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98 episodes

Vive de Gaulle and Russia and Germany’s Hybrid War
07/09/2026 | 38 mins.
On this week’s show, Peter has been to the flicks to see the new de Gaulle movie (five stars from Peter), splashed out on some popcorn too, and Sarah is asking is Germany really going to war with Russia.

And we’ll be opening our mailbag to discuss whether there could ever be such a thing as a united Ireland, the evilest person they’ve encountered, should Prince William get a hair weave and what they both watch or do to rile themselves up.

On our reading, listening and watch list this week:

•A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle - Julian Jackson
•This Blessed Plot: Britain and Europe from Churchill to Blair – Hugo Young
•Murder At The Castle (A Miss Merkel Mystery) - David Safier
•Dawn Of The Dead – Dir: George Romero

Please do get in touch, email: Alas@dailymail.co.uk you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on Whatsapp – on 07796 657512, start your message with the word ‘alas’.

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens
Producer: Philip Wilding
Editor: Chelsey Moore
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini
Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular
To get in touch email alas@mailonline.co.uk, you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'alas'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens
Producer: Phillip Wilding
Editor: Chelsey Moore
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini
Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Lime Bikes and the Idiot Box
31/08/2026 | 35 mins.
On this week’s show, Sarah will be talking about her U-turn on Lime and electric bikes (Peter is very pleased) and talking of Peter, he’ll be asking is TV a bad thing? He might also need help turning one on.

And we’ll be opening our mailbag to discuss whether the pair believe in a prenup agreement and would either one sign up if they ever got married again. Why was Peter’s 2015 pre-election column pulled and why the pair may be heading to Spain for next year’s much anticipated eclipse.

On our reading, listening and watch list this week:

· Ludwig – BBC One
· Ann Droid – BBC One
· Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – BBC Two
· Bonanza – ITV
· The Onedin Line – BBC One

Please do get in touch, email: Alas@dailymail.co.uk you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on Whatsapp – on 07796 657512, start your message with the word ‘alas’.

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens
Producer: Philip Wilding
Editor: Chelsey Moore
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini
Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular
To get in touch email alas@mailonline.co.uk, you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'alas'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens
Producer: Phillip Wilding
Editor: Chelsey Moore
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini
Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Harry’s Game and History Repeating
24/08/2026 | 41 mins.
On this week’s show, Sarah will be talking about the dark shadow cast upon this land as Harry and Meghan return to the UK and Peter would like to chat about the August night in 1968 when the Soviet Union crushed the Prague Spring.

And we’ll be opening our mailbag to discuss whether a journalist, if proved wrong, should change tack and apologise. Not that Peter has ever been proved wrong. The pair debate the reintroduction of bison and wolves into the European landscape and the sheer joy that can be found in a night sky full of stars.

On our reading, listening and watch list this week:

· God. The Science. The Evidence: The Dawn of a Revolution - Michel-Yves Bolloré and Olivier Bonnassies
· The August Coup: The Destruction of the Soviet Union and the Making of New Russia 1985-1991-Robert Service
· The Unbearable Lightness Of Being – Milan Kundera

Please do get in touch, email: Alas@dailymail.co.uk you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on Whatsapp – on 07796 657512, start your message with the word ‘alas’.

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens
Producer: Philip Wilding
Editor: Chelsey Moore
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini
Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular
To get in touch email alas@mailonline.co.uk, you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'alas'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens
Producer: Phillip Wilding
Editor: Chelsey Moore
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini
Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jason Arday and the Rise and Fall of Farage
17/08/2026 | 36 mins.
On this week’s show, Sarah, in light of the Jason Arday case, will be talking about the nature of so-called witch hunts, while Peter will be ruminating on Clacton’s favourite son and bin beating by-election winner, Nigel Farage.

And we’ll be opening our mailbag to discuss regrets (Sarah’s had a few), a damn good childhood read or two, their respective lives as young journalists – there was a lot more drinking going on – and how does Peter manage to be so curmudgeonly and pleasant simultaneously?

On our reading, listening and watch list this week:

· Advise and Consent – Allen Drury
· The Eagle of the Ninth – Rosemary Sutcliff
· The Faraway Tree – Enid Blyton
· The Wind In The Willows – Kenneth Grahame
· Mr Benn – Dir: Pat Kirby

Please do get in touch, email: Alas@dailymail.co.uk you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on Whatsapp – on 07796 657512, start your message with the word ‘alas’.

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens
Producer: Philip Wilding
Editor: Chelsey Moore
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini
Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular
To get in touch email alas@mailonline.co.uk, you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'alas'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens
Producer: Phillip Wilding
Editor: Chelsey Moore
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini
Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Plight of Graham Phillips and Cinematic Snafus
11/08/2026 | 38 mins.
On this week’s show, Peter will be asking why the foreign office is still going after Graham Phillips, and Sarah will be grabbing the popcorn and headed to the cheap seats to talk film/book adaptations, some good, some not so good.

And we’ll be opening up our mailbag to discuss Sarah’s best nightie (she favours pyjamas), why MPs should live a full life before entering into politics, the correct us of ‘hopefully’ (let’s hope we get that right) and where to go and what to see when you’re visiting Berlin (according to Peter).

On our reading, listening and watch list this week:
•Drowned World - JG Ballard
•The Last Of The Wine – Mary Renault
•The Kraken Awakes – John Wyndham
•American Gods – Neil Gaiman
•Almansor - Heinrich Heine

Please do get in touch, email: Alas@dailymail.co.uk you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on Whatsapp – on 07796 657512, start your message with the word ‘alas’.

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens
Producer: Philip Wilding
Editor: Chelsey Moore
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini
Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular
To get in touch email alas@mailonline.co.uk, you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'alas'

Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens
Producer: Phillip Wilding
Editor: Chelsey Moore
Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini
Executive Producer: Jamie East

A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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About Alas Vine & Hitchens

What's the Big Idea? Finally, Sarah Vine (once memorably described as being ‘like and loathed in equal measure, divisive, but never indecisive’) and Peter Hitchens (a man whose writing a critic was called to compare to a Guardsman’s boot: ‘as highly polished and potentially lethal’) meet once a week to look at the world and mutter, alas… Acclaimed columnist and journalist Sarah Vine and best-selling author and broadcaster Peter Hitchens discuss and dissect social, economic, and pop cultural flotsam and jetsam that have risen out of the dark waters of that week’s news. Taking one big idea each episode and pulling it apart with élan, imagine Vine and Hitchens respective columns brought to life and then skewered, scoffed at, debated, and given the full weight of Vine and Hitchens impenetrable gaze. Though an accord might not always be reached, it’s the journey that matters. Whether it’s the tech bros gone rogue – Meta tearing up its own rule book on fact checking, Musk attempting to influence governmental policy, or the knotty subject on society’s ever-increasing reliance on anti-depressants to treat what might just be the modern malaise and not depression at all. Or, evil, nature or nurture? Does evil actually exist or is it an idea that hangs over us, or do we just sometime embody it and the actions themselves are evil, not the individual? All this and more are to be pored over, one towering topic each week discussed with humour, insight, and real understanding. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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