Freddy Gray is deputy editor of The Spectator
It was hard to enjoy Rishi Sunak’s sit down with Elon Musk on stage at Lancaster House last night. It was hard to hate it, too. We saw two men, two different types of nerd, talking about how artificial intelligence can be good or bad, and how science fiction is a useful guide to this coming
Try to think of leading names in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Kamala Harris is probably not the first that springs to mind. The woman can barely talk. But she is Vice President of the United States of America and as such she’s in London, about to give a speech ahead of Rishi Sunak’s big
27 min listen
This week Freddy speaks to Dennis Ross, former Middle East coordinator under President Clinton and current Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. They discuss Biden’s visit to Israel this week, how his policy towards the Middle East borrows from Trump and Obama, and how we can discern between the public posturing and
Joe Biden prides himself on his decades of foreign-policy experience, his ability to talk tough yet be kind, and his talent for bringing opposing sides together. Touching down in Israel today, he gave Bibi Netanyahu a big hug – quite the gesture – and promptly told him he believed that ‘the other team’ – i.e.
31 min listen
This week Freddy speaks to Andrew Cockburn, Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine, about America’s response to the developments in the Middle East. On the podcast they discuss the ‘squad’ (a section of Democrats who have been making pro-Palestinian noises), how America and Israel’s surveillance system allowed the attack to happen, and the importance of the
23 min listen
Freddy speaks to Roger Kimball, editor of the New Criterion and columnist for The Spectator’s US edition. After Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker of the House this week, they discuss why the Republican party is such a mess.
In comparison to the Republicans in the United States, the British Conservative party is a model of unity and discipline. In Manchester this week, for all the blather about Nigel Farage and ‘pandering’ to the far right, the grumbling about nanny-statism and HS2ing-to-nowhere, the Tories held themselves together. Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, a small group
20 min listen
This week Freddy Gray takes a trip to Planet Biden and imagines what would happen if little green men invaded earth and found a big orange one back in the White House (01:15), Kate Andrews finds herself appalled by the so-called ‘advice’ routinely handed out to women that can be at best, judgemental, and at
38 min listen
This week Freddy is joined in The Spectator offices by regular contributor and fellow of urban studies at Chapman University, Joel Kotkin. They discuss Biden and Trump’s respective attempts to burnish their credentials with the unions this week, how the cultural agenda is alienating voters, and whether technology could prevent the coming of neo-feudalism.
‘If aliens attacked Earth, do you think we would be safer under Joe Biden or Donald Trump?’ That’s a question in a new poll of American voters, and 43 per cent of respondents opted for Trump, 32 per cent for Biden, while 25 per cent sagaciously picked ‘Don’t know’. It’s fun to imagine President Donald
Another day in America, another judgment against the Trump family. In the latest, New York state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron has ruled that the Trump Organisation is liable for ‘persistent and repeated fraud’ and stripped the 45th president’s family business of its operating licenses in the Empire State. At first glance, it appears to be a devastating piece of news
Freddy Gray is joined by Charlie Gammell, a historian and former diplomat who was on the Iran desk at the foreign office. On the podcast they discuss this week’s Iran-US deal where six prisoners have been released on either side and $6 billion sent back to Iran. There has been political backlash with the Republicans
It’s only a matter of time before Russell Brand, backed as he is by Elon Musk, releases his first show on X. I say that because YouTube has just announced that it has ‘suspended monetisation’ on Brand’s channel for ‘violating’ something it calls its ‘creator responsibility policy’. Brand has 6.6 million followers on YouTube, which makes
13 min listen
For the first time since 1992 the US and the UK will have elections in the same year, and – for the first time since 1964 – there is a real chance that those campaigns could overlap. How will they impact each other? Kate Andrews speaks to Katy Balls and Freddy Gray.
7 min listen
Freddy Gray speaks to author and lawyer Alan Dershowitz who wrote Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law. On the podcast Freddy speaks to Alan about the Republican’s formal impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, claiming they have unearthed a ‘culture of corruption’ surrounding the president.
America’s wacky Libertarian party, which sadly never gets anywhere in presidential elections, has just filed a petition to put Democratic President Joe Biden, 80, and Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, 81, under ‘conservatorship’. The Libertarians claim that America’s ‘geriatric elites’ are evidently unfit for public office and need, for everyone’s sake, to have all decision-making
36 min listen
This week Freddy Gray speaks to politics lecturer and writer Damon Linker about the ongoing investigations into Hunter Biden. With Trump facing his own criminal charges, will stories about potential Biden corruption muddy the waters for voters?
Will President Joe Biden be on the ballot in the presidential election of 2024? It’s a question that Biden seemed to answer four months ago when he announced, in an online video, that he would be running for re-election next year. ‘Let’s finish this job,’ he said. ‘Because I know we can.’ Three-quarters of Americans
22 min listen
This week Freddy speaks to Jacob Heilbrunn, editor of the National Interest, about Vivek Ramaswamy. What does he stand for? Could he be the ideal candidate for Trump’s vice president?
27 min listen
On the podcast this week: In his cover piece for the magazine, The Spectator’s deputy editor Freddy Gray says that he was hardly surprised that Donald Trump chose not to participate in last night’s Republican candidates debate. He argues that Trump no longer needs the TV networks and joins the podcast alongside Douglas Murray, who profiles the
