The Spectator Podcast

This week, as the royal scandals start stacking up, we ask if the younger Windsors are letting the Queen down (00:30). Plus, what sort of message should the government send to the public about a no deal Brexit (11:05)? And last, we talk Parma ham and sourdough – and the dangers that come with introducing your children to bourgeois diets (30:05).With Jan Moir, Angela Levin, Stewart Jackson, Poppy Trowbridge, Ian Wright, Colin Freeman, and Leah McLaren.Presented by Katy Balls.Produced by Cindy Yu and Timmy Fisher.

Even books editors have to go on holiday sometimes, so Spectator Books is taking a hiatus for a couple of weeks. But so there's not a gaping gap in your life where the podcast used to be, we're bringing out some of our favourite episodes from our archive.This summer, Mick Herron has published the latest of his Jackson Lamb novels, Joe Country. It's a terrific read. So what better time to look back to the conversation Sam had with Mick Herron, a summer and a bit ago?Spectator Books is a series of literary interviews and discussions on the latest releases in the world of publishing, from poetry through to physics. Presented by Sam Leith, The Spectator's Literary Editor. Hear past episodes of Spectator Books here.

When a nuclear power plant was built on the coast of Cumbria in the 1940s, nobody had much idea about what to do with nuclear fuel once it had been spent. Today that place is Sellafield, engaged in Europe's largest clean-up of nuclear waste in what is perhaps the world's most complicated nuclear site. It's got its own police force, its own railway station, and its own unique set of challenges - one that seemed to baffle governments and private contractors alike.So how should nuclear reactors be safely decommissioned? In a special podcast sponsored by the Nuclear Industry Association, Fraser Nelson puts the question to the experts. Our guests are Jamie Reed, Corporate Affairs Manager for the Sellafield site (and the town’s former MP); Tom Greatrex, Chief Executive of the NIA; and Professor Gordon MacKerron, an academic specialising in nuclear energy. 

With Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson.Presented by Cindy Yu.Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily, click here to find more episodes that are not released on Spectator Radio.

This week’s Holy Smoke podcast discusses two looming disasters for Pope Francis. The first is the ‘Amazon Synod’ in October, at which the world’s bishops will discuss a bizarre plan to ordain Amazon ‘village elders’ as priests. The framework for the synod has already been published; Damian's guest Dr Ed Condon uses the word ‘Orwellian’ to describe the language it employs. The second threat to Francis is more personal. When he became pope he lost no time making his friend Gustavo Zanchetta a bishop in Argentina. Bad move. Within a short time Zanchetta was facing allegations of sexual and financial impropriety. The Pope was informed of these allegations (and if you google them you’ll discover that they were pretty lurid). His response? He plucked Zanchetta out of his diocese and created a plum job for him in Rome... managing the Vatican’s finances. Another bad move, now that Zanchetta, back in Argentina, is facing charges of molesting seminarians and other allegations of misusing money. A mood of despair has se

Dame Joan Collins is an actress, author, and entrepreneur. Her acting career spans three quarters of a century, including 1950s Hollywood movies, to her role as Alexis Carrington in Dynasty. In this episode, she talks to Katy about breaking into acting as a young woman, what she thinks about Love Island, and why she supports both Boris Johnson and Brexit.Women With Balls is a podcast series where Katy Balls speak to women at the top of their respective games. To hear past episodes, visit spectator.co.uk/balls.

As Matteo Salvini seeks to take the reins of Italy all for himself, we ask, what exactly defines the ‘far right’ these days (00:05)? We also take a look at Downing Street’s own power grab as it seeks to centralise control over the rest of Whitehall (15:55). And last, Melissa Kite tells Lara about getting her dogs blessed by a reverend (29:55).With Douglas Murray, Anne McElvoy, Katy Balls, Jonathan Haslam, Melissa Kite, and Revd Lindsay Meader.Presented by Lara Prendergast.Produced by Cindy Yu and Gabriel Radonich.Click here for more episodes of the Spectator Podcast.

Even books editors have to go on holiday sometimes, so Spectator Books is taking a hiatus for a couple of weeks. But so there's not a gaping gap in your life where the podcast used to be, we're bringing out some of our favourite episodes from our archive.Sam is joined by the critic Alex Clark and Damian Barr — memoirist and host of the Savoy’s Literary Salon — to talk about summer reading. What do you take? What do you regret taking? Kindle, dead-tree or — 19th-century-style — cabin trunk full of books sent on ahead? Our discussion yielded a host of recommendations — from the brand new to the reliable old friends — that we hope will help you plan your own travelling library. For those who like the sound of some of these, we’ve picked them out and listed them here for your convenience…

With Fraser Nelson and Katy Balls.Presented by Cindy Yu.Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily, click here to find more episodes that are not released on Spectator Radio.

Martin Vander Weyer, our Business Editor, speaks to three leading businesspeople in the Midlands about the Economic Disruptor finalists in this region. Tune in to find out more about the company that makes your Asos returns quick and easy, an ‘Airbnb for schools’, and the next generation of light-weight car speakers.---Human progress has depended on economic disruptors since long before the advent of the internet. Motor cars remained rare luxuries until a disruptor called Henry Ford perfected the Model T assembly line. Today’s online auction, home-stay, ride-share and crowdfunding sites have generated markets and money flows that barely existed before, to the great benefit of providers and consumers. Today’s manufacturing methods — from 3D printing to advanced bioscience — have dramatically reduced the time and capital required to produce vital products.So, who are the companies that are rewriting the rules in 2019? Following the success of last year’s inaugural Economic Disruptor of the Year Awards, The Spec

Lara speaks to Olivia Potts, Spectator Life’s Vintage Chef and co-host of the Table Talk podcast, about Olivia’s new book, A Half-Baked Idea. Before she became a food writer and Cordon-Bleu trained chef, Olivia was a former president of the Cambridge Union and a high-flying criminal barrister. But her mother’s death changed all that. Tune in to hear a story of love, grief, hope, and cake. Presented by Lara Prendergast.

This week, our writers tell us about their favourite British beaches, from Cornwall to Northern Ireland (24:15). But before then, there’s of course some Brexit chat as we ask whether parliament can stop a no deal Brexit in the autumn (00:25), and – has Desert Island Discs lost the plot (15:05)?With James Forsyth, Catherine Haddon, Katy Balls, Michael Heath, Kate Chisholm, Douglas Murray, Laura Freeman, and Tanya Gold.Presented by Lara Prendergast.Produced by Cindy Yu and Gabriel Radonich.

In this week’s books podcast, we’re getting Romantic. Sam is joined by the writer Adam Nicolson and the artist Tom Hammick to talk about their new book The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, Wordsworth and their Year of Marvels. In it, Adam describes how — inspired by Richard Holmes’s 'footsteps' approach — he attempted to imaginatively inhabit the worlds of Coleridge and Wordsworth in the crucial year in the late 1790s when they lived near each-other in the Quantocks in Somerset. That meant, for him, living in the same landscape, walking the same paths, reliving the struggles with lines of verse in manuscript. It’s a passionate attempt to fully understand the relationship between the two, and the influences that had their issue in Lyrical Ballads, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', 'Kubla Khan' and the ‘Prelude'. The book also contains the woodcuts Tom made from fallen trees where they lived, and which form a complex commentary on Adam’s text and on the texts it traces. Sam asks them to expound on such highbrow is

With James Forsyth and Katy Balls.Presented by Cindy Yu.Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily, click here to find more episodes that are not released on Spectator Radio.

Martin Vander Weyer, our Business Editor, speaks to three leading businesspeople for London and the South about the Economic Disruptor finalists in this region. Tune in to find out more about Muslim dating algorithms, waterless toilets, e-bike converters, and more.---Human progress has depended on economic disruptors since long before the advent of the internet. Motor cars remained rare luxuries until a disruptor called Henry Ford perfected the Model T assembly line. Today’s online auction, home-stay, ride-share and crowdfunding sites have generated markets and money flows that barely existed before, to the great benefit of providers and consumers. Today’s manufacturing methods — from 3D printing to advanced bioscience — have dramatically reduced the time and capital required to produce vital products.So, who are the companies that are rewriting the rules in 2019? Following the success of last year's inaugural Economic Disruptor of the Year Awards, The Spectator and Julius Baer has come together again to cele

Karen Pierce is the UK's Permanent Representative to the UN. In this episode, she talks to Katy about her career ambitions when she was young, using Lewis Carroll to combat the Russians, and what day to day life is like in the UN.Women With Balls is a podcast series where Katy Balls speak to women at the top of their respective games. To hear past episodes, visit spectator.co.uk/balls.

Boris Johnson’s ‘do-or-die’ Brexit is fewer than 100 days away, but will the UK and EU reach a compromise deal before then (00:25)? Plus, should museums care where their donations come from (14:00)? And last, would you eat a BBQ roasted cricket (26:10)?With James Forsyth, Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, Claire Fox, Chris Garrard, Cassandra Coburn and Shami Radia.Presented by Lara Prendergast and Katy Balls.Produced by Cindy Yu and Matt Lee.

The star New York Times columnist David Brooks has never been afraid to go beyond the usual remit of day-to-day politics. His new book The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life is exactly what it sounds like: a guide to the Meaning of Life, somewhere between a spiritual autobiography and a manual for living. He joins Sam to explain how he’s changed his mind about the meaning of life since his previous book The Road To Character (he’s cagy about whether refunds are available), about how his own humbling after the breakdown of his marriage made him a wiser and better person, and about whether a new-found appreciation for altruism could make him a socialist.Spectator Books is a series of literary interviews and discussions on the latest releases in the world of publishing, from poetry through to physics. Presented by Sam Leith, The Spectator's Literary Editor. Hear past episodes of Spectator Books here.

It's less than four years since Jeremy Corbyn's hard-left sect seized control of the Labour Party, and yet already its anti-Semitic views – so alien to Labour tradition – seem too deeply rooted to eradicate.Today's 'Holy Smoke' podcast puts this sinister development in the broader context of the 'Red-Green' alliance – the love affair between the progressive Left and the Jew-haters of jihadist Islam.On the face of it, this is an unlikely, even surreal, relationship. But as Damian's guest, the historian Richard Landes, argues, the two have something in common: millennialism, the belief that some sort of Heaven on Earth, is not only imminent but historically inevitable.In theory, progressives believe that this transition to a new era will be peaceful; Jihadists, by definition, don't. But, as Landes explains, it's not as simple as that...Holy Smoke is a series of podcasts where Damian Thompson dissects the most important and controversial topics in world religion, with a range of high profile guests. Click here t

Human progress has depended on economic disruptors since long before the advent of the internet. Motor cars remained rare luxuries until a disruptor called Henry Ford perfected the Model T assembly line. Today’s online auction, home-stay, ride-share and crowdfunding sites have generated markets and money flows that barely existed before, to the great benefit of providers and consumers. Today’s manufacturing methods — from 3D printing to advanced bioscience — have dramatically reduced the time and capital required to produce vital products.So, who are the companies that are rewriting the rules in 2019? Following the success of last year's inaugural Economic Disruptor of the Year Awards, The Spectator and Julius Baer has come together again to celebrate creative entrepreneurship across the UK. In this first of a short series of podcasts, The Spectator's Business Editor, Martin Vander Weyer, speak to the competition's three regional judges for the North East of England about the finalists in that region. Tune in