London Calling

We're all over the politically correct spectrum this week. On one hand, James had his epic hunting adventure last weekend, while on the other hand, Toby is struggling to adjust to his new role as "Mr. Mom" now that an empowered Caroline has left for a two week holiday in Barbados.

Meanwhile, there's a lot on the censorship front as we take on the list of media that the UK Government’s "anti-extremism unit" thinks could turn you into a far right terrorist, the appalling rewrite of Roald Dahl’s children’s books by Puffin, and the weaponisation of ‘disinformation’ by the Global Disinformation Index to try to demonetise right-of-centre news publishing sites. We also note the protest against 15-minute cities in Oxford.

In Culture Corner, James took a trip to Bath to see a Genesis cover band, the vertiginous decline of Marvel Studios and the joys of Clarkson’s Farm.

Opening sound this week is Peter Hitchens on Michael Graham's TalkTV programme on the Dahl rewrite, via YouTube.

To hear more about James' weekend he was also on the first-ever "On Hunting" podcast.

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This week Toby Young talks to the man in the street. Our man James Delingpole is literally on the streets of London - complete with the occasional car horn, siren and gusts of wind - but the show must go on.

Toby wraps up his trip with tales of Mexico and then, staying in North America, they take on Justin Trudeau and the Canadian Crackdown. Who is calling the shots? Is it the the PM or Klaus Schwab? Domestically we ask the question, "Is Boris Johnson running the worst government in recent memory?" And then they survey the damage of last week's storm.

In Culture Corner we wrap up Reacher and take on Pam and Tommy (Hulu).

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A cold has Toby feeling less than stellar this week, so he and James have an age old discussion about men - and old age. Vitamin regimens, detoxification and general bouts of hypochondria lead off the show before we really get down, as Texans would say, to brass tacks. Namely are the protests happening across Communist China just a blip on the radar or is this real trouble for Xi? And do we have a right to still feel superior about it?

Then we tackle the distasteful Balenciaga "BDSM Teddy Bear" ads and the reactions that has provoked, former Health Secretary Matt Hancock's performance on I'm a Celebrity... and Jonathan Van-Tam’s forthcoming role in Call The Midwife.

In Culture Corner Toby reviews Tokyo Vice (HBO Max), James likes Graham Hancock's Ancient Apocalypse (Netflix) and off the bookshelf Toby is taking in Barry Lyndon and James is enjoying Trollope’s The Way We Live Now.

Opening sound this week is SkyNews correspondent Helen-Ann Smith eyewitness account of protests in Shanghai via YouTube.

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James takes enough time off from gathering wood to burn in his Rayburn cast iron stove (so he and his family won’t freeze to death when the World Economic Forum cuts off the power this winter) to let Toby read out an extract from ‘An Odd Couple For Our Odd Times’, a glowing article about our little show in The National Review (which, unfortunately is behind their paywall) and they both agree with the author that the debate between #TeamToby and #TeamJames is “the most relevant ongoing conversation on planet Earth.”

Toby then tells James about a new report from the Conservative Way Forward group documenting the enormous sums the British Government spends on politically motivated campaigns every year; they briefly discuss Harry and Meghan’s Netflix documentary series, focusing on Harry’s slightly Plebeian accent.

In Culture Corner, Toby urges people to stick with Andor, the only good Star Wars TV spin-off and sings the praises of the action scenes in Gangs of London, while James enthuses about his latest discover, Hot Skull, a Turkish series about a world plunged into chaos by a pandemic; and, finally, Toby confesses to having given up on Barry Lyndon and started listening to Hell’s March, the second book in Taylor Anderson’s Artilleryman series.

Opening sound this week is Piers Morgan on Sky Australia reviewing Harry & Meghan.

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