Jeremy sits down with the Astronomer Royal, Lord Martin Rees. As well as being the nation's foremost stargazer, he is the founder of the Centre for Existential Risk at Cambridge, which means he spends a great deal of time thinking about how humanity might face its doom.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, to discuss cancel culture, free speech, etc.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with an intellectual hero of his and nobel winner, Amartya Sen, to discuss welfare economics, colonialism, higher education, and the compensations of age.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with the Mayor of Greater Manchester and one of Labour's current success stories, Andy Burnham, to talk about devolution to the North.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with Jed Mercurio, writer of Line of Duty and other hit dramas, to talk TV, police, conspiracies, and writing.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with Michael Burleigh, a distinguished historian who has recently turned his hand to the subject of political assassination in his book 'Day of the Assassins. It's a blood-spattered thriller of a read, and the conversation covers assassinations of all stripes and from all angles, including the murderers of Trotsky, JFK, Martin Luther King, Caesar, and more.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with Salman Rushdie, celebrated novelist.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with Enric Sala, National Geographic Explorer in Residence. He has dived all over the world and campaigns to create marine protected areas. They talk fish, conservation, the Hebrides, Galapagos, Mediterranean, and more.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with Andrew Hunter Murray, co-host of the podcast juggernaut, 'No Such Thing As A Fish'. He also indulges in Jane Austen improv comedy, and, more recently, thriller writing.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with former Downing Street head of communications Alastair Campbell, the real-life Malcolm Tucker and most prolific diarist since Samuel Pepys.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy has a 'drink' with Conn Iggulden, one of the country's foremost writers of historical fiction. On the menu: history, Kent, time machines, the Queen, Pericles, Thermopylae, and more.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Jeremy is with Sam Lee, folk singer and Nightingale obsessive. On the menu, everything and anything to do with the greatest avian singer of all. Why do they sing so well? What do they sound like? Why are they so mythologised? Where can you hear them?   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy has another virtual pint with Justin Maciejewski, director of the National Army Museum, former soldier and former McKinsey consultant, and a deeply thoughtful commentator on the military, one of Jeremy's fondest subjects. On the menu: the role and size of the army, military history, the army's pandemic response, poetry, recruiting, outsourcing, and all sorts.    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy has another virtual pint with Armando Iannucci, creator of a litany of comedy hits such In the Loop, The Thick of It, Veep, Alan Partridge, etc. On the menu: comedy, writing, Milton, Boris Johnson, much more. Alas, no beer.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with the conservation legend Jake Fiennes, scion of one of England's most overachieving families. On the menu: birdsong, nightingales, partridges, sward, the future of the countryside, the glories of Holkham, and more.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week it's the Director General of the National Trust, one of Britain's biggest heritage organisations and the custodian of hundreds of our finest castles, great houses and beaches, along with vast swathes of our treasured countryside. They discuss recent controversies over the Trust's vision for the future, its focus on the history of slavery, as well as the plummeting revenues and job losses of the pandemic.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with Naz Shah, MP for Bradford West and one of the least typical members of Parliament he has ever met. On the menu: Naz's unusual route into Parliament; authenticity in politics; her favourite Tories; empowerment of women; race; generosity of spirit; Hajj; Ramadan; climbing the greasy pole and the Bradford renaissance.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with Rowan Hooper of the New Scientist, author of 'How To Spend a Trillion Dollars'. On the menu is a hard headed look at how humanity might come by such a sum, and the best ways to blow it in order to better our global state. High on the list of topics: climate change. AI, alien life, curing illness.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with one of his heroes, Eliot Higgins, founder of the citizen spy agency, Bellingcat. From his desk in Leicester, Higgins has embarrassed spy agencies around the world, and unmasked some of Russia's most dangerous professional assassins. He has scooped global news organisations and taken on some of the world's most savage dictatorships. Jeremy asks him how he did it all, and what happens next for Bellingcat?   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Another virtual pint. Jeremy sits down with the writer Tony Parsons, author of many novels, most famously 'Man and Boy'. On the menu, writing, lockdown, getting away with it, resilience, adversity, funeral arrangements, Bowie, and more.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy sits down with Sir William Atkinson, the superhead who came to Britain from Jamaica at the age of seven, and in a stellar career earned a knighthood, and some fame, for turning round some of the country's toughest schools. On the agenda: teaching, rugby, racism, history, ambition, pubs   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy has a pint with David Runciman, host of the Talking Politics podcast, author, and Cambridge Professor. They discuss the waning public faith in democracy and how it might be fixed. Should we let children vote? Should we make people pass a test to vote? Should we at least try something to arrest the alarming trend of people turning away from the system of government meant to be the worst except for all the others?   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy has a 'pint' with Sir David Omand, former head of the government's listening, GCHQ, and thus one of our top spies. Topics include the power of rational thinking, how an intelligence analyst would go about buying a house, the need for a devil's advocate, how to keep kids safe on the internet, and how Edward Snowden should have gone about his historic leak.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeremy talks to Dr Rachel Clarke, specialist in palliative care, about the meaning of a good death and her experience of the pandemic.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.