Best of the Spectator

With Katy Balls and James Forsyth. Presented by Lara Prendergast.

Dominic Green talks to Jamie Kirchick, journalist and author, on the culture wars raging in American universities.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has disappeared at his country's consulate in Istanbul, with reports emerging of his brutal murder. But who was Jamal Khashoggi, why did this happen to him and what should happen next (00:38)? Also on this podcast, the Irish may harbour more anti-EU opinion than commonly thought. Is there the prospect of an 'Irexit' (12:48)? And finally, with three top public schools scrapping the common entrance exam, should we lament the demise of the eccentric admissions test for schoolchildren (22:54)? With Bill Law, Akbar Shahid Ahmed, John Waters, Brendan O'Neill and Harry Mount. Presented by Lara Prendergast. Produced by Alastair Thomas.

With James Forsyth and Katy Balls. Presented by Lara Prendergast.

In this week's books podcast, Sam talks to Andrew Roberts in front of an audience about his new biography on Winston Churchill. It charts the leader's powerful sense of personal destiny, his ambition and bravery as a soldier and a leader. The book interprets the events that defined Churchill, from the Dardanelles disaster of 1915, his years in the political wilderness, and his summoning to save his country in 1940\. Sam and Andrew discuss Churchill's belief that he was 'walking with destiny', his prophesies of European disaster in the 1930s, as well as his drinking habits, the racist charges against him, and his singular ability to deliver some of the most memorable speeches of the 20th century. Presented by Sam Leith at Daunt Books, Marylebone.

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

Dominic Green talks to the poet Alicia Stallings

A Spectator event with Andrew Roberts, author of a new Churchill biography, interviewed by Prof Robert Tombs. Tue 9 October, 7pm, at the Emmanuel Centre, Westminster.

With James Forsyth and Katy Balls. Presented by Lara Prendergast.

Freddy Gray talks to Jacob Heilbrunn, Editor of the National Interest, on the latest in the Brett Kavanagh case - and whether or not confirming him is in the Republican Party's best interests.

With James Forsyth and Katy Balls. Presented by Fraser Nelson.

The debate over rights for transgender people rumbles on in the wake of proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act. Is there a so-called ‘trans orthodoxy’ shutting down debate on this issue (00:35)? Meanwhile, across the channel, French socialist Jean-Luc Mélenchon is aiming to unseat an increasing unpopular Emmanuel Macron. Does Mélenchon have a chance of becoming president (20:10)? With Madeleine Kearns, India Willoughby, Olivier Tonneau, and Jonathan Miller. Presented by Katy Balls. Produced by Cindy Yu and Alastair Thomas.

Grammy-winning Canadian musician Chilly Gonzales joins the latest episode of Life 'n' Arts with Dominic Green, the Life and Arts Editor of Spectator USA.

With Katy Balls and James Forsyth. Presented by Fraser Nelson.

Adam Smith is the most quoted and misquoted economist of all time. Sam Leith talks to Jesse Norman MP, author of the new Adam Smith: What He Thought and Why It Matters (reviewed in last week’s Spectator by Simon Heffer). Norman argues that we can only understand Smith in the round by reading his Theory of Moral Sentiments as well as the Wealth of Nations; and by putting him in the context of the Scottish Enlightenment and the thinkers such as Hume who surrounded and influenced him. But he also says that a proper appreciation of Smith’s thought has relevance for us right to the present day. And he even ventures a thought on what the Sage of Kirkcaldy would have made of Brexit. Presented by Sam Leith.