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.
Episodes
June 13, 2024 • 45 mins
This week: Macron’s game.
Our cover piece looks at the big news following the European elections at the weekend, President Macron’s decision to call early parliamentary elections in France. Madness or genius, either way the decision comes with huge risk. And can he still outplay Le Pen, asks writer Jonathan Miller. Jonathan joins the podcast to analyse Macron’s decision alongside Professor Alberto Alemanno, who explai...
Our cover piece looks at the big news following the European elections at the weekend, President Macron’s decision to call early parliamentary elections in France. Madness or genius, either way the decision comes with huge risk. And can he still outplay Le Pen, asks writer Jonathan Miller. Jonathan joins the podcast to analyse Macron’s decision alongside Professor Alberto Alemanno, who explai...
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June 12, 2024 • 39 mins
My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is Marlon James, who ten years ago published his Booker Prize winning novel A Brief History of Seven Killings. He tells me how that remarkable book came about, how he feared it would be 'my Satanic Verses', what genre means to him, the importance of myth, and what he learned from the X-Men.
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June 10, 2024 • 33 mins
In less than a month’s time, Britain may well have a new prime minister – and a different ruling party. Under 14 years of the Conservative party, the UK’s approach to China has swung from the sycophancy of the golden era to fear and loathing under Liz Truss, stabilising in the last couple of years to a compete but engage approach, all while public opinion on China has hardened following the Hong Kong protests and the pandemic....
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June 9, 2024 • 32 mins
Freddy Gray is joined by Alex Castellanos, Republican Party strategist who has served as media consultant to seven U.S. Presidential campaigns. They discuss Donald Trump's presidential campaign, his search for a vice president, and if there's any way Joe Biden can tarnish his image.
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Max Jeffery reports on the rise of luxury watch thefts in London (1:18); Melanie McDonagh discusses the collapse of religion in Scotland (5:51); reflecting on the longevity of Diane Abbott and what her selection row means for Labour, Matthew Parris argues that shrewd plans need faultless execution (10:44); Iain MacGregor reviews Giles Milton’s book ‘The Stalin Affair’ (17:30); and, Petronella...
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June 7, 2024 • 36 mins
Nickie Aiken has been an elected public servant for 18 years. An MP since 2019, she has served as a deputy chairman and a vice-chair of the Conservative Party. She was also a councillor in Westminster for 16 years including as leader of the council and previously worked in public relations.
On the episode, Katy Balls talks to Nickie about how she got into politics, why the tea room is the most useful part of Parliame...
On the episode, Katy Balls talks to Nickie about how she got into politics, why the tea room is the most useful part of Parliame...
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June 7, 2024 • 26 mins
Freddy Gray speaks to Ben Smith and Nayeema Raza from the Mixed Signals podcast. They discuss the state of American media, whether the US has any appetite for public service broadcasting, and whether America is too cynical about the press.
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June 6, 2024 • 44 mins
This week: The Farage factor. Our cover piece looks at the biggest news from this week of the general election campaign, Nigel Farage’s decision to stand again for Parliament. Farage appealed to voters in the seaside town of Clacton to send him to Westminster to be a ‘nuisance’. Indeed, how much of a nuisance will he be to Rishi Sunak in this campaign? Will this boost Reform’s ratings across Britain? And could it be eighth tim...
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June 5, 2024 • 33 mins
In this week's Book Club podcast, my guest is the Booker Prize winning novelist Richard Flanagan, talking about his extraordinary new book Question 7. It weaves together memoir, reportage and the imaginative work of fiction. Flanagan collides his relationship with his war-traumatised father and his own near-death experience with the lives of H G Wells and Leo Szilard, the Tasmanian genocide and the bombing of Hiroshima. He tal...
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June 4, 2024 • 23 mins
Theo Randall is a Head Chef, restaurant owner, and food writer. He's currently the Chef Patron of Theo Randall at the InterContinental, and he was famously awarded a Michelin star at The River Cafe. He specialises in Italian cuisine, and his new book Verdura: 10 Vegetables, 100 Italian Recipes, is available now.
On the podcast he tells Lara and Liv about his favourite region in Italy for food, and why he loves home c...
On the podcast he tells Lara and Liv about his favourite region in Italy for food, and why he loves home c...
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June 2, 2024 • 29 mins
Claudia Mendoza is one of the most high profile spokespeople for the Jewish community in Britain. She has studied the Middle East, and worked at various think tanks with a focus on Iran and the transitioning Arab states. But she now serves as CEO of the Jewish Leadership Council.
On the podcast she tells Katy whether Keir's Labour really is a changed party and about the rise in anti-semitism in the UK since the Octob...
On the podcast she tells Katy whether Keir's Labour really is a changed party and about the rise in anti-semitism in the UK since the Octob...
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On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Peter Parker takes us through the history of guardsmen and homosexuality (1:12); Prof. Wayne Hunt explains what the Conservatives could learn from the 1993 Canadian election (9:10); Nicholas Lezard reflects on the diaries of Franz Kafka, on the eve of his centenary (16:06); Mark Mason provides his notes on Horse Guards (22:52); and, Nicholas Farrell ponders his wife’s potential suitors, once ...
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May 31, 2024 • 22 mins
Donald Trump has been found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records. The Spectator columnist Lionel Shriver joins Freddy Gray to respond to the news. Was it a fair trial? What could it mean for the 2024 presidential election? And what are the wider implications for American democracy?
Produced by Megan McElroy, Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.
Produced by Megan McElroy, Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.
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May 31, 2024 • 47 mins
Professor John Mearsheimer joins Freddy Gray to talk about the powder keg situation in Eastern Europe, why Putin is possibly the least hawkish of possible Russian leaders and why Israel has lost escalation dominance.
This was originally broadcast on SpectatorTV.
This was originally broadcast on SpectatorTV.
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May 30, 2024 • 35 mins
On this week's Edition: Wannabes - are any of them ready? Our cover piece takes a look at the state of the parties a week into the UK general election campaign. The election announcement took everyone by surprise, including Tory MPs, so what’s been the fallout since? To provide the latest analysis, The Spectator’s political editor Katy Balls joins the podcast (2:00).
Then: Angus Colwell reports on how the election is...
Then: Angus Colwell reports on how the election is...
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May 29, 2024 • 50 mins
June 3rd marks the centenary of Franz Kafka's death. To talk about this great writer's peculiar style and lasting legacy, I'm joined by two of the world's foremost Kafka scholars. Mark Harman has just translated, edited and annotated a new edition of Kafka's Selected Stories, while Ross Benjamin is the translator of the first unexpurgated edition of Kafka's Diaries. They tell me what they understand by 'Kafkaesque', the unique...
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May 28, 2024 • 30 mins
Here's an episode of Holy Smoke to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Anton Bruckner later this year. This embarrassingly eccentric genius was, perhaps, the most devoutly Catholic of all the major composers – but you don't have to be religious to appreciate the unique consolation offered by his gigantic symphonies. On the other hand, it's hard to appreciate the unique flavour of Bruckner without taking into account the...
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May 27, 2024 • 39 mins
Since 1978, China has changed beyond recognition thanks to its economic boom. 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty as GDP per capita has grown eighty times. Some 60 per cent of the country now live in cities and towns, compared to just 18 per cent before.
But you know all this. What’s less talked about is what that does to the people and families who live through these changes. What is it like to have su...
But you know all this. What’s less talked about is what that does to the people and families who live through these changes. What is it like to have su...
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May 27, 2024 • 23 mins
This week the world may know whether Donald Trump becomes the first US President to receive a criminal conviction. But could this verdict help or hinder him? Tom Lubbock, co-founder of pollsters J L Partners, joins Freddy Gray to discuss. They also analyse the dynamics at play in current polling: why is Trump doing better in the sun-belt states? And is this election a referendum on Biden?
Produced by Patrick Gibbons a...
Produced by Patrick Gibbons a...
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May 26, 2024 • 25 mins
Freddy Gray speaks to author Jacob Heilbrunn about what another term in office for Donald Trump might mean for America's foreign policy, its relationship with Israel, and the war in Ukraine.
How have his views changed since last time? And what will his relationship with Putin be like?
How have his views changed since last time? And what will his relationship with Putin be like?
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