Bird-flu, bombs and asteroids: are we heading for disaster in 2026? What are the biggest threats to global health security in 2026? Is it bird flu? Or the rising threat posed by nuclear weapons? Could we even be hit by an asteroid?

Dr Becky Alexis-Martin, a Lecturer in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford and an expert on nuclear weapons, argues that the threat they pose will continue to rise in the new year.

Paul Nuki, the Telegraph’s Global Health Security Editor, warns that numerous diseases linked to conflict are likely to continue to spread in 2026 – in particular cholera and HIV.

Meanwhile, the possibility of H5N1 bird flu making the jump to humans and causing a pandemic remains a primary threat, as does the continued spread of mpox around the world.

Lord Martin Rees, the former Astronomer Royal and a founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, assesses the risk of space-based threats.

Producer: Sophie O'Sullivan

Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

Studio Operator: Meghan Searle

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

Contact us with feedback or ideas:

battlelines@telegraph.co.uk

@venetiarainey

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode goes straight to the jugular of modern air power and asks a brutally simple question: has the last great manned fighter already been born?

Roland is joined by Tom Withington of Royal United Services Institute and Sophy Antrobus from King’s College London, two people who actually know what they’re talking about when it comes to fighter jets. They unpack the mystery and the hype surrounding the sixth generation fighters. These are not just faster jets with shinier wings. They are flying data centres, designed to hoover up information, evade the most lethal air defences on the planet, and command swarms of drones doing the truly dangerous work.

We cut through the fog of acronyms to explain what sixth generation really means, how it differs from the F-35, and why programmes in the US, Britain, Europe and Asia are racing ahead despite eye watering costs. This is air dominance, power politics and future war rolled into one.

Picture credit: United States Air Force

Producer: Peter Shevlin

Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

Contact us with feedback or ideas:

battlelines@telegraph.co.uk

@venetiarainey

@RolandOliphant

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This has been a year when the world lurched from crisis to crisis at breakneck speed. Trump back in power. America wavering on Europe and Ukraine. China strutting with new confidence. Russia grinding on. Iran bombed. Gaza paused. If you feel dizzy you are not alone.

Venetia is joined by Adelie Pojzman-Pontay from Ukraine the Latest and Asia correspondent Allegra Mendelson to take a sharp eyed look back at the moments that mattered and the ones you may have missed but cannot afford to ignore.

We focus on the three powers shaping everything China, Russia and the United States.

Producer: Peter Shevlin

Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

► Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor

Contact us with feedback or ideas:

battlelines@telegraph.co.uk

@venetiarainey

@RolandOliphant

@amendelson_

@adeliepjz

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.