Share
UnHerd with Freddie Sayers
Peter Hitchens: The case for the death penalty
•
Is the death penalty justice or revenge?
With 2,474 people on US death row in 2025 and debates raging globally, UnHerd's Editor-in-Chief Freddie Sayers sits down with Peter in this latest episode, to go through his arguments, tackling such concerns like the risks of executing the innocent and the efficacy of deterrence, as well as how Peter - a committed Anglican - reconciles his position with his Christian faith.
In the UK, despite capital punishment being abolished in 1965, new polling shows younger generations now favour it (even above some older groups), perhaps spurred by rising crime and cases like Axel Rudakubana’s murder of three girls in Southport. But flaws in the criminal justice system continue to be exposed as news of the longest miscarriage of justice emerges with the freeing of Peter Sullivan, once convicted of the brutal 1986 murder of florist Diane Sindall, having served 38 years in prison.
The conversation around capital punishment resurfaces once again amid increasing calls for it to be reintroduced, and MPs, like Lee Anderson and Richard Tice, demanding national debate.
More episodes
View all episodes
Louis-Vincent Gave: Who took out Jensen Huang?
32:00|UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers talks to Louis-Vincent Gave about the sudden resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang following leaks regarding his extramarital affairs and alleged espionage links, exploring whether the scandal was orchestrated by hawks within the U.S. national security establishment to sabotage U.S.-China trade relations, and if ensuing anti-China hysteria could trigger retaliatory rare-earth embargoes that would cripple Western manufacturers like Ford and General Motors.
Emily Jashinsky: The end of trumpism?
29:49|Freddie Sayers talks to UnHerd’s Emily Jashinsky about the staggering midterm election results, breaking down how a deeply unpopular war in Iran, skyrocketing gas prices, and systemic voter fatigue shattered Donald Trump’s working-class MAGA coalition and fuelled historic Democratic victories across traditionally red states like Texas, Kansas, and South Carolina.
Wolfgang Munchau: The end of the Euro
33:42|Freddie Sayers talks to UnHerd’s Wolfgang Munchau about the escalating political turmoil and mounting sovereign debt in France, unpacking how parliamentary deadlock, stagnant economic growth, and the prospect of a Marine Le Pen presidency could spark a catastrophic French debt spiral that spreads to economies like Belgium and Italy, tests the inflation-constrained limits of the European Central Bank, and ultimately risks triggering the collapse of the Eurozone itself - all while British politicians push to rejoin an increasingly fragile European Union.
Charles Foster: How to live on the edge
41:46|UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers talks to author, Oxford academic, and Royal Geographical Society fellow Charles Foster about his book 'The Edges of the World', exploring why true creativity, spiritual growth, and human flourishing occur at the volatile margins rather than the static centres of life, evolution, and society.
France in crisis: What happens next?
44:43|This week, riots and looting have spread across French cities after protests over education spiralled out of police control. To some, this is a cautionary tale of unbridled immigration and a warning to other European powers. But look closer and there might be more to the story than you'd find on an X feed. To analyse the mood on the ground and the wider context of the crisis, Freddie is joined by historian of French culture Andrew Hussey and writer Philippe Lemoine.
MIT biologist: Is the Russian plague pandemic 2.0?
30:52|UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers talks to MIT evolutionary engineer Kevin Esvelt about a suspicious biological researcher's death in Irkutsk, Russia, using the incident to explore the escalating biosecurity risks posed by engineered pandemic weapons, vaccine-evading pathogens, and AI-accelerated gain-of-function research.
Dr. Iain McGilchrist: AI versus the human soul
01:12:36|Dr Iain McGilchrist has dedicated decades of neuroscience research to unravelling the inner workings of the human mind. But now, a new form of ‘consciousness’ has come to compete with the very idea of being a person. Could artificial intelligence overtake its creators? Join the psychiatrist, philosopher and author of the bestselling book The Master and His Emissary, for a live on-stage conversation with UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers.
Prof. Nick Bostrom: The truth about the AI panic
42:14|UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers talks to Oxford philosopher Professor Nick Bostrom about the escalating concerns over artificial intelligence, weighing whether catastrophic warnings from industry insiders reflect genuine existential fears or commercial strategy, while analysing technical threats like deceptive alignment and autonomous AI coordination alongside the broader economic, geopolitical, and societal risks of managing superintelligence.
Wolfgang Munchau: The AfD momentum is unstoppable
34:59|Freddie Sayers talks to UnHerd columnist and co-host of The Econoclasts Wolfgang Munchau about the political earthquake triggered by the hard-Right Alternative for Germany’s (AfD) historic election victory in Saxony-Anhalt, examining why young voters and non-voters are turning away from the centrist consensus, the total failure of Germany’s political ‘firewall’ strategy, the collapse of Friedrich Merz’s leadership within the CDU, and how a rising wave of hard-Right governments across France, Italy, and Germany could ultimately paralyse the European Union.