Cindy Yu is an assistant editor of The Spectator and presenter of our Chinese Whispers podcast. She was brought up in Nanjing. She tweets at @CindyXiaodanYu
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Next week is the end of recess and Boris Johnson is expected to scrap universal access to free Covid tests. What will be the reaction to this? ‘You do have to wonder if tests are the best use of taxpayer’s money given the pressure on the NHS‘ – Fraser Nelson Also on the podcast, the
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Angela Rayner received an outburst of criticism today after her views on shooting terrorists went viral. The deputy Labour leader is known for her colourful language, but how much is this damaging Labour’s branding? In her column this week, Katy Balls takes a look at the Labour Party’s strategy around Boris:‘I think Boris Johnson staying
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Joe Biden has set out his intentions to impose sanctions against Russia should Putin decide to launch an invasion against Ukraine. Are European countries that economically rely on Russia prepared for the inevitable costs that will come with these sanctions? ‘There is no way you could have a set of sanctions on Russia without thinking
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Over the weekend things between Ukraine and Russia seem to have gone from bad to worse. After a call between Biden and Putin failed to yield any meaningful results, the US warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could being as soon as Wednesday. Cindy Yu sits down with Katy Balls and James Forsyth to
After Mao Zedong’s death in 1976, it was clear to pragmatists in the Chinese Communist Party, led by Deng Xiaoping, that Maoism had not worked. By the late 1970s, food production had failed to keep up with population growth and nine out of ten Chinese were living on less than $2 a day. But the
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In 2008, President George Bush was the star guest at Beijing’s opening ceremony. Fourteen years later, under a cloud of diplomatic boycotts led by the US, the guest of honour spot was filled instead by President Putin. Under a confluence of factors over the last decade, China and Russia are closer now than they have
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In this week’s episode: Is China stuck in a zero-Covid trap?For this week’s cover story, Cindy Yu looks at Xi Jinping’s attempt to grapple with Covid. She joins the podcast, along with Ben Cowling, Chair Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong. (01:42)Also this week: Whose in The Zac Pack?
To understand what Xi Jinping wants from the Winter Olympics, look at the man chosen to direct the opening ceremony. Zhang Yimou is one of China’s most famous film directors, but his hits (such as Hero and Raise the Red Lantern) are better loved by foreigners than by the Chinese. His job is to wow
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Boris Johnson has come out fighting, but that doesn’t mean he’s in the clear. Cindy Yu talks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls about the Prime Minister’s efforts to keep himself inside No. 10.
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Today the Metropolitan Police requested that Sue Gray’s report makes ‘minimal reference’ to the events in her inquiry, whilst there is an ongoing police investigation. ‘I think it puts the government in a difficult position. If you publish the report with minimal reference to the alleged parties being investigated by the police you’ll be accused
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All political parties have weaknesses for jargon and buzzwords, and the Chinese Communist Party more than most. It’s why Party documents – whether they be speeches, Resolutions or reports – can be hard going. Sentences like the following (from the Resolution adopted at the Sixth Plenum) abound: All Party members should uphold historical materialism and
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Over the weekend the MP Nusrat Ghani accused the government of sacking her because allegedly her Muslim faith was an issue, and they thought she didn’t defend the Conservative party’s charges of Islamophobia more. In the week of the release of the infamous Sue Gray report into Partygate how are the Tories dealing with these
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On this week’s episode, we’ll hear from Nick Moar on Twitter’s decision to suspend Politics for All.Next, Tanya Gold on the importance of chicken soup. And finally, Cindy Yu who has reviewed The Kingdom of Characters, a book on Chinese language.Subscribe to The Spectator today and get a £20 Amazon gift voucher:www.spectator.co.uk/voucherUpdate Description
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After Christian Wakeford’s defection to Labour, Boris Johnson looks to be in the clear – for now. The Prime Minister’s backbenchers, though, are still frustrated by the aggressive tactics used by his whips to ensure their support. Is blackmail normal in the Commons, and are their complaints a result of Parliament’s generational divide? Cindy Yu
Any student of Chinese will sympathise with the 17th-century Jesuit priest Fr Emeric Langlois de Chavagnac when he wrote: ‘One can only endure the pain of learning it for the love of God.’ With its convoluted characters, subtle tones and numerous homonyms, it can seem as though the language just doesn’t want to be learned.
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After a hard PMQs for Boris Johnson which included multiple MPs calling for his resignation, the cabinet took to the media to show support for their embattled leader… though some took a bit longer than others. ‘Notably, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss took quite some time. I think they both got round to it by
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‘If table tennis set the stage for China’s international diplomacy, then volleyball rebuilt the nation’s confidence’, ran one article in the People’s Daily around the time of the 2016 Rio Olympics. Sports has had a long political history in China, my guest in this week’s Chinese Whispers tells me. She is Dr Susan Brownell, Professor
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Despite a torrid time for the Prime Minister’s popularity over the last few months, there may be a political revival on the horizon. His decision not to lockdown over the Omicron variant seems to have paid off and won back some of the support from his party. But will the Johnson project end up a
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The ‘lost’ texts sent by Boris Johnson to Lord Brownlow over his Downing Street flat refurbishment continues to dominate the headlines today. As the story unravels, it’s a sign that the Tory sleaze issues hitting Boris at the end of 2021 will continue way into the new year. ‘It’s not going to go down well
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Keir Starmer arrived in Birmingham today to deliver his agenda-setting speech, outlining Labour’s vision for the future. The opposition leader had to tread the delicate path between offering a substantial, policy-based agenda whilst holding his cards close to his chest. ‘One of the challenges of opposition in the midterm is, they come up with new
