The Spectator Podcast

This week: The Spectator launches SPAFFThe civil service does one thing right, writes The Spectator’s data editor Michael Simmons: spaffing money away. The advent of Elon Musk’s DOGE in the US has inspired The Spectator to launch our own war on wasteful spending – the Spectator Project Against Frivolous Funding, or SPAFF. Examples of waste range from the comic to the tragic. The Department for Work and Pensions, Michael writes, ‘bought one Universal Credit claimant a £1,500 e-bike after he persuaded his MP it would help him find self-employment’. There’s money for a group trying to ‘decolonise’ pole dancing; for a ‘socially engaged’ practitioner to make a film about someone else getting an MBE; and for subscriptions to LinkedIn. Lord Agnew, who used to hold the ‘Pythonesque’ title of ‘minister of state for efficiency and transformation’, backs The Spectator’s new SPAFF campaign and says total reform is the only option. Michael and Theo joined the podcast to discuss. (1:04)Next: is surrogacy a blessing or a sh