reating my latest podcast, The Rise of the Iron Men, was a huge challenge for me and my producer, Dasha Lisitsina. I wanted to write a show about the spread of populism around the world since 2016. But Lisitsina was quick to point out that this was a vast and sprawling subject, which needed a much tighter, more specific focus. Lisitsina’s observation was born of the fact that podcasts are changing the structure of factual radio programmes and documentaries. The most visible (and audible) turning point was This American Life’s true crime series, Serial. Recently, the BBC has started to create podcasts which have strong narrative stories, such as Tunnel 29 or The Missing Cryptoqueen, for example, but, equally, they seek to illuminate bigger political, economic or historical issues. While maintaining BBC production values, they nonetheless represent a significant stylistic break from much of Radio 4’s output. While I admire many podcasts of this type, I felt the recent surge in populism warranted a different approach. And Lisitsina and I quickly decided that the easiest way was to focus on character, and a group of leaders – most of whom have risen to prominence in the past four years. We had to define an “iron man” – a new breed of politicians who have risen to the top political job in their country by democratic means. But who, upon assuming office, begin to undermine the very institutions and mechanisms that put them there in the first place. Once installed, some whisper of rigged votes while quietly planning to gerrymander the electoral roll. Others concede the importance of a free media, yet mutter about fake news and the perfidy of the mainstream media, while releasing dog-whistle memes online. They acknowledge the independence of the courts while warning of “enemies of the people” and appointing pliant candidates to the bench. All successful populists of this kind so far have been men (it will be interesting to see if Marine Le Pen in France ever joins their ranks). Once we had decided that their personalities and political journeys would be the primary focus, it became easy. After all, central to the personalities of all iron men is a vanity that tips in almost every instance into narcissism. They want to be the centre of attention. We have been able to satisfy their craving, using an examination of their stories to explain wider issues. The next question was who to include. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping were out because nobody can convincingly argue that they have a genuine democratic mandate. To be fair, most iron men are unable to disguise their admiration for the Russian president. Boris Johnson is the odd one out here although, given his ability to say one thing about Donald Trump one day and the opposite the next, Putin need not give up all hope on the British prime minister. We felt that so much material had been produced on Trump that it would be good to avoid revisiting old territory and material. However, there is no question that Trump’s presence, and indeed his actions, regularly drift in and out of our storyon a regular basis. Many people scoffed at Johnson’s inclusion in the roster of the iron men. So far, he has benefited from habitual lying (sine qua non for the breed) to such a degree that it would be churlish to leave him out. But, more importantly, he and Dominic Cummings have made clear their disdain for the civil service, the courts and public service broadcasting. It is their stated intention to shake things up and – if their appointments to civil service posts and the public sector is anything to go by – to politicise Britain’s state administration. But all – whether Bolsonaro in Brazil, Modi in India or Erdoğan in Turkey – have learned from one another, honing their techniques, striking up temporary alliances and trying to wrongfoot those who want to play by the rules. The good news? Covid-19 (yes, it does have a positive side) has exposed them for what they are: emotive power seekers who run a great campaign, but are uniformly (with one exception, Viktor Orbán) useless at governing. My guess is the disease will hasten their demise. But I’m not putting my house on it.