Best of the Spectator

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Holy Smoke: my sister Carmel on her cancer and her faith Jan 29, 2019

Show notes

This is a picture of my sister Carmel and I having tea a few days after our mother’s funeral. She looks cheerful, doesn’t she? That’s because she was: although we both missed our mother intensely, and always will, we had done most of our grieving before she died, as we watched her tortured by Parkinson’s disease and severe dementia.

Carmel looks well, too. And she thought she was. Ovarian cancer plays that trick on women. The first symptoms tend to be annoying rather than alarming. A few weeks after this photograph was taken, I was reassuring her that Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a common response to bereavement – which it is. But that’s not what was wrong with her. On November 1, I was sitting next to her in the consulting room at Guy’s Hospital when the specialist confirmed that she had advanced ovarian cancer.

Carmel is my guest on today’s Holy Smoke podcast. Please listen to it. I guarantee that you’ll be surprised by what she has to say. And you will understand why I’m so proud of my sister.

Presented by Damian Thompson.

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

Americano: long-term Trump advisor arrested - is Mueller closing in? Jan 25, 2019

Show notes

Women With Balls: the Sarah Baxter Edition Jan 25, 2019

Show notes

Sarah Baxter is Deputy Editor of the Sunday Times. Katy talks to Sarah about what it was like to be a woman in the lobby before 'Blair's Babes', the best way to tackle sexism (she says, ignore it and go 'full speed ahead'), and whether Jeremy Corbyn is quite the Labour leader she hopes for.

Presented by Katy Balls.

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

The Spectator Podcast: are vegans winning the war on meat? Jan 24, 2019

Show notes

Have vegans and vegetarians won the moral argument in the war on meat (1:00)? Plus, are Anglicans hoping to reconcile with Catholics (11:25)? And last, why is Michael Gove crusading against the wood-burning stove (25:40)?

With Jenny McCartney, Dominika Piasecka, Peter Hitchens, Damian Thompson, James Delingpole and Fraser Nelson.

Presented by Lara Prendergast.

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

Spectator Books: what the Bible gets wrong Jan 23, 2019

Show notes

In this week’s books podcast, Sam's guest is Robert Alter - who has just published the fruits of decades of labour in the form of his complete new translation of the Hebrew Bible into English. Acclaimed for his Bible translations by Seamus Heaney, John Updike and Peter Ackroyd, Prof Alter explains how Biblical Hebrew really works, what can and cannot be preserved in translation - and why, as he sees it, nearly every modern translation of the Bible gets it catastrophically wrong.

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

Coffee House Shots: can MPs take no-deal off the table? Jan 21, 2019

Show notes

With Katy Balls and James Forsyth.

Presented by Isabel Hardman.

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

Americano: What do Americans think of Brexit? Jan 19, 2019

Show notes

With Zack Christenson.

Presented by Freddy Gray.

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

Coffee House Shots: are we heading for an early general election? Jan 18, 2019

Show notes

With Katy Balls and James Forsyth.

Presented by Cindy Yu.

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

The Spectator Podcast: does parliament have a plan for Brexit? Jan 17, 2019

Show notes

It’s another crazy week in Westminster, and the question on everyone’s minds – what happens next? We talk to Paul Mason, Henry Newman, and Katy Balls (00:50). Plus, should councils turf out the social housing tenants whose circumstances improve (23:45)?

With Paul Mason, Henry Newman, Katy Balls, Mark Piggott, and Luke Doonan.

Presented by Isabel Hardman.

Produced by Cindy Yu and Alastair Thomas.

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

Spectator Books: why has Sweden covered up incidences of mass sexual assault? Jan 16, 2019

Show notes

In this week's episode, Sam talks to investigative journalist Kajsa Norman about her book 'Sweden's Dark Soul'. In it, she turns her gaze on the oppressive forces at the heart of Sweden’s ‘model democracy’. The story begins with the cover-up of mass sexual assaults at a Stockholm music festival. The reason? The perpetrators were unaccompanied refugee minors.

Presented by Sam Leith.

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

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