Planet Normal

You can watch this episode on YoutTube: https://youtu.be/5Zb71ekLVBEThis week on Planet Normal, your co-pilots of sanity, Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson, sift through the debris of a historic set of local elections that have left Sir Keir Starmer clinging to power.The duo analyse the turquoise tsunami that saw Reform UK gain over 1,400 council seats, whilst the Prime Minister faces a precarious future after Labour’s vote share collapsed in traditional hubs like Birmingham and Cambridge.Who is your co-pilots preferred replacement? Wes Streeting? Angela Rayner? ‘Mad’ Ed Miliband? Or does Andy Burnham stand the best chance with the softy Labour Left?Return stowaway William Coulston joins your co-pilots to dissect the local election results, and where the Social Democrat Party stands on Welfare and why Labour's approach is bankrupting the country.Highlights: Planet Normal: Is Starmer’s Labour drama as fleeting as Streeting?Reform UK gains over 1,400 seats as the traditional two-party system fragments following the May 7th elections.Streeting eyes the prize but is Andy Burnham waiting in the wings?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 |Liam Halligan and Serge Kogan - London to Paris in 24 hours - ON A TANDEM: https://www.justgiving.com/page/liam-halligan-serge-kogan |Read Allison ‘Starmer quitting isn’t enough. Furious voters want an end to politics as we know it’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/12/allison-pearson-starmer-quitting-isnt-enough/ |Read Allison ‘Sick of being dismissed as a racist, Essex Man has turned to Reform’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/08/essex-voters-embracing-reform-liked-nigel/ |Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ | Read Liam ‘Oil prices are detached from reality’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/05/10/headline-oil-prices-are-detached-from-reality/ |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: 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.

Justin Urquhart-Stewart, a British investment manager and financial educator, paints the global markets landscape. He discusses risks from Strait of Hormuz disruptions, oil-driven price shocks and threats to consumer prices. He also warns about AI valuation mania and gaps in UK capital markets and fiscal resilience.

Colonel Richard Williams, former 22 SAS commander and Military Cross recipient, speaks as a veteran on defence, veterans' legal battles and national security. He discusses how retrospective prosecutions affect recruitment and operational trust. Short, sharp takes cover ministerial accountability, risks to UK-US special forces cooperation, and why open debate on domestic threats matters.

This week on the rocket, co-pilots Halligan and Pearson dive into the political firestorm engulfing Westminster as Sir Keir Starmer faces intense scrutiny over the botched appointment of Peter Mandelson as Ambassador to the US. Following explosive evidence from former civil servant Sir Olly Robbins, the duo explores the ‘process-driven’ culture of the current government and whether it is shielding a lack of transparency.Liam explains why even a potential ceasefire or the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz may not be enough to prevent a global energy crisis. With the UK inflation rate unexpectedly rising to 3.3% in March, the hosts warn of a "stagflation" trap that could see food and energy prices soaring for years to come.And co-pilot Pearson brings a report from her homeland in Wales ahead of the Senedd election in May…Highlights:Middle East infrastructure damage threatens high energy prices and rising UK inflation.Reform UK surges in Wales as voters consider abandoning the traditional two-party system.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 ‘Keir Starmer and Olly Robbins deserve each other’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/21/keir-starmer-olly-robbins-deserve-each-other/ |‘British Jews are in danger. Either we do something about it or they’ll leave’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/22/britains-double-standards-over-anti-semitism/ | Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ | Read Liam ‘Britain is the most inflation-prone nation in the G7. That was true before the Iran war’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/04/19/britain-most-inflation-prone-in-g7-true-before-iran-war/ | 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: 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.

You can watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-e1x0gsvjfYThis week on the rocket, co-pilots Halligan and Pearson eye a horizon of storm clouds gathering over Britain’s economy and national security.Liam breaks down the "serious downgrade" from the IMF, which predicts the UK will suffer more economic fallout from the war in Iran than any other major economy. He asks if the government is blaming external conflicts for vulnerabilities that were already "starkly exposed" months ago?.Meanwhile, Allison reels from Liam’s sudden appearance on the front pages of the tabloids before diving into her powerful column on the Southport inquiry. They discuss the catastrophic failures of agencies that ignored unambiguously signposted warnings, and the ‘woke priorities’ that may have silenced those trying to protect the public.Strapping in this week is former Royal Marine commando James Glancy who tells your co-pilots why the UK military can no longer meet its responsibilities around the world.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 ‘Harry and Meghan need to stop pretending they’re Royals. It’s embarrassing’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/15/prince-harry-meghan-stop-pretending-to-be-royals/ |Read ‘We want people jailed for failing to prevent the mass murder of our children’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/14/we-want-people-jailed-mass-murder-children-southport/ | Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ | Read Liam ‘Reform should not have pledged to keep the pension triple lock’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/04/12/reform-should-not-have-pledged-keep-pension-triple-lock/ | 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: 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.

Nicholas Hopton, former UK ambassador to Iran and seasoned Middle East diplomat, offers concise analysis of Iran and regional geopolitics. He discusses control of the Strait of Hormuz and its global leverage. He examines internal Iranian politics, the fragile ceasefire dynamics, and the diplomatic routes that might de-escalate rising tensions.

In this week’s dispatch from the sanctuary of sweet reason, co-pilots Pearson and Halligan examine a growing sense of national insecurity as Britain faces a big economic hit from the US-Iran war and the systemic economic vandalism of a new tax year. The duo discuss the ongoing scandal of NHS waiting lists, with Alison analysing the apparent waiting list cleansing and the statistical chicanery used to massage figures ahead of local elections.Liam highlights a tax-bonanza of pre-announced tax rises hitting family farms and small businesses, arguing that the government is the true price gouger as it rakes in millions from fuel duties. Returning stowaway Professor Matt Goodwin joins your co-pilots to discuss his new book, Suicide of a Nation, and why the government is still ignoring the migrant crisis.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 ‘The elite can’t stand the truth about mass migration’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/01/elites-attack-matt-goodwin-immigration/ |Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ | Read ‘It’s time to stop pretending we have a First World health service’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/31/socialist-nhs-failed-time-to-change-funding/|Read Liam ‘Britain’s small firms are needed to rescue us from this slump’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/03/29/britains-small-firms-are-needed-to-rescue-us-from-slump/ | 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: 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.

You can watch this episode in full on YouTube: https://youtu.be/z53vu3azxZsIn this week’s dispatch from the sanctuary of sweet reason, your co-pilots of sanity Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson, address the rise of antisemitic attacks in Britain, including the chilling firebombing of Jewish charity ambulances in North London. Alison shares her continuing case against Essex’s police and crime commissioner, as well as the county’s police force over a post on X, which has since been deleted, which led officers to investigate her for a potential offence of ‘inciting racial hatred’.Liam is dismayed at the cognitive dissonance in government promising an ‘AI revolution’ while the national grid remains unfit for purpose, warning that the government’s green activists are threatening the very data centers needed for the technological future they claim to champion.Returning stowaway is former adviser to then-Chancellor George Osborne, Helen Thomas, CEO of Blonde Money who tells your co-pilots why Labour is signing its own death warrant…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 ‘If Nadiya Hussain thinks she’s suffered from BBC discrimination, she should try being a white man’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/18/nadiya-hussain-bbc-discrimination/ |Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ | Read ‘Allison Pearson sues police chief over social media investigation’: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/24/allison-pearson-sues-essex-police-chief-social-media/ |Read Liam ‘Artificial intelligence won’t solve Britain’s looming fiscal crisis’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/03/22/artificial-intelligence-wont-solve-looming-fiscal-crisis/ | 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: 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.

You can watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QVXFsa07RpoIn this week’s dispatch from the sanctuary of sweet reason, co-pilots Pearson and Halligan examine a growing sense of national insecurity as Britain faces a perfect storm of energy, military, and financial fragility, and the unfolding meningitis outbreak.With oil climbing back above $100 a barrel and the Strait of Hormuz remaining shut, Liam argues that it is time for the government to junk the ‘Net Zero virtue signalling’ and urgently greenlight drilling in the North Sea. Allison discusses her recent column on a controversial clause in the Crime and Policing Bill that would effectively ‘decriminalise’ abortion up to birth. Labelling the move ‘legalised infantcide’ she and Liam explore the ethical implication of late-term viability, drawing on Allison’s moving personal experiences and her observations from a neonatal ICU. The duo are joined in the rocket by Linden Kemkaran, the Reform UK leader of Kent County Council. Representing the ‘border county’ at the forefront of the small boats crisis, she discusses her decision to declare an ‘illegal migration emergency’ and her demand for the government to provide full funding for the local impact of arrivals.  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 ‘Britain is about to make a sickening change to the abortion law’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/17/britain-sickening-change-to-abortion-law/ |Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ | Read Liam ‘Labour needs to be grown-up about the North Sea’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/03/15/labour-needs-to-be-grown-up-about-the-north-sea/ | 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: 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.

You can watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uRceQCyRYIUIt’s markets this, oil prices that, and what will happen next, so your co-pilots are blasting in to make sense of the tsunami of news flooding across the globe from the Middle East and the war with Iran.Allison points to the shame of all governments for not protecting British interests and defence strategy has left us woefully unprepared for any disruption to energy supplies. And as the news is pointing away from the UK Allison has spied Labour still pressing ahead with a definition of Islamophobia and potentially curbing Free Speech in the process.Liam looks at the economic fallout as the Strait of Hormuz continues to be closed and Iran attacks cargo ships, and brings on board journalist and energy market expert Andrew Critchlow to discuss the UK’s energy security and strategy.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 ‘The BBC is not living up to the ‘British’ part of its name’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/11/bbc-boat-race-cancellation-crufts/ |Read Allison ‘Starmer is pandering to Islamist extremists to save his own skin https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/03/10/keir-starmer-islamism-concerns-hannah-spencer/ |Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ | Read Liam ‘Britain needs economic security – and a sovereign wealth fund’:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/03/08/britain-needs-economic-security-sovereign-wealth-fund/ | 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: 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.