Best of the Spectator

On this week's episode, we’ll hear from Katy Balls on Labour’s strategy – would Starmer actually prefer Boris Johnson to stay in place? (00:51) Next, Julie Bindel on the rise of lesbian divorce (06:12) And finally, Douglas Murray on the hellish new trend of having to bring your ‘whole self’ to work. (14:00) Produced and presented by Sam Holmes Subscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon...

In this week’s episode: What is the next act in Putin’s theatre of war? For this week’s cover story, James Forsyth writes about Putin’s dangerous dramatics on the Russian-Ukrainian border and where they might lead. James joins the podcast along with Paul Wood, who writes in this week’s magazine that Putin’s bluff may be backfiring. (00:49) Also this week: How important is gallows humour? The BBC’s...

Sam's guest in this week's Book Club podcast is the historian Anna Keay. In her new book The Restless Republic: Britain Without A Crown she describes the short but traumatic period between the execution of Charles I and the restoration of the monarchy. She tells Sam about the religious turmoil, the explosion of the newspaper industry, the sympathetic side of Oliver Cromwell... and parallels with o...

Former Tory MP, Rory Stewart, has played many roles through out his life. An academic, a diplomat, and a soldier. Rory is currently a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. On the podcast, he talks about eating sandwiches on a homemade raft as a boy in Malaysia, his university days spent talking to girls in Pizza Express and his revelation that he doesn't really l...

This week Winston is joined by American songwriting legend Don McLean. Don discusses his work, the atmosphere of America when he was starting in the 60s compared to now, and how he predicted the state of the world today in his all time classic “American Pie”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Freddy sits down with Lauren Southern a former YouTube personality and now a documentary filmmaker. Lauren has been described as one of the leaders of the Alt-Right movement. Which is a label Lauren herself thinks doesn't actually mean anything. On the podcast, Lauren and Freddy get into what direction the online right will go next, what feminism looks like in modern conservative circles, and how...

On this week's episode, we’ll hear from Kate Andrews on the NHS’s waiting list crisis. (00:52) Next, Kevin Hurley on the impact of demonising the police force. (07:04) And finally, Lawrence Bernstein on the secretive world of speech writing. (12:41) Produced and presented by Sam Holmes Subscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher: www.spectator.co.uk/voucher   Hosted on Acast...

Carolyn Harris is a Welsh Labour Party politician serving as the Deputy Leader of Welsh Labour since 2018, and has been the Member of Parliament for Swansea East since 2015. On the podcast she talks to Katy about her three successful campaigns, menopause, and the time she accidentally turned on the No.10 Christmas lights.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode: What’s the mood like in Boris’s bunker? For this week’s cover story, James Forsyth writes about the defensive bunker mentality inside No. 10 and the PM’s strategy of keeping MPs sweet to hold back a no confidence vote. James joins the podcast along with Spectator Editor Fraser Nelson to discuss.  (00:50) Also this week: Have we forgotten how to take a joke? Jimmy Carr has c...

This year marks the centenary of the birth of Jack Kerouac. As Penguin publishes a lavish new edition of On The Road to mark the occasion, I'm joined by two Kerouac scholars. Holly George-Warren is working on the definitive biography of Kerouac (her previous work includes Lives of Gene Autry and Janis Joplin), and Simon Warner co-edited Kerouac on Record: A Literary Soundtrack and runs Rock and th...

In 2008, President George Bush was the star guest at Beijing’s opening ceremony. Fourteen years later, under a cloud of diplomatic boycotts led by the US, the guest of honour spot was filled instead by President Putin. Under a confluence of factors over the last decade, China and Russia are closer now than they have been since the Cold War. On this episode of Chinese Whispers, Cindy Yu talks to Al...

In Episode 2 of Marshall Matters, Winston speaks with David Baddiel on his powerful book 'Jews Don’t Count', the experience of writing the alternative National anthem 'Three Lions' and his recent stand up show 'Trolls - Not The Dolls'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode, we’ll hear from James Heale on the Zac Goldsmiths’ secret shadow cabinet. (00:49) Next, Leah McLaren on Covid in Canada. (07:20) And finally, Nicholas Farrell on the march of the Italian Wolves. (13:58) Produced and presented by Sam Holmes Subscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher: www.spectator.co.uk/voucher   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

Freddy Gray talks to Guy Clapperton, the tech journalist and host of the Near-Futurist podcast about the recent collapse in Facebook’s share price, and the social media giant's prospects long-term. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode: Is China stuck in a zero-Covid trap? For this week’s cover story, Cindy Yu looks at Xi Jinping’s attempt to grapple with Covid. She joins the podcast, along with Ben Cowling, Chair Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong. (01:42) Also this week: Whose in The Zac Pack? And what is their influence in No.10?James Heale, The Spectator’s d...

Sam's guest in this week's Book Club podcast is Philip Oltermann, whose new book The Stasi Poetry Circle: The Creative Writing Class that Tried to Win the Cold War , unearths one of the most unexpected corners of East German history. At the height of the Cold War, members of the GDR's notorious secret police got together regularly to workshop their poems. Was this a surveillance exercise, a traini...

Russell Norman is an award-winning restauranteur, writer and broadcaster, and the founder of the Polpo restaurant group. Last year he launched Trattoria Brutto. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Olivia about enjoying Spam fritters, blagging his way onto the Orient Express, and how he changed careers from teaching to cooking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this inaugural episode of Marshall Matters, Winston interviews Ignat Solzhenitsyn on the pursuit of art, the state of classical music, the lasting influence of his father Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the thunderous (or gentle) essay ‘Live Not By Lies’... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My dear sister Carmel died aged 57 on November 23, after a three-year cancer ordeal during which she displayed the most astonishing courage. I interviewed her twice on this podcast about her faith, her illness and her unquenchable optimism. I knew at the time that one day I'd have to record an episode paying tribute to her after she died, and here it is. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

On this week's episode, we’ll hear from Martin Vander Weyer on the crash of crypto.  (00:47) Next, Laurie Graham on the difficulties of downsizing. (04:20) And finally, Michael Mosbacher on the history of the fur industry. (12:20) Produced and presented by Sam Holmes Subscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher: www.spectator.co.uk/voucher   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri...

Emma Gormley is managing director of daytime at ITV studios, where she controls flagship shows on the channel such as Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women. On the episode, she talks to Katy about what got her into broadcast journalism, the pressures of looking after some of the most popular shows on TV ('Having those four shows, which are juggernauts and are always in the p...

On Spectator TV this week Freddy Gray interviews the Fox News host Tucker Carlson on what role the US should play in the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Here is the full unedited conversation. 'Western European nations — which I think we at this point can trust to have weapons — should defend themselves. I mean, that's the idea of the nation state!' - Tucker Carlson Watch the full Spectator TV episode he...

In this week’s episode: Will Putin invade Ukraine?  For this week’s cover story, Owen Matthews argues that if Putin is going to invade Ukraine, he will do so later rather than sooner. He joins the podcast, along with Julius Strauss who reports on the mood in Odessa for this week’s magazine. (00:42) Also this week: Is Brexit working? This week marks the second anniversary of Brexit. But how success...

In this week's Book Club podcast, Sam is joined by Christopher Prendergast, Professor Emeritus of Modern French Literature at Cambridge and the author of the new book Living and Dying With Marcel Proust . In the centenary year of Proust's death (and the English publication of Swann's Way ) he tells Sam (among other things) how the structure of A La Recherche is more straightforward than many think...

All political parties have weaknesses for jargon and buzzwords, and the Chinese Communist Party more than most. It's why Party documents – whether they be speeches, Resolutions or reports – can be hard going. Sentences like the following (from the Resolution adopted at the Sixth Plenum) abound: ‘All Party members should uphold historical materialism and adopt a rational outlook on the Party’s hist...