Sinopsis
The Spectator magazine's flagship podcast featuring discussions and debates on the best features from the week's edition. Presented by Isabel Hardman.
Episodios
-
Americano: did 2024 save the American dream?
29/12/2024 Duración: 50min2024 has been another year of extraordinary events in American politics. From Trump’s attempted assassination, the general election, the death of peanut the squirrel, Biden’s resignation and international wars shaping foreign policy. To discuss this year, and what impact it could have on 2025, Freddy Gray is joined by the historian Victor Davis Hanson of the Hoover Institute.
-
Book Club, from the archives: Annie Nightingale
29/12/2024 Duración: 32minBroadcaster and Radio DJ Annie Nightingale passed away earlier this year. In memory of her, please enjoy this episode of the Book Club podcast, from the archives, in which she joined Sam Leith in 2020 to talk about the publication of her book Hey Hi Hello. Annie Nightingale was Britain’s first female DJ, an occasional Spectator contributor, and the longest serving presenter of Radio One. Annie spoke to Sam about the Beatles’ secrets, BBC sexism, getting into rave culture, the John Peel she knew - and how while most people never get past the music they love in their teens, she’s never lost her drive to hear tunes she’s never heard before.
-
2024 Out Loud: Cindy Yu, Michael Simmons, Angus Colwell, Igor Toronyi-Lalic, Mary Wakefield, Fraser Nelson and Michael Gove
28/12/2024 Duración: 38minOn 2024 Out Loud: Cindy Yu examined Chinese work ethic (1:13); Michael Simmons declared his love of the doner kebab (6:28); Angus Colwell reported from Israel in July (9:27); Igor Toronyi-Lalic explained the inspiration behind the cinema of Marguerite Duras (14:41); Mary Wakefield analysed the disturbing truth of the Pelicot case (20:38); Fraser Nelson signed off as editor of The Spectator (27:01); and Michael Gove revealed his thoughts as he sat down at the editor’s desk (33:15). Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.
-
Coffee House Shots: have we been too quick to judge Kemi Badenoch?
27/12/2024 Duración: 19minKemi Badenoch is just over a month into her tenure as leader of the opposition, and already she has been criticised for her performances at PMQs and for failing to offer much in the way of policy proposals. It has been a consistent gripe of many of Badenoch’s detractors that she is a culture warrior or a one-trick pony. However, we might get a better idea of what the Conservatives will look like in the new year once her series of policy commissions get under way. So, how will she position her party? And, as countries around the world turn rightward, can she wrestle herself into conversations with Trump and the like?Oscar Edmondson speaks to Katy Balls and Paul Goodman, former editor of Conservative Home. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
-
The Edition: Best of 2024, with Dominic Sandbrook, Mary Beard and Harriet Harman
26/12/2024 Duración: 01h14minThis week is a special episode of the podcast where we are looking back on some of our favourite pieces from the magazine over the past year and revisiting some of the conversations we had around them.First up: the Starmer supremacyLet’s start with undoubtedly the biggest news of the year: Starmer’s supermajority and the first Labour government in 14 years. In April, we spoke to Katy Balls and Harriet Harman about just what a supermajority could mean for Keir Starmer. Listening back, it’s an incredibly interesting discussion to revisit. The aim of Katy’s piece was to communicate the internal problems that could arise from such a sweeping victory and, crucially, how Starmer might manage a historic cohort of backbenchers. One MP who knows about adjusting to life in government after a supermajority is Harriet Harman, former leader of the Labour party and a member of Tony Blair’s first cabinet. (01:51)Reflections from the editor’s chairThe change in No. 10 Downing Street is, of course, not the only notable shake-
-
Holy Smoke: why was C.S. Lewis such a killjoy at Christmas? with Alister McGrath
24/12/2024 Duración: 26minWhich 20th-century Scrooge had the following to say about the celebration of Christmas? ‘It gives on the whole much more pain than pleasure… Anyone can force you to give him a present by sending you a quite unprovoked present of his own. It's almost blackmail… Can it really be my duty to buy and receive masses of junk every winter just to help the shopkeepers?’Step forward C.S. Lewis, beloved Christian apologist and children’s author, whose splenetic denunciation of ‘the whole dreary business’ of Christmas and mean-spirited comments about carol singers are hard to reconcile with his reputation for benevolence.To make sense of the author’s views, Damian Thompson is joined by the renowned theologian and C.S. Lewis expert Prof Alister McGrath for a Christmas episode of Holy Smoke. They talk about the influence Lewis had on McGrath’s own conversion, the significance of the nativity and the question of whether the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s birth are apocryphal.Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
-
Chinese Whispers: Peter Hessler on what English names can reveal about China
23/12/2024 Duración: 34minWhy do so many Chinese people choose such curious English names? You must have come across this phenomenon – whether they are names from a past century, or surnames, nouns or even adjectives used as first names, or words that aren’t real at all. I have a particular interest in this because my English name – Cindy – isn’t exactly in vogue these days.You might think this is a bit of a trivial question, but I think the question of English names goes deeper than just some odd words. I think these names reveal something about the China that gave rise to them. So I was pleased to come across another China watcher recently who is also obsessed by the question. Peter Hessler is an award winning journalist whose 2001 book River Town was highly influential for its depiction of life in a changing China. I spoke to him recently upon the publication of his latest book, Other Rivers. Tune in to hear where I also reveal the origins of my English name.
-
Christmas Out Loud II: Andrews Watts, Marcus Walker, Ali Kefford, Roger Lewis, Ayaan Hirsh Ali and Christopher Howse
22/12/2024 Duración: 48minOn this week’s Christmas Out Loud - part two: Andrew Watts goes to santa school (1:11); Marcus Walker reads his priest’s notebook (7:20); Ali Kefford spends Christmas on patrol with submariners (12:34); Roger Lewis says good riddance to 2024, voiced by the actor Robert Bathurst (20:57); Ayaan Hirsh Ali argues that there is a Christian revival under way (32:41); and Christopher Howse reveals the weirdness behind Christmas carols (38:34). Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.
-
Coffee House Shots: Year in Review 2024
21/12/2024 Duración: 27minIt’s been a historic year in British politics. At the start of 2024, the UK had a different Prime Minister, the Tories had a different leader, and The Spectator had a different editor! Michael Gove, Katy Balls, and Quentin Letts join Cindy Yu to review the biggest political stories of 2024.On the podcast, the panel discuss the rise of Reform UK and Nigel Farage as a political force, Labour’s adjustment to government, and Michael reveals his reaction to Rishi telling Cabinet that he was going for a summer election.Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Megan McElroy.
-
Women With Balls: Maureen Lipman
20/12/2024 Duración: 36minDame Maureen Lipman has been a fixture of stage and screen for over five decades. She has been a member of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre company and the Royal Shakespeare Company; she is well known for her roles in acclaimed films like Educating Rita and The Pianist; and most recently she has had an award-winning run in soap Coronation Street. For a generation she will always be 'Beattie': the grandmother from the BT adverts.On the podcast, Maureen talks to Katy Balls about her journey from 'the cobbler of Kazimierz Dolny to the cobbles of Corrie'. They discuss selling comedy as a commodity, whether you can separate art from the artist and her most recent role in a Christmas panto. Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Photo credit: Jay Brooks.
-
Americano: are migrants 'self-deporting' in fear of Trump?
19/12/2024 Duración: 25minSpringfield Ohio became a talking point in this year's Presidential election after Donald Trump referred to Haitian migrants 'eating the cats and dogs'. Steven Edginton, GB News US Correspondent has been to Springfield Ohio to speak to some of the migrants there, investigate some reports that migrants are fleeing America in fear of a Trump presidency, and find our from locals about how Springfield has changed since the arrival of around 15,000 Haitian migrants.
-
The Book Club: Chris Ware
18/12/2024 Duración: 39minMy guest in this week's Book Club podcast is Chris Ware — author of Jimmy Corrigan, Building Stories and Rusty Brown, and a man widely regarded as one of the greatest living cartoonists.Chris's new book, The Acme Novelty Datebook Volume Three, opens his sketchbooks for public consumption: a potentially painful move for an artist as self-conscious and perfectionist as Ware. He tells me a bit about the relationship between cartooning and architecture, what he's trying to do with his graphic novels, the importance of R Crumb and Art Spiegelman to his work, and what gave him the confidence to turn his back on fine art.
-
Table Talk: Elif Shafak
17/12/2024 Duración: 29minElif Shafak is a novelist, political scientist and essayist. She has published 21 books – 13 of which are novels – and her books have been translated into 58 languages. Her most recent novel There Are Rivers in the Sky, is out now. On the podcast, Elif tells Liv about the significance of food and drink in her writing, the many places she takes culinary inspiration from and reveals her love of heavy metal music.
-
Coffee House Shots: would Brexit voters really accept the return of freedom of movement?
16/12/2024 Duración: 18minNew research last week suggested that a majority of Brexit voters would accept the return of freedom of movement in exchange for access to the EU single market. The poll, conducted by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), found that 54% of Brexit voters – and 68% of all respondents – would accept this. Facing their own changing domestic concerns, how close can the UK and EU governments really get? Could Defence hold the key for collaboration? And how much is this driven by a more volatile geopolitical landscape ahead of Trump’s return as US president?James Heale speaks to Anand Menon, director of the think-tank UK in a Changing Europe, and Mark Leonard, director at the ECFR.Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
-
Holy Smoke: is the end of Christendom nigh? with A.N. Wilson
15/12/2024 Duración: 25minThousands of Brits will be attending Christmas and carol services throughout December. Yet festive attendance masks the reality that church congregations just aren’t holding up. The most optimistic of estimates suggest that regular church attendance has almost halved in the UK since 2009. This is just one of the factors that has led the historian and writer A.N. Wilson, in the Christmas edition of The Spectator this week, to declare that the end of Christendom is nigh.On this episode of Holy Smoke, A.N. Wilson joins Damian Thompson to discuss his thesis. Like Platonism, is Christianity doomed to become extinct in practice? When was the last time England was truly, and fervently, religious? And are innovations such as female priests a symptom – or a cause – of the Church’s decline?You can read more from A.N. Wilson on his Substack.Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
-
Christmas Out Loud I: Katy Balls, Craig Brown, Kate Weinberg, Craig Raine, Lisa Haseldine and Melissa Kite
14/12/2024 Duración: 36minOn this week’s Christmas Out Loud - part one: Katy Balls runs through the Westminster wishlists for 2025 (1:26); Craig Brown reads his satirist’s notebook (7:06); Kate Weinberg explains the healing power of a father’s bedtime reading (13:47); Craig Raine reviews a new four volume edition of the prose of T.S. Eliot (19:10); Lisa Haseldine provides her notes on hymnals (28:15); and Melissa Kite explains why she shouldn’t be allowed to go to church (31:19). Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.
-
Americano: has Trump already become President?
13/12/2024 Duración: 34minFreddy Gray is joined by an Americano favourite, Jacob Heilbrunn, to reflect on 2024 in American politics. They discuss why Trump appears to be the de facto President, whether a good Democratic candidate could have beaten Trump and what the future cabinet could bring in 2025.
-
The Edition: Christmas Special 2024 with Rod Liddle, Lionel Shriver, Matthew Parris and Mary Wakefield
12/12/2024 Duración: 01h10minWelcome to a special festive episode of The Edition podcast, where we will be taking you through the pages of The Spectator’s Christmas triple issue.Up first: our review of the year – and what a year it has been. At the start of 2024, the outcome of the US election looked very different, the UK had a different Prime Minister, and The Spectator had a different editor! Luckily, The Spectator’s regular columnists are on hand to declare what they got right – and wrong – throughout the year, and whether they’re optimistic for 2025. Rod Liddle, Matthew Parris, Mary Wakefield and Lionel Shriver take us through everything from Trump to trans (03:24).Next: ‘Good riddance 2024’ – in his own alternative review of the year, Roger Lewis declares 2024 one to forget. The actor Robert Bathurst voices a special out-loud version of the article, taking us through the year in Roger’s typically acerbic style (28:37).Then: the unsung heroes at Christmas time. While most of the country will be sitting down to Christmas dinner, hund
-
The Book Club: Daniel Tammet
11/12/2024 Duración: 37minIn this week’s Books podcast, I am joined by the writer Daniel Tammet, whose new book Nine Minds: Inner Lives on the Spectrum is a pen portrait of nine lives of people on the autism spectrum. On the podcast, he tells me how he happened upon these nine lives, whether ‘spectrum’ is a helpful term when understanding autism and Asperger’s syndrome, and how popular culture’s most famous depiction of autism – Dustin Hoffman’s Rain Man – is based on an individual who wasn’t autistic at all.
-
Americano: is Assad’s downfall a ‘catastrophic success’?
10/12/2024 Duración: 42minOver the weekend, the rebels from the Syrian opposition claimed Damascus and president Assad had fled to Russia. Keir Starmer has welcomed the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s barbaric regime in Syria and called for civilians to be protested after rebel forces took control of Damascus. Freddy Gray speaks to Michael Weiss, an editor at The Insider, and Owen Matthews, writer and historian. They discuss how this story could develop on the international stage, whether this is the reinvention of the Arab Spring, and what is left of Iran, now that several of its proxies have been destroyed.