Fire at Will

Free speech is under attack all over the Western world, but the assault may be the most sinister in the United Kingdom. Keir Starmer's authoritarian regime seems intent on chipping away at civil liberties until very few remain standing.To discuss the state of free speech in the UK today, Will is joined by journalist, commentator, and the Founder of the Free Speech Union, Toby Young.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Read The Spectator Australia here.Join the FSU here.

It's easy to say that "woke ideology" is a nonsense. It's much harder to say that when your job, your social status, or your friendships may be put at risk by doing so. We need a practical, principled approach to fighting back against wokeism. Enter Helen Pluckrose. Helen is a political and cultural author and speaker. She is the co-author of ‘Cynical Theories’, which was book of the year in The Times, Sunday Times and Financial Times. Her latest book, 'The Counterweight Handbook,' is a practical guide to help you survive and defeat critical social justice at school, at work, and beyond.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Read The Spectator Australia here.

The United Kingdom is a great country. It’s arguably contributed more to the flourishing of Western civilization than any other. Which is why recent events have left many people heartbroken. Racially and culturally motivated riots have erupted on British streets, met with a two-tiered policing and judicial response, a crackdown on free speech, and an awful sense that the next five years could see the country change beyond recognition. At the same time, the United Kingdom has faced dark moments before, and triumphed. Will it do so once again? To help Will answer that question, he is joined by GB News presenter and the co-host of The Weekly Skeptic podcast, Nick Dixon.Please leave Fire at Will a rating and a review in your favourite podcast app!Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Read The Spectator Australia here.

Across the Anglosphere, governments on both sides of politics have never been more interested in the personal lives of their citizens. The nanny state thrives from Australia to the United Kingdom, and even in that traditional bastion of freedom, the USA.Christopher Snowdon is the UK’s leading warrior against the excesses of the nanny state. He is the Head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, the author of six books, the editor of the Nanny State Index, and the co-host of the brilliant “Last Orders” podcast from Spiked.Please leave Fire at Will a rating and a review in your favourite podcast app!Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Read The Spectator Australia here.Visit Christopher's website here.

What the mainstream media calls a “conspiracy theory” is often nothing more than an amalgam of incentives hiding in plain sight. Once you see that, the rest becomes pretty obvious. Misaligned incentives are everywhere, and are the root cause of some of our thorniest global challenges. So how can we fix them? There is no one better qualified to answer that question than Liv Boeree. Liv has one of the world’s most interesting CVs. She has a First Class degree in Astrophysics, she has won European Poker Tour and World Series of Poker championship titles, she is a Ted Talk phenomenon, and a successful YouTuber and podcaster. Her podcast 'Win Win', encourages us to understand the good, bad and ugly parts of competition, and find ways to harness the power of game theory to build a more positive-sum world.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Read The Spectator Australia here.

When it comes to conflict in the Middle East, there’s the war, and then there’s the war about the war. Of course, this isn’t new. Caesar was penning war reports in Gaul and sending them back to Rome to win hearts and minds over 2000 years ago. But, back then Caesar could control the narrative. Today that is almost impossible. Social media, an activist mainstream media, and more sophisticated disinformation techniques have combined with millennia-old prejudices, and made it exceedingly difficult for Israel to communicate why they are fighting, how they are doing, and what still needs to be done. Eylon Levy has been on the frontline of the war about the war. Eylon is a former Israeli government spokesperson, and International Media Advisor to the President of Israel. He is now co-founder of the Israeli Citizen Spokespersons’ Office and host of the State of a Nation podcast. Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.

The American experiment is failing. Division, mistrust and misinformation are now the country's defining characteristics. The storming of the Capitol, the prosecution of Donald Trump and battles over gun rights and abortion raise the spectre of further political violence.We often hear that these events are unprecedented. On the contrary, author and journalist Nick Bryant suggests that the hate, divisiveness and paranoia we see today are in fact a core part of America's story. His remarkable new book is titled 'The Forever War: America's Unending Conflict with Itself'.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.

Sir Niall Ferguson, a leading historian renowned for his insight into geopolitical conflicts, delves into the alarming parallels between modern America and the Soviet Union. He discusses the potential for the U.S. to assume a Soviet-like role in a new Cold War against China. The conversation touches on the political chaos following a near-assassination attempt on Trump, the despair facing marginalized Americans, and the establishment of the University of Austin to promote academic freedom. Ferguson also highlights historical lessons from the Cuban Missile Crisis and the critical stakes of Taiwan's position.

Education was once the search for truth. Sadly, this is no longer the case in many universities across the Western world. Instead of promoting debate, disagreement, and viewpoint diversity, too many institutions peddle a series of ideological narratives that seek to engrain a black armband view of history, an assertion of the importance of identity over merit, and a subjective definition of truth.That’s why there is no more urgent priority in the world today for sensible conservatives than to fight back against the radical left’s colonisation of education. Wilfred Reilly has accepted the challenge. Wilfred is a political science professor at Kentucky State University, and the author of the wonderful new book, “Lies My Liberal Teacher Told Me: Debunking the False Narratives Defining America's School Curricula”.NOTE: We had some very minor issues with Will's sound. Rest assured the tech team have been severely reprimanded.Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.

It wasn’t so long ago that one phrase sat above any other in the hierarchy of endorsements for a British or Australian male: “He’s a good bloke.” You don’t hear it as much in 2024 because blokehood is under attack across the Western world. Historically positive masculine virtues are now shamed as toxically masculine. At a minimum, blokeishness is derided as boorishness by our social betters in the media, politics, business, and culture. The first step to reclaiming blokehood is understanding it, which is what Geoff Norcott has done. As a rare right-winger, Geoff is a unique voice in British comedy, and has been hugely successful on the stand up circuit, with his podcast, and on TV. His latest book has made him the official expert on British blokes. It is titled, "The British Bloke: Decoded – From Banter to Man Flu, Everything Finally Explained."Follow Will Kingston and Fire at Will on social media here.Subscribe to The Spectator Australia here.Visit Geoff's website here.