The Edition: keeping the peace
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.3 • 826 Ratings
🗓️ 9 November 2023
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In his cover piece for The Spectator Ian Acheson discusses the potential disruption to Armistice Day proceedings in London this weekend. He says that Metropolitan Police Chief Mark Rowley is right to let the pro-Palestine protests go ahead, if his officers can assertively enforce the law. He joins the podcast alongside Baroness Claire Fox to discuss the problems of policing protest.
Next: are smartphones making us care less about humanity?
This is the question that Mary Wakefield grapples with in her column in The Spectator. She says it’s no wonder that Gen Z lack empathy when they spend most of their lives on social media. She is joined by Gaia Bernstein, author of Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies.
And finally:
Alan Hollinghurst writes this week about Ronald Firbank, the innovative but little known English author who has recently been awarded a blue plaque. In the magazine he sets out the reasons why he is so deserving and is joined alongside The Spectator's literary editor Sam Leith, to discuss further.
Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
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 £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, where each week we look at three pieces from the magazine with the writers behind them. |
| 0:39.1 | I'm Laura Prendergars, the Spectator's Executive Editor. |
| 0:42.1 | And I'm William Moore, the Spectator's Features Editor. |
| 0:44.8 | On this week's episode, we'll be looking at the politics of policing protests. |
| 0:49.6 | We'll be asking whether smartphones are making us care less about humanity, |
| 0:53.9 | and we'll be learning about |
| 0:54.8 | the genius of Ronald Furbank. First up, in his cover piece for the magazine this week, |
| 1:00.2 | Ian Acheson discusses the potential disruption to Armitus Day proceedings in London this weekend |
| 1:05.5 | by a planned pro-Palestine march. He says that the Metropolitan Police Chief Mark Rowley is right to let |
| 1:12.9 | the protest go ahead if his officers can enforce the law. He joins us now along with Baroness Claire |
| 1:19.6 | Fox. Mark, could you give us a little bit of the context for this weekend? Should we expect |
| 1:26.5 | the Amitya'sceedings to be disrupted? |
| 1:29.2 | So what's happened is that Mark Roley, the Met Commissioner, has had a look at the law. |
| 1:34.8 | And the backdrop, obviously, is what I would think is quite a lot of political pressure |
| 1:40.2 | on him to at least decide to ask the Home Secretary for permission to ban the parade, |
| 1:47.5 | which is the only legal route that he can take. |
| 1:49.6 | But he's looked at the intelligence that he's got currently. |
| 1:52.9 | Obviously, intelligence is not available to you and I. |
| 1:56.1 | And he's looked at the available resources that he's got. |
... |
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.