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?
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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.
It's a very special episode of the General and the Journalist this week. Patrick and Tom are joined by General Sir Nick Parker, who was Patrick's mentor in the army, to talk about a letter they and six other four-star Generals have signed, calling for an immediate end to retrospective legal cases being brought against former servicemen and women.
This is not only undermining the very basis of the compact between soldier and state, but it's also jeopardising operations in the field, a fact Patrick and Nick confirm when they discuss the departure of a "significant" number of Special Forces officers who've handed in their weapons rather than risk being dragged before the courts on some as yet unknown charge.
Hosts: Tom Newton Dunn & General Sir Patrick Sanders
Guest: General Sir Nick Parker
Photo: Getty Images
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
Further reading: "Ongoing lawfare risks everything"
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In the space of only three days, President Putin announced the arrival of two new super weapons. Both powered by nuclear reactors, they have no equal in the west. Burevestnik, or Skyfall by its Nato codename, is a low-flying cruise missile with unlimited range and the ability to travel undetected by US defence systems. Poseidon is a torpedo capable of carrying a nuclear payload which, if detonated, could inundate entire US coastal cities with a radioactive tsunami. In response, President Trump called for the immediate resumption of nuclear warhead testing after a three-decade moratorium. Tom and Patrick discuss whether Skyfall and Poseidon actually work or could ever be usefully deployed. But despite the doubts, they agree their arrival poses a serious threat to nuclear arms reduction. And, while the US may take some comfort from the potential limitations of Skyfall and Poseidon, both Russia and China have pulled ahead where it matters most, hypersonic warfare. Tom and Patrick explain how the west got left behind and why it urgently needs to catch up.
Hosts: Tom Newton Dunn & General Sir Patrick Sanders
Photo: Getty Images
Clips: 60 Minutes
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
Further listening: China's power: The PLA vs the USA
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For three and a half years, BBC correspondent James Waterhouse was the face of the Ukraine war, reporting nightly from Kyiv through air raids, blackouts, and breaking news. In this episode, he joins Tom and Patrick to reflect on the mental and emotional toll of years on the frontline, the strange adjustment to life back home, and the addictive intensity of war. From the first hours of Russia’s full-scale invasion to the blurred battle lines of today, he offers a rare insider’s view of a conflict that continues to redefine modern combat. A gripping conversation about technology, trauma, and the personal cost of telling one of the world’s hardest stories.
Guest: James Waterhouse
Hosts: Tom Newton Dunn & General Sir Patrick Sanders
Photo: Courtesy of James Waterhouse
Clips: BBC
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
Further listening: "Whose wars do we care about and why, with war reporter Anthony Loyd"
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While trade wars hog the headlines ahead of next week's historic meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, it's the potential of a real, kinetic war over Taiwan that's occupying the minds of military analysts the world over.
Xi has called the reunification of Taiwan and China 'inevitable' and necessary for the realisation of his 'China Dream.' But America has a historic obligation to come to Taiwan's aid if it were attacked militarily. So what would happen if an unstoppable force were to meet an immovable object, some say as soon as 2027? Who would win, and how would it play out?
Dr. Oriana Skylar Mastro is one of the west's leading analysts of China and author of Upstart: How China Became a Great Power. She also advises the Pentagon, though she's talking to Tom and Patrick in a personal capacity.
Further listening:
China’s power: The PLA vs the USA (Part 1)
China’s power: How Xi is running rings around the West (Part 2)
Host: Tom Newton Dunn & General Sir Patrick Sanders
Guest: Oriana Skylar Mastro
Photo: Getty Images
Clips: Reuters
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
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While Nato looks up at the skies to Russian drones buzzing its airspace, a far more serious threat lurks below, on our ocean beds. And evidence is mounting that Moscow is already mapping the frontlines in a putative, deniable, attack. As our guest, the former British Defence Secretary, John Hutton, tells Tom, undersea cables are the means by which the economy and society itself survives. And they are vulnerable to sabotage in the form of 'accidental' cutting by shadow-shipping vessels. This could, at a stroke, kill the UK's sources of data, disabling banking, business, communications, and even the UK's 'ability to defend itself.' John Hutton is now a member of the House of Lords and sits on the National Security Strategy committee. Last month, it published a report into the potentially 'catastrophic' consequences of just such an attack and laid bare the UK's lack of preparedness. As John tells us, this would be a 'world of utter chaos, where civil order hangs by a thread.' And hoping for the best, while failing to plan for the worst, would be an absolute derogation of duty on the part of the Government.
Host: Tom Newton Dunn
Guest: John Hutton
Photo: Getty Images
Clips: DW News, 60 Minutes, CBC News
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
Further reading: Joint Committee on National Security Strategy Report: “Subsea telecommunications cables: resilience and crisis preparedness”
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As President Trump orders the Texas National Guard into Chicago, America stands poised on the brink of a constitutional crisis. With troops already stationed in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., critics charge that the president is wielding the military as a political weapon. At the same time, Trump is reshaping the upper ranks of the armed forces, sidelining those who have challenged his authority. Authoritarianism and democracy look more finely balanced than at any time in living memory. So, how far does presidential power truly extend when it comes to deploying soldiers on home soil? And to whom do America’s generals ultimately answer?
Hosts: Tom Newton Dunn & General Sir Patrick Sanders
Photo: Getty Images
Clips: 10 News, BBC, The New York Times, AP, CBS News, The White House, MSNBC
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
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A wave of drones targeting airports, threatening critical infrastructure and potentially endangering the lives of civilians brought a number of Nato countries briefly to a standstill this past month. The presumed gift of President Putin, this deniable activity was straight out of the Kremlin playbook. But was the primary purpose to disrupt for disruption's sake, to probe the weaknesses in Nato's defensive lines or - ultimately - to sow the seeds of a split within the Alliance? As Nato ponders its response, Tom and Patrick explain the 'vertical' and 'horizontal' options available to it, debate whether the West should deter or punish Russia, and ask whether we are now effectively at war?
Hosts: Tom Newton Dunn & General Sir Patrick Sanders
Photo: Getty Images
Clips: Sky News
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
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This week, Patrick and Tom turn their attention to India - the world’s most populous country, a rising military power, and a state determined to hold its ground between East and West. As President Xi Jinping courts Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Washington’s ties with Delhi fray, India’s long-cherished “strategic autonomy” is looking increasingly fragile. With Britain’s Prime Minister preparing a visit and global rivalries intensifying, which way might India lean, and what are the stakes here for the West? To explore these questions, Patrick and Tom are joined by a uniquely placed guest: General Manoj Naravane, India’s former Chief of the Army Staff.
Guest: General Manoj Naravane
Hosts: Tom Newton Dunn & General Sir Patrick Sanders
Photo: Getty Images
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
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This week Tom is joined by award-winning war correspondent Anthony Loyd for a special “Journalist & Journalist” edition. Together, they explore why some wars capture global attention while others, equally devastating, remain largely ignored. Drawing on three decades of frontline reporting from the Balkans to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ukraine, Anthony offers a unique insight into how compassion fatigue, geopolitics, history, and media dynamics shape public awareness. The conversation contrasts Russia's invasion of Ukraine with Sudan’s overlooked civil war. Anthony also reflects on the personal toll of covering forgotten wars, and what it means to keep telling these stories, even when the world isn’t listening.
Recorded August 2025.
Guest: Anthony Loyd
Host: Tom Newton Dunn
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
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This week, Patrick and Tom turn from China’s military power to its less visible, but no less powerful, tools of economic dominance. Their guest, Sam Olsen is a geopolitical strategist with decades of experience studying China who argues that the West’s reliance on Chinese supply chains isn’t just about cheap consumer goods, but runs through the very heart of our defence industries. From rare earth minerals to advanced technology, China has a stranglehold over the components needed to build the weapons of the future. The result is a stark assessment: the real question may not be whether the West could beat China in a war, but whether it could fight one at all.
Guest: Sam Olsen
Hosts: Tom Newton Dunn & General Sir Patrick Sanders
Photo: Getty Images
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
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The People’s Liberation Army put on one of the largest military displays in China’s modern history this week as the country marked the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in the Second World War. Accompanied by Presidents Putin and Kim Jong Un, President Xi Jinping showed the world the might of the CCP’s forces, but China-watchers disagree over just how battle-ready the PLA would be in any showdown with the West. To shed light, Tom and Patrick are joined by Timothy Heath, a RAND researcher and former US intelligence analyst.
Guest: Timothy Heath
Hosts: Tom Newton Dunn & General Sir Patrick Sanders
Photo: Getty Images
Clips: DRM News
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
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This week, Tom and Patrick take you inside Ukraine’s railways, the country’s lifeline since the full-scale Russian invasion began. With over 20,000 kilometres of track, they’ve evacuated millions, ferried troops and supplies to the front, and turned carriages into mobile hospitals. At the heart of this effort is Oleksandr Pertsovski, the CEO of Ukrainian Railways, who shares how his “Iron People” have kept the nation moving under daily bombardment. From evacuation scenes echoing Dunkirk, to VIP trains shuttling world leaders in and out of the capital, Kyiv, this is the untold story of logistics, resilience and national pride. The interview was recorded in July 2025.
Guest: Oleksandr Pertsovskyi
Hosts: Tom Newton Dunn & General Sir Patrick Sanders
Photo: Getty Images
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
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Sir Patrick's away this week, so Tom persuaded another four-star General, the UK's former Chief of the Defence Staff, Sir Nick Carter, to join him instead. They discuss whether, in the wake of the Alaska summit between Presidents Trump and Putin, and Europe's mad dash to DC to see off its worst effects, a so-called 'Non-NATO Article 5-style' security guarantee for Ukraine can be any such thing without US boots on the ground to back it up.
Sir Nick thinks not, and draws parallels with the war Yugoslavia, when UN troops had to stand by and watch as Bosnian civilians were slaughtered by the Serbs. Speaking of history, Sir Nick gives a particularly revealing insight into Trump's own grasp of the subject, disclosed to him while with the President on the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019.
Guests: General Sir Nick Carter
Host: Tom Newton Dunn
Clips: Fox News
Photo: Getty Images
Get in touch: generalandjournalist@thetimes.co.uk
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While in Ukraine, Tom and Patrick sit down with President Zelensky’s Head of Office, Andriy Yermak. A long-time friend and trusted advisor to Volodymyr Zelensky, Yermak is also one of the most controversial figures in the country - unelected, immensely influential, and central to Ukraine’s war effort and diplomatic strategy.
In their conversation, Yermak discusses the state of the war, the morale of Ukraine’s exhausted population, and most strikingly, whether President Trump’s dramatic new push for peace could actually bring the fighting to an end.
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Patrick and Tom unpack a troubling question - are we entering a third nuclear age? With Iran’s nuclear programme back in the headlines and countries like Poland and South Korea considering building nuclear weapons of their own, the old global order is clearly shifting. Patrick and Tom explore what this means for global security, and whether nuclear proliferation is set to become the new normal.
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