UnHerd with Freddie Sayers

If the polls are to be believed, Zohran Mamdani—a self-described democratic socialist—is poised to become the next mayor of New York City. His history as a police abolitionist, calls for wealth redistribution, and fierce criticisms of Israel have rankled the Big Apple’s old guard, while galvanizing many young Gothamites, including a majority of young Jews.So: should we fear Mayor Mamdani?Join UnHerd for an exclusive in-person debate at our Manhattan headquarters, featuring our columnist Ross Barkan and progressive activist and whistleblower Lindsey Boylan (in support of Mamdani) versus the New York Post’s Miranda Devine and National Review’s Caroline Downey (in opposition).

In this first episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau debunk two failed economic orthodoxies shaping our world. First, they dismantle the narrative that Europe is helping Ukraine - and striking a powerful blow against Russia - by raiding Russia’s frozen assets. More than this being legally questionable, is it also economically and geopolitically self-defeating? Next, they expose the "battle" between central banks and anti-establishment crypto rebels as a false choice, revealing it as a dangerous illusion that serves the powerful. Far from being revolutionary, are stablecoins turbo-charging financial instability for the next global crash?

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers speaks with Helen Andrews, former senior editor at The American Conservative and author of Boomers, to discuss her provocative and widely-debated article in Compact Magazine "The Great Feminization". They discuss: why female group dynamics (consensus-seeking, covert undermining, social ostracism) are the engine behind cancel culture; the threat a "feminised" legal system poses to the objective "rule of law," replacing evidence with emotional sympathy; and why this shift wasn't a meritocratic victory, but the result of "social engineering" that makes it "illegal for women to lose." Is this the unspoken truth behind our institutional collapse? Watch the full, explosive conversation with Helen Andrews.

In the age of reason and rationality, what room is there for the transcendent? Authors of the bestselling book God, the Science, the Evidence, Michel-Yves Bollore and Olivier Bonnassies, challenge the materialist consensus and argue that the origins of the universe could still be the work of a creator. They join UnHerd's Freddie Sayers to discuss their research and what it might reveal...

On what would have been her 100th birthday, Freddie Sayers chairs a spirited debate on Thatcherism and the Iron Lady’s place in Britain’s story. How should we understand her legacy in 2025? Did she transform the country for the better — or does she bear responsibility for many of today’s problems? In this all-star debate, journalists Peter Hitchens and Suzanne Moore go head-to-head with former Conservative politician and Spectator editor Michael Gove, and political analyst Reem Ibrahim, in a lively clash over the most divisive figure in modern British history.

Freddie Sayers sits down with Professor of Politics at the University of Buckingham, Eric Kaufmann, to discuss his latest report on “The Decline of Trans and Queer Identity among Young Americans”, which reveals a significant and surprising shift in the landscape of gender and sexual identity among Generation Z. Professor Kaufmann explains his findings, which show a sharp drop in both trans and queer identification since 2023. Drawing on data from large-scale surveys of US undergraduates, he details how the share of trans-identified students has nearly halved in just two years. Their discussion explores the data, including trends in elite institutions, and delves into the potential reasons for this decline. Is it linked to changes in mental health, the growing distance from the pandemic and lockdowns, or the so-called “anti-woke” vibe shift?

Freddie Sayers sits down with renowned cognitive psychologist, author, and Harvard Professor of Psychology Steven Pinker to discuss his latest book, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows... and explore how common knowledge shapes our social, political, and economic worlds. Their conversation delves into the power and pitfalls of collective thinking, the dynamics of cancel culture and censorship, and the Trump administration’s clashes with academic institutions like Harvard. They also consider whether democracy is in decline, if society is losing its shared sense of reality, and whether there’s still reason to be optimistic about the future.

UnHerd’s Contributing Editor Jonny Ball (aka Despotic Inroad) sits down with Lord Maurice Glasman, the Labour peer and political theorist behind Blue Labour, at Labour party conference 2025 in Liverpool. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under fire and polling as the least popular on record — Glasman argues that the party faces a battle for its very soul.In this conversation, he traces the history of the movement he founded, Blue Labour, and its critique of the Labour party’s transformation into what he sees as metropolitan and liberal, detached from its working-class roots. Glasman highlights how the working class and young voters are drifting to Nigel Farage’s Reform, why the best predictor of whether you vote Labour is whether you went to private school, and what it would take to reverse Labour’s decline: a renewed focus on industrial strategy, job creation, and working-class empowerment.Can Blue Labour stop Reform’s rise and save Labour? Could Reform actually replace Labour as the voice of working people? And what, if anything, should Labour learn from MAGA and Trump’s populist success?

UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers welcomes Paul Kingsnorth to the UnHerd Club an exclusive interview about his new book Against the Machine. Kingsnorth has spent decades charting the alienation and upheaval brought about by modernity. In this wide-ranging interview he sets out why he sees today’s technological order as inhuman, why AI may be the 'Antichrist', and why he believes the West must be allowed to die.What does it mean to live as a dissident inside the Machine? And what lines must we draw if we are to remain human?