Best of the Spectator

On this week's episode, author and financial columnist Matthew Lynn begins by arguing that the EU has already botched its Covid vaccine rollout. (00:25) Then, Will Knowland, formerly an English teacher at Eton, explains why he was dismissed from the school and criticises its 'stifling monoculture'. (08:20) And finally, Mary Wellesley reflects on the lives of 13th-century hermits. (13:55) Hosted on...

Christina Lamb is an award-winning journalist who has reported on conflicts and politics across the world, for more than three decades. Her latest book is Our Bodies, Their Battlefields , highlighting especially the treatment of women in war. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Coronavirus vaccines are now being distributed across the world, but what are the challenges posed by its delivery? (01:30) Is Boris Johnson the SNP's greatest weapon? (13:55) And is Prince Harry becoming more and more like his mother? (23:35) With financial columnist Matthew Lynn; former director at the McKinsey Global Institute Richard Dobbs; the UK's former director of immunisation David Salisb...

Leroy Logan is a former superintendent at the Metropolitan Police, former chair of the Black Police Association, and author of Closing Ranks: My Life as a Cop . On the podcast, he tells Lara and Livvy about his love of apple crumble, his wife's lunchboxes, and why police officers should always stay dry. Table Talk is a series of podcasts where Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts talk to celebrity gu...

Damian's guest, the celebrated Irish journalist, broadcaster and playwright Mary Kenny, offers a nuanced analysis of the powerful and paradoxical world in which she grew up: one in which Catholic clergy and lay people could be simultaneously fervently pious, warm-hearted and yet paralysed by petty snobbery. She talks about how the Irish Free State handed far too much power to bishops and priests....

After a year battling coronavirus, the UK's debt now totals more than £2 trillion. In an effort to keep the economy afloat, the Treasury has paid wages, given tax relief, and even paid for people to eat out. As recently as five years ago, Conservatives would have thought this spending unsustainable. But with Boris Johnson's government being elected on a promise to 'level up' the country, will this...

Douglas Murray, the author of The Madness of Crowds , joins the last Americano of the year. On the episode, he and Freddy chat through the most important trends and events of the year, from China and the pandemic, to whether or not 'neocon' is still a usable term. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2020 is drawing to a close but none of us will forget this year anytime soon. For China, has it also been a watershed year? Western rhetoric hasn’t been so hawkish on China in a very long time, with talk of a second Cold War gracing commentary pages and calls to decouple supply chains. Lost in the noise is China's own turning away from the world. In a new strategy called 'dual circulation', the go...

On this episode, Andrew Neil is joined by Professor Tim Spector, principal investigator of ZOE at Kings College London; Andrew Wilson, former SNP finance spokesperson and founding partner of Charlotte Street Partners; Rod Liddle, associate editor of The Spectator ; and a team of Spectator journalists. This week, we discuss whether all the data supports increased coronavirus restrictions, if there'...

For the Christmas triple issue, there are four authors in this week's Spectator Out Loud. Fraser Nelson reads the leading article in our Christmas edition; Matt Ridley talks about how mRNA vaccines could revolutionise medicine; Ian Rankin reads his short story; and Cressida Bonas reflects on what it was like to have a lockdown wedding. To read more brilliant pieces from the Christmas issue, subscr...

This week Beethoven celebrates his 250th birthday. To mark the day, Damian Thompson talks to the composer Sir James MacMillan about how Beethoven's faith impacted his music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How will the UK's economy recover from Covid-19, and what has the pandemic revealed about the West? (01:20) Was 2020 the year we dealt a mortal blow to future viruses? (15:05) And finally, what makes Mary Gaitskill a brilliant writer, and why does Elif Shafak work to heavy metal music? (29:25) With The Spectator 's political editor James Forsyth, deputy political editor Katy Balls, writer and biol...

In this week's Book Club podcast, we remember the great John Le Carre. I'm joined by one of the late writer's longest standing friends, the novelist Nicholas Shakespeare. He tells me about Le Carre's disdain for - and debt to - Ian Fleming, his intensely secretive and controlling personality, his magnetic charm, his thwarted hopes of the Nobel Prize... and why at the end of his life he acquired an...

Last month the government released its ten point plan for what it dubs 'The Green Industrial Revolution'. At the top of the list was offshore wind, with a pledge to produce enough power for every home by 2030. Offshore wind currently constitutes over 50 per cent of the renewables in the UK, with costs coming down considerably over recent years. But does offshore wind have its limits? Is it always...

Jeffrey Archer is a novelist, former politician, and peer of the realm. He has sold 275 million copies of his books - in 97 countries and more than 30 languages. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Liv about food in prison, his wife's jacket potato, and why he loves shepherd's pie.  Table Talk is a series of podcasts where Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts talk to celebrity guests about their life s...

On this week’s episode, Andrew Neil is joined by Philip Rycroft, permanent secretary of the Department for Exiting the European Union from 2017 to 2019; Stephen Bush, political editor of the New Statesman; Andrew RT Davies, Wales's shadow health minister and former leader of the Welsh Conservatives; and a team of Spectator journalists. On this week's episode, we discuss whether a Brexit deal will...

On this week's episode, the Spectator 's deputy US editor, Dominic Green, argues that if Joe Biden departs from Donald Trump’s foreign policy, American interests will be harmed. (01:00) After, Tanya Gold reads her interview with Belle Delphine, the 21-year-old who earns more than $1 million a month from videos she posts online. (13:25) Lionel Shriver features next; she says that nobody wins from i...

Barbara Amiel, Baroness Black, is a journalist, writer and socialite. She's been married four times - her fourth to the newspaper proprietor Conrad Black. On the podcast, she talks to Katy Balls about her difficult childhood (which she describes as 'slightly unorthodox'), establishing her journalistic career in Toronto and London, comparing bathrooms with Ghislaine Maxwell, her glamorous marriage...

Joe Biden wants his administration to be a departure from the days of Donald Trump, but will a change in foreign policy harm American interests? (01:00) Why is it taking so long to reach a Brexit deal? (17:10) And finally, should cyclists be given priority on London's roads? (29:35) With The Spectator ’s deputy US editor Dominic Green, Chatham House's Leslie Vinjamuri, The Spectator 's political e...

In this week's Book Club podcast, Sam Leith's guest is the journalist Ed Caesar, whose new book The Moth and the Mountain tells the story of a now forgotten solo assault on Everest that ended in disaster. But as Ed argues, the heroic failure can be a richer and more resonant story than any triumph -- and as he painstakingly excavated the story of Maurice Wilson, it was just such a rich and resonan...

Henry Jeffreys is features editor of Masters of Malt , and author of The Cocktail Dictionary . On the podcast, he tells Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts about living like the Goodfellas in Leeds, being 'portly' at university, and enjoying his mum's apple and bramble pie. Table Talk is a series of podcasts where Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts talk to celebrity guests about their life story, thr...

When thinking about Chinese student protests, you'll inevitably think about Hong Kong or Tiananmen. But there's one that kicked it all off in modern Chinese history, and its reverberations are still felt throughout the century, not least because of its role in the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. It's the May Fourth Movement of 1919, which is the topic of this episode. Professor Rana Mitte...

Andrew Neil is joined by Trevor Phillips, managing director of Webber and Phillips, and columnist for The Times; Mark Harper, Conservative MP and former chief whip; Emily Gray, managing director of Ipsos MORI Scotland; and a team of Spectator journalists. On this week's episode, we discuss why Tory MPs rebelled against the tiered restrictions, whether Scottish independence is inevitable and if cri...

On this week's episode, the Spectator's Scotland editor Alex Massie asks why Nicola Sturgeon's popularity keeps growing, despite her government's underperformance. (00:55) Next, Paul Wood argues that the next six weeks are crucial for the future of the Middle East. (12:00) Finally, Melissa Kite wonders what the new Covid rules mean. (21:00) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informati...

From Brett Kavanaugh to Joe Biden, American politics too often seems to be a display of emotions rather than policies. On the podcast, Freddy Gray talks to political analyst Thomas Frank, author of The People, No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.