Show Notes
This week, James and Toby discuss James’s profound sense of loss now that the hunting season is over and Toby’s concern that James’s pessimism about the future is making him mentally ill.
Among the news items covered: Whether Bill Gates really is an evil mastermind, the inevitability of ’15 minute’ cities, the Global Warming Policy Foundation’s damning new report on wind power, Humza Yousef becoming the new leader of the SNP and the mobbing of Kellie-Jay Keen in New Zealand.
In Culture Corner, the new season of Succession (HBO Max), The Night Agent (Netflix), the first of Anthony Trollope’s Palliser novels (Can You Forgive Her?) and Royal Flash, the second of George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman novels.
Opening sound this week is Kellie-Jay Keen talking about being attacked in New Zealand, courtesy of TalkTV.
More from London Calling
In 1935 Cole Porter penned a tune called "Just One of Those Things" about a love affair "too hot not to cool down." And so it goes.
Everyone is a little miserable this week, fueled by the rainy summer England has had this year. Or maybe because we're all getting a little bit older. James "celebrated" #58 this past weekend and Toby isn't looking forward to #60 due this October.
This week James and Toby open the discussion with James’ recent gig in Dorset and the division in towns like Bridport and Totnes between the woke and the awake, particularly over traffic calming measures like LTNs, Ulez schemes and 15-minute cities.
It's hot in the Mediterranean and James and Toby discuss the recent forest fires in Greece and whether climate change or arsonists are to blame. This triggers an argument (From these two? Really?) about whether there are enough honest journalists left to expose such wrongdoing and that, in turn, leads to a heated discussion about whether the journalist Ross Clark is a genuine climate contrarian because concedes that the world has got a little bit warmer in the past 150 years.
"The best laid plans of mice and men," said Rabbie Burns, "often go awry." And so it is as Toby tells James about how his travel plans have gone over the past fortnight, even though he’s in Majorca with his wife and four children.