Best of the Spectator - TopPodcast.com

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

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:

Table Talk: Charlie Bigham Sep 24, 2024

Show notes

Charlie Bigham founded his eponymous ready to cook meals over 25 years ago. Having left a career as a management consultant, his company has gone on to report annual sales in the tens of millions, with a focus on ‘creating delicious dishes for people who love proper food’. His first cookbook ‘Supper with Charlie Bigham’ is out now.
On the podcast, Charlie tells hosts Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts about recovering from ‘revolting’ school food, the difference between packaged meals and ready meals, and how he views cooking as alchemy.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.

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

Americano: Are Big Tech monopolies the biggest threat to democracy? Sep 23, 2024

Show notes

A handful of Big Tech companies seem to run our lives, and there's a good argument that they can be considered monopolies within their industries. In a landmark ruling recently, a US judge found that Google acted illegally with their exercise of monopoly power within the online search industry. On this episode, Freddy is joined by Barry Lynn, journalist and an expert on America's antitrust battles, to discuss how liberal societies can combat the power of monopolistic Big Tech.

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

Holy Smoke: How pistols in St Paul’s Cathedral shaped the science of sound Sep 22, 2024

Show notes

In the winter of 1951 shots from a Colt revolver rang out in St Paul’s Cathedral in an experiment designed to solve the mystery of how architecture shapes sound. In this episode of Holy Smoke, Damian Thompson talks to Dr Fiona Smyth, author of a new book on the subject, and choral musician Philip Fryer, about the perfect acoustic – an increasingly important topic for churches, since many of them rely on the income from hiring themselves out as concert and recording venues. And it raises the question: should we think of a church as a musical instrument?

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

Spectator Out Loud: Paul Wood, Ross Clark, Andrew Lycett, Laura Gascoigne and Henry Jeffreys Sep 21, 2024

Show notes

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: as Lebanon reels from the exploding pagers, Paul Wood wonders what’s next for Israel and Hezbollah (1:24); Ross Clark examines Ireland’s low-tax project, following the news that they’re set to receive €13 billion… that they didn’t want (8:40); Reviewing Ben Macintyre’s new book, Andrew Lycett looks at the 1980 Iranian London embassy siege (15:29); Laura Gascoigne argues that Vincent Van Gogh would approve of the new exhibition of his works at the National Gallery (22:35); and Henry Jeffreys provides his notes on corkscrews (28:01).
Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

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

The Book Club: Lindsey Hilsum Sep 20, 2024

Show notes

My guest on this week's Book Club podcast is Channel 4's international editor Lindsey Hilsum. In her new book I Brought The War With Me: Stories and Poems from the Front Line Lindsey intersperses her account of the many conflicts she has covered as a war reporter with the poems that have given her consolation and a wider sense of meaning as she travels through the dark places of the earth. She tells me what poets can do that reporters can't, how you put a human face on statistics, how new technology has changed her trade, and why she goes back and back into danger to bear witness.

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

The Edition: Farage's plan, the ethics of euthanasia & Xi's football failure Sep 19, 2024

Show notes

This week: Nigel’s next target. What’s Reform UK’s plan to take on Labour? Reform UK surpassed expectations at the general election to win 5 MPs. This includes James McMurdock, who Katy interviews for the magazine this week, who only decided to stand at the last moment. How much threat could Reform pose and why has Farage done so well? Katy joins the podcast to discuss, alongside Jovan Owusu-Nepaul, who fought Nigel Farage as the Labour candidate for Clacton (1:02).
Next: who determines the morality of euthanasia? Matthew Hall recounts the experience of his aunt opting for the procedure in Canada, saying it ‘horrified’ him but ‘was also chillingly seductive’. Does Canada provide the model for the rest of the world? Or should we all be worried of where this could lead? Matthew joined the podcast, alongside commentator Richard Hanania. Hanania is president of the Centre for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology and has hailed the Canadian model as ‘moral progress’ (19:52).
And finally: why isn’t China a football superpower? Ian Williams joins the podcast to discuss his article exploring the failure of President Xi to realise his ambitions for Chinese football. Despite spending billions of yuan, why hasn’t China been more successful? Cameron Wilson, founding editor of Wild East Football, the world’s leading English-language news source on soccer in China joins too (35:44).
Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.

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

Coffee House Shots: should Labour ditch the ‘doom and gloom’ narrative? Sep 18, 2024

Show notes

We have some new inflation figures today. Inflation rose 2.2 per cent in the 12 months to August. This is pretty much in line with the Bank of England's target and should be good news for Labour, so why do they persist with this doom and gloom narrative?
Elsewhere, Labour's awkward week has got more awkward with the news that Sue Gray, Keir Starmer's chief of staff, is paid more than him. Surely they could have seen this news story coming?
Oscar Edmondson speaks to Kate Andrews and James Heale.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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

Americano: Are Democrats to blame for the repeated attempts to kill Trump? Sep 17, 2024

Show notes

As if there hadn’t been enough drama in America in 2024, Donald Trump has survived another assassination attempt.
The attempted killing of the 45th president at his golf course in Palm Beach, Florida yesterday afternoon was not nearly as threatening or deadly as the shooting nine weeks ago in Butler, Pennsylvania - but questions remain about how the incident could have happened.
Freddy Gray is joined by Kate Andrews to discuss the second assassination attempt, the state of the race, and what's next for Donald Trump.

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

Chinese Whispers: a father and son at the edge of the Chinese empire Sep 16, 2024

Show notes

As a child, the New York Times journalist Edward Wong had no idea that his father had been in the People’s Liberation Army. But as he grew up, a second generation immigrant in the United States, Edward was hungry to find out more about his father and mother’s pasts in the People’s Republic of China. That hunger took him to study China at university and eventually to become the New York Times’s Beijing bureau chief.
Edward’s new book, At the Edge of Empire, is a marvellously constructed work that traces his father’s journey through China as a soldier in the PLA, and his own reporting in China as an American journalist. It reveals how China has changed between the lives of father and son, but also how some aspects – such as the nature of political power – have not changed at all.
On this episode, Cindy Yu talks to Edward about the yearning of second-generation immigrants to understand their roots, why both China and America can be seen as empires, and the seventy years of change that the lives of father and son span.

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

Spectator Out Loud: Fraser Nelson, David Whitehouse, Imogen Yates, Sean McGlynn and Ruari Clark Sep 14, 2024

Show notes

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Fraser Nelson reflects on a historic week for The Spectator (1:15); David Whitehouse examines the toughest problem in mathematics (6:33); Imogen Yates reports on the booming health tech industry (13:54); Sean McGlynn reviews Dan Jones’s book Henry V: the astonishing rise of England’s greatest warrior king (20:24); and Ruari Clark provides his notes on rollies (26:18).
Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

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

Related Podcasts