Best of the Spectator

By: The Spectator
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  • Summary

  • 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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Episodes
  • Coffee House Shots: have we been too quick to judge Kemi Badenoch?

    Coffee House Shots: have we been too quick to judge Kemi Badenoch?
    Dec 27 2024
    Kemi Badenoch is just over a month into her tenure as leader of the opposition, and already she has been criticised for her performances at PMQs and for failing to offer much in the way of policy proposals. It has been a consistent gripe of many of Badenoch’s detractors that she is a culture warrior or a one-trick pony. However, we might get a better idea of what the Conservatives will look like in the new year once her series of policy commissions get under way. So, how will she position her party? And, as countries around the world turn rightward, can she wrestle herself into conversations with Trump and the like?

    Oscar Edmondson speaks to Katy Balls and Paul Goodman, former editor of Conservative Home.

    Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
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    19 mins
  • The Edition: Best of 2024, with Dominic Sandbrook, Mary Beard and Harriet Harman

    The Edition: Best of 2024, with Dominic Sandbrook, Mary Beard and Harriet Harman
    Dec 26 2024
    This week is a special episode of the podcast where we are looking back on some of our favourite pieces from the magazine over the past year and revisiting some of the conversations we had around them.

    First up: the Starmer supremacy

    Let’s start with undoubtedly the biggest news of the year: Starmer’s supermajority and the first Labour government in 14 years. In April, we spoke to Katy Balls and Harriet Harman about just what a supermajority could mean for Keir Starmer. Listening back, it’s an incredibly interesting discussion to revisit. The aim of Katy’s piece was to communicate the internal problems that could arise from such a sweeping victory and, crucially, how Starmer might manage a historic cohort of backbenchers. One MP who knows about adjusting to life in government after a supermajority is Harriet Harman, former leader of the Labour party and a member of Tony Blair’s first cabinet. (01:51)

    Reflections from the editor’s chair

    The change in No. 10 Downing Street is, of course, not the only notable shake-up in Westminster this year. Fraser Nelson stepped down as editor of The Spectator in September after 15 years of wielding the editor’s pen, with 784 issues to his name. We sat down with him on his final day in the office to reflect on his time at 22 Old Queen Street. (08:31)

    Do historians talk down to children?

    In June, Mary Wakefield dedicated her column to this very question. She wrote about her experience trying to find engaging and challenging history books for her 8-year-old and compared the dumbed-down, one-dimensional version of history portrayed in modern children’s books with the classic Ladybird books of the 1960s. She joined the podcast to discuss this with Dominic Sandbrook, author of the Adventures in Time children’s book series and host of The Rest is History podcast. (17:18)

    Are ultra-processed foods really so bad?

    On The Edition podcast, we enjoy a fiery debate, and none was more heated than our discussion on ultra-processed foods. This debate, between columnist Matthew Parris and Christoffer van Tulleken, associate professor at UCL and author of the bestselling book Ultra-Processed People, took place in May. It was sparked by Matthew’s column on the myths surrounding ultra-processed foods—foods engineered to be hyper-palatable and typically containing preservatives, emulsifiers, sweeteners, artificial colours, flavours, and so on. Such additives are widely considered detrimental to our health. Matthew says we shouldn’t be worried, but we’ll let you decide. (29:10)

    By whose values should we judge the past?

    On the podcast, we showcase articles from across the magazine—from the front half to the life pages, to books and arts. One of the most intriguing books of the year was Joan Smith’s Unfortunately, she was a nymphomaniac: A New History of Rome’s Imperial Women. An eye-catching title that is ‘as thought-provoking as it is provocative’, as Daisy Dunn wrote in October. Many popular historians are singled out for their analysis of women in ancient Rome, including Professor Dame Mary Beard. In the interest of granting a right of reply, we invited Mary onto the podcast to discuss the merit of judging history by today’s standards. (49:40)

    And finally: the politics of the breakfast buffet

    We thought we would leave you with one of the most prescient discussions we had on the podcast this year: the politics of the hotel breakfast buffet. Is it ethical to pocket a sandwich at a hotel breakfast buffet? Laurie Graham explored that question in the magazine back in September. Specifically, she revealed the very British habit of swiping food from free breakfasts to save for lunch later in the day. Laurie joined us alongside Mark Jenkins, a former hotel manager in Torquay, whom listeners may remember from the Channel 4 documentary The Hotel. (01:04:04)

    Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.

    Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.
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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • Holy Smoke: Why was C.S. Lewis such a killjoy at Christmas? with Alister McGrath

    Holy Smoke: Why was C.S. Lewis such a killjoy at Christmas? with Alister McGrath
    Dec 24 2024
    Which 20th-century Scrooge had the following to say about the celebration of Christmas?

    ‘It gives on the whole much more pain than pleasure… Anyone can force you to give him a present by sending you a quite unprovoked present of his own. It's almost blackmail… Can it really be my duty to buy and receive masses of junk every winter just to help the shopkeepers?’

    Step forward C.S. Lewis, beloved Christian apologist and children’s author, whose splenetic denunciation of ‘the whole dreary business’ of Christmas and mean-spirited comments about carol singers are hard to reconcile with his reputation for benevolence.

    To make sense of the author’s views, Damian Thompson is joined by the renowned theologian and C.S. Lewis expert Prof Alister McGrath for a Christmas episode of Holy Smoke. They talk about the influence Lewis had on McGrath’s own conversion, the significance of the nativity and the question of whether the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s birth are apocryphal.

    Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
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    26 mins

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