Best Leon Benjamin Podcasts (2026)

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The Left Side of History with Tony of 1Dime 2:13:10

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18m ago2:13:10

2:13:10

Thanks for listening! Thanks even more for liking, sharing, and commenting—whether it be something thoughtful or just for the algorithm. It definitely makes a difference. Become a member of Theory Underground here: https://theoryunderground.com/subscribe Tier 1 and higher get access to the courses and seminars going monthly throughout 2026: Intro t…

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Philosophy of Religion vs. Marxism and Evangelicalism | Ft. Dr. Samuel Loncar 1:40:00

15m ago1:40:00

1:40:00

Thanks for listening! Thanks even more for liking, sharing, and commenting—whether it be something thoughtful or just for the algorithm. It definitely makes a difference. Become a member of Theory Underground here: https://theoryunderground.com/subscribe Tier 1 and higher get access to the courses and seminars going monthly throughout 2026: Intro t…

1
Reclaim Writing as a Transformative Activity 44:33

12h ago44:33

44:33

A New Approach to Writing: From Neitzsche, Marx, and Heidegger through Bourdieu to Me and You. Thanks for listening! Thanks even more for liking, sharing, and commenting—whether it be something thoughtful or just for the algorithm. It definitely makes a difference. Become a member of Theory Underground here: https://theoryunderground.com/subscribe …

1
Stewardship and Critique 2:17:43

33m ago2:17:43

2:17:43

Thanks for listening! Thanks even more for liking, sharing, and commenting—whether it be something thoughtful or just for the algorithm. It definitely makes a difference. Become a member of Theory Underground here: https://theoryunderground.com/subscribe Tier 1 and higher get access to the courses and seminars going monthly throughout 2026: Intro t…

1
The Left as The Shocktroops of Capital with Tony of 1Dime 50:39

3h ago50:39

50:39

Thanks for listening! Thanks even more for liking, sharing, and commenting—whether it be something thoughtful or just for the algorithm. It definitely makes a difference. Become a member of Theory Underground here: https://theoryunderground.com/subscribe Tier 1 and higher get access to the courses and seminars going monthly throughout 2026: Intro t…

1
C. Thi Nguyen: How To Stop Playing Someone Else’s Game 44:37

6d ago44:37

44:37

In this week’s Book Club podcast, my guest is the philosophy professor C. Thi Nguyen, whose new book The Score: How To Stop Playing Someone Else’s Game asks why rules and scores and metrics are so liberating in games, yet so deadening in real life. He tells me about the societal perils of our growing dependence on quantitative information, what Ari…

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Right Ownership - The Philosophy of Stewardship - Free Side 50:11

1h ago50:11

50:11

Thanks for listening! Thanks even more for liking, sharing, and commenting—whether it be something thoughtful or just for the algorithm. It definitely makes a difference. Become a member of Theory Underground here: https://theoryunderground.com/subscribe Tier 1 and higher get access to the courses and seminars going monthly throughout 2026: Intro t…

1
Books of the Year | Sam Leith & Philip Hensher 34:54

13d ago34:54

34:54

Sam Leith is joined by Philip Hensher to pick over their books of the year. Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more. For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts Contact us: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa…

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Consumerism, Natality, and Time in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol 38:02

15d ago38:02

38:02

Read it for yourself here https://theoryunderground.substack.com/p/consumerism-natality-and-time-in and don't forget to give it some love! Become a member of Theory Underground here: https://theoryunderground.com/subscribe Tier 1 and higher get access to the courses and seminars going monthly throughout 2026: Intro to Theory by David McKerracher, T…

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Post Duopoly (not "Post Left") 2:09:35

15d ago2:09:35

2:09:35

Thanks for watching! Thanks even more for liking, sharing, and commenting—whether it be something thoughtful or just for the algorithm. It definitely makes a difference. Become a member of Theory Underground here: https://theoryunderground.com/subscribe Tier 1 and higher get access to the courses and seminars going monthly throughout 2026: Intro to…

1
Speaker series: Bernard Cornwell – Sharpe's Storm 1:04:09

28d ago1:04:09

1:04:09

The Spectator’s associate editor Toby Young sits down with master storyteller Bernard Cornwell, author of more than 50 international bestselling novels, including The Last Kingdom and much-loved Sharpe series. They delve into Cornwell’s life and career, discuss the real history behind his riveting tales of war and heroism and explore the enduring a…

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What happened? 52:08

22d ago52:08

52:08

and where it's going! After no new episodes for 10 months... Dave's back, by himself, to speak to the podcast audience and share about what has happened and where things are going. https://theoryunderground.com/subscribeBy theory underground

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Jonathan C. Slaght: The Journey to Save the Siberian Tiger from Extinction 49:24

1M ago49:24

49:24

My guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is Jonathan C. Slaght, whose new book is Tigers Between Empires: The Journey to Save the Siberian Tiger from Extinction. He tells me about these remarkable animals, the remarkable people who studied them, and how their fates have been entwined with the shifting politics of post-Soviet Russia. Become a Spect…

1
James Geary: A Brief History of the Aphorism 43:29

1M ago43:29

43:29

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is James Geary, talking about the new edition of his classic The World in a Phrase: A Brief History of the Aphorism. He tells me about what separates an aphorism from a proverb, a maxim or a quip; about the long history of the form and his own lifelong infatuation with it; and about whether – given our dwin…

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Leon Craig: The Decadence 29:39

2M ago29:39

29:39

On this week’s Book Club podcast I’m joined by debut author Leon Craig to talk about her novel The Decadence – a story of millennial debauchery in a haunted house which uses a knowing patchwork of literary influences from Boccaccio and Shirley Jackson to Martin Amis and Mark Z. Danielewski to make an old form fresh. She discusses how and why it too…

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Benjamin Myers: Jesus Christ Kinski 36:11

2M ago36:11

36:11

Ben Myers joins Sam Leith to discuss his book Jesus Christ Kinski, which he describes as a ‘novel about a film about a performance about Jesus’. Klaus Kinski was one of Germany’s biggest actors of the 20th Century – but he was also one of the most controversial, and Ben questions if he was one of the worst people to have ever lived. In this novel, …

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Wikipedia founder on his 'friend' Elon Musk & finding truth online 33:54

2M ago33:54

33:54

Sam Leith’s guest this week is Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia and author of The Seven Rules of Trust. They discuss why trust is such an important value for public debate, and how it can address polarisation in society. Jimmy addresses the challenge Elon Musk has posed to Wikipedia after the entrepreneur branded the site as ‘woke’, despite th…

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Graham Robb: The Discovery of Britain 39:43

2M ago39:43

39:43

Sam Leith's guest this week is Graham Robb. In his new book The Discovery of Britain: An Accidental History, Graham takes us on a time-travelling bicycle tour of the island's history. They discuss how Graham weaves together personal memories with geography and history, his 'major cartographic scoop' which unlocks Iron Age Britain and contemporary d…

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Nat Jansz: Comet in Moominland turns 80 37:45

3M ago37:45

37:45

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…

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Peter James: Jack Higgins's The Eagle Has Landed 39:32

3M ago39:32

39:32

Sam Leith's guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the crime writer Peter James. Peter has contributed the introduction to a new edition of the classic thriller The Eagle Has Landed, which is 50 years old this month. He tells Sam what it was that made Jack Higgins's novel so groundbreaking, about what it takes to make you root for the bad guys, …

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Luke Kemp: The History and Future of Societal Collapse 48:33

3M ago48:33

48:33

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is Luke Kemp. In his new book Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse, Luke seeks lessons from prehistory to understand how societies grow and flourish, what kills them, and where we are now. He tells me what Hobbes got wrong, why ‘civilisation’ isn’t always the boon we have been taught…

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Ben Schott: An Unexpectedly Essential Guide to Language 38:20

3M ago38:20

38:20

his 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…

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Speaker series: Jeffrey Archer – End Game 50:41

3M ago50:41

50:41

Michael Gove speaks to Jeffrey Archer about his life, career and his new novel End Game, which marks the gripping finale of the William Warwick series. This discussion was part of the Spectator's speaker series. To see more on our upcoming events – including with Charles Moore and with Bernard Cornwell – go to events.spectator.co.uk Become a Specta…

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Philippa Gregory: Boleyn Traitor 39:17

3M ago39:17

39:17

Sam Leith's guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the historical novelist Philippa Gregory. In her gripping new book Boleyn Traitor, Philippa seeks to rescue Jane Boleyn from the vast condescension of history. She tells Sam how fiction allows her to make plausible speculations about the gaps in the record, how she works to make the Tudors speak…

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Sudhir Hazareesingh: Daring to be Free 43:15

4M ago43:15

43:15

Sam's guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is the historian Sudhir Hazareesingh, whose new book Daring to Be Free: Rebellion and Resistance of the Enslaved in the Atlantic World reframes the story of Atlantic slavery. He explains why the familiar tale of enlightened Europeans bringing about abolition leaves out the most important voices of all – …

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Roger Lewis: The Life and Death of Peter Sellers 37:31

4M ago37:31

37:31

Sam Leith's guest in this week's Book Club podcast is Roger Lewis, whose book The Life and Death of Peter Sellers has been republished to mark 100 years since the comedian's birth. Roger tells Sam about the difference between Sellers's public persona and private life, plus his influence on comedy today. They also discuss how Roger reinvented the wa…

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Andrew Bayliss: Sparta – The Rise and Fall of An Ancient Superpower 42:38

4M ago42:38

42:38

Sam Leith’s guest in this week's Book Club podcast is Andrew Bayliss, author of Sparta: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Superpower. Andrew tells Sam what we know — and don't know – about these much-mythologised figures from the Ancient world and tells the story of how a tiny city-state punched above its weight, until it didn't. This is Sparta. Prod…

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Lea Ypi: Indignity 47:50

4M ago47:50

47:50

My guest in this week's Book Club podcast is the Albanian-born political philosopher Lea Ypi, whose new book Indignity: A Life Reimagined reconstructs the story of her grandmother's early life amid the turbulence of the early and mid twentieth century. She talks to me about using the techniques of fiction to supply the gaps in the archive, about Al…

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Brideshead Revisited, 80 years on: from the archives 42:29

5M ago42:29

42:29

This week's Book Club podcast marks the 80th anniversary this year of the publication of Brideshead Revisited. This conversation is from the archives, originally recorded in 2020 to mark its 75th anniversary. To discuss Evelyn Waugh's great novel, Sam Leith is joined by literary critic and author Philip Hensher, and by the novelist's grandson (and …

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Max Hastings: Sword – D-Day, Trial by Battle 31:54

5M ago31:54

31:54

Sam Leith's guest for this week's Book Club podcast is Max Hastings. Max joined Sam earlier this year for a live recording to discuss his new book Sword: D-Day, trial by battle, which tells the story of the individual stories who risked their lives as part of Operation Overlord. The discussion was arranged to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day. On …

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Joanna Pocock: Greyhound 35:23

5M ago35:23

35:23

Sam Leith's guest for this week's Book Club podcast is Joanna Pocock, whose new book Greyhound describes two trips she took across America by Greyhound bus in 2006 and 2023. They talk about the literature of the road, that distinctively American and usually distinctively male genre, and the meaning of travel – and Joanna tells Sam how the America y…

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#85 Calum MacLeod – Welcome to the Team 43:44

5M ago43:44

43:44

Calum is the newest addition to the coaching team at The Training Room! From an early age, Calum had a passion for sports, carrying this throughout his academic and professional career. With a background in strength and conditioning, a BSc in Sport & Exercise Science, MSc in S&C and being a UKSCA Accredited S&C Trainer, Calum ties his knowledge, ex…

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Nicola Barker: TonyInterruptor 26:34

5M ago26:34

26:34

Sam Leith's guest on this week's Book Club podcast is Nicola Barker, talking about her new book TonyInterruptor -- about how a man who interrupts a free jazz concert becomes a viral sensation on social media. Nicola tells Sam why some of her books are bouts of the flu and some are sneezes, how hard she works on her apparently spontaneous prose, why…

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#84 Pramod Kumar – Mt. Everest 49:39

6M ago49:39

49:39

Pramod took on a massive feat in May, and shares what it was like climbing Mt. Everest in Nepal! Pramod shares his experience, giving us insight into what it was like to prepare himself, be away for over a month and both sides to what it was like climbing Mt. Everest! Episode 84 of the PTC Podcast with Pramod is now live! To listen to the full stor…

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Gary Shteyngart: Vera, or Faith 34:38

6M ago34:38

34:38

Sam Leith is joined for this week's Book Club podcast by Gary Shteyngart — whose new novel Vera, or Faith is set in a near-future America whose politics seems to be less science-fictional by the day. It tells the unexpectedly tender story of a bright but lonely ten-year-old girl contending with her parents' failing marriage and navigating the begin…

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Frances Wilson: Electric Spark – The Enigma of Muriel Spark 44:01

6M ago44:01

44:01

My guest in this week's Book Club podcast is the biographer Frances Wilson, whose new book Electric Spark: The Enigma of Muriel Spark was recently lauded in these pages as "mesmerising" and "a revolutionary book". She tells me how she immersed herself in the spooky life and peerless art of the great novelist, and why a conventional biographical tre…

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Irvine Welsh: Men In Love – Trainspotting Sequel 34:18

6M ago34:18

34:18

My guest this week is Irvine Welsh – who, three decades after his era-defining hit Trainspotting, returns with a direct sequel, Men In Love. Irvine tells me what Sick Boy, Renton, Spud and Begbie mean to him, why his new book hopes to encourage a new generation to discover Romantic verse and shagging, and why MDMA deserves more credit for the Good …

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M. John Harrison: The Course of the Heart 34:30

6M ago34:30

34:30

My guest this week is the writer M. John Harrison, who joins me to talk about the rerelease of his 1992 novel The Course of the Heart – a deeply strange and riddling story of grief, friendship, memory and occult magic. We talk about why this book is so personal to him, what he learned from Charles Williams and Arthur Machen, turning his back on sci…

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Karin Slaughter: We Are All Guilty Here 35:43

7M ago35:43

35:43

Sam Leith's guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is one of the most popular living thriller writers. Karin Slaughter has made her native Georgia her fictional territory, and she joins Sam as she launches a new series set in a whole new county, with the book We Are All Guilty Here. They talk 'planning versus pantsing', what it means to write viole…

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Black Sabbath w/ Matt Gray 2:00:53

7M ago2:00:53

2:00:53

The Skippables are taking a break! But before we go on vacation we had to have our generals gathered in their masses by having Matt Gray back on to talk about Black Sabbath - the Ozzy years. Will this discography take them to Heaven or Hell? The must Master their Reality and rise above the Sabotage in order to find their most skippable song!…

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Carl Zimmer: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe 44:03

7M ago44:03

44:03

My guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is science writer Carl Zimmer, whose new book Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe explores the invisible world of the aerobiome – the trillions of microbes and particles we inhale every day. He tells me how Louis Pasteur's glacier experiments kicked off a forgotten scientific journey; how C…

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William Dalrymple: The Golden Road 49:01

7M ago49:01

49:01

My guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is the historian William Dalrymple, whose bestselling account of ancient India’s cultural and economic influence, The Golden Road, is newly out in paperback. He tells me why the ‘Silk Road’ is a myth, how Arabic numerals are really Indian – and how he responds to being Narendra Modi’s new favourite author. …

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Lucy Mangan: How Reading Shapes Our Lives 34:02

7M ago34:02

34:02

In this week’s Book Club podcast I am joined by Lucy Mangan, author of Bookish: How Reading Shapes Our Lives. She tells me what teenagers did before they had Young Adult books to read, the bizarre demise of the author of Goodnight Moon, and the wisdom of forsaking the busy world for an armchair and a good book. Become a Spectator subscriber today t…

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Andrew DeYoung (Friendship) 30:29

7M ago30:29

30:29

Andrew DeYoung is the director of the magnificent Friendship, starring Tim Robinson as a suburban dad who becomes platonically smitten with a cool new neighbor played by Paul Rudd. We talk about men's struggle to stay connected, a dark theory about one of the central relationships in the film, and something audiences have guessed at but that wasn't…

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Alice Loxton: Eighteen – A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives 37:09

7M ago37:09

37:09

My guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is the historian Alice Loxton, whose new book Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives is just out in paperback. In it, she tells the story of the early lives of individuals as disparate as the Venerable Bede and Vivienne Westwood. On the podcast, Alice tells me about Geoffrey Chaucer’s racy past, w…

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Arctic Monkeys w/ Harpinder Mann 1:41:06

7M ago1:41:06

1:41:06

Do I wanna Skip?? This week, we’re diving deep into the Arctic Monkeys' discography with special guest Harpinder Mann a yoga instructor and author with a brand new book out! Will we be asking to Snap out of it? Or will we be saying to the music: R U Mine?? Whatever happens, we WILL find their most skippable song... Buy Harpinder's book! https://www…

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Robert Macfarlane: Is a river alive? 40:41

8M ago40:41

40:41

Sam Leith's guest on this week’s Book Club podcast is Robert Macfarlane. In his new book Is A River Alive? he travels from the cloud forests of Ecuador to the pollution-choked rivers of Chennai and the threatened waterways of eastern Canada. He tells Sam what he learned along the journey – and why we need to reconceptualise our relationship with th…

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Pixies w/ Sophie Prettyman-Beauchamp 1:41:12

8M ago1:41:12

1:41:12

Hey! Been dying to skip you! This week we ride the wave of skipulation with special guest musician Sophie Prettyman-Beauchamp to dissect the discography of the Pixies. Will they be asking themselves: "Where is my Mind? or will the music send them off on Holiday? Whatever happens we WILL find their most skippable song!…

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#83 Keith O’Malley Farrell – 3 Seas 3 Summits 28:17

8M ago28:17

28:17

For the first time, here’s a run down of Keith’s 3 Seas 3 Summits adventure with the aim of cycling 3,000km across the Arabian peninsula in January 2025, from the Red Sea to, to the gulf of Oman to the Arabian gulf, while summitting the 3 highest mountains in each country, Jabal Soudah 3,015m in Saudi Arabia, Jebel Shams 3,028m in Oman, Jebel Jais …

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Geoff Dyer – the Proust of prog rock and Airfix 38:35

8M ago38:35

38:35

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is Geoff Dyer, who’s talking about his memoir Homework, in which he describes growing up as an only child in suburban Cheltenham, and how the eleven-plus and the postwar settlement irrevocably changed his life – propelling him away from the timid and unfulfilled world of his working-class parents. Geoff, in…