Best of the Spectator

We are on course for yet another prime minister – our seventh in just ten years. With statistics like that, and after watching the now-familiar pattern of leaders arriving with promises of hopeful change only to collapse into inertia and scandal, it is little wonder that many assume Britain has become ungovernable. But is that really true? Or have we simply had a uniquely bad crop of prime ministers, each sent packing because of their own mistakes?
James Heale speaks to Tim Shipman and Luke Tryl.
Produced (for the final time) by Megan McElroy. We all wish her luck at Politico!

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For this week’s Edition, William Moore is joined by the Spectator’s political editor Tim Shipman, the drinks writer Henry Jeffreys and the founder and chair of iNHouse Communications – and former director of communications for Theresa May – Katie Perrior.

This week: another year, another prime ministerial resignation – it’s all becoming a little too common in British politics. The guests give their views on Starmer’s downfall and look ahead to the inevitable Andy Burnham premiership, from his policy agenda to who’s in – and who’s out – when it comes to the Cabinet and all-important role of Chancellor. Facing criticism that he lacks a mandate, not to mention how recently he was elected to Parliament, should he call for a general election? Burnham may be influenced from Gordon Brown’s failure to call one in 2007 but, as Katie warns, snap elections don't always go your way – just ask Theresa May. And do you agree with Tim characterising Burnham as Labour’s first female leader.

Also: from Burnham’s black t-shirt to Theresa May’s kitten heels, does it matter how politicians dress? Henry makes his argument that people should always strive to dress well and why – from charity shops to the app Vinted – it’s never been easier to do so.

Plus: as the country bakes, what’s the best booze to drink to cool off?

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

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In this week's Book Club podcast, I'm joined by the theoretical physicist and writer Carlo Rovelli to discuss his new book 85 Seconds to Midnight: A Physicist's Argument Against Rearmament, where in imitation of Einstein and Bertrand Russell, he uses his platform as a public intellectual to speak against the logic of nuclear escalation. He tells me what the Nazis got right and the US got wrong in the later years of the Second World War, why physicists have a bad conscience about the bomb – and why the threat to civilisation has never been greater.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
Edited by Ed Parker.

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This week: Starmer’s exit, Burnham’s rise – and the court of King Andy.
As Keir Starmer resigns after less than two years in office, Michael and Madeline ask what really brought his premiership to an end. Was Starmer simply overtaken by events, or did his downfall reveal something deeper: a disdain for politics, a mishandling of Southport and the grooming gangs scandal, and a growing gulf between Labour’s governing class and the country?
They also discuss Andy Burnham’s march on Westminster. Is he the charismatic, communitarian figure Labour needs to take on Reform – or a political people-pleaser surrounded by the wrong people?
Plus: what does the Conservatives’ victory in Aberdeen South tell us about net zero, Reform and whether the Tories really are doomed to become Nigel Farage’s roadkill?
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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Freddy Gray is joined by Nate Soares, president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, to discuss the risks posed to humanity by AI. Warning that sufficiently intelligent AI may stop following human instructions entirely, Soares tells Freddy what, if anything, could keep AI from spiralling out of control.

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