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
- 2370
- Years Active
- 2016 - 2025
The Book Club: Napoleon's life in gardens and shadows
Sam's guest in this week's Book Club podcast is the writer and critic Ruth Scurr, whose new book marks today's 200th anniversary of Napoleon's death to cast a fresh light on this most written-about o…
00:47:10 |
Wed 05 May 2021
A house for life: building towns for the future
Covid has put a spotlight on housing in Britain - the inequalities, the challenges, but also the opportunities. As what we want out of our homes, offices, and even the high street, changes, public po…
00:30:37 |
Tue 04 May 2021
Chinese Whispers: the right way to respect your elders
The archaic-sounding notion of 'filial piety' has little direct translation into English, but is a deep-rooted part of Chinese culture and ethics. On this episode, I find out about what motivates the…
00:30:20 |
Mon 03 May 2021
The Week in 60 Minutes: Boris's nightmare and lockdown revisited
On this week's episode, Fraser Nelson is joined by Douglas Murray, The Spectator's associate editor; Professor Tim Spector, principal investigator at ZOE; Professor Simon Wood, from the University of…
01:11:03 |
Sun 02 May 2021
Spectator Out Loud: Roddy McDougall, Theo Zenou, Gus Carter and Toby Young
On this week’s episode, Roddy McDougall remembers heroes of the speedway, (01:15) Theo Zanou examines at Stanley Kubrick’s fascination with Napoleon, (07:20) Gus Carter looks at a memorial to everyda…
00:27:39 |
Sat 01 May 2021
Women With Balls: What's the solution to unaffordable housing?
Over the last year of intermittent lockdowns, most of us have spent more time staring at the four walls of our living room than we ever thought possible. One of the biggest factors affecting someone'…
00:28:23 |
Fri 30 Apr 2021
The Edition: The nightmare
In this week’s podcast, ITV's political editor Robert Peston joins our deputy political Katy Balls to talk over this week’s cover story on the maelstrom of mayhem surrounding Boris Johnson. (1:29)
Ne…
Ne…
00:28:14 |
Thu 29 Apr 2021
The Book Club: Richard Dawkins
In this week's Book Club podcast, Sam is joined by Richard Dawkins to talk about his new book Books Do Furnish A Life: Reading and Writing Science. Richard tells Sam - among much else - what makes sc…
00:42:59 |
Wed 28 Apr 2021
Table Talk: With Sebastian de Souza
Sebastian de Souza is an English actor an author. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Olivia about eating too much on set, enjoying cornflakes, double cream and sugar, and writing after a drink. His ne…
00:29:48 |
Tue 27 Apr 2021
The Week in 60 Minutes: Football's cartel and Putin's troops
On this week's episode, Fraser Nelson is joined by Conservative MP and former chancellor Sajid Javid; Dr Jeffrey Barrett from the Wellcome Sanger Institute; former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt; …
00:59:28 |
Sun 25 Apr 2021
Spectator Out Loud: Jonathan Dimbleby, Katja Hoyer and Melissa Kite
On this week's episode, broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby reads his diary (00:55), journalist Katja Hoyer reports on the German Greens and their poll surge (06:25) and Melissa Kite on why she's perfectly…
00:17:15 |
Sat 24 Apr 2021
The Book Club: a feminist reading of Beowulf
Hwaet! Our guest in this week’s Book Club Podcast is Maria Dahvana Headley, whose new book is a translation of the Anglo-Saxon classic Beowulf. She talks to us about how she has produced what she bil…
00:45:24 |
Fri 23 Apr 2021
The Edition: Biden's rodeo
Joe Biden is approaching his first 100 days in office. How has he fared, and has he delivered on his promise to bring about a return to normalcy? (1:15)
Plus, the proposed European Super League wasn’…
00:30:28 |
Thu 22 Apr 2021
What's happening in Minneapolis?
Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who knelt on George Floyd's neck, is currently on trial in Minneapolis. What will the city stay peaceful when the verdict is delivered, do violent viral video…
00:25:41 |
Tue 20 Apr 2021
Chinese Whispers: Do China's intellectual elite support the government?
You might think that in a country as tightly controlled as China, diversity of opinion is hard to come by in written form. But as I find out in this episode, there is a vibrant conversation going on …
00:34:41 |
Mon 19 Apr 2021
The Week in 60 Minutes: Boris's green games & Tory sleaze
On this week's episode, Andrew Neil is joined by Jill Rutter, senior research fellow at UK in a Changing Europe and a former civil servant; Sir Christopher Meyer, former UK ambassador to the United S…
01:04:56 |
Sun 18 Apr 2021
Spectator Out Loud: Ian Williams, Fiona Mountford and Deborah Ross
On this episode, author and journalist Ian Williams starts by looks at how China is using tech to expand its reach. (00:45) Then, Fiona Mountford reflects on how to deal with grief. (12:00) Finally, …
00:23:09 |
Sat 17 Apr 2021
Women With Balls: Nus Ghani
Nusrat Ghani is the Conservative MP for Wealden, having previously served as a transport minister under the May then Johnson governments. On the podcast, she tells Katy Balls about her upbringing und…
00:36:51 |
Fri 16 Apr 2021
The Edition: The green games
What’s behind Boris’s plan for a green bonanza? (01:10) Can the West challenge China in the tech arms race? (14:50) Can the British handle grief? (24:05)
With Katy Balls, The Spectator’s deputy polit…
00:37:19 |
Thu 15 Apr 2021
The Book Club: Victoire
In this week's Book club podcast Sam's guest is Roland Philipps - whose new book Victoire: A Wartime Story of Resistance, Collaboration and Betrayal tells the morally murky and humanly fascinating st…
00:30:10 |
Wed 14 Apr 2021
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