Jacqui Smith - Ambition isn't a bad thing

The unassailable and unbeatable @EmmaKennedy helps me create the GREATEST PODCAST OF ALL TIME as we talk through her incredible career, what drove her to switch from law to comedy, when she first knew she was funny and we dive into her wonderful, beautiful new book Neverending Summer.Buy the book and glide into Summer

Cade Metz, New York Times Technology correspondent and author of the incredibly fascinating book Genius Makers talks to me  about the history of AI, whether it's going to take all our jobs, what his thoughts are on Universal Basic Income, Extinction Level Events and whether we're in a new Cold War.Such an interesting guy and a really thrilling book to read. If you plan on being employed in the next 30 years, you'll need to know how AI is going to affect you.Buy the book hereFollow Richard on Twitter hereFollow Cade on Twitter here

Buy the book! No Filter by Sarah Frier all about the rise of Instagram.Sarah Frier, a Bloomberg News technology reporter talks through the early days of journalism including covering a murder at her student newspaper! Then we dive deep on the story of Instagram, it's rise from nothing to being bought by for $1bn, the tension between the Insta founders & Zuck as well as how Instagram deliberately went after celebrities.Please subscribe and share as well as rating and reviewing on iTunes. Follow Richard @_RhowardFollow Sarah @sarahfrier

Jacqui Smith, the former Home Secretary of the UK talks through how she got into that role, her political ambitions, whether she'd make a better politician now than when she was actually in power and whether we dismiss politicians too quickly when they've reached a certain age.Jacqui was only the 3rd women to reach one of the 3 most important UK offices of state when she became Home Secretary and we discuss the treatment of female politicians compared to their male counterparts.Also, a big plug for scented candles :)If you like the episode, please subscribe and rate and review on iTunes or Follow on Spotify. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @_Rhoward

Peter King, probably the most well known, most successful sports journalists in America talks to Richard about his career, how we got to where he is, his focus on doing the best job he can wherever his is, his relationships with NFL players and the difficulty of writing bad things about them and he kindly entertains a couple of Richard's ideas for improving the sport.Follow Peter on Twitter hereFollow Richard on Twitter here 

Rory Sutherland, author of Alchemy and Vice Chairman of Ogilvy gives us a tour around his incredible brain. We probably had the widest ranging discussions of any guest I've spoken to (or person I may have ever met) but the real focus is on why you have to think differently to be successful, why we misunderstand the world and people's motivations and why human behaviour departs from rationality. I think it's a great listen and Rory is most definitely one of the most interesting people I've ever spoken to.

Joslyn Thompson Rule, a Nike Master Trainer who has worked with some of the most elite athletes in the world tells her story. We talk about how an accident when she was younger showed her that she had the determination to get through anything and how rowing at university helped her go from an outsider to an insider.We then get onto fitness and why it's so important to have the right mindset before beginning her fitness journey as well as the building blocks you need to be successful.All of these things are in her new, incredibly readable book How to Move it.

Matt is a senior writer for the Sunday Times magazine and his latest book, Man Down, explores the depression and anxiety that afflicts men in their mid-40's when life hasn't turned out quite how they'd hoped/expected.We talk through why that is, how we can avoid it, the impact that we have on our kids and the pressure conveyor belt that we put them on from an early age.Really interesting to talk to Matt about an area that is more and more important and I think is under-discussed and, in reality, afflicts a lot more than middle aged men. The pressure to conform is great and it is hard to resist no matter what kind of pain it may lead to later on. Don't forget to subscribe on your favourite podcast player and rate/review the episode on iTunes.Follow Richard on Twitter @_RhowardAnd Matt @MattRudd

Iain Dale is one of the most prolific radio and podcast personalities in the UK. He presents the Evening Show on LBC Radio (Monday-Thursday 7pm-10pm). He was named Radio Presenter of the Year for 2013 & 2016 at the Arqiva Awards, and was shortlisted for Speech programme of the year at the 2013 Sony Radio Awards. In 2014 he won a Sony Award for ‘Best Interview of the Year.He's also written untold number of books focusing on his core love of politics. We discussed briefly his new book "Why Can't We all just get along" and in the time it's taken me to release this episode, he's gone and written another about all 55 Prime Ministers.We discuss his radio career, his politics career, what celebrity means to him and how he felt when he knew he was going to lose the election in 2005.A great guy, a wonderful guest and hopefully an interesting conversation.Follow Iain on Twitter hereFollow Richard on Twitter hereDon't forget to rate and review the podcast on iTunes, it really helps us jump up those charts

Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman of S4 Capital is the man who built up WPP into the world leading marketing and advertising conglomerate that it became. I asked him what motivates him and we talked about how coming from an immigrant family drove him to success, how close he was with his dad and whether he made the right choices of balancing work and family life.An incredibly fascinating person and a great honour to speak to him, I hope you enjoy the episode. Don't forget to rate and review on iTunes.You can follow Richard on Twitter hereAnd Sir Martin here