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Hello and welcome to the edition podcast from The Spectator.

Every week we take a look at some of the most important and intriguing stories from the issue and the writers behind them. I'm William Moore, the Spectators

Features Editor. This week is uncertainty crippling the country's cultural life? Plus, what will

Europe look like after Merkel? And finally, has the pandemic changed the arguments for urban

versus rural living? First up, July 19th is approaching, but it is still unclear precisely what life after

Freedom Day will look like. Lloyd Evans, the spectator's sketchwriter and theatre critic,

argues in this week's cover piece that anything other than an abolition of all COVID restrictions

would be a calamity for Britain's live events industry.

He joins me now, along with the playwright, James Graham.

Lloyd, Wimbledon's back, the Euros, they're so far, they've been a success,

and many theatres are cautiously opening up their doors as well.

So for many, it looks like Britain's cultural and sporting life has returned.

But in your article, you say that the government is using these big approved events as show ponies to convince us that we're back to normal.

Can you explain what you mean by this for our listeners?

Yes, these events are actually part of an experiment, a scientific experiment,

which the government is mounting.

It began in about April or May, and the idea was to see if it was safe for people to gather in large numbers unmasked and without social distancing.

There were events like the Brit Awards in London and the World Snooker Championship in the Sheffield Crucible Theatre.

And Wimbledon is also part of this experiment. So it looks as if it's a

normal season of sporting and cultural events. But really, what's going on is that the people at

...