Best of the Spectator The Spectator
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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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Americano: Should America have a Monarch?
Freddy Gray talks to writer and philosopher Curtis Yarvin about how Alexander Hamilton was America's Napoleon, why Putin is more of a royal than King Charles, and why Yarvin admires FDR.
Yarvin is voting for Joe Biden at the next election, but not for the reasons you might think. Could Biden 2024 strengthen the case for American isolationism?
Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Megan McElroy. -
Americano: What's this revolution really about?
Freddy Gray speaks to the journalist Nellie Bowles about her new book: Morning after the Revolution: Dispatches from the wrong side of History. As someone who had fit into the progressive umbrella, her book recounts issues that arose when she started to question the nature of the movement itself.
Freddy and Nellie discuss the challenges of the progressive-conservative divide, bias within the media, and whether privilege is America's version of the class system.
Produced by Patrick Gibbons. -
Spectator Out Loud: Slavoj Zizek, Angus Colwell, Svitlana Morenets, Cindy Yu, and Philip Hensher
On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Philosopher Slavoj Zizek takes us through his diary including his Britney Spears Theory of Action (1:08); Angus Colwell reports from the front line of the pro-Palestinian student protests (8:09); Svitlana Morenets provides an update on what’s going on in Georgia, where tensions between pro-EU and pro-Russian factions are heading to a crunch point (13:51); Cindy Yu analyses President Xi’s visit to Europe and asks whether the Chinese leader can keep his few European allies on side (20:52); and, Philip Hensher proposes banning fun runs as a potential vote winner (26:01).
Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson. -
Women With Balls: Lisa Cameron
Lisa Cameron was born in Glasgow and grew up in East Kilbride, the constituency she now represents. After three elections under the SNP, she memorably defected to the Scottish Conservatives in 2023. At the time, Humza Yousaf described it as the least surprising news he’d had since becoming first minister.
On the podcast, Lisa tells Katy about the need for increased investment into mental health provision, her defection from the SNP to the Tories and why Scottish independence is a failed experiment. -
The Edition: how universities raised a generation of activists
This week:
On Monday, tents sprung up at Oxford and Cambridge as part of a global, pro-Palestinian student protest which began at Columbia University. In his cover piece, Yascha Mounk, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, explains how universities in both the US and the UK have misguidedly harboured and actively encouraged absurdist activism on campuses. Yascha joined the podcast to discuss further. (01:57)
Next: Bugs, biscuits, trench foot: a dispatch from the front line of the protests. The Spectator’s Angus Colwell joined students at tent encampments this week at UCL, Oxford and Cambridge. He found academics joining in with the carnival atmosphere. At Cambridge one don even attended with their baby in tow. ‘Peaceful protest? Rubbish it does nothing,’ a UCL student tells him. ‘Zionist attitudes start young, and we need our institutions to correct that. None of us are free until all of us are free, until Zionism is gone.’ One Jewish UCL student claims they were spat at by protestors ‘who told us to go back to Poland’. As part of his research, Angus sat down with Anwar, a spokesperson for the protestors at University College London and he sent us that conversation, which you can hear on the podcast. (17:34)
Then: Lara and Will take us through some of their favourite pieces from the magazine, including Philip Hensher’s Life column and James Delingpole’s review of Shardlake on Disney +.
And finally: should we take Beryl Cook more seriously? In his arts lead for the magazine this week, Julian Spalding writes about Beryl Cook whose unique art is celebrated by many as an exuberant take on everyday life. However she is often looked down upon within the art establishment. To coincide with a new exhibition of her work at Studio Voltaire we thought we would reappraise her legacy with Julian and Rachel Campbell-Johnston, former chief art critic at the Times. (29:44)
Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson. -
The Book Club: Jackie Kay
This week, my guest on the Book Club podcast is the poet Jackie Kay, whose magnificent new book May Day combines elegy and celebration. She tells me about her adoptive parents – a communist trade unionist and a leading figure in CND – and growing up in a household where teenage rebellion could mean going to church. We also discuss her beginnings as a poet, her debt to Robbie Burns and Angela Davis and how grief itself can be a form of protest.
Customer Reviews
Great show
Really interesting show.
Norman Ornstein may have reached peak TDS… that’s academia these days.
The left are becoming hysterical.
One of the better podcasts
Always well moderated, intelligent and informed guest commentators, and easily the most accessible & rational overview of the current American primaries. I listen as soon as I see a new episode has dropped.
The Voice
Good analysis. Yes, both YES and NO despair at the ongoing clash of cultures in remote areas. Living as virtual museum pieces, on country, cannot be the way forward for Aboriginal people in an ongoing clash of cultures. Colonialism is often touted as the bogey man but it’s about a clash with modernism. Australian referendum have only passed eight out of 44 times and need bipartisan support. The 1967 referendum passed with 90% approval and that related to a fair go for Aboriginals. Mr Albanese has a lot to answer for. The question he tells us is about an “advisory” body but we can never predict what the High Court may say when, not if, the powers of this body challenged by activist lawyers. I don’t want the High Court interpreting in a way that makes law. The words do not say it is an advisory body.