The Edition

By: The Spectator
Listen for free

  • Summary

  • The Spectator's flagship podcast featuring discussions and debates on the best features from the week's edition. Presented by Lara Prendergast and William Moore.
    Show more Show less
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2
Episodes
  • Tory wars, the reality of trail hunting & is Sally Rooney-mania over?

    Tory wars, the reality of trail hunting & is Sally Rooney-mania over?
    Sep 26 2024
    This week: who’s on top in the Conservative leadership race?

    That’s the question Katy Balls asks in the magazine this week as she looks ahead to the Conservative Party conference. Each Tory hopeful will be pitching for the support of MPs and the party faithful ahead of the next round of voting. Who’s got the most to lose, and could there be some sneaky tactics behind the scenes? Katy joins the podcast to discuss, alongside Conservative peer Ruth Porter, who ran Liz Truss’s leadership campaign in 2022. We also include an excerpt from the hustings that Katy conducted with each of the candidates earlier this week. You can find the full interviews on The Spectator’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SpectatorTV (02:07)

    Next: should trail hunting be banned? Flora Watkins concedes that the hunting community has not helped its case over the years when considering the future of the sport. However, she argues that a minority should not spoil a sport that is ‘thrilling, sociable and bloodless’. In a heated discussion, Flora joins the podcast to make her case with campaigner Dominic Dyer. (17:43)

    And finally: what to make of Sally Rooney’s new novel Intermezzo? In the magazine this week Claire Lowdon argues that the novel is an ‘enjoyable old-fashioned love story… but high literature it is not’. Why? Reviewing the book for the Times James Marriott argues Rooney’s characters are ‘sensitive’ but also too ‘precious and prissy’. How warranted is the criticism of Rooney? Claire and James join the pod. (31:50)

    Hosted by William Moore and Gus Carter.

    Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.
    Show more Show less
    43 mins
  • Farage's plan, the ethics of euthanasia and Xi's football failure

    Farage's plan, the ethics of euthanasia and Xi's football failure
    Sep 19 2024
    This week: Nigel’s next target. What’s Reform UK’s plan to take on Labour? Reform UK surpassed expectations at the general election to win 5 MPs. This includes James McMurdock, who Katy interviews for the magazine this week, who only decided to stand at the last moment. How much threat could Reform pose and why has Farage done so well? Katy joins the podcast to discuss, alongside Jovan Owusu-Nepaul, who fought Nigel Farage as the Labour candidate for Clacton (1:02).

    Next: who determines the morality of euthanasia? Matthew Hall recounts the experience of his aunt opting for the procedure in Canada, saying it ‘horrified’ him but ‘was also chillingly seductive’. Does Canada provide the model for the rest of the world? Or should we all be worried of where this could lead? Matthew joined the podcast, alongside commentator Richard Hanania. Hanania is president of the Centre for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology and has hailed the Canadian model as ‘moral progress’ (19:52).

    And finally: why isn’t China a football superpower? Ian Williams joins the podcast to discuss his article exploring the failure of President Xi to realise his ambitions for Chinese football. Despite spending billions of yuan, why hasn’t China been more successful? Cameron Wilson, founding editor of Wild East Football, the world’s leading English-language news source on soccer in China joins too (35:44).

    Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.

    Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.
    Show more Show less
    45 mins
  • Trump’s debate woes, how to catch a paedo & the politics of the hotel breakfast buffet

    Trump’s debate woes, how to catch a paedo & the politics of the hotel breakfast buffet
    Sep 12 2024
    This week:

    The US election is back on a knife-edge. Republicans hoped this week’s debate would expose Kamala Harris’s weaknesses. ‘They forgot that, when it comes to one-on-one intellectual sparring matches with candidates who aren’t senile, Donald Trump is very bad indeed,’ writes Freddy Gray. ‘A skilled politician would have been able to unpick Harris’s act, but Trump could not.’ Harris is enigmatic to the point of absurdity, but Trump failed to pin her down and may well have squandered his narrow lead. To discuss further, Freddy joined the podcast alongside Amber Duke, Washington editor at Spectator World. (02:05)

    Next: Lara and Will take us through some of their favourite pieces from this week, including Fraser Nelson’s diary on the sale of The Spectator Magazine to Sir Paul Marshall.

    Then: how to catch a paedophile. London Overwatch, a paedophile hunting group, pose as children online to snare unsuspecting sexual predators. They then confront the suspect and livestream the arrest to thousands of viewers. The Spectator’s Max Jeffery went along to see them catch a man who believes he has been speaking to a 14-year-old girl. Max was joined on the podcast by Nick, who runs London Overwatch. (18:34)

    And finally: is it ethical to pocket a sandwich at a hotel breakfast buffet? Laurie Graham explores the ethics of plundering the hotel buffet in the magazine this week. Specifically, she reveals the very British habit that many Brits swipe food from their free breakfasts to save for lunch later in the day. Laurie joined us alongside Mark Jenkins, a former hotel manager in Torquay who listeners may remember from the Channel 4 documentary ‘The Hotel’ (27:51)

    Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.

    Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.
    Show more Show less
    39 mins
Politics & Government Social Sciences
Show more Show less

What listeners say about The Edition

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com reviews

Amazon reviews
No Reviews are Available