The Sceptic

Joyless Starmer’s Nanny State

Welcome to episode 12 of the Sceptic! On the show this week, host Laurie Wastell speaks to the following guests:
 
Ben Sixsmith, Online Editor at the Critic and author of the Zone substack, on Keir Starmer’s miserabilist plan to ban smoking outside pubs;
 
Len Shackleton, Professor of Economics at Buckingham University and a fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, on the bizarre equal-pay ruling against Next that spells disaster for British business;
 
Reverend Doctor Bernard Randall, on how he’s been persecuted by the Church of England for delivering an LGBTQ-sceptical sermon in line with Christian doctrine – and how he’s fighting back;
 
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to Alan Halsall, a leading volunteer in the Vote Leave campaign, on how his life was made a misery by the Electoral Commission because he campaigned for Brexit.
 
Donate to the Daily Sceptic to access our premium content.
 
Follow Laurie on X: https://x.com/L_Wastell
 
Read Ben’s article on smoking here.
 
Read Len’s articles here and here.
 
Donate to support Reverend Randall’s legal appeal here.
 
Read Alan Halsall’s article on the Daily Sceptic here.
 
And get your copy of his book, Last Man Standing: Memoirs from the front line of Brexit, here.
 
Produced by Richard Eldred.
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

The Truth About Immigration Into Britain

Welcome to episode 11 of the Sceptic! On the show this week, host Laurie Wastell speaks to the following Daily Sceptic contributors:
 
Dr. Freddie Attenborough, Communications Officer at the Free Speech Union, on the Labour Government’s chilling social-media crackdown in the wake of the Southport riots;
 
Andy Collingwood, writer and co-host of the Multipolarity Podcast, on the truth about Britain’s immigration history and why the Left’s claim that Britain has always been a nation of immigrants is just pure gaslighting;
 
David Turver, author of the Eigen Values substack, on how Britain’s Government of Net Zero-fanatic humanities graduates are running the economy into the ground;
 
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to C.J. Strachan, the Daily Sceptic’s resident HR expert and the founder of Fair Job, on the shocking anti-white employment discrimination at Thames Valley Police.
 
Donate to the Daily Sceptic to access our premium content.
 
Follow Laurie on X.
 
Read Andy’s article on the Daily Sceptic here.
 
Read David’s articles here and here.
 
And read C.J. Strachan’s article here.
 
Produced by Richard Eldred.
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Nigel Biggar: Fighting Back Against “Decolonisation”

Welcome to this special episode of the Sceptic, with Professor Nigel Biggar.
Nigel Biggar is Emeritus Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford and the author of Colonialism: a Moral Reckoning. Nigel recently delivered the second lecture of Modern Dissent, a London lecture series challenging established ideas run by the Sceptic’s host, Laurie Wastell.
The title of that lecture was “Deconstructing Decolonisation” and that’s the jumping off point for today’s episode. Laurie speaks to Nigel about what’s driving the decolonisers, both as a social movement and as an ideology; their unacknowledged Eurocentrism; the importance of patient, reasoned argument in the face of woke dogmatism; the influence of Christianity on the decolonise movement; whether a liberal-humanitarian defence of the British Empire can successfully counter the woke decolonial narrative, and the merits of a purely self-interested appraisal of colonialism; his views on how to improve the culture in our universities; and the difference the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act (now halted by the Labour Government) would have made to campus cancel culture.
Watch Nigel’s full Modern Dissent lecture here.
Get your copy of Colonialism: a Moral Reckoning
Donate to the Daily Sceptic to access our premium content.
Follow Laurie on X.
Produced by Richard Eldred.

Britain’s Civil Unrest and the Crisis of Multiculturalism

Welcome to episode ten of the Sceptic! On the show this week, host Laurie Wastell speaks to the following Daily Sceptic contributors:
 
Claire Fox, the cross-bench peer and founder of the Academy of Ideas, on the fallout of the Southport attack and the crisis of multicultural Britain;
 
Dr. James Alexander, Professor of Political Science at Bilkent University, Turkey, on Labour’s devolution agenda and the real meaning behind its radical ‘New Britain’ document;
 
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to J. Sorel, the pseudonymous Daily Sceptic columnist, on what we’ve learnt from Labour’s first few weeks in office and the tyranny of the Blob.
 
Donate to the Daily Sceptic to access our premium content: www.dailysceptic.org/donate/
 
Follow Laurie on X: https://x.com/L_Wastell
 
Read Claire’s article on the Daily Sceptic here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/08/01/on-southport-why-censorship-is-the-enemy/
 
Read James’s article here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/07/09/how-seriously-should-we-take-labours-new-britain/
 
And read J. Sorel’s article here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/07/25/the-conservative-party-fought-against-the-blob-and-lost/
 
Produced by Richard Eldred.
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Labour’s War on Free Speech

Welcome to episode nine of the Sceptic! On the show this week, host Laurie Wastell speaks to the following Daily Sceptic contributors:
Toby Young, Daily Sceptic Editor-in-Chief and the founder of the Free Speech Union, on Labour’s outrageous attack on free speech in universities;
Our special guest this week Andrew Montford, Director of Net Zero Watch, on the Government’s heat pump con and why it threatens our whole energy grid;
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to eugyppius, the pseudonymous commentator and author of the Substack, eugyppius: a plague chronicle, on the palace coup against Joe Biden, the coronation of Kamala Harris and whether the U.S. corporate media is drinking its own Kool-Aid.
Donate to the Daily Sceptic to access our premium content: www.dailysceptic.org/donate/
Follow Laurie on X: https://x.com/L_Wastell
Read Toby’s article on the Daily Sceptic here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/07/29/bridget-phillipson-has-shown-the-tories-how-to-win-the-culture-war/
Read Andrew’s article here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/07/18/dont-fall-for-the-governments-latest-heat-pump-con/
And read eugyppius’s articles here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/07/22/joe-biden-out-in-apparent-palace-coup/
https://dailysceptic.org/2024/07/15/a-failure-of-secret-service-security-so-astounding-the-conspiracy-theories-write-themselves/
Produced by Richard Eldred
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio

Is Lucy Letby Innocent?

Welcome to episode eight of the Sceptic! On the show this week, host Laurie Wastell speaks to the following Daily Sceptic contributors:
Dr David Livermore, microbiologist and Daily Sceptic regular, on the growing concerns about the Lucy Letby verdict, and how the Daily Sceptic led the world in raising them;
Dr Angus Dalgleish, emeritus professor of oncology at the University of London and co-signatory of the Great Barrington Declaration, on how the first report of the Covid Inquiry has blown up the establishment’s pro-lockdown consensus;
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to Steven Tucker, author and regular Daily Sceptic contributor, on French politics, immigration and the West’s “post-human” elites through the eyes of the celebrated French novelist, Michel Houellebecq.
Donate to the Daily Sceptic to access our premium content: www.dailysceptic.org/donate/
Follow Laurie on X: https://x.com/L_Wastell
Read David’s article on the Daily Sceptic here: https://dailysceptic.org/2023/09/11/lucy-letby-must-be-allowed-an-appeal/
Read Angus’s article here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/07/18/the-covid-inquiry-is-right-to-name-and-shame-matt-hancock/
And read Steven’s articles here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/07/11/alienation-in-an-alien-nation-michel-houellebecq-explains-the-true-horror-of-french-politics/
https://dailysceptic.org/2024/07/12/president-macron-and-our-post-human-future-according-to-michel-houellebecq/
Produced by Richard Eldred. 
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Ed Miliband’s Oil and Gas Lunacy – with Ross Clark

Welcome to episode seven of the Sceptic! On the show this week, host Laurie Wastell speaks to the following Daily Sceptic contributors:
Special guest Ross Clark, Spectator columnist and author of Not Zero, on why Ed Miliband’s crusade against oil and gas could put Britain’s economy 6 feet under;
Tony Morrison, who writes on US politics for the Daily Sceptic, on the shocking assassination attempt against President Trump and what it means for America;
Dr Carole Sherwood, founder of Save Mental Health, on the trans-activist psychotherapists refusing to accept the findings of the Cass Review;
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to Dr Gary Sidley, co-founder of the Smile Free campaign, on the technocratic tyranny of “nudge”.
Donate to the Daily Sceptic to access our premium content: www.dailysceptic.org/donate/
Follow Laurie on X: https://x.com/L_Wastell
Purchase your copy of Ross Clark’s book, Not Zero: How an Irrational Target Will Impoverish You, Help China (and Won't Even Save the Planet) here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Not-Zero-Irrational-Target-Impoverish-ebook/dp/B0B5W4F157
Read Tony’s article on the Daily Sceptic here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/07/17/there-can-be-only-one-winner-now/
Read Carole’s article here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/07/10/will-labour-protect-gender-confused-children-from-the-trans-ideologues-the-signs-arent-looking-good/
And read Gary’s article here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/06/26/how-government-psychological-manipulation-of-the-public-became-normal/
Produced by Richard Eldred. 
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Eric Kaufmann: Western Politics and the Race Taboo

Welcome to this special episode of the Sceptic with Professor Eric Kaufmann, on his new book, Taboo: How Making Race Sacred Produced a Cultural Revolution.
 
Eric is Head of the Institute of Heterodox Social Science at the University of Buckingham, a member of the advisory board of the Free Speech Union and a senior fellow at Policy Exchange.
 
Host Laurie Wastell speaks to Eric about the thesis of this book, that what we know today as wokeism stems from the emergence of the race taboo in the 60s; what people get wrong about woke; its origins in the West’s Christian heritage; its impact on the immigration debate; why Conservative politicians won’t talk about demographics; why younger generations are woker, why that’s a problem, and the ‘Zoomer Right’ phenomenon; the culture war under a Labour government and how to fight back; and the need for a counter-narrative to woke.
 
Get your copy of Taboo: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Taboo-Making-Produced-Cultural-Revolution/dp/1800752660
Sign up for Eric’s 15-week open online course on woke at the University of Buckingham: https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/courses/occasional/woke/
Visit Eric’s research centre at Buckingham: www.heterodoxcentre.com
Visit Eric’s website: www.sneps.net
Follow Eric on X: https://x.com/epkaufm
And find him on substack: https://erickaufmann.substack.com
Donate to the Daily Sceptic to access our premium content: www.dailysceptic.org/donate/
Follow Laurie on X: https://x.com/L_Wastell
Produced by Richard Eldred. 
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

Why the Conservatives Failed – with Lord Frost

Welcome to episode six of the Sceptic! On the show this week, host Laurie Wastell speaks to the following guests:
Frank Haviland, editor at the New Conservative and author of The Frank Report substack, on Labour’s shallow election victory and the grim rise of Muslim sectarianism;
Special guest David Frost, the Conservative peer and former chief Brexit negotiator, for a deep-dive into what the Tories’ calamitous defeat means for the future of the party and British politics;
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to the Daily Sceptic’s editor-in-chief Toby Young, on his trip down under to spearhead a global movement for free speech.
Donate to the Daily Sceptic to access our premium content: www.dailysceptic.org/donate/
Follow Laurie on X: https://x.com/L_Wastell
Produced by Richard Eldred. 
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.

How Work Went Woke

Welcome to episode five of the Sceptic!
On the show this week, host Laurie Wastell speaks to the following Daily Sceptic contributors:
CJ Strachan, Daily Sceptic regular and the founder of the Fair Job initiative, on how “Equality, Diversity and Inclusion” took over the workplace – and how he’s fighting back;
Andy Collingwood, writer and co-host of the Multipolarity podcast, who gives us a deep dive into the Labour Party’s radical social agenda;
And for our premium subscribers, Laurie speaks to journalist and Daily Sceptic regular Ben Pile, on how the BBC is trying to smear a Kenyan farmer as a shill for big oil and the menace of the Green Blob.
Donate to the Daily Sceptic to access our premium content: www.dailysceptic.org/donate/
Follow Laurie on X: https://x.com/L_Wastell
Read CJ Strachan’s articles on the Daily Sceptic here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/05/14/how-edi-took-over-the-workplace/https://dailysceptic.org/2024/05/30/how-edi-took-over-the-workplace-part-two/
and find out more about his Fair Job initiative here: http://www.fairjob.co.uk/
Read Andy’s article here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/06/27/keir-starmer-wont-just-enact-a-radical-progressive-agenda-hell-change-the-constitution-to-make-it-irreversible/
And read Ben Pile’s article here: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/06/23/why-is-bbc-verify-smearing-a-kenyan-subsistence-farmer-as-a-climate-change-denier-in-the-pay-of-big-oil/
Produced by Richard Eldred. 
Filmed at the Westminster Podcast Studio.