Best of the Spectator

I recently caught a rare viewing of a 2001 Chinese film, Lan Yu. It tells the story of two gay men falling in love and finding domestic life throughout the reform and opening years of China. The filmmakers never bothered to apply for approval from the censors, knowing that its homosexual storyline would never make it past the moralistic Communist censors.On this episode, I take a look at the place of homosexuality in the traditional Chinese mindset and under these years of Communism. My guests are Zhang Yongning, the producer of Lan Yu, and Liu Yiling, a a writer covering Chinese society, technology and internet culture who has written about the the dating apps that millennial gay men now use. We discuss the homosexuality rooted in traditional Chinese literature, like Dreams of the Red Chamber, balanced against the Confucian need to procreate and pass on lineage. It turns out that, much like ancient Greece, the problem wasn’t so much the gay sex so long as you still set up families and had children, Yongning says.With the influx of Christianity through missionaries, there took on a ‘pathological’ view of homosexuality, more akin to the western homophobia, says Yiling.When it comes to political attitudes, Yiling makes the astute point that ‘Chinese history has always moved in patterns of fang shou (open and close)’. Under Communism, you might expect the kind of restrictive attitudes towards divergent lifestyles, but much of this had moved in more liberal ways since reform and opening, forming the backdrop to Lan Yu’s story. Yet the sticking point is always whether these minority groups ask for political or civil rights. Unlike feminists under the MeToo movement which has been shut down by the government, gays haven’t united politically. ‘If they start asking for rights, then they will be in huge trouble’, Yongning says.We don’t get much time to talk about other LGBT communities, but I’ll certainly come back to those in future episodes.If you enjoy this podcast, you can now register your interest for an upcoming Chinese Whispers newsletter, at www.spectator.co.uk/whispers. It'll be everything you love about the podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the next round of The Spectator’s Economic Innovator of the Year Awards sponsored by Investec, we met in Leeds at the Dakota hotel and restaurant.  For the Yorkshire and Northeast region, three finalists joined us for lunch — out of a record total of 176 entries across the whole of the UK — to pitch their ventures to our distinguished panel of judges. The finalists you’ll hear about on this podcast are: Testcard, in the healthcare sector; MudDaddy, a portable dog shower and Tofooco. After lunch, we also met Powersheds via Zoom who couldn’t make it to the pitching lunch. The judges were Gordon Black, venture capitalist and former manufacturer; Caroline Theobald, entrepreneur and chair of the Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University. Finally from our sponsors Investec; Dan Sheahan, Michelle White and Rowena Huston.  The judges faced the tough task of comparing businesses in very different sectors and stages of development. But all four made compelling pitches – and the variety of entries is part of the fun of these awards.We hope all the companies we meet gain from the networking opportunities, benefit from the accolade of being selected as finalists and enjoy the buzz, the conversation and the lunch.  We hope Spectator readers and podcast listeners also enjoy following the search for this year’s ultimate winners – and will take a few minutes to explore the finalists' websites and products. More Economic innovator of the Year Awards podcasts coming shortly! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week: Harriet Sergeant writes about why ethnicity matters in sexual abuse cases (0:30), Lionel Shriver takes aim at the American university students failing their exams, (8:06), Martin Vander Weyer looks at the latest forecasts for housing prices (17:01), and Philip Patrick thinks Japanese food is overrated (25:19).Produced and presented by Natasha Feroze.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fiona Hill is a seasoned political advisor, consultant and strategist. Born in Glasgow, she began her career as the first-ever female football reporter in Scotland. Then after moving into politics, she later became the first female chief of staff in No.10 under Theresa May. In her first interview since leaving Downing Street five years ago, Fiona Hill speaks to Katy Balls about how difficult she found it being attacked in the press after the Tories’ election disappointment in 2017. ‘Luckily I’m a strong person. But if I’d been a lesser person I may have thrown myself in the Thames.’ She also reveals that in the month after the election, Hill came face to face with someone who had broken into her flat.Produced by Natasha Feroze. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The second regional podcast for The Spectator’s Economic Innovator of the Year Award sponsored by Investec was set in the picturesque city of Edinburgh where the judges and finalists met for lunch at the Dome on George Street. We invited four finalists for the Scotland and Northern Ireland region — out of a record total of 176 across the whole of the UK — to pitch their ventures to our distinguished panel of judges. The finalists you’ll hear about on this podcast are: Cardinal Analytics a fintech business that predicts when enterprises are about to go bankrupt; MacRebur a novel invention for road surfacing; Roslin Technologies which make lab-grown meat; and Synaptec which work in manufacturing for fault sensors in power networks.    The judges were Merryn Somerset-Webb, editor and chief of MoneyWeek magazine and Financial Times columnist, Irene McAleese, co-founder and CEO of See.Sense, an early winner of these awards; finally our friends from Investec, Michelle White and Arlene Ewing.The judges faced the tough task of comparing businesses in very different sectors and stages of development. But all four made compelling pitches – and the variety of entries is part of the fun of these awards.We hope all the companies we meet gain from the networking opportunities, benefit from the accolade of being selected as finalists and enjoy the buzz, the conversation and the lunch.  We hope Spectator readers and podcast listeners also enjoy following the search for this year’s ultimate winners – and will take a few minutes to explore the finalists' websites and products. More Economic Innovator of the Year Awards podcasts coming shortly! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week:In his cover piece for the magazine Owen Matthews writes about the power struggle at the heart of Russia. He is joined by Jade McGlynn, specialist in Russian Studies at the Monterey Initiative, to discuss whether Putin might be running out of time (01:00).Also on the podcast: Has America’s pot policy gone to pot? In The Spectator this week Mike Adams says that US cannabis legislation has been a total failure, a view contested by Katya Kowalski, Head of Operations at drug policy think tank Voltface. They both join The Edition podcast to debate the way forward for cannabis legalisation (16:26).And finally: Should we pity privileged men? For our magazine Damian Reilly writes about The Privileged Man, the support group for men that have it all. He is joined by co-founder of the community Esmond Baring to consider why everyone should be encouraged to speak up about their struggles (30:44). Hosted by Lara Prendergast and William Moore. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest on this week's podcast is best known as a stand-up comic, and co-host of the hit second world war podcast We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Now Al Murray has produced a book – Command: How The Allies Learned To Win the Second World War – in which he looks at the progress of the war through case studies of the men who, one way and another, made a difference to it. He tells me how we turned round a war we spent three years losing so badly, and along the way provides some sharp reassessments of (among other eminences) Orde Wingate, George Patton and the two-pound gun.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ayesha Hazarika is a journalist, broadcaster, stand-up comic and former advisor to three Labour leaders. On the podcast, she discusses memories of her mother's chicken curry, navigating bacon sandwich-gate with Ed Miliband and why all cooked orange coloured food is 'minging'.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Winston speaks with actor James Dreyfus, star of Gimme Gimme Gimme, The Thin Blue Line and Notting Hill. They discuss his cancellation from Dr Who, the misogyny and homophobia of Trans Radical Activists, Stonewall, the LGB Alliance, and why he’s willing to put his neck on the line. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This year’s regional podcast series for The Spectator’s Economic Innovator of the Year Awards kicked off with news of a fascinating lunch at The Ivy Cafe in Manchester. We invited four finalists for the North West region — out of a record total of 176 across the whole of the UK — to pitch their ventures to our distinguished panel of judges. The finalists you’ll hear about on this podcast are: LoveRaw which makes vegan chocolate; Ordo which makes electric toothbrushes; Interact, which drives energy efficiency in data centres and IT systems; and Better2Know, which provides sexual health testing services.The judges were Gabriel Fysh, whose company Transcend Packaging, in South Wales, is one of our former winners in this region; private equity and venture capital investor Steve Morris; and Richard Greenhalgh and Michelle White representing our sponsor, the wealth manager and investment bank Investec. The judges faced the tough task of comparing businesses in very different sectors and stages of development. But all four made compelling pitches —  and the variety of entries is part of the fun of these Awards.We hope all the companies we meet gain from the networking opportunities, benefit from the accolade of being selected as finalists and enjoy the buzz, the conversation and the lunch.  We hope Spectator readers and podcast listeners also enjoy following the search for this year’s ultimate winners — and will take a few minutes to explore the finalists' websites and products.More Economic innovator of the Year Awards podcasts coming shortly! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.