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: 2369
Years Active: 2016 - 2025

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Changing times: can companies really transform themselves?

It’s fair to say that the tobacco industry is one of the most controversial ones out there, with the phrase ‘Big Tobacco’ almost a meme, a shorthand for unscrupulous business practices. No wonder the…

00:35:11 | Wed 30 Nov 2022

An ageing population and a life of learning

As Britons live longer and the population ages, society will soon have to rethink what it means to be of ‘working age’. Training and learning will have to be offered to older age groups who are healt…

00:32:38 | Tue 29 Nov 2022

Chinese Whispers: where China's protests go next

Comparisons with 1989’s Tiananmen Square protests are too often evoked when it comes to talking about civil disobedience in China. Even so, this weekend’s protests have been historic. It’s the first …

00:40:20 | Tue 29 Nov 2022

Spectator Out Loud: James Heale, Lionel Shriver and Tangil Rashid

This week: James Heale reads his interview with former Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs George Eustice (00:50), Lionel Shriver asks what's the price of fairness (05:38), and…

00:22:40 | Sat 26 Nov 2022

The Edition: the red line

On this week's podcast:

Could China be the key to peace in Ukraine?

In his cover piece for the magazine this week Owen Matthews reveals the covert but decisive role China is playing in the Ukraine war.…

00:37:39 | Thu 24 Nov 2022

James Heale and Sebastian Payne: Out of the Blue and The Fall of Boris Johnson

In this week’s Book Club podcast, I’m talking to two of the brave souls who turn recent political dramas into the sort of quickly written books we might call the second draft of history. I’m joined b…

00:41:07 | Wed 23 Nov 2022

Americano: should Twitter pay Trump to tweet?

Freddy Gray talks to the comedian and media and culture editor of American Greatness Tim Young, about Twitter, Donald Trump and the Republican race for president in 2024.

Hosted on Acast. See acast…

00:15:49 | Mon 21 Nov 2022

Spectator Out Loud: Paul Wood, Mary Wakefield and Melissa Kite

This week: Paul Wood writes about meeting Syria’s underground drug lords (0:30) Mary Wakefield warns us of the perils of psychoactive drug therapy (10:30) and Melissa Kite defends her friend who has …

00:22:26 | Sat 19 Nov 2022

Women With Balls: Emma Sayle

Emma Sayle is the founder and CEO of Killing Kittens, a sexually liberated social network where women come first. She grew up in a military family, and when not in boarding school, Emma would visit h…

00:29:07 | Fri 18 Nov 2022

The Edition: the squeeze

This week:

How long will the pain last?

The Spectator's economics editor Kate Andrews asks this in her cover piece this week, reflecting on Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt's autumn statement. She joins the…

00:39:36 | Thu 17 Nov 2022

The Book Club: Edward Mendelson

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is Edward Mendelson, who with the publication of the Complete Poems of W H Auden in two volumes now sets the crown on more than half a century of scholarship…

00:41:23 | Wed 16 Nov 2022

Michael Shellenberger: What Just Stop Oil gets wrong and COP27 corruption

With climate activists around the world vandalising great works by Monet, van Gogh and Goya, Winston speaks with environmentalist, conservationist and pro-nuclear activist Michael Shellenberger. They…

01:03:32 | Tue 15 Nov 2022

Chinese Whispers: are China's internal migrants second class citizens?

When the city of Zhengzhou, home to the world’s largest iPhone factory, locked down recently, some of its factory workers had nowhere to go. Hoping to escape Covid restrictions, many of them walked m…

00:40:10 | Mon 14 Nov 2022

Spectator Out Loud: Isabel Hardman, Matthew Parris, Graeme Thomson and Caroline Moore

This week: Isabel Hardman asks how Ed Miliband is the power behind Kier Starmer's Labour (00:57), Matthew Parris says we've lost interest in our dependencies (05:03), Graeme Thomson mourns the loss o…

00:21:19 | Sat 12 Nov 2022

Americano: could Georgia decide the midterms?

This week Freddy is joined by Matt McDonald, US managing editor of The Spectator, who is covering the midterms from Georgia. What will the result of the run-off be there and could this decide who tak…

00:29:45 | Fri 11 Nov 2022

The Edition: Midterm madness

On the podcast:

In his cover piece for the magazine, The Spectator's deputy editor Freddy Gray says the only clear winner from the US midterms is paranoia. He is joined by The Spectator's economics ed…

00:37:09 | Thu 10 Nov 2022

The Book Club: Christopher de Hamel

My guest in this week's Book Club Podcast is Christopher de Hamel, author of the new The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club. He tells me about the enduring fascination of illuminated manuscrip…

00:41:16 | Wed 09 Nov 2022

Table Talk: Melissa Thompson

Melissa Thompson is an award-winning food writer and cook who started a supper club, serving Japanese food in her front room in 2014.

In September 2022, Melissa released her debut cookbook, Motherland…

00:30:34 | Tue 08 Nov 2022

Spectator Out Loud: Mark Galeotti, Katja Hoyer and Tanya Gold

This week: Mark Galeotti tells us why Ukraine has become a weapons testing ground (00:53), Katja Hoyer discusses Germany’s extreme monarchists (09:12), and Tanya Gold reads her Notes on … espressos (…

00:18:33 | Sat 05 Nov 2022

Americano: Will Covid lockdowns affect the midterm vote?

Freddy Gray talks to the journalist David Marcus, author of Charade: The Covid Lies That Crushed A Nation, ahead of the midterms.