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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:

Spectator Books: when Coleridge met Wordsworth Aug 07, 2019

Show notes

In this week’s books podcast, we’re getting Romantic. Sam is joined by the writer Adam Nicolson and the artist Tom Hammick to talk about their new book The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, Wordsworth and their Year of Marvels. In it, Adam describes how — inspired by Richard Holmes’s 'footsteps' approach — he attempted to imaginatively inhabit the worlds of Coleridge and Wordsworth in the crucial year in the late 1790s when they lived near each-other in the Quantocks in Somerset. That meant, for him, living in the same landscape, walking the same paths, reliving the struggles with lines of verse in manuscript. It’s a passionate attempt to fully understand the relationship between the two, and the influences that had their issue in Lyrical Ballads, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', 'Kubla Khan' and the ‘Prelude'. The book also contains the woodcuts Tom made from fallen trees where they lived, and which form a complex commentary on Adam’s text and on the texts it traces. Sam asks them to expound on such highbrow issues as: who was the Daddy? Wasn’t Wordsworth a bit of a rotter? And: what about Dot?
Spectator Books is a series of literary interviews and discussions on the latest releases in the world of publishing, from poetry through to physics. Presented by Sam Leith, The Spectator's Literary Editor. Hear past episodes of Spectator Books here.

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Coffee House Shots: could a government of national unity prevent no deal? Aug 06, 2019

Show notes

With James Forsyth and Katy Balls.
Presented by Cindy Yu.
Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily, click here to find more episodes that are not released on Spectator Radio.

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Podcast Special: London's Economic Disruptors Aug 05, 2019

Show notes

Martin Vander Weyer, our Business Editor, speaks to three leading businesspeople for London and the South about the Economic Disruptor finalists in this region. Tune in to find out more about Muslim dating algorithms, waterless toilets, e-bike converters, and more.
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Human progress has depended on economic disruptors since long before the advent of the internet. Motor cars remained rare luxuries until a disruptor called Henry Ford perfected the Model T assembly line. Today’s online auction, home-stay, ride-share and crowdfunding sites have generated markets and money flows that barely existed before, to the great benefit of providers and consumers. Today’s manufacturing methods — from 3D printing to advanced bioscience — have dramatically reduced the time and capital required to produce vital products.
So, who are the companies that are rewriting the rules in 2019? Following the success of last year's inaugural Economic Disruptor of the Year Awards, The Spectator and Julius Baer has come together again to celebrate creative entrepreneurship across the UK.

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Women With Balls: Karen Pierce Aug 02, 2019

Show notes

Karen Pierce is the UK's Permanent Representative to the UN. In this episode, she talks to Katy about her career ambitions when she was young, using Lewis Carroll to combat the Russians, and what day to day life is like in the UN.
Women With Balls is a podcast series where Katy Balls speak to women at the top of their respective games. To hear past episodes, visit spectator.co.uk/balls.

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The Spectator Podcast: will the EU compromise for Boris? Aug 01, 2019

Show notes

Boris Johnson’s ‘do-or-die’ Brexit is fewer than 100 days away, but will the UK and EU reach a compromise deal before then (00:25)? Plus, should museums care where their donations come from (14:00)? And last, would you eat a BBQ roasted cricket (26:10)?
With James Forsyth, Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, Claire Fox, Chris Garrard, Cassandra Coburn and Shami Radia.
Presented by Lara Prendergast and Katy Balls.
Produced by Cindy Yu and Matt Lee.

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Spectator Books: is there a meaning to life? Jul 31, 2019

Show notes

The star New York Times columnist David Brooks has never been afraid to go beyond the usual remit of day-to-day politics. His new book The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life is exactly what it sounds like: a guide to the Meaning of Life, somewhere between a spiritual autobiography and a manual for living. He joins Sam to explain how he’s changed his mind about the meaning of life since his previous book The Road To Character (he’s cagy about whether refunds are available), about how his own humbling after the breakdown of his marriage made him a wiser and better person, and about whether a new-found appreciation for altruism could make him a socialist.
Spectator Books is a series of literary interviews and discussions on the latest releases in the world of publishing, from poetry through to physics. Presented by Sam Leith, The Spectator's Literary Editor. Hear past episodes of Spectator Books here.

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

Holy Smoke: how radical Islam taught the progressive left to blame the Jews Jul 30, 2019

Show notes

It's less than four years since Jeremy Corbyn's hard-left sect seized control of the Labour Party, and yet already its anti-Semitic views – so alien to Labour tradition – seem too deeply rooted to eradicate.
Today's 'Holy Smoke' podcast puts this sinister development in the broader context of the 'Red-Green' alliance – the love affair between the progressive Left and the Jew-haters of jihadist Islam.
On the face of it, this is an unlikely, even surreal, relationship. But as Damian's guest, the historian Richard Landes, argues, the two have something in common: millennialism, the belief that some sort of Heaven on Earth, is not only imminent but historically inevitable.
In theory, progressives believe that this transition to a new era will be peaceful; Jihadists, by definition, don't. But, as Landes explains, it's not as simple as that...
Holy Smoke is a series of podcasts where Damian Thompson dissects the most important and controversial topics in world religion, with a range of high profile guests. Click here to find previous episodes.

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Podcast Special: the North East's Economic Disruptors Jul 29, 2019

Show notes

Human progress has depended on economic disruptors since long before the advent of the internet. Motor cars remained rare luxuries until a disruptor called Henry Ford perfected the Model T assembly line. Today’s online auction, home-stay, ride-share and crowdfunding sites have generated markets and money flows that barely existed before, to the great benefit of providers and consumers. Today’s manufacturing methods — from 3D printing to advanced bioscience — have dramatically reduced the time and capital required to produce vital products.
So, who are the companies that are rewriting the rules in 2019? Following the success of last year's inaugural Economic Disruptor of the Year Awards, The Spectator and Julius Baer has come together again to celebrate creative entrepreneurship across the UK.
In this first of a short series of podcasts, The Spectator's Business Editor, Martin Vander Weyer, speak to the competition's three regional judges for the North East of England about the finalists in that region. Tune in to find more about modular homes, conductive fabrics, innovative office sharing, and the future of car insurance.

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Coffee House Shots: Why is Labour scared of Jo Swinson? Jul 27, 2019

Show notes

With Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon, and Katy Balls.
Presented by Cindy Yu.

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Table Talk: Tracey MacLeod, live from Latitude Jul 26, 2019

Show notes

Tracey MacLeod is a broadcaster and food critic, known for hosting the BBC's The Late Show and for regularly guest starring in Masterchef. She is friends with Helen Fielding, who based the character of Jude from Bridget Jones on MacLeod. In this special edition of Table Talk, brought to you live from the sofas of Latitude Festival, MacLeod talks about her life through food.
Table Talk is a series of podcasts where Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts talk to celebrity guests about their life story, through the food and drink that has come to define it. Listen to past episodes here.

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