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Hello and welcome to the edition podcast,

the Spectators' weekly podcast discussing some of the most intriguing and important issues

within our pages each week with the writers behind them.

I'm Cindy You.

This week kicked off with an incredible falling oil prices globally.

So what on earth happened?

We also talk about the budget, where Rishi Sunak set out a bit more detail on how the government's leveling up agenda will look.

And finally, should we be doing more science for curiosity's sake?

First up, the coronavirus may be bad for the global economy, but this week's oil drop,

where prices fell by a third overnight, had little to do with the virus. Instead, Russia and Saudi

Arabia have chosen this moment to go to war over oil prices. John R. Bradley explained just what

happened in this week's cover piece with a sidebar article from my new economics correspondent

Kate Andrews, who takes a look at what this all means for America's fracking industry.

Kate joins me on the podcast now, together with Owen Matthews, journalist and Russia expert.

So Owen, can you explain just what happened with the oil wars this week?

Well, very simply, a three-year-old pact

between Russia and Saudi Arabia, two of the three biggest oil exporters in the world, has

broken down. And the proximate result has been that Saudi Arabia has massively ramped up

...