What's the Big Idea?

Finally, Sarah Vine (once memorably described as being ‘like and loathed in equal measure, divisive, but never indecisive’) and Peter Hitchens (a man whose writing a critic was called to compare to a Guardsman’s boot: ‘as highly polished and potentially lethal’) meet once a week to look at the world and mutter, alas…

Acclaimed columnist and journalist Sarah Vine and best-selling author and broadcaster Peter Hitchens discuss and dissect social, economic, and pop cultural flotsam and jetsam that have risen out of the dark waters of that week’s news.

Taking one big idea each episode and pulling it apart with élan, imagine Vine and Hitchens respective columns brought to life and then skewered, scoffed at, debated, and given the full weight of Vine and Hitchens impenetrable gaze. Though an accord might not always be reached, it’s the journey that matters.

Whether it’s the tech bros gone rogue – Meta tearing up its own rule book on fact checking, Musk attempting to influence governmental policy, or the knotty subject on society’s ever-increasing reliance on anti-depressants to treat what might just be the modern malaise and not depression at all. Or, evil, nature or nurture? Does evil actually exist or is it an idea that hangs over us, or do we just sometime embody it and the actions themselves are evil, not the individual?

All this and more are to be pored over, one towering topic each week discussed with humour, insight, and real understanding.

To get in touch email [email protected], you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'alas'

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the year draws to a close, we look back at some of the seismic stories shaping the year including how Labour’s landslide victory has turned into a landslide in their polling numbers with dissatisfaction with the government at a lofty 70%, and unhappiness with the PM at a remarkable 61%.  

Plus, a hard year for the Royal Family, as King Charles fights his way back to full health. Oasis reforms, Taylor Swift returns, and the country riots. 

And, as Sarah’s ex-husband is caught in a clinch with his latest squeeze, we ask what do you think when it comes to PDA, and what makes for a good divorce? 

To get in touch email [email protected], you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'reaction'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Andrew Pierce 

Producer: Philip Wilding

Editor: Chelsey Moore

Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As farmers descend on London for the second time to protest against Rachel Reeves’s changes to inheritance tax, we speak to a dairy farmer about what the changes might mean for the future of her family and farm.

Plus, as Angela Rayner presses ahead with plans to prioritise housebuilding on an area of the green belt bigger than Surrey, we ask what this means for those who already call the countryside home and the future of housebuilding in the UK. 

And, as sales of Christmas pudding are on the rise for the first time in more than ten years, we ask what takes pride of place next to the turkey on your table on Christmas Day. And does it include condensed milk?

To get in touch email [email protected], you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'reaction'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Andrew Pierce

Producer: Philip Wilding

Editor: Chelsey Moore

Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the former MP and Cabinet Minister’s reality TV show – Meet The Rees-Moggs - comes to our screens, the man once memorably described as looking like ‘a haunted Victorian pencil’ sits down for an extended conversation with Sarah Vine and Peter Hitchens to talk about why the Tories lost the election, his desire to return as an MP with Boris Johnson back leading the Party and his thoughts on everything from assisted dying, to horoscopes and why even he resists sock suspenders.

To get in touch email [email protected], you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'reaction'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens

Producer: Philip Wilding

Editor: Alex Graham

Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As Ireland prepares to go to the polls, we speak to John Lee, Executive Editor of the Irish Daily Mail on the future of government for the country and why the political of arm of the IRA might be am ailing political force in light of his revelatory new podcast: Bomb To Ballot: The History of Sinn Fein.

And as Vauxhall and Ford announce job losses and factory closures in the UK, we ask why electric vehicles aren’t driving the demand for new cars, and how that’s impacting the future of the motor industry. 

Plus, we ask why are perfume manufacturers looking for animal magnetism to add allure to their best-selling scents? We’ve got a nose for that story…

To get in touch email [email protected], you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'reaction'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Andrew Pierce 

Producer: Philip Wilding

Editor: Alex Graham

Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thousands of farmers descended on London this week threatening to escalate their protests unless the chancellor meets them for talks over inheritance tax amid growing discontent among rural Labour MPs about government plans. One of those protestors was dairy farmer Kelly Seaton who joins Andrew and Sarah to tell them why she was impelled to take to the streets of Whitehall this week.

Official estimates of the decision to strip more than ten million pensioners of the winter fuel payments have concluded it will result in around 50,000 older people in poverty at any time with warnings that the policy could soon lead to more elderly people dying of cold. Prompting Scottish Labour to announce that it would scrap the policy if it won power in Holyrood. So, we ask, why the schism? Why not the whole Labour Party?

Plus, to mark its 90th anniversary the British Council has produced a list of 90 words that have defined the decades. They include the invention of terms such as “nylon” in the Thirties and “disc jockey” a decade later, to the rise of Gen Z slang like “rizz” and “edgelord,” you may be surprised to find which word resonates with Andrew and Sarah most…

To get in touch email [email protected], you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'reaction'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Andrew Pierce 

Producer: Philip Wilding

Editor: Alex Graham

Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a petition of over 10,000 signatures calling for him to relinquish his role as Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby has finally stepped down from his post after the independent Makin review into John Smyth's abuse of young men was published last week. It concluded that Smyth might have been brought to justice earlier had Mr Welby formally reported it to police after he was installed as archbishop 11 years ago. What happened and why?

And as Labour promises to overhaul and rebuild the NHS, health secretary Wes Streeting has announced… football-style league tables of the best and worst performing hospitals in England. Which has as least united health bosses and workers in one way: making them furious at the decision. What can possibly get the NHS back on its feet?

Plus, now that Gary Lineker’s jumped ship from the BBC, could it be time for Sarah and Andrew to take over on the MOTD couch and as I’m a Celebrity starts a new season, maybe it’s time Gary thought about taking a turn at the Bushtucker Trials?

To get in touch email [email protected], you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'reaction'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Andrew Pierce 

Producer: Philip Wilding

Editor: Alex Graham

Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As Trump prevails in the US and the Democrats fail to cut through with the American electorate, we cross to Washington to speak to a White House correspondent who’s seen both Democratic and Republican governments rise and fall. She explains what it’s been like on this particular campaign trail. 

And talking of parties in turmoil, does the rise of Kemi Badenoch signal a rebirth for the Tory Party as she takes her first turn at the dispatch box for PMQs? Initial reports are promising…

Plus, latest figures show that over 20 per cent of children in Year 6 — ages ten and eleven — were obese in 2023-24. But what can be done to stave off a generation of overweight children? 

To get in touch email [email protected], you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'reaction'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Andrew Pierce 

Producer: Philip Wilding

Editor: Alex Graham

Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

VAT on private schools, duty on rolling tobacco, employers clobbered by increased contributions on small businesses, who is this cruel Labour budget for and why does Sarah think it sounds like it was designed by Harry Potter’s Dolores Umbridge?

And we ask why some aspects of the Southport attacker case remained hidden from the public until now and who will be the winners at home and abroad as the Tories pick their new leader and the US goes to the polls?

Plus, as Sober October comes to an end for Sarah, we taste test alcohol free wine, and ask why animals are taking up the bottle with a zeal not seen since the likes of Oliver Reed and Keith Moon.

To get in touch email [email protected], you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'reaction'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Andrew Pierce 

Producer: Philip Wilding

Editor: Chelsey Moore

Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the government releases another 1,100 more prisoners early, as part of its emergency plan to ease overcrowding in jails in England and Wales, Sarah and Andrew ask what impact this latest action might have on the victims of crime who are now seeing those criminals released?

And as around 100 members of the Labour Party travel to the US to volunteer for Kamala Harris in battleground states in the final stretch of the campaign, we ask why the government aren’t rallying their troops to get things done closer to home.

Plus, who was the real Chris Kaba? Do we need to rethink driving licenses for the older generation? And we’re buying, what are you drinking?

To get in touch email [email protected], you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'reaction'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Andrew Pierce 

Producer: Philip Wilding

Editor: Alex Graham

Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices