Planet Normal: It's a good time to bury bad news, as UK faces 12 days of strike-mas

Telegraph columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan host Planet Normal, a weekly podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble, this week featuring Lord Peter Lilley
Telegraph columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan host Planet Normal, a weekly podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble, this week featuring Lord Peter Lilley

There may not be much Christmas cheer around as strikes and rising living costs threaten to derail the festive period, but the week's blockbuster events have created a convenient distraction from the impending 'strike-mas.'

On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player above, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson deliver their verdict on Harry and Meghan's Netflix tell-all, Matt Hancock’s new book, and of course the World Cup.

Allison labelled the latest endeavour from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex a "grim spectacle."

"There's a grave risk that Meghan and Harry will have to go down from 16 bathrooms to an 11 if they can't continue to exploit the woes of their nearest and dearest."

Allison also feels great sympathy for King Charles, who is now having to deal with his son's allegations in the wake of his own mother's recent death.

"Imagine how awful you feel when one of your beloved kids is kicking up rough about you and your late mother, who you only lost three months ago. How sensitive is that?," Allison said.

Liam believes the latest release from the royals, along with the football, are diversions from more serious matters, including recent revelations about the impacts of the coronavirus lockdown on excess deaths.

"I'd say a lot of this stuff is coming out while England are going through the World Cup, while Meghan and Harry are tearing the royal family apart."

"It's almost as if it's a good time to bury bad news," Liam said.

And some of that bad news came in the form of Matt Hancock's new book about the pandemic.

Allison was appalled that the former Health Secretary has been allowed to release it before giving evidence to the public enquiry.

"It seems to me really quite shocking for a former government minister to pre-empt the public enquiry in this way. Getting his account in first."

"I want him under oath. I want him cross questioned about this," Allison argued.

Liam thinks Matt Hancock has created "less an autobiography here than an alibi-ography," which should really be titled "how I was right about everything at all times and everyone else is wrong."

Also joining the podcast this week is former cabinet minister and big beast of politics, Lord Peter Lilley.

Lord Lilley explains why we need to take more of a cost benefit approach to net zero rather than an emotional one, particularly in the midst of an energy crisis.

"I was one of the five people who voted against the Climate Change Act back in 2008,"Lord Lilley explained.

"I made the mistake of reading the cost benefit analysis, which the Government produced, and it showed that the benefits were less than the costs. And we shouldn't do things where the benefits are less than the costs."

Lord Lilley also warns soaring immigration levels are condemning a generation of young people who won't be able to get into the housing market.

"The real problem actually is not even the boat people. It's the number who are coming legally, lawfully to this country," he aaid.

"If we have immigration at this rate... we're condemning a generation of people already living here to live at home with their parents or squashed into bedsits and to live middle age."

Listen to Planet Normal, a weekly Telegraph podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble, using the audio player above or on Apple PodcastsSpotify or your preferred podcast app.