Best of the Spectator

<div>This year’s regional finals for <em>The Spectator</em>’s Economic Innovator of the Year Awards kicked off with a fascinating session in a private dining room of the boutique hotel One Aldwych. <br><br>We managed to pack representatives of all 12 finalists (chosen from 90-plus entrants for the region round one table), plus guest judges Paul Abberley (CEO of our sponsor, Charles Stanley Wealth Managers) and former Award winner Jonny Ohlson of Touchlight, the pioneering DNA manufacturer.<br><br>With entrants ranging across the healthcare, fintech, food, energy and education sectors, as well as social media and high-tech engineering — and only around eight minutes for each to present and answer questions — the judges faced a formidable task. And of course the final choice of winners has to be subjective rather than scientific. But all the presentations were clear and concise — and there were several conversations across the table suggesting possible synergies between entrants in related business fields. <br><br>So, as always, we hope participants gain from the networking opportunities as well as the accolade of being selected as finalists — and we hope <em>Spectator</em> readers and podcast listeners will take a few minutes to explore their websites and products.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Chuck Palahniuk -- best known as the author of <em>Fight Club -- </em>has just announced that he's publishing his next novel not with a mainstream publisher but through the online subscription service Substack. He joins Sam Leith on this week's Book Club podcast to tell him why; and to talk about how 9/11 changed literature, why he never tires of making his audience feel sick, and how he thinks David Foster Wallace might be alive today if he'd taken some time out to write a few Spider-Man comics. </div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Grizelda is an award-winning cartoonist for publications including <em>The Spectator</em>, the <em>New Statesman </em>and <em>Private Eye.</em> She was Pocket Cartoonist of the Year in 2018. On the podcast, she tells Lara and Liv about her brother's infamous cooking, how she comes up with ideas for cartoons, and why she only knows four recipes.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Katy Balls is joined by<em> The Spectator</em>'s associate editor Douglas Murray; the founder of Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis; former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers; former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott; economist Steve Keen; and a team of <em>Spectator</em> journalists.<br><br>We discuss whether America, Britain and Australia can contain China, how Covid has changed economics, and Stephen Toope's time as vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>On this week's episode, Katy Balls gives us her thoughts on the importance of Keir Starmer’s performance this weekend at the Labour Party Conference. (00:54) <br><br>Then Nicola Christie raises the curtain on the exciting new wave of British musical theatre. (06:53)<br><br>And finally, Hannah Tomes talks about why Facebook won’t let her post about the English waterway Cockshoot Dyke. (15:50)<br><br>Presented by Sam Holmes</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>President Biden has spent the week meeting with foreign leaders including Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Now, the number of people starting to speculate about the state Joe Biden’s health is growing. Freddy Gray sits down with Amber Athey, the Washington Editor for The Spectator to discuss where the cracks are beginning to show and what this could mean for Kamala Harris.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Sarah Rainsford was a BBC foreign correspondent stationed in Moscow for 20 years until August when the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) declared Rainsford a national security threat. They expelled her from Russia and gave her only three weeks to pack up her things, bring home her husband and their dog. On the podcast, Sarah goes back to her youth to share how she fell into learning Russian and the adventures she got up to as a Cambridge student during her year abroad in St Petersburg during the fall of the Soviet Union. </div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In this week’s episode: can the new Aukus alliance contain China? In his cover piece this week, James Forsyth writes that the new Aukus pact has fixed the contours of the next 30 years of British foreign policy. Britain, he says, is no longer trying to stay neutral in the competition between America and China. On the podcast James is joined by Francis Pike, author of <em>Empires at War: A Short History of Modern Asia Since World War II</em>, who also wrote for the magazine this week, giving the case against Aukus. (00:45)<br><br>Also this week: what can be done to save the Church of England’s parishes? Back in February, Emma Thompson, a rural parish volunteer, and the Reverend Marcus Walker, Rector of St Bartholomew the Great, London, wrote pieces for the Spectator expressing their concern for the future of the Church of England’s parish system. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York dismissed these concerns as scaremongering from ‘rascally voices’. Seven months on there is a new threat to the parish, which Emma writes about in this week’s magazine. She is joined by Marcus on the podcast to explain what you can do to save your local church. </div><div>. (16:35)<br><br>And finally: in a time when travel has never been faster, why has so little been done to reform queues? This is the question Harry Mount asks in the magazine this week. He sits down with me now, with the Spectator’s Wiki Man columnist, Rory Sutherland to pitch some transformative ideas on how to update this very British pastime. (29:10)<br><br>Hosted by William Moore<br><br>Produced by Sam Holmes</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In this week's Book Club podcast Sam is joined by Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen, a historian of psychoanalysis whose latest book is <em>Freud's Patients: A Book of Lives</em>. Mikkel has sifted through the archives to discover the real stories anonymised in the case studies on which Sigmund Freud based his theories, and the lives of the patients who submitted to analysis on the great man's original couch. What he discovered is startling. Mikkel tells Sam how Freud falsified the data to fit his theories, kept incurable cases coming back week after week to keep the fees rolling in - and how the global industry of Freudian analysis resembles a religious cult more than a science.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>For China, WWII started in 1937 with the Japanese invasion, two years before Hitler invaded Poland. Japan would occupy China until its surrender in 1945, in the process committing atrocities like the rape of Nanjing. This was the second Japanese invasion in fifty years. </div><div><br></div><div>Yet decades after the war, when I grew up in Nanjing, Japanese food was all the craze and it was Japanese anime that kids watched and Japanese fashion that teenagers craved. So has China got over its wartime hatred of Japan?</div><div><br></div><div>On this episode, I’m joined by the Tokyo-based Chinese translator Dylan Levi King, who you might remember from our previous conversation on ketamine use in China. We’re going to be chatting about China’s attitude to Japan today, and the contradictions within that, rather than focusing on the history between the two countries. If you want to learn more about that part of things – there’s nowhere better to go than Professor Rana Mitter’s book, <em>China’s War with Japan</em>. Dylan and I chat about the Chinese caricatures of Japanese soldiers on screen, the Japanese porn star who overcame the two countries’ enmity and the <em>jingri</em> – the Chinese who identify as ‘spiritually Japanese’.</div><div><br></div><div>Dylan reflects on the cognitive dissonance – or disassociation – that the Chinese hold between Japanese politics and Japanese soft power. For example, he tells me that:</div><div><br></div><div><em>‘I used to go to this clothing store when I was a student in China, and in the store they would sell Japanese fashion like BAPE, but on the doorstep walking into the place there was a Japanese flag on the ground, so you could trample on the Japanese flag as you walk into buy all your Japanese fashion.’</em></div><div><br></div><div>Japanese nationalism, in return, seems to be getting louder, whether it’s visits to the Yasukuni shrine housing war criminals, or a continued refusal to acknowledge the war-time trafficking of Chinese and Korean women as sex slaves – euphemistically known as ‘comfort women’. Yet Dylan argues that this is just all bark, no bite:</div><div><br></div><div><em>‘China rising on its doorstep and Japan’s economy, since 1990, not really improving, has exacerbated that feeling in Japan of wanting to stand up, even though they can’t really. So it’s all performative and useless.’</em></div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>On this week's episode, Fraser Nelson starts by reading the leader. Britain has a labour shortage and our immigration system is a mess - why not have an amnesty for migrants without legal status? (01:00) <br><br>Michela Wrong is on next. She found herself in the sights of Rwandan President Paul Kagame after she wrote a book exposing the abuses of his regime. (07:05)<br><br>Mark Mason reads his piece to finish the podcast. Ordering at the bar isn't just about buying a drink, he says. (20:00)</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Say what you like about Pope Francis, but he's incapable of giving a boring in-flight interview. On Wednesday, coming back from Hungary and Slovakia, he was asked about the problem of pro-abortion Catholic politicians receiving Holy Communion. He immediately launched into a ferocious denunciation of abortion, describing it as homicide, saying there was no middle way and stating that support for abortion was grounds for 'excommunication'. </div><div><br></div><div>Francis then slightly qualified this by explaining that these 'excommunicated' Catholics needed to be lovingly shown the error of their ways, but it was hard to escape the obvious conclusion. The Pope regards the President as barred from Communion – which drives a horse and cart through the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy of Biden's own bishop, Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington. </div><div><br></div><div>In this week's Holy Smoke, Dr Ed Condon, canon lawyer and editor of the brilliant Catholic website The Pillar, offers us an admirably lucid 'explainer' on this complicated topic. His conclusion is basically the same as mine. Though Ed wouldn't put it this way, the Pope has just thrown the fanatically pro-choice President of the United States under the bus. </div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In this week’s episode: is Brexit to blame for the rise in blue-collar wages? With labour shortages driving wages up, many have blamed Britain’s removal from the single market. However, this week in <em>The Spectator</em>, Matthew Lynn argues that shocks and price signals are how the free-market economy reorganises, and that we are experiencing a global trend just like America and Germany. Simon Jenkins, columnist for the <em>Guardian</em>, joins Matthew to discuss. (00:45)<br><br>Also this week: the British Medical Association has dropped its opposition to assisted dying, but is euthanasia really a dignified and painless process? Dr Joel Zivot asks this question in <em>The Spectator</em> magazine, drawing upon his own experience as an expert witness against the use of lethal injection in America. Dr Jacky Davis, radiologist and chair of the Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying, disagrees. Davis, who pushed the motion causing the BMA to change its position, calls claims that assisted dying is a painful process 'unscientific shroud-waving', a claim she debates with Dr Zivot this week. (13:43)<br><br>And finally, Non-Fungible Tokens are selling at extortionate prices online, and are proudly hanging on the virtual walls of many. But can they really be considered art? Jack Rivlin writes about his own experience of purchasing NFTs in this week's <em>Spectator</em>. He is joined by Nima Sagharachi, director of Middle Eastern, Islamic and South Asian Art at Bonhams. (30:20)<br><br>Hosted by William Moore<br><br>Produced by Sam Holmes and Oscar Edmondson</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>This week, Sam is joined by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst - whose latest book is <em>The Turning Point: A Year That Changed Dickens and the World</em>. On the podcast he speaks about how 1851 - the year of the Great Exhibition - served as a pivot in Dickens’s own life, and set him on the path to writing <em>Bleak House</em>.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Ed Balls is an acclaimed broadcaster, writer, economist, professor and former politician who served as shadow chancellor from 2011 to 2015. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Liv about the importance of Sunday lunches growing up, his long history of making bespoke children's birthday cakes and the times he turned his campaign team into a makeshift kitchen staff. All this and more is documented in his new book <em>Appetite</em>, out now.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>On this week's episode, Christina Lamb reads her letter from Kabul about the situation on the ground under the new Taliban control (00:56). Simon Clarke makes the case for Covid boosters (06:19). And Hannah Moore talks about the horrors of so-called 'American' sweet shops in the West End (15:18).</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>On this week's episode: why is the Prime Minister so desperate to support the assetocracy? In <em>The Spectator</em>’s cover story this week, after Boris Johnson revealed his plan to pay for social care with a National Insurance increase, Fraser Nelson says there has been an inversion of the welfare state. It is right to ask the working poor to pay more taxes to help cover the social care of people who could easily fund it themselves? Kate Andrews, The Spectator’s economics editor, joins Fraser to discuss. (00:47)<br><br></div><div>Plus, why is our knowledge of Soviet atrocities so poor? Attempting to fix this, James Bartholomew has been interviewing and recording the stories of survivors of Soviet oppression and torture. In the magazine this week, he tells a few of these stories, but also asks the question: why is it acceptable, or even trendy, to declare yourself a communist? James discusses his project with Konstantin Kisin, a Russian born comic and host of the Triggernometry podcast whose family lived under a Soviet regime. (16:18)</div><br><div>And finally, why does London have so many American sweet shops? Some of London’s busiest streets are host to them, taking up prime real estate in the capital. Hannah Moore writes about her confusion with this phenomenon in this week’s <em>Spectator</em>. She joins Lara along with food trend expert Shokofeh Hejazi. (26:46)</div><br><div>Hosted by Lara Prendergast</div><br><div>Produced by Sam Holmes</div><br><br> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Sam's guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is the writer Oliver Burkeman. His new book <em>4,000 Weeks</em> offers some bracing reflections on time: how much we have of it, how best to use it, and why “time management” and productivity gurus have the whole thing upside down.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Are the Chinese religious? The government’s treatment of Christians and particularly Muslims have been under scrutiny in recent years. But these religious groups only form around 4 per cent of the Chinese population, according to national surveys. So what do the other 96pc believe in?</div><div><br></div><div>The CCP is famously atheist, but that doesn’t mean the society is faithless. Even today, most Han families, including Cindy Yu's, still sweep the tombs of our ancestors and burn paper money (and these days paper cars and paper iPhones) for their use in the afterlife.<br><br></div><div>In particular, Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism have grown together, over the centuries, to provide what the Chinese call ‘<em>sanjiao heyi</em>’ – three teachings harmonious as one, and these continue to influence Chinese life. Growing up, Cindy never knew which part of my temple visit belonged to which faith. One social scientist has described Chinese faith as ‘an empty bowl, which can be variously filled’.</div><div><br></div><div>On this episode of Chinese Whispers, we’ll be taking a look at what the three teachings teach, and how, in modern China, they've perhaps become more cultural than religious.</div><div><br></div><div>Joining Cindy on this podcast is Mark Meulenbeld, Associate Professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, who is an expert on Chinese folk religion.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>With Texas's controversial new 'heartbeat' law seemingly left unchallenged by the Supreme Court the abortion debate is hotting up in the States yet again. Will this success lead the pro-life movement to attempt to get similar laws on the books in other states? <br><br>Freddy Gray talks to Mairead Elordi, an investigative journalist for the Daily Wire.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>On this week's episode, Kate Andrews argues that the government's social care reform plans simply don't add up (00:55). Mary Wakefield makes the case for church doors to reopen (06:55) and Caroline Crampton reviews Tom Chivers's new book, <em>London Clay</em> (13:25).</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>On this week's episode: should animal lives be considered as valuable as human lives? It’s often said that Britain is a country of animal lovers, but have we taken it too far? Pen Farthing’s evacuation has shown how some people value animal lives more than human lives. William Moore writes our cover piece this week, arguing that the public outcry is emblematic of our faith-like approach to animal rights in Britain. He joins the podcast together with the <em>FT</em>'s Henry Mance, author of <em>How to Love Animals</em>. (00:50)<br><br></div><div>Plus, will the government’s proposed tax reforms solve the crisis in social care? In this week’s issue, Kate Andrews argues that instead of solving the crisis in care, the plans will only worsen intergenerational inequality. To discuss, Kate joins the podcast with Steve Webb, a pensions expert who was formerly a Lib Dem minister in the Coalition. (13:00)<br><br></div><div>And finally, what are the benefits of having godparents in this secular age? Although she never wanted children of her own, Fiona Mountford writes in this week’s <em>Spectator</em> that she knew she always wanted godchildren. Why? Fiona joins the podcast, together with Mary Killen, <em>the Spectator’s </em>Dear Mary columnist. (24:00)</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Sam Leith's guest on this week’s podcast is the biographer and critic Hermione Lee. Her biography of Tom Stoppard is newly out in paperback, and she tells Sam about the decade of work behind Sir Tom’s overnight success, his unexpected influences, and the challenge to a biographer of getting to the heart of this elusive genius.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Charlie Stebbings is an acclaimed food director and photographer. On the podcast, he tells Lara and Liv about taking photographing M&S's melt in the middle chocolate puddings, treating himself to baked beans and red wine and measuring mayonnaise from a syringe.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>On this episode, Aussie journalist Sascha O'Sullivan begs to be let home (00:50); Ian Williams wonders whether China is experiencing its own MeToo moment (04:25); and Toby Young on his trip up north with his two boys (11:35).</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Religious freedom is already being mercilessly attacked in Taliban-run Afghanistan: Muslim women in particular face a living hell unless they're happy to submit to their new rulers' psychotic brand of Sharia. </div><div><br></div><div>The United States is required by its own laws to do everything it can to champion religious liberty around the world. But Afghan's moderate Muslims, China's Uighurs, Myanmar's Rohynga and Christians in dozens of countries would be foolish to trust President Joe Biden, whose administration can't wait to dismantle the First Amendment Rights of conservative Christians back home. </div><div><br></div><div>My guest is Andrea Picciotti-Bayer of the Washington-based Conscience Project, which speaks up for people of faith who commit the thought crime of not subscribing to liberal gender ideology. Like many people, she's worried by Biden's partisan choice of personnel for US international religious freedom posts. None of them are Christians. It's an enlightening but alarming discussion. Don't miss it. </div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>On this week’s episode, we’ll be taking a look at the fortress that Australia has built around itself, and ask – when will its Zero Covid policy end (01:00)?</div><br><div>Also on the podcast: is it racist to point out Britain’s changing demographics (14:35)?</div><br><div>And is trivia just another way for men to compete (27:00)?<br><br>With former Australian High Commissioner, Alexander Downer; chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus, Layla Moran MP; <em>Spectator</em> columnist Lionel Shriver; York University's Dr Remi Adekoya; <em>Spectator</em> contributor Mark Mason; and QI elf Anna Ptaszynski.<br><br>Presented by Lara Prendergast.<br><br>Produced by Cindy Yu and Natasha Feroze.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Michael Bracewell’s new book <em>Souvenir</em> is a vivid and poetic evocation of London on the brink of the digital era - the neglected in-between times between 1979 and 1986. He joins Sam Leith to talk about fine art and post-punk, T S Eliot and William Burroughs - and the dangerous lure of nostalgia.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Freddy Gray speaks to the investigative journalist Katherine Eban, author of <em>Bottle of Lies: the Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom,</em> about the classified report into the possibility that Covid-19 escaped from a Chinese laboratory. An edited version of the report is expected to be released publicly next week.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>On this week's episode, Lara Prendergast asks if it's so wrong to talk about whether the Covid vaccine affects periods. (01:05) Cindy Yu says China's 'zero Covid' strategy can't last. (06:50) And finally, Gus Carter spends an hour in a sensory deprivation tank. (13:05)</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Last month, the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed senior Taliban leaders to Beijing, standing shoulder to shoulder for the photographers. China is carefully watching events unfold in Afghanistan. And while it hasn’t yet recognised the Taliban government, the Beijing meeting was a nod towards a potential alliance.</div><br><div>But replacing America in Afghanistan wouldn’t be without its risks – can Beijing succeed where Washington failed? America's 20 year mission in the country cost lives and money. And what would a closer alliance mean for China’s Xinjiang policy, considering the close links that the Taliban has historically had with militant Uyghur groups? <br><br>Cindy Yu speaks to Tom Miller, author of <em>China's Asian Dream</em>, and Dr Mike Martin, author of <em>An Intimate War</em> and former British Army officer in Helmand.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>On this week’s podcast:</div><div><br>In the latest issue of <em>The Spectator</em>, we cover the Afghanistan issue extensively, looking at everything from why the West was doomed from the start, to how events in Afghanistan have transformed central Asian politics. On the podcast, journalist Paul Wood and our own deputy editor Freddy Gray, both of whom feature in this week’s issue, join Lara to talk Biden, Boris and the new 'progressive' Taliban. (00:37)</div><div><br></div><div><em>'This is not your father's Taliban'</em> - Paul Wood</div><div><br>Next up, thousands of women whose menstrual cycles have been affected by the Covid vaccine have now come forward to make their symptoms known, including our host Lara Prendergast, who writes about her experience in this week's <em>Spectator</em>. We continue that conversation with Jessica Braun, who was the host of the <em>Periodical</em> podcast and Dr Joe Mountfield from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. (12:12)</div><div><br></div><div><em>‘I don't think your piece is anti-vaxx, I don't think you're anti-vaxx, I think expressing some concerns and airing what's happened to you is absolutely legitimate and valid’</em> - Dr Jo Mountfield</div><div><br>And finally, while many during the pandemic have fled London for greener pastures, our own Martin Vander Weyer has moved back to the city after more than 30 years of Yorkshire living. He writes about his new Covent Garden lifestyle in this week’s issue, and He joins us on the Edition along with William Moore, who has done the opposite, having left London with his young family to become a country gent. (25:39)</div><div><br><em>'With the upmost respect, I think you're mad!' </em>- William Moore </div><div><br>Presented by Lara Prendergast</div><div><br>Produced by Sam Holmes</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In this week's Book Club podcast Sam Leith is talking to Michael Pye about his new book <em>Antwerp: The Glory Years. </em>For most of the 16th century, as he tells Sam, Antwerp was the most important town in the western world – a city in which, as never before, ideas, information, goods and money circulated free of almost any authority. It was a time of extraordinary excitement – here are Bruegel, Thomas More and William Tyndale – and enormous danger and corruption. Michael tells Sam how it came about, what lessons it offers our own age... and how it reached an abrupt and bloody end.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Rory Bremner is one of Britain's leading comedians, impressionists and political satirists. On the episode, he tells Lara and Liv about his first impression (of a school history teacher), doing shows with Ainsley Harriott, getting stuck in a storm in Turkey at the same time as Betty Boothroyd, and helping refugees and asylum seekers through food.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>With Kabul now taken back by the Taliban and the Americans in full retreat after two decades of war, what will the USA learn from this catastrophe, if anything? Freddy Gray talks to author of <em>After the Apocalypse: America’s Role in a World Transformed, </em>Andrew Bacevich about the goals not met, allies abandoned and lives lost. </div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>On this week's episode, Jonathan Miller, author of <em>France, a Nation on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown </em>talks about the French 'vaccine passport' protests; Financial columnist Matthew Lynn reflects on 50 years without the gold standard; and Melissa Kite tells us about her own ways of treating Covid. </div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In the last episode of Holy Smoke, I discussed Pope Francis's brutal and petty new document which seeks to ban as many Latin Masses as possible. This week we look at the other recent developments, which are arguably just as disturbing: two criminal prosecutions in which close allies of the Pope are accused of a range of hair-raising offences – and the question of how much Francis knew about their activities still hasn't been answered, either by the Vatican or its tame press corps.. Also, I touch on a new explanation for Rome's dreadful pact with China. Did the Pope's Secretary of State sign away the freedom of Chinese Catholics because Beijing was threatening to release data relating to the use of the gay hook-up app Grindr inside the walls of the Vatican? We may never find out. But one day there will be a new pope. Is it too much to hope that the college of cardinals will learn from the disasters of the past eight years? </div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>This week on The Edition: <br><br>How expensive will it be to get to net zero and what is the cost of not reaching this goal?(00:48) Also on the podcast: Are international PCR tests a new racket?(17:56) And finally… is the American Dream dead?(27:39)<br><br>With journalists Ross Clark & James Kirkup. Producer Matt Quinton & Virginia Messina the acting CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council. Writer Sean Thomas & the host of our very popular sister podcast Americano, Freddy Gray. </div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Andrew Cuomo has resigned as governor of New York after an inquiry found he sexually assaulted multiple women. Why was the Governor so loved by Democrats, should he really have resigned over the state's care homes scandal, and might we soon see him as a CNN contributor? Freddy Gray speaks to <em>Spectator World</em> contributor Grace Curley.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Conversations about ‘modernising’ the NHS have been happening for almost as long as the NHS itself. The 2019 Long Term Plan put so-called ‘patient-centred care’ at the forefront, writing that: “The NHS also needs a more fundamental shift in how we work alongside patients and individuals to deliver more person-centred care, recognising – as National Voices has championed – the importance of ‘what matters to someone’ is not just ‘what’s the matter with someone’.”</div><div><br></div><div>All well and good, but then, came the pandemic. The new health secretary Sajid Javid has said that that waiting list will rise to 13 million people in the coming months.</div><div><br></div><div>Where does that leave efforts to modernise the NHS now, and in particular for that patient-led vision that the Long Term Plan had set out?<br><br><strong>Kate Andrews</strong> hosts this special episode of Spectator Sounds with a panel of expert guests:<br><strong>Sir Jim Mackey</strong>, head of Northumbria’s NHS Trust and former head of NHS Improvement<br><strong>Charlotte Augst,</strong> head of National Voices, a coalition group of patient-centred health charities<br><strong>Todd Manning, </strong>the Vice-President and General Manager of Abbvie UK.<br><br>This podcast is sponsored by Abbvie UK.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>It might be an understatement to say that China has a difficult relationship with drugs. Most infamously, the Opium Wars of the 1800s saw British soldiers fight against the Qing dynasty to protect the British right to sell opium to China. When the Qing lost, it wasn’t just the sobriety of their people that they lost – but a series of ports, concessions and reparations signed away in so-called ‘unequal treaties’. Hong Kong was lost to the British at this point, and it’s where the Chinese mark the start of the century of humiliation.</div><br><div>The memory and trauma of opium addiction is still bound up with national decline in the Chinese conscience.</div><br><div>So Cindy Yu was surprised to read about widespread drug use (especially ketamine) in the early 2000s in a recent <a href="https://palladiummag.com/2021/06/23/ketamine-and-the-return-of-the-party-state/">article</a> by the translator and writer Dylan Levi King. Dylan joins this episode, and they talk about what the popularity of ket says about China's reform and opening, how the Chinese see drug abuse as a disease than a crime, and President Xi's moralistic clampdown on the party scene in the years since.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Cindy Yu is joined by Professor Ciaran Martin, former chair of the National Cyber Security Centre; Robert Bigman, former chief information security officer at the CIA; Andy Owen, author and former intelligence officer; Dr Mike Martin, author of An Intimate War; Rory Sutherland, The Spectator's Wiki Man columnist; Suzanne Moore, Telegraph columnist; and a team of Spectator journalists.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>On this week's episode, former intelligence officer Andy Owen gives his reflections on where we went wrong in Afghanistan - based on what he saw on the ground; <em>Spectator</em> columnist Mary Wakefield talks about the rise in neighbourhood crime; and Toby Young asks - why have my suits shrunk in lockdown?</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Freddy's guest on this week's episode is the famed journalist Michael Wolff, author of three books on Donald Trump - the bestseller <em>Fire and Fury</em>, its very popular follow up <em>Siege</em> and the latest, <em>Landslide.</em> The final in the trilogy tells the story of the last days of the Trump presidency, including the 2020 election – one that the former president still claims he won.</div><div><br></div><div>On the episode, Michael recounts election night and the moment Fox called Arizona, why he has little sympathy for the voters who still believe the election was 'stolen', and what it was like to catch up with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. </div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>This week in The Edition: What is the true threat of ransomware both to our governments and us individually?(00:30) Also on the podcast: What are the Italian ‘Green Pass’ Protests?(15:14) And finally… is it harder to be the good Samaritan in the modern world?(25:28)<br><br>With former head of the national cyber security centre Ciaran Martian, white-hat hacker Tommy DeVoss, journalist Manfred Manera, former WHO scientist Francesco Zambon, Spectator contributor Cosmo Landesman and The Revd Lucy Winkett. </div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In this week's Book Club podcast we anticipate the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Wall going up by talking to Iain MacGregor about his book <em>Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War, The Berlin Wall And The Most Dangerous Place On Earth</em>. Iain takes Sam on a journey though how, and why, the Russians cut a city in half overnight; and why we let them. He describes how events in Tiananmen Square reached Friedrichstrasse. And how, as the Wall came down, a single British soldier did something that the Red Army never forgot. </div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Molly Baz is a cook, recipe developer, video host, cookbook author, and a self proclaimed weenie lover. On this episode, Ella talks to Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts about her food revelation with an Italian house-mother in Florence, her time working for Bon Appetit and about her new cook book <em>COOK THIS BOOK</em>, which revolutionises the medium by adding easy to access how-to videos to watch as you cook.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>This week we’ll hear Charlotte Eagar on how the arrival of the alpha migrants may be the solution to our labour shortage (00:56), Lionel Shriver on her bewilderment about people still having the Covid app (07:09) and finally Tom Ough's brief history of bidets (15:40).</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Joanna Scanlan, an actress best known for her role of Terri in the The Thick of It, had a long and winding road before becoming a star of stage and screen. Born in Cheshire and moved to Wales aged three, she went to two convent schools before an Anglican school where she broke every possible rule she could. On the podcast she talks about her dreams of becoming an actor, working first at the arts council and as a lecturer whilst pursuing her love of acting. In her new film After Love, she plays a woman uncovering the secret life of her late husband, which is out now.</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>This week on The Edition: Is there a humane solution to Britain’s migrant crisis?(00:52) Also on the podcast: Why is the WHO so down on e-cigarettes?(16:23) and finally... after a year and a half inside how angry will strangers make us?(27:01)</div><br><div>With Douglas Murray; award winning film maker and producer for the Trojan Women project Charlotte Eagar; Christopher Snowdon; Clive Bates the director of The Counterfactual and previous head of ASH; Damian Thompson; and Stuart Prebble creator of the hit TV show <em>Grumpy Old Men.<br></em><br></div><div><br>Presented by Lara Prendergast<br><br>Produced by Sam Holmes</div> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>