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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 Week in 60 Minutes: Starmer's purge and petrol crisis Oct 03, 2021

Show notes

Kate Andrews is joined by writer and political activist Paul Embery; journalist Ayesha Hazarika; Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith; security expert Elisabeth Braw, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; Spectator contributor Matthew Lynn; and a team of Spectator journalists.
We discuss Labour's weekend in Brighton and whether Keir Starmer is taking the party in the right direction, how Britain can be better prepared for crises and why Ursula von der Leyen was the real winner of the recent German elections.

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Innovator of the Year Awards: West and South West Oct 02, 2021

Show notes

All the way south and west to sunny Exeter to meet three more finalists: Bower Collective, a subscription-based provider of a range of household and personal care products with reusable packaging; CCM Technologies, which creates ‘green’ fertiliser from sources such as wastewater and farmyard slurry; and Psychiatry-UK, which has taken psychiatric consulting online.
Our guest judges were Richard Cobb, senior partner of solicitors Michelmores, and Nicholas Hardie, a former FTSE100 corporate treasurer with interests ranging from housing to NHS trust board work, plus Chris Harris-Deans of sponsor Charles Stanley.

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Spectator Out Loud: Douglas Murray, Katy Balls, James Walton Oct 02, 2021

Show notes

On this week's episode, Douglas Murray examines the left's tactics of victimhood in the wake of the Labour conference. (00:48)
Then James Walton gives us his review of the new Bond film, No Time to Die. (08:34)
And finally, Katy Balls talks about how the CO2 shortage could lead to a lack of her beloved Irn Bru. (11:30)

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Americano: Is America spending too much money? Oct 01, 2021

Show notes

Freddy Gray speaks to The Spectator's economics editor Kate Andrews about President Biden's Infrastructure Bill and the US debt ceiling.

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Podcast special: Why fear nuclear energy? Oct 01, 2021

Show notes

As the UK faces a rising energy crisis with gas supplies in short supply, questions are arising of not just how we mitigate the problem in the short term but how we hedge against it in the long term? What role might nuclear energy play? What’s slowing down its development? Is it the technology? The funding? Or public attitudes towards nuclear energy. Can hearts and minds be swayed in its favour?
Kate Andrews is joined by Mark Jenkinson MP, vice chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Nuclear Energy and formerly a self-employed contractor in the nuclear supply chain; Wade Allison is emeritus professor at the University of Oxford; and Julia Pyke is the nuclear development director at EDF.
This podcast is kindly sponsored by EDF.

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Innovator of the Year Awards: Scotland and Northern Ireland Oct 01, 2021

Show notes

We were very nearly in Edinburgh Castle to meet our Scottish and Northern Ireland finalists: in the Contini restaurant next door to the Castle forecourt at the top of the tourist-filled Royal Mile.
Veteran judges Ian Ritchie — a prominent Scottish tech investor – and former Award winner Irene McAleese of See.Sense in Northern Ireland joined John Porteous of Charles Stanley to meet four finalists.
These were, in relatively low-tech consumer sectors, two very attractive ventures, Highland Soap and Scottish Bee, which markets Heather Honey; in the energy sector, Renewable Parts, which provides recycled components for wind turbines; and in the highest of high-tech healthcare, Sonrai Analytics from Belfast, an AI-driven ‘digital pathology’ spin-out from Queens University.
All very persuasive presentations. Onwards to the final judging…

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The Edition: Running on empty Sep 30, 2021

Show notes

In this week’s episode: is Boris Johnson running on empty or is a weak opposition giving him the momentum he needs? Kate Andrews asks in her cover story this week if Boris Johnson’s government has run out of ideas – as well as petrol. Katy Balls also writes in the magazine that the opposition seems unable to take advantage of the government’s failures. Katy and Kate join William on the podcast to give their takes on the state of both parties. (00:51)
Also this week: what is behind China’s latest crackdown on cryptocurrency? Ian Williams writes in this week’s Spectator that the CCP’s latest move to criminalise anyone dealing in cryptocurrency is to clear the decks for China’s new, state-sanctioned digital currency. He along with George Magnus, author of Red Flags, Why Xi’s China is in jeopardy speak on the podcast aboutBeijing’s crypto future. (14:15)
And finally: are the Marvel movies – good? Love them or hate them, these superhero blockbusters have dominated the box office for more than a decade and have redefined pop culture. They may not have received particularly positive reviews in the Spectator over the years, but Rosie Millard has jumped to their defence in the magazine’s lead arts feature this week. She guests on the podcast to try and convince William to give Marvel a chance. (26:18)
Hosted by William Moore
Produced by Sam Holmes

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Innovator of the Year Awards: London and the South East Sep 30, 2021

Show notes

This year’s regional finals for The Spectator’s Economic Innovator of the Year Awards kicked off with a fascinating session in a private dining room of the boutique hotel One Aldwych.
We managed to pack representatives of all 12 finalists (chosen from 90-plus entrants for the region round one table), plus guest judges Paul Abberley (CEO of our sponsor, Charles Stanley Wealth Managers) and former Award winner Jonny Ohlson of Touchlight, the pioneering DNA manufacturer.
With entrants ranging across the healthcare, fintech, food, energy and education sectors, as well as social media and high-tech engineering — and only around eight minutes for each to present and answer questions — the judges faced a formidable task. And of course the final choice of winners has to be subjective rather than scientific. But all the presentations were clear and concise — and there were several conversations across the table suggesting possible synergies between entrants in related business fields.
So, as always, we hope participants gain from the networking opportunities as well as the accolade of being selected as finalists — and we hope Spectator readers and podcast listeners will take a few minutes to explore their websites and products.

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The Book Club: Chuck Palahniuk Sep 29, 2021

Show notes

Chuck Palahniuk -- best known as the author of Fight Club -- has just announced that he's publishing his next novel not with a mainstream publisher but through the online subscription service Substack. He joins Sam Leith on this week's Book Club podcast to tell him why; and to talk about how 9/11 changed literature, why he never tires of making his audience feel sick, and how he thinks David Foster Wallace might be alive today if he'd taken some time out to write a few Spider-Man comics.

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Table Talk: With Grizelda Sep 28, 2021

Show notes

Grizelda is an award-winning cartoonist for publications including The Spectator, the New Statesman and Private Eye. She was Pocket Cartoonist of the Year in 2018. On the podcast, she tells Lara and Liv about her brother's infamous cooking, how she comes up with ideas for cartoons, and why she only knows four recipes.

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