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The Mishal Husain Show

Bloomberg

58 episodes

Make sense of the world with one essential conversation, every week. Mishal Husain, one of Britain's best interviewers, brings her signature blend of curiosity and tenacity to weekly conversations with world leaders, business titans, and cultural icons, revealing who they really are and how they see the world changing around them.

More about the show

Subscribe today at Bloomberg.com/audio or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. For annotated transcripts of Mishal's conversations head to Bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Episodes page 1 of 2

  1. Suhasini Haidar on Modi’s Challenges: Trump Abroad and Gen Z at Home

    · 39 min

    India’s “Cockroach” protests have returned to the streets of Delhi, and just as the country faces intensifying challenges from abroad, including fallout from the Iran war and tensions with the US, China and Pakistan.…

  2. Rory McIlroy on His Secret Goal, Trump and the Future of Golf

    · 29 min

    In this conversation recorded at Bloomberg’s New Economy Forum in New Delhi, Mishal Husain talks to Rory McIlroy about his career as one of the world’s top professional golfers. McIlroy is one of a very small group of…

  3. Michael Palin on the Philippines, China and the Fish-Slapping Dance

    · 43 min

    Best known as a member of Monty Python, Michael Palin has been many things — sketch writer, comedian, actor, and for almost four decades, world traveler. In his latest series, “Michael Palin in the Philippines” - on…

  4. Melania, Soft Power & the Iran War with Writer Azadeh Moaveni

    · 38 min

    As US journalist Azadeh Moaveni was writing her latest book, ‘The East Wing’, a history of America's first ladies and their staff, President Donald Trump’s demolition of that very part of the White House was underway.…

  5. Even a 0.1% AI Risk Matters: Google’s James Manyika

    · 42 min

    Amid the furious debate over the pace and potential risks of AI development, top tech executives have publicly united around a call for their industry to be regulated. As Google's senior vice president of technology…

  6. Caught in the Iran War: Qatar’s PM on the Middle East “Earthquake”

    · 28 min

    “Our region has experienced what I can only describe as an earthquake.” That was how Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s prime minister, began remarks at a special UN General Assembly edition of the Qatar…

  7. Trump's 'Unreality Bubble’ Meets the Midterms: Maggie Haberman

    · 40 min

    Few journalists have watched Donald Trump as closely or for as long as Maggie Haberman. The New York Times reporter first encountered him as a tabloid fixture in the 1990s and has since chronicled his ascent to the…

  8. Forget the Manosphere: Jon Ronson on Why Men Feel Lost

    · 39 min

    Author Jon Ronson has spent years focusing on the unusual people and societal undercurrents of our changing world. He has written a series of bestselling books featuring extremists, conspiracy theorists and…

  9. US Versus China, Cheap AI & Human Love: AI Pioneer Kai-Fu Lee

    · 44 min

    Chinese artificial intelligence companies are rapidly closing the gap with their American rivals despite years of US restrictions on advanced chips. But the race between the world’s two AI superpowers is part of a…

  10. Colm Tóibín on 1970s Barcelona, Trump's America and Escaping into Art

    · 40 min

    The writer Colm Tóibín knows something about leaving home. As a young man living in Spain, he discovered a freedom he hadn’t known growing up in Ireland. Later, he would settle in America. Tóibín’s latest books…

  11. Hamid Karzai on the Taliban, Pakistan and His Daughters’ Future

    · 40 min

    It's been 25 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the US-led invasion of Afghanistan that brought Hamid Karzai, then a little-known tribal leader, to power. Two decades later, Karzai witnessed the chaotic…

  12. Why will.i.am Says Human Creativity Will Survive AI

    · 26 min

    The Grammy award winning musician, tech CEO and college professor will.i.am says he believes in the power of artificial intelligence to assist human creativity. He tells Mishal Husain why his attitude toward technology…

  13. Adjoa Andoh on Shonda Rhimes, ‘Bridgerton’ and Becoming Lady Danbury

    · 36 min

    “Bridgerton” has been a global television phenomenon for more than six years, thanks in part to British actor Adjoa Andoh. She has described her role playing Lady Danbury in the Shondaland creation as “life changing.”…

  14. History’s Not Just About Great Men: Peter Frankopan on Iran and Ukraine

    · 35 min

    Uncertainty about the US-Israel war with Iran and its endgame continues to cast a long shadow over global trade, while Ukraine’s increasingly sophisticated counterattacks are imposing mounting costs on Russia. What are…

  15. Karen Hao on the Reckless Race for Global AI Power

    · 34 min

    Over the last few years, artificial intelligence tools have revolutionized the way many people work and learn. But industry critic Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI, argues the choices AI companies make about scale,…

  16. "He's Weak": Tucker Carlson on How Trump Failed America

    · 53 min

    Tucker Carlson was one of Donald Trump’s most prominent allies when he campaigned for re-election and through his first year back in the White House. The US-Israel war with Iran, however, marked a decisive split…

  17. Taming Labour and Facing Down Farage: Steve Richards on Burnham's Plan

    · 48 min

    Andy Burnham appears set to walk into 10 Downing Street and take power as the UK’s latest prime minister. Behind the mid-term departure of Keir Starmer has been, at least in part, the rise of Reform UK leader Nigel…

  18. America in Free Fall? Historian Jill Lepore on the US at 250

    · 41 min

    For America’s 250th anniversary, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jill Lepore joins Mishal Husain to take her through her book on the US Constitution. We The People explores how the Constitution came about and,…

  19. Can Republicans Win California Again? Steve Hilton Thinks So

    · 39 min

    In November, California will choose a new governor to replace Gavin Newsom, pitting Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra, a former US Secretary of Health and Human Services, US Congressman and state attorney general,…

  20. Bonus: Alastair Campbell & Jacob Rees-Mogg Debate Brexit 10 Years On (Live)

    · 35 min

    It’s 10 years since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. It was an enormous decision, one that has contributed to the churn of British prime ministers since, a phenomenon that has continued this week…

  21. AI Wants Your Life: Tech Boss Meredith Whittaker Says No

    · 45 min

    Meredith Whittaker has spent years arguing that privacy is a prerequisite for a free society. As the president of the nonprofit foundation behind the encrypted messaging app Signal, she now finds herself defending that…

  22. Gary Lineker on the World Cup, Trump and the Fans Left Behind

    · 39 min

    For decades, Gary Lineker anchored live sporting events for the BBC. Now he’s a podcaster and media boss. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, he talks about his new Netflix show and hopes for an England World Cup…

  23. Ebola Is Back: Virus Pioneer Peter Piot Explains the Threat

    · 38 min

    Peter Piot first encountered the Ebola virus in a laboratory in Antwerp in 1976. At the time, the pathogen was largely unknown. Now, almost 50 years later, a new outbreak is spreading through parts of Central Africa,…

  24. Cuba on the Brink: Ada Ferrer on Life Under US Pressure

    · 42 min

    Ada Ferrer won the Pulitzer Prize in 2022 for her acclaimed book, Cuba: An American History, which examined the island’s relationship with the US. Her latest work, Keeper of My Kin, tells her family story: a mother who…

  25. Can Britain’s Politics Cope: David Dimbleby Thinks Not

    · 41 min

    David Dimbleby was for decades the face of election programs on the BBC. He anchored coverage of 10 UK general elections, as well as the 1975 and 2016 referendums on European membership, the funeral of Princess Diana…

  26. China vs the US: Kishore Mahbubani on a Zero-Sum Rivalry

    · 35 min

    Beyond this week’s talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, there’s an epic tale that has been unfolding for decades. It’s a battle to be the world’s number one power and a much bigger…

  27. Anthony Scaramucci: Trump and the Humiliation That Made Him Famous

    · 48 min

    For a brief moment in 2017, Anthony Scaramucci became a unit of time. His 11-day stint as White House communications director was so short-lived that it entered the political lexicon. Almost a decade on, he has proven…

  28. Why India Has Lost Its Way: Writer Amitav Ghosh on the New World Order, Politics and Past Lives

    · 34 min

    For more than 30 years, the Indian-born writer Amitav Ghosh has built a global following with novels that draw on deep historical research. But his latest offering, Ghost-Eye, is more esoteric. The plot moves back and…

  29. How to Get a Deal With Iran: Former US Negotiator Wendy Sherman on Power, Pressure and Reality

    · 44 min

    We’re now eight weeks on from the start of the US-Israel war with Iran, a conflict that’s been watched with increasing alarm by Wendy Sherman, architect of the 2015 nuclear deal between the US and Iran and a former…

  30. Hamlet, James Bond and SNL UK: Riz Ahmed on Reinventing Cultural Icons

    · 39 min

    A new and radical take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet is out in US cinemas. The force behind it is actor, writer, producer and musician Riz Ahmed. He says the 400-year-old story has never felt more current. Ahmed,…

  31. America’s Limits, Iran’s Leverage, Pakistan’s Moment: Maleeha Lodhi on a Shifting Order

    · 32 min

    After almost six weeks of war, how did Pakistan manage to get the US and Iran to talk? Amid a still-fragile situation in the Middle East, that question sits at the heart of this conversation with Maleeha Lodhi. She has…

  32. Lionel Shriver on Immigration, Identity and Why She Refuses to Stay Quiet

    · 45 min

    Lionel Shriver has often tackled complex or contentious issues in her fiction. From school shootings in We Need to Talk About Kevin to economic collapse in The Mandibles. Her new novel, A Better Life, is the story of…

  33. Why Israel Could Be Forced to Stop: Shira Efron on War, Fatigue and Netanyahu's Strategy

    · 41 min

    With attention fixed on the potential developments between the US and Iran, could the Israeli government be forced to end the war earlier than it might like? The last few weeks have seen daily air strikes by Israel on…

  34. Ro Khanna on Stopping the Iran War, Taking on the ‘Epstein Class’ and Taxing Billionaires

    · 37 min

    US Representative Ro Khanna of California helped force Donald Trump to release the Epstein files. Now he wants to end the war with Iran. Earlier this month, the Democratic Congressman joined forces with Representative…

  35. Why Iran Isn’t Breaking: Vali Nasr on Pain, Patience and the Uprising That Isn’t Coming

    · 42 min

    Despite the intensity of the US-Israel bombing campaign, Iran’s regime, now under a new supreme leader, hasn’t given President Donald Trump the “unconditional surrender” he’s seeking. Mishal Husain speaks with Vali…

  36. Middle East Expert Bernard Haykel on the Three Futures for Iran After the Strikes

    · 38 min

    Within 24 hours of the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, a host of other countries were drawn into the latest conflict in the Middle East. Iran retaliated by targeting sites in Israel and across the Gulf, including the…

  37. WHO Chief Tedros on Covid, China and Texting RFK Jr

    · 42 min

    When President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, one of his first acts was to sign an executive order withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization. The administration's rupture with the WHO…

  38. ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Creator Maggie Kang on the Global Hit No One Saw Coming

    · 41 min

    “KPop Demon Hunters” is the brainchild of Korean-Canadian animator Maggie Kang. It’s Netflix’s biggest-ever film and follows Rumi, Mira and Zoey, members of the girl band Huntrix, as they battle to save the world from…

  39. Bonus Episode: The Andrew Story

    · 25 min

    The Feb. 19 arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the brother of King Charles, puts the British Royal Family into uncharted territory. The former Prince Andrew was detained on suspicion of misconduct in public office…

  40. Author Andrey Kurkov on Winter in Kyiv and Why Putin Won’t Stop

    · 37 min

    This winter has been exceptionally brutal in Ukraine. Already the coldest in more than a decade, it’s been made worse by Russian attacks on energy infrastructure that have left millions with no heating and intermittent…

  41. David Miliband on Global Disorder, Labour’s ‘Mistakes’ and Deploying $1 Billion on Crises

    · 42 min

    In 2007 when he was UK Foreign Secretary, David Miliband delivered an address to the Labour Party conference. He described a world with “fewer countries at war” and “more democracies than ever before.” Two decades…

  42. Netflix’s ‘Cover-Up’ Director Laura Poitras on ICE, ‘Domestic Terrorists’ and US Surveillance

    · 46 min

    The killing of two US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis has made January a dark month for many across America. Both Alex Pretti and Renee Good were quickly labeled “domestic terrorists" by the Trump…

  43. Rutger Bregman Is Thinking About Billionaires, the US Versus Europe and Saving the World

    · 38 min

    Rutger Bregman knows what appearing at Davos can do for your profile. His reputation was made when he went there in 2019 and attacked the rich. The clip went viral. A historian and author originally from the…

  44. Jeanne Shaheen Is Pressing For Answers on Venezuela, Greenland and Iran

    · 33 min

    What is Donald Trump’s plan for Venezuela? Does he have one? Will he go beyond threats in supporting the uprising in Iran or invading Greenland? Jeanne Shaheen has been in the US Senate since 2009 and is now the most…

  45. Peter Navarro Is Doubling Down on Tariffs

    · 35 min

    US President Donald Trump’s tough talk about China and tariffs can be traced back in large part to economist Peter Navarro. A well-known China hawk, he has written books arguing Beijing poses a threat to the US economy…

  46. Kara Swisher Is Thinking About Life After Trump

    · 37 min

    Kara Swisher has followed the story of Silicon Valley for three decades, having started work as a tech journalist at a time when few people were interested in the beat. But through relationships she built with the…

  47. Elon Musk Wants Credit for Cutting Waste, Not Cutting Aid

    · 44 min

    As the year draws to a close, we are bringing you one of Mishal Husain’s biggest conversations of the year, in full. In May 2025, Elon Musk joined Bloomberg's Qatar Economic Forum, in a rare media appearance. He…

  48. Lynsey Addario Keeps Going Back to Photograph War

    · 44 min

    Lynsey Addario’s life work means taking great risks to tell other people’s stories. She is a Pulitzer Prize winning war photographer who has been abducted twice while documenting conflicts from Afghanistan to Ukraine…

  49. Mustafa Suleyman Isn’t Like Everyone Else in Silicon Valley

    · 45 min

    Mustafa Suleyman co-founded AI lab DeepMind when he was just 26 years old. Four years later, it was acquired by Google for a reported $400 million. He is now head of Microsoft’s AI unit, where he just unveiled a new…

  50. Salman Rushdie Isn’t Afraid of Free Speech

    · 43 min

    Salman Rushdie was nearly killed when he was stabbed 15 times on stage in upstate New York in 2022. His injuries were so severe that he lost an eye. It was an attack that came decades after he was first subjected to…

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