Best of the Spectator

With Daniel McCarthy, Editor of Modern Age. Presented by Freddy Gray.

With just days to go till the meaningful vote, the government looks set to lose it by a humiliating margin. What next for Theresa May? We ask one of the MPs opposing her deal – former universities minister, Sam Gyimah (00:50). And over on the continent, France buckles down for another weekend of riots from the gilet jaunes – can Macron give them what they want (19:05)? And last, has Britain become a country of show-offs (28:35)? With James Forsyth, Sam Gyimah, Gavin Mortimer, Sophie Pedder, Harry Mount, and Cosmo Landesman. Presented by Lara Prendergast. Produced by Cindy Yu and Alastair Thomas.

In this week's books podcast, Sam is speaking to the Pulitzer-prizewinning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin about her new book Leadership: Lessons from the Presidents for Turbulent Times -- in which she describes what Lincoln, two Roosevelts and LBJ had in common, and didn't. Obviously, they talk a bit about that nice Mr Trump -- as well as hearing how Doris had perhaps history's classiest pyjama party at the White House with Hillary Clinton, and how as a young woman she worried at one point that she was going to be #metooed by Lyndon Johnson. Tune in, kids. Doris is remarkable.

Dominic Green talks to cinema historian Jay Glennie, author of a definitive account of the legendary and still alarming making of Performance, a 1970 release starring Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, and James Fox.

With James Forsyth and Katy Balls. Presented by Isabel Hardman.

Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts talk to Bryony Gordon, columnist at the Telegraph and author of Eat, Drink, Run. They have a frank conversation about Bryony's relationship with food and mental health, and Bryony comes clean about her toddler's metropolitan diet and why dinner parties are not her thing.

With Jacob Heilbrunn. Presented by Freddy Gray.

This week the Treasury and the Bank of England gave their forecasts for the post-Brexit economy, but is a Jeremy Corbyn government more threatening to economic growth (00:50)? In Italy, growth is a distant memory, as the economy stagnates and youth unemployment is at 35%. The government and the EU are at loggerheads over how to solve it. Is Italy the next Eurosceptic time bomb (19:40)? And last, what is it like to write a biography for somebody who can't stand you (32:45)? With Liam Halligan, Grace Blakeley, Ferdinando Giugliano, Matthew Goodwin, and Richard Bradford. Presented by Lara Prendergast. Produced by Cindy Yu and Alastair Thomas.

According to which bit of hype you read, there’s a copy of one of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher thrillers sold somewhere in the world every four seconds, or every seven, or every nine. It’s a cute statistic and (as Child wryly notes), there’s an element of Barnum & Bailey hucksterism to it. Sam talks to Lee Child in this episode of Spectator Books about what makes his books so successful, how he writes, and why he wanted Goliath to win. Sam writes about it in this week's magazine. Presented by Sam Leith

With James Forsyth and the New Statesman's Stephen Bush. Presented by Katy Balls.

What will transport look like in the year 3000? Busted thought we would live underwater, but perhaps we’ll have even figured out zero carbon travelling. This year the government made its own prediction in the form of the ‘Road to Zero’ strategy - new petrol and diesel cars are to be banned by 2040. Is this another example of the government ‘helping’ unhelpfully? We posed the question to a panel of the leading voices of authority in the debate in a special podcast, sponsored by Shell. The resounding answer was in fact – no, government direction is helpful, in this at least.   Fraser Nelson spoke to Edmund King, the President of the AA and the voice of British motorists; Chris Stark, chief executive of the Climate Change Committee, an independent organisation that reviews government policies on the environment; and Sinead Lynch, Shell’s UK Country Chair. In a incisive half an hour chat, they talk about the big challenges facing low carbon transport today – the appalling lack of infrastructure for charging electric vehicles, the possibility of using hydrogen – yes, really – as an alternative to petrol, and the helpfulness of government targets. Sponsored by Shell.

With Katy Balls and James Forsyth. Presented by Cindy Yu.

With Katy Balls and Fraser Nelson. Presented by Lara Prendergast

This week, Theresa May is putting the final touches on her Brexit deal – but is this a point to celebrate, or has she left behind an irrevocably toxic legacy (00:40)? We also take a look at the Democratic Party’s new darling – Beto O’Rourke (13:10); and last, are British parents too obsessed with their children’s education (26:00)? With James Forsyth, Lord Heseltine, Freddy Gray, Karin Robinson, Leah McLaren and James Delingpole. Presented by Isabel Hardman. Produced by Cindy Yu and Alastair Thomas; with thanks to Jack Hunter.

In this week's books podcast Sam talks to Oxford's Professor of Global History Peter Frankopan about his follow-up to his bestselling history The Silk Roads. In The New Silk Roads, Peter brings his story up to date, and argues that with our Trump and Brexit obsessions, and a divided and fissiparous West still obsessed with itself, we are missing the bigger picture of what's going on in the world today. Once again, the Silk Roads -- those lines of connection between East and West running through what he calls the "heart of the world" -- are where the action is. In our conversation we look at the rise of China and asks what its vast "Belt and Road" programme means for the future shape of the world, at the deeply complex relations between the Gulf states and the nations with interests in them, at the forces at work in India, Pakistan and Iran -- and why our school curricula need to go a bit beyond the old diet of Black Death, Mary Seacole and the Second World War. Plus, Peter's (almost) diplomatic about the enduring madness of Turkmenistan. Presented by Sam Leith.