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
- 2366
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
The Edition: Christmas Special 2024 with Rod Liddle, Lionel Shriver, Matthew Parris and Mary Wakefield
Welcome 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…
Up first: our review of the year – and what a year…
01:10:36 |
Thu 12 Dec 2024
The Book Club: Daniel Tammet
In 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 …
00:37:48 |
Wed 11 Dec 2024
Americano: is Assad’s downfall a ‘catastrophic success’?
Over 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 a…
00:42:13 |
Tue 10 Dec 2024
Chinese Whispers: Xi Jinping's PLA purges
More than a year after Xi Jinping purged two senior generals in the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force unit, China’s investigation into its military seems to be ongoing, with more scalps taken. In…
00:35:07 |
Mon 09 Dec 2024
Holy Smoke: Defender of the Faith - how have the King’s religious beliefs changed?
As we approach the end of a uniquely painful year for the Royal Family, the King's trusted biographer, Robert Hardman, joins Damian Thompson to discuss the Monarch’s faith. As Robert recently reveale…
00:30:09 |
Sun 08 Dec 2024
Spectator Out Loud: Alexandra Shulman, Sean Thomas, Matthew Parris, Adrian Dannatt and Philip Hensher
On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Alexandra Shulman reads her fashion notebook (1:13); Sean Thomas asks if a demilitarised zone in Ukraine is inevitable (6:02); Matthew Parris argues against proport…
00:33:48 |
Sat 07 Dec 2024
Coffee House Shots: exclusive interview with Sunak’s chief of staff
In this special edition of Coffee House Shots Katy Balls speaks to Lord Liam Booth-Smith, Rishi Sunak’s former chief of staff.
In his first interview since leaving government: Liam takes us inside Ris…
In his first interview since leaving government: Liam takes us inside Ris…
00:46:29 |
Fri 06 Dec 2024
The Edition: how twee triumphed, Graham Brady on Tory turmoil & celebrating pigs in blankets
This week: are we drowning in a sea of twee?
Gareth Roberts writes the cover article this week, arguing against what he sees as the hideous triviality of our times. ‘The British have lost their aversi…
Gareth Roberts writes the cover article this week, arguing against what he sees as the hideous triviality of our times. ‘The British have lost their aversi…
00:37:08 |
Thu 05 Dec 2024
The Book Club: Jonathan Coe
In this week’s Book Club podcast, my guest is Jonathan Coe, talking about cosy crime, the tug of nostalgia, the joys of satire, and his brilliant new novel, The Proof of My Innocence.
Hosted on Aca…
00:33:05 |
Wed 04 Dec 2024
Table Talk: Richard Madeley
Richard Madeley is a presenter, author and journalist who has been on our screens since the 1980s, most notably presenting This Morning with his wife Judy and more recently on Good Morning Britain.
On…
On…
00:28:00 |
Tue 03 Dec 2024
Coffee House Shots: is Keir Starmer turning into Rishi Sunak?
The government is trailing a major policy speech ahead of Thursday, in which the Prime Minister will set out key 'milestones' that he wants to hit, in terms of healthcare, living standards, the clima…
00:11:22 |
Mon 02 Dec 2024
Innovator of the Year Awards: The winners
On November 7th, the finalists for the 2024 Innovator of the Year Awards joined The Spectator and Rathbones at a gala evening in central London. There, they found out the regional and category winner…
00:15:37 |
Sun 01 Dec 2024
Spectator Out Loud: Kate Andrews, Mark Galeotti, Adrian Pascu-Tulbure, Michael Hann and Olivia Potts
On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Kate Andrews examines the appointment of Scott Bessent as US Treasury Secretary (1:20); Mark Galeotti highlights Putin’s shadow campaign across Europe (7:10); Adria…
00:31:04 |
Sat 30 Nov 2024
Americano: what's going on at Mar-a-Lago?
Freddy Gray is joined by Tara Palmeri, senior political correspondent for Puck. They discuss how the presidential transition is going. Is the breakneck speed with which he appointed his cabinet even …
00:44:54 |
Fri 29 Nov 2024
The Edition: SAS betrayal, the battle for Odesa & in defence of film flops
This week: SAS SOS
The enemy that most concerns Britain’s elite military unit isn’t the IRA, the Taliban or Isis, but a phalanx of lawyers armed with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), wr…
The enemy that most concerns Britain’s elite military unit isn’t the IRA, the Taliban or Isis, but a phalanx of lawyers armed with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), wr…
00:47:31 |
Thu 28 Nov 2024
Coffee House Shots: Boris Johnson on Covid failures, the Nanny State & his advice for ‘Snoozefest’ Starmer
Former prime minister Boris Johnson joins The Spectator’s political editor Katy Balls to divulge the contents of his new book, Unleashed. He reflects on his premiership as PM during the pandemic, des…
00:35:43 |
Thu 28 Nov 2024
Holy Smoke: should assisted dying be legalised?
MPs are set to vote on the legalisation of assisted dying this week, the first such vote in almost a decade. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was tabled by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater and fo…
00:49:07 |
Wed 27 Nov 2024
The Book Club: Nick Harkaway
My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is the novelist Nick Harkaway, whose new book Karla's Choice sees him pick up the mantle of his late father, John le Carré, in writing a new novel set in the…
00:31:34 |
Wed 27 Nov 2024
Americano: John Bolton on Trump's 'crackpot' cabinet
John Bolton has served under both Republican administrations of the 21st century: first as US Ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush, and then under Donald Trump where he was – surpris…
00:20:04 |
Tue 26 Nov 2024
Chinese Whispers: what's behind the Chinese migrant surge at the Darien Gap?
The Darien Gap is a 60 mile stretch of jungle that hundreds of thousands of migrants from all over South America trek through in order to reach the US-Mexico border. From there, they enter America in…
00:22:50 |
Mon 25 Nov 2024
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