Best of the Spectator

On this week's episode, we'll hear from Lionel Shriver on if western populations would fight to defend their homeland in the way we have seen the Ukrainians have. (00:53) Next, Kate Andrews on the real reasons behind the rise in the cost of living. (09:17) And finally, Nicholas Farrell asks if the war in Ukraine will boost populism? (13:50) Produced and presented by Sam Holmes Subscribe to The Spe...

In this week’s episode: Has Putin’s invasion of Ukraine exposed the West’s weakness - or its strength? For this week, Sergey Radchenko, a Cold War historian writes about the draconian anti-war measures that Putin has imposed in Russia. He joins the podcast along with Dr Jade Glynn, a specialist in Russian memory and foreign policy at the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies. (01:00) Also this we...

This week Winston is joined by Russian-British comedian, podcaster and author Konstantin Kisin. Konstantin gives his insight into the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Russian mindset, the potent myth of fighting Nazis and a little on his forthcoming new book ‘An Immigrant’s Love Letter To The West’. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is Colm Toibin. Best known as a novelist, Colm’s new book is his first collection of poetry, Vinegar Hill . He tells me about coming late to poetry, the freedoms and austerities it offers, and why writing isn’t fun. Plus: surviving cancer and outstaying his St Patrick’s Day welcome at the White House… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa...

Freddy talks to Anatoly Karlin, author of the Powerful Takes Substack. Speaking from Moscow, Anatoly discloses the extent of support for anti-war protests in Russia and the role of the US in inciting nationalism in Ukraine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mitch Tonks is an award-winning restauranteur and chef. He runs the Rockfish restaurant group in Devon and Dorset, and the Seahorse restaurant in Dartmouth. He has written six cookbooks. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Liv about playing cards after dinner, enjoying his school's 'bright green custard with chocolate pudding', and inventing his own fish curries. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priva...

On this episode of Spectator Out Loud, Douglas Murray starts by explaining why C. S. Lewis was right about war. (00:56) Mary Wakefield is up next, looking at the founding myth that Russia and Ukraine are fighting over. (10:18) Nicola Shulman finishes the podcast, reading her piece about Philip Larkin's big problem. (16:53) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Suella Braverman is the Conservative MP for Fareham and became the first female elected Attorney General in 2020. Formerly known as one of the Brexit Spartans, she talks on the podcast, about growing up surrounded by politics where she first laid the foundations for a career as a Conservative politician. As a young woman, she studied law in Cambridge, the US and in Europe where she could excel as...

In this week’s episode: is the UK dragging its feet when it comes to Ukrainian refugees? For this week’s cover piece, Kate Andrews and Max Jeffery report from Calais, where they have been talking with Ukrainian refugees hoping to make it to Britain. Kate joins the podcast along with former MEP Patrick O’Flynn to discuss the UK’s handling of the refugee crisis. (00:48) Also this week: are commodity...

The UK has recently lifted almost every Covid restriction and with that, thousands of commuters will return to their offices. Will those memories of delays, cancellations, costly tickets and overcrowding come back to haunt the commuter? Most of the problems are linked to the patchwork of Victorian infrastructure that has struggled to meet the demands of the modern-day passenger.  With grandstandin...

During the pandemic, we spent more time online than ever before and this has seen a boom in online fraud. It's estimated that scam adverts have tricked 1 in 10 people on the biggest online platforms into paying for fake products. In 2020, almost 150,000 fraud cases were recorded with losses reported of up to £500 million. For the scammers, they will do anything to convince you to key in your card...

In this week's Book Club podcast, Sam talks to the investigative reporter Tom Burgis – just days after the High Court threw out an attempt from a London-based company run by eastern European oligarchs to suppress his book Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is Conquering the World . Tom tells Sam how massacres in Kazakhstan connect to the City of London, how western legal frameworks struggle to cope with i...

Freddy sits down with Casey Michel, author of the book American Kleptocracy. On the podcast Casey talks about the curious and rather shady financial ties between Ukraine and America.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode of Marshall Matters, Winston speaks with Svyatoslav Vakarchuk in Ukraine. Svyatoslav is the lead singer of Ukraine’s biggest band, Okean Elzy. He has also served in the Ukrainian parliament. Speaking to him on the eleventh day of conflict he describes his experience so far, the atmosphere of his invaded country and what he hopes for looking forward. Hosted on Acast. See acas...

This episode of Chinese Whispers is slightly different – instead of taking a look at a theme within China, Cindy and her guest see China through the eyes of the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Professor Craig Clunas, chair of art history at Oxford University, has curated a new exhibition at London’s Freud Museum, which displays Freud’s collection of Chinese antiquities. On this episode, Cindy talks t...

On this week's episode, we'll hear from Freddy Gray on his time spent on the Poland–Ukraine border. (00:52) Next, Lionel Shriver on the return of actual badness. (06:28) And finally, Philip Patrick on the strange east Asian practice of hiring a ‘White Monkey’. (15:13) Produced and presented by Sam Holmes Subscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher. Hosted on Acast. See acast...

In this week’s episode: What’s the mood on the ground in Ukraine and Russia? For this week’s cover piece, Owen Matthews asks whether the invasion of Ukraine will mean the end of Putin’s regime. And in this week’s Spectator diary, Freddy Gray reports on pride and paranoia on the streets of Lviv. They join the podcast, to talk about Russia’s future and Ukraine’s present. (00:49) Also this week: Is G...

In this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam is joined by the historian Christopher de Bellaigue to talk about The Lion House , his scintillating and idiosyncratic new book about the great Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. It’s all here: massacres, sieges, over-mighty viziers, Venetian perfidy, and… true love? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s episode of Marshall Matters, Winston speaks with Russian author, journalist and culture and music historian Artemy Troitsky. Troitsky has had a long history of being anti-establishment. In the 80s he was blacklisted by the Soviet Union. But it wasn’t until Putin's rule that he felt he finally had to leave his motherland. We discuss the current conflict, Putin and the mindset of Russ...

On this week's episode, we’ll hear from John Keiger on Emmanuel Macron’s brand of performative diplomacy. (00:53) Next, Mary Wakefield on the few pros and many cons of the lady carriage. (10:30) And finally, Sean Thomas on how learning to work from home opens the door to working in paradise. (16:17) Produced and presented by Sam Holmes Subscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift vou...

In this week’s episode: What does Putin really want for Russia? For this week’s cover story, Niall Ferguson writes about how Putin seems to be trying to recreate the Russia of the Past, while this week's diary by Timothy Garton Ash says the West has misunderstood his intentions, Niall and Timothy join the podcast along with Mary Dejevsky a columnist for the Independent. (00:48) Also this week: Sho...

In this week's Book Club podcast, we're going back 100 years to 1922 – the year which is usually seen as heralding the birth of literary Modernism. Sam's guests are Richard Davenport-Hines, author of A Night At The Majestic: Proust and the Great Modernist Dinner Party , and the scholar and critic Merve Emre, who has worked extensively on Joyce and Woolf. Sam asked them how much Modernism really di...

China’s population is ageing. It’s estimated that a quarter of Chinese people will be elderly within three decades. The relaxing of its one child policy – first to two children in 2016 and then to three last year – hasn’t stimulated fertility rate, which is still stagnant at 1.7 births per woman. In November last year, nappy producers supposedly pivoted their marketing towards elderly clients over...

This week on Marshall Matters Winston is joined by British actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, star of Afterlife, Toast of London, Ridley Road and Eastenders, to name but a few. Tracy-Ann discussed the problem of anti-Semitism with relation to Equity - the trade union for actors - as well as in the entertainment industry more broadly and beyond.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Freddy Gray talks to Dr Julie Norman, lecturer and co-director of the Centre on US politics at University College London, about the case for the defence of the Biden presidency so far.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.