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The Rest Is Politics: Leading

The Rest Is Politics: Leading

By: Goalhanger
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About this listen

 The Rest Is Politics’ Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart interview politicians, leaders, intellectuals, and more. From inside and outside of politics, guests join Rory and Alastair to discuss life, leadership, and the philosophy that’s led them to success in their chosen field. Their conversations cover key political events, global affairs, and the big ideas shaping the world today, offering listeners in-depth perspectives from those at the heart of change. The Rest Is Politics Plus: Become a member for exclusive bonus content, early access to Question Time episodes to live show tickets, ad-free listening for both TRIP and Leading, our exclusive newsletter, discount book prices on titles mentioned on the pod, and our members’ chatroom on Discord. Just head to therestispolitics.com to sign up, or start a free trial today on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/therestispolitics. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.Goalhanger Podcasts Political Science Politics & Government
Episodes
  • 170. President of Moldova, Maia Sandu: Holding the Line Between Democracy and Putin

    170. President of Moldova, Maia Sandu: Holding the Line Between Democracy and Putin
    Jan 12 2026
    How did Maia Sandu fight Russian disinformation in Moldova? What is it like to have a war in the country next door? Will the European Union accept Moldova with Russian troops in the country? Rory and Alastair travel to Moldova to speak with President Maia Sandu to discuss all this and more. ________________ Social Producer: Celine Charles Video Editor: Josh Smith Assistant Producer: Daisy Alston-Horne Producer: Alice Horrell Senior Producer: Nicole Maslen Head of Politics: Tom Whiter Exec Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • 169. Jimmy Wales: Wikipedia vs. Musk, AI, and the Battle for Truth

    169. Jimmy Wales: Wikipedia vs. Musk, AI, and the Battle for Truth
    Jan 5 2026
    Who gave us an encyclopedia in our pockets? Why is the statement that Donald Trump is the "worst president in US history" allowed on his Wikipedia page? How do Brazilians and Americans differ on the history of the airplane? Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell are joined by the creator of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, to discuss all this and more. For Leading listeners, there’s free access to the Wordsmith Academy - plus their report on the future of legal skills. Visit https://www.wordsmith.ai/politics Social Producer: Celine Charles Video Editor: Adam Thornton Assistant Producer: Daisy Alston-Horne Producer: Alice Horrell Senior Producer: Nicole Maslen Head of Politics: Tom Whiter Exec Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 13 mins
  • 168. A Climate Special: Populism, Security, and Leadership

    168. A Climate Special: Populism, Security, and Leadership
    Dec 29 2025
    Can the planet sustain infinite economic growth, or is GDP a flawed metric? Is the UK genuinely decarbonising, or is it simply outsourcing its pollution? How can politicians defeat the populist narrative that Net Zero is too expensive? In this Climate Special, we hear the best bits from Rory and Alastair's interviews with Professor Dieter Helm, Mark Carney, Caroline Lucas, Ed Miliband, and Emma Pinchbeck. For Leading listeners, there’s free access to the Wordsmith Academy - plus their report on the future of legal skills. Visit https://www.wordsmith.ai/politics Social Producer: Celine Charles Video Editor: Josh Smith Assistant Producer: Daisy Alston-Horne Producer: Alice Horrell Senior Producer: Nicole Maslen Head of Politics: Tom Whiter Exec Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr
All stars
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The banter, fairness and adult approach to these interviews is refreshing. I wish more news reporters would handle interviews in such a way. AC and RS clearly have diffyviews on subjects but also a lot of common ground. Just excellent but be warned this is podcast crack you'll get totally addicted.

Bloody excellent interviewing which is rare nowadays

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A wonderful talk with Anthony Gormley. I met him in Rome yeats ago (I am an archaeologist) and his immersion in human presence in areas such as cave art were fascinating. The need to register a presence, to affirm existence, chimes with so much of the past and present. The massacre of art colleges in the UK challenges the ability to develop this into the future. Such a short sighted approach. Gormley brings alive the need for life to be art and vica versa.

Art and life

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As usual, a fantastic interview with a very knowledgeable guest. As the leader of the National Farmers Union her position on some environmental topics was unsurprising and could've been probed a bit more.

What I did think was a bit off was the very personal questions Rory and Alastair asked at the beginning of the interview. It seemed unnecessarily cruel to dredge up some clearly painful aspects of her life and didn't contribute to the overall discussion about farming.

An important discussion about British agriculture

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Is Alastair hoping for a journalistic post with the Sun?

In view of the comment that Leading is often stated to be a politically focused podcast, why did Alastair, in the followup chat, regret not pushing Arnie into revealing details about his past private life?

Such questions are not necessary.












Career Change for Campbell?!!

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Leading is almost always well worth a listen, but Prof Sapolsky is a revelation - entertaining, eye-opening and intellectually fearless

Awesome

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