A retired British couple sailing in the English Channel found themselves in the crosshairs of a Russian warship — and then they accused the MoD of trying to bury the story. 

Rear Admiral Chris Parry, former Royal Navy Commander, cuts through the noise to explain exactly who was in the right, why Russian captains are paranoid about suicide vessels, and why Britain's hollowed-out frigate and destroyer force means we simply cannot go toe-to-toe with the Russians when it matters. 

With arson attacks on the Prime Minister's home, the seizure of a shadow fleet tanker, and now live fire in British waters, the question is no longer whether Russia is testing us — it's whether we have anything left to test back with.

Then, rebel Labour MP Karl Turner — who lost the whip for standing up to his own government — gives his blunt verdict on Keir Starmer's disintegrating authority. 

With the Macclesfield by-election looming and Andy Burnham waiting in the wings, is Labour heading for a coronation or chaos? And with half a million people claiming disability benefits for anxiety alone, will any Labour leader ever make the hard choices Britain desperately needs?

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. 

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keir Starmer struts across the G7 stage in Evian — but with a resigned Defence Secretary, a furious Armed Forces Minister, and a Chief of the Defence Staff warning that Britain can barely afford to train its own troops, world leaders are greeting him with what Sir David Davis bluntly calls "ill-disguised pity."

Former head of the British Army, Lord Dannatt, joins Julia in the studio to dissect the defence spending catastrophe, drawing a chilling parallel with 1935 — the last time Britain was this exposed. He warns that if we fail to deter Russia now, the cost of hot war will be one hundred times greater than what we are currently refusing to spend.

Sir David Davis tears into the Iran deal, calling it a "pathetic negotiation" that has handed Tehran a revenue stream it never knew it had, set a dangerous precedent over international waters, and left Gulf states quietly furious.

Plus — Starmer's social media ban for under-16s: good intentions or yet another half-baked headline grabber with zero detail?

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM.

 Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former Armed Forces Minister Al Carnes made headlines when he followed Defence Secretary John Healey out the door — and now he's telling us exactly why. In a frank and at times fiery exchange with Julia Hartley-Brewer, Carnes lays bare the uncomfortable truth: Britain is preparing for the last war, not the next one, and the Treasury's refusal to meaningfully fund defence is leaving this country dangerously exposed.

With Russia on the march, threats multiplying in the Middle East, and intelligence agencies warning of potential attack by 2030, Carnes argues that national security must become the central, cohering function of government — not an afterthought buried beneath fiscal rules. 

He also clashes head-on with Julia over welfare reform, the two-child benefit cap, youth unemployment, and whether Nigel Farage and Reform are offering real solutions or simply selling umbrellas in a storm of their own making.

Then, veteran broadcaster and journalist Andrew Neil delivers his characteristically sharp verdict on the government's social media ban — sceptical, probing, and cutting straight to the heart of who's really responsible for protecting children online. He also takes aim at Keir Starmer's hollow posturing on the world stage, questions whether Andy Burnham is remotely ready for Number 10, and pays tribute to the late Roy Hattersley — a politician from an era when serious people did serious politics.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM.

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Belfast is burning — and the government's answer is to crack down on you for talking about it. A second night of disorder gripped the city after knife-attack suspect Hadi Alodid, a Sudanese national, was granted asylum via a Tory fast-track scheme requiring nothing more than a ten-page questionnaire. No face-to-face interview. No proper vetting. Just a tick-box exercise — and five years' leave to remain.

Julia Hartley-Brewer is joined by former senior military intelligence officer Philip Ingram, who warns that foreign powers — Russia, China, Iran — are actively stoking division on British streets, and that the rioting in Belfast is exactly the kind of domestic chaos they want to see.

Meanwhile, only one asylum seeker has been returned to Ireland since 2020, despite a formal agreement to do so, as people-smuggling gangs exploit the open Irish border with impunity.

Then, in a bombshell moment live on air, news breaks that Defence Secretary John Healey has resigned — unable to secure the funding Britain desperately needs to defend itself.

Sir Ian Duncan Smith calls it out bluntly: a Chancellor blocking the Defence Investment Plan, a Prime Minister too weak to overrule her, and a nation sleepwalking into the most dangerous geopolitical moment since the 1930s. Ships tied up in port. No Royal Navy presence in the Mediterranean. And a government more concerned with appeasing its own backbenchers than protecting the realm.

The message is clear — our borders are open, our defences are crumbling, and the real crime, according to this government, is noticing.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. 

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Sudanese asylum seeker, Hadi Alodid, has appeared in Belfast Magistrates Court charged with attempted murder, threats to kill, and possession of a knife — after a horrific street attack that left victim Stephen Ogilvie, an NHS radiographer, fighting for his life and without his left eye. Bail was refused.

The court heard the suspect told medical staff "I will kill you" and was found armed with a knife on top of his victim when police arrived.

The attack has ignited violent disorder on the streets of Belfast — firebombing, masked mobs going door to door, and clashes with police. Julia Hartley-Brewer is joined by conservative commentator Benedict Spencer to unpick the rage, the politics, and the uncomfortable truth that governments have ignored the warnings of the British public for decades.

Siobhan Whyte, mother of Rhiannon Whyte — murdered in a frenzied 23-stab attack by an asylum seeker at a Walsall hotel — joins Julia to demand answers. She reveals her daughter's killer had already been denied asylum in Germany and Italy, and arrested in Germany before being welcomed into England.

Former police officer Norman Brennan, with nearly 50 years in law enforcement, warns that unless the government gets a firm grip on borders and crime, Britain is heading towards full-scale civil disorder. He also lifts the lid on stop and search, knife crime statistics, and why so many officers have been left unable to do their jobs.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM.

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Sudanese man has been arrested in north Belfast following what can only be described as an attempted beheading — a horrific, graphic attack captured on video.  

Meanwhile, the BBC initially buried it beneath the headline: "Man taken to hospital with serious injuries after Belfast stabbing." 

Julia Hartley-Brewer is joined by Henry Hill, Political Editor of The Critic, who explains why journalists strip out the most critical details of violent crimes — and why the Public Order Act is being weaponised to protect hypothetical racists over real victims.

Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice joins live as the Belfast attacker's identity is confirmed on air. He pulls no punches: the public has a right to know the full history of this individual — now, not in two years' time after a court case. 

He also reacts to the bombshell Telegraph revelation that £28 billion in taxpayers' money was handed to terrorist groups including ISIS, hostile states such as Russia, and Chinese military-linked companies — through foreign aid and COVID relief loans — which was then actively covered up by the Conservative government.

Lord Daniel Hannan, Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs, connects the dots: a bloated, unaccountable, ideologically captured state that selects in favour of dangerous migrants, funds our enemies abroad, and then buries the evidence. 

He also takes aim at Kemi Badenoch's pledge to scrap the public sector equality duty — welcome, he says, but the real rot runs far deeper than any single piece of legislation.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. 

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keir Starmer is busying himself with AI summits and an expected announcement of social media bans for under-16s — a move that looks suspiciously timed ahead of the Makerfield by-election. 

Is it genuine child protection, or is it political theatre designed to sustain the PM’s legacy? 

Also, the murder of Henry Nowak continues to dominate the national conversation. 

JD Vance's claim that Henry died "the way a civilisation dies", while also placing the blame on mass migration, sparked a furious response from David Lammy — who rang up the US Vice President to tell him he was wrong. 

Mail on Sunday commentator Dan Hodges joins Julia to dissect whether Vance crossed a line, and why linking the killing directly to mass migration was both deliberate and dangerous. 

Independent MP Karl Turner goes further — calling Lammy's TV appearance an embarrassment and urging Number 10 to keep him well away from the cameras.

And with Andy Burnham widely tipped to win Makerfield and launch a Labour leadership bid, both guests weigh in on whether he has any actual plan — or whether charisma and a casual wardrobe are all he's bringing to the table.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. 

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Charlie Rowley reacts as Burnham’s Makerfield pitch fuelled Labour leadership rumours, as Henry Nowak’s murder intensified policing rows and political pressure. Nowak’s family met Badenoch and Starmer, while Elon Musk’s comments drew rebukes amid calls for calm and accountability. Royal finances faced scrutiny over Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s cottage arrangements, raising questions about privilege, transparency and public trust.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Prime Minister and Hampshire's Chief Constable insist there is no two-tier policing. 

But Hampshire Police's own documents, in black and white, explicitly state that officers must not treat people the same or be colourblind. 

Officers who underwent the force's mandatory DEI training reported feeling pressured — afraid to say the wrong thing. 

One in five feared being rejected for speaking their minds. Is this institutionalised groupthink running through policing, the NHS, the civil service, and more?

Brendan O'Neill argues that Keir Starmer is not protecting Henry Nowak's legacy — he is using it as a political shield to deflect scrutiny from the very policies that shaped this tragedy. 

Nigel Farage was heckled in the Commons while bringing up many people’s experience of two-tier policing. 

Yet in 2020, the same political class praised Black Lives Matter rage from the rooftops.

Kemi Badenoch, fresh from a meeting with Henry's family, makes the case for sweeping away identity politics entirely — and explains why consistency under the law, not special treatment for any group, is the only path forward.

Plus: Lord Mann's report recommends banning all political badges in the NHS — and Julia asks why anyone ever thought that was acceptable in the first place.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM.

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The murder of Henry Nowak sent shockwaves across Britain, after the body cam footage of police handcuffing a dying, stabbed teenager whilst he told them he couldn’t breathe and had been stabbed.  

Julia Hartley-Brewer unpacks what this case reveals: the deadly consequence of an institutionalised ideology that has infected British policing from top to bottom.

Julia is joined by commentator Benedict Spence, who argues against the left’s narrative that Nigel Farage is politicising this story against the wishes of the family. 

He says murder is inherently political and that no victim's family holds a monopoly over public debate. 

Together they dissect the violent protests in Southampton, the accusations of exploitation levelled at Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch, and the uncomfortable truth that two-tier policing isn't a conspiracy theory — it's written down in black and white in policing race action plans.

Then, Rick Prior — former Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, who was suspended for daring to say exactly this — joins Julia to explain how DEI training, the Police Race Action Plan, and the institutional obsession with "equality of outcomes" over equal treatment has left officers terrified of being labelled racist. 

The result is a culture where an accusation of racism outweighs a boy bleeding to death on the pavement.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. 

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.