Best of the Spectator

Anji Hunter is the former gatekeeper to Tony Blair's Labour government. She was once described as the most influential non-elected person in Downing Street and became one of Blair's closest confidante...

25 Mar 202248min

In this week’s episode: could President Erdogan broker a peace deal between Putin and the West? For this week’s cover piece, Owen Matthews has written about how Turkey’s President Erdogan became a key...

24 Mar 202238min

Taiwan is not Ukraine. But despite the very important differences in their situations, the Russian invasion can still shed much light on Taiwan's future. Even many Taiwanese think so – and have follow...

22 Mar 202235min

In this week’s Book Club podcast Sam is joined by Francis Fukuyama to talk about his new book Liberalism and its Discontents. He tells Sam how a system that has built peace and prosperity since the En...

21 Mar 202237min

On this week's episode, we'll hear from Lionel Shriver on if western populations would fight to defend their homeland in the way we have seen the Ukrainians have. (00:53)Next, Kate Andrews on the real...

19 Mar 202221min

In this week’s episode: Has Putin’s invasion of Ukraine exposed the West’s weakness - or its strength?For this week, Sergey Radchenko, a Cold War historian writes about the draconian anti-war measures...

17 Mar 202244min

This week Winston is joined by Russian-British comedian, podcaster and author Konstantin Kisin. Konstantin gives his insight into the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Russian mindset, the potent myth of fi...

16 Mar 202234min

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is Colm Toibin. Best known as a novelist, Colm’s new book is his first collection of poetry, Vinegar Hill. He tells me about coming late to poetry, the freedo...

16 Mar 202239min