Show Notes
This winter, Ai Weiwei returned to Beijing after a decade in exile. He found himself airbrushed from public memory. An international icon everywhere else. At home, a ghost.
The artist joined Michael Prodger soon after that trip to discuss the cost of personal freedom, in both China and in the West.
The Exchange is a new series from the New Statesman. Look out for new interviews every Wednesday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from The Exchange | Long-form interviews from the New Statesman
We live in a world where as many people have instantaneous access to porn as to clean water.
Since the publication of No Logo in 1999 - a critique of big brands and consumer culture - Naomi Klein has been one of the most influential voices in leftist politics in the world. In the past 3 decades, she’s explored the intersection of capitalism, war, climate, and conspiracies.
In Japan, couples can rent a grandchild in order to make them feel less bereft on special occasions. In South Korea, dog stroller sales have overtaken pram sales. And in France, deaths outnumbered births for the first time since the Second World War in 2025. So what's actually going on?
Owen Jones burst onto the scene in 2011 with his bestselling book Chavs: the demonisation of the working class. Since then his activism and journalism has followed the ebbs and flows of the left in UK politics, his own push and pull relationship with the Labour Party - which he ultimately left in 2024.
Fuchsia Dunlop has dedicated much of her life to eating Chinese food.