Ex-cop Paul Birch on the gross failures of the Nowak arrest and Jack Hadfield on the protests. Plus: Blair’s shameless green U-turn.

In Episode 81 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to Paul Birch, former Metropolitan Police officer and commentator, on the police’s gross failures over the arrest of Henry Nowak after he was stabbed – and exactly how anti-racist ideology warps day-to-day policing.

Jack Hadfield, independent journalist, on the fierce protests and political fallout over the Nowak outrage and whether there’s more to come.

And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to Ben Pile, journalist and Daily Sceptic regular, on Tony Blair’s latest intervention criticising Net Zero, his baleful legacy and why our dimwitted political class, incredibly, still takes him seriously.

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Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

00:00 Intro

00:02:24 Paul Birch on Henry Nowak Arrest

00:05:03 Why Was Henry Nowak Handcuffed?

00:09:20 Did Anti-Racism Training Shape the Response?

00:14:46 Individual Failures or Institutional Culture?

00:20:58 Poor Training and Woke Ideology

00:23:51 Will the IOPC Deliver Real Accountability?

00:28:59 What Real Police Reform Looks Like

00:34:00 Jack Hadfield on Southampton Protests

00:39:35 Disorder and Crowd Sentiment

00:43:54 Wider Protests This Summer?

00:46:53 Should Henry Nowak’s Murder Be Politicised?

00:51:24 Ben Pile on Blair’s Net Zero Intervention

00:55:44 Why Blair is Shameless

00:59:42 Ideological Roots of Failures

Doug Stokes on whether peace is possible in Ukraine, America’s fading global dominance, the future of NATO and why Britain’s rush to rearm could spell trouble for Net Zero.

The Sceptic is away this week, so we’re bringing you an episode from the archive.

In May 2025, host Laurie Wastell caught up with Doug Stokes, Professor of International Security and Strategy at Exeter University, Senior Advisor at the Prosperity Institute and author of books including Against Decolonisation: Campus Culture Wars and the Decline of the West.

Professor Stokes’s insight into the undercurrents to America’s changing global position remain as relevant as ever. Doug and Laurie discuss whether peace is on the cards in Ukraine, the effect of the war on Russia’s geopolitical position, whether MAGA is right to lament America’s position as global superintendent, the future of NATO and what the war means for Europe and Trump’s trade war and whether it will spell the end of dollar hegemony.

They also consider the long-term possibility of detente with Russia, whether the need to re-arm will mean the end of the Net Zero here in Britain and the roots of the free-speech crisis in Britain's universities.

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Andrew Orlowski on Palantir, AI and the truth about UK phone signal. Plus: vaccine injuries in Canada.

In Episode 80 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to Andrew Orlowski, business and technology columnist at the Telegraph, on the truth about Palantir and the NHS, the latest AI stumbling blocks and the real problem with Britain’s phone signal.

And for our premium subscribers, Laurie catches up with Canadian filmmaker Dean Rainey, on his latest documentary outlining the overlooked effects of vaccine injuries.

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Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Are British schools waging a quiet war on boys? Plus: the UAE's dramatic departure from OPEC.

In Episode 79 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to Joanna Gray – writer, confidence mentor and Daily Sceptic regular – on what the modern world gets wrong about gender. They discuss Jess Phillips’ proposed “anti-misogyny” lessons for schoolboys, the female domination of teaching, the lack of male role models and why pathologising normal boyhood is damaging a generation of young men.

And Tilak Doshi, the Daily Sceptic’s Energy Editor, on the UAE’s shock departure from OPEC – what it means for the cartel, global oil markets and geopolitics in the Middle East.

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Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

UN scientists admit that central assumptions of the climate alarmist agenda are “implausible”. Plus: the woke madness of “trans time”.

In Episode 77 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to Chris Morrison, the Daily Sceptic’s environment editor, on the sensational admission by UN scientists that widely reported climate alarmist forecasts are “implausible” – and how it blows apart decades of green fearmongering.

And Steven Tucker, author and Daily Sceptic columnist, on the wacky woke world of “trans time”, and the curious case of the “garrulous” non-verbal author.

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Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

J. Sorel on Keir Starmer’s reign of sleaze. Plus: the Golders Green attack and the climate activist lawsuit against Shell.

In Episode 77 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to J. Sorel, commentator and historian, on the Peter Mandelson scandal, the myth of Keir Starmer the “technocrat” and the truth about his reign of sleaze.

David Shipley, journalist and commentator, on the shocking Golders Green knife attack and the grim wave of migrant crime hitting Britain.

And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to James Graham, Senior Researcher on Financial Freedoms at the Prosperity Institute, on the Filipino disaster survivors suing Shell Oil about the weather – and why London has become the global capital of vexatious green litigation. 

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Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Michael Rainsborough on Britain’s state corruption and why inquiries never work. Plus: the BBC’s Net Zero U-turn.

In Episode 76 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to Michael Rainsborough, Daily Sceptic contributor and Professor of Strategic Theory and Director of the Centre for Future Defence and National Security at Deakin University, Victoria, about British state corruption. Michael explains how our frequent public inquiries, in hock to misguided liberal proceduralism, hold no one to account for state failure. Instead, he argues the current national grooming gangs inquiry should follow the model of Hong Kong’s highly successful Independent Commission Against Corruption.

And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to Ben Pile, journalist and Daily Sceptic regular, on the BBC’s activist ‘climate editor’ Justin Rowlatt and his brass neck U-turn on the cost of Net Zero.

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Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Four Sceptic guests on the growing problem of Muslim sectarianism in Britain and why the state can't address it.

In this special episode of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell brings together four different perspectives on the growing problem of Muslim sectarianism in Britain. Guy Dampier of the Prosperity Institute shows how Pakistani clan structures led to the grooming gangs; researcher Daniel Dieppe highlights how the London Borough of Tower Hamlets fell to Bangladeshi-Muslim electoral corruption; the Critic's Chris Bayliss looks at how state authorities responded to Birmingham's banning of Israeli football fans; and journalist David Shipley and Laurie discuss what the Labour Government's latest social cohesion plan shows about how it's approaching multiculturalism's pathologies.

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Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Jack Hadfield on his time covering the frontlines of Britain’s anti-immigration protests. Plus: why hydrocarbons make the world go round.

In Episode 75 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to independent journalist Jack Hadfield, on the history and development of Britain’s grassroots anti-immigration protest movement, from football lads of the English Defence League, to the mass unrest after Southport and the Pink Ladies of Epping. Plus: the phoniness of ‘antifa’.

And Chris Morrison, the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor, on why the Iran oil crisis shows how the world can’t do without hydrocarbons; the dreary woke turn of the BBC and why we don’t have to love David Attenborough; and a bombshell finding in the Antarctic ice that shatters green myths about CO2 and global temperatures.

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Read his latest on the Daily Sceptic here and here. 

Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Adam Wren on progress and pitfalls in the national grooming gang inquiry and David Turver on how to fix the energy crisis.

In Episode 74 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to Adam Wren, campaigner and Director of Open Justice UK on progress and pitfalls in the Government’s national grooming gang inquiry and his podcast with survivor Fiona Goddard.

And David Turver, author of the Eigen Values substack, on the Labour Government’s hapless failure to deal with the Strait of Hormuz energy crisis and why Net Zero leaves us perilously exposed to global shocks.

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Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.