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
Boris Johnson has been under fire this week for not coming to the defence of Sir Kim Darroch. Is this a sign of things to come? In this week’s cover, Freddy Gray takes a look at what transatlantic relations might look like under a prime minister Johnson, arguing that Boris might better understand Trump than
When Donald Trump took the US presidency in 2016, China was wary, but hopeful. Here’s was a businessman for whom money was important, and China could offer economic growth for both countries through trade. But three years on, Trump has waged a trade war against China and boycotted its national tech champion, Huawei. The Wall
The defining feature of Chinese millennials is not Instagram, avocado on toast or propertylessness. Born in the early years of China’s growth miracle, my generation idled away days on dusty village roads that would be paved as we grew up. Our adolescence coincided with the arrival of the smartphone; and now, with our jet-setting cosmopolitan
In early May, the Climate Change Committee recommended that Britain adopt a net zero emissions target by 2050 for greenhouse gases; and in Theresa May’s last minute fumbling for a domestic legacy, she set her sights on this target. Earlier this week, the government committed to emit net zero greenhouse gases by 2050. But it’s
In a last-ditch effort to find a domestic legacy, Theresa May has set her sights on the hot topic of the day: climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions in Britain will be cut to zero by 2050, the PM has pledged. May’s promise is a response to the Extinction Rebellion protests that ground the capital to a
As Theresa May hands over the keys to Downing Street, what burning injustices will she also hand over to her successor? Isabel Hardman writes in this week’s cover piece that there’s nothing funny about the question – there is a series of hard decisions on domestic crises that the May government has put off for
I was an argumentative teenager, and after emigrating from China to London one of the biggest rows I had with my British school friends was over Tiananmen. They’d insisted on calling it a massacre. I was adamant – it wasn’t a massacre, and the government did what it had to. Did my friends not understand
A full baker’s dozen is in the running to become the next Tory leader, with even more expected to declare before the deadline of June 10th. But the party will whittle them down to just two, who will then be put to the members. So who will the final two be, and what will the
In early results on Sunday evening, the Brexit Party’s dominance in the North East of England, the first region to be counted, could be a sign of things to come. Taking 39 per cent of the vote share, Nigel Farage’s party has secured two MEPs out of the three available in the region, with Labour taking
Labour’s constructive ambiguity on Brexit has served it well since the 2017 election. But as the country votes in European elections this week, has the party miscalculated in being too ambiguous? Nick Cohen writes in this week’s cover article that Labour should have positioned itself as the party of Remain, and now it faces being
After a tumultuous premiership, Theresa May has finally announced her resignation. She will step down as leader of the Conservative Party on June 7. Here is how Tory MPs have been reacting: Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, seen as a Brexiteer favourite, tweeted: Dignified as ever, @theresa_may showed her integrity. She remains a dedicated public
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Is that man Boris? And if it is, what still stands in his way? In this week’s cover article, James Forsyth writes that Boris is the only one who can save the Tories from Jeremy Corbyn and, more pressingly, Nigel Farage (he’s backed up by the latest polling from
Can playing brain-training games slow, or even reverse, the brain’s ageing? In this week’s Spectator, Camilla Cavendish suggests that we are far too fatalistic about getting old. She argues that new research suggests it may be possible for our brains to keep developing well into our later years. Linda Blair, a clinical psychologist and contributor
As the two main parties reel from their local election performances today, are we at the beginning of a golden age for smaller parties? James Forsyth evaluates the chances of the Brexit party – Nigel Farage’s new electoral outfit – in this week’s cover piece. The conclusion isn’t pretty for the Conservative party: the Brexit
Seven years ago, The Spectator began podcasting. Why? For fun, really. Our writers were always being invited to comment on national broadcast shows, and so we thought, why not create our own? Podcasts gave us a chance to give our own writers their platform – if you don’t know what podcasts are, think radio programmes
This week, Theresa May finally promised to leave – but only after her Brexit deal passes. Anticipation of her departure has already triggered a leadership race within the Conservative party – who will take after her, and what does Brexit and the country look like after May leaves? On the podcast, Katy Balls talks to
Last night, the EU27 unanimously rejected Theresa May’s request for a June Brexit extension and told her 22 May at the latest – or 12 April if she couldn’t pass her deal). This pushes the cliff edge back by just a little, and makes nothing easier for her. If her deal doesn’t pass, she would
In Salvador Dalí’s Persistence of Memory, several clocks are melting away in a surreal desert scene where a distorted horse-like creature fades into the sand, below a ledge where a pocket watch crawls with ants. The bizarre painting is rather reminds one of the surrealism of the Brexit process, especially after this week. The government has
When did corporate giants like KPMG, Proctor and Gamble, and Accenture become extensions of the campus safe space culture? Rainbow lanyards inspired by the LGBT Pride flag, email sign-offs to say that you are an ‘ally’ of minorities, and so-called unconscious bias training – these are just some of the things that corporations are encouraging
Shanghai ‘How old are you, young lady?’ A small, curious crowd starts to surround me. ‘How tall are you? What do you work as?’ The parents camping out in Shanghai’s infamous marriage market have no time for small talk. They come here every weekend, rain or shine, seeking a partner for their grown-up son or
