Best of the Spectator

The world economy is bouncing back from the economic impacts of Covid 19. It has been bumpy year of recovery with labour shortages and consistent inflationary pressures. But it hasn't been all doom and gloom. Kate Andrews, the Spectator's economic's editor reviews this financial year. She is joined by Martin Vander Weyer, the Spectator's business editor and Paul Abberley, chief executive of Charles Stanley group. This podcast is kindly sponsored by Charles Stanley. The recording took place just before the Bank of England announced the rise of interest rates to 0.25%.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's very special Christmas episode, we'll hear from Lara Prendergast on why she’s planning to party hard this Christmas. (00:57)Next, Christopher Howse on those helping to preserve the UK’s medieval churches.  (06:31)Then it's, Lionel Shriver on the Covid heretics she admires most. (16:41)Followed by, Peter Hitchens on Christmas in Russia during the last days of the Soviet Union. (25:23)Penultimately, we have Joanna Lumley on getting the key to the Sistine Chapel. (35:69)And finally, Caroline Moore on how ghost stories became a British Christmas tradition.(41:51)Produced and presented by Sam HolmesSubscribe to The Spectator magazine this Christmas and get the next 12 issues – in print and online – for just £12. Not only that but you’ll also receive a bottle of Taittinger champagne, worth £42, to see you through to the new year. Join the party today at www.spectator.co.uk/celebrate Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Douglas Murray joins Freddy Gray for a look back at yet another tumultuous year in American politics. They discuss the irreconcilable divide between left and right, the origins of Covid-19, the war in Afghanistan, the fallout from the 2020 election and much more, including the temptations of a bottle of Glenmorangie whiskey.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tzipi Hotovely is the current Israeli Ambassador to the UK. She was formerly a politician in Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, having climbed the ranks to become deputy foreign minister. On the episode, she talks to Katy about her 2,500 strong wedding reception, campaigning for mother's rights in Israel and what modern-day anti-Semitism look like.They also discuss the time when she had to be escorted out of the LSE for her own safety, in the face of an aggressive student protest. She reflects: 'Think about it. Does it make sense? I’m the only foreign ambassador that needs to have such heavy protection when I go on campus. Aren’t campuses all about freedom of speech?' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the special Christmas episode of The Edition! In this episode, we look at five major topics that dominated the news this year and the pages of The Spectator. First up a review of the year in politics with our resident Coffee House Shot's team James Forsyth, Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman. We discuss how Boris seemed to make such a strong start to the year through the vaccine rollout, but squandered this goodwill with several own goals. We also touch on some of the big political moments of the year: Partygate, the Owen Paterson affair and of course Matt Hancock. (00:39)Next, we go global and look at three of the major powerhouses that took headlines this year. The EU, who ends the year in a panic over Russia, extreme Covid measures, and upcoming elections. The US started with an insurrection and ended with President Biden's plummeting poll numbers. Finally, China, who if you ask them say they are doing just fine. Lara Prendergast is joined by Jonathan Miller, Douglas Murray, and Cindy Yu to discuss the state of the world. (22:34)Then, a subject we all hoped to be leaving in the rearview mirror. Covid. With so much misinformation out there, the one important thing to have is good data, which is why we built The Spectator’s Covid data hub, and William Moore is joined on the podcast by three people who spend an ungodly amount of time going through those figures. The Spectator editor Fraser Nelson, Michael Simmons (who puts the data hub together and is making his podcast debut), and our economics editor Kate Andrews. (40:52)We chose our penultimate segment by looking back at all the most read articles of the year and chose the subject that appeared the most. The Royal Family won by a landslide, and it has been a big year for them. To break down the year’s big Royal moments and try and figure out why we are so obsessed with this family, Lara Prendergast and William Moore sat down with Freddy Gray and Patrick Jephson. (59:37)And finally, The Edition's producer has given William Moore an early Christmas present. The Church of England is one of his favourite things to talk about, because of how important he thinks it is for our society, but also because of the many issues he has with how it is run. Will gets stuck into it with four amazing priests – Marcus Walker, Daniel French, Nicholas Cranfield, and Steve Morris – who see out the year by telling us their favourite Christmas carols. (01:13:04)Hosted by Lara Prendergast & Will MooreProduced by Sam HolmesSubscribe to The Spectator magazine this Christmas and get the next 12 issues – in print and online – for just £12. Not only that but you’ll also receive a bottle of Taittinger champagne, worth £42, to see you through to the new year. Join the party today at www.spectator.co.uk/celebrate Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam's guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is the writer Siri Hustvedt, whose latest book is a collection of essays: Mothers, Fathers and Others. She tells Sam what literary critics get wrong, why she has a rubber brain on her desk, how Ancient Greek misogyny is still with us, why the 17th-century Duchess of Newcastle has yet to get her due – and how long it took her to stop smiling politely when people said her husband wrote her books… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've long known that where you live, who you live with, how you grow up, and how much money you have can have long lasting consequences for you health. Those that live in inner city neighbourhoods are far more exposed to health risks such as air pollution or drug abuse compared to leafy suburban residents.Does this connection between socioeconomic background and health fall on the responsibility of healthcare professionals and policymakers? Do nurses and doctors now also have to think about air pollution and green spaces? And is this holistic view of health helpful and indeed possible?In a special episode, Kate Andrews is joined by a panel of experts in this field. Charmaine Griffiths is the chief executive of the British Heart Foundation. Chinmay Bhatt is the managing director for the pharmaceutical company, Novartis in the UK and Ireland. And Sir Michael Marmot is a professor in epidemiology and public health at University College London.This podcast episode is sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK and editorially owned by The Spectator. Views and ideas expressed are solely those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the sponsor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've long known that where you live, who you live with, how you grew up and your quality of life can have long-lasting consequences for your health. Socioeconomic backgrounds are directly linked to healthcare outcomes. Those that live in inner-city neighbourhoods with dense populations and traffic are likely to have different health outcomes than residents living in leafy suburban London. But what does this mean for healthcare workers and policymakers? Do doctors now have to think about air pollution and green spaces to encourage a healthier population? is this holistic view of health helpful? Or indeed possible? Kate Andrews is joined by a panel of experts to tackle these questions. Charmaine Griffiths is head of the British Heart Foundation, Chinmay Bhatt who is the managing director of the pharmaceutical company, Novartis in the UK and Ireland. And Sir Michael Marmot whose been looking at this question in today's Britain. This podcast episode is sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK and editorially owned by The Spectator. Views and ideas expressed are solely those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the sponsor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the tennis star Peng Shuai had a row with her former lover, the retired Party cadre Zhang Gaoli, she took to Weibo, the Chinese social media platform, where she had half a million followers. It was in that statement that she accused Zhang of starting their affair with sexual assault.The statement was taken down within minutes, demonstrating the power, speed – and, arguably, the manual nature – of China’s online censors. On this podcast, we’ve previously talked about the nature of journalism in China – but what about social media, that inherently decentralised medium? What role does the digital space play in Chinese lives, how reliable is it as a source of Chinese public opinion, and how do people feel about being monitored and, potentially, censored?On the podcast, Cindy Yu speaks to Manya Koetse, the founder of whatsonweibo.com, which collates and translates the latest trends and topics from the platform into English; as well as Shen Lu, a reporter for Protocol who covers China and tech.With Manya, they muse about what censorship does to a nation's online discussion: the focus turns to policy issues like health and safety standards, or more superficial discussions like pets and travel. Yet during the early days of the pandemic last year, we both witnessed an incredible night where, on Weibo, WeChat, and other platforms, Dr Li Wenliang's death prompted a universal outpouring of grief. Manya tells Cindy that:  ‘Dr Li was a story that was too big to censor... censoring all of those discussions would have actually caused more unrest’.Since the pandemic, the digital sphere has also become more nationalistic: 'The Hong Kong protests definitely was the moment when I saw this new wave of nationalism online, which you’ve always had, but especially the last two years it’s been so clear. Covid-19 has only strengthened the wave that started back then’Cindy also speaks to Shen Lu, who tells her about her experience being censored on Weibo when reporting on China's MeToo movement. Censorship has only become worse in recent years – she says: ' I can no longer tell which friend is which, because we started to self-censor'. More optimistically though, Lu tells Cindy that all the same political conversations among liberal minded young Chinese are still happening – simply offline, these days. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode, we’ll hear from Douglas Murray on the political fate of US vice president Kamala Harris. (00:58)Next, Mary Wakefield on her experience during storm Arwen and subsequent media coverage. (09:39)And finally, Peter Hitchens on his fears regarding the future of the city of Oxford.  (15:58)Produced and presented by Sam HolmesSubscribe 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.