Latest Interviews
Showing 16–30 of 39 transcripts.
Clear all filters- The Economist24 min
Timed bombs: Israel’s pre-election attack on Iran
Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Greg Karlstrom, Henry Trix, Mike Jakeman
Israel executed its first officially acknowledged strike on Iranian soil, targeting air defense and missile manufacturing sites while deliberately avoiding nuclear and economic infrastructure to comply with US pressure ahead of the November election. The operation aimed to deliver a strategic blow without inflaming global oil markets, prompting domestic criticism in Israel for its limited scope and leaving Iran in a period of defensive calculation as it weighs future retaliation. Meanwhile, broader geopolitical and economic shifts include a significant surge in generative AI investment within customer service and ongoing, complex negotiations to merge the LIV Golf and PGA tours despite regulatory and cultural hurdles.
- The Economist23 min
Coming up Trump: our election model puts Harris behind
Trump, Harris, Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Dan Rosenheck, Simon Wright, Shailesh Chitnas
The Economist's latest forecasting model has shifted to give Donald Trump a 56% probability of winning the U.S. presidency, narrowing the Electoral College gap in key swing states after consolidating undecided and third-party voters. Meanwhile, Tesla introduced its autonomous Cyber Cab and RoboVan with plans to undercut competitors on price, though the event triggered a 9% stock decline due to investor skepticism over regulatory hurdles and a lack of concrete deployment timelines. Finally, Microsoft marked Excel's 40th anniversary by integrating AI assistants to maintain its dominance among 400 million paid users despite the software's historical role in significant data processing errors.
- The Economist25 min
Shoal searching: the South China sea simmers
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Aaron Connolly, Dima, Anne Hanna, Stanley Pignol
On June 17 and August 31, escalating maritime clashes between Chinese and Filipino vessels in the South China Sea resulted in hull damage and a sailor injury, prompting a provisional resupply understanding while analysts warn of sustained risks to US treaty credibility. Simultaneously, a humanitarian crisis in Gaza has uprooted thousands of civilians like student Dima, who face repeated displacement, economic collapse, and both direct and indirect fatalities amid active bombing. In Europe, a rebounding wolf population exceeding 20,000 has ignited a culture war over livestock losses, leading most EU governments to agree on downgrading legal protections despite ecologist warnings of a potential population crash.
- The Economist30 min
The Weekend Intelligence: Black boxes (part one): Michael Kovrig on how he became a political...
Michael Kovrig, David Rennie, Rosie Bloor
Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor were detained by Chinese authorities in December 2018 following the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Canada, an event Western nations viewed as retaliatory hostage-taking. After 1,019 days in a opaque security facility where they were subjected to informal espionage accusations, both men were released in September 2020 following a deferred prosecution agreement between the United States and Huawei. The ordeal serves as a stark illustration of the geopolitical friction between the US and China, highlighting the severe risks third-party nations face when navigating the escalating tensions of the trade war and security rivalry.
- The Economist25 min
Bulls’ AI: funding artificial intelligence
Rosie Bloor, Henry Trix, Anton LaGuardia, Helena Woods, Holly Burman, Evan Nathaniel Grimm
OpenAI projects a $150 billion valuation driven by soaring LLM training costs and exclusive funding from Microsoft, while the U.S. military modernizes its nuclear arsenal amidst a collapsing arms control framework with Russia and a rapidly expanding Chinese stockpile. Simultaneously, a growing demographic of young Americans increasingly relies on political astrology rather than traditional polling data to forecast election outcomes, as practitioners use birth charts to predict specific events involving Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. This convergence marks a broader shift where massive capital requirements are restructuring Silicon Valley finance, nuclear strategy is returning to complex trilateral rivalries, and subjective alternative forecasting is challenging established objective metrics.
- The Economist23 min
Playing the fuel: reforming Nigeria’s subsidies
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Ore Ogunbiyi, Robert Guest, Rebecca Jackson, Joko Anwar
Nigeria is transitioning to market-based fuel prices following the activation of the Dangote refinery, a move that ends decades of costly subsidies but triggers immediate inflation and necessitates difficult shifts in public spending. Simultaneously, Texas regulators are tightening restrictions on cryptocurrency mining after data centers and miners drove energy demand to critical levels, creating a political stalemate between grid stability and pro-crypto lobbying ahead of the 2024 elections. In the entertainment sector, Indonesia has established itself as a global horror film powerhouse by leveraging local folklore and cultural identity, securing significant streaming success and attracting Hollywood collaboration offers while domestic production volumes soar.
- The Economist27 min
Come on out, the vacuum’s fine: SpaceX
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Oliver Morton, Jared Isaacman, Sarah Gillis, Anna Menon, Scott Petit, Natasha Loda, Adam Roberts, Lane Green
SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission successfully executed the first commercial spacewalk with crew member Jared Isaacman and three companions exiting a modified Dragon capsule at an unprecedented polar orbit altitude. This operation tested new low-pressure spacesuits and vacuum-compatible conditions, positioning SpaceX ahead of competitor Boeing in the commercial crewed spaceflight sector while validating three planned missions led by billionaire Isaacman. The achievement underscores a broader shift toward private-sector-led exploration, contrasting with the government-driven Apollo era and highlighting significant engineering advancements in human spaceflight.
- The Economist24 min
Chip wreck: Intel is on the rocks
Vadym Sukharevsky, Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Jan Petrovski, Oliver Carroll, Annie Crable
Intel is executing a revised turnaround plan involving further layoffs and potential asset sales to address a crisis rooted in missed mobile and AI pivots, while Ukraine has established a dedicated unmanned systems command under Vadim Sukhorevsky to leverage asymmetric drone tactics against Russia's superior production capacity. Simultaneously, the political landscape is fractured by a viral disinformation campaign stemming from Donald Trump's false claims about immigrant pets in Springfield, which were amplified by Senator J.D. Vance and Elon Musk despite lacking factual basis. Together, these developments highlight critical challenges in technology leadership, asymmetric warfare, and media manipulation affecting global security and electoral outcomes.
- The Economist24 min
Mario druthers: Draghi’s plan for Europe
Mario druthers, Draghi, Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Christian Odendal, Sarah Burke, Andrew Miller
Former ECB head Mario Draghi released a report warning that the EU faces a severe economic crisis unless it secures €800 billion in annual investment and integrates strategic sectors like defense to reduce external dependencies. Simultaneously, outgoing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is pushing through constitutional reforms to popularly elect judges, sparking protests, currency volatility, and concerns from the United States regarding judicial independence and trade stability. Meanwhile, the 25th anniversary of David Fincher's *Fight Club* highlights the film's enduring resonance as a critique of consumerism and a portrayal of the radicalization of disenfranchised men in prosperous nations.
- The Economist24 min
Plainly reigns but on a plane to Spain: Venezuela’s leader
Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Kinley Salmon, Henry Trix, Anne Hanna
Evidence suggests opposition candidate Edmundo González won Venezuela's election with 67% of the vote, yet the Maduro regime enforced a fraudulent result, triggering mass arrests, over 24 deaths, and González's asylum flight to Spain. Concurrently, diplomatic tensions escalated after Argentina rejected the official outcome, leading to the expulsion of diplomats and a standoff at the Argentine Embassy. The crisis is projected to culminate in Maduro's third six-year term, deepening the humanitarian emergency while diminishing prospects for regional diplomatic compromise.
- The Economist23 min
Extremes come true: Germany’s far-right triumph
Rosie Bloor, Tom Nuttall, John McDermott, Carla Suburrana Artus
In recent state elections in Germany's Saxony and Thuringia, the extremist far-right AfD secured first place in Thuringia and finished second in Saxony, creating a complex political deadlock that challenges the ruling national coalition's standing ahead of September's federal vote. Simultaneously, the newly formed BSW splinter party emerged as a significant third force, forcing the conservative CDU to navigate the traditional "cordon sanitaire" against cooperating with the far-right while considering unstable alliances with ideologically opposed groups. This electoral surge in eastern Germany is driven by long-standing regional neglect and high voter volatility, intensifying scrutiny on Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government.
- The Economist23 min
The chips are down: will diet drugs devour junk food?
Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Shailesh Chitnas, Simon Long, Lane Green
The food industry is adapting to massive market consolidation and the rising prevalence of weight-loss drugs by shifting toward high-protein nutrition, even as debates over ultra-processed food definitions continue alongside sustained sales in traditional junk food sectors. Concurrently, global health initiatives highlight that 45% of dementia cases are preventable through modifiable lifestyle changes and sensory health management, though rising prevalence in Asia and policy implementation gaps remain critical challenges. Finally, the decline of the traditional siesta due to modern industrial schedules is linked to increased heart disease mortality and reduced productivity, underscoring a paradox where continuous work hours exacerbate chronic health risks.
- The Economist26 min
Electric eye: AI is helping fight terrorists
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Shashank Joshi, Sarah Burke, Oliver Carroll
A 2019 US Special Forces team in Afghanistan pioneered human-machine intelligence analysis by correlating satellite and social media data to predict attack zones with 70% accuracy, a system that ultimately ceased operations following the US withdrawal. Meanwhile, Cuba faces a deepening economic crisis driven by structural flaws and external shocks, forcing a geopolitical pivot toward Russia and China as the regime struggles with inflation, migration, and internal instability. In contrast, Odessa maintains a resilient wartime beach culture with full hotel bookings and active tourism, where residents and visitors adapt to daily missile threats through demining efforts and a collective refusal to abandon normalcy.
- The Economist25 min
The human strain: can mpox be contained?
Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Ora Ogambi, Benjamin Sutherland, Mitchell Dupani, Vijay Vaitiswaran
The World Health Organization has declared a new, highly contagious mpox strain a global emergency due to the rapid spread of the lethal clade 1b variant from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where conflict and vaccine shortages are hampering containment efforts. Simultaneously, defense experts warn of a potential Russian low Earth orbit nuclear weapon that could trigger a global electromagnetic pulse to disable satellites, prompting the Pentagon to fund AI-driven detection systems despite the weapon's violation of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. In the technology sector, massive data center expansion driven by artificial intelligence is projected to double global energy consumption by 2026, creating tension between corporate carbon pledges and the urgent need for clean power sources like nuclear energy.
- The Economist23 min
Hail Harris: the Democratic convention begins
Hail Harris, Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Daniel Franklin, Ainsley Johnston, Geoffrey Carr
Amid a volatile Democratic National Convention featuring speeches by former presidents and policy debates, Kamala Harris faces a statistical toss-up against Donald Trump in an election driven by swing states and shifting polling data. Concurrently, medical research indicates that female physicians significantly reduce mortality rates for older patients compared to male colleagues, a finding derived from a retrospective study of 1.5 million individuals that challenges current causal assumptions in healthcare. Furthermore, artificial intelligence has revealed that African elephants utilize distinct, frequency-based rumble patterns to identify one another, suggesting complex social cognition that remains undetected in non-human species due to historical underfunding of zoological research.