Lara Prendergast

Lara Prendergast

Lara Prendergast is executive editor of The Spectator. She hosts two Spectator podcasts, The Edition and Table Talk, and edits The Spectator’s food and drink coverage.

Douglas Murray, Katja Hoyer and Lara Prendergast

20 min listen

On this week’s episode: Douglas Murray on Hispanic Conservatives in US politics (0:26). Katja Hoyer on East German sentiment towards Russia (08:32) and Lara Predergast on the rise of the sex bore (13.13). Presented by Natasha Feroze.Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Cold War

41 min listen

In this week’s episode:Can Russia turn off Germany’s gas?Wolfgang Münchau and Katja Hoyer discuss Germany’s looming energy crisis (0.51).Also this week:What are relations like between Boris Johnson and Prince Charles? The Spectator’s diary editor, James Heale joins Camilla Tominey from the Telegraph talk about the growing tensions between the Prime Minister and future King (19.56).And

Lara Prendergast

Beware the sex party bores

You know you’re getting old when your friends start going to sex parties. In our twenties, there were parties, and sometimes people would have sex at them. But they were never known as sex parties. Now we are firmly in our thirties, the phrase ‘sex party’ is creeping into everyday conversations alongside mortgage rates, nursery

The finest hotels in Marrakesh

British travellers have found solace in Marrakesh for many years. In early February, I visited the city and happened to be on the first flight out of the UK to Morocco after travel restrictions were lifted. The plane was full of all sorts of characters – old hippy types desperate to feel the thrill of

Putin’s billions

35 min listen

In this week’s episode: Are Russian sanctions backfiring?The Spectator’s economics editor, Kate Andrews and Elisabeth Braw from American Enterprise Institute discuss why sanctions against Russia may be playing into Putin’s hands. (0.57)Also this week:Does Carrie Johnson get a hard time from the British public? Spectator columnist, Matthew Parris talks with the Daily Mail columnist about

The death of political authority

37 min listen

In this week’s episode:Why is there a lack of faith in western leaders? Spectator deputy editor Freddy Gray, Callum Williams from the Economist & Harvard professor Barbara Kellerman discuss why the world feel so leaderless. (00:44) Also this week:How do you escape the Church of Scientology? Spectator Columnist Mary Wakefield talks with former scientologist Claire Headley

How the rebels plan to finish off Boris

45 min listen

In this week’s episode: Is the Prime Minister a dead man walking? Spectator Political Editor James Forsyth and MP Jesse Norman who expressed no confidence in Monday’s vote discuss the future of Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party. (00:45) Also this week:Why is there so much virtue signalling in modern advertising? Spectator Columnist Lionel Shriver and

With Nell Hudson

21 min listen

Nell Hudson has starred in Outlander, Victoria and the latest Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. Her debut novel, Just for Today, is out now: it’s about a group of twenty-somethings in London, having ‘heady, reckless fun’. Nell speaks to Lara and Olivia about how she’s enjoying veganism and the one meat she misses, growing up on

The quiet radicalism of Elizabeth II

34 min listen

In this week’s episode:Robert Hardman & Angela Levin, two of the UK’s royal specialists, explore the character of the Queen and the impact she has had on the institution of the monarchy. (00:36) Also this week:For now, it seems that Boris Johnson is hanging on after the publishing of the Sue Gray report, but how

With Nuno Mendes

29 min listen

Born in Lisbon, Portugal. Nuno Mendes grew up on a farm which inspired a passion and understanding for food. He attended the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco but after over a decade in North America, he decided he wanted to return to Europe. Moving to London, Nuno founded the cult domestic pop-up known as

Zelensky’s choice

31 min listen

This week Lara Prendergast and William Moore talk to James Forsyth and the academic, Dr Alexander Clarkson about Zelensky’s possible path to peace (00:42). Followed by Owen Matthews, The Spectator’s Russia correspondent on Turkey’s power over Nato expansion (13:28). Finally, a chat between two bowls fanatics, Michael Simmons, The Spectator’s data journalist and Andrew Gibson

Can Keir escape?

43 min listen

This week Lara Prendergast and William Moore talk to Katy Balls and the journalist Paul Mason about the future of Labour (00:40). Followed by historian David Abulafia and the Sunday Times education editor Sian Griffiths on the announcement of Cambridge University’s plans to limit the number of their private school students (15:20). Finally, a debate

With Tommy Banks

24 min listen

Tommy Banks is the youngest ever UK Michelin-starred chef, awarded in 2013 when he was aged 24, and is the owner of the restaurant The Black Swan which Tripadvisor named the best restaurant in the world. On the podcast, Tommy talks to Lara and Liv about how he turned to food after his dreams of

Can Elon Musk take on the tech censors?

25 min listen

In this week’s episode: Is Elon Musk heading for a clash with the British Government over free speech? Elon Musk is buying Twitter. But might the Tesla CEO be in for a battle he wasn’t expecting with the UK government? Spectator Editor Fraser Nelson writes about this potential clash in this week’s issue and he

With Ameer Kotecha

20 min listen

Ameer Kotecha is a British diplomat, pop-up chef and food writer. His first cookbook the Platinum Jubilee Cookbook, in which he chronicles 70 recipes related to the Royals, Diplomacy and the Commonwealth comes out on April 28th. He has also launched alongside Fortnum & Mason’s the Platinum Pudding competition, which hopes to discover the next

How much longer can Boris Johnson keep going?

41 min listen

In this episode: Is Boris going to limp on? In her cover piece this week, Katy Balls writes that although Boris Johnson believes he can survive the partygate scandal, he has some way to go until he is safe, while in his column, James Forsyth writes about why the Tories have a summer of discontent ahead

Cross to bear

40 min listen

In this week’s episode: How are the people of both Russia and Ukraine processing the war? Our Russia correspondent Owen Matthews writes in this week’s Spectator that he has been stunned at how easily some of his Russian friends have accepted the Kremlin’s propaganda. He joins the podcast to explain why he thinks this is, followed

With Michael Heath

35 min listen

Michael Heath is a British strip cartoonist and illustrator and has been working nonstop since the 1950s. He has been cartoon editor of The Spectator since 1991. On the podcast, he talks to Lara and Liv about carrying German bombs into the local pub like milk bottles during the second world war, being given chewing

The politics of war crimes

42 min listen

In this week’s episode: Is Putin guilty of war crimes? For this week’s cover piece, The Spectator’s Editor Fraser Nelson looks at the risks and rewards of labelling Vladimir Putin and Russian soldiers war criminals. He joins the podcast, followed by Michael Bryant, the author of A World History of War Crimes, who writes in

Biden’s war

36 min listen

In this week’s episode: Is Biden’s approach to the war in Ukraine more calculating than it seems? For this week’s cover piece, in this week’s cover piece, Matt Purple examines Biden’s response to the situation in Ukraine. The good, the bad and the gaffs. He joins the podcast along with the founder of Political Human