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Bringing together evidence, policy and practice to reduce alcohol harm

Podcasts

LATEST

The Tobacco and Vapes Act – and how alcohol is being left behind

This month we're joined by Ailsa Rutter, Director of Fresh and Balance, the northeast England programme tackling tobacco and alcohol harm. Ailsa shares the deeply personal story behind her career – including nursing her father through smoking-related COPD after he [...]

Ailsa Rutter – Director of Fresh and Balance

September 2026

The Tobacco and Vapes Act – and how alcohol is being left behind

This month we're joined by Ailsa Rutter, Director of Fresh and Balance, the northeast England programme tackling tobacco and alcohol [...]

Ailsa Rutter – Director of Fresh and Balance

September 2026

Power, polluters and public health – inside the world of a Director of Public Health

This month we’re joined by Peter Roderick, Director of Public Health for the City of York, for a wide-ranging conversation [...]

Peter Roderick – Director of Public Health, City of York, and ADPH spokesperson for the Commercial Determinants of Health

August 2026

SHAAP’s 20th anniversary: lessons from two decades of alcohol policy reform

This year marks 20 years since the founding of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP), and we sat down [...]

Dr Alastair MacGilchrist – Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems
Dr Lesley Graham – Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems

July 2026

Alcohol and cancer: fighting back against misinformation

Cancer Prevention Action Week in June put a spotlight on one of public health’s most stubborn problems: the gap between [...]

Melissa Dando – World Cancer Research Fund
Susan Taylor – Balance North East

June 2026

Hooked by design: how social media fuels alcohol harm

On this month’s Alcohol Alert podcast, we spoke to Professor Nicholas Carah about the fast-evolving world of digital alcohol marketing [...]

Professor Nicholas Carah – The University of Queensland

May 2026

Getting to SAFER, Faster: Reflections on GAPC 2026

This month on the Alcohol Alert Podcast we were joined by Laura Cury from ACT Health Promotion in Brazil and [...]

Laura Cury – ACT Health Promotion, Brazil
Emma Thompson – University of Edinburgh & IAS

April 2026

Reduced consumption of supermarket alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and confectionery would be unequivocally good for the UK economy

New research has dealt a significant blow to the alcohol, tobacco, and gambling industries' core economic argument against regulation, finding [...]

Dr Damon Morris – Research Fellow, Sheffield Addictions Research Group

March 2026

Humanising Healthcare’s Conversation Café: transforming medical education

On this month’s podcast we spoke to Dr Hugo Jobst, Dr Seonaid Anderson, and Allan Houston from Humanising Healthcare about [...]

Dr Hugo Jobst – Humanising Healthcare
Dr Seonaid Anderson – Consultant Psychiatrist
Allan Houston – Glasgow City Council

February 2026

Plans to reduce drink-drive limit in England and Wales

On this month’s podcast, we spoke to Luca Straker, Campaigns Manager at the road safety charity Brake. Luca welcomed the [...]

Luca Straker – Brake - the road safety charity

January 2026

Government licensing reform sparks concerns over public health and local accountability

In our latest podcast we spoke to Professor Niamh Fitzgerald and Dr James Nicholls of the University of Stirling about [...]

Professor Niamh Fitzgerald – University of Stirling
Dr James Nicholls – University of Stirling

November 2025