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
- 2368
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
The Edition: the dangers of political prosecution
This week: the usual targets
First: Trump is on trial again – and America is bored rather than scandalised. This is his 91st criminal charge and his supporters see this as politicised prosecution. As …
First: Trump is on trial again – and America is bored rather than scandalised. This is his 91st criminal charge and his supporters see this as politicised prosecution. As …
00:31:03 |
Thu 18 Apr 2024
The Book Club: Percival Everett
On this week’s Book Club podcast I’m joined by Percival Everett, who has followed up his Booker-shortlisted The Trees with James, a novel that reimagines the story of The Adventures of Huckleberry Fi…
00:22:23 |
Wed 17 Apr 2024
Liz Truss on who really runs Britain
It's now 18 months since Liz Truss left Downing Street. She has written a memoir, Ten Years to Save the West, which records her political career since first becoming a cabinet minister. In her first …
00:53:11 |
Tue 16 Apr 2024
Chinese Whispers: Was Marco Polo a 'sexpat'?
When I recently came across a book review asking the question ‘was Marco Polo a "sexpat"?’, I knew I had to get its author on to, well, discuss this important question some more. The 13th century Ven…
00:24:55 |
Mon 15 Apr 2024
Spectator Out Loud: Matthew Parris, Laurie Graham, Rachel Johnson, Laura Gascoigne and Angus Colwell
This week: Matthew Parris questions what's left to say about the Tories (00:57), Laurie Graham discusses her struggle to see a GP (07:35), Rachel Johnson makes the case against women only clubs (13:3…
00:32:21 |
Sat 13 Apr 2024
Americano: will abortion decide the 2024 election?
This week, the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated a law from 1864 that bans nearly all abortions in the state. But where do Trump and Biden stand on abortion, and will it be a deciding factor in the 20…
00:33:24 |
Fri 12 Apr 2024
Women With Balls: Laura Farris
Laura Farris comes from something of a political dynasty, both her father and uncle were MPs. The former even represented the same Newbury seat that she currently holds. She studied PPE at Oxford bef…
00:31:02 |
Fri 12 Apr 2024
The Edition: will Biden support Ukraine’s attacks on Russia?
This week: will Biden support Ukraine’s attacks on Russia?
Owen Matthews writes the cover piece in light of the Zelensky drone offensive. Ukraine’s most successful strategy to date has been its ingeni…
Owen Matthews writes the cover piece in light of the Zelensky drone offensive. Ukraine’s most successful strategy to date has been its ingeni…
00:45:33 |
Thu 11 Apr 2024
Americano: why did Mike Johnson snub David Cameron?
Today Freddy is joined by Sarah Elliott, senior advisor for the US-UK special relationship unit at the Legatum Institute. They discuss Lord Cameron's visit to America this week and the news that spea…
00:24:04 |
Wed 10 Apr 2024
The Book Club: Dorian Lynskey
In this week’s Book Club podcast my guest is Dorian Lynskey. In his new book Everything Must Go, Dorian looks at the way humans have imagined the end of the world from the Book of Revelations to the …
00:39:59 |
Wed 10 Apr 2024
Americano: What's Biden's strategy in the Middle East?
Suspected Israeli air strikes were launched on targets in Syria this week and Israel's war in Gaza has entered its seventh month. Americano regular Jacob Heilbrunn joins Freddy to discuss what an esc…
00:23:31 |
Sat 06 Apr 2024
Spectator Out Loud: James Heale, Madeleine Teahan, Tanya Gold and William Moore
On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: James Heale suggests that the London mayoral race could be closer than we think (1:02); Madeleine Teahan argues that babies with down’s syndrome have a right to be …
00:22:49 |
Sat 06 Apr 2024
The Edition: The Starmer supremacy
On the podcast this week: what could achieving a large majority at the next election mean for Labour; how much should parents worry about picky eating; and why are humans fascinated with the apocalyp…
00:39:45 |
Thu 04 Apr 2024
The Book Club: Annie Jacobsen
My guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the investigative reporter Annie Jacobsen, whose hair-raising new book Nuclear War: A Scenario imagines – minute by minute – what would unfold if the nucl…
00:45:13 |
Wed 03 Apr 2024
Chinese Whispers: what China's hackers want
Over the last week the UK has been rocked by allegations that China was responsible for two cyber attacks in recent years – one on the Electoral Commission, where hackers successfully accessed the op…
00:26:30 |
Sun 31 Mar 2024
Spectator Out Loud: Sophie Winkleman, Svitlana Morenets, Candida Crewe and Ysenda Maxtone Graham
This week: Sophie Winkleman tells us why she's fighting to ban smartphones for children (01:01), Svitlana Morenets details how Ukraine plans to revive its birthrate (05:52), Candida Crewe laments the…
00:27:59 |
Sat 30 Mar 2024
Americano: what's happening in the Darien Gap?
Freddy is joined by evolutionary biologist and host of The DarkHorse Podcast Bret Weinstein. They discuss the Darien Gap, an area of Panama which has become a focal point for America's migrant crisis…
00:39:04 |
Fri 29 Mar 2024
Women With Balls: Anne Jenkin
Anne Jenkin was born in Essex to quite the political family, three of her grandparents were in the House of Lords, and two of them in the Commons as well. Her career in Westminster began in the 1970s…
00:32:48 |
Fri 29 Mar 2024
The Edition: Easter special
This week: how forgiveness was forgotten, why the secular tide might be turning, and looking for romance at the British museum.
Up first: The case of Frank Hester points to something deep going on in…
Up first: The case of Frank Hester points to something deep going on in…
00:35:35 |
Thu 28 Mar 2024
The Book Club: Viet Thanh Nguyen
In this week's Book Club podcast my guest is the Pulitzer prize winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, whose new book is the memoir A Man of Two Faces. He tells me about the value of trauma to literatur…
00:42:52 |
Wed 27 Mar 2024
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