A safe space for dangerous conversations, from The Spectator Australia. The Spectator is the world’s longest-running magazine of news, arts and ideas. Hosted by...
Why police ignored the grooming gangs, with Maggie Oliver
In the last month, the grooming gangs scandal has gone from being the UK’s worst-kept secret to its greatest source of national shame. From at least the 1990s, and likely long before then, criminal networks comprised almost entirely of Pakistani Muslim men prostituted, raped and tortured thousands of young girls in towns and cities across the UK. And the authorities, despite being aware of what was happening, did very little to intervene. UK citizens, and indeed the world, quite rightly want to know why.To help Will understand, he is joined by Maggie Oliver. Maggie is a former detective who resigned from Greater Manchester Police in 2012 and blew the whistle on the failure to tackle grooming gangs in Rochdale. She wrote about her battle to expose the gangs, and seek justice for the victims, in her book ‘Survivors’, which was adapted for the screen in the BBC drama ‘Three Girls’. The Maggie Oliver Foundation supports survivors and those at risk of childhood sexual abuse and exploitation.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Read The Spectator Australia here.Support The Maggie Oliver Foundation here.Buy Maggie's book here.
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1:00:02
Why we get boozed, with Edward Slingerland
After a merry festive season, this is the time of the year when some of us decide to cut back on the booze. Dry January is a peculiar concept. Anyone who does it will tell you they feel great at the end of the month, but most of them can’t wait to get back to the pub.In many ways, drinking doesn’t make sense. It often takes more than it gives. And yet we keep drinking, just like we have for tens of thousands of years. The question is, why?To help Will with an answer, he is joined by Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, and author of ‘Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization’, Edward Slingerland.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Read The Spectator Australia here.
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53:08
Australia is uniquely susceptible to the woke mind virus, with Andrew Gold on Heretics
Regular listeners may remember that last year Will interviewed the wonderful documentarian, podcaster and YouTuber Andrew Gold. Andrew recently returned the favour and invited Will onto his wildly successful YouTube show, Heretics. Will and Andrew discussed how the woke mind virus has infiltrated Australia, the parallels between the grooming gangs scandal and child sexual abuse in remote Indigenous communities, the problems of mass migration in Australia, and the corruption of Australia's educational institutions.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Read The Spectator Australia here.Watch Heretics here.
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59:03
How the music industry went woke, with Hayley Mary
Music used to be about "sticking it to the man." It's now the most conformist industry there is. Hayley Mary has seen the transformation firsthand. Hayley was the lead singer of Australian indie rock band The Jezabels, before launching a successful solo career. She has recently experienced the wrath of the music establishment, after a controversial Instagram post (complete with a MAGA hat) sparked a cancellation storm (see the post here). In this special conversation with Will, she speaks out about why she took a stand for free speech, subversion, and the counter-cultural instincts that once made music great.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Read The Spectator Australia here.
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1:11:32
The fall of the Big Guy, with Miranda Devine
As friend of the show Charles C.W. Cooke has said, “To the honest eye, Joe Biden was a mid-wit career politician from Delaware who had the chance to appear normal enough to unseat Trump from office. To the authors of our roiling morality play, he was Earth’s Last Honest Man. After he won the White House, this second characterization was foisted upon us with abandon.” It was never true, as was finally and irrefutably hammered home with the pardon of his son, Hunter.No one has done more to expose Biden for the man he really is than Miranda Devine. Australian listeners will remember Miranda from her successful career in Australian journalism, before she moved to the US to take up a role with The New York Post. She has gone on to release two of the most influential books on American politics this decade, 'Laptop from Hell' and 'The Big Guy: How a President and His Son Sold out America.'Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Read The Spectator Australia here.
A safe space for dangerous conversations, from The Spectator Australia. The Spectator is the world’s longest-running magazine of news, arts and ideas. Hosted by Will Kingston.
Australia