Best of the Spectator

Sam is joined from beyond the grave on this week’s Spectator Book Club by the late Laurie Lee — to talk about Gloucestershire’s Slad Valley, the landscape that made him a writer. Acting as medium, so to speak, is David Parker — whose 1990s interviews with Lee before his death provide the material for the new book Down In The Valley: A Writer’s Landscape — and who’s here to talk about the pleasures...

With Jacob Heilbrunn, Editor of the National Interest and contributor to Spectator USA. Americano is a series of in-depth discussions on American politics with the best pundits stateside. Presented by Freddy Gray, editor of Spectator USA. Click here to listen to previous episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth. Presented by Katy Balls. Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily, click here to find more episodes that are not released on Spectator Radio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Grace Blakeley, author of Stolen: How to Save the World from Financialisation, and Ryan Shorthouse, Director of Bright Blue, a centre-right thinktank. Presented by Katy Balls. Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily, click here to find more episodes that are not released on Spectator Radio. Hos...

We're all sick of celebrities making a meal of their mental health problems – but that doesn't mean that we aren't facing a potential crisis. The unique strains of living in the technology-driven 21st century are taking their toll on people who, in an earlier era, would have been psychologically robust. Many of us are affected by anxiety, depression, addiction and eating disorders; all sorts of co...

The Conservatives like to say that their road to electoral victory is steep and narrow, but has Nigel Farage broadened out that path this week (00:50)? Plus, is it time to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants (13:50)? And last, should baby boomers apologise for crimes against young people (26:55)? With James Forsyth, Marcus Roberts, Fraser Nelson, David Goodhart, Cosmo Landesman, and Charlie Nash....

In this week’s Spectator Book Club, Sam's guest is Christopher Tugendhat, whose new book offers a refreshing and thought-provoking survey of twentieth-century history; not through wars and treaties and policies, but through the pages of the books from his extensive private library. In A History of Britain Through Books: 1900-1964 , Christopher argues that we can get a special understanding the tem...

With James Morris, MD at PR firm Edelman and former Labour pollster, and James Forsyth. Presented by Katy Balls. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With James Forsyth and Katy Balls. Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily, click here to find more episodes that are not released on Spectator Radio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Robert Colvile, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, and James Forsyth. Presented by Katy Balls. Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily, click here to find more episodes that are not released on Spectator Radio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nicky Morgan is the Secretary of State for Culture, and former Conservative MP for Loughborough. Despite her success in Boris Johnson's cabinet, she announced that she'd be standing down at this election. On the podcast, she talks about student politics in Oxford with Dan Hannan, filling in Michael Gove's shoes as Education Secretary under David Cameron, firing herself for Theresa May when the lat...

America goes to the polls next year, but can any of the Democratic candidates take Trump out (00:45)? And with our own election coming up, what happens if you can no longer vote for the party you’ve always supported (13:15)? And last, happy 200th birthday to George Eliot – we find out about her unconventional life (28:05). With Freddy Gray, Karine Jean-Pierre, Matthew Parris, Tanya Gold, and Kathy...

Daniel Markovits is the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School. In his new book The Meritocracy Trap Daniel advances an argument that will seem startling to partisans of Left and Right alike: that meritocracy isn’t the solution to our social and political discontents, but the central part of the problem. Our notion that hard work and proven ability should be the route to wealth and su...

Fuchsia Dunlop is a writer and chef specialising in Chinese cuisine, especially that of Sichuan. She tells Lara and Livvy about the international lodgers who trained her adventurous palate growing up, why some Chinese foods can be so challenging for westerners (hint: it's the texture!), and the 23 different types of Sichuan spicy. Table Talk is a series of podcasts where Lara Prendergast and Olivi...

In this episode, Spectator Books leaves its dank burrow and hits the road. Sam travelled to the southern Peloponnese to catch up with the Orange-prize winning novelist Madeline Miller, where she was hosting a reading weekend at the Costa Navarino resort. Madeline’s first novel, The Song of Achilles , retold the Iliad from Patroclus’s point of view. Her second, Circe , takes on the great sorceress...

With Mark D'Arcy, the BBC's Today in Parliament correspondent, and Bobby Friedman, John Bercow's biographer. Presented by Katy Balls. Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily, click here to find more episodes that are not released on Spectator Radio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

With Dominic Green, Life and Arts editor of Spectator USA. Americano is a series of in-depth discussions on American politics with the best pundits stateside. Presented by Freddy Gray, editor of Spectator USA. Click here to listen to previous episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, an election has officially been called – so what do the major parties need to do to win (00:55)? Plus, Trump goes back into Syria – we look at how pressures back home are shaping up his foreign policy (16:15). And last: does this video give you the shivers (28:00)? With Stephen Bush, Will Tanner, Sir Christopher Meyer, Sarah Elliott, Mary Wakefield and Dr Giulia Poerio. Presented by Lar...

In this week’s Spectator Books, Sam talks to the award-winning historian Thomas Penn about his new book The Brothers York: An English Tragedy — in which he argues that the 'Wars of the Roses' weren’t determined by a struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster so much as by the catastrophic white-on-white conflict that cause the House of York to implode. He tells the story of three brothers —...

From outrage mobs to public shaming, our politics have never been angrier. But what's driving this new culture war - and how can we end the hysteria? The Spectator 's Douglas Murray and Lionel Shriver spoke in front of a live audience in Westminster this week. Tune in for an enlightening discussion. See our other events at spectator.co.uk/events . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

With James Forsyth and Katy Balls, presented by Fraser Nelson. Join Fraser, James, Katy, Liam Halligan and Sam Gyimah for Coffee House Live at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster on 12 November. Visit spectator.co.uk/liveshots for details. Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily, click here to find m...

With Isabel Oakeshott, journalist and commentator, and Katy Balls. Presented by Cindy Yu. Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily, click here to find more episodes that are not released on Spectator Radio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Katharine is the headmistress of Michaela Community School, dubbed by some as 'Britain's strictest school'. She talks to Katy about why she regrets speaking at Conservative Party Conference, her school's 'tiger teacher' philosophy, and why she would ban smartphones for everyone under the age of 18. Women With Balls is a podcast series where Katy Balls speak to women at the top of their respective...

This week, the government looks close to the finishing line – now all Boris needs is an election (00:40). And as months of grenade attacks blight Swedish neighbourhoods, we get to the bottom of why Sweden doesn’t want to talk about its rise in violent crime (17:40). And last, is there really a right way to speak English (27:30)? With James Forsyth, James Mills, Paulina Neuding, Amir Rostami, Mark...

The Spectator was delighted to host Charles Moore, author of an acclaimed three-part biography of the former prime minister, and John Humphrys, former presenter of Today , for a special conversation on recent history. They talk about politics from the fall of Margaret Thatcher to the Brexit era, the BBC's bias (or lack thereof), and much much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more i...