Ben Delo

Friday

Toby Young

Elon Musk to Clavicular: should we fear the manosphere? with Peter Hitchens & Toby Young

From our UK edition

40 min listen

For this week’s Edition, William Moore is joined by the Spectator’s associate editor and director of the Free Speech Union Toby Young, journalist and author Esther Walker, and Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens. This week: the men on the spectrum who rule the world. Charles Steel writes in the magazine about the wealthy, obsessive and often unconventional figures who increasingly shape politics and technology – from Elon Musk to the crypto billionaire Ben Delo. Is autism a useful way of understanding these men or has society become too obsessed with diagnosing people?

Elon Musk to Clavicular: should we fear the manosphere? with Peter Hitchens & Toby Young

Wednesday

Michael Gove

Can Reform reform?

Of all the uses to which Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne might put their money, there are few more innocent than giving it to a political party. Neither want, nor expect, preferment, honours or patronage. Both are idealistic by nature and philanthropic by habit. They have all the personal wealth they need to fund their lifestyles, and harbour hopes only for enriching Britain by their actions. I might not agree with all their ideas for how one might make this country stronger, or indeed how best to spend £72 million to improve our governance. But they have shown themselves a good deal shrewder than me in making money, and they should be entitled, within the law, to spend it as they wish.

Martin Vander Weyer

Could I bear to vote for Zack Polanski?

From our UK edition

Will Labour’s ‘visitor levy’ generate £52 million of revenue for public spending in York and North Yorkshire, as a House of Commons briefing suggests? Or will it deter holidaymakers from exploring the region I love – and every other English destination where the levy is applied – while piling adversity on a hospitality trade already caned by employment cost hikes and tight consumer wallets? Modelling by the Tax Policy Associates thinktank offers a central estimate that the proposed tax on overnight stays (at up to 5 per cent, as set by local authorities) could raise £603 million a year for the loss of 5.8 million room-nights and £689 million in overall visitor spending, roughly half from overseas.