The Edition

Oct 24 2024 314 ep. 38 mins 3.4k

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The Spectator's flagship podcast featuring discussions and debates on the best features from the week's edition. Presented by Lara Prendergast and William Moore.

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Cambridge in crisis, Trump’s wicked humour & the beauty of AI ceramics

Oct 24 2024 52 mins

This week: Decline and Fall – how our greatest universities are betraying students. Our greatest universities are betraying students, writes David Butterfield, who has just resigned from teaching Classics at Cambridge after 21 years. What went wrong? First, class lists of exam results became private, under alleged grounds of ‘data protection’, which snuffed out much of the

Reeves's gambit, a debate on assisted dying & queer life in postwar Britain

Oct 17 2024 52 mins

This week: the Chancellor’s Budget dilemma. ‘As a former championship chess player, Rachel Reeves must know that the first few moves can be some of the most important of the game,’ writes Rupert Harrison – former chief of staff to George Osborne – for the cover of the magazine this week. But, he says, the truth is that she has played herself into a corner ahead of this m

Labour’s China pivot, Yvette Cooper’s extremism crackdown & the ladies who punch

Oct 10 2024 48 mins

Successive governments have struggled with how to deal with China, balancing them as a geopolitical rival yet necessary trade partner. Recent moves from Labour have sent mixed signals, from the free speech act to the return of the Chagos Islands. Further decisions loom on the horizon. As Rachel Reeves seeks some economic wiggle room, can Labour resist the lure of the Chinese market

Israel's revenge, farewell Fraser & the demise of invitations

Oct 03 2024 37 mins

This week: Israel’s revenge and Iran’s humiliation. As the anniversary of the October 7th attacks by Hamas approaches, the crisis in the Middle East has only widened. Israel has sent troops into southern Lebanon and there have been attempted missile strikes from the Houthi rebels in Yemen and from Iran. Is there any way the situation can de-escalate? And how could Israel respo

Tory wars, the reality of trail hunting & is Sally Rooney-mania over?

Sep 26 2024 42 mins

This week: who’s on top in the Conservative leadership race? That’s the question Katy Balls asks in the magazine this week as she looks ahead to the Conservative Party conference. Each Tory hopeful will be pitching for the support of MPs and the party faithful ahead of the next round of voting. Who’s got the most to lose, and could there be some sneaky tactics behind the sce

Farage's plan, the ethics of euthanasia & Xi's football failure

Sep 19 2024 44 mins

This week: Nigel’s next target. What’s Reform UK’s plan to take on Labour? Reform UK surpassed expectations at the general election to win 5 MPs. This includes James McMurdock, who Katy interviews for the magazine this week, who only decided to stand at the last moment. How much threat could Reform pose and why has Farage done so well? Katy joins the podcast to discuss, along

Trump’s debate woes, how to catch a paedo & the politics of the hotel breakfast buffet

Sep 12 2024 38 mins

This week: The US election is back on a knife-edge. Republicans hoped this week’s debate would expose Kamala Harris’s weaknesses. ‘They forgot that, when it comes to one-on-one intellectual sparring matches with candidates who aren’t senile, Donald Trump is very bad indeed,’ writes Freddy Gray. ‘A skilled politician would have been able to unpick Harris’s act, but T

Miliband's net zero madness, meet Reform’s new poster boy & the plight of the restaurant critic

Sep 05 2024 38 mins

This week: Miliband’s empty energy promises. Ed Miliband has written a public letter confirming that Labour plans to decarbonise the electricity system by 2030. The problem with this, though, is that he doesn’t have the first idea about how to do it. The grid doesn’t have the capacity to transmit the required energy, Ross Clark writes, and Miliband’s claim that wind is ‘n

Alt reich: Is Germany's far right about to go mainstream?

Aug 29 2024 45 mins

This week: Alt reich. The Spectator’s Lisa Haseldine asks if Germany’s far right is about to go mainstream, ahead of regional elections this weekend. Lisa joined the podcast, alongside the historian Katja Hoyer, to discuss why the AfD are polling so well in parts of Germany, and how comparable this is to other trends across Europe (1:13). Then: why are traditional hobbies bein

All hail Harris! Can Kamala bluff her way to the top?

Aug 22 2024 35 mins

This week: All hail Harris! As the Democratic National Convention approaches its climax, The Spectator’s deputy editor Freddy Gray explores vice president Kamala Harris’s remarkable rise to the top of the democratic ticket in his cover article this week. Freddy joins the podcast from Chicago (1:30). Next: live from the DNC. Freddy and Natasha Feroze, The Spectator’s deputy