David Aaronovitch is, in many people’s minds, the classic Hampstead political commentator: half‑Jewish, wholly metropolitan, former long‑time Times columnist and the calmly forensic voice of Radio 4’s The Briefing Room. From the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Henry Ford’s obsessions to today’s influencer‑economy cranks who monetise paranoia online, David traces what really motivates conspiracy theories, how they’ve evolved – and where simple denial shades into something darker.

From there, we wander through the new right‑wing networks and their culture‑war franchises: Matt Goodwin’s controversial picture of who ‘the elite’ really are, Viktor Orbán’s well-funded internationals, Nigel Farage’s theological policy guru and the grand narratives about ‘the war on Western civilisation’, migration, ULEZ, cyclists, feminism, low birth rates and Israel–Palestine that all add grist to the Culture Wars mill.

Along the way we touch on BBC cuts – whether David will keep his job - and whether the Corporation is still worth fighting for. And why, in 2026 it’s hard work being reasonable.

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Professor Danny Dorling, Oxford social geographer and professional spoiler of comfortable assumptions about Britain. He explains how geography began as imperial management and maps the link between empire and inequality that still shapes Britain’s place at the top of Europe’s inequality league table.

Danny shows how we went from our most equal moment in the 60’s and 70’s to today’s extremes, why the first faint signs of rising equality feel bad, and how the right feeds off the fear that inequality breeds. We talk “wealth creators”, British exceptionalism in private schooling, and how the elite consensus on climate change was broken.

Was it really Red Wall voters wot won the Brexit vote? Danny tells the true social‑geography story of Leave and how the media stigmatised the result.

We then ask why the “nice” left keeps failing to capitalise on its winning story – from the ‘dead cat’ tactic versus the long hard slog, to how Trump has changed trolling and warped the ecology of think tanks.

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Wolff, bestselling chronicler of Trump and Murdoch — and my very first guest on this podcast just before Trump took office — returns from a snow-blinded Hamptons to describe what Trump’s second term feels like to him, and why he has called it “a heartbreaking year and a frightening year.”

He discusses how, in his view, a president presiding over “a government of one” can still bend an entire system around himself. Drawing on 100 hours of taped conversation with Jeffrey Epstein he explains how he interprets those files - what they reveal about power and the idea of a global elite.

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Professor Jason Stanley, philosopher of propaganda and fascism, now at the University of Toronto after a high‑profile departure from Yale to, as he puts it, “spit the truth”.

He describes the US as “a white supremacist nation” and unpacks how that connects to its sky‑high incarceration rates, even while it’s enjoying some of its lowest levels of violent crime.

From campus battles over what can and can’t be said about Israel, to classic fascist tactics and the quiet normalisation of far‑right ideas, he explains why the fascist Internationale ended up not working — and how power really does.

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Professor Bobby Duffy, Director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London — author of books that puncture our most sacred cows and a demystifier-in-chief of generational squabbles and supposed divides.

We delve into the why: why certain myths have grown such sturdy roots, why “delusions align with an identity,” and its impact on shaping norms.

Culturally, are we closer to the Americans or the Europeans? Does the US predict our future? Are we, “slightly canary” — an early indicator of what may be heading Europe’s way?

And does one side see things “clearly”? And in a world of deep divides should we be kissing more Tories?

Then there’s the global view of civilisation: as China and South East Asia succeed, will those values eventually trump those of the West?

“Something has shifted in the last 18 months, two years” is Bobby’s view of our times as bad as we fear?

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Crick is an Oxford-honed, long-haul chronicler of the Westminster circus. He’s run the whole gauntlet—from bare-knuckle TV newsrooms to writing biographies of colourful grandees, and chasing Cabinet Ministers down Whitehall.

Together, we explore how news got smarter (and sometimes not), why local papers are the canaries in the democratic coalmine, and how AI could blow it all apart.

With friends such as Robbie Gibb, what does Michael make of the latest BBC crisis? Are malign forces circling?

And as the biographer of Nigel Farage: why do voters like him, and why would governing by Reform—which already has form—be no laughing matter?

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Krugman is a Nobel laureate, economics sage, “deranged bum” according to President Trump, and a former New York Times heavyweight.

Together, we unravel Trump’s economic policy (does he have one?) and why he’s “not a Mussolini” when it comes to public transport.

We dissect the Trump era’s political theatre: Nazis in the Republican institutional structure, and a Putin/Orban-style bid for takeover. But is Trump following the right rule book? How’s the resistance faring? Will there be fair elections, or is “everything on the table as a possibility”?

We also explore the chill felt by academics, authoritarian shifts, the clout of oligarchs and think tanks, global echoes of populism, the decline of expertise in government—and, finally, why Paul left the New York Times.

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Mills is a sociologist, senior lecturer at Aston University, and author of The BBC: The Myth of a Public Service Broadcaster.

Once “a communist in my early teens,” he now dissects how media and politics intertwine—how the national print press, 90% owned by three businesses, has the ability to shift stories to which “the BBC is kind of responsive,” and what happens when funding cuts “smash morale” in great institutions. And if there is a Farage government, will the BBC stand up to power?

We explore the changing media landscape—ownership, independence, and how we’ve ended up sandwiched between “unaccountable, patrician, well-meaning people at the BBC” and “odd characters in Silicon Valley and Washington.”

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.