Show Notes
We begin this week with James and Toby debating a truly burning issue - Is it better to live in the city or live in the country? After some time in the country this past week, Toby isn't sure the Youngs would last very long living the Delipngpole life.
In the news we talk about independent journalists detained for questioning by counterterror police, The Telegraph story about stifling lockdown dissent, and the Philip Schofield affair. (For our American listeners think a grayer and gayer version of Matt Lauer.)
In Culture Corner, James can't even make it through the trailer for Poker Face (SkyMax in the UK, Peacock in the US), Toby is back on the Bernard Cornwall train with Sharpe's Devil, and they agree not to talk about Succession until James is caught up - and he'd be caught up if he wasn't watching crap such as The Days (Netflix).
Opening sound this week is Amercan journalist Michael Shellenberger talking tp Andrew Doyle on GBNews about government censorship during the pandemic.
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.