The Spectator Podcast

How do you and your family spend Christmas? In the Christmas issue of the Spectator, broadcaster and author Gyles Brandreth writes about the generations old traditions in his family of playing games and reciting poetry. In this episode of the Edition at Christmas, the Spectator’s Features Editor and resident board games fanatic Will Moore speaks to Gyles and Mark Mason, author of the Importance of Being Trivial, about their favourite Christmas traditions.

It’s been a protest unlike any other that China has seen. Since June, hundreds of thousands – by some estimates millions – of Hong Kongers have protested against the government. What was sparked by opposition to an extradition bill that would allow Hong Kongers to face trial in the mainland, has now turned into a six month long pro-democracy movement. So how significant are these protests, and have they got any closer to their goal? With Professor Kerry Brown and Isabella Steger.Presented by Cindy Yu.

At the start of the year, Trump was locked in a fight with the Democrats over the funding for his wall, leading to a weeks long government shutdown. As Trump faces impeachment this week, has much changed in 2019?With Freddy Gray, editor of Spectator USA, and John Rick MacArthur, President of Harpers Magazine.Presented by Cindy Yu.

At the start of the year, Theresa May had just survived a no confidence motion from her own party, but she was barely clinging on. Cross-party MPs, aided by John Bercow, defeated the government in vote after vote. There was a real chance that Brexit might have been reversed. Things are pretty different now. So what were the main events of 2019?With James Forsyth, Katy Balls, and Jacqui Smith.Presented by Isabel Hardman.Produced by Cindy Yu and Matt Taylor.

In this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam talks to the 'demon dog' of American letters, James Ellroy — whose latest book is This Storm. In a wide-ranging and somewhat NSFW conversation, they talk about misquoting Auden, why Ellroy hates Orson Welles, how he maps out the byzantine plots of his novels, why as a recovering addict he fills his books with pill-poppers and juice heads, why he thinks he's the best crime writer living — and what his dad’s '20-inch wang' had to do with Rita Hayworth.The Book Club, what used to be known as 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 here.

Kate Young is a food writer and chef, whose cookbooks take recipe inspiration from literary classics, recreating favourite dishes of Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, and more. She runs a catering company with Olivia Potts and, on the podcast, tells all about an Australian's idea of Britain, why she left the theatre to go into cooking, and, from personal experience, which dishes only work in fiction.Table Talk is a series of podcasts where Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts talk to celebrity guests about their life story, through the food and drink that has come to define it. Listen to past episodes here.

With Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth.Presented by Katy Balls.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, politics becomes a little less volatile as Boris Johnson achieves the biggest Tory majority since Margaret Thatcher. So what happened in this election, and what next (00:50)? Plus, China has interned over a million Uyghur Muslims in so-called ‘re-education’ camps – what is going on in Xinjiang (17:55)? And last, what are the rewards of mudlarking (31:25)?With Fraser Nelson, Steve Richards, Harald Maass, Rachel Harris and Lara Maiklem.Presented by Cindy Yu and Katy Balls.Produced by Cindy Yu.

With Katy Balls and James Forsyth.Presented by Isabel Hardman.

In this week’s Book Club, Sam's guest is the children’s writer Piers Torday, author of the Last Wild trilogy and, most recently, The Frozen Sea. Why is winter such a powerful thing in children’s writing? How come children’s books are such a booming publishing sector when so many people thought that screens would all but kill them off? Why do so many children’s writers have catastrophic personal lives? And how do the stories of today repurpose and live in the stories of the past? The Book Club, what used to be known as 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 here.

With James Forsyth and Katy Balls.Presented by Cindy Yu.

With James Ball, journalist and the author of Post-Truth, 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.

With Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth.Presented by Katy Balls.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.

With just a week to go until polling day, we take a look at what Corbyn’s Britain would look like (00:45). Plus, is planting more trees the panacea to climate change (16:15)? And last, how young is too young to have political opinions (28:15)?With Liam Halligan, Michael Jacobs, Jamie Blackett, Will Skeaping, Andrew Watts, Freddy Gray, Gus Gray and Mary Wakefield.Presented by Cindy Yu and Katy Balls.Produced by Cindy Yu, Matt Taylor and Gus Carter.

In this week's Book Club, Sam's guest is the historian Tom Holland, author of the new book Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind. The book, though as Tom remarks, you might not know it from the cover, is essentially a history of Christianity -- and an account of the myriad ways, many of them invisible to us, that it has shaped and continues to shape Western culture. It's a book and an argument that takes us from Ancient Babylon to Harvey Weinstein's hotel room, draws in the Beatles and the Nazis, and orbits around two giant figures: St Paul and Nietzsche. Is there a single discernible, distinctive Christian way of thinking? Is secularism Christianity by other means? And are our modern-day culture wars between alt-righters and woke progressives a post-Christian phenomenon or, as Tom argues, essentially a civil war between two Christian sects? The Book Club, what used to be known as Spectator Books, is a series of literary interviews and discussions on the latest releases in the world of publishing, from poe

Max Pemberton is a Daily Mail columnist and medical doctor specialising in mental health and eating disorders. On the podcast, he talks about his milkman father and activist mother and what family mealtimes were like, remembering to eat on shifts as a junior doctor, and dissuading patients with serious eating disorders of the 'clean eating' religion.Table Talk is a series of podcasts where Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts talk to celebrity guests about their life story, through the food and drink that has come to define it. Listen to past episodes here.

Why would any woman want to be an MP in this general election? In recent years, parliament has been plagued by horror stories of abuse against MPs, especially female ones, with a number of them leaving the job before their time. So does parliament have a woman problem? Katy Balls speaks to a series of guests, especially a handful of the young women who are looking to join parliament this election.With Paul Goodman, Isabel Hardman, Inaya Folarin Iman, Rebecca Smith, Danielle Rowley and Claire Coutinho.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.

With two weeks to go until the election, the latest polling shows a majority of 68 for the Conservative party. So can anything still trip Boris Johnson up (00:50)? One of those events could be Trump’s visit next week – so how high are the stakes there (17:10)? And last, what led to the failure of the Israeli kibbutz (28:35)?With James Forsyth, Paul Goodman, Sir Christopher Meyer, Kate Andrews and Johan Norberg.Presented by Cindy Yu and Katy Balls.Produced by Cindy Yu and Matt Taylor.

Comedian Geoff Norcott joins journalist Benedict Spence and comedy club founder Andy Shaw on the new podcast from Spectator Life. ‘That’s Life’ is a sideways look at the events, people, words and ideas that shape the news agenda. Andy and Benedict talk to Geoff about self-partnering, Pizza Express and what it’s like to come out as a right-wing comic. Geoff is the token Leave-voter on the BBC show ‘The Mash Report’ and he's currently embarking on a national tour of his latest show 'Taking Liberties'. He's written for The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and Spiked.To hear more episodes, click here.

Sam's guest in this week’s Book Club is the rock musician, writer and sometime Faber editor Pete Townshend. Pete has just published his first novel The Age of Anxiety, an ambitious work jointly conceived as an opera. They talk about madness and creativity, Who lyrics popping up in the fiction, how he settled on an Aristotelian plot, and the unusual way his psychic second wife sends him off to sleep.The Spectator Book Club, what used to be known as 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 here.