The Edition: Chinese spies, Vance’s rise & is French parenting supreme?

‘Here be dragons’ declares the Spectator’s cover story this week, as it looks at the continuing fallout over the collapse of the trial of two political aides accused of spying for China in Westminster. Tim Shipman reveals that – under the last Conservative government – a data hub was sold to the Chinese that included highly classified information; one source describes this to him as a ‘stratospheric clusterfuck’. Why do successive governments seem to struggle with UK-China relations? And, with many unanswered questions still remaining, what’s the truth over this case?  Host Lara Prendergast is joined by the Spectator’s political editor Tim Shipman, arts editor Igor Toronyi-Lalic and deputy editor Freddy Gray.  As well as the cover, they discuss: how J.D. Vance appears unstoppable in the (silent) race to be the next Republican nominee for president; whether French, or British, parenting is better; and why the art of costume design, like so many crafts, is in decline.  Plus: is Sheridan Westlake, the most important Tory you’ve never heard of, really the ‘cockroach of Westminster’? 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.

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! Michael and Maddie turn their sights to Westminster’s latest espionage scandal – and the collapse of the case to prosecute two men accused of spying for China. Was the case dropped out of incompetence, or out of fear of offending Beijing? As Michael puts it, ‘Either we’re not being told the truth, or this is a government of staggering incompetence.’They also unpick the growing row over Jonathan Powell, Keir Starmer’s National Security Adviser, and his alleged role in shelving the case. What does his re-emergence, along with Peter Mandelson and other ‘Sith Lords of Blairism’, tell us about the return of New Labour’s old moral compromises?Elsewhere, Donald Trump’s surprise Gaza peace deal has upended diplomatic expectations and ushered in a new style of negotiation – the ‘Manhattan real estate’ approach – which has succeeded where the UN’s moralising failed. Is it Trump’s world and we’re all living in it?Finally: The Traitors. Maddie confesses she’s never watched an episode, but would Michael be a traitor or a faithful? What does the show reveal about the darker truths of human nature? And which politicians would make the perfect traitors? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The announcement by Erika Kirk – the widow of assassinated political activist Charlie Kirk – that she forgave her husband's killer, has led many to question the nature of Christian forgiveness. Granting forgiveness can seem hard for the smallest of crimes, let alone the murder of a close family member, so how can other people follow Erika's example? One person who sadly knows better than most is Professor Everett Worthington. Prof. Worthington is Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University and a clinical psychologist who has studied forgiveness throughout his career. However, it isn't just through academia that he understands forgiveness; when his mother was murdered, he also made the decision to forgive his mother's killer.Prof. Worthington joins Damian Thompson on this episode of Holy Smoke to discuss the 'injustice gap' between forgiveness and remorse, the theoretical distinction he makes between behaviourial intentions and emotional forgiveness, and the events of his mother's murder – and how he came to forgive such an horrific crime.Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump has launched a new ‘war on drugs’ – this time targeting Mexico’s cartels. Ben Domenech joins Freddy Gray to explain why MAGA has embraced the fight, what it means for US–Mexico relations, and how it could shape Trump’s foreign policy in his second term. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From wartime leadership to economic revolutions, Conservative figures have shaped Britain’s past and present. But who stands out as the greatest of them all? In this conversation, recorded live at Conservative Party Conference: Katie Lam makes the case for William Pitt the Younger, Camilla Tominay nominates Margaret Thatcher, William Atkinson points out the number of young Tories who now idolise Enoch Powell, and Neil O’Brien explains why all conservatives should know about Jerzy Popieluszko. Who wins? You decide. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Tim Shipman says that the real war for the right is yet to come; Ian Williams examines the farce over the collapses China espionage case; Theo Hobson argues that the Church of England is muddled over sex and marriage; Lara Prendergast reads her letter from America; and, Lisa Haseldine goes on manoeuvres with the German army, the Bundeswehr. Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recorded live in Manchester, during the Conservative Party conference, Michael Gove sits down with Tim Shipman, Madeline Grant and Tim Montgomerie to discuss how the Tories can turn their fortunes around. Do the Tories need to show contrition for their record in government? Has the party basically been split ever since the Coalition years? And does Nigel Farage need to set a deadline for Tory to Reform defectors? Plus – from Canada to Italy – which countries do British Conservatives need to look towards for inspiration?Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Spectator’s cover story this week looks at ‘the fear’ gripping Jewish people amidst rising antisemitism. Reflecting on last week’s attack in Manchester, Douglas Murray says that ‘no-one in the Jewish community was surprised’ – a damning inditement on Britain today. How do we tackle religious intolerance? And is there room for nuance in the debate about Israel and Palestine? Host Lara Prendergast is joined by the Spectator’s US editor Freddy Gray, associate editor – and host of our religious affairs podcast Holy Smoke – Damian Thompson and commissioning editor Mary Wakefield. As well as the cover, they discuss: how biological innovations are threatening motherhood; the views of the new – and first female – Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally; and how New York has ended up with (almost certainly) an incoming socialist mayor in Zohran Mamdani.Plus: the panel mourn the novelist Jilly Cooper, and Damian reveals how he ended up with a driving conviction – despite having never passed his driving test.Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson.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.

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is Ben Schott. The author of the world- (or downstairs-loo-) conquering Schott’s Original Miscellany returns with Schott’s Significa, a deeply reported and constantly surprising book in which he uses the private languages of various communities – from gondoliers to graffiti writers and from Swifties to sommeliers – as a way of understanding their worlds. Ben tells me about how the project came together, how he was inspired by the folklorists Iona and Peter Opie pinning the butterfly of playground games – and why doing the shoe-leather reporting yields results that you could never get from Google or ChatGPT. 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, Michael and Maddie record Quite right! in front of a live audience at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester – with attendance down, the big question is whether Kemi Badenoch can survive as leader of the opposition. There is the unmistakable air of fatalism among MPs staring down electoral annihilation – but would another change in leadership cement the Tories as pathologically regicidal?They also debate Badenoch’s bold pledge to bar candidates who won’t back leaving the European Convention on Human Rights – a ‘calculated risk’ that could redefine the party’s identity or too little too late?Then, in the wake of the horrific Manchester synagogue attack, they turn to the rise of anti-Semitism and the crisis of policing. Are Britain’s streets really being governed by ‘two-tier justice’? And what does it say about public order – and public confidence – that Jewish Britons are being told to stay indoors for their own safety?Finally, they dissect the Church of England’s choice of Sarah Mullally as the new Archbishop of Canterbury. Is she an inspired appointment, or proof that the Church has become, as Michael puts it, ‘another bureaucratic manifestation of generalised niceness’?Produced by Oscar Edmondson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.