Best of the Spectator

Latest Episodes:

Quite right!: 'I was reported for bullying!' – inside the Home Office dysfunction Oct 29, 2025

Show notes

Listeners on the Best of Spectator playlist can enjoy a section of the latest episode of Quite right! but for the full thing please seek out the Quite right! channel. Just search ‘Quite right!’ wherever you are listening now.

This week on Quite right!: the great Home Office meltdown. After a week of fiascos – from the accidental release of a convicted migrant to the collapse of the grooming gangs inquiry – Michael and Maddie ask: is the Home Office now beyond repair? Why is Britain’s most important department also its most dysfunctional? And what does it say about a civil service more obsessed with ‘listening circles’ and ‘wellbeing surveys’ than actually running the country?

Then to Westminster, where Jess Phillips faces fury over the grooming gangs inquiry. Are ministers diluting the investigation to avoid awkward truths about race and culture? Michael argues that empathy is no substitute for justice – and that Labour still can’t bring itself to confront the problem honestly.

Next, Maddie shares an extraordinary personal story of her mother’s nightmare tenant – thirty dogs, tens of thousands in damages, and zero help from the state – as she and Michael debate whether Britain’s social contract is breaking down, and if new housing laws will only make things worse.

Finally, the big news of the week: Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau’s hard-launch romance. But what do Justin Trudeau’s sartorial choices say about the state of politics and pop? And who would be their British equivalent?

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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

Speaker series: Piers Morgan – Woke is Dead Oct 28, 2025

Show notes

Piers Morgan sits down with Andrew Doyle in Glasgow to discuss Piers’s provocative new book, Woke Is Dead, and share their unfiltered views on the state of the world today. Rather than celebrating the death of woke, Piers’s book advocates for the return of common sense and a less divided, more sensible society. Piers Morgan: Woke Is Dead with Andrew Doyle will explore why Piers believes woke culture is on its way out, what a return to common sense might look like, and how the cultural tide is shifting across politics, the media and everyday life.

This is part of the Spectator's Speaker Series. For more events, go to spectator.co.uk/events and for the full interview with Piers, go to spectator.co.uk/tv

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Spectator Out Loud: Max Jeffery, Sam Leith, Michael Henderson, Madeline Grant & Julie Bindel Oct 27, 2025

Show notes

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Max Jeffery examines Britain’s new hard left alliance; Sam Leith wonders what Prince Andrew is playing; Michael Henderson reads his letter from Berlin; Madeline Grant analyses the demise of the American ‘wasp’ – or White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant; and, Julie Bindel ponders the disturbing allure of sex robots.

Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

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

Holy Smoke: how did faith shape Thatcher? Oct 26, 2025

Show notes

How did faith shape Margaret Thatcher’s politics? To mark the centenary month of Margaret Thatcher’s birth, Damian Thompson introduces a conversation between the Spectator’s Natasha Feroze, Thatcher’s biographer Lord Moore and Bishop Chartres who delivered the eulogy at her funeral.

They discuss her relationship with faith, how both her family background and her training as a scientist influenced her beliefs and her understanding of the relationship between wealth and society based on Jesus’s parables. Plus – what would Thatcher have made of the much talked about ‘Christian revival’ in the West?

Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Natasha Feroze.

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

Americano: will peace in Ukraine elude Trump? Oct 25, 2025

Show notes

With a Gaza ceasefire deal, President Trump's attention has turned to ending the war in Ukraine. A meeting with Putin was suggested, before coming to nothing. Owen Matthews joins Freddy Gray to talk about the fundamental differences between Trump and Putin, the limits on Ukraine's President Zelensky when it comes to negotiation and why the global west keeps misunderstanding Russia time and time again.

Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Megan McElroy.

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

The Edition: left-wing Ultras, Reform intellectuals & capitalist sex robots Oct 24, 2025

Show notes

‘The Ultras’ are the subject of The Spectator’s cover story this week – this is the new Islamo-socialist alliance that has appeared on the left of British politics. Several independent MPs, elected amidst outrage over the war in Gaza, have gone on to back the new party created by former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. The grouping has got off to a rocky start but – as Angus Colwell and Max Jeffery write – there are expectations that they could pick up dozens of seats across the country. Can the hard-left coalition hold?

Host Lara Prendergast is joined by the Spectator’s deputy political editor James Heale, commissioning editor Lara Brown and Angus Colwell – who also writes the Spectator’s new morning newsletter Spectator Daily.

As well as the cover, they discuss: the intellectual forces behind Reform UK; whether Piers Morgan is right that ‘woke is dead’; why the American ‘Wasp’ aesthetic was once so appealing; and are sex robots a fun consequence of capitalism – or a symptom of a lonely society.

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

The Spectator is trialling new formats for this podcast, and we would very much welcome feedback via this email address: podcast@spectator.co.uk

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NEW Reality Check: Britain is taxing itself to death – Arthur Laffer Oct 23, 2025

Show notes

Reality Check, The Spectator’s new data-driven show hosted by economics editor Michael Simmons, kicks off with a big name: Arthur Laffer. The man who taught Reagan to cut taxes tells Michael why Britain’s economy is 'disappearing', why the Bank of England shouldn’t exist, and why he still believes low taxes – and a little optimism – can send Britain 'to the moon and the stars.'

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

Book Club: Peter James Oct 23, 2025

Show notes

Sam Leith's guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the crime writer Peter James. Peter has contributed the introduction to a new edition of the classic thriller The Eagle Has Landed, which is 50 years old this month. He tells Sam what it was that made Jack Higgins's novel so groundbreaking, about what it takes to make you root for the bad guys, how thrillers and detective stories differ – and about his own history with Jack Higgins. Plus, he tells me about his own new novel The Hawk Is Dead — which comes, more or less, by Royal Appointment...

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

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

Quite right!: ‘If he won’t jump, he needs to be shoved’ – should Prince Andrew be exiled? Oct 21, 2025

Show notes

This week on Quite right!: the slow-motion disgrace of Prince Andrew. As Virginia Giuffre’s new book reignites the Epstein scandal, Michael and Maddie ask: how much longer can the monarchy carry its most toxic member? Or should the Duke of York be stripped of his titles and sent into exile?

Then to Birmingham, where sectarian politics, bin strikes and football collide. After Israeli fans were barred from attending a Europa League match, Michael and Maddie debate how Britain’s second city became a byword for failed multiculturalism. Has the country finally started telling the truth about integration – or just found new ways to divide itself?

Finally, the British Museum’s attempt to out-glamour the Met Gala. From Ed Vaizey’s ‘LSD-infused Del Boy’ outfit to George Osborne’s A-list trolling in front of the Elgin Marbles, Maddie asks: have we reached peak luvvie? And what would a truly British gala look like?

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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

Spectator Out Loud: Best of Notes on... Oct 21, 2025

Show notes

The Best of Notes on... gathers the funniest, sharpest and most wonderfully random pieces from The Spectator’s beloved miscellany column. For more than a decade, these short, sharp essays have uncovered the intrigue in the everyday and the delight in digression. To purchase the book, go to spectator.co.uk/shop

On this special episode of Spectator Out Loud, you can hear from: William Moore on jeans; Laura Freeman on Brits in Paris; Justin Marozzi on boxer shorts; Mark Mason on coming second; Michael Simmons on doner kebabs; Fergus Butler-Gallie on Friday the 13th; Hannah Tomes on rude place names; and, Margaret Mitchell on lobsters.

Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons, with an introduction from William Moore.

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

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