UnHerd with Freddie Sayers

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers discusses the ongoing military campaign in Iran with former National Security Advisor John Bolton who delivers a blunt critique of the current administration by arguing that sporadic strikes are a strategic mistake and that the United States must instead commit to a total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the ultimate goal of regime change to permanently neutralise the threat of a nuclear armed Tehran, while simultaneously delivering a scathing personal assessment of President Trump's impulsive decision-making process. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers talks with retired Major General Randy Manner, a highly decorated veteran with over 35 years of service, who delivers a scathing analysis of the Trump administration's floated military objectives in the Persian Gulf, specifically examining the tactical viability and global economic risks of seizing Iran's Kharg Island oil depot and nuclear materials, while also exploring his deep-seated concerns regarding the qualifications of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the potential strain on the military's constitutional fealty. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers speaks with Joe Kent, the former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, in his first international interview since his resignation from the Trump administration. A highly decorated Green Beret and CIA veteran, Kent became the most senior official to step down in protest of the ongoing war in Iran, which he describes as a ‘quagmire’ driven by external pressure rather than national interest. In this wide-ranging conversation, Kent alleges that the U.S. was misled into the conflict by the Israel lobby, shares personal reflections on the death of his wife in a ‘manufactured’ war, and raises questions about the investigation into the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers speaks with The Economist’s defence editor, Shashank Joshi, to dissect the frightening new reality of ‘democratised warfare’ in the Strait of Hormuz. As Iran utilises low-cost drones, ‘smart mines’, and autonomous suicide boats to threaten 20% of the world's oil supply, Joshi explains the shift from traditional naval battles to a war of economic attrition and investigates whether the price of entry for war has been permanently lowered - and what it means for the future of global stability. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers speaks with Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University, Helen Thompson, to dismantle the mainstream narrative surrounding the conflict in the Middle East. Moving beyond the idea that the U.S. is stumbling into war, Thompson reveals a possible strategic plan by the Trump administration to weaponise energy markets against China, while exploring how the closure of the Strait of Hormuz serves American interests in the global AI race, and how a reverse Suez moment is fundamentally redrawing the map of global power. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers speaks with Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, Robert Pape, to discuss the high-stakes ‘escalation trap’ unfolding between the United States and Iran - breaking down the tactical successes and failures of the US military campaign and analysing how Iran is leveraging its geographical position and control of the Strait of Hormuz through low-cost drone and missile harassment. As Professor Pape draws comparisons to the Vietnam War and 1973 oil crisis, has the Trump administration lost control of the conflict's trajectory, and are we moving toward a dangerous ground power dilemma that threatens the global economy and the stability of the Western alliance? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd’s Flo Read hosts an exploration into the global exorcism boom, investigating why demand for spiritual deliverance has tripled in the last decade and why Gen Z, in particular, is leading a resurgence in supernatural belief. A panel featuring historian Dr. Francis Young, Anglican deliverance minister Rev. Dr. Jason Bray, and legal expert Professor Helen Hall unpack the shift to a post-pandemic ‘spiritual marketplace’ where social media-fuelled occultism and ancient theology collide, and address the safeguarding risks and legal complexities of performing exorcisms in a multicultural society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers hosts a debate on the internal future of Iran featuring two clashing geopolitical perspectives: Professor Edward Luttwak - a strategist and expert on international diplomacy, who argues that the Trump administration is successfully pursuing a strategy to achieve regime change via surgical airstrikes; and Dr Arta Moeini - international political theorist and a realist thinker, who warns that the West is dangerously underestimating the resilience of Iran’s decentralised "total state”, and that direct attacks could fuel a civil war that accelerates a global shift toward a new world order dominated by China. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers and US editor Sohrab Ahmari unpick the ideological fracture within the Republican party following the escalatory US strikes against Iran. From the notable silence of JD Vance to the resurging influence of Lindsey Graham, they explore how Donald Trump’s "Peace Admin" shifted toward a hawk-like interventionism agenda reminiscent of the George W. Bush era, at a decisive moment in the battle for the soul of American foreign policy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the wake of Obama's on-air revelation that he believes in aliens and Trump's move to declassify government UFO documents, UnHerd invites two world experts to make the best case for hope and doubt about extraterrestrial life. Michael Shermer, Skeptic magazine founder and author of the new book Truth (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Truth-What-Find-Still-Matters/dp/142145372X), and Harvard astronomer Prof. Avi Loeb ask: are we alone in the universe? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers talks to journalist Michael Tracey about the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and what Tracey describes as a "moral panic" surrounding the Epstein scandal. Tracey challenges the mainstream narrative, arguing that the case against the former Prince relies on fictionalised accounts and inconsistent testimony from the late Virginia Giuffre, and by examining recently surfaced FBI memos and the charges of misconduct in public office, suggests that the current constitutional crisis is driven more by mass hysteria and media credulity than by unassailable legal evidence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd’s Jonny Ball meets historian, academic, and author Anton Jäger to discuss his new book ‘Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization without Political Consequences’, charting the pronounced shift in engagement and death of political institutions since the 1980s via analysis of movements like Brexit, BLM, and the rise of the far-Right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers meets with former Danish Minister for Immigration and Integration, Kaare Dybvad Bek – fresh from his high-profile talk at the Policy Exchange - to explore how his centre-Left Social Democrats party successfully implemented hardline immigration policies to reduce asylum applications to their lowest in 40 years. He argues that by curbing uncontrolled migration, the Danish government has effectively neutralised the populist far-Right and maintained public trust in the welfare state, offering a blueprint for other European leaders - including Keir Starmer - on how to manage borders from a progressive, pro-labour perspective. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers talks with senior editor at Reason, Robby Soave, about the long-awaited release of the Epstein Files and the fallout following the disclosure. Has the dump of millions of unverified documents sparked a modern-day witch hunt, where gossip is mistaken for evidence and guilt by association replaces due process? They explore how both ends of the political spectrum have weaponised the files to smear opponents, the high cost of sacrificing privacy, and why the lone “no” vote in Congress may have been the most prescient voice of all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers explores the upcoming high-stakes by-election of Gorton and Denton with a deep dive into the constituency and its localised microcosm of global populist trends. He is joined by Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester, Rob Ford, founder and editor of the Manchester Mill, Joshi Herrmann, and councillors Allan Hopwood (Reform) and Shahbaz Sarwar (Workers Party) to analyse whether the Labour stronghold will crumble under pressure from a surging Green Party or a high-profile Reform UK campaign led by Matt Goodwin within a new landscape of sectarian identity politics and deepening public frustration with the UK’s traditional two-party system. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers talks to eminent economist and social scientist Professor Glenn Loury about a troubling new shift in American discourse: the rise of Right-wing identity politics. Traditionally a critic of the woke Left, Loury turns his sights on the world’s wealthiest man, arguing that Elon Musk is making a "category mistake" by importing South African racial anxieties into the American context. By embracing white solidarity and racial essentialism, Loury argues, the Right is not defeating identity politics, but is instead adopting a politically destructive mirror image of the very ideology they claim to oppose. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this exclusive interview, UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers speaks with Professor John Bew - leading historian and chief foreign policy advisor to the last four UK Prime Ministers – about the friction caused by the Trump administration's push to acquire Greenland and the resulting panic within the Western alliance. Set against the backdrop of the 2026 Davos summit, the conversation confronts the 'break glass' moment facing Western leaders and explores the uncomfortable reality of our current era: Will the UK shift from economic dependency toward restoring its own national power to navigate a scary new era of ‘bully powers’? Is the Western alliance truly over, or can a nuanced and multi-layered approach preserve the core security frameworks that have defined the last 80 years? How should middle powers respond when the United States - the traditional guarantor of global norms - begins to operate under a pre-1945 logic of annexation and unilateral tariffs? And could a new Northern European alliance provide the necessary leverage to protect sovereign interests in an increasingly bipolar world? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Freddie Sayers debates the killing of Renee Good by ICE Agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis with civil liberties attorney Jenin Younes and UnHerd’s US editor Sohrab Ahmari, examining the incident through the lens of the "Rashomon effect" where observers draw diametrically opposite conclusions from the same evidence. Was the shooting a catastrophic violation of civil liberties and potentially an illegal execution, or does the responsibility lie with Good for obstructing a lawful federal operation and “weaponising" her vehicle, a view echoed by the Trump administration's branding of the event as an act of domestic terrorism. The discussion concludes with YouGov’s David Montgomery, who reveals how the broader American public view the use of force, and what significant long-term political risks the incident may yield for the Republican project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers speaks with author and Cambridge professor Helen Thompson, economist Pippa Malmgren, and Danish MEP Henrik Dahl about the Trump administration's escalating rhetoric and strategic moves to acquire Greenland. Covering the historical legal underpinnings of Danish sovereignty while analysing modern geopolitical drivers such as the Monroe Doctrine, Arctic militarisation, and the essential role of the region in a new space race for strategic security dominance, they explore how the Greenland situation is symptomatic of a profound breakdown in trust between Washington and Western Europe, with the administration increasingly viewing European leadership as obstructive political rivals in a shifting global order. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers speaks with Yanis Varoufakis about the unsettling rise of AI-generated deepfakes, using Varoufakis’s own experience as one of the most synthesised figures on YouTube as a chilling case study. The conversation delves into the "techno-feudal" power structures of Big Tech, where algorithms prioritise engagement and "rent-seeking" over truth, allowing misinformation to spread rapidly while the victims struggle to reclaim their own digital identities.Moving beyond the personal, they explore an imminent future in which audiovisual evidence can no longer be trusted, debating whether this will lead to a new era where arguments are judged solely on their merits, or a return to a medieval-like state where high-quality information becomes a luxury for the elite while the masses are left to navigate a sea of fabricated content. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.