Politics and Society Podcasts
Season 15, Eps 26
1hr 8mins
Sayeeda Warsi – Muslims Don’t Matter
Britain’s first Muslim Cabinet minister, Conservative peer, campaigner and podcaster Sayeeda Warsi uses her dual lens at the centre of British power and in the heart of our Muslim communities to unapologetically challenge the corrosive consensus.
Season 15, Eps. 24
1hr
LSE Behavioural Economist Paul Dolan – How to Stop Hating People You Disagree With
LSE’s Paul Dolan reveals how we can stop hating the people we disagree with, and how we can foster a more tolerant society.
Season 15, Eps. 24
1 hr 3 mins
Nature Writer and Cambridge Professor Robert Macfarlane – Is a River Alive?
Our greatest living nature writer, Robert Macfarlane shares with Horatio Clare a single, transformative idea: are rivers alive?
Season 15, Eps 20
1hr 22 mins
Robin Ince Meets Slavoj Žižek – The World In 2025
Slavoj Žižek, one of the most outrageous and maverick thinkers of our time, joins Robin Ince for deep dive into his life and thought.
Season 15, Eps. 14
1hr
Edward Fishman – How the Global Economy Became a Weapon of War
Foreign policy expert and former US state department official Edward Fishman reveals the history of economic warfare, and the alarming forecast for international economies to come.
Season 15 Eps. 12
58 mins
Journalist Annabelle Hirsch – A History of Women in 101 Objects
From thumbscrews to Tupperware, the Amazon rainforest to the plantations of South Carolina, Simone de Beauvoir to Beyoncé, this is the story of women as never heard before.
Season 15, Eps. 10
1hr 13mins
Kenneth Roth – Fighting for Humanity: Three Decades of Leading Human Rights Watch
The long-time head of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, joins us to tell the story of taking on the world’s biggest human rights villains, and explores the ongoing fight for a better world.
Season 15, Eps. 4
1hr 12 mins
George Osborne Meets Tom Holland – The Lives of the Caesars
The award-winning star of The Rest is History Tom Holland joins George Osborne for a journey back to the Roman empire, breathing new life into the reign of the Caesars.
Series 14, Eps 31
50 mins
Anna Sulan Masing – Chinese and Any Other Asian
Dr Anna Sulan Masing explores the vast history of othering and belonging for East and Southeast Asians in the UK, and what it means to be East and Southeast Asian in Britain today.
Series 14, Eps 29
1 hr 7 mins
Activist, Actor and Baroness Lola Young – Defying The Odds
The beloved social justice activist Baroness Lola Young shares her remarkable path from a childhood spent in foster care to becoming one of the first Black women in the House of Lords.
Series 14, Eps 26
1hr 33mins
Frankie Boyle Meets George Monbiot – The Fight Against Neoliberalism
Legendary environmentalist George Monbiot joins comic Frankie Boyle to take on neoliberalism: the insidious doctrine impoverishing society and threatening democracy itself.
Series 14, Eps. 24
1hr
Novelist and Activist Cory Doctorow – Fear and Loathing in Silicon Valley
Blogger, author, and activist Cory Doctorow is the most provocative, original, and widely admired thinker on the politics of Big Tech writing today.
Series 14, Eps 22
1hr 28 mins
Yanis Varoufakis Meets Slavoj Žižek
Join the rockstar philosopher and revolutionary Slavoj Žižek for a celebration of his life and thought with his friend, world famous economist Yanis Varoufakis.
Series 14, Eps 16
1hr 17mins
Andrew Roberts – 150 Years of Winston Churchill
On Winston Churchill’s 150th birthday, Andrew Roberts joins Matthew D’Ancona to illuminate the life of this towering figure and share what Churchill might think of our world today.
Series 14, Eps 14
1hr 5mins
Rory Stewart Meets Saad Mohseni – The Fight for a Free Press in Kabul
Saad Mohseni joins Rory Stewart to share his journey of building a free press in Afghanistan – and reveals a stunning portrait of the resilience of the Afghan people.
Series 14, Eps 11
1hr 1min
Alison Fragale – How Women Can Get the Success They Deserve
Behavioural scientist Alison Fragale reveals a practical playbook for women to advance in any workplace, while remaining authentic to themselves.
Series 14, Eps 8
1hr 31mins
Yuval Noah Harari – Humanity in the Age of AI
Humanity has always evolved with its technology, but now a new threat looms. Yuval Noah Harari joins us to explore how the rise of artificial intelligence is reshaping humanity as we know it.
Series 14, Eps 5
1hr 2mins
Harvard Historian Serhii Plokhy – Chernobyl Under Russian Occupation
What happens when a hostile power occupies the site of a nuclear catastrophe? Ukrainian-born historian Serhii Plokhy returns to Chernobyl to tell a harrowing and profoundly important story.
Series 14, Eps 3
1hr 5 mins
Pulitzer Prize winners Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig – How Donald Trump Squandered His Fortune
He claimed he could do for America what he had done for business. But Trump’s acumen was a house of cards. Pulitzer Prize winners Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig dismantle the myth of America’s luckiest loser.
Series 14, Episode 1
42mins
Anthropologist Webb Keane – Animals, Robots, Gods
What can animals, robots, and gods teach us about what it means to be human? In this episode, anthropologist Webb Keane investigates how our morality entwines with the non-human world.
Series 13, Eps 31
1 hr 18 mins
David Olusoga and Alan Lester – The Truth About the British Empire
David Olusoga and Alan Lester reveal the dark realities of the British Empire, and reflect on the importance of historians amid the resurgence of nationalism and misinformation.
Series 13, Eps 26
1hr 15mins
Superstar Election Forecaster Nate Silver – The Art of Risking Everything
Legendary forecaster Nate Silver joins Jeremy Vine to present a new paradigm of power, progress, and chaos, that takes risk-taking to the extreme.
Season 13, Eps 25
31 mins
Stefan Stern – The Lady Macbeth Guide to Ambition
What do Shakespearean tragic heroines and the Financial Times have in common? Journalist and business scholar Stefan Stern joins us to unpack the nature of ambition — with practical insights for all of our lives.
Season 13, Eps 24
58 mins
Mark Galeotti – Putin, Prigozhin and the Future of Russia
The life of rebel-in-chief Yevgeny Prigozhin offers a chilling lens on Russia’s future. Expert Russia-watcher Mark Galeotti reveals the chaotic new direction of late Putinism.
Series 13, Eps 21
1hr 14mins
Yuval Noah Harari Meets Katherine Rundell – Unstoppable Us (Summer Repeat)
In a special podcast for children and families, the author of the multi-million bestselling Sapiens tells the incredible story of the human race to Katherine Rundell.
Series 13, Eps 17
58 mins
Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Applebaum – The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
For the first time in history, autocracies are working together to stay in power. Celebrated journalist Anne Applebaum joins Luke Harding to uncover the networks trying to destroy the democratic world – and how we can stop them.
Series 13, Eps 16
27 mins
World Record Breaking Mountaineer Lhakpa Sherpa and Filmmaker Lucy Walker
Lhakpa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to summit and descend Everest, joined filmmaker Lucy Walker to reveal her lifelong dream of empowering women and her own extraordinary journey against all odds.
Series 13, Eps 11
1hr 1 min
Conservationists Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell – When the Wild Things Returned
Conservationists Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell share their inspiring story of rewilding a failing farm – and reveal how you can help bring wildness back into your corner of the world.
Series 13, Episode 8
1hr 4mins
FT columnist Ruchir Sharma – How Capitalism Went Wrong
Chairman of Rockefeller Capital and Financial Times columnist Ruchir Sharma joins Gillian Tett to share a capitalist’s guide to capitalism’s many problems – and what we can do to fix them.
Series 13, Eps 4
1 hr 2 mins
Naomi Klein – The Mirror World of Conspiracists and the Far-Right
Winner of the inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, Naomi Klein’s Doppleganger takes us down the rabbit hole of far-right conspiracy theories. She joined Moya Lothian-McLean to tell us more.
Series 12, Eps 39
1 hr 21 mins
George Monbiot Meets Nish Kumar – The Secret History of Neoliberalism
How can you fight something if you don’t know it exists? Legendary environmentalist and Guardian columnist George Monbiot deconstructs the narratives of neoliberalism in conversation with Nish Kumar.
Series 12, Eps 35
1 hr 21 mins
James O’Brien Meets Ian Dunt – How They Broke Britain
Radio sensation James O’Brien reveals the dark forces who have broken Britain and reveals why he is confident of a brighter political landscape.
Series 12, Eps 33
1hr 17 mins
Slavoj Žižek Meets Ash Sarkar – A 75th Birthday Celebration
As he turns 75, rockstar philosopher and revolutionary Slavoj Žižek joins us to share what life has taught him about dialectics, diet and death.
Series 12, Eps 31
1hr 12mins
George the Poet – Me Music and the War on Blackness
The ground-breaking rapper, poet, and podcaster George the Poet joins Gary Younge to share life lessons on education, politics and feeling at home.
Series 12, Eps 30
44 mins
Economist Andrew Scott — How We Can Sustain Longer, Healthier Lives
Economist and longevity expert Andrew Scott joins us to call for a revolution in the way we think about health, ageing, and the future.
Bonus Episode
Outrage + Optimism with Christiana Figueres
Christiana Figueres’ podcast Outrage + Optimism is essential listening for anyone who wants to understand the complexity of the climate situation. This podcast is a preview of the O+O mini-series, Our Story of Nature.
Series 12, Eps 25
1hr 14 mins
Gary Stevenson – Confessions of a Trader
Gary Stevenson once dealt in nearly a trillion dollars a day. He joins Sam Knight to reveal why he left the dark heart of an intoxicating world.
Series 12, Eps 24
1hr 9 mins
Mary Beard and Jo Quinn – Who Made The West?
Forget what you think you know about the Roman Empire and the story of the West. Two renowned classicists join us to debunk myths and reveal new and thrilling histories of power.
Series 12, Eps 21
1hr
Diplomat Christiana Figueres and former Unilever CEO Paul Polman – Fighting the Climate Crisis
Global leader on climate change Christiana Figueres joins former CEO of Unilever Paul Polman to rally the world to choose a better future.
Series 12, Eps 20
1hr 11 mins
Professor of Global Politics Brian Klaas – Why Everything We Do Matters
Justin Webb joins award-winning broadcaster, podcaster and politics professor Brian Klaas for a provocative new vision of how our world really works – and why chance determines everything.
Series 12, Eps 14
1hr 5mins
Daniel Goleman – Emotional Intelligence at Work
The pioneer of the paradigm-shifting concept of Emotional Intelligence reveals why being wired isn’t the key to performing well.
Series 12, Eps 11
36 mins
Amitav Ghosh – How The Opium Trade Shaped Capitalism
Novelist Amitav Ghosh reveals the rarely told true history of opium, from the Enlightenment all the way to the present day.
Series 12, Episode 3
37mins
Oxford Data Scientist Hannah Richie – Climate Anxiety
In this episode of our sister podcast Found in Conversation, researcher Hannah Richie and ESG investor Rosa Sangiorgio outline how we can overcome the climate crisis.
Series 12, Episode 2
1hr20mins
Economist Mariana Mazzucato – The Entrepreneurial State and the Future of Innovation
Mariana Mazzucato’s ideas have changed how governments see their role in the economy – but where do we go from here?
Series 12, Episode 1
45mins
Psychologist Dan Ariely – Why People Are Drawn to Conspiracy Theories, and How to Help
The superstar social scientist joins us for an eye-opening exploration of the misinformation crisis, examining what drives otherwise rational people to adopt deeply irrational beliefs.
Series 11, Eps 28
33mins
Hein de Haas – Debunking Myths About Migration
Why do people really migrate and what does it mean for their destination nations?
Series 11, Eps 26
1hr
New York Times columnist David Brooks – How to Know Others and Be Truly Seen
‘One of the most prominent public intellectuals of our time.’ (Washington Post), New York Times columnist David Brooks joins us with a guide to seeing others deeply – and being seen.
Series 11, Eps 24
1hr
Harvard Business School Prof. Amy Edmondson – How Learning to Fail Can Teach Us to Thrive
Drawing on a lifetime’s research, the world’s most influential organisational psychologist reveals how failures can lead us to happier, more successful lives.
Series 11, Eps 18
1hr5mins
Philippa Gregory – 900 Years of Women’s History
The beloved historical novelist tells the epic story of ordinary British women doing extraordinary things, from 1066 to modern times.
