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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 Drexner, professor of international politics at the Fletcher school at Tufts university in Boston, and James Crabtree, author of an acclaimed book on Modi's India and a forthcoming book on US-China tensions in the Pacific. Clip: PBS
Free links to read more on this topic:
When business and democracy don’t mix
Open source could pop the AI bubble — and soon
China is making trade impossible
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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
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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: CNN
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South Africa arrests Kenyans working at US-run Afrikaner ‘refugee’ centre
The ‘pampered princess’ accused of trafficking South Africans to Russia
How South Africa’s underworld infiltrated its government
South Africans question future of Black empowerment policies
South Africa’s credit rating upgraded for first time in two decades
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Presented by Devid Pilling. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
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Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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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
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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’
Ukraine’s ‘fortress belt’ that Donald Trump wants to trade for peace
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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
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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 base split over handling of Jeffrey Epstein files
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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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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’?
Mohammed bin Salman, the autocratic Saudi moderniser trying to escape his past
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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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 heart of this cutting-edge field of research.
From Silicon Valley fantasies, to Singaporean health spas, to Colombian genetic clinics and beyond, the FT’s Hannah Kuchler and Michael Peel ask whether breakthroughs in science and technology can really help us live longer, and even stop us aging altogether.
Free to read:
US ‘wellness’ industry scents opportunity to go mainstream
The quest to make young blood into a drug
This season of Tech Tonic was produced by Josh Gabert-Doyon. The senior producer is Edwin Lane. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Fact checking by Simon Greaves, Lucy Baldwin and Tara Cromie. Original music by Metaphor Music. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio.
The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts.
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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 beginning
Ukraine secures winter gas support from Greece
Poland blames Russia-linked operatives for rail explosion
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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
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Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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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?
Want more? Join John and the FT’s Chinese technology correspondent Eleanor Olcott in a live Q&A on November 13 at 1pm GMT where they will be answering your questions on the tech battle between Silicon Valley and Beijing.
Submit your question: Will China win the AI race?
And subscribe to a new six part newsletter series - 'The State of AI'. It's a collaboration between the FT and MIT Technology Review where writers from both publications debate the defining questions of the AI era. Sign up here
The State of AI: is China about to win the race?
China offers tech giants cheap power to boost domestic AI chips
AI pioneers claim human-level general intelligence is already here
Who’s right about AI: economists or technologists?
Follow Gideon on Bluesky or X @gideonrachman.bsky.social, @gideonrachman
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The Rachman Review is presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Clare Williamson. The executive producer is Flo Phillips and the sound design is by Simon Panayi.
Clip: Axios
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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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
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Trump’s fawning cabinet and the threat to US democracy
The Trump doctrine: don’t rely on America
Saudi Arabia in talks for US defence pact
How the Trump companies made $1bn from crypto
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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Clare Williamson. The executive producer is Flo Phillips and sound design is by Breen Turner
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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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 achieve chip breakthroughs
Why China keeps winning the trade war
China doubles down on industrial policy
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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
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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 experts to Russia
The old nuclear rules won’t stop proliferation
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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
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Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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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 the LEAPP Alliance website.
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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
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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
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Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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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
Trump goes mainstream on the Middle East
How Donald Trump’s Gaza deal came together
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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Jean-Marc Eck and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
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Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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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:
Three days with America’s rocket chasers
Tech Tonic is produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. The senior producer is Edwin Lane. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio.
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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 Trump’s Gaza deal came together
Trump goes mainstream on the Middle East
‘Lost the plot’: Tony Blair’s Gaza role prompts incredulity — and some hope
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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
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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
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Jimmy Kimmel hits out at ‘anti-American’ threats to free speech as show returns
Inside Disney’s decision to bring back Jimmy Kimmel
America’s accelerating exit from itself
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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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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 home
Baltic states know Russian occupation is never temporary
Moscow holds Ukrainian children at hundreds of sites across Russia
Europe turns to Ukrainian tech for ‘drone wall’ against Russia
Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
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Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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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 strike too far?
EU moves to freeze some funding to Israel over war in Gaza
Israeli annexation of the West Bank would be ‘red line’ for UAE
Netanyahu’s disastrous plan to take control of Gaza
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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
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Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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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:
Albania’s ‘old sheriff’ on course to win fourth term as prime minister
Why the EU’s migration dilemma is pushing the bloc further right
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Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen Turner and the executive producer is Flo Phillips.
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