The murder of Sir David Amess, MP casts a large shadow over the proceedings this week. After assessing the implications for the future we take on happier topics, starting with James’ Delingpod adventure with Laurence Fox. Speaking of Lozza, we also drop a zed and cover the rapper Loza Alexander and his new song, Let’s Go, Brandon. We also cover the billionaire race, the dancing Greta, and the humiliation of Matt Hancock at the UN. In Culture Corner, a more in-depth look at The Squid Game, the birthday boy takes in the new James Bond film and James finally gets to the end of Crime and Punishment. This week’s opening sound is Mark Francois, MP (Rayleigh and Wickford) paying tribute to Sir David in the House.

London Calling

Remembrance

It’s a Battle of Team James v Team Toby as we open up this week’s episode with Toby’s participation in the The Battle of Ideas Festival in London this past weekend. We cover Rotten Tomatoes disabling the ‘Audience Score’ button for the new Disney+/National Geographic documentary Fauci, Toby’s encounter with fellow journalist Lynn Barber, the introduction of vaccine passports in Wales following a botched vote in the Senedd, and the New York Times’ correction regarding the number of kids in the US who’ve been hospitalised with Covid. Oh, yeah, Toby’s been nominated for the 2021 Contrarian Prize. In Culture Corner we debate actually seeing the new Bond film, James finally finishes Crime and Punishment, plus The Guilty and the series The Squid Game (both on Netflix.) This week’s opening sound is of Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales on the new vaccine passports courtesy of ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

Team James v Team Toby

James and Toby spend more time on the road than Hope and Crosby but unfortunately it’s not together. This week we’re all about James’s return to grey old England after his glorious week in Croatia and Toby’s trip to Scotland (in which he fails, spectacularly, to shoot a deer). After the personal preliminaries we touch on the redaction of the emails from Sir Patrick Vallance (the UK’s version of Anthony Fauci) about the Wuhan lab leak, and a discussion of who is more like Jimmy Saville – Toby or James (Hint: Neither one.) In Culture Corner it’s book week with Purgatory’s Shore by Taylor Anderson and The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw (movie trailer here). Next week: A Bond special. This week’s opening sound is The Sun Travel Editor Lisa Minot on UK travel changes courtesy of GBNews.

[Redacted] Pitchforks

A midweek release for this episode as James has been on the “last holiday” with his family and comes to us from Croatia and the shores of the Adriatic. The big story this week is Britain’s fuel “crisis” and the PM’s decision to “bring in the army.” The blame, of course, is directed at Brexiteers, justified or not. London Calling fans greet Toby as he participated in a lockdown debate this week and we speculate whether or not those that approached him are really “Team Toby” or just saying that to spare his feelings. And finally, who has jumped the shark into woke silliness more? Scientific American for the demonisation of the Jedi for being “white saviours”or the season two of Ted Lasso? In Culture Corner, James rediscovers the late novelist Irwin Shaw (The Young Lions, Rich Man, Poor Man) and the glories of the printed page in a real book. Opening sound this week is of the PM addressing the petrol situation courtesy of GB News.

Travels with Delingpole

The announced easing of travel restrictions between the US and citizens of the UK get us going – but our producer, “Evil Brian,” isn’t sweating it because James will still need the double-jab to show up at his front door. On the international front they cover (or stumble through) the Canadian Parliamentary election, the AUKUS security deal, and whether James is contaminating Toby’s “brand” by making people think he’s an anti-vaxxer. In Culture Corner, James raves about The Many Saints of Newark (Warner Bros.) while Toby praises American Crime Story: Impeachment (FX in the US, BBC airdate TBA). This week’s opening sound is French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian opining on the Australia-US-UK submarine deal.

The Persuaders!

Excuse the nationalistic pride, but James and Toby celebrate Emma Raducanu’s triumph in the U.S. Open Women’s Final but bemoan the way it was immediately politicised. But that gives way to the despair of this government’s Covid policy with passports and vaccines for healthy children. In Culture Corner Toby watches THE Suicide Squad while James recommends Lovesick on Netflix (which was called Scrotal Recall during its first season run on Channel 4) and the Sussex clan gets bad news on the Emmy front. This week’s opening sound is of U.S. Open Champion Emma Radacanu courtesy of the US Open/ESPN.

Self Checkout

We start the week in County Durham where James travels to see Kynren, the outdoor show that’s “a romp through 2,000 years of English history from the masks of the Roman invaders to the masks of Arthurian legend to the masks of Queen Victoria. Did we say that they were all wearing masks? Then it’s on to the more serious: the Government’s incomprehensible decision to press on with its vaccine passport plans and the horror of vaccinating healthy 12-15 year-olds in the teeth of their parents’ opposition. In Culture Corner we cover Shang-Chi and The Legend of the 10 Rings (Marvel/Disney),  the new submarine drama Vigil (BBC One),  and The Chair (Netflix). This week’s opening sound is of JCVI member Adam Finn on vaccinating children courtesy of The Guardian.

The Play’s the Thing

This week in Covid news, Michael Gove, the Minister for the Cabinet Office was recorded dancing in an Aberdeen nightclub over the weekend while the PM’s office barrels ahead in implementing its medical passport scheme, a 17-year old girl from Newport, South Wales takes heat over her Twitter postings and Mary Bousted of the National Education Union fires a shot across the bow for a possible teacher’s walkout. The debacle in Afghanistan then takes center stage and our duo debate about what it all means. Is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end for Western Civilization? Will it all come crashing down with the murder of Geronimo the Alpaca? This week’s opening sound of alpaca owner Helen Macdonald courtesy of the Guardian.

Your Papers, Please

We have a full, full plate this week. We talk about Trump’s speech in Alabama, how the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan has also deteriorated the “special relationship,” the non-stop death spiral of freedom in Australia in the name of zero-Covid (They shoot dogs, don’t they?) and the new rainbow “anti-hate” cop cars in the UK. In Culture Corner, Toby returns to the cinema by taking his family to see Free Guy (20th Century Studios) with Ryan Reynolds and then goes really old school with a Preston Sturges flick from 1941, Sullivan’s Travels with Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake. This week’s opening sound is of Met Police Deputy chief constable Julie Cooke courtesy of The Daily Mail.

Our Special Relationship

Toby is on the road doing his “footie reporter” thing and after a quick tour of the north country, he and James widen their scope to  take in the draconian measures elsewhere in the Commonwealth, namely that of Dan Andrews, the Premier of Victoria and Jacinda Ardern, the PM of New Zealand. Of course they turn their sights to the unfolding disaster that is the fall of Afghanistan back into the hands of Taliban. In a prologue to Culture Corner we look at the irony of the attempted cancellation of Scottish poet Kate Clanchy and the Orwellian capitulation of the Orwell Foundation. James has started in on HBO’s White Lotus and quite enjoyed it until… well, you’ll find out, and Toby laments the bad turn that Ted Lasso (AppleTV) has taken in Season 2, but he does give a thumbs up to the Netflix movie Beckett. This week’s opening sound of Dan Andrews courtesy of The Guardian of Australia.

Retreat Australia Fair

We’re offering up your money’s worth this week with a full hour of podcast excellence to be had. Toby and James open the show with a discussion of efficiently managing their time between work, family and devotion to “kicky-ball” teams like QPR, (Toby’s substack can be found here) and Team GB’s strong showing in this year’s Tokyo Games keeps us in a sporting mood as James aims for Paris 2024. Will we be well past Covid lockdowns by then? James has a birthday and gets a new suit (Can you get a new birthday suit?) and Culture Corner brings us deeper into Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and Toby gives a thumbs up for A Quiet Place: Part II. This week’s opening sound is Professor Neil Ferguson on the BBC’s Today Programme.  

In Our Birthday Suits

We cram a good 65-minute show into a half hour this week and not through editing. James explains that conundrum at the top of the program. What’s left is Covid face-licking (no, really), Lord Digby Jones in a Twitter throw down with BBC presenter Alex Scott and Toby’s moment of athletic glory. Opening sound this week of Lord Digby Jones courtesy of GBNews.    

Watchin’ the Olympics, Rowin’ for Gold (Take Two)

Much to the consternation of Team Delingpole and Team Toby, our intrepid duo are back in the saddle and riding again. Like meat and potatoes, or salt and tomatoes or the Lone Ranger and Tonto, somethings just go better together. That means there’s a lot of catching up to do – from Toby’s interrupted holiday in Wales to the results of “Freedom Day 2021.” We go over the doomsday predictions of Professor Neil Ferguson, Toby’s Spectator article on footballers taking the knee and his visit to Loftus Road to watch his Queens Park Rangers take on Manchester United in a preseason friendly. Culture Corner is brief this week with James tackling That Hideous Strength (A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups), the 1945 novel by CS Lewis and Toby catches the season opener of Ted Lasso (Apple TV). Opening sound this week is from Professor Neil Ferguson on The Andrew Marr Show (BBC One).  

Back in the Saddle Again

Disappointing results on the pitch Sunday night as England fell to Italy on penalty kicks. Among the faithful in attendance was one Toby Young who was hangin’ with the WAGS. We get a firsthand report from Wembley. And then we, uh… tackle the “Rainbow Dildo Butt Monkey” at the Redbridge Library. (Well, those are words we never expected to type…) and the PM says we’re definitely on our way out of lockdown on the 19th. Toby wonders if, when it comes to the vaccine, does James have his price? As they near Culture Corner, Toby reveals that he is, in reality, the British answer to Tony Hawk. This week’s opening sound is from England Manager Gareth Southgate’s post-match press conference.  

Heads Held High

Another week and another “freedom date,” this time it’s July 19th, and by this time next week it might as well be the 12th of Never. England is going gaga over the success of Team England in the Euros (the Semi-final vs Denmark is Wednesday July 7) but our intrepid duo can’t seem to get as excited as everyone else, although Toby is following the progress of Emma Raducanu, the rising star of British tennis at Wimbledon. In the Corner Toby gets Physical (AppleTV), James discovers Rick and Morty (Cartoon Network), and neither will touch Too Hot To Handle (Netflix). This week’s opening sound is of England’s first goal in their 4-0 win over Ukraine courtesy of ESPN FC.

Centre Court

James Delingpole and Toby Young discuss and explain British and European politics and culture for their American audience.

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London Calling

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