Best of the Spectator

Fiona Hill is a seasoned political advisor, consultant and strategist. Born in Glasgow, she began her career as the first-ever female football reporter in Scotland. Then after moving into politics, she later became the first female chief of staff in No.10 under Theresa May. In her first interview since leaving Downing Street five years ago, Fiona Hill speaks to Katy Balls about how difficult she found it being attacked in the press after the Tories’ election disappointment in 2017. ‘Luckily I’m a strong person. But if I’d been a lesser person I may have thrown myself in the Thames.’ She also reveals that in the month after the election, Hill came face to face with someone who had broken into her flat.Produced by Natasha Feroze. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The second regional podcast for The Spectator’s Economic Innovator of the Year Award sponsored by Investec was set in the picturesque city of Edinburgh where the judges and finalists met for lunch at the Dome on George Street. We invited four finalists for the Scotland and Northern Ireland region — out of a record total of 176 across the whole of the UK — to pitch their ventures to our distinguished panel of judges. The finalists you’ll hear about on this podcast are: Cardinal Analytics a fintech business that predicts when enterprises are about to go bankrupt; MacRebur a novel invention for road surfacing; Roslin Technologies which make lab-grown meat; and Synaptec which work in manufacturing for fault sensors in power networks.    The judges were Merryn Somerset-Webb, editor and chief of MoneyWeek magazine and Financial Times columnist, Irene McAleese, co-founder and CEO of See.Sense, an early winner of these awards; finally our friends from Investec, Michelle White and Arlene Ewing.The judges faced the tough task of comparing businesses in very different sectors and stages of development. But all four made compelling pitches – and the variety of entries is part of the fun of these awards.We hope all the companies we meet gain from the networking opportunities, benefit from the accolade of being selected as finalists and enjoy the buzz, the conversation and the lunch.  We hope Spectator readers and podcast listeners also enjoy following the search for this year’s ultimate winners – and will take a few minutes to explore the finalists' websites and products. More Economic Innovator of the Year Awards podcasts coming shortly! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week:In his cover piece for the magazine Owen Matthews writes about the power struggle at the heart of Russia. He is joined by Jade McGlynn, specialist in Russian Studies at the Monterey Initiative, to discuss whether Putin might be running out of time (01:00).Also on the podcast: Has America’s pot policy gone to pot? In The Spectator this week Mike Adams says that US cannabis legislation has been a total failure, a view contested by Katya Kowalski, Head of Operations at drug policy think tank Voltface. They both join The Edition podcast to debate the way forward for cannabis legalisation (16:26).And finally: Should we pity privileged men? For our magazine Damian Reilly writes about The Privileged Man, the support group for men that have it all. He is joined by co-founder of the community Esmond Baring to consider why everyone should be encouraged to speak up about their struggles (30:44). Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William Moore. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest on this week's podcast is best known as a stand-up comic, and co-host of the hit second world war podcast We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Now Al Murray has produced a book – Command: How The Allies Learned To Win the Second World War – in which he looks at the progress of the war through case studies of the men who, one way and another, made a difference to it. He tells me how we turned round a war we spent three years losing so badly, and along the way provides some sharp reassessments of (among other eminences) Orde Wingate, George Patton and the two-pound gun.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ayesha Hazarika is a journalist, broadcaster, stand-up comic and former advisor to three Labour leaders. On the podcast, she discusses memories of her mother's chicken curry, navigating bacon sandwich-gate with Ed Miliband and why all cooked orange coloured food is 'minging'.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Winston speaks with actor James Dreyfus, star of Gimme Gimme Gimme, The Thin Blue Line and Notting Hill. They discuss his cancellation from Dr Who, the misogyny and homophobia of Trans Radical Activists, Stonewall, the LGB Alliance, and why he’s willing to put his neck on the line. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This year’s regional podcast series for The Spectator’s Economic Innovator of the Year Awards kicked off with news of a fascinating lunch at The Ivy Cafe in Manchester. We invited four finalists for the North West region — out of a record total of 176 across the whole of the UK — to pitch their ventures to our distinguished panel of judges. The finalists you’ll hear about on this podcast are: LoveRaw which makes vegan chocolate; Ordo which makes electric toothbrushes; Interact, which drives energy efficiency in data centres and IT systems; and Better2Know, which provides sexual health testing services.The judges were Gabriel Fysh, whose company Transcend Packaging, in South Wales, is one of our former winners in this region; private equity and venture capital investor Steve Morris; and Richard Greenhalgh and Michelle White representing our sponsor, the wealth manager and investment bank Investec. The judges faced the tough task of comparing businesses in very different sectors and stages of development. But all four made compelling pitches —  and the variety of entries is part of the fun of these Awards.We hope all the companies we meet gain from the networking opportunities, benefit from the accolade of being selected as finalists and enjoy the buzz, the conversation and the lunch.  We hope Spectator readers and podcast listeners also enjoy following the search for this year’s ultimate winners — and will take a few minutes to explore the finalists' websites and products.More Economic innovator of the Year Awards podcasts coming shortly! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Freddy Gray, The Spectator’s deputy editor, speaks to former Pentagon official, and the author of The Strategy of Denial, Elbridge Colby about the risk of nuclear war with Russia:‘I’m very suspicious of the ability to control the escalation.’ – Elbridge ColbyMark Galeotti, a Spectator contributor and the director of Mayak Intelligence, joins Elbridge, and says we ned to get tougher with Putin. On the rest of the show, our politics team James Forsyth and Katy Balls discuss Truss’s speech at the Conservative party conference, our economics editor Kate Andrews and Mark Littlewood, the director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, look at whether Trussonomics is doomed already, and our columnist Rod Liddle explains how he gave up smoking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week: Kate Andrews laments how Truss is hurting the free-market cause (00:51), Anthony Whitehead explains the 'arrogance' of the latest environmental activist movement the Tyre Extinguishers (06:42) and Michael Simmons reads his notes on barcodes (12:54).Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Freddy speaks to Madeleine Kearns, staff writer at the National Review, about President Joe Biden's decree that cannabis possession should no longer be a federal crime. Is this a vote winner or will the decision end in disaster?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.