Hello and welcome to Spectator Out Loud.

Each week we choose some of our favourite pieces from the magazine

and ask their writers to read them aloud.

I'm Patrick Gibbons and on this week's podcast.

Alexandra Shawman, the former editor-in-chief of British Vogue, reads her fashion notebook for the season.

Sean Thomas looks to Korea and asks, is a demilitarized zone for Ukraine inevitable?

As Ireland recovers from its election and Germans look ahead to theirs, Matthew Paris argues that proportional representation is a fraud.

Adrian Danat explains the new exhibition he has co-c curated.

Fresh window, the art of display and display of art, is at the Museum Tangoli in Switzerland until

the 11th of May 2025.

And finally, Philip Henscher declares he has met the man of his dreams, his Turkish barber.

Up first, Alexandra Shulman.

Since I'm considering giving a small Christmas drinks party, I've been reading all the festive

entertainment features.

There are recipes for canopays.

Does anyone actually make their own complicated snacks,

floral arrangements, garden illuminations and individual cocktails? These suggestions are exhausting

enough to put one right off the whole idea. All the experts interviewed on their entertaining

skills share an insouciance about hosting, which unfortunately bears no resemblance to how I feel in the run-up.

They don't appear to stress about numbers, are able to whip up simple, delicious food for a cast of thousands, and always hear the doorbell ring.

They never seem to fret about whether it's necessary to have a coat rail

and whether it's all too much of a crush.

...