The Edition

By: The Spectator
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  • Summary

  • The Spectator's flagship podcast featuring discussions and debates on the best features from the week's edition. Presented by Lara Prendergast and William Moore.
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Politics & Government Social Sciences
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Episodes
  • Scuzz Nation, the death of English literature & are you a bad house guest?

    Scuzz Nation, the death of English literature & are you a bad house guest?
    May 8 2025
    Scuzz Nation: Britain’s slow and grubby decline

    If you want to understand why voters flocked to Reform last week, Gus Carter says, look no further than Goat Man. In one ward in Runcorn, ‘residents found that no one would listen when a neighbour filled his derelict house with goats and burned the animals’ manure in his garden’. This embodies Scuzz Nation – a ‘grubbier and more unpleasant’ Britain, ‘where decay happens faster than repair, where crime largely goes unpunished, and where the social fabric has been slashed, graffitied and left by the side of the road’.

    On the podcast, Gus speaks to Dr Lawrence Newport, founder of Crush Crime, to diagnose the issues facing Britain – and offer some solutions to stop the rot. (01:28)

    Next: is it demeaning to study Dickens?

    In the magazine this week, Philip Hensher reviews ‘Literature and Learning: A History of English Studies in Britain’ by Stefan Collini. Philip’s main gripe is that the history stops short of charting the threats posed to the study of English literature in the past fifty years. Accessible, ‘relevant’ short stories are increasingly replacing the classics, as the monuments of Victorian literature defeat today’s undergraduates.

    So can English literature still teach us how to read deeply in an age of diminishing attention spans? Philip joins the podcast alongside Orlando Reade, author and assistant professor at Northeastern University London, where he teaches English and creative writing. (17:47)

    And finally: are you a bad house guest?

    In the magazine, Christa D’Souza bemoans terrible house guests. Set against the idyllic backdrop of her home in the Greek Cyclades, she gives an account of the trials and absurdities of hosting – from towel-hoarding Americans to the toddler-like breakfast habits of many grown adults.

    She joins the podcast alongside our very own agony aunt, Mary Killen, to discuss further – and hopefully offer some advice on how better to deal with rude house guests. (29:04)

    Hosted by Lara Prendergast and Gus Carter.

    Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
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    41 mins
  • Chambers of horrors, the ‘Dubai-ification’ of London & the enduring obsession with Diana

    Chambers of horrors, the ‘Dubai-ification’ of London & the enduring obsession with Diana
    May 1 2025
    This week: the left-wing radicalism of Garden Court

    Garden Court Chambers has a ‘reassuringly traditional’ facade befitting the historic Lincoln’s Inn Fields in the heart of London’s legal district. Yet, writes Ross Clark in the cover article this week, ‘the facade is just that. For behind the pedimented Georgian windows there operates the most radically effective cell of left-wing activists in Britain’.

    Ross argues that cases taken on by Garden Court lawyers raise questions of impartiality. Is this just another example of ‘law’s expanding empire’ over the domain of elected politicians, as former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption has warned?

    The Spectator’s editor, and former Justice Secretary, Michael Gove joined the podcast to discuss. (1:16)

    Next: cultural desert

    ‘From its gloopy green-filled chocolate to its soulless towers, Dubai is exerting a cultural influence over our capital’ writes Angus Colwell in the magazine this week. More and more young people might be moving to the city, but its influence is being exported back.

    With around 250,000 Brits living in the Middle Eastern Emirate, why is Dubai so popular? Angus worries that we may lose some of the ‘pleasingly chaotic’ aesthetic of London to Dubai’s ‘artificial construction’. Angus joined the podcast alongside the writer Louise Perry. (13:43)

    And finally: the enduring obsession with Princess Diana

    Almost 30 years on from her death, why has a fascination with Princess Diana endured? Philip Hensher reviews Dianaworld: An Obsession, by Edward White, in the magazine this week which explores the effect that Diana had – and still has – on people around the world. Why did people feel such a connection to the late Princess of Wales?

    Philip joined the podcast alongside royal commentator Angela Levin. Philip explains that a ‘passive victimhood’ has crept into society since Diana’s death while, for Angela, the public felt they ‘owned’ the Princess. (22:32)

    Presented by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.

    Produced by Patrick Gibbons.
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    37 mins
  • See change, A.I. ghouls & long live the long lunch!

    See change, A.I. ghouls & long live the long lunch!
    Apr 24 2025
    This week: the many crises awaiting the next pope

    ‘Francis was a charismatic pope loved by most of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics’ writes Damian Thompson in the cover article this week. But few of them ‘grasp the scale of the crisis in the Church… The next Vicar of Christ, liberal or conservative’ faces ‘challenges that dwarf those that confronted any incoming pope in living memory’.

    Ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral this weekend, Damian joined the podcast alongside the Catholic theologian Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith to unpack all the political intrigue underpinning the upcoming papal conclave. They say that he who enters the conclave as a pope, leaves as a cardinal – do we have any clues to who could emerge as Francis’s successor? (1:01)

    Next: the ghastliness of AI ghouls

    The late Lily Parr – a chain-smoking, 6ft, Lancastrian, lesbian pre-war footballer – has been resurrected via an AI avatar. All fun and games at first glance but, as Mary Wakefield writes in the magazine this week, what the AI’s creators have summoned is ‘a ghoul, a flimsy echo of Parr, infused with the spirit of Gen Z’, lacking the original’s character. Aside from the obvious issues, is this ethical, or even legal?

    Mary worries that overworked and underpaid teachers could soon deploy AI to summon the spirit of Churchill or Shakespeare. How concerned should we be about AI creep? Mary joined the podcast to discuss. We thought who better to ask about AI than AI itself so ChatGPT’s latest AI model joined Mary to answer a few questions… (19:09)

    And finally: long live long lunch!

    Kenton Allen writes in defence of the traditional business lunch in the magazine this week. And it should be two hours at a minimum. This isn’t a ‘long’ lunch, he says, but a ‘proper’ lunch. What does the decline of the work lunch tell us about society today? Kenton joined the podcast alongside the Spectator’s restaurant critic Tanya Gold. They say there was a serious purpose to a long lunch, something being lost today by the modern workforce. Plus, they share their restaurant tips for the best long lunch. (27:46)

    Presented by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.

    Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson.
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    38 mins
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