Is technology destroying democracy, or can it be used to strengthen it? How did Taiwan improve public trust in politicians by 60%? Could the NHS be transformed by digital consultations for the better? The world's first digital minister, Audrey Tang, joins Rory and Alastair to discuss all this and more. Podcast episode: 97 TRIP Plus: Become a member of The Rest Is Politics Plus to support the podcast, receive our exclusive newsletter, enjoy ad-free listening to both TRIP and Leading, benefit from discount book prices on titles mentioned on the pod, join our Discord chatroom, and receive early access to live show tickets and Question Time episodes. Just head to therestispolitics.com to sign up, or start a free trial today on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/therestispolitics. TRIP ELECTION TOUR: To buy tickets for our October Election Tour, just head to https://www.therestispolitics.com/ TRIP Plus: Become a member of The Rest Is Politics Plus to support the podcast, receive our exclusive newsletter, enjoy ad-free listening to both TRIP and Leading, benefit from discount book prices on titles mentioned on the pod, join our Discord chatroom, and receive early access to live show tickets and Question Time episodes. Just head to https://www.therestispolitics.com/ to sign up. ✅ Subscribe Here: https://www.youtube.com/@restispolitics ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 🎙️ Listen To The Podcast: https://lnk.to/TheRestIsPoliticsYT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 📱 Follow Us On Socials: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/restispolitics/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/restispolitics/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@restispolitics Twitter: https://twitter.com/RestIsPolitics ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 00:00 Intro 00:18 Life in Taiwan 01:36 Growing up as a prodigy 08:45 Entering politics 16:50 What can be done to improve how social media works with politics? 18:45 The role of technology during Covid 21:49 Being the first Minister for Social Innovation 23:09 How ministers in Taiwan deal with trolls 24:51 What surprised you the most about government? 30:01 Being the world’s first openly non-binary transgender minister 33:00 Your frustrations with government 35:29 Is China still a threat to Taiwan? 39:46 What can the West learn from Taiwan? 46:15 Debrief