The Mishal Husain Show

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 UK channel 5 - Palin meets the nation’s president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., visits an overcrowded prison and witnesses firsthand rising tensions in the South China Sea.

In his conversation with Mishal Husain, he speaks about what his travels have taught him, the realities of seeing the world in his 80s and Monty Python’s unlikely diplomatic power.

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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. 

Moaveni presents her book as a “parallel women’s history,” tracing how the wives of US presidents, who traditionally had offices in the now-vanished annex, helped shape alliances at home and abroad.

Moaveni, a journalism professor at New York University, is a longtime reporter on Iran and the Middle East. She explains in her conversation with Mishal Husain how when she took on the project, Iran seemed unusually quiet. Then the US and Israel attacked. Here, she reflects on a seismic year in the US and around the world.

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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 and society, James Manyika says his role is to help ensure artificial intelligence turns out well for the company and the rest of us. But with US President Donald Trump rejecting new guardrails and public skepticism about the motivations of AI giants calling for them, proponents of the technology face an increasingly tough room.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Manyika explains why he hopes that worries about AI – from job destruction to the more existential – won’t dampen enthusiasm about its possibilities.

Read Mishal’s notes on this conversation https://www.bloomberg.com/mishal

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“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 Economic Forum.

Seven months of the US-Israel war with Iran have ravaged Qatar’s gas exports, which rely on passage through the Strait of Hormuz. While the country has long prided itself on conflict mediation, this time its own economy and stability are at stake.

In front of an audience in New York, Sheikh Mohammed discussed with Mishal Husain recent pressures his country has experienced as a result of the conflict. He has also unveiled a new investment initiative, part of a bid to focus on the future even as Qatar grapples with the current crisis.

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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 White House, the period between his presidencies and the transformation of the office itself.

Her book, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, written with Jonathan Swan, examines the Republican’s second term through the first weeks of the US-Israel war with Iran.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Haberman looks ahead to the US midterm elections.  She discusses Trump’s “unreality bubble,” his attitude to the war, his complex relationship with Vice President JD Vance and why she sees a “black hole” ahead.

Read Mishal’s notes and reflections on this conversation https://www.bloomberg.com/mishal

Listen to Mishal’s interview with Tucker Carlson

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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 psychopaths. The Men Who Stare at Goats was made into a film starring George Clooney, and his popular culture war podcast, Things Fell Apart, is returning next year for its third season.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Ronson discusses his latest book, The Castle, which features men struggling to find purpose amid economic, social and political upheaval. He also shares his own experience with male vulnerability and reflects on artificial intelligence and the shifting nature of the media.

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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 much bigger transformation, says China AI pioneer and investor Kai-Fu Lee: one that’s upending companies, jobs and even how people think about work.

Few have watched this historic moment unfold from as many vantage points as Lee, who has worked at Apple and led Microsoft and Google teams in China. In this interview with Mishal Husain, he talks about what the future might look like and how he uses AI everyday.

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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 revisit these journeys. The Bridge is set in the remote regions of Spain that first captivated him, while The News From Dublin includes a short story about an undocumented Irish immigrant preparing to leave the US as Donald Trump is re-elected.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Tóibín talks about the places that have shaped him, the unusual process behind his writing and what might eventually make him leave America.

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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 withdrawal of American forces as the Taliban swept back into Kabul in 2021. While many people left Afghanistan, he chose to stay.

Today, Karzai lives under virtual house arrest and rarely gives interviews. He says his eldest daughter, like all girls over the age of 12,  is no longer able to go to school.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, he explains why he won’t send his daughters to be educated overseas, and why he remains hopeful for the future of his country.

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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 is different from that of many other creatives.

The founding member of Black Eyed Peas also discusses why there should be different ways for platforms to recognize music created solely by humans, and a system that protects identity and likeness. Ultimately, will.i.am says human performance will always survive. 

They also talk about the song “Where Is The Love?”and what it means to him, and how the song has helped him teach students at Arizona State University.

Contact The Mishal Husain Show [email protected]

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Illustration: Uli Knörzer for Bloomberg; Source Photo: Sterling Hampton IV

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