On this week’s episode, Sarah’s asking is eighty too old to be a world leader or any kind of politician and Peter would like to know why the Thought Police are coming after Janet and John.
And the pair pore over our mailbag to consider why Peter is s a Swissphile, to wonder what the Victorians ever did for us, how the Mamas and Papas were a musical apex for some and why is one of our presenters practically meat and drink for the Popbitch website.
On our reading and watch list this week:
· Chocky – John Wyndham · Janet and John – Various · Places Where They Sing – Simon Raven
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.
An Iron Dome for the UK and Allaying the Blame
10/06/2026 | 35 mins.
On this week’s episode, Peter has finally worked out how to defend the realm (so you might sleep safely in your beds), and Sarah is asking why do some authority figures often go after the wrong people, and leave the real criminals alone?
And the pair pore over our mailbag to consider Britain’s place in two world wars, the valuer of spoiling a ballot paper. What happened when Peter appeared the panel of Have I Got News For You (clue: it changed political history)? How he might go about robbing a bank (unsuccessfully). And to decimalise or not? And what that may or may not have meant to the Roman army.
On our reading and watch list this week:
· What Happened to the Corbetts – Nevil Shute · The Phoney Victory: The World War II Illusion – Peter Hitchens · The Guns Of August – Barbara W. Tuchman · The Life of Brian – Dir: Terry Jones
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.
Abolish the Police and Return of the Blair Creature
03/06/2026 | 44 mins.
On this week’s episode, Sarah is asking what happened in the brutal murder of student Henry Nowak and Peter would like to know why the Blair Creature has returned from the deep to haunt the Labour Party.
And the pair pore over our mailbag to consider what the Festival of Britain brought the UK and if we might ever see it’s like again. While Peter embraces the charms of Paris, Sarah less so. They also ask what use libertarianism? But are united in their love of Spain and its wonderful cities.
On our reading and watch list this week:
· Scarman Report – Lord Scarman · The Abolition of Liberty – Peter Hitchens · Robert Peel: A Biography – Douglas Hurd · Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity) - Pope Leo XIV · Tales from the Alhambra – Washington Irvine
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.
Crime And (No) Punishment and Phew! What a Scorcher!
27/05/2026 | 45 mins.
On this week’s episode, Sarah is asking why a judge thought it was a good idea to let three rapists walk free. And Peter would like to know what the deal is with ridiculous centigrade temperatures.
And the pair marvel over Peter’s rakish black eye and pore over our latest mailbag to answer listener questions on whether devolution really can work and is the blueprint for politics on a national scale. The merits of the free bus pass, compulsory voting works for Australia, so why not us? And, perhaps more importantly, why parenting used to be akin to NATO and that was a good thing.
On our reading and watch list this week:
· A Clockwork Orange – Dir: Stanley Kubrick · Book Of Common Prayer · Unconventional Wisdom – Peter Hitchens
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.
Prawn Again, Bombs and Displaced People
20/05/2026 | 33 mins.
On this week’s episode, two worlds collide as Sarah asks why prawn cocktail and such old school culinary delights as beef bourguignon and banana splits are back on the dinner menu. And Peter will be asking if our policy of bombing foreign countries is driving up mass immigration to the UK.
And the pair pore over our latest mailbag to answer listener questions on whether Kemi Badenoch is really a true-blue conservative or more in the mould of someone like libertarian Javier Milei? The merits of the latest cinematic take on the life of Charles De Gaulle, the shortcomings of the Criminal Cases Review Commission and, finally, what did the 60s ever do for us?
On our reading and watch list this week:
· The Leopard - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa · I’m Still Here – Dir: Walter Salles · De Gaulle: Tilting Iron - Dir: Antonin Baudry
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.
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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