The nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr to be secretary of health and human services in the second Trump administration has horrified ‘experts’. A left-wing Democrat who admires the late Venezuelan Marxist dictator Hugo Chavez, hates big business, rails against the ultra-processed food that Donald Trump likes to eat and wants climate sceptics jailed. But in the magazine this week Matt Ridley explains how the experts who now bash him have contributed in putting him where is, and that official Covi...
Nov 22, 2024•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Wild Wes. Ahead of next week’s vote on whether to legalise assisted dying, Health Secretary Wes Streeting is causing trouble for Keir Starmer, writes Katy Balls in the magazine this week. Starmer has been clear that he doesn’t want government ministers to be too outspoken on the issue ahead of a free vote in Parliament. But Streeting’s opposition is well-known. How much of a headache is this for Starmer? And does this speak to wider ambitions that Wes might have? Katy joins the podcas...
Nov 21, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is the psychoanalyst and writer Josh Cohen. With anger seemingly the default condition of our time, Josh’s new book All The Rage: Why Anger Drives the World seeks to unpick where anger comes from, what it does to us, and how it might function in the human psyche as a dark twin of the impulses we think of as love. Photo credit: Charlotte Speechley
Nov 20, 2024•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Freddy Gray sits down with Jacob Heilbrunn, a longstanding friend of Americano to discuss Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to send long range missiles into Russia, how significant this decision is ahead of an incoming Trump administration, and what the rest of foreign policy could look like with Trump.
Nov 20, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Julian Metcalfe is a British entrepreneur and one of the most influential individuals on the London high street. He revolutionised the grab-and-go lunchtime food industry in 1986 by co-founding Pret and did the same again in 1997 when he commercialised Japanese cuisine with the first Itsu . On the podcast, he tells Liv and Lara about the influence of his Ukrainian mother; why he decided to start Itsu , in many ways a competitor to Pret ; what he thinks is the future of the grab-and-go industry; ...
Nov 19, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast As Donald Trump selects his new cabinet, Elon Musk has been chosen to head up the new efficiency department. Douglas Murray, Spectator columnist, joins Americano host Freddy Gray to discuss. How will their relationship shape Trump’s presidency? What will Musk’s ownership of X, formerly Twitter, mean for free speech? And will their newfound friendship last the stretch of Donald Trump’s second term?
Nov 18, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Spectator's Michael Gove, Katy Balls, and Kate Andrews are joined by Paul Abberley, Chief Executive of Charles Stanley, to discuss and unpack Labour's first budget in 14 years. Now the dust has settled from the policies, key questions continue to arise. Can Labour create the growth it desperately needs? Why are farmers so upset with the budget? And can they define a working person yet?
Nov 17, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this week’s Spectator Out Loud : Nadine Dorries reads her diary (1:12); Katy Balls analyses the politics behind the Assisted Dying debate (5:58); Edmund West allows us a glimpse into Whitby Goth Week (11:55); reviewing Avinash Paliwal’s book India’s New East , Sam Dalrymple looks at the birth of Bangladesh (17:39); and Tanjil Rashid reveals William Morris’s debt to Islam (21:23). Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.
Nov 16, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Freddy Gray is joined by Todd Bensman, journalist and fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies. They discuss the border crisis that Trump will inherit from the Democrats, and whether he can do anything to solve it.
Nov 15, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: welcome to Planet Elon. We knew that he would likely be a big part of Donald Trump’s second term, so it was unsurprising when this week Elon Musk was named – alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy – as a co-leader of the new US Department of Government Efficiency, which will look at federal government waste. When Musk took over Twitter, he fired swathes of employees whose work was actively harming the company, so he’s in a perfect position to turn his sights on the bloated federal gov...
Nov 14, 2024•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast My guest in this week's Book Club podcast is the writer, musician and editor Michael Moorcock, whose editorship of New Worlds magazine is widely credited with ushering in a 'new wave' of science fiction and developing the careers of writers like J G Ballard, Iain Sinclair, Pamela Zoline, Thomas M Disch and M John Harrison. With the release of a special edition of New Worlds , honouring the 60th anniversary of his editorship, Mike tells me about how he set out to marry the best of literary fictio...
Nov 13, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Freddy Gray speaks to the Spectator's Russia editor Owen Matthews about Trump's plan for Ukraine. How much leverage does he have in negotiations with Putin? Plus, what does a Trump presidency mean for the future of NATO itself?
Nov 13, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast After mounting pressure, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has resigned. His resignation comes days after a damning report into the child abuser John Smyth who was associated with the Church of England. Welby was apparently made aware of the allegations in 2013, yet Smyth died in 2018 before facing any justice. Since the report was published, Welby and the Church have faced questions about the failure to act and the lack of urgency. The Spectator’s editor Michael Gove joins Damian Thomps...
Nov 12, 2024•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast There have been reports that some 11,000 North Korean troops are present in Russia and preparing to take part in the Russian invasion. While not acknowledged by either country, if true, this would mark a historic milestone: the first East Asian state to send troops to Europe since the Mongol Empire. And yet, both countries’ most powerful neighbour and ally – China – has remained suspiciously quiet about this new development. Beijing’s silence may well express a deep distrust and unease that actu...
Nov 11, 2024•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kate Andrews, standing in for Freddy Gray, is joined by Nick Gillespie, host of The Reason Interview, and Freddy Gray himself. They discuss whether Trump 2.0 could be different in his final time in office. Will he 'drain the swamp'? And will the Democrats learn the lessons from their election loss?
Nov 10, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since the election of an overwhelmingly secular Labour government, people who describe themselves as humanists have a spring in their step: for example, there's a prospect that humanist weddings will be legally recognised in England and Wales (they already are in Scotland). But what exactly is a humanist? Definitions vary and there's a heated debate about to what extent the ethical but firmly atheist beliefs of the rather loosely organised modern humanist movement are descended from Christianity...
Nov 10, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kamala Harris has delivered her concession speech, signalling the start of the Democrat post-mortem. Donald Trump has secured a total victory, the kind which gives him a mandate to make some pretty radical reforms. Americano guest host Kate Andrews is joined by Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of The National Interest , to discuss what a second Trump term will look like: from domestic to foreign policy. And what about the Democrats? Where do they go from here?
Nov 09, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this week’s Spectator Out Loud : Paul Wood analyses what a Trump victory could mean for the Middle East (1:16); Sean Thomas gets a glimpse of a childless future while travelling in South Korea (8:39); in search of herself, Imogen Yates takes part in ‘ecstatic dance’ (15:11); a second selection of our books of the year from Peter Parker, Daniel Swift, Andrea Wulf, Claire Lowdon, and Sara Wheeler (20:30); and notes on the speaking clock from the voice himself, Alan Steadman (25:26). Produced an...
Nov 09, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Shivani Raja holds two Parliamentary honours: the youngest Tory MP and, in Leicester East, the only Conservative gain at the recent election; she is also the first of the new 2024 intake to appear on Women With Balls. With a background in science and business, not politics, she fought a whirlwind election campaign – not just against the Labour Party, but against her two most recent predecessors. On the podcast, Shivani talks to Katy Balls about how she got into politics, why she is proud of Leic...
Nov 08, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: King of the Hill You can’t ignore what could be the political comeback of the century: Donald Trump’s remarkable win in this week’s US election. The magazine this week carries analysis about why Trump won, and why the Democrats lost, from Freddy Gray, Niall Ferguson and Yascha Mounk, amongst others. To make sense of how Trump became only the second President in history to win non-consecutive terms, we’re joined by the journalist Jacqueline Sweet and Cliff Young, president of polling a...
Nov 07, 2024•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump has won the election and will be 47th President of the United States after winning the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. ‘America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,’ the Republican candidate told supporters. ‘This is a magnificent victory for the American people, that will allow us to make America great again,’ he said at the rally in Florida. It has been total victory, with the Republicans also winning Senate and the popular vote....
Nov 06, 2024•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this week's Book Club podcast we're celebrating the 100th anniversary of a landmark in children's publishing, When We Were Very Young — which represented the first collaboration between A A Milne and E H Shepard, who would (of course) go on to write an illustrate Winnie-the-Pooh. Sam Leith is joined by James Campbell, who runs the E H Shepard estate. He tells Sam how the war shaped the mood and success of that first book, why Daphne Milne's snobbery and ambition left Shepard out in the cold, ...
Nov 06, 2024•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast Terry Wiggins is a chef who led the catering team at Westminster’s Portcullis House. During his time, he served 13 prime ministers and received an MBE for services to Parliament. He has recently retired. On the podcast, Terry reminisces about 50 years of service in Parliament, reveals some of the weirdest requests he has received and gives the inside scoop on the eating habits of some of the House of Commons’ most recognisable names.
Nov 05, 2024•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast As the 2024 US election goes into the final day, a poll giving Kamala Harris a lead in the historically Republican state of Iowa has bolstered the Democrats. Is momentum really with her? And what appears to be the most important issue to voters - the economy, or abortion rights? Guest host Kate Andrews speaks to John Rick MacArthur, president and publisher of Harper's Magazine, about his views on America's election process from postal voting, trust in the system, and whether the electoral colleg...
Nov 05, 2024•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Spectator Economic Innovator of the Year Awards, in partnership with Rathbones, celebrate the passion and creativity of British entrepreneurs. From hundreds of entries we have narrowed down to some 50 finalists across the United Kingdom. In this episode, the judges discuss the innovators within the Manufacturing and Engineering category – 3D printing hydraulic systems, making plastic alternatives out of plant-based polymers, creating recyclable electronics, and more. The judges in this episo...
Nov 04, 2024•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast With just a day until election day, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump's respective campaigns continue to ramp up, with rallies and gimmicks, and even advertising on the Las Vegas Sphere. Despite this, Spectator contributor Lionel Shriver declares she is America's 'last undecided voter'. Why? Is it the candidates' characters that put her off voting for them, or the policies they represent? Lionel joins guest host, and fellow American, Kate Andrews to discuss further. Produced by Megan McElroy and Pa...
Nov 04, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Spectator Economic Innovator of the Year Awards, in partnership with Rathbones, celebrate the passion and creativity of British entrepreneurs. From hundreds of entries we have narrowed down to some 50 finalists across the United Kingdom. In this episode, the judges discuss the innovators within the Business Services and Logistics category – the companies that help other innovators and companies operate day to day. The judges in this episode are mechanical engineer and venture capitalist Adri...
Nov 03, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kemi Badenoch has won the Tory leadership election. She beat Robert Jenrick in a tight race, winning 53,806 votes against his 41,318. What will a Badenoch opposition look like? What are her strengths? Her weaknesses? Cindy Yu speaks to Michael Gove and Katy Balls.
Nov 02, 2024•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this week’s Spectator Out Loud : Christopher Caldwell asks what a Trump victory could mean for Ukraine (1:07); Gus Carter argues that leaving the ECHR won’t fix Britain’s immigration system (8:29); Ruaridh Nicoll reads his letter from Havana (18:04); Tanya Gold provides her notes on toffee apples (23:51); and a selection of our books of the year from Jonathan Sumption, Hadley Freeman, Mark Mason, Christopher Howse, Sam Leith and Frances Wilson (27:08). Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbon...
Nov 02, 2024•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast As we get closer to the US election, Kate Andrews, The Spectator's economics editor, joins Freddy Gray to host Americano. On this episode, she speaks to Megan McArdle, columnist at the Washington Post. They discuss why Donald Trump and Kamala Harris aren't campaigning in swing states, and why it's so difficult to predict the election result.
Nov 01, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
