Best of the Spectator

One of Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss will be Britain's next prime minister. What are the contenders' answers to the big questions facing Britain? Isabel Hardman spoke to Mordaunt (00:36), Sunak (21:17) and Truss (42:15). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thom Elliott is the co-founder of Pizza Pilgrims. On the podcast, Thom tells Lara and Liv about growing up above a pub, learning to make pizza while touring Italy with his brother, and starting Pizza Pilgrims on his lunch break. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Freddy Gray speaks to Geoff Shullenberger, a lecturer at New York University and columnist for Compact Magazine about a range of topics, from the ideas and appeal of philosopher René Girard to transhumanism and transgenderism, and the war in Ukraine.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode: Mary Wakefield on why we should resist Stonewall’s gospel (0:31). Leo McKinstry on the worrying rise of apostrophe laws (07:02) and Melanie McDonagh on the lost art of letterheads (13.33).Presented and produced by Natasha Feroze. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Catholic Church is half way through a two-year consultation exercise that will culminate in a 'Synod on Synodality' in the Vatican next year.A synod on what? Don't worry if you're confused. No one in Rome seems to be able to define synodality, either. What will the world's bishops discuss? Probably not the figures revealing how many Catholics have taken part in this exercise, because they're acutely embarrassing. The English and Welsh bishops couldn't even get 10 per cent of Mass-goers to take part in a consultation process that many observers suspect has been shamelessly rigged by Pope Francis's bureaucrats. And in Belgium, a country where some six million people identify as Catholic, the number of participants is somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000.Damian Thompson's guest on this episode of Holy Smoke is Ed Condon, editor of the influential Pillar website. His judgment is as impartial as ever – but, make no mistake about it, we're looking at one of the most expensive and self-indulgent fiascos in recent Catholic history.Produced by Damian Thompson and Cindy Yu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode:The knives are out in the Tory leadership fight, who looks likely to make the final two?Fraser Nelson writes this week’s cover piece about the Tory leadership race. He’s joined by the Telegraph’s Allison Pearson (0.49).Also this week:Mary Wakefield challenges Stonewall's guidelines for parents with trans children. One of these parents is Tammy Plunkett, a former nurse, life coach and author of Beyond Pronouns (21.43).And finally:   James Ball reviews Matthew Ball’s The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionise Everything for the magazine this week. James is joined by Sid Venkataramakrishnan from the Financial Times to discuss the future of the Metaverse (36.21)Hosted by Lara Prendergast & William MooreProduced by Natasha FerozeSubscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher: www.spectator.co.uk/voucher Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam's guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is Kavita Puri, whose book Partition Voices excavates the often traumatic memories of the last generation to remember first-hand the mass migration and bloody violence of the partition of India. She tells Sam why the story has been so shrouded in silence – there isn’t a memorial to Partition, she says, anywhere on earth – and yet how it has shaped the UK’s population and politics ever since, and she says why she believes it’s vital that empire and the end of empire be taught in every British school. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Staying on top of your personal finances has never been easier. Anyone can now buy and sell stocks at the tap of a phone screen, with even more progress in fintech just around the corner. What does this bold new world of investing mean for markets, policymakers and everyday investors? Does smart technology mean easy decisions? Will technology ever replace the human touch? And what tools are out there for the less digitally savvy? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Semiconductors are the most important thing that you've never heard of. These little computer chips provide the processing power for everything from cars and iPhones, to unmanned drones and missiles. In Beijing's Made in China 2025 industrial strategy, through which China seeks to move up the value chain to become a high-tech superpower, semiconductor self-sufficiency was one of the targets. Beijing is falling far behind on this target. MIC 2025 stated the aim of meeting 70 per cent of China's demand through domestic production by 2025, but, seven years on, it is only meeting 20 per cent of its domestic needs (by one estimate). The world's leading manufacturer of semiconductors is in fact in Taiwan. The Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company dominates more than half the global market, and controls 90 per cent of the cutting edge 5 to 10 nanometre sector (in this industry, size matters; the smaller the chip, the better). Even American companies like Intel outsource a substantial amount of production to TSMC.A tech arms race is underway.  In order to control the supply of this small but vital component, China and the US are desperately funnelling money into their own national champions, whilst 'kneecapping' each other's efforts, as Nigel Inkster tells Cindy Yu on this episode. He's the former director of operations and intelligence at MI6 and author of  The Great Decoupling: China, America and the Struggle for Technological Supremacy.They discuss Washington's relatively effective efforts on this front – from instituting export controls on western companies (not just American) that supply Chinese semiconductor companies, to pressurising TSMC to share its know-how worldwide (TSMC will open an Arizona branch in two years, thanks to pressure from President Trump). It's got wolf warrior and Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian hopping mad; he has accused the Americans of practising 'technological terrorism'.Yet America's approach could be instructive for the UK, where there's a live political question over the Chinese acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab, a relatively low-end semiconductor manufacturing site that is the subject of an ongoing national security review.Some in the West also fear that TSMC's success will lure China to invade Taiwan, while some in Taipei see the company as their 'silicon shield', Nigel says, as its accidental destruction (or at the hands of the Taiwanese or American governments) may deter China from an aggressive incursion.On the episode, Nigel and Cindy discuss all this and more (whether China is inherently less innovative, how painful and inevitable a tech arms race would be, and Nigel's reaction to MI5 and the FBI's recent joint warning about Chinese espionage). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode: Kate Andrews on why Rishi quit (0:26). Sean Thomas on Russian émigrés who hate the war but will fight for Russia (08:32) and Toby Young on his appreciation for the other Toby Young (13.13).Presented and produced by Natasha Feroze. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.