Professor Charles Spence is an experimental psychologist at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on how an in-depth understanding of the human mind will lead to the better design of multi-sensory foods and products. He is the author of several books including his most recent, Sensehacking: How to Use the Power of Your Senses for Happier, Healthier Living.



On this episode he talks about how he started experimenting with food and the human senses, working with Heston Blumenthal, and how he doesn't understand ice-cream.

Table Talk: Professor Charles Spence

Home to the Spectator's best podcasts on everything from politics to religion, literature to food and drink, and more. A new podcast every day from writers worth listening to.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

News

Politics

Matt McDonald, managing editor of the US edition of The Spectator, joins Freddy Gray to discuss whether Biden is losing the swing states, the potential outcome of the Trump-Biden TV debates, and who the polls are spelling trouble for. 



Produced by Megan McElroy.

Americano: is Biden losing the swing states?

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Max Jeffery interviews Afghan resistance leader Ahmad Massoud (1:13); former prisoner David Shipley ponders the power of restorative justice (8:23); Patrick Kidd argues that the Church should do more to encourage volunteers (14:15); Cindy Yu asks if the tiger mother is an endangered species (21:06); and, Hugh Thomson reviews Mick Conefrey’s book Fallen, examining George Mallory’s tragic Everest expedition (26:20).

 

Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

Spectator Out Loud: Max Jeffery, David Shipley, Patrick Kidd, Cindy Yu, and Hugh Thomson

Shabana Mahmood is the shadow secretary of state for justice. She was born in Birmingham to migrant parents. After studying Law at Lincoln College, Oxford, where Rishi Sunak was a contemporary, she qualified as a barrister and lived and worked in London. First elected to Parliament in 2010, representing Birmingham Ladywood, she was one of the UK’s first female Muslim MPs.



On the episode, Katy Balls talks to Shabana about her upbringing in the UK and in Saudi Arabia; how her faith is central to who she is as a person; and her approach to the tricky issues of abortion and assisted dying.



Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Cindy Yu.

Women With Balls: the Shabana Mahmood Edition

This week:



Veep show: who will Trump pick for his running mate? Freddy Gray goes through the contenders – and what they say about America (and its most likely next president). ‘Another thought might be buzzing around Trump’s head: he can pick pretty much whoever he wants because really it’s all about him. He might even choose one of his children: Ivanka or Donald Junior. What could sound better than Trump-Trump 2024?’ Freddy joins the podcast. (02:10)



Next: Will and Lara take us through some of their favourite pieces from the magazine, including David Shipley’s piece on the issues in the criminal justice system and Patrick Kidd’s article on the C of E’s volunteering crisis. 



Then: Everest. This year marks 100 years since George Mallory’s doomed expedition. On the 8th June 1924 George Mallory and his climbing partner Sandy Irvine were seen through binoculars 800 ft from the summit of Mount Everest, but sadly were never seen again. Whether they did reach the top – almost 30 years prior to Edmund Hillary’s confirmed summit – has been the source of debate and myth for a century. Two new books will be released this year revisiting the attempt, and the man behind them. One by former political editor at the Sun, Tom Newton Dunn (great nephew of Mallory) and the other by mountaineer Mick Conefrey – which is reviewed this week in The Spectator. Tom and Mick joined the podcast to discuss. (17:51)



And finally: Next week marks the anniversary of the death of Spectator’s Low Life columnist Jeremy Clarke. And on Tuesday a new collection of his columns is being published: Low Life: The Final Years. The book begins with his cancer diagnosis in 2013 and goes up until his last column, published two weeks before his death last year. Regular readers will know that Jeremy’s genius was to capture the beauty and absurdity of the everyday – he chronicled it all with extraordinary frankness and brilliant wit. And so to remember Jeremy, and his peerless writing, we were joined by his widow, the artist Catriona Olding, who writes a guest Life column in this week’s magazine, and his friend Con Coughlin, defence editor at the Telegraph. (33:35)



Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.



Produced by Oscar Edmondson. 



If readers would like to buy Low Life: The Final Years, copies are available on the Spectator Shop - go to spectator.co.uk/shop.

The Edition: who will Trump pick for his running mate?

Freddy Gray talks to American columnist and commentator Guy Benson about who is in the running to be Trump's VP. Who does Trump want? But more importantly what does the Trump ticket need? 



Also: Biden/Trump debates appear to have been confirmed. Who will the debates benefit most? And how relevant are they in the digital age?



Produced by Natasha Feroze and Patrick Gibbons. 

Table Talk: Professor Charles Spence

Download our free app to listen on your phone