** Americano is nominated in the Political Podcast Awards 2025. Vote for it to win the People's Choice category here **

Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. All the former leaders of the free world were there to watch Trump take the oath - again - but how was this inauguration different to the last? And what signs were there of how Trump intends to govern?

Guest hosting for Americano, The Spectator’s Kate Andrews speaks to Freddy Gray, who is on the ground in D.C., and Lionel Shriver about Trump’s speech lamenting the Biden administration, Biden’s last minute pardoning of his family, and why some Democrats could be willing to give Trump a chance this time round. 

Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Natasha Feroze.

The parties - and protests - have already kicked off, as Trump's inauguration gets underway in Washington D.C. today. Katy Balls speaks to Michael Gove and Republicans Overseas UK's Sarah Elliott about what we can expect from the first week of Trump's second presidency, and how Keir Starmer will attempt to navigate the 'special relationship'. Sarah updates us on the mood in the US capital; which UK politicians have been spotted joining in on the fun?

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

On this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Michael Gove offers up some advice to Keir Starmer (1:33); Mary Wakefield examines the rise of the ‘divorce party’ (7:28); Mitchell Reiss looks at the promise and peril of AI as he reviews Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope and the Human Spirit, a collaboration between the former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt, the former chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft Craig Mundie, and the late US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (13:52); Max Jeffery listens to The Armie HammerTime Podcast as the actor attempts to reverse his spectacular downfall (20:45); and, Nicholas Farrell reveals the time he got drunk with the ghost of Mussolini (25:24). 
 
Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.

It's been a tricky week for Rachel Reeves: an onslaught of criticism for the levels of borrowing costs, GDP at 0.1 per cent, and stagflation still gripping the UK economy. Remarkably she has come out of it looking stronger – politically at least. But can she afford to celebrate? The Spectator's Kate Andrews and data editor Michael Simmons join the podcast to discuss the economy, and go through some of the most striking graphs from The Spectator's data hub this week.

Produced by Natasha Feroze.

Welcome to one of the most heated exchanges of views in the history of the Holy Smoke podcast. In this episode, Damian Thompson talks to the distinguished Islamic scholar Dr Musharraf Hussain about the controversy surrounding the Muslim background of some of the accused in the crimes of Britain's 'grooming gangs'. 

Damian draws an analogy between the Catholic hierarchy's cover-up of sex abuse by priests, and what he claims was the role of certain local Muslim community leaders in restricting debate about, and investigation of, abuse committed by men from Pakistani families. To say that there was no common ground between Dr Thompson and Dr Hussain would be putting it mildly, alas...

Produced by Patrick Gibbons.

This week: President Trump’s plan to Make America Greater

In the cover piece for the magazine, our deputy editor and host of the Americano podcast, Freddy Gray, delves into Trump’s plans. He speaks to insiders, including Steve Bannon, about the President’s ambitions for empire-building. Could he really take over Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal? And if not, what is he really hoping to achieve? Academic and long-time friend of J.D. Vance, James Orr, also writes in the magazine this week about how the vice president-elect could be an even more effective standard-bearer for the MAGA movement. Freddy and James joined the podcast, just before Freddy heads off to cover Trump’s inauguration. (1:00)

Next: the child-free influencers waging war on motherhood

Kara Kennedy also writes in the magazine about the popularity of social media influencers advocating child-free lives. It’s well documented that more and more young people are choosing not to have children. However, while some might think this is about championing different lifestyles, Kara writes that many of these influencers are, in fact, shaming those who choose to have children. What motivates them? Kara joined the podcast alongside Brittany Brantley, an influencer who started out in the child-free community, before choosing to have a child. (16:58)

And finally: can fact-checking ever be objective?

Following the news that Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta will reduce its fact-checking service, Matt Ridley examines the world of fact-checking and declares the practice ‘corrupted’. Matt argues that fact-checking is riddled with bias – can it ever be objective? Matt joined the podcast alongside The Spectator’s very own fact-checking team, Sam McPhail and Michael Simmons – who get a positive mention in Matt’s piece. They lift the lid on how the magazine approaches fact-checking. (26:58)

Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William Moore.

Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson.

** Americano is nominated in the Political Podcast Awards 2025. Vote for it to win the People's Choice category here **

The LA wildfires have been mostly extinguished, but there is growing concern that more fires could be imminent as strong winds are expected this week. Many believe that the destruction has shone a light on the broader mismanagement of  California, run by the Democrat Gavin Newsom – who has proposed billions in new funding for 'Los Angeles 2.0'. Freddy Gray speaks to energy specialist Robert Bryce about the policy failures which have contributed to the wildfires, what the clear up could look like and why this crisis will expose the class divide in America.

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is Orlando Reade, whose book What in Me Is Dark: The Revolutionary Life of Paradise Lost describes the life and afterlife of one of the greatest poems in the language. Orlando tells me how Milton’s epic has been read with – and against – the grain over the centuries; how it went from being a totem of English exceptionalism to being an encouragement to postcolonial revolutionaries and political thinkers from Malcolm X to C. L. R. James; how the modernists wrestled with Milton… and how Jordan Peterson gets it wrong.

Julian is a philosopher, journalist and author. He has served as the academic director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and is a member of the Food Ethics Council. His new book, How the World Eats: A Global Food Philosophy, is out now.

On the podcast, Julian tells Liv about why he used to insist that shepherd’s pie was served at his birthday parties, the philosophical view of veganism and why it’s worth getting the expensive hazelnuts.

** Chinese Whispers is nominated in the Political Podcast Awards 2025. Vote for it to win the People's Choice category here **

Among the casualties of Donald Trump’s trade war with China in his first presidency was the telecoms giant Huawei. Founded by former military engineer Ren Zhengfei, the company is a world-leading manufacturer of everything from telecoms equipment to smartphones.

But it fell foul of the Trump administration as it tried to become integral to the world’s rollout of 5G, leading to a backlash in the West and even the house arrest of Ren’s daughter. At the centre of the row is a suspicion that Huawei is essentially a state-owned company, working at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party.

So as Trump prepares to go back to the White House, this episode tries to get to the bottom of the telecoms giant. Is it an arm of the Chinese state? How has it found such world dominating success? Can it survive a second Trump presidency?

Cindy Yu speaks to Eva Dou, technology reporter for the Washington Post. Her new book is the House of Huawei: Inside the Secret World of China’s Most Powerful Company.

** Americano is nominated in the Political Podcast Awards 2025. Vote for it to win the People's Choice category here **

Freddy Gray is joined by Amy Wax who is a professor at Penn University to discuss education in America. Recently the Florida Governor Ron De Santis has been embracing a return to ‘classical education' which emphasises liberal arts and western teachings. Amy Wax speaks to Freddy about how education in America has been taken over by ‘woke’ ideologies, what simple teaching techniques should be retuned to the classroom, and whether there is any need for the Department of Education.