Coffee House Shots: the inside story of Kemi's first year

‘On the day of the local elections, when the Tories suffered a historic setback, Kemi Badenoch went to the gym and got her hair done,’ Tim Shipman reveals in the magazine this week. Aides insist that Badenoch has since ‘upped her game’. Her PMQs performances are improving and the CCHQ machine seems to have whirred into gear, making sure that Labour’s embarrassments – from Angela Rayner’s flat to the collapsed China scandal – don’t go unpunished. Is she finally turning the ship around after a year in the job? Michael Gove and Tim Shipman discuss. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Big Tech is under the spell of the occult, according to Damian Thompson. Artificial intelligence is now so incredible that even educated westerners are falling back on the occult, and Silicon Valley billionaires are becoming obsessed with heaven and hell. An embrace of the occult is not just happening in California but across the world – with ‘WitchTok’, a new trend of middle-class women embracing witchcraft. Is this spooky or just sad? And to what extent are they just following in the tradition of the Victorian charlatan?Host Lara Prendergast is joined by the Spectator’s associate editor – and host of the Holy Smoke podcast – Damian Thompson, alongside writers and Spectator regulators Arabella Byrne and Mark Mason.As well as the cover, they discuss: the fascinating world of the London tube network – despite the misery of the northern line; the problems facing Kemi Badenoch, the allure of Reform UK and why Trump seems to recover from every scandal; whether languages should be saved; and they celebrate cartoonist Michael Heath, who is turning 90 – meaning he has drawn for the Spectator for 75 years.Plus: what does Mark think Cliff Richard and Jeffrey Archer have in common with Donald Trump?Produced by Patrick Gibbons.The Spectator is trialling new formats for this podcast, and we would very much welcome feedback via this email address: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nat Jansz joins Sam Leith to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Moomin novels. The first of these, Comet in Moominland, was revised by author Tove Jansson a decade after the original publication date. To celebrate the anniversary Sort of Books, co-run by Jansz, is publishing this revised edition for the first time in English.Jansz discusses why she finds the books so compelling, the influence of the war on author Jansson and why she feels Jansson’s ‘quest for the truth’ was written in a way that was easy for children to understand. For Jansz, the Moomin novels had a mix of light and dark which broke the mould of previous children’s literature which was often prefaced with something traumatic. Plus – are there glimpses of the secret loves of the author hidden within the books?Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listeners on the Best of Spectator playlist can enjoy a section of the latest episode of Quite right! but for the full thing please seek out the Quite right! channel. Just search ‘Quite right!’ wherever you are listening now.This week on Quite right!: the great Home Office meltdown. After a week of fiascos – from the accidental release of a convicted migrant to the collapse of the grooming gangs inquiry – Michael and Maddie ask: is the Home Office now beyond repair? Why is Britain’s most important department also its most dysfunctional? And what does it say about a civil service more obsessed with ‘listening circles’ and ‘wellbeing surveys’ than actually running the country?Then to Westminster, where Jess Phillips faces fury over the grooming gangs inquiry. Are ministers diluting the investigation to avoid awkward truths about race and culture? Michael argues that empathy is no substitute for justice – and that Labour still can’t bring itself to confront the problem honestly.Next, Maddie shares an extraordinary personal story of her mother’s nightmare tenant – thirty dogs, tens of thousands in damages, and zero help from the state – as she and Michael debate whether Britain’s social contract is breaking down, and if new housing laws will only make things worse.Finally, the big news of the week: Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau’s hard-launch romance. But what do Justin Trudeau’s sartorial choices say about the state of politics and pop? And who would be their British equivalent?Produced by Oscar Edmondson.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Piers Morgan sits down with Andrew Doyle in Glasgow to discuss Piers’s provocative new book, Woke Is Dead, and share their unfiltered views on the state of the world today. Rather than celebrating the death of woke, Piers’s book advocates for the return of common sense and a less divided, more sensible society. Piers Morgan: Woke Is Dead with Andrew Doyle will explore why Piers believes woke culture is on its way out, what a return to common sense might look like, and how the cultural tide is shifting across politics, the media and everyday life.This is part of the Spectator's Speaker Series. For more events, go to spectator.co.uk/events and for the full interview with Piers, go to spectator.co.uk/tv Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Max Jeffery examines Britain’s new hard left alliance; Sam Leith wonders what Prince Andrew is playing; Michael Henderson reads his letter from Berlin; Madeline Grant analyses the demise of the American ‘wasp’ – or White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant; and, Julie Bindel ponders the disturbing allure of sex robots. Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did faith shape Margaret Thatcher’s politics? To mark the centenary month of Margaret Thatcher’s birth, Damian Thompson introduces a conversation between the Spectator’s Natasha Feroze, Thatcher’s biographer Lord Moore and Bishop Chartres who delivered the eulogy at her funeral.They discuss her relationship with faith, how both her family background and her training as a scientist influenced her beliefs and her understanding of the relationship between wealth and society based on Jesus’s parables. Plus – what would Thatcher have made of the much talked about ‘Christian revival’ in the West?Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Natasha Feroze. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a Gaza ceasefire deal, President Trump's attention has turned to ending the war in Ukraine. A meeting with Putin was suggested, before coming to nothing. Owen Matthews joins Freddy Gray to talk about the fundamental differences between Trump and Putin, the limits on Ukraine's President Zelensky when it comes to negotiation and why the global west keeps misunderstanding Russia time and time again.Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Megan McElroy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘The Ultras’ are the subject of The Spectator’s cover story this week – this is the new Islamo-socialist alliance that has appeared on the left of British politics. Several independent MPs, elected amidst outrage over the war in Gaza, have gone on to back the new party created by former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. The grouping has got off to a rocky start but – as Angus Colwell and Max Jeffery write – there are expectations that they could pick up dozens of seats across the country. Can the hard-left coalition hold?Host Lara Prendergast is joined by the Spectator’s deputy political editor James Heale, commissioning editor Lara Brown and Angus Colwell – who also writes the Spectator’s new morning newsletter Spectator Daily.As well as the cover, they discuss: the intellectual forces behind Reform UK; whether Piers Morgan is right that ‘woke is dead’; why the American ‘Wasp’ aesthetic was once so appealing; and are sex robots a fun consequence of capitalism – or a symptom of a lonely society.Produced by Patrick Gibbons.The Spectator is trialling new formats for this podcast, and we would very much welcome feedback via this email address: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Reality Check, The Spectator’s new data-driven show hosted by economics editor Michael Simmons, kicks off with a big name: Arthur Laffer. The man who taught Reagan to cut taxes tells Michael why Britain’s economy is 'disappearing', why the Bank of England shouldn’t exist, and why he still believes low taxes – and a little optimism – can send Britain 'to the moon and the stars.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.