Spectator World columnist – and Heritage Foundation fellow – Daniel McCarthy joins Freddy Gray to explain how Trump's war with Iran could mark the end of an era, that of neoconservatism. For Daniel, there is no contradiction between Trump's 'America First' policy and its overseas interventions: Trump is pursuing a version of hegemony that will reduce the need for future interventions. If all goes to plan, this could mark an ideological watershed that stretches back to the first Gulf War in the early 1990s – but it's a big 'if'. What if the conflict spirals out of control? To what extent was this driven by Trump, or by Netanyahu? And what are the dynamics at play between the leadership figures in Maga?

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

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Does Britain still have a coherent foreign policy? James Heale and Tim Shipman are joined by Ben Judah, former special adviser to David Lammy, and Ameer Kotecha, who recently resigned from the Foreign Office.

Together they discuss why Britain’s diplomatic establishment is under growing criticism – from accusations that the department has become bloated and distracted by DEI, to Chagos and deeper concerns that Whitehall no longer has the expertise or strategic clarity needed in an increasingly unstable world.

With wars raging from Ukraine to the Middle East and tensions rising with China, they ask whether Britain has adapted to a more chaotic global order – or whether the country is still operating with the assumptions of a different era. They also debate the future of the ‘special relationship’ and whether we would be better served by distancing ourselves from our increasingly erratic American cousins.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.

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Donald Trump has urged Iranians to ‘take over’ their government after the United States and Israel struck targets across the country. A multitude of Iranian military and government targets were hit by missiles in what is turning out to be a joint operation far more comprehensive than the 12-day air campaign last June. Freddy Gray and Jacob Heilbrunn join to discuss why now, how this attack is fraught with risk for Trump's presidency, and how Trump's administration was hijacked by the neoconservatives.

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There has been a renewed focus on tobacco and nicotine products across Europe. Just as countries seek to speed up the process to a smoke-free future, through measures like generational smoking bans and increased regulations on packaging and advertising, there has been a sharp increase in young people using alternative nicotine products like vapes and pouches.

Philip Morris International (PMI) expects to see two-thirds of its revenue come from smoke-free products by 2030 – including its product, Zyn. Dr Moira Gilchrist, chief communications officer at PMI, and Charlie Weimers MEP, a member of the Swedish Democrats, join The Spectator’s Lara Brown to talk about how nicotine pouches can help the transition away from tobacco to a smoke-free future. While this podcast was sponsored by PMI, The Spectator retained full editorial control, with no subject off-limits. Is PMI’s concern genuine or purely for future-proofing their business? What lessons can the UK take from Sweden, which expects to be declared the first ‘smoke-free’ country? And what does the science say?

This podcast is sponsored by Philip Morris International.

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This week: Niru Ratnam argues that teachers are putting principles before children (00:59), Gus Carter discusses the curious business of fertility (08:14), and Graeme Thomson reviews Beyonce at Murrayfield Stadium (14:24). 

Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson. 

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This week:

In his cover piece, journalist Mark Galeotti asks whether Putin can be outsmarted by Zelensky’s counter-offensive. He is joined by The Spectator’s own Svitlana Morenets to discuss Ukraine's next move. (01:08)

Also this week: 

Journalist David Goodhart writes a moving tribute to his friend Jeremy Clarke, The Spectator’s much-missed Low Life columnist who sadly passed away earlier this week. David is joined by Cass Pennant and Freddy Gray, The Spectator’s deputy editor, to remember the life and writing of Jeremy Clarke. (12:52) 

And finally:

The Spectator’s deputy features editor Gus Carter writes this week about the curious business of fertility. He is joined by Nimco Ali co-founder and CEO of The Five Foundation. (27:06)

Presented by William Moore and Lara Prendergast. 

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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In this week’s Book Club podcast, we celebrate the life and weigh the literary reputation of Martin Amis, who died at the end of last week. I’m joined by the critic Alex Clark, the novelist John Niven, and our chief reviewer Philip Hensher – all of whom bring decades of close engagement with Amis’s work to the discussion.

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Matthew Goodwin, author of the bestseller Values, Voice and Virtue talks to Winston about the divide in British politics between cosmopolitans and traditionalists, the controversy surrounding the National Conservative Conference, and the future of the Conservative and Labour parties.

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This week: J. Meirion Thomas tells us about the story of the politician, the street trader and the foiled kidney transplant plot (00:57), Tom Goodenough discusses the blurred lines between sport and entertainment (08:30) and Adam Sweeting reads his interview with documentary-maker Nick Broomfield about the forgotten Rolling Stone (13:42). 

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Freddy Gray speaks to Nigel Farage and Fraser Nelson about Britain's latest immigration figures, and what this means seven years on from the Brexit vote. Also on the show, Tim Stanley and Mary Harrington discuss the future of Conservatism; Paul Wood looks at Putin's warlord, Yevgeny Prigozhin; and will Tinder swiping be replaced by AI?

00:00 Welcome by Freddy Gray
02:24 Has Brexit meant more immigration than ever? With Fraser Nelson and Nigel Farage
21:19 What do National Conservatives care about? With Mary Harrington and Tim Stanley
41:29 Who is Yevgeny Prigozhin? With Paul Wood
56:11 Will AI take over Tinder? With Jake Kozloski
01:05 Outro

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Dambisa Moyo is an economist, life peer and author of five books: from Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa to her most recent, How Boards Work: And How They Can Work Better in a Chaotic World. Born in Zambia, Dambisa grew up in a house where discussing politics was a regular occurrence at the family table. Dambisa has a large portfolio of academic qualifications from all over the world and has consulted both public and private sector bank. Having sat on numerous boards, Dambisa received a life peerage and in 2023 when she entered the House of Lords. On the podcast Dambisa talks about growing up in Zambia, six years after independence; her first job aged 23 at the World Bank, and her new role sat in the House of Lords. 

Produced by Natasha Feroze.

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This week:

Spectator editor Fraser Nelson writes in this week’s cover story about how Brexit has led to Britain having more, not less, immigration – Rishi Sunak’s government is masking dysfunction in the welfare system by bringing in people to fill vacant jobs. To make his case, Fraser joins us alongside our economics editor Kate Andrews. (01:04)

Also this week:

Novelist Elif Shafak writes about the Turkish elections in the diary for this week’s magazine. Ultranationalism and religious fundamentalism were the real winners in last Sunday’s poll. To tell us all about it. Elif joins us alongside Spectator contributor Owen Matthews. (23:18)

And finally:

Is reality television ruining sport? The Spectator’s online editor Tom Goodenough writes in this week’s magazine about how a new trend of TV shows following sports teams is taking the joy away for fans. To explain, Tom joins us alongside our deputy editor Freddy Gray. (34:24)

Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William Moore. 

Produced by Max Jeffery.

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In this week's Book Club podcast, we're talking about a very new version of a very old book. Leo Africanus's The Cosmography and Geography of Africa was the first book to introduce Africa to the people of Western Europe. Part Baedeker, part-natural history, part-memoir, part-history book, it dominated the Western understanding of that continent for hundreds of years. Anthony Ossa-Richardson and Richard J Oosterhoff have just published the first new English translation in more than 400 years, and they talk to me about its tangled manuscript history, its mysterious author, and what it gets wrong about giraffes.    

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The mail-order bride industry is booming – but today's international dating doesn't look as it used to.

It turns out that it’s not so much young and uneducated Chinese women looking to marry out of the country anymore, and more middle aged and financially well off divorcees, looking for something different.

The mail order bride industry is changing as the women involved are becoming more empowered with their growing wealth – and more demanding.

On this episode, Cindy Yu speaks to sociologist Monica Liu, whose new book, Seeking Western Men, is all about these changing dynamics of race, class, gender and, ultimately, power. She writes about the book in an article for Sixth Tone.

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Fr Benedict Kiely, founder of nasarean.org, and Freddy Gray join Damian Thompson to discuss the persecution of Christians which has reached new and terrifying levels. Since this podcast was recorded last Friday, we have had the further news that over 300 children and staff were abducted from a Christian school – while around 50 of the children have since managed to escape, the rest remain missing and a local Bishop has criticised the Nigeria government for its failure to act.

Over 185,000 Christians are estimated to have been killed in Nigeria in the past 15 years – so why has it taken the efforts of President Trump to push this horrific topic up the agenda?

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

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This week Ece Temelkuran on Turkey's upcoming elections (0:54); Lara Prendergast looks at Millenial Millie – a new voter demographic (05:47) and Aidan Hartley on surviving this year's drought (12:12).

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Freddy Gray is joined by filmmaker, Alex Holder who had access to Trump’s inner circle when making the documentary Unprecedented. On the podcast, they discuss Trump's supporter base, his relationship with his children, and why Ivanka is the favourite.

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This week:

Having been found guilty of sexual assault, is Donald Trump still in the running for the White House? In his cover piece, Niall Ferguson says he could still defy gravity. He joins the podcast alongside Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of The National Interest. (01:00) 

Also this week:

Journalist Andrew Watts interviews the Reverend Canon Dr Jason Bray, the Bishop of St Asaph’s ‘deliverance minister’, or the Anglican priest charged with exorcising evil spirits. They both join the podcast. (17:50). 

And finally:

Author and journalist Sophia Money-Coutts writes about the British women opting for Danish sperm donors to conceive. She joins us on the show, along with Annemette Arndal Lauritzen, CEO of the European Sperm Bank.  (34:07). 

Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William Moore. 

Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Natasha Feroze.

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In this week's Book Club podcast my guest is the writer Madeleine Bunting, whose new book is The Seaside: England's Love Affair. She tells me how the great seaside resorts came into their 19th century pomp, how abrupt was their mid-century decline, and of the terrible desolation that has succeeded the idyll of donkey rides, ices and fish and chips.

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Niki Segnit is the author of the hit cooking books The Flavour Thesaurus and Lateral Cooking. Her new book The Flavour Thesaurus more flavours: Plant-led pairings, recipes and ideas for cooks, is out this Thursday 11th May. 
 
On the podcast she speaks to Lara and Liv about weird and wonderful flavour combinations, her childhood fascination with Oxo cubes and why she has gone plant-led for her new book. 

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This week: William Moore recalls the 1953 coronation with those that were there (01:02), Katy Balls reads her politics column (10:13), Dan Hitchens discusses the art of coronation (16:20) and Ysenda Maxtone Graham reads her review of The Seaside by Madeleine Bunting (25:20). 

Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson.

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Freddy Gray speaks to journalist Ben Smith, whose new book Traffic is an origins story for digital media. On the podcast they discuss how a new genre of journalism was birthed from a desire to cause trouble online, whether woke culture spawned from digital media and if we are nearing the end for the social internet.

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Sam McAlister is a producer and author of Scoops: The BBC's Most Shocking Interviews from Prince Andrew to Steven Seagal. When she worked for Newsnight, she was the producer who secured the infamous interview with Prince Andrew, conducted by Emily Maitlis. This interview eventually led to Prince Andrew being suspended from public duties and stepping back from all of his patronages. McAlister is now being portrayed by the actress Billie Piper in a coming Netflix adaptation of the Prince Andrew interview.

On the episode, she tells Katy about coming from a 'grafting, entrepreneurial' family and how that informed her competitiveness; her brief career in law; and the behind-the-scenes story of how she secured the interview.

Produced by Natasha Feroze and Cindy Yu.

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This week:

In his cover piece for the magazine, Daily Mail writer, author of Queen of Our Times and co-presenter of the Tea at the Palace podcast, Robert Hardman looks ahead to the reign of King Charles III. He joins the podcast alongside historian David Starkey, who is interviewed in the arts pages of The Spectator by Lynn Barber (01:10)

Also this week:

Sean Thomas writes about generational reparations, that is: whether families with murky pasts should pay compensation for their ancestors’ wrongdoings. He is joined by Professor Christine Kinealy, historian and author This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine 1845-52, to ask whether generational reparations are simply a token gesture (20:58).

And finally:

Journalist Yannic Rack writes about the battle to restore Britain's hedgerows in The Spectator. He is joined by Clive Matthew, hedgelayer and founder of the National Hedgelaying Society to learn about the art of hedgelaying (30:29). 

Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William Moore. 

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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My guest in this week's Book Club podcast is Shehan Karunatilaka, author of last year's Booker Prize winner The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Shehan tells me about writing a novel whose protagonist is dead on page one, about putting the chaos of Sri Lanka's long civil war on the page, and about the importance of Shakin' Stevens to a teenager in 1980s Colombo.

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Throughout the years, the only person permitted to drink inside the House of Commons is the Chancellor, so what has been the tipple of choice for each resident of Number 11 dating back to Benjamin Disraeli? Following Rachel Reeves Budget this week, Michael Simmons and James Heale drink their way through the ages, discuss the historical context of each Budget, and question whether Rachel Reeves has the toughest job of them all.

This episode was originally recorded for Michael Simmons's new podcast Reality Check. Search Reality Check wherever you subscribe to your podcasts.

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Hidden in March’s GDP figures was a shocking statistic – a fifth of Chinese 16 to 24 year olds are out of work. This is a near record high, and the economic background to a fresh wave of disillusionment among China’s young.

It has led to the creation of a new meme - you’ve heard of lying flat, but young people are now comparing themselves to a Republican-era literary character, Kong Yiji.

On this episode, Cindy Yu is joined by the journalist Karoline Kan, author of Under Red Skies: The Life and Times of a Chinese Millennial. They talk about the Kong Yiji trend, why prospects are so thin for the most educated Chinese generation, and what this all means for the government's claims to economic competence.

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Freddy Gray speaks to Ed Condon who is the editor of The Pillar On the podcast they talk about Biden's Catholicism; how it plays out in his politics and whether it will be a big part of his presidential campaign. 

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This week: Mary Wakefield explains why the NHS is broken; Jenny McCartney on the unproductive 'productivity gurus' and Robert Gore-Langton on Richard Burton’s botched Hamlet. 

Produced by Natasha Feroze.

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Freddy Gray is joined by Ayesha Hazarika and Katy Balls who has written the cover this week on Keir Starmer's centrist army. Also on the show, Cirino Hiteng Ofuho on Sudan's violent civil unrest; Gracy Curley on the upcoming US election and Sean Mathias and Rob Gore-Langton on Hamlet. 

00:00 Welcome from Freddy Gray
03:39 Who are Keir's 'Starmtroopers?' With Katy Balls and Ayesha Hazarika
24:59 What's happened in Sudan? With Dr Cirino Hiteng Ofuho
36:29 A look ahead to the US election. With Grace Curley
53:56 Richard Burton's botched Hamlet. With Sean Mathias and Robert Gore-Langton.

Produced by Natasha Feroze.

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This week:

In her cover piece for the magazine, The Spectator’s political editor Katy Balls writes that as Labour prepares for government, Keir Starmer is rooting out the far left sections of his party and replacing them with moderates. She is joined by John McTernan, former political secretary to Tony Blair, to discuss the return of the Blairites (01:06).

Also this week:

The Spectator’s Russia correspondent Owen Matthews writes about Putin's three most prominent political prisoners. He joins the podcast alongside The Spectator’s assistant online editor Lisa Haseldine to consider the cost of speaking up against the regime (17:50).

And finally:

Damian Thompson, associate editor at The Spectator, writes this week about the rise of America’s Satanists. He is joined by Chaplain Leopold, who co-runs the Global Order of Satan UK, to debate the rifts in modern Satanism (28:41). 

Hosted by William Moore. 

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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In this week's Book Club podcast my guest is the theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. In his new book Quantum Supremacy, Prof Kaku explains how – as he sees it – the advent of quantum computers is going to turn the world as we know it on its head. He explains the extraordinary possibilities and perils of the quantum revolution, tells me how Albert Einstein and Flash Gordon set him on his path, and argues why when it comes to trying to make sense of the universe, you need to be prepared to be crazy.

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Winston speaks to former Portland State University professor turned international philosopher, Peter Boghossian. Peter was a prominent new atheist author and expert on the Socratic method when he resigned his position at Portland over the percolation of ‘woke’ ideology into the university. In his resignation letter he described how the institution had become a ‘dogma factory’ which had ‘weaponized diversity, equity and inclusion’. Peter and Winston discuss progressive domination of the Academy, how woke spreads, DEI vs free speech, how to have constructive conversations and whether the new atheists led to woke culture.

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Freddy Gray speaks to Michael Wolff, author of books on Trump and Rupert Murdoch. On the podcast, they talk about the Dominion vs Fox trial settlement. Why did Fox let this case go on for so long?

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This week: Sam Leith explains how he’s been keeping up friendships by playing online scrabble (00:55), Lionel Shriver questions Nike and Bud Light's recent marketing strategy (06:52) and Angus Colwell reads his review of the V&A Dundee’s tartan exhibition (15:24).

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John Connolly is joined by Andrew Neil to discuss the SNP’s implosion; Douglas Murray and Arlene Foster on the ongoing sectarianism in Northern Ireland; Louise Perry and Kim Cotton on the ethical dilemmas of surrogacy and David Abulafia on Neflix's portrayal of Cleopatra.

00:00 Welcome from John Connolly
01:54 Is the SNP over? With Andrew Neil
13:24 Can Northern Ireland move on from the Troubles? With Douglas Murray and Arlene Foster
32:03 Is surrogacy unethical? With Louise Perry and Kim Cotton 
54:26 Why is Netflix pretending that Cleopatra was black? With David Abulafia

Produced by Natasha Feroze.

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'Marriage is the real rebellion’ argues Madeline Grant in the Spectator’s cover article this week. The Office for National Statistics predicts that by 2050 only 30 per cent of adults will be married. This amounts to a ‘relationship recession’ where singleness is ‘more in vogue now than it has been since the dissolution of the monastries’. With a rising division between the sexes, and many resorting to alternative relationships like polyamory, how can we defend marriage?

For this week’s Edition, host William Moore is joined by political editor Tim Shipman, assistant editor – and parliamentary sketchwriter – Madeline Grant and the Spectator’s diary writer this week, former Chancellor and Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng.

As well as the cover, they discuss: how Rachel Reeves benefited from the OBR Budget leak, whether through cock up or conspiracy; what they thought of Kemi Badenoch’s post-Budget performance; whether it is fair for Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds – in an interview with Tim – to say that ‘the architects of Brexit ran away'; and finally, how inevitable was the idea of ‘progress’ when thinking about Britain's Industrial Revolution.

Plus: Kwasi explains why he agrees with Tim that the Budget should be confined to the 19th Century. 

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

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On this week's episode:

In her cover piece for The Spectator, journalist Louise Perry questions whether it is moral to separate a newborn child from their surrogate. She is joined by Sarah Jones, head of SurrogacyUK and five time surrogate mother, to debate the ethics of surrogacy (01:07).

Also this week:

In the books section of the magazine Olivia Potts reviews several recent books all of which seem to warn against the dangers of our food system and what we are eating. She is joined by Henry Dimbleby, author of Ravenous: How to Get Ourselves and Our Planet Into Shape, to ask if anything is safe to eat these days (14:29).

And finally:

Reverend Steve Morris speaks to modern day Holy Grail-hunters in The Spectator about their obsession with the search for the cup of Christ. He joins the podcast alongside Rat Scabies, Grail-hunter and drummer of the punk band The Dammed, to shed some light on the enduring appeal of the Holy Grail (26:50). 

Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William Moore. 

Produced by Oscar Edmondson. 

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Sam Leith's guest on this week's Book Club podcast is Luke Jennings, the veteran reporter and novelist whose Codename Villanelle trilogy gave rise to the hit TV series Killing Eve. As his new thriller #PANIC is published he tells Sam how he found its inspiration after being drawn into the online fandom for Killing Eve, where he clashed with Phoebe Waller-Bridge... and why he's never going to write a novel about media types in North London having affairs.

Produced by Cindy Yu and Joe Bedell-Brill.

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Feminist philosopher, Unherd columnist and author of The Case Against The Sexual Revolution Louise Perry discusses population growth decline, how culture, the state and feminism are failing mothers and what can be done about it.

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Just before Christmas, it was reported that the billionaire Jack Ma had moved to Tokyo after getting into trouble with the Chinese authorities. If he's still living there, he'd be one of several well known Chinese who seems to have made Japan their home after run ins with Beijing.

In so doing, they’re following in the footsteps of those who came over a century ago – other Chinese exiles who holed out in Japan because of a hostile political environment back home.

This episode is all about how important it was that Japan served as a safe haven for these exiles – both reformers and revolutionaries – at the turn of the 20th century. That would later contribute to the establishment of a Chinese national identity and even the creation of the Chinese republic itself. It turns out that Japan was not only an aggressor against modern China, but an inspiration for it.

On this episode, Cindy Yu is joined by the Professor Rana Mitter from the University of Oxford and Bill Hayton, a journalist and author of The Invention Of China.

[Pictured: Sun Yat-sen with Japanese film producer Umeya Shokichi and wife, who helped fund Sun's activities]

Historical timeline:
1839 - 1842 – First opium war
1856 - 1860 – Second opium war
1868 – The 'Meiji Restoration' begins in Japan
1877 – The first Qing delegation arrives in Tokyo, including diplomat Huang Zunxian.
1894/95 – The Sino-Japanese war. China's defeat results in Taiwan being ceded to Japan as a colony.
1898 – The 'Hundred Days Reform', a failed attempt by the Emperor Guangxu and allies (including Liang Qichao, Kang Youwei and Huang Zunxian) to constitutionalise the Qing dynasty. It was quashed by the Empress Cixi.
1899 - 1901 – The Boxer Rebellion, a peasant movement against foreign forces in China and endorsed by the Qing dynasty. It ends in defeat and an influx of Chinese students are sent to Japan as a part of Qing indemnities.
1911 - The last emperor abdicates and the Republic of China is formed.

Further listening:
Jing Tsu on the Chinese language revolution.
Bill Hayton on 'The Invention Of China'.
Dylan Levi Thomas on modern China's psyche surrounding Japan.

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This week: James Heale says the gloves are off as Labour campaigning takes a bitter turn (00:54), Mary Wakefield worries that she’s raising a snowflake (17:47), and Gus Carter tells us about the colourful history of the green man (31:34). 

Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson. 

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Baroness Martha Lane Fox is a dotcom pioneer having started lastminute.com in 1997. She sits on the board of some of the country's most prominent brands, including Marks & Spencer and Channel 4, and has made significant contributions to the government's digital agenda. On the podcast, Martha talks about the early years of the dotcom bubble; the car crash which led to her spending two years in hospital; and some of the campaigning work she has done to promote more accessibility for women in tech.

Produced by Natasha Feroze.

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On the podcast this week:

In his cover piece for The Spectator, Adrian Wooldridge argues that meritocracy is under attack. He says that the traditional societal pyramid – with the upper class at the top and the lower class at the base – has been inverted by a new culture which prizes virtue over meritocracy. He joins the podcast alongside journalist and author of Chums: How a tiny caste of Oxford Tories took over the UK, Simon Kuper, to debate (01:04).

Also this week:

In the magazine, ad-man Paul Burke suggests how the Tories should respond to Labour’s attack adverts. Released last week, the adverts have caused a stir for attacking the Conservative's recent record on curbing child abuse, and accuses Rishi Sunak directly of negligence on the issue. Paul is joined by Carl Shoben, who leads strategic communications for Survation and was strategy director under Jeremy Corbyn (17:47).

And finally:

In the books section of the magazine Philip Hensher reviews Sarah Bakewell’s new book Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Thinking, Enquiry and Hope. Philip says that he admires the humanists of the past, and find them consistently kinder, more decent and generous than their contemporaries. Both Philip and Sarah join the podcast (31:34). 

Hosted by Lara Prendergast. 

Produced by Oscar Edmondson. 

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For over forty years, tens of thousands of girls and young women have been abused, raped and some brutally murdered across Britain by grooming gangs. It is a scandal that should shame the nation, yet it is an issue that gets brushed aside by authorities, clouded out in the media by disputes over racist reporting, and largely ignored by politicians. All at the cost of justice for those young girls. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week announced policy to – finally – attempt to deal with this horrific issue. 

To discuss the policy and the deeper story of the grooming gangs is journalist and documentary filmmaker Charlie Peters.

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My guest in this week's Book Club podcast is the poet and artist Frieda Hughes, whose new book George: A Magpie Memoir tells the story of what caring for a foundling baby magpie taught her about life. She tells me about chaos, head-bouncing, magpie-poop, and how she managed to write about corvids without imagining her father Ted Hughes looking over her shoulder.   

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Jonathan Ray is The Spectator’s drinks editor and formerly wine critic for the Telegraph. He has also written several books on the subject of wine and how to buy it. 

On the podcast Lara, Liv and Jonny share a glass of wine and discuss Jonathan’s earliest memories of food, his go-to hangover cure and his desert island meal. 

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On this week’s Book Club podcast I’m joined by debut author Leon Craig to talk about her novel The Decadence – a story of millennial debauchery in a haunted house which uses a knowing patchwork of literary influences from Boccaccio and Shirley Jackson to Martin Amis and Mark Z. Danielewski to make an old form fresh. She discusses how and why it took her so long to write, how she first acquired a taste for the gothic, and why she thinks the horror novel, that seeming relic of the 1970s, is making such a dramatic comeback.

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Megyn Kelly joins Freddy Gray to take a look at the wider picture following Donald Trump's arrest. The presidential candidates' ratings have surged in the polls – has this rejuvenated Trump's campaign? Also on the show, Dan Hitchens and Andrew Doyle discuss the divisions in the Church of England; Charles Moore remembers former Chancellor and editor of The Spectator, Nigel Lawson; and Stuart Jeffries joins Lady Unchained to talk about the therapeutic nature of prison art.

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On this week's Spectator Out Loud, Svitlana Morenets talks about how the lines between patriotism and profiteering are being blurred in Ukraine; Owen Matthews interviews Leonid Volkov, Alexei Navalny's chief of staff; and Ysenda Maxtone Graham calls for help from a 15-minute city.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Cindy Yu.

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