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substat dot com. This is London calling, London calling. But that's that's
not for me. A concern for the having them sense that are Also,
this is obviously wrong. If an author writes something, it should be left
as it stands, well, why are you in Tampa with it? It
is beyond me? But also because it because it is because we now live
under under what is effectively a marshmalist sociatarianism. Welcome to London Calling with me
James Delingpot and my very good friend mister Toby Young. How you doing,
Tame, I'm good, James, how are you well? I'm I'm buzzing.
Um. The only thing I want to talk about this week, obviously,
is my day hunting. Right. This was the special day that this
was the special day that I have been absolutely bricking it over ever since I
was given the offer. Because these are these are London calling calling listeners who
happened also happened also to hunt, and they had me on their podcast,
which is great by the way, and I'm going to put a link to
to where you can find the podcast on the on the on the Ricochet site.
Um and yeah, as as a special treat, they gave me a
day's hunting. Now, I have a confession to make. I didn't,
in the end go for the second horse because I just thought I was in
the saddle for four and a half hours. I think that's enough if you're
a you know, an elderly gentleman like me. So if you get a
second horse, does that mean you can you're expected to go for like nine
hours? Yeah, you probably hunt chill till the sun goes down. So
yeah, you you can't walk at that point. I mean I can barely
walk now. So so heaven knows what it had been like had I had
another three hours, say it could have been, well, I would I
would say it's it's in I don't want to specify, but it was in
very good hunt country with lots and lots of stone walls, right, um,
which which which are quite which are quite interesting and challenging because you think,
well, I don't want to clip the top of the wall. I
don't want to. I don't want to come a cropper because because stone walls
are pretty solid. But you managed to stay on, did he? It
was very exciting. I mean I had I had a I had a a
jolly fine horse, Spartacus, who I've I've ridden before. And he's he's
um. He's what's known as a schoolmaster, so's he's been around the block.
He's been hunting so many times that he knows far better than you do
how to play the game. And the thing was, it was a very
um Saturday is a very popular days and the field was one hundred and twenty
people. So that's the field of the people who followed the hunt on horseback.
And if you imagine that some of the fences and the rails and hedges
and things, they only have spaces big enough for maybe maximum two horses to
jump at the same time, you can see you can imagine how how congested
it gets because so the people following the hunt, they're not the same as
the hunt month so they know that there's the there's the huntsman and the whippers
in who who are essentially the hunt. And then everyone else is just a
spectator, and they are called the field. And there was a man called
the field. What were you? I'm just I was I was part of
the field. I was with the field master. The field master is the
man or woman whose job it is to keep the field back from from the
hunt that they didn't get in the way, but also to decide the line
that they will take over the country in order to you know, to keep
up. So what's the equident in shooting if you're in the field, I
mean, you're not one of the guns. Basically, yes you are,
but you know, it doesn't doesn't it doesn't doesn't quite work like that.
I don't think there's really a sort of parallel Okay, um no, but
um what it meant was that you never really got a very good run up
at the at your obstacles. So you couldn't, you know, you you
couldn't rely on the horse's speed to carry, you know, to hurdle hurdle
the thing. So what you ended up doing you needed a horse that can
Somebody somebody came up with a good phrase. It's called trott and pop.
So so basically you need a horse that'sut can almost amble up to the obstacle
and just do almost a standing standing jump over these these obstacles. Um.
It was. It was great, I mean it was. It was really
exciting. We did about about thirty jumps and oh and the best bit,
the most exciting bit, was when the fieldmaster said to me, right,
you're going to lead the hunt over the next over the next jump. And
I said what I said? Yeah, I said, is it a scary
one? Is it? Nor? It's just just just just some rails.
And he wasn't. He wasn't lying. It was just some rails. And
so I led one hundred and twenty horses over the rails. So you can
you imagine the pressure um and if you if you fall off. I mean
let's say, let's suppose you jump the rails. But yeah, your horses
leg back legs get caught, you take a tumble. Do you then have
kind of like one hundred and ninety nine horses or whatever it is coming behind
you. You have to kind of rigular when you you well, you would,
I mean you look like a complete dick because because you shouldn't you should
never overtake the field master. I mean, obviously I had permission on occasion
Um, but you probably wouldn't get trampled trampled on because horses are quite good
at not not treading on people because their their priority is not to injure themselves.
Right, So but yeah, you would. You would look a complete
dick if if if you were you, you took it upon yourself to lead
the hunt and you bogged it. Yeah right, okay, okay, you
didn't disgrace yourself. You got over the rails and that was all fine.
Yeah, yeah, it was it was good. Did did did you?
Did you catch a fox? I didn't you? I mean you you don't
see him. I didn't see one all day. Um, you know.
And anyway, you're you're you're you're following trails. So um yeah, and
that doesn't matter. It's not like going on a shoot which you don't end
up shooting anything. Um, it's totally it totally doesn't matter as long as
you get a good run, as long as you get a few moments where
hounds are running, because when hounds are running, it means you can means
anything goes. So for example, there's a rule where there are unspoken rules
which we're supposed to there's an etiquette where if if hounds aren't running. You're
not supposed to jump anything stupid or even at all. Um. And the
stone walls around there, there are the ones with dressing on top, with
the sticking up stones. You're never supposed to jump unless hounds are running,
in which case anything goes. Um. Hands are running. That means they've
got the scent of a fox. That means they've they've they've they've found a
scent. Um and um so um. Then then it gets it gets quite
hairy because because you just like I mean, there were there were there were
jumps on and off the road. So you say you you'd you'd go over
one stone wall onto the road and then over another stone wall off the road,
and some of them have drops, and some of them happens. It's
just like you need you need plenty of Dutch courage to be able to deal
with this stuff. Um. But and then and then you then you replay
every jump back in your head or just over and over again. It's it's
it's an hallucinatory experience. It sounds hard. I must try it one day.
And someone once said to me, do you want to follow on a
quad bike? But how do you go over the fences, shot a quad
bike. Well, I'm sure you'd have a good time on the quad bike,
but you wouldn't be able to jump things. That must be like the
best bit. Well, somebody, somebody had had quoted me apparently saying,
um that that it's not hunting unless you're jumping. And they'd quoted this that
a huntsman, and the huntsman had been very sniffy about it. But she
said, you're absolutely right. Oh yeah, this was a this was a
this was a random Team James person that I discovered on the hunt. Like,
I offered my um my hip flask to the to the woman next to
me, and you know, she she had something. We got talking.
She said are you James Dellingpole? And I said, yeah, wow,
Tom, Tom quickly this is James Delingpole. So so I had at least
two. I expect most of them idiologically were more Team Tabs than Team James.
But but but I did definitely her name was Nicky, and and I'm
sure that my hosts were were Team James, but probably everyone else if if
you tested their their politics, they were probably Team Tabs, right right,
Well, they sound like a sensible bunch. Um, So I haven't had
nearly such an exciting weekend, James. So, Um, Caroline has gone
to Barbados for two weeks on a freebeeum and I say freebe she had to
pay for the flight. But her best buddy gets to go to a really
nice, luxurious resort in Barbados for two weeks each year, and in return
has to be available to play tennis with and coach the residents and the other
guests. And we should we should have learned tennis tabes. I never mind
all the rubbish. We learned much better off. Yeah she's quite good,
isn't she. She's quite good now. Yeah, she's in the ladies first
team at the local leisure club, David Lloyd. But anyway, so this
friend of hers, who's a tennis coach at the head of tennis at the
local David Lloyd, invited her to accompany her. So she has to kind
of, you know, play tennis with the guests for a couple of hours
a day. But apart from that, it's just lounging by the pool drinking
cocktails. You are so much I know that I'm now at the top of
a Brownie Point mountain. Yeah, I'll be gazing down on Caroline with any
number of models in return for that that self sacrifice. Well, it does
mean I'm having to play mother while she's a wild A lot of cooking and
cleaning and dog walking this weekend. It's a sort of taste of what it
must be like to be, you know, a widower, um, but
or a woman, even woman. Yeah, it's not something you choose at
anything. No, well, I think I think it's it's it's not that
I never do any of these things before. Um, you know, in
the normal course of events. It's just in the normal course of events.
You know, she probably does the lion share, but they're shared. Whereas
when it's just you having to cook and clean and do the washing and walk
the dog and help with the droms homework and make sure they get to school
on time. It's pretty exhausting. It's pretty exhausting to do that and do
everything else. Yeah, you know, run the Daily Skeptic and the Free
Speech Union and write my spectator callum, and I'm off to Brighton this evening
to talk at a free speech Union regional Speechasy and I've got I've got to
give free speeches this week in fact, So who's looking. Oh they'll be
they'll be looking after themselves while I'm in Brighton. But they're able to do
that. I mean, the whole movies have been based on that premise.
I mean, I hope it won't be home alone. Yeah, if I
was going away for the weekend, I would be worried about, Yeah,
animal house, a Facebook party of some kind. But yeah, I don't
think they'll do that just because I'm away from one evening. Plus my eldest
son who's seventeen, has got his A levels coming up, and my second
eldest he's fifteen as good as GCS is coming up. So they're not quite
so irresponsible that they have a massive party on the eve of these important exams
now exactly. Yeah, that's not anyway. So yeah, I'm I'm sort
of a bit. I'm a bit knackered at the moment. I had to
get up at seven thirty today to weight them all up, and then I
was just not not my usual Emma. I can tell you we should probably
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join the collective and join the Collective is hyphenated so James. I don't know
if you've been following this the aftermath of William Shawcross's Prevent review, but it
makes for simultaneously hair raising and comical reading. Douglas Murray wrote about it in
The Spectator this week. But essentially Prevent, which was originally set up to
counter domestic terrorism and to prevent young Muslim men from being radicalized by Islami's groups,
has departed quite far from that original purpose, and it's now the main
preoccupation of the program and its personnel is to prevent people being radicalized by the
far right. Even though right wing domestic terrorists account for less than twenty five
percent of terrorist incidents and Islamist domestic terrorists over seventy five over seventy five percent,
Prevents activity is focused on far right terrorism. And about twenty five percent
on Islamist terrorism. So they've got their priorities absolutely back to front. But
the list of gateway drugs which can supposedly turn ordinary conservatives into froffing at the
mouth far right terrorists is absolutely breathtaking. So one of them was Douglas Murray's
book I Think about the Death of Europe, which was a Sunday Time is
best seller but in and that's why he wrote about it, and he's pretty
cross about it. So why is he cross? Come on, it's a
badge of honor too. I mean, I'd always think that this report was
espressly to promote his book. It certainly. I mean, I think I
suppose cross about something like that, I use really well because all your all
your followers are going to be saying, yeah, I'm so, I'm so
out there and radical. I'm I'm more dangerous than a than an Islamic terrorist
like me, I'm so edgy. Well, ipose I suppose that if it
is you know, it's taxpayers money that I mean you kind of think,
well, why aren't they actually focusing on protecting us from people who might actually,
you know, detonate suicide bombs in crowded arenas. Why are they squandering
these taxpayer funded resources on monitoring people who reading books by Douglas Murren. And
it's not just Douglas Murray. It's okay. The TV programs okay, which
are warning signs? Are yes, Minister, the thick of it Um films
include like the these are these are these are these are? If you watch
these films, you're on the cusp of becoming a right wing terrorist. The
Damn Busters m Zoo because of the name of the dog, isn't it's dog
that's problem? Yeah, could be Guy Gibson's dog. Yeah. But but
but other books apart from you know, The Strange Death of Liberal Europe whatever
it's called, The Lord of the Rings, Order Sucksy's Brave New World,
The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad or Wells nineteen eighty four, The poems of
G. K. Chesterton, This one flummx me, the Bridge on the
River Quie Why is that a kind of why is that a kind of totem
of He became a collaborator, didn't he? So I didn't see how Alec
Ginness essentially went bonkers, Yeah, and wanted to the Japanese build their bridge
because he was proud of his achievement at the end. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, but that's when you think about it, actually, that is it
promoted. It's not promoting collaboration with authoritarian regimes, though, is it.
Maybe it makes because it involves in it. I know. Maybe it's because
you know, the British, you know, the American you know, special
Forces operative played by William Holden ends up blowing up the bridge, and maybe
it's like thought to be it could be a justification for terrorism because you know,
in the end he kind of disrupts the Japanese infrastructure by blowing up the
bridge in spite. I don't buy by the way, that anyone reads Conrad
these days. Whoever whoever put this this this list together, was they'd heard
of this book title The Secret Agent, and just thought yeah, and they'd
heard it was about you know what terrorists in about terrorists and stuff. The
tournament. Maybe, I mean he's almost he's almost unreadable. I mean he's
quite heavy going. I'd say extremist Watch Apocalypse now, then then thought so,
yea rather than the hard dogs is quite sure. I remember enjoying it
when I was a teenager. You didn't know what the movie or no,
no, the book. He no, you didn't enjoy it? I did.
I did enjoy Wow. It's hard to tell, isn't it when you're
that young. But yeah, Nostromo as well. Anyway, you'd have thought
the n word of the Narcissus would be a book that they would have flagged
up as a totem of right wing, far right extremism. We've done,
by the way, on this subject, we've done Roald Dahal. Oh,
no, let's go on, Let's come on to roy I mean, I
look, as you know, I don't really have much truck with with stories
that go in the newspapers. But I just think, but my question,
well, I suppose you would explain what's happened to Royal Dhale. First of
all, haven't you yes, so um so puffin, which is the kind
of junior I've also eaten a puffin, yeah, in Iceland. But Puffin
is the kind of junior branch of the children's wing of penguin Um, and
they recently brought out new editions. I think of the collected works of Roald
dahl In which which have been which have been changed by sensitivity readers to make
them less offensive and to bring them up to date with modern sensibilities and modern
sensibilities alleged modern sensibilities. Yeah, and it's pretty extraordinary the extent of the
boldlyrization. Um. So, I'm going to give you a couple of examples.
So U one was Yeah. In The Witches, one of the characters
is described as even if she is working as a so you can be a
witch. Even if she is working as a cashier and a supermarket or typing
letters for a businessman. That's been changed too, even if she is working
as a top scientist or running a business, because presumably they describing women as
being likely to work as cashiers in supermarkets or typing letters for a businessman are
working as secretaries is demeaning and sexist, and instead we should imagine them as
top scientists. I'm so glad you've found those examples terms, because I'm more
offended by those than I am of the ones where they've removed any references to
fat, to fatness or blackness, even when they're describing a sort of black
tractor or something. They've decided to remove the cover in case anyone anyone of
color less than anyone of color be offended, But you're absolutely right when you've
got something as nakedly feminists as that all women have to have jobs as top
scientists or running a business here, they can't. They can't be secretaries or
supermarket cashiers anymore or ever. Yeah yeah, and weirdly not not only have
all references to blackness being expunged, but turning white has become turning quite pale.
Yeah yeah, as though even that could be racially triggering. Yeah yeah,
yeah, And you're right, fat so a fat, juicy little child
has become a juicy little child. And I think all references to Augustus Gloop's
fatness have been expunged from Charlie and the chocolate factory. It is quite extraordinary,
isn't it the kind of degree of license they've taken with what should be
surely, you know, texts which these sensitivity readers and editors at Puffin shouldn't
really imagine they can improve upon. Well, my immediate response was, what
is the Roald Dahl Estate doing about this? Because it seems to me absolutely
wrong that we should ever be able to change the written words of an established
author after after he's dead. But apparently it's the state don't hold out his
books to is it Netflix? Oh? Is that right? Yeah, so
that there's another and say, in other words, nobody, nobody has got
the role and starts the Dalla states back because they're probably were thinking, well,
we've we've made like bandits from this deal, so we don't really care
anymore, what what you know? And they've been apologizing retrospectively for whatever to
what granddad found mouth cantanka as granddad or great granddad said, which I think
he's none of their business. Really he was, he was who he was
and his fictional or to stay the way it was, I think, yeah,
I mean it. I suppose in some respects it reflects the kind of
the cynicism of publishers who don't don't don't see themselves as kind of custodians of
kind of great works of literature so much as custodians of successful franchises. And
you know, so their duty is not to the books or to roll Dal's
memory. Their their duty is to make as much money as they possibly can
by milking the roal Dale franchise. Even if I don't think it's a money
thing terms, I really don't, because there would there would be no money,
and I can't imagine that a single book sale is going to be generated
by these these changes. So it's not they're not doing it for commercial reasons.
They're doing it because the entirety of the publishing industry has been captured by
the same forces which have captured the universities, which have captured They've, they've,
they've, they've this is the long march through the institutions. Well,
yeah, no, I didn't mean. I didn't. I wasn't. I
didn't mean that they're doing it for commercial reasons. I meant that what they
think of themselves as publishing now is not the works of Roald I think exactly,
but the product of the Roldale franchise. If there is no commercial motive,
it's a kind of very corporate, commodified, rather kind of unliterary way
of regarding what publishers do. I mean, if the books have any literary
merit, you know, why are you changing them? And presumably I mean
it's as though it's not the books that they're in the business of publishing anymore,
it's something else. Yeah, yes, yeah, I'm sure, but
I thought of a it's the Bodlerization, the corruption of literature. By sensitivity
readers is now running them up. It's out of control. And I thought
of quite a good way to draw attention to this in a way which isn't
too didactic or kind of outrage, which is what you do. Is a
particular author reached out to me recently, quite a well known author, but
old fashioned, you know, probably listens to London, calling small c conservative,
I'd say, don't know. And he was complaining about a fight he's
got into with his publisher over a book that he's written and they've bought and
they're about to publish, and on the advice of various sensitivity readers, they're
asking him to change various words and passages in the text. And he's understandably
furious about this. And he has passed on to me some of the exchanges
between him and his editor, and it's it's comic goal, James. So
his editor is trying to be as diplomatic and as inoffensive as he possibly can
be, trying to coax this author into agreeing to what the editor clearly regards
as very minor changes, and the author is getting more and more angry and
irascible and kind of railing at the ignorance and insensitivity in fact, so what
he's trying to write in the effects he's trying to achieve of the sensitivity readers.
And it's a fantastic exchange. And when I read it, I just
thought, wow, this would make make a brilliant scene in a documentary play.
So I've now had this idea, which is, you create a documentary
play, you know, a documentary play as a play in which actors read
words said by real people do all the time. And yes, yeah,
so you do. You get you get sort of like a dozen of these
exchanges between authors and sensitivity readers or publishers relaying the advice of sensitivity readers,
and you chop them up and create a kind of wonderfully entertaining, hilariously funny,
ninety minute documentary play which isn't beating people about the head with why this
is so wrong, but kind of definitely I think that message will land kind
of effortlessly, just partly because the authors are obviously so much more intelligent and
so much more erudite than the publishers and sensitivity readers trying to change their work.
I mean, I think it's a great idea, and if anyone listening
to London Calling. Has any experience with kind of actually helping to produce or
create documentary plays. Get in touch Toby Young at macmac dot com. Oh
good, well done, TEBs. You've got another thing to do when you're
been looking off the children and doing the free speech union. Yeah, I'm
not sure when when I'll because you're because you're on the spectrum, TEBs.
You can't help it. It's just you're driven, you're you're like but it's
but it's good. It keeps you happy, keeps you. I've got my
hunting and you've got your your work workers. Listen, time for another ad,
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So, James, what else is sappening in your world? Well, I
have to say, I'm just thinking about the weird, weird thing that I
have to tell you for Culture Corner. So we can't do that yet because
we can't quite do that yet. We haven't got that yet. Um what
else? What else is we we we we we ran a really good story
in the Daily Skeptic on Sunday about the global disinformation Index. So this came
up recently because the Washington Examiner has been running a series about the way in
which disinformation and misinformation are weaponized now by state funded agencies to suppress descent.
So well, in this case, we're talking about not state agencies but private
companies funded by the state or part funded by the state. So the Global
Disinformation Index is a British private company that is funded by the US State Department
via an intermediate body to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars according to
the Washington Examiner. And it's also funded by the London by the Foreign Commonwealth
and Development Office. So our own government are our own taxpayers and people to
the names and stuff I have, I didn't really ring any bells with me.
They looked like kind of well, one of them is also on the
Atlantic Council and another has been involved in a kind of UN campaign, so
they're kind of, you know, part of the kind of NGEO think tanks.
They have one of the people on one of the people on the advisory
board of the of the Global Disinformation indexes an Apple Bomb, which rather surprised
me given that she's a regular contributor to the Spectator. But anyway, and
it's also the involved just it's just I mean, I mean, no,
anyway, let me tell you what they've done before we get so. So,
one of the things the Global Disinformation Index does is it compiles lists of
publications, news publishing, news publisher websites that it wants It wants advertisers companies
to stop advertising on. Yeah, and it's come up with a with a
list of the ten least risky and the ten most risky and on the ten
most risky sites. These are sites that it's actively working to get demon tized.
Are the Washington Examiner, the American Spectator, Real Clear Politics, Um,
the Federalist. Reason, it's quite extraordinary at the New York Post reason,
I know, reason I'm just so lightweight, i mean cut. And
actually some of their stuff is just, I mean, it's the work of
the enemy. Yeah, they purport to be libertarians, but some of the
causes that they represent to extremely dodgy. Well, it shows you just how
broad the Global Disinformation Indexes definition is. Yeah, we don't know if if
it has. In fact, it calls this the blocklist, so we don't
know if it's blocklisted. The Daily skeptic, but I wouldn't be surprised.
It's not that I am. It's not on the ten most risky, but
it's it's it's just on its website it tells you how it defines disinformation and
why it has ranked, and how it kind of evaluates different publications, although
needed to say it isn't totally transparent about it, but it says that the
bright Bart, for instance, is responsible for disseminating disinformation because it uses the
term illegal alien to describe what it refers to as undocumented migrants. And it
has a kind of section you can find on the bright Bart search function whereby
you can find crimes committed by illegal aliens, and it says, even though
there's nothing factually inaccurate about these reports, these crimes actually happened and they work
committed by you know, if you're not describing them euphemistically illegal aliens. Nonetheless,
it's designed to foster what it calls an adversarial narrative about undocumented migrants,
and for that reason, we're classifying it as disinformation. So it's defining it
is essentially saying, even if what you've reported is factually true, we're still
going to describe it as disinformation if we ideologically disapprove of your agenda. I
mean, it is absolutely extraordinary. This is the Foreign Office, James,
it's funding this stuff. I agree, it's outrageous. Well, this is
why I'm now essentially an anarchist. And I don't mean in the sort of
pejorative sense which it's which we've been brainwashed into thinking that is the meaning of
it. It's just that rather, it's that I think we can all function
much much better without the kind of overweening state which which which behaves in this
incredibly controlling way. I mean, the government is not our friend. And
the fact that it's it's it's funding organizations like this and sort of through the
back door in a way, isn't it. It's all it's all kind of
yeah, it's a bit slippery. It's more way. Interestingly, it's it's
more slippery in the US than it is here. So things like Prevent and
the Counter Disinformation Unit that was based at DCMS and the I think it still
is at DCMS seventy seventh Brigade. They are all organs agencies of the state
in the US. It's that they do it. They tend to it at
one one one remove in order to avoid falling a foul of the First Amendment.
Imagine being the kind of slime ball who takes a job like that.
I mean, suppose, suppose Tobes, they offered you, I don't know,
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year to become head of one of
these you know, I don't know the internet monitoring and correction into the tune.
Would you would you take it? I don't think I would frand well,
I hope not, James, I wouldn't do it a million. I
don't think it's likely if I wouldn't have ten ten million. I suddenly thought,
Tobes, we must mention. I feel feel guilty for not having gone,
though, and I might have gone had I not been riding to hounds
the protest in Oxford at the weekend against fifteen minutes cities, which are a
really worrying thing, aren't they. Yeah, the the the I think the
mayor of Oxford who was interviewed, I think I was sort of interviewed.
I there was on the BBC, I can't remember, but anyway, she
said that I think she described them as as traffic calming measures or measures intended
to reduce congestion in crowded city outs, a lie which which seemed seemed to
be putting quite a positive spin on it. Um. But we all we
discussed this before. Yeah, so what what fifteen minutes cities are? What?
The concept is that with cities will be divided up into zones, and
in each zone there'll be everything you could possibly need, schools, hospitals,
banks, pharmacies, so you'd have no compelling reason to leave your zone.
Sometimes they're all sat by the way, terms you know what they're called in
Bath They call them cells c s, like prisoner cells, so they're not
even the pretending anymore. Well, but and and how they're going to discourage
people from leaving their cells is that you'll be you'll be allowed to drive from
one cell to another for X number of times per year, say a hundred
times a year, in your petrol or diesel fueled motor vehicle. I don't
think there's a restriction if you're in an electric car um. And if you
exceed your allotted quota UM then you'll you'll, you'll you'll you'll be fined a
bit like if you enter a low traffic neighborhood. Um, and so in
that way they're going to try and um, discourage people from leaving their twenty
minute zones or their cells. If you're in Bath, and this is and
this is it's it's an idea which seems to be kind of spreading. I
don't I don't quite know where it originates, but it's top down, it's
free. This has been planned. If you listen to my recent podcasts with
somebody called Sandy Adams, she's she's been following this story for many, many
years, and she's found the documentation that that this this dates back at least
to the nineteen ninety two Rio Earth Summit, which spawned Agenda twenty one as
it was initially called, and also Local Agenda twenty one, which is essentially
the infiltration of every every local government by by the same agenda. So so
these these slightly thick, busybody left leaning town councilors, they get persuaded that
in order to save the planet, they must follow this agenda and they move
in lockstep around the world. This this is being rolled out in everywhere from
Ghent to Toronto, to to Bath, to all these Oxford obviously Canterbury,
all these these town councils are loving it because they become you know, you
two can be Hitler for a day or well, and they also love it.
They also love it because when when you know, they make a huge
they stand to make a huge amount of money from finding drivers who either aren't
aware that they've exceeded the allotted zone crossing quota or just prepared to pay the
fine because I've got to get their kids on school, or so you won
hospital. When when is everyone going to gonna turn Team James? Because I
mean, the stories like this terms must make you a bit more. Oh
maybe I am a Team James after all, because this this has all been
centrally planned and this is top down New World Order stuff. Well, there's
a documentation to support this. I can, I can. I can believe
that it originated with one particular kind of international body. But where I potome
and I don't disbelieve that, you know, that's also true of other liberty
infringing policies, particularly to do with trying to mitigate the risk of climate change.
Where we disagree, I think is not is not that there is a
kind of a common route to a lot of these ideas. I think where
we disagree, as in the manner in which they are rolled out and imposed.
And I think this is probably a good example. You don't need to
you know, coerce in any way or bribe these town halls or Humphreys to
embrace this policy. Groupthink is enough. You just kind of seed the idea,
persuade them that this is part of their purpose, that if they do
it, they'll be saving mankind and if they don't, they'll be part of
the problem. And you know, you've got them as kind of loyal soldiers
in your cause. It's it's groupthink and the dissemination of particular narratives. It's
it's it's not I don't think it goes beyond that. I think that's where
we part company. Oh yes, well, obviously anyway, I'm i'm delling
Pole, you'll be there in the end question. But I'm i'm I'm as
unsympathetic to fifteen minutes cities as you are. And yes, there was a
demonstration against the plan to impose this policy in Oxford. I mean one of
the one of the one of the things about this agenda is that it's being
rolled out, as you say, across Scotland. England and Wales without any
proper consent. So you know, I don't think it was in any of
the local manifestos of any of the parties currently controlling these councils, although no
one ever reads those manifestos anyway. But they've also in some cases consulted about
it, like in London, for instance, Sadi Khan has consulted about expanding
the Ulez zone, whereby you know, you'll have to pay It's like the
congestion charge, but if you're in the wrong type of car, you'll have
to pay a penalty or a fine or of charge if you enter this much
expanded Uller's zone. And he consulted about it, and the response to the
consultation was overwhelmingly negative. And I think that's also true of Oxford. I
think the response to the consultation was broadly negative. Nobody wants us, but
they they imposed it anyway. Um uh, you know, do you know
what record record, because this is quite a common problem. You, I
mean, you used to be well, we both used to be very keen
on on the Brexit. I didn't I think it was it was all a
con now, but but at the time I believed in it. And you
did as well. Um, and we watched, didn't we as various countries
the populace were in Ireland, they had they had had two referenda, didn't
they. Um, they had referendum in quite a few countries. And regardless
of whether whether or not they've they've voted for um, you know, no,
even if they voted, they wanted to leave, they were they were
given they were forced to stay regardless that so their democrat will was just completely
ignored. And this is happening all over the place now in things like this.
Nobody wants fifteen minutes cities, apart from a few a few sort of
crazed power mad local counselors that who wanted to be given the power to make
these decisions. And well, what do you think, I mean? Don't
you think democracy is now broken beyond will pair? No? I think some
people might be able to stand as I mean, as independents in places like
but what if what if these fifteen minutes cities are up by then? I
mean you, I think you have far too much faith in our ability to
change these things through the ballot box, because the damage has been done already.
There was I'm less pessimistic about that, as you know. But there
was quite a good suggestion I thought in a piece by Ross Clark in the
Sunday Telegraph might have just been online, but he was saying, look,
here's here's a here's an open goal for Rishi Sunac. These schemes are on
pop pillar. It's particularly unpopular in London. The Tories need to do something
to revive their flagging electoral fortunes. Why not intervene and overall these local mayors
and town halls or Humphreys. Because he's the placeman, is why. I
mean, he will never intervene because he I think they might intervene in London
and stop the extension of the Uller's zone. I don't see how it can
do the Tories. But that's just a kind of London. That's just having
a go at the left. Why if he's going to intervene in London,
why is London important? But why does why does Bath not matter? Why
does why does Canterbury not matter? You can't have cities great great cities turned
into a sort of similar cram of the Hunger Games. I mean the Hunger
Games warned us that this was this was the plan. Because the author of
the Hungry Games, they came from those kind of communities which knew about this
stuff, because this has been planned over decades. And like if if,
if, if you're you're your conservative government, not my conservative government actually cared
about the sort of things that you and I think a conservative government should be
doing, but I know accept will never do. Then surely they ought to
be saying enough is enough, this is insanity. We can't have our country
ruined in this way. But they're not because they don't give a chance well
with it. I think I think the argument for I'm less spessimistic than you,
and I think the argument for central government intervention to stop what appear to
be pretty arbitrary and punitive taxes being imposed on motorists, and the case is
pretty strong. And I'm not completely sure that they won't interview, not just
in London but elsewhere too, and that would, I think, you know,
partly be for democratic reasons, because they know they're unpopular and that doing
this would make the government a bit more popular. But we'll see. Maybe
I'm being naive, Yes you that's gonna be on your gravestone times. Maybe
maybe I'm being naive trying to be nice. I don't think I'm being made
for a second, but anyway, so I think one more add this time
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James, So you said you had some hot hot news. Well I
did the weirdest, the weirdest cultural thing. So this is I had a
weekend of weirdness, of contrasting experiences song. On Saturday I had my hunt.
But on Friday I went down to Bath Um lovely about to be completely
ruined by fifteen minutes city Bath to see this band called the Musical Box and
the Musical Box or a bunch of French French Canadians who specialize in recreating exactly
as they would have been early Genesis concerts. Wow. Now I don't know
whether you're ever a Genesis fan. Not really, Well, that's because you
didn't have. Had you gone to boarding school in the when I when I
did, you would have found that lots of people were into this, this
kind of prog rock. It was the it was the older It was probably
the older boys passing down their musical tale exactly that the older boys passed down
their their their stupid obsessions. Is that why David? Is that why David
Cameron was a fan of Super Tramp exactly that I'm sure he would listen to
listen to Genesis as well. And this one was possibly one of the more
annoying early Genesis albums. This was the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway when when
you can actually hear on every song Peter Gabriel disappearing up his own bottom.
I mean, it's just it's a it's a concept album, it's about it's
got I think he's well dodgy Peter Gabriel, because I don't whether you're aware
he was on one of those I didn't think it was the Club of Rome,
but it might have been the Club of one of the other places that
essentially pushing the New World Order agenda that that that includes fifteen minutes, cities,
sustainability, all these, all these buzzwords and buzz phrases. He is
very much with the control freaks program. And this, I think this was
this was the album where where the rest of the band members must be going,
oh God, what's what's what's Gabriel doing? Now? He's writing,
He's writing a rock opera about a Puerto Rican called Rail who gets his penis
chops off and disappears into this fantasy world to try and recover this. And
there he meets Lily White, Lilith and blah blah blah. But nonetheless it
was really worth seeing because of the absolute fidelity to the era and everything.
So you've got this this French Canadian who clearly can't speak English very well because
when he speaks he speaks with his very strong French accent, but he sings
exactly like Peter Gabriel does on the record. You would not guess that he
was not not Peter Gabriel in fact. And the band they played there's you
know, there's a guy playing um Steve Hackett who does all the sort of
pretty melodic guitar bits, and a guy a keyboard player, Tony Banks,
doing the melotrons and soul, and then you've got you've got the drummer who
who can also sing a bit like Phil Collins. And the slides they used
at the back were the original projection slides used on the original tour um So
it was a yeah, it was an interesting experience. Um, oh that
sounds good, James. Did you quite enjoy it? How far is based
from where you are? About two and a half hours right, two and
a quarter hours worth the trip? Oh? Oh definitely. I mean I
went with Dick, my brother, so it was a sort of sort of
brother quality brother experience. I had not listened to the Lamblies down on Broadway
since probably I was at university, so it was it was a real nostalgia
trip, just just because you could not help but being taken back in time
to your lost probably wasted youth by listening to these songs, I could.
I could see it being appealing if if it was a band I liked and
listened to at the time time, like you know, the Sex Pistols or
the strang Of course you were going to name the cool band Tams, or
you're gonna name the Clash as well? Were the Clash that would work the
clash anyway. So yeah, the only or less the only break I got
maybe was the weekend was so busy, what with playing mum as well as
writing you know, the CEO's report for the Free Speech Junion board papers which
I have to go out today. The only, the only um unless the
only break I got was watching QPR for nineteen minutes. Use it using Express
VPN actually, because you can't watch it if you're located in the UK,
so to pretend I was in America, and by doing so I was able
to pay ten pounds to watch the match. I've always found that tremendous frustration
not being able to watch QPR when I want. Yeah, Express PPN can
help me with that problem. James, well anyway, and and only to
see QPR lose three one to Middlesbrough, is that not well? It is
normal these days. We haven't that that that brings. That brings our winless
total to I think eleven. So I think we now haven't won in eleven
games. Our new manager, Neil Critchley, he has only been in post
for about ten weeks, has played twelve games and has only won one of
them, which means his win percentage is eight point three, recurring the lowest
of any QPR manager in its history. We've only won one game in seventeen
now, James. Our form since we last won at home on October twenty
second has been the worst in the league. We were top of the table
back in October. We're now seventeenth and plummeting towards the relegation zone. It's
been an unqualified disaster and yesterday Neil Critchley was fired and a replacement yet I've
seen a TV comedy series about this. You get it? Get an American?
Yeah, if t Lasso is available, I would take him. At
this point, whoever we get will be our fourth manager in less than nine
months. It's the whole club is in chaos and turmoil. It's really depressing.
My son Freddie turned to me and said, Dad, we live equal
distant between QPR and Brentford. Why didn't you support Brentford. If we were
all now Brentford supports, you know, we'd be like ninth in the Premier
League. We'd be challenging for Europe, whereas you know we're looking at relegation
to League One with QPR. It is so depressing being a QPR fan at
the moment, I cannot tell you, James. But having said that,
I did get someone paying two hundred and fifty pounds for the privilege of coming
to a game with me next weekend via my QPR substack, so yeah,
it wasn't so yeah, I'm not newly. I know people pay people will
pay that just to get a photograph with you, James, but it's big
news in my world. Wow. Well anyway, with that, thanks so
the only But I haven't actually had a chance to really watch anything on television,
certainly not at the cinema, but my fifteen year old son did go
and see ant Man and the Wasp Quantum Mania, which he said was absolutely
awful, which is predictable, and it did. It did get me thinking
about how comprehensively, you know, Marvel Studios have now jumped the shark.
I mean, they haven't produced anything decent since Avengers Endgame. I know you
were never as much of a fan of the MCU as me, but it's
extraordinary the precipitous decline in quality. I mean, the last Doctor Strange movie,
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, that was poor and I thought,
by god, it can't get much worse than that. And then then
I saw Thor, Love and Thunder, the third of the Thor movies,
and that was, by some distance even worse than the new Doctor Strange movie.
It was like a kind of gay comm have been kind of grafted onto,
you know, the world's most successful franchise. It was bloody odd.
Uh sorry, was that featuring our sponsor, one of our show sponsors?
No? No, not that thought another thought, And I was wondering,
I mean, I was wondering what the worst thing Marvel has done since Avenger's
End Game is. And there are quite a few contenders, like The she
Hulk the Eternals, but I think the worst one is has got to be
the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday special. It couldn't even bring themselves to use
the word Christmas. And if I've I've kind of rented about this before,
but I watched it with my kids drunk on Christmas Eve, and it's like
a forty minute special and it in it features all the characters and Guardians of
the Galaxy, but it's kind of like a lighthearted spoof. And my god,
it's bad, James, It's so unbelievably bad. You just think,
how can the people that made Guarding to the Galaxy one have gone from that
to this? I mean, the the the it's like it's like kind of
ancient Egypt compared to present day Egypt. I mean, the degree of decline
is just mind boggling. And it hasn't taken you know, two thousand plus
years. It's happened almost overnight. Anyway, do you know what's there?
I think will give the game away because lots of people sort of speculate on
whether you are in fact controlled opposition and Illuminati, And now there you are
bigging up the Pharaonic era when, of course your class. Yeah, I'm
staring eye on the eye on the top of it, James as we speak.
Yeah, maybe I could have thought of a better analogy, didn't.
I've been watching and loving I just I'm so happy when it's on and so
sad when I finished watching it and that's the Clarkson's farm. Oh yeah,
it's and that it's the last the last season presumably it is. Well,
yeah, I don't know. So I finally got spoiler alert here because we've
been told throughout that Clarkson didn't get his planning permission and stuff. For his
his farm shop, sorry for his restaurant that he wanted to open to sell
food made completely of you know men, you completely made a produce from the
farm. And it was really sad when he got turned down by the local
council, West Oxfordshire District Council, because you realized all the farmers who were
going to be deprived of a chance to sell their wares at a reasonable rate
rather than the kind of insulting rate they get paid by supermarkets. And it
would have been great. But then I think it has a happy ending and
I just think, whatever you think of Clarkson, um, what he's done
with that with that series is so important for farm this And yeah, I
love him, even though I think he cuts out on the lot of this
uesum, the fact that he's there on TV for the moment at least making
this stuff makes me salute him. Yeah. Well, let's hope it's done
well enough for him for for another season to be commissioned. Anyone interested can
still find our save clerks and petition on change dot org that will swing it
over sixty thousand signatures. Yeah, get over over one hundred. He's saved
an so I think I think that's probably. That's probably about it. You've
got to go to what's your thing. I'm going down to Brighton. It's
a it's a free speech Union regional speakeasy, and I am the guest speaker.
And we've sold out, I believe. So. I suppose in Brighton
they're so hungry for the few people there who who are maybe on us.
Yeah, I'm so. I'm so at odds with the kind of prevailing Green
orthodoxy in Brighton. I'm I'm practically James Dellingball. Yes, down there,
we'll enjoy that experience, Tames. It's given a few That's what I'll meet,
as many attractive women who will come up to me and ask ask for
a selfie. Well, good, well, I have a have a good
luck, thanks mate. Yeah, all right, good all right, good
bye, bye bye. This is London calling Ricochet. Join the conversation.