Polyamory

Saturday

James Heale

James Heale, Margaret Mitchell, Damien Thompson, Rebecca Reid & Julie Bindel

From our UK edition

26 min listen

On this week's Spectator Out Loud: James Heale considers the climate conundrum at the heart of British politics; Rebecca Reid explains why she's given up polyamory; Damien Thompson recounts the classical music education from his school days; Margaret Mitchell asks what's happened to Britain's apples; and Julie Bindel marvels at the history of pizza.  Produced and presented by James Lewis.

Thursday

Lara Prendergast

Trump’s gilded age, the ‘hell’ of polyamory & is Polanski Britain’s Mamdani?

From our UK edition

31 min listen

A year on from his presidential election victory, what lessons can Britain learn from Trump II? Tim Shipman writes this week’s cover piece from Washington D.C., considering where Keir Starmer can ‘go big’ like President Trump. Both leaders face crunch elections next year, but who has momentum behind them? There is also the question of who will replace Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States. Can Starmer find a candidate who can get the Americans on side? Host Lara Prendergast is joined by The Spectator’s political editor Tim Shipman, features editor Will Moore and commissioning editor Mary Wakefield.

Thursday

Teresa Mull

Nick Cannon and the art of the baby daddy

It seems that every time I read the Daily Mail, singer/actor/television host Nick Cannon is welcoming another child. “Nick Cannon shares adorable snaps of his newborn daughter while preparing for the birth of his 11th child,” a DM headline reported on Tuesday. Every time he meets his latest baby, Cannon seems blown away by the miracle that is life. And every time I see a photo of his latest child, I am blown away by the insanity that is Nick Cannon’s life. Is he a model baby daddy or a phony skeeze? Cannon’s football team of offspring is the product of — intimacies? (“relationship” seems like a stretch) — with six women. “In 2021,” reports Insider, “Cannon had four children with three different women in less than a year.

Thursday

Cosmo Landesman

Is swinging back?

In 1974 I was living in San Francisco when I got a phone call from a man who said, “I’m having a few people over to have sex with my wife, would you care to join us?” Back in the 1970s, people like this were called swingers. I politely declined. To my amazement I was recently invited by a couple in their sixties to go to one of London’s secret swinging parties with them. This one, they assured me, was for the “older swinger.” (I didn’t think there were any still alive!) To swing or not to swing? That is the question I never thought I’d ever face again. It was a kind offer, but frankly I’m too old for those sorts of sexual shenanigans.

swinging

Thursday

Genevieve Gaunt

The misery memoir of a devoted polyamorist

From our UK edition

The rules of sex can kill. In 1844 an angry mob shot Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, for his polygamous ways. But in the counterculture today, polyamorists face less of a physical threat and more of a metaphysical one, as chronicled by the journalist Rachel Krantz in her tortured book Open: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation and Non-Monogamy. At its heart it’s the dark tale of a vulnerable woman falling for a manipulative man who slowly sucks the soul and marrow out of her. I wondered: why write this book, Rachel? You’re on the path to healing, so why peel your skin off with your nib and present it to the reader?

Monday

Daniella Greenbaum Davis

Katie Hill is no angel

In the wake of a naked photo scandal and her admission of a sexual relationship with a campaign subordinate, Rep. Katie Hill has announced her intention to resign. Hill was often referred to as America’s 'millennial' candidate throughout her campaign. Perhaps therefore it should come as no surprise that her resignation letter was filled not with remorse, regret or even a real apology, but instead with attempts to blame only others and never herself. The Hill controversy has inspired bifurcated reactions, some — not all — of which have broken down along partisan lines. The progressive Twitterati has been eager to seize on the parts of the story emphasizing Hill’s identity as a victim.

katie hill