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The Telegraph

The podcast that speaks your language. News and views from beyond the bubble with Telegraph columnists, Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan, every Thursday.
 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Planet Normal

Another black hole has appeared in the country’s coffers, but you can bank on your co-pilots to make sense of the pennies and cents.

Allison thinks Starmer’s new migrant swap deal with France is nonsense and nothing more than a secret legal route made by Labour under the pretence of benefiting the British tax payer.

Whilst Liam says the ongoing cost of Labour’s private school VAT increase is crippling families and private schools help the local community as well as the tax payers as they free up spaces in State schools.

Stowing away this week is mum of 2 Emma, who shares the experience of an average family hit by Labour’s VAT on private schools

Read Allison: ‘Our complicit elite is to blame for every sexual assault by an illegal migrant’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/08/05/complicit-elite-blame-for-sex-assault-by-illegal-migrants/ |

Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |

‘Read Liam: Why the OBR is now warning about the "serious...unsustainable" fiscal cost of high immigration’

https://liamhalligan.substack.com/p/why-the-obr-is-now-warning-about?r=rm4f5&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action |

Read Liam: ‘Trump is wrong to pick a fight with Powell – but is right about interest rates’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/08/03/trump-wrong-pick-fight-powell-right-interest-rates/ |

Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |

Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |

Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |

For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal |

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

Labour! Leave our kids alone

With Donald Trump giving Starmer a piece of his mind, there’s no shortage of madness this week, and your co-pilots are ready to make sense of it all!

Allison thinks The US President took the Prime Minister to task on his immigration and green power policies, completely humiliating him on the world stage.

Whilst Liam says the ‘febrile atmosphere’ in the country isn’t being managed very well by Starmer's immigration policies.

Stowing away this week is Epping resident Orla Minihine who tells the co-pilots why she is protesting against a local hotel being used to house migrants.

Read Allison ‘They tried to break Lucy Connolly, but the decent people of Britain will never desert her’:

‘https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/29/allison-pearson-lucy-connolly-southport-decent-britain/ |

Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |

Read Liam ‘I’ve changed my mind about why Britain has a chronic housing shortage’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/27/immigration-fuelling-uk-chronic-housing-shortage/ |

Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |

Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |

Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |

For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal |

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

Feeble Starmer is stoking a febrile country

Co-Pilot Pearson is taking a break but fear not, Nick Timothy is strapping in to help Co-pilot Halligan make sense of this week’s madness.

Liam is pleased Labour have caught up with the rest of the country in talking about addressing ‘concerns’ over immigration, but is concerned they haven’t given any substance to their position or how they will achieve it.

Nick points out Labour scrapped the Rwanda scheme deterrent and still don’t have a concrete plan other than speeding up decisions, which is leading to yet more increases in channel crossings.

Strapping in, having delved into the history of the ECHR in the UK, is Lord Peter Lilley who has some myths to bust…

Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |

Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |

Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |

Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |

For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal |

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

The UK is on a Hard Road tackling immigration concerns

Secrets, lies and spies are on the agenda for this week and your co-pilots are here to make sense of the madness.

Allison is horrified by the secrecy surrounding the Ministry of Defence data leak, which has been estimated at a potential cost of £7bn to the UK tax payer, without any oversight or accountability of where people will be settled around the Country.

Meanwhile Liam focuses on the news inflation has increased and the warning that the Labour tax increases are curtailing growth, which could lead to the dreaded term ‘stagflation’.

Stowing away this week is MD of REIDsteel, Simon Boyd, who lays out his case for Ed Miliband's net zero policies being ‘dangerous’.

Read Allison: ‘Starmer is sacrificing our troops on the altar of human rights law’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/15/starmer-sacrificing-british-troops-on-altar-of-human-rights/ |

Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |

Read Liam: ‘Reeves needs to take a leaf out of Gordon Brown’s book‘ ​​https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/13/reeves-needs-take-a-leaf-out-gordon-brown-book/ |

Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |

Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |

Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |

For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal |

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

Red Ed’s kamikaze net zero policies and the most expensive email in history

Another week in Labour’s u-turn government and the rumblings of a wealth tax are on the horizon, just as your co-pilots predicted!

Allison thinks the PM’s speech on Monday was a ‘soft focus’ reflection of the 7th July London bombing, and once again avoiding the concerns of Islamists and mass immigration.

Meanwhile Liam focuses on the sticky issue of a potentially imminent ‘Wealth Tax’ as Chancellor Rachel Reeves struggles to balance the books with Starmer’s constant spending u-turns.

Stowing away this week is Matt Goodwin, pollster, political commentator and author joins Allison and Liam to discuss the 20th Anniversary of the London Tube attack and how Labour’s experiment of immigration and integration has failed.

Matt’s substack: https://www.mattgoodwin.org/ |

Read Allison ‘Britain’s craven appeasement of Islam is an insult to the victims of 7/7‘ : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/08/britain-appeasement-islam-an-insult-to-the-victims-of-77/ |

Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |

Read Liam ‘A wealth tax will only make the Chancellor’s problems worse’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/07/06/wealth-tax-will-only-make-chancellors-problems-worse/ |

Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |

Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |

Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |

For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal |

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

Labour’s multicultural project has been a devastating experiment

As Labour performs another head spinning u turn, your co-pilots are here to cut through the madness, so you don’t have to.

Allison thinks this government has been a series of ‘car crashes’ culminating in another major humiliating U-turn on the flagship Welfare Bill. The rebellion of his own MPs is making him a ‘dead man walking’.

Meanwhile Liam focuses on the impact of the concessions Starmer has had to make, and how this will affect Rachel Reeves’ ability to balance the books.

Strapping in this week is columnist Dan Hodges to give his take on where this Labour Party didn’t learn anything from the Blairite years.

Read Allison: ‘We may have to defund the BBC to get our country back’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/01/glastonbury-horror-show-tim-davie-bbc-bob-vylan-kneecap/ | 

Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |

Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |

Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |

Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |

For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal |

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

Starmer's ‘ming vase’ strategy smashed by policy pirouettes

With another packed news week at home and abroad, your co-pilots are here to steer you through the carnage with their usual dose of common sense.

Allison thinks the PM’s weak response to the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities is once again humiliating the UK on the world’s stage, and that Keir Starmer is concerned more about the Muslim vote share than National Security.

Meanwhile Liam wonders if Labour’s is now deploying a ‘scorched earth’ policy as they drop in the polls.

Making a special trip in the rocket this week is Conservative Peer and lawyer, Baroness Cash, who shares her thoughts on Labour’s Employment Rights Bill and the mythical non-existent worker it’s claiming to help.

Read Allison: ‘The mistreatment of Lucy Connolly in prison is deeply sinister’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/24/the-mistreatment-of-lucy-connolly-in-prison-is-sinister/ |

Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |

Read Liam: ‘Labour’s 1970s employment rights bill could send Britain over the edge’

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/06/15/labour-1970s-employment-rights-bill-could-send-uk-over-edge/ |

Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |

Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |

Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |

For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal |

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

Starmer's morally and politically bankrupt stance continues to humiliate us

As Labour skids into yet another U-turn, your co-pilots are here to clear the chaff from the wheat.

Allison is hopeful the inquiry could finally shed light on the ‘worst scandal in British history’ as it is led by Louise Casey, but is concerned the scope won’t see enough towns included by Labour who want to avoid their own patches coming under scrutiny. 

Meanwhile Liam thinks accusations of racism aimed at Sajid Javid for insisting ethnicity be recorded on these crimes when he was Home Secretary, now seem ridiculous and he should be commended for trying to get a clear picture of the issue. 

Making a special trip in the rocket this week is campaigner, author and grooming gang survivor Sammy Woodhouse, who shares her thoughts on the national inquiry into grooming gangs and her experiences as an exploited child.

Read Liam: ‘Labour’s 1970s employment rights bill could send Britain over the edge’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/06/15/labour-1970s-employment-rights-bill-could-send-uk-over-edge/ |

Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |

Read Allison: ‘No jail sentence is long enough for the cowards who covered up for the Pakistani rape gangs‘ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/17/grooming-gangs-truth-revealed/ |

Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |

Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |

Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |

For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal |

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

Starmer should resign in shame at his latest U-turn on grooming gang inquiry

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has outlined her spending review and your co-pilots are here to wade through the madness with Telegraph Columnist Gerard Lyons. 

Allison thinks Rachel Reeves is going on a ‘spending frenzy’ and racking up too much national debt to cover her costs.

Meanwhile Liam thinks the Chancellor is throwing out big numbers to make it appear Labour is increasing spending but is concerned the money will come from pension funds to cover the cost.

Gerard Lyons is concerned about the Chancellor being able to control her spending and thinks her ‘fiscal rules’ are back-to-front policy making. 

Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |

Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |

Read Allison: ‘Dear Tim Davie, here are 10 easy ways to get Reform voters to watch the BBC’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/11/attract-more-reform-voters-to-the-bbc/ |

Read Allison: ‘Woke police chiefs whinge about underfunding when the real problem is their warped priorities’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/10/woke-police-chiefs-whinge-underfunding-real-problem-warped/ |

Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |

Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |

For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal |

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

Labour’s spending review has no credibility

The rocket welcomes stowaway Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mel Stride aboard.

As Rachel Reeves announces a clunky U-turn on winter fuel payments, your co-pilots clear a way through the confusion so you can keep up to date with the latest turmoil from the Labour benches.

Allison thinks Rachel Reeves’ time is up and she’s ‘for the chop’ because of her ‘iron-clad’ fiscal rules being undermined by the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile Liam thinks the Tories need to be bolder in their ideas to challenge the harm he says Labour are doing to the economy and stifling growth.

Read Liam ‘This is the opportunity the Tories have been waiting for. Can they take it?’

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/06/01/this-is-the-opportunity-tories-have-been-waiting-for/ |

Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |

Read Allison ‘Don’t believe Starmer when he says he’s angry about the small boats’: 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/03/defence-starmer-priority-invasion-illegal-migrants/ |

Read Allison ‘The BBC’s biased Israel reporting is fuelling anti-Semitism’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/04/the-bbcs-biased-israel-reporting-fuelling-anti-semitism/

Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |

Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |

Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |

For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal |

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

The economy is a laffer minute

As summer comes to a close on Planet Normal, in this the third and final of the three part best of the rocket series, our co-pilots take a look back at some of their most explosive voyages on the rocket of right thinking from the year so far.

In March, the co-pilots interviewed author and filmmaker Martin Durkin about his latest film Climate The Movie - The Cold Truth. The film takes issue with what he calls ‘climate alarmism’ - a trend which, Durkin says, does not reflect scientific reality.

And finally, in April, Liam interviewed Tory Peer Dr Tony Sewell. Dr Sewell Chaired the committee which produced the highly-influential 2021 report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. He joined the rocket of right thinking for a return mission again to discuss his new book Black Success.

Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |

Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |

Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |

Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |

For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal |

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

Best Voyages from the Rocket 2024 P3

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