The Edition: SAS betrayal, the battle for Odesa & in defence of film flops

Nov 28, 2024

Guest

Tim Robey

Guest

Guests Paul Wood, a Spectator writer who delves into SAS soldiers' legal struggles, and Peter Pomerantsev, a journalist discussing the historical significance of Odesa, explore urgent issues. Wood reveals how legal challenges are impacting SAS morale and recruitment. Pomerantsev discusses Odesa's vital role amidst the Russian invasion. Film critics Chris Tookey and Tim Robey share insights on the disillusionment with modern cinema, lamenting the loss of the communal theater experience and the overwhelming dominance of superhero films, questioning the future of innovative storytelling.

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INSIGHT

SAS's New Enemy

The SAS's biggest threat isn't terrorism, but legal action under the ECHR.
Soldiers fear decades of court battles for lawful killings, impacting morale and recruitment.

ANECDOTE

Veteran Support

Colonel Richard Williams stands with Geordie Sims and other SAS veterans who shared their experiences.
He supports Paul Wood's article highlighting the ridiculousness of the ECHR's application to the SAS.

ADVICE

Review of SAS Needed

Paul Wood suggests a review of the SAS's utility of force.
This should assess needs and sustainability regarding dangerous work and fair hearings.

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This week: SAS SOS

The enemy that most concerns Britain’s elite military unit isn’t the IRA, the Taliban or Isis, but a phalanx of lawyers armed with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), writes Paul Wood in The Spectator. Many SAS soldiers now believe that if they kill a terrorist during an operation, they’ll spend decades being hounded through the courts. Paul speaks to former SAS soldiers who say that stories of men being ‘dragged back to be screamed at in interview rooms’ are ‘flying around the canteens now’. Soldiers feel like ‘the good guys have become the bad guys – and the bad guys are now the good guys’. This is hurting morale and may eventually hit recruitment. Paul joins the podcast to discuss further, alongside Colonel Richard Williams, a former SAS commanding officer in Iraq and Afghanistan. (01:36)

Then: how much more punishment can Ukrainian city Odesa take?

The Black Sea port of Odesa occupies a unique role in Ukrainian – and Soviet – history. Added significance has been thrust on it by the Russian invasion: both symbolically, as well as practically, given how central it is to grain exports. But while war weariness sets in for Ukrainians – and their allies – the battle for Odesa is ever more crucial; further deadly aerial attacks took place only days ago. In the magazine this week, journalist Peter Pomerantsev reviews a new book looking at the port city by Julian Evans. Undefeatable: Odesa in Love and War is part-history book, part-memoir exploring many of the human stories that make up the city. How has the conflict changed the people of Odesa? And for Ukrainians who grew up consuming Russian-speaking media and culture, did the war challenge their identity? Peter joins the podcast alongside the author of the Spectator’s Ukraine newsletter, Svitlana Morenets. (18:24)

And finally: do we secretly love a good film flop?

‘I’ve fallen out of love with cinemas,’ declares long-standing (or should that be long-suffering?) film critic Chris Tookey in the magazine this week. He argues the experience isn’t as good, and Hollywood is partly to blame. Perhaps films are getting worse? Some people love a good film flop though – the big-budget blockbuster disasters. Fellow film critic Tim Robey is one such person, and he explores his love of Hollywood flops in his new book Box Office Poison, out now. But how has the experience of cinema changed? And what’s the worst film they’ve ever seen? Tim and Chris join the podcast. (32:58)

Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.