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Three Old Hacks

Three Old Hacks

By: Mihir Bose David Smith Nigel Dudley
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About this listen

Mihir Bose – former BBC Sports Editor, David Smith – Economics Editor of the Sunday Times and political commentator Nigel Dudley have been friends since they first met while working at Financial Weekly in 1980s. They have kept in touch regularly, setting the world to rights over various lunches and dinners. With coronavirus making that impossible, what do journalists do, deprived of long convivial lunches over a bottle of red wine or several? Why, podcast of course.Get in contact with the podcast by emailing threeoldhacks@outlook.com, we’d love to hear from you!© 2025 Three Old Hacks Politics & Government
Episodes
  • It's all about regime change
    Jun 20 2025

    The Three Old Hacks considers Israel's war with Iran, the expectation of what 'two-week Trump' will do and how likely it is that Britain will get dragged in.

    Former BBC Sports editor Mihir Bose, Economics editor of The Sunday Times David Smith and political analyst Nigel Dudley's collective memories can recall the postwar history of the West's attempts at regime change in the Middle East over several decades.

    They also discuss tax, football, and the merits and vagaries of newspaper deliveries.

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

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    48 mins
  • Memories aren't what they used to be
    Jun 10 2025

    The Three Old Hacks talk political memoirs this week. Were they always as salacious, and as quickly turned round post-administration as they are now?

    Barely has the imprint of the politician's backside faded from the leather of the despatch box before somebody is telling all.

    Former BBC Sports editor Mihir Bose, Economics editor of The Sunday Times and political analyst Nigel Dudley discuss Sarah Vine's book How Not to be a Political Wife. She and her then husband Michael Gove were close to David and Samantha Cameron before the Brexit referendum ended the friendship, and she says, her marriage.

    The Three Old Hacks look back fondly to the days when MI5 put it about that Prime Minister Harold Wilson was a communist in thrall to Russia and everyone thought he was sleeping with his secretary, when in fact it was another woman altogether.

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

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    51 mins
  • The Three Old Hacks discuss immigration
    May 31 2025

    The Three Old Hacks discuss immigration this week. Mihir Bose, former Sports editor for the BBC, came here as an immigrant from India in the 1960s, not long after Enoch Powell made his famous 'Rivers of Blood' speech.

    Keir Starmer has been accused of evoking a fear of 'otherness' by echoing Powell's words, when he said Britain risked becoming an 'island of strangers'.

    David Smith, Economics editor of the Sunday Times, said Brexit had led to a massive increase in immigration, and we were "starting to shoot ourselves in the foot" because immigrants from the EU tended to be young, making little claim on the state, and usually returning home after they had spent a few years here. They did not displace British workers, the British workforce grew at the same rate, whereas now that was no longer the case.

    Nigel Dudley, political analyst, said Starmer's use of Powellite phraseology would give comfort and encourage racists. On a lighter note, Nigel also made an appeal for cricket players, as his village cricket ground is working to revive the sport locally. He's looking for players for Lidgate & Ousden Cricket Club and encouraged anyone living within a 20-mile radius of Newmarket or Bury St Edmunds to get in touch via their website: https://lidgateousden.play-cricket.com/home

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

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    42 mins
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