Canada’s Prime Minister, Mark Carney, received a standing ovation at the World Economic Forum in Davos after warning that the global order has entered a period of “rupture”. In a post-speech interview with Gideon, Carney reflects on how globalisation went wrong — and on what can still be salvaged through deeper co-operation among countries and institutions that share common values. Interview and clips courtesy of the World Economic Forum Free links to read more on this topic: Mark Carney warns o...
Jan 21, 2026•15 min
Gideon speaks to Finland’s president about how to resolve the stand-off between Europe and the US over Greenland. Alexander Stubb describes the dispute as the "most difficult issue he has faced since taking office", arguing that discreet “back office” diplomacy, rather than public grandstanding, is the best way forward. He also touches on Ukraine, applauding the transatlantic alliance’s achievements so far but cautioning that the Greenland row is beginning to sap momentum from efforts to advance...
Jan 20, 2026•28 min
Famine, mass killings and the collapse of basic government services have pushed Sudan into what the UN now calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. As regional powers across the Middle East fuel the conflict by backing rival factions, civilians have largely been left to fend for themselves. Gideon speaks to Sudanese political analyst Kholood Khair and Sudan expert Alex de Waal to understand how the country reached this point — and where the country and its people go from here. Clips: Sky New...
Jan 15, 2026•26 min
Now that the Trump administration has fully embraced the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ - a policy claiming the western hemisphere as a US sphere of influence - which country will be next in the line of fire? Gideon discusses this with Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group consultancy, which has just published its top risk report for 2026. Free links to read more on this topic: Venezuela and the trouble with the Donroe doctrine Greenland’s future must be decided by island and Denmark, Starmer warns Tru...
Jan 08, 2026•24 min
Gideon and guests look back at 2025 as well as forward to the year ahead in an FT Live discussion for the Global Boardroom. Donald Trump set the tone of world politics this year from his tariff wars to his efforts to make peace in the Middle East and Ukraine, while also bombing Iran and threatening Venezuela. In a bid to make sense of the contradictions, Gideon is joined by Leslie Vinjamuri, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Dan Drezner, professor of international politics at t...
Dec 25, 2025•31 min
Donald Trump has accused South Africa of carrying out a genocide against its white population. He also says the nation does not deserve to be a member of the G20, which it hosted last month. FT Africa editor David Pilling - standing in for Gideon - puts these allegations to two South Africans, Lawson Naidoo, a civil society activist, and Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, a foreign policy expert. What is the state of race relations in the country and how are South Africans reacting to the allegations? Clip...
Dec 18, 2025•27 min
Gideon talks to Jens Stoltenberg, Nato's former secretary-general, about Ukraine and Europe's strategic priorities after recent scathing criticism from US president Donald Trump over its failure to end the war: ‘They talk but they don’t produce.’ Clip: Politico Free links to read more on this topic: The White House’s rupture with the western alliance Trump pushes for ‘free economic zone’ in Donbas, says Zelenskyy Friedrich Merz offers to host Ukraine talks so deal not done ‘above Europe’s head’ ...
Dec 11, 2025•26 min
Gideon talks to Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of the National Interest, about the rows over racism, Epstein and Israel that have broken out in Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. Clips: Tucker Carlson, Right wing watch, Dana Loesch Free links to read more on this topic: Marjorie Taylor Greene to resign from Congress after clash with Donald Trump Trump’s Maga coalition fractures over far-right interview Maga vs AI: Donald Trump’s Big Tech courtship risks a backlash Donald Trump’s Maga bas...
Dec 04, 2025•25 min
Gideon talks to Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the senior Democrat on the US Senate Committee on foreign relations, about Donald Trump’s foreign policy. Can Congress stop the president from making big concessions to Russia and attempting regime change in Caracas? Clip: ABC News Free links to read more on this topic: Ukraine has no choice but to engage with US peace plan Russia pursues peace deal — on its own terms Donald Trump’s affordability problem: in charts What is Venezuela’s ‘Cartel of the Suns’?...
Nov 27, 2025•28 min
Investors are spending billions of dollars on novel ways to extend human life through inventive treatments, therapies, and even manipulating our genes. And increasingly, it seems as though anti-ageing efforts have moved from the super rich to a mass market consumer industry. In this series, we’re covering the past, present and future of the longevity movement. We’ll be looking at where the fixation on longevity is coming from, and trying to understand the practical and ethical issues at the hear...
Nov 22, 2025•2 min
The French pioneer of European integration Jean Monnet believed that Europe would be ‘built in crisis’. The war in Ukraine is putting this theory to the test, once again. Gideon discusses with historian Timothy Garton Ash how European leaders are responding to this latest crisis after the brief ‘holiday from history’ that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall. Clip: ITV Free links to read more on this topic: US and Russian officials draft new peace plan for Ukraine The scramble for Europe is just...
Nov 20, 2025•29 min
Gideon Rachman sits down with the FT's innovation editor John Thornhill and Caiwei Chen, China reporter for the MIT Technology Review, to discuss the race between China and the US to become the 21st-century AI superpower. The west is used to hearing about the might of the Silicon Valley giants, US cutting-edge research and chip dominance. But China has a different approach. Will its use of a cheaper and more efficient open AI model allow China to overtake the US with this era-defining technology...
Nov 13, 2025•31 min
Gideon Rachman talks to historian and author Anne Applebaum about the Trump presidency. The US president is increasingly accused of being a would-be dictator, but is it fair to compare Donald Trump to authoritarian leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping? This episode is an edited recording of an event organised by Intelligence Squared that took place in central London last month. Clips: CBS 60 Minutes Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social , @gideonrachman More on this t...
Nov 06, 2025•32 min
Gideon talks to former US trade representative Michael Froman about Donald Trump’s visit to Asia this week, culminating in a meeting with Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Apec summit in South Korea. What does it tell us about US trade priorities in the region and who is best placed to win the contest of strength between the US and China? Clips: NST online; Times Now Free links to read more on this topic: Will Trump push south-east Asia towards China? China calls for ‘extraordinary measures’ to...
Oct 29, 2025•29 min
Gideon talks to the historian and author Serhii Plokhy about how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed our calculations about the risk of nuclear war. They discuss the history of the atom bomb from its first use in 1945 to the risk of a resurgence of proliferation. Clip: Harry S Truman Library Free links to read more on this topic: The Nuclear Age by Serhii Plokhy — why nations want the bomb US offers nuclear energy companies access to weapons-grade plutonium The covert trip by Iranian nuclear ex...
Oct 23, 2025•33 min
Introducing Toxic Legacy, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. Host Laura Hughes uncovers a lead poisoning epidemic across the UK. You might be living with lead and not know it: the toxin is often invisible to the human eye, but wreaks havoc on our bodies once we’re exposed. The first episode of Untold: Toxic Legacy launches October 22. Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Pocket Casts or wherever you get your podcasts. For information on how to live safely with lead, please visit th...
Oct 21, 2025•2 min
Gideon talks to Taipei-based policy analyst J Michael Cole about how the Taiwanese are handling the threat of invasion from Beijing. Clips: APT News; RTI English. Free links to read more on this topic: TSMC’s stock market rally is a triumph of need over fear Taiwan accelerates ‘T-dome’ missile plan against China threat Taiwan backtracks on chip export curbs to South Africa after China spat Taiwan becomes largest importer of Russian naphtha Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your po...
Oct 16, 2025•30 min
Gideon talks to former White House official and Middle East expert Philip Gordon about Donald Trump’s plan for a peaceful end to the Gaza conflict. What are the chances that it can succeed and what are the main stumbling blocks? Clip: TRT World Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner join Israel-Hamas talks in Egypt What remains of Gaza? Trump goes mainstream on the Middle East How Donald Trump’s Gaza deal came together Subscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate...
Oct 09, 2025•26 min
US President Donald Trump has pledged to “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars”, China could send its first crewed mission to Mars within a decade, and Elon Musk wants people to actually settle on Mars, transforming the human race into an interplanetary species. In a new series of Tech Tonic, the FT’s Peggy Hollinger asks if we’re really about to land, and even live, on the red planet. Free to read: Musk’s mission to Mars Three days with America’s rocket chasers Tech Tonic is produced ...
Oct 06, 2025•2 min
Gideon interviews Britain's deputy prime minister David Lammy at the Labour Party conference at a meeting hosted by the Tony Blair Institute. They discuss how the Starmer government, which has had a tough first year in office, can turn things around, as well as the Gaza peace plan, ties with the Trump administration and how to fight 'the politics of grievance'. Clip: Keir Starmer Free links to read more on this topic: Starmer urges Labour to launch ‘patriotic’ fight against Reform How Donald Tru...
Oct 01, 2025•27 min
Gideon talks to Matt Duss, former adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders and executive vice-president of the Washington-based Center for International Policy. They discuss recent curbs on free speech, former president Joe Biden’s foreign policy mistakes, and how identity politics has been used to distract voters from the ever widening gap between rich and poor. Clips: DRM News; Forbes Free links to read more on this topic: Jimmy Kimmel hits out at ‘anti-American’ threats to free speech as show return...
Sep 25, 2025•29 min
Gideon talks to former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis about Russia’s recent drone incursion into Polish airspace. What message should Europe and Nato take from this? How worried are the Baltic states about a possible expansion of Vladimir Putin’s war aims? And how vulnerable are they to attack? Clips: BBC, BFBS Free links to read more on this topic: What is Vladimir Putin’s game plan against Nato’s eastern flank? Russians lose internet access as Ukrainian drones hit close to ...
Sep 18, 2025•27 min
Gideon talks to journalist Anshel Pfeffer about Israel’s ‘strongman’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They discuss how his ‘brazen disregard’ for international norms has helped him to cling to power, but also left him at the mercy of more and more extreme forces in Israel. This episode is an edited recording of an event organised by Intelligence Squared that took place in central London earlier this month. Clips: LBC; CNN; BBC Free links to read more on this topic: Israel unbound: was Qatar a ...
Sep 11, 2025•30 min
Gideon talks to Albanian academic Lea Ypi about her book Indignity . In the book, she describes how living first under the Ottoman empire, then as part of fascist Italy and later in a post-war communist state affected the lives of her grandparents. They discuss possible parallels between the first half of the 20th century and the times we are living in today and ask what lessons can be drawn from this history to avoid making the same mistakes. Clip: AQSHF Free links to read more on this topic: K...
Sep 04, 2025•29 min
The longheld US position to defend Taiwan’s independent status in the face of Chinese aggression is looking shaky under the Trump administration, in spite of Taiwanese efforts to court the American president. This week, Gideon talks to analyst and author James Crabtree - former director of the Asia office of the International Institute for Strategic Studies - about why the US now seems more interested in doing a deal with China than showing support for Taiwan. They also discuss the broader impli...
Aug 28, 2025•26 min
Gideon discusses the outcome of the recent Alaska and Washington summits with Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. Has Russia emerged as a clear winner? What can be achieved without more pressure on Vladimir Putin? How effective would western security guarantees be to prevent future Russian aggression? Clip: Sky News Free links to read more on this topic: Ukraine talks expose Trump’s dreadful attention to detail Donald Trump says US could play role ‘by air’ in Ukrain...
Aug 21, 2025•23 min
The Trump administration has hit India with 50% tariffs. And just after a short military conflict between India and Pakistan, President Trump played host to Pakistan’s army chief of staff at the White House. Gideon discusses what this means for India and for the region with Tanvi Madan, author of a noted history of the US-India relationship. Clip: WION. Weekend Festival link Free links to read more on this topic: Donald Trump tariffs threaten Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ drive How Pakistan wo...
Aug 14, 2025•23 min
Zbigniew Brzeziński was one of the most influential statesmen of the cold war. But many of the geopolitical problems he wrestled with in Russia, China and the Middle East, have returned with a vengeance. Among his many prescient ideas, ‘Zbig’ as he was known, predicted that American hubris might lead to an ‘alliance of the aggrieved’ between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Gideon discusses his life and legacy with FT colleague Ed Luce, who has written an acclaimed biography of the Polish-bo...
Aug 07, 2025•30 min
Israel has demonstrated its capacity to strike at its enemies far and wide since the Hamas attacks of October 7 2023. But what will it do with this military dominance? The FT’s Charles Clover puts this question to Palestinian historian Yezid Sayigh. They discuss the weakness and instability of neighbouring Arab states and how the Netanyahu government’s moves to prevent Palestinian statehood represent the biggest threat to peaceful coexistence in the region. Clips: France 24; Channel 4 News Free ...
Jul 31, 2025•28 min
Humans have never been healthier or better fed. We’re living longer, but having fewer children - and many countries’ populations are now shrinking. Gideon discusses these trends with demographer Nicholas Eberstadt. Have smartphones played a role in our declining fertility? How will we look after our elderly people? Is migration the answer? Clip: CBC Free links to read more on this topic: The fight to revive Europe’s shrinking rural areas Population undercounting threatens public policy, scientis...
Jul 24, 2025•28 min
