The Edition The Spectator

On the podcast:

In her cover piece for the magazine, The Spectator's assistant editor Cindy Yu – writing ahead of the COP28 summit this weekend – describes how China has cornered the renewables market. She joins the podcast alongside Akshat Rathi, senior climate reporter for Bloomberg and author of Climate Capitalism: Winning the Global Race to Zero Emissions, to investigate China's green agenda. (01:22)

Also this week:

Margaret Mitchell writes in The Spectator about the uncertainty she is facing around her graduate visa. This is after last week's statistics from the ONS showed that net migration remains unsustainably high, leaving the government under pressure to curb legal migration. Margaret joins the podcast with Michael Simmons, The Spectator’s data editor. (13:07)

And finally: why not eat man’s best friend?

This is the question that Sean Thomas grapples with in his piece for the magazine this week. He writes in light of the news that South Korea aims to ban eating dogs and recalls his experience sampling dog meat in Cambodia. He is joined by The Spectator’s vintage chef, Olivia Potts. (21:42)

Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast. 

Produced by Oscar Edmondson. 

On the podcast:

Anshel Pfeffer writes The Spectator’s cover story this week. He voices concern that support from Israel’s allies might begin to waver if they don’t develop a viable plan after the war finishes. Paul Wood – former BBC foreign correspondent – and Dennis Ross – former Middle East coordinator under President Clinton and advisor to President Obama – join the podcast to debate whether Israel can rely on its allies. (01:18)

Also this week:

In the Books section of the magazine this week we review Andy Stanton’s new book Benny The Blue Whale. It has a fascinating inception and was co-authored by the machine learning tool ChatGPT. Andy is joined by crime author Ajay Chowdhury, who is also known for using AI as a writing tool, to discuss whether AI is the future of fiction. (23:02)

And finally: when is it acceptable to date a widower? 

This is the question that Elisa Segrave ponders in her piece in the magazine. She says that recently bereaved men are much sought after, and joins the podcast alongside Cosmo Landesman, journalist and former dating columnist for the Times. (35:45)

Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William Moore. 

Produced by Oscar Edmondson. 

On the podcast:

It's been a busy week in Westminster. On Monday, Rishi Sunak's first major reshuffle saw Suella Braverman sacked and David Cameron make a surprise return to politics.  Then two days later, the Supreme Court's Rwanda ruling left the government's pledge to 'stop the boats' in tatters. It was meant to be the week in which Rishi Sunak had hoped to stamp his authority on a fracturing party, but it seems to have only added to the narrative of Tory disrepair. Katy Balls writes about Rishi’s last gamble in the magazine this week, and joins the podcast alongside Kate Andrews, The Spectator’s economics editor. (01:01)

Also this week: 

Svitlana Morenets writes a candid account of the current state of the war in Ukraine for The Spectator. After visiting the frontline recently, she concludes that Zelensky needs to start being upfront with the population about the harsh realities on the battlefield and abandon his current line of tactical optimism. She is joined by Owen Matthews, The Spectator’s Russia correspondent, to discuss. (15:05)

And finally: what happened to the golden era of television ? 

Zoe Strimpel writes in the arts section of the magazine this week that after a boom in quality TV starting in the early 2000s, we are now in the televisual dark ages. She joins the podcast alongside James Delingpole, regular television reviewer for The Spectator. (32:51)

Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast. 

Produced by Oscar Edmondson. 

On the podcast:

In his cover piece for The Spectator Ian Acheson discusses the potential disruption to Armistice Day proceedings in London this weekend. He says that Metropolitan Police Chief Mark Rowley is right to let the pro-Palestine protests go ahead, if his officers can assertively enforce the law. He joins the podcast alongside Baroness Claire Fox to discuss the problems of policing protest. 

Next: are smartphones making us care less about humanity? 

This is the question that Mary Wakefield grapples with in her column in The Spectator. She says it’s no wonder that Gen Z lack empathy when they spend most of their lives on social media. She is joined by Gaia Bernstein, author of Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies.

And finally:

Alan Hollinghurst writes this week about Ronald Firbank, the innovative but little known English author who has recently been awarded a blue plaque. In the magazine he sets out the reasons why he is so deserving and is joined alongside The Spectator's literary editor Sam Leith, to discuss further. 

Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast. 

Produced by Oscar Edmondson. 

This week:

The Covid Inquiry has reached its more dramatic stage this week with the likes of Domic Cummings, Lee Cain and Martin Reynolds giving evidence. But in his cover piece for the magazine Carl Heneghan, professor of evidence-based medicine at the University of Oxford and director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, says that the Hallett Inquiry is asking all the wrong questions, and is preoccupied with who said what on WhatsApp. He joins the podcast alongside Tom Whipple, science editor at the Times to go through this week's revelations. (01:43). 

Also this week: will Israel succeed in its stated aims?

In the magazine this week Hugh Lovatt, senior policy fellow at the European Council of Foreign Relations, argues that Israel has misjudged growing support for Hamas throughout the Middle East and underestimates how hard the group will be to eradicate. He joins the podcast to discuss. (17:49). 

And finally:

Fabian Carstairs, who works for The Spectator’s digital team, writes this week about his surprise at finding himself on the Facebook group, 'Are we dating the same guy?' The group aims to highlight ‘red flag men’ in the hope of protecting women. He is joined by Flora Gill, freelance journalist who investigated the group for the Times. (29:25). 

Hosted by William Moore. 

Produced by Oscar Edmondson. 

On the podcast:

In his cover piece for the mag this week, political scientist, Yascha Mounk has written about why identity politics has polarised our understanding of race. And why the left has come to divide groups into oversimplified categories of ‘the oppressors’ and ‘the oppressed’. 

Also this week: 

Can we trust photographs to paint a true picture of a story? The Israel-Palestine conflict has been one of the most documented wars to date. But with AI manipulation and staged imagery, is there a way of differentiating between real and fake news? Bryan Appleyard CBE and Eliot Higgins from Bellingcat discuss.

And finally:

There has been a new rise in Paganism over the past few decades and now students can apply for a degree in Magic and Occult Science – but how scientific really is it? Spectator writer Andrew Watts joins the podcast alongside Oxford PhD student Lois Heslop.