15: Starmer Speaks, the Problem with our Prisons, and Mad For It: Oasis Return

Sarah and Andrew pore over Kier Starmer’s less than enlivening speech from the Number 10 garden and ask what now for the UK ties with Germany and mainland Europe as the PM meets with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin and begins to reset relations with Europe post- Brexit. And as the number of places in our men’s prisons falls below one hundred and the number of criminals avoiding prosecution with a simple apology for their offence rises by 40 per cent over the past five years, we ask what kind of reform can wrestle back control of our penal system. Plus, as Sarah snaffles her tickets for the return of Oasis to the UK’s stages next summer, we ask what’s the story? Faded or morning glory… Sarah Vine and Andrew Pierce bring their own insight, opinion, and reaction (clue is in the title) to the biggest stories of the week.  To get in touch email Reaction@dailymail.co.uk, you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'reaction' Presenters: Sarah Vine & Andrew Pierce Producer: Philip Wilding Editor: Chelsey Moore Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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What's the Big Idea? Finally, Sarah Vine (once memorably described as being ‘like and loathed in equal measure, divisive, but never indecisive’) and Peter Hitchens (a man whose writing a critic was called to compare to a Guardsman’s boot: ‘as highly polished and potentially lethal’) meet once a week to look at the world and mutter, alas…   Acclaimed columnist and journalist Sarah Vine and best-selling author and broadcaster Peter Hitchens discuss and dissect social, economic, and pop cultural flotsam and jetsam that have risen out of the dark waters of that week’s news.   Taking one big idea each episode and pulling it apart with élan, imagine Vine and Hitchens respective columns brought to life and then skewered, scoffed at, debated, and given the full weight of Vine and Hitchens impenetrable gaze. Though an accord might not always be reached, it’s the journey that matters.   Whether it’s the tech bros gone rogue – Meta tearing up its own rule book on fact checking, Musk attempting to influence governmental policy, or the knotty subject on society’s ever-increasing reliance on anti-depressants to treat what might just be the modern malaise and not depression at all. Or, evil, nature or nurture? Does evil actually exist or is it an idea that hangs over us, or do we just sometime embody it and the actions themselves are evil, not the individual?   All this and more are to be pored over, one towering topic each week discussed with humour, insight, and real understanding. Take part in our listener survey here: https://ex-plorsurvey.com/survey/selfserve/550/g517/250305?list=9#? To get in touch email alas@mailonline.co.uk, you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on WhatsApp - on 07796 657512 start your message with the word 'alas' Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens Producer: Phillip Wilding Editor: Chelsey Moore Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular