Thomas Chatterton Williams: The centre cannot hold

In the wake of Charlie Kirk's killing, what does this precarious moment mean for American politics? UnHerd's Freddie Sayers speaks to Thomas Chatterton Williams, author of 'Summer of Our Discontent: The Age of Certainty and the Demise of Discourse' about the eerie parallels between 2020 and 2025. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Freddie Sayers is joined by Undercurrents host Emily Jashinsky, reporting from the White House, and UnHerd's US Editor Sohrab Ahmari to discuss the immediate aftermath of the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. On the somber anniversary of September 11th, they analyse the profound and frightening fallout, including the sense that a "seal has been broken" in American politics, the potential for a J. Edgar Hoover-style crackdown on left-wing groups by an angered Trump administration, and the grim question of whether civil debate can survive in an era of escalating violence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Try High Flavanol Cocoa (Stem Cells & Nitric Oxide): (40% OFF PROMO FOR 48HR) https://blackforestsupplements.com/UNHERDUnHerd’s Freddie Sayers speaks with journalist and author Matt Taibbi. A former Rolling Stone reporter and now publisher of Racket News, Taibbi was chosen by Elon Musk to help release the “Twitter Files,” exposing political and government influence on online speech.In this conversation, he reflects on Musk’s promise to turn Twitter into a “digital town square,” the re-platforming of Trump and other controversial voices, and the mission creep that has left X accused of amplifying right-wing politics while throttling critics.Has Musk delivered a freer public square? And how do these questions play out in Britain, where viral flashpoints like “Sophie of Dundee” and the arrest of writer Graham Linehan at Heathrow over X posts about trans issues have turned free speech into a front-line cultural battle? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd’s US Editor Sohrab Ahmari interviews former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan. As head of the Biden FTC, Khan shook up decades of corporate deference — suing Big Tech, targeting drug middlemen, and reviving antitrust enforcement.In this conversation, she reflects on the collapse of the brief “post-neoliberal” consensus, warning that corporations now use both woke and anti-woke rhetoric to shield their power, while Trump’s return has revived old patterns of lobbyist capture and green-lit mega-mergers.Can Democrats truly embrace economic populism? Was the populist moment just a mirage? And is antitrust still America’s frontline battle against monopoly power? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers brings together two leading voices on the decline of reading and the future of literacy: Times columnist and cultural critic, James Marriott, and YouTuber and philosopher, Jared Henderson.Marriott has written extensively about what he calls the dawn of a “post-literate society.” For him, the slow death of English literature and the retreat from serious reading mark a cultural crisis, with far-reaching consequences for politics, education, and civic life. He argues that without books and deep reading, society risks becoming shallow, distracted, and dangerously unserious.Henderson agrees and sees the problem through a different lens. On his YouTube channel he has chronicled the “male reading crisis” in American colleges, showing how boys and young men are abandoning reading altogether. But rather than mourning literature’s decline, he focuses on practical ways to reignite reading habits, from choosing the right books to rebuilding attention in an age of screens.In this discussion, Freddie Sayers asks: Is literacy truly collapsing, or simply evolving into new forms? As AI, smartphones and digital media reshape our minds, is the future of reading one of decline — or reinvention? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers brings together two starkly opposed voices on the Ukraine war and the future of world order: John Mearsheimer, University of Chicago professor and leading realist, and Matthew Syed, Sunday Times columnist, broadcaster and author.Mearsheimer has long argued that NATO expansion and Western policy blunders set the stage for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. From a realist standpoint, he warns that Russia’s position is essentially non-negotiable and that Ukraine must cut a deal now if it is to avoid further devastation. For Mearsheimer, ignoring the hard facts of great-power politics and clinging to Western rhetoric risks only catastrophic escalation.Syed sees things very differently. In a recent Sunday Times column, he criticised the West’s handling of Ukraine, from the failed Alaska summit. He accused Western governments of failing Ukraine and directly attacked Mearsheimer’s realist position as “morally deranged” and fatally weak. For Syed, only moral clarity and Western resolve — not accommodation with Putin — can change the course of the war.In this debate, Freddie Sayers asks: Is realism just disguised defeatism? Is idealism dangerously naïve in the age of Trump, Putin and Xi? And, after the White House summit with Zelensky, does the West finally have a coherent strategy — or is Ukraine still being left to fight alone? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers speaks with journalist and author of new book Apple in China, Patrick McGee – who was the Financial Times’s principal Apple reporter from 2019 to 2023 – about the man at the centre of Apple’s China story: CEO Tim Cook.On August 1st, Cook quietly became Apple’s longest-serving leader, overtaking Steve Jobs — a milestone that came days before a high-profile White House appearance in which he warmly praised Donald Trump. The move was widely seen as a calculated bid to secure political goodwill as US–China tensions threaten Apple’s business.Before becoming CEO, Cook built Apple’s vast Chinese supply chain — training millions of workers and investing billions in infrastructure — giving the company unmatched manufacturing power but also a deep reliance on China’s authoritarian system. Now, McGee says, he is scrambling to shift production elsewhere while navigating Washington politics. His book, Apple in China, charts how Cook’s choices drove Apple’s rise — and its vulnerabilities — as speculation grows over his future and who might replace him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers interviews renowned evolutionary biologist Professor Richard Dawkins about the enduring biological differences between men and women — and why recognising them remains essential in the face of growing ideological pressure. Dawkins lays out the evolutionary and genetic foundations that distinguish the sexes.He addresses the growing influence of gender ideology and the way it has infiltrated scientific institutions, education, and public discourse. From the redefinition of sex to the silencing of researchers, Dawkins warns that a once-clear understanding of biology is being sacrificed to political orthodoxy — and makes the case for defending scientific truth against the encroachment of dogma. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Journalist Batya Ungar-Sargon and UnHerd US Editor Sohrab Ahmari discuss the MAGA pivot against Israel in recent weeks and the reasons for waning support for Netanyahu's war from the American Right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Philosopher and UnHerd writer Kathleen Stock joins Freddie Sayers to discuss one of the strangest and most revealing cultural moments of the year: the rise of Bonnie Blue, the OnlyFans pornstar at the heart of a new documentary that's turning heads and raising questions about sexuality, morality, and the future of sex.Stock — a former professor of philosophy, a leading critic of gender ideology, and a regular UnHerd contributor — agreed to watch the Bonnie Blue documentary at a screening and return with her reflections. In this wide-ranging conversation, she and Freddie delve into the deeper meaning behind the phenomenon: What does Bonnie Blue say about us? Is this just porn, or is it something more — a symptom of a culture in moral decline?They explore the lasting wisdom of Roger Scruton, whose warnings about the separation of sex from beauty and meaning now feel prescient. They also consider the implications of the Online Safety Act, censorship, the state's role in regulating sexual content, and whether we’ve lost the language for intimacy, mystery, and erotic imagination. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.