In this week’s episode of London Calling, James begins by telling me he thinks the rained-out English summer has been inflicted on us by an evil cabal intent on making our lives miserable; I then tell James about having lunch with Sean Langan, who’s just back from the Donbas where he’s been making a documentary about the Ukrainian war seen through the eyes of Russian conscripts; James then tells me he celebrated his 58th birthday last week, while I confess to being 60 in a couple of months and feeling quite anxious about it; James pulls me up about last week’s episode, in which he thinks I “attacked” him by asking him whether some of his conspiracy theories had a whiff of antisemitism about them, although I point out he attacks me every week; and, in Culture Corner, I praises Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and season two of Yellowstone, while James says how much he enjoyed The Chosen One, a new Netflix series he’s reviewing for the Spectator, and describes Anna Karenina, which he’s finally finished, as the best novel he’s ever read.
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I loved this podcast during the corona madness. Together with Lickdown Sceptics, it was one of the few beacons of sanity and reason and therefore of hope.
But it’s clearly not going through its best days at the moment. The conspiracy vs cockup debate is now just like watching wheels spinning in the mud and sinking further in.
I wonder whether they’ll manage to breathe some new life into the pod or whether it’s terminal.
It’s terminal. I certainly haven’t listened to it for a while and shan’t again. They’re both too extreme for me – no sensible middle ground. Toby’s now so unquestioning of the popular narrative that he’s no longer even particularly critical of the ‘vaccines’ (his new-found toeing of the line looks very, very suspicious to me), and James likely thinking air is a conspiracy. What we want, I believe, is a podcast between slightly awake Vs fully awake, not Matt Hancock Vs David Icke.
Noooooo! Toby is still very much a sceptic. I’m saying this because I know people who are still completely taken in by all the covid propaganda of the last 3 years, and Toby is very awake compared to them. James is a little extreme but that’s just because he hasn’t clearly presented the evidence and his justification for the “conspiracy theories” to do with dinosaurs and the moon landing, etc in a way that is convincing. He has just briefly touched on them. He went into the Paul McCartney one a little more the other week, but I didn’t find that very convincing.
Like Prophet Orwell, I also think it’s terminal. I find myself in neither team Toby nor team James, the conversations go nowhere and are no longer instructive. I switched this one off after hearing Toby’s dismal take on the Russian army and his failure to see how totally un-sceptical and sterile his view of the Ukraine conflict is. I think the prominent participation of Ian Rons in the Daily Sceptic has been a disaster…. All in all, very unsatisfactory. Why can’t people like Doug MacGregor or Alexander Mercouris – or even Tucker Carlson get any airtime or mention in our forum? It’s supposed to be a sceptical community.
Used to be an outstanding podcast. Toby and James have lost their way and I no longer wish for this podcast in my ever-increasing podcast list. Too many other podcasts to invest time that don’t have this same belligerency. No longer cute.
I think Toby has done his very best to keep up the good humour, good spirit, diplomacy, of the podcasts many of us came to know and love, but James’s attacks are increasingly unpleasant – no longer any friendliness there. Sadly, I think Toby needs to bring this to a close now. Hopefully they’re not tied into a contract to produce x episodes…
I agree except for where you say Toby needs to bring it to a close. No! If two friends with different opinions cannot discuss their different opinions anymore then that is a major problem. We need to keep discussing our different opinions in a mature way.
I love this podcast still. I am team James but I don’t like the way James talks to Toby. He is very unfair to him, he keeps insulting him and he seems to get angry and irritated that Toby has a different opinion. Toby, on the other hand, comes across as a very admirable character in the way that he remains completely calm in the face of his friend’s insults.
No, they should not stop talking. They need to keep talking and discussing their different opinions, but be mature about it and listen carefully to one another trying to understand the other person. Why be angry at someone for having a different opinion? That is foolish and arrogant behaviour. James, please stop getting angry at Toby and just patiently listen to him and try to understand where he is coming from.
Toby, I think if you watch the UK Column News you will come round to James’ way of thinking.