Best of the Spectator

Last month the government released its ten point plan for what it dubs 'The Green Industrial Revolution'. At the top of the list was offshore wind, with a pledge to produce enough power for every home by 2030. Offshore wind currently constitutes over 50 per cent of the renewables in the UK, with costs coming down considerably over recent years. But does offshore wind have its limits? Is it always a good deal for the consumer? And how far can it realistically advance us on our road to Net Zero by 2050?With Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth; Benj Sykes, VP for UK Offshore at Orsted; and Sir David King, the former chief scientific adviser to the UK government.Presented by Kate Andrews.Sponsored by Orsted. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeffrey Archer is a novelist, former politician, and peer of the realm. He has sold 275 million copies of his books - in 97 countries and more than 30 languages. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Liv about food in prison, his wife's jacket potato, and why he loves shepherd's pie. Table Talk is a series of podcasts where Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts talk to celebrity guests about their life story, through the food and drink that has come to define it. Listen to past episodes here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s episode, Andrew Neil is joined by Philip Rycroft, permanent secretary of the Department for Exiting the European Union from 2017 to 2019; Stephen Bush, political editor of the New Statesman; Andrew RT Davies, Wales's shadow health minister and former leader of the Welsh Conservatives; and a team of Spectator journalists.On this week's episode, we discuss whether a Brexit deal will really be broken by fish and state aid, whether Wales's 'firebreak' lockdown worked, and why China isn't shouting about it's Covid vaccine.To watch the show, go to www.spectator.co.uk/tv. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode, the Spectator's deputy US editor, Dominic Green, argues that if Joe Biden departs from Donald Trump’s foreign policy, American interests will be harmed. (01:00) After, Tanya Gold reads her interview with Belle Delphine, the 21-year-old who earns more than $1 million a month from videos she posts online. (13:25) Lionel Shriver features next; she says that nobody wins from identity politics. (20:00) And finally, Bruce Anderson explains why you can’t trust supermarket cheese. (28:45) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Barbara Amiel, Baroness Black, is a journalist, writer and socialite. She's been married four times - her fourth to the newspaper proprietor Conrad Black. On the podcast, she talks to Katy Balls about her difficult childhood (which she describes as 'slightly unorthodox'), establishing her journalistic career in Toronto and London, comparing bathrooms with Ghislaine Maxwell, her glamorous marriage to Black and their fall from grace when he was jailed for fraud. Her new book, Friends and Enemies: A Memoir, is and out now.Presented by Katy Balls. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joe Biden wants his administration to be a departure from the days of Donald Trump, but will a change in foreign policy harm American interests? (01:00) Why is it taking so long to reach a Brexit deal? (17:10) And finally, should cyclists be given priority on London's roads? (29:35)With The Spectator’s deputy US editor Dominic Green, Chatham House's Leslie Vinjamuri, The Spectator's political editor James Forsyth, EurasiaGroup's managing director Mujtaba Rahman, journalist Christian Wolmar and writer, actor, and comedian Griff Rhys Jones.Presented by Lara Prendergast.Produced by Max Jeffery, Matt Taylor and Alexa Rendell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's Book Club podcast, Sam Leith's guest is the journalist Ed Caesar, whose new book The Moth and the Mountain tells the story of a now forgotten solo assault on Everest that ended in disaster. But as Ed argues, the heroic failure can be a richer and more resonant story than any triumph -- and as he painstakingly excavated the story of Maurice Wilson, it was just such a rich and resonant story he discovered: of a character who became fixated on the mountain as a means of redeeming wartime trauma and a chequered and at times disgraceful romantic history, of getting his own back on hated authority figures, and -- just possibly -- of finding a safe space for his darkest secret of all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Henry Jeffreys is features editor of Masters of Malt, and author of The Cocktail Dictionary. On the podcast, he tells Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts about living like the Goodfellas in Leeds, being 'portly' at university, and enjoying his mum's apple and bramble pie.Table Talk is a series of podcasts where Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts talk to celebrity guests about their life story, through the food and drink that has come to define it. Listen to past episodes here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When thinking about Chinese student protests, you'll inevitably think about Hong Kong or Tiananmen. But there's one that kicked it all off in modern Chinese history, and its reverberations are still felt throughout the century, not least because of its role in the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. It's the May Fourth Movement of 1919, which is the topic of this episode. Professor Rana Mitter, former head of the China Centre at the University of Oxford and author of numerous books on Chinese history, joins the podcast on why China is no stranger to student protests.Presented by Cindy Yu. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Neil is joined by Trevor Phillips, managing director of Webber and Phillips, and columnist for The Times; Mark Harper, Conservative MP and former chief whip; Emily Gray, managing director of Ipsos MORI Scotland; and a team of Spectator journalists.On this week's episode, we discuss why Tory MPs rebelled against the tiered restrictions, whether Scottish independence is inevitable and if critical race theory is flawed.To watch the show, go to www.spectator.co.uk/tv. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.