Best of the Spectator

Jo Thompson is a prize-winning garden designer, whose upcoming book 'Rhubarb Rhubarb' is a correspondence between a hopeless gardener and a hopeful cook, taking a look at both gardening and cooking. Jo tells Livvy about the fresh buffalo mozzarella in her family home in Italy, her father's Italian restaurant, and the one dish she can make with her eyes closed.Presented by Olivia Potts.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.

Rory Stewart speaks to James Kirkup, Spectator contributor and Director of the Social Market Foundation, about why he's a conservative, the way to solve Brexit, and his greatest political hero, Native American chief Plenty Coups.Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily (and now even on Saturdays), click here to find more episodes that are not released on Spectator Radio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claire Fox, left libertarian thinker, director and founder of the Academy of Ideas, and panellist on the Moral Maze, was this week elected as an MEP for the Brexit Party. In this episode of Women With Balls, she talks to Katy Balls about her disagreements with Nigel Farage, the prejudice she has received in green rooms, on the streets, and on social media, and the decadent perks of her new job.Presented by Katy Balls.Women With Balls is a podcast series where Katy Balls speak to women at the top of their respective games. To hear past episodes, visit spectator.co.uk/balls. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, as the Tory leadership contest kicks off, who has the best shot at getting to the final two (00:40)? And with Carrie Symonds, Boris’s new partner, neatening him up, we also ask - what is the role of the politician’s wife (16:45)? And last, cats. Are they ruthless killers posing an existential threat to wild birds (25:25)?With James Forsyth, Rob Wilson, Nevena Bridgen, Paula Milne, Mary Wakefield, and James Ball.Presented by Isabel Hardman.Produced by Cindy Yu and Siva Thangarajah. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s books podcast Sam is joined by the physicist Jim Al-Khalili (host of Radio Four’s The Life Scientific) to talk about his first novel, a science-fiction thriller called Sunfall. In it, Jim uses real science to conjure up a plausible but fantastical near-future crisis in which the earth’s magnetic field falters and dies. What would that mean? (Nothing good, is the answer.) He helps us sort our neutralinos from our neutrinos, tells us about the real existential threats we face, and explains why he’s drawn to so-called “hard sf”.Spectator Books is a series of literary interviews and discussions on the latest releases in the world of publishing, from poetry through to physics. Presented by Sam Leith, The Spectator's Literary Editor. Hear past episodes of Spectator Books here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson.Presented by Cindy Yu.Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily, click here to find more episodes that are not released on Spectator Radio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With James Forsyth and Katy Balls.Presented by Fraser Nelson.Coffee House Shots is a series of podcasts on British politics from the Spectator's political team and special guests. Brought to you daily, click here to find more episodes that are not released on Spectator Radio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, as the country goes to the polls for European elections, we ask: has Brexit devoured the far left (00:40)? We also speak to an unlikely Boris supporter – Matthew Parris – on the merits of a Boris leadership for Remainers (14:15). And last, do you own books to read, or to show off (28:55)?With Nick Cohen, Sienna Rodgers, Matthew Parris, James Forsyth, Virginia Blackburn and Stig Abell.Presented by Katy Balls.Produced by Cindy Yu and Siva Thangarajah.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s Spectator Books, Sam's guest is Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford, who’s talking about her new book This Is Shakespeare. What is it that makes Shakespeare special — and is it defensible that, as even in university curricula, we talk about Shakespeare apart from and above the whole of the rest of literature? How did he think about genre? Why is Act Four always a bit boring? Is the Tempest an autumnal masterpiece or the thin work of a writer of dwindling powers? And how filthy is A Midsummer Night’s Dream?Presented by Sam Leith.Spectator Books is a series of literary interviews and discussions on the latest releases in the world of publishing, from poetry through to physics. Presented by Sam Leith, The Spectator's Literary Editor. Hear past episodes of Spectator Books here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Actress Cressida Bonas talks to Lara and Livvy about growing up on shepherd's pie and pop-tarts, her trypophobia, and the best curry she's ever had.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.