The Edition: Battle begins
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.3 • 826 Ratings
🗓️ 5 October 2023
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Katy Balls writes in her cover piece that after Tory conference the battle lines have now been drawn between the two main parties. She says we should prepare for a 'presidential campaign' ahead of the 2024 election and joins the podcast alongside The Spectator’s editor Fraser Nelson to discuss the dividing lines between Labour and the Conservatives. (01:17).
Also this week:
In her column Lionel Shriver says that she is leaving the UK for the sunnier climes of Portugal. She argues that Britain has lost its way both economically and culturally and is joined by another American expatriate Kate Andrews, The Spectator’s economics editor. (15:37).
And finally:
Matt Ridley writes that we are entering a new age of gullibility. He says that our fascination with monsters, aliens and everything in between has overcome our common sense. He joins the podcast with Ian Keable, magician and author of The Century of Deception: The Birth of the Hoax in Eighteenth-Century England to debate whether as a country we are uniquely gullible. (26:53).
Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William Moore.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Spectator magazine combines incisive political analysis with books and arts reviews of unrivaled authority. |
| 0:07.6 | Subscribe today for just £12 and receive a 12 week subscription, in print and online, plus a £20 £20,000 Amazon gift voucher, absolutely free. |
| 0:17.4 | Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher. |
| 0:26.6 | Hello and welcome to the edition podcast from The Spectator. Each week we look at three pieces from the magazine with the writers behind them. |
| 0:39.3 | I'm Laura Prendergars, the Spectator's Executive Editor. |
| 0:42.7 | And I'm William Moore, the Spectator's Features Editor. |
| 0:45.8 | On this week's episode, we'll be discussing the battle lines being drawn between the Conservatives and Labour. |
| 0:52.3 | We'll be debating whether Britain has lost its appeal as a place to |
| 0:55.5 | live and we'll be asking whether we as a country are uniquely gullible. First up, in her cover |
| 1:02.0 | piece for the magazine this week, Katie Balls writes that after the Tory Party conference, |
| 1:07.5 | the battle lines have now been drawn between the two main parties for the next general election. |
| 1:12.6 | She joins us now, along with the spectators editor Fraser Nelson, to discuss. |
| 1:17.6 | Katie, you're just back from conference and your cover piece this week talks about how the battle begins for the next general election |
| 1:25.6 | and how Rishi Sunak looks to take on Kirstama. |
| 1:29.9 | Firstly, what's been the reaction to the Prime Minister's speech? |
| 1:33.6 | So I think when you speak to those around Rishi Sulek and Tory MPs, broadly speaking, |
| 1:39.3 | I think the speech, I think nothing went pretty much as good as could be expected. |
| 1:45.5 | And by that, I mean, |
| 1:50.7 | that those three big policy announcements that the Prime Minister made in it, so one was scathing the second leg of HS2, so Birmingham to Manchester. It was pretty clear that was going to be |
| 1:56.0 | very divisive. There's been a big rab out in advance. The fact that Rich said it were not |
| 2:00.5 | comment on it meant it dominated really all the conference |
| 2:03.3 | up until the point he got on stage and thereafter. |
... |
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