The Ruffian
Episodes
NEW PODCAST: Why Do We Keep Getting Education All Wrong?
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Ever since I wrote a book about the trait of curiosity I’ve taken an interest in the science of learning and education. In the book, I criticised th...
New Podcast: Books of the Year with James Marriott
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I know what you’ve been thinking: it’s been too long since the last Ruffian pod! Well, it’s back. Earlier this week I sat down with returning gu...
New Podcast: Jemima Kelly's Adventures With The Radical Right
13 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“It is a sunny Sunday in June and I am sitting in a Porsche with a man I recently matched with on Bumble, two Spanish sighthounds, an intersex DJ an...
New Podcast: Daisy Christodoulou on How Technology Is Making Us Stupid
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of The Ruffian’s podcast we ask whether the price of using increasingly smart machines is increasingly stupid humans. My guest is Da...
Podcast: Why Is Britain So Depressed?
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Britain is in a depression. Not an economic one - we're still growing, albeit slowly - but a cultural and political one. We are running low on optimis...
NEW PODCAST: Max Bennett On the Evolution of Human Intelligence
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A few weeks ago I posted an extract from a brilliant book called A Brief History Of Intelligence, by Max Bennett. It proved really popular with Ruffia...
NEW PODCAST: Helen Thompson on Britain's Next Crisis
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There is a growing sense that Britain's fiscal position is unsustainable. We’re spending more than we’re raising in tax, our debt is growing faste...
New Podcast: Alison Gopnik On Whether the AIs Can Think For Themselves
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are our new AI overlords tools intelligent in the same way humans are? Is an AI agent truly, well agentic? Does it have a mind of its own, so to speak...
NEW POD: Jasmine Sun On How AI Will Change Writing and Work
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I recently talked to James Marriott about the future of writing and journalism in the age of AI. James was quite worried about how good the chatbots h...
NEW POD: James Marriott on whether AI will make writers redundant
15 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
ChatGPT and Claude have got really quite good at writing. As they improve, will they make human writers, even highly skilled ones, as obsolete as typi...
The Improving Mentality
27 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of The Ruffian’s podcast we discuss what is possibly the single most important event in human history: the Industrial Revolution. If...
James Marriott on Britain's Elites
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I’m delighted to share with you a new conversation with returning guest, The Times columnist James Marriott. Those of you read James’ recent colum...
Nabeel Qureshi: Principles For Living
16 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Note: if you’re in the UK, pick up a copy of today’s Sunday Times. The magazine is running an extract from the first chapter of John & Paul. You c...
Jemima Kelly: What Is Trump Like Up Close?
23 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jemima Kelly is a columnist and reporter for the Financial Times and one of the most original and interesting voices in the British press. She writes ...
How Did Politics Get So Weird?
15 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
James Kanagasooriam on 'culturenomics' https://www.thetimes.com/article/culturenomics-will-define-new-political-era-fqvx0nvb3 This is a public episode...
James Marriott on Jordan Peterson
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Ruffian newsletter now has a podcast! In this inaugural episode, Ian Leslie and James Marriott discuss the phenomenon of Jordan Peterson, the most...