Niall Ferguson On Where We Are Now

28 snips

Sep 5, 2025

Niall Ferguson, a renowned historian and author, shares his insights on various pressing global issues. He reflects on the surprising end of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of China's tech capabilities amid economic challenges. Ferguson discusses declining fertility rates and their implications, alongside contrasting immigration policies in the UK and US post-Brexit. The conversation also delves into geopolitical tensions, analyzing Russia's resilience and Israel's complex regional dynamics. His historical perspective offers a thought-provoking lens on today's critical events.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Welsh Male Voice Choir At Sixtieth

Niall Ferguson described his 60th birthday with a Welsh male voice choir he hosted at home.
He said the performance was deeply moving and kept alive a mining-born tradition.

INSIGHT

Pandemics Fade Faster Than Wars

Niall Ferguson predicted pandemics tend to end suddenly and be consigned to memory.
He argued COVID's swift end and return to hypermobility followed historical pandemic patterns.

INSIGHT

China's Tech Surprise and Macro Limits

Ferguson says China has outperformed expectations in tech despite U.S. chip restrictions.
He warns macroeconomic, demographic and debt problems still undermine China's long-term growth.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com

Niall is one of my oldest and dearest friends, stretching back to when we were both history majors and renegade rightists at Magdalen, Oxford. He is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. He’s also the founder and managing director of Greenmantle LLC, an advisory firm. He’s written 16 books, including Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist and Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe (which we discussed on the pod in 2021), and he writes a column for The Free Press.

For two clips of our convo — a historical view of Trump’s authoritarianism, and the weakness of Putin toward Ukraine — head to our YouTube page.

Other topics: attending Niall’s 60th birthday party in Wales with an all-male choir; Covid; Cold War II; China’s surprisingly potent tech surge; the race for semiconductors and AI; Taiwan; global fertility; Brexit; the explosion of migrants under Boris and Biden; the collapse of the Tories; Reform rising; Yes Minister; assimilation in the UK; grooming gangs; the failure of “crushing” sanctions on Russia; the war’s shift toward drones; Putin embraced by Xi and Modi; Trump’s charade in Alaska; debating Israel and Gaza; the strike on Iran; the Abraham Accords; the settlements; America becoming less free; Trump’s “emergencies”; National Guard in DC; the groveling of the Cabinet; the growth of executive power over many presidents; Trump’s pardons; Kissinger; tariffs and McKinley; the coming showdown with SCOTUS; Jack Goldsmith’s stellar work; Mamdani; Stephen Miller’s fascism; the unseriousness of Hegseth; the gerrymandering crisis; the late republic in Rome; Tom Holland’s Rubicon; Niall’s X spat with Vance; Harvard’s race discrimination; Biden re-electing Trump; wokeness; and South Park saving the republic.

Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Jill Lepore on the history of the Constitution, Karen Hao on artificial intelligence, Katie Herzog on drinking your way sober, Michel Paradis on Eisenhower, Charles Murray on religion, David Ignatius on the Trump effect globally, and Arthur Brooks on the science of happiness. As always, please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.