On Tuesday the 24th of March, our speakers will debate the motion,

this House believes we should abolish the licence fee.

Spectator Chairman Charles Moore and the telegraphs Alison Pearson

will propose the motion with Spectator editor Michael Gove

and former BBC America editor John Sopel opposing.

I'm Isabel Hardman and I'll be in the chair to maintain decorum and take your pressing questions.

Join us on Tuesday the 24th of March at 7pm and book your tickets at spectator.com forward slash debate.

Hello and welcome to Spectator Out Loud, where each week we choose some of our favourite pieces from the magazine and ask their writers to read them aloud.

I'm Patrick Gibbons and on this week's podcast, Damien Thompson says his addiction to the piano has only gotten worse with age.

Francis Pike ponders whether Kim Jong-un is lining up a female successor.

Iscender Maxstone Graham explains the art to left-wing boasting.

And finally, Lloyd Evans contemplates becoming a magistrate.

Up first, Damien Thompson. From time to time, I've given some famous pianists a bit of a kicking in the arts pages of this magazine. You may be a Bach

specialist, but that's no excuse for sleepwalking through all six keyboard partitas in a marathon recital. Your Beto from Dearbelly

variations may be renowned, but don't expect a rave review if you trap me in an intimate

concert venue while you pound the keys like a pneumatic drill. You'd think, though, that a journalist

who snipes at world-class soloists would have the sense to keep his own amateur playing to himself.

And if he's idiot enough to post a recording on social media, he should learn to take what he dishes out.

Alas, I never learn.

The older I get, the more addicted I become to playing an instrument that I have no hope of

mastering.

I didn't have a single piano lesson between 1981 and 2025.

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