This is Spectator Radio and you're listening to Women with Balls, presented by Katie Balls.

Hello and welcome to Women with Balls, where I, Katie Balls, speak to women at the top of their respective games.

Today I'm joined by Sarah Baxter, Deputy Editor of the Sunday Times. Backster was a trailblazer in journalism,

working across a series of different beats. She was political editor of the New Times. Backs was a trailblazer in journalism working across a series of

different beats. She was political editor with the new statesman before becoming Washington

correspondent for the Sunday Times and she is now a weekly columnist at the Sunday Times as

well as being deputy editor. Now Sarah, many thanks for joining us today and full disclosure we first

met at the Cambridge Union in a debate

where you beat my team.

Hooray. And we were discussing the future of social media and where I think it should be,

it was a good thing. Lots of people get their news that way. I was quite pessimistic and you

were quite optimistic. So hopefully this is going to be

a more optimistic podcast by having you on. One of the things is I just love people getting news

from all sorts, every source of information. I would hate to curtail almost anything.

Exactly. So I think for listeners, I thought to begin, maybe we could lay out a bit about your

background and your journey into the newspaper industry.

Obviously, right now you have your very impressive title, but before that, you studied at Oxford and then went on to work in publishing briefly.

Am I right?

I did, yes.

I didn't really know what I wanted to do, but I knew I loved politics. So I'd studied

history, but I was always obsessed with current affairs. And I liked to think that it was because

I grew up as a young girl, briefly. I spent three years in Montgomery, Alabama, which is now a

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