Show Notes
This week James and Toby contemplate the spiritual - from the game of "sermon bingo" James and his family played when they went to church this Sunday (betting on which progressive talking points the vicar would include in the service) to Justin Welby’s pledge to set aside £100 million for the Church of England’s reparations fund and that leads to the question as to why the Anglican Church was been captured by the woke cult (James thinks it’s the work of the devil).
Speaking of reparations, we also talk about the recent story about the founder of The Guardian and his links to the slave trade and the paper's subsequent attempt to deflect attention from this story by exposing the Royal Family’s links to the slave trade.
In other news, Toby crows about the derailment of the Worker Protection Bill, for which the Free Speech Union deserves some credit.
In Culture Corner, Moonage Daydream (Available for rent on Amazon Prime) Sharper (AppleTV+), The White Lotus 2 and Beef (Netflix).
Opening sound this week is BBC Royal Correspondent Nicholas Witchell talking about the Royal Family slavery study.
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.