The Mishal Husain Show

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 Goatswas made into a film starring George Clooney, and his popular culture war podcast, Things Fell Apart, is returning next year for its third season.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Ronson discusses his latest book, The Castle, which features men struggling to find purpose amid economic, social and political upheaval. He also shares his own experience with male vulnerability and reflects on artificial intelligence and the shifting nature of the media.

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

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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 historic moment unfold from as many vantage points as Lee, who has worked at Apple and led Microsoft and Google teams in China. In this interview with Mishal Husain, he talks about what the future might look like and how he uses AI everyday.

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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 about an undocumented Irish immigrant preparing to leave the US as Donald Trump is re-elected.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Tóibín talks about the places that have shaped him, the unusual process behind his writing and what might eventually make him leave America.

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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 gives interviews. He says his eldest daughter, like all girls over the age of 12,  is no longer able to go to school.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, he explains why he won’t send his daughters to be educated overseas, and why he remains hopeful for the future of his country.

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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 solely by humans, and a system that protects identity and likeness. Ultimately, will.i.am says human performance will always survive. 

They also talk about the song “Where Is The Love?”and what it means to him, and how the song has helped him teach students at Arizona State University.

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

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Illustration: Uli Knörzer for Bloomberg; Source Photo: Sterling Hampton IV

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“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 scenes of the hit show and shares how she has shaped Lady Danbury over the years, from her backstory to jewelry and even her hats.

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Illustration: Uli Knörzer for Bloomberg; Source Photo: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

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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 consolidation and new alliances, especially between middle powers, and that predictions of US decline are wrong.

Read Mishal’s notes on this conversation www.bloomberg.com/mishal

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

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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 standards as more initial public offerings draw near.

Related episodes you may enjoy:

Mustafa Suleyman Isn’t Like Everyone Else in Silicon Valley

AI Wants Your Life: Tech Boss Meredith Whittaker Says No

Fei-Fei Li Helped Create AI, Now She Feels the Responsibility

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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.

In this conversation, Carlson tells Mishal Husain about how he advised against starting the war with Iran. He also talks about his faith in Vice President JD Vance and his belief that feminism has exploited women in the workplace.

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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, longtime UK political commentator Steve Richards examines Burnham’s record and looks at what he stands for. They also discuss how the new Labour leader might deal with his own party and the popularity of Farage.

Only Bloomberg subscribers can see Mishal’s reflections on this conversation, along with what she has been reading  bloomberg.com/mishal

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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 alive to the pressures of the moment and of the contested sense of what America is or should be.

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

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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 an adviser for former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.

In 2012, Hilton moved to California, where he worked as a tech entrepreneur and as a host on right-leaning Fox News.

Hilton, who wants to be the state’s first Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger, tells Mishal Husain how he joined the party, discusses the US-Israel war with Iran, his attitude to big tech and what he misses about life in Britain. He also discusses what having Donald Trump’s endorsement means for him and his campaign.

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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 opportunity to reflect and look ahead.

Earlier this month, Alastair Campbell, Co-Host of The Rest Is Politics podcast, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, a presenter on GB News, joined Mishal Husain in front of an audience of Bloomberg subscribers to mark the anniversary.

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

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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 on data collection, the rise of artificial intelligence assistants and even well-meaning efforts to protect children online risk undermining private communication. She also explains why Signal would rather leave a market than weaken the product’s encryption.

If you enjoyed this episode, listen to Mishal’s conversation with Mustafa Suleyman from Microsoft AI: Mustafa Suleyman Isn’t Like Everyone Else in Silicon Valley

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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 streamed on Netflix.

He talks about the politics around the tournament and FIFA boss Gianni Infantino’s relationship with US President Donald Trump. They also discuss Lineker’s departure from the BBC, which he describes as a “long marriage.” 

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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 Ebola, while deadly, is not easily spread. The Belgian scientist also explains the challenge of controlling outbreaks in conflict zones and lessons the world still hasn’t learned from Covid-19.

06:44 - "No future in infectious diseases"
10:50 - How contagious is Ebola?
12:05 - “I'm not concerned that this will become a pandemic”
13:23 - Are travel restrictions necessary?
18:00 - “Ebola is not their only problem”
19:07 - How far are we from a vaccine for this Ebola strain?
22:14 - Tackling Ebola in 1976
23:48 - Tracking the virus
32:25 - Vaccine disinformation
33:18 - “Long Covid really exists”
34:18 - “I was scared to die”

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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 while  obtaining an indictment of Raul Castro for the 1996 shootdown of a small plane, Ferrer tells Mishal Husain about the human cost of Cuba’s long crisis.

03:26 - Writing “Keeper of my Kin”
04:09 - A love-hate relationship with Cuba
05:40 - The Cuba of Castro
07:11 - Leaving Cuba in 1963
08:13 - Leaving her brother Poly behind
12:08 - Letters from Poly
15:48 - Cuba’s history of migration
17:58 - Helping family in Cuba
22:50 - People in Cuba are “suffering”
24:01 - A threat to US national security?
26:51 - A shared experience with Rubio
32:19 - Cuban-Americans and Trump
34:04 Obama’s visit to Cuba
37:52 - Calling myself an American
39:52 - The books is a “testament of love”

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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 facing a potential leadership challenge, Dimbleby is uniquely placed to understand the characters and conflicts shaping Britain’s volatile politics today.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain he gives his take on Starmer, Andy Burnham and Nigel Farage.

0:03:15 Why so many prime ministers? 
0:09:14 Keir Starmer is a “dud” 
0:09:55 “I don’t know what (Burnham) stands for”
0:11:31 Would Burnham be a different PM? 
0:13:37 The UK is in a “dire state”
0:16:16 “I am worried about the future”
0:16:49 Nigel Farage as prime minister
0:21:35 Ten years on from Brexit 
0:24:31 The UK rejoining the EU
0:31:52 King Charles' state visit to the US
0:37:15 “I'm not in any way a republican”

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

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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 Security Council. For two decades, he has argued that the West fundamentally misunderstands the rise of China and its challenge to American supremacy.

Mahbubani. who eventually turned to academia, now specializes in governance and public policy. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, he traces the story behind the Xi-Trump talks, the handshakes and the social media posts–and what may lie ahead.

Mahbubani also reveals how his own successes were made possible by Singapore’s remarkable growth.

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/Mishal

03:34 - “The most important contest of our time”
5:50  - “It's not about personalities”
6:26 - “China can no longer be stopped”
07:28 - US versus China: It’s a “zero-sum” game
08:40 - Bill Clinton’s first meeting with Jiang Zemin
12:35 - Cold War Comparisons
18:30 - Growing up in Singapore in the 1950s
19:53 - "My mother never cracked”
26:25 - “China has become a tiger”
30:24 - US war is a “gift” to China

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

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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 holding forth on the US president he once backed, as well as bets that have shaped his own career, including on crypto and Sam Bankman-Fried.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Scaramucci talks about his early life, his mistakes and his view of the political landscape ahead of the midterm elections.

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

03:00 - The midterms are “a longtime off”
06:58 - “I’m a loyalist”
08:35  - Who’s Trump’s successor?
08:55 - A president needs “name recognition”
11:41 - Meeting Trump for the first time
13:14 - Trump’s “phenomenal political instincts”
14:45 - Joining the Trump campaign
16:11 - “Donald Trump was talking to my Dad”
20:56 - Getting fired by Trump
24:16 - It was “humiliating”
25:56 - Meeting Sam Bankman-Fried
27:53 - “I made false assumptions”
31:18 - Bitcoin “I want to judge it over a five or 10 year period”
33:05 - Growing up on Long Island
35:17 - “The Mooch”
37:17 - The future of the Democrats
44:51 - History is a guide

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For more than 30 years, the Indian-born writer Amitav Ghosh has built a global following with novels that draw on deep historical research. 

But his latest offering, Ghost-Eye, is more esoteric. The plot moves back and forth between India and the US, using past lives to explore the ties between the personal and the political.

The plot centers on a psychiatrist treating a 3-year-old who shocks her family by insisting she remembers a past life in a fishing community.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Ghosh explains why he’s finding it harder to write nowadays, how the memories of his childhood came flooding back during the Covid pandemic, why he sees capitalism as an obstacle to protecting the environment and thinks India has lost its way diplomatically. 

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

03:37 - “She had a near-death experience”
05:37 - Reincarnated past lives
08:05 - “The world has lost all its wonder”
08:28 - Growing up in Kolkata
10:56 - Kolkata and New York are the “opposite ends of the telescope”
11:44 - “I really learned to think against the grain”
12:13 - Creating a “bubble of tranquility” to write
12:32 - Writing from “within the crisis”
14:45 - India has lost its way diplomatically
16:25 - Watching Zohran Mamdani grow up
19:12 - India and China
23:11 - Writing a story to be read in 100 years
27:31 - Writing books by hand 

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We’re now eight weeks on from the start of the US-Israel war with Iran, a conflict that’s been watched with increasing alarm by Wendy Sherman, architect of the 2015 nuclear deal between the US and Iran and a former deputy secretary of state.

Having spent years across the table from Iranian officials, she sees a far more volatile landscape today. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, she shares how her concerns go beyond the Middle East and explains how China and Russia are beneficiaries of the war.

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

03:13 - Iran’s “culture of resistance”
05:00 - “The regime now is more hardline”
05:33 - Iran won’t make concessions “easily” 
09:38 - Control of the Strait of Hormuz
10:36 - “They have not bombed away all of Iran’s knowledge”
14:35 - Negotiating with Iran
17:13 - Negotiations aren’t about trust
23:47 - What might a US deal with Iran look like?
25:14 - Iran will want the US “out of the Middle East”
29:10 - China is “stronger”
32:50 Trump’s visit to China
41:19 - “I have found myself angrier”

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A new and radical take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet is out in US cinemas. The force behind it is actor, writer, producer and musician Riz Ahmed. He says the 400-year-old story has never felt more current.

Ahmed, Oscar-nominated for Sound of Metal and star of the Oscar-winning live-action short The Long Goodbye, has a new series on Prime Video called Bait. It’s a black comedy about an actor on the cusp of a life-changing role as James Bond. 

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Ahmed talks about creativity and politics, discusses his upcoming movie with Tom Cruise and how becoming a father affected his acting.

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

02:32 - Hamlet “never goes out of fashion"
03:39 - “The old order is falling apart”
05:00 - “Is it the world that’s gone crazy or is it me?”
07:50 - The dream of playing Hamlet
09:51 - To be, or not to be is “misunderstood”
13:40 - “It's authentic. I'm not acting”
17:00 - Bait “it’s a very personal show”
17:24 - Why Barbara Broccoli said yes to using Bond
21:43 - Looking for acceptance
22:34 - “Culture works in cycles”
25:04 - Acting was an extension of real life
28:20 - “I don’t like being pinned down”
28:42 - SNL UK
30:01 - Working with Tom Cruise
32:21 - “My weekends are really simple”

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After almost six weeks of war, how did Pakistan manage to get the US and Iran to talk?

Amid a still-fragile situation in the Middle East, that question sits at the heart of this conversation with Maleeha Lodhi. She has served as Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, as well as to the UK and United Nations.

For her, the Islamabad talks mark a moment of wider significance, as the middle powers demonstrate their capacity to influence geopolitics.

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

02:55 - Pakistan as a peacebroker
05:00 - Field Marshal Asim Munir and President Trump
07:49 - Pakistan and Iran
10:00 - Economic pain in Pakistan
13:40 - Israel and Lebanon
14:45 - “I'd like to be optimistic”
19:30 - US miscalculations
22:00 - “US dominance is fading”
23:00 Middle powers can “shape geopolitics”
23:53 - Is China a winner?
29:00 - Trump’s Board of Peace
29:50 - “Common ground can be found”

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Lionel Shriver has often tackled complex or contentious issues in her fiction. From school shootings in We Need to Talk About Kevinto economic collapse in The Mandibles. 

Her new novel, A Better Life, is the story of a family home taken over by outsiders. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Shriver discusses the sociological concerns behind the story, which she says is a metaphor for the increase in undocumented US immigration during the Biden administration. 

Shriver is a regular columnist for The Spectator, a conservative UK magazine. The link between the writing styles in that publication and her novel also feature in this episode.

In the written version of this conversation, you’ll find more information on how Mishal Husain researched and prepared for this interview, including her own notes, data, historical context and further quotes from Lionel Shriver. www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

02:27 - Inspiration for A Better Life
03:39 - Extended adolescence
06:32 - A metaphor for America
10:21 - Shriver’s political journey
12:42 - Declining populations
17:02 - ICE tactics
20:34 - From North Carolina to Northern Ireland
22:57 - Rebelling against church
24:30 - Transgender debate
30:07 - Why Shriver left the UK
32:26 - Muslim immigration
35:32 - Novels versus columns
40:12 - Writing for shorter attention spans
41:30 - Shriver’s recovery from illness

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With attention fixed on the potential developments between the US and Iran, could the Israeli government be forced to end the war earlier than it might like?

The last few weeks have seen daily air strikes by Israel on Iran, and retaliatory attacks that have killed and injured Israelis. The wider picture is of two and a half years of constant conflict, particularly in Gaza.

In this conversation, Mishal Husain speaks to Shira Efron, who has been a Middle East analyst for the last 20 years and is now Distinguished Chair for Israel Policy at RAND. They discuss Israeli public opinion on Iran, the extent of the military operation in Lebanon and what’s at stake in the Israeli election due later this year.

02:25 - Life in Tel Aviv
04:42 - Israeli public opinion on Iran
06:24 - “A feeling of deja vu”
07:42 - Netanyahu's calculation
09:17 - Will elections go ahead?
10:59 - Did the Mossad get it wrong?
12:44 - American public opinion
14:24 - US and Israeli relations
18:24 - “There's one boss and this boss is President Trump”
20:11 - The future of Lebanon
23:52 - “Everyone forgot where Gaza is”
31:21 - Smotrich’s plan
33:44 - “We are seeing a shift to the right”
37:37 - Looking ahead to 2028

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

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US Representative Ro Khanna of California helped force Donald Trump to release the Epstein files. Now he wants to end the war with Iran. Earlier this month, the Democratic Congressman joined forces with Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican, on a War Powers resolution seeking to halt the military action, though it ultimately failed in the GOP-controlled House.

Speaking to Mishal Husain almost three weeks after the US and Israel began coordinated attacks on Iran, Khanna says he believes that  opposing war in the Middle East and taxing billionaires could unite progressives and disaffected Trump voters.

02:57 - Hearing Epstein’s name for the first time
05:18 - Forcing the release of the Epstein files
10:07 - Holding this Epstein class accountable
11:05 - A new found confidence
11:59 - Hoping for a split in MAGA?
12:43 - “It’s a coalition that’s gonna win”
14:24 - Stopping the war in Iran
15:53 - Trump’s “looking for an off ramp to end the war”
17:21 - Increasing pressure on Trump over Iran
19:50 - Could Cuba be next?
21:21 - Khanna’s grandfather was an Indian MP
23:15 - Running for president in 2028?
24:58 - Taxing billionaires
30:08 - A progressive coalition
34:06 - “You can't help but be hopeful about the American story”

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

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Despite the intensity of the US-Israel bombing campaign, Iran’s regime, now under a new supreme leader, hasn’t given President Donald Trump the “unconditional surrender” he’s seeking.

Mishal Husain speaks with Vali Nasr, a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and a preeminent scholar on the Islamic Republic. His life has been shaped by the story of Iran over the last 50 years, starting when his family fled amid the 1979 revolution.

His life’s work has been to study the region and its relationship with the US. He’s also worked  as an adviser to the US State Department during the Obama administration.

Nasr explains why Tehran believes time is on its side in the war, and that a prolonged conflict may only strengthen Iranian nationalism.

02:34 - Why Iran is “prepared to suffer more”
06:28 - What drives the new ayatollah
10:03 - How Iranians view the US and Israel
12:07 - War will last “longer” than Trump hopes
14:00 - School strike, destruction of heritage sites
15:35 - Lessons from the Iran-Iraq war
19:03 - “This is the final battle”
20:17 - Impact of US sanctions
22:40 - Will Iran pursue a nuclear bomb?
26:02 - Iran’s experience of foreign intervention
28:27 - Can Reza Pahlavi, son of the Shah, succeed?
30:48 - Nasr’s experience fleeing Iran in 1979
35:15 - Mood among Iranian-Americans
39:32 - Iran’s “rightful place in the world”

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

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Within 24 hours of the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, a host of other countries were drawn into the latest conflict in the Middle East.

Iran retaliated by targeting sites in Israel and across the Gulf, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, as well as Iraq, Oman and Jordan. Israel, meanwhile, has carried out air strikes on Lebanon and sent in ground troops as it seeks to dismantle Iranian ally Hezbollah.

For this conversation, Mishal Husain has turned to an expert on the broad sweep of Middle East politics. Bernard Haykel is a professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Born in Lebanon, he is known for weaving together knowledge of history, religion and social change across the region. His forthcoming book is about contemporary Saudi Arabia and its leader, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, with whom he is in regular contact.

02:45 - “I was not surprised”
03:40 - The Iranian retaliation
09:00 - The three scenarios in this conflict
11:00 - “This regime will survive”
13:20 Protests after Khamenei's death
15:35 Did MBS encourage the strikes on Iran?
18:40 The Saudi Air Force will get “involved”
21:30 Trump and MBS
25:00 MBS “doesn’t want wars”
27:00 Saudi competition with UAE
29:18 MBS is “a bit like Elon Musk”
30:30 MBS is an authoritarian 33:00 The US has a “role to play” in the Middle East

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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When President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, one of his first acts was to sign an executive order withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization. The administration's rupture with the WHO began in Trump’s first term, when relations deteriorated as the Covid-19 pandemic set in. 

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reveals he remains in close contact with US Secretary of Health and Human Services  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. despite that break. He also talks about the lessons learned from Covid and why the WHO is still waiting for answers from China as it seeks to understand the origins of the virus.

Beyond the politics of global health, Ghebreyesus opens up about his own childhood trauma and why the death of his brother in 1970 makes the fight against preventable disease personal for him.

02:51 - Being a child of war
06:25 - Working in conflict zones
08:07 -  “War and disease are old friends”
09:34 -  “Don’t forget the invisible enemy”
11:35 - How far away is the next pandemic?
12:48  -  US withdrawal from the WHO
14:50 - Covid and China
16:50 -  Personal attacks from the US
18:16  - The US flag has been returned
18.51 Argentina is leaving the WHO
21:22 - Was Covid a lab leak?
22:49 - Waiting for answers from China
26:46 - Vaccine skeptics
27:26 - Texting RFK Jr.
28:56 - “My brother died”
31:06 - “He could have survived”
33:46 - “Defunding mRNA research is the wrong decision”
34:20 - Will MAHA work?
37:27 - A message for President Trump
39:26 - “Viruses get advantage when we are divided”

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

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“KPop Demon Hunters” is the brainchild of Korean-Canadian animator Maggie Kang. It’s Netflix’s biggest-ever film and follows Rumi, Mira and Zoey, members of the girl band Huntrix, as they battle to save the world from dark forces. 

As you’ll hear, Kang grew up loving Korean pop music long before it was globally cool and forged a Hollywood career on films including “The Lego Ninjago Movie” and “Kung Fu Panda 3.” In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Kang explains how she had always hoped a story about Korea would one day come her way. But it never did, so she came up with her own.

Kang is in the middle of a life-changing moment. Her movie has already scored wins at the Golden Globes and the Grammys, and now all eyes are on the Oscars. The extraordinary thing is that no one expected “KPop Demon Hunters” to be such a smash hit. Husain asks Kang what it’s been like adjusting to all the attention, and of course whether there’s a sequel in the works.

03:06 - “A global phenomenon”
04:17 - The screaming fans
05:01 - The movie theater screenings
06:49 - Pitching “KPop Demon Hunters”
09:27 - Living between two cultures
12:04 - Growing up as an “outsider”
16:34 - Kang’s first animation book
17:16 - “I liked to draw”
18:21 - Recording the voiceover, over and over
20:11 - The story of “Golden”
21:39 - Rumi, Mira and Zoey in “Golden”
23:00 - Waiting for “the tingles”
25:25 - “We kinda worried it was a little cheesy”
27:27 - Helping the world find Korean culture
29:30 - Choosing the title for a “kooky” movie
34:20 - A message from Kang to the fans
34:48 - “There’s a sequel, surely?”
35:14 - Live action “KPop Demon Hunters”?
37:01 - “I’m still very grounded”
37:22 - Diving back into the sequel?
38:00 - “Wow! You are going to the Oscars!”

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Visit https://www.bloomberg.com/mishal

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

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The Feb. 19 arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the brother of King Charles, puts the British Royal Family into uncharted territory. The former Prince Andrew was detained on suspicion of misconduct in public office after further details emerged of his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

For this bonus episode, Mishal Husain speaks to Allegra Stratton, a contributing editor to Bloomberg who previously worked for Prime Minister Boris Johnson. 

She’s also joined by Harry Wilson, a reporter on Bloomberg UK’s finance team who’s been involved in reporting on Epstein’s emails and has previously broken stories about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

They discuss Andrew’s business links and the significance of today’s events for the monarchy and the UK. 

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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This winter has been exceptionally brutal in Ukraine. Already the coldest in more than a decade, it’s been made worse by Russian attacks on energy infrastructure that have left millions with no heating and intermittent power.

As Russia’s war approaches its fourth anniversary, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is under intense pressure from Donald Trump to hold elections and accept a peace deal within months. But inside Ukraine and among its allies, there remains deep skepticism that Vladimir Putin is truly interested in a durable peace.

Celebrated writer Andrey Kurkov has lived the  reality of the wartime winter in his home city of Kyiv. Best known for his 1996 novel “Death and the Penguin,” set in post-Soviet Ukraine, Kurkov also has written extensively about the current war, publishing three volumes of diaries alongside his fiction. While he’s been determined to remain in Ukraine throughout the conflict, he says the present conditions have been too much to bear. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, he talks about his hopes for peace and how he  plans to return to Kyiv in the spring.

02:54 Situation in Kyiv: “Winter allied with Russia”
04:53 Four years since full-scale invasion
07:12 Ukraine is “fragmented”
09:12 “Writing nonfiction is a duty”
12:03 “Nobody’s winning”
14:20 Kurkov’s relationship with Russia
17:47 How the war changed Kurkov and his country
20:19 Kurkov’s message to the Munich Security Conference
21:53 Capitulation “camouflaged” as a peace deal
24:15 Support for Zelenskiy in Ukraine
26:15 Corruption scandals: “I’m very angry”
2:49 “I hope the war will be over this year”
31:43 Observing the war as a diarist
33:14 Humor as a “psychological defense”
35:17 “We are part of Europe”

Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Illustration: Uli Knörzer for Bloomberg; Photo: Leonardo Cendamo for Getty

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In 2007 when he was UK Foreign Secretary, David Miliband delivered an address to the Labour Party conference. He described a world with “fewer countries at war” and “more democracies than ever before.”

Two decades later, with that vision further from view, Miliband is head of the New York-based International Rescue Committee, one of the world’s largest aid agencies. Its “Emergency Watchlist” cites 20 urgent crises, from Haiti to Sudan and the Middle East to Myanmar. The group finds itself increasingly constrained by widening conflict and shrinking government aid.

The IRC role, however, gave Miliband new purpose after his bid to lead Labour ended in dramatic and personal fashion when in 2010 he lost to his own brother. Now he sees his old friends and rivals back in power, forced to make decisions he finds painful.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Miliband discusses the current state of politics in the UK, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership. He talks about Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” and his old boss, former Prime Minister Tony Blair. They also discuss Miliband’s family heritage.

02:30 - His refugee parents and link to work at IRC
08:09 - Growing up, democracy “seemed like the norm”
08:59 - 2007 speech at Labour Party Conference
10:54 - Mark Carney’s 2026 speech at Davos
12:49 - “America will no longer be Atlas”
13:49 - “More autocracies than democracies in the world today”
14:26 - “A revolution in America’s role in the world”
15:42 - IRC work on the US-Mexico border
17:55 - IRC’s 2026 Emergency Watchlist: Sudan and the Occupied Palestinian Territory
18:36 - “Remediation of desperate suffering is our business”
19:06 - “If you talk to the people you have hope.”
23:31 - Jared Kushner’s plans for Gaza
26:21 - Tony Blair and the Board of Peace
32:12 - Cuts to foreign aid
34:55 - “Challenging period” for UK Labour, Starmer
36:06 - Threats from Reform and Andy Burnham
39:07 - What next for Miliband?
40:28 - Relationship with Hilary Clinton

Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Illustration: Uli Knörzer for Bloomberg; Source Photo: Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg

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The killing of two US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis has made January a dark month for many across America. Both Alex Pretti and Renee Good were quickly labeled “domestic terrorists" by the Trump administration, which accused them of endangering the lives of law enforcement. Video evidence soon appeared to contradict government claims, but it’s still a label that filmmaker Laura Poitras says she finds chilling.

Poitras has been producing and directing documentaries for more than 20 years, winning both an Oscar and a Pulitzer Prize for her 2014 work “Citizenfour,” which focussed on the whistleblower Edward Snowden and mass surveillance. She too has her own experience of being regarded as a threat by the US government and says she was on a terrorist watch list for years.

Her latest film, which this week was nominated for a BAFTA, profiles renowned US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. “Cover-Up,” on Netflix, traces Hersh’s life from his early days in Chicago through his scoops of the 1960s to his current journalism on Substack.

It’s a story of media both past and present. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Poitras also reflects on the role of citizen journalism in documenting government violence in places like Minneapolis.

02:53 - “Legendary investigative journalist” Seymour Hersh
05:35 - Poitras and Hersh’s Iraq connection
06:40 - US public “failed by our legacy media”
09:06 - Cycles of impunity
09:50 - Criticism of Hersh’s journalism
11:30 - Hersh quits the film
15:00 - Hersh’s early life
16:19 - Poitras’ lens on America
17:40 - Parallels between Iraq and Venezuela
19:30 - “Regime change” in Venezuela
20:20 - Poitras under surveillance
23:00 - Leaving the US
24:40 - Edward Snowden and NSA secrets
28:15 - “I’m very happy he’s not in a US prison”
32:00 - “Cover-Up” and the present day
33:33 - “Whistleblowers face the consequences”
35:00 - “Citizen journalists”
37:00 - Mishal speaks to Poitras for a second time
38:00 - Alex Pretti and the violence in Minneapolis
39:30 - “Domestic terrorist”
40:17 - “Journalists have an obligation”
40:50 - A tipping point for ICE? 

Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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Rutger Bregman knows what appearing at Davos can do for your profile. His reputation was made when he went there in 2019 and attacked the rich. The clip went viral. 

A historian and author originally from the Netherlands, Bregman has been focused on elites ever since, most recently in his book Moral Ambition, and in a series of lectures on the BBC, after which he accused the organization of censoring his views on Donald Trump.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, we hear more about his worldview, which is more nuanced than some might expect. He discusses how he is impressed by entrepreneurs, favors action over commentary and is putting his book profits toward building a community that furthers his beliefs.

00:00 - Introducing Rutger Bregman
02:30 - The rise of AI
07:53 - Wasted talent
09:22 - I want to pull my hair out
10:05 -  European leadership
11:14 - Europe is weak
12:25 - Ideals are worth little without power
13:45 - Building a movement
17:40 - Mamdani and populism
21:00 - The God shaped hole
25:12 - Elon Musk the entrepreneur
26:08 - The BBC and Trump
30:49 - A new form of feudalism
33:56 - Small groups can change the world
35:14 - The best place to think

Watch this podcast here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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What is Donald Trump’s plan for Venezuela? Does he have one? Will he go beyond threats in supporting the uprising in Iran or invading Greenland?

Jeanne Shaheen has been in the US Senate since 2009 and is now the most senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. Her position has given her access to information most lawmakers don’t have. She’s also known as someone prepared to work with Republicans. Indeed, she was one of the eight Democrats who joined the GOP to end last year’s government shutdown over healthcare subsidies that have since been allowed to expire.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Shaheen talks about how she’s hoping to reassure traditional American allies shaken by Trump’s attacks and threats as part of a Congressional delegation to Denmark this week. Closer to home, she discusses healthcare, the cost of living and the future of the Democratic party ahead of the midterms.

02:38 - US operation in Venezuela
04:47 - Military action on Greenland?
06:00 - Has Trump already damaged NATO?
07:11 - Is Trump emboldened?
08:13 - Maduro replaced by another “repressive dictator”
12:20 - Trump and Iran
13:31 - Tariffs and China
15:21 - Bipartisanship in a polarized era
18:17 - “I share that frustration”
20:20 - The future of the Democratic party
24:00 - Disquiet amongst Republicans
24:55 - Healthcare and the shutdown
27:25 - Policy differences with her daughter
30:35 - Life after the Senate
31:55 - Optimism for the future?

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend:
www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

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Illustration: Uli Knörzer for Bloomberg; Source Photo: Nathan Posner/Anadolu/Getty Images

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US President Donald Trump’s tough talk about China and tariffs can be traced back in large part to economist Peter Navarro. A well-known China hawk, he has written books arguing Beijing poses a threat to the US economy and its national security.

Navarro is a loyalist who has served as a key trade adviser in both Trump administrations. In between, he spent four months behind bars for refusing to comply with a Congressional subpoena tied to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

It is Navarro who stands behind Trump’s sweeping tariffs against China and other nations, levies that have in some cases raised prices for US companies and consumers.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, recorded in Bloomberg's Washington studio, Navarro discusses the US relationship with China and an upcoming Supreme Court ruling on the administration’s use of emergency powers to levy tariffs. They also look ahead to this year’s midterm elections and back at the controversial Vanity Fair profile of Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. 

00:00 - Introduction from Mishal Husain
02:16 - Navarro’s bond with President Trump
05:04 - Navarro’s journey from Democrat to MAGA Republican
08:01 - Time in Federal prison
09:36 - US-China relationship
12:21 - Navarro’s advice for Europe
13:22 - Trump diplomacy
15:35 - Allowing Nvidia to export advanced chips to China
17:49 - Delivering for working class Americans
20:08 - Rubio-Vance 2028
21:57 - Addressing affordability concerns
23:38 - Manufacturing jobs: “We can’t wave a magic wand”
26:45 - Supreme Court ruling
30:17 - Cost of tariff refunds
31:15 - “It's not a job, it's a mission”

Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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Kara Swisher has followed the story of Silicon Valley for three decades, having started work as a tech journalist at a time when few people were interested in the beat.

But through relationships she built with the likes of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and many others, she became a formidable voice, and eventually more of a commentator and critic.

Swisher now hosts the podcasts Pivot and On with Kara Swisher. Following a year in which Silicon Valley titans lined up behind Donald Trump, she tells Mishal Husain what she thinks 2026 will bring. Swisher unpacks fears of an artificial intelligence bubble, why she’s paying attention to robotics and what life after Trump may be like.

02:16 - You would be “stupid” to ignore the AI bubble
05:40 - The promise of AI
07:16 - Swisher’s first download
09:30 - “Serious wealth creates real problems”
14:20 - Steve Jobs was an “adult”
17:15 - “What Tesla did was astonishing”
20:30 - The influence of Peter Thiel
22:20 - Generational shift in tech
23:30 - “You couldn’t have started an Uber now”
26:15 - Swisher’s paying attention to robotics in 2026
29:30 - What Swisher learned from Silicon Valley
31:50 - Swisher’s move into podcasting
35:40 - Life after Trump and why she’s watching KPop Demon Hunters

Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

Find Mishal’s conversations with the godmother of AI Fei-Fei Li and CEO of Microsoft AI Mustafa Suleyman here:
https://link.podtrac.com/1wqpj1f8

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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As the year draws to a close, we are bringing you one of Mishal Husain’s biggest conversations of the year, in full. In May 2025, Elon Musk joined Bloomberg's Qatar Economic Forum, in a rare media appearance.

He remains as consequential a global figure today, as he was then, even if he is no longer working with Donald Trump.

Within 10 days of this conversation, he had left DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, and soon after that he was publicly trading insults with the president.

Musk talked about Tesla, his ambitions for SpaceX and Starlink and his political spending.

Note: This episode was recorded with a remote guest in front of a live audience, and as a result, the audio quality may vary. 

02:31 - Mishal Husain introduces Elon Musk
03:21 - A week in the life of Elon Musk
04:25 - The future of Tesla
9:19 - Attacks on Tesla showrooms
11:35 - The future of warfare
14:30 - “I’m in no rush to go public”
17:30 - OpenAI
20:45 - Regulating AI
24:00 - “I’m simply an advisor”
26:30 - Starlink
29:44 - “Your question’s absurd”
31:26 - DOGE
33:15 - US Agency for International Development
37:20 - Political spending

Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lynsey Addario’s life work means  taking great risks to tell other people’s stories. She is a Pulitzer Prize winning war photographer who has been abducted twice while documenting conflicts from Afghanistan to Ukraine and Sudan.

There aren’t many women in her field. In a new National Geographic documentary called “Love+War,” currently streaming on Disney+, she lets us into that world, one she’s made her profession for three decades. Addario shows how she adjusts from a work environment of grave danger and high-adrenaline to being a mother making the school run and spending time with her sons.

In this conversation, she tells Mishal Husain, why she believes her job is to “bear witness” and how she came to it. She remembers the first time she used a camera and shares how her childhood prepared her to walk into any situation and connect with anyone, from soldiers to refugees and civilians living through extreme times.

This interview contains descriptions of abduction, violence and sexual assault which some listeners/viewers may find distressing.

02:27 - Love+War
03:34 - The turning point
06:00 - Learning about the risks
07:00 “I don’t want to do this for a living”
09:19 - Being held in Fallujah
11:20 - On embed in Afghanistan
14:31 - Operation Rock Avalanche
15:43 - Dealing with the emotion
16:50 - The daughter of hairdressers in Connecticut
17:44 - Getting her first camera
19:30 - Planning a “shoot-list”
21:51 - Russian strike on Ukraine
17:30 - Being held hostage in Libya
31:02 - Survivor’s guilt
33:30 Life at home
36:30 - Social media and fake images
40:18 - Switching off

Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mustafa Suleyman co-founded AI lab DeepMind when he was just 26 years old. Four years later, it was acquired by Google for a reported $400 million. 

He is now head of Microsoft’s AI unit, where he just unveiled a new superintelligence team tasked with creating an AI that can outperform humans at all tasks.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Suleyman talks about the decisions society has to make about AI, the white-hot war over tech talent and the competition with other tech bros. 

00:00 - Introduction from Mishal Husain
02:20 - Suleyman’s daily use of AI
04:52 - Stoicism and the magic of AI
05:50 - Defining superintelligence
07:35 - The AI Wild West
09:20 - Humans misusing technology
11:43 - Promise of abundance, universal basic income
14:30 - Suleyman’s family and decision to drop out of Oxford
19:37 - "Decisions we make may have very lasting consequences”
21:04 - Exploring the ‘broligarchy’
22:28 - His view of Sam Altman and Open AI
24:11 - Conversations with Demis Hassabis about Gemini 3
26:15 - “I’m sort of a centrist these days”
28:09 - AI containment and the role of government
29:58 - Microsoft’s revised deal with OpenAI: “It is a shift for us”
31:42 -The talent war and ‘Zuck’s’ pay packages
34:12 - Circular deals in AI: “Watching it carefully”
36:22 - “I really want to nail medical superintelligence”
37:36 - Suleyman on using AI for emotional support
40:21 - The UK lacks the “hustle culture” of Silicon Valley
42:13 - AI news reporters: “We’re exploring everything”

Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Salman Rushdie was nearly killed when he was stabbed 15 times on stage in upstate New York in 2022. His injuries were so severe that he lost an eye. It was an attack that came decades after he was first subjected to death threats over his novel, The Satanic Verses.

Once he had recovered, he found he was unable to write fiction. However, after publishing an account of what happened to him, the stories returned, with five brought together in his latest book, The Eleventh Hour.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Rushdie talks about free speech, the family connection they both share and the places he’s called home, from India to Britain and the US.

02:30 - “Don’t waste your time”
04:40 - Writing as a form of optimism
05:00 - Starting out as a writer
08:00 - Meeting E.M. Forster as a teenager
10:00 - “You write the story to find out what story you’re writing”
11:15 - Writing Midnight’s Children
12:46 - The family connection between Salman Rushdie and Mishal Husain
14:35 - The women in the family
16:00 - Getting together as a family
17:55 - Returning to India to write about childhood
20:30 - Reclaiming India
22:55 - India today and Prime Minister Modi
24:24 - “If you’re paying attention you see things coming”
24:50 - The family reacts to Midnight’s Children
26:44 - A farewell to India?
28:45 - Before and after the fatwa
31:30 - Defending free speech
32:25 - Banning books in the US
34:30 - Zohran Mamdani’s campaign
38:50 - The next novel
40:25 - “I’m a bit clumsier”

Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ken Burns has been telling stories about America for almost 50 years. The lauded documentary filmmaker has a new series on PBS, The American Revolution, which charts the period before and after 1776. It will air internationally ahead of the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence. 

Mishal Husain asked Burns to join the show to mark Thanksgiving, looking at today’s America through the lens of its past and the characters who made history.

02:15 -  The complexity of the American Revolution

04:00 - The underdog story 

07:15 - The global significance of the American Revolution

13:43 - Mishal Husain’s connection to Lexington Green 

16:15 - Why Ken Burns became a filmmaker

17:55 - “My mother’s gift in a funny way was dying”

19:20 - The Ken Burns Effect 

20:15 - Hollywood actors as first person narrators 

21:25 - Directing Josh Brolin as George Washington

22:00 - Why Tom Hanks didn’t want to be the voice of George Washington

23:00 - Filming reenactments

24:50 - The American Revolution is not over

29:10 Working for PBS, American Public Broadcasting

32:20 What is Ken Burns grateful for on Thanksgiving?

Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

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Stanford University Professor Fei-Fei Li has been at the forefront of artificial intelligence research for 25 years, which is why she’s been called the “godmother of AI.”

In this conversation she tells Mishal Husain how she arrived in the US as a teenager after her parents decided to emigrate from China. She also talks about the high school teacher who inspired her and a deep love of physics, leading her to ask what she calls “audacious” questions.

These days, amid her excitement about AI and its potential, she also is focused on what humans must do to build safeguards, and has a message for parents, too. 

02:50 -  AI is a “civilizational technology”
04:15 - “Technology is a double-edged sword”
05:45 - Being a tech CEO and an academic
06:45 - Falling in love with physics
08:00 - What is intelligence?
08:40 - Finding my first North Star
09:45 - Fei-Fei Li’s two key breakthroughs
14:52 - Moving from China to the US at 15
15:48 - Running the family shop taught me resilience
17:30 - “I wasn’t curious about nightclubs”
18:20 - My inspirational teacher
22:20 - “China is a powerhouse in AI”
23:00 - Creating 3D worlds with AI
27:20 - AI and the jobs market
28:40 - Are humans going to be replaced?
31:00 - “The machine overlord”
32:45 - What should parents tell their children?
34:40 - The AI bubble
36:00 - Powering the big data centres AI needs
37:20 - “I’m not a tech utopian or a dystopian”
38:00 - “My one worry is our teachers”
39:20 - “I’m conscious of my responsibility”
41:28 - Fei-Fei Li believes in timeless human values
42:00 - “My favourite book these days is Harry Potter”

Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For almost 40 years, Richard Moore was a career spy in Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service. Only his closest friends and family knew what he did for a living. When he was appointed chief of the agency in 2020, that changed: The name of the person in the top role is the only one made public.

In his first broadcast interview since leaving his post in September 2025, Moore talks to Mishal Husain about managing China, the psychology of Vladimir Putin and why spies shouldn’t expect recognition.

03:00 - “I certainly haven’t left the world in a better place than I found it”

05:02 - China as an “opportunity and a threat”

07:20 - UK’s China spy scandal

09:44 China should “get their embassy” in London

10:22 - Getting the “tap on the shoulder” at Oxford University

14:16 - Telling your children you’re a spy

16:28 - What is spycraft really like?

22:00 - Intelligence work post 9/11

28:15 - “Putin has no intention of doing a deal”

33:46 - Strikes on Venezuela

40:00 - Life on the outside

Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you tell the history of a whole country through its women? And what can it tell us about the world today? These are the questions Russian-American journalist Julia Ioffe set out to answer in her new book,Motherland: A Feminist History of Modern Russia, from Revolution to Autocracy.

Having reported from, and on, Russia for publications including The New Yorker and Foreign Policy for more than a decade, Ioffe says she has repeatedly been asked to explain the actions and motivations of one man: Vladimir Putin. 

Motherland is, she says, partly a response to Putin, through her desire to show that Russia is much more than one person, let alone one man.

In this conversation Ioffe talks to Mishal about reclaiming Russia’s women, about Donald Trump’s hollowing out of American institutions and why Putinism will endure. (Note: This podcast contains a discussion of sexual violence that some listeners may find distressing.)

02:30 - “I was born in a country that no longer exists”
03:55 - The anti-feminist at Lenin’s side during the Revolution
06:55 - Reluctancy to write about Russian women
12:55 - What a “horrible boyfriend” Vladimir Putin was
16:50 - Return to Russia, oligarch hunters and ‘trad wives’
22:13 - Alexei Navalny, “the last shred of hope”
29:20 - Can Russia sustain the war in Ukraine? 
32:32 - Trump’s assault on US institutions, faster than Putin
34:30 - American authoritarianism, risk of “one party state”

Watch this podcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three weeks after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado finds herself supporting US intervention in her native country. Mishal speaks to Maria Corina on recent US boat strikes, Nicolas Maduro’s fate and the need for strength to secure peace.

03:24 - "I had to go into hiding"

03:51 - Impact of the Nobel Peace Prize 

05:38 - US Military build up

10:21 - Prospect of US ground strikes 

13:10 - Is Machado speaking to the Trump Administration? 

16:00 - Prospect of regime change

18:50 - Venezuela after Maduro

23:04 - Machado's economic vision

26:04 - What is the Venezuelan opposition planning next? 

28:23 - "We are ready to take our government"

34:22 - Why Machado thinks this time is different

Watch this podcast https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After successfully pushing for Brexit, political disruptor Nigel Farage announced his retirement. Last year, he returned to frontline politics as the leader of Reform UK, an insurgent party that’s never held national power but is now polling ahead of Labour and the Conservatives. Mishal speaks with Farage about dismantling consensus politics, Britain’s future relationship with the European Union and what he thinks Donald Trump is getting right.

4:02 - “We’ve not had enough change”
7:10 - Working in the City of London in the 1980s
11:46 Alignment with the European Union
13:33 “Everything in life’s about risk”
16:24 “Make Britain Great Again”
21:00 The Bank of England
25:19 “Putin is a very bad dude”
30:15 Immigration and ICE raids
35:12 Economic plans
46:14 Reading to prepare for government

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney talks to Mishal Husain about trade battles, Vladimir Putin's miscalculations and what he's learned from Donald Trump.

3:41 - Mark Carney's parents and his path to power
4:58 - What does he miss about his old life?
6:34 - Did President Trump help him get elected?
14:05 - "I've learned lots of things from President Trump"
16:42 - Ukraine and NATO
22:18 - Putin's miscalculations
22:49 - Next steps on a Palestinian state
25:00 - The climate crisis, where is the old Mark Carney?
35:10 - What does a prime minister's weekend look like? 

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to The Mishal Husain Show. In a world of confusion, let Mishal guide you through some of the most complex stories of our times, through questions, curiosity and decades of journalistic experience.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.