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Hello and welcome to Spectator Out Loud. Each week we choose some of our favourite pieces from the magazine and ask their writers to read them aloud. I'm Petra Gibbons and on this

week's podcast. Reading his diary for the week,

Richard Dawkins reveals his problem with the upcoming US presidential election. Nicholas Farrell

analyzes Georgia Maloney's deal with Albania, arguing that Italy is showing the EU the way on migration.

Reflecting on the horrors of World War II, whilst on a trip to Prague,

Mary Wakefield bemoans the changing attitudes of some young people. Reviewing Lucy Hughes

Hallett's book The Scapegoat, The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham, Lisa Hilton

examines what made George Villiers a favourite of James I. And finally, contemplating his weight,

Philip Henscher declares he'd rather be heckled as just an old puff than a fat old puff.

Up first, Richard Dawkins. In an ideal world, I wouldn't have chosen an election year for my

American book tour. It's not that I dislike

elections generally. And, praise be, a population of 300 million Americans has managed to raise

one presidential candidate who is not a convicted felon awaiting sentence. No, my problem with

American elections, and it viscerally distresses me every four years,

is the affronted democracy called the Electoral College.

I've done the maths.

The Electoral College can hand you the presidency even if your opponent receives three quarters of the popular vote.

Of course, that's a hypothetical extreme. The familiar reality is that campaigns

ignore all but a handful of swing states. A genuine electoral college, however, could work rather

...