Monocle 24: The Big Interview

Why musician Billy Bragg has outsourced his memoir. More than 600 friends, associates, collaborators and fans collaborate in ‘Billy Bragg: A People’s History’, a book about the life and works of a songwriter whose work has become a soundtrack to people’s lives.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pioneer of behavioural economics Richard Thaler discusses the arc of his career, from ‘heretic’ to Nobel Prize winner, and why it was so difficult to convince economists that behaviour and human nature contradict their theories. Also: his rules for a better way to play Scrabble.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Russian politician, historian and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza speaks to Andrew Mueller about surviving solitary confinement in a Siberian prison, Putin’s future and why he hasn’t lost faith in Russian democracy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand’s former prime minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to Andrew Mueller about her new memoir and the role that empathy plays in leadership, especially in times of crisis. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Andrew Ross Sorkin – CNBC Squawk Box host, Dealbook founder, co-creator of TV series ‘Billions’ and author of ‘Too Big To Fail’ – has released a new book, ‘1929’, exploring the characters behind the Great Depression. He speaks with Chris Cermak about its lessons and when the next financial bubble will burst.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The long-time anchor of BBC World News America on becoming a US citizen the day after Donald Trump’s election and how her family’s history of slave ownership led her to apologise and offer reparations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, founded after the Cold War, discusses Ukraine’s rebuilding and the institution’s newfound purpose in an age of retrenching from foreign aid.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jen Easterly led the agency keeping the US safe from cyber attacks for four years. She’s worried about where things have gone over the past few months. Emma Nelson discusses her life of service.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a career spanning almost six decades, US fashion icon Norma Kamali is still reinventing herself. After immersing herself in the London fashion scene in the 1960s and establishing a New York boutique at the end of the decade, Kamali quickly rose to prominence. Her designs could be found on the star-studded dance floors of Studio 54, on an iconic 1976 Farrah Fawcett poster and on Whitney Houston’s first album cover. She joins Monocle’s Emma Nelson to tell us about her approach to design, her dedication to wellness and how Donald Trump’s tariffs are affecting her business.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An icon of US alternative rock, Bob Mould was a member of influential Minneapolis band Hüsker Dü, which combined screaming guitars with sweet pop melodies in the 1980s and inspired later acts such as Nirvana. Mould’s subsequent band Sugar recorded three acclaimed albums in the mid-1990s. He has since built up a solo catalogue that has included several stylistic deviations but keeps circling back to the power-trio format. Mould’s latest solo album is ‘Here We Go Crazy’. He sits down with Andrew Mueller to play a couple of songs and talk about the legacy of Hüsker Dü, being outed as a gay man in the 1990s and Donald Trump’s WWE-style politics. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The films of screenwriter Bill Broyles have time and again cemented themselves as classics of American cinema. Following his debut with the acclaimed series ‘China Beach’, came films including ‘Apollo 13’, ‘Cast Away’ and ‘Jarhead’. Broyles’ writing for the screen has been informed at least in part by an eventful personal life. As a young man, he was a US Marine Corps platoon commander in the Vietnam War, an experience he recalls in the Apple TV+ series ‘Vietnam: The War That Changed America’. He was subsequently a journalist, launching ‘Texas Monthly’ and editing ‘Newsweek’ before heading to Hollywood. Broyles sits down with Andrew Mueller for a contemplative look back on his successes and failures, as well as reflecting on the best and worst aspects of American culture.                   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joe Wright is the acclaimed film director known for single-take shots, redefining cinematic genres and updating classic narratives. He first appeared on the global stage with his feature directorial debut, ‘Pride & Prejudice’, starring Keira Knightley, followed by a string of celebrated releases that include the seven-time Academy Award-nominated drama ‘Atonement’, the action-packed thriller ‘Hanna’ and the biographical drama ‘Darkest Hour’. As one of the more technically adventurous and unpredictable directors of his generation, Wright’s latest project might be his most ambitious: a new eight-part series documenting the rise of a dictator, ‘Mussolini: Son Of The Century’. It has already stirred debate across Europe and beyond since its release, and is regarded by many critics as the best show of 2025 so far. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ludovico Einaudi is an Italian pianist and composer known for his unique blend of classical, folk and modern influences. His iconic albums, film scores and record-breaking concerts have made him one of the world’s most influential living composers. His new 13-track album, ‘The Summer Portraits’, is now available and Einaudi is also gearing up for a five-night residency at the Royal Albert Hall in London – the longest continuous headline run by a pianist at the historic venue. Sitting down with Monocle’s Laura Kramer, Einaudi speaks about his inspirations, his love of photography and paintings, and how he balances modern digital convenience with the beauty of analog technology in his creative process.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Damian Woetzel is a former principal dancer at the New York City Ballet and the current president of the world’s most prestigious performing arts conservatory, The Juilliard School. After an illustrious career as one of the world’s foremost male dancers, Woetzel went on to earn a degree from Harvard, serve on Barack Obama’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and direct a series of major arts programmes, including at The Aspen Institute. As president of Juilliard since 2018, he hopes to one day make the school tuition-free. Woetzel spoke with Monocle’s Emma Nelson about discovering his passion young, his jeté-like rise in ballet and the role of art as a public good.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brandon Scott has been Baltimore’s mayor since 2020 and was re-elected in 2024. He is the youngest mayor in the city’s history and the first to be re-elected in 20 years, the latter achievement likely owed in no small part to his unprecedented success in reducing Baltimore’s notoriously high rates of crime, violence and homicide. A new documentary, ‘The Body Politic’, explores how he has managed to turn the city around. Mayor Scott sat down with Monocle’s Andrew Mueller to discuss his strategies, how he deals with political crises and the looming presidency of Donald Trump.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A former journalist and editor at ‘The Wall Street Journal’, now president and CEO of The Atlantic Council, Fred Kempe’s life and career spans from the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall to the ongoing war in Ukraine and other geopolitical threats. A passionate advocate for American engagement in the world, Kempe sat down with Monocle’s Chris Cermak in Washington ahead of a US presidential election that could send the superpower in two very different directions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back in 2013, American singer and songwriter Jason Isbell released the album ‘Southeastern’, which tracked his life as an enthusiastic-if-reckless archetype of the dissolute southern rocker. It was an overwhelming critical and commercial success. Five more studio albums followed, turning Grammy-winning Isbell into a chart-topper and – as of Martin Scorcese’s ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ – a movie star. Here he sits down with Andrew Mueller for a candid chat about his life and music, his viral ‘feral hogs’ tweet and his acting debut alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gherardo Felloni, creative director of Parisian luxury-accessories house Roger Vivier, joins Monocle’s associate editor Grace Charlton to discuss the brand’s spring-summer 2025 collection. Felloni tells us about his vision for the brand, reissuing some of the most iconic buckled shoes to have walked this earth and updating house codes for the modern woman.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Widely considered to be one of the most influential figures in fashion and retail, the ad interim CEO and president of the Yoox Net-a-Porter Group, Alison Loehnis, has been a leading force at the pioneering online retailer for more than a decade. Here, she joins Monocle’s fashion director Natalie Theodosi for a sprawling conversation about leadership, balancing creativity and business, nurturing young brands and entering a new chapter in the industry. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More than a decade after reaching worldwide acclaim with his six-volume autobiographical novel ‘My Struggle’, the Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard has returned to the fictional form in ‘The Morning Star’ series. Knausgaard sat down with Gunnar Gronlid to talk about the latest entry ‘The Third Realm’, embodying new perspectives and his fixation with death, family and freedom. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.