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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:

Road to Net Zero: how to achieve a green economic recovery Sep 02, 2020

Show notes

As the UK faces its worst economic contraction in 300 years, there have been growing calls to adopt a ‘green recovery’. But what does that mean? While renewable energy may be getting cheaper, can it really meet our energy demands? And has the Covid crisis set back the government on its path to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050? To answer all this and more, Kate Andrews, the Spectator’s economics correspondent, is joined by Kemi Badenoch MP, minister for equalities; Chris Stark, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change; and Keith Anderson, chief executive of Scottish Power. This podcast is kindly sponsored by Scottish Power.

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Is innovation the answer to climate change? Sep 01, 2020

Show notes

Can human innovation stop climate change, or will it simply manage and delay the challenges it poses? In the second of this mini podcast series featuring Bjorn Lomborg and Matt Ridley, host Kate Andrews discusses with Bjorn and Matt whether their optimism is misplaced.
Bjorn Lomborg is the President of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and author of False Alarm.
Matt Ridley is a Conservative peer, journalist, and author of How Innovation Works.
To hear all episodes in this series, click here

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What tickles China's political elite? Aug 31, 2020

Show notes

You can’t get far doing serious business in China without having friends in powerful places. So when her husband’s company, Jardine Matheson (which once upon a time had smuggled opium into the country), was invited back into a liberalising China in the 1990s, Tessa Keswick had rare access to the country’s top leadership. On the podcast, she recounts seeing Bo Xilai, the disgraced Chongqing party secretary, days before he was arrested by Xi Jinping; the prank that Zhu Rongji, the then Prime Minister, played on Henry Keswick; and what it was like inside Zhongnanhai, the secretive Beijing compound that China’s leaders work from.
Tessa Keswick's book, The Colour of the Sky after Rain, is out now and she is pictured above with Cai Qi, Party Secretary of Beijing.
Chinese Whispers is a fortnightly podcast on the latest in Chinese politics, society, and more. Presented by Cindy Yu. Listen to past episodes here.

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Spectator Out Loud: Freddy Gray, Lara Prendergast and Emma Byrne Aug 29, 2020

Show notes

On this week's podcast, Freddy Gray explains how Trump could still pull his greatest trick yet (00:45) Emma Byrne considers whether she will be bankrupted by the next housing scandal (12:30) Lara Prendergast argues that wearing floral masks isn't worth the hassle. (19:11)

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The Edition: how Trump could just win again Aug 27, 2020

Show notes

With protests in American cities continuing and the Democrat and Republican conventions drawing to a close - are there signs that Donald Trump could win again? (00:45) Plus, could planning reforms be the next Tory battle? (13:05) And finally, can daily commutes really be enjoyable? (25:45)
With editor of the Spectator's US edition Freddy Gray; the Spectator's economics correspondent Kate Andrews; the Spectator's political editor James Forsyth; economist and author Liam Halligan; the Spectator's features editor; and author Sara Yirrell.
Presented by Cindy Yu. Produced by Cindy Yu and Max Jeffery.

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The Book Club: All the Sonnets of Shakespeare Aug 26, 2020

Show notes

In this week's Book Club podcast Sam Leith talks to Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells about their new book All The Sonnets of Shakespeare - which by collecting the sonnets that appear in the plays with the 154 poems usually known as 'Shakespeare's Sonnets', and placing them in chronological order, gives a totally fresh sense of what the form meant to our greatest poet-dramatist. They tell Sam what sonnets meant to Elizabethans, why so much of what has been said about 'the sonnets' has been wrong - they're not a sequence, and it's vain to look for a Dark Lady or Fair Youth in these candidly bisexual poems - and how they provide perhaps the most intensely inward view of the poet we have.

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Don't Panic! How to talk about climate change Aug 25, 2020

Show notes

Can the conversation around climate change all too often get heated, hysterical, and panicked? Should we be appealing for more calm in the climate debate? In the first of this mini podcast series featuring Bjorn Lomborg and Matt Ridley, host Kate Andrews challenges Bjorn and Matt on their views over the best way to conduct what some say is the most important debate of our lifetimes.
Bjorn Lomborg is the President of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and author of False Alarm.
Matt Ridley is a Conservative peer, journalist, and author of How Innovation Works.
To hear all previous episodes in this series, click here

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Spectator Out Loud: Lionel Shriver, Simon Cooper and Gerri Peev Aug 22, 2020

Show notes

On this week's podcast, Lionel Shriver says that the real determinant of coronavirus isn't race - it's obesity (01:00) Simon Cooper asks whether the return of beavers to English rivers is really something to be celebrated (09:35) Gerri Peev asks why the European Union keeps backing Bulgaria's kleptocratic government (15:40)

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Americano: Is this the end of American democracy? Aug 21, 2020

Show notes

Joe Biden accepted the Democratic Party's nomination at their virtual convention last night, bringing his three-day coronation to an end with a well-received speech. Throughout this year's DNC, speakers have warned that America's political foundations are at stake in the upcoming election - Barack Obama urged voters not to let the Republicans 'take away your democracy'. Is the country on the brink, and what's the verdict on the Democratic convention? Matt McDonald, managing editor of Spectator USA, speaks to Matt Purple, senior editor at the American Conservative.

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The Edition: the next education mess Aug 20, 2020

Show notes

While the government’s U-turn on A-level and GCSE results has been widely welcomed, universities are still in a dire state – why? (00:55) Plus, has Boris Johnson got the right approach in his war on fat? (15:00) And finally, are illegal raves during the pandemic socially irresponsible, or just young people sticking it to The Man? (25:45)
With academic and author Matthew Goodwin; chair of the Education Select Committee Robert Halfon; Spectator columnist Lionel Shriver; weight loss doctor Andrew Jenkinson; Spectator contributors Leaf Arbuthnot and James Delingpole.
Presented by Cindy Yu. Produced by Cindy Yu, Max Jeffery and Alexa Rendell.

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