Freddy Gray

Freddy Gray

Freddy Gray is deputy editor of The Spectator

A brief history of anti-populism with Thomas Frank

69 min listen

Freddy Gray interviews Thomas Frank in Spectator USA’s second online event. Frank argues that populism isn’t frightening, but rather an account of enlightenment and liberation; it is the story of American democracy itself, of its ever-widening promise of a decent life for all. To catch Freddy’s next event, subscribe to Spectator USA now.

Why Jeff Sessions lost to a Trump-backed candidate

32 min listen

With Daniel McCarthy, contributor to Spectator USA and editor of Modern Age. On the podcast, he talks to Freddy Gray about how Sessions was defeated by the new cyborg that is the Republican party — half-Trump, half-GOP machine of old, and what this means for Trump’s re-election prospects.

The arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell

20 min listen

This week, Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire on charges of sex trafficking and perjury as part of the FBI’s ongoing investigation into the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Freddy Gray discusses Maxwell’s surprise arrest and her relationship with Epstein with Alana Goodman, senior investigative reporter at the Washington Free Beacon and co-author of A Convenient Death: The Mysterious

Have the polls got Trump wrong again?

23 min listen

Freddy speaks to Marcus Roberts, head of International Politics at YouGov. When Freddy and Marcus spoke before the 2016 election, Marcus was adamant that Hillary Clinton would win. With the benefit of four more years, what do the polls say about Trump now? Get 50 per cent off of a Spectator USA subscription here with

John Bolton is a greedy hack

Bolton is a peculiar and stubborn man – you can tell that from his moustache. He’s also a greedy hack. Earlier this year, when all his old neocon NeverTrump allies were begging for him to testify in the president’s impeachment trial, he decided to stay quiet. He wanted to keep his powder dry for his

What is racism in America?

27 min listen

The Merriam-Webster dictionary has updated its definition of racism – so what does racism in America actually mean? Spectator USA editor Freddy Gray speaks to writer Coleman Hughes.

Our duty to Hong Kong: time to grant citizenship

40 min listen

As China looks to push through its national security law, is it time to offer Hong Kongers a way out? (01:00) And with the Black Lives Matter protests continuing to rage in America, can they unseat Donald Trump? (15:30) And last, do animals have culture? (29:10)

Freddy Gray

America is burning – and it could cost Trump the presidency

‘The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end,’ said Donald Trump on 21 July 2016, as he accepted the Republican party’s nomination for the presidency of the United States. ‘Safety will be restored.’ Mark that down as a broken promise. On Friday, as a seething mob menaced the

America’s immune system is failing

‘This American carnage stops right here and stops right now,’ said President Donald Trump in his inauguration speech on January 20, 2017. Three and a half years later, in the early summer of 2020, a bout of heavy riots has broken out, like a virus spreading, in cities across America. Minneapolis rioted for days on

Who can tame the virus?

32 min listen

The government is looking at easing the lockdown, but how much remains unknown about the coronavirus (00:40)? In the meantime, Joe Biden is batting off sexual assault allegations (10:15), and we take a look at the upside of lockdown for new parents (21:30). With science writer Matt Ridley, virologist Elisabetta Groppelli, Spectator USA editor Freddy

Freddy Gray

Hiding Biden is the best way to get him elected

So Mrs American Voter, which septuagenarian sex abuser do you want to be President? The whole ‘#MeToo’ business probably should have taken a back seat in 2020 — given the epochal health crisis, the vast Covid-19 death toll and the collapsed US economy. But sex always makes headlines and this month Joe Biden, the presumptive

Is the Isle of Wight really the best place to launch a tracing app?

Technology can save the world — from South Korea to Singapore to, um, the Isle of Wight. Oh yes. Britain is catching up at super-fibre-optic-lightning speed with the superpowers of tech in its fight against Covid-19. We’ve developed a snazzy ‘track and trace’ app, that’s already been trialled at an RAF base in Yorkshire, and