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Hello and welcome to Spectator Out Loud. Each week, we ask a few of our writers to read their piece from the magazine aloud.

On today's episode,

Jonathan Miller says that no matter who wins France's election on Sunday,

the country is going to the dogs.

Cindy Yu says that China's online censors have been unable to silence critics

of the Shanghai lockdown.

And Laura Freeman reviews a Walt Disney exhibition at the Wallace Collection.

Witty, inventive, and full of charm and surprises, she says.

First up, Jonathan Miller.

Something strange is happening in advanced Western democracies.

In America and France, voters keep finding themselves choosing between candidates

for whom they have very little affection. In America, we saw Clinton versus Trump, followed by

Biden versus Trump, and in France this week, we have Macron versus Le Pen again.

Many voters think this is a choice between the plague and the cholera.

Emmanuel Macron is disliked, arrogant and narcissistic,

to the point where he's compared himself to Jupiter, King of the Gods.

He spent five years insulting and patronizing voters and delivering mediocre results. His management of the epidemic was repressive and often absurdist.

He's failed in Africa, he's failed with Putin, he's thrown tantrums over Australia and Brexit.

But Marine Le Pen is equally gruesome.

...