Nusrat Ghani is the Conservative MP for Wealden, having previously served as a transport minister under the May then Johnson governments. On the podcast, she tells Katy Balls about her upbringing under a father who was a headteacher; how she narrowly escaped arranged marriage through university; and how it feels to be one of nine Brits to be sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party.

What’s behind Boris’s plan for a green bonanza? (01:10) Can the West challenge China in the tech arms race? (14:50) Can the British handle grief? (24:05)

 

With Katy Balls, The Spectator’s deputy political editor; Rachel Wolf, a partner at Public First at co-author of the 2019 Conservative manifesto; author and journalist Ian Williams; politician and author Bruno Maçães; writer Fiona Mountford; and comedian and podcaster Cariad Lloyd.

 

Presented by Lara Prendergast.

 

Produced by Arsalan Mohammad.

In this week's Book club podcast Sam's guest is Roland Philipps - whose new book Victoire: A Wartime Story of Resistance, Collaboration and Betrayal tells the morally murky and humanly fascinating story of Mathilde Carre - a vital figure of the early days of resistance in occupied France. Roland's story describes her heroic early work; and its undoing when she was captured and turned collaborator... before she saw, in the figure of an agent for the British secret services, the opportunity for a triple-cross and the hope of redemption.

Carole Hayman is a writer, broadcaster, actor and director. On the podcast, she tells Lara and Liv about facing anorexia, London in the late 70s, smoking on stage and cooking while writing.

What were Prince Philip's religious beliefs? The Duke of Edinburgh had Orthodox Christian ancestry, but how was he drawn to its traditions, was he influenced by the Queen's faith, and why was he critical of Catholicism? Damian Thompson speaks to Gavin Ashenden, chaplain to the Queen from 2008 to 2017.

On this week's episode, Andrew Neil is joined by Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, chief executive of UK Music and former special adviser to Matt Hancock; Spectator contributor Alexander Pelling-Bruce; Alba Party MP Kenny MacAskill; and a team of Spectator journalists.

We discuss whether life will return to normal on 21 June, if a new 'retain and explain' policy will stop statue controversies, and how well Salmond's Alba party will do in May's Holyrood elections.

To watch the show, go to www.spectator.co.uk/tv.

On this week's episode, Philip Eade, biographer to Prince Philip, reads his obituary of the Prince. We're also joined by Dominic Green, Spectator USA's Life and Arts Editor, who reads his article on Prince Harry's new job. Anshel Pfeffer reports on life in Israel under the vaccine passport; and Lionel Shriver on the West's self-doubt and who stands to benefit.

Vaccine passports seem all but inevitable in the UK and parts of the US. While some are relatively relaxed about the prospects of a de facto bio-security ID card, others are not. Spectator US contributor Bridget Phetasy is one of them, and on this episode tells Freddy Gray why she hates the 'vaxport'.

Will life ever return to normal? (00:50) Is the government pandering to statue protestors? (14:30) And what’s Prince Harry’s new job? (27:55)

With Kate Andrews, the Spectator's economics editor; Spectator columnist Matthew Parris; Spectator contributor Alexander Pelling-Bruce; Historic England CEO Duncan Wilson; Dominic Green, deputy editor of the Spectator's US edition; and Sam Leith, literary editor of the Spectator.

Presented by Lara Prendergast.

Produced by Max Jeffery, Cindy Yu and Arsalan Mohammad.

Sam's guest this week is the broadcaster and historian Jonathan Dimbleby. In Barbarossa: Hitler's Greatest Mistake, Jonathan describes the extraordinary and horrifying story of the Nazi campaign against Stalin, and its still more extraordinary strategic and diplomatic background. It's a bloody and sometimes tragicomic parable of how dictators can become detached from reality - and in it he makes the case that, contra the prevailing image of Anglo-American victories in France having been decisive in winning the Second World War, Hitler's goose was actually cooked as early as 1941.