Planet Normal

Your Co-pilots reflect on a sombre week as the festive season is overshadowed by the beach massacre in Sydney earlier this week. Co-pilot Pearson delivers a blistering critique of Western leaders whom she accuses of failing to confront the root of Islamist extremism.Liam connects the tragedy to the rising sense of fear among the Jewish community in the UK, arguing that the ‘aggressive’ weekly protests should not be allowed to continue in the Capital.On the economic front, Liam warns of rising youth unemployment and Ed Miliband’s growing European isolation on Net Zero following the EU's retreat from petrol car bans. And the Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Claire Couthino, straps in to tell your co-pilots why Labour’s Net Zero drive won’t encourage economic growth.Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor |Read Allison ‘It’s time to end the cowardly appeasement of radical Islamism’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/16/bondi-beach-jewish-massacre-allison-pearson/ |Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ | Read Liam ‘Labour’s nutty EV policies are pushing us towards economic catastrophe’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/12/14/labour-ev-policies-pushing-towards-economic-catastrophe/ |Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |Read Liam’s Substack: https://liamhalligan.substack.com/ |Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |Email: [email protected] |For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal | Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Co-Pilots Pearson and Halligan tackle a week of political and economic madness. Starmer is dismissed as a "caretaker Prime Minister" with a weak mandate, having been supported by only 20% of the electorate.Your hosts dissect Chancellor Rachel Reeves' job tax hike and her "benefits street Budget" which funds the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap by ‘punishing 340,000 working people’ with frozen tax thresholds. They confront the escalating migration crisis, discussing the rise of illegal arrivals and the national emergency posed by migrants linked to attacks on women.Meanwhile Reform stowaway Zia Yusuf tells the co-pilots why the smear campaign against Party leader, Nigel Farage, is one of the most ‘ coordinated smear campaigns. I can remember in my lifetime’...Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor |Read Allison ‘A comeback? What planet is vile Huw Edwards living on?’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/09/huw-edwards-allison-pearson-comeback/ |Read Allison ‘Is this the scandal that will finally kill Strictly?’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2025/12/10/scandal-finally-kill-strictly-allison-pearson/ |Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ | Read Liam ‘The ghost of economic meltdown hangs over this festive season’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/12/07/the-ghost-of-economic-meltdown-hangs-over-festive-season/ |Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |Read Liam’s Substack: https://liamhalligan.substack.com/ |Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |Email: [email protected] |For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal | Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With reaction to the autumn Budget still on the lips of news outlets everywhere, your co-pilots are here to make sense of the chaos.Allison doesn’t hold back and thinks Reeves has ‘lied’ to the electorate and inflated her own words in order to try and sneak her Budget past everyone.Meanwhile Liam thinks the fighting between Number 10 and 11 is harming the economy on a fundamental scale.Meanwhile stowaway Lord Nigel Biggar tells the co-pilots why history should recognise the UK fought against slavery across the British Empire.Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorRead Allison ‘A jury took 17 minutes to find Jamie ‘not guilty’. I hate to think what a Left-wing judge would’ve done’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/02/jury-trials-lammy-left-wing-judiciary/ |Read Allison ‘Joyless and fake, what a strange person Meghan is’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/03/id-pay-not-to-spend-a-christmas-with-meghan-and-harry/ |Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ | Read Liam ‘If Labour sticks two fingers up to the bond market, Britain will pay the price’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/30/labour-two-fingers-bond-market-britain-pay-price/ |Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |Read Liam’s Substack: https://liamhalligan.substack.com/ |Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |Email: [email protected] |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 rocket of right thinking is back for a crucial Budget Special as Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveils her second major fiscal statement. Her new £30 billion tax rise means a staggering £70 billion increase in just two years, the most "punitive tax raising budget in more than three decades".Joining the co-pilots to dissect the numbers is the brilliant Telegraph columnist, Roger Bootle. Roger reveals why he thinks the budget will land "very badly with business" and discusses the "scandalous" leak of the Statement beforehand.Co-Pilot Pearson calls it a "death knell budget for Labour" and argues that by funnelling huge amounts of money into the welfare bill, Reeves has confirmed it is now the party of the "Shirking class". Whilst Co-Pilot Halligan identifies the "ghost" of the Employment Rights Bill looming over the budget, dubbed by some as the "Unemployment Rights Bill," warns that this "back to the seventies" extension of rights will be disastrous for hiring.You can watch today's episode, which we filmed in the studios at Telegraph towers: https://youtu.be/ZrIXGoJGkBUSign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorRead Allison ‘Dear Rachel, do you have any clue how much hard-working people are struggling?’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/26/allison-pearson-on-rachel-reeves-budget/ |Read Allison ‘I asked people if my Reform badge made me look like a Nazi and they howled with laughter’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/25/allison-pearson-reform-badge-nazis/ |Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ | Read Liam ‘Reeves’s endless tax scaremongering is killing off animal spirits’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/23/rachel-reeves-scaremongering-taxes-killed-off-spirits/ |Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |Read Liam’s Substack: https://liamhalligan.substack.com/ |Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |Email: [email protected] |For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal | Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week the Rocket welcomes former Prime Minister Liz Truss to discuss next week’s Budget as well as the co-pilots diving into the latest political issues. From the dramatic U-turn on immigration by the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, to the creeping tax rises hidden in Rachel Reeves's upcoming budget, there’s more than enough madness to unpack.They ask if the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's new rhetoric to crack down on immigration is real, and will her plans work? Alison dissects the proposals, arguing that a new 'work and study' route for migrants is a disaster and a perverse incentive to enter the UK illegally. Liam, while acknowledging the political risk for Mahmood, suggests the reforms are more rhetorical than real.Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditorRead Allison ‘Why Tesco Cancelled Christmas’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/19/why-tesco-cancelled-christmas/ |Read Allison: ‘Why Shabana Mahmood’s asylum plans won’t make a blind bit of difference’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/18/shabana-mahmood-misguided-asylum-plans/ |Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ | Read Liam ‘Milei’s ‘shock therapy’ makes Britain’s current reforms look utterly feeble’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/16/mileis-shock-therapy-britains-current-reforms-look-feeble/ |Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |Read Liam’s Substack: https://liamhalligan.substack.com/ |Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |Email: [email protected] |For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal | Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.