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Hello and welcome to the edition podcast.

The Spectator's weekly look at some of the most important and intriguing pieces in the magazine with the writers behind them.

I'm Lara Prendergast.

First, we look at the French President Emmanuel Macron's fight against Islamic extremism

and question why so few Western leaders are supporting him. Next, we'll be asking what it was

like to cover the US election. And to finish, we'll be discussing pubs in the era of pandemics.

Has the lockdown revived the old-fashioned lock-in? In recent weeks, France has been subjected to a string

of Islamist terror attacks.

Emmanuel Macron has vowed to take on extremism, laying out his unequivocal support for the

liberal principles of free speech and tolerance. In this week's coverpiece, Associate

Editor Douglas Murray asked why no other Western leaders will join the fight. He joins me now alongside

Ed Hussein, who writes about the history of Islam and its role in developing Enlightenment

values in this week's magazine. Douglas, can you start by outlining the recent events that

have led to President Macron taking such a strong stance against radical Islam?

Yes, a lot of listeners may have missed some of the details of this

because of the extraordinary wealth of events that have occurred in recent weeks.

But at the beginning of October, Emmanuel Macron, the French president,

gave a very important speech about the nature of the French state, of secularism,

the challenge that Islamic extremism,

...