Cindy Yu is a Times columnist, and formerly both an assistant editor of The Spectator and presenter of our Chinese Whispers podcast.
From our UK edition
20 min listen
A big congratulations to Linda Nelson who has just become a British citizen. Fraser details the long and taxing journey it took for his wife to reach this point in his Telegraph column this week and asks why as an immigrant nation do we make becoming British so challenging for new arrivals? On the podcast,
From our UK edition
19 min listen
Labour has admitted that deputy leader Angela Rayner, was also at an event where Keir Starmer was pictured drinking a beer. Could the pair be fined? Cindy Yu speaks to James Forsyth and Kate Andrews
From our UK edition
14 min listen
The chief whip Chris Heaton-Harris has started an investigation after a female Tory MP reported that she had seen a male colleague watching pornography in the House of Commons. This comes in the wake of the Mail On Sunday‘s Angela Rayner/Basic Instinct story, and of the Sunday Times’s investigation that three current cabinet ministers are
From our UK edition
21 min listen
On this week’s episode, Jonathan Miller says that whoever wins France’s election on Sunday, the country is going to the dogs. (01:00) After, Cindy Yu says that China’s online censors are struggling to suppress critics of the Shanghai lockdown. (07:47) And, to finish, Laura Freeman reviews a Walt Disney exhibition at the Wallace Collection. (12:06)
From our UK edition
13 min listen
The government’s response to Labour wanting to refer the Prime Minister to the Privileges Committee – who could then rule that he mislead the Commons – has been messy. At first, Conservative MPs were to be forced to vote with the government against the motion, but No. 10 then changed its position, saying it would be a
From our UK edition
For weeks, Shanghai’s 25 million residents were assured that they would not be locked down. Then when the order came, the lockdown was supposed to last only seven days. It is now almost into its fourth week, and the government is struggling to suppress the chaos. Last week, 82-year-old Yu Wenming called his neighbourhood committee
From our UK edition
42 min listen
‘One Shanghai courier uses own 70,000 yuan to buy necessities for people’, one Weibo hashtag trended last week. Instead of being seen as a damning indictment on what the state’s strict lockdown has induced people to do, the courier was lauded as a community hero and the story promoted by the censored platform. These kuaidi
From our UK edition
13 min listen
Cindy Yu, Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls discuss the Prime Minister’s remarkable ability to keep his head above the surface of even the choppiest waters.
From our UK edition
12 min listen
This week the government has announced a pilot scheme meant to address the increasing number of asylum seekers dangerously crossing the English Channel. While some have criticised this plan as expensive and immoral it could prove to be popular among large swathes of Conservative voters. Cindy Yu talks with Isabel Hardman and Katy Balls about
From our UK edition
10 min listen
The Rishi Sunak star seems to be falling further every day. The latest revelation is that he and his wife, Akshata Murthy held American green cards for some time while Rishi was Chancellor. The response from his crisis coms team has been muddled at best. Is there any way for the former golden boy to
From our UK edition
10 min listen
The government is publishing its long-awaited energy security strategy today, but Labour has criticised it for the strategy’s lack of action on onshore wind, among other concerns. Has Boris wrongly buckled to backbenchers on a policy that would have been efficient and popular? Cindy Yu speaks to Katy Balls and Isabel Hardman. Isabel argues that
From our UK edition
‘We’re being driven mad. Nobody is listening to us. They’ve politicised this disease.’ This week, the candid remarks of Zhu Weiping, a senior official at Shanghai’s Centre for Disease Control (CDC), have gone viral in China. Her phone call with a frustrated local was recorded, and her despair resonated with people in the city and the
From our UK edition
13 min listen
There has been a wave of backlash against the government’s announcement that it intends to privatise Channel 4. What’s behind their decision? Some argue it could be politically motivated given that Channel 4 has historically been a left-leaning news organisation. Also on the podcast, Iain Anderson has resigned as the UK’s LQBTQ business champion over
From our UK edition
46 min listen
After defeat in the Second Opium War, Chinese intellectuals wracked their minds for how the Chinese nation can survive in the new industrialised world. It’s a topic that has been discussed on this podcast before – listeners may remember the episode with Bill Hayton, author of The Invention of China, where we discussed the reformers
From our UK edition
13 min listen
The government will publish its long-awaited energy security strategy this Thursday. The plan, which has been repurposed since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, is expected to include commitments to reduce the 6 per cent of energy Britain currently gets from Russia, and pledges to increase the use of nuclear energy. But could net zero, a priority
From our UK edition
24 min listen
This week it looks like the war in Ukraine is turning. The Ukrainian resistance has moved from the defensive to the offensive against their invaders and American intelligence has reported that the Russian forces are struggling by almost every metric. Though for the Western world this is a very encouraging sign what does a true
From our UK edition
11 min listen
The cost of living crisis became a reality as millions today face a £700 per year price hike to their energy bills. What can the government do to support those that fall into fuel poverty? Also on the podcast, the government has quietly approved the takeover of Newport Wafer Fab by a Chinese owned technology
From our UK edition
15 min listen
During the tail end of his Europe trip, President Biden stated of Vladimir Putin ‘for God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.’ This was quickly walked back by his staff saying that the US had no plans for regime change in Russia. But with the potential of the Russia Ukraine situation turning into long-term
From our UK edition
12 min listen
Well the papers haven’t been too kind about Rishi Sunak’s spring statement. To unpack if it truly deserves this level of vitriol Cindy Yu talks to James Forsyth about the UK’s economic future as well as Nato’s more unified front.
From our UK edition
15 min listen
Tomorrow is the spring statement. The proposed NI rise set to be outlined in it has been described by the Labour leader Keir Starmer as a ‘cynical’ move so the Chancellor can cut taxes before the next election for political brownie points. But what are Rishi Sunak’s true motives? Cindy Yu deciphers them with Katy
