The Edition

• Labour's toxic budget, Zelensky in trouble & Hitler's genitalia

  It’s time to scrap the budget, argues political editor Tim Shipman this week. An annual fiscal event only allows the Chancellor to tinker round the edges, faced with a backdrop of global uncertainty. Endless potential tax rises have been trailed, from taxes on mansions, pensions, savings, gambling, and business partnerships, and nothing appears designed to fix Britain’s structural problems. Does our economics editor Michael Simmons agree?Host Lara Prendergast is joined by co-host – and the Spectator’s features editor – William Moore, alongside associate editor Owen Matthews and economics editor Michael Simmons. As well as the cover, they discuss: the corruption scandal that has weakened Ukraine’s President Zelensky – could he be forced out; how global winds are taming meaning we’re living through a ‘great stilling’; with new research alleging that Hitler had a micropenis – does it matter; how grief is natural and dead relatives shouldn’t be digitised; whether Artificial Intelligence could be useful in schools; and finally, what Turkey could teach the UK about luxury healthcare.Plus: what did Owen learn on a mushroom retreat in Amsterdam – and why did William wait ten years to go to the dentist?Produced by Patrick Gibbons.The Spectator is trialling new formats for this podcast, and we would very much welcome feedback via this email address: [email protected] a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts. Contact us: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• BBC in crisis, the Wes Streeting plot & why 'flakes' are the worst

  Can the BBC be fixed? After revelations of bias from a leaked dossier, subsequent resignations and threats of legal action from the US President, the future of the corporation is the subject of this week’s cover piece.Host William Moore is joined by The Spectator’s commissioning editor, Lara Brown, arts editor, Igor Toronyi-Lalic, and regular contributor, Melanie McDonagh.They also discuss the drama of this week’s Westminster coup plot, and Melanie’s new book about why Catholicism attracted unlikely converts throughout the twentieth century.Plus: what’s the most bizarre excuse a friend has used to back out of a social engagement?Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts. Contact us: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Trump’s gilded age, the ‘hell’ of polyamory & is Polanski Britain’s Mamdani?

  A year on from his presidential election victory, what lessons can Britain learn from Trump II? Tim Shipman writes this week’s cover piece from Washington D.C., considering where Keir Starmer can ‘go big’ like President Trump. Both leaders face crunch elections next year, but who has momentum behind them? There is also the question of who will replace Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States. Can Starmer find a candidate who can get the Americans on side?Host Lara Prendergast is joined by The Spectator’s political editor Tim Shipman, features editor Will Moore and commissioning editor Mary Wakefield.As well as the cover, they discuss Mary’s piece urging us not to ‘look away’ in the wake of the Huntingdon train stabbings; whether Zack Polanski can harness the energy seen in Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral election victory; and the growing fashion for polyamory.Plus: what books have the panel enjoyed reading this year?Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts. Contact us: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Embracing the occult, going underground & lost languages

  Big Tech is under the spell of the occult, according to Damian Thompson. Artificial intelligence is now so incredible that even educated westerners are falling back on the occult, and Silicon Valley billionaires are becoming obsessed with heaven and hell. An embrace of the occult is not just happening in California but across the world – with ‘WitchTok’, a new trend of middle-class women embracing witchcraft. Is this spooky or just sad? And to what extent are they just following in the tradition of the Victorian charlatan?Host Lara Prendergast is joined by the Spectator’s associate editor – and host of the Holy Smoke podcast – Damian Thompson, alongside writers and Spectator regulators Arabella Byrne and Mark Mason.As well as the cover, they discuss: the fascinating world of the London tube network – despite the misery of the northern line; the problems facing Kemi Badenoch, the allure of Reform UK and why Trump seems to recover from every scandal; whether languages should be saved; and they celebrate cartoonist Michael Heath, who is turning 90 – meaning he has drawn for the Spectator for 75 years.Plus: what does Mark think Cliff Richard and Jeffrey Archer have in common with Donald Trump?Produced by Patrick Gibbons.The Spectator is trialling new formats for this podcast, and we would very much welcome feedback via this email address: [email protected] a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts. Contact us: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Left-wing Ultras, Reform intellectuals & capitalist sex robots

  ‘The Ultras’ are the subject of The Spectator’s cover story this week – this is the new Islamo-socialist alliance that has appeared on the left of British politics. Several independent MPs, elected amidst outrage over the war in Gaza, have gone on to back the new party created by former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. The grouping has got off to a rocky start but – as Angus Colwell and Max Jeffery write – there are expectations that they could pick up dozens of seats across the country. Can the hard-left coalition hold?Host Lara Prendergast is joined by the Spectator’s deputy political editor James Heale, commissioning editor Lara Brown and Angus Colwell – who also writes the Spectator’s new morning newsletter Spectator Daily.As well as the cover, they discuss: the intellectual forces behind Reform UK; whether Piers Morgan is right that ‘woke is dead’; why the American ‘Wasp’ aesthetic was once so appealing; and are sex robots a fun consequence of capitalism – or a symptom of a lonely society.Produced by Patrick Gibbons.The Spectator is trialling new formats for this podcast, and we would very much welcome feedback via this email address: [email protected] a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts. Contact us: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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