Best of the Spectator

Jon Craig, Sky News chief political correspondent known for live election-night coverage, shares his love of unpredictable by-elections. They tour landmark contests from 1938 to recent shocks. Short counts, long waits, career-making surprises and how modern politics and social media reshape scrutiny are all discussed in lively, anecdote-filled conversation.

Paul Johnson, economist and former director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, now Provost at The Queen’s College, Oxford. He discusses Britain’s soaring debt interest, how it already rivals defence spending. He explains why debt keeps rising, the role of weak growth and spending choices, the risks of monetising deficits, and the hard fiscal choices looming around 2028–29.

Hanna Pickard, a philosophy professor and bioethicist at Johns Hopkins, offers a fresh take on addiction. She challenges the broken-brain view and highlights how environment, choice, and identity shape drug use. She also recounts a revealing morphine experience and explains why community and compassionate responsibility matter for recovery.

Lucy Fisher, Whitehall editor at the Financial Times, explains defence funding shortfalls. Rupert Hawksley, Opinion editor at The Spectator, exposes rising organised rural crime. Matthew Parris, columnist and former politician, muses on political scandal and conspiracy culture. They debate Britain’s military readiness, recruitment and national service, balancing autonomous systems with personnel, and public appetite for higher defence spending.

General Sir Nick Carter, former Chief of the Defence Staff and head of the British Army, shares hard-won military leadership perspective. He discusses Europe's need to step up, vulnerabilities like undersea cables and supply lines, limits of UK deployable forces and procurement slowness, and how AI and cyber reshape future combat.

They dissect Reform UK's new shadow team and debate who might succeed Nigel Farage. They discuss internal rivalries and whether the party can show real administrative competence. They consider legal battles that reshaped recent politics and what upcoming by‑elections might reveal. They also touch on policy roles and the practical limits of local government reform.

Conrad Hackett, a Pew Research demographer who studies global religious change, unpacks claims of a youthful Christian resurgence. He discusses global shifts in where Christians live, rising Muslim populations in some regions, why many raised Christian now disaffiliate, and how survey methods can create misleading headlines.

Daniel DiMartino, a Manhattan Institute fellow and Venezuelan political economy and energy expert. He discusses the January 3 raid and why early signs feel promising. He covers prisoner releases, reduced censorship and quiet economic shifts. He debates Delcy Rodríguez’s motives and the timing of a sustainable transition. He explains short- and long-term prospects for Venezuela’s oil and regional effects.

Tina Brown, veteran journalist and editor, reads and criticizes Jeff Bezos's impact on the Washington Post. Travis Aaroe, political commentator, warns about elevating military figures and depoliticizing war strategy. Genevieve Gaunt, actor and writer, reviews books on human mating, intimacy, dating apps, oxytocin and why algorithms fail at predicting lasting compatibility.

James Macintyre, author and political historian who wrote Power With Purpose about Gordon Brown, discusses Brown’s evolving reputation and why now is the moment to reassess him. He covers Brown’s fraught ties with Peter Mandelson, shifting relations with Tony Blair, Brown’s views on Keir Starmer and Labour today, and how his moral ambitions sat alongside controversial operatives.