Kathleen Wyatt Interviewed by Susannah Jowitt

Journalist Kathleen Wyatt argues that lies hold us together as much as they push us apart and are a vital part of a healthy society.

Wyatt introduces a cast of liars from scientists and investigators to double agents, a titan of industry and a Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist. She asks why we are constantly telling stories about ourselves and telling them in many different ways? Wyatt says that, while others around her are shaking their heads at the levels of deceit in today’s deep fakes, alternative truths and leaked secrets, she is marvelling at how society manages it.

Wyatt worked at the Times for 16 years, eventually becoming travel editor. She now works as a writer and speechwriter. Here she talks to writer and journalist Susannah Jowitt, who writes for the Daily Mail’s Femail section.