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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.

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Latest Episodes:

Book Club: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones Aug 17, 2022

Show notes

My guest on this week's Book Club podcast is Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones – whose new book A Question of Standing: The History of the CIA looks at the real-life story behind one of the most mythologised agencies of American power. How does the world's first democratically answerable spy agency actually work? Were all those dirty tricks, extra-legal shenanigans and attempted assassinations – sorry: "health adjustments" in the lingo of Langley – really the work of an agency gone rogue? Did the CIA fail to foresee the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Iranian Revolution, the Arab Spring and the Twin Towers – or has it been made to take the fall for political ineptitude? And what is its standing now?

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Table Talk: Paul Feig Aug 16, 2022

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Paul Feig is an actor, comedian and acclaimed filmmaker. He has been behind films such as Bridesmaids, The Heat and the 2016 remake of Ghostbusters as well as episodes of Parks and Recreation and The Office. On the podcast, Paul talks to Lara and Olivia about growing up thinking food was bland and tasteless, the secrets of on set catering and how to make the perfect Martini.

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Marshall Matters: With Ariel Pink Aug 15, 2022

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Winston speaks with American indie legend Ariel Pink. The accomplished singer-songwriter had his life turned on its head for the great crime of supporting Trump. Listen to find out what happened and why. They discuss January 6th, life after cancellation and more.

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Spectator Out Loud: Freddy Gray, Mary Killen and Jonathan Miller Aug 13, 2022

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Freddy Gray questions Biden’s supposed ‘hot streak’ (00:55), Mary Killen warns that a neighbourly feud is worse than a hosepipe ban (07:19) and Jonathan Miller talks about France’s sexual civil war (11:43).

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The Edition: Water woes Aug 11, 2022

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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 of communications at the Institute of Economic Affairs. (11.19)
And finally: What’s behind France’s new sexual politics?
Jonathan Miller writes about a new civil war in France between the nudes and prudes. He’s joined by Louise Perry, columnist and author of The Case Against the Sexual Revolution. (23.08)
Hosted by Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Natasha Feroze.

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The Book Club: Andrea Wulf Aug 10, 2022

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In this week's Book Club podcast, I'm joined by Andrea Wulf to talk about the birth of Romanticism at the end of the 18th century. Her new book Magnificent Rebels tells the story of the "Jena set" – a staggering assemblage of the superstars of German literature and philosophy who gathered in a small town and collectively came up with a whole new way of looking at the world. Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, Schelling, Novalis, the Schlegel brothers, the von Humboldt brothers – and their brilliant and daring wives and lovers... their intellectual fireworks were matched by a tangle of literary feuds and hair-raising sexual complications. Here's a piece of the jigsaw of intellectual history that most British people will only vaguely know of if at all – and it's fascinating.

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Podcast special: Is British farming fit for the future? Aug 08, 2022

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It’s estimated that the average age of a British farmer is 59. This raises questions about the future of British farming. Are young people just not interested?
On this episode, The Spectator’s economics editor, Kate Andrews takes a look at the next few decades for British farming. Young farmers are part of the picture, but we’ll also be discussing the role played by immigration especially post Brexit. The agricultural pressures and questions around self-sufficiency given the war in Ukraine. And how to balance all of this with greater concern for climate change. Kate Andrews is joined by George Eustice, the Secretary of State for DEFRA, Tom Bradshaw, deputy president of the Farmers’ Union and Beth Hart, vice president for Supply Chain and Brand Trust at McDonald’s.
This podcast is kindly sponsored by McDonald's.

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The Week in 60 Minutes: Trump's FBI raid & Britain dries up Aug 07, 2022

Show notes

Katy Balls, The Spectator’s deputy political editor, speaks to Freddy Gray, our deputy editor, about the FBI raid of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence:
‘There’s some desperation to get Trump. It’s self-defeating because it justifies his narrative that the “deep state” is out to get him.’ – Freddy Gray
Matt Purple, online editor of The Spectator’s world edition, joins Freddy. On the rest of the show, our political editor James Forsyth and the American Enterprise Institute’s Elisabeth Braw, an expert on resilience, discuss where our water industry went so wrong. Political journalists Patrick O’Flynn and Isabel Oakeshott give their takes on the Tory leadership contest. Christopher Howse, of the Telegraph and The Spectator, explains the joy of a newspaper’s letters page.
Get full digital access to The Spectator for just £1 a week – www.spectator.co.uk/tvoffer

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Spectator Out Loud: Katy Balls, Rachel Johnson and Neil Clark Aug 06, 2022

Show notes

On this week's episode: Katy Balls has written about what foreign policy would look like under a Liz Truss government (0:54). Rachel Johnson believes we can all learn from the Lionesses’ victory (06:55) and Neil Clark shares Jim Corbett’s tiger hunting stories (12.23).
Presented and produced by Natasha Feroze.

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Chinese Whispers: Taiwan deals with the fallout from Pelosi's tour Aug 05, 2022

Show notes

Nancy Pelosi’s controversial trip to Taiwan made headlines across the world this week, after President Xi’s warnings to the US ‘not to play with fire’. Furious, Beijing has responded with economic sanctions and a flurry of missiles over and around the island, as well as sanctioning Pelosi and her family. But as the West frets about possible escalation, often lacking from the discussion is what Taiwanese people actually think. In fact, as Taipei-based journalist Brian Hioe explains to Cindy Yu in this episode, most people there were less worried about the visit than you might expect. ‘There’s been so much in terms of Chinese military drilling or activity directed at Taiwan for a decade, people are quite used to it.’
Comparisons to the calm in Ukraine before the Russian invasion are unfounded: ‘we are not seeing troops massing’. That is not to say, though, that the situation is without danger. A more limited and realistic threat is of China imposing a blockade, or attacking one of Taiwan’s outlying islands. Other possible repercussions include a salvo of cyberattacks, one pro-China actor having already hacked supermarkets and train station displays on the island this week.
So given all these dangers, why did Pelosi come at all? Perhaps telling is the Taiwanese government’s silence over whether it actually invited her. US domestic politics is probably a factor, as is her own legacy. Regardless of her motivation, President Biden said the move was unwise, and the situation remains delicate.
Careful diplomatic management of the crisis requires reliable information. But in the context of Taiwan, that is by no means a given. Brian explains the bizarre dynamic that exists between international and Taiwanese media, where each assumes the other is better informed. ‘The two sides are actually somewhat bad at fact-checking each other. Then they’re just amplifying what is sometimes discrimination but primarily misinformation.’
Tune in to hear more about the view from Taipei.

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