In this episode of The Critic Show, Tom Jones and Henry Hill are joined by The Critic’s editor, Graham Stewart, to explore the magazine’s bumper Summer Double Issue.

Graham takes us through the issue’s highlights, including a major summer books bonanza, meanwhile over in the sport section, Boris Starling’s looks at what happened to England’s 1966 World Cup heroes.

The issue also features some important reposting concerning the continuing controversy around the Government’s digital ID plans, and David Shipley’s investigation into the crisis at the Atheneum Club.

Henry Hill then walks listeners thought his cover story: is Andy Burnham really the “new Boris Johnson”? Henry examines the striking parallels between the two politicians, from media-driven politics and North-South rhetoric to the promise of devolution without confronting its difficult trade-offs.

Tom, Henry and Graham discuss Burnham’s political honeymoon, the looming realities of his first budget, the prospects of an early general election, Reform UK’s growing strength, and whether the idea of “Manchesterism” has any substance at all.

Read the Summer Double Issue and listen to the full conversation on The Critic Show.

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This week on The Critic Show, Tom is joined by our online editor, Ben Sixsmith and classics scholar and Antigone editor, David Butterfield, to discuss why ancient Greece and Rome are enjoying a remarkable revival. They examine how classical education became wrongly associated with elitism, and why classical literature is having a renaissance within a culture which is, seemingly, addicted to phones.

The conversation explores the modern appeal of Stoicism, its popularity among young men and the danger of reducing ancient philosophy to simplistic lifestyle advice. David explains what figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius and Plutarch can teach us about human nature, politics and virtue, before considering whether today’s renewed interest in the classics will become a lasting cultural revival.

David ends his personal recommendation for your classical reading fix, which is the poet and philosopher Lucretius.

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This week on The Critic Show, Henry and Tom are joined by Seb Milbank to discuss the Home Office’s Research, Information and Communications Unit, otherwise known as RICU, and the growing suspicion that the British state has tried to shape public narratives after acts of violence involving immigrant communities.

Seb gives listeners an insider explanation on explains how the unit operates, and the intricacies of the counter-terrorism and national security, why Freedom of Information requests so often hit a wall.

The podcast explores how, increasingly, journalists, PR agencies and government departments can end up working together to manage political fall out by bending the truths we live by.

The conversation ranges from the 2014 Sun front page on Islamic State to family statements after recent killings, the response to Manchester Arena, Martin’s Law, social media regulation, and the wider collapse of trust in British institutions. They also discuss why big, archaic institutions in Britain are now failing so visibly that the old social contract is breaking down.

What happens when people no longer believe in a state that can protect them?

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This week on The Critic Show, Chris Bayliss and Henry Hill are joined by Emma Schubert of the Henry Jackson Society to ask whether Britain is becoming a sectarian country. Emma discusses her research into the rise of Muslim sectarian politics in English local elections, explaining how she has created a model to help identify some of the predictors of sectarian candidates’ success.

The panel explores Labour’s long miscalculation over communal voting, and whether Britain risks importing the kind of entrenched bloc politics seen in Northern Ireland. They also discuss what this fragmentation could mean for the next general election, and what is being done to prevent further corruption.

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This month Critic wine columnist Henry Jeffreys talks to Daniel Grigg from Museum Wines in Salisbury about The Critic Wine Club’s latest South African selection.

Henry and Daniel discuss why South African wine has changed so dramatically in recent years, from the dull pub reds and insipid whites of old to some of the most exciting bottles now being made anywhere in the world. They explore the country’s new generation of winemakers, the rise of serious Chenin Blanc and Cinsault, and why South Africa offers such remarkable value compared with Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne.

Together they taste three wines: a textured Sauvignon Blanc from Hazendal, a fuller, food-friendly Pinot Noir rosé, and a sensational old-vine Cinsault from Darling. Expect sharp opinions, good stories, and plenty of enthusiasm for a country whose wines are firmly on the up.

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In the first episode of Starling on Sport, Boris is joined by Jack Davey to look ahead to this year’s Tour de France and ask whether anyone can realistically stop Tadej Pogačar. They discuss Pogačar’s astonishing season, and the threat posed by Jonas Vingegaard, as well as turning an eye onto the emergence of French prodigy Paul Seixas.

Boris and Jack also explore the tactics, team dynamics and brutal mountain stages that could decide the race, as well as the Tour’s changing identity — from its French roots to its increasingly global, corporate future.

Their is also an inevitable question that still hangs over the sport as performance becomes more and more enhanced: can fans trust what they are watching?

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This week on The Critic Show, Lord David Frost joins Tom and Graham Stewart to mark ten years since Brexit and ask what really went wrong, and ask what might be on the cards next.

Frost challenges the familiar claim that voters were misled in 2016, arguing instead that Brexit was always about Britain’s right to govern itself from Westminster rather than Brussels.

Frost warns that unless the Right makes the case for national independence again, Britain risks becoming a rule-taker without ever formally rejoining. Plus, Graham gives a preview of the July issue of The Critic, from the Home Office’s secretive messaging machine to politics, culture, music and more.

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This week on The Critic Show, Henry and Chris are joined by James Crouch, Head of Public Affairs at Opinium, to discuss Britain’s strange new economic settlement: not quite capitalism, not quite socialism, but a system increasingly built around caps, freezes and government guarantees. Drawing on Opinium’s research into public attitudes, they explore why voters now instinctively reach for price controls on energy, council tax, groceries and rent, and why such policies are politically easy to introduce but almost impossible to remove.

They ask whether Britain has become a zero-sum economy, why younger voters no longer feel capitalism is delivering for them, and whether any political party has a credible way out.

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This week, Critic wine writer Henry Jeffreys talks to Olivia Manet from Corney & Barrow about the latest Critic Wine Club selection: three summer wines chosen for freshness, value and drinkability. Olivia explains how she got into the wine trade, Corney & Barrow’s long history, and why great wine does not always have to mean grand cru prices.

Henry and Olivia taste a mountain-fresh Pinot Grigio from Friuli, a pale but flavour-packed Provence rosé, and a joyful Fleurie from Beaujolais, all ideal for summer drinking, barbecues, light lunches and long evenings.

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https://thecritic.co.uk/wine-club/

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In this episode of The Critic Show, Tom Jones is joined by Sam Butler, vice chairman of the Future of Hunting campaign, to discuss Labour’s proposed ban on trail hunting and what Butler sees as a wider assault on the countryside. They look back at the 2004 Hunting Act, the creation of trail hunting, and the argument that a new ban would do little for animal welfare while threatening thousands of hounds, rural jobs and the social fabric built around hunts, point-to-points, pubs, farriers, vets and farming communities.

The conversation then widens into the politics of rural Britain: family farm tax, land use, net zero, shooting, fishing, housing, private property and the failure of successive governments to take the countryside seriously. Butler argues that rural communities are tired of being treated as a political football, while Tom asks whether the battle over hunting has become part of a deeper fight over civil liberties, land ownership and the future of the political right.

Full episode linked below

https://www.outpoststudios.net/p/the-great-trail-debate

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