Best of the Spectator

This week in The Edition: What is the true threat of ransomware both to our governments and us individually?(00:30) Also on the podcast: What are the Italian ‘Green Pass’ Protests?(15:14) And finally… is it harder to be the good Samaritan in the modern world?(25:28) With former head of the national cyber security centre Ciaran Martian, white-hat hacker Tommy DeVoss, journalist Manfred Manera, form...

In this week's Book Club podcast we anticipate the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Wall going up by talking to Iain MacGregor about his book Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War, The Berlin Wall And The Most Dangerous Place On Earth . Iain takes Sam on a journey though how, and why, the Russians cut a city in half overnight; and why we let them. He describes how events in Tiananmen Square reached Fried...

Molly Baz is a cook, recipe developer, video host, cookbook author, and a self proclaimed weenie lover. On this episode, Ella talks to Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts about her food revelation with an Italian house-mother in Florence, her time working for Bon Appetit and about her new cook book COOK THIS BOOK , which revolutionises the medium by adding easy to access how-to videos to watch as yo...

This week we’ll hear Charlotte Eagar on how the arrival of the alpha migrants may be the solution to our labour shortage (00:56), Lionel Shriver on her bewilderment about people still having the Covid app (07:09) and finally Tom Ough's brief history of bidets (15:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joanna Scanlan, an actress best known for her role of Terri in the The Thick of It, had a long and winding road before becoming a star of stage and screen. Born in Cheshire and moved to Wales aged three, she went to two convent schools before an Anglican school where she broke every possible rule she could. On the podcast she talks about her dreams of becoming an actor, working first at the arts c...

This week on The Edition: Is there a humane solution to Britain’s migrant crisis?(00:52) Also on the podcast: Why is the WHO so down on e-cigarettes?(16:23) and finally... after a year and a half inside how angry will strangers make us?(27:01) With Douglas Murray; award winning film maker and producer for the Trojan Women project Charlotte Eagar; Christopher Snowdon; Clive Bates the director of Th...

Sam's guest in this week’s books podcast is Mary Ann Sieghart, whose new book The Authority Gap accumulates data to show that so-called 'mansplaining' isn’t a minor irritation but the manifestation of something that goes all the way through society: women are taken less seriously than men, even by other women. She says it’s not just 'wokery' to point it out, and she makes the case for how she thin...

Responsible for 17 per cent of the UK’s carbon usage, government will be looking to the private sector to reduce its emissions in the years to come. But what does it really mean for a business to achieve ‘net zero’? Should companies - and their sectors - account only for their direct emissions, or must they also measure their indirect impact, related to supply chains or digital carbon footprints?...

For most people, Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping stand out as the two Communist leaders of the People’s Republic of China. But growing up, it was actually a third man, by the name of Deng Xiaoping, whose legacy I felt the most. Though less than 5 foot tall, his impact on China’s trajectory was arguably more than Mao’s; and possibly will be more than Xi’s. It was Deng’s vision of reform and opening – whi...

This week we’ll hear Katy Balls on the government’s dwindling COVID optimism (00:41), Douglas Murray’s prediction of a dull decade of arrested development (04:26) and finally Nigel Farndale of why we owe so much of what we love about the Olympics to the Nazis (12:50). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on The Edition: How free are we after freedom day?(00:27) Also on the podcast: Why does it take hours to refuel your car in Lebanon?(10:19) and finally… Is British gardening wilting or blooming?(21:21) With The Spectator 's economics editor Kate Andrews, Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association, journalists Paul Wood and Tala Ramadan, author James Bartholomew and garden...

Sam's guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is the political journalist Marie Le Conte, whose new book is Honourable Misfits: A Brief History of Britain's Weirdest, Unluckiest and Most Outrageous MPs. She introduces us to some of the dishonourable members of the past, and explains why - despite what we may think - in terms of our present day crop of MPs we may, actually, never have had it so good...

Britain is already making moves on the global stage to back a green agenda, including calls to slash tariffs on ‘green goods’ and to hold countries responsible for heavily polluting practices. But as Britain reopens after Covid-19 and plans for ‘Global Britain’ take off, will the green agenda become a dominant feature of our trade negotiations, or a side-line strategy? What does Britain have to of...

On this week's episode, Olivia Potts says angry chefs could soon get their comeuppance. (00:56) Then, Rory Sutherland says over-qualification is leading to collective idiocy. (06:28) And finally, Tanya Gold wonders why people eat lobsters. (10:16) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What are the pros and cons of vaccine passports? (00:33) Also on the podcast: is it time for restaurant kitchens to ditch their toxic masculinity? (18:00) And finally... Cricket, what does the new tournament, the Hundred mean for the sport? (30:14) With: Fraser Nelson; Melanie Phillips; Olivia Potts; the chef and owner of Darjeeling Express, Asma Khan; Freddie Wilde, an analyst for Cricvis and leg...

Sam's guest in this week’s book club podcast is Frederick Forsyth, whose classic thriller The Day of the Jackal has been in print for 50 years this summer. He talks about banging it out in a few weeks on a typewriter with a bullet hole in it, the shady characters who informed his research - and how he never realised that, for much of its readers, The Jackal would be the hero… Hosted on Acast. See...

The way the City of London measures success is constantly changing. A new generation of discerning consumers has skyrocketed the importance of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) to company decision-makers. The finance sector is increasingly being seen as the next frontier in climate action. As the City navigates the post-Brexit landscape and our pandemic recovery it will also be...

Tangping, or 'lying flat', is a new lifestyle tempting China's millennials. Describing a minimalist stress-free life where one opts out of a career and raising family, lying flat is the young person's desperate answer to the infinite rat race of modern Chinese workplaces and society. But while there are few lie-flatters as of yet, the allure of the lifestyle has propelled the term into the mainstr...

On this week's episode:  Revd Marcus Walker shares his concern and disapproval at being described by the Church of England as an 'Key Limiting Factor' (00:26).  Then Douglas Murray looks at the tricky subject of transracialism (09:48) And finally Petronella Wyatt gives her two cents on modern day Westminster culture (17:15). Presented by Sam Holmes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more i...

Trudy Harrison is the Conservative MP for Copeland and currently works as the Prime Minster's Parliamentary Private Secretary. On the podcast, she talks about how when she was younger she always thought she'd be a nanny and how that maternal nature developed into her own childcare business, then local politics and finally the House of Commons. Trudy also bought in a bunch of her own home grown flo...

What level of control does China have at Cambridge University? (00:48) Also on the podcast: Will the Church of England’s new plans for modernisation leave us with an institution we even recognise? (10:26) And finally let's talk about Streaking, indecent exposure or proud British pastime of joy and humour? (27:26) With Ian Williams author of ‘every breath you take, a study of China’s surveillance s...

Who is John Galt? This week's Book Club podcast looks at the life, work and personality of Ayn Rand, probably the most influential writer you've never read. A favourite of our new Health Secretary, the author of Atlas Shrugged -- and the most strident advocate of the idea that "greed is good" -- continues to be revered and reviled four decades after her death. What was it that made her work speak...

Jack Whitehall is an actor and comedian, however during the pandemic he has also started a food blog, FoodSlut . On the episode, he talks to Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts about his public love of McDonalds, his secret love of The Ivy and the time he once saw a man attempt to make a grilled cheese with his feet.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Building Back is a limited series by award winning journalist Isabel Hardman. In every episode she asks how we can fix the damage caused by the pandemic to a different part of British society.  In this episode, Isabel talks to those working front line in the NHS and the politicians in Westminster who decide its future.  Featuring: Head of the independent health think tank, The Kings Fund Richard M...

On this week's episode:  Journalist Isabel Oakeshott on how she let the Matt Hancock scandal slip through her fingers a week before it turned up in The Sun (00:59). We’ll also be joined by Melanie McDonagh who's written about how high tea has gone from an affordable British staple to and oversized and overpriced, still delicious monstrosity (06:17). And finally Jon Day takes us into the wonderful...