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This week, James and Toby reflect on what it's been like to live through a year of such enormous historical importance and whether their sense of humour has helped them get through it. Who's really on the "right side of history?" Cancel culture arrived at Eton College, Britain's poshest school, last week when a popular teacher was sacked for a video he refused to remove from YouTube that dared to go against the current political orthodoxy. It's a case that has reverberations for lovers of free speech everywhere - including the campus of the University of Chicago. To wrap things up listeners get a preview of Toby's January Spectator column. It seems it's all about a close friend who won't come to terms with Donald Trump's loss in the late Presidential election. Any relationship between the friend and other persons associated with this podcast is definitely not coincidental. This week's opening sound is from the documentary film Inside Eton (1995). Sponsored by Bambee Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/the-petri-dish-of-history/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

This week on the UK's Fastest Growing Podcast™ Messrs. Delingpole and Young get a little contentious. After reviewing the week's Covid news they turn their attention to the US Presidential election and words fly. Words such as "Tesla," "shotgun," "fragging" and the "C-word." Things get so heated the bleep machine gets pulled out. Crikey. On the cultural front this week's recommendations include The Ides of March, Baron Noir, When Heroes Fly and Suburra. One of these is in English, too. (That is, if you call what the Americans speak English.) Our opening sound for this episode is from the PM's virtual appearance in the House on Monday - where things did not go well technically. Sponsored by Bambee, Express VPN Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/argy-bargy/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

There's been a shakeup at No. 10. Adviser Dom Cummings is out, as is communications director Lee Cain. So who's calling the shots? Boris? Carrie Symonds? Klaus Schwab? And who's that measuring drapes? The Young house is getting a rewire (and we hope renovations go better than it did in Chelsea) and the world seems to be getting a "Great Reset" much to the dismay of James and Toby. Every element of society seems to be lining up to criminalise dissent. In the Culture Corner James has been watching The Queen's Gambit on Netflix while Toby goes the book route reviewing Robert Harris' V2 and a 2010 book, Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre. James counters with the audio book version of Agincourt by Bernard Cromwell. Finally, does Toby qualify as a "celebrity?" Get me out of here! This week's opening sound is Deputy leader writer at The Sun Olivia Utley courtesy of The Mike Graham Show on talkRADIO. Sponsored by CareerGoldminer, Bambee Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/on-a-short-lead/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

James and Toby react to the PM's presser from late Monday afternoon as Pfizer announces a 90% success rate in their Covid-19 vaccine and ask the musical question, "Why Can't an Englishman be More Like a German?" And then, like everyone else, our intrepid duo has a take on the US Presidential election. One thinks it may be time for a tactical retreat while the other proclaims, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" (We'll let you guess which is which.) So exactly who was Donald Trump referencing as "Britain's Best?" We have an idea.       Sponsored by Bambee, Indeed Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/britains-best-the-deling-poll/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

It's Election Day in the United States (kinda) and Toby and James discuss the bets they've placed on a Trump victory. On the domestic front they decry Boris Johnson's decision to impose a second national lockdown and ridicule the idea that the UK is looking at 4,000 Covid deaths a day. Our intrepid duo then draw up plans for James's book about his Oxford contemporaries: My Generation: The Worst in History.         Sponsored by Bambee Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/place-your-bets-2/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

This week our show has a bit of Hitchcockian opening as James recounts his time with Strangers on a Train. That encounter leads us to the recent Dutch study on the effectiveness of masks that seems to have been left homeless - because "science." Nobody will touch it. With the Presidential election just around the corner everybody gets a call to place their bets, a call that delivers a disturbing memory in Toby's gambling life. And somehow along the way our gentlemen take time to appreciate their wives - and the total indifference they show in their professional lives. In the kultur portion of our show Toby leads off with Barbarians, a German-Netflix co-production on the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, while James choses To the Lake, an end-of-civilization-due-to-pandemic tale from Russia. (One reviewer called it a very good show at a very bad time.) This week's opening sound is from To the Lake, courtesy of Netflix.     Sponsored by Bambee, Theragun Gen 4 Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/strangers-on-a-train/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

Tuesday evening the PM announced that the greater Manchester area would be given the Third Tier Lockdown treatment. And for Toby and James the one thing this situation has done is highlight the divide between England and the devolved nations of the "United" Kingdom. It has also highlighted the power struggle between the elected and the unelected in government, namely S.A.G.E. (the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies), which at this point should probably be renamed C.Y.A.. In the end it has made James and Toby relieved to be married (although not to each other,) especially given that Boris's new lockdown rules mean couples that live apart can only meet outside. We also have an update on the Darren Grimes free speech case and Gary Lineker is our "Tosser of the Week." On the cultural front the disappointing wokeness of Season 2 of The Boys and a disagreement about Tehran. Sponsored by Bambee, Indeed Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/boris-nookie-ban/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

On this week's episode James and Toby react to the PM's announcement of a second round of restrictions in the fight against Covid-19. There are now three levels of restrictions and - spoiler alert - there are no levels that are free from restrictions. So, we have more lockdowns and at what cost? Cancer specialist Angus Dalgleish recounted the suicide - of not one but two - of his colleagues in an article in the Daily Mail over the weekend. There is hope in the Great Barrington Declaration, that is, if Big Tech decides not to find a reason to squash it. And that's not the only speech on the chopping block. This week Scotland Yard decided that if someone said something considered "hateful" in an interview then it must be the fault of the interviewer. And to round out the show Toby decides to censor himself. The cuck. This week's opening sound is from the PM's press conference.   Sponsored by Bambee, Fast Growing Trees Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/do-not-pass-go/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

This week on the UK's Fastest Growing Podcast® James and Toby ruminate about the relationship between the English and the Scots and lament what the SNP has done to it - and that's just the beginning of a very full show. What does Donald Trump's Covid diagnosis mean to the US election and what's more of a threat - disease or Big Tech? (#DELETED: Big Tech's Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal the Election by Allum Bokhari) We talk about Amnesty International's report on Covid and Care Homes in the UK and a German lawyer's blueprint to sue governments over their pandemic response. To wrap the Covid coverage, Sir Graham Brady (MP for Altrincham and Sale West) scores a victory for democracy in the House. Finally, a new biography of the PM will hit UK bookstores on the 15th: Boris Johnson The Gambler by Tom Bower. The press previews have been interesting. Opening sound this week is the Prime Minister's appearance Sunday morning on BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show.   Sponsored by Bambee, Indeed Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/its-grim-up-north/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

James attended Saturday's anti-lockdown march in Trafalgar Square and tells Toby about the aggressive behavior of the riot police. The government's contact tracing app turns out to be a real abomination and university students are now paying for the privilege of being locked in their residency halls with the threat of losing £8,500 (US$10,914) if they stray. Will they really vote Tory in the future? How about Laurence Fox's new party? Also, Toby praises Tehran on Apple TV+ and James finally gets stuck into The Boys Season 2. Sponsored by Bambee Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/lockdown-madness/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

This morning in the House, the Prime Minister announced the re-imposition of the lockdown rules in England to avoid what he says is a looming second wave of Covid-19. Now, Toby and James wonder where it all went wrong with Boris and curse themselves for ever having invested any hope in him. Also, leading up to the big grouse hunt James discovers a better way to shoot and in a chilling anecdote we learn Toby almost fell into the hands of Britain's most notorious serial killer. Sponsored by Bambee Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/the-end-of-an-illusion/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

This year is like living in a zombie movie. Except it's worse, because the zombies are running the country. Or maybe it's The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, because someone has even taken over the usually reliable Home Secretary, Priti Patel, and they won't give her back. The government has introduced "the Rule of Six" and is urging you to spy on your neighbors and turn them in accordingly. It's gotten to the point where a Conservative MP for Plymouth Moor View, Johnny Mercer, has taken to Twitter to call James the "C" word. Also, why has the Pitt Rivers Museum taken down its shrunken head exhibit? And the the love affair with Cobra Kai continues. This week's opening sound of the Home Secretary stammering through a defense of the new Covid rules is courtesy of Sky News. Sponsored by Bambee, Fast Growing Trees Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/the-obi-wankers/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

Ready for the Second Wave of Covid? The one that may never come? After our weekly update from the Lockdown-Sceptic-in-Chief, James and Toby ridicule the idea that Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter protestors are street-fighting, working class rebels. In fact, they're white, privileged, privately-educated members of the ruling class, which is why the police stand idly by and watch them smash windows and block roads or fall to their knees in obeisance. The real rebels are the anti-lockdown protestors, which is why they're being arrested and fined £10,000. Then it's off to the telly where James waxes on (and waxes off) Cobra Kai and Toby loves The Boys Season 2, which is even more politically incorrect and violent than Season 1. This week's opening sound courtesy of The Ian Collins Show on talkRadio. You can watch the debate between James and Extinction Rebellion lawyer Tim Crosland on YouTube. Sponsored by Bambee Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/anti-establishment-rebels/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

James and Toby have officially passed the hero stage with their kids and are firmly entrenched as "the embarrassment." The Delingpole lad thinks James is nothing more than a dancing monkey performing for his Twitter followers, while Toby reveals his daughter has changed her surname to avoid being associated with him. Meanwhile, there's the latest news and culture to deal with. Piers Corbyn, brother of the former Labour Leader, was arrested and fined £10,000 for organising an anti-lockdown protest, Adele is accused of cultural appropriation and Toby likes Ted Lasso. Opening sound of Piers Corbyn courtesy of The Ian Collins Show on talkRADIO. Sponsored by Bambee Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/embarrassing-dads/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

This week James reports in from an undisclosed location (his evil genius lair, no doubt) and he and Toby review the week's doings, from the latest on the Covid lockdowns to the foolishness of the multi-culti wokeness of the BBC and their plans for this year's Proms. We get their views on the Biden-Harris ticket (or is that Harris-Biden?) and the prospect of Donald Trump's re-election, plus our cultural reviews, highlighted by the very disappointing Greyhound with Tom Hanks on AppleTV. And remember, kids, Britons never, never, never shall be slaves! (Did we mention "never?") Our lead audio this week of Dr Jenny Harries, OBE, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England is courtesy of Sky News.   Sponsored by Bambee, Indeed Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/fool-brittania/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

Eighty years ago the United Kingdom and her Commonwealth stood alone against fascist tyranny - defiant and resolved to preserve their liberty. Now, all across the Anglosphere the citizenry is meekly abiding by all sorts of arbitrary and capricious dictates in the name of safety, including the postponement of elections. What's happened? If the Johnson government has cocked up its response to Covid, its response to the GCE A Levels has been even worse. (The UK equivalent of the American SATs.) Then it's off to the culture corner: James is looking for holiday reading material and Toby reviews the American series Yellowstone (starring Kevin Costner and an annoying shampoo advert). This week's opening sound of Labour Leader Keir Starmer criticising the Government's GCE exams is courtesy of Sky News.   Sponsored by Bambee, CarShield Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/sophisticated-lab-rats/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

The time for the fall term is quickly bearing down on us and James and Toby are itching to get kids back in the classroom. But others aren't so sure. Said the Prime Minister this weekend, "Now that we know enough to reopen schools to all pupils safely, we have a moral duty to do so." Also on tap (literally and figuratively) this week: Getting back into the pubs, the new dating forum on Lockdown Sceptics gets press, and fat-fingered police stopped MP Dawn Butler (Labour, Brent Central) and, of course, charges of institutional racism followed. (This from a woman who once claimed that 90% of all giraffes are gay and had her staff forge an endorsement letter from Barack Obama.) This week's opening sound is courtesy of The Evening Standard which reported on the PM's visit to a school in East London.   Sponsored by Bambee, CarShield Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/back-to-school-3/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

About yesterday... We didn't exactly miss our Monday record date, we just missed Toby pushing the record button. Stuff happens. But we're back for another go. And go we do. It's not just a missed recording that James and Toby apologise for this week, it's also having urged people to support Boris Johnson. The PM's handling of the Covid-19 crisis has been appalling and now they urge their friend Michael Gove to execute a palace coup. But as bad as Boris has been, what the heck is happening in Australia? Who would ever think we'd be heaping praise on freedom-loving, rule-breaking Germans, whose anti-mask protests are putting the Aussies to shame. This week's opening sound is the squealing sound of Boris Johnson's breaks.   Sponsored by Bambee Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/mea-culpa/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

Everyone is back at their home base this week (barely) and James braves his way through the podcast, ignoring the terrific pain from the torn muscle in his shoulder. Toby wraps up his trip and recounts the procedure of getting the family home from Italy. Then it's on to the news of the day and the implementation of the mask requirements in England. James tested the waters and then conducted a Twitter poll on his status on the Shagability Meter. Needless to say he got mixed results on both endeavors. This week's opening sound is of Sasha Johnson, head of the Oxford BLM movement calling for a Black Militia and nothing less than a Communist revolution. Sponsored by Bambee Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/shagadelic-unmasked-heroes/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

The view from the Young villa in Italy. This week on the UK's Favorite Podcast (well, in the Top 100, anyway...) Toby calls in from Italy (complete with kids and traffic) where he tells James about his trip to Venice, which has been great because it's been mostly tourist free. Back on the homefront, James takes great pains to walk us through yesterday's anti-mask protest at Hyde Park. And we do mean great pains as he's fighting a bad back. Is "the mask" about to become the new wedge issue in relationships? The two of them wonder if a Lockdown Sceptics dating site would make any business sense. Hardest working man in podcasting. Speaking of making sense, Toby takes off his Sceptics hat in favor of his mantle as leader of the Free Speech Union to review the latest on the cancellation front and to clap out Bari Weiss as she exits the door at The New York Times. The preview of Toby's new book can be found here and the job opening at the Free Speech Union is here. This week's opening sound byte courtesy of Fox Business News and the exit sound of the Hyde Park protest was captured by The (UK) Sun. Sponsored by Bambee Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/london-calling/veni-vidi-venice/.Now become a Ricochet member for only $5.00 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/membership/.Subscribe to London Calling in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.