Best of the Spectator

This week: James Heale reads his interview with former Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs George Eustice (00:50), Lionel Shriver asks what's the price of fairness (05:38), and Tangil Rashid reflects on the BBC at 100 (14:01). Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's podcast: Could China be the key to peace in Ukraine? In his cover piece for the magazine this week Owen Matthews reveals the covert but decisive role China is playing in the Ukraine war. He is joined by The Spectator's Cindy Yu, to discuss what Xi's motivations are (00:53).  Also this week:  Harriet Sergeant writes that the Iran is at war with its own children as it cracks down on y...

In this week’s Book Club podcast, I’m talking to two of the brave souls who turn recent political dramas into the sort of quickly written books we might call the second draft of history. I’m joined by the FT ’s Sebastian Payne, author of The Fall of Boris Johnson , and our own James Heale, co-author of a Liz Truss biography, Out Of The Blue , which notoriously was so rapidly overtaken by events th...

Freddy Gray talks to the comedian and media and culture editor of American Greatness Tim Young, about Twitter, Donald Trump and the Republican race for president in 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week: Paul Wood writes about meeting Syria’s underground drug lords (0:30) Mary Wakefield warns us of the perils of psychoactive drug therapy (10:30) and Melissa Kite defends her friend who has been excluded from AA (17:13). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emma Sayle is the founder and CEO of Killing Kittens, a sexually liberated social network where women come first. She grew up in a military family, and when not in boarding school, Emma would visit her parents all over the world.  On the podcast, Emma talks to Katy about her 'outsider's mindset' – never truly feeling like she could fit in; becoming an entrepreneur in the sex tech industry and wher...

This week: How long will the pain last? The Spectator's economics editor Kate Andrews asks this in her cover piece this week, reflecting on Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt's autumn statement. She joins the podcast with Professor David Miles, economy expert at the Office for Budget Responsibility, to discuss the new age of austerity (00:58). Also on the podcast: After Donald Trump announced that he wil...

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is Edward Mendelson, who with the publication of the Complete Poems of W H Auden in two volumes now sets the crown on more than half a century of scholarship on the poet. There’s nobody on the planet who knows more about this towering figure in twentieth-century poetry. He tells me what he finds so inexhaustibly rewarding about Auden’s work, talks about th...

With climate activists around the world vandalising great works by Monet, van Gogh and Goya, Winston speaks with environmentalist, conservationist and pro-nuclear activist Michael Shellenberger. They discuss the validity of Just Stop Oil's methods and environmental imperialism at this years United Nations Climate Change Conference. They take a deep dive into Shellenberger's book 'Apocalypse Never'...

When the city of Zhengzhou, home to the world’s largest iPhone factory, locked down recently, some of its factory workers had nowhere to go. Hoping to escape Covid restrictions, many of them walked miles along motorways to their hometowns, their journey captured by video and shared on social media in China and out. This episode is all about China’s migrant working class – poorly paid and often poo...

This week: Isabel Hardman asks how Ed Miliband is the power behind Kier Starmer's Labour (00:57), Matthew Parris says we've lost interest in our dependencies (05:03), Graeme Thomson mourns the loss of the B-side (11:57), and Caroline Moore reads her Notes on.. . war memorials (16:51).  Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Freddy is joined by Matt McDonald, US managing editor of The Spectator , who is covering the midterms from Georgia. What will the result of the run-off be there and could this decide who takes control of the Senate?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the podcast: In his cover piece for the magazine, The Spectator's deputy editor Freddy Gray says the only clear winner from the US midterms is paranoia. He is joined by The Spectator's economics editor Kate Andrews to discuss whether the American political system is broken (00:52). Also this week: Isabel Hardman writes that Ed Miliband is the power behind Kier Starmer's Labour. She is joined by...

My guest in this week's Book Club Podcast is Christopher de Hamel, author of the new The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club . He tells me about the enduring fascination of illuminated manuscripts, and the fraternity over more than a millennium of those who have loved, coveted, collected, sold, illustrated and – in one case – forged them.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more info...

Melissa Thompson is an award-winning food writer and cook who started a supper club, serving Japanese food in her front room in 2014. In September 2022, Melissa released her debut cookbook, Motherland. It explores the evolution of Jamaican food, from the island’s indigenous population to today.  On the podcast, she talks to Liv Potts about the evocative smells of Jamaican food that remind her of c...

This week: Mark Galeotti tells us why Ukraine has become a weapons testing ground (00:53), Katja Hoyer discusses Germany’s extreme monarchists (09:12), and Tanya Gold reads her Notes on … espressos (15:24).  Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Freddy Gray talks to the journalist David Marcus, author of Charade: The Covid Lies That Crushed A Nation, ahead of the midterms.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's podcast: Can Rishi Sunak steady the ship? Patrick O'Flynn argues in his cover piece for The Spectator that the asylum system is broken. He is joined by Sunder Katwala, director of the think tank British Future, to consider what potential solutions are open to the Prime Minister to solve the small boats crisis (00:52). Also this week: Should we give Elon Musk a break? In the aftermat...

This week’s Book Club podcast is a live special, recorded at this year’s inaugural Braemar Literary Festival. I’m talking to Sir Ian Rankin, in an exclusive pre-publication event, about his new Rebus novel A Heart Full of Headstones . You can see images from the event and more details of the festival at https://www.braemarliteraryfestival.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...

Winston speaks with American author, conservative commentator and activist Candace Owens. They discuss why she and Kanye West wore White Lives Matter shirts at Paris Fashion Week, Kanye’s offensive tweets, the rise of Black Lives Matter, her new film ‘The Greatest Lie Ever Sold’ exploring the death of George Floyd and much more… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Xi Jinping has taken his new Politburo Standing Committee on a group trip – to Yan’An, the base of Mao Zedong’s Communist revolution after the Long March. The symbolism is easy to see. On this episode of Chinese Whispers, Bill Bishop, author of the popular Sinocism newsletter, and Professor Victor Shih, author of Coalitions of the Weak , have returned to reflect on the Party Congress jus...

On this week's podcast: former Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg tells us why it's good to back on the back benches (01:00), Julian Jessop reflects on his part in Liz Truss's downfall (06:41), and Melanie McDonagh reads her Notes on.. . candles (12:57).  Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alicia Kearns is the Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton; and the first female chair of the foreign affairs select committee. Alicia built a reputation as a foreign policy powerhouse working in communications and counter-terrorism for the civil service. After leaving, she spent some time in the private sector before deciding to become an MP. In 2019 she was elected in the Conservative safe seat...

On this week's podcast: We have a new prime minister, but is Rishi Sunak ready to take on the numerous problems that James Forsyth outlines in his cover piece for The Spectator this week? James is joined by writer and pollster Matt Goodwin to debate whether the Conservatives can turn it around in time for 2024 (00:50). Also this week: Is the future of feminism conservative? Louise Perry writes for...

My guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov – who has this year become one of the most articulate ambassadors to the West for the situation in his homeland. As a book of his recent writings, Diary of an Invasion, is published in English, he tells me about the experience of trading fiction for the "duty" of a public intellectual in wartime. As an ethnic Russian...