Speaker 1Hey gorgeous people, welcome back to the James Kennedy podcast. How have you been? You missed me? I know it's been a while in between episodes again. I'm sorry, I promise my podcast game will be much better really soon. But it's a busy time for me right now, dudes. You know, I got a deadline looming for my second book, so I'm racing to finish that. I'm rehearsing several times a week with the mighty James Kennedy and the underdogs as we prepare to grace some stage and bust some eardrums in a town near you. And I'm fighting the law, man, you know, in my ongoing case with the police, which has now been escalated. But I can't say anything about that yet. But you know me, I certainly will when I can. And as some of you might know, I've been quite unwell for most of this year. For the past six or seven months, I've been in and out of hospital. I've been spending half the week in bed. I've had absolutely everything tested. And it's been quite a bizarre and worrying and frustrating time for me because I'm not used to being ill. I was always quite fit and healthy, you know. But whatever this thing is, it's trashed my productivity. You know, I'm a guy that used to sleep for four hours. And crush it and work around the clock and, you know, hammer five different roles at the same time. That's the pace I used to like operating at. But I just haven't been able to. So now I'm approaching the summertime. I'm miles behind schedule on the book. There's been some hurdles with the band as well that we're making up for lost time with that. And that's why I've been dropping the ball with the weekly podcast episodes as well, which I hate doing. I hate it when there's a disruption in the momentum of the thing. You know, I enjoy doing the podcast. I really love having these conversations and sharing them with you guys. And I think having gaps in between episodes just kind of ruins the flow and the momentum of the thing. So I've decided that now we're at episode 50. I think that's a nice round number to park it up in the pit stop just for a few weeks whilst I finish the book, get the band up and run into the point where we're back out there on the road gigging, which is not going to be very long at all. You know, downsize a few commitments, tick a few things off the fucking to-do list, and then get back on the saddle full throttle. So I know for most professional podcasters listening to this, it'd be like, episode 50, dude, that's lame. You only got to 50 before you had to park up. But, you know, fuck you, basically. Yes, that's the deal. I'm very proud of the past 50 episodes. I think they're a great archive of some brilliant perspective, knowledge, and insight, and just great conversations with some great minds and some great people. So if you haven't heard all of the other episodes yet, rather than plowing on to the next one, go back and have a listen to some of the previous episodes. There's some really, really good stuff in there, whether it's on the subject of politics, philosophy, the music industry, food, health, and nutrition, mental health, climate change, activism, and loads, loads more. So trawl through and have a little look. And there's more than enough there to keep you entertained. Whilst I get my shit together over the next few weeks, and we'll be back with season two right after the summer. So thank you so much to everyone that's followed the podcast this past year. We've made it into the top five most shared podcasts globally within the first year. And this was something I didn't even think I was going to be doing for more than three episodes. So I really appreciate all the love and support. I'm so glad that you've been enjoying listening to the podcast. We will continue doing this thing. Fear not. I've got loads of awesome guests already booked in and confirmed and lined up for season two. So if you haven't already subscribed to the podcast, please do so. And if you haven't already subscribed to the podcast, please find the James Kennedy podcast on whatever platform you're listening to it on. Give it a follow, give it a subscribe, give it a share, give it a star rating, and we'll be back really, really soon. I promise. But check this out. If you're going to go out, you got to go out with a bang, right? And we have saved a goodie for the final episode of season one. We are going out with a bang. We are going out with a fucking explosion and fireworks, baby. Because we are joined today by the one and only, the mighty, the unstoppable, and the awesome Marina Perkis. That's right. Political commentator, podcaster, bringer of truth bombs, and destroyer of corrupt, lying, hypocritical bastards everywhere. Marina, thanks so much for doing this. I really appreciate it. I'm super excited for what's probably going to unfold during the conversation today. How are you doing? That was such a lovely intro. I'm all the better for it. Thank you, James. No props at all. And no word of a lie neither, dude. I mean, before we jump in then, right, just a little check-in. You know, how are you personally? What's been going on with you? How are you doing?
Speaker 2Oh, God, it's actually really dull. My personal life is very dull. I am on maternity leave at the moment with my second baby. I've got an eight-month-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old. I go back to work full-time in September. So I'm basically just using this time in between nappy changes and stuff to try and hold the government to account, as you do.
Speaker 1As you do, yeah. Well, as I said before we started recording here, I have never had so many excited and positive comments as when I posted online that you were coming on the show. So there's clearly a lot of love for you out there, man, and what you do. And I think that is mirrored in your social media presence, which is absolutely fucking insane, dude. You're crushing it.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's actually getting to a little bit of a scary place now, because I have to really think before I hit the send button. And I used to be quite happy, you know, having a few drinks and then crafting something and then hitting the tweet button. And actually, I just, no, can't do that now, because I get pylons quite frequently, especially given Elon Musk's new algorithm. Because, you know, now we've fed stuff that provokes us, you know, and the bit that says, for you. Right. That feed is pretty provocative stuff. I get a lot of bellends there, that sort of trigger me if I look at that particular feed. Oh, another thing actually to say is that today is a good day because we hit one million downloads for our podcast.
Speaker 1I saw. Congratulations, man. That's amazing. Thank you. Congratulations.
Speaker 2I can't believe it. It's, again, something just Gemma and I do out of our bedrooms, out of our home office, and we're so chuffed with it.
Speaker 1Well, it's an awesome podcast. I love listening to it, because for me, it's like political therapy. It's like political therapy, because you can often feel a little bit like, is it just me? Am I the only fucking sane person? Am I losing my mind here? And then you listen to that, and it's like, oh, no, it's not just me. Right. Cool. I feel so much better now. Yeah. It's like a relief, you know?
Speaker 2It's like, you know, you've got things like the rest is politics for the real insight. You've got newsagents for the analysis, and you've got us for a bit of that. And just it's like chatting with your mates. Yeah. Like, it's that sort of chat. And it's, yeah, make you feel sane, and you're not alone. And also to have a bit of a laugh, because the state of the country, I mean, you have, you have to sort of laugh at it, otherwise you could cry.
Speaker 1Oh, 100%, man. And that actually segues perfectly into my first question that I wanted to ask you today. It's quite a biggie, but I'm hoping that it's going to be a launching pad for the rest of the conversation. And it's this. So if you were to give a synopsis of where we are at in 2023, in this independent, noble, prosperous, free nation that we find ourselves in, to someone who didn't know anything at all about our political or social situation, how would you describe it? What would you tell them? What would you tell them about where we're at in Britain in 2023?
Speaker 2Gosh, broken. We are in the position now where I think we have just isolated ourselves so much, we have made a laughingstock of ourselves. As a result of the government and its very sympathetic press, we are more divided than we've ever been. As a result of 13 years of consecutive governments and austerity, we are poorer than we've ever been. And I just can't see, at the moment, I don't know how we get better. That's, that's the real sadness. That's, that's the real sad state of affairs, because even if you look at the opposition, which by the way, I will lend my, I would lend my vote to them because I'm desperate to get the Tories out. But I think because of the dominance of media in this, in this country, I think the two parties that we've got in this two party state means they are so close to each other now that if we really want change, and God, we are desperate for it now because of those 13 years, I feel like we're not going to get a great deal of it. So it feels like we're in a bit of a sorry state of affairs, a bit of a pickle. Don't you think, James?
Speaker 1James West: 100% dude, yeah, beautifully put. But you know, let me just tell you, Marina, you don't have to be polite or diplomatic on my show. You can tell us what you really
Speaker 2think. Marina Milovic: Oh, it's fine. Okay. I can also say I think the people in charge, I have never known a more vile bunch of people and I don't really hate people. But I hate this bunch of Tory governments and I hate the enablers. I do. I hate the people that put them into this position and peddle their bullshit. Oh, in fact, I just did draw on something that, I did tweet about quite a lot yesterday because Adam Bienkoff, who is the political editor at Byline Times, he wrote this brilliant article about Johnston and sort of the rise and fall. And did you know that back in, I think it was ages ago, but Johnston wrote an article where he talks about how to be successful in politics. And one of the things he talks about, he actually said to be successful, you have to surround yourself with stooges who are disciplined and deluded. And they so want to believe in their relationship with the leader, that they will basically shut their eyes to the crap, to the nonsense, to the lies. And could you, I mean, has he ever been more candid? Has he ever been more accurate or bang on the money? That is exactly what he did with his government. Because he didn't hire for talent, did he James? He hired people who are-
Speaker 3James West: Sick of fancy. Yeah.
Speaker 2Marina Milovic: ... complete sick of fancy. Loyal, like blindly loyal, who saw that he was, who saw him as their meal ticket, who, you know, who were able to ride on his coattails. And that's exactly what he did. And when I go through my Twitter feed now, God, the dross, you know, people like Niall Gardner, for example, or all these people, it's like, guys, you are the stooges. You are the disciplined, deluded stooges. And you can't even see it.
Speaker 1James West: 100%. And I'm sure you've seen the WhatsApp messages as well, right?
Speaker 2Marina Milovic: I haven't, no. James West: Oh, dude, you've got to be-
Speaker 1Marina Milovic: When did these come out? I feel like I, honestly, I feel like I haven't seen
Speaker 2these for like 10 minutes and something else happens.
Speaker 1James West: Dude, you've got to see these things. It's exactly what you're talking about. The sick of fancy is fucking hilarious. You've got like Cummings calling him dude and big boss. And, you know, the Dorries is on there saying, oh, I love it how cheeky you get when you've had a drink and all that sort of stuff. Oh God, it's fucking, you're like, oh, it's terrible.
Speaker 2Marina Milovic: Dorries as well, by the way, you've got a feel for Dorries, haven't you? She got shafted. She got absolutely shoved. All of that sucking. All of that literally, you know, being wheeled out to defend the indefensible and talking shit and flicking her hair in that defiant manner. She would have all for what, Doris? To stand down for mid-Bedfordshire. And on top of that, she has been culled from his list of honours.
Speaker 1Beautiful justice. That's what you get, man. That's karma. That's karma.
Speaker 2About bloody time. Karma's been like, what? Has she been on retirement or what?
Speaker 1Well, she's certainly slacking. She's certainly slacking. I am hopeful that karma is going to deliver a beautiful, fucking brutal blow to every single member of this government at some point. I'm still waiting for it, though, you know.
Speaker 2I hope so. But then you see, like, so Nicola Sturgeon, she got arrested, obviously. And then she's been released. She has been released pending further investigation. But I just want to see some arrests.
Speaker 4Yes.
Speaker 2Starting with Michelle Moan. Arrest her, please. This is what I need to see. This is the justice that I think so many of us are desperate for. Because at the moment, again, that VIP bloody lane and the billions of taxpayers' money, not a single head has been made to roll as a result. And that is unbelievable. Unforgivable.
Speaker 1Well, I think the point you make is a serious one, because they are literal criminals, these people. I mean, they are all guilty of being an accessory to a criminal system that is killing people. People are starving on the streets. You know, I know we're venting here. But I mean, you know, when you said there should be arrests, and I know you mean that, and I totally agree with you. You know, these are criminals. And these are crimes against society and crimes against democracy as well. And these guys are mincing around in their private jets and their yachts and rubbing shoulders with oligarchs and, you know, people who've got their... Yeah. Billions stuffed away in tax havens who don't pay tax whilst the rest of us are having to choose between heating and eating. It's fucking brutal, and it is a crime. And you're exactly right, and I 100% agree with you when you say that.
Speaker 2James, James, James, no, no, no, no, hang on. That's for the little people. The breaking of laws, the illegal stuff, that's for the little people. The people in government, they're never found to be doing illegal things. They are found to be doing unlawful things.
Speaker 3Okay, right.
Speaker 2Do you see the difference there?
Speaker 3Got it, got it.
Speaker 2It's very clever. It's done on purpose, because if you or I commit a massive fraud... ...or you do something like that, it's found to be illegal. But if you do it in positions of power, like, for example, you know, some of the VIP lane stuff, it was found in the High Court to be unlawful. And the reason it's unlawful and not illegal is because for it to be legal, Parliament has to pass a law to make it illegal. Do you think they're going to do that? Do you think they're going to pass the law to make the stuff they do illegal? No. The whole thing is rigged.
Speaker 1Oh, for sure. No, no, it totally is. But how do we get to this point? Because we don't live in a literal dictatorship. Yet. You know, people did vote for this shit. And, you know, these people in this government, if you can call them that, you know, they're not representative of anybody I've ever met in life. And I've been around a while. I know people from all sides of the social and political spectrum. And I don't know who these fuckers represent. So why do people vote for this? And why do we keep putting ourselves in the fucking flames?
Speaker 2A few things. I think, again, the fact that a massive chunk of our press is basically dominated... By, you know, the Conservatives or in the pockets of the Conservatives or vice versa.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 2And even, you know, the lefty BBC with its director general and all the rest of it, all the big sort of right wing or Conservatives in charge. I think that the message is, especially for things like Brexit, we never got the real story around Brexit. And also, the other thing is the lying that's allowed in politics. So given the lies that were spouted by sort of the leave side and also spouted continuously to this day, every single day by the... by the Conservative Party, the reason that happens is because we have a completely unpoliced, wild west when it comes to our politics.
Speaker 4Yeah.
Speaker 2And lying is not just without consequence. It's actually rewarded because people believe the lies, like we saw with Brexit, like we saw with oven-ready deal and all the other lies that they say. And there is absolutely no consequence. I think we've got to a really bad point now, where Swella Braverman last week, she stood up in the House of Commons and... Yeah. She said that approvals for the first round of migrants, you know, the processing, that the number had gone down by 17,000. This is complete horseshit. In fact, Cooper stood up, corrected her, the number has actually gone up. The Speaker of the House, the Deputy Speaker, actually invited her to correct herself and correct the record. And Swella Braverman shook her head and refused.
Speaker 3Mental.
Speaker 2And that's where we are now, so it doesn't matter. Mental. Because you can lie, I mean, you can lie outside of Parliament. You can lie outside of Parliament freely, which they do. You can put a big lie on a bus. But you can also lie in Parliament now. And because of the flaccidness, flaccidity, whatever the word is, of the speakers and the fact that our political system is completely exposed and vulnerable when it comes to bad actors, they can just do anything they want now.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's weird, isn't it? This era that we're living in now, whereby the lying is so overt and out there that we're almost desensitised to it now. It's almost like it's just become normal and perfect. Perfectly acceptable, you know?
Speaker 2Yeah, it's Trumpian. So even what Johnson's doing now, where he's trying to discredit the Privileges Committee, is Trumpian. It's like Trump when he's trying to discredit the vote. And also, just, Jesus, the lies that are being peddled out by once respectable sort of papers as well, or people who consider themselves to be respectable journalists saying that it's a witch hunt, blaming the blob, blaming the globalists. Just blame the globalists. Like, it's just so bloody. And also, I'm sorry, the fundamentals are that Privileges Committee did not oust Johnson. The only person that ousted Johnson was Johnson, because that Privileges Committee, yes, they found him guilty to have misled Parliament and recommended a suspension. It was only a recommendation. They can't force him out. That recommendation then had to go to Parliament for Parliament to vote on. Parliament has a Tory majority. Right. So Johnson could have. He faced that and he could have actually come out unscathed, but he didn't. And even if Parliament had gone, do you know what? Yeah, he is. We agree. They vote that they are going to implement the recommendation that would have triggered a recall in his constituency of Uxbridge and South Ryslip. And so it would have been down to his constituents to oust him. Right. He literally had like two more steps before he was ousted. And he didn't because he's such a big old coward. He didn't even choose to face those. He's just given it. Oh, I was forced out. Blame the blow. Blame the witch hunt. Absolute bloody nonsense.
Speaker 1I don't think Johnson cares or ever cared really about the politics of being a prime minister. I think he just wanted to have that on his CV. I think he wanted to have the picture on the wall. And I don't think he actually has any fervent, passionate ideology. I think he's happy with whatever the fuck just to get the gig, you know, and then move on to the next. And you mentioned Trumpisms. And I think that is exactly where all this started. You know, the era of the strong man. This. This post-truth era that we live in now where words can mean whatever you decide they mean. And you got these posturing rich motherfuckers who are just swinging and out of politics. They have their moment in the sun. They got it on the CV, on the portfolio. And then they're out the door again because they don't really care because none of it affects them. That's the vibe I get with it with this lot. And it's the same with Sunak. I mean, the guy's worth so much fucking money. He clearly ain't doing this for the money. So why is he doing it? I think it's just for the ego of it all. You know, no pun intended, but it's almost like a Trump card. You know, it's like politics. It's a little playground for the super rich to mess about with for a bit.
Speaker 2I think it's more than I think it's more. I don't know. So for Johnson, I think it is. Yeah, it's a it's a power for power's sake. Right. I also think the longer you're in office, the more sway you've got once you leave it to earn shed loads of money.
Speaker 4Right.
Speaker 2And I don't think he's done, by the way. I think from what we're sort of learning here is he's going to use this opportunity now to basically do as much damage as he can to Sunak. And even the Conservative Party, you know, other respectable. Conservatives like Tobias Elwood are saying as much. And then I think he's going to, once the Tories lose the next election, start to position himself as the comeback kid. Right. And the person that will get them, you know, back into power again. I think that's going to be his his ploy. That's a Rishi Sunak again. So the reason these people get into politics and again, I came to this so late. I was stupid and naive enough to think that people go into politics because they genuinely wanted to change things for the better or in their minds, at least. For the better. But they don't. It's nothing to do with that. It's to do with certainly with this crop. It's to do with getting into power so they can raid the public purse and they can install sort of people, their friends, their cronies in positions so they can all benefit each other. They can shape policy to benefit themselves and their ilk. And that explains to you why, for example, the energy bosses who we know, you know, line the coffers of the Tory party are absolutely creaming it when it comes to these. Wimple profits and the wimple tax is just not even worth the paper it's written on. There are so many loopholes that basically if you reinvest, if the energy companies reinvest, they don't have to pay that wimple tax. Well, that's funny. Guess what they're going to do? They're going to reinvest. And all that means is more drilling. Wonderful.
Speaker 1Yeah. How convenient. I mean, would you describe this as a kleptocracy?
Speaker 2Yeah, completely.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2Or is it a kakistocracy? Sort of just like crap.
Speaker 1Well, I think that probably sums it up better. But I mean, I don't want to keep like harping on about this, but, you know, there is a genuine criminal element to all of this, you know? Yeah. I mean, if you look at some of the characters that this government is rubbing shoulders with and opening doors for and lining the pockets of, you know, some super shady characters, man, from, you know, Uzbekistan and, you know, the Russia and the Middle East. And, you know, the sort of dudes that are buying up properties in London and stuff like that to stuff the money from their public purse into. And much of these billions are coming from illicit means. Yeah.
Speaker 2So just last week, sorry, James, not just last week, just have to. mention an Egyptian i think he was linked to the or a dictatorship out there he actually gave the tories just last last week their biggest donation of five million pounds as if he's like some philanthropist that doesn't want something back and then you learn that later you learn later that he's hosted dinner parties in his belgravia house where he's invited people like rishi sunak and quasi quating and as if they aren't having chats about stuff you know of course quasi quating was having a chat there to him about like you know doing what he did pre-mini budget it's so wrong it's so scandalous and any other walk of life won't be allowed to happen yeah and you're bang on because
Speaker 1those environments are where the conversations happen as well they don't just happen out there in the open under the eye of scrutiny and houses of parliament they do happen at these benefit gigs and these you know these dinner parties and off the record it's a community it's a community that is like a million miles higher above where the rest of us live and operate and it operates for
Speaker 2its own self-perpetuation exactly which is what and it operates within whatsapp yeah government doesn't want to hand over now and do you remember as well when um do you remember that lord bethel james bethel like he lost his phone then it was then it was broken then he uh gave it to a family member like he wouldn't hand over his phone because he was embroiled in the whole ppe scandal because he was the health minister that oversaw lots of the awarding of contracts one like we're talking multi-million pounds and um yeah he he's he was the same didn't want to hand over his phone because they do all this stuff like you say they're not thinking that you know we shouldn't have to be privy to it when we absolutely should this is our money and these
Speaker 1are government comms yeah people seem to forget i think because it's been bad for so long now we forget that there is supposed to be certain standards and values to the conduct of politics you know which was just they're just long gone i think like in the pandemic in the trump era i think that it just it just took a bullet in the ass that that whole system of doing things now it's you can say what you like you can be like it's the macho man thing you can lie openly and it's all just a laugh it's not a problem it's about making loads of money for the few it's like they don't even have to cover it up anymore they don't even give a shit really because there's no recompense no it's this
Speaker 2is and this is johnson's legacy and we saw it then continue with the trust with the bullshit that she would talk in the commons and it goes it goes on with sunak although sunak and trust couldn't at least they couldn't deliver it with such aplomb like you listen to sunak now jesus christ he's like a busted woody doll like he just says the same shit over and over again on repeat and he sounds so false and he uh he's got absolutely zero cameras i don't even know he's human sometimes the way he talks but like but like you said pmqs now as well like if you if you hear some of the discussions that go on in parliament it's infantile oh yeah like it's not so a question is asked and the opposition bench will just respond with a dig yeah that's not even in response to the other question it'll just be like something to do with corbin yeah or it's something to do well you want to uh you want to uh you want to do something with corbin yeah you want to do something with something to do jimmy savel like it's become so base the level of discourse in this country and that has gone through right through to the electorate in fact i was listening to lbc this morning um i was listening to nick ferrari's show because it's good to keep an eye on what these people talk about and um keep an ear even and some guy called in and he was saying he wasn't happy with the tories but he was never no he's never gonna vote for them and ferrari said why is that he said oh because they're gonna make a dog's dinner they'll make a dog's dinner of the country and ferrari fair enough actually said well do you not think the country is already a bit of a dog's dinner he said yes but starmer will make it worse because he doesn't even know what a woman is what what exactly james what what the f sorry i'm just i'm just trying to wrap my head around that so do you not remember starmer had that interview with nick ferrari on his lbc show where he was asked to define what a woman was because of the whole debate and kirsten was probably nervous around the topic didn't be scared of saying the wrong thing so he ended up sort of dancing around it right i know it sounded like he was unable to answer the question and that has stuck with him because it then was like it just snowballed it was covered in the mass media right and now the thing is starmer he can't rule the country he
Speaker 1doesn't even know what a woman is oh god yeah no i see what you're saying man it's depressing isn't it that that's the level that's where we're at in 2023 and that's what happens when you
Speaker 2got the majority of the press the press that is the with the really loud voices the sensationalist press and they know it's effective see these headlines the daily mail like it lands messages yes and see when you've got that against the opposition it's tough i mean look at what starmer done he had a donkey sanctuary and they tried to make that into a scandal yeah can you imagine if starmer had done a faction of the shagging and the scandal and the corruption like yeah can you
Speaker 1imagine yeah the game over yeah dead in the water well look at corbin yeah i mean you've got a lifelong anti-war campaigner there labeled as a fucking racist you know i mean whether you agree with the guy's politics or not you know the guy is clearly not an anti-semite you know and neither are most of the people that are getting tarnished with that horrible label lately you know they seem to be like we're living in an era now where somebody can be a racist or an anti-semite because someone says they are and that's good enough well it's not good enough you know it's like the the idea of truth and tangible fact is irrelevant these days you know but these are such loaded terms that as soon as someone says that it's game over for you there's just no going back
Speaker 2no no and that's still that still reverberates that people still think it there is still you know which is kiss dharma to hit in his defense he is doing a good job to literally stamp out anything as soon as there is any whiff of anti-semitism or sort of just dodginess really he's been really quick to straight away um get that person out of the party right we saw it last week i think with grant davies the labor mp who i always thought was pretty decent like we used to dm every now and then and then he had to step down for allegedly bringing hookers into the houses of parliament i think like to the bars uh yeah it sounds like a lot of fun doesn't it well i'm not
Speaker 1shocked because i thought that was quite standard fit it's like a frat house it's like a frat house
Speaker 2in there basically that's more understanding right well i've been in there once have you been in there at all yeah i went to the house of laws recently i met with you know baroness yes awesome yeah she went for lunch with her she's lovely oh wicked man yeah she's cool i was
Speaker 1in the house of laws funnily enough uh as well in september as part of a talk on uh brexit in the music industry oh wow yeah it was bizarre being in there you know what i mean it frat you mentioned frat house to me it felt like a kind of felt like going back to school a little bit it was also old-fashioned and weird and you did get the impression that they could be very much like a boys club or a frat house you know where they yeah locked in a certain period in time where you just do what the fuck you like and none of it matters anymore
Speaker 2what the f you like james just got to bear in mind as well so boris johnson yes he has stood down now but he was still an mp right he was still taking that 80k plus salary and he was off doing gigs in vegas yeah taking millions of pounds doing speaking gigs and also if you're going to vegas and you're listening to johnson you are not doing vegas right for a start he's taking millions of pounds still taking his salary despite the fact he missed 187 votes in the comments that's fucked up man how is that allowed what
Speaker 1it just infuriates me though you know i mean i try to distance myself from it now on a day by day because it's just fucking relentless and it just makes me so fucking frustrated and angry you know what i mean so how do you how do you deal with this how do you navigate being immersed in this as intensely as you are i mean you must feel like you're losing your mind sometimes
Speaker 2yeah basically anger is my feel i just can't stand the it's just so unjust yeah i think it's and it's the scale of it you expect a few bad ends you expect a little bit of corruption you expect a little bit of rule breaking but this is this is just on an industrial scale it is every day and it is
Speaker 1getting worse and we need to do something about it 100 and that is the clip i'm going to use for the promo well you've mentioned kia a few times now so let's switch gears and let's talk about the wonderful opposition that we have i'd love to know what your thoughts are on the labour party and their current incarnation i'm not going to say what i think we'll just see where this goes
Speaker 2so labour what do you think okay i feel like i'm going to caveat this by saying in the next election i will be voting for labour right and the reason i'm doing that is because in my constituency the best hope of making sure a tory doesn't get in although it is a labour constituency anyway her best hope is to vote labour so i would encourage anyone if you want to get the tories out vote tactically and then close to the time there will be websites and emails telling you who to vote for to dc the tory so i will be voting labour that said i'm completely disillusioned with them and i am disappointed with them but with some of the things they're doing i understand the stance they're taking so the brexit stance which pisses me off which pisses loads of people off which makes us feel politically homeless um i understand it i understand why they don't want to make the next election about basically another de facto brexit referendum because if they talk if there's any talk whatsoever about real even just realignment with the eu the tories and the right-wing press will spin it as he wants to reverse the will of the people go against the will of the people and you can see that the reason you can see that is because they're doing it now so think about how final kirsten has been when he's talking about brexit and rachel reeves just the other day she said the future of the of the uk is outside of the eu you can't get language that is more final and yet the tories the right-wing press will still tell you that they want to bring us back into europe so that's why they're having to do that right so i understand that as much as i hate hearing it what i don't like though at the moment is i understand labor wants to be a party of government but right now right now they are an opposition party and when you're in opposition you have to oppose stuff and when you've got the tories in power you have to oppose the shitty bills authoritarian democracy undermining bills that they are passing the public order bill for example yeah that were very already sorry very authoritarian public order bill the one that saw people arrested for just thinking about protesting yeah right if you thought that was bad that's actually getting worse and i just want to give you a little update on that because um what the government is doing so they wanted to change the wording of serious disruption within the public order bill to mean anything more than minor anything more than minor right um and they they couldn't do it was thrown out the lords threw this out and yet the government are currently trying to use a ministerial degree something that has never been done before to overturn the vote of the lords to make this change and baroness jenny jones the green party peer i just mentioned who's an absolute bloody ledge she tabled a fatal motion to try and kill this dead on and tomorrow so that the 13th of june we get the results of um of that of that fatal motion and what she needs here she needs the labor lords to back her in this and for some reason some unknown reason at time they weren't backing her like labor needs to oppose this stuff i don't i don't like kirsten said about the public order bill you know will you repeal it when you get into power and he says something about letting it bed in what no no no you don't let fascism bed in yeah like and there's so many other bits and pieces like you know we want to hear that you're gonna chuck out things like i don't know the illegal migration bill that breaks international law and costs will cost us like six billion pounds over two years for what we need to hear that you don't like the rwanda plan we need to hear that you're gonna do there are so many things we need you to repeal yeah or just tell us guys this is awful we're gonna try and fix it or do you know what i think a real vote winner would be something along the lines of we will launch a full investigation into um the fraud behind basically covid the the vip lane the corruption because i think so many people uh that they just that we need justice we need the funds to be recovered and we need those people to face justice because otherwise it's just like what is the point and it feels so wrong that anyone else like a benefits of benefit person person committing benefit fraud can be jailed for what spending the system of a few grand and yet you can swindle the system in michelle moan's case allegedly for hundreds of millions of pounds and go and buy a yacht and nothing happens so anyway i put i understand what they put logistically that's probably really difficult to do but i think there are certain things that people want to hear like proportional representation yeah kia starmer my word like kia starmer back in the day when you know he's still a give pledges and make pledges that we quite like the sound of and he didn't you know he stood by them he promised a proportional representation he understood and he said out loud that in our current first past the post system you know people feel their vote them people feel their vote is wasted which it is i wouldn't vote labor if i had a choice right now but i'm going to because i have to yeah yeah and so many people feel the same way i'd probably vote green same i'm not sure well look have a look at their manifestos closer to the time um and he's ditched that he's ditched that now and that to me is if you are pro-democracy you you need to be pro-proportional representation because that means everyone's vote matters and the conservatives are shitting their pants about this as well lord cruddus who is just embarrassing to be honest he's the one that allegedly paid for his uh peerage um he's another one of these deluded and a discipline um stooges of johnson desperate to get him back lord cruddus actually stood up at that nazi event you know the national conservativism event and he said if labor get in they're going to deliver a proportional representation and that means the tories will never get in we'll never see a tory majority again something like that and if the hilarity behind it is proportional representation is democratic it means votes match seats so if you're saying out loud that proportional representation won't deliver the tory governments then you know that's because the majority of the electorate like voters do not want a conservative government and i thought you guys were all about the will of the people exactly what are we talking about here
Speaker 1yes bananas absolutely bananas oh man that was a beautiful rant thank you for that man i needed that and just like i said about your your amazing podcast the troll at the start of our chat here um i you know listening to you man it's like political therapy you know what i mean i feel like recharged refreshed i feel like there's insanity in the world i got a bit of fire in my belly i'm ready to start my week again but just not just
Speaker 2on that james we love making it because i don't know about you i don't know what your friends are like but my friends don't talk about politics and they don't care for it and so so if you don't if you feel the way we feel but your friends your family aren't interested in it it can feel quite lonely and like isolating at times so us making the podcast people listening to it does feel like
Speaker 1political therapy oh definitely man you know the podcast is brilliant dude and i'll be plugging the podcast at the end of this episode and i'll be linking it into the episode description as well so people can go directly and check out the awesome the troll podcast with marina perkus and jemma forte you will not regret it and i totally echo everything you've said about the labor party as well so far because i do understand you know the difficult corner that they're forced into but i do share also a deep and intense sense of disillusionment and disappointment in that party the party is a party that's going to be a lot of fun and a lot of fun and a lot of fun and a lot of i've been a member of my entire life i've now been a member of the greens for the past few years as a result of all the things you've mentioned you know the blair right backstabbing and infighting you know the watering down of any traditional or effective labor principle the pandering to big business and the media but mostly because of how fucking useless they've been at to pose any kind of effective opposition to the absolute reckless evil behemoth that is the tory party and the unrestrained carnage that they've been wreaking on this country for the past 13 years it's like it's so bad now and has been for a long time that it's like it's such it's such a shame it's like well that's what we've got you're our guys yeah this is the opposition well then we're fucked and part of me thinks that labor know that the next election is pretty much a given you know that things have been so bad now and that the hatred for the tories is so universal that i think they know that the next election is going to be a labor landslide and that it's already in the bag but i think that even if that's the case there is going to be a bad taste left in a lot of people's mouths for a long time to come with that part of me
Speaker 2but how taken for granted do you feel as well which is so that all the people that basically want to rejoin the eu and what do the polls tell that tell us now it's a massive chunk of people now that want to rejoin the eu and we're just like politically homeless we're just ignored
Speaker 1we don't count yeah well there's an optimist in me that thinks that maybe you know once we oust the current cartel and we get a new labor government in you know despite the aforementioned shortcomings maybe it could be the start of a new chapter maybe it's the start of low frustrating messy complicated full of sacrifice kind of rebuild and a restart in the right direction the problem is is that you know there's still a the enemies the bad guys still have a majority influence over parliament and of course the media so the those problems still exist sorry
Speaker 2just to add which is why i think a coalition government is the best case scenario right because i think if we have a coalition government they could help if it's the limb limbs and greens if it's the lib dems and greens for example they could help keep labor honest and that could at least be the sort of it gets labor out of um having broken promises because it's they you know they all seem to have to be negotiating with their coalition partners and that's how we can get some of these good policies in but just also what you said about the tories and you know i i do not think this is an open shot case we have got what potentially another 16 17 months until the general election i i don't doubt that the tories could swing it still somehow a lot could happen
Speaker 1i fear you might be right man well i consider myself a pessimist funny enough and someone said to me the other day that a pessimist is essentially an optimist that has been burned too many times and that is definitely the case for me because i never thought we were going to vote for brexit i never thought trump was going to get i never thought boris was never going to get in i didn't think we were that fucking stupid but time and time again in successive order it's just bam bam bam and it's like we're voting for this shit and supporting it and finding ways to vote for this one because it is so bad it is so desperate it's so bleak so corrupt so wrong so evil and so fucking destructive that it cannot get any worse and we cannot be so stupid and so naive that we're going to vote for these guys again but you might be right man you might be right i shudder to think it but you might be right it's the hope that kills you james it does it really does well speaking of hope i wanted to ask you you said earlier that i'm not going to vote for this one anger is your fuel but what about hope you must have hope you know for a better future you must have hope that the fight is is winnable you must have hope for um there being a point to all this
Speaker 2and the justice will prevail so what keeps you hopeful so i don't always feel hopeful and in fact i chat to you do you know femi no femi oluwali he's brilliant you need to follow him he's an incredible he's a force for good he is a he was massively anti-brexit but he sort of a good guy okay and we message every now and then and we you know we sort of go through periods of despair like oh jesus what's happening here and he did he told me this line and it was actually a martin luther king line he said look we will get there and the the quote by martin luther king was the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice and if you if you look at history we do have this we have these yeah we we tend to civilization tends to go from really bloody into the shit and then we come out of it again and then we go back into it and it just feels like it's inevitable that we are in our um huge downturn right now and we are probably still not at the bottom yet and i don't i've never seen uh i could i could never have predicted our government to be so broken i could never predicted the damage that one party could do um so quickly certainly in the last few years so i just think we're having to sort of crash and burn and then we will rise from the ashes like a phoenix i don't know if storm is going to be the one to help us um lift that phoenix but um we'll get there
Speaker 1love it love it and what does a better future look like to you
Speaker 2so first and foremost i think to get that you have to do something with the press in this country because i think the gutter press is responsible for so much for just poisoning the political discourse in this country and the stoking of the culture wars which creates so much hate and animosity between groups that it's just it's just made us a bit sort of a bit of a nasty feels like a nasty country sometimes yeah it does i think some sort of press regulation i think i read that the spectator and the telegraph were going but i think it's just a bit of a nasty country but i think it's just a bit of a nasty country but i think it's just a bit of a nasty country did i dream that or did i read that good riddance um we just need them all to just bugger off or you know we need murdoch to to pop his clogs and we just need them all to just bugger off because they are like i think they were described as a cancer once upon a time they are a cancer they need to go and then into the into our politics i think forget who's at the helm i think the policies that will really shift things are we need to tackle inequality in this country right because um you know welfare is not about just the welfare of the people right at the bottom rung of the ladder welfare when you hear about the welfare of the people right at the bottom rung of the ladder welfare when you hear about the welfare of the people right at the bottom rung of the ladder welfare when you hear about welfare it's about all of our welfare because if if people get really poor and people get really desperate and really desperate people make you know it's a worry for everyone in society not the people just at the bottom so i think we need to have a real look at our welfare system i think we need to have a real look at um pay public sector pay for example i think no one should be in full-time work and still having to claim universal credit um the fixing of the nhs for you to address that and also just to me it's really simple i know there's all this middle management chat and there's loads of waste and that all needs to be targeted but for me the most important thing short term recruit more doctors recruit more more nurses and retain them that that's going to solve a lot a lot of the problems um i think we need a more progressive tax system by the way and i look i don't like paying taxes no one does but i will pay higher taxes if i know my taxes are going into public services like schools like hospitals whatever like building houses for people so that you know the next generation of people can actually afford to get on the housing ladder um and i've got no problem with the wealth tax absolutely tax the shithouse to those bastards but there's a reason why and i'm talking i'm not talking about you know brenda who's on like 60 plus 60k i'm talking about if you earn 250 500 5 10 make it progressive go for it because you know we saw it with the published tax returns of uh kirsten and rishi sunak and this is you know the effective rate of tax that the two of them pay on very different sums that they earn shows you how unjust our taxation system in this country that you can have basically a nurse paying a higher effective tax rate than a billionaire tells you everything that's bloody wrong with this country so i think if we fix that if we scrap things like non-dom if we stop things like the offshore or you know squirreling away of money um could bring in a lot of money for this country if you look at how much loss is lost in fraud by the way in this country and offshoring and tax avoidance and tax evasion it is a lot we'd give us like gold stellar public services if we managed to clamp down on that but um there's a reason the tourists don't want to do that so basically i'm listening to those green stuff actual credible green plan as well insulate our homes like insulate britain they are onto something because we have got the shittiest houses in the whole of europe when it comes to like efficiency we leak we leak heat through our our double houses they look like double houses by the way in comparison to other um european countries we leak heat through them which is both inefficient from an energy perspective but massively like terrible in terms of how much we spend on our bills and then look at our bills oh my we've got one of the highest energy bills in the on the planet so you've got a question there about uh nationalizing energy which i know is going to cost you loads of money and i know there's absolutely nothing in the coffers at the moment so possibly a plan for the long term but water i think maybe look at nationalizing water now that might be something i don't we just need to make it so we take the money out of the corporations or take the power away from the corporations put it back it back to the people because there is no way a privatized company are going to do anything to try and benefit us when they have got shareholders as the priority of people to answer to and make money for there we go i feel like i've just reeled off a load of stuff but i think all of that stuff would make things better oh hang on one more and mental health services i think we massively need to improve that and youth services and education and then because if you fix those things now you don't get all of the problems in the long term that they cause if you neglect them right now but we've got such short-sighted inward selfish governments who don't who don't think like that and they they know that if they are struck by any of the problems in education they go private or any of the problems in healthcare they go private which is why they don't care to fix them so that's
Speaker 1what i would do wow dude stand in ovation man that was my favorite rant of the year by sorry i'm sorry james he's like you wind me up you watch me go no man dude that was insane that was insane off the cuff i just like i just sat back shut up and just let it wash over me thank you for that man that was beautifully delivered and i agree with everything you say as well as well i think most people listening because it's just normal sensible good common sense stuff the benefits everybody you know you're not some flag waving raging socialist you know this is all above board very non-controversial stuff you want to make life better for the majority and not the one percent i
Speaker 2didn't realize i was a lefty i just thought i wasn't a knob that was it i didn't realize
Speaker 1well you've certainly got a few enemies who would probably disagree with that but good because you know a man with no enemies is no man at all i think is the saying that i stole from a tv show the other night which i thought was pretty good um yeah i like it so uh i'm gonna have to let you go soon unfortunately because i could listen to you talk all day as i'm sure the
Speaker 2listeners could my husband says exactly the opposite i'm sure he does yeah i get a lot of
Speaker 1people saying god imagine being married to her well yeah he probably does deserve an award of some kind by now so if people want to hear more uh where can they find you so i'm on twitter at
Speaker 2marina perkis so marina m-a-r-i-n-a perkis p-u-r-k-i-s-s and if you want a bit of this sort of level chat sort of uh in funny bits but real insight and analysis then have a listen to jimma ford and i uh at the troll the troll podcast and we have some very good listeners james o'brien listens gary liniker listens carol warderman listens good stuff but it will make you feel good hopefully at the end of it as well well that's not
Speaker 1bad listen to ship right there and a million other people as well as you just mentioned you know also tune in so and it hasn't been going that long right yeah you haven't done 100 episodes yet
Speaker 2no we're on episode 69 that's insane dude but there we go you know people
Speaker 1people agree with this stuff they want to hear it it's the majority viewpoint i genuinely believe and the podcast is on every platform yeah spotify apple yeah yeah everywhere so that's the troll check it out i will be putting links to your pages and the podcast in the description of this episode as well marina thank you so much i thoroughly enjoyed that like i said i could have done another hour just sat back listening to you ranting all day and giving me that therapeutic political charge that i need to start my week thank you so much for everything you do you're an asset we appreciate you and please keep sticking it to them because god knows you know we need you more than ever no thank you it's been a pleasure anytime thanks marina take care out there man speak to you soon bye marina perkins guys put it together for her how awesome was that dude that like i said it a few times so that was literally just cathartic therapy for me just listen to someone it's so refreshing to listen to someone just telling it like it is free from spin free from agenda free from bullshit just saying the things that all of us think but in this kind of weird post-truth era we're all having to do this weird delicate linguistic semantic thought dance all the time and you start to think do i really think that am i going crazy i don't know what i think anymore is that too simple am i naive have i got it the wrong end of the stick and when someone just comes along and just fucking says it like it is it's so goddamn refreshing and in this worryingly weird era of misinformation and disinformation and amplified by social media and the press we need that more than ever and all of us kind of have a duty i think to tune into that voice with that knows what we think and knows that it's right and just says it like marina perkins so i'm a fan and i hope she continues being marina perkins and sticking it to the man i hope she never has to fucking fit within some kind of corporate straight jacket or anything like that i don't get the impression that she's that kind um yeah i hope that like she keeps doing her thing because it's a very valuable asset that she brings to the cause as she mentioned she is on twitter that's kind of one of the main things you should definitely be following if you want to go to you know minute by minute rants and updates and opinions which are all awesome by the way on twitter at marina perkus so it's marina spelled the usual way p-u-r-k-i-double-s definitely give her a follow there and also her insanely awesome podcast is called the troll and that is you just get it wherever you get your podcast man they've also got a twitter page at the troll podcast as well where you can get the um each episode coming out there definitely give that a listen if you like what you hear today then you should be listening to the troll it is a weekly shot in the arm of goodness and sanity and good reason and fire in your belly that'll get you informed and fired up ready to kick some asses so rush over to your podcast platform of choice and type in the troll hunt it down and give it a follow a subscribe a like and a share and leave a comment and review and all that good stuff as i've said a thousand times on this podcast it really helps us guys to continue to do what we do and whilst you're there if you haven't yet subscribed to this goddamn podcast go and do that as well james kennedy podcast available on all social media platforms and you can find us on twitter at james kennedy podcast and you can also find us on twitter at james kennedy podcast and you can find us on twitter at james kennedy podcast and you can find us on twitter at james kennedy podcast and you can find us on twitter at all platforms give me a like a share a rating a review a comment or whatever the hell you got to do and i will love you forever as i said at the very start of this episode this will be the last episode now for at least a few weeks whilst i focus exclusively on finishing the book and getting the band um gig ready but please do rest assured that season two of the james kennedy podcast will be back really really soon bigger and better than ever i've got some insane guests already lined up and confirmed and booked in i can't wait i'll actually don't want to take the break i'm just doing it because i have to just because there's only so many hours in the day and i've got to finish this book okay i hope you understand but in the meantime please do go back like i said and listen to the previous episodes i don't think anybody has listened to all of them yet and every episode deals with a different issue with a different expert and a different set of knowledge that is going to help you in some way in your life so go and nibble on all those previous episodes and i'll be cooking up season two behind the scenes and we'll be back in an eye bling honestly it's going to fly by james kennedy and the stage within the next few weeks so if you haven't already please go to jameskennedystuff.com slash tribe and whack in your email address in your city and we'll be updating everybody as soon as we get some tour dates in which will not be long i promise you so do that you will not get spammed it's just so that we can see where there is demand for us in which season when then we'll be turning up and fucking doing it man so so whack it into jameskennedystuff.com slash tribe and i can't wait to see you all really really soon in the meantime take it easy check out my website at jameskennedystuff.com and i'll see you all really really soon in the meantime take it easy check out my website at jameskennedystuff.com and i'll see you all really really soon in the
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