Best Jeffery Kidd Podcasts (2025)

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Quite right! – Labour’s deputy drama, Macron’s mess & was Thatcher autistic? 46:47

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5h ago46:47

46:47

Michael Gove and Madeline Grant return with another episode of Quite right!, The Spectator’s new podcast promising sanity and common sense in an increasingly unhinged world. This week, they dissect Keir Starmer’s brutal reshuffle – from the ‘volcanic ejection’ of Angela Rayner to the rise of Shabana Mahmood, the ‘uncompromising toughie’ now in char…

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Americano: how authoritarian is Trump 2.0? 32:35

2h ago32:35

32:35

On this episode, Nick Gillespie, Reason's editor at large, joins Freddy to discuss whether Trump 2.0 is really as authoritarian as people say. Is he closer to a gangster than a dictator? They also discuss tariffs, the weaponisation of the Justice Department, and the state of free speech in the UK. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf…

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Coffee House Shots: Reform's Zia Yusuf in conversation with Michael Gove 1:10:28

2d ago1:10:28

1:10:28

At the Reform conference in Birmingham, the Spectator's editor Michael Gove sat down with Reform UK's head of their department of government efficiency Zia Yusuf. They discussed Labour's track record in government, Zia's faith and his tech background, why leader Nigel Farage is his political hero and how AI could change Britain. Hosted on Acast. Se…

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Holy Smoke: why the canonisation of the first millennial saint is a cause to celebrate 36:41

3d ago36:41

36:41

The Catholic Church will acquire its first millennial saint today, when Pope Leo XIV canonises someone who, if he were alive today, would be young enough to be his son. Carlo Acutis, a ‘computer geek’ from a prosperous Italian family, died aged just 15 in 2006. In this episode of Holy Smoke, Damian Thompson talks to Mgr Anthony Figueiredo and the I…

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Spectator Out Loud: Tim Shipman, Colin Freeman, Rachel Clarke, Michael Gove & Melanie Ferbreach 39:12

4d ago39:12

39:12

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Tim Shipman interviews shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick (plus – Tim explains the significance of Jenrick’s arguments in a special introduction); Colin Freeman wonders why the defenders of Ukraine have been abandoned; Rachel Clarke reviews Liam Shaw and explains the urgency needed to find new antibiotics; Mi…

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Tim Shipman, Colin Freeman, Rachel Clarke, Michael Gove & Melanie Ferbreach 39:12

5d ago39:12

39:12

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Tim Shipman interviews shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick (plus – Tim explains the significance of Jenrick’s arguments in a special introduction); Colin Freeman wonders why the defenders of Ukraine have been abandoned; Rachel Clarke reviews Liam Shaw and explains the urgency needed to find new antibiotics; Mi…

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The Edition: Reform’s camp following, masculine rage & why do people make up languages? 50:45

5d ago50:45

50:45

First: Reform is naff – and that’s why people like it Gareth Roberts warns this week that ‘the Overton window is shifting’ but in a very unexpected way. Nigel Farage is ahead in the polls – not only because his party is ‘bracingly right-wing’, but ‘because Reform is camp’. Farage offers what Britain wants: ‘a cheeky, up-yours, never-mind-the-knocke…

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The Book Club: Lea Ypi 47:50

5d 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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Quite right! – Farage steals summer, Starmer’s reset flop & should we 'raise the colours'? 48:46

7d ago48:46

48:46

Michael Gove and Madeline Grant launch ‘Quite right!’, the new podcast from The Spectator that promises sanity and common sense in a world that too often lacks both. In their first episode, they take stock of a political summer dominated by Nigel Farage, a Labour government already facing mutiny, and the curious spectacle of Tory MPs moonlighting a…

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Americano: do mass shootings begin online? 31:46

8d ago31:46

31:46

Freddy Gray is joined by writer and internet ethnographer Katherine Dee. She's written about the Minneapolis school shooting and Robin Westman for Spectator World. Two children were killed and 17 others injured by a killer with a bizarre online footprint: a mix of memes, nihilism, politics and gore references. Katharine argues 'these shooters are r…

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Coffee House Shots: how have the 2024 intake found frontline politics? 19:26

9d ago19:26

19:26

As Parliament returns from summer recess, three rising stars of the 2024 intake join Coffee House Shots to provide their reflections on frontline politics so far. Labour's Rosie Wrighting, the Conservatives' Harriet Cross and the Liberal Democrats' Joshua Reynolds tell deputy political editor James Heale how they have found Parliament so far, and t…

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Holy Smoke: the Twelve Churches that made Christianity 39:53

10d ago39:53

39:53

What links the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and St Peter's in Rome with the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and Canaanland in Ota, Nigeria? These are just some of the churches that Anglican priest and writer the Revd Fergus Butler-Gallie highlights in his new book Twelve Churches: An Unlikely History of the Buildings that …

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Coffee House Shots: why Angela Rayner is so iconic 16:30

11d ago16:30

16:30

The Daily Telegraph have run a story this week that Angela Rayner may have dodged stamp duty on her second home. But beyond the story, its the photos of the Deputy Prime Minister on the beach at Hove – drinking and vaping – that went viral. Christian Calgie, senior political correspondent for the Daily Express, joins James Heale to unpack the story…

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Tom Slater, Justin Marozzi, Iben Thranholm, Angus Colwell & Philip Womack 27:29

11d ago27:29

27:29

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Tom Slater says that Britain is having its own gilet jaunes moment; Justin Marozzi reads his historian’s notebook; Iben Thranholm explains how Denmark’s ‘spiritual rearmament’ is a lesson for the West; Angus Colwell praises BBC Alba; and, Philip Womack provides his notes on flatmates. Produced and presented by Pat…

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Spectator Out Loud: Tom Slater, Justin Marozzi, Iben Thranholm, Angus Colwell & Philip Womack 27:29

12d ago27:29

27:29

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Tom Slater says that Britain is having its own gilet jaunes moment; Justin Marozzi reads his historian’s notebook; Iben Thranholm explains how Denmark’s ‘spiritual rearmament’ is a lesson for the West; Angus Colwell praises BBC Alba; and, Philip Womack provides his notes on flatmates. Produced and presented by Pat…

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The Edition: the coming crash, a failing foster system & ‘DeathTok’ 45:04

13d ago45:04

45:04

First: an economic reckoning is looming ‘Britain’s numbers… don’t add up’, says economics editor Michael Simmons. We are ‘an ageing population with too few taxpayers’. ‘If the picture looks bad now,’ he warns, ‘the next few years will be disastrous.’ Governments have consistently spent more than they raised; Britain’s debt costs ‘are the worst in t…

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Book Club, from the archives: 80 years of Brideshead Revisited 42:29

12d 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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Coffee House Shots: is Britain becoming more sectarian? 22:11

14d ago22:11

22:11

Immigration returned to the headlines over the past week after the High Court granted an injunction forcing the removal of migrants from a hotel in Essex – a ruling that could have wider implications for similar cases across the country. At the same time, the sight of Union Jacks and St George’s Crosses appearing in towns and cities has sparked a d…

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Coffee House Shots: Farage finally unveils his deportation plan 13:18

15d ago13:18

13:18

Today James Heale has been on quite the magical mystery tour. Bundled into a bus at 7.45 a.m. along with a group of other hacks, he was sent off to an aircraft hangar in Oxfordshire where Nigel Farage finally unveiled his party’s long-awaited deportations strategy. The unveiling of ‘Operation Restoring Justice’ was accompanied by some impressive pr…

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Americano: how progressivism killed American Protestantism 18:29

16d ago18:29

18:29

Freddy Gray speaks to Christopher Mondics who is a legal affairs writer about how the left-wing orthodoxy has destroyed Protestantism in America. They discuss the mainline denominations in America, how 'wokeness' infiltrated the churches and why, despite some drop off, religion is still so present in America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy …

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Spectator Out Loud: Svitlana Morenets, Michael Simmons, Ursula Buchan, Igor Toronyi-Lalic, Richard Morris & Mark Mason 36:41

17d ago36:41

36:41

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Svitlana Morenets says that Trump has given Zelensky cause for hope; Michael Simmons looks at how the American healthcare system is keeping the NHS afloat; Ursula Buchan explains how the Spectator shaped John Buchan; Igor Toronyi-Lalic argues that art is no place for moralising, as he reviews Rosanna McLaughlin; R…

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Coffee House Shots: Starmer’s authoritarian turn – with Ash Sarkar 15:35

18d ago15:35

15:35

Since the government’s decision to proscribe the group Palestine Action, arrests have mounted across the country, raising questions not only about the group’s tactics but also about the government’s handling of free speech and protest rights. On today’s special edition of Coffee House Shots, Michael Simmons is joined by The Spectator’s James Heale …

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Americano: how dangerous is Washington, D.C.? 21:36

19d ago21:36

21:36

US President Donald Trump claims Washington, D.C. has been "overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals". There are lots of stories about crime, including one very bizarre incident involving a sandwich. Just how unsafe is D.C.? Freddy Gray is joined by US managing editor Matt McDonald and Isaac Schorr, staff writer at Mediaite, who has wr…

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Svitlana Morenets, Michael Simmons, Ursula Buchan, Igor Toronyi-Lalic, Richard Morris & Mark Mason 36:41

19d ago36:41

36:41

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Svitlana Morenets says that Trump has given Zelensky cause for hope; Michael Simmons looks at how the American healthcare system is keeping the NHS afloat; Ursula Buchan explains how the Spectator shaped John Buchan; Igor Toronyi-Lalic argues that art is no place for moralising, as he reviews Rosanna McLaughlin; R…

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The Edition: Putin’s trap, the decline of shame & holiday rental hell 49:40

20d ago49:40

49:40

First: Putin has set a trap for Europe and Ukraine ‘Though you wouldn’t know from the smiles in the White House this week… a trap has been set by Vladimir Putin to split the United States from its European allies,’ warns Owen Matthews. The Russian President wants to make a deal with Donald Trump, but he ‘wants to make it on his own terms’. ‘Putin w…

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Book Club Live: Max Hastings 31:54

20d 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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Coffee House Shots: how do we get more working class people into politics? 16:26

22d ago16:26

16:26

Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, joins James Heale to discuss his campaign to improve working class representation in politics. Tom, newly elected in 2024, explains how getting his mum involved in local politics in West Yorkshire led him to think about the structural issues that exist preventing more people from gett…

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Americano: did Putin get the upper hand in Alaska? 18:55

23d ago18:55

18:55

Donald Trump hasn't left his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska with a deal to end the war in Ukraine. He told reporters that 'great progress' was made but 'we didn't get there'. To discuss who really got the upper hand, Freddy Gray is joined by Spectator associate editor and Russia correspondent Owen Matthews. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri…

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Holy Smoke: from the Bible to Tolkien, the risks & rewards of collecting rare books 27:00

24d ago27:00

27:00

The Bible is widely said to be the most published book of all time. Despite this, many older versions of the Bible are still sought after. This is because, as Tom Ayling tells Damian Thompson on this episode of Holy Smoke, there is a great deal of diversity amongst the editions precisely because it has been so widely published. Tom, a young antiqua…

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Coffee House Shots: is the world safer than in 1945? 11:03

25d ago11:03

11:03

80 years ago this week Japan surrendered to the allies, ushering in the end of the Second World War. To mark the anniversary of VJ day, historians Sir Antony Beevor and Peter Frankopan join James Heale to discuss its significance. As collective memory of the war fades, are we in danger of forgetting its lessons? And, with rising state-on-state viol…

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Patrick Kidd, Madeline Grant, Simon Heffer, Lloyd Evans & Toby Young 27:48

26d ago27:48

27:48

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Patrick Kidd asks why is sport so obsessed with Goats; Madeline Grant wonders why the government doesn’t show J.D. Vance the real Britain; Simon Heffer reviews Progress: A History of Humanity’s Worst Idea; Lloyd Evans provides a round-up of Edinburgh Fringe; and, Toby Young writes in praise of Wormwood Scrubs – th…

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Spectator Out Loud: Patrick Kidd, Madeline Grant, Simon Heffer, Lloyd Evans & Toby Young 27:48

26d ago27:48

27:48

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Patrick Kidd asks why is sport so obsessed with Goats; Madeline Grant wonders why the government doesn’t show J.D. Vance the real Britain; Simon Heffer reviews Progress: A History of Humanity’s Worst Idea; Lloyd Evans provides a round-up of Edinburgh Fringe; and, Toby Young writes in praise of Wormwood Scrubs – th…

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The Edition: Border lands, 200 years of British railways & who are the GOATs? 37:22

27d ago37:22

37:22

First: how Merkel killed the European dream ‘Ten years ago,’ Lisa Haseldine says, ‘Angela Merkel told the German press what she was going to do about the swell of Syrian refugees heading to Europe’: ‘Wir schaffen das’ – we can handle it. With these words, ‘she ushered in a new era of uncontrolled mass migration’. ‘In retrospect,’ explains one senio…

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Book Club: Joanna Pocock 35:23

27d 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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Table Talk: Brett Graham 29:54

28d ago29:54

29:54

Brett Graham is the man behind the Michelin-starred The Ledbury in Notting Hill, which is celebrating 20 years this year. He’s also the director of The Harwood Arms in Fulham, London’s only pub with a Michelin star. On the podcast, Brett tells hosts Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts about why being in the kitchen is like being in the army, what it …

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Americano: what's the matter with Candace Owens? 36:04

29d ago36:04

36:04

Freddy Gray speaks to podcast host and commentator Candace Owens about her story investigating whether Emmanuel Macron's wife Brigitte is a man, why she remains firm on her views about Gaza, and how Trump is doing in his presidency. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Holy Smoke: how has John Henry Newman inspired Pope Leo XIV? 30:41

1M ago30:41

30:41

St John Henry Newman (1801-90) is perhaps the most influential theologian in the history of English Christianity. Yet, as Damian Thompson discusses with Fr Rod Strange – one of the world’s leading authorities on Newman – he was a divisive figure, though perhaps not in the way one might imagine. One of the founders of the Oxford Movement, Newman was…

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Americano: Ann Coulter on why Trump wins & why Reform can win 30:34

1M ago30:34

30:34

Freddy Gray is joined by author Ann Coulter in London, to discuss why she backs the rise of Reform UK, how immigration main issue voters care about this election and why she's backing Trump in his second term. Ann Coulter's Substack can be found at: anncoulter.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

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Spectator Out Loud: Max Jeffery, Cosmo Landesman, Henry Blofeld, David Honigmann & Rachel Johnson 28:14

1M ago28:14

28:14

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Max Jeffery reports from court as the Spectator and Douglas Murray win the defamation cause brought against them by Mohammed Hijab; Cosmo Landesman defends those who stay silent over political issues; Henry Blofeld celebrates what has been a wonderful year for test cricket; David Honigmann reflects on the powder k…

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Max Jeffery, Cosmo Landesman, Henry Blofeld, David Honigmann & Rachel Johnson 28:14

1M ago28:14

28:14

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Max Jeffery reports from court as the Spectator and Douglas Murray win the defamation cause brought against them by Mohammed Hijab; Cosmo Landesman defends those who stay silent over political issues; Henry Blofeld celebrates what has been a wonderful year for test cricket; David Honigmann reflects on the powder k…

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The Edition: Reform’s motherland, Meloni’s Italian renaissance & the adults learning to swim 45:28

1M ago45:28

45:28

First: Nigel Farage is winning over women Does – or did – Nigel Farage have a woman problem? ‘Around me there’s always been a perception of a laddish culture,’ he tells political editor Tim Shipman. In last year’s election, 58 per cent of Reform voters were men. But, Shipman argues, ‘that has begun to change’. According to More in Common, Reform ha…

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Coffee House Shots: what Douglas Murray’s court win means for press freedom 9:55

1M ago9:55

9:55

The Spectator and Douglas Murray have comprehensively won a defamation case brought by Mohammed Hegab. Hegab, a YouTuber who posts under the name Mohammed Hijab, claimed that an article about the Leicester riots, written by Douglas Murray and published by The Spectatorin September 2022, caused serious harm to his reputation and led to a loss of ear…

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Book Club: Nicola Barker 26:34

1M 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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Americano: Trump, MAGA and US foreign policy 23:53

1M ago23:53

23:53

Trump, MAGA, and US foreign policy Kate Andrews speaks to Damir Marusic, assignment editor at The Washington Post and co-founder of Wisdom of Crowds. They examine Donald Trump’s surprising foreign policy moves in his second term: his position on the Israel-Gaza conflict, why he's armed Ukraine despite MAGA frustration, and whether his instincts are…

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Coffee House Shots: why can't we agree on data? 11:13

1M ago11:13

11:13

John O’Neill and Sam McPhail, the Spectator’s research and data team, join economics editor Michael Simmons to re-introduce listeners to the Spectator’s data hub. They take us through the process between the data hub and how their work feeds into the weekly magazine. From crime to migration, which statistics are the most controversial? Why can’t we…

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Spectator Out Loud: Michael Simmons, Kapil Komireddi, Margaret Mitchell, David Abulafia and Melissa Kite 26:30

1M ago26:30

26:30

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Michael Simmons argues that Trump is winning the tariff war with China; Kapil Komireddi reviews Robert Ivermee’s Glorious Failure: The Forgotten History of French Imperialism in India; Margaret Mitchell watches a Channel 4 documentary on Bonnie Blue and provides a warning to parents; David Abulafia provides his no…

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Holy Smoke: Massacres in Syria and the Congo 27:25

1M ago27:25

27:25

Massacres in Syria and the Congo: why aren't Western elites, including the Churches, drawing attention to religious persecution? After the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, many people voiced fears that the religious minorities in the country could face increased persecution. This could be at the hands of the new government’s supporters, or simply…

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Coffee House Shots: the Online Safety Act vs free speech 26:13

1M ago26:13

26:13

Is the Online Safety Act protecting children – or threatening free speech? Michael Simmons hosts John Power, who writes the Spectator's cover piece this week on how the Act has inadvertently created online censorship. Implemented and defended by the current Labour government, it is actually the result of legislation passed by the Conservatives in 2…

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Michael Simmons, Kapil Komireddi, Margaret Mitchell, David Abulafia and Melissa Kite 26:30

1M ago26:30

26:30

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Michael Simmons argues that Trump is winning the tariff war with China; Kapil Komireddi reviews Robert Ivermee’s Glorious Failure: The Forgotten History of French Imperialism in India; Margaret Mitchell watches a Channel 4 documentary on Bonnie Blue and provides a warning to parents; David Abulafia provides his no…

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Americano: Lionel Shriver on Trump’s second term 35:37

1M ago35:37

35:37

Lionel Shriver on Trump’s vendetta, Mamdani’s ‘stupid’ ideas & sentimental immigration Deputy US editor Kate Andrews is joined by author and Spectator columnist Lionel Shriver to assess Donald Trump’s turbulent second term. They discuss the rise of socialism in New York, why fairness is warping immigration policy, and whether Trump’s obsession with…