Latest Interviews
Showing 46–60 of 156 interview transcripts.
Clear all filters- The Economist24 min
Reunions and rubble: Gaza’s first moments of peace
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Anshul Pfeffer, Duncan Robinson, Dolly Setton
A four-day ceasefire in Gaza initiated a two-stage truce that released three Israeli hostages and 90 Palestinian prisoners, while triggering political instability in Israel as far-right ministers resigned and the incoming US administration secured the agreement. This diplomatic breakthrough is followed by complex challenges regarding the billions required for reconstruction and the establishment of a governance model, which remains uncertain without Hamas or the Palestinian Authority leading the effort. Concurrently, the United Kingdom faces wage compression as the new National Living Wage narrows the pay gap between unskilled and skilled labor, while medical research confirms clinical hypnosis reduces procedural pain and anxiety despite barriers to its widespread adoption.
- The Economist29 min
Billionaires boldly go: private space-treks
Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Erin Braun, Anne Rowe
Blue Origin successfully debuted its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket, establishing a direct commercial rival to SpaceX in the satellite launch sector while SpaceX achieved a historic booster catch during its seventh Starship test despite losing the upper stage. Concurrently, the incoming US administration plans to initiate a massive deportation campaign led by Stephen Miller and Tom Homan, though legal and logistical hurdles are expected to significantly constrain the operation's scale. In a related obituary, pioneering psychiatrist Dr. Peter Fenwick is remembered for his groundbreaking research into near-death experiences, which revealed that a majority of subjects reported profound visions of light, deceased relatives, and a conscious choice to return to life.
- The Economist26 min
Peace by piece: a ceasefire in Gaza is close
Tulsi Gabbard, Bashar al-Assad, Rosie Bloor, Greg Karlstrom, Steve Cole, Samira Saeed
President Biden announced a three-phase ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that mandates the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, a deal driven by pressure from President-elect Donald Trump's envoy despite skepticism from Netanyahu's coalition. Simultaneously, the Trump administration nominated Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, sparking scrutiny over her 2017 failure to verify the detention of American journalist Austin Tice during a fact-finding mission in Syria. In a separate domestic trend, the US and UK markets are experiencing a surge in matcha beverage consumption driven by Gen Z wellness trends, with industry forecasts projecting significant global growth despite potential supply constraints in Japan.
- The Economist23 min
Arrest development: South Korea’s Yoon held
Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Noah Snyder, Ana Lykes, Sarah Burke
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yool became the first sitting president to be arrested following his suspension of martial law and subsequent impeachment, triggering parallel criminal proceedings and a Constitutional Court trial that have intensified political polarization. Simultaneously, the global cosmetics industry is surging to an $82 billion valuation driven by social media trends and venture capital, while Japan's primary education model continues to gain international traction through its emphasis on student-led governance and holistic moral development. These concurrent developments in governance, commerce, and pedagogy reflect shifting societal values and significant structural transformations across multiple nations.
- The Economist23 min
View to a killing: bond yields rise and rise
Rosie Bloor, Josh Roberts, Henry Kerr, Edward McBride
Rising global bond yields driven by sticky inflation and anticipated US fiscal expansion under Donald Trump are forcing higher borrowing costs for governments and consumers alike, while threatening to slow economic growth. Parallel strategic tensions involve the US exploring coercive or transactional methods to secure Greenland's critical mineral resources and naval significance, despite local sovereignty concerns. Meanwhile, Singapore faces a severe crisis in its UNESCO-recognized hawker culture as high recruitment costs and low profits deter younger generations, prompting a struggling government to rethink its intervention strategies.
- The Economist25 min
Adaptitude: India and climate change
Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Robert Guest, Sukanya Ashin, CK Vishnudas, Arumar Rivi, Ganesh Shankar, John Prudhoe, Alex Hearn
Recent developments highlight a triad of global challenges and responses, where India's intensifying climate crisis drives urgent adaptation strategies ranging from community-led flood warnings to high-tech water conservation, while a forecast of Donald Trump's second term predicts aggressive regulatory rollbacks and tax cuts alongside low-probability foreign policy breakthroughs. Simultaneously, the English wine sector is pivoting toward robotic automation to counter labor shortages and rising temperatures, utilizing spectral analysis to harvest grapes with precision before their sugar levels compromise quality. These interconnected narratives underscore a broader shift where economic inequality, political constraints, and environmental pressures force rapid technological and policy adaptations across diverse industries.
- The Economist23 min
Billions of voices heard: a year of elections
Rosie Bloor, Ed Carr, Gabriel Crossley, Maria Wilczek
The 2024 global election cycle saw Donald Trump secure a decisive US victory and marked a surge in right-wing populism across Europe, challenging centrist technocratic rule in nations like Germany and France. Simultaneously, major shifts occurred in autocracies such as Russia and Bangladesh, while India and South Africa delivered rejections of unchecked nationalism through coalition governments. Parallel political and economic trends emerged in China, where urbanization is pivoting from megacities to provincial hubs, and in Poland, where communist-era "milk bars" face subsidy cuts while modernizing to survive rising operational costs.
- The Economist28 min
Of peanuts and principles: Jimmy Carter dies
Jimmy Carter, Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, John Prudhoe, Tom Standage, Tim Cross
This episode analyzes the complex legacy of Jimmy Carter by contrasting his troubled presidency with his transformative post-White House humanitarian work, while forecasting a volatile 2025 shaped by Donald Trump's potential return and disruptive forces like solar storms and AI adoption. The discussion further dissects Elon Musk's ideologically driven leadership through recommendations of science fiction and biographies that reveal his fixation on existential threats and multi-planetary colonization. Collectively, these segments offer a multidimensional view of historical reflection, future geopolitical unpredictability, and the personal philosophies driving modern technological power.
- The Economist36 min
Tomes will tell: books that predict the future
Rosie Bloor, Oliver Morton, Shashank Joshi, Rory, Christian Novotny, Tom Standage
The Economist's *The Intelligence* program, hosted by Rosie Bloor, convenes editor Oliver Morton, Shashank Joshi, and Tom Standage to dissect science fiction and non-fiction that forecasts technological, geopolitical, and biological trajectories. The discussion evaluates Vernor Vinge's speculative near-future regarding augmented reality, analyzes Andrew Steele's theories on extending human lifespans through biological intervention, and reviews literature addressing the renewed immediacy of nuclear conflict in Ukraine and Asia. Complementing these themes with listener recommendations on climate resilience and algorithmic control, the panel concludes that while technological capabilities evolve, future outcomes remain dependent on political will and the enduring nature of human emotion.
- The Economist24 min
Good moos: cows could help the climate
Rosie Bloor, Robert Guest, Gavin Jackson, Anne Rowe
A global summit addressed the dual challenge of rising beef demand in developing economies and high cattle emissions, highlighting a 19-fold productivity gap between African and American dairy herds that researchers aim to close through targeted breeding and technological innovations. Concurrently, economic analyses identified Spain as the top-performing rich-world economy in 2024, driven by a foreign-born workforce and service-sector expansion despite persistent productivity constraints and housing inflation. In a separate cultural observation, the legacy of Harold Palmer was noted for his five decades of solitary hermitage in Northumberland, which established a enduring spiritual space despite a failure to recruit a permanent monastic community.
- The Economist24 min
The club rules? India’s RSS
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Avantika Chilkoti, Anjani Trivedi, Lane Green
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leverages its 5 million members and network of celibate pracharaks to deeply influence Indian policy-making, despite internal friction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal cult and the organization's collective ethos. Simultaneously, Gulf states are pivoting from fossil fuels to applied scientific research, aiming to solve regional challenges like water scarcity and food security through partnerships with Western universities despite current low R&D spending. In the United States, the term "kakistocracy" was crowned the 2024 Word of the Year, reflecting widespread political anxiety over Donald Trump's re-election and controversial cabinet appointments.
- The Economist28 min
Country of the year: The Economist picks
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Patrick Fowles, Josie DeLapp, Lena Shipper, Alexander Sewage Bus, Sharon Loman, Angie Keeling-Garcia
The Economist awarded Bangladesh the title of Country of the Year 2024 for its significant governance and economic stabilization under interim leader Muhammad Yunus following a student-led revolution that ousted Sheikh Hasina. This selection superseded Syria, which editors rejected due to the uncertainty of its post-Assad transition and the potential rule by the extremist HTS group. Concurrently, the report highlights a severe post-pandemic crisis of pet abandonment in the US, where rescue organizations are struggling to manage record surrender rates driven by impulsive consumer behavior and a surplus of now-unwanted animals.
- The Economist29 min
Mass graves: revealing Syria’s horror
Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Gareth Brown, Sophie Petter, Andy Miller, Rachel Lloyd, Nicholas Barber
Ten days after Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow, journalist Gareth Brown confirmed the existence of a massive mass grave in Al-Qutayfa where locals allege regime forces buried up to 100,000 political prisoners from Sadnaya prison. Meanwhile, France faces a deepening political crisis as President Emmanuel Macron appointed François Bayrou to lead a caretaker government following the dismissal of Prime Minister Michel Barnier, leaving the nation without a 2025 budget amidst threats of immediate no-confidence votes from all parliamentary factions. In cultural news, critics highlight three distinct 2024 releases: Sean Baker's *Anora* subverts marriage tropes, *All of Us Strangers* explores grief through supernatural drama, and *The Substance* delivers a satirical body-horror critique of Hollywood's ageism.
- The Economist22 min
Scholz fired: Germany calls snap election
Scholz, Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Tom Nuttall, Leo Morani, Vingeru Nkandawire
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote following his coalition's collapse, triggering a snap election on February 23rd where opposition leader Friedrich Merz leads in projections to replace him with a platform favoring tax cuts and stricter migration policies. The campaign centers on contentious issues including the constitutional debt break, potential US tariff impacts from the incoming Trump administration, and differing approaches to Ukraine's defense and NATO membership. Meanwhile, domestic challenges such as India's projected solid waste crisis and the resilience of British retailer Fortnum & Mason against rising labor costs highlight concurrent global economic pressures.
- The Economist27 min
Off-side: Georgians reject new president
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Sarah Larniuk, Tim Cross, Maria Vilcek
In Tbilisi, escalating protests driven by democratic demands and opposition to oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili have forced the Georgian government to shift from violent crackdowns to legal intimidation following a contested presidential election and EU accession delays. Meanwhile, the incoming US administration faces complex political inertia in potentially slashing the $93 billion NASA Artemis program, as cost inefficiencies clash with entrenched congressional support for the Space Launch System across multiple states. Concurrently, the classic martini cocktail is experiencing a cultural resurgence due to its historical resilience and adaptability, with modern consumers favoring high-quality, home-mixable versions over declining general alcohol consumption trends.