Can a single leader fix a broken world? Or does the United Nations simply reflect our deepest global divisions without being able to bridge them?

In this episode of We’re All Going To Die!!, we are joined by Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, former UN Deputy Secretary-General, to discuss the future of global diplomacy as the UN prepares to select a new Secretary-General. With the world facing unprecedented existential threats - from AI and nuclear proliferation to climate change and proliferating state-based conflicts - we explore whether the UN is still fit for purpose and what kind of leader it will take to navigate these turbulent times.

What You’ll Discover:

- Regulating Existential Threats: The urgent need for a “mediator-in-chief” to tackle challenges that transcend national boundaries: from the renewed nuclear arms race, to the considerable risk that Artificial Intelligence will run out of control and the reality that the UN itself did a better job of describing climate risk than containing it.

- The Search for a “Bull in Sheep’s Clothing”: Why the most successful UN Secretaries-General are often underestimated bureaucrats who hide their sharp teeth until after they are selected.

- Navigating a Fragmented World: How the rise of a new two-block global system led by the US and China is gridlocking the Security Council and pushing nations toward rival institutions.

If the UN were dismantled tomorrow, we would have to reinvent it immediately. While the organisation may no longer be able to promise a perfect world, its true value today lies in its ability to keep humanity from the brink of catastrophe.