Restart Podcast Ep. 67: Reflecting on repair during the pandemic

Our summer podcast season has come to a close and what a time it’s been! We revisited our archive and picked some of the episodes where our discussion touched on the pandemic and the events of the last eighteen months.  Throughout the episode, we hear select clips from nine recent guests and situate these discussions. We cover healthcare,  from patents and barriers to medical device repair. We reflect on how workers in the electronics industry have been negatively affected including those working in factories in Asia, to professional repairers on the high streets of London.  False and real silver linings during the pandemic There were a lot of expectations at the beginning of the pandemic about how measures like lockdown might have a silver lining in terms of lowering carbon emissions. We hear how this was not necessarily the case and instead learn what active changes we can campaign for to make a real difference. Luckily, we also had some big glimmers of hope and optimism in our community over the last year. We spoke to repairers who were fixing donated laptops to give to those in need and an artist who managed to create a stunning piece of interactive art to bring joy to the community despite the circumstances. Links: * Restart Podcast Ep. 51: Copyright law, ownership and crisis with Aaron Perzanowski * U.S. PIRG: 43,000 call on ventilator manufacturers to release repair information * U.S. PIRG: Hospital technicians renew urgent call for Right to Repair medical equipment * Restart Radio: Reuse and repair with two frontline medical professionals * Restart Podcast Ep. 60: Helping electronics workers improve conditions * Restart Radio: Reusing laptops for digital inclusion with Mer-IT and Hackney Fixers * Restart Podcast Ep. 54: Shoes and urgent system change with Tansy Hoskins * Restart Podcast Ep. 52: Combining nostalgia with the new at Armstrong Audio * Restart Podcast Ep. 59: Lasers lighting up the sky, with Seb Lee-Delisle