Wright on the Nail

In this week’s News Roundtable episode, Chris Wright is joined by writer, journalist and broadcaster, Christina Patterson, Communications Officer at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Reem Ibrahim, UK and US political commentator Edward Hardy, and Chief Economic Adviser at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, Vicky Pryce.

The conversation kicks off with an in-depth analysis of the Conservative Party’s scheme to tear itself apart.  They turn to the economic legacy of Thatcher and discuss whether privatisation, such as of Water and the Railways, is the foundational cause for Britain’s dire problems today. They also pick apart the housing crisis and the tendency of our politics to pit the young and old against each other.   They turn to the topic of the ageing population, the pension system and the kind of policies we need to bring real change.

Each of the panellists offers their views on whether they are optimistic or pessimistic about the economic future of Britain. 

Economist Vicky Pryce joins the conversation to offer her thoughts on this issue, what Labour will and can do should they come into power, and how geopolitics is affecting the economy.

Finally, they turn to Donald Trump's newfound wealth and the potential world consequences of his ability to get away with everything - with expert analysis from Edward and Vicky. 
 
Many thanks,

WOTN Team


'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner.
© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.
Rock around the clock productions AB.
www.rockaroundtheclock.co


This episode was produced by Sound Sapien
Soundsapien.com

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co 

This episode was produced by Sound Sapien

Soundsapien.com

In this week’s episode, Chris Wright is joined by Richard Spencer, the China correspondent at The Times, formerly the Middle East correspondent from 2016 until August 2023, but brought back to cover the war in Gaza since Hamas’s attack on Israel on the 7th October. He was previously news editor, China correspondent, Middle East correspondent and Middle East editor at The Daily Telegraph.

The focus quickly turns to Israel-Palestine where Richard cuts to the chase, outlining the different ways the conflict may end, and what these scenarios would mean for the citizens on the ground. Questions are raised, such as whether the West is hypocritical to criticise Israel’s campaign in Gaza, considering their relatively recent campaigns in Iraq and Syria. Richard later explains the geopolitics of conflict for the UK and the US, and the power dynamic in the Palestinian West Bank.

They turn their gaze to Ukraine - what is the status of the war and how the American election will impact it, and therefore, the future of Europe. Chris also asks Richard for his views on the possibility of China invading Taiwan. 
 
We’d love to hear what you think of the episode at [email protected].

Many thanks,

WOTN Team


'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner.
© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.
Rock around the clock productions AB.
www.rockaroundtheclock.co

This episode was produced by Sound Sapien
soundsapien.com

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co 

This episode was produced by Sound Sapien

Soundsapien.com

In this week’s News Roundtable episode, Chris Wright is joined by the Founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media, Editor-in-chief of Amplify Publishing Group, and former CEO of Inc. and Fast Company, Eric Schurenberg, the first woman to run a US presidential campaign, the youngest woman to have tenured at the Harvard Law School, and prominent US political commentator, Susan Estrich, and journalist, US and UK political commentator, and regular Wright on the Nail contributor, Edward Hardy.

Topics:

• The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Super Bowl conspiracy theory 
• People still believe the 2020 election was stolen from Trump
• Republicanism and conspiracy theories 
• The macro causes of the frightening polarisation in the US and the world
• Trump’s unique ability in communication
• The QAnon conspiracy and ‘Pizzagate’ accusing individuals including Obama, the Clintons and the Pope of running a secret paedophile ring. 
• Elon Musk’s troubling control of the X ‘microphone’
• Trump’s toxification of the political debate
• Will the problem go if and when Trump goes?
• Is the general population tired of Trump’s politics? Can he Win?
• The October ‘Event’
• What do people really think of Joe Biden?

We’d love to hear what you think of the episode at [email protected].

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co

This episode was produced by Sound Sapien

soundsapien.com

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co 

This episode was produced by Sound Sapien

Soundsapien.com

In this week’s News Roundtable episode, Chris Wright is joined by writer, journalist and broadcaster, Christina Patterson, Communications Officer at the Institute of Economic Affairs, Reem Ibrahim, and former Political Editor of the Sunday Mirror, Nigel Nelson.

Chris kicks the conversation off with Rishi Sunak’s seemingly desperate electoral ploy to push through the Rwanda scheme, passing the Safety of Rwanda Bill through the House of Commons on Wednesday night. The panel analyse whether the public is as concerned with the issue of immigration as the government have convinced themselves they are, and how Britain should be addressing legal and illegal immigration. Reem argues that immigrants on average are less of a burden and contribute to the economy more than ‘native’ Britons… 

They then focus on Sunak: does he have a vision for the country behind the veil of party politics? Will the Conservatives lurch even further to the right after his likely election defeat? 

Chris then asks each panellist what story is catching their interest right now: 

- Nigel takes on the post-office scandal and the impact of ITV’s drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office

- Christina’s is the expansion of the Israel-Gaza conflict in the Middle East to the Red Sea

- Reem’s is the government’s historic bill to ban the sale of tobacco products to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 – she thinks the attack on vape products doesn’t make sense

We’d love to hear what you think of the episode at [email protected].

Many thanks,

WOTN Team

 'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co


This episode was produced by Sound Sapien

soundsapien.com

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co 

This episode was produced by Sound Sapien

Soundsapien.com

In this week’s News Roundtable episode, Chris is joined by Chief Economic Adviser and a board member at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, Vicky Pryce, Labour National Executive Committee member, Jess Barnard and journalist and US and UK political commentator, Edward Hardy.

Jess outlines her hopes and fears about the Labour Party – hoping that Labour wins the general election, but fearing that Starmer won’t deliver any meaningful change. Vicky provides the economic forecast - how inflation may continue to improve and how the geopolitics of global conflicts like that in the Middle East, Ukraine, and potentially in Taiwan will affect our domestic economy. What will happen to UK interest rates in 2024? 

For your information, Jess mentions anti-BDS laws in which BDS stands for boycotts, divestment and sanctions. In this context the BDS movement aims to put diplomatic pressure on Israel to observe international law. 

Edward Hardy updates us on the stalemate of the Ukraine-Russia war and his analysis of British-US diplomacy surrounding Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Update: On Tuesday, Gaza’s health ministry said 22,185 Palestinians have now been killed in Gaza since October 7th. 507 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the war began, on top of the approx. 1,200 Israelis killed by Hamas on the 7th of October.  This opens up a fascinating discussion about Britain’s diplomatic role to play (or not to play) in this conflict. 

Chris turns the conversation to the US – who will be the Democratic nominee? Will Biden run despite universal disapproval over his age? Is it possible that Trump will put his ego aside and not run? What would another Trump presidency mean for the US and the world?

Finally, Chris asks each panellist their one high-impact prediction of the year – and they all give very different answers!


'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co

This episode was produced by Tom Platts

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co 

This episode was produced by Sound Sapien

Soundsapien.com

In this week’s News Roundtable episode, Chris is joined by Conservative political commentator Lee Harris, and writer, journalist, and author of Fake History, Otto English.

The panel tackle all the big issues that leave us, nearing the end of the year, in a dire state of affairs. They start with Ukraine, reflecting on the wars of the 20th Century, and the lessons that we need to learn in order to respond appropriately to Vladimir Putin. They then turn to the Israel-Gaza conflict where Otto and Lee agree that Hamas is an awful terrorist organisation but clash over whether to allow Israel to press on with their siege to defeat them at all costs. The jostle continues over the issue of immigration in the UK. We hope you enjoy it as much as they did!

As referenced by Chris in the introduction, let us know what you think of our producer’s modern rendition of Silent Night, inspired by Simon and Garfunkel’s 1966 song ‘7 O'clock News / Silent Night’ in the outro.

We’d love to hear what you think of the episode at [email protected], or get in touch if you just want to say hi!

Merry Christmas,

WOTN Team

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co

This episode was produced by Tom Platts

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co 

This episode was produced by Sound Sapien

Soundsapien.com

In this week’s News Roundtable episode, Chris Wright is joined by former Political Editor of the Sunday Mirror, Nigel Nelson, co-founder of Momentum and former advisor to Jeremy Corbyn, James Schneider, and Professor of European Politics, and Jean Monnet Chair of European Integration at the University of Ireland Maynooth, John O’Brennan.

Yesterday, the Minister of State for Immigration Robert Jenrick resigned over the government's Rwanda Plan. Sunak is facing a revolt from the right and centre of his party over this issue, and the panel unpack how the Tories got into this mess. They turn to the recent changes to visa rules where the minimum salary threshold for a work visa is to be raised to £38,700, from the current £26,200, with some exemptions in health and social care.

The panel dissect the very foundations of the economic necessity of foreign migrants, and the rhetoric of the government. One panellist argues that ‘stopping the boats’ has been largely manufactured as a political media distraction from the cost-of-living crisis, which has led to this sickly Rwanda farce.

They turn to the Covid-inquiry, Boris Johnson’s performance, the nature of the reporting on it, and whether the purpose of learning about what went wrong for a future pandemic is being achieved. Chris then raises the bizarre and somewhat enraging issue for the Labour Party of Starmer’s praising of Thatcher in his recent Telegraph article. Corbyn’s former advisor James Schneider has a lot to say about that!

 
We’d love to hear what you think of the episode at [email protected], or get in touch if you just want to say hi!

WOTN Team

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co

This episode was produced by Tom Platts

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co 

This episode was produced by Sound Sapien

Soundsapien.com

The information environment today has two broad problems:  a supply side problem and a demand side problem. On the supply side, it is ridiculously easy for anyone to spread propaganda or outrage or lies online, and on the demand side, it is hard for audiences to distinguish manipulation from fact-based news.

Today’s guest, Sally Lehrman, aims to tackle the problem from both sides of the ledger. She’s a long-time journalist and founder of the Trust Project, an organization that evaluates newsrooms along eight standards of integrity, called trust indicators. Newsrooms that measure up display a “Trust Mark” on their sites to help distinguish them from less deserving sites, and audiences, including social media platforms, can thus make an informed judgment about that site’s trustworthiness.

Sally and I talk about what the trust indicators are and how they work and how everyday news consumers can use them. We’ll also get into more philosophical questions: to what extent newsrooms are responsible for the distrust audiences feel; about audience’s reactions to coverage of the war in Gaza; and whether media literacy training really works.

This episode was produced by Tom Platts

This podcast is published by New Thinking: www.newthinking.com

Explore New Thinking podcasts via our website: www.newthinking.com/podcasts

In this week’s News Roundtable episode, Chris is joined by multi-award-winning i newspaper journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, author, broadcaster and political commentator Christina Patterson, and the presenter of the Times Radio Early Breakfast show Rosie Wright.

The conversation kicks off with a discussion on what is in store for Suella Braverman after her sacking on Monday. Is her perception of her popularity over-inflated? The whole country was shocked by the appointment of former prime minister David Cameron. Was this big call the right one?

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled on the Government’s illegal immigration Rwanda policy, finding it unlawful. The panel discuss whether ‘stopping the boats’ is one of the top issues for the electorate, but also what alternative avenues the government could take to improve the situation. Yasmin offers deep insight as an expert on immigration. 

The other great ongoing issue of the week was that of the war in Gaza and the UK parliament’s vote against a ceasefire. The panel fought over whether this was the right decision and discussed the revolt against Starmer in the Labour Party. 

They round up with an update and analysis on the Covid Inquiry and the news of Nigel Farage accepting a spot on ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ for a record fee. 

We’d love to hear what you think of the episode at [email protected], or get in touch if you just want to say hi!

 
WOTN Team

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co

This episode was produced by Tom Platts

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co 

This episode was produced by Sound Sapien

Soundsapien.com

In this week’s News Roundtable episode, Chris Wright is joined by political commentators, Marina Purkiss, Edward Hardy, and political commentator and Communications Officer for the Institute of Economic Affairs Reem Ibrahim.

This week’s debate kicks off and remains with the issues surrounding Home Secretary Suella Braverman. She has yet again been called out for the use of toxic language in the public sphere, criticising the Metropolitan Police claiming they have a left-wing bias regarding their treatment of protesters, and calling the pro-Palestinian demonstrations ‘hate marches’. The panel analyses and discusses the significance of language in politics.

In a similar vein, the panel discuss and disagree deeply over Carol Vorderman having to step down from the BBC and her radio show. The non-political radio host has been forced out due to her influential online presence as a rather left-wing political voice. The panel get to the bottom of the hypocrisy of this development, similar to that of Gary Lineker’s situation some months ago. 

The panel reflect on the King’s Speech and the very British constitution that continues this tradition. Is the world laughing at us?


-        Suella Braverman, was she trying to get sacked with her rogue police-bashing article.

-        The pro-Palestine protest on Remembrance Day and why the language around it is so important. 

-        Carol Vorderman forced to leave the BBC because of her political activism outside of her radio show. Is there a Conservative bias in the BBC, and is this cancel culture at play? 

-        Did King Charles enjoy reading out Rishi Sunak’s policies in the State Opening of Parliament? And how the world is laughing at Britain’s anachronistic traditions.
 


We’d love to hear what you think of the episode at [email protected], or get in touch if you just want to say hi!
 

WOTN Team

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co

This episode was produced by Tom Platts 

'I Hit The Nail Right On The Head' by Billy Bremner. 

© Fridens liljor/Micke Finell.

Rock around the clock productions AB.

www.rockaroundtheclock.co 

This episode was produced by Sound Sapien

Soundsapien.com