handled with clarity without overcomplicating it.

John Kampfner’s forthcoming book, Braver New World: The Countries Daring to Do Things Others Won’t, is out with Atlantic Books on 16 April 2026.

What makes John’s work distinctive is that he does not treat political and social paralysis as inevitable. This new book looks at countries trying to solve hard problems with seriousness, imagination and practical courage — from social care and housing to health, education and energy.

John brings a combination of political understanding, international perspective and editorial rigour to his work and the book is a timely new contribution to the wider conversation — and one that will add real depth to the discussions he is already leading.

Nic Hamilton has achieved a truly memorable milestone by winning the Jack Sears Trophy at Snetterton, securing his first piece of silverware in the British Touring Car Championship.

“Zaidi creates multifaceted motivations for every character, from Marya’s decision to become a surrogate to Jake and Sam’s desire to have one, throughout this drama of ideas. They are all textured, trapped by their own beliefs, hopes and histories, and the actors rise to the challenge of channeling these diverse perspectives.”

Mohsin Zaidi’s play ‘The Surrogate’ has opened in Toronto, Canada,  examining the complicated terrain surrounding surrogacy — the personal, ethical, and economic questions that sit behind modern decisions about parenthood.

For audiences familiar with Mohsin’s speaking, the play reflects the same instinct that runs through his work more broadly: examining the structures that shape people’s lives, and the quiet pressures operating beneath public debate.

The Surrogate is now prompting thoughtful discussion on stage — exactly where complex social questions often benefit from being explored in full view.

Earlier this month in Barcelona, Spencer Kelly interviewed the inventor of the world wide web Tim Berners-Lee at the Talent Arena of Mobile World Capital Barcelona Congress. Their conversation explored the future of the web — from data ownership and decentralised applications to the role AI may play in how personal data is used. Sir Tim remains deeply engaged in steering the direction of the web he created, particularly around efforts to give individuals greater control over their data and digital identity.

Dr Aaron Balick speaks to the BBC about technology's growing role in mediating our relational lives, and what that means for how we understand, engage with, and manage our human to human relationships. What happens when AI companionship and advice becomes the principle mediator of self-understanding for young people?

Psychotherapist Dr Aaron Balick admits that even his professional knowledge of social media's psychological tricks couldn't stop him from a multi-day doomscrolling spiral during a bad news cycle. His key insight: he wasn't seeking catastrophe but reassurance — what he calls "hopescrolling." Social media exploits this by rationing hope just enough to keep you scrolling, mirroring addiction patterns seen in therapy. His solution is to be honest about what you're actually looking for, then find it in the right places — real-world connection, community, and action — where fleeting digital hope can become something more lasting and meaningful.

Meta was granted a patent in December 2025 for an AI model that uses a deceased user's posts, likes, and comments to continue interacting with others on their behalf — framed partly as solving an "engagement problem" caused by account inactivity.

Cyberpsychologist Elaine Kasket, who has studied digital afterlives for over two decades, described the patent's rationale as reframing user death as an engagement problem as a troubling commercial lens on bereavement. She called the approach psychologically unhelpful, pushing back on tech founders who claim they want to "solve grief" within a decade, which she dismissed as a ridiculous notion. She also noted that grief is highly personal, and different grievers could react very differently to the same AI-generated profile built from a person's digital remains.

https://fortune.com/2026/03/03/meta-patent-ai-model-death-profile-commenting-psychology-grief/

Laura Bates argues that proactive, well-designed regulation — not reactive patchwork laws — is urgently needed before the damage inflicted by AI on girls and women becomes irreversible.

AI tools are rapidly becoming instruments of gender-based harm, and regulation is failing to keep pace. From xAI's Grok generating millions of non-consensual intimate images to "nudify" apps downloaded hundreds of millions of times, technology is enabling abuse of women and girls at unprecedented scale. Meta's smart glasses have been used for covert filming, and AI video tools have been exploited to create graphic violent content targeting women.

Beyond deliberate abuse, AI systems trained on biased data are compounding existing inequalities — advising women to request lower salaries, downplaying their medical conditions, and discriminating against them in credit and recruitment. With women making up just 12% of AI researchers and receiving 2% of venture capital, they have little say in how these tools are built.

Read the full article here: https://www.ft.com/content/60e2a900-8999-46cc-8107-4f468f442aae

Lee Warren sat down with Alberto Zandi and discussed how his work challenges one of the most common myths in business and leadership, that people are persuaded by logic, data, and facts. In reality, most decisions are made emotionally first, and only justified rationally afterwards. Topics covered are:

• How to influence people without being manipulative

• How to build trust in the first moments of a conversation

• What makes someone instantly more persuasive

• How to tell when someone is trying to persuade you

• The golden methods to network and communicate without feeling awkward or fake

Watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLv76jd13Ys

Why are teens so anxious — and what can we actually do about it?

Matt Barbet’s latest piece for iNews looks at the science behind the teenage brain, and how understanding it has shaped the way he talks to his own children about the news and the world around them.

It turns out a lot of teen anxiety has as much to do with biology as it does with what they're actually seeing and hearing.