{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"101. Iain Dale; Communist Russia, Italian Coach Trips, the SAS in Beirut and the Decline of Social Discourse ","description":"A school trip to Communist Russia left LBC\u2019s Iain Dale hooked on travel. He\u2019s since learned fluent German, been chased to the Austrian border by a Hungarian prostitute, been guarded at gun-point in Lebanon, done things he doesn\u2019t feel he can tell us in a Miami Hotel and, as one of the UK\u2019s foremost political commentators, feels Washington DC is almost an ancestral home. A sharply humorous insight into the world we live, angry tweeters, anonymous trolls, the importance of languages and why we can\u2019t just all get along.   On this episode we cover:   His new book Why Can\u2019t We All Just Get Along; Shout Less, Listen More The decline of social discourse Online anonymity leading to unnecessary aggression Angry tweeters and anxiety Unfollowing Owen Jones due to the abuse he gets Lisa wanting to give Owen Jones a cuddle The need to understand people who have differing point of views The people being frustrated with politicians The virtual disappearance of deference Twitter being addictive but sometimes a nasty place Online abuse upsetting even the toughest of skinned The need to have a decent debate from both sides of an argument Being The Big Travel Podcast\u2019s most organised ever guest Growing up on a farm Only having one family holiday as a child His husband hating holidays! Coming back 3 days early from Cape Cod Being on the same flight as was later involved in 9\/11 How the homebodies have done better out of lockdown Not going out for over 100 days due to shielding! His side-line selling political mugs Being like a convent school girl released after lockdown! Lisa drinking out of a talkSPORT mug Lisa and Ian Collins on talkSPORT The teacher who took the school to communist Russia   The overnight train to Moscow Almost preferring Russia under communism The \u2018sliding doors\u2019 trips to Germany that completely changing his outlook Being the first person in his family to go university Does university give you an edge in critical thinking? The University of Easy Access His farming parents backing his non-farming ambitions Being \u2018totally useless at sciences\u2019 The book Travellers in the Third Reich being an excellent account of Germany in between the wars How learning languages changes the mind-set The optimum age to learn a new language Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish all should be taught in schools An unlikely 1980 Cosmos coach trip to Italy Venice, Florence, Rome, Capris Being 6ft 2 meaning Doing the For The Many podcast with Jacqui Smith Being surrounded by gun toting Lebanese soldiers in Beirut The rather frightening entry to Lebanon with the SAS Being the first British person in Beirut since John McCarthy visited Don\u2019t go anywhere without the SAS Dom Joly talking about Lebanon on The Big Travel Podcast A road trip to Vienna Stumbling into communist Hungary Heading to Budapest before the first McDonalds got there Being cashed out of town by a Hungarian prostitute Lisa\u2019s strange night of avant garde jazz in Budapest Going to both Azerbaijan and Armenia when they hate each other Tourism police in Cuba Outrageous antics at a gay hotel in the Florida Keys Apparently gay man can have right-wing views \u2013 who knew! Being hapless in airports Getting to airports 5 hours (!) before the flight His nieces calling him Uncle Herod Feeling Washington DC is almost an ancestral home Attending Trump\u2019s inauguration Staying in the best hotel in Uganda\u2026 \u2026while David Cameron (then Prime Minister) stayed in a shack Being a Tory candidate in 2004 People in Cromer in Norfolk staring at a black man Lisa\u2019s terribly embarrassing story on the night of the Brexit night vote (tempting to edit it out but I left it in!) Cliff Richard\u2019s Miss You Nights in crocodile country in the deep Australian outback, hundreds of miles from anywhere ","author_name":"The Big Travel Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/www.thebigtravelpodcast.com","html":"