Over the past months, under the weight of a global pandemic, scientists and medical professionals have had to rethink the way they do things. We found not one - but numerous - vaccines within the space of a year; new treatments have been discovered, some repurposed from existing drugs; and manufacturers and politicians alike have had to think creatively to plug the gaps of the pandemic.

There must be lessons we can learn from this experience - things that big pharma and scientists can do better in the future, having this time round done so in emergency circumstances. That’s the topic of this special episode of The Spectator’s podcast, sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Novartis.

I’m delighted to be joined by a panel of expert guests. Chinmay Bhatt, Managing Director in the UK for Novartis, who we pressed on the importance of data science in pharmaceuticals. Professor Paul Martin, a sociologist tasked with finding better ways to collaborate between the medical sector and other sectors, who enlightened us on the un-mined potential of repurposing existing drugs. And Dr Nicole Mather, the Life Sciences Lead at the technology company IBM, who has been crucial to the UK’s pandemic response and working with regulators. She nicely summed up - through the lens of regulation - the kind of corners that can be cut, without compromising on healthcare quality:

'What Covid has been really helpful in, is helping us think about what's really essential. So a lot of the regulatory process has been pared back, or been able to run in parallel. So regulators are not doing away with any steps - just addressing them in a more thoughtful fashion'.

In this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam's guest is Claire Tomalin. Claire’s new book, The Young H G Wells: Changing the World, tracks the extraordinary life and rocket-powered career of one of the most influential writers of the Edwardian age. She talks to Sam about how drapery’s loss was literature’s gain, why casting the goatish Wells as a #metoo villain isn’t quite right - and why we should all be reading Tono-Bungay.

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It's not easy to talk about the Cultural Revolution inside China - let alone teach it. In recent years, one of the last professors to have taught the period has been hounded out of her role at a top university. Sun Peidong has now taken a post at Cornell, after Chinese journals stopped publishing her work, the university party secretary banned her lectures, and even her students turned on her - denouncing Sun as if she were an 'anti-revolutionary' of the very period she taught.

In this frank discussion, Cindy Yu interviews Sun about academic freedom and diversity of thought on Chinese campuses; about what it was like to shed light on a taboo subject to younger generations; and why she left China. It's an indictment on modern Chinese discourse that an internationally-renowned scholar such as Sun is now lost to Chinese academia.

‘Look at China, now we have a huge impact. If we cannot handle our own social problems, what kind of impact will we leave to the whole [of] humankind?’ She asked me. And on whether China has got over the Cultural Revolution:

‘If you forbid people, professors, or students, or young generation, to have [the] opportunity to fully discover the history – and the dark side of the history – how can you imagine that our nation can move on?’

As the global shortage of gas continues to drive up energy costs, we take a look at these rising energy prices and the cost of living crisis that looms over the UK. How can we protect people from fuel poverty when bills are predicted to rise by hundreds of pounds? Moreover, as COP26 kicks off, how can this crisis be framed within the government's plans for a green future? Kate Andrews speaks to Rebecca Sedler, the director for policy and regulation at EDF, Alan Brown MP, shadow SNP spokesperson on energy and climate change and Jonny Marshall, who is a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation. 

This podcast is sponsored by EDF.

Freddy Gray is joined by Peter Hitchens, Spectator contributor; Glenn Greenwald, journalist and author; Tim Spector, principal investigator on the ZOE app; Rod Liddle, The Spectator's associate editor; Ben Smith, New York Times media columnist; Peter Betts, lead climate negotiator for the European Union, 2010-16; and Spectator journalists.

We discuss the Autumn Budget, whether drugs or mental illness are more to blame for terrorism, and the people behind Frances Haugen's Facebook leak.

To watch the episode, click here.

On this week's episode, we hear from Max Jeffery on his first impressions visiting Israel. (00:45)

Then Kate Andrews on her difficult relationship with Newcastle Football Club. (04:58)

And finally, Maggie Fergusson's review of the new book Blacksmith: Apprentice to Master: Tools and Traditions of an Ancient Craft. (10:53)

Produced and presented by Sam Holmes

Freddy Gray talks to Ben Schreckinger, political correspondent at Politico, about his new book, The Bidens: Inside the First Family's Fifty-Year Rise to Power.

These days the Conservative party is not just associated with the colour blue - it’s also the winner of the red wall seats; the pursuer of a green agenda. But do these new identities, achieved under Boris Johnson, all fit together? In particular, critics often label tackling climate change as a middle class pursuit, not what ‘real people’ around the country are concerned with. And indeed, the Treasury and BEIS have put the costs of net zero at £70bn a year, so what does that mean for the less well off in society, especially those in the Tories’ new constituencies in the red wall?

This discussion was recorded at Conservative Party Conference on October 5. Cindy Yu, The Spectator's broadcast editor, talks to Andrew Griffith MP, the government's net zero business champion and parliamentary private secretary; Sarah Longlands, chief executive of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies; and Nick Baird, group director of corporate affairs at Centrica, which is kindly sponsoring this podcast.

In this week’s episode: Can Cop26 deliver on its grand promises?

In our cover story this week, Fraser Nelson assesses the state of the upcoming Cop26 summit in Glasgow and questions their very effectiveness in dealing with climate change in a world of global players with very different priorities. He is joined on the podcast by reporter Jess Shankleman, who is covering Cop26 for Bloomberg. (00:48)

‘This one’s in Glasgow, but you’d best think of it as the Edinburgh Festival for environmentalism. Lots of fun, lots of debates, lots of protests, lots of street action, but not really any much of concrete substance.’ – Fraser Nelson

 

Also this week: Is it moral to bribe your child to go to church?

Theo Hobson is paying his daughter to go to church and get confirmed. But how holy is this practice? Theo's idea is judged on the podcast by a holy trinity of priests: Steve Morris, Daniel French, and Nicholas Cranfield. (13:28)

 ‘I’d be very worried if there was a suggestion that they as younger people are being prevailed upon to answer the right questions and say ‘actually Dad I do now believe!’ Simply for the exchange of some filthy lucre.’ – Rev. Nicholas Cranfield

 

And finally: What are the ups and downs of book clubs?

Author Elisa Segrave was cancelled from a book club event after an email of hers apparently ‘hurt’ some members. This inspired her analysis of the book club concept for this week’s Spectator. Along with Simon Savidge the founder of Savidge Reads, she talks about her and her friends' bumpy relationship with book clubs. (25:10)

‘I was always really excited for what that next choice would be because it was like a mystery until that final moment or final glass of wine.’ – Simon Savidge

Hosted by Lara Prendergast

Produced by Sam Holmes

In this week’s Book Club podcast, Sam Leith's guest is the historian Jane Ridley, talking about her new book George V: Never A Dull Moment. She tells him there’s so much more to the 'boring' monarch than shooting grouse and collecting stamps. Hear how he navigated some of the worst constitutional crises in memory, saved the British monarchy as the grand dynasties of Europe started toppling… and then inadvertently imperilled it again by his treatment of his son and heir.