Alas Vine & Hitchens

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 KirbyPlease 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 HitchensProducer: Philip WildingEditor: Chelsey MooreProduction Manager: Vittoria CecchiniExecutive Producer: Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

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 HeinePlease 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 HitchensProducer: Philip WildingEditor: Chelsey MooreProduction Manager: Vittoria CecchiniExecutive Producer: Jamie EastA Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

On this week’s show, Peter and Sarah hand over the floor to our listeners and dedicate the entire episode to responding to emails, WhatsApp notes and Spotify comments that you’ve been kind enough to send.  And what a mailbag it is with stories of duelling in the modern age, should utilities be in public ownership or private hands? Would Peter ever throw in his lot with the Social Democratic Party (unlikely, dear listener)? And cats or dogs? And why does Sarah’s moggy gnaw on her laptop?On our reading, listening and watch list this week: ·      Bladerunner – Dir: Ridley Scott·      The Divine Comedy – Dante·      Royal Flash - George MacDonald Fraser·      Why I Am Not A Christian – Bertrand Russell 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 HitchensProducer: Philip WildingEditor: Chelsey MooreProduction Manager: Vittoria CecchiniExecutive Producer: Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

On this week’s episode, Peter will be examining the increasing disintegration of one President Donald J Trump while Sarah will be asking if Artificial Intelligence is finally coming for us all.And the pair pore over our mailbag to chat about looking after your parents in later life, the legacy of former PM Jim Callaghan, asking what did the 1970s ever do for us? And the joys of the Northumbrian coastline. On our reading, listening and watch list this week: •  Helena – Evelyn Waugh•  Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton•  2001: A Space Odyssey – Dir: Stanley Kubrick•  Terminator: Dark Fate – Dir: Tim MillerPlease 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 HitchensProducer: Philip WildingEditor: Chelsey MooreProduction Manager: Vittoria CecchiniExecutive Producer: Jamie EastA Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

On this week’s episode, Sarah’s looking back at the decade of flared jeans and glitter balls and asking why Andy Burnham wants to take us back to the 1970s. And talking of Burnham, Peter wonders if the new PM should now call a general election? And the pair pore over our mailbag to chat about the merits of corporal punishment (or lack of) with Peter recalling school days that sometimes featured a thrashing. The interminable rise of the e-bike and politicians that either could do without ever meeting again.On our reading, listening and watch list this week: • Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury• Coming Up For Air – George Orwell• Goodbye, Mr. Chips - James Hilton• Coriolanus – William Shakespeare• The Whitsun Weddings – Philip LarkinPlease 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 HitchensProducer: Philip WildingEditor: Chelsey MooreProduction Manager: Vittoria CecchiniExecutive Producer: Jamie EastA Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

On this week’s episode, Sarah talks procrastination, though she has a few other things to do first, and as he’s named the sleaziest politician in the UK, Peter examines the latest Nigel Farage farrago.  And the pair pore over our mailbag to chat about the legacy of one Dennis Potter, why Peter is less than keen on the Singaporean state, on what the locals really call Wittenham Clumps and that most important of questions: is it Vine and Hitchens or Hitchens and Vine?On our reading, listening and watch list this week:  ·      One Party After Another: The Disruptive Life of Nigel Farage - Michael Crick·      Solving Procrastination: The Science of Why We Put Things Off and How to (Finally!) Stop - Dr. Itamar Shatz·      Stand Up, Nigel Barton – Dir: Gareth Davies 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 HitchensProducer: Philip WildingEditor: Chelsey MooreProduction Manager: Vittoria CecchiniExecutive Producer: Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

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 HitchensProducer: Philip WildingEditor: Chelsey MooreProduction Manager: Vittoria CecchiniExecutive Producer: Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

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 HitchensProducer: Philip WildingEditor: Chelsey MooreProduction Manager: Vittoria CecchiniExecutive Producer: Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

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 HitchensProducer: Philip WildingEditor: Chelsey MooreProduction Manager: Vittoria CecchiniExecutive Producer: Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular