The Sceptic

An undercover journalist’s extraordinary journey onboard a migrant dinghy, the risk of war with Russia and Canada’s energy standoff with America.

In Episode 94 of the Sceptic, Ellie Hodges sits down with undercover reporter Christian Drogan to hear how he infiltrated migrant camps in northern France, paid €1,400 to cross the Channel and came face to face with smugglers, migrants and French authorities.

Strategist and ex-Royal Navy Commodore Steve Jermy on the West’s incompetent approach to the war in Ukraine, the risks of escalation with Russia and whether a negotiated path to peace is still possible.

And for our premium subscribers, Ellie speaks to the Daily Sceptic’s Energy Editor Dr Tilak Doshi about the growing trade and energy row between the US and Canada, and whether Mark Carney’s brinkmanship gamble will pay off.

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Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

 

00:00 Intro  

01:51 Christian Drogen on His Undercover Channel Crossing  

03:32 Getting Into the Migrant Camps  

04:36 Timeline of the Operation  

05:30 Posing as a Criminal on the Run  

07:14 Life Inside the Camps  

08:38 Danger in the Dunkirk & Calais Jungles  

09:17 Why Migrants Want Britain  

11:28 Demographics of the Boats  

13:13 What it Felt Like on the Dinghy  

14:13 Who Was on the Boat  

14:49 Border Force Reaction  

17:22 Home Office Criticism  

17:54 Could Anyone Repeat This  

19:42 How Smugglers Sell the Dream  

21:10 French Police Involvement  

24:22 How to Stop the Crossings  

28:29 Finding the Documentary  

29:15 Steve Jermy on the Ukraine War  

30:48 What the West is Getting Wrong  

33:06 Europe Preparing For War With Russia  

35:40 Why Supporting Ukraine And Nato is Flawed  

38:53 A Negotiated Path to Peace  

42:04 Does Negotiation Reward Aggression  

44:13 What the British Public is Missing  

48:16 Tilak Doshi on Carneys Gamble  

51:31 Who Has the Upper Hand  

56:00 Could the Dispute Backfire On Canada  

58:34 Ottawa vs Alberta  

01:00:38 A Larger Geopolitical Reshaping

Does the Right need to compromise on its principles to win elections? And what’s really behind the shaky science of the 97% climate consensus?

In Episode 93 of the Sceptic, guest host Ellie Hodges chats to writer and commentator Nick Rendell about why the Right needs to stop preaching to the choir, explain its policies more clearly and find a way for the parties on the Right to work together.

And for our premium subscribers, Ellie talks to social scientist and author of the Valid Science Substack Dr José Duarte about the extraordinary flaws in the research behind the 97% climate consensus claim, why we should be wary of consensus claims and where genuine disagreement among climate scientists remains.

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Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

00:00 Intro
01:26 Nick Rendell on the Right’s Electoral Strategy
01:31 Balancing Principles & Electoral Success
04:36 Winning Over Net Zero Voters
11:47 Making the Conservative Case More Convincingly
15:39 The Case For a Right-Wing Electoral Pact
19:48 What His Reader Backlash Reveals
22:13 Political Purity & Rational Compromise
25:22 Dr José Duarte on the 97% Climate Consensus
25:34 Why Climate Consensus Research is Flawed
26:22 Problems With Consensus Studies
30:45 How The 97% Figure Was Constructed
33:14 Measuring What Climate Scientists Actually Believe
35:02 The Limits of Scientific Consensus
37:17 Where Climate Scientists Still Disagree

Why trust in the mainstream media has collapsed, the rise of the ‘lanyard class’ and why cleaner air may be behind Europe’s heatwaves.

In Episode 92 of the Sceptic, Ellie Hodges is joined by veteran broadcaster and journalist Mike Graham to lift the lid on Britain’s increasingly cosy media establishment, the decline of Fleet Street and why so many journalists now seem cut from the same cloth. They also discuss his new book, Fake News: The Secret Deal Between Government and the Media, and the rise of independent journalism.

And for our premium subscribers, Ellie talks to Prof Roger Pielke Jr, who challenges some of the simplistic claims surrounding Europe’s heatwaves and explains why cleaner air may actually be contributing to warming.

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Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

00:00 Intro
01:18 Mike Graham on ‘Fake News’
08:46 Why Trust in the Media Has Collapsed
10:55 How Journalism Changed
14:26 The Working-Class Media Divide
16:23 How Headlines Shape Public Opinion
23:40 The Wild West of Fleet Street
28:39 How Social Media Killed the Press
30:27 The Collapse of Journalism’s Pay & Ambition
32:09 The End of the 9-to-5 Journalist
34:47 Building an Independent News Channel
39:53 Roger Pielke on Europe’s Heatwaves
40:34 Beyond the ‘Climate Change’ Explanation
42:32 Why Europe is Warming
43:14 The Role of Cleaner Air & Dry Soils
44:12 Adapting to Extreme Heat
45:39 The Problem With RCP8.5
48:40 What Happens to the Research?

The battle over Brexit’s broken immigration promises and the mystery of why a key piece of climate data has quietly disappeared from official reports.

In Episode 91 of the Sceptic, Ellie Hodges sits down with Migration Watch UK Chairman Alp Mehmet to discuss the soaring levels of migration since Brexit and whether Britain’s political class ever intended to deliver the border control voters thought they were getting.

And for our premium subscribers, Daily Sceptic Environment Editor Chris Morrison asks why decades of declining wind-speed data have disappeared from the Met Office’s latest climate report and explores what it means for public trust in Britain's climate institutions. 

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Read Migration Watch UK’s ‘Taking Back Control? Brexit and Migration Ten Years On’ report here.

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Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

 

00:00 Intro

01:38 Alp Mehmet on Why Migration Soared After Brexit

03:54 The Decision That Opened the Floodgates

08:03 Bigger Boats, More Crossings, No Deterrent

11:58 Did Politicians Ever Intend to Cut Migration?

17:18 How Government Lost Control

22:19 The Student Visa Back Door

24:10 Why Nobody Wants to Cap Migration

26:15 The Warnings Nobody Listened to

28:00 Britain's Demographic Transformation

30:15 Chris Morrison on the Met’s Missing Climate Data

30:52 Why Hide Wind Data?

42:46 Climate Models Vs Reality

47:48 Net Zero’s Inconvenient Problem

Rupert Lowe on uniting the Right, are thousands really dying from summer heatwaves and how one academic’s investigation ended in a DEI superstar’s Cambridge resignation.

In Episode 90 of the Sceptic, the Daily Sceptic’s Editor-in-Chief Toby Young sits down with Restore leader Rupert Lowe to discuss his attempt to mend fences with Nigel Farage, whether Reform and Restore can still work together and what a united Right might look like ahead of the next election.

Professor of Evidence Based Medicine Carl Heneghan examines the UK Health Security Agency’s claim that nearly 3,000 excess deaths were caused by this summer’s heatwaves and asks whether the evidence really supports such alarming headlines.

And for our premium subscribers, Dr Nathan Cofnas, Postdoctoral Researcher in Philosophy at Ghent University, reflects on breaking the Jason Arday story, the extraordinary fallout that followed and whether he ever expected it to end with Arday’s resignation from Cambridge.

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Produced by Richard Eldred.

Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

00:00 Intro
02:03 Rupert Lowe’s Offer To Reform UK
08:20 Prospects For A Reform–Restore Deal
10:15 Restore Britain’s Election Plans
15:12 Continuing To Challenge Reform UK
17:07 Lowe’s Definition Of Corruption
18:42 Restore Britain’s Economic Policy
27:55 On Becoming Chancellor
31:39 Carl Heneghan and the Problems With Heat Death Estimates
35:16 Reliability Of Future Heat Death Data
37:34 The Problem With Statistical Certainty
39:27 Climate Alarmism And Media Headlines
42:43 Downfall Of Anthony Fauci
47:10 Lessons From The Covid Inquiry
49:21 Nathan Kaunas on Breaking The Jason Arday Story
56:00 The Response To Criticism Of Arday
57:09 Carter-Ruck And Legal Threats
58:03 Investigating Arday’s Academic Work
01:03:18 Claims Of Unequal Academic Standards
01:04:36 The Real Story Behind Arday
01:06:11 Fears Of Legal Action
01:06:38 Contacting Arday And Cambridge
01:07:56 Initial Reaction To The Story
01:08:39 Arday’s Extraordinary Biographical Claims
01:11:00 The Story Goes Viral
01:11:29 Concerns About Racial Motives
01:13:53 Arday’s Resignation
01:14:19 Attacks From Arday’s Defenders
01:15:51 Simon Baron-Cohen’s Defence Of Arday
01:17:31 The Story’s International Reach
01:19:25 Responding To Racism Accusations
01:21:08 Nathan's Controversial Blog Post
01:27:04 Case For Affirmative Action
01:28:11 Impact On University Hiring
01:29:09 Cambridge’s Handling Of The Plagiarism Allegations
01:30:14 Accountability For Arday’s Appointment
01:32:09 Double Standards In Academic Hiring
01:33:51 Vindication And Revenge