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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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Chinese Whispers: what's behind the Chinese migrant surge at the Darien Gap?

The Darien Gap is a 60 mile stretch of jungle that hundreds of thousands of migrants from all over South America trek through in order to reach the US-Mexico border. From there, they enter America in search of better lives. These are usually migrants from Venezuela, or Colombia or Panama. But in recent years, a new group of people have appeared at the border, having paid people smugglers and hacked through the jungle. They often bring young children, clutch on to smartphones with which they check their routes, and watch social media videos that set out, step by step, the journey they are embarking on. These are the Chinese, which in the last two years have been the fastest growing group of migrants being encountered at America’s southern border – over 37,000 last year, up from under 4,000 the year before. This year, there have already been over 21,000. What brings them, and how unusual is this method of emigration when it comes to people from China? On this podcast are Professor Meredith Oyen, an expert on US-China migration, and Amy Hawkins, senior China correspondent at the Guardian, who has come across a similar phenomenon on Europe’s borders.

23 min
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Women With Balls: Claire Ainsley

Claire Ainsley is a stalwart of left-wing politics. Formerly an executive director at social change organisation the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, she is currently leading a project on the renewal of the centre-left at the Progressive Policy Institute. Her first book, The New Working Class: How to Win Hearts, Minds and Votes, brought her to the attention of the Labour leadership. Not long after Keir Starmer’s successful leadership bid, she was invited to join him as Executive Director of Policy, a position she held for over two years. On the podcast, Claire talks to Katy Balls about her journey on the left, from a Labour-supporting family to radical university politics and then to a more moderate position. They discuss the changing dynamics of the left and how to define ‘working class’, how her book came about because of the Clacton by-election, and her reflections on British politics following the election. Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

42 min
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Spectator Out Loud: Matthew Parris, Joanna Bell, Peter Frankopan, Mary Wakefield and Flora Watkins

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: pondering AI, Matthew Parris wonders if he is alone in thinking (1:10); Joanna Bell meets the leader of the Independent Ireland party, Michael Collins, ahead of the Irish general election later this month (8:41); Professor Peter Frankopan argues that the world is facing a new race to rule the seas (17:31); Mary Wakefield reviews Rod Dreher’s new book Living in wonder: finding mystery and meaning in a secular age (28:47); and, Flora Watkins looks at the Christmas comeback of Babycham (34:10). Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

38 min
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Americano: the ‘experts’ who enabled RFK Jr’s rise

The nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr to be secretary of health and human services in the second Trump administration has horrified ‘experts’. A left-wing Democrat who admires the late Venezuelan Marxist dictator Hugo Chavez, hates big business, rails against the ultra-processed food that Donald Trump likes to eat and wants climate sceptics jailed. But in the magazine this week Matt Ridley explains how the experts who now bash him have contributed in putting him where is, and that official Covid misinformation has contributed to his rise. So what could he do in office? Will he release these Covid files? Matt joins Freddy to discuss.

22 min
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The Edition: Streeting vs Starmer, medical misinformation & the surprising history of phallic graffiti

This week: Wild Wes. Ahead of next week’s vote on whether to legalise assisted dying, Health Secretary Wes Streeting is causing trouble for Keir Starmer, writes Katy Balls in the magazine this week. Starmer has been clear that he doesn’t want government ministers to be too outspoken on the issue ahead of a free vote in Parliament. But Streeting’s opposition is well-known. How much of a headache is this for Starmer? And does this speak to wider ambitions that Wes might have? Katy joins the podcast to discuss, alongside Labour MP Steve Race. Steve explains why he plans to vote in favour of the change in the law next week (00:57). Then: how concerned should we be about medical misinformation? President-elect Donald Trump has announced vaccine sceptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services in the US. In the magazine this week, Matt Ridley explains that it’s not the man himself that’s as interesting, as the reasons how he has ended up in such a position: scientific misinformation has fuelled his rise. So how concerned should we be about medical misinformation? Firstly, Matt joined the podcast to explain his thesis and why reactions to the covid pandemic are to blame (16:24). Later, Sander van der Linden, professor of social psychology at the University of Cambridge, also joins the podcast to discuss his concerns and how susceptible we are here in Britain to misinformation (23:46). And finally: did you know that crude graffiti has a storied history? Harry Mount examines the notorious penis gang that has appeared in Dulwich, daubing penises across trees. Whatever you think of such graffiti, scribbling phalluses, and even erotic art, are actually as old as time – from ancient Rome to India. What’s the line between graffiti and erotic art? And should Westerners be less prudish when confronted with these images? Harry joins the podcast alongside academic, and author of Pha(bu)llus: A Cultural History, Dr Alka Pande (30:50). Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast. Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

43 min
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The Book Club: Josh Cohen

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is the psychoanalyst and writer Josh Cohen. With anger seemingly the default condition of our time, Josh’s new book All The Rage: Why Anger Drives the World seeks to unpick where anger comes from, what it does to us, and how it might function in the human psyche as a dark twin of the impulses we think of as love. Photo credit: Charlotte Speechley

38 min
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Americano: what is Trump 2.0 going to do with the world?

Freddy Gray sits down with Jacob Heilbrunn, a longstanding friend of Americano to discuss Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to send long range missiles into Russia, how significant this decision is ahead of an incoming Trump administration, and what the rest of foreign policy could look like with Trump.

26 min
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Table Talk: Julian Metcalfe, founder of Itsu

Julian Metcalfe is a British entrepreneur and one of the most influential individuals on the London high street. He revolutionised the grab-and-go lunchtime food industry in 1986 by co-founding Pret and did the same again in 1997 when he commercialised Japanese cuisine with the first Itsu. On the podcast, he tells Liv and Lara about the influence of his Ukrainian mother; why he decided to start Itsu, in many ways a competitor to Pret; what he thinks is the future of the grab-and-go industry; and why uni is the ultimate comfort food.

28 min

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I need views from the other side

30/03/2023

Borderd Gothic

I could not get the feeling out of my mind that Eva Vlaardingerbroek did not sound credible, I could be completely wrong. I really needed the views from the side. Maybe you can do that on another show I would be interested.
Re US election

12 nov

RosiePKR

Utterly pompous misogynistic review by Freddie gray. You have spent too long at mar e lago and you perspective has been skewed…
Ghoulishly unintentionally funny

17 jun

angrylf

Some of their episodes will have you laughing out loud at their obtuse, self involved obliviousness as to how the economy and culture etc. actually run - truly a bunch of princes and princesses high up in their ivory towers confounded by the ghastly vulgarity of the masses - and yes, they are in ivory towers and they don’t see the problem with that either! 😆
Great podcast

26 mar

Tjbrowne

I love the perspective brought to listeners , consistently interesting

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.