Nick Hilton Nick Hilton

The Spectator podcast: How to stay sane in Trumpworld

On this week’s episode, we discuss how to stay sane in the age of Trump, whether Hull deserves the mantle of Britain’s City of Culture, and if Tatler were right to outlaw the word ‘ghastly’.

First, we sat down with Harry Mount, who writes a guide in this week’s magazine on how to keep your head in ‘Trumpworld’, when all about you are losing theirs. The key, Harry says, is to block out the noise:

“Don’t let Trump — or his usefully hysterical enemies — drive you crazy. Ignore the trolls and the virtue-Trumpeters; discard Trump’s anti-media hysteria as the cynically concocted ruse it is. Most people — including you — aren’t shouting, so why should the shouters have a monopoly on your attention? Neither the Trump-lovers nor the Trump-haters have a monopoly on the truth.”

He was joined on the podcast by Michael Segalov, a writer and activist, who defended the protests and urged people to get angry, saying:

“There is, of course, a time and a place for responding to people in a cool, calm and collected manner, but, at the same time, there are very real, very pertinent, very present consequences to things already happening under [Trump’s] administration. To sit silently by whilst they happen is really dangerous.”

The next best thing to visiting Hull, this year’s City of Culture, is reading James Walton‘s account of his trip there. Once considered a post-industrial failure, Hull has been afforded a second life as a cultural oasis in the heart of the East Riding. James joins the podcast along with Sam Jordison the editor of the Crap Towns series of books, which, in 2003, named Hull the UK’s single crappest town. The title was ill-deserved, says James on the podcast:

“The place is buzzing. You come off the train and, as part of the City of Culture, there’s a grand piano in the station foyer and people are playing it (playing it rather well).

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in