Kate Andrews

Kate Andrews

Kate Andrews is deputy editor of The Spectator’s World edition.

Is the last minute momentum really with Kamala Harris?

36 min listen

As the 2024 US election goes into the final day, a poll giving Kamala Harris a lead in the historically Republican state of Iowa has bolstered the Democrats. Is momentum really with her? And what appears to be the most important issue to voters – the economy, or abortion rights? Guest host Kate Andrews speaks

Rachel Reeves’s new gamble

Credit to Rachel Reeves: while some chancellors opt to take part in the Sunday shows ahead of a fiscal event, the Chancellor has decided to do the media round the Sunday after her first Budget. Rather than spending the entire interview refusing to say what will be announced in the week ahead (the information is

America’s impossible election choice

31 min listen

With just days to go until the American election, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s respective campaigns continue to ramp up, with rallies and gimmicks, and even advertising on the Las Vegas Sphere. Despite this, Spectator contributor Lionel Shriver declares she is America’s ‘last undecided voter’. Why? Is it the candidates’ characters that put her off

Kate Andrews

Can Labour save its Budget?

14 min listen

The fallout from Labour’s Budget continues. On the media round this morning, Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, admitted that it will hit working people, and the cost of government borrowing has only risen since Rachel Reeves delivered her speech to Parliament. Katy Balls, Kate Andrews and James Heale take us through the reaction

Kate Andrews

Can Labour save its Budget?

After the Office for Budget Responsibility’s assessment of the Budget was published on Wednesday, the cost of government borrowing started to rise. Yesterday, those costs hit their highest levels this year, with the 10-year gilt yield peaking just over 4.5 per cent and the five-year gilt yield exceeding 4.4 per cent, before settling slightly by

Team Trump, astrologers versus pollsters & debating history

43 min listen

This week: Team Trump – who’s in, and who’s out? To understand Trumpworld you need to appreciate it’s a family affair, writes Freddy Gray in the magazine this week. For instance, it was 18-year-old Barron Trump who persuaded his father to do a series of long ‘bro-casts’ with online male influencers such as Joe Rogan.

Kate Andrews

Why are Trump and Harris campaigning in safe States?

32 min listen

As we get closer to the US election, Kate Andrews, The Spectator’s economics editor, joins Freddy Gray to host Americano. On this episode, she speaks to Megan McArdle, columnist at the Washington Post. They discuss why Donald Trump and Kamala Harris aren’t campaigning in swing states, and why it’s so difficult to predict the election

Kate Andrews

Can Rachel Reeves calm the markets?

The more investors dig into Labour’s first Budget, the less they seem to like it. After the Office for Budget Responsibility published its assessment of the Chancellor’s measures yesterday afternoon, some immediate (and expected) volatility set in. But rather than settling down, market jitters seem to have worsened today, as a gilt sell-off saw government

Living standards take a hit in Labour’s Budget

‘Judge us by whether, in five years’ time, you have more money in your pocket,’ Keir Starmer told the Mirror earlier this week. This comment came ahead of his speech in the West Midlands, which was designed to prepare the country (and markets) for the Budget. ‘Everyone can wake up on Thursday and understand that a new

Kate Andrews

Labour’s low growth Budget

15 min listen

Rachel Reeves has announced that taxes will rise by £40 billion in Labour’s first Budget for 14 years. The headlines include: an increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions from April to 15 per cent, raising £25 billion; that the freeze on income tax and National Insurance thresholds will not be extended past 2028; that the

Kate Andrews

Labour’s Budget will crush growth

Rachel Reeves didn’t want to surprise anyone with this Budget. She didn’t want to shock the markets, nor did she want any accusation that she had played fast and loose with the public finances. So by the time the Chancellor stood up in the Commons today, the bulk of her big decisions were already public

Yet another NHS Budget boost – but where’s the reform?

We won’t have to speculate about the details of the Labour’s first Budget much longer. But one tradition as old as time has been confirmed by the Treasury: the National Health Service is getting more cash. ‘Our NHS is the lifeblood of Britain,’ the Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said ahead of unveiling her full Budget

Will the OBR’s £22bn ‘black hole’ review vindicate the Tories?

Are the details of the alleged £22 billion fiscal black hole about to be revealed? In addition to providing assessments and forecasts for the UK economy alongside the Chancellor’s Budget on Wednesday, the Office for Budget Responsibility is also set to publish its ‘review’ into Rachel Reeves’ claim that the Tories covered up a multi-billion

Kate Andrews

Budget week: Labour braced for backlash

13 min listen

It’s Budget week (finally)! How this week goes will set the tone for Labour’s first year in office. It’s fair to say that expectations are relatively low – with the Prime Minister himself warning of ‘painful decisions’ ahead. We know a lot of what will likely be included and Treasury sources are keen to play

Not even ‘working people’ will be protected from tax hikes

Does Labour regret its decision to redefine the meaning of a ‘working person’? The original understanding of the term seemed to be working just fine, until ministers decided to make it the metric for who would and would not be subject to tax rises. Now the party finds itself in the strangest of situations: having

Labour’s ‘working people’ muddle

11 min listen

Who exactly are ‘working people’? The Labour party’s use of this phrase during the election raised questions over who they will really be levying taxes upon. With less than a week to go until the Budget, Labour in government is now again struggling to give a clear definition of what they mean. James Heale talks

Reeves’s Budget needs to win over the market

Rachel Reeves confirmed on her trip to Washington DC that she will be changing the government’s self-imposed fiscal rules, allowing the Chancellor to borrow up to £50 billion more for infrastructure investment in Britain. The change – which will take into account the government’s assets – will further loosen what are already quite loose rules

Kate Andrews

Cambridge in crisis, Trump’s wicked humour & the beauty of AI ceramics

53 min listen

This week: Decline and Fall – how our greatest universities are betraying students.Our greatest universities are betraying students, writes David Butterfield, who has just resigned from teaching Classics at Cambridge after 21 years. What went wrong? First, class lists of exam results became private, under alleged grounds of ‘data protection’, which snuffed out much of

Kate Andrews

Trump makes America laugh again

‘Tradition holds that I’m supposed to tell a few self-deprecating jokes this evening,’ said Donald Trump in his speech at the Al Smith Dinner in New York on Friday night. ‘So here it goes.’ He paused. ‘Nope. I’ve got nothing… There’s nothing to say. I guess I just don’t see the point at taking shots