For this week’s Edition , Lara Prendergast is joined by the Spectator 's political editor Tim Shipman, the writer Guy Stagg and the author and host of How to Fail Elizabeth Day. This week, the guests discuss whether Nigel Farage’s Reform UK can see off the threat from Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain. Restore Britain’s success may be modest and, so far, very online but that doesn’t mean they won’t hinder Farage’s effort to reach Number 10. If polls from the Makerfield by-election are anything to be...
Jun 05, 2026•47 min
My guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is Emily Wilson, the scholar and translator of Homer and Seneca, among many others. She tells me what tech bros get wrong about the classical world and what Cardi B can teach us about Aristophanes, as we discuss her new book, Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 03, 2026•41 min
This week: the Henry Nowak case, two-tier policing – and what the latest Mandelson files reveal about Labour. After the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, Michael and Madeline ask whether the police response exposed something deeply wrong in British policing. Has the fear of being accused of racism distorted the way institutions respond to victims? And does this case reveal a wider crisis of confidence in whether the police can act without fear or favour? They also discuss the latest revelations...
Jun 02, 2026•38 min
The government have rolled back on plans to impose price caps in supermarkets. Was Reeves wrong to go after them for price gouging? Michael Simmons has the data. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 02, 2026•10 min
Freddy Gray is joined by Sarah Beth Spraggins to discuss her piece on Usha Vance, the wife of JD Vance who could be in line to be the next First Lady. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 01, 2026•24 min
On this week’s Spectator Out Loud : William Atkinson sends his dispatch from the Shetland Islands; James Delingpole remembers Malcolm, his ‘gloriously unfiltered’ father; Daisy Dunn reviews Mary Beard’s Talking Classics ; and Margaret Mitchell explores corporate dread and the institutional gothic. Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 31, 2026•30 min
When it comes to political vision, Keir Starmer’s premiership has been something of a vacuum – and power abhors a vacuum. So cue Tony Blair, who this week has rushed in with a 5,000-word essay on what is wrong with Labour and, depending on who you listen to, either an outdated or radical view of where Britain should be as a country. This has galvanised Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting and (finally) Keir Starmer to put down on paper their vision for the country and how to solve the biggest issues we f...
May 29, 2026•15 min
For this week’s Edition , Lara Prendergast is joined by the Spectator 's deputy editor Freddy Gray, associate editor – and host of the Holy Smoke podcast – Damian Thompson and consultant psychiatrist and Daily Mail columnist Dr Max Pemberton. This week, the guests examine the Pope's encyclical about Artificial Intelligence (AI), Magnifica Humanitas , which warns of the cost to humanity that this technological revolution could bring. This marks Pope Leo's first major policy intervention, a warnin...
May 29, 2026•48 min
The Spectator 's editor Michael Gove ‘was born into a sternly Presbyterian culture’, but – in this week's magazine – is ‘giving thanks to the Pope’ for producing Magnifica Humanitas , his encyclical about artificial intelligence (AI). AI will be ‘as transformative as the Industrial Revolution’ but decisions ‘about where this technology is going and how it might be deployed are concentrated... in perilously few hands’. Michael joins Damian Thompson on Holy Smoke to explain why the document reveal...
May 28, 2026•15 min
Sam Leith's guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is Siri Hustvedt, talking about her new book, Ghost Stories, a memoir of her long and loving marriage to the novelist Paul Auster, and of his death from cancer. Siri tells me why this book ‘needed’ to be written, what their relationship was like, how ‘horrible things’ came to this literary golden couple, and how she explains the experience of being visited, three days after his death, by her husband’s ghost. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privac...
May 27, 2026•39 min
Peter Murrell's mafia-style SNP & could the Reform-Restore feud hand Burnham Makerfield? This week: the Peter Murrell scandal and the collapse of the SNP’s moral authority. After Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband and the party’s former chief executive pleaded guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 from SNP funds, Michael and Madeline ask what this reveals about the party that dominated Scottish politics for more than a decade. Was this simply one man’s disgrace – or a symptom of a politic...
May 26, 2026•50 min
On this week’s Spectator Out Loud : Douglas Murray details his encounter with Labour leadership hopeful Wes Streeting; Flora Watkins explains why the Open Garden scheme is the antidote to the Chelsea Flower Show; and Nicholas Farrell says local nudists are running wild in Ravenna. Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 25, 2026•22 min
Congressman Thomas Massie, one of the most vocal Republican critics of Donald Trump lost his fight for re-election in Kentucky to a Trump-backed challenger. Freddy Gray is joined by Spectator contributors Daniel McCarthy and Christopher Caldwell to discuss where Thomas Massie went wrong, how corruption centred around the campaign, whether or not Trump's success is a reflection of the upcoming midterms and the way Europe reacts to Trump more broadly. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...
May 24, 2026•34 min
The Labour leadership contest may be rumbling on in the background, but today Coffee House turns to the Conservatives – and whether Kemi Badenoch can really revive a party still reeling from electoral collapse. Her allies argue that Badenoch is beginning to cut through: from her conference speech to her response to Rachel Reeves’s Budget, and her decision to sack Robert Jenrick. Her personal ratings have improved, even as the Tory brand remains deeply damaged. But is that enough? Can Badenoch tu...
May 22, 2026•31 min
For this week’s Edition , Lara Prendergast is joined by The Spectator 's John Power, feminist campaigner Julie Bindel and former adviser to Boris Johnson – and co-host of the In The Room podcast, Cleo Watson. They explore the idea that the Strait of Hormuz, not Makerfield, will determine the fate of the current Labour government. Starmer may be facing a challenge to his authority from mayoral shapeshifter Andy Burnham, but neither the PM or the wannabe MP will be rewarded if grocery and energy p...
May 22, 2026•36 min
My guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is Edmund Richardson, author of a new biography of Alexander the Great called Alexander: God, King, Man. Edmund tells me why there is still a fresh story to tell about this most storied of historical figures, why his empire collapsed as soon as it came into being yet nevertheless changed history – and how Alexander conquered the world by mistake. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 20, 2026•52 min
Maurice Glasman, Labour peer and founder of Blue Labour, has spent years warning that Labour has lost touch with the people it was created to represent. In the first of a two-part conversation on Quite right! , he joins Michael and Maddie to explain why he thinks Keir Starmer’s project was never really Labour at all – and why the party’s working-class traditions have been replaced by progressive liberalism. They discuss Labour’s roots in community, sovereignty and the dignity of work; how Brexit...
May 19, 2026•30 min
One year on from when Pope Leo became head of the Catholic church and he remains a bit of an enigma. Is he a Conservative or Liberal? What did we learn from his clash with Donald Trump? Damian Thompson is joined by editor of The Pillar Ed Condon and two Spectator favourites – Freddy Gray and Mary Wakefield. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 18, 2026•38 min
British favourability dropped sharply sometime around 2016 and then further declined in 2024. Trump is clearly the main driver of negative feelings, although not the only one. There was much antipathy in 2020, which may have been related to the election but seems more likely due to the chaotic scenes that followed George Floyd’s death. To discuss this, Freddy Gray is joined by Ed West, who has written about this for his Substack The Wrong Side of History. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...
May 17, 2026•38 min
My guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is Jeffrey Winters, whose new book The Blind Spot: How Oligarchs Dominate Our Democracies makes the case that democracy as it functions now isn’t, as many of us imagine, the only thing keeping the robber barons in check – it is, in fact, the very system that has enabled them to thrive. He tells me how the wealth gap in the US is now many multiples of that in ancient Rome, how extreme wealth translates into political power, and how reforming campaign fina...
May 16, 2026•58 min
On today’s Saturday shots, James Heale is joined by former Conservative MP Steve Baker to discuss the fallout from Wes Streeting’s resignation and the ‘orgy of chaos’ that has ensued. Steve takes James inside the dark arts of a Westminster coup: why numbers matter, why you should pay attention to individual grievances, the importance of discipline – and why Labour’s rebels may already be getting it wrong. As Andy Burnham plots his return, do the people of Makerfield really want to be caught up i...
May 15, 2026•13 min
This week: William Moore is joined by The Spectator’s political correspondent Noa Hoffman, Telegraph columnist and Planet Normal co-host Liam Halligan, and The Spectator’s real life columnist Melissa Kite. They unpack Tim Shipman and Noa Hoffman’s cover piece on the mounting coup against Keir Starmer. As Wes Streeting makes his move, Ed Miliband waits in the wings and Andy Burnham’s allies search for a route back to Westminster, is Labour now openly preparing for life after Starmer? Also this we...
May 14, 2026•46 min
Wes Streeting has made his move today for the Labour leadership – but does he have the numbers? There was some frantic briefing last night, with competing claims about who has the required number of MPs and who might be prepared to give up their seat to Andy Burnham. It almost takes us back to the days of Tory infighting. But the big news this morning is that Angela Rayner has been cleared by HMRC. In an incredibly well-timed judgment, there is now nothing standing in her way from making her own...
May 14, 2026•17 min
This week: Keir Starmer’s leadership is in crisis. As pressure builds on the Prime Minister, Michael and Madeline ask whether Starmer can survive the rebellion now gathering pace in his own party. They discuss the runners and riders who could replace him, from Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner to Andy Burnham – and the risks each would pose for Labour. Could Burnham find a safe seat? Would Streeting trigger open warfare with the left? And would a change of leader mean anything beyond a change of n...
May 12, 2026•28 min
Freddy Gray is joined by Josef Palermo, who formerly worked for the Kennedy Center to discuss the historical building and whether its cultural and ethos has been ruined by the Trump administration. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 11, 2026•21 min
This week: Lisa Haseldine on Britain's failing maternity services, Roya Nikkah writes the diary and Lionel Shriver on gerrymandering in America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 11, 2026•25 min
In this week’s Q&A: how do you mount a Labour leadership coup? As the results of the local elections roll in and speculation builds about Starmer’s future, Michael and Maddie discuss the mechanics of leadership bids, the dangers facing Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham, and why the best advice for Labour’s next leader may be: don’t. Also this week: has Britain really had enough of experts? Michael revisits his famous Brexit-era line, and whether he stands by it. Is there a difference between ex...
May 09, 2026•21 min
As the full picture of the local elections emerges, Labour faces a dilemma: stick with Keir Starmer, or put forward an alternative? Calls for Starmer to resign have intensified, and we are braced for MPs to stick their heads above the parapet this weekend. The message from the Prime Minister is that he ‘will not go’ and will not set out a path for his resignation either. So where does Labour go from here? Lord Glasman joins Tim and James to discuss the battle for the soul of the Labour party. Wi...
May 09, 2026•11 min
This week: Lara Pendergast is joined by Tim Shipman, Lionel Barber and Alice Loxton, author of Eleanor: A 200-Mile Walk in Search of England’s Lost Queen. They unpack Michael Gove’s cover piece which asks whether the local elections will push Labour further to the left. As the Greens threaten Labour in its metropolitan heartlands and Reform eats into its working-class vote, is Keir Starmer facing a battle for the soul of his party? They also consider the collapse of the political centre, the wea...
May 07, 2026•33 min
My guests on this week’s Book Club podcast are Amanda Golden and Karen V. Kukil, editors of the new The Poems of Sylvia Plath , a variorum collection of every poem Plath wrote. They tell me what light her juvenilia sheds on her later work, how art and music fed into her poetry, and how deep her poetic partnership with Ted Hughes ran. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 07, 2026•40 min
