All That I Have Met

Meredith Ogilvie-Thompson

All That I Have Met is a conversation series with people best equipped to explain the world we’re living in — not the usual suspects, but the ones rarely in the news cycle, let alone being asked the right questions. Less opinion, more facts. Lots of depth. And zero rage. Hosted by award-winning journalist Meredith Ogilvie-Thompson. 

Episodes

  1. Dispatch: Péter Dósa on the Election in Hungary and Why Americans Should Be Paying Attention

    8 APR

    Dispatch: Péter Dósa on the Election in Hungary and Why Americans Should Be Paying Attention

    "If Orbán wins, it will be a global proof of concept for elected autocracy after 16 years of state capture."  Péter Dósa was born in Budapest in 1998, nine years after the fall of communism. His family left when he was eight — Ireland first, then Barcelona, where he completed a master’s in democracies and multiculturalism. He founded The Hungary Report to do what mainstream outlets don’t: explain Orbán’s system in depth, for an international audience now spanning more than 110 countries. On April 12, Hungarians will go to the polls in what Politico Europe has called the EU’s most important election of 2026. But our conversation is not really about that — it’s about a set of tools for dismantling democracy that have been field-tested in a Central European country for sixteen years, and are now being deployed at scale elsewhere. As the Heritage Foundation’s Kevin Roberts put it: Hungary is not just a model for modern statecraft. It is the model. Péter explains how the system was built, why it’s under threat, and what Americans should understand before it’s too late. And, having cast his ballot by post last week from Barcelona, why — for the first time in his adult life — he thinks his vote might actually matter. Photo: Bjoern Wylezich Credits: Host: Meredith Ogilvie-Thompson Sound Editing: Dax Krishna and the team at SpeechDocs Music: Ilya Kuznetsov If you’ve found value in this conversation, or in any of my writing, a paid subscription is the best way to support my work.   Subscribe here And if you like what you heard, please share this episode with others and leave a review — it makes a real difference to how the show gets discovered.

    35 min
  2. Dispatch: Sam Kiley on the Middle East

    1 APR

    Dispatch: Sam Kiley on the Middle East

    For more than 30 years, Sam Kiley has covered conflict — from Somalia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and has made more than 30 documentaries for news organisations across the UK and US. A two-time Emmy and two-time DuPont Award winner (for his coverage of the Khashoggi disappearance and the war in Ukraine), Sam has reported for CNN, Sky News and The Times. He is currently World Affairs Editor of The Independent.  I spoke with Sam on March 29th, two days after the Houthis entered the war and the day after President Zelenskyy signed 10-year defence agreements with Saudi Arabia and Qatar. We cover the origins of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, the Mosaic defence strategy the Trump administration failed to account for, what Houthi involvement could mean for global trade, Gaza's quiet endgame, and — unexpectedly — how war in the Middle East may be doing more for Ukraine's long-term survival than three years of Western military aid. Sam also talks about how the ingredients for a coup are on full display — though where he sees those most clearly assembled right now may surprise you. Photo: Bjoern Wylezich Credits: Host: Meredith Ogilvie-Thompson Sound Editing: Dax Krishna and the team at SpeechDocs Music: Ilya Kuznetsov If you’ve found value in this conversation, or in any of my writing, a paid subscription is the best way to support my work.   Subscribe here And if you like what you heard, please share this episode with others and leave a review — it makes a real difference to how the show gets discovered.

    44 min
  3. The State of Things

    17 MAR

    The State of Things

    In Conversation with Aniket Shah. Analyst. Academic. Optimist. Aniket Shah leads Washington Policy and Sustainability Research at Jefferies, one of the world’s largest investment banks, where his team has been ranked number one in the US and Europe for several years running. He is also an Oxford-trained economic geographer, a Columbia adjunct professor, and someone who has spent his career moving between worlds most people choose between — finance, development, academia, sustainability — claimed by none, at home in all. In our conversation, Aniket challenges two assumptions hiding in plain sight: that markets drive economies while governments follow, and that the capitalism we inherited is simply how things are. He makes the case, with data and without ideology, that both are wrong, and that understanding how we got here reveals it doesn't have to be this way. A note on timing: this conversation was recorded before the World Bank published its landmark reversal on industrial policy (March 17, 2026). Aniket has been making this argument for eleven years. The world is catching up. Credits: Host: Meredith Ogilvie-Thompson Sound Editing: Dax Krishna and the team at SpeechDocs Music: Ilya Kuznetsov If you’ve found value in this conversation, or in any of my writing, a paid subscription is the best way to support my work.   Subscribe here And if you like what you heard, please share this episode with others and leave a review — it makes a real difference to how the show gets discovered.

    56 min

About

All That I Have Met is a conversation series with people best equipped to explain the world we’re living in — not the usual suspects, but the ones rarely in the news cycle, let alone being asked the right questions. Less opinion, more facts. Lots of depth. And zero rage. Hosted by award-winning journalist Meredith Ogilvie-Thompson.