The Mishal Husain Show

Best known as a member of Monty Python, Michael Palin has been many things  — sketch writer, comedian, actor, and for almost four decades, world traveler. In his latest series, “Michael Palin in the Philippines” - on UK channel  5 - Palin meets the nation’s president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., visits an overcrowded prison and witnesses firsthand rising tensions in the...

As US journalist Azadeh Moaveni was writing her latest book, ‘The East Wing’, a history of America's first ladies and their staff, President Donald Trump’s demolition of that very part of the White House was underway.  Moaveni presents her book as a “parallel women’s history,” tracing how the wives of US presidents, who traditionally had offices in the now-...

Amid the furious debate over the pace and potential risks of AI development, top tech executives have publicly united around a call for their industry to be regulated. As Google's senior vice president of technology and society, James Manyika says his role is to help ensure artificial intelligence turns out well for the company and the rest of us. But with US President Donald Trump rejecting new g...

“Our region has experienced what I can only describe as an earthquake.” That was how Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister, began remarks at a special UN General Assembly edition of the Qatar Economic Forum. Seven months of the US-Israel war with Iran have ravaged Qatar’s gas exports, which rely on passage through the Strait of Hormuz. While the c...

Few journalists have watched Donald Trump as closely or for as long as Maggie Haberman. The  New York Times reporter first encountered him as a tabloid fixture in the 1990s and has since chronicled his ascent to the White House, the period between his presidencies and the transformation of the office itself. Her book,  Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump , writt...

Author Jon Ronson has spent years focusing on the unusual people and societal undercurrents of our changing world. He has written a series of bestselling books featuring extremists, conspiracy theorists and psychopaths. The Men Who Stare at Goats was made into a film starring George Clooney, and his popular culture war podcast,  Things Fell Apart,  is returning next year for its third se...

Chinese artificial intelligence companies are rapidly closing the gap with their American rivals despite years of US restrictions on advanced chips. But the race between the world’s two AI superpowers is part of a much bigger transformation, says China AI pioneer and investor Kai-Fu Lee: one that’s upending companies, jobs and even how people think about work. Few have watched this his...

The writer Colm Tóibín knows something about leaving home. As a young man living in Spain, he discovered a freedom he hadn’t known growing up in Ireland. Later, he would settle in America. Tóibín’s latest books revisit these journeys. The Bridge is set in the remote regions of Spain that first captivated him, while The News From Dublin includes a short story...

It's been 25 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the US-led invasion of Afghanistan that brought Hamid Karzai, then a little-known tribal leader, to power. Two decades later, Karzai witnessed the chaotic withdrawal of American forces as the Taliban swept back into Kabul in 2021. While many people left Afghanistan, he chose to stay. Today, Karzai lives under virtual house arrest and rarely...

The Grammy award winning musician, tech CEO and college professor will.i.am says he believes in the power of artificial intelligence to assist human creativity. He tells Mishal Husain why his attitude toward technology is different from that of many other creatives. The founding member of Black Eyed Peas also discusses why there should be different ways for platforms to recognize music created sol...

“Bridgerton” has been a global television phenomenon for more than six years, thanks in part to British actor Adjoa Andoh. She has described her role playing Lady Danbury in the Shondaland creation as “life changing.” The character is best known for stealing scenes with her sharp wit and no-nonsense wisdom. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Andoh takes us behind the...

Uncertainty about the US-Israel war with Iran and its endgame continues to cast a long shadow over global trade, while Ukraine’s increasingly sophisticated counterattacks are imposing mounting costs on Russia. What are the combined implications of these two wars? In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Oxford University historian Peter Frankopan argues we are entering an era of consolidatio...

Over the last few years, artificial intelligence tools have revolutionized the way many people work and learn.  But industry critic Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI , argues the choices AI companies make about scale, power and profit deserve far more scrutiny. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Hao explains her “empire” analogy and why she hopes the industry adopts higher s...

Tucker Carlson was one of Donald Trump’s most prominent allies when he campaigned for re-election and through his first year back in the White House. The US-Israel war with Iran, however, marked a decisive split between the two men. Carlson, a right-wing media personality, now argues that Trump has abandoned his “America First” agenda and allowed Israel to drive US foreign policy...

Andy Burnham appears set to walk into 10 Downing Street and take power as the UK’s latest prime minister. Behind the mid-term departure of Keir Starmer has been, at least in part, the rise of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. Farage himself has dominated the headlines this week, amid an investigation and his decision to re-contest his parliamentary seat. In this conversation with Mishal Husain,...

For America’s 250th anniversary, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jill Lepore joins Mishal Husain to take her through her book on the US Constitution. We The People explores how the Constitution came about and, crucially, how there was an expectation that it would likely change over time.  This is not, however, an episode entirely set in the past, because Jill Lepore is acutely aliv...

In November, California will choose a new governor to replace Gavin Newsom, pitting Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra, a former US Secretary of Health and Human Services, US Congressman and state attorney general, against an unlikely Republican rival: Steve Hilton. Hilton was born in the UK and became a US citizen only five years ago. He had a career in center-right British politics, working as...

It’s 10 years since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. It was an enormous decision, one that has contributed to the churn of British prime ministers since, a phenomenon that has continued this week with the resignation of Keir Starmer. What effect has Brexit had on UK politics and the British economy over the last decade? This bonus episode of The Mishal Husain Show is an...

Meredith Whittaker has spent years arguing that privacy is a prerequisite for a free society. As the president of the nonprofit foundation behind the encrypted messaging app Signal, she now finds herself defending that principle in the face of mounting pressure from governments and tech companies alike. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Whittaker says she believes business models that rely...

For decades, Gary Lineker anchored live sporting events for the BBC. Now he’s a podcaster and media boss. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, he talks about his new Netflix show and hopes for an England World Cup win. Lineker co-founded Goalhanger Productions, the UK’s fastest growing private company. Throughout the World Cup, his podcast “The Rest Is Football” will be...

Peter Piot first encountered the Ebola virus in a laboratory in Antwerp in 1976. At the time, the pathogen was largely unknown. Now, almost 50 years later, a new outbreak is spreading through parts of Central Africa, triggering travel restrictions and quarantines across the globe. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Piot, one of the world's leading authorities on the disease, discusses why Eb...

Ada Ferrer won the Pulitzer Prize in 2022 for her acclaimed book, Cuba: An American History , which examined the island’s relationship with the US. Her latest work, Keeper of My Kin , tells her family story: a mother who fled the island nation carrying an infant daughter, while leaving a brother behind. Now, as Donald Trump increases pressure on Cubans and their leaders, cutting off oil whil...

David Dimbleby was for decades the face of election programs on the BBC. He anchored coverage of 10 UK general elections, as well as the 1975 and 2016 referendums on European membership, the funeral of Princess Diana and a host of other royal and state occasions. He’s seen prime ministers come and go, from Margaret Thatcher to Tony Blair and many more since. With Prime Minister Keir Starmer...

Beyond this week’s talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, there’s an epic tale that has been unfolding for decades. It’s a battle to be the world’s number one power and a much bigger story than the latest meeting of these two men.  Kishore Mahbubani is a former Singaporean diplomat who served as president of the United Nations Securit...

For a brief moment in 2017, Anthony Scaramucci became a unit of time. His 11-day stint as White House communications director was so short-lived that it entered the political lexicon. Almost a decade on, he has proven more durable than the joke. The Trump loyalist-turned-critic, Wall Street financier and podcast host remains a well-known figure in American political culture. Scaramucci is still ho...