Final Thoughts and Odd News Stories

ACAS powers the world's best podcasts Here's a show that we recommend Ionica Reingel, nutritionist, author, and host of the Nutrition Diva podcast We dig into the questions that you're actually asking, if it's okay to drink coffee on an empty stomach, whether it's possible to retrain your sweet tooth, which ultra processed foods you might actually want to include in your diet we take a closer look at diet trends. Fact check sketchy claims and track down the science so that you can feel more confident about what's on your plate. New episodes are released every Wednesday Find Nutrition diva on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening, and be sure to follow or subscribe so you don't miss a single episode A cast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast. com Would you like to talk about the two thousand six hundred and eighteen pounds on the Lali salt and pepper grinders And welcome to the Twl, where we drag the week's political chaos onto the deck, flapping like a fish that's been hooked in the throat. We hose it down and then ask, how on earth did that happen before throwing it back into the drink. I'm Gemma Forte. And I'm Marina Perkis. and today we're kicking off with a very high brow question actually hybber question that sections of the internet were asking when Donald Trump was spotted sort of lurking by a pillar at the front of the White House. Yeah, that's right. So we've got the clip, but the clip You're not going to be able to see and there's not really any sound. And yet, weirdly, we've decided to just play the atmos from the clip for you to hear. So let's get that on. So there's a car outside the White House and you've got various officials around. and there's Trump. and he' sort of loitering but It's it's odd. It's like he's thinking Maby straining, I'm not sure But he's just standing He's there for quite a while. It ends up being about five minutes in total of total inertia. Yeah, he's just standing next to a huge white pillar. There's no reason for him to have stopped there.. It's not an obvious or natural place just to stop. No. And all these people around him are kind of looking at him curiously as to like Why has he stopped? Yeah. Is he alright? Should we approach him? Yes. One does approach him and then very quickly D approaches him. That's right. She kind of backs off. So the highbrow question that we're starting with trawlers that everybody was asking is Has he shot himself? I think so. And I mean, there's no way of us knowing for sure a lot of people, especially people who've got toddlers, they were like, no, no, I recognize that Take yourself off to a little corner for your pants. Yeah. and that was what I think He was doing. Yes. and loads of people said this. Eiz Charlie Piper said he's definitely pooping. The woman in the brown jacket moves closer, realizes what's happening and backs right up. Yeah And at one point he kind of, you can see he's in a bit of there's a bit of almost discomfort. and he he does a big, deep breath And honestly, I don't know what other explanation there is for it. wrritten by Meghan wrote We all know what's happening here The moment of focused concentration, the clench, the waddle He's just laid of freshie my favourite, the speed with which the woman in the brown trenchcoat gets the fuck out of there. Someone needs his diaper changed. Yeah. Oh it's all very bizarre and there's been more strrangeness coming out from the White House as well. So old Donny himself went on to Truth Social to say, But it's on the possible bad weather conditions tomorrow. We'll be having our cabinet meeting in the White House and we'll be postponing the cabinet trip to Camp David. Thank you for your attention to this matter. So what's going on there He's basically been told he can't fly, right? Beuse he' had a hospital visit just before he loitered by the pillar looking like he was coiling one out. So it's turn of phrase. I hate that turn of phrase. You know how some people hate the word moist. Yeah I hate that t of phres. It's disgusting. There's another one you don't like as well. It's like he was doing a chod. I know you hate that one. I hate it. No, I don't like it. There's some sort of onomat of payer going on with that. I don't like it. It's all disgusting. Brian White anded said H. So he didn't fly to his son's wedding last weekend and now he's not flying to Camp David tomorrow with an unscheduled medical check between the two events Building a bunker with full hospital on East wing with full desperate urgency. My guess is, once that bunker iss finished, he won't be leaving Pennsylvania Avenue again. This is the Berlin nineteen forty five ending, but with him hooked up to a machine Yeah. Oh knows. Redhead Reie wrote. They are scared he will get a clot flying Basically, his health is so bad, he's been banned from flying It's only a matter of time. Yeah. Again, that's just her opinion It's not ours on the trilpod. No. I can't know for sure. It's just a random person's opinion. Exactly. Although a lot of people were also saying, whyy is he telling everybody this about their meetings and where they've been rescheduled to anyway? People were like an email to the attendees would have sufficed You you said the whole world, you actually Bellnd Ellot Tapper said they gave him a colonoscopy and found half of Congress So all of this weirdness just happened over Memorial Day weekend By the way, he did he's fallen asleep again. He fell asleep during it was a Memorial Day service that Pete Hegseth was speaking at on the fallen And he's there properly asleep again. Another thing happened over Memorial Day weeekend. There was a wedding. Yes there was. Donald Trump Jr. That one with a horrible face married social night Betina Anderson in the Bahamas and Daddy Trump did not attend.. Now before we get into the reasons why He didn't attend. Just a little link here A bit of context Batina's late father was a guy called Harry Lloy Anderson Did you know this, Gem? No Betina's dad was it was a banker And actually, do you know whose accounts he held his Palm Beach Bank. Oh's Jeffrey Epstein. Oh, that's nice. Not just that, not just that Her daddy also wrote Epstein a glowing character reference letter in nineteen ninety nine describing him as Gentlemen of the highest integrity. Oh wowes It's just these botten people all like together, like blending together and procreating. Anyway Trump didn't go to this wedding And the official reason he posted on Truth Social was that circumstances pertaining to government and my love for the United States of America prevented him from attending. So he was saying it was basically It was important for him to remain in Washington, DC at the White House during this important period of time, which is, I think Bllocks do. Why can't you attend your son's wedding? And on another sidebar, there is a picture doing the rounds on socials. and it's the White House as it used to look, just sort of beautiful, just surrounded by a sort of lush, almost like a meadow of a garden And then now he has ruined it. Do you remember when that guy won the lottery? Was it Mikey Carroll or something? he just w with a massive gold champ? Yeah he just like spent all the money really quickly and he like you had his house and he had like cars round it and b out cars and just like chaos. It looks like that. You've got building works All the grasp being taken away. It's horrible and so many people are going, That's our house. How dare you? I know it's not his. It's not his. And I saw they were setting up in the like the White House lawn area or something a massive ring through UFC fight. Yeah. So tacky such, they're basically just chabs are massand White House chabs Yeah. And he was so busy obv on very busy important government affairs. And yet while he was still in Washington missing his son's wedding, he was posting out stupid things like this image of another Democrat senator calling him a Democrat. picture of him As a wolf in sheep's clothing. And Roarna, the senator wrote, Congratulations on your wedding, Donald Trump junior. Sorry for distracting your dad with this important work. Oh my goodness. Now you may remember last week in an episode that went into well, Trump's finances and now he's passed legislation so that he and his family cannot be audited and then created this sort of crazy slush fund of money that he can hand out to all the January sixers Gavin Newsom has announced that he is going to tax that money if they receive it at one hundred percent In California. How many of them are in California? Probably not many of them It's a good position to take. It's a little something, isn't it? Now, trarawlers, in the rest of this episode, we are going to be going to Scotland and we're going to be having a look at what Nicholas Sturgeon's husband was spending the SMP's money on. We're also going to be talking about Blair, but first, just a quickie because I think Deirre Barlow really sums this up well from Huns Ned, sort of describing what it's like to get to a point where you're wearing a suit and you're loitering by a pillar. Potentially pulling your pants. Why' not be glamorous But it's real. And I like it Today, we'll attempt a feat once thought impossible, overcoming high interest credit card debt. It requires merely one thing, a soFi personal loan. With it, you could save big on interest charges by consolidating into one low fixed rate monthly payment. Defy high interest debt with a soFI personal loan Visit SopFi dot com slash stuck to learn more. Loans originated by SopFi Bank andA member FDIC. Terms and conditions apply NL six nine six eight nine one Oh dear. Dery Barlo, let's play Deirry Barlo again 'cause just why not basically? Might not be glamorous? It's real And I like it. No, dear. like it as well, Dre. Dre. Right, everybody, tickets are on sale as of midday Friday today. So if you fancy coming to see the Tll live, it's going be a bit of an extravaganza. We will be definitely rewriting, recreating. So if you came to the shows we've just done, it will be different And it's on the seventeenth of September at the Bloomsbury Theatre. and there is a link in the description that goes live at midday. And then we've also got two dates in Manchester, eleventh and twelfth of November. How flipping exciting Very exciting. Now look We don't expect the tickets to go as quickly as they did last time., But it was within minutes wasn't within hours, it was within minutes. Yeah, notot to do the older urry out while stocks lastost messaging, but you know Maybe you would just k you We the first show sold in an hour and a half and the second show is sold in fourteen minutes. Yes, but this I mean, who knows, this could be four months? I don't know. I mean, I hadn't even put it on my platforms. I hadn't even shared it across any of my platforms. This time I'm going to share it across my platforms. I might even put it on my linked in. Oh. Wh not? I think with some sort of anecdote about you know B twoB sales Something like that. somethinghing like that. Right, have any of you been keeping abreast of the situation with Murrell? So Peter Murrell is the estranged husband of former First Minister Nicolas Sturgeon, okay? And he has pleaded guilty at H court in Edinburgh, having admitted embezzling a total of four hundred grand over a period of years So we have to say, and this is all reported by the BBC, by the way, Nicola Sturgeon herself says that she knew absolutely nothing about Peter, her ex husband or estranged husband's purchases, including a whking gr motor home that was outside, I think her mother's house or something like that What's really fascinating about this? and he has pleaded guilty, obviously? So this is basically like using party funds. Yes. This is using party funds as his own and going on a major bloody shopping spree. huge points to, I don't know, some kind of strange s kink slash addiction because it's almost like those people where people find their homes and they've hoarded things that they've been buying on shopping channels and they haven't even opened the boxes. and you know it's given them some kind of comfort, some kind of kick and yeah, some kind of mayaybe it's an addiction to risk I don't know, but John Swweeninney, the first minister, has described the crime as a terrible breach of trust and an overwhelming betrayal. and it's not ideal, obviously. Some of these purchases though, so other purchases range from luxury watches And a fountain pen gemma, a fountain pen for four grand. Yeah. I know, I know. And then for instance, so people who've gone really sleuth on this have seen that like some of these pens they're like really posh fountain pens. I mean is worth four grand by the way I mean, who writes anymore anyway But like what are you doing with it that makes it worth that money? I just blows my mind. But anyway, the point is some of these items have then been seen in Hang Spyographs Yeah in photographs and crosses. L I think Nicola Sturgein has used one of these pens before. So like of course there's been loads of conjecture and people going, I don't believe that she didn't know what was going on and encountering that, lots of people going, how's sexist of v you? How's sexist of v you not to understand that people's finances can be completely separate. Yeah. So who knows? mine and ben's are completely separate Yeah, completely separate to the point where I he could be You could be pay for high class hookers, I would never know. But would you ask a question if a motor homeome turned up outside your parents' house may have some questions. who got that then? What's going on there? So anyway, the sun, I mean, I know it's the sun and I know we all disapprove heartily they put online and basically There's a search bar and you could put in any item and see if it came up So people were literally playing a game. They're like Th think of anything. Think of an item, Th of an item. Did he buy it over those twelve years? And people put in chopsticks and sure enough seventeenth of august, twenty fifteen, a set of six chopsticks for one hundred and two pounds Chopsticks mu somet times in twenty sixteen, one, two, three Four different dates, he bought sets of chopsticks. Can I bring some tual analysis to this? Yes, please do. So that got me thinking. what's he doing with those chopsticks? Right. There there is a kink sexual one involved in chopsticks. It theres Yeahah, it's a niche fetish that includes using chopsticks R, Right or sensation play. Right like a light tapping on say parts of the body. Right, Genitabia, Right, so on and so forth. So I'm just saying, I think this points to potentially more of a scandal. There are moments in life where I think that I sort of I pretty like gener I'm very qu world worldly trarawlers. and then there are moments like that and I'm like, You know when you feel about four and you hear adults saying something, you're like, I don't know what you're talking about. Tim is called sensation playay A are you saying he's stuck up his ar ass? canan we just? No, I said it about tapping. So some people apparently incorporate this kind of thing into bondage or restraint scenarios. So imagine you got the what's he called the hogs thing the hog tie. Yeah get and your chopsticks t I don't know, it's not for me because God I'm boring. Brian Spuzuki said the pathos of him sitting in a onandesie eating a breast of chicken curry chopped, no onions and fried rice from a takeaway on Aliston Main Street with luxury chopsticks just caused my spleen to explode. Oh Brian, I don't think he was doing that with those chopsticks Top, top, tap T t t I' not going be to enjoy a nice Chinese home without thinking about this.ext time we're together it's all of Chinese. Putush me off my spicy shredded beef for everything L pro both So we have a little listen to some other things that he purchrased. L little bit of sucky sucky. Ohin actually's offten one. Right, this is Tom Swarbrick on LBC. It just makes you sick. I mean, the point is many parliamentarians I gave money to the SNP, of course, well we have means, but there are many, many members in the SNP who don't have a lot of money and gave that money only to see it squandered on items for his own use and for the use of his wife. Would you like to talk about the two thousand six hundred eighteen pounds on the Lalik salt and peepper grinders orr the two thousand six hundred pounds on a coffee machine orr the two hundred and forty quid on two women's umbrellas. I mean, this is this is Farcical It's breathtaking and to be honest, I had no idea that it was possible to spend that much money on a salt and pepper saller. No, know quite. How good are these things? Well I agree, Tom. That was what I was saying before about the pen. shouldould I see if there are any sex fetites involved. I'm sure you might sum up with one, the mood youre in the missy and I'll sit here with my foot gone I'm just al right with a little squeeze of the boobs. littleittle bit of that. Little bit of that, right, right, right, you know. Sy show Asent was gonna catch. Get your chopsticks away from me Don't you be tapping me with that? What do you think you're doing No I don't do that. So if you come towards me with chopsticks, I get excited. I think I'm having a takeaway Pajemma What about these saltn peppergrounds? There's a Oh my gosh. Oh, don't know that. What are you doing? a leak? Season me. Peas and me Make me of something Bice up to life. Anyway. Right, Marina, listen very, very hard. We're gonna have another clip and then we might play a little game after. Are we gonna put that out? Yes, I am. Oh my Godd You know, you have to remember that Peter Murrll has been the chief executive of the SNP for now a quarter of a century. He's been with Nicola Sturgeon since two thousand three. They got married in twenty ten. She said that she didn't have access to his personal records. they had separate bank accounts, so we can take well, what you want from all of that You know, the list that you gave is unbelievable. one hundred twenty four thousand in a camper van, ninety thousand on a jaggar I pace car, sixteen thousand to pay as part of a Volkswagen golf, nine thousand on two Bmant watches. Montbanc ps to the value of about six thousand Qid andles from ST Lauder, five hundred and forty quQidits two elite Vazes six thousandteen hundred id, Fnaman Mons picnip, hamers, a couple of lawnmers, one for two thousand quids. three garic sub Savell umbrellas, nine hundred seventy pounds. the list Oh a wine coaster I needed to look up what a wine coaster was thousand five hundred quid. threeree thousand five hundred quid for a wine coaster. I know. alsoso Gemma, when he said four candles Is it four candles or fork handles donon't know, but either way we're going to play a game now and I hope you were listening very hard because Marina, it's time to play the generation game On the conveyor belt tonight, we have a case of champagne, a sewing machine, some decorative china A desk lamp P can dancer, a toweling robe, a spaghetti jar, a whisk and mixing bowl A suitcase A shirt. better than that one you had on earlier on. a hip flas. Right. And now let's Peter Merrill, come on Chistas,n't What did he buy Wow. can't control So there was one thing he bought a lot of kittles, yes kettles he bought between that in that twelve month period One, two, three, five kettles. Yeah. The most expensive one he bought I can see here was the u The Ees the Eese kettle, two hundred and eighty six quid. Yeah, Jesus. I did also look up if there was a fetish involved in kettles, but I couldn't find it there is a fetish involving this like steam. So it could be linked to the steam from a kettle, maybe Maybe, after all that shopping, he just fancied a nice cup of tea. It's what I feel like when I come in and I've been at the shopping center,' com comeing, I feel like a nice cup of tea. I actually shattered. J, you just need the one kettle for that five I've only bought one kettle in the last ten years. It's going strong. It's great kettle. I have got one of those taps. Since we did our kitchen, one of those taps boiling water comes straight out of it, no need for a kettle. Game changer. Game changer putting the ktle on Fine. What Drew Bolo. Okay, let's hear what Emily Maitliz on the news agents had to make of all of this. It's easy to just get kind of jaw dropped when you see the list of items, which includes, as you say, not just a mobile home a jaguar and it goes as low down as a wandy. The list is so weird and wonderful and esoteric and honestly just jaw dropping that you spend ages kind of going Oh, so he bought borggan DVD's and he bought the killing DVDs. He liked scandin Noir, but he also really liked posh coffee, but he also liked a motor homeome, but he also liked really posh cars. And we understand bought a bag that Nicholas Sturgeon was actually seen with Now. She has, as you say, denied all wrongdoing, and she went through the police investigation herself. She has reiterated that today. But when Swweeninnie speaks of the depth of personal agony, I'm not sure that for a lot of other people in or around the party, the SMP The matter will end there with Sturgeon's personal agony because there are plenty of questions, I think, that still pursue What happened over that extraordinary ten year period? There is a A separate question as to why She as the leader of the SMP was not just potentially in receipt of these things in a private capacity. As you heard there, as a senior party officer, the most senior party officer, she had a fiduciary function and responsibility to the board of the SMP and to its members to sign off those accounts. It's like this it's going to follow her around. It's one of those stories where people find it difficult to get their heads round. And I'm not sure that when people say it is sexist to have suspicions, I'm not sure that's entirely true. I don't think anybody is saying that it's strange to have separate bank accounts. But if you're sharing the space with someone for years and years and years, there are sort of like behaviors that you might observe. I mean, it's almost like in his head, this money was like his money. Yeah. And it's like I got marriage years ago and it was really fun picking out like a wedding list. We were quite old fashioned. We did that thing. I don't think people do it as much anymore, maybe. but you're like setting up home together. So you literally go around a shop and go, Yeah that Sat. I like that. I on that one. I like that one I like that one That's how I did it anyway. I like that. I like that. I like that It's changeed now It's ch. We live together first. We live together first. we have all of we have a lot of the stuff typically. Yeah. So I did like honey money people if they want to. they want to. they can contribute to your honeymon. Yeah, byy your pinle order. I' recalling actually how fun that was. Yeah, it's like supermarket sweep because you don't have to pay for anything. It's supermarket sweep, Dale Winton, and you know you might not get it all as well. And then like perhaps you've picked out a set of plates and it was quite exciting. I was like, Oh You know, the ten plates we want we've got two. We've got somebody bought two. That's fun Do willkay. Do think we wellll have the whole set by the think, don't it So fun days. So if you were with Peter Murrell, you'd have all the ples you want. Yeah. let's have one more clip of the generation game, and then let's start talking about Tony Blair Take the screen to my placelease Now then in front of you, the conveyor bo will convey lots of articles before your eyes. We want you to have a real good look. You have forty five seconds to have a look starting from now T Trolly A stuff stool. A pand. A prooy camera. Anyway, you get the jers look so old. They look so ancient and rubbish. I love that a step stool was deemed to be an appropriate prize primetime television Yeah, my job blanked blankly you just got a check to compen So You know OkayK, we're going to talk about Tony Blair now. and the headline in The Guardian was Tony Blair tells Starmer and rivals, abandon net zero and move closer to Trump. And Farrowhee wrote I cannot stress this enough Oh Yeah And that was my feeling too. ye. It was just fairly astonishing. Tony Bar is Bad smell that you can't get rid of. He's like, you think you've like ared him out, you've opened the window but like he just pops up again. And he's got that voice where he's like is a very arrogant He turns up and kind of believes this is where he carries himself Like he thinks he's the grown up in the room. Okay, it's like Daddy Tony's here. I'm here now. I'm, you know like now kind of thing And it's like Tony mate. You took us into Iraq On a PowerPoint presentation, you don't get to be the sensible person you know the grown up person in the room anymore. and that net zero shit really pisses me off because we are fighting reform on that who were peddling this shit about, you know, we didn't need to scrap zero. And he's just adding weight to their aguments. which is just like, don't use your position that way. It's like, well why is he using his position that way Well quite clearly we know why because he's got the Tony Blair Institute and you look at where all that bloody money comes from. That is what is are in my opinion, driving that agenda because frigin out man, we are the temperatures we're dealing with at the moment. The fact that we've got you know twenty twenty four was the first year in human history where we broke one point five degrees of warming Right? The scientists were like, don't do that And then Tony Blair's prescription is slow down slow bloody down. It's really interesting because If Tony Blair just sort of retired basically and just kept quiet I think some of the things that the Blair Institute have done in sort of over the decades have been very positive. But this latest incarnation of Tony Blair on the Bard of Pace surrounding himself with these Batman villains Taking money from God knows where and being so spectacularly unhelpful and not reading the room is absolutely hideous. And I think that obviously he's always going to have the war criminal label on him quite rightly. But I think had he gone quiet, in the fullness of time, as Alistair Campbell is talking about very eloquently on the Troll Meets I think O things would have been remembered and celebrated in terms of his legacy, in terms of he brokeered peace in Northern Ireland in Kosovo, he was a hero. so on that front, that was all positive. And the things that his government achieved, was a pretty prosperous time for Britain. And you could see some tangible change. and you had the vision of education, education and education, All the things that we all know Now I'm just like, he looks messianic and it is like you say as well like I'm here, everybody listen to me. And in terms of if you are a labour man, like are you kidding? This is the most unhelpful thing I've ever heard in my life. Read the fucking room and Not only that, as you say, I feel like he's got an agenda It feels really obvious to me. and I think anybody else who knows their onions. Anyway, let's have a listen to Tony Blair so you can decide what you think. Here he is talking to John Sopel on the news agents. And well, yeah, let's just pay the clip Well, every Miliband, I'm sure would turn around and say, well, hang on, we want to be leading the world in clean energy Well, you wince as I say that. XiXi Ping's not sitting there in Beijing saying I wonder what E Biliban thinks of it's It's in the end Of course, renewable energy is going to be the future long term. But by the way, With artificial intelligence, you may well get developments in nuclear fusion, you'll get developments in battery stories. There's a whole new world that will come down the track at us But right now Our energy costs are really high They're imposing costs on business We've got this artificial intelligence revolution that's going to use more and more energy. We need more electricity if we're going to go for electric cars, which again, we should do And therefore, all I'm saying is The lens through which you judge policy should be cheap energy and electrification because that's the way the rest of the world's doing in it. and it's A sort of quixotic fantasy to think that because Britain's decided it's going with by the way, under one percent of global emissions is going to go down a different path at huge expense And It's quixotic to think that the rest of the world is going to follow that. it's not. And it isn't. So Ed Milliband is a quickotic fantasist. Well, the policy, I'm not saying Ed, look You know. I wish these people in government well You've got to when you adopt a policy like that, You've got to be sure that it fits with your circumstances that we are facing here today. And it's not that you shouldn't get to net zero over time. Of course you should. We just got to realize We are spending billions of pounds a year.t the same time as we're raising taxes, we're spending billions of pounds to accelerate that transition in circumstances where the rest of the world has got a different priority. So for that policy to make sense You've got to have a very, very good reason I mean, it's unbelievable. There's one part of his argument I understand, which is like, why would we bother if no one else does. But we are an influential nation. We are the G seven. So why wouldn't we? And I also think he speaks from a place of like never being affected by stuff. like he doesn't feel the consequences. He's got an institute, he's got clients, he's got an estimated fortune, by the way, of sixty million pounds. So the coastal flooding, all the shit that's happening right now It's not reaching his living room anytime soon. had failed harvests are not hitting his table. So it's very easy for someone like that to be like you know, you just slow down And also know we basically export all of our carbon footprint to countries like China and like India and actually China and places like that who are making huge inroads with solar, for instance, and they are investing in it at the speed of light. And it's just the right thing to do. And what the reason we're here and also we've got a clip to exxplain to you that the net zero thing is load of bollocks in terms of our bills being so high. It's because we're so reliant on gas in this country specifically, more than the rest of Europe. And that is because they have all invested in nuclear. Now the problem with that, it takes ten, fifteen years for those things to kick in if you're building nuclear plants for energy But startop There's no point just carry on kicking it down the bloody road because that's been a failure of successive governments. So now if you've got one that wants to do the right thing, you don't stop them Because that is why our bills are so high in Britain. And Philip Mooors wrote a brilliant piece And he said, Blaair's pieace basically talking about Labour Party playing with fire over its future, et cetera and advocating for the radical center. Some may say this sounds reassuring, neutral, even. The thing about centerism is it always sounds like common sense, like the grown upps have arrived. without the influences of any strong ideology, but what it rarely tells you is whoses common sense and which grown upps In recent years, Blair's Institute has received nine million pounds from the Saudi government. Its biggest funder is Larry Ellison, Oracle billionaire, now one of the richest men on Eth. And according to investigations by the Sunday Times and the Guardian, he has donated and pledged around two hundred fifty seven million pounds to Blaair's Institute. So now Blaair's radical centre just happens to include Prioritizing cheap fossil fuels over net zero, prioritizing AI, removing obstacles to business and cutting welfare. That's not the absence of ideology. It's a specific ideology with a specific set of winners. And the people who get to define the center get to make their politics sound like physics inevitable and obvious, like it's what any reasonable person would conclude, and that is the trick. So he can bg off and do one Absolutely agree. And on that note, Peter Bandit wrote, Sh, Tony Blair really got out the wrong side of his crips today, didn't he? Yeah. Joanna MD said I liked it better when Tony Blair wasn't a thing anymore. Right. The next clip is a bit dull really, but I think it's important that we all you know grasp this. So basically it's quite funny as well because Kemmy Bajot was on peston and she was whanging on about getting rid of net zero and how that would bring our bills down. And again, it's just So disingenuous and what was really great was that on Peston in front of her, somebody kind of flummked her with facts and graphs and charts. So it was posted by Stop Cambebo and have a listen. Common sense back to this debate. Now, there's lots I need to talk to you about tonight. One of the things we want to look at is net zero and energy policy. and Anish's just going to share some data with you Yeah, that's right, The Conservatives under your leadership say they will slow the route to net zero. So I just want to focus on that for a minute. Starting with steel. Some say net zero is driving high energy prices in the sector. that Right? This suggests not really. This chart from UK Steel shows prices in France, in Germany and over here in the UK. The cost of net zero policies does feature. that's the gyb bit at the top. But actually there are exemptions in this country for heavy industry. so that is quite small in the UK. actually bigigger in France and much bigger in Germany and yet both have lower bills overall than we do. Our problem is way more this pink bit. wholesale costs, basically the price that suppliers pay for electricity. And the same is true for individuals. This chart from Simon Evans at Carbon Brief looks at household electricity bills over time. Again, there is a cost associated with net zero, the leves down here in green But again Wholesale electricity prices again in pink are much, much bigger. and actually I think I can show you that it is those that have driven up prices recently while levies over here have remained flat. So what determines that wholesale price? I can show you in the UK, it is the global gas price. The electricity price on here in blue tracks almost perfectly with gas prices in red, which is bad news for our bills when you have a crisis like a war in Ukraine. Yeah, so sorry that you couldn't see the graph, but I just thought, you know, it's quite good to all get our facts straight, isn't it? when people speak rubbish? Tars, tears in fact at time of record tomorrow morning going on to Jeremy Line with he's a reform Council leader. Carefully you say that It' a guy's a guy called George Finch Right. AKa David Brent Junr S Oh, the really young guy, the really young guy who speaks about David Brent. And one of the conversations is around scrabpping that era. Great Gery handed prep for me. Thankk you very much. Good, good, good, good. I'm sure we'll do goss about that because I'm sure that we can fall out. I wonder if he says Brenty in the green room, I think there's going be some fun clips. Okay, so Trawlers, let's just end this section with a post by Caroline Lucas who said, whatever world Tony Blair inhabits appears to be one without climate change and where UK temperature record for May hasn't just been smashed How else to explain his extraordinary dismissal of net zero an erroneous claim that fossil fuels are cheaper than renewables? It's the same old bloody story, I'll tell you, because wind and sun should be pretty much free and cheaper. blloody asked oyal barons to kind help themselves Underratedterter Urated d How did we get? I'm still thinking about tpping chopstes. I might dream about that my go I go Sensory pl onning sensory. I'm ordering the Chinese tonight for one. Extra chopsticks, please. Good raob hubb Let's do these under aage weird. Okay. All right, cool. So a history of ghost music wrote Weerere close to a peace deal in Iran is the new COVID will be gone by Easter. Oh God. I reckon the peace deal in Iran might come after the event attent att attch. Marcouf five hundred said In popular opinion, the concept of cuddling to sleep is a lie Sold by movies True love is rolling over to your respective sides of the mattress and not touching for eight hours. Do you concurrage them before to hundred percent. Like hundred. I love A bit of physical and all that jazz, right? Absolutely. But then I'm done, I'm like, okay, by get off now. put a few chopsticks. Yeah. getet off now over there and then I'm sleeping. Yeah. I like I like all them I like the space gripping each other in the middle of the night. Get off. I like the space, but I like a hand on my bottom. Right. Okay. we've learned a lot about you in this episode, Marina Purkers and I'm not sure all of it is very savourory quite frankly J I know I bought or not O it. Like a business Anyway But I do agree with that though that like the movies when people like Like how do you sleep like that holding one another is ridiculous. It's the same as childbirth in the movie. I'm just gonna say early days do ly if it's these temperatures, Marina Perkis, absolutely not in these temperatures no, but early days there's definitely a bit of like all of that going on, isn't there? Until you go to sleep, until you go to sleep. I get a crick nck . I don't know. We've got one more here for you No saints' books said Why don't Brits just buy AircOon? And it says, because we start researching it and by the time we figure it out, it's back to ten degrees so we just forget about it until next time. So true. That is so true. Oh, I've put one in here, Jamie've not seen this. G on in. This was so weird. This was so weird. There's a hand on my bottom dear. What's that song? It's a hole in my pocket There's a handle, my bottom dear. Wh's the dear? Lilah Lilah, dear Lilah, there's a handle my bottom dear, Lilah There you go. Okay. BBC politics this headline, genuine headline Former Defense Secretary, Gavin Williamson announced his death of pet tarantula That was a BBC headline. There was a whole article bBC. com. It got nine hundred and eighty eight lightes And someone called Dunk wrote Is this an MI five activation code? What the fuck is this? What What? What since when do we get notifications or articles? about the deaths of pets of former ministers. Is it a pet that count as a pet? It's a very Gavin Williamson esque pet isn't it? He's the sort of freak that' ever to wr ready ansler. Yeah, you're not getting in love back from that. A you? No