Best of the Spectator The Edition: Scuzz Nation, the death of English literature & are you a bad house guest?
May 8, 2025
40:39
Scuzz Nation: Britain’s slow and grubby decline
If you want to understand why voters flocked to Reform last week, Gus Carter says, look no further than Goat Man. In one ward in Runcorn, ‘residents found that no one would listen when a neighbour filled his derelict house with goats and burned the animals’ manure in his garden’. This embodies Scuzz Nation – a ‘grubbier and more unpleasant’ Britain, ‘where decay happens faster than repair, where crime largely goes unpunished, and where the social fabric has been slashed, graffitied and left by the side of the road’.
On the podcast, Gus speaks to Dr Lawrence Newport, founder of Crush Crime, to diagnose the issues facing Britain – and offer some solutions to stop the rot. (01:28)
Next: is it demeaning to study Dickens?
In the magazine this week, Philip Hensher reviews ‘Literature and Learning: A History of English Studies in Britain’ by Stefan Collini. Philip’s main gripe is that the history stops short of charting the threats posed to the study of English literature in the past fifty years. Accessible, ‘relevant’ short stories are increasingly replacing the classics, as the monuments of Victorian literature defeat today’s undergraduates.
So can English literature still teach us how to read deeply in an age of diminishing attention spans? Philip joins the podcast alongside Orlando Reade, author and assistant professor at Northeastern University London, where he teaches English and creative writing. (17:47)
And finally: are you a bad house guest?
In the magazine, Christa D’Souza bemoans terrible house guests. Set against the idyllic backdrop of her home in the Greek Cyclades, she gives an account of the trials and absurdities of hosting – from towel-hoarding Americans to the toddler-like breakfast habits of many grown adults.
She joins the podcast alongside our very own agony aunt, Mary Killen, to discuss further – and hopefully offer some advice on how better to deal with rude house guests. (29:04)
Hosted by Lara Prendergast and Gus Carter.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
If you want to understand why voters flocked to Reform last week, Gus Carter says, look no further than Goat Man. In one ward in Runcorn, ‘residents found that no one would listen when a neighbour filled his derelict house with goats and burned the animals’ manure in his garden’. This embodies Scuzz Nation – a ‘grubbier and more unpleasant’ Britain, ‘where decay happens faster than repair, where crime largely goes unpunished, and where the social fabric has been slashed, graffitied and left by the side of the road’.
On the podcast, Gus speaks to Dr Lawrence Newport, founder of Crush Crime, to diagnose the issues facing Britain – and offer some solutions to stop the rot. (01:28)
Next: is it demeaning to study Dickens?
In the magazine this week, Philip Hensher reviews ‘Literature and Learning: A History of English Studies in Britain’ by Stefan Collini. Philip’s main gripe is that the history stops short of charting the threats posed to the study of English literature in the past fifty years. Accessible, ‘relevant’ short stories are increasingly replacing the classics, as the monuments of Victorian literature defeat today’s undergraduates.
So can English literature still teach us how to read deeply in an age of diminishing attention spans? Philip joins the podcast alongside Orlando Reade, author and assistant professor at Northeastern University London, where he teaches English and creative writing. (17:47)
And finally: are you a bad house guest?
In the magazine, Christa D’Souza bemoans terrible house guests. Set against the idyllic backdrop of her home in the Greek Cyclades, she gives an account of the trials and absurdities of hosting – from towel-hoarding Americans to the toddler-like breakfast habits of many grown adults.
She joins the podcast alongside our very own agony aunt, Mary Killen, to discuss further – and hopefully offer some advice on how better to deal with rude house guests. (29:04)
Hosted by Lara Prendergast and Gus Carter.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.