The Peter McCormack Show

AI isn't just getting smarter - it's getting more personal. In this episode, Mark Suman explains how modern AI systems are learning not just what we know, but how we think. From "thought capture" to behavioural influence, this is a shift from tools that assist us… to systems that can guide us. We explore the incentives behind AI: data collection, engagement loops, and the economic pressure to centralise intelligence. What happens when those systems are controlled by governments, corporations, or both? The conversation expands into something deeper - power, autonomy, and whether individuals ca...

Are we witnessing the managed decay of Western democracy, or a civilisational shift that we can still reverse? I sit down with academic and author Matt Goodwin and discuss the survival of the West. Matt warns that unprecedented demographic transformation and a radicalised, disconnected elite are fundamentally dismantling our national identity. We also discuss institutional rot, the effectiveness of Reform UK, the danger of letting old political insiders hijack the populist uprising, and whether taking a "sledgehammer to the state" is the only way out. In this episode: The Institutional Rot...

Are we witnessing the organic collapse of the Western world, or is the current global chaos a highly engineered script? Simon Dixon returns to map out the hidden architecture of global power. He breaks down how the Financial, Military, and Technical Industrial Complexes are actively managing a transition to a multipolar world. From the "transitional theater" of the Middle East to the weaponization of global debt, Simon explains how elites are using chaos to asset-strip the West and consolidate their wealth in a K-shaped economy. We also discuss the pivot to the real pandemic: the...

The "Net Zero" transition is built on a mathematical impossibility. The UK power grid currently relies on just over one hour of battery backup, and the political consensus is pushing us closer to civilisational collapse. Nuclear chemist and author Tim Gregory explains why the current agenda to replace fossil fuels entirely with wind and solar is a dangerous illusion. He breaks down the harsh realities of our energy infrastructure: why rolling blackouts are a genuine threat , how the government is paralyzed by absurd regulations , and why the ultimate "green" scam is chopping down North American forests to...

The engineers building artificial intelligence don't fully understand how it works.  Many people think AI is carefully engineered. In reality, it's closer to something being grown and these systems are evolving in ways even their creators struggle to predict. AI researcher and former LLM builder Connor Leahy explains what's happening inside the labs: why the alignment problem remains unsolved, why the race to AGI is accelerating, and why the people leading it may be moving faster than they understand. We also discuss AI risk, Silicon Valley's power dynamics, the Department of Defense's growing i...

The war in the Middle East is usually discussed as a military conflict. In this interview, Firas Modad argues the real consequences are far wider. We discuss how escalation could spread through energy markets, shipping lanes and commodity prices - and why the economic effects of war may hit far beyond the battlefield. Firas also explains how political incentives, donor networks and foreign policy alignments shape decisions in Washington, and why the incentives behind modern wars often look very different from the public narrative. ...

Governments aren't going to pay this debt down in real terms. More likely, they pay it back in weaker money. Luke Gromen argues we're already deep into a sovereign debt cycle - and that AI could speed up the moment it really starts to crack. In this interview we discuss how the system works: leverage, entitlements, interest costs, bond markets - and what happens when deflation hits an economy that depends on inflation to stay upright. ...

Western Civilisation is collapsing, and the exits are being bricked up. In this episode, Balaji Srinivasan (Author, The Network State) delivers a clear warning: the US and UK are approaching a sovereign debt default, and the "Berlin Wall" of capital controls is coming to trap your wealth inside. We discuss why "staying is surrendering," the rise of the "Grey Tribe" (Tech) against the State, and his 3-step survival guide for the middle class: Liquidate, Emigrate, Accelerate. ...

In this episode, Laila Cunningham discusses London's demographic change, mass immigration, housing failure and whether the capital is becoming a stress test for Britain. We discuss debt, inflation, generational decline, state expansion, and why productivity gains from technology aren't improving living standards. We also explore AI, education reform, automation, housing regulation and whether the UK is prepared for technological acceleration. ...

In this episode, Curtis Yarvin argues that modern democracies may lack clear sovereignty and that technological acceleration and sovereign debt are exposing that weakness. We discuss AI as a force multiplier, bureaucratic continuity, legitimacy, regime structure and the limits of procedural governance. We also explore fiscal exhaustion, debt sustainability, and whether a system that cannot make decisive changes can survive compounding crises. ...

In this episode, Kathryn Porter explains why energy is civilisation and how he UK grid may be heading toward rationing and rolling blackouts within the next decade. We discuss aging gas power stations, unrealistic utilisation assumptions, weak grid conditions, North Sea decline and why no single institution is accountable for security of supply. We also cover what a blackout would actually look like, why nuclear build timelines matter, and how regulation and governance failures are compounding energy risk. ...

In this episode, Jeff Booth explains why the natural state of a free market is deflationary and why a debt-based monetary system can't allow it. We discuss AI as an acceleration event: exponential productivity should make life cheaper, but the system has to create scarcity to keep debt serviceable. We cover how inflation functions as hidden extraction, why regulation favours monopolies, why politics becomes a fight over who controls broken money and why AI will intensify centralisation, surveillance, and social conflict unless the monetary layer changes. ...

In this PMQs episode, we discuss the claim that most white-collar work could be automated within 12-18 months, and what that actually means. We talk through jobs, incentives, education, and AI safety - why companies can't slow down even if they want to, why schools may be preparing kids for a world that's disappearing, and why safety teams are warning about systems they're still accelerating. If AI can do the productive work, what happens to status, money, and meaning? And if models are already showing deceptive behaviour in testing, who decides what "broadly safe" really...

What happens if we build something smarter than ourselves - and can't turn it off? In this interview, I chat with Andrea Miotti about the global race toward superintelligent AI: systems designed to outperform humans across every task, operate autonomously, and integrate directly into the economy. We discuss how today's AI tools quietly cross from assistance into replacement, why "kill switches" don't work, and how a handful of companies are pushing toward a point of no return.  ...

Is Britain in the midst of a Soviet style collapse? In this episode, I speak to journalist Isabella Kaminski about why today's Britain is starting to resemble the final years of the Soviet system. She describes what collapse feels like before it's obvious: fake economics, hollowed-out institutions, collapsing trust, and a population slowly realising that the systems meant to protect them no longer function. We also discuss how inflation, debt, housing policy, bureaucratic expansion, and political incentives work, and why many voters now feel elections don't change direction, only the speed at which things deteriorate.<...

Is the British State actively at war with the next generation?  In this episode I talk to Montgomery Toms, a 20-year-old rising conservative voice,  who argues that the social contract with the youth has been broken. Monty explains the "institutional rot" within our education system, detailing how he was "strong-armed" out of university for refusing to wear a mandatory pronoun badge on his first day. We discuss deep on the "psychological warfare" of lockdowns , the indoctrination of "victim culture" in schools , and the reality of two-tier policing that targets political dissidents.  ...

Is the British Government incompetent, or is it a criminal enterprise? I am joined by sitting MP Rupert Lowe as he asks the ultimate question: "Is the state in the hands of organized crime?" From the billions missing in procurement contracts to the "sticky fingers" of the political class, Rupert argues that the British state has become the active enemy of its own people, and that the UK is sleepwalking into an Enron-style bankruptcy. We also discuss the "institutional rot" destroying the nation, including the cover-up of the grooming gangs, the "Weimar" economics of money...

Emmanuel Maggiori joins me to explain how inflation, incentives, and broken monetary rules quietly reshape behaviour inside an economy. From Argentina's black markets and capital controls to money printing, MMT, saving vs spending, and institutional credibility, we explore why inflation destroys trust long before it destroys prices — and why countries don't collapse overnight, but drift into dysfunction as rational people adapt. ...

Andrew Gold joins me to discuss how incentives are driving extremism, distrust, and cultural breakdown in the UK. From YouTube algorithms and purity spirals to immigration, economics, feminism, AI, and debt, we explore why honest debate is collapsing and why every political movement now frames itself as an existential last stand. ...