149: Summer Fun Special

Sarah Shannon joins as the team discuss Reform’s calamitous start in their new councils, the rain on Donald Trump’s parade, and enjoy a quiz all about politicians’ outside earnings.

Episode Transcript

Maisie (00:00):
Page 94, the Private Eye Podcast

Andy (00:03):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Page 94.
My name's Andrew Hunter Murray, and I'mhere in the private eye office with Helen
Lewis, Adam McQueen and Sarai Shannon.
We are gonna be talking about allsorts of things in this episode.
We've got three crackingsubjects lined up later on.
We're gonna be having a quiz.
We're

Adam (00:18):
Yay,

Helen (00:18):
yay,

Andy (00:20):
it's
summer.
Why not?
we're also going to be havinga chat about, America, which
apparently has an Army.
And is very excited to show it off.
But first we thought we'dcover something close to home.
So you will have doubtless noticed.
The fact that Reform, the party have beenin the news a great deal recently, partly
because, their chair Zia Yusuf resignedand then Unresigned 48 hours later.

(00:42):
that's been the big ticketheadline about Reform recently.
But actually, of course.
Reform have been far more prominentbecause on the 1st of May they
won big in quite a lot of localelections all around the country.
So they took control of 10local authorities outright.
, Sarai who has been writing a little bitabout what has actually been going on
in those 10, county councils and localauthorities since the beginning of May.

(01:07):
So Sarai, we, wanted to ask you,how's it going so far and what is the.
Agenda that they
have?
what is their big,offer to the electorate?

Sarah (01:17):
I think first of all, Reform UK is going to be the gift that keeps
on giving to the Rotten Boroughs page.
I think the last five issues, they'vemanaged to fill about half the column.
thank you very much.
and, no, the, two key.
Themes to emerge, I think, are that,the Reform councilors, quite a few of

(01:38):
them haven't hung around for very long.
we're only six weeks from the electionand, five or six have already either
resigned or been suspended from the party.
For various reasons.

Andy (01:51):
I hope we get into those reasons.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Sarah (01:53):
and the other thing, to note is the sort of lack of policy or
the policies they have got seem tobe getting them into lots of hot

Helen (02:01):
hang on a minute, they've got a great policy about only flying.
Is it count Iran now that it's now the UKflag, the English flag and also possibly
your county flag, but absolutely not.
The bisexual flag?
No, which, and yeah, no, 'causehonestly, everyone wade into this round.
The TOS got involved too, and the TOSput out a press release saying that

(02:21):
David Lamie was seen hoisting thebisexual flag over Whitehall, which I
think is my favorite euphemism I've ever

Andy (02:27):
flies both ways off the pole, isn't it?
Yeah.
Yeah.

Sarah (02:29):
particularly

Adam (02:30):
the bisexual flag they've got a problem

Helen (02:31):
Yeah, they were really annoyed

Adam (02:32):
L and the G and the T and the Q, but no the B's.
No B's.

Sarah (02:35):
No bees.
And also the Ukraine flag

Andy (02:38):
so one of the big claims that Reform made going into the
local election is that they canrun councils much more efficiently.
And, they wanted to say that they're goingto have, doge, department of Government
deficiency, Elon Musk's American outfit.
They said that local councilscould, make so many, gains
and savings from efficiency.
is there any evidence ofthat yet, or that project

Sarah (02:57):
that project has begun.
but let's just say the road's been abit bumpy so far because, the people
that took charge of that were Zia Yusef,the chairman of Reform, who resigned
recently, and then Unresigned, and atech bro called Nathaniel Fry, who's.
Kind of our answer to ElonMusk, if you imagine he

(03:18):
wears a

Adam (03:19):
no one was

Helen (03:19):
asking.

Sarah (03:20):
He wears, a baseball cap, but I, haven't seen him with a chainsaw
yet, but I, guess it is only time.
So they unresigned and now they're.
Back looking through the booksof, Kent County Council, the
residents are getting a bit nervous.
They're saying, is our personalinformation going to be respected?
We are not sure we really want reform.
UK's head office rakingthrough our personal details.

(03:42):
They are covered by rules andregulations, and data protection.
So you know that they'renot happy about that.
And then one resident told the Eye thathe had written back to Reform UK saying,
in the interest of transparency, wouldyou mind opening your own books to me so
that I could check through everything thatyou've done since your party was started?

(04:03):
But so far they haven't replied to him.

Andy (04:05):
'Cause Rotten Borough is obviously rights a great deal about
wasteful spending by councils.
Yeah.
And it's frequently along the linesof wasteful or rather extremely
inflated council salaries for headsof council of chief executives,
officers, that kind of thing.
That does feel like an area whereyou could theoretically make savings.
But actually, obviously mostcouncils spend, I think it's

(04:27):
up to 80% of their budget onchildren's and adult social care.
So I'm trying to work out what.
Where these big savings are going to

Sarah (04:36):
to supposedly come from?
I think, yeah.
the idea that there's huge savings tobe made, I think is pretty ludicrous.
When councils are cut to the bone,they've, core budget has fallen by 27%.
It's 2010.
they're having to make cutbacksin really essential areas.
We're seeing councils goingbankrupt or technically bankrupt.

(04:57):
having to have government bailouts,there's not loads of money sloshing around
in local government ready to be cut,

Andy (05:04):
but,
they're not saying they're goingto have these big salaries or
payouts to departing executives,

Sarah (05:09):
they haven't really got.
Into the policy in that kind of detail.
Yeah.
Which I think was what Rupert Lowe pointedout, in his big bust up with reform
was that, where are the actual policypapers on things like social care High
Street renewal and things like that.
we need some actual facts, but the thingsthat they have gone big on are things

(05:30):
like net zero, low traffic neighborhoods.
That was my favorite because ZiaYusef said, the 10 reform areas would
become havens for, motorists with nolow traffic neighborhoods anymore.
'cause they were gonnaget rid of them all.
And then it turned out that noneof the 10 council areas had low
traffic neighborhoods anyway.

Andy (05:49):
But also they don't, councils don't spend huge amounts
of money on, net zero projects.
That's not a council spending area.

Sarah (05:57):
No, exactly.
And also in, for example, in GreaterLincolnshire, renewable energies brings
in a huge amount of money into the county.
I think 980 millionpounds at the last count.
And it accounts for 12,000jobs in that county.
So Andrea Jenkins, the new mayor,and, her like talking down net zero

(06:18):
isn't gonna go down very well withthe people whose jobs depend on it.

Adam (06:21):
Is part of the problem the way that people vote in local elections?
'cause very few people actually botherto put in the kind of homework and, know
about the minutiae of local governmentand who does what, including, it sounds
like an awful lot of the people whowere actually running for reform.
but they tend to do it on a sortof vibes basis of what they're
feeling about national politicsat any at any given time.
And at the moment we've got NigelFarage and, his gang kind of high

(06:43):
riding, really high in the polls.
And people think, this is a way togive Keir Starmer a bloody note.
And then you end up with peoplecoming in and actually there, there's
very little they can do in termsof, they, they can tweak a few local
budgets in very, specific areas.
But when it comes to the, big thingsthat reform is campaigning on,
which is MI migration and, EDI and,net zero and those kind of things,
actually, there's not many leversthey can actually pull at that level.

Sarah (07:06):
No, exactly.
I mean you have to assumeprotest votes were happening.

Adam (07:10):
that's part of, is that part of the reason a lot of the councilors
have already resigned as well?
'cause they were effectively gonnabe paper candidates, which you
always get in elections, don't you?
Parties put up certain people 'causethey never think they're gonna get in.
And then there has, this hasbeen this huge surge in, in
support from a few people.
Ended up, hang on, I've been elected.
I didn't actually mean to at all.

Sarah (07:26):
I think that was.
One of the problems, I'llgo through a couple of the
candidates that have resigned.
There was a guy in Durham calledAndrew Kilburn who resigned because
he was, working for the counciland you're not allowed to work for
the council and be a counselor.
Whether he hadn't spottedthat or whether he

Adam (07:42):
that saves some money from the budget,

Sarah (07:44):
I don't really know.
And then there was a chapcalled Wayne Tit Lee in.
Staffordshire council, and he resignedfor personal reasons, which may or may not
be related to a Facebook post he'd put upsaying that he thought one way of getting
rid of small boats crossing the channelwould be for the Navy to gunfire on

Helen (08:01):
Yes, it did have that air that it was going in that when
you said that the start of thatpost, I thought a Facebook post.
oh.
oh.
Choppy waters ahead.

Sarah (08:08):
So I think there must have been some people that were very surprised
to wake up and find themselves.
counselors delighted in some cases.
Some obviously have already resigned.
and the irony is that, reform UK isall about slashing red tape and saving
taxpayers money, and they've alreadygot, five by elections to run e, each
of which is gonna cost about 25 grand.

(08:30):
So that's a good

Helen (08:31):
the other thing is I think that we're probably gonna hear about
every single one of these becausefrom the point of view of Labour at
national level, they want to run thenext election as Labour versus reform.
And I think this is very annoying to theliberal democrats who think what are we.
Chop liver, and it's very annoying tothe Conservative Party who still exists,
but they know that lots and lots ofpeople, for all the people that love
Nigel Farage, there are a lot of peoplewho be motivated to vote against him.

(08:52):
And that might be a way of Labourclinging onto its vote after a
difficult set of years financially.
But what that also means is that theLabour research department will be
looking into a lot of these, right?
there'll be a lot ofFacebook posts being read by

Andy (09:06):
people
big barrel, a lot of fish
is what

Adam (09:08):
the problem they're facing.
'cause everyone's getting very excited,as I say about Reform being very high in
the, kind of national polls at the moment.
But because of the way our electoralsystem works, it's not just the Nigel Far
show, it can't just be Nigel Frost show.
He's gotta find 650 candidates,all of whom preferably haven't got
Facebook posts that talk about thatsort of thing or any kinda skeletons
in the closet or anything that's that.
And that's.
Quite a challenge going onkind of past, past form,

(09:30):
isn't
it?

Andy (09:31):
got, is it five mps now?
Yes.
'cause Rupert Low left and then thenew one, Sarai Putin, signed up.
But of those five, there's alreadyone with a criminal conviction.
So if you scale that up to anational level, that's gonna
be, it's gonna be well over a
hundred

Adam (09:44):
And the scrutiny you get in national elections, if you're
standing for parliament, is so muchmore than, than you get standing
as a local councilor, isn't it?
Yeah.
So this stuff is gonna get

Sarah (09:54):
out.
Exactly.
And the liberal Democrats haveactually bothered to set up a
research unit keeping a Reform Watch.
they're, not giving up hope.

Adam (10:03):
but journalists as well, covering general elections, most
of the, grind of a General Electioncampaign is so tedious, isn't it?
It's going on battle buses
and saying, what, Kia or Kemi saidwhen standing in front of what vehicle,
in what factory at any given time.
So the joy of having a a sort of a Jaredo Omar or other, loon who you've managed
to dig out some, crazy online stuff from.

(10:23):
And, and, do that

Helen (10:25):
story
instead.
But have we crossed a kind of loon,a porous loon barrier, which we will
now not be able to retrench from?
Because I just wonder if we're gettinginto a bit of that post cancellation zone.
And I know you will have appreciateAdam as much as me watching the
new, the replacement for EF DavidBoulogne party Chairman talk
about his belief in ghosts on it.
Read to Richard Madeley, whichmade me one of the best clips of

(10:47):
television that I've seen all year

Andy (10:48):
was
this.
Was he talking aboutthis after being elected?

Helen (10:52):
Reforms
appointed?
Yeah, yeah.
'cause he used to host most hauntedLive, And he told an incredible story.
So Richard Madeley being RichardMadeley, asked the questions that
Britain is dying to know the answerto, and said, do you believe in ghosts?
Which you can feel that Laura Kosberg,which first realize like a bit below
her, but, and he was like, yes, I do.
And then told this incredible storyabout filming Most haunted live.
He turned up, he felt there was apresence in the back of his car.

(11:14):
He turned up at the hotel and DerekKora TV medium, Derek Kora, said to him.
You didn't come here alone, did you?
Which he took to be massively spooky, butcould also equally be just a very generic
question that you asked, oh, you notbrought someone with you to this hotel.
Yeah.
and then De Cora said that hewould channel, David Bull's dead
grandmother, but which he startedto do, but then immediately

(11:35):
started to try and strangle him.

Andy (11:37):
Sorry.

Adam (11:37):
says something about family relationships in the Boulogne family,

Helen (11:40):
grand mother is
so da.
Wait, David Bull's bodyguards atthis point, according to his account.
Pull off
Kora, as it were.
And the next morning, David Boulogneasked Erykah Cora what happens?
And he said, I was trying tochannel your grandmother, but then
a malevolent spirit came through.

Sarah (11:56):
Oh, and.

Helen (11:57):
Richard made Lee's response to this was magnificent, which
was, and you'd have had him hangedunder your plan, wouldn't you?
Wouldn't you, Derek?
They were bought.
No one out made Lee's the Madely.

Andy (12:06):
Is this a vote winner?
A lot of people

Helen (12:08):
this and loads of people believe in ghosts, but I just thought it,
if you can now just be talking aboutyour love of ghosts and ITV breakfast
shows, maybe the, our belief that thekind of crank element of, Reform is
gonna inhibit them, may be tragically
wrong.

Andy (12:20):
this is a smaller ver this is a smaller version of Trumpism, isn't it?
Have you've got a thousandtargets to a match?

Helen (12:25):
Yeah.
Or the guy in the Greens whothought he could hypnotize women's,
to get their breasts bigger,

Andy (12:29):
but he
ha he has he stepped down fromrunning for the leadership?
Okay.

Helen (12:33):
No.
Maybe there's a huge boobhypnosis vote out there, Andrew.
you just don't know.

Adam (12:37):
And
actually there is', I dunno about theirviews on the supernatural, but there is
certainly a very kind of porous membranebetween people who are going to that
right wing reforming type ticket and.
Some quite serious conspiracytheorizing, isn't there?
we wrote a bit in the last, lastissue about, Neil Oliver, who was
a presenter on GB News, which isif anything it's the reform TV
channel.

(12:57):
he's now actually, he's so wackyand out there that they've taken him
off air and put him on, online only.
Ofcom, get no say over what he saysor doesn't say, but he's been quite
happily retweeting David Ike andtalking about, how outside forces
are controlling our world andrecording videos with Beverly Turner.
is it Beverly Turner?
I think there's another GB newspresenter who, about how COVID may

(13:18):
never have existed in the first place.
there, there is an audience outthere for, and they are politically
a politically active audiencewho, who like this kind of thing.
So maybe the.
Kind of what was, David Cameron's phraseabout pp reform brutal fruitcakes loons
and, ra and closet racist, wasn't it?
Yeah.
Yeah.
no, and the racism is certainly lesscloset for in, in a lot of cases now.

(13:41):
But the, the loons and the fruitcakesare also having a bit of a day in the sun

Sarah (13:45):
these
days,

Helen (13:46):
yeah, but I think there is gonna be an interesting point
about when the scrutiny comes in.
'cause as you say, Sarai, they've nowgot all these counselors who will be
doing things that will either delightor annoy their constituents, but
they're also predicted to do quitewell in the Welsh elections next year.
They're doing increasingly wellin Scotland after having some sort
of slightly high handed Scottishcommentary about how the, these English

(14:06):
racists will never get foothold here.
Actually not doing badly.

Andy (14:10):
They came third in the recent by election, but with a,
the high twenties share of the

Helen (14:13):
vote,
but this is happening a lot.
They often come in not whatobjectively doesn't look like a
great position, but from absolutelynowhere with very little campaigning
base, as you say, paper candidatesessentially sometimes being put up.
The vibe is definitely, peopleare, really pissed off with Labour.
They don't, they haven'tyet forgiven the Tories.
Everyone's forgotten about theexistence of the Lib Dems unless
you live in the Gails belt.

(14:34):
And then there's whoelse or who else is left?

Andy (14:37):
Can I give you one more stat, which I just found interesting about
a, major plank of Reforms, , appeal.
It's certainly in the councilsthey're running, which is the
idea of we need British Doge.
This is from about a week ago.
This is a u gov poll From everythingyou've seen and heard, do you have
a favorable or unfavorable opinionof the US Government's Department
of Government efficiency at Doge?

Very Favorable (14:57):
6%, Somewhat Favorable
So 15 in total have apositive view of Doge?

Somewhat Unfavorable (15:05):
13%.
Very Unfavorable, 34% andthen lots of Don't Knows, 37%.
This is not, it appearsto, I'm just looking
at
these numbers, thinking
this

Sarah (15:17):
is
like unpopular

Andy (15:18):
almost.
what's the reasoning?
Why do

Helen (15:22):
it?
But the answer is that Dogeis an idea, is incredible.
Doge in reality was terrible.
and this is what you were comingback to saying that about slashing
the budgets, the idea of, I, there'slots of people being paid 50,000
grand a year to be the gay officer inNorthampshire and we'll get rid of that.
that, like that is a workable proposition.
It's just obviously thesestories often end up not to be
what you might call... True.

(15:44):
And then what actually ends uphappening is that they get in, see
that 70% of the budget goes on socialcare, and the idea of chucking old
people out onto the street is not that

Sarah (15:52):
popular
in
Lincolnshire.
Yeah.
Andrew Jenkins big thing was toget rid of DEI related things,
diversity, equity, and inclusion.
And then pointed out to her thatthere were no DEI related posts on
her new council and she said, they'rehiding under other, names like,

(16:13):
like community outreach officers.

Helen (16:15):
So I can see why in principle, doge really appeals to him in the same way.
It massive Elon Musk going onstage and saying, I'm gonna cut 2
trillion from the federal budget,got a clap line every time.
It's just that he got there andhe was like, oh, should we take
benefits away from veterans?

Adam (16:28):
it'll be very hard for anyone who's been reading private eyes
rotten borough columns for howevermany years to, object to the idea
of someone going in and actuallygetting rid of excessive spending.
But also when it comes to the realismof what you can do, as you say,

Sarah (16:40):
That's true.
And just, at a moment where.
Councils are really strugglingwith very small budgets for really
emergency essential services.
It seems like and it'll be interestingto see where they come up with that.
That needs to be cut.

Andy (16:55):
Are there any more, especially juicy or weird councils or councilors

Sarah (16:59):
there's this chap in Lester Cher called Andrew Hamilton Gray.
And he failed to mention to votersthat he'd been sacked from the police
last year, after a long career in thepolice, he had been, reporting himself
in as sick, and actually he'd beendelivering cars for a luxury car company,

(17:21):
but he did tell the voters that hewas a longstanding public servant.
Yeah,
Just didn't mention that untilquite recently when I'm now I'm not

Helen (17:30):
yeah.
And then they find out
what I was
really doing.
Yeah.

Sarah (17:32):
yes,

Andy (17:32):
I'm sure there's gonna be a lot more about reform in, in the
coming issues of rotten boroughsand the coming pages of the

Sarah (17:37):
Mac,
I'm sure.

Andy (17:41):
Right now we're back for part two of the podcast.
And actually little, little team change.
We've had a substitution, SaraiShannon has regenerated as Ian Hislop.
Hello
Ian.

Ian (17:50):
Hello.
I'm going to turn intoBilly Piper in a minute.

Helen (17:53):
a minute.

Andy (17:55):
so for this one I thought it might be fun to get into, it via a joke piece.
'cause there was a joke inthe last, Eye, which was.
the headline was America Invades America.
And this is about the fact that havingtaken office promising to, annex
Canada, take over Venezuela, controlthe Suez Canal, various other bits
around the world, Donald Trump hasnow deployed the Army to, California.

(18:17):
And this coincided last weekend scenesof, riots and National Guard, the
Marines being sent in, with a hugemilitary parade in Washington, DC
where Trump was celebrating the, USArmy and they were celebrating their
250th birthday, but they had notoriginally intended to have a parade.

(18:37):
for Trump's 79th birthday, so he'sone third as old as the US Army.
Interesting.
he had said I'd like to havea parade on my birthday.
Lots of tanks, lots of soldiers.
Helen, how did it go?

Helen (18:48):
Very badly.
I'm delighted to report.
there was a guy carrying a drone thatwas a low point, hoisting it, a loft,

Andy (18:54):
But he was also holding the remote controller.

Helen (18:56):
Yeah.
I presume you just can't
fly

Adam (18:58):
hadn't charged the batteries.
They forgot someone forgot

Helen (19:01):
Exactly.
Ages three and up they, yeah.
But, but also they couldn't march.
fundamentally, they were not in timeanyway, I've conducted extensive
investigation to this by asking militarycontacts and the theory is apparently
it's very hard to march without adrumbeat of some sort to keep you in time.
And the fact they were playing FortunateSun and YMCA and whatever, the disco
classics didn't help as if the fact,apparently if you're wearing rubber

(19:23):
boots, combat boots, they don't makeenough of a snap on the floor to be
able to, again, keep you in time.

Andy (19:28):
over here.
Of course, we also had, we had theking's birthday on, on same day
and the, the trooping of the color
Have we just been spoiled byBritain's traditional mastery
of pageantry over the years?
Are we

Ian (19:39):
used
to
it?
I'm afraid.
I watched both ceremonies,with a swell of pride,
thinking.
They have Trump's birthday,which I've decided is now the
trooping of the color orange.
It always to be known.
And it does make very, clear theboring constitutional point that,

(20:00):
pro-Monachists always raise is loyaltyto The Crown means you don't end up
with loyalty to a big orange man,baby, celebrating his own birthday.
And there's, a dignity evenif it's, mildly amusing.
to watch the antics of the royalfamily on the balcony entities.
but that somehow is less, undignifiedthan watching a frankly shambolic

(20:25):
display of non marching, to commemoratean event which Trump didn't seem
to understand what had happened,

Andy (20:31):
So couldn't march because there was no drumbeat and they were in

Helen (20:35):
soft sold

Andy (20:36):
wrong Shoes, yeah.
But it looked like theywere out for a walk.

Helen (20:39):
they just ambled along, didn't they?
There was no other crisp kind of saywhat you like about North Korea, but
they know how to put on a parade.

Ian (20:45):
that's,

Andy (20:45):
I imagine that North Korea, Russia, that, they, the huge where they, wheel the
Cruise missiles through the main square.
they've had decades of practice of this.
So is it simply about that?

Helen (20:57):
but also that it, it's about what you want your Army for.
Do you want a huge ceremonialArmy that are drilled in this all
the time, or do you want an Army?
Lots of people in the US Army thatwere on that parade, they'll work
in things like beaten and droneoperators over kind of Pakistan.
They're not necessarily.
That sort of, they're notthe marchy type of soldier

Ian (21:13):
but the mood was wrong.
Americans traditionally don't do this.
one of the marks of being a fascist isyou have military parades, which celebrate
the, commander in chief, which, in ourcase is a member of the royal family,
or it's Princess Ann in a terrific hat.
No, she's not command in chief.

(21:34):
I'm perfectly aware of that,but you get that feel to it.
in
America, traditionally, theyassociate that with, fascist,
regimes or communist regimes.
It's surprisingly un-American, andthe only bit that I thought was
genuine American, I. Well, the Helenagrees was the recreation of, the
dressing up of the first defeat ofthe British, which, was very well

(21:58):
done and they're good at that bit.
but again, I think someone should explainto Trump what the point of that Army was.
The continental Army, fullof people like the French.
again, none of these detailsare, very useful to for him.
but it was about.
Freedom

Helen (22:15):
they should have made poor Marco Rubio, but like the Mar and Mac Lafayette
and stuff like that, like a schoolnativity play, they've all gotta dress up.
But you are right.
My colleague, Tom Nichols at The Atlantic,who worked as a military instructor,
naval instructor for 25 years, saidthis is about habituating Americans to
the idea of seeing tanks in the streetsabout seeing the Army on the streets.
It's all about politicizing the Army.
So not long beforehand, he had given,Trump had given a speech at Fort Bragg

(22:40):
and had mocked Joe Biden saying hecould never get a crowd like this.
They were selling MAGA merch.
They'd specially selected the soldiersto be enthusiastic about Trump

Andy (22:50):
So this is an audience con consisting entirely of

Helen (22:53):
American
soldiers
of serving soldiers inuniform, which is, it is.
it is forbidden for Americansoldiers in uniform to do
anything that is political, right?
It's just like one of those hard lines.
But they said they asked forvolunteers to come to this and they
were selling MAGA stuff on the base.
And so it is just blurring of the,this is what Trump wanted to do.
He wanted to send in the Army too, if youremember, crushed the George Floyd protest

(23:13):
in 2020 and, he wanted to have an Army.
Basically teargas people outta thesquare in DC so that he could go
and, look at some of the stuff.
And the people aroundhim at that time said no.
'cause there was still somenormie generals and he's just
obviously cleared them out.
But the thing I was gonna say that'sthat kind of coded to this is Fort Bragg.
Could you imagine whoFort Bragg is named after

Adam (23:34):
Melvin?

Andy (23:35):
Billy.

Adam (23:37):
Billy's Even better.
Yes.

Helen (23:41):
So Fort Bragg historically was named after Braxton Bragg, who was a
Confederate general, and then the Pentagonunder Biden, who went through this process
where he said, maybe we should, giventhat they lost in the Civil War, maybe
we should rename all of these bases.
So it was renamed Fort Liberty in 2022.
Anyway, the Trump administration is now.
Gone back to renaming all of thesebases like Fort Lee, which was

(24:01):
originally named after Robert E. Lee,but it now pretends that it hasn't
named them after Confederate Generals.
This is now allegedly named afterprivate first class Roland Bragg,
who got a Purple Heart for theBattle of the Bulge, the Robert E.
Lee one is now.
Allegedly named after PrivateFitley, a Black soldier who fought
in the Spanish American War.
So the Trump administration under PeterHegseth as Secretary of Defense has

(24:23):
restored all the Confederate names,but in that typical bloody irritating
little internet trollway that they hadbeen like, "it's not actually named
after Robert E. Lee, it's anotherRobert E. Lee who goes to another
school. You can't have a go at us."

Ian (24:35):
That's utterly pathetic

Adam (24:36):
It does.
It is a bit windrush
line,

Helen (24:38):
it's a bit like you can Yeah.
But also that you you can't,I'm not touching, can't get mad.
it's got that sort of sense of winding youup deliberately, but then you can't Oh,
but it's not actually, you can't actuallyhave a go us for renaming everything
after Confederate Soldiers because ofthe Confederacy support for slavery

Ian (24:52):
and
other, is there a fault,Jim Crow, that we could have

Helen (24:54):
named after exactly
James Crow a Wonderful Rail Women, Yeah.
it's, but it's all like thatbasically they brought back in
the same way that they've renamed.
Mount McKinley, the Gulf of America,they brought back all of these,
names and that's where he was.
He was speaking at Fort Bragg.

Ian (25:08):
and when he takes the salute and actually gives a salute, are you
allowed to do that as a civilian who'shad not only no combat experience, but
five separate, successful attempts toavoid doing military service yourself?

Helen (25:22):
I think I was thinking about when you were talking about Princess
Anne on parade, it must absolutelykill him that he can't ride a horse.
maybe he can, but certainlynot to the quality required to
ride when the military prayed.
And I think one of the reasons they got soannoyed with, Admiral Rachel Levi, who's
the highest serving transgender official,was that she was a decorated Navy veteran.
Who was therefore allowed to wear a Navyuniform, which were the female version of.

(25:44):
but I think it must absolutely annoyTrump incredibly well that someone is
allowed, someone else is allowed to wear auniform who they think is a sort of woke.
DI hire, I bet he'd love auniform, wouldn't he love a,
like the gold braid on the cap's?

Adam (25:57):
which is not something our royal family have a problem with.
They're quite big on theuniforms and the metals, aren't
they

Ian (26:01):
yep.
Oh yes.

Andy (26:03):
I did think when they were playing the song,
Fortunate Sun, just aboutthe most famous anti-war.
Anti-nepotism, anti-capitalismsong of all time.
I wonder if this takesDonald back to his days.
Not in Vietnam,

Helen (26:16):
but
apparently that's in the, that'sin the Forrest Gump soundtrack.
So that's the theory.
He used to play a lot at, rallies.
So the theory is that he quite likesthe film, Forrest Gump as a great
film of the nineties, in fairness.
Sure.
And has simply never ever askedwhat the lyrics are about.

Adam (26:31):
it's also Bruce Springsteen points out that born in the USA is not a song
about how great the USA is and howwell it looks after the working class.

Ian (26:38):
these are all veterans protest songs and there are a lot of
rather good accounts of, , veteranprotest groups turning up, and then
being arrested by, policemen halftheir age and then having to say.
We actually fought in the military,we are allowed to do this protest.
And No Kings is, it's a veryspecific historical constitutional

(27:01):
point, which these protests are
called.

Andy (27:03):
we haven't really mentioned yet, the third event that was happening.
in America you have the, you haveon one coast, you have the parade.
On the other coast you havethe Marines being sent in and
then all over the country.
There's no Kings Day of protest,which I think attracted somewhere
between four and 6 million

Helen (27:16):
I think it's a really good slogan 'cause I think is
exactly how Trump sees himself.
Yes, he's been elected, but I think henow sees him, he sees the executive branch
as the source of, he's Louis the 14th.
he's, he is the state as far as he sees

Adam (27:28):
it.
he has actually put out as well aspictures, ai, pictures of him as the Pope.
He did put one of him out witha crown on, didn't he as well,

Andy (27:35):
Twat.
Okay.

Helen (27:38):
just one for our fans of yeah, French history
there.
Very good

Ian (27:40):
good indeed.

Andy (27:42):
that feels like a lot of people to draw out?
I know that's, what is it a coupleof percent of the overall population?

Helen (27:47):
If,
it's really seriously big protests andactually largely, as Ian was saying,
non, non-violent, in contrast to theriots that have been happening in LA
where there has been, they were settingWaymo's, the self-driving cars on fire,
which was the pretext for then Trumpsending in the Nadi National Guard.
Now he didn't ask California governor.
Gavin Newsom before doing that,which is a violation, of how

(28:08):
things are supposed to be done.
And that then went to a judgeand then that went to appeal.
It will probably end upin the Supreme Court as.
I think that's the one thingyou, if you wanna say anything
about American politics.
Now, a bit like you saying thingsare very different in the South.
The thing you have to say inAmerican politics now is it'll
probably end up in the Supreme Court,because almost everything does.
But the courts are really at this point.
The only thing that are effectivelyholding Trump back from what he

(28:30):
would like to do, which is politicizeeverything and turn the entire
state into a personal extension of
himself.

Ian (28:35):
Helen, you, wrote two columns, and one was about how, the MAGA
movement really hates California.
that's, its main thing.
And the other thing was abouthow much they hate Gavin.
and both of those thingscame to a head this week.
So I thought, ah, not only, Ithought maybe you know what you're
talking about, but is this somethinghe's just been waiting for?

Helen (28:57):
There is, in the mythology of America, California is.
is seen as the kind of place wherethere's hippies and now that's matured.
Now into woke him.
There is a feeling, they hate the coasts.
They hate snooty, do good.
It's the same way that they hate sortof Martha's Vineyard and like that,
which is where Obama is retired to.
But there is a feeling that there,yeah, that's not Heartland America,

(29:18):
that's snooty coastal Americans.
and, funnily enough, it's now the otherset of mythology really, Trump is best
understood as a Floridian politician.
the archetype of America isbasically Florida versus California.
And Gavin Newsom hasreally used this moment.
They, he, Tom Holman, who is theborders Tsar threatened to arrest him.
And he said, come and arrest me then.
And he was clear.
he's the consummate probably, he'squite early agist, but, he really

(29:40):
wanted to have this, fight and hasnow, I think, leapt to the front of
the pack in kind of 20, 28 terms.
as being somebody who was willing tobe the face of opposition to Trump.
And, he can do that becausehe's got a huge amount of money.
He's got a big.
State, but I think there arethings in the same way that for
Kamala Harris, were a problem.
If you run in California, youare only ever, your challenges

(30:01):
only ever come from the left.
So you normally end up saying alot of slightly bonkers things
in primaries because, that'swhere the real election is.
And so that will be his,problem going forward.
But for the moment, it works quitewell because he's got this, he's,
he can also, he's running one ofthe biggest economies on earth.
He's got an independent power base.
And so as a face of oppositionto Trump, he's in a very good.

(30:21):
Place to be that

Ian (30:23):
And, California has made a profit.

Helen (30:26):
Yeah.

Ian (30:26):
Unlike any Trump business, we've, noticed, if you're,
talking about successful businessexperience, then presumably that

Helen (30:35):
something Trump doesn't have it.
the, one of the things I did notice,it comes back to another column
that I wrote, was the fact that oneof the sponsors for the parade was
Coinbase, which is the crypto exchange.
You right.
this is just cheap, isn't it?
At least we do the cheaping ofthe color brought you by O2.
I think it's just cheapens.
It doesn't it, but the Trump family.
Yeah.

Andy (30:52):
Right.
Will they, have to have thesebanners when they invade somewhere?
Will they have to have someCoinbase representation?

Helen (30:58):
And the MyPillow guy gets his own like regiment.
But this is, this is what it is.
It's like Trump is, has made so muchmoney and the whole Trump family has made
so much money, particularly from crypto.
And again, it's another example ofhim just thinking he can license
his image, which is, as you say,and that's the only thing he's ever
really done in business successfully.
And now he's able to do it fromthe, the podium of the presidency.

Ian (31:21):
So the lines between, the president and the Army have blurred
the lines between the president and thetreasury and public and private money.
They're all blurred.
is this deliberate

Helen (31:31):
I think there's people behind him.
the, like the Heritage Foundation,the think Tank put together this
very influential document calledProject 2025, in which they laid
out a blueprint essentially forthe term and all the things and the
regulations they wanted to handle.
I think the main way to see itis just from Trump's perspective.
He thinks he got elected, he's belovedby the people, and therefore he

(31:51):
should be allowed to do what he wantsbecause he's the people's instrument.
I think it's.
it's a shame he went to see Les Mis.
'cause I think really he, in a way, hewould've been better off seeing a Vita.
'cause I think he just has agreat, he just thinks they love me.
one of the things he said tothe troops where it's great
to see all these troops here.
I love you and you love me.
He's got this sort of beliefthat he should be allowed to
do what he wants 'cause he's intune with the soul of the people.

(32:12):
Even though, half of themdid not vote for him.
And as well as half of them

Adam (32:17):
I do get the feeling that two sides are fighting on a different battlefield.
To use an appropriate metaphor here,'cause you've got one side, the No
Kings thing is about a very specificpoint in history and what, George III
did, and then you've got Trump givinghis address to the troops, in which
he said, our soldiers never give up,never surrender, never ever quit.
They fight, and they win, win.
Literally, how many years is it sincethat chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan?

(32:38):
Yeah, even before you get ontoexactly how things ended in Vietnam
or Korea, it's this broad brush viewof history, which is sort of history.
How you want it to be and theArmy, how you want it to be.
and it just sails over reality, doesn't
it?

Ian (32:50):
Not to mention Iraq, that where, are the

Andy (32:54):
We
fight, and we have areasonably good record.

Helen (32:58):
mix,
catch.

Ian (32:59):
Yeah.
Or we fight, and then we withdraw in the

Helen (33:02):
Yeah,
I was gonna say Vietnam,Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan.
It's not it's not great.
you really want to

Adam (33:08):
you can see why they're going back to.

Andy (33:14):
Right now the third section today as promised a bit of summer fun a quiz.
prompted by something that Liz Trussask your parents, did a week or two ago.
she

Helen (33:28):
your

Adam (33:28):
your mortgage advisor.

Andy (33:31):
she was photographed, promoting brand of whiskey, alongside a man who
the, proprietor of the whiskey firmwho in 2023 was jailed for 10 months
after repeatedly punching a 78-year-oldman in the face during a pub brawl.
and she, she didn't see aproblem with, promoting it.
this has prompted some.
Some comment, although quitea lot of people have just

(33:52):
thought, let's not bother.
It is Liz Truss, but

Ian (33:55):
can I just say, when
you say one was that bothered,I'm afraid the people who
write Private Life could find

Helen (34:00):
no
other
subject

Ian (34:03):
from him
saying, you've had enough love to, Liztrusts to pictures of her with the whiskey
barrel people going, this is the bottom
of the barrel.
I'm afraid there were quitea lot of people who cared.

Adam (34:14):
It was the purely truness of it, wasn't it?
'cause it meant an minister floggingsome dodgy whiskey brand already.
That would be quite a story.
But 'cause it's Liz Trust, it hasto be a guy who's been convicted of
GBH,

Andy (34:25):
It has to get worse.
It has to get

Helen (34:26):
worse.
worse
and
she especially, she didn't evenget any money for it either.
So she did this humiliation for free.

Ian (34:31):
do you think she thinks GB H is a special type of patriotic

Andy (34:36):
great British harm?
Yes.
I, no, you're absolutely right.
She wasn't, receiving the big bucks forthis, but she's, done a few other things
since her time in office, and I thoughtit would be a fun jumping off point, for
a quiz about what other things, membersof parliament or ex members of parliament
have done or are currently doing.
In many

Adam (34:55):
cases,
you
don't have to justify Andy,when you just say, quiz, we go,

Helen (34:58):
Yay.
Yay.

Adam (34:59):
Do a quiz.
Do a quiz.

Andy (35:01):
Okay.
here's question one then.
It's about the trusts incident itself.
Now that was, huge brand opportunity,But what was the whiskey and what was her
excuse after she was challenged about it?

Helen (35:14):
I
have no idea what the whiskey'scalled, but her spokesman's response
was, after saying that he'd come outwith it, he got an assault conviction
was, I thought you believed in therehabilitation of offenders, which
is what I'm gonna say whenever Iget caught doing anything dodgy.
Have you know
Christian Mercy?

Andy (35:27):
Exactly.
There's a point you for that.
A any take on the
whiskey
seat.
It hasn't even worked.
This, brand campaign of hers is all I'm
saying.

Adam (35:36):
wasn't called Mr. Jameson

Ian (35:38):
is it called Cease and Desist?

Andy (35:41):
He should be selling punch.
Really?
sorry.
That's a very, cheap joke.
It's, you're so close.
When you say, Jameson's, becauseit's not James but Joyce.
It's called Joyce's Irish Whiskey.
And we'd like to make itclear we don't endorse it.
Great.

Adam (35:54):
But it wasn't James Joyce that was selling

Helen (35:55):
it.
No.

Adam (35:56):
Okay.

Helen (35:57):
When he's been dead for quite an achievement, but
yes,

Ian (36:00):
Was it?

Adam (36:00):
it?

Ian (36:00):
wasn't Eric
Joyce's, was it?
That would

Adam (36:03):
That

Andy (36:03):
now I'm gonna, I'm gonna stay on whiskey for a moment.
which parliamentary figurehas been selling their own
whiskey for the last five years.

Helen (36:11):
Parliamentary

Andy (36:12):
Parliamentary
figure.
Parliamentary figure.
Are

Ian (36:13):
you saying not an mp?
It's the
speaker.
There's a

Adam (36:15):
trick there,
isn't it?
Yeah,

Andy (36:16):
Ian,
you've
got it.
It's Lindsay Hoyle.
Every speaker of the House ofCommons makes their own whiskey,
which

Adam (36:23):
I don't think they actually make their own, do they?
I think they put their name to,
they probably
taste
a
few.
Whiskies

Andy (36:29):
is
a

Adam (36:30):
massive.
Still

Ian (36:32):
What is he literally saying?
Order orders.

Helen (36:36):
What a great little boon dogger.
So you get your speakership and thenthey send you off to some charming
Scottish island where you taste a
number
of
whiskeys.

Adam (36:42):
It is a huge thing.
If you ever go along to anysort of MP's Christmas raffle or
anything,
there will always be a bottle ofthe speaker's whiskey signed by Mr.
Hoyle and, party leaders as

Andy (36:51):
Exactly.
It's This apparently is a traditionwhich dates back to the nineties,
so
I'm

Adam (36:55):
not,

Ian (36:55):
gonna be

Andy (36:56):
it's
the
The 1990s, I'm afraid.
last one on parliamentary whiskey.

Adam (37:05):
Who

Ian (37:05):
who knew
you
could

Adam (37:06):
three questions outta

Andy (37:07):
it
on hard to find.
whiskey.com, great website, who is theonly former mainstream party leader,
for whom a bottle of signed whiskeycan be yours for under 400 quid.
There's only one.
Everyone.
Everyone else's is 399 99.
This one is a hundred quid less.

Adam (37:26):
Said Heath.

Helen (37:27):
trees
may

Andy (37:29):
Right party.
No, he doesn't have one.
Actually.
He's,
I know

Ian (37:34):
drink

Helen (37:35):
Boris Johnson.

Andy (37:36):
No.
Okay.
I
think
we're

Helen (37:37):
out.
David Cameron.

Andy (37:39):
Michael.
Howard he's, you can get abottle of Michael Howard signed
whiskey for 300 quid bargain.
have

Adam (37:45):
as something of the night.

Helen (37:47):
Oh,
very
good.
Should have done this beforeFather's Day, shouldn't we?

Andy (37:53):
Everyone else's.
I'm, talking David Cameron,John Major William Hague.
Patty Ashdown, a joint one by Ed Mall.
Ed Balls and Ed Miller Band.
400 quid.
There you go.

Adam (38:02):
That's considerably less than the private eye whiskey,
which does exist was created forour 30th anniversary, wasn't it?
There's a special bottle of Macallan,
which is worth anenormous amount of money.
Now, you're looking, you, drank
yours, didn't
you?
When you got presented with it,there are people working downstairs
who have retained their bottle

Ian (38:19):
is it illustrated by McLaughlin?
Is there a.

Adam (38:22):
think it's a Gerald scarf

Ian (38:23):
It's a Gerald scarf.

Helen (38:25):
Oh, that's classy.

Andy (38:26):
So if you're listening to this and you've got one of
those bottles, do not open it,

Ian (38:29):
is what
you're saying.
Just
send

Adam (38:31):
it to us and we will dispose of it safely.

Andy (38:35):
we're off the whiskey ones now.
You'll be
relieved
to hear.
next up, Nigel Farage of Reform uk.
in, I believe January this year,he made a video for We Save.
Telling people that, they could savemoney by buying nappies in bulk.
Now, he wasn't actually paid forthat, that video or for any of the
commercial involvement with We Safe,. But how many hours a week does Mr.

(38:58):
Farra spend on his other jobs and whichone pays best proportionally per hour.

Helen (39:03):
I reckon his investment newsletter pays quite well.
His GB news gig paid pretty well.

Adam (39:10):
He does loads and loads of those cameo videos.
Yeah, he gets a lot for those.
He gets money off Twitteras well, doesn't he?
A lot
of
the

Helen (39:16):
About seven grand a month.
Yeah.

Adam (39:18):
Twitter.

Andy (39:18):
gonna need some answers.

Helen (39:20):
I'm gonna say he spends 25 hours a week on other stuff.

Andy (39:22):
Okay.

Ian (39:24):
40

Andy (39:26):
full time job.
Helen's closest she getsanother point is 22 hours.
.And, I'll tell you the best paid job hehas outside his parliamentary work, in
fact, including that, is selling gold asa tax free investment for direct bullion.
and that earns him roughly 32,000pounds a month for four hours of work.

(39:47):
So to close, that's 8,000 pounds an hour.

Ian (39:49):
Gold is the best investment, isn't it?

Andy (39:53):
okay.
Now here, each of you will, once you've.
Answered.
You don't get to guess again.
So be careful and it's a long question.
Which right wing politician took partin I'm a celebrity, get Me Out of
Here, was voted out very quickly in2008 and their appearance provoked

(40:14):
irritation from fellow parliamentarians.
plus it led to clashes inthe camp with Joe Swash.
Timmy Mallet.
This was a former leader of pp.

Ian (40:28):
it was, The orange bloke.
with the

Helen (40:34):
Kroy silk.
Robert
Do you know what?
I'm so glad you gave us thething that we had to wait.
'cause I was, going It's gonna be Nadine.
It's gonna be Nadine.
And then I was
like, maybe it's, then it's Matt Hancock.
Maybe it's Matt
Hancock.
Ke

Adam (40:44):
I was thinking KE or Dugdale.
No one remembers KE or Dugdale.
I'll get this

Andy (40:48):
none of you

Helen (40:48):
you
took in.
No, that's, we waitedfor Robert KA second.
It was worthwhile.
Absolutely.

Andy (40:53):
Yes.
he

Helen (40:54):
in ghosts.
Just putting it out there.

Andy (40:56):
He was an MEP at the time and one of his fellow meps said, we are
in serious times and people expecttheir politicians to do a job of work.
And you can't do thatif you're in the jungle.
Covered in cockroaches, eating kangaroostesticles, and swimming with crocodiles

Adam (41:09):
That was a hell of a challenge doing all of
those

Helen (41:10):
at
once,
wasn't

Adam (41:11):
it?
They're not normally,

Helen (41:13):
Nigel Frost did very well.
Actually.
I thought he, there's a bit whenthey did Camp Karaoke and he sang,
I'm Too Sexy By Right Said Fred,which I believe to be his party
piece that he's also done on GB News.
Far

Ian (41:22):
right.
Said Fred to

Helen (41:23):
Hey.

Andy (41:23):
Yay.
KIRO.
So incidentally was voted offfirst and then claimed the
show had been badly edited.
and I'm afraid to say, tragically,this even spilled over into the
Wags camp, where Jan Kilroy Silk hadsome harsh words for Linda Mallet.

Ian (41:43):
Wow.

Andy (41:43):
We
go again.
slightly more recently.
David TC Davies, former Welsh secretary,has not got a job yet, or he hadn't as of
a few months ago after leaving Parliament.
What did he blame for thefact he hadn't got a job yet?

Helen (41:59):
Was
it anti Tory bias?

Andy (42:00):
It's not anti Tory bias.
That has been a, that's a complaint.
Jonathan GLIs has said that hecan't get work, for example, as a
teacher,

Adam (42:08):
was it anti Welsh bias?

Andy (42:09):
It wasn't anti Welsh
bias.
Was

Ian (42:11):
anti politician bias?
They hate all of us.

Andy (42:14):
It's actually

Helen (42:15):
people kept

Adam (42:15):
he keep turn

Helen (42:16):
the other
David?

Adam (42:17):
kept turning.
go,

Andy (42:19):
David Davis?

Adam (42:20):
What

Andy (42:20):
No, what this is, it's actually anti-human
bias.
So he doesn't have a degree.
Just that's not howhis career started out.
He thinks that automatic CV readingsoftware has ruled him outta the running
because you just plug a sea visa intoa computer, it just tells you, You
can rule out these people immediately.
These are the remainingcandidates you, might

(42:42):
wanna hire.
I just like this a lot.
He, did get an application form forone of the jobs he was applying for,
and he says this, he says it askedhim, name of last line manager.
I answered Richie Soak job titleof last night, line manager.
I put Prime Minister of the UnitedKingdom telephone number of line manager.
He said, I have Richie's number, butI wasn't gonna put it in the box.

(43:02):
And
he got rejected from that.
You're all doing very well, by the way.
which former Prime Minister's TVappearance was what was voted one
of the most awkward moments oftelevision ever by channel four.

Adam (43:13):
So this is after they were Prime Minister?

Andy (43:15):
it's a presenting gig that a former PM

Adam (43:17):
took.
Oh, I know this one.
Of course, I know this one.
It's Har Wilson presenting.
Saturday night and Sunday morning,
isn't it?

Andy (43:24):
night and Saturday

Adam (43:25):
Sorry.
I'm, yeah,

Andy (43:26):
Adam.
I, did
throw in coupled with
the clash
there.
I throw in a 1970s one just for

Helen (43:32):
yeah, I know,

Adam (43:32):
let's

Helen (43:32):
That's just, that's blatant favoritism time.

Andy (43:36):
He apparently just couldn't do it.
He just couldn't host a,it was too un informal.
Too unscripted.
And he couldn't,
roll with it.

Adam (43:43):
stages of Alzheimer's, to be fair to the poor man.

Ian (43:45):
I always remember it's always bracketed with, Peter Cook who ran a
chat show and then gave it up and hewas asked, why did you give it up?
And he said, I just wasn't veryinterested in other people,
which is a more honest
reply.

Andy (44:01):
which former conservative minister has in the last year
or so, earned nearly their MP'ssalary again for just two speeches.
It's not an obvious one.

Ian (44:10):
two speeches.

Andy (44:11):
Yeah.

Helen (44:11):
Not big gove,

Andy (44:13):
not gover.

Ian (44:15):
Is it quasi Quaye?

Andy (44:16):
It's not quasi Quaye, Adam.

Adam (44:18):
I can't even remember any other reason
to ministers

Andy (44:21):
Sue b Suela Braman.
This is an interesting thing fromthe register of members' interest,
and I found it after Labouriouslyplowing through all extra employment,
so you've gotta hear it now too.
I'm afraid.
She has just been paid 29,000pounds by chosen Media, a South
Korean media organization, andlast year it was 35,000 pounds,
including flights and accommodation,full speaking at one conference.

Helen (44:42):
Do you think they put the decimal place in the wrong

Andy (44:44):
all?
Paris?

Helen (44:45):
they were just too embarrassed to go back and I'm so
sorry.

Andy (44:47):
It'll be a currency thing.
Anyway, I just thoughtthat was quite interesting
that she's a huge darling of the,south Korean media and politics
circuit.
Practic

Helen (44:55):
a K popper.

Andy (44:57):
Final one.
this one is really hard.
Which MP would you want with youif you had been on a ship which
sank near a desert island andyou'd been injured in the process?
Who is that mp?

Helen (45:09):
So you want someone who's a doctor but maybe had been a doctor at sea

Adam (45:13):
can
swim really well,

Ian (45:14):
Is this ever or current?
Current.
So I can't say John Prescott.
'cause he'd serve you a gentonic and you'd feel better.
Who was the woman who was on Splash?

Helen (45:24):
Penny

Adam (45:24):
Oh, penny Morden.
She'd be
good at falling off
the boat
in the first place.
I know
the skills
are

Helen (45:30):
Transfer.

Adam (45:30):
that.

Andy (45:31):
she's a strong swimmer though.
She could tow you to shore.

Helen (45:33):
sho.
Yeah,

Andy (45:34):
I think that's a really good

Helen (45:35):
she was like a naval

Adam (45:36):
and she would fight, for survival
afterwards,

Andy (45:39):
I think that's a, I think that's a point to Ian because it's not
the answer I've got, but I think ittechnically qualifies as a good one.

Adam (45:45):
oh, let's give a point to the boss.
Andy.
Yes.

Helen (45:48):
he gave you a
question about the
1970s.
Okay.

Adam (45:50):
fair

Andy (45:51):
You've all been pandered to disgracefully.
Don't abuse it.
Andrew Morrison.
South Wilshire
is a surgeon commander, which is thecoolest job I've found in the entire
register of members.
Interest surgeon, but also inNaval Reserve and has done tools
of duty and things like that.
I just think that's aninteresting, you got
a
lot of people who've got rather drabconsultancy jobs and I think Surgeon

(46:14):
Commander is quite a good one.

Adam (46:15):
Does that mean he can get called up and he'd have to take time off Parliament?
'cause he'd have to go and.

Andy (46:20):
theoretically,

Helen (46:21):
James Cleverly is in a similar situation, was reservist for a long
time.

Andy (46:24):
Oh
really?
Steve Baker, of course,constantly ready for the SAS.
Should they

Helen (46:28):
catamaran sailing.

Ian (46:31):
Do you think, Trump will end up listening to this podcast
and thinking Surgeon Commander?

Andy (46:35):
Yeah.

Ian (46:36):
Yeah, I could do that.

Andy (46:37):
That's it.
Yeah.
congratulations.
Alan,

Helen (46:40):
I love a quiz when I win, but I, don't, when I don't.
It's funny how that works out.

Andy (46:45):
How are you gonna spend the winnings?

Helen (46:46):
I'll buy a cameo from Nija Farage,

Ian (46:49):
congratulating

Helen (46:49):
private ion all its great work.

Andy (46:52):
Can you buy a cameo from Nigel Raj asking him to provide
some properly costed policies?

Helen (46:57):
Yes.
That's how we'll get some propertycost of policies from reform.
I'll pay for them in 75 quid increments.

Andy (47:02):
thank you very much for playing at home.
If you have been, thank you to Sarai.
Familiar thank you to Helen, Ianand Adam, and thank you to Matt
Hill of Rethink Audio for producing.
As always, if you would like more.
page 94 in written form.
There are more stories aboutdodgy reform counselors.
There are more silly jokes about LizTruss and there are more columns,
analyzing the current absolutestate of the Nation of the USA.

(47:25):
It's all there and lots and lotsmore besides, it's terrific.
Go to private hyphen i.couk get a subscription now.
We'll be back again in a fortnight.
We'll see you then.