Best of the Spectator

19 July is approaching but what will life after ‘freedom day’ will look like? (01:19) Also on the podcast: what will Angela Merkel's departure mean for the EU? (14:12) And as many people fled the cities to the countryside during the pandemic, can a case still be made for urban life? (27:26) With The Spectator ’s sketch writer and theatre critic Lloyd Evens; playwright James Graham; director of Eur...

In this week’s Book Club podcast Sam's guest is Anne Sebba - whose Ethel Rosenberg: A Cold War Tragedy tells the story of the first woman in US history to be executed for a crime other than murder. On the podcast, she talks about how attitudes to this notorious espionage case changed over the years; and why, while not wanting to relitigate the case, she thinks it’s important to get to a sense of w...

From jabs for joints, to peer pressure in schools, to free lap dances, it seems the power that be are getting more and more aggressive in their mission of getting everyone jabbed as quickly as possible. To discuss this unprecedented vaccination campaign Freddy Gray talks to author of A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic , Laura Dodsworth.  Hosted on A...

In the 12 months since the enactment of the National Security Law on Hong Kong, opposition leaders, journalists and activists have been arrested; reforms on education and elections begun; and last week saw the emotional closure of the pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily. On this episode, I speak to Jennifer Creery, who works for the Financial Times in Hong Kong, about the situation on the ground; an...

On this week's episode, Jessica Douglas-Home wants to know why modern British architecture is just so ugly. (01:03) After, Paul Wood warns what Western withdrawal means for Afghanistan (09:23) and finally Andrew Watts explores the history of the ever-updated Pride flag. (19:23) Presented by Cindy Yu Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Katie Perrior is a public relations expert who co-founded inHouse Communications. She's worked for two prime ministers and several senior Tory MPs, and today her clients include the spiritsmaker Diageo and the football Super League. On the podcast, she talks about leaning into Boris Johnson's rambunctious style on the London mayoralty campaign; coming into blows with Theresa May's chief advisors N...

This week…Why should the first time buyer be so scared of new builds? (00:36) Plus… will the catholic church come to the defence of the word mother? (09:33)  And finally… Why does it take so long to understand Japanese culture, even for the Japanese? (18:50) With John Myers founder of YIMBY, Vickey Spratt housing correspondent of the I newspaper and author of the up coming book Tenants, Spectator...

Sam's guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the chief librarian of Oxford's Bodleian Library, Richard Ovenden. In Burning The Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack, he explores the long history and vital importance of libraries and archives -- and the equally long history of their destruction in acts of war, vandalism or censorship and their loss through attrition and neglect. He tells Sa...

A few weeks ago, a company called Darktrace - put together by computer programmers in London and Cambridge - floated on the London Stock Exchange. It was valued at over £2 billion. It’s a pretty good example of a British tech success - its shares surged by 44 per cent, in stark contrast to Deliveroo, a better-known name, whose flotation saw its shares sink by 26%. So what does Darktrace’s success...

Calum Franklin is executive head chef at Holborn Dining Room, and an internationally renowned pie-maker (dubbed 'The Pie King' by Jamie Oliver). On the episode, he talks to Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts about how his menus try to recreate the nostalgia of his simple childhood meals, like fish pie; the centrality of pies to British cuisine; and why his restaurant is inspired by the copper and b...

On this week's episode, Katy Balls warns Boris what a pattern of delay could mean for his Premiership. (01:08) After, Laura Freeman takes us on a guided tour of politicians' chosen paintings (07:05) and finally Adam Sisman lays out the landscape of Berlin directly following the end of world war two. (15:13) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Freddy Gray talks to the Spectator's Russia correspondent Owen Matthews about relations between the two presidents. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It seems we are in a new President/Prime Minister alliance of big government spending, should we be excited or concerned? (00:44) Also on the podcast: Are the UK tabloids going woke? (15:00)? And in the wake of the pandemic are we ready to have a grown up conversation about death?(31:11) With Spectator Political Editor James Forsyth, Spectator Economics Editor Kate Andrews, former Editor of the Su...

This week's Book Club podcast guest is Charles Spencer, whose book The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I's Dream is new out in paperback. On the pod tells Sam Leith why his story is like " Game of Thrones meets Titanic ", about the piety and the startling cruelty of medieval kings, the tantalising suggestion that the wreck of the White Ship may have been found off Barfleur...

Exactly 20 years ago, China acceded to the World Trade Organisation. In the decades since, the globalised world became what we know today, with hundreds of millions of Chinese and people around the world lifted out of poverty through free trade. But the promised liberalisation - both economic and political - doesn't seem to have happened. China is now challenging western-led world order, and too d...

On this week's episode, Dr Max Pemberton explains that while just as many people are seeing their GP as before the pandemic, something has changed. (00:55) After, Andrew Watts argues that you shouldn't buy a second home in Cornwall. (09:15) Ysenda Maxtone Graham finishes the episode, lamenting the loss of indoor singing. (14:00) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Polly Morgan is an artist whose trade is taxidermy. She recently won the First Plinth Award, and in her time has sold to celebrity clients including Kate Moss and Courtney Love. On the podcast, she tells Katy Balls about her unusual childhood growing up on a farm with ostriches, goats and llamas; why she got fired by Prue Leith; and the ins and outs of taxidermy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri...

Experts are saying we are now officially in a third wave but how concerned should we be? (00:56) Also on the podcast: What will the mood be like when Boris meets Biden (14:33)? And are UFOs no longer a laughing matter?(23:00) With Scientist Simon Clarke, mathematician Philip Thomas, spokesperson for Republicans Overseas UK Sarah Elliot, Spectator World editor Freddy Gray, astrophysicist Tim O'Bria...

In this week's Book Club podcast, Sam Leith's guest is one of America's foremost magazine journalists, the New Yorker 's Lawrence Wright. His new book is The Plague Year: America In The Time of Covid . He tells Sam what a book brings to recent history that week-to-week journalism can't, about the extraordinary happenstance that put him in contact with one of the unsung heroes of the vaccine race,...

Craig Brown is an awarding winning critic, satirist and former restaurant reviewer. His most recent book One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time, won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. On the podcast, he talks to Lara and Olivia about the horrible food at Eton, his utter failure to bake a cake, and proposes that one of the least important things to him when he was reviewing a restaurant wa...

On this episode: Chris Daw QC on the blame game that surrounds the Hillsborough disaster and why it's time to move on (01:00); Lionel Shriver suggests we should just give Scottish nationalists what they want and watch the chaos unfold (07:40); and Sam Russell, the Spectator's new broadcast producer, talks about how book lovers are turning TikTok into a book club (16:25). Hosted on Acast. See acast...

What was once dismissed by the mainstream media as a right wing conspiracy theory, seems to have made its transition, into credible possibility. It now seems very plausible that COVID came from a Chinese lab. But will we ever know for sure? And even if we did, what would we do about it? Freddy Gray talks to Thomas Frank, who recommends we all read this . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

Why is the National Trust in crisis, and can it be fixed? (00:55) Plus, is there going to be a ‘fake meat’ revolution? (14:15) And finally, should wedding readings stick to the classics or is it acceptable to go for something a bit more out there? (24:25) With Spectator columnist and former editor Charles Moore; Simon Jenkins, chair of National Trust between 2008 and 2014; Anthony Browne, a Conser...

In this week’s Book Club podcast Sam's guest is Lauren Hough - author of an outstanding new collection of autobiographical essays called Leaving Isn’t The Hardest Thing which describe a life that took her from growing up in the Children Of God cult via being discharged from the US Air Force and jobs as a bouncer in a gay bar and a “cable guy” on the road to being a writer. She talks about not writ...

What is it like to be a journalist in China? There are obvious restrictions on freedom of speech, but, as Cindy Yu finds out on this episode, there are creative ways to navigate the strict system of censorship. The end result is a complex media landscape - some have to litter investigations with state propaganda; others continue to report on sensitive issues (like the Wuhan Covid cover up) and rel...