Ep 153: Vorder Force, Suella Silenced and an Unexpected Winner

Jemma and Marina are thrilled to learn that comedian and writer, Rosie Jones has been a Trawler from the beginning! They discuss who her comedy heroes are, how she started in the business and why she’s finally left Twitter. With 150K followers on Instagram, Rosie has legions of fans who adore her outspoken, warm brand of humour but that doesn’t stop the trolls abusing her and attacking her for being disabled. Rosie opens up about how that feels, how she’s trying her best to represent 24% of the population and what she’s doing to encourage greater representation. A clip from the Jimmy Kimmel show of ‘celebrities read mean tweets’ reminds Rosie, Marina and Jemma that no one is safe when it comes to having a large platform!A great chat, peppered with lots of clips and a superb pudding from one of Rosie’s heroes - the incredible Victoria Wood.Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcastPatreonhttps://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcastYoutubehttps://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawlTwitterhttps://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcastCreated and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina PurkissEdited by Max Carrey

If you’re trying to sell yourself as a progressive, forward looking potential leader of a political party, perhaps don’t take a leaf out of Robert Jenrick’s book by celebrating Thatcher’s birthday with a countdown to the cutting of a cake….Then Jemma and Marina discuss the latest Trump rally which he billed as Coachella but was more like the infamous Fyre festival due to the fact that the coaches were only booked one way. Cue MAGA chaos. There are underrated tweets and some slightly delirious chat about salad dressing. Enjoy!Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcastPatreonhttps://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcastYoutubehttps://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawlTwitterhttps://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcastCreated and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina PurkissEdited by Max Carrey

This is not your regular Trawl. Jemma and Marina have been consumed by the horrors unfolding in Gaza, and felt compelled to talk it through. They discuss that horrifying flame-engulfed image that emerged after a hospital tent in Gaza was bombed by Israel - an image that may well become the defining image for this indelible stain in the story of humanity. His name was Shaban Ahmed Al-Dalu, and like the thousands and thousands of other innocent men, women and children caught up in this barbaric conflict, he deserved to live. Marina and Jemma discuss the failure of humanity to put a stop to this, the absence of grief from our news channels and politicians and the press coverage we're seeing that exposes the differing values placed on some lives versus others. They discuss the Labour leadership stance - or rather, their deafening lack of one, the reason so many are too afraid to speak out and why we must never forget the needless lives lost in the pursuit of revenge that will only breed more hatred and violence. Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcastPatreonhttps://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcastYoutubehttps://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawlTwitterhttps://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcastCreated and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina PurkissEdited by Max Carrey

Scrapping the Winter Fuel Allowance has been understandably controversial but, if Conservative HQ were trying to make people feel sad about it, they failed. If anything, by featuring people in their large houses, using coffee machines and wearing Rolexes, they gave people food for thought. As you can imagine, the tweets are great....Over in the States, Elon Musk has been attending Trump rallies and admitting to Tucker Carlson that if he doesn't win in November, he's screwed. An advert for Harris if ever there was one!Enjoy!Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcastPatreonhttps://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcastYoutubehttps://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawlTwitterhttps://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcastCreated and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina PurkissEdited by Max Carrey

The episode begins with some heart wrenching clips. Firstly we hear a weather report from a presenter who is audibly horrified by what he's having to tell people and then from a lady who is beyond angry that Ron DeSantis is choosing to politicise the disaster and appeals to her fellow Floridians.Then, the reviews are in! Unleashed by Boris Johnson is being flogged on every platform he can get on (which is all of them sadly) but, despite him repeating the book title ad infinitum, all Marina and Jemma are interested in is his disgusting confession that he had no idea about Brexit. I mean, we all knew it, but good to hear it out loud, even if he doesn't care and isn't sorry. The rest of the episode focuses on two issues the likes of The Mail and The Telegraph have been telling people to be livid about for days - Sue Gray and the Chagos Islands. Jemma and Marina discuss how it points to a deeper problem - the power of the Right Wing media and why arguably Leveson 2 is so desperately needed. The history behind the Chagos Islands certainly isn't being written about. Neither is the fact that the same outcome would have been required no matter who was in power. But don't worry, The Trawl ladies have plenty of tweets which put you in the picture. They finish with Under Rated Tweets of the week and pudding by Larry and Paul and Broken News. Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcastPatreonhttps://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcastYoutubehttps://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawlTwitterhttps://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcastCreated and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina PurkissEdited by Max Carrey

Twitter (X) was on fire when Laura Kuenssberg announced that her exclusive interview with Johnson had had to be cancelled due to the fact she'd sent him her notes. Oops. How could this have happened? Jemma and Marina have their theories and some of the tweets are glorious. Less glorious is ex Tory MP Jonathan Gullis' realisation that the teaching profession might not be willing to welcome him back with open arms after calling them Bolsheviks and commies and so on. Can't think why...Then, The Trawl goes Stateside where P Diddy has been arrested and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. The allegations are truly shocking but not as shocking as it is for an Irish person to have to discuss what P Diddy might have done or be doing, as you'll hear in one of the clips. As for Trump, his latest ramblings barely make sense. How long can such incoherent gibberish be ignored for by even the most ardent of Republicans? Michael Spicer serves up pudding with The Room Next Door - A Donald Trump Factcheck Special Enjoy!Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcastPatreonhttps://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcastYoutubehttps://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawlTwitterhttps://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcastCreated and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina PurkissEdited by Max Carrey

This Trawl begins with a tribute to the late, great Dame Maggie Smith. Then, Marina and Jemma discuss two prominent political figures who have decided their parties aren't for them after all. Labour's Rosie Duffield has become an independent (which raises questions in itself) and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has left the conservative party, which means she can be more forthright than before which she certainly is about Jenrick. Then it's off to Tory Party Conference where the mood is surprisingly buoyant given their recent thumping. The party members are all falling over themselves to proclaim which of the MPs running to be leader has got their vote. Despite saying maternity pay is 'excessive' Kemi Badenoch is getting the thumbs up from a lot of them and from many ministers too. Though does it count if it's from David Davis? Jemma and Marina are startled by quite a few of the things Kemi has said but not quite as startled as they were to hear about where Robert Jenrick got £75,000 from as a donation. Truss has made an appearance to tell everyone (again) that she's simply misunderstood, that her ideas were all marvellous and that she should have been left in power to further wreck the economy. While Jacob Rees Mogg is on hand to tell us all why we shouldn't be saying 'Chair' instead of Chairman......plus, something about wolves, I think. Hard to tell. There are underrated tweets of course, some of which involve Russell Brand baptising people in his under grundies. Pudding is Will Sebag Montefiore Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcastPatreonhttps://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcastYoutubehttps://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawlTwitterhttps://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcastCreated and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina PurkissEdited by Max Carrey

Only in Blighty would a one-word slip-up manage to dominate the news cycle... Yes, sausages. Marina and Jemma discuss the ongoing fallout and the concern that, of all things that went on at Labour conference, this appears to be one of the few stories that is landing. Then it's onto a party conference of a very different kind, less political conference, more Phoenix Nights rehash - because the Reform Party Conference was all going off as well, in much the same way milk does. Then ladies hear from some breathtaking vox pops from those in attendance and mull over Lee Anderson's BBC license fee stunt. Then it's on to some great underrated tweets from a Trump who STILL can't get over that debate, a James OB clip of him putting caller Roger firmly in his place and some discussion over the Starmer's son's GSCE study brouhaha. Then, as journalists up and down the country suddenly appear to have learnt how to do journalism all at the same time and coincidentally at the same time as a Labour government, it's only right that the pod ends with a pudding from The Exploding Heads that is beautifully on point. Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcastPatreonhttps://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcastYoutubehttps://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawlTwitterhttps://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcastCreated and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina PurkissEdited by Max Carrey

Boris Johnson has been churning out his Daily Mail opinion pieces again, but this week the bloviating bell was even lazier than usual when we learnt he couldn't even be bothered to research the Bridget Jones plot line before putting out his casually sexist guff.Then it's onto the ongoing Labour and Starmer drama which shows no signs of quelling. Jemma and Marina discuss the lazy comparison with the Tories, the disagreement with Owen Jones and the double standards of the media - but sadly arrive at the conclusion that there are some Labour stories emerging that are far more than serious than just bad optics. Then it's onto BBC Laura K who it seems is looking forward to her romantic date/interview with Boris Johnson - and appears is the only one left who gives a toss what he has to sayThen it's onto the no-class-act, Kemi Badenoch, who this week displayed she knowns even less about anything than we thought she knew before, when she appeared to suggest her class status changed after a shift working at McDonalds. All finished off with the most cathartic of puddings, that may well have granted James O'Brien official national treasure status.Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcastPatreonhttps://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcastYoutubehttps://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawlTwitterhttps://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcastCreated and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina PurkissEdited by Max Carrey

Uh oh... We thought we were done with dodgy donor activity, but there are question marks over Keir Starmer's wife, Victoria being in receipt of some dresses from a very well-to-do Labour donor. Jemma and Marina discuss the terrible optics and nuance around the matter, while agreeing wholeheartedly that Tories coming out to try and claim the moral high-ground can ABSOLUTELY DO ONE.The ladies move onto why we need a new system whereby our democracy isn't for sale to the highest bidder and discuss cases where one might need a new work wardrobe to be funded - cue Jemma's hideous dress story! And there's a clip from one MP who certainly would not accept any gifts of new apparel - no prizes for guessing who.Then it's onto moaning millionaires, more specifically: Charlie Mullins (or Poundland Rod Stewart as he's also known) who founded Pimlico Plumbers. Poor Charlie is so devastated by Labour tax rises that haven't yet been announced, that he's taken to every media platform to complain and tell us he's leaving the UK - which begs the question: why is he still here?The ladies chat about the argument that higher taxes for the wealthy will lead to brain drain, and discuss the actual impact this will have when experts have crunched the numbers. Newsflash: we'll be ok. Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcastPatreonhttps://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcastYoutubehttps://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawlTwitterhttps://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcastCreated and Produced by Jemma Forte & Marina PurkissEdited by Max Carrey