Are we really living in unprecedented times?

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About this episode

Politicians and commentators keep telling us we are living through unprecedented times. But how unusual is the world we are living in, really? John Simpson has spent 60 years reporting for the BBC, witnessing some of the most consequential moments in modern history. He was on the plane that brought Ayatollah Khomeini back to Iran during the 1979 revolution. He watched the Berlin Wall come down. And he reported from Beijing during the protests in Tiananmen Square. Those experiences have left Simpson with a perspective that is not entirely pessimistic. Having lived through the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of apartheid, Simpson has seen seemingly entrenched systems…