The Edition: how the Bank broke Britain, Zelensky’s choice & the joys of mudlarking
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.4 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 17 July 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
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Summary
First up: how the Bank of England wrecked the economy
Britain’s economy is teetering on the brink of a deep fiscal hole, created by billions of pounds of unfunded spending – never-ending health promises, a spiralling welfare bill and a triple lock on the state pension, which will cost three times as much as originally estimated.
Although politicians ‘deserve much of the blame for the economic state we’re in’, it’s Andrew Bailey – Michael Simmons argues in the magazine this week – who ‘has enabled their recklessness’.
He joined the podcast to discuss who really broke Britain with Kate Andrews, Deputy Editor of The Spectator’s world edition and former Economics Editor. (01:15)
Next: has Ukraine lost faith in Zelensky?
Whilst Donald Trump’s surprise ‘newfound support for Ukraine is a welcome lifeline’, Owen Matthews writes in the magazine this week, ‘the question is whether his help will be enough to stop Russia’s relentless attacks before Ukraine is engulfed in a critical military, political and social crisis that threatens to destroy it from within’. Ukraine is running out of men, and is racked by corruption scandals and purges. As a consequence, public faith in Volodymyr Zelensky is declining.
To discuss what’s next for Ukraine, Owen joined the podcast. (24:29)
And finally: the joys of mudlarking
In the arts section of the magazine this week, Margaret Mitchell reviews a new exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands on mudlarking – the practice of combing at low tide for washed-up items of historical interest. These can include everything from statues of Roman gods and goddesses to the common vape – and it’s a hobby that is booming in popularity.
To discuss, Margaret joined the podcast alongside Lara Maiklem, mudlarker and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. (41:07)
Hosted by William Moore and Gus Carter.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the edition podcast from The Spectator, where each week we shed a little light on the thought process behind putting the world's oldest weekly magazine to bed. |
| 0:16.1 | I'm William Moore, the Spectator's Features Editor. And I'm Gus Carter, the Spectator's Deputy deputy features editor. On this week's podcast, is the Bank of England to blame for wrecking the |
| 0:25.0 | economy, how Ukraine lost faith in Zelenskyy, and the joys of mudlarking. |
| 0:42.1 | First up, how the Bank of England wrecked the economy. |
| 0:48.1 | Britain's economy is teetering on the brink, writes Michael Simmons, the Spectator's economics editor, |
| 0:50.1 | in his cover piece for this week's magazine. |
| 0:55.5 | He argues that although our elected politicians, of course, deserve much of the blame for the economic state we're in. It is Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, who has |
| 1:00.1 | enabled their recklessness over the years with the fantasy of free money. He joined the podcast |
| 1:06.0 | to discuss Who Really Broke Britain, along with Kate Andrews, the deputy editor of the Spectator's American Edition, |
| 1:12.3 | Spectator World, and our former economics editor. We started by asking Michael why he believes |
| 1:17.7 | that we're not hurtling towards a crisis, we're already in one. Yeah, I came to this thought |
| 1:22.6 | because, you know, anyone who's been following the economics news of the last few weeks |
| 1:27.0 | will know that it's just constant warnings about, you know, in five years time, there's this massive bill. |
| 1:31.9 | In the 2050s, debt's going to be worth nearly like three times GDP or whatever. |
| 1:36.4 | This is crisis. This is unaffordable. |
| 1:39.4 | And in sort of, you know, my day-to-day work, I've been speaking to like economists and bankers and stuff, asking |
| 1:44.7 | them like, what actually happens on the day when you can't afford it? And no one really |
| 1:50.4 | has a good answer. Like some people say, oh, we'd have to get some like IMF bailout, but there's |
| 1:54.8 | no certainty of what crisis really means. And then I started to think, maybe it's because we're in the crisis. And what I mean by |
| 2:03.4 | that is that we're stopped from doing any sort of long-term thinking, you know, in terms of institutions, |
| 2:11.2 | in terms of the government, because every day, like, if you look at any coverage of the chancellor, |
| 2:17.3 | it's all about like, |
... |
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