Shows
CTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in DangerThe Telegraph Takeover: Power, Profit & the PressIn the season finale of Ctrl Alt Deceit, Nina dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones dig into the tangled web of media ownership, foreign influence and the future of free press. With a new UK government potentially greenlighting a UAE-backed bid for a stake in The Daily Telegraph, the hosts ask: does it matter who owns the news anymore? From Silicon Valley billionaires to Gulf state investors, the press is no longer just the fourth estate; it's a business, a weapon and a mirror of global power shifts. Is editorial independence a thing of the past? And can democracy survive...2025-05-3056 minCTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in DangerEmpire of Gain: Inside Trump’s Billion-Dollar Crypto HustleHosts Nina dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones are joined by crypto journalist Matt Binder and longtime observer of U.S. politics and policy Edward Luce to explore the staggering wealth being generated by the Trump family’s crypto empire.
We also hear from Sergei Sergienko, a crypto entrepreneur who has made and lost hundreds of millions in the crypto markets. Sergei has also faced down gangsters who tried to extort his wealth—an attack that mirrors a recent spate of kidnappings and abductions of crypto players in Paris.
Join us for a modern tale of glob...2025-05-2353 minCTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in DangerThe Price of Free Speech: Politics and Power on CampusHosts Nina Dos Santos and Owen Bennett Jones explore the mounting political and financial pressures confronting higher education on both sides of the Atlantic. In the U.S., it unpacks the unprecedented clash between the Trump administration and Harvard, raising broader questions about academic freedom, ideological conformity, and the role of government oversight. In the U.K., the conversation turns to the sector’s growing reliance on international students and foreign funding—particularly from China—and the implications for institutional independence and research integrity. Together, the episodes chart the uneasy intersection of education, economics, and geopolitics in today’s universi...2025-05-1633 minCTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in DangerMake Britain Great Again? The MAGA-Style Rise of Reform UKBritain's Conservative Party is one of the oldest and most successful political parties in history. Local elections in the UK have signalled that they are facing the prospect of being wiped out, imperilled by the rise of the right-wing Reform Party, headed by one of the most pervasive and divisive figures in British politics: Nigel Farage. Reform’s success is also coming at the expense of Labour, whose voters are underwhelmed and unconvinced by the performance so far of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government.
Hosts Nina Dos Santos and Owen Bennett Jones explore what makes Reform such a p...2025-05-0942 minCTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in DangerDemocracy for Sale: Death by Dark MoneyOn this edition of Ctrl Alt Deceit: Democracy in Danger, we are live at the Royal United Services Institute.
Nina Dos Santos and Owen Bennett Jones are joined by a world-class panel to discuss the dangers posed by the waves of dark money threatening to overwhelm our democratic institutions.Panelists:--Tom Keatinge, Director, Centre for Finance and Security, RUSI--Darren Hughes, Chief Executive, Electoral Reform Society--Gina Neff, Executive Director, Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy at the University of Cambridge, and Professor of Responsible AI, Queen Mary University London
Producer: Pearse...2025-05-021h 11CTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in DangerThe Vote Gap: What’s Pulling Young Men and Women Apart?Why are young men leaning right while young women shift left? Hosts Nina dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones speak with NYU’s Scott Galloway, political analyst Sophie Stowers, and commentator Oliver Dean to explore the forces behind this growing divide.Whether it’s a broken social contract where young people no longer believe they will lead better, more prosperous lives than their parents or the work of algorithms that feed off rage and division, the implications are profound.This podcast was recorded live at NYU London, in front of an audience of students who are part...2025-04-2555 minCTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in DangerChina’s Trade War Strategy: How Xi Jinping Uses Autocracy, Fear, and Innovation to Compete with the WestHosts Nina dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones analyze the global fallout after Donald Trump plunged America and the world into a trade war with China. David Rennie, The Economist’s geopolitics editor and former Beijing and Washington D.C. bureau chief, joins the podcast to unpack how Xi Jinping is playing the long game and playing to win.In this episode, we explore Xi’s high-stakes strategy in the global trade war. From embracing economic pain to fostering innovation under autocracy, China is challenging Western dominance on every front. However, as the contr...2025-04-1848 min
CTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in DangerIs Liberal Democracy Dying?Live from the Frontline Club in London, Ctrl Alt Deceit is back for its second season. Hosts Nina dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones host a fascinating discussion on the myriad threats to democracy, particularly in light of Trump's re-election. Joined by Gabriel Gatehouse is an award-winning BBC journalist and broadcaster, formerly International Editor of Newsnight and host of the award winning podcast The Coming Storm.And Connor Tomlinson is a commentator and writer, contributing to Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Courage...2025-04-111h 06
CTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in DangerBONUS EPISODE: Is Germany Facing a 1930s Moment?After Donald Trump’s re-election in 2024, the political landscape in Europe is shifting fast. In February 2025, Germany held the region’s most consequential vote of the year—one that could reshape the EU’s response to a second Trump administration.The centre-right CDU, alongside its Bavarian counterpart, the CSU, secured the most votes, paving the way for CDU leader Friedrich Merz to become Germany’s next chancellor. But that’s only part of the story. The election also brought about a dramatic surge in support for the far-right. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 20% of th...2025-03-0625 min
CTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in Danger8 Prince Andrew allegations and the death of investigative journalismThe claims that an alleged Chinese spy had an "unusual degree of trust" with Prince Andrew is a national security story that has reverberated across the UK and beyond this week - but what if stories like these never came to light? And has the cost and bureaucracy associated with this type of investigative journalism already put its future in a fatal crisis? In the final episode of this series of Ctrl Alt Deceit, journalists Nina Dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones reflect on their own careers in journalism and offer some sobering thoughts on where it’s heading next. Th...2024-12-1935 min
CTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in Danger7 China versus democracy and the fate of Jimmy LaiChina’s relationship with Western democracies and the democratic systems of its near neighbours is becoming increasingly hostile. From covert attempts to infiltrate and influence UK politics to its widely reported elimination of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, China and its formidable leader Xi Jinping are conducting a relentless war of attrition on democracies all over the globe. To get to grips with the issues that underpin China’s political aims and how we might better understand them, journalists Nina Dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones are joined by four guests, some of whom have direct experience of China’s politica...2024-12-1237 min
CTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in Danger6 Dirty money, shady donations and the Elon Musk effectLondon has long been regarded the capital of dirty money and a new report out this week by Transparency International confirms a similar lack of checks and balances preside over political donations in the UK too. Earlier this month, the UK government announced fresh sanctions to try to tackle dirty money head on and the even more recent whispers that tech billionaire Elon Musk might donate $100 million to Nigel Farage's right-wing Reform party has got members of the Labour party considering capping political donations altogether. To unpack all of this, journalists Nina Dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones are joined...2024-12-0540 min
CTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in Danger5 Hybrid warfare and the future of the Russian oppositionIn recent months, Europe has seen a spate of suspected Russian hybrid attacks on its critical infrastructure, but what can this tell us about the state of the Russian nation and its political future? On this week's episode, journalists Nina Dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones assess the health of Russian opposition politics and ask what it might take to release the country from its totalitarian leader Vladimir Putin. To help guide them through, the pair are joined by British-American financier and human rights activist Bill Browder, the widow of a poisoned former KGB agent Marina Litvinenko, and the top...2024-11-2842 min
CTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in Danger4 The chilling effect of lawfare on freedom of speechWhen certain powerful and wealthy individuals take issue with information that's been shared about them by journalists, researchers and politicians, never-ending and hugely costly lawsuits often follow. This is known as lawfare - and on this week's episode, we draw back the curtain on its pernicious impact on freedom of speech in the UK, the huge financial and personal costs those experiencing lawfare often shoulder and lookahead to ask whether reform and regulation is possible. On the show, journalists Owen Bennett-Jones and Nina Dos Santos are joined by former intelligence officer and author of the infamous Trump dossier Christopher...2024-11-2146 min
CTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in Danger3 Elon Musk and the emergence of the American oligarchyCan democracy withstand the pressures of a new era of social media strongmen? In this episode, journalists Nina Dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones discuss the growing power of Elon Musk, his control over the narrative on X (formerly Twitter), and the consequences for the future of politics in the US. They are joined by Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, an organisation that Musk has publicly criticised and taken to court, and investigative journalist Carol Cadwalladr—famous for exposing the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Cadwalladr warns of the unprecedented impact on journalism, truth, and public discourse, st...2024-11-1444 min
CTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in Danger2 Trump's political comeback, Project 2025 and the future of UkraineUS citizens have exercised their democratic right - but is growing anti-democratic sentiment in powerful conservative think tanks, Trump’s inner circle and the tech titans of Silicon Valley still a cause of concern? As Donald J Trump becomes the President-elect of the United States, journalists Nina Dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones examine the key tenets of Project 2025 and the philosophies of political strategist Steven Bannon and tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Plus, we hear from journalist and author Edward Lucas on the impact of Trump’s win on the future of Ukraine. Ctrl Alt Decei...2024-11-0736 min
CTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in Danger1 US election interference, voting machine vulnerabilities and the who’s who of disinformationWill the 2024 US election be hacked? On the first episode of Ctrl Alt Deceit, journalists Nina Dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones get to grips with how the upcoming election in the US might be undermined - from outside and within. Joined by Senior Advisor on Election Security for Free Speech for People Susan Greenhalgh and disinformation researcher Darren Linvill, the team examine the vulnerabilities of US voting machines and who might be exploiting such vulnerabilities for their own gain. Plus, we analyse the latest disinformation playbook, and look at what the likes of Russia, China and Iran might have...2024-10-3143 min
CTRL ALT DECEIT: Democracy in Danger0 Introducing... Ctrl Alt DeceitWill the US election be hacked? Are the voting machines secure?What role are the tech bros playing – how powerful are they?And how much foreign inference has there already been in this campaign?...These are the kinds of questions being asked in Ctrl Alt Deceit: Democracy in Danger – a brand new podcast designed to dive deep into the threats facing our democracies. Ahead of our first episode this Thursday October 31st, hosts Nina Dos Santos and Owen Bennett-Jones thought they’d give you an insight into what the podcast is all abo...2024-10-2804 min