As the Three Old Hacks get ready to tuck into the turkey and mince pies they consider how we will rate 2024. Mihir Bose thinks this has been the worst of times with Trump back in the White House, right-wing parties gaining power in Europe and the flood of non-European migrants creating an existentialist crisis. David Smith disagrees with his old friend arguing that proportional representation means the right may not win power and Europe has in the past coped with migration from former colonies. Nigel Dudley, wearing his Hampshire cricket hat, thinks the Keir Starmer government should not be written off because of its bad start in the first innings. There is always a second innings and recalls how Mrs Thatcher turned things round in the second innings.

The three discuss the crisis in the Church of England. They are unanimous in their condemnation of the Church but disagree on whether the Church should be disestablished.

Nigel Dudley, a bon viveur of food, takes issue with Kemi Badenock’s comment that she is not a fan of lunch breaks and sandwiches. David Smith recalls sitting next to the former Governor, Eddie George, at a lunch where the Governor did not eat explaining that this was because he was going to speak. Mihir Bose narrates how he recently spoke at a cricket lunch after enjoying an excellent roast lamb.

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 conclude their podcast with each of them making a choice of a song to bring us Christmas cheer.

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

As the Prime Minister Keir Starmer tries to recover from the worst start by a new government in recent times, the Three Old Hacks discuss why the government needs a re-launch a mere six months after coming to office with a huge majority. “Does it mean” asks Mihir Bose that “Labour no longer has leaders with political nous”. What happened to the party of Clement Attlee and Tony Blair?

Nigel Dudley recalls how Tories under Thatcher in 1979 also had a rocky start and David Smith explains points about Rachel Reeves’s CV and controversial budget that were missed by the media. With the sale of the Observer, the oldest Sunday paper, to the Tortoise group, they also discuss whether the unique British phenomenon of Daily and Sunday papers may be changing and we are moving to seven day papers.

Former Sports editor of BBC News Mihir Bose discusses why the Keir Starmer government is showing such political ineptitude with political analyst Nigel Dudley and Economics Editor of the Sunday Times David Smith, aka the Three Old Hacks.

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

The Three Old Hacks consider what we might expect from a second Trump presidency.

"Will it mean a more isolationist America?" asks MIhir Bose. What will it mean for Ukraine?

Has he made political discourse coarser, or are the off-colour remarks he makes no worse than the kind of thing President Lyndon B Johnson used to say?

Should we ignore the rhetoric of Trump's speeches, as Piers Morgan suggests, and just look at what he does in the White House rather than what he says?

Former Sports editor of BBC News Mihir Bose discusses the election of Donald Trump as US President for a second term with political analyst Nigel Dudley and Economics Editor of the Sunday Times David Smith, aka the Three Old Hacks.

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

The Three Old Hacks have known each other for 40 years, having met when they were all working for Financial Weekly magazine in 1984, which is also the year David Smith went on to join The Times. He recalls how Nigel Lawson set the standard as a tax reforming Chancellor with his autumn Budget that year, while Nigel Dudley remembers his lucky escape when he decided to go back to his hotel rather than having a nightcap at the bar of the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party Conference, thus missing the IRA's attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister and her Cabinet.

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

With a certain cynicism born of decades of political reporting, the Three Old Hacks look at the way in which the press have descended on the newly elected Labour government like a pack of ravening wolves over its approach to the Prime Minister receiving gifts.

As gifts of everything from expensive clothing to seats to watch Arsenal have been revealed, they discuss whether it matters that politicians receive gifts, and how the Downing St machine has handled – or failed to handle the stories.

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

Tony Blair's anthem was Things Can Only Get Better. Keir Starmer's appears to be Things Can Only Get Worse says David Smith, Economics Editor of the Sunday Times in this week's Three Old Hacks podcast, following on from the Prime Minister's speech this week warning they will have to raise taxes to fill the black hole left by the last government, in order to be able to do any of the things they want to do.

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, discuss the week's news. Listen to their podcast on The Chiswick Calendar website or on any of the usual podcast platforms.

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

Author and journalist, former Sports Editor of the BBC Mihir Bose talks to fellow journalists Economics Editor of the Sunday Times David Smith and political analyst Nigel Dudley about the week’s events.

“We haven’t seen that in a long time, I can remember this growing up in the 60’s and 70’s in the West Midlands when that kind of thing did happen and the National Front was on the rise”, says David Smith, talking about the organised violence we have seen on the streets recently.

Why did they happen?

“Let’s not beat about the bush, what we have seen is the calculated politicisation of immigration as an issue by the Conservative party in the run-up to the last election. They have blurred the distinction between legal immigration and what they describe as illegal immigration but which you rightly say, David, are asylum seekers” says Nigel.

Having reported on several years of summer riots, they think the new government handled it well.

“Keir Starmer has come out of this particularly well. He knew what to do and did it extremely well,” says David.

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

The Three Old Hacks, aka prolific author and former BBC Sports editor Mihir Bose, Economics editor of the Sunday Times David Smith and political analyst Nigel Dudley give their analysis of Keir Starmer’s first few days in Government.

“The whole focus is on quiet competence, no flashiness.”

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