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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: with Charlie Stebbings Aug 31, 2021

Show notes

Charlie Stebbings is an acclaimed food director and photographer. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Liv about taking photographing M&S's melt in the middle chocolate puddings, treating himself to baked beans and red wine and measuring mayonnaise from a syringe.

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

Spectator Out Loud: Sascha O'Sullivan, Ian Williams and Toby Young Aug 28, 2021

Show notes

On this episode, Aussie journalist Sascha O'Sullivan begs to be let home (00:50); Ian Williams wonders whether China is experiencing its own MeToo moment (04:25); and Toby Young on his trip up north with his two boys (11:35).

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

Holy Smoke: Joe Biden and the betrayal of religious freedom Aug 27, 2021

Show notes

Religious freedom is already being mercilessly attacked in Taliban-run Afghanistan: Muslim women in particular face a living hell unless they're happy to submit to their new rulers' psychotic brand of Sharia.
The United States is required by its own laws to do everything it can to champion religious liberty around the world. But Afghan's moderate Muslims, China's Uighurs, Myanmar's Rohynga and Christians in dozens of countries would be foolish to trust President Joe Biden, whose administration can't wait to dismantle the First Amendment Rights of conservative Christians back home.
My guest is Andrea Picciotti-Bayer of the Washington-based Conscience Project, which speaks up for people of faith who commit the thought crime of not subscribing to liberal gender ideology. Like many people, she's worried by Biden's partisan choice of personnel for US international religious freedom posts. None of them are Christians. It's an enlightening but alarming discussion. Don't miss it.

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

The Edition: Australia's zero Covid trap Aug 26, 2021

Show notes

On this week’s episode, we’ll be taking a look at the fortress that Australia has built around itself, and ask – when will its Zero Covid policy end (01:00)?
Also on the podcast: is it racist to point out Britain’s changing demographics (14:35)?
And is trivia just another way for men to compete (27:00)?
With former Australian High Commissioner, Alexander Downer; chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus, Layla Moran MP; Spectator columnist Lionel Shriver; York University's Dr Remi Adekoya; Spectator contributor Mark Mason; and QI elf Anna Ptaszynski.
Presented by Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Cindy Yu and Natasha Feroze.

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

The Book Club: Michael Bracewell on London before it became digital Aug 25, 2021

Show notes

Michael Bracewell’s new book Souvenir is a vivid and poetic evocation of London on the brink of the digital era - the neglected in-between times between 1979 and 1986. He joins Sam Leith to talk about fine art and post-punk, T S Eliot and William Burroughs - and the dangerous lure of nostalgia.

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

Americano: what will Biden's lab leak report show? Aug 24, 2021

Show notes

Freddy Gray speaks to the investigative journalist Katherine Eban, author of Bottle of Lies: the Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom, about the classified report into the possibility that Covid-19 escaped from a Chinese laboratory. An edited version of the report is expected to be released publicly next week.

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

Spectator Out Loud: Lara Prendergast, Cindy Yu and Gus Carter Aug 21, 2021

Show notes

On this week's episode, Lara Prendergast asks if it's so wrong to talk about whether the Covid vaccine affects periods. (01:05) Cindy Yu says China's 'zero Covid' strategy can't last. (06:50) And finally, Gus Carter spends an hour in a sensory deprivation tank. (13:05)

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

Chinese Whispers: will China become Afghanistan's new sponsor? Aug 20, 2021

Show notes

Last month, the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed senior Taliban leaders to Beijing, standing shoulder to shoulder for the photographers. China is carefully watching events unfold in Afghanistan. And while it hasn’t yet recognised the Taliban government, the Beijing meeting was a nod towards a potential alliance.
But replacing America in Afghanistan wouldn’t be without its risks – can Beijing succeed where Washington failed? America's 20 year mission in the country cost lives and money. And what would a closer alliance mean for China’s Xinjiang policy, considering the close links that the Taliban has historically had with militant Uyghur groups?
Cindy Yu speaks to Tom Miller, author of China's Asian Dream, and Dr Mike Martin, author of An Intimate War and former British Army officer in Helmand.

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

The Edition: America abandoned this fight before the Afghans did Aug 19, 2021

Show notes

On this week’s podcast:
In the latest issue of The Spectator, we cover the Afghanistan issue extensively, looking at everything from why the West was doomed from the start, to how events in Afghanistan have transformed central Asian politics. On the podcast, journalist Paul Wood and our own deputy editor Freddy Gray, both of whom feature in this week’s issue, join Lara to talk Biden, Boris and the new 'progressive' Taliban. (00:37)
'This is not your father's Taliban' - Paul Wood
Next up, thousands of women whose menstrual cycles have been affected by the Covid vaccine have now come forward to make their symptoms known, including our host Lara Prendergast, who writes about her experience in this week's Spectator. We continue that conversation with Jessica Braun, who was the host of the Periodical podcast and Dr Joe Mountfield from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. (12:12)
‘I don't think your piece is anti-vaxx, I don't think you're anti-vaxx, I think expressing some concerns and airing what's happened to you is absolutely legitimate and valid’ - Dr Jo Mountfield
And finally, while many during the pandemic have fled London for greener pastures, our own Martin Vander Weyer has moved back to the city after more than 30 years of Yorkshire living. He writes about his new Covent Garden lifestyle in this week’s issue, and He joins us on the Edition along with William Moore, who has done the opposite, having left London with his young family to become a country gent. (25:39)
'With the upmost respect, I think you're mad!' - William Moore
Presented by Lara Prendergast
Produced by Sam Holmes

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The Book Club: the glory years of Antwerp Aug 18, 2021

Show notes

In this week's Book Club podcast Sam Leith is talking to Michael Pye about his new book Antwerp: The Glory Years. For most of the 16th century, as he tells Sam, Antwerp was the most important town in the western world – a city in which, as never before, ideas, information, goods and money circulated free of almost any authority. It was a time of extraordinary excitement – here are Bruegel, Thomas More and William Tyndale – and enormous danger and corruption. Michael tells Sam how it came about, what lessons it offers our own age... and how it reached an abrupt and bloody end.

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

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