Best of the Spectator

Alexandra Shulman is the former Editor-In-Chief of British Vogue. On the podcast, she talks to Olivia and Lara about her mother Drusilla Beyfus's etiquette tips, wining and dining as a journalist in the 80s, and how doughnuts never lasted long at Vogue. Table Talk is a series of podcasts where Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts talk to celebrity guests about their life story, through the food and d...

With Andrew Bacevich, President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. 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 Kate Hoey MP and Eamonn Butler, Director of the Adam Smith Institute. Presented by Fraser Nelson. 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.

This week, Boris Johnson agrees a Brexit deal – but can he get it through parliament (00:40)? Plus, who are the biggest beneficiaries from the Turkish incursion into Syria (22:25)? We look at how Russia is consolidating its influence in the Middle East. With Paul Mason, James Johnson, Paul Wood, and Tracey German. Presented by Katy Balls and Cindy Yu. Produced by Cindy Yu. Hosted on Acast. See aca...

Sam's guest in this week’s Spectator Books is Peter Pomerantsev. Peter lived in Moscow for a decade as a TV producer, and chronicled the metastasis in that country of 'post-truth politics' in his bestselling Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible. His fascinating and dismaying new book, This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality , describes how Russia’s surreal new informati...

With Katy Balls and James Forsyth. 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.

With Melissa Chen, Spectator USA's New York Editor. 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 Sienna Rodgers, Editor of LabourList, and Katy Balls. Presented by John Connolly. 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.

Lynn Barber is an award-winning journalist known for her incisive interviews and her best-selling books An Education and How to Improve Your Man in Bed . On this episode, she talks to Katy about her lifetime of interviewing the great and the good, from Salvador Dali to Katie Price; the death threats she received from Rafa Nadal's fans; and her favourite (and least favourite) BBC journalists. Women...

As the clock ticks down to the European Council, can Boris get a last minute deal with the EU (00:35)? Plus, is Extinction Rebellion just the latest iteration of millenarianism (18:25)? And last, what’s the right way to shoot a pheasant (33:35)? With James Forsyth, Peter Foster, Toby Young, Will Skeaping, Patrick Galbraith and Charlie Jacoby. Presented by Lara Prendergast and Katy Balls. Produced...

In this week’s Spectator Books podcast Sam's guest is Jung Chang — whose latest book is the gripping story of three sisters whose political differences put the Mitford even the Johnson clans in perspective. In Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister, Jung narrates the lives of the Soong Girls — one of whom was married to Chiang Kai-shek, another of whom became one of the richest women in the world a...

Isabel Vincent is an author and Canadian investigative journalist for the New York Post. Her book, 'Dinner with Edward', charts the unlikely friendship she struck up with her recently widowed ninety-something neighbour. Theirs is a friendship struck through mutual grief (Vincent's own marriage was breaking down at the time) and good food. The film adaption, starring David Souchet, is under product...

With Katy Balls and James Forsyth. Presented by Fraser Nelson. 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.

In this week's episode of Holy Smoke Damian is joined by Jamie Bartlett, one of the world’s leading experts on the dark web, radical politics and technology, whose gripping podcast series The Missing Cryptoqueen is currently being broadcast by the BBC. It tells the story of a shady Bulgarian tech entrepreneur, Dr Ruja Ignatova, who vanished just as her dodgy cryptocurrency OneCoin was raking in bi...

With Pat Leahy, Political Editor of the Irish Times, and James Forsyth. Presented by Fraser Nelson. 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 Daniel McCarthy, Contributing Editor of Spectator USA and Editor of Modern Age. 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.

As the debate about violent language in Westminster rumbles on, have MPs accidentally stumbled on to something? In this week’s episode, we take a look at what’s happened to civilised debate with people you disagree with (00:45). Plus, could Boris Johnson request an extension and still win a general election (17:00)? And last, is recycling all it’s made out to be (31:25)? With Douglas Murray, Sam L...

Sam's guest in this week’s books podcast is Benjamin Moser, author of an acclaimed new biography of one of America’s most celebrated (and controversial) intellectuals of the twentieth century: Sontag: Her Lif e. Sam asked Benjamin how he sorted fact from myth, about tracking down the inventor of that haircut, and about Annie Leibovitz’s take on their stormy love affair. Why could someone as brave...

With former Justice Secretary David Gauke, Director of CER Charles Grant, James Forsyth, Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson. Please accept our apologies for the low volume of this podcast, due to the venue's AV team. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is plastic the enemy? To watch Blue Planet and listen to Greta Thunberg, you might think so. But there are some things that plastic simply does better than the alternatives, which are not necessarily more eco-friendly in any case. So should we be looking for a better way to use the material, rather than to get rid of it altogether? To this end, we've brought together a few people who might know wh...

Liz Truss is the Secretary of State for International Trade and holds the Women and Equalities brief. In this special edition of Women With Balls for Conservative party conference, she talks about why Boris picked her for the job (having heard her speech about cheese exports), the limitation to trans rights, and how punchy language is all just a part of politics. Women With Balls is a podcast seri...

Margaret Hodge is the Labour MP for Barking and Dagenham, and well-known for her role as former head of the Public Accounts Committee, in which she scrutinised senior civil servants and politicians alike. She has also been one of the most vocal critics of Labour's anti-Semitism problem. On the podcast, she tells Katy about how boarding school made her rebellious, her remorse for supporting Tony Bl...

This week, as Boris Johnson is hauled back into parliament, we ask – is Brexit ever going to happen (00:40)? Plus, what should London do about Riyadh (14:10)? And finally, we take a sneak peek into the angry world of knitting (24:15). With Rod Liddle, Anand Menon, Sir John Jenkins, Madawi Al-Rasheed, Isabel Hardman and Bonnie Greer. Presented by Lara Prendergast. Produced by Cindy Yu and Matt Lee....

This week’s podcast features the Israeli writer Etgar Keret, talking about his new collection of short stories Fly Already . Topics on the agenda: how an Israel writer can address the Holocaust, why one of Etgar’s stories caused a dear friend of his to have to change his name, whether writing stories is a useful thing to do, whether smoking dope is a help or a hindrance to creativity, and why — al...

Jessie Burton is the bestselling author of The Miniaturist and  The Muse . In this episode of Table Talk, she tells Lara and Livvy about growing up with her dad's packed lunches, the diet of a budding actress, and her dislike for marzipan (despite The Miniaturist !). Jessie's new book, The Confession , is out now. Table Talk is a series of podcasts where Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts talk to c...