Best of the Spectator

The University of Nottingham has been forced to abandon its sinister attempt to ban Fr David Palmer from becoming its Catholic chaplain because his defence of unborn life might upset snowflakes. In this episode of Holy Smoke, I talk to one of Fr Palmer's key allies, Ryan Christopher, UK director of Alliance Defending Freedom, about that appalling episode and its backdrop: a sneaky culture of below-the-radar censorship driven in large part by student unions. Needless to say, the latter are furious that this government is passing legislation to protect free speech on campuses. Ryan has the details.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode, we’ll hear Matthew Lynn’s thoughts on how the gas shortages could lead to a very cold winter. (00:51) Then, Tanya Gold with a critical take on critics. (04:41)And finally, James Innes-Smith bigs up the bungalow. (08:58)Presented by Sam Holmes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dehenna Davison is the MP for Bishop Auckland, and a rising star in Boris Johnson's 2019 'red wall' intake. On this episode, recorded just after Conservative party conference, Dehenna tells Katy about what it was like to lose her father to a pub brawl so young, getting her work marked in Latin by Jacob Rees-Mogg and her plans to go to a Taylor Swift concert with the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode: with the energy crisis picking up pace who are set to be the winners and losers in this cold war for gas? Domestically we are seeing queues for petrol, rising gas prices all in the face of the Government’s net-zero agenda. And internationally things are looking just as turbulent, with China buying up as much fuel as possible, America becoming more isolationist when it comes to its energy supply, and Russia feeling more powerful in its place thanks to its Nord Stream 2 pipeline. These are the issues that Seb Kennedy, the founding editor of Energy Flux, addresses in his cover piece this week for The Spectator. He speaks about his findings on the podcast along with Senior Reporter for Energy and Commodities for Bloomberg and co-author of The World for Sale, Jack Farchy. (00:50)Also this week: can the police reform with Cressida Dick still in charge? Leroy Logan writes in this week’s Spectator that if the Met and police are to reform its subculture of racism and misogyny it can’t be done with Cressida Dick still at the helm. He is joined on the podcast by Sharon Haye, a former officer and policing advocate. (14:06)And finally: what is the future for British butchery? Olivia Potts is learning butchery. And in this week’s Spectator, she writes about her experiences as well as the state of the industry in the UK today. Nigel Jarvis is a fourth-generation butcher who has just retired after an unexpected boom in custom during lockdown. (28:52) Hosted by Lara Prendergast Produced by Sam Holmes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the 15th anniversary of Wikileaks, Freddy Gray speaks to its Editor in Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson about the recent Yahoo article that exposed the fact that the Trump Administration along with the CIA was working on plans to either kidnap or kill Julian Assange while he was still in hiding at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throughout Chinese history, as seen by poems and novels, drinking has been seen as a source for literary inspiration; or a form of manly competition; or, as ever, a status symbol. After a century of political turmoil in which the way people lived was radically disrupted, drinking culture is now coming back with China's growing wealth. As well as the traditional rice and sorghum spirits, grape wine is starting to dominate the Chinese palate.On this episode, Cindy Yu's guest Janet Z Wang, author of The Chinese Wine Renaissance, tells her all about the then and the now of Chinese drinking. They chat poetry and wine, noughties extravagance (including a Bordeaux sold for $234,000) and the peculiarities of Chinese drinking culture. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Midlands regional final took place on Zoom — a blast from the regional past, you might say — but was no less enjoyable and stimulating for that, all four regional entrants giving an excellent account of themselves. They were Blutick, which is taking maths teaching online to a new level; Petalite, which offers powerful solutions for electric vehicle recharging; Regionally, which connects private investors to high-growth companies seeking capital across the UK regions; and Zipbout, an app to make travelling across transport networks easier and more efficient. We were delighted to be joined as guest judges by Deloitte partner Claire Evans, Charles Stanley Wealth Managers’ HR Director Kate Griffiths-Lambert and an old friend of the Awards, Clive Bawden, COO of former winner Warwick Music. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our venue for the Yorkshire & North East regional final was the former Leeds Club — where the entrepreneurs of the region’s textile and other manufacturing industries would once have congregated. We welcomed back guest judges Caroline Theobald, a leading promoter of entrepreneurship in Newcastle and the North East, and Gordon Black, a venture capitalist and former manufacturer from West Yorkshire — plus a trio of Charles Stanley’s Leeds representatives. Our four finalists were all in cutting-edge technologies: Honcho in online vehicle insurance; Testcard in easy-access patient testing for healthcare; Element 2 in hydrogen power for truck and bus fleets; and Micropore in pharm manufacturing. Again, a near-impossible choice but a terrific conversation — and a range of entries from a geographical spread that tells us entrepreneurship is alive and well in the UK provinces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kate Andrews is joined by writer and political activist Paul Embery; journalist Ayesha Hazarika; Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith; security expert Elisabeth Braw, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; Spectator contributor Matthew Lynn; and a team of Spectator journalists.We discuss Labour's weekend in Brighton and whether Keir Starmer is taking the party in the right direction, how Britain can be better prepared for crises and why Ursula von der Leyen was the real winner of the recent German elections. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

All the way south and west to sunny Exeter to meet three more finalists: Bower Collective, a subscription-based provider of a range of household and personal care products with reusable packaging; CCM Technologies, which creates ‘green’ fertiliser from sources such as wastewater and farmyard slurry; and Psychiatry-UK, which has taken psychiatric consulting online. Our guest judges were Richard Cobb, senior partner of solicitors Michelmores, and Nicholas Hardie, a former FTSE100 corporate treasurer with interests ranging from housing to NHS trust board work, plus Chris Harris-Deans of sponsor Charles Stanley. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.