Three Old Hacks cover art

Three Old Hacks

Three Old Hacks

By: Mihir Bose David Smith Nigel Dudley
Listen for free

About this listen

Mihir Bose – former BBC Sports Editor, David Smith – Economics Editor of the Sunday Times and political commentator Nigel Dudley have been friends since they first met while working at Financial Weekly in 1980s. They have kept in touch regularly, setting the world to rights over various lunches and dinners. With coronavirus making that impossible, what do journalists do, deprived of long convivial lunches over a bottle of red wine or several? Why, podcast of course.Get in contact with the podcast by emailing threeoldhacks@outlook.com, we’d love to hear from you!© 2025 Three Old Hacks Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Trump wants a deal and Putin wants Ukraine
    Aug 21 2025

    The Three Old Hacks discuss the negotiations over Ukraine. Did Trump get rolled over by Putin? Would Mrs Thatcher have gone to America in the way the European leaders have? There have been lots of "vacuous generalisations" about what Europe's war aims are, but it is clear what the principal players want, says Nigel Dudley: Trump wants a deal and Putin wants Ukraine.

    Political analyst Nigel Dudley, former sports editor of the BBC Mihir Bose, and economics editor of the Sunday Times David Smith discuss world affairs - Ukraine, Gaza, and for light relief they consider whether Britain is still a nation of tea drinkers and why a woman on a train wanted David's Sunday column for her hamster.

    Get in contact with the podcast by emailing threeoldhacks@outlook.com, we’d love to hear from you!

    Show More Show Less
    45 mins
  • When world leaders treat countries like personal playgrounds
    Aug 1 2025

    The Three Old Hacks look at what might lie behind Keir Starmer's announcement that Britain will recognise a Palestinian state, if Israel does not stop the war in Gaza.

    They celebrate the Lionesses' victory in the Euros and discuss Donald Trump's extraordinary behaviour during his recent visit to Scotland, where he behaved more like the country's monarch than a visiting dignitary.

    And they say goodbye to the satirist Tom Lehrer.

    Former Sports editor of BBC News Mihir Bose, political analyst Nigel Dudley and Economics Editor of the Sunday Times David Smith, aka the Three Old Hacks, setting the world to rights.

    Get in contact with the podcast by emailing threeoldhacks@outlook.com, we’d love to hear from you!

    Show More Show Less
    42 mins
  • The Afghan scandal
    Jul 19 2025

    The Three Old Hacks consider the ramifications of the Afghan super-injunction story which has consumed the British media this week and the way it has "seeped into the toxic subject of immigration".

    The British have something of a "negligent attitude to those who have helped them", says Mihir Bose, former BBC Sport editor. It is wrong that this has become politicised into an immigration issue when "the Afghan interpreters are the good guys", says David Smith, Economics editor of The Sunday Times. Why did the Labour government keep the super-injunction for a year after they came to power? "They may have wanted not to do anything that might lead to questioning of their patriotism", says political analyst Nigel Dudley.

    The Three Old Hacks also look at the Welfare State and consider why it has grown so much. Do we have a "national sense of entitlement", they ask.

    And is Donald Trump really going to rebrand soccer in the United States as 'football' with all the potential confusion that entails.

    Get in contact with the podcast by emailing threeoldhacks@outlook.com, we’d love to hear from you!

    Show More Show Less
    53 mins
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.