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Hello, I'm Sam Holmes and welcome to Spectator Outland. Every week, a few of our favorite writers read their pieces from the latest issue.

This week, we'll hear from James Bartholomew on how taking in a Ukrainian refugee has improved his social clout,

Freddie Gray on the Republican fight against Disney, and Kate Andrews on overcoming her arachnophobia.

First up, James Bartholomew.

Refugee Status. The social cachet of taking in Ukrainians

I have temporarily taken in two Ukrainian refugees

and suddenly find, for very little sacrifice, that my stock has soared.

People who have regarded me as a hard-nosed right-wing bastard are suddenly confused and struggling to readjust.

A woke young relative who has despised and despaired of my ignorant reactionary views on Black Lives Matter, climate change, gender and so on,

suddenly sees a halo above my head.

My mother-in-law and the Costa Brava reports that mentioning that

her daughter and son-in-law have Ukrainian refugees is like being sprinkled with gold dust. Her social circle is in awe.

Never have I received so much praise for doing hardly anything at all.

It started when I dropped into the Ukrainian Social Club in Holland Park Avenue and said I'd be willing to take in a refugee mother and child for a month.

I had read how bureaucratic the government scheme was

and reckoned there might be some refugees already in the UK

needing accommodation right now.

I left my name and contact details feeling mildly heroic and expecting to hear no more about it.

To my astonishment, two days later, I got a telephone call from someone calling herself,

Tatiana, saying that she was from the social club and had

got a mother and child who needed somewhere to stay. A few days after that, Nadia and

...