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.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 33 minutes
- Episodes
- 2370
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
The Edition: The house mafia
This week…Why should the first time buyer be so scared of new builds? (00:36)
Plus… will the catholic church come to the defence of the word mother? (09:33)
And finally… Why does it take so long to un…
00:29:02 |
Thu 24 Jun 2021
The Book Club: Richard Ovenden on the burning of books
Sam's guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the chief librarian of Oxford's Bodleian Library, Richard Ovenden. In Burning The Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack, he explores the long hist…
00:50:37 |
Wed 23 Jun 2021
Can Britain ever build its own Silicon Valley?
A few weeks ago, a company called Darktrace - put together by computer programmers in London and Cambridge - floated on the London Stock Exchange. It was valued at over £2 billion. It’s a pretty good…
00:35:57 |
Wed 23 Jun 2021
Table Talk: with Calum Franklin
Calum Franklin is executive head chef at Holborn Dining Room, and an internationally renowned pie-maker (dubbed 'The Pie King' by Jamie Oliver). On the episode, he talks to Lara Prendergast and Olivi…
00:24:44 |
Tue 22 Jun 2021
Spectator Out Loud: Katy Balls, Laura Freeman, Adam Sisman
On this week's episode, Katy Balls warns Boris what a pattern of delay could mean for his Premiership. (01:08) After, Laura Freeman takes us on a guided tour of politicians' chosen paintings (07:05) …
00:22:39 |
Sat 19 Jun 2021
Americano: What does Putin think of Joe Biden?
Freddy Gray talks to the Spectator's Russia correspondent Owen Matthews about relations between the two presidents.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
00:17:11 |
Fri 18 Jun 2021
The Edition: The new leviathan
It seems we are in a new President/Prime Minister alliance of big government spending, should we be excited or concerned? (00:44) Also on the podcast: Are the UK tabloids going woke? (15:00)? And in …
00:48:44 |
Thu 17 Jun 2021
The Book Club: Charles Spencer on Henry I's lost ship
This week's Book Club podcast guest is Charles Spencer, whose book The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I's Dream is new out in paperback. On the pod tells Sam Leith why his st…
00:34:52 |
Wed 16 Jun 2021
Chinese Whispers: has economic engagement with China failed?
Exactly 20 years ago, China acceded to the World Trade Organisation. In the decades since, the globalised world became what we know today, with hundreds of millions of Chinese and people around the w…
00:39:13 |
Mon 14 Jun 2021
Spectator Out Loud: Max Pemberton, Andrew Watts, Ysenda Maxtone Graham
On this week's episode, Dr Max Pemberton explains that while just as many people are seeing their GP as before the pandemic, something has changed. (00:55) After, Andrew Watts argues that you shouldn…
00:20:20 |
Sat 12 Jun 2021
Women With Balls: Polly Morgan
Polly Morgan is an artist whose trade is taxidermy. She recently won the First Plinth Award, and in her time has sold to celebrity clients including Kate Moss and Courtney Love. On the podcast, she t…
00:34:14 |
Fri 11 Jun 2021
The Edition: The third wave
Experts are saying we are now officially in a third wave but how concerned should we be? (00:56) Also on the podcast: What will the mood be like when Boris meets Biden (14:33)? And are UFOs no longer…
00:39:19 |
Thu 10 Jun 2021
The Book Club: Lawrence Wright on why Covid was a catastrophe for America
In this week's Book Club podcast, Sam Leith's guest is one of America's foremost magazine journalists, the New Yorker's Lawrence Wright. His new book is The Plague Year: America In The Time of Covid.…
00:36:20 |
Wed 09 Jun 2021
Table Talk: With Craig Brown
Craig Brown is an awarding winning critic, satirist and former restaurant reviewer. His most recent book One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time, won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.
On the …
00:24:28 |
Tue 08 Jun 2021
Spectator Out Loud: Chris Daw, Lionel Shriver and Sam Russell
On this episode: Chris Daw QC on the blame game that surrounds the Hillsborough disaster and why it's time to move on (01:00); Lionel Shriver suggests we should just give Scottish nationalists what t…
00:21:16 |
Sat 05 Jun 2021
Americano: will we ever know where Covid came from?
What was once dismissed by the mainstream media as a right wing conspiracy theory, seems to have made its transition, into credible possibility. It now seems very plausible that COVID came from a Chi…
00:34:08 |
Fri 04 Jun 2021
The Edition: Broken Trust
Why is the National Trust in crisis, and can it be fixed? (00:55) Plus, is there going to be a ‘fake meat’ revolution? (14:15) And finally, should wedding readings stick to the classics or is it acce…
00:33:13 |
Thu 03 Jun 2021
Lauren Hough: Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing
In this week’s Book Club podcast Sam's guest is Lauren Hough - author of an outstanding new collection of autobiographical essays called Leaving Isn’t The Hardest Thing which describe a life that too…
00:29:22 |
Wed 02 Jun 2021
Chinese Whispers: what is it like to be a journalist in China?
What is it like to be a journalist in China? There are obvious restrictions on freedom of speech, but, as Cindy Yu finds out on this episode, there are creative ways to navigate the strict system of …
00:38:27 |
Mon 31 May 2021
Spectator Out Loud: Lisa Bjurwald, Douglas Murray and Stuart Jeffries
On this week's episode, Lisa Bjurwald reports on the Swedish monarchy going woke (01:20); Douglas Murray argues that the culture wars fit the UK even less well than the US (07:00); and Stuart Jeffrie…
00:29:18 |
Sat 29 May 2021
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