Ways to Change the World with Krishnan Guru-Murthy

In this episode of Ways to Change the World, Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to the social psychologist whose work helped ignite a global rethink of childhood in the smartphone age. Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, argues that social media has fundamentally reshaped the lives of young people – driving rising rates of anxiety and depression, fragmenting attention spans and replacing re...

We're closer to nuclear catastrophe than at any point since the Cold War. That's the warning from theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli. Drawing on his new book “85 Seconds to Midnight”, Rovelli argues that fear, not strength, is driving a dangerous new global arms race. He explains why he believes humanity has forgotten the lessons of Hiroshima, why today's rearmament risks repeating th...

From the White House situation room, to shaping the Obama administration's national security communication - few people have had a closer view of the forces shaping modern America than Ben Rhodes. As Barack Obama's speechwriter and Deputy National Security Adviser, Rhodes helped craft some of the defining messages of the Obama era and played a central role in major foreign policy decisions...

At a time when Britain feels increasingly fragmented, playwright and screenwriter James Graham believes the country faces a deeper crisis than politics alone can explain. From the collapse of community spaces and growing loneliness to the impact of AI, social media and declining trust in institutions, Graham argues that Britain is losing the social bonds that once held it together. But he also bel...

What does it mean to choose peace after unimaginable loss? In this episode of Ways to Change the World, Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon, peace activists and co-authors of "The Future Is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land".Abu Sarah is a Palestinian whose brother died after being tortured in an Israeli prison. Inon is an Israeli whose parents were kil...

In this episode of Ways to Change the World, Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to Kimberlé Crenshaw, one of the most influential thinkers on race who coined the term intersectionality. Crenshaw has spent decades challenging how we understand inequality — and why it persists today. Crenshaw’s new memoir, Backtalker, is a blunt origin story of the lived experiences that shaped her work - from childhood mo...

Artificial intelligence is often sold as inevitable — a force that will transform our lives for the better. But Karen Hao believes that story is too simple, and too convenient. An author and journalist, she has spent years investigating the people behind the AI boom. In her book Empire of AI, she argues that the technology is not just being built — it’s being shaped by a small group of companies d...

Naz Shah first came to public attention through her campaign to free her mother, who was imprisoned after killing an abusive partner - a case that raised difficult questions about domestic violence, justice and the way the system treats women who fight back. Before entering politics, her early life was marked by poverty, abuse and coercion. She was sent to Pakistan as a child, forced into marriage...

Artificial intelligence is evolving faster than ever - and the debate over AI safety, regulation, and control is intensifying.  In this episode of Ways to Change the World , Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to Jack Clark, co-founder and Head of Policy at Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI systems. A former journalist turned AI insider, Clark has been at the centre of some of the biggest debate...

Prue Leith may be best known as a judge on The Great British Bake Off , but her influence reaches far beyond television. She founded a leading cookery school, built a Michelin-starred restaurant, spent decades shaping national policy on food education and public health, and has written extensively on ageing. This year she also served as a judge for The British Book Awards. In this episode of Ways...

Amanda Knox became internationally known following the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher in Pereugia, Italy, and the years of legal proceedings and media scrutiny that followed. Knox was found guilty of Meredith’s murder in 2009 but was ultimately acquitted in 2015. She has since written and spoken extensively about her experience, and has advocated for others who may have been falsely imprisoned. H...

Heston Blumenthal is one of the world’s most innovative chefs, known for transforming the way we think about food, flavour and the dining experience. From his self-taught beginnings to building one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world, his career has been defined by curiosity, experimentation and a refusal to follow convention. But beyond the kitchen, Blumenthal has also been navigating...

My guest this week is Eric Schlosser, the investigative journalist and author whose work has fundamentally changed how we think about what we eat. Fast Food Nation was a landmark book that exposed the abuse of animals and the exploitation of workers at the heart of America's food industry.  Now, 25 years after it was first published, Schlosser says he is astonished that not only has the indust...

Warning: moderate strong language Ece Temelkaran is an award-winning journalist and novelist who has spent years warning that the collapse of democracy rarely announces itself with a bang. Instead, it happens gradually - institution is weaken, truth is eroded and what once felt unthinkable becomes normal.  Ece knows this first hand. After being fired from her newspaper in Turkey amid mounting poli...

Katharine Viner has spent the past decade running one of the most influential news organisations in the world, steering it through profound industry change, digital upheaval and intense political pressure. She became the first woman to lead The Guardian in its 205-year history. Under her editorship the paper has transformed its funding model, expanded globally, and fought to preserve the idea of i...

“It's really a deep irony that this guy who has really never set foot in a normal American street was mistaken as a man of the people”, writer George Saunders says of the US President, Donald Trump. His work has long centred on the very people who live with the consequences of decisions made far above them, ordinary and fallible individuals navigating increasingly hostile conditions. In a worl...

Clara Mattei is an economist who wants us to rethink the idea that capitalism is simply the natural order of things. She is an author and professor of economics whose work explores how economic ideas become tools of power, shaping policy while masking the political decisions beneath.  Her new book, Escape from Capitalism, argues that many of the problems that we see as inevitable - poverty, unempl...

For decades veteran Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani has challenged what he sees as Western complacency, warned of the irreversible rise of Asia, and argued that the global order must adapt to a world no longer dominated by Europe and the United States. And now it appears Western leaders have caught up with him as a new world order is declared in the wake of the “rupture”, as Canadian Prime...

Mehdi Hasan is a prominent broadcast journalist in America who’s forthright anti-Trump and pro-Palestinian opinions have thrust him to the fore of many of the big issues facing the country today.  He is the founder and editor-in-chief of Zeteo, previously hosting The Mehdi Hasan Show on MSNBC, and his work straddles the line between conventional journalism and advocacy-driven argument.  In this ep...

Nick Lowles has spent three decades fighting racism and extremism and in 2004 founded the advocacy group Hope Not Hate which became instrumental in defeating the far-right British National Party. Under his leadership, Hope Not Hate has become a leading voice in the UK against hate groups and far-right extremism, while Nick himself has become the target of countless threats.  His new book, How to d...

Rebecca Kuang is the bestselling novelist whose books explore some of the most fraught debates of our time, interrogating racism in publishing, cultural appropriation, tokenism and diversity politics.  Her novel Yellowface in particular struck a nerve, highlighting the pressures and hypocrisies of the modern literary world, from social media mobbing and cancel culture to the uncomfortable question...

Chris McCausland is perhaps now best known as the first blind contestant on Strictly Come Dancing and the show's 2024 champion. His famous waltz with dancer Diane Buswell even won a Bafta as the most memorable moment in TV. He first started losing sight as a young boy due to a genetic condition, and was fully blind in his early twenties. But he has never let disability define him. In his lates...

Sanna Marin became Finland’s prime minister at just 34 - the youngest serving national leader at the time. She was raised by her mother and her mother’s female partner in modest circumstances, and was the first in her family to complete high school and attend university. Since her rise to power, Marin has become known for her outspoken commitment to climate action, social justice and democratic va...

Cory Doctorow has spent decades helping to shape the way we think about the modern internet. He is a campaigner against monopolies, surveillance and digital rights. His new book Enshitification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It analyses how the internet giants have captured us and become not quite as good as we had thought they were. On this episode of Ways to Change the W...

Jan Ravens is one of the UK’s most celebrated  impressionists and comedians. She first discovered comedy at Cambridge University’s Footlights society, where she made history as the first female president. Now she is best known for her work on the hit BBC show Dead Ringers, where her impressions of figures like Theresa May, Liz Truss, Margaret Thatcher and others have become iconic. In this episode...