Are we really living in unprecedented times?

Politicians and commentators keep telling us we’re living through unprecedented times. But how unusual is the world we’re 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’s 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 change in ways few thought possible.

Now, as wars rage and the global order shifts again, he joins The Global Story’s Asma Khalid to reflect on what those moments can tell us about the present — and whether today’s conflicts are repeating familiar patterns.

Producer: Xandra Ellin and Mhairi MacKenzie

Executive producer: James Shield and Martine Powers

Digital producer: Charlie Firth

Sound engineer: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: John Simpson enters Kabul, 2001. Credit: BBC.