Economist Podcasts

Foiled plot: did Iran plan British base attack?

Five men are in custody under suspicion of explosives and terrorism offences after being arrested near a British military base used by American aircraft. This could mark

Big meet, little meat: the Trump-Xi summit

Not much of real substance appears to have emerged from the get-together. But our correspondent says there are clues of how both sides view an evolving relationship. Tomm

Home disadvantage: risks in housing markets

Rich-world house prices survived the last fit of interest-rate rises; our correspondent lays out why they may not this time. Nine months after Australia banned social med

National front-runner: who can beat Le Pen?

Marine Le Pen, party leader of France’s populist-right National Rally, starts her fourth presidential bid with a commanding lead. The country’s political centre is broad,

The mob rule: criminality consumes South Africa

An illicit shadow economy, rampant extortion and the capture of the criminal justice system: mafia members and tactics are eating away at the state. Oura seems to have ca

Centre punch: Germany’s state-election shocker

Two more state-election results reveal surging support for both the far-right AfD and the populist-left Die Linke parties. Chancellor Friedrich Merz himself described the

Drone truth: Russia has the upper hand

After a visit to Ukraine last week, our defence editor reports on a new phase of the war as Kyiv and other civilian targets are bombarded by Russian missiles. He also vis

Rise and shine: Warsh’s Fed rate test

The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates for the first time since July 2023. For the central bank’s new chair Kevin Warsh, that decision was a test both of monetary

The end of the world is AI? An existential threat

Is artificial intelligence becoming uncontrollably powerful? Our correspondent analyses whether a pause to breakneck development is possible or feasible. We have entered

Islamism in Britain: what is the threat?

Though a growing share of the British population is anxious about Islam, they have no reason to be. Islamism, a fringe ideology that believes government and society shoul

Strait and narrowing: the Houthis’ striking advance

After years of stalemate, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis are taking territory, including on a Red Sea strait. We ask what has changed, and how the shift fits into the wider

The Weekend Intelligence: Shire folk - Episode 1: Tommy's Town

For 15 years, the British media dismissed Tommy Robinson as a far-right extremist. We kept him off our televisions, and out of our newspapers.  Today his rallies attract

Out-numbered: AI’s contentious maths milestone

OpenAI’s claim to have solved one of the great problems in mathematics has itself created problems. We ask why the breakthrough has shaken the field. On the 25th annivers

Working through it: the AI jobs boom dawns

The labour data are in from America and a trend is becoming clearer: on balance AI is starting to create more jobs than it hoovers up. Despite advancements of just about

TRAILER: Shire folk

Shire Folk is the story of how some of the most powerful people in America came to see Britain—and Islam—through the eyes of a fringe football hooligan. Hosted on Acast.

Chainsaw sputtering: Milei’s experiment falters

President Javier Milei has tamed inflation and improved the lot of many Argentines. But an election season approaches, and the promised economic and wage growth are not m

School of shock: teenagers get dimmer

International tests in maths and reading show that 15-year-olds today score what 14-year-olds would have done a decade ago. Our correspondent explains the long-term decli

All right on the night: AfD’s victory

Alternative for Germany won an even larger share of the vote than expected in yesterday’s state election. What does the far-right nationalist party’s success mean for Ger

Bargaining chips: Nvidia is the bank of AI

Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company, has shifted strategy to boost demand for its chips. Our correspondent assesses the opportunities and risks. Knife crime in Brit

Ire and ICE: the toll of America’s deportations

Donald Trump’s stance on immigration helped him win the presidency. Our correspondent asks if a backlash against the campaign could damage Republican midterm prospects. R