The Edition: Macron's last adventure
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.3 • 826 Ratings
🗓️ 30 March 2023
⏱️ 36 minutes
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Summary
In his cover piece for the magazine, journalist Jonathan Miller argues that President Macron is pitting himself against the people by refusing to back down from his plans to raise the age of retirement. He is joined by regular Coffee House contributor Gavin Mortimer, to ask whether this could be Macron's last adventure (01:06).
Also this week:
In the magazine, travel journalist Sean Thomas says that – in comparison to other cities he has visited – American cities are uniquely struggling to bounce back from the impacts of the covid pandemic. He is joined by Karol Markowicz, columnist at the New York Post and contributing editor at Spectator World, to discuss the decline and fall of urban America (16:29).
And finally:
Mary Wakefield writes in the magazine about her fear of the advances in artificial intelligence and in particular voice cloning technology. This sort of tech is being increasingly used by fraudsters. James Ball, columnist at the New European, joins the podcast alongside Jay Hacks, an AI practitioner. Would they be fooled by a voice scam? (26:38).
Presented by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode is sponsored by Canacord Genuity Wealth Management, |
| 0:03.7 | experience wealth managers who go above and beyond to guide and support you. |
| 0:08.2 | Can Do is more than just an attitude. |
| 0:10.1 | It's navigating today for a brighter tomorrow. |
| 0:13.4 | Visit can dowealth.com. |
| 0:31.9 | 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. |
| 0:35.0 | I'm Lara Prendergast, the Spectator's executive editor. |
| 0:37.7 | And I'm William Moore, the Spectator's Features Editor. |
| 0:42.8 | On this week's episode, we'll be asking what France's violent protests mean for Macron. |
| 0:46.4 | We'll also be discussing the decline and fall of urban America. |
| 0:51.0 | And finally, we'll be exploring the implications of AI voice cloning technology. |
| 0:55.7 | First up, in his cover piece for the magazine, journalist Jonathan Miller argues that President Macron is pitting himself against the people as he refuses to back down |
| 1:01.2 | from his plans to raise the age of retirement. He joins us now, along with the regular |
| 1:06.4 | coffeehouse contributor Gavin Mortimer. Jonathan, could you start by briefly explaining for our listeners |
| 1:13.4 | why the people of France are taking to the streets once again, and in such large numbers? |
| 1:19.6 | A brief overview, that's a really good one. I mean, I think you need to go back a few hundred |
| 1:23.8 | years to understand why the French have this predilection for taking to the streets. |
| 1:30.1 | But the proximate cause of this particular row is Macron's ambition to reform the retirement age in France, |
| 1:39.8 | which is very generous and which is not really sustainable in a country that owes three trillion |
| 1:47.9 | euros. Nevertheless, he's not a particularly well-loved guy. He was re-elected president last year, |
| 1:57.4 | but with a narrower majority than in his first election. And then the National Assembly, |
| 2:04.6 | which was the French Parliament, he failed to get a majority in the Assembly, which means that |
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