Hello! This week we explore how to improve democracy by involving ordinary people in decision-making. Guests David Van Reybrouck, Professor James Fishkin and Sarah Allan tell us how an old idea from ancient Athens---selecting random citizens to deliberate--is making a difference from the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Ireland to reform of the Mongolian constitution. And we find out what we could do in the UK. AND Comedian Felicity Ward gives us her ideas. Including free mattresses, colourful houses and panda cafes   FURTHER READINGA video by David Van Reybrouck explaining sortition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS9EMvbBq_UDavid's book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Against-Elections-David-Van-Reybrouck/dp/1847924220 James's book: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/democracy-when-the-people-are-thinking-9780198820291?cc=gb&lang=en&  CONTACT USreasons@cheerfulpodcast.comhttps://www.facebook.com/reasonstobecheerfulpodcasthttps://twitter.com/cheerfulpodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/cheerfulpodcast/ MERCHhttps://shop.spreadshirt.co.uk/cheerfulpodcast/ CONTACT OUR GUESTSDavid Van Reybrouck - https://twitter.com/davidvanreyProfessor James Fishkin - https://twitter.com/jfishkinSarah Allan - https://twitter.com/SarahAllanUKFelicity Ward - https://twitter.com/felicityward Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.