Broken Custodians

Епизоди

• Episode 3 - Questions The Pharma Regulator Wouldn’t Answer (with Dr. Alan Black) 28.05.2026 58мин

  In this episode of Broken Custodians, Molly and Ben Kingsley from UsForThem speak to former pharmaceutical industry insider Dr Alan Black.They begin with a recent case in which Moderna was found to have allowed inappropriate payments to be offered to children to join a medical trial, and use it as a starting point to explore broader questions about ethics and accountability in the pharmaceutical industry.Molly, Ben and Alan discuss how the pharmaceutical industry is regulated in the UK, and why self-regulation is failing the public. They also examine the role of government-backed public health messaging, the rarely-discussed concept of conditional marketing authorisations and its significance during the pandemic, and the warnings raised by the government’s ethics committee before it was sidelined and then shut down.More broadly, this episode asks what the findings against Moderna reveal about public trust and the relationship between government and the pharmaceutical industry.Broken Custodians follows paper trails, interrogates official claims and asks what went wrong, who benefited, and what it would take to do better.Hosts: Molly Kingsley, Ben Kingsley Senior Producer: Francesca Gilardi Quadrio CurzioVideo Editor & Audio Producer: Andrija Klaric
• Episode 2 - Unpacking the UK Covid Inquiry’s Module 4 Report 21.05.2026 31мин

  In this episode of Broken Custodians, lawyers and campaigners Molly and Ben Kingsley from UsForThem examine the UK Covid Inquiry’s Module 4 report and contemplate the official account of that era now being constructed by the Inquiry.Drawing on their work during and after the pandemic, Molly and Ben discuss school closures, children’s health policy, government secrecy, the premature sidelining of the Government’s official ethics committee, the role of censorship, corporate influence and the long-term consequences of decisions made in those circumstances. They ask why the Inquiry is failing to confront  what went wrong, and examine how that threatens to embed a version of events that leaves the most uncomfortable questions unanswered.This episode considers why the Covid Inquiry matters not only as a record of the past, but as a guide to future policy-making, including policy impacting children. It looks at how children’s interests were weighed, what happened when senior government advisers raised ethical concerns, and why some pandemic decisions remain difficult to discuss in mainstream public debate.Broken Custodians follows paper trails, interrogates official claims and asks what went wrong, who benefited, and what it would take to do better.1. For details of the polling commissioned by UsForThem which revealed that less than a quarter of UK parents of under-18s had understood that the JCVI had declined to recommend rolling out the Covid vaccine programme for 12 to 15 year olds, see page 62 of The Accountability Deficit, 2023, by Kingsley, Skinner and Kingsley.2. All of the PMCPA case reports concerning Pfizer and Moderna, among other pharmaceutical companies, including those for complaints commenced by UsForThem, can be located via the PMCPA case reports portal at https://www.pmcpa.org.uk/cases/completed-cases. A short video published by UsForThem in March 2025, detailing the 53 serious rule breaches by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca in relation to Covid vaccine products between 2020 and 2024 is here: https://x.com/UsforThemUK/status/1901921340996620689?s=20.3. The role of the Moral and Ethical Advisory Group is explained at https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/moral-and-ethical-advisory-group.Hosts: Molly Kingsley, Ben Kingsley Senior Producer: Francesca Gilardi Quadrio CurzioVideo Editor & Audio Producer: Andrija Klaric
• Episode 1 - An Introduction To Broken Custodians 14.05.2026 32мин

  In this first episode of Broken Custodians, lawyers and campaigners Molly and Ben Kingsley from UsForThem introduce the questions at the heart of the series: how are decisions affecting children being made, who benefits from those decisions, and what happens to those who challenge them.Drawing on their work during and after the pandemic, Molly and Ben discuss school closures, children’s health policy, censorship, debanking, government secrecy, corporate influence and the expansive presence of technology in education. They explain why ethics, transparency and free speech are not abstract principles, but safeguards that really matter when children’s interests are at stake.This opening episode sets out key themes Broken Custodians will return to throughout the series: ethics, transparency, censorship, free speech and corporate influence.Broken Custodians follows paper trails, interrogates official claims and asks what went wrong, who benefited, and what it would take to do better.Hosts: Molly Kingsley, Ben Kingsley Senior Producer: Francesca Gilardi Quadrio CurzioVideo Editor & Audio Producer: Andrija Klaric
• Trailer - Broken Custodians 11.05.2026 2мин

  Broken Custodians is a bold podcast with Molly and Ben Kingsley of UsForThem, hosting candid discussion of ethics, corporate influence and accountability in public policy-making affecting children.Hosts: Molly Kingsley, Ben Kingsley Senior Producer: Francesca Gilardi Quadrio CurzioVideo Editor & Audio Producer: Andrija Klaric