The Rachman Review

Ranking history

About the show

Latest episodes

• Could AI really end humanity?

  October 1, 2026 · 32 min

  High-profile AI safety incidents, as well as warnings from industry figures about AI’s rapid progress, have stoked a new wave of fear about the future of humanity. Artificial intelligence systems are becoming more and more capable. Can we…

• Francis Fukuyama on democracy, AI and his own intellectual journey

  September 24, 2026 · 31 min

  More than three decades after The End of History and the Last Man made Francis Fukuyama one of the world’s best-known political thinkers, he is still correcting misconceptions about what he actually meant. In a wide-ranging conversation…

• David Miliband: ‘Peacemaking has gone into retreat’

  September 17, 2026 · 29 min

  The world is experiencing a record number of conflicts, just as governments retreat from international aid and diplomacy to leave a more politically fragmented international landscape in their wake. That is the view of David Miliband, the…

• The world at war

  September 10, 2026 · 33 min

  War is raging in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan, while tensions are rising between China and Taiwan. What is driving this surge in global conflict, how should we respond and where, if anywhere, are the prospects for peace? Gideon is…

• Will Bessent’s ‘economic D-Day’ break Iran?

  September 3, 2026 · 32 min

  US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent is calling for an “economic D-Day” for the Iranian regime while threatening secondary sanctions on countries that do business with the country. Will this be more effective than previous attempts at…

• Making the UN great again

  August 27, 2026 · 25 min

  The UN is choosing a new secretary-general at a time when it’s struggling to remain relevant. Sidelined in the wars in Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East, and facing a severe funding crisis, the organisation is under growing pressure. This…

• The making of the modern Middle East

  August 20, 2026 · 27 min

  Gideon Rachman speaks to historian and author Simon Sebag Montefiore about his new book, The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East. They discuss the forces that shaped the region, from the Ottoman Empire and Ataturk to the ongoing…

• Iran’s growing strategic ambitions

  August 13, 2026 · 29 min

  Gideon talks to Vali Nasr, author of Iran’s Grand Strategy and professor of Middle Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University, SAIS, about how the balance of power in the Middle East is changing. After six months of on-off hostilities…