Best of the Spectator

Isabel Vincent is an author and Canadian investigative journalist for the New York Post. Her book, 'Dinner with Edward', charts the unlikely friendship she struck up with her recently widowed ninety-something neighbour. Theirs is a friendship struck through mutual grief (Vincent's own marriage was breaking down at the time) and good food. The film adaption, starring David Souchet, is under production.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.

With Katy Balls and James Forsyth.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.

In this week's episode of Holy Smoke Damian is joined by Jamie Bartlett, one of the world’s leading experts on the dark web, radical politics and technology, whose gripping podcast series The Missing Cryptoqueen is currently being broadcast by the BBC. It tells the story of a shady Bulgarian tech entrepreneur, Dr Ruja Ignatova, who vanished just as her dodgy cryptocurrency OneCoin was raking in billions of euros from investors – or true believers – all over the world.Despite her disappearance, it still has footholds in African villages, the Chinese business community, Scottish housing estates and Britain’s Muslims – it claims to be Sharia-compliant. Not only does Dr Ruja's operation resemble a religious cult, it also gives us a glimpse of how technology and belief are combining in ever stranger patterns, often inspired by the utopians of Silicon Valley,Holy Smoke is a series of podcasts where Damian Thompson dissects the most important and controversial topics in world religion, with a range of high profile guests. Click here to find previous episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Pat Leahy, Political Editor of the Irish Times, and James Forsyth.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.

With Daniel McCarthy, Contributing Editor of Spectator USA and Editor of Modern Age.Americano is a series of in-depth discussions on American politics with the best pundits stateside. Presented by Freddy Gray, editor of Spectator USA. Click here to listen to previous episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the debate about violent language in Westminster rumbles on, have MPs accidentally stumbled on to something? In this week’s episode, we take a look at what’s happened to civilised debate with people you disagree with (00:45). Plus, could Boris Johnson request an extension and still win a general election (17:00)? And last, is recycling all it’s made out to be (31:25)?With Douglas Murray, Sam Leith, James Forsyth, Ben Page, Laurie Graham and Julian Kirby.Presented by Lara Prendergast and Katy Balls.Produced by Cindy Yu and Matt Lee. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sam's guest in this week’s books podcast is Benjamin Moser, author of an acclaimed new biography of one of America’s most celebrated (and controversial) intellectuals of the twentieth century: Sontag: Her Life.Sam asked Benjamin how he sorted fact from myth, about tracking down the inventor of that haircut, and about Annie Leibovitz’s take on their stormy love affair. Why could someone as brave as Sontag never come out? Did she have a sense of humour? And what of her will last?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 former Justice Secretary David Gauke, Director of CER Charles Grant, James Forsyth, Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson.Please accept our apologies for the low volume of this podcast, due to the venue's AV team. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is plastic the enemy? To watch Blue Planet and listen to Greta Thunberg, you might think so. But there are some things that plastic simply does better than the alternatives, which are not necessarily more eco-friendly in any case. So should we be looking for a better way to use the material, rather than to get rid of it altogether? To this end, we've brought together a few people who might know what they're talking about - Julie Hill, Chair of the charity, Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), Michelle Norman, Director of Sustainability at Lucozade Ribena Suntory, and Kate Geraghty, Director of Sustainability at Dow - to see what the future for plastic usage might look like.Presented by Fraser Nelson.Sponsored by Dow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Liz Truss is the Secretary of State for International Trade and holds the Women and Equalities brief. In this special edition of Women With Balls for Conservative party conference, she talks about why Boris picked her for the job (having heard her speech about cheese exports), the limitation to trans rights, and how punchy language is all just a part of politics.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.