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Holy Smoke: the tin ear of Justin Welby

APR 1, 2025

Holy Smoke: the tin ear of Justin Welby

<div>The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is back in the news following his interview this week with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg. The interview – his first since he resigned last November – was clearly Welby's attempt to draw a line under the abuse scandal that cost him his job. <br> <br> The 2024 Makin report concluded that the Church of England missed many opportunities to investigate the late John Smyth, one of the most prolific abusers associated with the Anglican Church. However, the biggest headline from the interview was that Welby would 'forgive' John Smyth were he alive today. Albeit unintentionally, the former Archbishop of Canterbury ended up cementing his reputation as an inflexible micro-manager with a tin ear for the views of abuse survivors and his own clergy. <br> <br> Where does the interview leave the Church of England? The appointees to the Crown Nominations Committee, the body which will consider the successor to Welby, will soon be known. How should this scandal influence them? And, with mounting reports that Pope Francis has shielded Catholic sexual predators, how does the handling of abuse allegations by Canterbury and Rome compare?<br> <br> The Rev Fergus Butler-Gallie, Vicar of Charlbury in Oxfordshire and the editor-at-large of The Fence magazine, joins Damian Thompson to discuss the abuse crises that seem to be engulfing all the mainstream Churches. <br> <br> Produced by Patrick Gibbons.</div>

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28 MIN

Americano: Douglas Murray on JFK, Covid-19 & conspiracy culture

APR 1, 2025

Americano: Douglas Murray on JFK, Covid-19 & conspiracy culture

<div>The Spectator's columnist Douglas Murray joins Freddy Gray to discuss his recent column on why the JFK conspiracies just won't die. They also discuss the moon landing, the emergence of American self-hatred, and the return of the post-truth era.</div>

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27 MIN

Women With Balls: Kim Leadbeater

MAR 31, 2025

Women With Balls: Kim Leadbeater

<div>Kim Leadbeater has been an MP since winning the Batley & Spen by-election for Labour in 2021. She was elected to the constituency that her sister, Jo Cox, had served until she was murdered during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign. Having pursued a career in health and fitness, Kim hadn’t initially intended on a life in politics, but she went on to champion social and political cohesion through the <em>Jo Cox Foundation </em>and the <em>More in Common </em>initiative. More recently, she has led the campaign to legalise Assisted Dying. The Bill is currently making its way through Parliament and has been described as the biggest social reform in a generation. <br> <br> On the podcast, Kim talks to Katy Balls about finding common ground with other Yorkshire MPs (including one former Prime Minister), why she thinks the growing popularity of Reform is a worrying sign of disillusionment in politics, and how she is more likely to retire than pursue a third career. The debate around Assisted Dying has been more ‘unpleasant’ than expected but she has no regrets, and thinks that – most importantly – the national conversation around death has moved on. Despite a proposed extension, Kim hopes the Bill – if passed – will be implemented within 2-3 years.<br> <br> Produced by Patrick Gibbons. </div>

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35 MIN

Spectator Out Loud: Owen Matthews, James Heale, Francis Pike, Christian House and Mark Mason

MAR 30, 2025

Spectator Out Loud: Owen Matthews, James Heale, Francis Pike, Christian House and Mark Mason

<div>On this week’s <em>Spectator Out Loud</em>: Owen Matthews argues that Turkish President Erdogan’s position is starting to look shaky (1:19); James Heale examines the new party of the posh: the Lib Dems (7:51); Francis Pike highlights the danger Chinese hypersonic missiles pose to the US navy (13:54); Christian House highlights Norway’s occupation during the Second World War, as he reviews Robert Ferguson’s book <em>Norway’s War</em> (22:01); and, Mark Mason provides his notes on coins (28:18). <br> <br> Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.</div>

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32 MIN

Coffee House Shots: Michael Heseltine on Thatcher, Boris and Badenoch

MAR 29, 2025

Coffee House Shots: Michael Heseltine on Thatcher, Boris and Badenoch

<div>An MP for 35 years, Michael Heseltine served as Environment Secretary and then Defence Secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s government. Following his well-publicised resignation in 1986, he returned to government under John Major and was Deputy Prime Minister for the last two years of Major’s premiership. Once seen as a potential successor to Thatcher and Major, he has sat in the Lords since stepping down as an MP in 2001, and in recent years has been an outspoken critic of Brexit.<br> <br> Lord Heseltine sits down with James Heale to discuss his thoughts on the current Labour government, how to fix Britain’s broken economy and why devolution should go further. ‘Deeply depressed’ by attacks on the civil service – Britain’s ‘rolls royce’ – he provides his thoughts on various political leaders: Starmer is handling Trump well, Reeves is handling the economy badly, Badenoch is being overshadowed by foreign affairs, and Boris Johnson demonstrated he has ‘no integrity’. And on Thatcher, he says new information has vindicated him over the Westland affair and demonstrated her ‘complicity’. His new book, <em>From Acorns to Oaks: An Urgent Agenda to Rebuild Britain</em>, is out now.<br> <br> Produced by Patrick Gibbons.</div>

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29 MIN