Best of the Spectator

As Ed Davey condemned Donald Trump's military manoeuvres abroad, Annabel Denham looked on and asked 'what's the point of the Liberal Democrats?'. Thinking about the Lib Dem's longstanding europhile stance, the senior political correspondent at the Telegraph wrote: 'the party that once stood on a tradition of civil liberties now wants us to rejoin a bloc which regulates everything'.Calum Miller MP – foreign affairs spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats – joins Annabel and deputy political editor James Heale to address Annabel's challenge that the party is defined more by opposition the other parties than by their own policies. So, from localism and the UK's place in the world to free markets and social care, what do the Lib Dems stand for? And what constitutes 'liberalism' today?Produced by Patrick Gibbons, Megan McElroy and Natasha Feroze. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the world watches events in Iran, and wonders whether the US will intervene, the Spectator’s cover this week examines 'British complicity in Tehran’s terror’. When thinking about what could happen next in the crisis, there is a false dichotomy presented between regime survival and revolution; the reality is more complicated, though there is no doubt that this is the biggest threat to the theocratic regime in decades. For this week’s Edition, host Lara Prendergast is joined by political editor Tim Shipman, columnist Rachel Johnson and features editor – and Edition co-host – William Moore. They commend the bravery of Iran’s protestors but criticise the ‘inept, naive and wrong’ response of the Foreign Office. Are some Brits proving to be Iran’s ‘useful idiots’? As well as the crisis in the Middle East, they discuss: whether the Starmer administration should be considered Gordon Brown’s second term; the growing obsession with race in Britain – particularly by the right; Rachel’s reflections on her travels to the US – from transatlantic cruise liners to partying with our former colleague Katy Balls; why some men lament the loss of their libido; and finally, the controversy over Elon Musk’s AI tool ‘Grok’. Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest in this week’s Book Club is Joanna Kavenna, who talks about her witty, philosophically riddling new novel Seven: Or, How To Play A Game Without Rules. She tells me about taking her bearings from Italo Calvino, making up a board game and then being the world’s worst player at it, how AI challenges our sense of ourselves – and how Morten Harket found his way into her fiction. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the full episode, search 'Quite right!' wherever you are listening now. This week on Quite right!, Michael and Maddie examine Nadhim Zahawi’s dramatic defection to Reform UK and ask whether it strengthens the party’s insurgent credentials or exposes a deeper strategic mistake. Is Reform becoming a genuine outsider movement, or simply a refuge for disaffected Tories? And what does the pattern of Boris-era defections reveal about credibility, competence and the challenge of turning populist energy into a governing force?Then, Iran: mass protests against the regime have erupted onto the streets of Tehran and beyond. Are these demonstrations the prelude to real regime change – or another brutal crackdown waiting to happen? And what role should the West, and the United States in particular, play as the situation escalates?And finally: as MPs call for X to be banned in the UK over the conduct of Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok, Michael and Maddie ask whether this is a necessary intervention to protect the vulnerable – or another bout of performative pearl-clutching that misses the far bigger risks posed by artificial intelligence.Produced by Oscar Edmondson.To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, visit spectator.co.uk/quiteright. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Freddy Gray is joined by Robert Bryce, energy expert and author of Robert Bryce’s Substack, to discuss what America’s strike on Venezuela has to do with energy and oil. They examine the strategic importance of heavy crude, the role of China and Russia in the Western Hemisphere, and why electricity grids – not democracy – may be the real battlefield. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.