They Can Do Nothing Wrong | The halo effect, Ed Miliband and Burnham on beer at the football

The Concept of the Week is the halo effect. Once you think well of someone, their mistakes get explained away and their strengths get all the credit. Peter calls it a heuristic, and a sloppy way of thinking that everyone falls into from time to time. His rule: very good people can do bad things, and when they do, call them out. It turns up all week, starting with Ed Miliband's street interview with the TikTok creator Feroz Khan in New York. Peter is sure it was not impromptu. Hilary is less sure it was scripted. Before the news, a progress report on Black Bag, Luke Kennard's Booker shortlisted novel. Hilary is listening to the author read it and is now hooked; Peter has been defeated by the audiobook app. She likes it because it is not full of visual imagery, which brings her to aphantasia. Hilary cannot see pictures in her mind's eye, and only found out a few years ago that other people really can. Peter can turn a Rubik's cube over in his head but does not see it either, and his own belief, which he is careful to call a belief, is that nobody really does. Hilary would like to settle it in a brain scanner. The first headline: couples who divorced in 2025 had been married for a median of 13 years, the longest since records began in 1963. Is it the cost of splitting up, or is marriage guidance working? Peter's answer is less romantic. People marry later and live together first, and older, wiser couples who have tested the arrangement stay married for longer. He thinks divorce being easier also makes it less urgent. Hilary would rather believe couples are getting the help they need, and Peter offers her the choice from Life of Pi: pick the story you prefer. Andy Carroll has written in his autobiography about being sexually assaulted in his own home by a celebrity friend, who was later jailed. Hilary remembers how long it took boys abused in youth football to find the words for what had happened to them, and talks about bringing up sons who would have those words if they ever needed them. Peter's view is that people who speak out should be praised, celebrated and protected, and that once we understand what has happened to someone, their distress stops looking like something wrong inside them. The final headline: Prime Minister Andy Burnham says the 1985 ban on drinking in view of the pitch at men's football is discrimination, when fans can drink at cricket, at rugby, and now at the Women's Super League. Hilary calls it fanism and thinks four decades is long enough to try something different. Peter is not having it. The alcohol ban, all-seater grounds and policing are why football changed, he says, so why undo them? What evidence is there that alcohol has a different effect on the brain than it did forty years ago? Hilary raises the research linking big matches to domestic abuse. And Peter's verdict is the halo effect in reverse: he really likes Andy Burnham, and he does not think this is a good idea. Peter's advice for the world borrows Ed Miliband's: do what you believe to be right, once you have weighed it up properly. It is what he used to say to clients who wanted him to decide for them. Then the Triple T: toss a coin. Set up the choice, heads one way and tails the other, and while it is in the air, ask yourself which way you want it to land. At that moment, you know. His third tip, take tips with a pinch of salt, comes free. A note before you listen. This episode discusses Andy Carroll's account of being sexually assaulted, the abuse of boys in youth football, and the link between big sporting events and domestic abuse. If you have been affected. SurvivorsUK supports men and non-binary people who have been sexually abused. The 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line, run by Rape Crisis England and Wales, is on 0808 500 2222 for anyone aged 16 or over. The National Domestic Abuse Helpline is on 0808 2000 247, day and night. Mentioned in this episode Ed Miliband's interview with Feroz Khan was filmed in New York during the UN General Assembly and went up on Khan's account, the Foreign Office's and the UK mission to the UN's at the same time. A government source has since said it was planned. His advice for the world, as LBC reported it: "Do what you think is right. Stick to your beliefs." LBC's report, with the video The halo effect was named by the psychologist Edward Thorndike in 1920, after he found that officers who rated a soldier highly on one quality tended to rate him highly on all of them. In 1977 Richard Nisbett and Timothy Wilson showed that people swayed by it do not know they have been Black Bag by Luke Kennard is on the 2026 Booker Prize shortlist. The winner is announced on 9 November Aphantasia, having no mind's eye, was named in 2015 by the neurologist Adam Zeman and colleagues. Hyperphantasia is the other end of the scale. To check your own imagery, try the Aphantasia Network's visual imagery questionnaire, and the apple illusion Hilary mentions, once you have finished listening The ONS divorce figures were published on 23 September. Couples who divorced in England and Wales in 2025 had been married for a median of 13.0 years, the longest since records began in 1963 and up from a low of 8.9 years in 1985. ONS divorce statistics Life of Pi is Yann Martel's novel. The stage version Peter loved won the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Play, and the seven puppeteers who played the tiger shared the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Andy Carroll's autobiography, Owning It, was published by Pan Macmillan on 24 September Andy Burnham spoke to reporters in New York on 23 September. The ban comes from the Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act 1985 and covers the top five tiers of men's football in England. Women's Super League fans can drink in view of the pitch this season after two trial seasons The research on football and domestic abuse includes Trendl, Stewart and Mullett (2021), which found alcohol related domestic abuse reports to West Midlands Police rose 47 per cent after an England win There is research behind the coin toss. Mariela Jaffé and colleagues found in 2019 that a coin flip sharpens how people feel about their options, and Steven Levitt found that people whose coin told them to make a change were happier six months later Experience is hosted by Hilary Jeffs and Professor Peter Kinderman, and produced by James Jones at Granary Digital. Get in touch at [email protected].