6. John's Return to The Amazon
John Simpson's World Podcast
Seven days from even the tiniest village, John gets shipwrecked, circled by a hungry jaguar, harpoons monkeys for dinner, dices with piranhas, sips hallucinogenic drugs from a cauldron and encounters a six foot goldfish wearing a hat and sunglasses (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 soon. Yikes
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5. What Will Happen to the EU (when Britain leaves)?
John Simpson's World Podcast
Assuming Britain makes the leap what's next for the UK & for Europe? Will the US help out? Will the Chinese take an interest? And WTF is happening in France? With over 53 years as a foreign reporter (including time as ‘the BBC Common Market Correspondent’) John Simpson has an idea about what we might be facing. On this unmissable episode John and producer Lisa Francesca Nand debate the reasons behind the leave vote & delve into the possibilities that might befall both the EU and Britain if/when we leave
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4. What’s Really Happening in Russia?
John Simpson's World Podcast
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?
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3. What’s Really Happening in the US?
John Simpson's World Podcast
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 John gives us his unique take on American politics and the reason behind the success of Trump. Along with producer Lisa Francesca Nand, John talks news reporting, perceived BBC bias, Brexit, immigrants, guns, the electoral college system, Facebook fiddling and why we should Make America Cool Again. You heard it here first.
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2. 18 Months to Save the Human Race?
John Simpson's World Podcast
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.
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1. Why Are We Here...? Introducing John Simpson's World Podcast
John Simpson's World Podcast
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.
info_outlineOnce 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…?