The Trawl

This episode starts with the delightful news that Marine Le Pen is going to 'le pen.' Then there's a review of Reform's rally in Birmingham, mainly because Led By Donkey's managed to infiltrate and lit up the NEC with pictures of Farage's pal, Putin, amongst others. 

And then Jemma and Marina ponder, not for the first time, why on earth Labour won't tax the uber rich as opposed to imposing cuts upon the most vulnerable in society?

Fortunately, the conversation is starting to feature on mainstream TV, thanks to the brilliant Gary Stevenson on Question Time (NB Trawlers he was on Trawl Meets in May 2024. If you haven't listened it's a stellar ep) and the wonderful Julia Davies who is one of the Patriotic Millionaires who was busy on Newsnight and Sunday Morning Live. 

Wonderful to hear pure sense and rubbish myths being debunked. Will Labour listen though...? 

Meanwhile, Conor McGregor's bid to run Ireland has hit a stumbling block. Turns out having Trump's backing means naff all to the good people of Ireland. 

And there's an under rated clip which sounds like a spoof but it isn't. In the USA trump's faith healer is flogging seven blessings for a grand. Super! 

Pudding is by the brilliant Politics Joe

Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast

Patreon

This episode starts with a trip down memory lane. If you were at school in the 90's you might feel a shiver as the r Trawl ladies relive some Sunday night theme tunes. You could call it the calm before the storm because, in the next minute, they're talking about the new child labour laws in the US. Ron De Santis wants to get those minors working through the night, ideally with no breaks. Seems fair.....

Compared to Marjorie Taylor Greene however, De Santis almost cuts a reasonable figure. Marjorie is not liking the UK at the moment and makes no bones about showing her extreme disdain to a UK journalist. Hmm, that 'special' relationship appears to have gone rather toxic.

Should we want any kind of a relationship with the Trump adminstration? When a young woman can be taken from the streets simply because she opposes what's happening in Palestine, you've hit a new low and yet that's what's happened to Rumeysa Ozturk. Rumeysa was on her way to meet friends at an Iftar dinner where they would break their Ramadan fast. Instead, the 30-year-old was arrested and physically restrained by immigration officers. Six plainclothes officers surrounded Ozturk as she walked alone, though the officers did not show their badges until she was restrained. Horrifying.

On the subject of Palestine, Marina and Jemma barely know what to say any more given that this week, more humanitarian aid workers and medics have been killed by the Israeli army which breaches international law. Instead they have picked a few clips of brilliant people speaking powerfully. 

On a lighter note, Vance went to Greenland and the entire trip was so pitiful it was comical. It begs the question, is he the worst diplomat ever? 

Pudding is warming up for the next episode - from The Last Leg it's a brilliant poke at Labour

Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast

Patreon

Jemma and Marina sit down with YouTuber, Jimmy the Giant to chat about his political transformation from being radicalised by the right-wing media, to a becoming passionate leftie activist.

Jimmy has a massive online following with over 600k subscribers on YouTube where he talks about political issues and the tactics used by the right-wing, having seen it from the other side.

They discuss the rise of extreme figures on social media, why so many young men are being drawn to Reform UK and what can the Labour government be doing to combat this worrying trend.

Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast

Patreon

There's a huge chance you've seen the Netflix drama, Adolescence, but, if you haven't, don't worry, no spoilers in this episode. However, Jemma and Marina talk around the central theme and why we all need to catch up quickly when it comes to the dangerous side of social media. 

Why is misogyny on the rise? How do we as a society combat the disgusting narratives people like Andrew Tate pedal to young minds? And why did this particular show have such a huge impact on its audience? 

The drama has been watched by 24 million people, has had a mention in Parliament and ignited millions of conversations up and down the country. The Trawl ladies discuss why that might be so. Furthermore is it a good thing or a bad thing that it has taken a programme to make people sit up and what should parents take from it?

Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast

Patreon

Reeves' Spring statement is looming but as Marina and Jemma await what sound like it's going to be underwhelming, unimaginative and full of austerity, they get into the far juicier news from across the pond. Should any attack be planned on a group chat? And even if so, perhaps inviting in a journalist wasn't the cleverest thing to do. Though given said chat is strewn with emojis and demonstrates no care for the loss of life they're planning to inflict, perhaps clever would be pushing it in the first place. 

Still, Trump has way more important thing to worry about than National Security. Someone's painted a portrait of him and he doesn't like it. In fact, he's furious so spends a lot of his day wailing about it on socials like the fragile cheesy wotsit he surely is. All against a backdrop of deportations on a scale that will blow your mind. Jemma and Marina had warned about Project 2025 prior to the US election, the manifesto laid out by the darkest of think tanks. Trump always said he didn't know anything about it. He also says he doesn't know anything about the incredibly serious breach of security committed by his administration....hmm. 

Still, Marina and Jemma probably won't be visiting America any time soon, partly because there's a chance they wouldn't be allowed in. Listen to find out why and then maybe consider if you'll be taking a 'vacation' there any time soon. 

URTOTW features some of the weird and wonderful and frankly desperate things people were up to during lockdown. 

Pudding is provided by Bill Bailey. 

Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast

Patreon