Alas Vine & Hitchens

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.

  1. 3D AGO

    The UK’s Risible Reading Age and Bloody Books

    On this week’s episode, Sarah is asking is the English literature curriculum really being dumbed down or are we simply not reading as a country anymore or simply shifting our allegiance to audiobooks? And Peter, as if to prove otherwise, will be bandying a copy of Lord of the Flies around and poring over the latest BBC adaptation.   Plus, why was Stephen Fry stalking Peter at a memorial for his late brother? Why we should eat even if the Queen has done with her meal, royal protocol be damned! Why neither wants a coat of arms, divorce etiquette and why the Suez Crisis reminds Peter of his father getting on his bike. On our reading and watch list this week:    ·               The Phantom Tollbooth – Norton Juster ·               Lord Of The Flies – William Golding ·               A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess ·               The Box Of Delights - John Masefield ·               Our Man in Havana – Graham Greene ·               Heart Of Darkness – Joseph Conrad 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.

    43 min
  2. FEB 4

    Ducking KGB Bullets and Inside the Epstein Files

    On this week’s episode Peter will be going back 35 years to a moment in time where he stood and watched the KGB murdering people in Vilnius. And I’ll be asking why did Sarah Ferguson take her children to see Jeffrey Epstein just days after he was released from prison?  Plus, we find out the truth about magnetised train tracks (all lies!), why both 1976 and 1979 are vying for the best of all possible years for two of our listeners, the rise of the extreme right wing and the night the Queen wore rhinestone.  On our reading and watch list this week:    ·               Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh  ·               Eyeless in Gaza – Aldous Huxley ·               Hamlet – William Shakespeare ·               Short Breaks In Mordor – 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.

    59 min
  3. JAN 28

    Pitiful Policing and Ballroom Beckham

    On this week’s episode, Sarah is asking what can Brooklyn Beckham possibly mean when he accuses his mother of dancing ‘on him’ at his wedding? Both Sarah and Peter have a few wedding horror stories of their own to share too. Also, Peter wants to know if proposed mega police forces will just mean more constabulary cockups? His guess is yes. Plus, what do the pair make of the new ‘super’ Chinese Embassy in London? Was Peter really in a secret MI5 file? Annoying train announcements and remembering Tony Benn. On our reading and watch list this week:    ·               A Small Town In Germany – John Le Carre ·               Tony Benn: A Biography - Jad Adams ·               The House of Beckham: Money, Sex and Power - Tom Bower   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: Alex Graham 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.

    33 min
  4. JAN 21

    Team America and Ten Years After

    On this week’s episode, Peter and Sarah are asking what were you doing ten years and why is social media suddenly transfixed by 2016? And why has America decided to turn into the world’s bully?   Plus, why is Australia’s economy at such a low ebb? What the hell’s happened to civility? Why does Sarah’s fridge keep shouting at her? And when it comes to transporting coal, what’s better, the canal barge or railway track? You can guess which side Peter landed on… On our reading and watch list this week:    ·               North By Northwest – Dir: Alfred Hitchcock ·               Going South: Why Britain will have a Third World Economy by 2014 – L. Elliott & D. Atkinson ·               Brothel In Pimlico – Roy Brooks   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: Alex Graham 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.

    39 min
  5. JAN 14

    Kissing Cousins and an Iranian Uprising

    On this week’s episode, Peter and Sarah Welcome are asking why is Sir Kier Starmer choosing not to condemn marriage between first cousins in some cultures? And what it might take for the Iranian people to be heard as civil unrest and revolution spread throughout the country?    Plus, why America is ruining the English language, the idea that Russia is a military world power is complete piffle, Trump’s Golden Fleet, Heated Rivalry (no, really) and the food that neither Peter or Sarah will eat.  On our reading and watch list this week:    ·               Rules For Radicals – Saul Alinsky ·               The White Cliffs - Alice Duer Miller ·               Dictionary Of Modern American Usage – Bryan A. Garner 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: Alex Graham 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.

    41 min
  6. JAN 7

    Why Are We Firing Up the UK’s War Machine?

    On this week’s episode, Peter and Sarah look to the year ahead, as Peter wonders why this nation’s leaders and heads of the armed forces are rattling their sabres as they attempt to put the country on a war footing.   Plus, our duo on Conservatism (just what is it?) Christianity, the legacy of John Smith MP, the superiority of Japanese trains - any trains in comparison to our dilapidated ted rail network, and Custard Creams; all the colours of the rainbow. On our reading and watch list this week:    ·               The Phoney Victory – Peter Hitchens ·               Winnie -The-Pooh – A. A. Milne ·               John Smith: Life and Soul of the Party - Gordon Brown & James Naughtie ·               Tokyo Express - Seicho Matsumoto   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.

    38 min
  7. 2025-12-17

    An American Powerplay and the Freedom of the Press

    On this week’s episode, Peter is poring over the latest US national security strategy and being rather surprised by what he finds there. While Sarah is looking at why some people are calling for a resumption of the cancelled Lord Leveson Inquiry and therefore suggesting we blinker the free press.    Plus, our duo on the Arkansas Razorbacks (again), the legacy of Roy Jenkins, what happened to independent newspapers in Kazakhstan and what it feels like to move your family across the Atlantic Ocean. On our reading and watch list this week:  ·      Dangerous estate: The anatomy of newspapers – Francis Williams ·      Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life - John Campbell ·      The Godfather-in-law: the Real Documentation – Rakhat Aliyev     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.

    38 min
  8. 2025-12-10

    Tony Blair Trotskyist and Stop Stupid Smartphones

    On this week’s episode, Peter wonders if it ever matters that Kier Starmer and Tony Blair were once Trotskyists? As well as addressing some recent, stinging criticism from a fellow Mail columnist… And Sarah ruminates on the Australian government’s ban on social media for children, and asks is it enough, or should we just wrestle the smartphones from their hands completely?   Plus, our duo on the best custard creams money can buy, where they’d settle if they were still young and free and what exactly is left of the BBC’s monopoly.  On our reading and watch list this week:    ·      French Connection II – Dir: John Frankenheimer ·      The Well-Dressed Revolutionary: The Odyssey of Michel Pablo – Hall Greenland ·      The Cameron Delusion – 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.

    38 min

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

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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