At the Coalface

In this episode, I sit down with Tjark Marten Egenhoff, a development and foreign policy leader whose life has been shaped by movement, service, and the search for belonging. Tjark reflects on growing up across countries and cultures, from revolutionary Iran to Argentina during periods of political upheaval. He shares how those early experiences, together with a strong sense of justice instilled by his family, shaped the way he sees the world. We talk about his path into politics, development...

In this episode, I speak with Dylan Monaghan, engineer, pilot, linguist, digital nomad, and author of Singlethreading. Dylan’s life is a study in reinvention: from a childhood in the Virgin Islands to an elite school in White Plains, from the discipline of the U.S. Air Force to the creative freedom of Japan. His story moves across cultures and identities, and somehow he has stitched these chapters into a coherent, deeply intentional way of living. We discuss the interplay between discipline a...

In this episode, I speak with Nicodemus Ajak Bior, a former child soldier from South Sudan who defied unimaginable odds to become a scholar, public servant, and advocate for transparency. At just eight years old, Nicodemus was taken by rebels and thrust into a world of survival, separation, and loss. His escape, walking over hundreds of kilometres barefoot through war zones and jungles, marks the beginning of a story that is both harrowing and inspiring. From makeshift schools under trees in ...

In this episode, I speak with Krystal Ramsden. Krystal was raised in an ultra-religious, homeschooled environment. Her early world was one of strict boundaries, until science, education, and the wider world cracked it open. What followed was a lifelong pursuit of knowledge and a career that has taken her from field camps in the Yukon to the geopolitical battlegrounds of mining finance and fragile states. Krystal also shares her parallel story of surviving abuse, and transforming trauma into a...

In this episode, I speak with Professor Jeffrey Taliaferro of the Fletcher School, a leading scholar of international relations and a key voice in the development of neoclassical realism. We explore the formative experiences that led him to study great power strategy and the complex relationships between great powers and their allies. Jeff reflects on realism’s resurgence after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the degree to which international relations theories shape policy - or fail to - and ...

In this episode, I speak with Gul Rukh Rahman, a woman whose life and work cross continents, cultures, and the fault lines of global politics. Born in Pakistan and raised in countries including Libya and Saudi Arabia, Gul moved to the US for university before settling in Europe 15 years ago. She grew up in conservative Peshawar in the protective bubble of a military family, yet in a region marked by instability and violence, including bomb blasts during Eid celebrations. Family expectations c...

In this episode, I sit down with Rob Palm, former U.S. Navy aviator, military diplomat, and now space tech executive, for a wide-ranging conversation on military diplomacy, reinventions and leadership. Over a 29-year Navy career, Rob flew F-14s and later served as a Foreign Area Officer, advancing U.S. defence collaboration across Europe and the Middle East. Today, he’s helping to shape the future of space-based intelligence, leveraging radio frequency data at the cutting edge of the commerci...