John Simpson's World Podcast: Recent Episodes
John Simpson
Foreign correspondent and world affairs editor John Simpson has risked life and limb reporting for the BBC for over 52 years. The Tiananmen Square massacre, Iraq, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Bosnia – you name it he was there. He’s been punched by a UK Prime Minister, bombed by US ‘friendly fire’, watched Saddam Hussein’s execution and whilst experimenting with some hallucinogenic offerings in the deepest Amazon was once hugged by a six foot goldfish wearing sunglasses. On season 1 of John Simpson's World John and producer Lisa Francesca Nand talk about the biggest issues facing the world right now with warmth, humour and a just little bit of bad language.
Not afraid of an opinion, John Simpson, on this completely independent podcast, can (and indeed does) say and do whatever he likes. Join John and select guests for lively conversation and much more on the unmissable John Simpson's World.
Produced by Lisa Francesca Nand Edited by Alex George
On his way through the Amazon, seven days from even the tiniest village, John ends up getting shipwrecked, circled by a hungry jaguar, harpooning monkeys for dinner, dicing with piranhas, sipping hallucinogenic drugs from a cauldron and encountering a six foot goldfish wearing a hat and sunglasses (this was, unsurprisingly, as a direct result of imbibing what was in the cauldron). John’s stories of the Amazon are legendary and he’s managed to persuade the BBC, who are apparently reluctant to let him die on their watch, to let him return to the Amazon very soon. Yikes.
On this episode we cover:
What John was doing in the Amazon in the first place
In 1992 being very close to getting some kind of international agreements to stop global warming
Because of the US that ceased to exist
Travelling through the farthest reaches of the westernmost amazon
7 days traveling down the Envira river
Harpooning a monkey for dinner
Eating monkeys, snakes and caimans
What monkey tastes like
Hard to eat something like looks like a roasted baby (!)
Being ‘burned to buggery’
A sinking boat
Things that bite and chew and electrocute
Shipwrecked in the middle of nowhere
Being circled by a hungry jaguar
Being 7 days travel from the nearest tiny settlement
Being the first white man seen by the tribe
Swapping mirrors and beads with the Ashaninka
John necking hallucinogenic drugs from a cauldron
A taste ‘worse than bat urine’
Making friends with a six foot goldfish in a hat
Is John really returning to the Amazon to bring back the really good drugs…?
Going back - is everyone going to be in Manchester United shirts
The forest is now under real threat
Struggling to get the BBC to agree to his return
The BBC worrying he’ll ‘hand in his lunch pail’ (aka die) on the way
The BBC being worried that if John dies the Daily Mail will have a field day
Growing a beard especially for the trip
The problem of seaweed in Mexico and parts of the Caribbean
John will still be going on a small boa, up the same river and facing the same dangers
John being up for absolutely anything
Is there anything John wouldn’t do…?
(note he wouldn’t kill anyone but he does have a story about how he once came close to it in Afghanistan)
Assuming Britain makes the leap… what's next for the UK and for Europe? Will the US help us out? Will the Chinese take an interest? And WTF is happening in France…? With over 53 years as a foreign reporter (including many spent as ‘the BBC Common Market Correspondent’) John Simpson has an idea or two about what we might be facing. On this unmissable episode John and producer Lisa Francesca Nand debate the reasons behind the vote to leave and delve into the possibilities that might befall both the EU and Britain if/when we leave our biggest neighbouring trading block.
On this episode we cover
Does John mind being called veteran
Veteran is better than ‘venerable’
The three Vs of getting old
The UK being in a bit of a civil war state since the referendum
Like Cromwell fighting Charles I
John being the ‘BBC Common Market Correspondent’ in the 70s
General de Gaulle blocking Britain from joining
Being involved from the start would have been a better fit
Lisa having enjoyed being part of Europe
John hating the idea of Visas in Europe
Being a Brit first, a European second
Focusing on advantages and disadvantages of leaving
But this means we have ignored the rest of Europe
John’s experience as a correspondent in Brussels
How we always stood on the edges of the EU
The UK hankering after a lost world position
We saw in the referendum how much support there was leaving
John being ambivalent about leaving
But caring about our standards of living falling
Very few people researched trade agreements, laws and their benefits
‘The metropolitan elite’
People that come to London are not all posh
John being an ex-Cambridge elite
How John thinks everything Lisa says is true (yay!)
We have a representative democracy
In 2016 we allowed people to take the decisions for themselves
People were lied to
The divisions of our society
The result being as a result of austerity and government cuts
Will life get better for the people who felt marginalised?
The people that in favour agree life is going to be rougher
What’s next for France?
The French being the mirror image opposite of us
14.33 – 14.48 edit stop for water break!
The French revolution sanctifying violence
French protests being entirely different to British
France is not collapsing
Workers rights in France being very strong
John missing Paris but Paris being stuck in the 50s in many ways
Will the EU weaken after we leave?
John thinking it was a mistake pushing for an ever closer union
The UK were the strong person of Europe
We had a seat at the table
Travellers in the Third Reich and how we slept walk into Nazi Germany
Are we too sleepwalking into something that is more sinister?
John reporting on the National Front in France
What’s really next for Europe
A quite uncomfortable closer relationship to the US to survive
The Chinese won’t take any great interest in us
Britain will drift for quite a long time
Once again John nail’s it with his experienced view on what is happening in the world, this time in Russia. Is Russia the superpower they want us to believe they are? Why did the US play such a foolish game after the collapse of communism? Do we need to be worried about Putin and indeed his increasingly cosy relationship with China? What IS it with those semi-naked horse photos? Should Boris Johnson pose semi-naked on a horse? And crucially, could John Simpson have Vladimir Putin in a fight?
On this episode we cover:
How we were conditioned for so many decades to think of Russia as a great superpower
And an alternative system to ours
The system collapsed without real industrial growth
We now have a much smaller version
Still the biggest country in the world
But it’s lost a lot of the rich and productive parts
A president who seemed at first to want to join with western countries
The US played a very foolish game after the collapse of communism
Instead of reaching out the hand of friendship they played the winner
Putin realised the Russian people like to think they’re as strong as before
The entire economy is only the size of Australia’s
It doesn’t spend all that much more on armed forces than Britain does
It’s a big, lumbering deeply inefficient society with pretentions to grandeur
Very clever diplomatic footwork to give misleading impressions
Vladimir Putin is ‘renting out the place to China’
Turning Russia into China’s small time bodyguard figure
China has the economy, Russian has the armed forces
It’s not what the majority of Russians would want
But it’s hard to get through to Russians
The negative stereotypical image of a Russian abroad
How Russians in Russia are very different
But still gloomy looking
How much John loves Russia and Russian people
Russians being wonderfully warm and affectionate beneath the gloom
Russian people have soul
John meeting Putin several times
The impression is tha Putin suffer from little man syndrome
…A former spook with a dislike of Western values
…but None of this is true!
Putin being surprisingly warm and friendly
Putin watching the BBC a lot to improve his English
Putin being a John Simpson fan!
Very very charming
John meeting Gaddafi and Saddam
Gaddafi being ‘just a nutter’
Nutters can be quite exciting
Is Putin dangerous?
He can be deeply disruptive
Putin idea of none of the dangers that face our planet
How the finger on the button/ambitious plan to rule the world Putin doesn’t really exist
Although it’s not a bad idea to be a bit nervous of Putin
John asking Putin’s chief of security how many of their journalists can end up dead
The job of a foreign correspondent being to ask hard questions
Could John Simpson have Putin in a fight
John’s learning to box as a child
Putin semi-naked on a horse
The real message Putin wants to show the world
How UK politics would be a lot more fun if Boris Johnson got his kit off on a horse
Are the Russians fiddling with our politics?
Putin wants to weaken the West
The mixture of enormous wealth (china) and considerable cunning (Russia) is something we will have to face up to soon
Could the China/Russia relationship be beneficial to us?
How we are stuck with the old ‘we’ve got to have an enemy’ and need to move beyond that
John’s passion for translating Chinese poetry
Funny Chinese food products and ‘fried cock’
Ultimately we’re seeing Putin’s long term attraction to voters is finally going down
But does this mean he will do something silly to reverse this…?
If you’ve found yourself wondering WTF is going on in the USA – which we’re pretty sure the whole world has – this episode is for you. With over 53 years of political reporting behind him John gives us his unique take on American politics from the 60s until today and the explains the reasons behind the success of Trump. Along with producer Lisa Francesca Nand, John talks about presidents past and present, news reporting, perceived BBC bias, Brexit, immigrants, guns, the electoral college system, Facebook fiddling and above all why we should sod Make America Great Again and instead Make America Cool Again. You heard it here first.
On this episode we cover:
One man giving some people a voice
The weird US constitution and electoral college system
A strange vengeance about the Trump administration
John being covering US politics since the Kennedy days
The US was run by a section of society – more open than British society then
People who thought differently were silenced
Covering the 1964 election with President Johnson and Barry Goldwater
The Republican party allowing Goldwater to go forward because they knew they couldn’t win
Ronald Regan allowing the rich to get richer with fewer taxes
The divisions between rich and poor being far higher now than the 1980s
A side effect of this being a bitterness in American society
It is THIS that has lead to Trump’s success
Trump’s ‘ineffable’ tweets from his lonely bedroom
A multi millionaire how has screwed plenty of little people over the decades pretending he’s standing up to the little man
The excitement of seeing a president say the sort of thing some people who are thinking
How do Trump and Farage convince people they’re on their side?
People want to be convinced
Grabbing women by the pussy
The religious right being among Trump’s strongest supporters
The confusing contrasts of the US
Britain having nothing to pat itself on the back for at present
President Regan scrapping the law that broadcasting had to be balanced
The subsequent rise of the shock jock
The chances of Trump winning the elections of November 2020
Whether the electoral college system will change
Most political scientist in the US feeling it doesn’t change the popular will
Social media and Facebook being used by nefarious organisations
John being a product of the ‘intellectual elite’
Being the BBC’s longest serving journalist, probably
Does the BBC really strive to make things balanced?
Do the BBC have an internal bias?
How the BBC balancing the argument in the referendum had the opposite effect
People allowed to broadcast outright lies
The BBC’s strict fact checking process
Listen up Daily Mail – there is no official editorial line to toe at the BBC
John feeling the BBC has to fight against an institutional timidity
The importance of diversity in recruiting
How casting the same white, middle aged, privately educated men ain’t helpful
Lisa getting John sacked
The other things going on in the US
How a controversial figure like Trump generates alternative views on the other side
People who have never had a voice before on both sides
The sons and daughters of immigrants and even immigrants now speaking out
The US being a great society
How Lisa wants to ‘Make America Cool Again’
Who would want to share a bed with Trump?
John’s liberating first visit to the US in the 60s
Returning to England ‘like catching a sailing ship back to the middle ages’
Nowadays Britain and Europe being far ahead of the US in many ways
How can you buy automatic weapons over the counter?
Seen the US move from the most advanced society in the West to an old-fashioned regressive society
Britain isn’t perfect, but you cant buy sub machine guns over the counter
Our message to the USA
Let’s Make America Cool Again
Have we reached a crisis point in the race to save the planet from doom? And do we only have, as Prince Charles said, 18 months to save the human race? Whilst we’ve all been busy talking about Brexit, Trump and China have we let it get too late to do something about the disastrous decline of the planet? On this episode John Simpson and his producer Lisa Francesca Nand talk big government initiatives, debauched heatwaves and question whether we really do have 18 months to save us all from disaster.
On this episode we cover:
Prince Charles saying we have 18 months to save the human race
Wondering if we actually have less than that
John’s crazy trip through Peru
Being too busy talking about Brexit, Trump and China that we have taken our eyes off the ball
We are facing absolute disaster
Being worried for his 13 year old son and a future of ‘horrible decline and despair’
Pressure needing to be put on our political leaders
Calls by the Green Party for greater initiatives
Big government initiatives needed
John Simpson being mistaken for David Attenborough (pisses John off)
has David Attenborough had plastic surgery…? (no we don’t really think so…)
But does have bow-legs
The gathering of commonwealth leaders in the next 18 months
Trump being pathetic when it comes to climate change
‘Short-termism killing us’ in democracies
Being too late for ordinary methods
We need to demonstrate in the streets
Whether John will demonstrate in the streets
Would his BBC contract permit him to…?
Reporting on the 2003 Iraq protests
There ain’t going to be an afterwards if we don’t watch it
Justifying flying around the world
Stopping eating meat
Public opinion shifting
People travelling more than ever
John’s travelling
Flying going to have to cost more
Train travel being expensive and out of reach of most families
Travel spreading love – cheesy but true!
Temperatures rising in the UK
London going to have the temperature of Barcelona
British resorts becoming more attractive
The heat wave of 2018 being rather debauched
Is the message getting through
M&S food being covered in plastic
Morrison’s stopping plastic wrapping on fruit and veg
Change will happen for commercial reasons
Generations gone by being better than us
John thinking we have less than 18 months to save the planet
Sea levels rising
Cities like New York, LA, London will be increasingly under threat
Indonesia, Malaysia, part of the African literal will be a matter of life and death
John not being much of a Trump fan…
Not liking deliberate lying and falsehoods
Parallels between Germany in the 1930s
The general public sleepwalking into Nazi Germany
Why is John Simpson is doing a podcast? Why he is not doing it with the BBC? On this episode John (and producer Lisa Francesca Nand) introduce the podcast, what topics we're going to cover in Season 1, some of the amazing guests we have lined up for Season 2, namedrop everyone John's met from Castro to Saddam Hussein and have the pleasure of hearing John say naughty words he can't usually get away with (don't listen with small children in ear shot). Welcome to John Simpson's World! You're going to love it.
On this episode we cover:
Why is John Simpson is doing a podcast? Why he is not doing it with the BBC?
The relief of being able to say what he really thinks
The guests we have lined up for season 2
What he feels about George Galloway
Not wanting to tell Fidel Castro to shut up
John Simpson doesn’t say ‘f*ck’ on the BBC (aha but he does on this podcast…)
The incredible historical figures he has met – Saddam, Gaddafi and more
The weird quirks of working for the BBC
Is it irresponsible to send a man in his 70s into a war zone
Whether John would ever get on the front page of the Daily Mail #compoface
The Americans dropping bombs on him
Going to the Pentagon to threaten to sue them
What to expect from this season:
18 months to save the planet
What’s really happening in America
What’s really happening in Russia
What happens with Europe after Britain goes out the EU
John’s much-anticipated return to the deepest darkest Amazon