Economist Podcasts

The “special relationship” between Britain and America is at its weakest since the Suez crisis of 1956. Will a state visit by King Charles III to America salvage the tie? Why Japanese automakers may be running out of road. And fish from New York’s Hudson river are now safe to eat.

Guests and host:
Rosie Blau, host of “The Intelligence”
Daniel Franklin, senior editor, Britain
Ethan Wu, Asia business and finance editor
Stevie Hertz, US policy correspondent

Topics covered:
King Charles III, state visit, special relationship
Japanese carmakers, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, EVs
Hudson river, fishing

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After a gunman stormed Donald Trump’s dinner with the press, questions are being revived about the president’s security. Germany’s top general explains the country’s new defence strategy. And listeners respond to our Weekend Intelligence episode on the passport bros who go abroad to find “a good woman”.

Guests and host:
John Prideaux, host of “Checks and Balance” and US editor
Tom Nuttall, Berlin bureau chief
Carla Subirana, reporter
Rosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”
Jason Palmer, co-hosts of “The intelligence”

Topics covered:
Donald Trump, assassination attempt, White House dinner, Cole Tomas Allen
Carsten Breuer, Bundeswehr, NATO, Ukraine
Passport bros, tradwife, misogyny

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We go deep inside the Chernobyl nuclear-power plant and the surrounding exclusion zone, recounting the history of the accident on April 26 1986, and speaking with plant workers who were on shift that day. A pre-eminent Chernobyl historian discusses the lessons learned and yet to be learned from the disaster. And we consider the science still being done at Chernobyl.

In 2024 “The Weekend Intelligence” went to Ukraine to consider the aftermath of the Russian invasion and occupation of Chernobyl, and then of the Zaporizhia nuclear-power plant. What we found was an industry that had no expectation that could even happen, and nothing of a plan when it did. Listen here.

Guests and host:
Serhii Plokhy, historian, Harvard University
Olena Pareniuk, radiobiologist, Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants
Jim Smith, environmental scientist, University of Portsmouth
Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:
Chernobyl nuclear-power plant, history
nuclear safety, nuclear-energy policy
radiation exposure, radiobiology, radioecology

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We examine what our forecast model predicts so far—and consider what might change its confident prediction for one house of Congress and toss-up call for the other. Our correspondent sits down with Steve Reich, a pioneering classical composer who is nearing his 90th birthday. And the surprising reason why firstborns tend to have more-successful lives.

Additional music courtesy of Steve Reich (Nonesuch Records), Erik Hall (Western Vinyl)

Guests and host:
Dan Rosenheck, data editor
Jon Fasman, senior culture correspondent
Ainslie Johnstone, data journalist
Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:
American elections, Congress, polling, gerrymandering
Steve Reich, contemporary classical music
birth order, statistics

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The decision of Anthropic, an AI giant, to keep its Mythos model sequestered surely makes for good press. But there seems to be more to it than that—and it might change the whole industry’s approach. Indian politicians are chasing female voters more than ever; we question the means and the outcomes. And next in our World Cup contender-country profiles: Senegal.

Guests and host:
Alex Hern, AI writer
Kira Huju, Asia correspondent
Jon Fasman, senior culture correspondent
Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:
AI, Anthropic, Mythos
India, women, politics
World Cup, Senegal

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