You can get three months of The Spectator for just £15, plus a free bottle of Paul Roger champagne if you go to spectator.com. UK forward slash phys24.

This offer is UK only and subject to part one of a very special Christmas edition of Spectator Out Loud.

Each week we choose some of our favourite pieces from the magazine and ask their writers to read them aloud.

I'm Patrick Gibbons

and on this week's podcast. After an extraordinarily eventful year, Katie Balls declares that

2025 could redefine politics. The theme of irritability runs through Craig Brown's

Sasseries's notebook. Revealing the inspiration behind becoming an author, Kate Weinberg explains

the healing power of a father's bedtime reading. Reviewing a new four-volume edition of the

collected prose of T.S. Eliot, Craig Rain explains why 4,000 pages of literary criticism is fatally

purist. Lisa Hazeldine provides her notes on hymnals, demonstrating the Chris pages of literary criticism is fatally purest.

Lisa Hazeldine provides her notes on hymnals,

demonstrating the Christmas legacy owed to Martin Luther.

And finally, and featuring a special guest,

Melissa Kite explains why she shouldn't be allowed to go to church.

Up first, Katie Balls.

Santa will have a tricky time this year for filling all the Christmas wishlists in Westminster.

Kirstama is desperately hoping for a change in the political weather, and Kemi Bajnock would like an inn with Donald Trump. Ed Davy dreams that Labor's electoral troubles will get so bad

that proportional representation starts to look appealing.

Nigel Farage, meanwhile, wants to avoid what usually happens with him and keep his party from falling out.

Come the new year, all four leaders will have their eyes on May's local elections.

The 21 county councils, 10 unitary authorities and one metropolitan district are up for grabs for the first time since 2021.

Back then, Boris Johnson was riding a wave of popularity after the vaccine rollout and the Tories won Hartlepool from Labour.

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