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Best of the Spectator

The Edition: Christmas Special 2024 with Rod Liddle, Lionel Shriver, Matthew Parris and Mary Wakefield

Best of the Spectator

The Spectator

News Commentary, News, Daily News, Society & Culture

4.4785 Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2024

⏱️ 71 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to a special festive episode of The Edition podcast, where we will be taking you through the pages of The Spectator’s Christmas triple issue.

Up first: our review of the year – and what a year it has been. At the start of 2024, the outcome of the US election looked very different, the UK had a different Prime Minister, and The Spectator had a different editor! Luckily, The Spectator’s regular columnists are on hand to declare what they got right – and wrong – throughout the year, and whether they’re optimistic for 2025. Rod Liddle, Matthew Parris, Mary Wakefield and Lionel Shriver take us through everything from Trump to trans (03:24).

Next: ‘Good riddance 2024’ – in his own alternative review of the year, Roger Lewis declares 2024 one to forget. The actor Robert Bathurst voices a special out-loud version of the article, taking us through the year in Roger’s typically acerbic style (28:37).

Then: the unsung heroes at Christmas time. While most of the country will be sitting down to Christmas dinner, hundreds of people will face an atypical day, not least of all those deployed on the Royal Navy's Continuous At Sea Deterrent mission. Journalist Ali Kefford takes us through the relentless schedule of Royal Navy submariners in the Christmas issue, and explores the strangely isolating but oddly communal experience of Christmas at sea, where the traditions of land meet the peculiarities of life under the water. To explain what it’s really like, Ali joins the podcast alongside naval officer Alex Kubara (42:56).

And finally: the prescient politics of Tintin. Few characters have captured the spirit of adventure quite like Tintin, the intrepid boy reporter with a knack for stumbling into international intrigue. From the deserts of Arabia to the jungles of South America – and even to the moon – Tintin has been a global icon of curiosity and courage for nearly a century. In the Christmas magazine former foreign correspondent and ‘Tintinologist’ Michael Farr celebrates the genius of the Belgian reporter and how politics was never far from Hergé’s agenda. To take us through a history of Tintin, and to understand its appeal and influence, we're joined by Michael and another author who took inspiration from the character, Anthony Horowitz (52:18).

Throughout the podcast, you will also hear from The Spectator’s agony aunt Dear Mary, and the special celebrity guests who have sought her advice in this year’s Christmas magazine, including Jacob Rees-Mogg (27:07), James MacMillan (50:51) and Sophie Winkleman (1:09:49).

Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

You can get three months of The Spectator for just £15, plus a free bottle of Paul Régé champagne

0:05.5

if you go to spectator.com.uk forward slash FIS24. This offer is UK-only and subject to this special Christmas edition podcast from The Spectator,

0:28.1

where we'll be shedding a little light on the process behind putting the Spectator's Christmas triple issue to bed.

0:35.0

I'm William Moore, the Spectator's features editor.

0:37.4

And I'm Laura Prendergast, the Spectator's Features Editor. And I'm Lara Prendergast,

0:38.6

the Spectator's executive editor. This week, we'll be reviewing the year with some of the

0:43.3

spectators' columnists. We'll be asking what it's like to spend Christmas under the sea,

0:48.5

and we'll be joined by Anthony Horowitz to celebrate the genius of Hage's Tintin.

0:53.9

Scattered throughout the podcast, you'll also be hearing some festive submissions to our

0:58.3

agony aunt, Dear Mary.

1:08.6

So it's been quite the year.

1:11.6

Earlier today, I spoke with His Majesty the King to request the dissolution of Parliament,

1:16.6

and we will have a general election on the 4th of July.

1:19.6

Oh, my God.

1:23.6

A labour landslide.

1:28.4

Because in the aftermath of this attack, the community of Southport had to suffer twice.

1:35.1

That's where the Ukrainians do really well, moving into Kursk on a 30-mile front by about 20 miles deep,

1:40.0

and that may get considerably bigger quite quickly.

1:42.9

A view of Iran's mass launch of missiles towards Israel last night.

1:46.7

The lack of warning to civilian aviation, a sign of the will to surprise.

1:50.5

Yeah, that I'm soon to enter the Valhalla of ex-specator editors.

1:55.4

My successor is going to be none other than Michael Gould.

...

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