Is swinging back?
From our US edition
Polyamory is basically swinging on an industrial scale
Cosmo Landesman
Thursday
Monday
I'm tired of being a good friend
I would do anything to help a friend. Need money? A shoulder to cry on? A place to stay? A confidant to confess to? I’m your man. Want me to read your new novel? Forget it. I would do anything for a friend, but as the late Meat Loaf would say: I won’t do that.
Thursday
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
In defence of staring
Like many people, I enjoy watching people. There’s a great pleasure in sitting in a café or on a park bench on a sunny afternoon and just watching people pass by. But increasingly, people-watching is becoming suspect, and even criminalised. The latest and most worrying example is Transport for London’s campaign against what it calls
Thursday
The rise of the Busy People
From our US edition
The world needs busy people to keep turning — and someone has to pick up the tab
Thursday
Vlad the Invader
35 min listen
In this week’s episode: What does Putin really want for Russia? For this week’s cover story, Niall Ferguson writes about how Putin seems to be trying to recreate the Russia of the Past, while this week’s diary by Timothy Garton Ash says the West has misunderstood his intentions, Niall and Timothy join the podcast along
Why men of a certain age love to get naked
Something very strange happens to men as they get older: they like to go nude. I don’t mean they become practising nudists who seek out and enjoy the company of others of their kind. But unlike most younger men, they feel no embarrassment or regret at being seen naked. Consider the recent battle between one
Sunday
Succeeding at failing
From our US edition
Failure is not a learning experience; it’s a humiliating and hurtful experience
Thursday
When did sexual deviancy become so dull?
Recently, at a London dinner party, I found myself sitting next to a beautiful young woman with a PhD in physics and a passion for bondage. At first I thought: I’ve hit the jackpot! Brains-Beauty-Bondage — here she is: wife number three! And then she treated me to a long monologue on the joys of
Monday
Did the culture wars kill the New Year’s Eve party?
From our US edition
How do we celebrate when all the old pleasures have been pathologized?
Thursday
It’s no longer just clean eaters who are the health bores
David Hockney has just endorsed a series of specially designed beer mats, created by an artist called Mr Bingo, that display a cigarette in an ashtray with the slogan: ‘Bored with wellness.’ He went on to declare he found the very idea of wellness ‘ridiculous’ and ‘too bossy’. Hockney is a verification of that urban
Thursday
Plan Z: the rise of Éric Zemmour
34 min listen
In this week’s episode: Who is Eric Zemmour – can he take on President Macron? In our cover story this week, Freddy Gray looks at the rise of Eric Zemmour, the TV presenter who looks set to stir up French politics ahead of next year’s election. Freddy is joined on the podcast by Sophie Pedder,
Would you go to a naked dining club?
Why would anyone want to dine in the nude with other nude diners? Yes, I get being nude on a sunny beach. Swimming nude. Walking nude. But eating nude in public? What’s the appeal? Why leave your comfort zone for the Twilight Zone? Yet nude dining is making a comeback — or at least it’s
Monday
Personal grooming on date night
From our US edition
You never appreciate how little your friends know you till they fix you up with a date
Wednesday
Help! I don’t know what a cervix is
With all this talk of private parts, the political has now gotten very personal. Recently, I was having an argument with a male transgender rights activist over Labour MP Rosie Duffield’s claim that ‘only women have a cervix’. I huffed and puffed and pontificated about the ‘undeniable facts of biology and female anatomy’ when it
Thursday
Americans, London needs you
From our US edition
I wonder if London — or any of the great cities — will ever be the same again?
Thursday
The heist: nobody is safe from Russia’s digital pirates
37 min listen
What is the true threat of ransomware both to our governments and us individually?(00:30) Also on the podcast: What are the Italian ‘Green Pass’ Protests?(15:14) And finally… is it harder to be the good Samaritan in the modern world?(25:28) With former head of the national cyber security centre Ciaran Martian, white-hat hacker Tommy DeVoss, journalist
My failed attempts to be a good Samaritan
I’ve been trying to be a good Samaritan for some time now and failing. But this week I discovered that even well-trained, experienced good Samaritans — who work for the Samaritans — can fail too. Reports have surfaced revealing the ‘abuse’ of vulnerable callers by a small number of the charity’s phone volunteers. It’s a
Thursday
We’ve become a nation of armchair psychiatrists
Are we becoming a nation of amateur psychoanalysts and armchair psychiatrists? We all speak the language of therapy and are quick to diagnose and label friends, strangers and even loved ones. Prince Harry does it to his wife Meghan Markle in a forthcoming five-part series on mental health for Apple TV that he’s co-produced with
Wednesday
Do women really like porn?
From our US edition
Porn exposes the difference between men and women
