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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:

Table Talk: Professor Charles Spence Feb 13, 2024

Show notes

Professor Charles Spence is an experimental psychologist at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on how an in-depth understanding of the human mind will lead to the better design of multi-sensory foods and products. He is the author of several books including his most recent, Sensehacking: How to Use the Power of Your Senses for Happier, Healthier Living.
On this episode he talks about how he started experimenting with food and the human senses, working with Heston Blumenthal, and how he doesn't understand ice-cream.

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Americano: how bad is the border crisis? Feb 10, 2024

Show notes

Freddy is joined by Todd Bensman, fellow at the Centre for Immigration Studies and author of Overrun: how Joe Biden unleashed the greatest border crisis in US history. They discuss how to solve what is perhaps the issue of our time, why meaningful reform doesn't seem to happen on immigration, and the extent of Biden's physical and mental frailty after a week of public gaffes.

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Spectator Out Loud: Svitlana Morenets, Paul Mason, Robbie Mallett and Lloyd Evans Feb 10, 2024

Show notes

This week: Svitlana Morenets takes us inside Ukraine's new plan for mass conscription (01:01); Paul Mason says that Labour is right to ditch its £28 billion green pledge (10:49); Robbie Mallett tells us about life as a scientist working in Antarctica (15:48); and Lloyd Evans reads his Life column (21:24).
Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson.

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Action Men: the false ‘liberation’ of the sex trade Feb 09, 2024

Show notes

Julie Bindel speaks to Björn Suttka, anti-sexist campaigner and co-founder of Male Allies Challenging Sexism. On the show they discuss how Björn changed his mind about the liberal approach to porn and sex work and how men can help in the fight for women’s liberation.

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The Edition: inside the plot to take down Rishi Sunak Feb 08, 2024

Show notes

Welcome to a slightly new format for the Edition podcast! Each week 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: The Spectator's political editor Katy Balls writes our cover story this week about 'the plot' to oust Rishi Sunak. When former culture secretary Nadine Dorries made the claim in her book that a secret cabal of advisors were responsible for taking down prime ministers, she was laughed at. But with shadowy backroom fixers assembling to try and take down the prime minister, did she have a point? Katy joins the podcast alongside the Financial Times' Stephen Bush to discuss what makes a successful 'plot'. (03:11)
Also: Lara and Will take us through some of their favourite pieces from this week's issue, featuring an extract from the 'letter from Antarctica', narrated by its author Robbie Mallet, a polar climate scientist at UiT the Arctic University of Norway. (15:33)
Then: The Spectator's commissioning editor Mary Wakefield writes her column this week about XL Bullies. She says that coming face to face with one forced her to change her tune when it comes to the vilified breed and joins the podcast alongside XL Bully owner Sophie Coultard. (19:45)
And finally: who knew women love flowers?
Henry Jeffreys, for one. Ahead of Valentine's Day he writes this week about his surprise at learning that women do, in fact, love flowers. He speaks with Lara – a former florist herself – about the dos and don’ts of flower purchasing. (32:37)
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.

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The Book Club: Paula Byrne Feb 07, 2024

Show notes

My guest on this week's Book Club podcast is Paula Byrne. In her new book Hardy Women: Mothers, Sisters, Wives, Muses, she investigates the women in the life and work of the great poet and novelist Thomas Hardy. She talks to me about Hardy's romantic life, the torture he inflicted on the women he fell for, and how – in the bitter words of his first wife Emma – 'he understands only the women he invents'.

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Americano: Is 2024 a ‘flip election’? Feb 06, 2024

Show notes

Freddy Gray is joined by pollster and writer Patrick Ruffini. They talk about why the strengthening economy isn’t improving Biden’s numbers, and the other factors that will influence the 2024 election.

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

Chinese Whispers: why do people join the CCP? Feb 05, 2024

Show notes

At last count, the Chinese Communist Party has 98 million members, more people than the population of Germany. Its membership also continues to grow, making it one of the most successful and resilient political parties of the last a hundred years, perhaps with the exception of India’s BJP, which boasts 180 million members.
And yet the CCP's track record is strewn with bloody crackdowns and systematic persecution. So what would drive someone to join the CCP, and what accounts for its success? Do party members today all support the atrocities committed by their government? I think these are important questions to ask, because without understanding the answers to them, one couldn’t understand China’s modern history or its society today.
To delve into the psychology of card carrying communists, I’m joined by two great guests in this week's episode.
Xinran Xue is a Chinese journalist, who had a popular radio show in China in the 90s, before moving to the UK and becoming an author of numerous books on China. Her latest book is called The Book of Secrets, which is a memoir of sorts, where her protagonist was one of the founding members of the CCP’s intelligence service. I recently reviewed it for The Spectator.
Professor Kerry Brown is Director of the Lau China Institute at Kings College London and a former diplomat in Beijing where he worked alongside Chinese government officials for many years. His latest book is China Incorporated: The Politics of a World Where China is Number One.
On the episode, we discuss the party membership's divide between the intellectuals and the peasants; how the Cultural Revolution changed the party from an ideological body to a corporate one; and what a new generation of communists might have in store.

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Americano: can Trump ever get a fair trial? Feb 04, 2024

Show notes

Last week Donald Trump was ordered to pay more than seventy million dollars to E. Jean Carroll, the writer who accused him of sexual assault. Freddy speaks to Spectator columnist Lionel Shriver about some of the oddities of this case against the former president.

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Spectator Out Loud: Lionel Shriver, Angus Colwell and Toby Young Feb 03, 2024

Show notes

On this week’s episode, Lionel Shriver asks if Donald Trump can get a fair trial in America (00:39), Angus Colwell speaks to the Gen-Zers who would fight for Britain (08:25), Matthew Parris makes the case for assisted dying (13:15), Toby Young tells the story of the time he almost died on his gap year (20:43), and Harry Mount tells us about the grim life of a Roman legionary (25:38).

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