The Edition: how Britain sobered up
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.3 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 18 January 2024
⏱️ 36 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Spectator’s cover story looks at how Britain is sobering up, forgoing alcohol in favour of alcohol free alternatives. In his piece, Henry Jeffreys – author of Empire of Booze – attacks the vice of sobriety and argues that the abstinence of young Britons will have a detrimental impact on the drinks industry and British culture. He joins the podcast alongside Camilla Tominey, associate editor of the Telegraph and a teetotaler. (01:27)
Also this week: could Mongolia be the next geopolitical flashpoint?
The Spectator’s Wild Life columnist Aidan Hartley writes in the magazine about Mongolia’s fate, as the country tries to juggle a historic relationship with China and Russia, with desires for a stronger association with the West. Aidan joins us alongside Sergey Radchenko, the Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, to discuss Mongolia’s dilemma. (17:10)
And finally: why isn’t Lenin as reviled as some of history’s other villains?
To coincide with the centenary of Vladimir Lenin’s death, James Bartholomew writes about the increase in pro-Lenin sympathy amongst young people. He says that despite Lenin’s many crimes, around 15% of young people approve of him. To discuss James's article, Lara speaks to Robert Service, author of Lenin: A Biography. (27:39)
Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
Applications to join the Spectator’s broadcast team will close on Sunday. So if you noticed any mistakes in this podcast, any inaccuracies or perhaps even a sloppy editing job in this podcast, then you could be exactly who we need. To apply, follow the link: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/wanted-a-broadcast-producer-for-the-spectator-2/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 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 ÂŁ12 and receive a 12 week subscription, in print and online, plus a ÂŁ20 ÂŁ20,000 Amazon gift voucher, absolutely free. |
| 0:17.4 | Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher. |
| 0:30.1 | 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. |
| 0:38.0 | I'm William Moore, the Spectator's Features Editor. |
| 0:40.6 | And I'm Laura Prendergast, the Spectator's Executive Editor. |
| 0:44.1 | On the podcast this week, we'll be learning how Britain sobered up and asking if that is in fact a bad thing. |
| 0:50.8 | We'll discuss Mongolia's dilemma and ask why it is that Lenin is not as reviled as history's |
| 0:57.1 | other villains. This week's cover story looks at how Britain is sobering up, foregoing alcohol |
| 1:03.6 | in favour of alcohol-free alternatives. In his cover piece, Henry Jeffries, author of Empire of Booz, |
| 1:10.6 | attacks the vice of sobriety and argues that the abstinence of young Britons will have a detrimental impact on the drinks industry and British culture. |
| 1:20.0 | Henry joins us now alongside Camilla Tomini, associate editor of The Telegraph and herself a teetotaler. |
| 1:26.7 | Henry, can you start by taking us through what seems to be driving this new teetotalism in Britain? |
| 1:32.5 | We are not anywhere near the top countries in Europe for drinking. |
| 1:37.0 | It haven't been for a long time. |
| 1:39.4 | So I think we're sort of like 17th place in Europe. |
| 1:41.5 | I'm not quite sure where we are in the world. |
| 1:45.7 | And our drinking levels, |
| 1:52.4 | on average, started to decline around 2004. So that's, you know, over the entire population. |
| 1:58.9 | And it seems like the younger generation, the sort of 16 to 24 cohort who should really be sitting in parks, drinking cider, smoking Benson and Hedges, |
| 2:02.7 | are doing something else. Something like a quarter of them, 16 to 24, say that they're |
| 2:07.7 | teetotal, so they don't drink at all. So I just thought there was something quite interesting |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Spectator, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Spectator and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.