Red Rishi

On this week’s episode:

Price caps are back in the news as the government is reportedly considering implementing one on basic food items. What happened to the Rishi Sunak who admired Margaret Thatcher and Nigel Lawson? In her cover article this week, our economics editor Kate Andrews argues that the prime minister and his party have lost their ideological bearings. She joins the podcast, together with Spectator columnist Matthew Parris, who remembers the last time price caps were implemented and writes about it in his column.

We also take a look at the experience of being addicted to meth. What is it like, and is it possible to turn your life around after that? The translator Eva Gaida has managed it, and writes powerfully about her experience in this week’s issue. She’s joined by drugs counsellor and Spectator World contributor, Kevin Dahlgren. Read more about Kevin’s work in his substack.

And finally, have the Irish lost their famous sense of humour? Melanie McDonagh writes that ‘the country of the fighting Irish, the drinking Irish, the self-deprecating humorous Irish, has turned into a kind of parody of liberal authoritarianism’. She joins the podcast now, together with Irish comedian and impressionist Oliver Callan.

Presented by William Moore and Lara Prendergast. 

Produced by Cindy Yu.