Sign inOpen the app
Artwork for The General & The Journalist
News

The General & The Journalist

The Times

How wars start, how they are won and what they leave behind them.


General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn first met in a war zone. Drawing on their real-life experience of armed conflict, they bring you the latest from Ukraine, Gaza and the dozens of other bitter struggles being fought across our increasingly divided planet.


From interviews with key people on the frontlines of modern warfare to discussing the future of nuclear weapons and where Russia will attack next, this podcast from The Times and The Sunday Times also faces up to the biggest question - how ready are we for war, right now, if we had to fight one?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SubscribeListen in podnodRSS feedShow website
  • 66 episodes
  • Updated Wednesday

Episodes66

Newest first
  • June 10 · 37 min

    Trump’s Cuba Playbook

    How his strategy for Venezuela won’t work on the US’s Caribbean neighbor.

  • May 13 · 37 min

    Has Iran flipped the Xi-Trump balance of power?

    As President Trump lands in Beijing for his summit with Xi, Patrick and Tom are joined by China analyst, Sam Olsen, to discuss whether Iran has flipped the balance of power between the rivals. Sam argues the war has degraded America's weapons stockpile, recast China as the reliable global partner, and given Beijing a ringside seat on the US military playbook - gifting China with the strategic edge. And, if Trump needs Xi's help to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, will he be willing to sell-out Taiwan in return, with potentially even greater consequences for the balance of power? Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn Guest: Sam Olsen Producer: Shabnam Grewal Executive producer: Fiona Leach Image: Getty Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • May 6 · 29 min

    Putin ‘will flood Europe with criminals and fighters after the war’

    Estonia's foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, says Putin will flood Europe with the criminals he recruited to fight in Ukraine once the war ends. With Russia unable to reintegrate thousands of 'psychologically crazy' ex-combatants, they will be used for Wagner-style sabotage operations on a scale European governments have yet to grapple with. In Patrick's words, 'the moment of maximum danger could be when the fighting ends.' Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn Guest: Foreign Minister of Estonia, Margus Tsahkna Producer: Shabnam Grewal Executive producer: Fiona Leach Image: Getty Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • April 29 · 39 min

    Why America needs NATO - US's Supreme Allied Commander

    General Christopher Cavoli was NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) until July 2025. He was responsible for the defence and security of 981 million people across 32 countries. Ooph. While on a flying visit to London, he dropped into the General and the Journalist studio to see his old friend Patrick and get grilled by Tom on the UK's parlous defence expenditure. But, mostly, he was here to talk about NATO and why, as a proud and patriotic American, he sees the Alliance as critical to America's own defence and security. Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn Guest: General Christopher Cavoli Producer: Shabnam Grewal Executive producer: Fiona Leach Image: Getty Clips: Fox news Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • April 22 · 39 min

    What Trump’s mistakes in Iran teach all of us

    Dr Fiona Hill is a former deputy assistant to President Trump and served as director for Russian Affairs on the US National Security Council from 2017-19. She joins Tom and Patrick to chew over the lessons from the Iran war - that the US is no longer a reliable partner, other alliances must urgently be formed, and the world economy can be held to ransom at will. But it's in her capacity as one of the authors of last year's UK strategic defence review that Fiona's lessons from the Iran conflict most hit home. 'It's time to level with the population that the UK is under siege, it just doesn't know it'. The Government must prepare now for attacks on critical infrastructure and supply lines, and ensure the NHS could respond to a mass casualty event. Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn Guest: Dr Fiona Hill Producer: Shabnam Grewal Executive producer: Fiona Leach Image: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • April 15 · 28 min

    Russia’s nuclear bomb threat in space

    From Russia's nuclear threat to satellites, the prospect of a permanent lunar station, and the hopes of Artemis, Patrick and Tom could barely contain their space-geek excitement at speaking with General Whiting, head of US Space Command. 'There cannot be anybody on the planet who has more power in space than that man', gushed Patrick. And for good reason; war is now essentially a space domain, as the the American general explains, determining conflicts from Ukraine to Iran. And space, more than any other theatre, is where the cold war with China is most acutely felt. In a welcome note of optimism to close the conversation, General Whiting doubled-down on the benefits to both Europe and America of continued military cooperation, and paid fulsome tribute to his Nato allies. We hope you love this conversion half as much as Patrick and Tom did! Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn Guest: General Stephen Whiting, head of US Space Command Producer: Micaela Arneson and Harry Stott Executive producer: Fiona Leach Image: Getty Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • April 8 · 35 min

    A rescue mission behind enemy lines, f-bomb tweets and 'a whole civilisation will die'

    Having first demanded that Iran 'open the fucking strait', President Trump followed up with a post vowing 'an entire civilisation will die tonight' if it did not do so. But could any such order ever be legal, and would the American military even agree to carry it out? Patrick and Tom chew over these and other questions, including whether it's time for America's long-standing allies to bail on it, if bombing a country into submission ever works, and what the sacking of the head of the US army tells us about the state of the country's military and, perhaps, its constitution. But first up, in a week which saw possibly the finest rescue mission ever carried out, John Nichols recalls his experience in the first Gulf War of being shot down over enemy territory, attempting to evade capture, and waiting for the infantry to arrive. Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn Guest: John Nichol Producer: Micaela Arneson Executive producer: Fiona Leach Image: Getty Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • April 1 · 34 min

    Q&A: From Xi's PLA purges to Trump's Nato threats, your biggest questions answered

    For their Easter special, Tom and Patrick turn the entire show over to you. They answer as many listener questions as possible that have landed in the General & Journalist inbox since Christmas. Among them: whether Europe could defend itself in the events of an immediate Russian incursion, and whether the Iran war has changed Xi's calculus over taking Taiwan - and many more. Hosts: Tom Newton Dunn & General Sir Patrick Sanders Producer: Shabnam Grewal Executive producer: Fiona Leach Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • March 26 · 29 min

    Fear and loathing in Moscow - ⁠Putin, Iran and a coup?

    The Kremlin's treasury runneth-over with oil revenues, Moscow's military is being treated to a lesson in the latest US warfare in real time, and the world's eyes are averted from Ukraine. Trump's war with Iran has been a boon for President Putin. And yet rumours of paranoia, deserting elites, and strange defections abound. To decipher what exactly is going on in Moscow, Patrick and Tom are joined by Russia-watcher extraordinaire, Mark Galeotti. Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn Guest: Mark Galeotti Producer: Shabnam Grewal Executive producer: Fiona Leach Image: Getty Listen here to Mark's podcast, In Moscow's Shadows Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • March 19 · 37 min

    'As big as the Berlin Wall and 9/11', Peter Frankopan on the Iran war

    World-renowned historian Peter Frankopan joins Tom and Patrick to dissect the escalating conflict in Iran through the lens of ancient history and shifting civilisations. The Silk Roads author argues the war is less a standalone event and more the continuation of a century-long struggle for control over the "spine of the world" and its vital resources, namely oil. Upending international law, decades-long alliances, and the norms of democracy, Frankopan posits that the war has buried multilateralism for good, and is as consequential for geopolitics as either the fall of the Berlin Wall or 9/11. Hosts: General Sir Patrick Sanders and Tom Newton Dunn Guest: Peter Frankopan Producer: Shabnam Grewal Executive producer: Fiona Leach Image: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.