Best of the Spectator

William Moore is joined by The Spectator’s associate editor Toby Young, commissioning editor Lara Brown and newsletter editor and restaurant critic Angus Colwell.
This week: What has gone wrong with British universities? Lara unpacks the wider academic crisis in the wake of the Jason Arday scandal, from ‘surviving the apocalypse’ courses at Warwick to maths departments promising to ‘decolonise’ the subject. Has the sector lost its nerve?
Also: Balding. Toby explains why he’s trying to talk his three sons out of hair transplants, while Angus and Lara weigh in on whether men vastly overestimate the importance of their hair on the dating market.
Plus: is Indian the best cuisine? Angus argues it’s surprisingly hard to find a truly great curry in London, while the the panel ask whethe Indian food is unfairly low-status because it’s too cheap.
Produced by Henry Lloyd and Oscar Edmondson.

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In this episode of Americano, Freddy Gray speaks to physicist and Spectator contributor Steve Hsu about the uncomfortable realities of modern warfare. Why are cheap missiles and drones so difficult and expensive to intercept?
Freddy asks Steve about just how depleted are America’s missile stocks, and can the West rebuild its defence industry quickly enough?
They also discuss China’s dominance of critical supply chains, the vulnerability of energy infrastructure and shipping, the strategic threat posed to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, and why missile defence may be losing its long-standing race against missile technology.
Steve also speaks to Freddy about the future of autonomous warfare, including the development of AI-powered drones capable of making decisions on the battlefield.
Learn how to earn yield on gold, paid in gold, at Monetary-Metals.com/Americano

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This week, Michael Gove is joined by historian Simon Sebag Montefiore to discuss the rulers, revolutionaries and nation builders who shaped one of the world’s most turbulent regions.
From Ibn Saud’s dramatic conquest of Riyadh and Atatürk’s creation of modern Turkey to Ben-Gurion, Reza Shah and Nasser, Simon explores the extraordinary personalities who built states from the ruins of empire. What made these leaders so successful – and why did so many of their projects end in dictatorship, war or collapse?
They also discuss Nasser’s rise as the champion of Arab nationalism, Gaddafi’s obsession with his Egyptian hero, and the strongmen who tried to remake the Arab world in their own image.
And looking at the Middle East today, Simon explains why the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, the failure of nationalism and the rise of political Islam still shape the region’s conflicts.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Henry Lloyd.

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Nigel Farage is heading back to the polls in Clacton after resigning to trigger a by-election over questions surrounding his £5 million gift. With the main parties refusing to stand, Farage looks set for a comfortable victory – but will his popularity in Clacton translate to the rest of the country? And have voters simply stopped caring about the controversy?
Meanwhile, Andy Burnham is facing the first major tests of his premiership. As questions mount over how he will pay for his ambitious domestic agenda, Burnham has intervened again over plans to release prisoners early, insisting that the killers of PC Andrew Harper should remain behind bars. Is his willingness to respond to public pressure a sign of how he intends to govern?
Oscar Edmondson speaks to Noa Hoffman and the Financial Times’s Lucy Fisher.

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In this week’s episode of Holy Smoke, Damian Thompson is joined by Madeline Grant to dive into the contentious topic of Project Spire, the Church of England's ambitious plan to allocate £100 million in reparations for its involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. They will shed light on the Church's insistence on proceeding with this plan despite significant opposition from both the public and its own parishioners.

Produced by Henry Lloyd

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