Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger

Nicholas Burns is one of the leading U.S. diplomats of our time. For nearly 30 years, he served in the government, in a variety of posts: ambassador to NATO, for example. He had major responsibility for the Arab world, Iran, Russia, etc. Today, he teaches at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, which is where Jay sat down with him. They talk over the world: North Korea and South Korea... S...

Riccardo Muti has arrived in New York for two concerts with his Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Taking advantage, Jay has recorded a “Q&A” with him on a variety of subjects: musical, personal, and social. Muti is one of the leading conductors of our day, having studied with Antonino Votto, a lieutenant of Toscanini. He was also nurtured by Nino Rota, known to many of us as the......

Lawrence Brownlee is one of the leading tenors of our time. He has sung on opera and recital stages all over the world. Tomorrow night, he will sing in Chicago, wearing the same boots that Pavarotti once wore (in Bellini’s “Puritani”). A kid from northeastern Ohio, Brownlee is a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan. He has sung the national anthem at Pittsburgh and other NFL games. And, yes... Source Get...

Ioan Grillo is a British journalist long resident in Mexico. He gets into the nitty-gritty – and the bloody. He is the author, most recently, of Gangster Warlords: Drug Dollars, Killing Fields and the New Politics of Latin America. Jay talks with him in a Mexico City park (with birds chirping all about, and at least one helicopter overhead). They talk about Mexico, the rule of law, bad guys... Sou...

Jerome A. Cohen is a law professor, a China scholar, and a friend to Chinese democrats and freedom-seekers. For many years, he has been at New York University, and before that he was at Harvard. He clerked on the Supreme Court for Warren and Frankfurter. With Jay, he talks about the Chinese Communist Party, the Christian church in China, Falun Gong, Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and many other issues....

David Frum believes there is something deeply wrong with the American system — the American political system — and he sums up the problem in the word “Trumpocracy.” His new book is “Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic.” As Frum says, the book is more about the “ocracy” than about the man. Jay talks with the author about many aspects of the current era, including how we got here......

Charlie Dent is a longtime congressman from Pennsylvania. He is a Republican, born and raised in Allentown. Billy Joel wrote a song about the town. With Jay, Congressman Dent talks about that and much else. He talks about what it’s like to be a politician, what it’s like to be a congressman, what it’s like to be a Republican in the Age of Trump. A very interesting and candid conversation. Source G...

Marina Nemat is an Iranian dissident, a former political prisoner, and now an exile. She is the author of the blockbuster memoir “Prisoner of Tehran.” She and Jay have known each other for some years, through human-rights circles. In this “Q&A,” Jay asks her about the protests going on in Iran: what they mean, for the protesters, the regime, and Iran as a whole. She is a brainy... Source Get f...

Yuval Levin answers that question and others. He is the editor of National Affairs and the author of “The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left.” With Jay, he talks about those terms, “Right” and “Left.” He talks about how he himself became a conservative. About the teachers who influenced him. He talks taxes, health care, etc. Jay asks him about his favorite......

Ryan Crocker is one of the outstanding U.S. diplomats of our time. In addition to his other posts, he was ambassador to Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He has had some of the most challenging assignments on offer. George W. Bush, in the last days of his presidency, hung the Presidential Medal of Freedom around Crocker’s neck. In this “Q&A,” Jay asks Crocker about the S...

Ash Carter is a physicist and a defense-policy expert, having served in government periodically for decades. He was secretary of defense from 2015 to 2017. He has spent his academic career at Harvard, where he is today. In this “Q&A,” Jay asks him about some of the biggest issues: nuclear proliferation, North Korea, Iran, the size of the U.S. military. He also asks about the relation between o...

Victor Davis Hanson’s new book is “ The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won.” Jay asks him a slew of questions, including: What caused the war? Was Hitler dumb to declare war on America? Was Japan dumb to attack America? How was FDR as wartime leader? And Truman? Were we right to drop the A-bomb(s)? Was Yalta a crime, committed by the West? Source Get full access to...

Anne Applebaum is a historian and journalist, a columnist for the Washington Post. She is a particular expert on the former Soviet Union and its bloc. Her latest book is “Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine.” With Jay, she discusses this book: the “terror-famine” that killed so many Ukrainians. She also discusses contemporary issues, such as the war going on in eastern Ukraine. A lady who knows a....

In this second episode of his new “Jaywalking” podcast, Jay Nordlinger plays some music from Massenet’s “Thaïs,” including the Meditation, which is how the episode gets its name. Jay also talks about Fritz Kreisler and Fritz Crisler (a legendary violinist and a legendary football coach, respectively). Then he’s got Nazis, slavery, North Korea, and other cheerful stuff. He ends with genuine cheer.....

This week, Daniel Hannan, the one and only, dropped by National Review headquarters in New York. Taking advantage, Jay sat down with him for a “Q&A.” Hannan, as you know, is the British writer-politician extraordinaire. With Jay, he discusses the nature of America. And then the question of national self-determination: What right do the Catalonians and Kurds have? Everyone can’t have his own......

The Chinese Communist Party has just conferred on its leader, Xi Jinping, the status of Mao Zedong. He is the most powerful boss in China since Mao. His status is virtually god-like. Having Xi’s number, and the CCP’s number, is Stein Ringen, a professor emeritus at Oxford University. Ringen is the author of The Perfect Dictatorship: China in the 21st Century. For the Washington Post recently... So...

A year or two ago, a colleague of Jay’s said, “If you want to know anything about Russia and Europe – if you want to know anything about Putin’s influence worldwide – you MUST consult Mark Galeotti.” He never forgot it. And Jay has now done a “Q&A” with Galeotti. He is a British scholar working in Prague. He does indeed know everything, or an enormous amount. With Jay, he talks about Putin, Ru...

Catalina Serrano is a Colombian and the wife of Andrés Felipe Arias, a minister in the cabinet of President Álvaro Uribe. Arias was, in fact, Uribe’s chosen successor. But Arias was railroaded in the Colombian judicial system. His case is positively Kafkaesque. With his family, he fled to the United States to seek political asylum. He is now in federal detention, scheduled to be extradited. Source...

Angela Gheorghiu is a Romanian soprano, and one of the starriest, and most controversial, opera singers in the world. She is a legend in her own time. Jay interviewed and wrote about her in 2012 (here). For this “Q&A,” she is in Palermo and he is in New York. They discuss a variety of issues, including Gheorghiu’s new album, “Eternamente.” Listeners to this podcast may need a cheat sheet... So...

He has a new novel out, Mark Helprin does: “Paris in the Present Tense.” Among his previous novels are “Winter’s Tale,” “A Soldier of the Great War,” and “In Sunlight and in Shadow.” The new one is about love and loyalty. Aren’t they all? As Jay says, it’s another blow by Helprin for truth and beauty. Enjoy the show. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Jay pronounces Golda Schultz one of the world’s best interviewees – and that is an easy call to make. She is a young South African soprano, currently working at the Metropolitan Opera. Jay interviews her there. They talk about New York, South Africa, opera, Broadway, and life. Do you know Golda? You’ll want to. (To hear her in Doretta’s Song, from Puccini’s “Rondine,” go here.)... Source Get full...

On a recent National Review cruise, Jay sat down with an old friend and colleague, Kathryn Jean Lopez, a.k.a. K-Lo. They talk about some things dear to Kathryn’s heart — and to Jay’s — chiefly the pro-life cause and the cause of adoption. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Leyla Hussein was born in Somalia and has long lived in Britain. Age seven, she underwent female genital mutilation – which she describes as sexual assault. She is a prominent, fearless, and also, frankly, delightful campaigner against this. With Jay, she talks about different angles of FGM. You know what class of people she has taken the most flak from? White liberal women. Treat yourself to this...

Ben Shapiro, the conservative writer and journalist, spoke at Berkeley last week. They spent $600,000 on security. For lil’ ol’ Ben? Yes. He spoke bravely and well. In this “Q&A,” he talks about the experience with Jay, and about higher education, the political temperature in America, health care, and some other things. This episode is a quick blast o’ Ben. Source Get full access to Onward and...

Douglas Murray is a British intellectual, famous since he was a teenager. His latest book is “The Strange Death of Europe.” It is No. 1 on the U.K. bestseller list. In this “Q&A,” Jay asks him about politics and policy, of course. Politics and policy in Britain, America, and elsewhere. But they also talk about novels, poetry, and music. (Murray himself is a musician.) When you have time... Sou...