Latest Interviews

South Africa: rugby's race problem

Chester Williams, Peter de Villiers

Twenty-five years after South Africa's unifying 1995 Rugby World Cup victory, the Springboks remain a flashpoint for racial division as the government mandates quotas to increase black player representation despite 82% of black respondents favoring strict merit-based selection. Key figures like Chester Williams defend these quotas as essential for dismantling systemic barriers, whereas former coach Peter de Villiers argues they damage player reputations without addressing root causes, though both agree that long-term transformation depends on nurturing youth talent rather than national-level mandates. While the 2019 target required 50% of players to be black, the ongoing debate highlights the broader disconnect between political freedom and economic inclusion, with experts projecting that true selection neutrality based on nationality may still be a decade away.

How to help America's poor

Idris Kahloun, Lauren Jones, John Prideaux

A recent analysis reveals that the United States relies on an obsolete 55-year-old poverty metric that fails to account for modern expenses like childcare and housing, leaving one in six Americans, particularly children, trapped in geographically concentrated deprivation. Field observations in suburban communities like Waukegan illustrate how the "working poor" face severe instability despite owning assets, as rising costs for diapers, internet, and rent force families into desperate survival strategies. To address these systemic failures, experts propose replacing fragmented subsidies with universal child benefits, a policy shift argued to be both more cost-effective and politically viable than current means-tested approaches.

Why we should talk to strangers, according to Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell, Anne McElvoy

Malcolm Gladwell examines the dangers of misjudging strangers through the lens of the Sandra Bland tragedy and the Amanda Knox case, arguing that human "truth-default" instincts often fail against individuals whose external behaviors mismatch their internal emotional states. He expands this analysis to judicial systems, where algorithmic tools are proposed to augment human judgment without replacing it, and to political landscapes where candidates like Donald Trump succeed by perfectly aligning their outward expressions with public expectations of authenticity. Ultimately, the discussion highlights a global trend where increasing interactions between culturally disconnected groups make these communication mismatches more frequent and consequential.

How to save humankind (according to James Lovelock)

James Lovelock

Scientist James Lovelock warns that humanity faces an existential climate crisis exceeding Earth's self-regulatory limits and proposes a four-point survival strategy involving mass migration to climate-controlled megacities, a global shift to nuclear energy, active geoengineering to cool the atmosphere, and the transition to artificial intelligence for planetary stewardship. He argues that while Gaia will eventually rebalance itself, humans must abandon fossil fuels and accept a subordinate role to superior machine intelligence to avoid extinction in an increasingly hostile environment. Although Lovelock expresses hope for survival, he acknowledges uncertainty regarding humanity's ability to withstand broader cosmic threats without these drastic interventions.

Fake news v fact: The battle for truth

Alexa Koenig, Eyal Weizman

Open-source investigators have transitioned from relying on witness testimony to deploying digital forensics and big data to expose state crimes in cases ranging from the Myanmar Rohingya crisis to the Skripal poisoning. These high-stakes investigations often challenge official state narratives by analyzing satellite imagery and social media data, as seen when Forensic Architecture disputed Israeli military claims in Gaza. However, the legal system currently lacks the infrastructure to fully validate or reject such digital evidence, creating a critical need for updated judicial standards that prevent both the blind acceptance of slick presentations and the dismissal of verifiable truth.

MH17: can Russia be held to account?

Following the 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine, a Dutch-led investigation utilized digital evidence to identify the Buk missile launch as originating from Russian-controlled territory. The Netherlands and Australia now seek international legal accountability through the European Court of Human Rights or domestic trials, aiming to prosecute specific Russian agents despite the Kremlin's denial and jurisdictional hurdles. While these proceedings face significant enforcement challenges due to the absence of extradition mechanisms, they represent the primary avenue for establishing state responsibility and asserting that the international community rejects the dismissal of the incident.

#Metoo: how it's changing the world

Jacob Zuma, Gigi White, Noah, Jordan Peterson, Sheryl Sandberg, Morgan Mercer, Avela Faye, Sean, James, David Fuller

Since its global explosion in October 2017, the #MeToo movement has driven legal reforms and the resignation of powerful figures while simultaneously exposing systemic failures, such as South Africa's high femicide rate and low rape arrest statistics, as well as Western workplace tensions where male hesitation to mentor women has increased. To address these deep-rooted issues, initiatives like the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund have provided millions in support for victims, while innovative interventions including virtual reality training and male emotional intelligence workshops aim to bridge the growing empathy gap between genders. Despite a backlash characterized by male anxiety over undefined social boundaries, the movement continues to redefine sexual harassment discourse by shifting focus from isolated incidents to broader societal power dynamics and structural inequality.

Women and the Saudi revolution

Zanny Minton Beddoes, Noor Shabib, Hoda al-Halaissi

Led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia is executing a rapid top-down modernization strategy that lifts social restrictions like the ban on women driving while simultaneously centralizing political power and suppressing dissent. Although these reforms aim to diversify the oil-dependent economy by integrating the majority-female university graduate workforce, they face significant risks from religious puritans, rival royals, and a volatile youth population whose aspirations remain unmet by the regime's refusal to democratize. The success of this delicate balancing act is critical, as a stable, moderate Saudi Arabia could significantly enhance regional security and offer a counter-narrative to extremist interpretations of Islam globally.

Putin's games with the West

Putin, Garry Kasparov

Former chess grandmaster and exiled activist Garry Kasparov analyzes Vladimir Putin's geopolitical strategy as a deceptive game of poker rather than transparent chess, detailing how Western inaction during conflicts in Georgia, Ukraine, and Syria has repeatedly emboldened the Russian leader. Kasparov critiques the failure of past engagement policies and argues that the West must now shift toward a rigorous strategy of isolation and deterrence to impose long-term strategic losses on Russia. He proposes concrete countermeasures including economic sanctions, visa restrictions, and asset seizures to counter Putin's use of blackmail and secrecy.

The Balfour Declaration's impact, 100 years on

Jeremy Berkovits, Ahmad Shakarneh, Ahmed Shikane

The 1917 Balfour Declaration established a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine while promising to protect the rights of existing non-Jewish communities, yet British policy reversals and subsequent conflicts failed to satisfy either side. Following the 1948 establishment of Israel and the 1949 armistice, the resulting displacement of 700,000 Palestinians, known as the Nakba, initiated a century of wars, occupation, and diplomatic impasses. Despite the coexistence efforts of dual-national staff at the American Colony Hotel, the Declaration's original promise remains unfulfilled for Palestinians, leaving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict intractable with no Palestinian state established.

The Agenda: Minouche Shafik discusses education and inequality

Minouche Shafik

Drawing on personal experience from post-revolution Egypt and global economic trends, the speaker argues that nationalization and rigid educational systems have eroded social mobility while lifelong learning gaps disproportionately favor the wealthy. The presentation critiques the failure of traditional models, including German vocational training, to prepare workers for careers that may shift two to five times, a disconnect that fuels public backlash against elitist experts. Consequently, the argument posits that policy reform depends on replacing jargon with accessible communication to bridge the divide between economic realities and public perception.