The phoney war

In this week’s episode: Will Putin invade Ukraine?

For this week’s cover story, Owen Matthews argues that if Putin is going to invade Ukraine, he will do so later rather than sooner. He joins the podcast, along with Julius Strauss who reports on the mood in Odessa for this week’s magazine. (00:42)Also this week: Is Brexit working?This week marks the second anniversary of Brexit. But how successful has it been? Joining the podcast to answer that question is Lord Frost who was Chief Negotiator of Task Force Europe from January 2020 until his resignation in December last year - and the journalist Ed West, who runs the Substack, Wrong Side of History (13:12)And finally: What is the allure of a classified ad? In the age of Google, classified adverts have become something of a rarity. In this week’s magazine, Anthony Whitehead explores the history, influence, and appeal of back-page ads. He joins the podcast along with Lawrence Bernstein who has been running a classified ad in the back pages of The Spectator for years. (26:18)Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William MooreProduced by Sam HolmesSubscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher:www.spectator.co.uk/voucher Listen to Lara's food podcast Table Talk:https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/table-talk