The Spectator Podcast

Welcome to Spectator Radio's newest addition - Table Talk. Each episode, Olivia Potts and Lara Prendergast will be joined by a guest familiar to Spectator readers. Lara and Livvy will discuss their life story, through the food and drink that has come to define it.For our inaugural episode, Livvy and Lara are joined by Prue Leith: chef, restaurateur, broadcaster, journalist, novelist and, of course, Great British Bake Off presenter. They chat about her time in South Africa and Paris, and how that helped shape her attitude to food. She comes clean about some of her cooking mishaps, making sandwiches for both toffs and builders, being the first woman to have a proper restaurant in London, why she hates washing up, and her first cookbook in 25 years, Prue: My All-time Favourite Recipes.We do hope you’ll enjoy this new addition to Spectator Radio. We’ve got more episodes coming up, including interviews with Sophia Money-Coutts, Bryony Gordon and the Spectator’s editor, Fraser Nelson.

As Angela Merkel steps down as party leader – what was her legacy and can the EU project survive without her (00:40)? We also discuss whether WhatsApp has made it harder for MPs to plot (12:25); and last, should Brits be allowed to forage wild mushrooms (22:50)?With Douglas Murray, Sophie Pedder, Katy Balls, Paul Staines, Stewart Jackson, Daniel Butler, and Josh Barrie.Presented by Lara Prendergast.Produced by Cindy Yu and Alastair Thomas.

In this week's Spectator Books, Sam talks to Ben Schott. The author of Schott's Miscellany, Ben's literary productions have taken an unexpected turn with the publication this week of his first novel. Jeeves and the King of Clubs is a tribute or companion piece to P G Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster novels, published with the authorisation of the Wodehouse estate. What the hell was he thinking? Ben comes clean -- and also talks about the joys of nerdiness, the difficulty of living up to Plum, and the Spectator's role in the whole story.Presented by Sam Leith.

Was Philip Hammond's Budget a reckless splurge, or a shrewd political budget that draws a new dividing line with Jeremy Corbyn? In this special podcast, Fraser Nelson talks to James Forsyth and Richard Buxton, Head of Merian Global Investors. We discuss why business is actually more afraid of Corbyn than Brexit, and how Hammond's budget is as good as can be expected at this point in time.Sponsored by Merian Global Investors.

Britain is a world leader in many things - but not many people would say that infrastructure is one of them. When abroad, Brits marvel at the state of airports and railways, even swimming pools. When we seek to catch up - with HS2 or a new runway for London - the result is years of wrangling. Is there a British curse? The Spectator's Fraser Nelson talked to transport journalist Christian Wolmar, Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission Sir John Armitt, and UK Head of Aecom David Barwell.The podcast is sponsored by Aecom.

Brought to you by Spectator Events, Fraser Nelson presents this special panel discussion with a star-studded cast. Are we heading for a no-deal Brexit? And if so, would it really be all that bad?With former Brexit secretary David Davis, former Chancellor Ken Clarke, economist Liam Halligan, former MP and Brexiteer Gisela Stuart, and the Spectator's Political Editor James Forsyth.

Our guest this week is Matthew Hennessey. He’s an editor at the Wall Street Journal, and also the author of Zero Hour for Gen X: How the Last Adult Generation Can Save America from the Millennials (Encounter Books). It’s a fascinating read: part-political obituary of a generation that, squeezed between two larger cohorts, the Boomers and the Millennials, may have missed its historical cue; part-rallying cry because, as Matthew explains in our midlife crisis of a conversation, it’s not over yet.‘It’s zero hour. Don’t just stand there. Bust a move.’Presented by Dominic Green.

Join Isabel Hardman for the highlights of Sunday's political interviews. Today's podcast features Philip Hammond, John McDonnell, Justine Greening and Jacob Rees-Mogg. Produced by Matthew Taylor.

With Curt Mills, Foreign Affairs Reporter at the National Interest.Presented by Freddy Gray.

Somehow it has already been two years into a Trump presidency, and America is facing midterm elections. Will Democrats win in a landslide (00:45)? We also delve a little deeper at the political faultlines behind the Jamal Khashoggi story – is Turkey taking advantage of his death (15:15)? And last, is the use of wild animals in circuses really the great injustice that campaigners say it is (25:40)?With Freddy Gray, Leslie Vinjamuri, Hannah Lucinda Smith, Azzam Tamimi, Tim Phillips and Vanessa Toulmin.Presented by Isabel Hardman.Produced by Cindy Yu and Alastair Thomas.

Sam Leith talks to the behavioural geneticist Robert Plomin about his new book Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are, in which he argues that it’s not only height and weight and skin colour that are heritable, but intelligence, TV-watching habits and likelihood of getting divorced. They talk about the risks he takes publishing this book, the political third rail of race and eugenics, and what his discoveries mean for the future of our data and for medical care. You can read Kathryn Paige Harden’s review of Blueprint, meanwhile, in this week’s magazine.Presented by Sam Leith.

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

In this week’s Spectator USA Life ’n’ Arts podcast, Dominic talks to David Pryce-Jones. Novelist, correspondent, historian, editor at National Review and, most recently, author of the autobiography and family history Fault Lines, Pryce-Jones has the longest association with the Spectator of any Life ’n’ Arts podcaster yet. In 1963, Pryce-Jones began his literary journey to the status of national treasure on both sides of the Pond by becoming books’ editor of our London mothership.‘I think the common theme in everything that I’ve done, really, is: what makes people believe the extraordinary things they do believe?’Presented by Dominic Green.

Reporters can’t get enough of the gory details and the international intrigue in the Khashoggi case. But they seem to have forgotten the need to report basic facts, question their single-sourced material, and ask difficult questions of those who know far more than they let on. Who was Jamal Khashoggi?With Matthew Brodsky, Middle East expert at the Security Studies Group.Presented by Freddy Gray.

Sam talks to the incomparable Sara Paretsky about her latest V. I. Warshawski novel Shell Game — which pits the original feminist gumshoe against art thieves, Russian mobsters and her fink of an ex-husband. They talk about keeping Vic young (skincare doesn’t come into it), chiming with MeToo and immigration anxieties in Trump’s America, whether she feels rivalrous with other female crime writers, spotting her own writerly tics, and making friends with Obama.Presented by Sam Leith.

This week, Brexit negotiations grind to a halt again as Brussels and the UK draw mutually exclusive red lines on the Irish border problem. We talk to James Forsyth and Dan Hannan on what next for Brexit (00:45). We also look a little deeper into the methods and mission of Bellingcat, the investigators that unveiled the true identities of the Salisbury suspects (13:25). And last, we investigate a sex industry that is trying to become more ethical (25:25).With James Forsyth, Dan Hannan, Owen Matthews, Mary Dejevsky, Cosmo Landesman, and Renée Denyer.Presented by Isabel Hardman.Produced by Cindy Yu and Alastair Thomas.

Britain could be about to acquire a new ethnicity - Sikhs. The 2021 census could have an ethnicity tick box for the community. But isn't Sikhism a religion that anyone - of any ethnicity - can follow? Hardeep Singh thinks so - and he explains why categorising his religion as an ethnicity will be dangerous for the community and multicultural Britain.Presented by Damian Thompson.

With Katy Balls and James Forsyth.Presented by Lara Prendergast.

Dominic Green talks to Jamie Kirchick, journalist and author, on the culture wars raging in American universities.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has disappeared at his country's consulate in Istanbul, with reports emerging of his brutal murder. But who was Jamal Khashoggi, why did this happen to him and what should happen next (00:38)? Also on this podcast, the Irish may harbour more anti-EU opinion than commonly thought. Is there the prospect of an 'Irexit' (12:48)? And finally, with three top public schools scrapping the common entrance exam, should we lament the demise of the eccentric admissions test for schoolchildren (22:54)?With Bill Law, Akbar Shahid Ahmed, John Waters, Brendan O'Neill and Harry Mount.Presented by Lara Prendergast.Produced by Alastair Thomas.