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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:

Table Talk: Tim Spector Oct 22, 2024

Show notes

Tim Spector is a leading professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London and a renowned expert in nutrition, gut health, and the microbiome. He is the founder of the Zoe Project, which focuses on personalised nutrition and how individual responses to food impact health. His new book, The Food for Life Cookbook, is out now.
On the podcast, he tells Lara about his time growing up in Australia, how a skiing accident changed his view on nutrition, and why ham-flavoured crisps are his guilty pleasure.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Joe Bedell-Brill.
Click here for tickets to our Americano live event, with Nigel Farage.

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AI, gene therapy and challenges of the NHS – Britain's health Innovators of the Year Oct 21, 2024

Show notes

The Spectator Economic Innovator of the Year Awards, in partnership with Rathbones, celebrate the passion and creativity of British entrepreneurs. From hundreds of entries we have narrowed down to some 50 finalists across the United Kingdom. In this episode, the judges introduce those cutting edge healthcare companies who are amongst the finalists and compare and contrast what they do with the latest biotech, AI, and how well they fare when trying to introduce innovation into the NHS.
The judges in this episode are Jonny Ohlson, founder and chairman of biotech firm Touchlight; Nicholas Hardie, entrepreneur and non-executive director on the board of Moorfields Eye Hospital; Michelle White, Head of Private Office for Rathbones; and Martin Vander Weyer, The Spectator's business editor.
The awards and this podcast series are sponsored by Rathbones, a leading provider of individual wealth management.

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Spectator Out Loud: Richard Dawkins, Nicholas Farrell, Mary Wakefield, Lisa Hilton and Philip Hensher Oct 20, 2024

Show notes

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Richard Dawkins reads his diary for the week (1:21); Nicholas Farrell argues that Italy is showing the EU the way on migration (6:33); Mary Wakefield reflects on the horrors, and teaching, of the Second World War (13:54); Lisa Hilton examines what made George Villiers a favourite of King James I (19:10); and a local heroin addict makes Philip Hensher contemplate his weight (27:10).
Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

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Coffee House Shots: should bishops be booted out of the Lords? Oct 19, 2024

Show notes

The House of Lords contains 26 Church of England archbishops and bishops who possess an automatic right to sit and vote in the House, as established by ancient usage and by statute. But for how much longer?
Labour have big plans for the Lords and have been pushing ahead with their crackdown on hereditary peers. But this week we learnt that Tory MP Gavin Williamson will table an amendment calling for them to reconsider the role of bishops as well. Gavin says that a clergy-free Lords would be more representative of modern Britain and is expecting to gain cross-party support, including from the likes of Jeremy Corbyn. The Spectator’s features editor William Moore thinks this is ‘institutional vandalism’ and opens the door to the removal of faith from parliament.
Gavin and William join The Spectator’s political editor Katy Balls to debate.
Produced by Cindy Yu and Oscar Edmondson.

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Holy Smoke: The Pope announces 21 new cardinals – is he trying to pack the conclave? Oct 18, 2024

Show notes

This month Pope Francis announced that he’s creating 21 cardinals, and once again his list includes unexpected names that will baffle commentators who assume that he’s determined to stack the next conclave with liberals.
For example, Australia now finally has a cardinal – but he’s a 44-year-old bishop from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic diaspora rather than the actual head of the Ukrainian Church in Kiev. There’s also a new English cardinal who isn’t even a bishop, the Dominican theologian Timothy Radcliffe. He’s nearly 80, so will soon have to step down as an elector – but, believe it or not, one of the new cardinals is 99 and therefore old enough to be his father.
In this episode of Holy Smoke, Vatican analyst Serre Verweij joins Damian Thompson to discuss the significance of this consistory. He suggests that this Pope, famously hostile to traditionalists, is nonetheless moving to the right at this late stage in his pontificate. But why?

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The Edition: Reeves's gambit, a debate on assisted dying & queer life in postwar Britain Oct 17, 2024

Show notes

This week: the Chancellor’s Budget dilemma.
‘As a former championship chess player, Rachel Reeves must know that the first few moves can be some of the most important of the game,’ writes Rupert Harrison – former chief of staff to George Osborne – for the cover of the magazine this week. But, he says, the truth is that she has played herself into a corner ahead of this month's Budget, with her room for manoeuvre dramatically limited by a series of rash decisions. Her biggest problem is that she has repeatedly ruled out increases in income tax, national insurance and VAT. ‘So which taxes will rise, given that the easy options have been ruled out? The answers appear to be evolving rapidly when ministers are confronted with the OBR’s harsh reality.’ Rupert joined the podcast alongside The Spectator’s economics editor Kate Andrews. (01:29)
Next: Charlie Falconer and Charles Moore debate assisted dying. As Kim Leadbeater’s private member’s bill comes before the Commons, the former justice secretary Lord Falconer (who introduced a similar bill to the Lords) and The Spectator’s chairman Lord Moore debate assisted dying. The full conversation can be found on SpectatorTV but we have an extract from their conversation on the podcast. (19:01)
And finally: In his Books & Arts lead, Philip Hensher reviews Peter Parker’s history of homosexuality from 1945 to 1967, revealing many of the era’s bizarre and, at times, amusing speculations. They both join the podcast to discuss the demonising of homosexuals in postwar Britain and the role of the tabloids in stirring up fear and distrust. (33:26)
Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.

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Americano: could the Catholic vote decide the US election? Oct 17, 2024

Show notes

Polling suggests that the Catholic vote helped Trump win in 2016 and helped Biden win in 2020. Biden is also the most church-going president by far. With issues like immigration and abortion high on the agenda for voters, where will the Catholic vote land? And how important is the idea of being culturally Catholic compared with political religiosity?
Ryan Girdursky, founder of the 1776 Project PAC and the National Populist substack - and Catholic - joins Freddy Gray to discuss.
Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

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Book Club: Sue Prideaux Oct 16, 2024

Show notes

In this week's Book Club podcast Sam Leith’s guest is the great Sue Prideaux who, after her prize-winning biographies of Nietzsche, Munch and Strindberg, has turned her attention to Gauguin in Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin. She tells me about the great man's unexpected brief career as an investment banker, his highly unusual marriage and his late turn to anticolonial activism. Plus: why she starts with his teeth.
This podcast is in association with Serious Readers. Use offer code ‘TBC’ for £100 off any HD Light and free UK delivery. Go to: www.seriousreaders.com/spectator
Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson.

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Americano: which campaign has the better ground game? Oct 15, 2024

Show notes

Republican strategist, and friend of Americano, Luke Thompson joins Freddy Gray to talk about the ground game of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. From postal voting, to party registration, to machine politics, whose is better? And what impact did Biden's exit from the race have on the organised parts of the Democratic Party?
With Luke's unique insight working on two current senate races, and as a longtime consultant to Vice-Presidential nominee J.D. Vance, they analyse the state of an election that continues to be unpredictable.
Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

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Chinese Whispers: tycoon Desmond Shum on corruption, power and his wife’s disappearance Oct 14, 2024

Show notes

** On October 19, Cindy Yu and a panel of special guests will be recording a live Chinese Whispers at London's Battle of Ideas festival, talking the latest on China’s economic slowdown and asking – what are the social and political implications? Is China in decline?
Chinese Whispers listeners can get a 20 per cent discount on the ticket price with the code WHISPERS24. Click here to find out more and get your ticket. **
In the early 2000s, Desmond Shum and his wife, Whitney Duan, were among the richest people in China, with fingers in various real estate, infrastructure and hospitality projects. They also had some of China’s most powerful people on speed dial – including the family of then-premier Wen Jiabao. But that all changed in 2017 when Whitney was disappeared by the Chinese state. Desmond now lives in the UK where he published a memoir in 2021, Red Roulette, and is now an analyst and commentator on Chinese politics.
On this interview, Cindy Yu and Desmond Shum discuss why he thinks Whitney was the victim of a power struggle involving Xi Jinping, the reality of politics and corruption in the China of the 2000s, and how Xi has destroyed the economic trajectory of the once-booming People’s Republic.

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