Episodes

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

    Spectator Out Loud: Matthew Parris, Joanna Bell, Peter Frankopan, Mary Wakefield and Flora Watkins
    Nov 23 2024
    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.
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    38 mins
  • Americano: the ‘experts’ who enabled RFK Jr’s rise

    Americano: the ‘experts’ who enabled RFK Jr’s rise
    Nov 22 2024
    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.
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    22 mins
  • The Edition: Streeting vs Starmer, medical misinformation & the surprising history of phallic graffiti

    The Edition: Streeting vs Starmer, medical misinformation & the surprising history of phallic graffiti
    Nov 21 2024
    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 Indian academic Dr Alka Pande (30:50).

    Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.

    Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
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    43 mins
  • The Book Club: Josh Cohen

    The Book Club: Josh Cohen
    Nov 20 2024
    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
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    38 mins
  • Americano: what is Trump 2.0 going to do with the world?

    Americano: what is Trump 2.0 going to do with the world?
    Nov 20 2024
    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.
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    26 mins
  • Table Talk: Julian Metcalfe, founder of Itsu

    Table Talk: Julian Metcalfe, founder of Itsu
    Nov 19 2024
    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.
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    28 mins
  • Americano: Douglas Murray on Elon Musk - will he make America great again?

    Americano: Douglas Murray on Elon Musk - will he make America great again?
    Nov 18 2024
    As Donald Trump selects his new cabinet, Elon Musk has been chosen to head up the new efficiency department. Douglas Murray, Spectator columnist, joins Americano host Freddy Gray to discuss. How will their relationship shape Trump’s presidency? What will Musk’s ownership of X, formerly Twitter, mean for free speech? And will their newfound friendship last the stretch of Donald Trump’s second term?
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    27 mins
  • Taxes, tariffs and Trump: What lies ahead for Labour?

    Taxes, tariffs and Trump: What lies ahead for Labour?
    Nov 17 2024
    The Spectator's Michael Gove, Katy Balls, and Kate Andrews are joined by Paul Abberley, Chief Executive of Charles Stanley, to discuss and unpack Labour's first budget in 14 years. Now the dust has settled from the policies, key questions continue to arise. Can Labour create the growth it desperately needs? Why are farmers so upset with the budget? And can they define a working person yet?
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    1 hr and 2 mins