Best The Spectator Australia Podcasts (2024)

1
America's forever war, with Nick Bryant 48:28

1h ago48:28

48:28

The American experiment is failing. Division, mistrust and misinformation are now the country's defining characteristics. The storming of the Capitol, the prosecution of Donald Trump and battles over gun rights and abortion raise the spectre of further political violence. We often hear that these events are unprecedented. On the contrary, author an…

1
We're all Soviets now, with Sir Niall Ferguson 50:30

18m ago50:30

50:30

Sir Niall Ferguson is arguably the world's greatest living historian. He first pointed out that we’re in Cold War II back in 2018. In articles for The New York Times and National Review, Sir Niall tried to show how China now occupies the space vacated by the Soviet Union when it collapsed in 1991. This view is less controversial now than it was the…

1
Lies my liberal teacher told me, with Wilfred Reilly 1:01:45

3d ago1:01:45

1:01:45

Education was once the search for truth. Sadly, this is no longer the case in many universities across the Western world. Instead of promoting debate, disagreement, and viewpoint diversity, too many institutions peddle a series of ideological narratives that seek to engrain a black armband view of history, an assertion of the importance of identity…

1
Decoding the modern bloke, with Geoff Norcott 49:41

10d ago49:41

49:41

It wasn’t so long ago that one phrase sat above any other in the hierarchy of endorsements for a British or Australian male: “He’s a good bloke.” You don’t hear it as much in 2024 because blokehood is under attack across the Western world. Historically positive masculine virtues are now shamed as toxically masculine. At a minimum, blokeishness is d…

1
"Machines are the children of humanity" - Agnieszka Pilat 43:02

17d ago43:02

43:02

It feels like AI can now write anything for us and create anything for us. In some respects it’s exciting, but it’s also scary, and it raises a depressing question: will technology kill creativity? There are few people better placed to answer that question than Polish-American artist Agnieszka Pilat. Agnieszka is the Silicon Valley elite’s favourit…

1
How the elites betrayed America's working class, with Batya Ungar-Sargon 55:56

27d ago55:56

55:56

There has long been a curious sub-genre in liberal journalism. It can best be described as “examining working class Americans in their natural habitat.” It goes something like this. Journalists from New York or California will bravely venture into a red state, observe the local inhabitants from afar, and come back with a series of superficial insig…

1
Gay Shame, with Gareth Roberts 50:34

1M ago50:34

50:34

The most peculiar aspect of 'Pride' is how it has lumped together the gay population, with the most extreme proponents of gender ideology, when the latter have arguably done more than any other group to harm the former. Gareth Roberts has witnessed this firsthand. Gareth has fallen into commentary on gender ideology, but like previous guests of the…

1
Imagining nuclear armageddon, with Annie Jacobsen 43:54

1M ago43:54

43:54

The world could end before you finish listening to this podcast. That's the reality of a nuclear-armed world. If a sense of complacency had crept in about the threat of nuclear weapons, Annie Jacobsen's stunning new book is a wake up call. 'Nuclear War: A Scenario' imagines the 72 minutes after the 'button is pushed', and it doesn't end well. It's …

1
A heretical conversation with Andrew Gold 57:52

2M ago57:52

57:52

Heresy is defined as opinion profoundly at odds with what is generally accepted. It has rarely been more dangerous to be a heretic, which is why it's rarely been more important to champion them. There is no bigger heretic than Andrew Gold. Andrew is a journalist, author, and TV presenter who produces documentaries on bizarre and controversial subcu…

1
The rebirth of the West, with Victor Davis Hanson 57:15

2M ago57:15

57:15

Note: We had some minor sound issues in the first 10 minutes, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to edit out anything that Victor said. Stick with it. It’s worth it! In some respects, the West is exhibiting similar symptoms to past civilizations that decayed, declined, or were completely wiped off the map. At the same time, there are green shoots that…

1
The REAL reason for African poverty, with Magatte Wade 52:58

2M ago52:58

52:58

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. Why is Africa poor? There’s a series of trendy answers to that question, that are almost taken as read amongst the progressive elite that dominate our institutions. Racism, slavery, and colonialism. Magatte Wade has called BS on this narrative, and she is uniquely qualif…

1
Fighting cultural socialism, with Eric Kaufmann 1:00:44

3M ago1:00:44

1:00:44

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. Across the western world, cosplay protests are ongoing in some of the most elite academic institutions. They point to a deeper malaise in places of higher education. That's a real problem. The illiberal dogmas that have infiltrated our social institutions have their root…

1
Ready... Aim... Fire at Will. 1:52

3M ago1:52

1:52

Introducing your safe space for dangerous conversations. Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here. Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.By Will Kingston

1
"Conservatism is gratitude" – Jonah Goldberg 1:09:30

3M ago1:09:30

1:09:30

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. Western liberal democratic capitalism has created more prosperity, and enabled more human flourishing, than any other social system. It is something we should be proud of. And yet, Jonah Goldberg argues it is under attack, both from illiberal progressive identity politic…

1
Debunking Australia's housing crisis myth, with Cameron Murray 48:53

3M ago48:53

48:53

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. There’s a common refrain when it comes to housing in Australia today: ‘it’s never been harder to enter the housing market’. Housing affordability has been labelled by politicians, the media, and aspiring homeowners as a historic crisis. What if that’s just not the case? …

1
In defense of journalism, with Anthony De Ceglie 51:10

3M ago51:10

51:10

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. It’s easy to forget that journalists were once invested with immense trust by citizens. This is no longer the case. Journalists are amongst the least trusted members of society, and it has been largely self-inflicted. The rise of activist journalism over objective journa…

1
"Gen Z is the most conservative generation since WW2" - Isabel Brown 54:07

4M ago54:07

54:07

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. Gen Z has developed quite a reputation. Lazy. Difficult to work with. Technology-addicted. And of course, insufferably woke. What if that reputation is ill-founded? What if, in fact, Gen Z is the most culturally conservative generation since World War Two? What if Gen Z …

1
The short march through the institutions, with Yascha Mounk 56:05

4M ago56:05

56:05

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. Sometimes it feels like the tidal wave of ‘wokeness’ (or identity politics) washed over the western world almost overnight. It has captured more or less every societal institution in a remarkably short period of time. However, the intellectual roots of the movement can b…

1
Tales of a Hollywood dissident, with Matthew Marsden 53:43

4M ago53:43

53:43

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. Politics is downstream from culture. To change politics, one must first change culture. The left intrinsically understands this in a way that the right simply does not. The arts have been captured by a toxic mixture of identity politics, social justice ideology, and canc…

1
The real State of the Union, with Charles C.W. Cooke 53:12

4M ago53:12

53:12

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. There are two ways to look at American politics in 2024. There’s the prevailing pessimistic view. Many people think democracy is under threat, the economy is structurally vulnerable, the military is stretched, and for many, the looming election represents a choice betwee…

1
In conversation with Douglas Murray 41:24

4M ago41:24

41:24

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. It is now in vogue to celebrate non-Western cultures and disparage Western ones. Many well-meaning people have been fooled by hypocritical and inconsistent anti-West rhetoric. It’s not just dishonest scholars who benefit from this intellectual fraud but hostile nations a…

1
Lessons for the silenced majority, with Katherine Brodsky 49:52

5M ago49:52

49:52

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. We as a society are self-censoring at record rates. Say the wrong thing at the wrong moment to the wrong person and the consequences can be dire. When the truth is no defense and nuance is seen as an attack, self-censorship is a rational choice. Yet, our silence comes wi…

1
"The Teals are an existential threat to the Liberals" - Joe Hildebrand 43:14

5M ago43:14

43:14

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. Australia is facing serious domestic and international challenges, all at a time when the political class has arguably never been so ill-equipped to address them. In fact, perhaps the only thing that nearly all Australians can agree on is that our leaders are not a patch…

1
"It's the culture, stupid" - Matt Goodwin 55:33

5M ago55:33

55:33

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. Bill Clinton's strategist James Carville memorably said, "It's the economy, stupid". Times have changed. The great political battles of our time are not waged over economics, but cultural issues. Today, "It's the culture, stupid". No one understands this better than Matt…

1
"Reality is now subject to ideology" - Lionel Shriver 50:16

5M ago50:16

50:16

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. Journalist. Contrarian. Iconoclast. Intellectual. Provocateur... And one of the most successful novelists of the 21st century. Lionel Shriver has, in her own words, spent a career courting self-destruction. But she's still standing. In this no-holds barred conversation w…

1
Why you don't have free will, with Brian Klaas 49:48

6M ago49:48

49:48

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. We all comfort ourselves by believing in cause and effect. According to Dr Brian Klaas, we wilfully ignore a bewildering truth: but for a few small changes, our lives and our societies could be profoundly different. When given the choice between complex uncertainty and c…

1
How to rig an election, with Nic Cheeseman 58:13

6M ago58:13

58:13

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. 2024 is the biggest election year in history. Countries with more than half the world’s population – over four billion people – will go to the polls. You’d think the more elections the better, right? Dr Nic Cheeseman would urge caution. In fact, he argues that the greate…

1
"Appeasement guarantees war" - Victor Davis Hanson 57:00

6M ago57:00

57:00

The most astute social commentators on the present are the people who have the deepest understanding of the past. As Mark Twain famously said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Historians are best placed to hear the rhymes of history in the news of the day. There are few historians who have demonstrated such an aptitude and insi…

1
A real talk, with Zuby 51:48

6M ago51:48

51:48

It’s perhaps never been harder to speak the truth than it is in the West today. In fact, many people now implicitly question the value of the truth itself. That’s why it’s so important to recognise and champion people with the intellectual capacity and moral courage to speak the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. Few people in the public…

1
"If another pandemic hits, we will lockdown again" - Jay Bhattacharya 49:16

7M ago49:16

49:16

Few people called for sanity as the world lost its collective mind during the COVID pandemic, but Jay Bhattacharya was certainly one of them. Jay is a Professor of Health Policy at Stanford University, a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, and one of the three authors of The Great Barrington Declaration. In this wi…

1
The case for colonialism, with Bruce Gilley 52:16

7M ago52:16

52:16

The overwhelming majority of academic articles come and go with little fanfare. There may be the odd admiring nod from a professor, or a few lively debates in university tutorial rooms. But that’s normally about it. Unless you are Professor Bruce Gilley. In 2017, Bruce authored a watershed paper titled, ‘The Case for Colonialism.’ It sparked a glob…

1
The sniper bullet of surprise, with Jeffery Deaver 50:39

7M ago50:39

50:39

It’s that time of the year when many of us will sit down and write. It could be resolutions. It could be reflections. It could be that book that everyone has inside them. There's just one problem. It's really hard. To crack the code of writing, Will is joined by one of the most successful crime fiction authors of all time, Jeffery Deaver. Jeffery h…

1
Draining the swamp, with Sebastian Gorka 52:52

7M ago52:52

52:52

It's hard not to see America as a country in decline. Foreign policy attention is stretched, political debate is toxic, the national debt is eye-watering, and the institutions have been ideologically captured. However, America has been written off before. It's geographic, demographic, economic and military advantages remain the envy of the world. T…

1
"Isn't politics magical" - Tom Switzer 49:32

8M ago49:32

49:32

As we approach the end of 2023, it’s easy to become despondent about the fate of the West. War rages in Ukraine and the Middle East, as China eyes off Taiwan. The cost of living crisis is becoming unbearable for average families. Illiberal ‘wokeism’ continues to infect our institutions. And the Anglosphere leaders elected to guide us out of this me…

1
"Australia was a lab of tyranny" - Naomi Wolf 51:58

8M ago51:58

51:58

Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations. For over 30 years, Naomi Wolf was lauded as a feminist icon, a bestselling author and a darling of liberal America. Her investigative journalism during the COVID pandemic led to those labels being replaced overnight with pejoratives like 'conspiracy theorist' and 'anti-v…

1
The power of satire, with The Babylon Bee's Joel Berry 48:28

8M ago48:28

48:28

Satire is one of the most important ingredients of a healthy public discourse. But it is under threat across the west. Comedy, once the most subversive of artforms, has caved to the woke mob. Misinformation laws threaten to curtail free speech even further. And perhaps some of us have lost the ability to laugh at the irreverent and the politically …

1
It's Hardcore History, with Dan Carlin 53:47

8M ago53:47

53:47

Who was the most influential person in history? Why do empires fall? What is the biggest misconception about WWI? Napoleon or Alexander the Great? And why are men so obsessed with the Roman Empire? All these questions (and more) are answered by the host of Hardcore History, Dan Carlin. Hardcore History is widely recognised as one of the greatest po…

1
An honest conversation about colonialism, with Nigel Biggar 50:03

8M ago50:03

50:03

Today, colonialism is viewed by many as the original sin of British history. The truth is far more complex. Theologian, ethicist, and author Nigel Biggar is one of the very few public figures with the courage to take a holistic approach to the study of the British Empire. His latest book is titled ‘Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning.’ It offers a moral…

1
"London has fallen" - Laurence Fox 47:15

9M ago47:15

47:15

For the second time in his life, Laurence Fox is engulfed in a cancellation storm. It has taken a heavy toll, but he refuses to be silenced. In this wide-ranging conversation with Will, he discusses cancel culture, GB News, the failure of multiculturalism, the future of conservatism and the sad decline of London. Follow Australiana on social media …

1
"Why is this lying bastard lying to me?" - Rob Burley 45:41

9M ago45:41

45:41

The forensic, long-form political interview remains possibly the best, and certainly the most entertaining, mechanism for political accountability. Can it survive in an age of spin, social media and soundbites? To answer that question, Will is joined by Rob Burley. Rob is one of the most respected and experienced editors in British political televi…

1
Un-cancelling Graham Linehan 54:05

9M ago54:05

54:05

Graham Linehan created some of the most beloved British sitcoms of all-time, including Father Ted, Black Books and The IT Crowd. That counted for little when his life was upended for the ‘crime’ of advocating for sex-based rights. In this conversation with host Will Kingston, Graham talks about his career in television, the craft of sitcom writing …

1
Off to war, with James Holland 46:11

9M ago46:11

46:11

What if Hitler was killed in 1923? Was Germany's defeat in WWII inevitable? How should we assess Churchill's legacy? And are the events unfolding in Gaza today a by-product of WWII? All these questions, and more, are answered by arguably the pre-eminent living historian on the Second World War, James Holland. Follow Australiana on social media here…

1
In conversation with Jeffrey Archer 48:39

10M ago48:39

48:39

Jeffrey Archer is one of the most successful authors of all time. He has been published in 115 countries and more than 50 languages, with international sales passing 275 million copies. But his life has been just as remarkable as any of his stories. It’s a tale of political intrigue, wealth, fame, financial calamity, nobility, crime, incarceration,…

1
"This is the medical scandal of the 21st century" - Helen Joyce 1:03:48

10M ago1:03:48

1:03:48

Helen Joyce is a journalist, author and feminist campaigner. Her first book, ‘Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality’, was an immediate bestseller and named by The Times, The Spectator and The Observer as one of their books of 2021. It tells the story of how national laws, company policies, school curricula, medical protocols, academic research and med…

1
The Saad Truth about Happiness, with Gad Saad 53:17

10M ago53:17

53:17

Has western society ever been more unhappy? Deaths of despair are at historically high levels. Antidepressant use is through the roof. Woke culture is encouraging us to feel guilty about pretty much everything. We are in desperate need of an injection of happiness. Fortunately, this week Will is joined by just the person to provide it. Professor Ga…

1
"The government is the enemy" - Hannah Cox 48:42

10M ago48:42

48:42

Capitalism was the driving force behind extraordinary advances in prosperity throughout the 20th century. But isolationist policies, stagnant wages and woke companies have led many to question whether the capitalist system has run its course. To assess the state of capitalism in 2023, Will is joined by self-described 'rabid capitalist', Hannah Cox.…

1
10 questions for Dominic Sandbrook 1:00:19

11M ago1:00:19

1:00:19

Who was the greatest-ever military general? What was history's most disastrous party? Is identity politics ruining the study of history? And what on Earth was the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth? All these questions and more are answered by the co-host of the smash-hit 'The Rest is History' podcast, Dominic Sandbrook. Follow Australiana on social me…

1
"It doesn't matter who tells the story, it matters how it's told" - Helen Dale 1:05:39

11M ago1:05:39

1:05:39

It may seem odd to describe a book that was published almost 30 years ago as highly topical. But the 1995 Miles Franklin Award winner, ‘The Hand That Signed The Paper’, is just that. The book's author, Helen Dale, has since established herself as one of Australia's true polymaths. She has continued to produce magnificent novels, such as 'Kingdom of…

1
"Let's do the best things first" - Bjorn Lomborg 56:19

11M ago56:19

56:19

International best-selling author Bjorn Lomborg has spent a career infuriating people by being sensible. He brought much-needed pragmatism to the climate debate, and he's now doing the same for international development. In his latest book, titled 'Best Things First', he presents the 12 most efficient solutions for the world's poorest and our globa…

1
"We emote so much, and feel so little" - John Anderson 43:56

11M ago43:56

43:56

John Anderson AC is a sixth-generation farmer and grazier from New South Wales, who spent 19 years from 1989 in the Australian Parliament, including six years as Leader of the National Party and Deputy Prime Minister. In this wide-ranging conversation with host Will Kingston, John discusses the health of public debate today, the upcoming Voice refe…

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