Freddy Gray speaks to writer and author Karen Hao, whose new book Empire of AI looks at a new, ominous age of empire with OpenAI. On the podcast they discuss the impacts of artificial intelligence on society and democracy and how Open AI founder Sam Altman has become a controversial figure. 

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Sam Leith's guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is Robert Macfarlane. In his new book Is A River Alive? he travels from the cloud forests of Ecuador to the pollution-choked rivers of Chennai and the threatened waterways of eastern Canada. He tells Sam what he learned along the journey – and why we need to reconceptualise our relationship with the natural world.

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Daria Lavelle was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and raised in New York. Her work explores themes of identity and belonging and her short stories have appeared in The Deadlands, Dread Machine, and elsewhere. Daria is the author of the critically acclaimed new novel Aftertaste which explores food, grief and the uncanny. 

On the podcast she tells Liv about her 'inexplicable' love of olives as a child in Ukraine, trying to make it as a writer in New York and how to write about food without it feeling contrived.

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The Spectator’s Katy Balls, Michael Gove and Kate Andrews were joined by special guests Robert Jenrick and Jonathan Ashworth for a live podcast, recorded at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster.

The main topic of discussion was, of course, Donald Trump, whose inauguration has ushered in a new world disorder. His ‘shock and awe’ foreign policy has sent Europe scrambling as it tries to work out who will be responsible for ensuring its security in the future. We have seen a move away from the idealism that has defined foreign policy in the last decade and towards ‘realism’, with countries committing to boots on the ground and greater defence spending. Are Labour right to increase their defence pledge? Is Kemi Badenoch being energetic enough in holding the government to account – not just on its foreign policy, but on its record in government so far? And – closer to home – how worried are the Tories about the rise of Reform?

This discussion was originally recorded on Wednesday 26 February.

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In this week’s episode:Why is there a lack of faith in western leaders? Spectator deputy editor Freddy Gray, Callum Williams from the Economist & Harvard professor Barbara Kellerman discuss why the world feel so leaderless. (00:44)
Also this week:How do you escape the church of scientology? Spectator Columnist Mary Wakefield talks with former scientologist Claire Headley about her life inside the organisation and how hard it was to leave. (15:07)
And finally:
Should we all give boxing a go?
Anil Bhoyrul & James Amos organiser of Boodles Boxing Ball on the strange world of White Collar Boxing. (27:40)
Hosted by Lara Prendergast & William MooreProduced by Sam Holmes
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In this week's Book Club podcast I'm joined by the New York Times's Andrea Elliott, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her book Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in New York City. She tells me how she came to spend seven years reporting on a single, homeless family in Brooklyn, how she negotiated her duty to observe rather than participate – and what their telenovela-like experiences tell us about American history.

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Winston speaks with writer, musician and host of Conversations with Coleman, Coleman Hughes. They discuss blasphemy in the music industry, counter-culture, race, reparations, colourblindness and much more...

Presented by Winston Marshall 
Produced by Sam Holmes

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China's social credit system is notorious. This Black Mirror-esque network supposedly gives citizens a score, based on an opaque algorithm that feeds on data from each person's digital and physical lives. With one billion Chinese accessing the Internet and the growing prevalence of facial recognition, it means that their every move can be monitored – from whether they cross the road dangerously, to whether they play too many video games and buy too much junk food. Those with low scores have lower socio-economic status, and may not be able to board planes and trains, or send their children to school. It's all part of a Chinese Communist Party directive to further control and mould its citizens.

Except it's not. Speak to any Chinese person and you'll quickly realise that their lives are not dictated by some score, with their every move monitored and live-feeding to some kind of governmental evaluation of their social worth. In fact, the western narrative of the social credit system has deviated so far from the situation on the ground that Chinese Internet users went viral mocking western reporting on Weibo: '-278 points: Immediate execution'.

Telling Cindy Yu this story on this episode of Chinese Whispers is Vincent Brussee, a researcher at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics), who has recently released a detailed paper looking at what the social credit system really entails on the ground (Merics was part of the group of European organisations and individuals sanctioned by Beijing last year).

The reality of social credit is unfortunately much less exciting and sexy than you might fear. For one, the technology simply isn't there.  ' When the social credit system was envisioned, or when it was designed in the early 2000s, government files in China were still held in dusty drawers… In 2019 when I worked in China I still had to use a fax machine. That was the first time in my life that I ever saw a fax machine', Vincent says. The system is not linked with someone's digital data, but fundamentally only their interactions with the government (for example, permits and licences). Data that e-commerce and social media companies collect on their users, which must be extensive, are not connected with the government's own data (probably because of the CCP's growing suspicion of Chinese tech firms).

But more fundamentally, the social credit system is not just one system. 'It's more of an umbrella term', Jeremy Daum says. He is the senior research fellow at Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center, who also runs the blog China Law Translate (which does what it says on the tin). Jeremy has spent years myth-busting the social credit system. He says that for some institutions, social credit is a financial record ('credit' as in 'credit card'); for others, it is a way of black-marking unscrupulous companies that in the past fell short of, say, food safety standards (a particularly sensitive topic in China, given the milk powder scandal). In fact, social credit often functionally works as a way of determining how trustworthy a company is, like a government-run Yelp or Trustpilot system (the Merics report found that most targets of are companies rather than individuals).

So how did reporters get the social credit story so wrong? In reality, though the social credit system itself is fairly boring, the way this narrative exploded and took hold is a cautionary tale for the West in our understanding of China. 'The western coverage of social credit has hardly been coverage of social credit at all. It is coverage of us, seen through a mirror of China', says Jeremy, arguing that it tapped into our deep fear of unbridled technology and surveillance. On the episode Cindy also speaks to Louise Matsakis, a freelance journalist covering tech and China, who was one of the first to point out the disparity in the social credit narrative and the reality on the ground. Together, they unpack what lessons there are for studying, understanding and reporting on China from this whole saga. 

For further reading, here are the sources we mention in the episode:

- The Chinese Whispers episode with Jeremy Daum on the fightback against facial recognition:  https://www.spectator.co.uk/po...

- The Merics report:  https://merics.org/en/report/c...

- China Law Translate's Social Credit section:  https://www.chinalawtranslate....

- Louise Matsakis in WIRED, ' How the West Got China's Social Credit System Wrong':  https://www.wired.com/story/ch...

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John Connolly, The Spectator’s news editor, speaks to historian Anthony Seldon about whether Boris Johnson might resign:

‘Why on earth would he want to carry on and have more of this humiliation? Why wouldn’t want to take the dignified path of saying: “I’m going to fall on my sword.”'

On the rest of the show, Spectator contributor Owen Matthews and our Wild Life columnist Aidan Hartley discuss how far Putin is to blame for global food shortages, the Refugee Council’s Enver Solomon says the Home Office is in crisis, and sports journalist Neil Clark explains why, despite the danger, the Isle of Man TT should be celebrated, not banned.

Watch the full episode at: www.spectator.co.uk/tv

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On this week's episode: 

Katy Balls reads her article on the cadets gunning for the Tory leadership. (00:52)

John Connolly reads his investigation into the new warehouse ghettos where Britain is sending migrants. (06:36) 

Gus Carter reads his piece on why he's not getting invited to any dinner parties. (12:05)

Presented by Angus Colwell.

Produced by Angus Colwell and Sam Holmes.

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Freddy Gray talks to journalists Jacob Heilbrunn, the editor of The National Interest, and John Daniel Davidson, senior editor of The Federalist, about the beginning of public hearings at the House Select Committee into the events of January 6th 2021.

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Julie Bindel is a radical feminist, journalist and activist. Growing up in Darlington, she left school aged 15, and at 16 moved to Leeds in search of – in her own words – 'scary-sounding feminists'. In the 90s, she founded Justice For Women, a feminist campaigning organisation that supports, and advocates on behalf of, women who have fought back against or killed violent men. On the podcast, Julie talks about her upbringing in the North East, her fight in the gender ideology debate, and she shares her thoughts on Pretty Woman.

To read more on Julie Bindel, visit her Substack page here. 

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In this week’s episode:Is the Prime Minister a dead man walking? Spectator Political Editor James Forsyth and MP Jesse Norman who expressed no confidence in Monday's vote discuss the future of Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party. (00:45)
Also this week:Why is there so much virtue signalling in modern advertising? Spectator Columnist Lionel Shriver and veteran copywriter Paul Burke discuss its origins, its prevalence, and its effectiveness. (20:20)
And finally:Is the dinner party dead? Gus Carter writes in The Spectator this week about how he is never invited to any. He’s joined by Mary Killen to give him some tips on planning a sophisticated bash on a budget. (34:45)
Hosted by Lara Prendergast & William MooreProduced by Sam Holmes
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In this week’s Book Club podcast, I’m joined by the writer China Miéville to talk about his new book A Spectre, Haunting: On The Communist Manifesto. China makes the case for why this 1848 document deserves our attention in the 21st century, why even its critics would benefit from reading it more closely and sympathetically, and why - in his view - the gamble of a revolutionary abolition of capitalism is not only possible, but well worth taking.

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Freddy is joined by The Spectator World’s deputy US editor, Kate Andrews, and The Telegraph columnist, Tim Stanley, to talk about Keir Starmer’s much-anticipated meeting with Donald Trump in Washington. Across the board, it has been read as a success – at least domestically, that is. The victories include movement on the Ukraine backstop, some positive discussions around the UK avoiding tariffs, and a second state visit is on the horizon as well. The biggest win, though, was the number of compliments that the president gave Starmer, including – puzzlingly – about his accent.

The Spectator World’s Ben Domenech secured an interview with Donald Trump after the Starmer meeting, in which he was similarly effusive about the PM: ‘I thought he was very good. I met him twice before – you know, he came to see me twice before – but this time was the best. And I think we got along very well.’ You can find more from that interview on The Spectator World website. 

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Nell Hudson has starred in Outlander, Victoria and the latest Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. Her debut novel, Just for Today, is out now: it’s about a group of twenty-somethings in London, having “heady, reckless fun”. 

Nell speaks to Lara and Olivia about how she’s enjoying veganism and the one meat she misses, growing up on a farm, a peculiar childhood diet and the lonely eating habits of an actor.

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In this week's Holy Smoke I offer some thoughts on the impressive and distinctive Christian faith of the Queen – impressive because it's so refreshingly direct compared to that of many of her politics-obsessed bishops, and distinctive because Elizabeth II is one of a dwindling band of Low Church but not Evangelical Anglicans whose favourite Sunday service is old-fashioned Matins. Questions of churchmanship aside, however, there is no doubting the intensity of her convictions, about which she has spoken with increasing candour and confidence in recent years. Will she turn out to be the United Kingdom's last robustly Christian monarch?

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Fraser Nelson, The Spectator’s editor, speaks to Louise Perry, author of The Case Against the Sexual Revolution, about why it should be harder to divorce. Elsewhere on the the show, Spectator contributor Christopher Howse discusses the monarchy with our political editor James Forsyth. Cindy Yu, host of our Chinese Whispers podcast, says China hasn’t changed all that much since the Tiananmen Square protests 30 years ago. Former consultant J. Meirion Thomas tells Fraser why GP surgeries are in crisis. Historians Antony Beevor and Serhii Plokhy talk about why Putin might yet win in Ukraine.

Get 10 weeks of the magazine, in print and online, for just £1 in our Jubilee flash sale. We'll also send you a commemorative tea towel to mark the occasion. Offer ends on Monday. Go to: www.spectator.co.uk/jubilee  

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On this week's episode, Robert Hardman reads his cover article on the quiet radicalism of Queen Elizabeth II (00:50); J. Meirion Thomas reads his article on the 'total triage' system that is leaving patients unable to see their GPs; and Sarah Ditum reads her review of Sandra Newman's new novel, The Men.

Presented by Angus Colwell.

Produced by Angus Colwell and Cindy Yu.

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In this week’s episode:Robert Hardman & Angela Levin, two of the UK’s royal specialists, explore the character of the Queen and the impact she has had on the institution of the monarchy. (00:36)

Also this week:For now, it seems that Boris Johnson is hanging on after the publishing of the Sue Gray report, but how stable is his position? Could a vote of no confidence be closer than anyone expects? The Spectator’s political editor James Forsyth joins the podcast to discuss. (13:47)

And finally:Is Chinese cinema in decline? Cindy Yu writes on this in this week’s Spectator, and she joins the podcast along with Andrew Heskins, the founder of easternkicks.com, a review website specialising in Asian film, and co-founder of the film festival, Focus Hong Kong.(23:33)

Hosted by Lara PrendergastProduced by Sam Holmes

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My guests in this week's Book Club podcast are Daniel Kahneman and Olivier Sibony, co-authors (with Cass R Sunstein) of Noise: A Flaw In Human Judgment. Augmenting the work on psychological bias that won Prof Kahneman a Nobel Prize, this investigation exposes a more invisible and often more impactful way in which human judgments go awry: the random-seeming variability which statisticians call noise. They tell me how it affects everything from business to academic life and the judicial system; and how we can detect it and minimise it. The answers to those questions, it turns out, are very hard for human beings (especially French ones) to accept...

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All eyes are on the Communist leadership this year, as the months count down to autumn’s National Party Congress, where Xi Jinping may be crowned for a third term. But how much do we really know about the Party’s leadership? In particular, can we better understand them through looking at the experiences that they've had?

Take Xi Jinping, who is what is known as a 'princeling' – his father was the Communist revolutionary Xi Zhongxun, one of the Party's early cadres. How did that upbringing impact him, and his faith in the Chinese Communist Party?

Also consider the Cultural Revolution – the sixtysomethings on the Politburo Standing Committee would have been teenagers during that decade of turmoil. How did it form who they are as leaders today?
Joining Cindy Yu on the podcast is Professor Kerry Brown from Kings College London, whose latest book is Xi: A Study in Power, so very knowledgeable on the President himself; as well as Professor Steve Tsang, a historian at SOAS.

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This week on Marshall Matters Winston speaks to Rahima Mahmut. Rahima is a Uyghur singer, writer, translator and activist. They discussed the history and genocide of her people, compared CCP narrative to the Uyghur perspective, the Adrian Zenz report, her musical background and her song Tarim.

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Kate Andrews, The Spectator’s economics editor, speaks to Emma Ashford, a senior research fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center, and Spectator contributor Ian Williams.

On the rest of the show, our political team, Katy Balls and James Forsyth, discuss Sue Gray’s report and Rishi Sunak’s announcement of more money to help with the cost-of-living crisis. We also have a sneak preview of tomorrow’s Women With Balls episode – a discussion with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. Rod Liddle talks to Kate about his new favourite distraction: Bubbleshooter.

This episode is sponsored by Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management. 

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On this week's episode, Douglas Murray says the world is becoming claustrophobic, (00:55) Lionel Shriver struggles to get through South African airport security, (08:29) Julian Glover maps out the countryside battle lines, (16:52) and James Bartholomew buys a tank. (22:13)

Produced by Angus Colwell

Entries for this year's Innovator Awards, sponsored by Investec, are now open. To apply, go to: www.spectator.co.uk/innovator

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Alexandra Shulman is one of the most influential figures in British fashion. She is the longest serving editor-in-chief at British Vogue, having led the magazine for 25 years before stepping down in 2017. Her career in journalism included time at publications such as Tatler and the Sunday Telegraph. She was later editor of the British edition of GQ, before joining British Vogue where she oversaw an increase in circulation to record figures. Alexandra was appointed a CBE for services to fashion journalism, and is now an author, commentator and writes a weekly notebook for the Mail on Sunday.

On the podcast, Alexandra talks to Katy Balls about the heyday of print journalism in the late 1980s and 1990s, why she thinks that discussion of the death of print journalism might be premature, and she opens up about the controversy that surrounded her handover to her successor. She cites her Adele cover as one of her most memorable during her time at Vogue, and she explains why she thinks expectations around beauty – despite her best efforts at challenging contemporary standards – have gotten worse. 

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

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Freddy Gray speaks to award-winning author and Spectator columnist Lionel Shriver about mass shootings and gun culture in the United States, in the wake of the tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.  

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Frances Haugen is an American data scientist, most well known for her whistleblowing of Facebook's failures at controlling misinformation. Her insider knowledge allowed the Wall Street Journal to publish a series of exposés about the social media platform, which became known as 'The Facebook Files'. She has testified before the US Congress, the European Parliament and the British Parliament on online safety and Silicon Valley.

On this episode, she talks to Katy Balls about first experiencing sexism in tech when she joined Google at her first job; the shocking reality of how Facebook's algorithm worsens civil strife across the world; and what she wants to see changed from the British government's Online Safety Bill, which Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries recently joined the series to talk about.

Produced by Natasha Feroze and Cindy Yu.

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In this week’s episode:
Ian Williams, author of The Fire of the Dragon: China’s New Cold war, and Alessio Patalano, Professor of War and Strategy in East Asia at King’s College London, talk about how the war in Ukraine has changed the thinking in Taiwan. (00:37)

Also this week:
Was Sue Gray’s report on Downing Street parties a game-changer or a damp squib? The Spectator’s editor, Fraser Nelson, and our political editor, James Forsyth, join the podcast to discuss the fallout from partygate. (15:39)

And finally:
If rising restaurant prices are causing you grief, you're not alone. Writer Yesenda Maxtone Graham and The Spectator’s Wikiman columnist, Rory Sutherland, join the podcast. (27:55)

Hosted by William Moore
Produced by Sam Holmes

Subscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher: www.spectator.co.uk/voucher

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Freddy Gray speaks to Sergey Radchenko a Cold War historian and Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and visiting professor at Cardiff University. They discuss a recent speech by Henry Kissinger who believes that Ukraine should made territorial concessions to Russia – is he right?

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My guest in the Book Club podcast this week is my namesake (but no relation) William Leith – whose new book The Cut That Wouldn't Heal: Finding My Father describes the death of his father and the way it caused him to revisit and re-evaluate his childhood. We talk about the perils and possibilities of autobiography, the difficulty of looking death in the face, and an awkward moment with Karl Ove Knausgaard.  

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Born in Lisbon, Portugal. Nuno Mendes grew up on a farm which inspired a passion and understanding for food. He attended the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco but after over a decade in North America, he decided he wanted to return to Europe. Moving to London, Nuno founded the cult domestic pop-up known as The Loft Project and later went on to take over the restaurant at the Chiltern Firehouse, and his latest venture Lisboeta has already made the Estrella Damm awards shortlist. 

On the podcast, Nuno talks about his Portuguese roots, his love of Japanese cooking and how he could see London's gastronomic revolution coming. 

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On this week’s episode, we’ll hear from Katy Balls on Boris Johnson’s plans to divide and conquer (0.33).
After that, James Heale on the broadcast battle obsessing British media (6.20).
And to finish, Melissa Kite on the politics of horse muck (11.16).
Produced by Natasha Feroze
Entries for this year's Innovator Awards, sponsored by Investec, are now open. To apply, go to: www.spectator.co.uk/innovator

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This week Lara Prendergast and William Moore talk to James Forsyth and the academic, Dr Alexander Clarkson about Zelensky's possible path to peace (00:42). Followed by Owen Matthews, The Spectator's Russia correspondent on Turkey's power over Nato expansion (13:28). Finally, a chat between two bowls fanatics, Michael Simmons, The Spectator's data journalist and Andrew Gibson from the bowls green in Streatham (22:00).
Hosted by Lara Prendergast & William Moore
Produced by Sam Holmes
Subscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher: www.spectator.co.uk/voucher

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Freddy Gray speaks to the Republican strategist Luke Thompson, discussing the nail-biting race between Pennsylvania's candidates for the US Senate, featuring Trump-backed candidate Dr. Oz. 

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In this week's Book Club podcast, I'm talking to Wendy K Pirsig – widow of Robert M Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the bestselling book of philosophy of all time. Wendy tells me about her late husband's big idea – the "Metaphysics of Quality", as set out in a new collection of his writings, On Quality, which she has edited – how fame (and bereavement) changed him, and how he sought to undo years of dualism in the Western philosophical tradition by recourse to Eastern teachings and, of course, the odd monkey-wrench.

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This week: Nigel’s gang – Reform’s plan for power.

Look at any opinion survey or poll, and it’s clear that Reform is hard to dismiss, write Katy Balls and James Heale. Yet surprisingly little is known about the main players behind the scenes who make up Nigel Farage’s new gang. There are ‘the lifers’ – Dan Jukes and ‘Posh George’ Cottrell. Then there are the Tory defectors, trained by Richard Murphy, a valued CCHQ veteran, who is described as a ‘secret weapon’. The most curious new additions are the Gen Zers, who include Tucker Carlson’s nephew, Charles Carlson, and Jack Anderton, known as ‘the Matrix’. Katy and James joined the podcast to lift the lid on Nigel Farage’s inner circle. (02:14)

Next: is technology a help or hindrance when it comes to missing people?

While smartphones are no doubt useful in emergency situations, they create the expectation that you will always be in touch – when sometimes, of course, you can’t be. But what happens when technology fails? Ross Clark tells the hilarious story of how he mistakenly became a ‘missing person’ after his phone died while hiking in Scotland. Ross joins the podcast to unpack the lessons from his day getting the full Lord Lucan treatment, alongside journalist and political correspondent for GB News Katherine Forster. Katherine’s sons, who used smartphones to track a hiking route, went missing last year in Bali when their phones died and they were unable to contact anyone. (17:33)

And finally: how do you make Bond great again?

James Bond seems to have lost his way. Gone is the charm, wit and romp of the original Connery and Moore Bonds, replaced by a grittier, more vengeful Bond with bloated plotlines that are far too referential. Amazon – which took full ‘creative control’ of the franchise this week – faces quite the task in rebooting the world’s most famous spy once again. Journalist Madeline Grant gives her prescription in the magazine on how to save Bond, but we are joined on the podcast by William Boyd, who is part of an elite class of authors to have written their own James Bond novels. (28:29)

Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.

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It’s clear now that Vladimir Putin didn’t expect his army to perform quite so badly when invading Ukraine. As much as that is celebrated in much of the world, it will be a cause for concern – or at least a moment for learning – amongst Beijing’s military leaders. Because Russia has always been a heavy influence and source of strategy and equipment for China’s People’s Liberation Army, ever since the days of the Soviet Union. So could the PLA – which hasn’t been in active combat since Vietnam in 1979 – similarly flounder?

That's the burning question Cindy Yu and guests discuss in the latest episode of Chinese Whispers. Timothy R. Heath is an expert on the Chinese military at the American think tank, the RAND Corporation, and tells her that: 'A lot of the issues that we're seeing in the Russian military is going to be of high concern to the PLA because there's a very good chance the Chinese military could have some of the similar issues'.

They also discuss the possibility of low morale when it comes to fighting an enemy who looks and speaks like you – as some Russian soldiers have found disconcerting in Ukraine. Could an invasion of Taiwan throw up similar problems? Tim argues that it could, and draws parallel with another event – the enlisting of the PLA for suppressing the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. It was a decision that saw many soldiers (though not enough) refusing to obey orders. 'The experience of the PLA was such a shock for the military and the CCP that a decade later, the Chinese government took the PLA out of the job of suppressing domestic dissent.'

In fact, the lack of trust in its soldiers' loyalty is such that today's PLA is one of the only armies to offer a 'suicide pill', so says Professor Li Xiaobing, a Chinese military historian at the University of Central Oklahoma who served in the PLA himself. '20,000 Chinese soldiers were captured during the Korean war. After the war, 70 per cent of the Chinese POWs didn't want to go back to China, and they went to Taiwan. So that's really embarrassing for the Chinese government in the Cold War'.

Tune in to this episode to hear more incredible insights about this most elusive yet important modern military force.

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On this week's episode, we’ll hear from Michael Simmons on some of the most ridiculous Covid fines. (00:52)

After, C.J. Farrington on the light and darkness of Russian culture. (04:10)

And, to finish, Aidan Hartley on the return of the buffalo. (11:07)

Produced and Presented by Sam Holmes

Entries for this year's Innovator Awards, sponsored by Investec, are now open. To apply, go to: www.spectator.co.uk/innovator

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Though inflation has recently gone down a little in the States, it is still at a 40-year high. Inflation is an issue affecting most of the world due to several external factors, but many critics of Biden say that his policies are worsening this crisis rather than fixing it. Is that the case?
Freddy Gray sits down with The Spectator's economics editor Kate Andrews to discuss what this cost of living crisis will mean for the future of the Biden administration. 

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Kemi Badenoch is the MP for Saffron Walden and a minister in Michael Gove’s Levelling Up department.

On entering parliament in 2017, Kemi was quickly pegged as one of the Conservative Party’s rising stars and an example of what she calls the “British Dream”, going from immigrant to parliamentarian in the space of one generation. After a career as a software engineer, she made her move into politics as a Conservative member of the London Assembly. Then beat Theresa May’s own special advisor to the ballot of Saffron Walden. 

On the podcast, Kemi talks about her childhood in Nigeria and the golden ticket that was her UK passport, hacking Harriet Harman and how her conservative views were formed.

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This week Lara Prendergast and William Moore talk to Katy Balls and the journalist Paul Mason about the future of Labour (00:40). Followed by historian David Abulafia and the Sunday Times education editor Sian Griffiths on the announcement of Cambridge University's plans to limit the number of their private school students (15:20). Finally, a debate between author Michele Kirsch and Laura Biggs from the Menopause Mandate on the question 'Are we talking about menopause too much?' (31:50).
Hosted by Lara Prendergast & William Moore
Produced by Sam Holmes
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In this week's Book Club podcast, Sam's guest is Caroline Frost, author of the new Carry On Regardless: Getting to the Bottom of Britain's Favourite Comedy Films. She tells Sam what those movies tell us about British social history, makes the case for their feminism, argues that their special magic belongs to a British sensibility that no longer exists – and explains why it took twenty or more attempts to get Barbara Windsor out of her bra. 

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Tommy Banks is the youngest ever UK Michelin-starred chef, awarded in 2013 when he was aged 24, and is the owner of the restaurant The Black Swan which Tripadvisor named the best restaurant in the world.

On the podcast, Tommy talks to Lara and Liv about how he turned to food after his dreams of being a professional cricketer were dashed, his struggles with imposter syndrome, and his new canned wine business Banks Brothers.
For more recipes and recommendations, sign up to The Spectator’s free monthly food and drink email, The Take Away, at www.spectator.co.uk/oliviapotts

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On this week's episode, we’ll hear from Melissa Kite on the ambitions of Ben Wallace. (00:48)

After, Mary Wakefield on our misplaced faith in forensics. (09:35)

And, to finish, and James Heale on Eton’s great ‘awokening’. (16:33)

Produced and Presented by Sam Holmes

Entries for this year's Innovator Awards, sponsored by Investec, are now open. To apply, go to: www.spectator.co.uk/innovator

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In this week’s episode: Is Boris Johnson planning to tear up Britain’s deal with the EU?
James Forsyth says in his Spectator cover story this week that Boris Johnson plans to reignite the Brexit voter base by taking on the EU again over Northern Ireland. He joins the podcast along with Denis Staunton, the London editor of the Irish Times, who writes in this week’s magazine about how Sein Finn has benefited from the DUP’s collapsing support. (00:50)
Also this week: Does overturning Roe V. Wade stand up to constitutional scrutiny? 
Douglas Murray has written in his column this week about America’s abortion debate, in the wake of the leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion set to overturn the 1973 decision in Roe V Wade. He joins the podcast along with The Spectator’s economics editor Kate Andrews. (15:09)
And finally: Is Eton College going through an ‘awokening’? 
In this week’s magazine, The Spectator’s diary editor James Heale turns his attention to Eton College, which he says is having an uncharacteristic identity crisis. James joins the podcast to talk about the direction of the school, along with The Spectator’s literary editor, and Old Etonian, Sam Leith. (28:29)
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Produced by Sam Holmes
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Freddy Grays talks to Inez Stepman of the Independent Women's Forum about the leaked Supreme Court draft decision which points to the seminal Roe v Wade verdict being overturned.

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My guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the Assyriologist Selena Wisnom, author of The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History. Selena tells me about the vast and strange world of cuneiform culture, as evidenced by the life and reign of the scholar-king Ashurbanipal and the library – pre-dating that of Alexandria – that he left to the world. She describes the cruelty and brilliance of the Ancient Near East, the uses of lamentation, the capricious Babylonian gods, the ways in which we can recognise ourselves in our ancestors there – plus, what The Exorcist got wrong about Sumerian demons.

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Sam's guest in this week's Book Club podcast is the writer Simon Kuper, whose new book – Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK – argues that to understand the social and psychological dynamics of our present government, you need to understand the Oxford University of the 1980s, where so many of those now in power first met. He argues that the PM's love of winging it was nurtured in the tutorial culture of his Balliol days, that the dynamics of Tory leadership contests are throwbacks to the Oxford Union, and that Brexit – the grand project of this generation – was at root a jobs-protection scheme for the old-fashioned ruling class. Can that be the whole story? He tells Sam why he thinks we need to decommission the UK's rhetoric industry and learn to be more like Germany.  

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This week on Marshall Matters, Winston speaks with Comedian, author and TV host Andrew Doyle. They discuss his book Free Speech and Why it Matters, Elon Musk, Twitter, Andrew’s creation Titania McGrath, Stonewall the comedy industry and much more.

Watch the episode at spectator.co.uk/tv

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