The Mishal Husain Show

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 ...

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 t...

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 Conser...

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 l...

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,...

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.

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 e...

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 ...

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 leadershi...

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,...

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...

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 rememb...

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 concern...

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-changi...

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 c...

Lionel Shriver has often tackled complex or contentious issues in her fiction. From school shootings in We Need to Talk About Kevin to 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 immig...

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, ...

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 af...

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 ...