On this week’s episode, as the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei continues, Peter will be looking at the current situation in Iran and then Sarah and Peter will be comparing notes on their Desert Island Discs (Sarah tries unsuccessfully to convince Peter of the charms of Faithless), if the BBC ever come calling…
And the pair pore over our mailbag to chat about dogma in education, Peter’s favourite public debate, the charm of the Boston suburbs and why our politicians are all too human and why we expect too much from them.
On our reading, listening and watch list this week:
Sarah’s Desert Island Choices:
· Mendelssohn concerto in E minor: Yehudi Menuhin with the Berlin Phil (for my father) · Faithless: insomnia · Hozier: work song · Rolling Stones: Sympathy for the devil · Maria Callas: Vissi d’arte · Led Zeppelin: Fool in the Rain · David Bowie: Moonage Daydream · Pink Floyd: The Great Gig in the Sky
· Book: Dante’s divine comedy, I would spend my time translating it into English · Luxury: Contact lenses. Although they might be considered a necessity as I’m so blind. In which case, a hot bath.
Peter’s Desert Island Choices:
· Bob Dylan: Tomorrow is a Long Time · Fairport Convention: Farewell, Farewell · Purcell: Nymphs and Shepherds · Purcell: Rondeau · Gustav Holst: St Paul’s Suite · George Butterworth: The Banks of Green Willow · Handel: Solomon · Beethoven: Seventh Symphony
· Book: A collection of the Sherlock Holmes Short and Long Stories · Luxury: A Fridge
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 Price of Education and Harry’s Game
29/06/2026 | 48 mins.
On this week’s episode, Peter would like to know why Labour are taxing some private schools out of business and Sarah is asking if should we even care that Prince Harry might be coming back to the UK?
And the pair pore over our mailbag to chat about studying double smoking (and drinking cider), how e-bikes have no place even in hilly Lisbon, just how Conservative was Gordon Brown, and what ties Andy Bunrnham and Philip Larkin together.
On our reading and watch list this week:
· The Secondary Mod – Dick Stroud · The August Coup: The Destruction of the Soviet Union and the Making of New Russia 1985-1991 – Robert Service · The Conservative enemy: A programme of radical reform for the 1960s - C. Anthony R. Crosland
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.
Keir Curtailed and A Voyage Round My Father
22/06/2026 | 41 mins.
On this week’s episode, Sarah speaks candidly about her father’s recent passing, both muse on the brutality of modern politics as Kier Starmer steps down and Peter wonders why some nations crave war.
And the pair pore over our mailbag prompting Peter’s remarkable impression of an announcer on the Moscow Metro. They both offer up the funniest politicians they’ve encountered and revisit Peter’s anti-Cameron documentary, Toff At The Top.
On our reading and watch list this week:
· Two Women – Dir: Vittorio De Sica · Salvador – Dir: Oliver Stone · Dispatches: Cameron - Toff at the Top
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.
Banned Books and Past-It Politicians
15/06/2026 | 29 mins.
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.
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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