Howard Jacobson - Unholy Conversations

Unholy: Two Jews on the News · Apr 28, 2026 · 50m

Howard Jacobson has screamed "liar" at the BBC, lost friends over a newspaper article, and started asking his wife whether it's still safe to live in London. Now he's written a novel about all of it.

*Howl* is the story of Ferdinand Draxler — Jewish headmaster, reluctant marcher, man on the edge — who watches the world he believed in applaud the October 7th massacre and descends into a rage that may or may not be madness. Jacobson says he borrowed quite a lot from the last two years of his life.

In this Unholy Conversations episode, Jacobson talks with Yonit and Jonathan about the…