Latest Interviews
Showing 91–105 of 156 interview transcripts.
Clear all filters- The Economist27 min
Vote! Our election-day special
Jason Palmer, Idris Kahloun, Aaron Braun
The 2024 U.S. presidential election will likely hinge on a razor-thin margin across seven swing states, with Pennsylvania serving as the critical tipping point for either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump to reach the 270 electoral votes required for victory. While economic concerns drive voter sentiment, the outcome faces significant uncertainty due to heightened security threats, potential legal challenges, and a potentially split Congress where control of the House remains volatile. International allies are closely monitoring the result, as the winner's approach to trade, NATO commitments, and geopolitical stability will determine the trajectory of global affairs in the coming years.
- The Economist24 min
Last-ditch pitch: America’s campaigns conclude
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Daniel Franklin, Piotr Zalewski, Anne Hanna, Zoe Bulsara
The 2024 U.S. presidential election remains a virtual tie in key swing states, characterized by intense rhetorical conflicts between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris that have intensified concerns regarding election integrity and democratic stability. Simultaneously, the Organization of Turkic States has evolved from a diplomatic forum into a strategic economic bloc of 89 nations, utilizing a shared alphabet and the Middle Corridor trade route to diversify away from Russian influence. In the UK, remote work trends have driven a 33% surge in canal boat residency as a housing solution, though this demographic shift faces mounting infrastructure risks due to insufficient government funding and rising maintenance costs.
- The Economist24 min
Turn up the PA: the last in our swing-state series
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Adam O'Neill, Avantika Chokotty, David Benin
This briefing analyzes three distinct sectors: the 2024 US presidential election's reliance on Pennsylvania's 19 electoral votes amidst deep demographic realignments, the projected growth of the $480 billion global influencer economy driven by high-trust niche creators, and the mainstream integration of the goth subculture fueled by new music releases and high-fashion adoption. Political strategies highlight Kamala Harris's suburban gains against Donald Trump's rural base, while marketing shifts prioritize authentic engagement over follower counts to combat consumer fatigue. Cultural resilience is demonstrated as goth aesthetics expand beyond their niche origins to influence diverse music genres and span over 35 years of generational attendance.
- The Economist22 min
Tax driver: Labour’s budget
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Archie Hall, Stevie Hertz, Rachel Lloyd
Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled a historic UK budget featuring £40 billion in tax increases and record borrowing to fund NHS and public service expansion, a move Conservative leader Rishi Sunak condemned as broken promises. Simultaneously, the North Carolina election faces significant logistical hurdles after Hurricane Hélène damaged infrastructure in key swing counties, complicating early voting operations despite record turnout elsewhere. In cultural news, a viral surge of pickle consumption on social media has driven culinary experimentation, though testing of these trends yielded mixed reviews regarding flavor combinations.
- The Economist25 min
Ukraine reaction: Russia deploys North Koreans
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Shashank Joshi, Tom Easton, Catherine Nixie
Recent analysis indicates Russia is bolstering its war effort in Ukraine with North Korean troops and massive ammunition supplies while the Ukrainian military faces a severe mobilization crisis and critical shortages of air defense interceptors. Concurrently, logistical failures in overseas voting during the US election have undermined American democratic credibility, while the UK's "Life in the UK" citizenship test is increasingly scrutinized as an arbitrary barrier rather than a genuine integration tool. These developments collectively highlight a shifting global landscape where military attrition, domestic political friction, and exclusionary civic policies are reshaping international stability and democratic norms.
- 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 Economist24 min
Marching borders: what was Hizbullah’s plan?
Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Anshul Pfeffer, Ana Laikas, Mario Grassi, Valedeiro, Tatiana Shore, Simon Cox
Amidst escalating strikes in southern Lebanon and discovered Iranian-backed fortifications near the Israeli border, Tel Aviv assesses its capacity for a prolonged multi-front war while awaiting geopolitical decisions influenced by the upcoming US presidential election. Simultaneously, Brazil is leveraging its tropical climate and degraded land to scale up voluntary carbon credit markets through mechanized reforestation, despite facing hurdles regarding land titles and logistical bottlenecks. Global innovation activity shows signs of contraction with a drop in patent filings driven by higher interest rates, though the World Intellectual Property Organization's latest index highlights that emerging economies like India and China continue to outperform their economic output in efficiency rankings.
- The Economist24 min
Your money for a run? Campaign finance in America
Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Adam O'Neill, Matt Steinglass, Dolly Setton
Kamala Harris has raised over $1 billion since July, significantly outpacing Donald Trump's fundraising despite analysts arguing that such financial disparities rarely shift outcomes among calcified voter bases. Meanwhile, the US political landscape remains shaped by small-dollar donor networks and corporate shifts toward Democrats, even as Republican donors express skepticism regarding the vice-presidential candidacy of JD Vance. Simultaneously, the Dutch coalition led by Geert Wilders faces domestic controversy and international criticism over its plan to declare a state of emergency to bypass parliamentary oversight amidst a severe asylum housing crisis involving 1,500 applicants on the MS Galaxy. This aggressive policy, intended to deter future migrants, has drawn warnings from experts that it mirrors authoritarian maneuvers seen in Hungary and threatens to undermine the rule of law. In the global architecture sector, a distinct trend separates the supertall construction boom in China and the Middle East from the regulatory and cultural resistance preventing similar developments across historic European cities. While engineering limits currently constrain height, the Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia aims to reclaim the record as the world's tallest structure once finished.
- The Economist24 min
Keir eye for the FDI: an interview with Britain’s PM
Keir Starmer, Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Matthew Holhouse, Jeff Carr, Rebecca Jackson
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer launched an International Investment Summit aiming to reverse the UK's decades-long low investment status by streamlining bureaucracy and integrating the Office for Investment directly into Number 10 under Poppy Gustafson. While the strategy offers planning reforms and policy predictability to attract capital, it simultaneously introduces stricter labor market regulations and potential capital taxes through the Employment Rights Bill and October budget. This economic pivot seeks to balance investor needs with worker protections to stimulate productivity, though critics note the risks of a more regulated environment offsetting planning benefits.
- The Economist25 min
One giant, cheap for mankind: SpaceX’s Starship
Rosie Bloor, Jason Palmer, Oliver Morton, Anna
SpaceX successfully test-flighted its 120-meter Starship vehicle using hot staging, with the booster returning to Earth for a vertical landing while the upper stage completed a half-orbit trajectory around the globe. This milestone paves the way for future iterations capable of carrying 100–150 tons to low-Earth orbit, supporting orbital fuel depots for eventual human missions to Mars. In Brazil, a far-right resurgence is reshaping the political landscape as conservative candidates shift toward extreme positions to capture the Bolsonaro vote following municipal elections dominated by incumbents. Demographic changes and structural advantages for the right are expected to create a polarized 2026 presidential race where President Lula faces significant challenges due to his age and a shrinking left-wing base. The enduring popularity of the self-help genre, which now exceeds the sales of major scientific works, serves as a historical barometer for shifting societal anxieties ranging from industrial individualism to modern existential uncertainty. Critics note the field's prevalence of questionable advice, yet publishing data confirms that the genre's vast output of titles specifically targets distinct human fears such as adolescence, love, and alcoholism.
- The Economist25 min
General rule: how to reinvent America’s army
Randy George, Elias Khoury, Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Ethan Wu, Anne Rowe
Under General Randy George, the U.S. Army is pivoting from counter-insurgency to high-intensity state conflict by reducing vehicle fleets to prioritize combat training while simultaneously surging artillery production and exceeding recruitment targets. To accelerate modernization against rivals like Russia and China, the service has launched an innovation pilot testing new equipment in active brigades to bypass traditional procurement bottlenecks, though military leaders remain skeptical about scaling these experimental successes across the entire force. This strategic shift occurs alongside a managed trade-off where reduced maintenance burdens free resources but introduce operational risks amidst ongoing procurement challenges and rapidly evolving adversary capabilities.
- The Economist22 min
The arc of war: a bloody week in Lebanon
Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Gareth Brown, Avantika Chilkoti, Vishnu Padmanabhan
Israel has escalated its military campaign in Lebanon with ground invasions and heavy airstrikes that have killed nearly 2,000 Lebanese residents, displaced over one million people, and potentially eliminated Hezbollah leader Hashem Safiuddin. Analysts warn that this shift from aerial to ground warfare in Hezbollah's fortified southern suburbs risks prolonged conflict and potential strategic defeat for Israel, drawing parallels to past withdrawals after sustained resistance. The geopolitical instability is further compounded by restricted journalist access and indiscriminate strikes on civilian infrastructure, including a medical clinic near the Prime Minister's office.
- The Economist26 min
Beirut force: Israel kills Hizbullah leader
Jason Palmer, Rosie Bloor, Antul Pfeffer, Gareth Brown, Sarah Larniuk, Jason Chow, Jiehao
Israel's recent assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and twenty other commanders has triggered a major escalation in the Middle East, widening military operations to Yemen while forcing the displacement of nearly one million Lebanese civilians and sparking debates over a potential ground invasion. Concurrently, the United States faces diplomatic contradictions as it labels the strike "justice" yet urges a ceasefire, while Iran signals a reluctance to engage in direct war following intelligence leaks suggesting its security apparatus failed to protect Hezbollah. Meanwhile, independent media in Belarus continues to operate under severe pressure, with exiled journalists relying on operational security measures to avoid state reprisals against their families despite 37 remaining imprisoned domestically.
- The Economist52 min
The Weekend Intelligence: Crunch time for Ukraine
Jason Palmer, Zanny Minton-Bettos, Ivan Baryak, Vlad, Achilles, Yuri, Vadim Sukharevsky, Tatiana, Vitaly Klitschko, Andrei Yermak, Volodymyr Hobachuk, Roman Kuziv, Mike Pompeo, Chris Murphy, Christian Freuding
Ukrainian forces are currently facing a critical offensive on Pokrovsk that threatens to open the Donbass front, while simultaneously navigating severe manpower shortages and a shifting public willingness to negotiate. This humanitarian and logistical crisis is compounded by a technological asymmetry in drone warfare and a domestic industry struggling to outpace centralized procurement. Strategic outcomes now hinge on halting the Russian advance to secure current borders before the harsh winter, as uncertainty regarding US political continuity and the timeline for NATO membership creates an existential risk for the nation.