Best of the Spectator

My guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the investigative and tech writer James Ball, to talk about his new book The Other Pandemic: How QAnon Contaminated the World. In it, James traces the rise and disturbing metastasis of what he calls 'the conspiracy theory that ate all the other conspiracy theories', and argues that what looks from the outside as an extreme set of fringe beliefs about Satanic paedophile rings running the Deep State is something we need to take very seriously indeed.  

In the 1800s, Qing China’s final century, European powers were expanding eastwards. The industrialised West, with its gunboats and muskets, and the soft power of Christianity, pushed around the dynasty’s last rulers.But was this period more than just a time of national suffering and humiliation for China? The British Museum's ongoing exhibit, China’s hidden century, tells the story of Qing China’s final decades. The more than 300 exhibits tell a story not only of decline, but of a complicated exchange between China and the West about culture, fashion, politics and ideas. Cindy reviewed China’s hidden century in The Spectator last month, and hosted a live Chinese Whispers recording about the exhibition in the British Museum a few weeks ago. Cindy was joined by Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a historian from University of California, Irvine, and by Isabel Hilton, the journalist and founder of China Dialogue.

This week (01.13) Freddy Gray, on why Ron De Santis is no longer ‘de future’ in the race for the Presidency, (09.50) Mary Wakefield recounts the train journey from hell,(16.10) we hear from Gareth Roberts about the screenwriters and actors striking over AI potentially taking their jobs and (22.24) Rachel Johnson shares her diary of SAS adventures and mishaps in New Zealand.Produced and presented by Linden Kemkaran

This week: In his cover piece for the magazine Ross Clark writes about ‘the war on motorists'. He argues that the backlash against London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s expansion of Ulez is just the beginning, as motorists – and Labour MPs – prepare to revolt. He joins the podcast alongside Ben Clatworthy, transport correspondent at the Times, to discuss whether the Ulez expansion is just a money-grab. (01:11). Also this week:In his piece for The Spectator, journalist Ian Williams compares both Labour and Conservative policy on China. He says that Labour is gearing up to take a much more hawkish stance on China. He is joined by Charles Parton, senior associate fellow at RUSI, who worked as a diplomat in China for over two decades. (12:12)And finally: lights, camera, industrial action. This is of course the news this week that the Screen Actions Guild are striking in support of the Writers Guild of America over concerns that AI will take over the role of screenwriters. Gareth Roberts argues in The Spectator that there is such a glut of poor scripts that we may not even notice that if AI replaces screenwriters, and is joined by Anna Smith, film critic and host of the girls on film podcast. (26:39)Hosted by William Moore.  Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

In this week's Book Club podcast I'm joined by Ferdinand Mount who in his long career has been literary and political editor of this very magazine, as well as editor of the TLS and head of Margaret Thatcher's Number Ten policy unit. We discuss his new book Big Caesars and Little Caesars: How They Rise and How they Fall, from Julius Caesar to Boris Johnson. He tells me why he thinks it's fair to compare our recent former prime minister with a cast of despots and autocrats from Indira Gandhi and Oliver Cromwell to Louis Napoleon and even Adolf Hitler, and why he sees the impulse to autocracy as an ineradicable thread in human history.   

Yeonmi Park is a North Korean defector who from fled home country through China where she was saved by Christian missionaries. She is the author of two books, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom and While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector's Search for Freedom in America. Yeonmi now lives in the US, where she writes and campaigns for freedom of speech. She tells Winston about her astonishing journey to freedom, how China props up the Korea dictatorship and the impact of Jordan Peterson on her life.

Freddy is joined this week by Roger Kimball, editor of the New Criterion to talk about the diminishing power of Ron DeSantis. It wasn't so long ago he looked like a serious challenger that could beat Donald Trump to the Republican nomination. Where did it all go wrong?

The way we use energy is changing. As electric heat pumps and electric vehicles become more popular, and as the government tries to phase out fossil fuels to reach its net zero target, some estimate that our electricity demand will increase by 50 per cent by 2035. But can our energy system take that strain?Cindy Yu is joined by Andrew Bowie, minister for networks at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero; Sir Dieter Helm, professor of economic policy at the University of Oxford; Fflur Lawton, head of policy and public affairs at Smart Energy GB; and Anna Moss, senior consultant at Cornwall Insight, an energy consultancy.This podcast is sponsored by Smart Energy GB.

James Heale is joined by Tom Hunt MP and Tim Farron MP to debate the illegal migration bill. Also on the show, will AI kill us all? Eliezer Yudkowsky and James Phillips discuss; Katy Balls and Stephen Bush look at Labour’s future relationship with the trade unions; Louise Perry on Britain’s addiction to plastic surgery and Alice Hoxton on Britain’s love for gossip. 00:00 Welcome from James Heale 01:47 How to stop the boats? With Tom Hunt MP and Tim Farron MP 19:03 Will AI kill us? With Eliezer Yudkowsky & James Phillip 33:46 Will Starmer win over the unions? With Katy Balls & Stephen Bush 45:41 Britain's plastic surgery addiction. With Louise Perry 57:55 Why do Britons love to gossip? With Alice Loxton Produced by Natasha Feroze.

This week: (01:08) Katy Balls on the tricky relationship between Labour and the Unions, (07:11) Olenka Hamilton on why Poland is having a row with Brussels over migrants and asylum seekers and (15:29) Damian Thompson asks whether the Vatican is turning its back on tradition and beautiful art.