Best of the Spectator

On this week's podcast: After the markets saw off Kwarteng, Trussonomics and now Truss herself, James Forsyth writes in The Spectator that the markets will be driving British politics for the foreseeable future. He is joined by Britain economics editor at the Economist Soumaya Keynes to discuss the institutions now dictating government policy (00:56).Also this week:Looking ahead to the American midterms next month, are we heading for a 'red wave'? Freddy Gray says in his piece for the magazine that the Democrats could be in for a shellacking come November. He is joined by Washington editor at Spectator World, Amber Athey (13:41).And finally:Should the Parthenon Marbles be returned to Athens?In The Spectator this week, Noel Malcolm says this age-old question is far from simple. He is joined by Lord Vaizey, chair of the new advisory board The Parthenon Project, to consider whether we can really justify keeping the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum (21:00). Hosted by William Moore. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth, Katy Balls and Kate Andrews discuss plans to stop spiralling inflation – and a spiralling government. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is the art historian Dr Matt Lodder, whose new book is Painted People: Humanity in 21 Tattoos. He tells me how much more there is to the history of painting on the body than we commonly suppose; and how over the years the history of tattooing (and public attitudes to it) has been shaped by religion, imperialism, class and fashion. Plus, we discover the one thing on which Boomers and Gen Z can agree… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can we justify keeping the Elgin marbles in the British Museum? Join The Spectator’s James Forsyth and special guests as they discuss how to bring an end to the Parthenon Sculptures dispute.A Conservative party conference event, sponsored by The Parthenon Project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

28 per cent of the world's fertiliser supply comes from Russia and Ukraine. Since war broke out in February, fertiliser prices have rocketed to record highs because of the disruption. British farmers are under pressure as the industry deals with higher energy costs at the same time; while consumers are facing higher food prices.Is there a way to reshore our fertiliser supply chain? CCm Technologies in Swindon thinks so – and reduce emissions at the same time. They say they can make high efficiency and low polluting fertiliser from organic waste, gathered from British farms, creating a completely self-sufficient production line.For their cutting edge science, CCm Technologies won the Spectator’s Innovator of the Year awards last year, beating dozens of Britain’s most brilliant start ups. In this tense geopolitical moment, Kate Andrews caught up with Pawel Kisielewski, CEO of CCm Technologies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.