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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:

The Book Club: Caroline Frost May 11, 2022

Show notes

In this week's Book Club podcast, Sam's guest is Caroline Frost, author of the new Carry On Regardless: Getting to the Bottom of Britain's Favourite Comedy Films. She tells Sam what those movies tell us about British social history, makes the case for their feminism, argues that their special magic belongs to a British sensibility that no longer exists – and explains why it took twenty or more attempts to get Barbara Windsor out of her bra.

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Table Talk: Tommy Banks May 10, 2022

Show notes

Tommy Banks is the youngest ever UK Michelin-starred chef, awarded in 2013 when he was aged 24, and is the owner of the restaurant The Black Swan which Tripadvisor named the best restaurant in the world.
On the podcast, Tommy talks to Lara and Liv about how he turned to food after his dreams of being a professional cricketer were dashed, his struggles with imposter syndrome, and his new canned wine business Banks Brothers.
For more recipes and recommendations, sign up to The Spectator’s free monthly food and drink email, The Take Away, at www.spectator.co.uk/oliviapotts

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Spectator Out Loud: Melissa Kite, Mary Wakefield and James Heale May 07, 2022

Show notes

On this week's episode, we’ll hear from Melissa Kite on the ambitions of Ben Wallace. (00:48)
After, Mary Wakefield on our misplaced faith in forensics. (09:35)
And, to finish, and James Heale on Eton’s great ‘awokening’. (16:33)
Produced and Presented by Sam Holmes
Entries for this year's Innovator Awards, sponsored by Investec, are now open. To apply, go to: www.spectator.co.uk/innovator

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The Edition: Boris’s plans for a new Brexit clash May 05, 2022

Show notes

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 benefited from the DUP’s collapsing support. (00:50)
Also this week: Does overturning Roe V. Wade stand up to constitutional scrutiny?
Douglas Murray has written in his column this week about America’s abortion debate, in the wake of the leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion set to overturn the 1973 decision in Roe V Wade. He joins the podcast along with The Spectator’s economics editor Kate Andrews. (15:09)
And finally: Is Eton College going through an ‘awokening’?
In this week’s magazine, The Spectator’s diary editor James Heale turns his attention to Eton College, which he says is having an uncharacteristic identity crisis. James joins the podcast to talk about the direction of the school, along with The Spectator’s literary editor, and Old Etonian, Sam Leith. (28:29)
Hosted by William Moore
Produced by Sam Holmes
Subscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher:www.spectator.co.uk/voucher

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Americano: What happens if Roe v Wade is overturned? May 05, 2022

Show notes

Freddy Grays talks to Inez Stepman of the Independent Women's Forum about the leaked Supreme Court draft decision which points to the seminal Roe v Wade verdict being overturned.

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The Book Club: Simon Kuper May 04, 2022

Show notes

Sam's guest in this week's Book Club podcast is the writer Simon Kuper, whose new book – Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK – argues that to understand the social and psychological dynamics of our present government, you need to understand the Oxford University of the 1980s, where so many of those now in power first met. He argues that the PM's love of winging it was nurtured in the tutorial culture of his Balliol days, that the dynamics of Tory leadership contests are throwbacks to the Oxford Union, and that Brexit – the grand project of this generation – was at root a jobs-protection scheme for the old-fashioned ruling class. Can that be the whole story? He tells Sam why he thinks we need to decommission the UK's rhetoric industry and learn to be more like Germany.

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Marshall Matters: Andrew Doyle May 03, 2022

Show notes

This week on Marshall Matters, Winston speaks with Comedian, author and TV host Andrew Doyle. They discuss his book Free Speech and Why it Matters, Elon Musk, Twitter, Andrew’s creation Titania McGrath, Stonewall the comedy industry and much more.
Watch the episode at spectator.co.uk/tv

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Chinese Whispers: does China want to change the international rules-based order? May 02, 2022

Show notes

China is often accused of breaking international rules and norms. Just last week at Mansion House, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: 'Countries must play by the rules. And that includes China'.
So what are its transgressions, and what are its goals for the international system? My guests and I try to answer this question in this episode through looking at China's attitude to and involvement in international organisations, past and present. Professor Rana Mitter, a historian at the University of Oxford and author of China's Good War , points out that there's a fundamental difference in China's approach compared to, say, Russia. 'Russia perceives itself as, essentially, a country that is really at the end of its tether in terms of the international system. Whereas China still sees plenty of opportunities to grow and expand its status'.
To that end, China is actually a member of dozens of international organisations, most notably – as we discuss in the episode – sitting on the United Nations Security Council, which gives it veto power on UN resolutions (though, Yu Jie, senior research fellow at Chatham House, points out that China is most often found abstaining rather than vetoing). It wants a seat at the table, but it also frequently accuses our existing set of international norms and rules as designed by the West. To begin with, then, China is seeking to rewrite the rules in its own favour – Jie gives the example of China's ongoing campaign to increase its voting share in the IMF, on the basis of its huge economy. 'It's not exactly overthrowing the existing international order wholesale, but choosing very carefully which parts China wants to change.'
This multilateral engagement has a historical basis. Nationalist China was keen to be seen as an equal and respected partner in the international community, and Rana points out – something I'd never thought of before – that China after the second world war 'was a very very unusual sort of state… Because it was the only state, pretty much, in Asia, that was essentially sovereign… Don’t forget that 1945 meant liberation for lots of European peoples, but for lots of Asian peoples – Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaya, wherever you want to name – they basically went back into European colonialism'. This (together with its then-alliance with the United States) gave the Republic of China a front row seat in the creation of the United Nations and, before then, the League of Nations.
It didn't take long for Communist China to start building links with the rest of the world, either. Mao 'had not spent decades fighting out in the caves and fields of China to simply become a plaything of Stalin’, Rana points out, making its multilateral relations outside of the alliance with the USSR vitally important. After it split with Moscow, and before the rapprochement with the US, the Sixties was a time of unwanted isolationism, ' which is well within living memory of many of the top leaders', says Rana, adding more to its present day desire to have as much sway as possible in the world, which still comes through international organisations.
Finally, my guests bust the myth – often propagated by Beijing – that China had no role in the writing of today's international laws, pointing out that Chinese and other non-western thinkers played a major role in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . What's more, do western ideas have no place in guiding and governing China? After all, Karl Marx was certainly not Chinese, and that doesn't seem to bother his Chinese Communist believers.

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Americano: What is the new right? Apr 30, 2022

Show notes

Freddy Gray talks to the journalist James Pogue about his latest piece for Vanity Fair magazine, in which he details the key figures and thinking behind the 'new right'. Pogue is the contributing editor at Harper's Magazine and author of 'Chosen Country: A Rebellion in the West'.

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Spectator Out Loud: James Bartholomew, Freddy Gray and Kate Andrews Apr 30, 2022

Show notes

On this week's episode, we’ll hear from James Bartholomew on how taking in a Ukrainian refugee has improved his social clout. (00:50)
After, Freddy Gray on the Republican fight against Disney. (06:27)
And, to finish, Kate Andrews on overcoming her arachnophobia. (13:46)
Entries for this year's Innovator Awards, sponsored by Investec, are now open. To apply, go to: www.spectator.co.uk/innovator

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

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