Planet Normal

As a Brexit deal floats on thin ice, we take a dive into the fishing industry and speak to Brian Stuart from Fraserburgh in Scotland, who's been a fisherman for over two decades. Brian tells Telegraph columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan why his fellow Scottish fisherman want Brexit at any cost, how they despair of the Common Fisheries Policy and why you have to be a bit mad to choose to s...

Matthew Goodwin, academic, author and Brex-pert takes his seat in the spaceship to Planet Normal, alongside Telegraph columnists and co-pilots, Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan. Professor Goodwin weighs in on why he thinks Boris Johnson urgently needs to 'reset his premiership', the very real possibility of a Labour-SNP coalition, and why he believes both Brexiteers and Remainers will blame each...

Broadcaster Richard Madeley dons the spare spacesuit for this week's trip to Planet Normal. Richard tells Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan why he won't be blindly "following the science" but interrogating it, reveals why he feels let down by his profession when it comes to corona, and explains how his whole life was changed by the twist of a Rubix cube. Also on the podcast: Allison is fed up of b...

Conservative MP, Steve Baker makes his debut Planet Normal voyage in this turbulent week in politics. As the deputy chair of the Covid Recovery Group, a group of Tory MPs against lockdowns, he tells Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan why a third lockdown could lead to an "enormous rebellion" in Parliament, why the PM must challenge SAGE more stringently   and why he believes that Dominic...

An extra special passenger in the Planet Normal rocket this week, as Telegraph columnists, Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan are joined by anonymous NHS GP and Planet Normal listener, 'Clare'. She explains how she feels the NHS is more the National Covid Service these days, how lockdown measures have tragically left some of her patients as "suicides waiting to happen", and why she thinks Matt...

Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan don their pilot gloves and make the voyage to Planet Normal, where they give their verdict on a bumpy week on both sides of the Atlantic. Lockdown returns in England, the US election keeps everyone guessing and Allison shares a positive update following last week's interview with Planet Normal listener, Robert, who had been separated from his wife, Josephine for m...

Every now and then, Planet Normal goes back to its roots and speaks to... a normal person. So joining Telegraph columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan in the rocket this week is listener Robert, whom regulars will know as the man whose letter brought us all to tears. He wrote to Planet Normal about not being able to visit his beloved wife, Josephine in her care home due to lockdown rule...

Buckle your seatbelts, Planet Normal is set to blast off for another week with it's esteemed pilots, Telegraph columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan. This week we discuss how some Northern leaders are raring to tell the PM to sod off if he imposes more restrictions in their areas, Allison gives her reaction to the latest lockdown in her hometown (she's not happy folks!) and Liam thinks coro...

Hold onto your helmets, it's another explosive week for Planet Normal, where Telegraph columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan discuss their fears for tiers, shed light on some underreported positive coronavirus survival stats and how Liam almost abandoned us for Number 10.  And filling the passenger seat this week is former BBC star and broadcasting legend Sue Cook. The former...

Sit tight, it's another bumpy journey to Planet Normal. This week, Telegraph columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan call out the government for failing to excel (see what we did there?) with Test, Track and Trace, interrogate how to cancel the cancel-culture invading UK universities, and debate whether BoJo's mojo has returned. Plus, Allison argues her case to be both Velma and Daphne, thank...

Buckle in, it’s been a news-laden week. On today’s podcast: Telegraph columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan commiserate the lads and lassies of Newcastle for having to stay at home, bemoan fat-cat University Chancellors, and struggle to read one heartbreaking listener email.  Plus you asked, we listened - this week's guest is lockdown-sceptic and listener favourite Ivor Cummins. He acc...

What a week! Time to grab your space helmets and head to Planet Normal, and joining you in the rocket today is Oxford University epidemiologist, Professor Sunetra Gupta. Fresh from a meeting with the PM, she tells Telegraph columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan why the government was wrong to base the lockdown on worst-case scenario modelling, why this is only a "third division" pandemic an...

... or you'll cry. This week Telegraph columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan are joined by a man whose raison d'être is to get the country smiling. Geoff Norcott, one of the UK's only vocally Right-wing comedians, tells Planet Normal why the BBC's pledge towards diversity of opinion might prove futile, why the "woke" musn't be exempt from comedy and why he would never apologise for a joke....

The lockdown rules are changing and Telegraph columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan aren't happy about it. On today's show, Allison asks what on earth has happened to the country's "Blighty not frighty" spirit, Liam chastises Matt Hancock for his doom-laden language, plus, they deliberate the three Bs - Brexit, the backstop and Brad Pitt. Also on the podcast: this week’s guest and former Su...

The BBC is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons, and Telegraph columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan have something to say about it. On today’s podcast, Allison tells us why she feels as if she’s in a toxic relationship with the broadcaster, Liam weighs in the corporation’s “mini moral lectures” and the pair agree that BBC comedy needs to stop using Donald Trump as a punchline. Pl...

Financier Dame Helena Morrissey dons her spacesuit to join Telegraph columnists, Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan on their latest voyage to Planet Normal. The founder of The 30% Club talks about the pandemic's ambiguous effect on women in the workplace, why staying silent over Brexit wasn't an option, and why we need a "burning of the red tape" to save the economy. Plus, she tells us why you won'...

David Davis MP is Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan's latest passenger as they blast off to Planet Normal. The Tory veteran talks about whether the A-Levels U-turn will be this government's poll tax moment, says don’t need to be “world leading”, we just need to be competent when it comes to coronavirus, and that the Cabinet would have benefitted from more experience in hindsight. Plus, a glimpse b...

Nigel Farage buckles up to join the Telegraph's Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan on their weekly voyage to Planet Normal. Never one to hold back, Mr Farage accuses the French navy of being a taxi service for immigrants, warns the Prime Minister that he's at risk of losing Middle England, and declares the Cabinet a bunch of "kids with rich daddies".  Plus, Liam welcomes Allison back after her...

Broadcaster Iain Dale hops into the passenger seat to join the Telegraph's Liam Halligan and guest co-pilot Kate Hoey on this week's voyage to Planet Normal. Iain tells Liam why he's been known to shame people for rudeness on social media, how he suffers from imposter syndrome, and why he's written a book about listening to the other side of the debate. Plus, Kate and Liam discuss why it's ha...

For the next two weeks former MP Kate Hoey steps into Allison Pearson's space-boots to join Liam Halligan as co-pilot to Planet Normal. Their guest this week is former MEP and director of the Institute of Ideas, Claire Fox, who tells Liam that there is a war on history led from the top, that the BBC is the now the "woke" channel and how she bruises after social media showdowns.  Plus, Ka...

Planet Normal goes back to its roots and speaks to... a normal person. This week it’s brave district nurse and Planet Normal listener, Holly, who tells Telegraph columnists, Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan about the horrors of treatments delayed over the coronavirus crisis: a devastating move she thinks will cause more deaths than the pandemic itself. Plus, she reveals how care homes were “bulli...

Entrepreneur Luke Johnson is Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan's latest guest to blast off to Planet Normal. The man behind Pizza Express and Gail's Bakery tells Allison why the government's only effective lockdown policy has been 'Project Fear', how the High Street will have to get creative to survive, and reveals what other captains of industry are telling him behind closed doors. Plus, Allison...

Trevor Phillips, broadcaster, writer and former chairman of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, is Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan's latest castaway to Planet Normal. The former Labour candidate for London Mayor tells Liam why guilt obscures media coverage of racial issues, how he knows what it's like to be randomly stopped by the police, and why he believes parts of the Labour Party jus...

Shaun Bailey, Conservative candidate for London Mayor, touches down on Planet Normal, alongside Telegraph columnists, Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan. The former Special Advisor to the PM tells Allison why we're in for a "summer of discontent", why Labour hasn't been able to curb London's knife crime crisis and how speaking out against the Left as a black person is seen as an act of bravery. Oh...

Former Governor of the Bank of England, Lord Mervyn King, is the co-pilot on Telegraph columnists Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan's fifth orbiting of Planet Normal. He tells us why he believes no-deal Brexit scaremongering was an attempt to reverse the referendum result, how quantitative easing isn't always the answer, and why politicians should admit to changing their minds. Plus, Allison and L...