Why is No 10 hiring ‘weirdos’? - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

from 2020-02-19T17:32

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At the beginning of the year Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s senior adviser, put out an unusual job advertisement. In a blog post he asked for “super-talented weirdos” and “wild-cards”. One of the people he hired was Andrew Sabisky, a twentysomething “superforecaster”. It was later revealed that Sabisky had previously expressed extreme views on race and eugenics. He subsequently resigned.

In this episode we speak to Newsnight’s political editor Nicholas Watt who has been following the Sabisky saga. We also talk to journalist and author Matthew Syed about why hiring “weirdos” can actually be a good idea.Presenter: Matthew Price
Producers: Harriet Noble, Jenny Sneesby and Lucy HancockMixed by Emma Crowe

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