The Edition

In this week’s episode: Who’s to blame for the water shortages? James Forsyth, The Spectator’s political editor and Ciaran Nelson from Anglian Water join us to discuss the UK’s deteriorating water supply. (0.29) Also this week: Is it time for some old-fashioned Tory state-building? Tim Stanley from the Telegraph shares his vision for a Conservative future. He’s joined by Annabel Denham, director o...

In this week’s episode: Is China heading for a demographic disaster? Rana Mitter and Cindy Yu discuss China’s declining birth rate and what this could do to their economy. (0.52) Also this week: What would foreign policy look like under a Liz Truss government? The Spectator's deputy political editor, Katy Balls is joined by Rishi Sunak supporter, Dr Liam Fox who is the MP for NorthWest Somerset, F...

In this week’s episode: Can Rishi catch up? Katy Balls and Kate Andrews discuss Rishi Sunak’s mad dash to catch up with his rival, Liz Truss in the polls (0.55) Also this week: Is it time the UK severed ties with Chinese-made tech? Charles Parton argues this in the magazine this week. He is joined by Dr Alexi Drew, a consultant in emerging technologies and international relations (13.33) And final...

In this week’s episode: Will Donald Trump have a second shot at the US presidency? Freddy Gray and Sarah Baxter discuss. (1.10) Also this week: A look at the history of Scotland’s paradoxical relationship between Scottish identity and the Union. The Spectator’s Scotland editor, Alex Massie talks with Murray Pittock about his book Scotland: The Global History, 1603 to Present.   (21.49) And finally...

In this week’s episode: The knives are out in the Tory leadership fight, who looks likely to make the final two? Fraser Nelson writes this week’s cover piece about the Tory leadership race. He’s joined by the Telegraph’s Allison Pearson (0.49). Also this week: Mary Wakefield challenges Stonewall's guidelines for parents with trans children. One of these parents is Tammy Plunkett, a former nurse, l...

In this week’s episode: After Boris, who's next? On the day the Prime Minister resigns, Katy Balls and James Forsyth discuss the aftermath of Boris Johnson’s premiership. Who might be the next Tory leader? (0.51). Also this week: Who are the wealthy Russian émigrés ready to fight in the war? Sean Thomas talks with Moscow-based journalist, Gabriel Gavin about the Russian émigrés who hate the war, b...

In this week’s episode: Can Russia turn off Germany’s gas? Wolfgang Münchau and Katja Hoyer discuss Germany’s looming energy crisis (0.51). Also this week: What are relations like between Boris Johnson and Prince Charles?  The Spectator’s diary editor, James Heale talks with Camilla Tominey from the Telegraph talk about the growing tensions between the Prime Minister and future King (19.56). And f...

In this week’s episode: Are Russian sanctions backfiring? The Spectator ’s economics editor, Kate Andrews and Elisabeth Braw from American Enterprise Institute discuss why sanctions against Russia may be playing into Putin’s hands. (0.57) Also this week: Does Carrie Johnson get a hard time from the British public?  Spectator columnist, Matthew Parris talks with the Daily Mail columnist about the r...

In this week’s episode: Why is there a lack of faith in western leaders? Spectator deputy editor Freddy Gray, Callum Williams from the Economist & Harvard professor Barbara Kellerman discuss why the world feel so leaderless. (00:44) Also this week: How do you escape the church of scientology? Spectator Columnist Mary Wakefield talks with former scientologist Claire Headley about her life inside th...

In this week’s episode: Is the Prime Minister a dead man walking? Spectator Political Editor James Forsyth and MP Jesse Norman who expressed no confidence in Monday's vote discuss the future of Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party. (00:45) Also this week: Why is there so much virtue signalling in modern advertising? Spectator Columnist Lionel Shriver and veteran copywriter Paul Burke discuss i...

In this week’s episode: Robert Hardman & Angela Levin, two of the UK’s royal specialists, explore the character of the Queen and the impact she has had on the institution of the monarchy. (00:36) Also this week: For now, it seems that Boris Johnson is hanging on after the publishing of the Sue Gray report, but how stable is his position? Could a vote of no confidence be closer than anyone expects?...

In this week’s episode: Ian Williams, author of The Fire of the Dragon: China’s New Cold war , and Alessio Patalano, Professor of War and Strategy in East Asia at King’s College London, talk about how the war in Ukraine has changed the thinking in Taiwan. (00:37) Also this week: Was Sue Gray’s report on Downing Street parties a game-changer or a damp squib? The Spectator ’s editor, Fraser Nelson,...

This week Lara Prendergast and William Moore talk to James Forsyth and the academic, Dr Alexander Clarkson about Zelensky's possible path to peace (00:42). Followed by Owen Matthews, The Spectator's Russia correspondent on Turkey's power over Nato expansion (13:28). Finally, a chat between two bowls fanatics, Michael Simmons, The Spectator's data journalist and Andrew Gibson from the bowls green i...

This week Lara Prendergast and William Moore talk to Katy Balls and the journalist Paul Mason about the future of Labour (00:40). Followed by historian David Abulafia and the Sunday Times education editor Sian Griffiths on the announcement of Cambridge University's plans to limit the number of their private school students (15:20). Finally, a debate between author Michele Kirsch and Laura Biggs fr...

In this week’s episode: Is Boris Johnson planning to tear up Britain’s deal with the EU? James Forsyth says in his Spectator cover story this week that Boris Johnson plans to reignite the Brexit voter base by taking on the EU again over Northern Ireland. He joins the podcast along with Denis Staunton, the London editor of the Irish Times , who writes in this week’s magazine about how Sein Finn has...

In this week’s episode: Is Elon Musk heading for a clash with the British Government over free speech? Elon Musk is buying Twitter. But might the Tesla CEO be in for a battle he wasn’t expecting with the UK government? Spectator Editor Fraser Nelson writes about this potential clash in this week’s issue and he joins the podcast to expand on his thesis. (00:49) Also this week: Where is it ever ok t...

In this week’s episode: Is Boris going to limp on?  In her cover piece this week, Katy Balls writes that although Boris Johnson believes he can survive the partygate scandal, he has some way to go until he is safe, while in his column, James Forsyth writes about why the Tories have a summer of discontent ahead of them. They both join the podcast to speculate on the Prime Minister’s future. (00:44)...

In this week’s episode: How are the people of both Russia and Ukraine processing the war? Our Russia correspondent Owen Matthews writes in this week’s Spectator that he has been stunned at how easily some of his Russian friends have accepted the Kremlin’s propaganda. He joins the podcast to explain why he thinks this is, followed by journalist and author of This Is Not Propaganda , Peter Pomerants...

In this week’s episode: Is Putin guilty of war crimes? For this week’s cover piece, The Spectator’s Editor Fraser Nelson looks at the risks and rewards of labelling Vladimir Putin and Russian soldiers war criminals. He joins the podcast, followed by Michael Bryant, the author of A World History of War Crimes, who writes in the Spectator this week about what the limits put on acts of war in the pas...

In this week’s episode: Is Biden’s approach to the war in Ukraine more calculating than it seems? For this week’s cover piece, in this week’s cover piece, Matt Purple examines Biden’s response to the situation in Ukraine. The good, the bad and the gaffs. He joins the podcast along with the founder of Political Human Emma Burnell. (00:52) Also this week: How many of Ukraine’s churches have been des...

In this week’s episode: could President Erdogan broker a peace deal between Putin and the West?    For this week’s cover piece, Owen Matthews has written about how Turkey’s President Erdogan became a key powerbroker between Vladimir Putin and the Western alliance. On the podcast, Owen is joined by Ece Temelkuran, a political thinker, author, and writer of the book How to Lose a Country. (1:13) Als...

In this week’s episode: Has Putin’s invasion of Ukraine exposed the West’s weakness - or its strength? For this week, Sergey Radchenko, a Cold War historian writes about the draconian anti-war measures that Putin has imposed in Russia. He joins the podcast along with Dr Jade Glynn, a specialist in Russian memory and foreign policy at the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies. (01:00) Also this we...

In this week’s episode: is the UK dragging its feet when it comes to Ukrainian refugees? For this week’s cover piece, Kate Andrews and Max Jeffery report from Calais, where they have been talking with Ukrainian refugees hoping to make it to Britain. Kate joins the podcast along with former MEP Patrick O’Flynn to discuss the UK’s handling of the refugee crisis. (00:48) Also this week: are commodity...

In this week’s episode: What’s the mood on the ground in Ukraine and Russia? For this week’s cover piece, Owen Matthews asks whether the invasion of Ukraine will mean the end of Putin’s regime. And in this week’s Spectator diary, Freddy Gray reports on pride and paranoia on the streets of Lviv. They join the podcast, to talk about Russia’s future and Ukraine’s present. (00:49) Also this week: Is G...

In this week’s episode: What does Putin really want for Russia? For this week’s cover story, Niall Ferguson writes about how Putin seems to be trying to recreate the Russia of the Past, while this week's diary by Timothy Garton Ash says the West has misunderstood his intentions, Niall and Timothy join the podcast along with Mary Dejevsky a columnist for the Independent. (00:48) Also this week: Sho...