The Edition: Jewish fear, 'the elimination of motherhood' & remembering Jilly Cooper

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4.4 • 785 Ratings

🗓️ 9 October 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

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Summary

The Spectator’s cover story this week looks at ‘the fear’ gripping Jewish people amidst rising antisemitism. Reflecting on last week’s attack in Manchester, Douglas Murray says that ‘no-one in the Jewish community was surprised’ – a damning inditement on Britain today. How do we tackle religious intolerance? And is there room for nuance in the debate about Israel and Palestine?

Host Lara Prendergast is joined by the Spectator’s US editor Freddy Gray, associate editor – and host of our religious affairs podcast Holy Smoke – Damian Thompson and commissioning editor Mary Wakefield. As well as the cover, they discuss: how biological innovations are threatening motherhood; the views of the new – and first female – Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally; and how New York has ended up with (almost certainly) an incoming socialist mayor in Zohran Mamdani.

Plus: the panel mourn the novelist Jilly Cooper, and Damian reveals how he ended up with a driving conviction – despite having never passed his driving test.

Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Isabel Hardman, and on the 16th of October at the Emanuel Centre in Westminster,
0:05.3	I'll be interviewing Charles Moore as part of the Spectator's speaker series.
0:09.5	Charles's new authorised biography of Margaret Thatcher marks the 100-year anniversary of her birth,
0:15.3	and he has been given incredible access to her private papers to construct a definitive portrait of Thatcher.
0:22.2	We will be discussing her enduring legacy and draw parallels between her premiership and today's
0:27.6	fractured conservatism. That's at 7pm on the 16th of October at the Emanuel Center in Westminster.
0:34.2	And for tickets, go to spectator.com.uk forward slash more. See you there.
0:40.3	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 bad.
1:02.8	I'm Laura Prendergars, the Spectator's executive editor. And on this week's podcast, we look at the fear gripping Britain's Jewish community.
1:10.3	We ask whether motherhood is in danger of being eliminated.
1:14.2	And we remember the novelist and friend of the spectator, Jilly Cooper.
1:21.6	The spectator's cover story this week looks at the fear gripping Jewish communities amidst rising anti-Semitism in Britain.
1:30.1	Reflecting on last week's attack in Manchester, Douglas Murray says that no one in the Jewish community
1:35.5	was that surprised, a damning indictment on Britain today. So how do we tackle religious intolerance,
1:42.4	and is there room for nuance in the debate about Israel and Palestine?
1:46.5	To discuss further, I was joined by our deputy editor and the editor of the US edition of magazine, Freddie Gray,
1:53.2	our associate editor Damian Thompson, and commissioning editor, Mary Wakefield.
2:01.5	So, Freddie, could you start by explaining where this cover came from?
2:05.1	Well, there was obviously the appalling attack in Manchester last week on Wednesday,
2:10.1	and that was after we went to press last week.
2:13.2	We did last week's edition on Kemi Bainock and the Tories.
2:16.7	And this week has been the Tory
	...

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