Alas Vine & Hitchens cover art

Alas Vine & Hitchens

Alas Vine & Hitchens

By: Daily Mail
Listen for free

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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daily Mail Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Iran Impasse and Living On an Island

    Iran Impasse and Living On an Island
    Jul 6 2026

    On this week’s episode, as the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei continues, Peter will be looking at the current situation in Iran and then Sarah and Peter will be comparing notes on their Desert Island Discs (Sarah tries unsuccessfully to convince Peter of the charms of Faithless), if the BBC ever come calling…

    And the pair pore over our mailbag to chat about dogma in education, Peter’s favourite public debate, the charm of the Boston suburbs and why our politicians are all too human and why we expect too much from them.


    On our reading, listening and watch list this week:

    Sarah’s Desert Island Choices:

    · Mendelssohn concerto in E minor: Yehudi Menuhin with the Berlin Phil (for my father)

    · Faithless: insomnia

    · Hozier: work song

    · Rolling Stones: Sympathy for the devil

    · Maria Callas: Vissi d’arte

    · Led Zeppelin: Fool in the Rain

    · David Bowie: Moonage Daydream

    · Pink Floyd: The Great Gig in the Sky

    · Book: Dante’s divine comedy, I would spend my time translating it into English

    · Luxury: Contact lenses. Although they might be considered a necessity as I’m so blind. In which case, a hot bath.

    Peter’s Desert Island Choices:

    · Bob Dylan: Tomorrow is a Long Time

    · Fairport Convention: Farewell, Farewell

    · Purcell: Nymphs and Shepherds

    · Purcell: Rondeau

    · Gustav Holst: St Paul’s Suite

    · George Butterworth: The Banks of Green Willow

    · Handel: Solomon

    · Beethoven: Seventh Symphony


    · Book: A collection of the Sherlock Holmes Short and Long Stories

    · Luxury: A Fridge

    Please do get in touch, email: Alas@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 ‘alas’.

    Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens

    Producer: Philip Wilding

    Editor: Chelsey Moore

    Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

    Executive Producer: Jamie East

    A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular


    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

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    44 mins
  • The Price of Education and Harry’s Game

    The Price of Education and Harry’s Game
    Jun 29 2026

    On this week’s episode, Peter would like to know why Labour are taxing some private schools out of business and Sarah is asking if should we even care that Prince Harry might be coming back to the UK?

    And the pair pore over our mailbag to chat about studying double smoking (and drinking cider), how e-bikes have no place even in hilly Lisbon, just how Conservative was Gordon Brown, and what ties Andy Bunrnham and Philip Larkin together.


    On our reading and watch list this week:

    · The Secondary Mod – Dick Stroud

    · The August Coup: The Destruction of the Soviet Union and the Making of New Russia 1985-1991 – Robert Service

    · The Conservative enemy: A programme of radical reform for the 1960s - C. Anthony R. Crosland

    Please do get in touch, email: Alas@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 ‘alas’.

    Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens

    Producer: Philip Wilding

    Editor: Chelsey Moore

    Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

    Executive Producer: Jamie East

    A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

    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

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    48 mins
  • Keir Curtailed and A Voyage Round My Father

    Keir Curtailed and A Voyage Round My Father
    Jun 22 2026

    On this week’s episode, Sarah speaks candidly about her father’s recent passing, both muse on the brutality of modern politics as Kier Starmer steps down and Peter wonders why some nations crave war.

    And the pair pore over our mailbag prompting Peter’s remarkable impression of an announcer on the Moscow Metro. They both offer up the funniest politicians they’ve encountered and revisit Peter’s anti-Cameron documentary, Toff At The Top.


    On our reading and watch list this week:

    · Two Women – Dir: Vittorio De Sica

    · Salvador – Dir: Oliver Stone

    · Dispatches: Cameron - Toff at the Top

    Please do get in touch, email: Alas@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 ‘alas’.

    Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens

    Producer: Philip Wilding

    Editor: Chelsey Moore

    Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini

    Executive Producer: Jamie East

    A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular

    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

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    42 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet