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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- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 33 minutes
- Episodes
- 2365
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
The Edition: new world disorder, cholesterol pseudoscience vs scepticism & the magic of Dickens
This week: the world needs a realist reset
Donald Trump’s presidency is the harbinger of many things, writes The Spectator’s editor Michael Gove, one of which is a return to a more pitiless world land…
Donald Trump’s presidency is the harbinger of many things, writes The Spectator’s editor Michael Gove, one of which is a return to a more pitiless world land…
00:48:23 |
Thu 20 Feb 2025
The Book Club: The World in the Ocean
My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is the novelist and critic James Bradley whose new book is Deep Water: The World in the Ocean. He tells me how we need to rethink our relationship with the s…
00:48:46 |
Wed 19 Feb 2025
Americano: Rob Henderson on Musk, monogamy & meritocracy
Political commentator, and author of Troubled, Rob Henderson joins Freddy Gray from the ARC conference in London. They discuss the political reaction to the news that Elon Musk has allegedly had his …
00:35:35 |
Tue 18 Feb 2025
Holy Smoke: Why militant atheists don’t understand religion, a conversation with Alister McGrath
In his new book Why We Believe: Finding Meaning in Uncertain Times, Prof Alister McGrath rejects the notion that belief is a relic of the past and takes aim at the ‘new atheists’ who attack religion …
00:35:58 |
Mon 17 Feb 2025
Spectator Out Loud: James Heale, Andrew Kenny, Lara Prendergast, Ysenda Maxtone Graham and Nina Power
On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: James Heale wonders what Margaret Thatcher would make of today’s Conservatives (1:28); Andrew Kenny analyses South Africa’s expropriation act (6:13); Lara Prenderga…
00:40:40 |
Sun 16 Feb 2025
Coffee House Shots: Kemi vs Nigel - who would Thatcher have backed?
It is 50 years since Margaret Thatcher was elected Conservative leader, and at this week’s shadow cabinet meeting, Lord Forsyth was invited as a guest speaker to mark the occasion. He noted the simil…
00:14:24 |
Sat 15 Feb 2025
Americano: does Trump’s foreign policy make any sense? with Prof John Mearsheimer
Professor John Mearsheimer comes back on the Americano show with Freddy Gray to discuss how seriously we should take Trump's foreign policy. They cover the President's plans to rebuild Gaza, why Neta…
00:56:02 |
Fri 14 Feb 2025
The Edition: Britain’s bureaucratic bloat, debating surrogacy & is smoking ‘sexy’?
This week: The Spectator launches SPAFF
The 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 in…
The 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 in…
00:39:14 |
Thu 13 Feb 2025
Coffee House Shots: Keir Starmer and the lost art of political oratory
From Churchill to Thatcher to Blair to Farage, Parliament has seen some truly fantastic rhetoricians over the years. But last week came the news that – in a bid to improve his own oratorical skill – …
00:30:40 |
Thu 13 Feb 2025
Book Club: Radiohead's Colin Greenwood
Sam Leith's guest on today’s Book Club podcast is the musician, writer and photographer Colin Greenwood, who joins me to discuss his new book of photographs and memoir How To Disappear: A Portrait of…
00:33:02 |
Wed 12 Feb 2025
Americano: could Trump target Britain with tariffs?
Angus Hanton, author of Vassal State: How America Runs Britain, joins Freddy Gray to talk about the economic relationship between Britain and America. As the world adjusts to the new US administratio…
00:24:39 |
Tue 11 Feb 2025
Table Talk: Groove Armada's Andy Cato
Andy Cato is a musician, record producer and DJ, and is perhaps best known as one half of the Grammy Award-winning electronic music duo Groove Armada.
Andy is also a farmer and now puts his energy int…
Andy is also a farmer and now puts his energy int…
00:18:52 |
Tue 11 Feb 2025
Chinese Whispers: Have America's chips controls backfired?
Beginning in the first Trump presidency and expanded under Joe Biden, the US has taken a strategy of technologically containing China through restricting its access to cutting edge semiconductors. As…
00:57:06 |
Mon 10 Feb 2025
Spectator Out Loud: Katy Balls, Alexander Raubo, Damian Thompson, Daisy Dunn and Mark Mason
On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Katy Balls analyses the threat Reform pose to the Conservatives (1:20); Alexander Raubo talks us through the MAGA social scene and the art collective Remilia (6:42)…
00:26:22 |
Sun 09 Feb 2025
Coffee House Shots: The inside story of Labour under Starmer
This week saw the publication of Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund’s new book Get In: The Inside Story of Labour Under Starmer. It’s the second in their tell-all series of books on the Labour Party…
00:22:55 |
Sat 08 Feb 2025
Women With Balls: Kay Burley, from the archives
Kay Burley announced her retirement from Sky News this week, after 36 years, having presented more than a million minutes of live television news – more than any other presenter in the world.
To mark …
To mark …
00:19:12 |
Fri 07 Feb 2025
The Edition: Labour's Irish insurgent, Germany's 'firewall' falls & finding joy in obituaries
As a man with the instincts of an insurgent, Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, has found Labour’s first six months in office a frustrating time, writes The Spectator’s editor Michael G…
00:47:44 |
Thu 06 Feb 2025
Americano: Will Trump make Gaza great again?
When Netanyahu visited the White House, Donald Trump said in a press conference that the US could take over the Gaza Strip and suggested the permanent resettlement of its 1.8 million residents to nei…
00:20:25 |
Wed 05 Feb 2025
The Book Club: Under A Metal Sky
My guest in this week's Book Club podcast is Philip Marsden, whose new book Under A Metal Sky: A Journey Through Minerals, Greed and Wonder looks in thrilling and surprising detail at the wonders tha…
00:33:30 |
Wed 05 Feb 2025
Coffee House Shots: Reform in 'poll' position
It's happened. Reform are now ahead of Labour, according to a voting intention poll by YouGov. Reform leads the landmark poll with 25 points, with Labour languishing all the way down in second place …
00:12:52 |
Tue 04 Feb 2025
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