Best of the Spectator

Filtered episodes(6)

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  Reality Check: Arthur Laffer vs Aaron Bastani | LIVE

  Published Sep 11, 2026

  Reality Check

  Arthur Laffer, the economist, former adviser to Ronald Reagan and architect of the Laffer Curve, goes head-to-head with journalist and left-wing author Aaron Bastani over one question: should Britain introduce a wealth tax?Chaired by The Spectator’s economics editor and host of the Reality Check podcast, Michael Simmons, they debate whether a wealth tax could raise significant revenue, or simply drive wealth and investment out of the UK.Spectator subscribers can watch the full debate at spectato

  dailysocietyculture
• StandardSummaries only
  Reality Check: the ADHD debate we’re not allowed to have

  Published Aug 26, 2026

  Reality Check

  The backlash to Channel 4’s The Great ADHD Myth has reignited a fierce debate over how we diagnose ADHD – and whether that debate itself is becoming impossible to have.Michael Simmons looks at the extraordinary rise in diagnoses, the gap between recorded cases and underlying prevalence, and asks whether we are increasingly medicalising normal variations in behaviour.Is Britain finally recognising a vast amount of unmet need – or has diagnosis begun to serve a social as well as a medical function

  dailysocietyculture
• StandardSummaries only
  Reality Check: Britain's AI problem isn't data centres – it's electricity

  Published Aug 17, 2026

  Reality Check

  Britain wants to become an AI superpower – but does it have the electricity to power one? Data centres underpin everything from online banking and streaming to artificial intelligence, and demand for them is exploding. The government has designated them as critical national infrastructure and is promising billions of pounds of investment, but Britain’s ageing grid is already struggling to keep up.Michael Simmons asks whether the UK can build enough power stations, transmission lines and substati

  artificial-intelligencedailysocietyculture
• StandardSummaries only
  Reality Check: why Labour doesn’t understand business

  Published Aug 8, 2026

  Reality Check

  Oliver Shah is a former journalist at The Sunday Times and now runs Newcome Advisory. On this week's Reality Check Oliver and Michael discuss why Labour can't build trust with the businesses, how the National Insurance tax hike was the poison pill for the private sector and whether it is still worth being an entrepreneur in Britain today.This episode is brought to you by Alliance Witan investment trust. To learn more about the trust and how we’re helping investors find their comfort zone, please

  dailysocietyculture
• StandardSummaries only
  Reality Check: could women be the solution to Britain's prison problem?

  Published Aug 4, 2026

  Reality Check

  Amid rising backlash over the early prisoner release scheme, Kemi Badenoch has called for emergency legislation to stop the plans going ahead. The new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has already halted the plans until a review has been conducted. The situation with prison overcrowding is a ticking timebomb – what options are available? To alleviate the risk, some suggest women should be prioritised as candidates for early release, and women's prisons repurposed. To discuss, Michael Simmons is joined

  dailysocietyculture
• StandardSummaries only
  Reality Check: Britain's homelessness & why Burnham won't fix it

  Published Jul 28, 2026

  Reality Check

  Andy Burnham has laid out some of his top policy agendas for his premiership. Top of the list is to tackle homelessness – something the former Manchester mayor pledged to solve in Greater Manchester too, but the numbers have suggested the outcome was otherwise. What really needs to be done to fix homelessness in Britain? And how does his other policy of rent controls work against ending rough sleeping? Michael Simmons takes a look at the data.This episode is brought to you by Alliance Witan inve

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