Show Notes
This week James has a good walk in Shropshire spoiled by the "bird-blending, bat-chomping eco-crucifixes" and Toby debates animal "rights" around the dinner table because of the deaths of three horses at this past weekend's Grand National. ("Save the Sheep!")
That leads us to the name change of the Brecon Beacons National Park, the scandal at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the shocking suicide of a 19-year old Greenpeace activist from Walthamstow who became inconsolable by the prospect of climate change.
We also pay tribute to Nigel Lawson, Mrs. Thatcher's Chancellor of the Exchequer who died 3 April, aged 91.
In Culture Corner, we let the blocks fall where they may with Tetris (AppleTV+) and Seven Kings Must Die (Netflix.)
Opening sound this week is James Evans, Member of the Senedd for Brecon and Radnorshire courtesy of GBNews.
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.