Fire at Will

The Economist recently described Germany as "the hole at the heart of Europe". That’s a reasonable description, particularly given it accounts for a quarter of the EU’s output, but it has been in recession for the past two years. Another way to look at it is that Germany is a representation of Europe, and all of its challenges. 

Mass migration has ripped at the social fabric, with devastating consequences. Bureaucracy has strangled growth. Widespread discontent has given rise to right wing populist politics. And it can no longer rely on American security to make up for its own defence deficiencies.

The Germans will go to the polls next week. To discuss what it will mean for the country, and for Europe, Will is joined by the Head of The Centre for Applied History at MCC Budapest, and host of the Hammer Time podcast and YouTube show, Dr Ralph Schoellhammer.

Whilst illiberal progressivism (or woke for short) appears to be in retreat, what will take its place is an open question. The right in the UK has splintered, Europe is still being suffocated by the weight of the leftist social democratic model, free speech is under assault in Australia (as it is pretty much everywhere), and whilst the Republicans are resurgent in the US, Trump’s brand of economic protectionism would have been anathema to the American right in years gone by. 

To discuss the future of conservatism, free speech, and Western civilisation, Will is joined by Mumford and Sons alumni and host of The Winston Marshall Show, Winston Marshall.

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There’s an interesting historical pattern in British politics, and you can see it in various shapes and forms since the days of William the Conqueror. About once every century, there is a realignment that completely changes the nature of politics in the country. The last great realignment was the 1922 election, with the Liberal Party falling to third-party status, the Conservatives establishing themselves as the largest party in Parliament, and Labour emerging as the undisputed opposition party.

103 years later, all the conditions are in place for another political revolution. A feeling of decline across the country, two weak major parties, and a populist alternative that is rapidly climbing in the polls. That alternative is the Reform party, led by Nigel Farage. To discuss whether Reform will be a perpetual irritant or a potential government, Will is joined by one of Reform’s five MPs, and its Business and Agriculture Spokesman, Rupert Lowe.

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The UK economy is structurally buggered (to use a technical term). Decades of economic mismanagement has caused growth to grind to a halt. To discuss if, and how, it can be turned around, Will chats to Jon Moynihan.

Jon has had an esteemed career in business and venture capital, including as CEO and Executive Chairman of PA Consulting Group, efforts which earned him a seat in the House of Lords. He has recently released a powerful two-volume manifesto for economic change, titled ‘Return to Growth: How to Fix the Economy'.

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Buy 'Return to Growth' here.

In the last month, the grooming gangs scandal has gone from being the UK’s worst-kept secret to its greatest source of national shame. From at least the 1990s, and likely long before then, criminal networks comprised almost entirely of Pakistani Muslim men prostituted, raped and tortured thousands of young girls in towns and cities across the UK. And the authorities, despite being aware of what was happening, did very little to intervene. UK citizens, and indeed the world, quite rightly want to know why.

To help Will understand, he is joined by Maggie Oliver. Maggie is a former detective who resigned from Greater Manchester Police in 2012 and blew the whistle on the failure to tackle grooming gangs in Rochdale. She wrote about her battle to expose the gangs, and seek justice for the victims, in her book ‘Survivors’, which was adapted for the screen in the BBC drama ‘Three Girls’. The Maggie Oliver Foundation supports survivors and those at risk of childhood sexual abuse and exploitation.

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Buy Maggie's book here.

After a merry festive season, this is the time of the year when some of us decide to cut back on the booze. Dry January is a peculiar concept. Anyone who does it will tell you they feel great at the end of the month, but most of them can’t wait to get back to the pub.

In many ways, drinking doesn’t make sense. It often takes more than it gives. And yet we keep drinking, just like we have for tens of thousands of years. The question is, why?

To help Will with an answer, he is joined by Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, and author of ‘Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization’, Edward Slingerland.

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Regular listeners may remember that last year Will interviewed the wonderful documentarian, podcaster and YouTuber Andrew Gold. Andrew recently returned the favour and invited Will onto his wildly successful YouTube show, Heretics. Will and Andrew discussed how the woke mind virus has infiltrated Australia, the parallels between the grooming gangs scandal and child sexual abuse in remote Indigenous communities, the problems of mass migration in Australia, and the corruption of Australia's educational institutions.

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Read The Spectator Australia here.

Watch Heretics here.

Music used to be about "sticking it to the man." It's now the most conformist industry there is. Hayley Mary has seen the transformation firsthand. Hayley was the lead singer of Australian indie rock band The Jezabels, before launching a successful solo career. 

She has recently experienced the wrath of the music establishment, after a controversial Instagram post (complete with a MAGA hat) sparked a cancellation storm (see the post here). In this special conversation with Will, she speaks out about why she took a stand for free speech, subversion, and the counter-cultural instincts that once made music great.

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Read The Spectator Australia here.

As friend of the show Charles C.W. Cooke has said, “To the honest eye, Joe Biden was a mid-wit career politician from Delaware who had the chance to appear normal enough to unseat Trump from office. To the authors of our roiling morality play, he was Earth’s Last Honest Man. After he won the White House, this second characterization was foisted upon us with abandon.” It was never true, as was finally and irrefutably hammered home with the pardon of his son, Hunter.

No one has done more to expose Biden for the man he really is than Miranda Devine. Australian listeners will remember Miranda from her successful career in Australian journalism, before she moved to the US to take up a role with The New York Post. She has gone on to release two of the most influential books on American politics this decade, 'Laptop from Hell' and 'The Big Guy: How a President and His Son Sold out America.'

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Read The Spectator Australia here.

In recent years, Western society has conducted a perverse experiment. We have indulged the grievances of almost every identity group, exalting victimhood status and self-flagellating over the sins of the past. There is one glaring exception in the identity politics game. Men (and particularly white men).

A generation of boys have grown up being told that they are toxically masculine and that they must atone for their male privilege. The consequences have been disastrous, and we now have a generation of boys and young men across the West who are genuinely and seriously disadvantaged, and living without hope.

Few are brave enough to discuss this uncomfortable truth. Fortunately Miriam Cates is. Miriam is a former Conservative member of the UK Parliament, and is now a GB News Host and a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Social Justice, where she is spearheading the ‘Lost Boys’ initiative, a major new research project that seeks to understand what is going wrong for boys and men, and how to fix it.

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Read The Spectator Australia here.

Learn more about the Lost Boys project here.