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Hello and welcome to Spectator Out Loud. Every week, a few of our favourite writers read out their articles from the latest issue.

This week we're going to be hearing from Christina Lam, the best-selling author and the Sunday Times chief foreign correspondent,

who writes a letter from Kabul. And then we're going to be joined by Simon Clark,

an associate professor at the University of Reading, who argues that we need to have boosters.

And finally, Hannah Moore, an American in the UK, writes about the horrors of London's

supposedly American candy stores.

First up, it's Christina Lam.

The Taliban Cultural Commission sounds a contradiction in terms.

But for me, like all foreign journalists, it's the first stop in the New Afghanistan.

There, in a dusty office on the first floor of the old Ministry of Information, I was handed

a letter which allowed me to go anywhere in the country except Kabul airport or military installations.

In a neighbouring office, I met Anna Mullah Samangani, a Taliban commander from the northern province

of Samangangam. He's an an Uzbek resplendent in crisp white

chalwar camis, black waistcoat and black and white silk turban. He told me he has read one of my books.

Do you feel safe in Kabul? Have you had any difficulties? he asked solicitously. He assured me that

the new Taliban just want to be friends.

We have learnt from experience and now we want to connect to the world and interact with them in a good way,

...