Shows
Best of the SpectatorSpectator Out Loud: Harry Cole, Zoe Strimpel, Michael Simmons, Nigel Warburton and Justin MarozziOn this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Having returned from Washington D.C., Harry Cole reads his diary for the week (1:16); Zoe Strimpel reports on the Gen Z fliers obsessed with maximalising their air miles (5:37); Michael Simmons argues that Scotland is the worst when it comes to government waste (12:00); reviewing Quentin Skinner’s Liberty as Independence, Nigel Warburton examines what it means to be free (17:45); and, Justin Marozzi provides his notes on possum (25:02).
Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.2025-03-0929 min
A Point of ViewLeaning In to Social MediaZoe Strimpel explains why she's decided to lean in to social media, and not worry about how much time she spends scrolling.Despite ongoing concerns about its impact on our brains, Zoe says she's personally found the algorithm benign, offering her endless information about food and cooking."I have come to the conclusion that for a grown woman with many cares, it's mostly beneficial, interesting, soothing and yes, also sometimes even useful"Producer: Sheila Cook
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production Co-ordinator: Liam Morrey
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith2025-03-0710 min
Spectator Out LoudHarry Cole, Zoe Strimpel, Michael Simmons, Nigel Warburton and Justin MarozziOn this week’s Spectator Out Loud: Having returned from Washington D.C., Harry Cole reads his diary for the week (1:16); Zoe Strimpel reports on the Gen Z fliers obsessed with maximalising their air miles (5:37); Michael Simmons argues that Scotland is the worst when it comes to government waste (12:00); reviewing Quentin Skinner’s Liberty as Independence, Nigel Warburton examines what it means to be free (17:45); and, Justin Marozzi provides his notes on possum (25:02).
Produced and presented by Patrick Gibbons.2025-03-0729 min
Cross Question with Iain DaleHelen Maguire, Simon Hart, Zoe Strimpel & Aggie ChambreJoining Iain Dale on Cross Question this evening are Liberal Democrat MP and defence spokesperson Helen Maguire, former Conservative MP and Chief Whip Simon Hart, the Sunday Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel and LBC's Political Correspondent Aggie Chambre.2025-03-0352 minA Point of ViewA baby's-eye view of the worldZoe Strimpel on the joys of seeing the world through the eyes of her 9 month old daughter. 'Where previously I would barely have noticed them,' Zoe writes, 'I now size up trees from below in terms of buds, leaves, colour, height - and how all of these may look to my little lady viewed from her pram or carrier in which her neck swivels constantly like a periscope, or an owl.'Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith2024-12-0610 minCross Question with Iain DaleLord Kim Darroch, Jennifer Ewing, John Scardino & Zoe StrimpelJoining Iain Dale on Cross Question this evening, ahead of polling day in the US election, are former British ambassador to the US Lord Darroch, Jennifer Ewing from Republicans Overseas, John Scardino from Democrats Abroad and Sunday Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel.2024-11-0451 minA Point of ViewKamalaFrom Kamala Harris' 'word salads' to her views about wealth redistribution, Zoe Strimpel finds little to like in a Harris presidency. But it's her views on Israel that Zoe finds particularly hard to stomach.'In those halcyon days of my youth,' says Zoe, 'our family's concerns that the leader of the free world protect Israel was normal, uncontroversial and, with Clinton and Bush at the helm, not a particular worry... But Kamala's hazy demands for instant deals and ceasefires,' she writes, 'are like nails on a chalkboard to me.' Producer...2024-09-2710 minCross Question with Iain DaleChris Curtis, Lord Daniel Moylan, Zoe Strimpel & Rachel CunliffeSimon Marks sits in and is joined on Cross Question by Labour MP Chris Curtis, Conservative peer Lord Moylan, Sunday Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel and the New Statesman's Rachel Cunliffe.2024-07-3153 minA Point of ViewOn FandomZoe Strimpel reflects on the 'commercial exploitation' of fandom. From Swiftie 'friendship bracelets' to beauty products and sportswear, she argues that you can no longer be a true superfan, or a true popstar, without the merch. 'But it is striking,' writes Zoe, 'that rather than reject the purely cynical commercialism of their fandom, fans demand it. Which begs the question of whether we are really fans of artists these days, or whether fandom has been consumed by corporations who have shape-shifted into the form of pop stars.' Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound...2024-06-1410 min
Hyped!Dune 2It's big, it's weird, it's sci-fi and Zoe and Tom fell utterly under its spell. They discuss its political and religious overtones as well as its place in contemporary cinema. 2024-04-1626 minA Point of ViewMotherlandZoe Strimpel reflects on the extraordinary experience of ‘crossing the rubicon separating non-motherhood from matrescence’. ‘I had never quite put aside an abiding ambivalence about having a baby, even during pregnancy,’ writes Zoe. But in the space of thirty minutes - and the delivery of a baby girl by C-section - Zoe says, ‘my hop over the long-tended, long-contemplated border with motherland rapidly resolved as her tiny features came into focus and a sense of interestingness became a sense of desperate affection and even of familiarity.’Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator...2024-04-0510 minHyped!Macbeth (Ralph Fiennes) & SuccessionAn unlikely pairing? Or an obvious one. Zoe and Tom consider the big ole Macbeth at Doc X with Monsieur Fiennes in the title role, alongside Succession, a contemporary take on a Shakespearean theme - which Zoe finally got round to watching. And.. well, hated.2024-02-2729 minCross Question with Iain DaleSir Conor Burns, Kirsty Blackman, Zoe Strimpel & Rob BlackieJoining Iain Dale on Cross Question this evening are Conservative MP and former minister Sir Conor Burns, SNP MP and cabinet office spokesperson Kirsty Blackman, Sunday Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel and Rob Blackie, the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of London.2024-02-2051 minHyped!Cyborg Women of Hollywood: Barbie and Poor ThingsTom and Zoe discuss two very different propositions about women. Or is that "women"? One is a cartoonish pastiche starring a Mattel doll; the other a Frankenstein's monster. Guess which Zoe and Tom preferred?2024-02-1935 minA Point of ViewA Plate of PfeffernusseZoe Strimpel explores our relationship with sugar - from the days of the 12th century chronicler William of Tyre when sugar was regarded as 'very necessary for the use and health of mankind' to the 'sugar is evil' attitude of today. And she reflects on sugar's power to bind generations together and keep history alive. 'My grandmother and I would often bond over a plate of pfeffernusse... powdered gingerbread stuffed shapes from Germany', Zoe writes. 'Recipes for cakes - we are a family of women who love cake - were passed down on yellow, lined paper in...2024-01-0510 min
Hyped!Napoleon the movieTom is literally a historian of Napoleon, and Zoe knew shockingly little about the short and angry man. Both squirmed their way through for different reasons: listen to why on this jaunty exploration of Tom's passion area - and the plague of filmic disappointment. 2023-12-1430 min
The EditionBack to the future: Sunak's big gambleOn the podcast:
It's been a busy week in Westminster. On Monday, Rishi Sunak's first major reshuffle saw Suella Braverman sacked and David Cameron make a surprise return to politics. Then two days later, the Supreme Court's Rwanda ruling left the government's pledge to 'stop the boats' in tatters. It was meant to be the week in which Rishi Sunak had hoped to stamp his authority on a fracturing party, but it seems to have only added to the narrative of Tory disrepair. Katy Balls writes about Rishi’s last gamble in the magazine this week, and joins the...2023-11-1644 minA Point of ViewMaterial WorldZoe Strimpel is turning her sights from artsy academic interests to much more concrete ones. Cultural warfare and events in the Middle East have left her feeling, she says, as if she's in a 'ceaselessly enraged world'. So instead of her usual contacts in sociology, anthropology and political science, she's seeking out engineers, agriculturalists and silversmiths - 'people who actually know something about the everyday things we all depend on and how it all works.' 'I find this far more dazzling these days than a new insight on cultural Marxism, and also...2023-11-1009 min
My Martin Amis"Not everyone even remotely has Amis's descriptive ability." Zoe StrimpelGender scholar, author and columnist Zoe Strimpel tells Jack Aldane about the "sexual sentimental education" she gleaned from Martin Amis’s novels as a young woman battling teenage angst.In particular, they discuss Amis's first novel, The Rachel Papers, which introduced Zoe to the dark corners of male heterosexuality through Amis's burgeoning comic prose style, and how the book's portrayal of sex compares with the rules of attraction today.Is the novel's insatiably horny hero Charles Highway now an extinct breed, or is his academic approach to sex a precursor to the modern ma...2023-10-2045 min
Iain Dale - The Whole ShowAlleged spying in Parliament, Cross Question and are some dog breeds inherently dangerous?Alleged spying in Parliament, Cross Question and are some dog breeds inherently dangerous?Joining Iain Dale on Cross Question this evening are Labour's Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry, Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis, journalist and broadcaster David Aaronovitch and Sunday Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel.2023-09-112h 23Cross Question with Iain DaleEmily Thornberry, Jonathan Gullis, David Aaronovitch & Zoe StrimpelJoining Iain Dale on Cross Question this evening are Labour's Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry, Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis, journalist and broadcaster David Aaronovitch and Sunday Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel.2023-09-1151 minA Point of ViewMy Love Affair with the MysteriousZoe Strimpel discusses the thrills and psychic satisfactions of the spooky. She argues that the disorientating nature of contemporary society creates the ideal breeding ground for our resurgent interest in things supernatural.Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound; Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Bridget Harney2023-09-0810 min
The EditionTrumpvision: he's making America watch againOn the podcast this week:
In his cover piece for the magazine, The Spectator’s deputy editor Freddy Gray says that he was hardly surprised that Donald Trump chose not to participate in last night’s Republican candidates debate. He argues that Trump no longer needs the TV networks and joins the podcast alongside Douglas Murray, who profiles the no-hoper Republican candidates looking to pip Trump to the nomination in his column. (01:21)
Also this week:
Mark Millar, the comic book writer and producer behind Hollywood hits such as Kingsman, Kick Ass and a host of Mar...2023-08-2426 min
AnalysisHow far should reparative justice go?Amid mounting claims for reparations for slavery and colonialism, historian Zoe Strimpel asks how far reparative justice should go.
Should we limit reparations to the living survivors of state atrocities, such as the Holocaust, or should we re-write the rulebook to include the ancestors of victims who suffered historical injustices centuries ago?
Alongside testimony from a Holocaust survivor and interviews with lawyers, historians and reparations advocates, Zoe hears about the long shadow cast by slavery - lumbering Caribbean states and societies with a legacy that they are still struggling with today.
Are demands for slavery reparations just another front...2023-08-0129 min
Hyped!Beyonce's Renaissance tour, LondonTom and Zoe got last-minute tickets; Tom was ecstatic, Zoe was skeptical. But the show blew both of their minds. Even so, this is Hyped! Join Zoe and Tom as they debate some of the messaging – but also the mixed messaging – of Queen Bey.
2023-06-1922 minA Point of ViewBeyoncé, Beauty and the Pursuit of YouthThe trend for expensive age-defying treatments is 'an insult to youth itself' says Zoe Strimpel, as she argues against treating youth as a commodity that can be bought.After admiring the seemingly ageless beauty of 41-year-old singing superstar Beyoncé at her recent stadium show in London, Zoe reflects on her own experience of getting older - and the people desperate to avoid it. She hones in on 45-year-old American tech mogul, Bryan Johnson, who is attempting to transform his body into that of a teenager in a highly scientific quest for youth. His m...2023-06-0909 minIain Dale - The Whole ShowKeir Starmer changes his mind on tuition fees, Cross Question & is Joanna Cherry being silenced?Keir Starmer changes his mind on tuition fees, Cross Question & is Joanna Cherry being silenced?Joining Iain Dale on Cross Question this evening are Conservative MP John Penrose, Labour's Baroness Chapman, Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel and public relations expert Kevin Craig.2023-05-022h 21Cross Question with Iain DaleJohn Penrose, Baroness Jenny Chapman, Zoe Strimpel & Kevin CraigJoining Iain Dale on Cross Question this evening are Conservative MP John Penrose, Labour's Baroness Chapman, Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel and public relations expert Kevin Craig.2023-05-0253 min
Hyped!Richard Wagner's Rheingold, English National OperaZoe wants to hate Wagner. Tom has always loved him. They discuss a recent performance at the ENO, in which Zoe, against her will and expectation, finds herself charmed and amused. But is it ok to like Wagner operas? Does it make you a sort of bad person? Or, as Tom reckons, is Wagner the pinnacle of modern culture - deserving of being adored by all, always and forever? Join them as they make their way through an analysis of this splendid, budget performance. 2023-03-2232 minAnalysisIs Britain exceptional?Is Britain Exceptional? Historian, author and Sunday Telegraph columnist Zoe Strimpel believes so, and sifts through the layers of Britain’s culture, politics and religious history to find the roots for the nation’s scientific, intellectual and cultural dynamism and the germ for today’s culture wars.
With the help of leading historians, political activists and scientists, Zoe examines whether Britain's obsession with the glories of 'our finest hour': WWII determined a version of history that eclipsed inconvenient truths that contradict our national myths and identity. She asks whether Britain's 'long island story' has really been as unruptured and stable...2023-03-2028 min
Hyped!Tár: the year's most pretentious – or is it genius – movie?Lydia Tár is a world-famous conductor who gets embroiled in a number of messes both internal and external; professional and private. She's weird. She's amoral. She's refined and unrelenting and unstinting. And boy is she good at conducting classical music. Todd Field's much-buzzed film goes off the deep end more than once, stylistically and every other way. Join Zoe and Tom as they work out whether this is a work of pure genius, or a totally pretentious disaster. Or a bit of both.2023-03-1522 minA Point of ViewCollecting ArtZoe Strimpel explores what lies behind her new-found impulse to collect art to fill the blank spaces on her walls - and how collecting means something different for men and women. "It is perhaps no surprise to discover that the greater the instability outside our walls, the more we may want to create a secure and beautiful world inside, or on, them." Producer: Sheila Cook
Sound engineer: Peter Bosher
Production Coordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith2023-03-1009 minA Point of ViewMasculinity: From Durkheim to Andrew TateZoe Strimpel looks at the history of masculinity and its moments of crisis, from Emile Durkheim at the end of the 19th Century to self-professed misogynist, Andrew Tate, today. 'The contemporary manosphere', she writes, 'doesn't appear to have any positive idea of what men should be, apart from rich, priapic and nasty - and within the long history of masculinity in crisis - this feels new'. Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Iona Hammond
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith2023-01-2009 min
Hyped!The White Lotus, Season 2"This is the best TV I have ever seen!" – Zoe on the Taormina-based second season of the smash hit written by Mike White for HBO. Join her and Tom as they pick apart something for which the hype is truly deserved, peeling back the layers of subterfuge, sexual economies, powerplay, irony, mystery, danger and, of course, Sicilianness. There are a few spoilers, so ideally if you're gonna watch, watch first. 2023-01-0630 min
The Brendan O'Neill ShowZoe Strimpel: The tyranny of ‘wellbeing’Zoe Strimpel, historian and Sunday Telegraph columnist, talks to Brendan O’Neill about the perils of risk-aversion, the allure of victimhood and how woke ‘anti-racism’ is fuelling anti-Semitism
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2023-01-051h 01
Hyped!World Cup - QatarIt promised to be one of the weirdest and most politically contentious tournaments in football history. Human rights abuses, Fifa corruption, the last-minute banning of booze and kosher food... issues like these dominated coverage until the knockouts got into full swing. By the end this was being called a blinder by pundits, with, apparently, the best World Cup final of all time between Argentina and France. But what happened to the politics? Were they always destined to fall away in the face of the football? Was there ever really a place for sustained criticism of Qatar – and Fifa – in the me...2022-12-2025 min
Hyped!Harry & MeghanZoe and Tom return to the royal theme, only this time it's the latest instalment of the Sussex psychodrama. They discuss the couple's manipulation of and addiction to media - the very entity they hate so much – and ask, who was filming them, and why? They contemplate their "love", a huge, agapic, almost Christian entity with the power to save the world. Or... to bore it to death. And is California still the promised land? It is if you can get yourself a big garden and a mansion by the sea, perhaps.2022-12-2029 minA Point of ViewChastity Belt PoliticsZoe Strimpel reflects on the new sexual conservatives changing the face of feminism. 'The sexual revolution bequeathed us choice: to shag as voraciously as we wanted or to get married and have a baby at 30,' she writes. But, she says, the landscape of sexual politics today has changed dramatically. Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Iona Hammond
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith2022-12-0909 min
Hyped!Has politics killed theatre?Zoe and Tom discuss – and debate – the reasons for the precipitous drop in excellence, and narrowing of dramatic ambition, of once-great London theatre. Is it a simple case of woke killed creativity? What other forces are at play? And how can the cultural great pride of Britain and envy of the world be saved; is it showing signs of coming back to life already? Join us for this lively discussion.2022-11-1933 min
Hyped!The Queen's DeathHow do you know if someone did the queue to see the Queen lying in state? They'll tell you about it. And that's exactly what Zoe and Tom are going to do in this episode. But fear not, queue chat is nestled within wider analysis of this extraordinary- and yet minutely planned- moment in British history and the British present. Tom brings to bear his extensive knowledge of monarchical history, Zoe brings to bear her... strong reactions to queues. 2022-10-0531 minA Point of ViewA Deadly Serious GameAs Vladimir Putin warns he is willing to use any military means necessary in the war with Ukraine, Zoe Strimpel - a recent convert to chess - examines how Mr Putin is likely to play his next hand. 'The future of the world once more hangs in the balance of moves between the West and Russia,' she writes.'The question of whether Russia really does have a strategic grandmaster at the helm - and whether the West can outmanoeuvre him - has become a matter of horrible urgency'. Producer: Adele Armstrong
Sound...2022-09-2309 min
Hyped!Women's EurosZoe and Tom do NOT, as a rule, watch football. In fact, until three weeks ago, neither of them even knew that the Women's European Championships were under way. Flash forward to the mesmerising final on 31 July, and a win of national, indeed international, importance. Join Tom and Zoe as they discuss what this means for women, the women's game... and their own feelings about the beautiful game. 2022-08-0522 minA Point of ViewBillionaire BashingZoe Strimpel argues that wealth creation should be the bedrock of politics. She says that while she loathes the arrogance sometimes displayed by the super rich - especially in the present climate where millions are sinking into poverty - it's not billionaires who are the problem.
'My view is that we need not fewer billionaires but more, the richer the better,' she writes. 'In fact, the more rich people the better'. Hatred of billionaires, she believes, is perplexing at a time when government can't, or won't, fill huge gaps in funding. Producer...2022-07-0110 min
Hyped!EUROVISION 2022Zoe and Tom discuss the latest and most intensely political outing in recent memory of the campest competition in the world. May 2022 was a spectacle of European unity, in which Britain, the runner up and winner of the jury vote, was shown surprising quantities of love. Join us as we talk post-sexual absurdity, the unpopularity of male crooners, and Eurovision in historical context. 2022-05-2830 min
Moral MazeThe Priorities of the PoliceDame Cressida Dick, the newly-departed Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, says policing has become ‘too politicised’. When her force has been criticised on the right for investigating ‘Partygate’ and on the left for letting the Prime Minister off too lightly, and when the Durham Police must now decide whether to end the career of the leader of the Labour Party, it’s hard to argue with her. The Public Order Bill, which had its second reading this week, will create new legal powers to prevent or punish disruptive demonstrations. That too, critics say, is putting politics into policing...2022-05-2642 min
Hyped!The House of Maxwell - Ghislaine, Robert and the BBC DocZoe and Tom consider the Maxwell story as told in the BBC documentary – and beyond – with particular consideration of Maxwell's Jewish background 2022-05-0728 minA Point of ViewWhat is a Woman?Zoe Strimpel asks the seemingly simple question 'what is a woman', but finds no simple answer as she explores the question through a brief history of feminist thought. She explores the ongoing controversy over trans women in women's competitive sport, and the reluctance of public figures to define what a woman is. while revealing her own views on the issue. "As the history of feminism itself makes clear, gender and sex are genuinely complicated. That overconfident or oversimplified definitions of woman - which apparently we're all supposed to be able to produce - can be...2022-04-1509 min
Honestly with Bari WeissAmerica Is Afraid of War. Putin Knows It.Zoe Strimpel on the collapse of Western authority, self and geopolitical understanding— and the predictably catastrophic results of our politics of retrenchment, appeasement and pacifism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices2022-02-2523 min
Honestly with Bari WeissAmerica Is Afraid of War. Putin Knows It.Zoe Strimpel on the collapse of Western authority, self and geopolitical understanding— and the predictably catastrophic results of our politics of retrenchment, appeasement and pacifism.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thefp.com/subscribe2022-02-2523 min
The Kenny Chessor PodcastEpisode 72: Chessor Presser Ukraine/Russia EditionWe interrupt our normal posting schedule for a Chessor Presser concerning the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Kenny is under no illusion that the masses are clamoring for his opinion on the matter. Far more knowledgable historians, journalist, and diplomats should be your prime source for information on these matters. But a few faithful listeners have asked if he planned to talk about the war unfolding currently in Europe. Understanding his severe limitations concerning global politics, the bulk of the episode is focused on an article published by Bari Weiss written by Zoe Strimpel. You can read it in...2022-02-2536 min
Hyped!Roundup! Death on the Nile, Westside Story, Wuthering Heights, Souvenir IIZoe and Tom have seen a few things recently, and decided to take a kitchen-sink approach to discussing them. Much of what is under review here was pretty disappointing, with the exception, in Tom's view, of the West Side Story remake - find out why. Three out of four of the things under review are remakes, and one is a sequel, prompting the duo to talk about genre, and why we're feeling... so let down by it at the moment.2022-02-2336 minA Point of ViewOn Rapid Home DeliveryZoe Strimpel reflects on the impact of rapid home delivery on the way we live our lives, and asks what our human experience might lose from this democratisation of laziness."A whole generation is about to come of age experiencing goods and service as simply things you can have delivered to your doorstep, fast. Will their brains cease to distinguish between different types of desire and demand?...Will they lose the capacity to form plans and commit to them, plans as minor as what to cook later that night?"Producer: Sheila Cook2022-01-0709 min
Podcast Against AntisemitismS1 E6: “I hate the word ‘hate’” with Zoe StrimpelJournalist and broadcaster Zoe Strimpel joins Podcast Against Antisemitism to discuss her articles on antisemitism and why she continues to write them despite receiving online abuse.Plus, Joe and Rachel from Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Political and Government Investigations Unit talk about CAA’s resubmitted complaints against fifteen sitting Labour MPs and how the Party is currently dealing with antisemitism. Subscribe at antisemitism.org/podcast and send us your feedback to podcast@antisemitism.org.Follow us on all socials @antisemitism2022-01-0634 min
Hyped!A State of Fear by Laura DodsworthDid the government manipulate us through fear to shore up its power during Covid? Are we dupes of a mass conspiracy between media, state and private enterprise? Was the threat of Covid amped up just to make us compliant because...well, why? Here Zoe and Tom pick apart Dodsworth's scary and silly Sunday Times bestseller, worth our time mainly as it encapsulates quite a big vein of anti-lockdown sentiment and Covid suspicion. We talk about her use of stats, her own manipulation of fear, and the way she lumps things together, from the War on Terror to the closure...2021-12-1934 min
Hyped!Macbeth at the Almeida Theatre, LondonTickets were not to be had for love nor money - not even for Tom and Zoe. So they watched it via remote streaming link from Tom's sofa, beadily looking out for what made this the most-hyped Shakespeare in years. Here they discuss where the magic and the weaknesses lay, and how much of both came down to the starry leading cast: Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn, Little Women, etc etc) and James McArdle (Mare of Easttown). They also discuss the odd status of Macbeth in the pantheon of Shakespeare tragedies, and whether having stars on the stage is a good...2021-11-2224 min
Hyped!Block these busters: Bond, Dune, Squid GameZoe and Tom try to connect the appeal of three recent blockbusters, considering (briefly) Squid Game's emptiness, Bond's cosy moral universe and Dune's weird and sexy intergalactic or 'hieratic' appeal (at more length). 2021-11-1429 minA Point of ViewThe Child QuestionZoe Strimpel on the difficulty of deciding whether to have, or not have, children. She describes the 'paralysis of ambivalence'. But this ambivalence is surely, she writes, 'a natural response to the idea of setting in train the most unknowable outcome on earth'.Producer: Adele Armstrong2021-11-1209 min
Hyped!The ChairThe New Republic called Netflix's hit 2021 academic satire 'A elegy for the life of the mind'. Fair? Actually, Zoe thinks it's an elegy for the West full stop. Join Zoe and Tom – both of whom work at UK universities – as they dissect the hit series about a chaotic moment in campus life at a small US liberal arts college. How accurate, or even clever, a skewering of identitarian campus politics is this? Patchy to say the least, but one thing it does reveal is the secret of academic life: try never, ever to be Chair of your department. 2021-09-2530 minA Point of ViewThe Creep of the On-Screen Narrative'I don't want to find an eight-part drama more interesting than my life', writes Zoe Strimpel.Zoe reflects on the power of TV as a coping mechanism at the height of the COVID pandemic.But she argues that the creep of the on-screen narrative must now be slowed down in order for us to fully re-engage with our lives.Producer: Adele Armstrong2021-08-2709 min
Hyped!Love Island Summer 2021: Season 7Thongs, egregious bikini tops, and bizarre takes on the English language as love is sought amid the embers of modern romance: Zoe is convinced that Love Island is the most telling social document of our time, while Tom is... forced to agree. Partially. Tune in for a deeper dive on Love Island's gender, race and class politics - oh, and its aesthetics too – than you're likely to find elsewhere (some might say for good reason).
2021-07-1733 min
The Comedy Cellar: Live from the TableInvisible WomenDan Naturman and Periel Aschenbrand with Guest Zoe Strimpel, a columnist, historian of gender and intimacy in modern Britain, and author. 2021-07-101h 06A Point of ViewThe Culture WarZoe Strimpel argues that the culture war is no fake or proxy war - but rather ideas about what is acceptable to know, to teach and to think.Thirty years after the US sociologist James Davison Hunter wrote his book 'Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America', Zoe looks at how those ideas are playing out around the world today. 'There is a sense of menace about,' she writes, 'of pent-up, complicated grievance. I worry that the culture war could tip into something far more deadly.' Producer: Adele Armstrong2021-06-2509 min
Hyped!Line of DutyWhy is the sheer mundanity, the dreary colourlessness of police procedure, so utterly transfixing when it comes to the doings of AC-12? (That's anti-police corruption unit 12 if you're one of the rare uninitiated). Zoe and Tom consider the latest season (six), its shortcomings, its relationships, and the formal majesty that lent earlier Line of Duty such magic, as well as what role such drama serves in our society. 2021-05-1631 minA Point of ViewInvisible WomenZoe Strimpel questions some of the dominant gender narratives around the Me Too movement. 'The problem,' she writes, 'is that there is no space in all this for the lives and experiences of the many straight women who don't have this problem, who do not live in fear of men, and who are not sexualised at every turn.'Producer: Adele Armstrong2021-05-0709 min
Hyped!NFTs and the Rise of the $70m JpegA Jpeg by digital artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann), 39, sold for $69.3 at Christie's New York in March. For his pennies, the buyer got an NFT, a non-fungible token, a marker of authenticity enabled by blockchain technology. Zoe and Tom discuss what the sale – and the frenzy for NFTs – means for art and aesthetics and discuss the nature of the new digital markets redefining value itself. 2021-04-1333 min
Hyped!Harry and Meghan interview with Oprah, 7 Mar 2021Zoe and Tom pick over the interview and its reception, considering the couple's claims to victimhood and their path to 'authenticity', and chewing over the biggest casualties of the interview in the Royal family. They brooch race and class, wondering how, in the rush for righteous blame, the latter somehow seems to get lost, along with any thought for the British taxpayer. Something for everyone. Well, perhaps not everyone. 2021-03-1937 min
Hyped!Inauguration of Joe BidenThe inauguration was a jamboree of digital pomp, and saw the making of a star in Amanda Gorman. Zoe and Tom discuss the pageantry and celebrity and where it all fits within American political culture, plus their thoughts on the 'unity' message.2021-02-2327 minA Point of ViewA Sense of FearAs the government announces a tightening of Britain's borders, Zoe Strimpel tries to understand her very personal reaction. "As a Jewish descendent of German Jewish refugees," she writes, "I have felt - for the first time in my life - a sharp edge of panic and fear." Producer: Adele Armstrong2021-02-0510 min
Hyped!BridgertonSince we recorded, this diverse Regency romp has become Netflix's biggest series ever, downloaded over 80 million times in the 28 days after its release. Zoe and Tom find this fact both hilarious and terrifying. Join them as they dissect the series' appeal and above all its vision of the Regency court as a diverse utopia, in which present values very much dominate the picture of the past. And why does everyone have to be so thin? Well, all bar one....2021-02-0126 min
Hyped!The Crown Season FourThe latest series of the Netflix smash hit is different: more recent, nastier, and closer to home. It covers a period within living memory of old millennials like Zoe and Tom, with one of the most painful marriages of the 20th century at its core. This season is the most controversial yet. Its treatment of the past has stirred high-level and intense controversy about whether it is obviously art or a devious form of history. Join Zoe and Tom as they consider this question, plus the strengths and weaknesses of the portraits of Charles and Diana, Thatcher and the Q...2020-12-2728 min
Hyped!The Queen's Gambit (Netflix)The Queen's Gambit (Oct 2020) fast became Netflix's most-downloaded scripted miniseries of all time. Join Zoe and Tom as they regroup to deconstruct this silky, sexy televisual creature. There is much to enjoy about the mid-century rise and rise of Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) from tranqued-up Kentucky orphan to world chess champion... but as usual, Zoe and Tom have some reservations.2020-12-1431 minA Point of ViewPets Aren't People!Zoe Strimpel examines why so many people have become passionately obsessed with dogs. "We have moved," she writes, "beyond affection, beyond dog-is-person's-best-friend love, into a passionate confusion whereby we now seem to think and feel that there is literally no difference between pets and people."She examines the roots of our attachment to dogs and argues that we need to re-discover a more "pet-appropriate variety" of love in relation to our pooches. Producer: Adele Armstrong2020-10-3009 min
Unfinished BusinessThe Politics of PleasureDoes pleasure exist outside of politics? Can we have feminist sex? And how has the online realm affected young people’s views on the subject?
Professor Amia Srinivasan, a philosopher at The University of Oxford, is delving into these thorny questions with British Library curator Polly Russell. They’re laying things bare with Laurie Nunn, the creator of TV drama Sex Education, examining some unusual objects from the past with historian Zoe Strimpel and heading to a school to hear from a group of 16 year old students.
Unfinished Business podcast series is generously supported by Joanna and Graham Barker and The...2020-10-2345 min
Hyped!Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah HarariThese days, it is a challenge to find someone who has not read Sapiens, Harari's astonishingly bold and popular global bestseller from 2014. Sapiens attempts to explain the whole history of mankind, from early versions of the species through to the globalised, gas-guzzling world of today, via the devising of agriculture, money, empire and industry. Yet is this honest history? Harari's story is a political one - an ecological polemic - that ultimately rails against humankind, and prefers to see our legacy as one of destruction rather than ingenuity and betterment. Zoe and Tom discuss the book's flaws and strengths.2020-10-1529 min
Hyped!Parasite and the rise of arthouse Korean filmThe first non-English language film to win the Best Picture Oscar, Parasite lit not just the critics alight but punters too. Rarely has one film - a relatively low budget, highly culturally specific film at that - created such a global talking point. Who or what is to blame here? Is it capitalism? Class warfare? Morality gone awry? Wealth? Who is the real parasite, if there is one? What about the mad tonal shifts in the film from comedy to horror? Join Zoe and Tom as they unpick the extreme excitement around Parasite, the 2019 film directed by Bong Joon-ho...2020-09-2732 minA Point of ViewHaving the 'Wrong' Politics"As the culture war has heated up," writes Zoe Strimpel, "every word and tweet is vested with the insignia of identity, and neutrality is no longer an acceptable carpet under which to hide."
Zoe discusses how subjects which were, until fairly recently, little more than sources of minor disagreements now form "the basis of warring social groups." Producer: Adele Armstrong2020-09-1110 min
Hyped!I May Destroy You - BBC/HBOMichaela Coel's comedy drama about a woman trying to process a sexual assault offers TV unlike any most of us have ever seen before. Race, sex, consent, London, youth, social media, identity: it's all there, rendered with formal and intellectual iconoclasm. Zoe and Tom unpick its curious magic, and the fascination this unlikely piece of work has cast over the nation. 2020-07-2344 min
Hyped!Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Renni Eddo-LodgeA best-seller following publication in 2017, Eddo-Lodge's polemic lit up a whole conversation about race in Britain, prompting millions to think for the first time about the concepts of systemic racism and white privilege in relation to the UK. The conversation, if that's the word for what often feels like a perilous obstacle course at best and an antagonistic Manichean battle to the death at worst, continues with renewed intensity following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Eddo-Lodge's book has been as controversial and it has been influential. Join Zoe and Tom as they roll up their sleeves and...2020-07-1436 min
Hyped!Stormzy: Heavy Is The HeadStormzy is a British phenomenon. He is the man who made grime global, the first black British artist to headline Glastonbury and was dubbed 'poet laureate' in Parliament for his response to Grenfell. Stormzy is a chart-topper with political clout. We take a critical look at his 2019 platinum album Heavy is the Hype and dig below the hype to assess the content and appeal of this album, putting it in context of a wider cultural moment.
To listen to full album:
https://open.spotify.com/album/3y4AaloFccKNLQcZNS9L8c?si=-BkQkrUuQAWLDkN8Y5D91g2020-06-2931 min
Hyped!The Souvenir: Joanna Hogg's cult favouriteTime Out called 2019's The Souvenir 'the only film that matters' - this was enough to entice Zoe along to see it, while Tom has long been a fan of its director Joanna Hogg. In a departure from form, Tom and Zoe find the reasons reasons for its instant cult status justified, and discuss Hogg's special touch when it comes to class, art and all things visual. The mother-daughter acting from Tilda Swinton and her daughter, Honor Swinton Byrne, who play mother and daughter in the film, adds an unusual touch.2020-06-0932 min
Hyped!Sally Rooney's Normal People - book and BBC adaptationZoe and Tom consider the mania around Rooney's 2018 best-seller and 2020 TV adaptation, tempering their slight (in Zoe's case substantial) bewilderment with plenty of analysis of what Normal People seems to be saying about sex, class, family and youth. 2020-06-0130 min
Hyped!Dolly Alderton's Everything I Know About Love: Zoe Strimpel and Tom Stammers discuss the 2018 bestsellerZoe, a former dating columnist just like Dolly, and an author of books concerning dating, just like Dolly, certainly found herself faced with the work of a much more popular and successful - and younger - version of herself. But was it just sour grapes that made her gawp at this book's fantastic success? She likes to think it wasn't. Together with historian of France Tom, they unpack the book's themes and oddities, discuss what they didn't like (and a few things they did) and think about what made it such a hit.2020-06-0132 min
Ayn Rand Centre UK PodcastWhat’s Next for Feminists? | Zoe Strimpel & Nikos SotirakopoulosSign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/The feminist movement has been one of the most vocal and popular milieus in the past few years. It has been present from large protests on the streets to campaigns in Hollywood, and has had an influence in society’s norms when it comes to inter-gender dynamics. At the same time, it has been criticised for anti-male bias and for shifting the identity of the Western world to...2020-05-271h 05Ayn Rand Centre UK PodcastRomance Under Lockdown | Zoe Strimpel, Emily Hill, & Nikos SotirakopoulosSign up here to join upcoming events live via Zoom: https://www.meetup.com/London-Ayn-Rand-Meetup/Consider supporting our work by becoming a member: https://aynrandcentre.co.uk/membership/Romance, much like everything else, is not what it used to be just a few weeks ago. Whether you’re self-isolating apart from your significant other, living together with a partner, but not used to spending 24 hours a day with them, or trying to figure out Zoom-dating, your love life has probably entered uncharted territory.How will the pandemic and the lockdown affect romantic relationships? Wi...2020-05-271h 57
Hyped!Leopoldstadt: Zoe Strimpel and Tom Stammers discuss Tom Stoppard's 2020 West End hitJoin Zoe and Tom as they unpick the hype around Sir Tom Stoppard's most recent play, a chronicle of the tragedy of European Jews in the 20th century through the fate of one sprawling family. Zoe was very very unimpressed, and Tom just unimpressed. Why did critics go wild for it? What appetite among British audience goers did it serve? What was it trying to do and where did it go wrong - and in some places, right? 2020-05-1933 min
Hyped!'Unorthodox': Zoe Strimpel and Tom Stammers discuss the Netflix hit miniseriesBased on Deborah Feldman's best-selling memoir about leaving the Satmar ultra-orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, New York, Unorthodox became a global phenomenon after it dropped on Netflix in March 2020 - just in time for lockdown. Zoe and Tom puzzle over themes of gender, female self-discovery, Yiddish, Judaism and place - setting the miniseries in the context of a new, broadening interest by entertainment honchos in Jewish life and casting the usual critical eye over the whole. Join Zoe and Tom as they unpick the hype.2020-05-1837 min
The Agenda PodcastEpisode 10: The Dating GameSend us a textThe dating business is estimated to be worth $12 billion worldwide in what is an increasingly competitive market, with more than 300 million active users of the thousands of dating apps out there. Today on the Agenda Podcast we talk to a relationship historian about the potential damage that dating apps could be doing to our relationships.But first we talk to the founder of Eden Blackman, founder of the app , “Would Like To Meet” about starting his own dating app. He takes us through his thought process in setting up his company and...2020-05-1114 min
Hyped!1917: Zoe Strimpel and Tom Stammers discuss Sam Mendes's 2020 box-office smash1917, released in the UK in January 2020, was one of the most successful war movies of all time. Unlike its smash hit stablemates, though, it focussed on World War One instead of Two. We discuss the appetite for World War One narratives, how perceptions of the war have changed, and why.2020-05-0934 min
Late Night Woman's HourVirginity / The PillWith broadcaster Clara Amfo and journalists Ellen Coyne and Zoe Strimpel.2019-02-2022 minLate Night Woman's HourBody Image / Kamala HarrisWith broadcaster Clara Amfo and journalists Ellen Coyne and Zoe Strimpel.2019-02-1324 min
The EditionHave apps ruined romance?This week, we talk to journalist Zoe Strimpel about whether apps have ruined dating (00:30). Plus, what does the case of disappeared horses and how the RSPCA is more powerful than you think (19:50).
Finally, the debate over neurodiversity and why it's dividing the autistic community (30:00).
With Zoe Strimpel, Dr. Cath Mercer, Laura James, Matt Tunstill, and Melissa Kite.
Presented by Lara Prendergast.
Produced by Siva Thangarajah and Lara Prendergast.2019-02-0739 minLate Night Woman's HourFyre Festival / Twerk / Plant-based dietWith broadcaster Clara Amfo and journalists Ellen Coyne and Zoe Strimpel.2019-01-3131 minLate Night Woman's HourCapitalism & feminism / Dating power balanceWith broadcaster Clara Amfo and journalists Ellen Coyne and Zoe Strimpel.2019-01-2527 minLate Night Woman's HourMasculinity / Pet PeevesWith Professor Sophie Scott, Dr Sue Black and Zoe Strimpel.2018-08-0110 minLate Night Woman's HourEgg Freezing; Middle AgeLauren's guests are Prof Sophie Scott, Dr Sue Black and Zoe Strimpel.2018-07-2528 minLate Night Woman's HourLeadership; Civil PartnershipsWith tech evangelist Sue Black, neuroscientist Sophie Scott & journalist Zoe Strimpel.2018-07-1828 minLate Night Woman's HourMesh implants halted in EnglandTech evangelist Dr Sue Black, neuroscientist Prof Sophie Scott & journalist Zoe Strimpel.2018-07-1021 min
Thinking AllowedDating at university, Online dating'Hook up' culture - Laurie explores a new sexual culture on American campuses and asks if it has a British counterpart. Casual sex in higher education has a long history but Lisa Wade, Professor of Sociology at Occidental College Los Angeles, suggests a significant shift in the culture - one which benefits some students at the expense of others. They're joined by Zoe Strimpel, a researcher and historian from Sussex University, who has analysed the changing nature of dating.
Also, Josue Ortega, lecturer in economics at the University of Essex, analyses the impact of online dating. Tinder and other...2018-03-2828 min
Late Night Woman's Hour#metoo - where are we at?Lauren's guests are Zoe Strimpel, Kit Davis, Agnes Poirier and Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett.2018-02-2353 min
Word of MouthBreak Ups and BrexitHow do you find the right words to make- or break- a personal relationship? Or to leave a political union, for that matter? To consider the clichés and coinages used to negotiate matters of the heart by everyone from novelist Edith Wharton to actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Rosen & linguist Dr. Laura Wright are joined by Zoe Strimpel of the University of Sussex. Also, in the aftermath of the UK's EU Referendum, author & journalist Sam Leith riffs on the term 'Brexit' and the infectious wordplay it spawned. Producer Kirsty McQuire.2016-09-0627 min