The Spectator Podcast: The truth about plastic

On this week’s episode, we investigate the truth about plastic, the environmental enemy du jour in 2018. We also try to find a compromise on tuition fees (if there is one) and ask whether the Church of England are the most ruthless property tycoons in the country.

First up: Whilst terrestrial TV was busy doing battle with its streaming nemeses for prestige drama supremacy, the single biggest televisual hit of 2017 was something rather different. The David Attenborough narrated Blue Planet II smashed to the top of the ratings chart like a marlin cresting a wave, but it also spawned a national outpouring of anti-plastic sentiment. Can we do anything to stop our rivers and oceans being polluted with single use plastic bags and coffee cups? Or is the whole issue more complicated than we ever thought? Ross Clark looks at the government’s new proposals in the magazine this week, and we were joined on the pod to discuss this issue by Fraser Nelson and Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party.