Social for Good’s Kerry Watkins on using social media without letting it steal your life
As we draw near the end of Season Nine of Data Malarkey – the podcast about using data, smarter – in this episode, Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, talks with Kerry Watkins, founder and MD of Brighton-based social media consultancy Social for Good. They focus on the best ways to use digital platforms and channels with impact, without […]
Stephen Waddington on how the engineering mindset can bring rigour and data-driven discipline to PR
The latest episode of Data Malarkey – the podcast about using data, smarter – sees Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, joined by Stephen Waddington, one of the UK’s most distinctive thinkers and practitioners in public relations. With a career spanning more than three decades, Stephen has led agencies, advised organisations, and played a sustained role in […]
Start-ups both with and without scale-up ambitions
A dozen years ago, I’d had it with agency life. Through a combination of a boss and team based in California – challenging in the extreme for meaningful management, and very rarely in real time – and the reality of a new job being almost precisely at 180 degrees from what was promised, I struck […]
Humility, humanity, and the hard questions: AI pathfinder Susan Etlinger on making meaning from data
In the latest episode of Data Malarkey – the podcast about using data, smarter – Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, is joined by Susan Etlinger, one of the world’s most thoughtful voices on artificial intelligence, responsible technology, and data ethics. A veteran of Microsoft’s Azure AI division and former host of the Leading the Shift podcast, Susan’s […]
“It was only an admin error”: How the Information Commissioner’s Office is humanising data protection
This second episode of Season 9 of Data Malarkey – the podcast about using data, smarter – opens with a conversation that shows how empathy, data, and storytelling can power social change. Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, the podcast’s host, speaks with Angela Balakrishnan, Executive Director of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). […]
Kelly Beaver, MBE, UK & Ireland CEO of Ipsos, on the Market Research Society’s “Campaign for Better Data”
In the opening episode of Season 9 of Data Malarkey – the podcast about using data, smarter –host and Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, speaks with Kelly Beaver, Chief Executive for the UK & Ireland at Ipsos, the global research and public opinion specialist. This wide-ranging and thoughtful discussion centres on the Market Research Society’s “Campaign for […]
Purpose, perception, and persuasion – the Greatest Hits of Season Eight of the Data Malarkey podcast
In the latest episode of Data Malarkey – the podcast about using data, smarter – Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, introduces the highlights from a cracking season of six, highly-diverse episodes that make up our eighth season so far. Each episode showcases how data – when paired with empathy and curiosity – can shed light on […]
Why PR really needs to embrace Hard Numbers – or risk being seen as irrelevant. With Darryl Sparey
In this latest of episode of the Data Malarkey podcast, Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, speaks with Darryl Sparey, co-founder and MD of Hard Numbers, a consultancy that takes a refreshing approach to marketing communications: putting robust measurement at the heart of everything it does. Darryl launched Hard Numbers during the early months of the pandemic, a […]
Reclaiming our humanity in a digital world: Christine Rosen on “The extinction of experience”
In the episode of the Data Malarkey podcast – live from 6 August 2025 – Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, speaks with Christine Rosen, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of the 2025 book The Extinction of Experience: Reclaiming Our Humanity in a Digital World. Christine’s work examines how technology is changing not only what […]
How AI thinks: exploring the parallels and differences between minds and machines with Chris Summerfield
In this thought‑provoking episode of the Data Malarkey podcast, Master Data Storyteller, Sam Knowles, talks with Professor Chris Summerfield – cognitive neuroscientist at Oxford and author of These Strange New Minds – about how modern AI challenges our understanding of human intelligence. The conversation is grounded, intentional, and free from sensationalism – true to the ethos of the podcast. Blurring the […]