Best of the Spectator - TopPodcast.com

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

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:

Chinese Whispers: What we know about Beijing's spies Sep 18, 2023

Show notes

Two years ago, Richard Moore, head of MI6, said that China was now the organisation’s ‘single greatest priority’.
Parliamentarians and the British public have been starkly reminded of this by last week’s news that a parliamentary researcher had been arrested on suspicion of spying for China.
This episode won’t be commenting on the ins and outs of that case, but talking more generally about Chinese espionage. What forms does it take, what are its goals and how successful are the Chinese secret services at achieving those?
Cindy Yu is joined by Nigel Inkster, the former director of operations and intelligence for MI6. He has served in Beijing and Hong Kong, and is now the senior adviser on cyber security and China at the think tank IISS.
Produced by Cindy Yu.

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

Spectator Out Loud: Cindy Yu, Charlie Taylor and Petroc Trelawney Sep 16, 2023

Show notes

Cindy Yu tells the story of how she got to know Westminster’s alleged Chinese agent and the astonishment of seeing herself pictured alongside him when the story broke (01.12), Charlie Taylor, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons, talks breakouts, bureaucracy and stabbings, and wonders – where have all the inspirational leaders gone? (06.45), and Petroc Trelawney shares his classical notebook and describes a feeling of sadness as the BBC Proms wraps up for another year (11.54).
Produced and presented by Linden Kemkaran.

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

The Edition: Bombshell Sep 14, 2023

Show notes

On the podcast this week:
Boris Johnson writes The Spectator’s cover piece, urging the West to supply more military assistance to Ukraine, in order to bring a swift end to the war. Former commander of the joint forces Sir Richard Barrons and The Spectator’s Svitlana Morenets join the podcast to ask why aren't we giving Ukraine what it needs? (01:21)
Also on the podcast:
Charlie Taylor, His Majesty’s chief prisons inspector, writes in the magazine about the state of crisis in British prisons. This is in light of Daniel Khalife's escape from Wandsworth prison last week. Charlie is joined by David Shipley, commentator and former inmate at Wandsworth to discuss the state of crisis in British prisons. (16:37)
And finally:
In the arts section of the magazine Rod Liddle writes about the new Rolling Stones single, supposedly their best in decades. He joins the podcast alongside Will Hodgkinson, chief rock and pop critic at the Times to debate whether rock and roll really is dead. (25:34)
Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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

Marshall Matters: Silkie Carlo Sep 13, 2023

Show notes

Winston speaks to Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, about the Online Safety Bill, the Digital Services Act and whether Britain will be the next surveillance state.

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

The Book Club: Francesca Peacock Sep 13, 2023

Show notes

In this week's Book Club podcast, I'm joined by Francesca Peacock to talk about the remarkable life and extraordinary work of Margaret Cavendish, the 17th-century Duchess of Newcastle. Famous in her own day for her bizarre public appearances and nicknamed 'Mad Madge', the author of The Blazing World has been marginalised by posterity as an eccentric dilettante. But in her new book Pure Wit, Francesca sets out to reclaim her as a serious feminist writer before feminism was generally thought of, and as a radical thinker in natural philosophy. She tells me about the contradictions of 'Lady Bashful' who lived to be famous, this happy wife who wrote scaldingly about marriage, and this autodidact who nevertheless wasn't afraid to take on Hobbes, Descartes and the dusty fellows of the Royal Society.

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

Spectator Out Loud: Kate Andrews, Katy Balls and Max Pemberton Sep 09, 2023

Show notes

Kate Andrews talks crumbly concrete, overcrowded trains, NHS waiting lists, and describes the general air of despair and asks – who broke Britain? (01.15). Katy Balls analyses Keir Starmer’s reshuffle and describes the appearance of a New Labour restoration as the party prepares for power (11.20), and Max Pemberton outlines the worrying increase of Tourettes and tics in children, neglected during lockdowns and possibly damaged for life (17.25).
Produced and presented by Linden Kemkaran.

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

The Edition: Broken Britain Sep 07, 2023

Show notes

On the podcast:
In her cover piece for the magazine, The Spectator’s economics editor Kate Andrews writes that political short termism has broken Britain. She joins the podcast alongside Giles Wilkes, former number 10 advisor and senior fellow at the Institute for Government, to ask what went wrong? (01:12)
Also this week:
In his column Douglas Murray writes about Burning Man, the festival which has left Silicon Valley’s finest stuck in the mud. He is joined by David Willis, who has been covering the festival this year for the BBC, to discuss the schadenfreude of Burning Man. (14:41)
And finally:
Travel writer Sean Thomas argues in The Spectator that having a pet is far worse for the planet than flying and warns that all pet owners should watch their ‘carbon pawprint’. He joins the podcast alongside Rachel Spencer, freelance writer and pet blogger. (25:13)
Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Linden Kemkaran.

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

The Book Club: Masha Gessen Sep 06, 2023

Show notes

The Book Club podcast returns next week. In the meantime, here's another from the archives, and one which looks more timely now even than it was when we recorded it in 2017. Here's perhaps Russia's most prominent dissident writer, Masha Gessen, talking about their book The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia.

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

Chinese Whispers: Is China still a Confucian country? Sep 04, 2023

Show notes

For thousands of years, Confucianism has run through the fabric of Chinese society, politics and culture. Decades of Communism has taken its toll on China, so can it still be considered a Confucian country?
Joining the episode is one of the world’s leading experts on the philosophy, Professor Daniel Bell. In 2017, he was appointed the dean of Shandong University, an unusual appointment for a foreigner in China but one based on his expertise in Confucianism, in the province of Confucius’s birth. His new book, The Dean of Shandong: Confessions of a Minor Bureaucrat at a Chinese university, details some of the ups and downs of his time in that position.

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

Spectator Out Loud: Katy Balls, Owen Matthews, Kate Andrews and Ian Thomson Sep 02, 2023

Show notes

This week Katy Balls asks whether Rishi is a risk taker or whether he’ll choose to play it safe as Conference season approaches (01.17), Owen Matthews explains why America is still Ukraine’s best hope for victory (07.27), Kate Andrews is totally baffled and exasperated by the British refusal to get checked out by a doctor (15.34) and Ian Thomson reports from Sicily on the Godfather, Greek Temples and a misunderstanding involving mascarpone cheese (20.50).
Produced and presented by Linden Kemkaran.

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

Related Podcasts