There's an old joke in intel. Three analysts, six opinions. Well in this pod, three intelligence nerds walk into a podcast and end up debating about standards, ethics, and the limits of what humans can explain about their own thinking.

Jeremy Levin (analyst, trainer, and long-time intelligence practitioner) sits down with Mark Lockwood and Howard Atkin to discuss how analytic standards evolved from "guild" practice into codified frameworks like ICD 203.

Dr. James Wilson returns to the collators, and this time the topic is trust. Jim shares what it's like when families walk into the clinic sceptical, anxious, or armed with competing "expert" advice, and how he had to rethink his own approach: less authority-as-command, more humility, disclosure, and coaching.

Mark and Howard connect the dots to policing, courts, and the wider attention economy where simple narratives spread faster than complex truths. Together, they ask a hard question: if trust is falling everywhere, how do we rebuild it without surrendering expertise?

What does a banking crash have to do with frontline services quietly collapsing a decade later? In this episode, Mark and Howard are joined by award-winning political scientist and economist Mark Blyth (Brown University) to trace the "breadcrumb trail" from 2008 to today's brittle institutions, hollowed-out state capacity, and a politics increasingly powered by distraction — mostly in the UK, but with familiar echoes across the West.

Warning: This was recorded late on a Friday night and the conversation got… enthusiastic at times. Apologies for the salty language, but we're talking about difficult issues and with deep feeling.

https://thecollators.com for more

For our special Christmas episode, we're honoured to speak to Paul Chato, comedian, TV executive, and YouTuber. We talk about his journey, comedy in general, and more than a fair share of Star Trek nerdiness (spoiler: Paul and Mark are pre-Kelvin fans; Howard denies all knowledge…).

Some laughs, banter and occasional hot takes.

All the best for 2026, take it steady folks.

https://thecollators.com

In this episode, Mark and Howard unpack what "professionalisation" really means for intelligence and analysis, and why professional bodies can be both a career accelerator and a hidden constraint.

They explore the "guild vs club" problem (who controls standards, entry, and accountability), why silos persist across sectors, and why this matters more than ever as AI-driven decision support becomes widespread.

Mark and Howard sit down with Prof. Andrew Dillon (UT Austin) to ask what information really is and why the answer starts with people, not machines. Andrew maps the triangle of data, people and technology and argues that information is an experience, not a spreadsheet.

A discussion of the lure of AI, why judgement still matters, and how we might regulate misinformation the way we regulate food; to nourish and not poison the public.

Shownotes, transcript and more available from https://thecollators.com