Crisis What Crisis with Andy Coulson

As regular listeners will know, at the end of all our conversations we ask our guests for their three crisis comforts; their go-tos for inspiration and strength during the challenging times. Short but perfectly formed advice for getting you through the tough moments. Over the years we have heard some incredibly interesting and useful tips for anyone who might be feeling the weight of their own pro...

In this episode I am joined by the politician Sajid Javid. The former Health and Home Secretary talks frankly about a childhood blighted by racism, his ‘survivor’s guilt’ after his older brother Tariq took his life and the extraordinary conversation with Prime Minister Boris Johnson that led him to quit as Chancellor. A fascinating, revealing conversation with a man who has a claim to the title Se...

As regular listeners will know, at the end of all our conversations we ask our guests for their three crisis comforts; their go-tos for inspiration and strength during the challenging times. Short but perfectly formed advice for getting you through the tough moments. Over the years we have heard some incredibly interesting and useful tips for anyone who might be feeling the weight of their own pro...

Former Hollyoaks star, best-selling author and biohacking superstar Davinia Taylor’s story is a true masterclass in how to turn personal crisis into a rocket-propelled positive. In this episode she talks about it all with raw honesty, emotion and humour. And all done without a hint of self-pity. *DISCLAIMER – This episode includes discussion about addiction issues. Anyone struggling should seek pr...

As regular listeners will know, at the end of all our conversations we ask our guests for their three crisis comforts; their go-tos for inspiration and strength during the challenging times. Short but perfectly formed advice for getting you through the tough moments. Over the years we have heard some incredibly interesting and useful tips for anyone who might be feeling the weight of their own pro...

Former Secretary of State Lord Peter Hain’s remarkable life was forged in crisis. His parents’ peaceful but determined activism against apartheid – and the drama that surrounded his family as a result – was the backdrop to Peter’s upbringing in South Africa. The Hains were constantly harassed – and at one stage jailed by the South African security services. When a close family friend was convicted...

As regular listeners will know, at the end of all our conversations we ask our guests for their three crisis comforts; their go-tos for inspiration and strength during the challenging times. Short but perfectly formed advice for getting you through the tough moments. Over the years we have heard some incredibly interesting and useful tips for anyone who might be feeling the weight of their own pro...

Our guest for this episode is music legend Timbaland. With more Top Ten hits than Elvis, Tim is one of the world’s most successful super producers, performers and music entrepreneurs. He’s worked with artists including Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, Missy Elliott, Justin Timberlake, Michael Jackson, Elton John, Jay-Z and Beyoncé. And yet despite this incredible success, Tim has faced down a number of...

If you pitched the story we discuss in this episode as a fictional film script you’d be laughed out of the room … so shocking, so unlikely is this tale of crisis. In 2005 Steve Gallant was convicted of the brutal revenge murder of a man he claimed had attacked his then girlfriend. After being sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum 17-year term, Steve made a vow to never again use violence. He...

Our guest this week is Tom Fletcher, former Ambassador to Lebanon, Downing Street Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs to three successive Prime Ministers and author. Given Tom’s experience at the sharp end of geopolitics, the timing of our conversation could not have been more useful. Tom, who is now Principal of Oxford University’s Hertford College, has first-hand, visceral experience of managi...

In this episode I’m joined by the eminent and progressive educator, renowned author and political historian Sir Anthony Seldon. As a Headmaster, he has led some of Britain’s most prestigious schools, including Brighton College and Wellington and most recently Epsom College, a role he took on following the shocking murder of former Headmistress Emma Pattison and her daughter, Lettie. Anthony talks...

In this short trailer you can hear snippets of our compelling conversations with previous guests on the podcast, including – Richard Bacon, Fergal Keane, Nile Rodgers, Piers Morgan, Sarah Standing, Bill Browder, Vicky Pryce and Lisa Squire. A reminder of the broad range of topics and conversations around crisis that I’ve had with some truly exceptional people. Our stories range from the devastatin...

In today’s episode we revisit a conversation from three years ago, when I swapped seats and let my friend, the journalist and broadcaster Jane Moore ask me the questions. Listening back to this interview, my approach to life after crisis remains relatively unchanged, but I also realise that there’s so much more I’ve learnt as a result of the 60+ episodes I’ve recorded since then. The judgement fre...

Surviving crisis is one thing. Building a business empire in the midst of one is quite another. In this episode we are joined by media mogul Saad Mohseni – the creator of Afghanistan’s first news and entertainment TV network. The son of an Afghan diplomat, Saad was born in London but spent his childhood years in Kabul until the Soviet invasion in 1980 when his family sought political asylum in Aus...

This Crisis Comforts episode features previous guests Victoria Milligan and Henry Scowcroft. Victoria, who joined us early in Series One, described how in a moment she went from a perfect life to becoming a “widow, a bereaved parent, a single parent and an amputee” all in one horrific boat accident in 2013. In her Crisis Comforts, she explains how she navigated her appalling grief by focusing on d...

Nigel Wilson is the Group Chief Executive of Legal & General, the 200-year-old multi-national institution, and is one of Britain’s most acclaimed business leaders. He joins us to share his remarkable story from a boy raised in a two-bedroom council house in Darlington to now leading a global company managing £1.2 trillion. We learn about what drives him and motivates him, his strategy of ‘incl...

My conversation today will focus on a key crisis skill – endurance. And I’m thrilled to say that we have the perfect guest to help us – record-breaking, long-distance cyclist, adventurer, broadcaster and author Mark Beaumont. Mark is a man who certainly knows what it means to endure. In 2008 he broke the world record for a circumnavigational bike tour of the world, travelling 18,000 miles from Par...

My guest for this episode is the multi-award-winning broadcaster, journalist and writer Aasmah Mir. Starting her career on Scottish TV, Aasmah has worked on our screens and radios for more than 25years including as co-presenter of Radio 4’s Saturday Live, Radio 5’s Drive show and now as the co-presenter of Times Radio’s Breakfast show. But beneath Aasmah’s trailblazing success lies a story of resi...

Our guest for this episode of Crisis What Crisis? is one of Britain’s best-known politicians, Michael Gove. A man who has held numerous jobs in Cabinet, working under four Prime Ministers – he is of course now the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. For well over a decade, Michael has been at the heart of a series of political crises, including the forming of the Coalitio...

Our guest for this episode is the passionate environmentalist and financier Ben Goldsmith. A leading figure in the UK’s rewilding movement, as well as a pioneer of green investment, Ben’s focus on our environmental crisis is now entwined with a deep sadness. In July 2019 he lost, unexpectedly and tragically, his 15-year-old daughter Iris, in an accident on the family farm in Somerset. Paralysed by...

Joining us in this episode is Britain’s, arguably the world's, most followed journalist - former newspaper editor, presenter, news broadcaster, author and self-confessed controversialist Piers Morgan. As you’ll most likely be aware, Piers is someone with opinions. Those clear views, alongside an absolute obsession with news and an unrelenting work ethic, have driven Piers to tremendous success bot...

Having completed six tours in the most hostile of environments, including four in Afghanistan, former Royal Marine Commando Nick Goldsmith was a broken man. Diagnosed with complex PTSD, Nick was paralysed with paranoia, shame, and as he describes it, survivor’s guilt. All a result of horrific experiences that saw him lose close friends in battle and become submerged in the other horrors of war. On...

Our guest for this episode is Rory Stewart - the former diplomat and politician turned podcasting rock star. In a conversation that I hope you agree is compelling and useful, Rory talks about his greatest failures, traumas, his approach to risk and why a political comeback is on the cards. A proud Scot, Rory was born in Hong Kong and brought up in Malaysia. After Eton, he went on to Oxford and the...

In one of our most valuable crisis conversations yet, we’re joined by one of the world’s best psychotherapists – author and fellow podcaster, Julia Samuel – and in this episode we focus on possibly the most important theme that has come out of our conversations so far. That is grief. How we approach it, how we accept it and how we then move forward productively. In the sixty episodes we’ve recorde...

“Cancer not only makes the person going through it appreciate every nuance of life, it also make the people who love you speak their minds.” In this episode we are joined by Sarah Standing – journalist, toy shop owner and author. On the face of it, Sarah has enjoyed – and appreciated – a charmed life. The daughter of actress Nanette Newman and director, writer and actor Bryan Forbes, and sister of...