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Best of the Spectator
Quite right!: is Labour 'racist' too?
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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 report from the Labour party conference in Liverpool and unpick Keir Starmer’s big speech. Was his attempt to reclaim patriotism for Labour a genuine statement of values – or a clumsy exercise in stereotypes about steelworkers, chip shops and football nostalgia? And why does Labour’s attack line on Nigel Farage risk sounding like political ‘nuclear warfare’ that could backfire outside the conference hall? And what about the Tories? With Labour bringing the fight to the Reform party, where does this leave Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives ahead of their conference later this week?
They then turn to Donald Trump’s extraordinary new Middle East peace initiative. With Benjamin Netanyahu on board and Tony Blair drafted into the proposed ‘peace board’, is this a serious diplomatic breakthrough or a surreal ‘fever dream’ that only Trump could cook up?
Next, another peace proposal doomed to fail: Emma Watson’s attempt to reconcile with J.K. Rowling after years of public estrangement. Was Watson’s olive branch an act of goodwill or a late recognition that the cultural tide has turned? And why did Rowling’s sharp response strike such a chord with women who felt abandoned during the height of the trans debate?
Produced by Oscar Edmondson, Oscar Bicket and Matt Miszczak.
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The Book Club: How To Play A Game Without Rules
35:51|My guest in this week’s Book Club is Joanna Kavenna, who talks about her witty, philosophically riddling new novel Seven: Or, How To Play A Game Without Rules. She tells me about taking her bearings from Italo Calvino, making up a board game and then being the world’s worst player at it, how AI challenges our sense of ourselves – and how Morten Harket found his way into her fiction.
Quite right!: why Nadhim Zahawi (and Reform) are making a mistake
22:03|For the full episode, search 'Quite right!' wherever you are listening now. This week on Quite right!, Michael and Maddie examine Nadhim Zahawi’s dramatic defection to Reform UK and ask whether it strengthens the party’s insurgent credentials or exposes a deeper strategic mistake. Is Reform becoming a genuine outsider movement, or simply a refuge for disaffected Tories? And what does the pattern of Boris-era defections reveal about credibility, competence and the challenge of turning populist energy into a governing force?Then, Iran: mass protests against the regime have erupted onto the streets of Tehran and beyond. Are these demonstrations the prelude to real regime change – or another brutal crackdown waiting to happen? And what role should the West, and the United States in particular, play as the situation escalates?And finally: as MPs call for X to be banned in the UK over the conduct of Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok, Michael and Maddie ask whether this is a necessary intervention to protect the vulnerable – or another bout of performative pearl-clutching that misses the far bigger risks posed by artificial intelligence.Produced by Oscar Edmondson.To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.co.uk/quiteright.
Americano: does America really need Venezuela's oil?
34:39|Freddy Gray is joined by Robert Bryce, energy expert and author of Robert Bryce’s Substack, to discuss what America’s strike on Venezuela has to do with energy and oil. They examine the strategic importance of heavy crude, the role of China and Russia in the Western Hemisphere, and why electricity grids – not democracy – may be the real battlefield.
Spectator Out Loud: Justin Marozzi, Lisa Haseldine, William Atkinson & Toby Young
31:57|On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Justin Marozzi analyses what Trump’s coup in Venezuela means for Iran; Lisa Haseldine asks why Britain isn’t expanding its military capabilities, as European allies do so; William Atkinson argues that the MET’s attack on freemasonry is unjustified; and, Toby Young explains why the chickenpox vaccine is a positive health measure.Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.
Americano: is Trump going for Iran next?
23:45|Donald Trump’s stunning attack on Venezuela has the world wondering what his next move might be. What does it mean for Iran, Russia, and the future of the global order? Freddy Gray is joined by Owen Matthews and Paul Wood to discuss.
Coffee House Shots: mums for Reform?
14:20|Britain’s mums are backing Nigel Farage. One in five Mumsnet users intend to vote for Reform at the next general election, the first time a party other than Labour has topped its poll. Having been more negative towards Farage and the right in the past, why are its politically engaged users changing their minds? Are they swayed by issues like single-sex spaces, or does it reflect a wider collapse of confidence in the establishment?James Heale speaks to Tim Shipman and Sonia Sodha.Produced by Megan McElroy.
The Edition: Stormy seas, Trump’s revolution & Gen Z’s sex recession
41:08|Can Farage plot a route to Number 10, asks Tim Shipman in our cover article this week. He might be flanked by heavyweights – such as his head of policy Zia Yusuf and Conservative Party defector Danny Kruger MP – but he will need a lot more people to pull off his biggest upset for British politics yet. Where will they come from? And what’s the balance he needs to strike between being radical enough to win power but also without alienating significant chunks of the electorate?Plus, as former UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson breaks his silence – in this week's Spectator – to argue that Europe needs to adapt to a new reality, Freddy Gray ponders what Trump’s ‘Donroe Doctrine’ is actually all about. Immigration? Drugs? Oil? Or just plain chaos? For this week’s Edition, host William Moore is joined by political editor Tim Shipman, deputy editor and editor of our US edition Freddy Gray and columnist Mary Wakefield. As well as domestic and foreign politics, they examine Generation Z’s attitude towards sex – or rather their lack of it. Are politics and porn making them too anxious? Is this another example of the cultural ‘boring twenties’ young people are living through? And how will each of the guests approach the sex education of their own children?Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
Americano: which Latin American narco-state will Trump topple next?
24:34|Freddy Gray is joined by Joshua Trevino, Chief Transformation Officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Senior Director of the Western Hemisphere Initiative at the America First Policy Institute. They discuss the complex history of so-called 'narco-states' and how they came to dominate vast parts of Latin America. Trump’s assault on Venezuela may prove to be the first of several military operations – which states could come next? And how significant has Marco Rubio been in shaping this policy priority?
Quite right!: what Britain can learn from America's 'audacity' in Venezuela
26:58|For the full episode, search 'Quite right!' wherever you are listening now. This week: Michael and Maddie dissect Donald Trump’s audacious raid on Venezuela and ask what it reveals about power, national interest and the unravelling of the rules-based order. Was America acting like a rogue state – or simply doing what states do when their interests are at stake? And could Britain learn a thing or two from how they conduct their foreign policy, specifically with regard to the Chagos Islands?Then, closer to home, they unpack the scandal surrounding West Midlands Police and the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. Who really made the call – and what does it tell us about two-tier policing and the erosion of equal justice?And finally: are weight-loss jabs like Ozempic and Wegovy quietly reshaping society – and what will happen when the prices drop later this year?Produced by Oscar Edmondson.To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.co.uk/quiteright