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Best of the Spectator — News & Politics
Best of the Spectator

Home to the Spectator’s best podcasts on everything from politics to religion, literature to food and drink, and more. A new podcast every day from writers worth listening to.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latest Episodes:

The Edition: plan Bibi Feb 29, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to a slightly new format for the Edition podcast! Each week we will be talking about the magazine – as per usual – but trying to give a little more insight into the process behind putting The Spectator to bed each week.
On the podcast this week: plan Bibi
In the early hours of Friday morning, Benjamin Netanyahu leaked his ‘Day after Hamas’ plan for post-war Gaza. But the plan is not a plan, writes Anshel Pfeffer – it is just a set of vague principles that do not stand up to the slightest scrutiny. Its sole purpose is rather to keep the ministers of Netanyahu’s fragile cabinet together to ensure his political survival. Joining the podcast is former National Security advisor to Netanyahu and former head of the Israeli Professor Uzi Arad, to discuss Bibi’s self-interested survival strategy. (03:08)
Also this week: Lara and Will discuss some of their favourite pieces from the magazine. Including Richard Bratby’s arts lead on the composer you should take far more seriously and Ysenda Maxtone Graham’s piece on the ‘sad clappies’.
Then: why Latvia is expelling its Russian speakers. New rules mean that ethnic Russians, many of whom have lived in Latvia for their entire lives, have been told they need to learn Latvian or face deportation. In the magazine, Lukas Degutis, The Spectator’s editorial manager, interviews people affected by the illiberal policy, as well as the politicians defending the change as part of de-Russification of the Baltic states. We spoke to Lukas and Inga Springe, investigative journalist at Re:Baltica who has been across this story on the derussification of the Baltic. (22:16)
And finally: why don’t we have more time, and when we do, why do we waste it? This is the central question of a new book by Gary S. Cross, titled: Free Time: The History of an Elusive Ideal. We thought this was the perfect question to ask our own Wiki Man columnist Rory Sutherland, who had some fascinating things to say about free time and how best to spend it. (34:39)
Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William Moore.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
If there are any areas of the magazine that you are particularly interested in or any questions you have for Will and Lara, please email: podcast@spectator.co.uk. We will try and answer as many as we can in next week’s episode.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Book Club: Colum McCann Feb 28, 2024

Show notes

My guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the award-winning novelist Colum McCann, whose new book takes him out of the territory of fiction and into something slightly different. American Mother is written in collaboration with Diane Foley, mother of Jim Foley, the journalist killed by ISIS in Syria in 2014. He tells me how he came to reinvent himself as (not quite) a ghostwriter, why he thinks you can use the tools of the fiction-writer to get at journalistic truth, and about what it was like to sit in the room with Diane Foley and the man who murdered her son.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Americano: A Donald Trump debate Feb 28, 2024

Show notes

In this special episode of Americano, The Spectator's editor Fraser Nelson explores Trump's candidacy with political commentator Deroy Murdock, and The Spectator's economics editor Kate Andrews.
They debate the influence of his rhetoric on American politics. How important is language? Will his achievements as President be enough to secure his re-election? Does personality Trump policy?
Produced by Natasha Feroze and Patrick Gibbons

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Americano: are pollsters underestimating Joe Biden? Feb 26, 2024

Show notes

Freddy Gray speaks to James Kanagasooriam who is the chief research officer at Focal Data about the state of the polls. They discuss why vaccines have become a polarising topic for this election; why bookmakers might be underestimating Joe Biden and the importance of the cost of living.

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Ageing well: becoming a world leader in tackling dementia and Alzheimer’s Feb 26, 2024

Show notes

With cases of neurodegenerative conditions rising in the UK, it's crucial to re-examine how we tackle these diseases. The Spectator's assistant editor Isabel Hardman speaks to Debbie Abrahams MP (co-chair of the Dementia APPG), Dr Emily Pegg (associate vice president at Eli Lilly), Dr Susan Kohlhaas (executive director at Alzheimer's Research), and Professor Giovanna Mallucci (principal investigator at the Cambridge Institute of Science).
Eli Lilly and Company has provided sponsorship funding to support this event, and has had no influence over the content of the event or selection of speakers

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Holy Smoke: How much did Pope Francis know about Fr Marko Rupnik? Feb 26, 2024

Show notes

At a press conference in Rome last week, an ex-nun claiming to have suffered ritual sex abuse at the hands of Fr Marko Rupnik turned the heat on Pope Francis. How much did he know about the stomach-turning charges levelled at the Slovenian mosaic artist, who was a Jesuit until he was thrown out of the order? And, more important, when did he know? Why is Rupnik still a priest? The Pope's allies in the media are desperate for this story to go away. But, as this episode of Holy Smoke argues, the scandal is growing and threatens to engulf Francis himself.

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Action Men: why women don’t need ‘allies’ fighting male violence – Julie Bindel & Jackson Katz Feb 24, 2024

Show notes

Julie Bindel speaks to anti-sexist campaigner and author Jackson Katz, who has been part of a growing movement of men working to promote gender equality. On the podcast, Julie and Jackson discuss the power of bystanders to end rape culture; how men come to be afraid of other men when calling out abusive behaviour; and how men can truly fight against gendered violence.

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Spectator Out Loud: Max Jeffery, Lisa Haseldine, Christopher Howse, Philip Hensher and Calvin Po Feb 24, 2024

Show notes

This week: Max Jeffery writes from Blackpool where he says you can see the welfare crisis at its worst (01:29); Lisa Haseldine reads her interview with the wife of Vladimir Kara-Murza, whose husband is languishing in a Siberian jail (06:26); Christopher Howse tells us about the ancient synagogue under threat from developers (13:02); Philip Hensher reads his review of Write, Cut, Rewrite (24:34); and Calvin Po asks whether a Labour government will let architects reshape housing (34:42).
Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Margaret Mitchell.

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Americano: human rights vs democracy Feb 23, 2024

Show notes

Freddy speaks to journalist and author of The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties, Chris Caldwell, about the human rights movement. Can America’s influence be considered imperial? Is how we think of human rights outdated? And, what does the Black Lives Matter movement and the 2011 intervention in Libya tell us about the state of human rights today?
Produced by Natasha Feroze and Patrick Gibbons

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The Edition: why Britain stopped working Feb 22, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to a slightly new format for the Edition podcast! Each week we will be talking about the magazine – as per usual – but trying to give a little more insight into the process behind putting The Spectator bed each week.
On the podcast this week: the cost of Britain’s mass worklessness.
According to The Spectator’s calculations, had workforce participation stayed at the same rate as in 2019, the economy would be 1.7 per cent larger now and an end-of-year recession could have been avoided. As things stand, joblessness is coexisting with job vacancies in a way that should be economically impossible, writes Kate Andrews in the cover story. She joins the podcast alongside Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), to debate the problems plaguing Britain’s workforce. (03:11)
Also on the podcast: Lara and Will discuss some of their favourite pieces from the magazine, including Mark Mason’s piece on anti-depressive quality of cricket and Anne Robinson’s fantastic diary. (18:29)
Then: In the arts section of the magazine, Calvin Po writes the lead. He asks whether a Labour government will allow architects to reshape houses as part of their flagship housebuilding plans. Telegraph columnist and author of Home Truths Liam Halligan joins the podcast to discuss Labour’s plans, whether they are realistic and if we can start to build better and more beautifully under a Labour government. (21:32)
And finally: In his column this week Rod Liddle says that smartphones are all too successful and advocates for banning them altogether for children. Interestingly, he argues that we give children smartphones not for their convenience, but for the convenience of parents. He joins the podcast alongside Miranda Wilson, co-founder of Teched Off, a group which campaigns to keep young people safe online. Our editor Fraser Nelson also stops by to give his thoughts. (33:38)
Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
If there are any areas of the magazine that you are particularly interested in or any questions you have for Will and Lara, please email: podcast@spectator.co.uk. We will try and answer as many as we can in next week’s episode.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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