Last Friday, I was joined by Carole Cadwalladr—former Guardian journalist and, depending on who you ask, either a democratic heroine or the original “mad cat lady.” From exposing Cambridge Analytica and the Mercers to taking on Brexit, big tech, and Aaron Banks personally, Carole’s journalism has shaped how we think about power, influence, and the quiet dismantling of democracy through data.

We discuss the Observer’s recent change in ownership—who now owns it, and has it drifted to the right? Is the line between editorial and commercial content now too blurred?

Carole calls the government’s proposed changes to UK press ownership laws “shocking” and “baffling.” She questions whether the BBC and the political class are now in thrall to Silicon Valley’s influence, whose interests seem increasingly aligned with the authoritarian Trump agenda.

And finally: what do you wear to a TED Talk when, after your last appearance, you were branded a conspiracy theorist, sued for libel, and trolled by Andrew Neil?

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

LinkedIn: Peter York's Culture Wars House Party podcast

Good Egg Productions

https://goodeggproductions.uk/

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

Welcome to Peter York’s Culture Wars House Party. This episode, I’m joined by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown—journalist, author, and broadcaster. Her journey from Uganda to Oxford, and into journalism in her 30s, has shaped one of the most distinctive and provocative voices in British media.

We explore why Yasmin says she’s moved further to the left over time, and how she sees the media playing a “double game”—deplatforming some voices while elevating others. She lifts the lid on what she calls “hive mind” journalism and explains why debate is narrowing, not widening.

Yes, Yasmin once wrote weekly for Paul Dacre at the Daily Mail—really. Now she’s calling out the BBC for weaponising “so-called impartiality,” questioning its coverage of Gaza, and defending her tweet: “Israel is a terrorist state.”

We dive into identity politics, and how the trans debate has become a moral litmus test: “If you’re on their side, you’re good and acceptable. If not, you’re dangerously woke—and apparently a threat to the nation.”

She also takes aim at the modern Conservative Party—now run, she says, by “ideologues” and “thugs”—and their sudden embrace of Ugandan Asians: “You didn’t love us—now you do, because so many of us are rich, and they fund you.”

And finally, does Yasmin’s wardrobe bring down the tone?

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

LinkedIn: Peter York's Culture Wars House Party podcast

Good Egg Productions

https://goodeggproductions.uk/

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

Welcome to Peter York's Culture Wars House Party. In this episode, I’m joined by Dylan Jones—a defining figure in British media. He spent over two decades editing GQ and later ran the London Evening Standard, helping shape the national conversation around style, politics, and culture.

From ‘literally no experience, and couldn’t actually write very well’, we trace Dylan’s journey from art school maverick to media powerhouse. Expect career advice—why “we’re not looking for people with great ideas”—and sharp anecdotes: why he hired Alastair Campbell and Piers Morgan, threw Russell Brand out of his own awards ceremony, and photographed Melania Trump “like an evil Bond girl, scantily clad with lots of hardware.”

In a world of partisan noise, how does Dylan stay “slightly removed” from culture wars? And how is culture evolving now that “a lot of the big players in those worlds removed themselves”? What’s filled the vacuum? And is New York too parochial?

Plus: is the suede loafer from Jermyn Street under threat from a chisel-toe slip-on creeping in from another part of the capital?

“I went up to him afterwards, before I led him to the door, and said: ‘This is a pact. We're doing something for you. You do something for us. In what part of our agreement is it a good idea to slag off our sponsor?’”

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

LinkedIn: Peter York's Culture Wars House Party podcast

Good Egg Productions

https://goodeggproductions.uk/

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

Welcome to Peter York's Culture Wars House Party. In this seventh episode, I'm joined by Iain Dale—the prolific broadcaster, author, and political commentator. A fixture of the British media landscape, he currently hosts LBC’s evening show and was briefly a possible Conservative Party candidate in 2024.

We explore Iain's journey from party insider to media provocateur, his mission to rebuild the Conservative Party, the rise of social conservatism, and the decline of big tent politics.

We also delve into the influence of American culture on British politics—what it means to be “five years downstream” from the US—the state of public discourse, and Iain’s reflections on the culture wars, from anti-Semitism to trans rights.

Plus: what it’s like interviewing Donald Trump, working with Michael Ashcroft, and what Iain really thinks of Sir Paul Marshall. Does media ownership and regulation matter?

And we'll discover whether Iain Dale ever has a mooch on his high street.

“I'm really worried about the state of the so-called culture wars. I used to resist even using that term, because I thought the more you use it, the more you almost encourage them to continue, but you can't get away from it now. There are people on one side and people on another side, and never the twain shall meet.”

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

LinkedIn: Peter York's Culture Wars House Party podcast

Good Egg Productions

https://goodeggproductions.uk/

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

Welcome to Peter York’s Culture Wars House Party. In this sixth episode, I’m joined by Graydon Carter—the legendary editor of Vanity Fair—a cultural powerhouse from 1992 to 2017—and now editor of the effortlessly chic digital magazine Airmail.

Charting Graydon’s journey from sensible Ottawa to the glittering heights of New York media, we examine the seismic shifts in publishing and unravel the complex tapestry of America’s culture wars. Has the coup already happened? Did the left go too far—and is there now an overcorrection? And has the “wanton brutality” of Trump’s administration given billionaires a bad name?

Graydon reflects on decades of tangling with Donald Trump—as a man ( are his fingers too short? does he have any friends?)—and as a businessman, as the “fourth tier of real estate families in New York”.

And we now have the definitive answer… or do we… on where to buy the best suede loafers in London.

“I’ve never seen Donald Trump in any living room ever in 50 years of being in New York, and nobody would invite him anywhere. I don’t think he has friends, I think he’s got associates, but I don’t think he has any true friends.”

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

LinkedIn: Peter York's Culture Wars House Party podcast

Good Egg Productions

https://goodeggproductions.uk/

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

Welcome to my new podcast, “PETER YORK’S CULTURE WARS HOUSE PARTY.” In this fifth episode, I’m joined by Peter Geoghegan former editor of Open Democracy, an investigative journalist and writer, who now runs “Democracy for Sale” https://democracyforsale.substack.com/about

Peter reveals how the Brexit campaign in Sunderland sparked his interest in exposing dark money and political fraud—and why he believes Britain is doing corruption on the cheap.

We explore how money quietly seeps into the bloodstream of British policy, the rise of think tanks that claim to be “neutral observers” but, in reality, act as “effectively corporate lobbyists”, blurring the lines between lobbying, media, and politics.

And there’s the international connections between - Tufton Street and K Street in Washington DC - and how “what we're seeing now is a manifestation something that has existed below the surface for a long time”.

Plus, we touch on the unexpected former friendship between George Soros and Sir Paul Marshall.

“The anonymity isn't just a hangover or something that one or two donors mightn't like. It's absolutely pivotal to be able to do this work.”

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

LinkedIn: Peter York's Culture Wars House Party podcast

Good Egg Productions

https://goodeggproductions.uk/

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

Welcome to my new podcast, “PETER YORK’S CULTURE WARS HOUSE PARTY.” In this fourth episode, I’m joined by campaigning journalist George Monbiot.

We discuss George’s journey from his Conservative family background to his political awakening and his rise as one of our most prominent environmental and political activists. What exactly is a campaigning journalist – is it a contradiction in terms?

We explore the story of ‘neoliberalism’ and what it really means – less ‘liberal,’ but rather the disenchantment of politics through brute economic power. We explore how its tentacles have spread into think tanks, academia and the media – including the BBC. Can an alternative vision fight back – and how?

And has the BBC become a “timorous, cowering beastie”? We discuss this, along with George’s attire for his BBC Question Time appearance.

“The only way you're ever going to get significant change is - like John Maynard Keynes and Clement Attlee or many other figures through history - is pursuing systemic change and rolling over your opposition. That's the only way it's ever going to happen. But this timidity, which has kicked in since about 1980, where none of the formerly left or even centrist parties almost anywhere on Earth are prepared to ask for anything more than a few tiny tweaks to the system, that is a recipe for defeat. And that defeat is what we now witness everywhere.”

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

LinkedIn: Peter York's Culture Wars House Party podcast

Good Egg Productions

https://goodeggproductions.uk/

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

Welcome to my new podcast, “PETER YORK’S CULTURE WARS HOUSE PARTY.” In this third episode, I’m joined by Gabriel Gatehouse, the former international editor of Newsnight and a seasoned BBC foreign correspondent. He’s also the author and presenter of the acclaimed BBC Radio 4 series "The Coming Storm," which unpacks the deep roots of American paranoia and conspiracy theories—from the Clintons in the ‘90s to QAnon and the January 6th Capitol riot.

We get into big questions—is Gabriel a participant in the culture wars or just a commentator? How do British and American politics compare? What’s the parable of QAnon, and what might have happened if Bernie Sanders had clinched the Democratic nomination in 2016? We also dive into the impact of figures like Elon Musk and tech optimism, and the role of identity politics and "woke" culture.

And, of course, we take a look at the BBC’s challenge to maintain impartiality in a volatile political landscape. Plus, we talk about Gabriel’s shirts.

“We make a mistake if we think that we are so very different from our American cousins, and that we are immune to the sort of craziness the red pill rabbit holes that have beset American politics in the last decade or so. We're not immune."

Please do check out my latest book, A Dead Cat On Your Table – available online and in all good book shops.

@peteryork.bsky.social

LinkedIn: Peter York's Culture Wars House Party podcast

Good Egg Productions

https://goodeggproductions.uk/

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