You can watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/lq-8ZhnYjjk

The rocket of right thinking speeds around planet normal gathering the news tsunami of this week…

Allison surprises Liam by AGREEING with Sir Keir Starmer’s social media ban for under 16 year olds, as she states in her column this week. The addictive and toxic nature of smartphones has ruined children’s attention spans and their “in real life" connections and this ban could help them reconnect with the elusive parchment joy of books.

Liam strongly echoes Allison’s stance, arguing that tech platforms expose children to "relentless bullying" and corporate exploitation. Shifting to finance, he forecasts an imminent rise in global interest rates, pointing to rising producer price inflation and rate hikes in Australia and Japan as clear indicators that borrowing costs are headed back up.

Stowing away this week is return guest Bernie Spofforth, who tells us about her experience of being questioned by police due to a retweet she posted on X. She has released a book, out on the 25th June, to discuss how Government overreach, police and NGO’s have worn down democracy…

Highlights

Planet Normal: The Social media ban will free our kids from the addictive and toxic smartphone
Bernie Spofforth’s Legal Fight: Detained for 36 hours over a Southport-related retweet, Spofforth reveals she is suing the police in the High Court this November for gross overreach.
Institutional Failures: The hosts condemn public bodies for failing to protect victims in the Preston Davey and Nottingham tragedies due to a culture of "suicidal empathy".

Sign up to our most popular newsletter, From the Editor. Look forward to receiving free-thinking comment and the day's biggest stories, every morning. telegraph.co.uk/fromtheeditor |

Book your tickets to 'How to make Brexit a success’ on 29th June in London: telegraph.co.uk/brexit-big-debate |

Read Allison ‘Giving children smartphones is like handing them grenades. I should know‘: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/06/16/why-i-support-social-media-ban/ |

Read more from Allison: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/allison-pearson/ |

Read Liam ‘The UK’s battered public finances are about to get even more stretched’:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/06/14/the-uks-battered-public-finances-about-even-more-stretched/ |

Read more from Liam: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/liam-halligan/ |

Read Liam’s Substack: https://liamhalligan.substack.com/ |

Need help subscribing or reviewing? Learn more about podcasts here:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/radio/podcasts/podcast-can-find-best-ones-listen/ |

Email: planetnormal@telegraph.co.uk |

For 30 days’ free access to The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/normal |

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.