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Aug. 16, 2022 - Uncensored - Piers Morgan
45:40
20220816_piers-morgan-uncensored-pete-waterman
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Drought Turns to Deluge 00:07:08
Tonight on Piers Morgan Uncensored with me, Jeremy Kyle.
Millions warned to pack up their belongings as drought becomes deluge.
If this wild weather is the new norm, what are we going to do about it?
Small business on the brink while soaring costs are battering British businesses.
How can they survive?
Plus, is it time to wean our work-shy workers off working from home?
We'll debate that with Lord Sugar's right-hand man.
And pop idol Darius Dinesh dies, aged 41.
Legendary producer Pete Waterman joins me in the studio.
Nobody said you'd be so beautiful.
Nobody warned me about your smile.
You're the light, you're the light for the closed eyes of Carl and by the evening,
my friends, and a big, big welcome to Piers Morgan Uncensored.
I'm still Jeremy Kyle, and aren't we having the most ironic of summers?
Keir Starmer trying to oust the government over a lack of energy.
That's ironic.
Former President Trump's property raided over classified documents, meaning, in essence, that the Donald could be brought down for having too much intelligence.
How much irony, my friends.
But above all, we've had a summer as dry as a glass sandwich.
Nine parts of our country are officially in drought.
Millions are banned from using hose pipes, probably until the autumn.
And at the same time, we have this.
A biblical deluge.
Parts of our country are underwater.
We've seen flash floods and mudslides, with apparently warnings of more on the way.
I saw two pound coins floating down the road on my way in.
Labour says it's climate change.
We wrote that.
Nigel Farage is apparently worried about migrants' boats crossing Oxford Street.
This is why it's happening.
I do hope this works.
Right.
These graphics cost more than a tub of butter in the supermarket.
Watch this.
This is how much rain fell in July.
23.1 millimeters, which made it the driest July since 1935.
Now we're moving it on because it's like a swing on to.
This is how much rain we were supposed to get.
63 millimeters, right?
That's the minimum level required for replenishing reservoirs, ruining barbecues, cancelling test matches.
Not good.
Here's the next figure.
This is how much the Met Office reckons some parts of this country could see in just three hours.
That's three hours of storms this week.
50 millimeters.
So let me get this right.
We've had more in one afternoon than the whole of the last month, but this is my favourite bit of all day, my friends.
The culprit, according to Dr. Thompson at Reading University, is, wait for it, grass.
He says it's because dried out soil repels water rather than absorbing it, meaning rain pools on the surface cause flash floods.
Well, there we go.
Now, apparently, there's 19 flood alerts in areas of the Midlands and the southeast of England, with 3 million households currently at risk of flooding.
This is the scene at the moment in Biddeford, North Devon, which is expected to be hit with the most rain tonight.
To discuss this latest meteorological nightmare, I'm joined by the CEO of the Flood Resistant Campaign, Mary Donna.
Mary, welcome to the show.
How are you?
I'm fine, thank you very much.
Can I just ask the obvious question?
We as Brits, we've had it all.
We've had high temperatures.
We've got no money.
Now we've got flash flooding.
Why can't Britain, why can't the United Kingdom cope with flooding?
Well, first of all, we've got to remember that in France and other parts of Europe, they're having horrific floods as well.
So it's not just us, but we are heavily populated.
We're urbanised.
We have paved over, concreted over and tarmaced our entire country.
So when those heavy clouds that are filled with humidity move, they move slowly and they dump a lot of water in maybe one localised area and it stays there for a long time, causing surface water flooding.
And because it's so parched, the rain doesn't go in.
Somebody said to me today, you know, what you want is drizzle, you know, soaks you through and goes into the ground.
But I mean, if you are a Brit looking out the window tonight, you're thinking, what else can possibly go wrong?
I mean, it's ludicrous.
Should the government do more?
Should we be doing more?
How do you prevent flash flooding?
Well, we can't prevent or stop flash flooding, but we can certainly manage it.
Now, I've got what I call a flood mobile, and I take it into communities.
Is it a boat?
It's a bit like a house on wheels.
Is it?
And it's packed full of flood resilience products.
Give us some tips now.
There's stuff people can do to stop flood water going in their home.
So you can get ordinary front doors that actually are a flood door.
They've been tested to British standards.
You can chuck a log at them and they won't buckle and they will hold back the water.
You can get flood barriers, self-closing air bricks, sumps and pumps, things that will generally manage the flood.
This is all lovely, but if you're told, you know, in the next 12 or 24 hours there's going to be a massive deluge of water, you're not going to be able to buy that stuff.
You're not.
So let me tell you, just give you some of my top hints and guidance as to what to do.
First of all, if you think you're going to flood, move your car because you don't want a flooded house and a flooded car.
Good idea.
My husband keeps bits of wood lying around the place just in case he might need it.
Saw a bit of wood up to fit your door, use some quick drying silicon sealer or if you haven't got anything like that, some gaffer tape which is waterproof and seal your doors up with the gaffer tape and your air bricks with gaffer tape.
If you've got some Wellington boots, four Wellington boots, put them on your table legs and then put all your precious items on your table legs.
If you haven't got Wellington boots, go to your recycling.
What do you do if you've got eight legs or six legs to your table?
Well just let me finish.
Go to your recycling bin, get some lollipops, get some pot bottles out, take the top off and fit them into that or some vases.
When I was flooded, and that's how I got into this malarkey, I had sewage coming out of my toilet.
Horrible, horrible, horrible.
There's nothing worse.
So what you can do, if you've got a deflated child's football about the place, bung it down the toilet and then pump it up and it will create a seal.
Failing that, fill a couple of bin liners with soil and stuff that down.
You know when they say, if you were on a desert island, what would you take?
Mary Donner every time from now on.
That is extraordinary.
A blown-up football down the bog, right?
And Wellington boots.
But on a serious note, and there is a serious note.
There is.
We are, it is the most, I would imagine, and I say this respectfully, the most awful and depressing thing that can happen to anybody.
Your life's belongings and the things that matter to you taken away.
Lazy British People Myth 00:14:27
Final question, lovely to have you on and I appreciate the tips.
Should the government be doing more, building less houses on floodplains, all the sorts of things we know.
Yes, we should take responsibility, but very quickly, what should the government be doing?
Well, first of all, the government should stop building on floodplains, but most of the houses that are going to flood right now are not on the floodplain.
It's surface water flooding, so anybody can flood.
And one bit of good news, that the government-backed flood insurance flood re has just launched something called Build Back Better.
So if your insurance company signed up to Build Back Better, if you do flood now, you will get an extra £10,000 on top of your flood claim to do just those things that I've been saying, the flood doors, the airbrick covers, the recoverable materials.
Mary Donnie, you are welcome anytime.
Thank you so much for joining us on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
You see, a flooding expert.
Next tonight, let's move on.
Labour's long-awaited plan on the cost of living crisis was surprisingly well received.
Even three in four Tories backed it, according to polling yesterday in the Times.
But one day on, my friend, it's unravelling faster than the Nanz Cardigan.
And you'll be needing all of those this winter.
Now, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says the Starmer's plan, £29 billion plan, could actually end up costing 60 million quid, which I have to tell you is as much as furlough.
Now, with a flooding crisis, to add to an energy crisis, to add to a cost of living crisis, what I want to know tonight is what would the opposition, who yesterday came up with that idea, what would they do to fix what can only be described as broken Britain?
We're delighted to be joined now by Ian Murray, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland.
Ian, how are you, my friend?
Welcome to the show.
Ian, how are you, Mr. Speaker?
I'm very well, thank you.
How are you?
I'm good.
We called for your boss, the opposition leader, Sir Kir Starmer, to stick his head above the parapet.
And yesterday did.
He presented a fully costed policy to keep bills, energy bills from rising and to help the poorest.
He said the government's been very quiet.
24 hours on, Ian, that's been shown to be completely deficient and costing twice as much.
What's the opposition's issued 60 million in the air?
What's the opposition's response to that criticism today?
Well, I think you're only telling a little bit of the story because the Institute of Fiscal Studies have said, yes, it could cost £60 billion if you run it for a whole year.
But we've only costed this for six months.
It's a £29 billion package to stop people's bills going up at all in October or over the winter.
And I think it's important to put this into context.
This isn't just about the poorest, although it affects the poorest the most.
This is about pretty much everyone who's going to see unprecedented increases in energy and many millions of people put into fuel poverty in this country and many millions having to make the choice between heating and eating.
That's not just a political phrase.
That's the reality around most people's dining tables when they're discussing how they're going to pay their bills.
So Keir Starmer's taking some time over the course of the summer to present with Rachel Reeves a fully costed package that means that people's bills won't go up.
And there's a crucial point to all of this as well.
If energy prices don't go up, which is a major component of the inflation spikes we're seeing in this country, and inflation in this country is much higher than it is in many of our contemporary countries across the world, then if you don't take those energy prices up, you're able to control inflation by about 4%.
And that's really important, not just for government debt interest payments, but also for people's shops, shopping, people's fuel bills, and people's day-to-day living.
Can you do me a favour?
Because I've always said, and you know this, we've spoken before, to try and put it in layman's terms.
When we saw Starmer's ideas yesterday, I think he was going to cap the energy price at 1,971 quid, a lot of people responded when they heard that you were going to cancel the £400 rebate.
A lot of people went, hold on a minute, what's going to happen?
Labour's answer is what?
That that £400 was to compensate for a further increase.
Would that be a fair assumption from yesterday's plan?
Well, that's what it was, and it wasn't targeted.
And what we're trying to do here is not give money to people to pay their inflated bills, but not to have bills going up at all.
Because it does two things.
It stops people worrying about paying them, but also it controls inflation and it helps us to try and deal with some of the big problems in the energy market.
So you deal with the source of the problem rather than handing cash back to people to be able to pay higher bills.
You keep the bills much lower.
And don't forget there's a whole package of measures still in place to help the very poorest.
We've closed the gap between prepayment meters, which is the meters that people have to pay in advance, which has always been a much, much higher tariff than people who pay by direct debit or on a monthly or quarterly bill, strapping those additional charges as well.
So this helps the poorest as well.
Okay.
We have, by all accounts, and I think everybody would agree, a zombie government.
I mean, there is paralysis, it seems, in Downing Street.
Johnson's there till September the 5th.
The Tories still haven't decided who the next leader will be.
This national crisis, I said in the introduction, energy, cost of living.
These people, the good people of the United Kingdom, are suffering, okay?
And what they want, whether it's flooding, whether it's drought, whether it's petrol prices, whether it's prices in the marketplace, in supermarkets, they want their politicians to come out and be constructive.
Now, for example, yes, Starmer came out and said that yesterday.
Do me a favour, because one of the criticisms that I hear about the Labour Party is the picket line situation.
Starmer has announced that anybody who wants to serve in government cannot attend a picket line demonstration.
Now, we know from a couple of people in the last few weeks, people have been told that they shouldn't be doing this.
What's your opinion when your whole party survives on money, well, major money from the trade unions?
How are you going to make that happen when major unions are saying, we are the reason the Labour Party exists?
We want your support.
What's Labour's answer to that, Ian?
And they're right.
They are the reason the Labour Party exists.
We are very happily funded by seven million trade union members, not by big Russian money or big business like the Conservatives are.
And we're very proud of that.
But what Keir Starmer is quite clearly saying to the trade unions and to the workforce in this country is you deserve a fair pay rise.
You deserve our thanks for keeping the country going.
We have a zombie government who's willing to help, but the best way to resolve these issues is through having a Labour government.
And we want to make sure that we're in power at the next election.
And what the Conservative Party are trying to do is to turn all of these strikes onto the problem of Labour.
They've been in power for 12 years.
So let's be quite honest about it.
Let me finish with one.
Let me jump in for a reason.
Let me jump in for a reason.
Let me ask you one question, and we really appreciate you joining us on Uncensored.
If you're right, we're in the middle of a national crisis, a zombie government, a ruddel-ish ship, however you want to describe it, all the things that I've laid out.
Why is it, my friend, that even at this point of a national crisis with an absent prime minister and a government that is paralysed, why are you not streets ahead in the polls?
Because it is not the truth that whatever you say from the sidelines, it doesn't resonate with enough people to deliver Keir Starmer to number 10.
You have to answer that, Ian, because it's not coming through in the polls, whatever you say.
Let me answer that.
We've gone from our worst election result just over two years ago since 1935 to being somewhere between six and twelve points ahead in the polls.
If there was a betting person out there who wanted to put any money on who'd be the next Prime Minister after the next general election, the money will go on Keir Starmer.
He's showing the leadership this country needs.
We have a backlog.
Britain, whether it be visas, passports, airport queues, DVLA, we've got an energy crisis, we've got a climate crisis, we've got an economic crisis, and this government are doing absolutely nothing.
And Kier Starmer is showing the way and the fresh start that Britain needs.
So I just think that's a good idea.
We need to continue the way we're doing.
We need to get a fresh government and a fresh prime minister, and only Labour can deliver that as we should.
Well, we will see at the election.
I would argue that you should be further ahead.
But Ian Murray, thank you very much indeed.
Right next on Uncensored, as new research suggests, with the worst in Europe are getting back to the office.
What will it take to wean Brits off working from home?
John Meyer 3, we're coming right back.
Welcome back to Uncensored.
Now, Apple announced today that it wants to get its workers back to the office, insisting on a minimum of three days per week at work.
A very wise person once pointed out to me that hybrid workers, that apparently is the fashionable name for people who only come to the office past time, never want to do Mondays or Fridays.
For some reason, no idea why.
They only want to do Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
There is obviously a joke in there, but I can't seem to put my finger on it.
Anyway, some people seem to have really enjoyed working from home, particularly those with nice big gardens, in my experience, and particularly according to new research, the Brits.
New figures today show the UK has the lowest number of employees traveling to work out of the big five European economies.
We have fewer commuters than Italy, Germany, and France.
Our levels of 35% are below pre-pandemic levels.
The government says it wants to bully us out of our box of shorts and zap us off our Zooms, but even they can't manage it.
Boris Johnson has had more holidays than Judith Chalmers, and frankly, more than a third of Whitehall offices were still empty in July.
Here's my friend Jacob Reese Mogg, Minister for get back to the office, you work-shy wastrels, addressing the very problem.
Civil Service Union came out yesterday, it was in Day's Telegraph, saying that people should be allowed to work from abroad.
So you have visions of people in their Tuscan villas occasionally dialing in to do their job.
If everything was running amazingly smoothly, you might say working from home was fine, but we need people actually physically doing their jobs to make the state more efficient.
Johnny Meanow is businesswoman and for apprentice consistent at Charlotte Leon.
Also alongside communications and marketing director and PR advisor to Lord Sugar himself, Andrew Block.
Let's start with you, Andrew.
I know where I sit on this, but I'll try and be balanced.
Is working from home lazy?
I think it is to a degree, yes.
Why?
Because I, well, more than anything, I think it's sad for people that only want to work from home.
I think they're missing out.
For me, having grown up working in an office five days a week, nine to five, you know, you cannot replace the learning that you will get from being in a workplace and the mentorship that you get from being in that place of work.
And I think just working from home, yes, there are benefits in terms of productivity, but you can't replace that face-to-face interaction.
If as the owner of a business, if a potential employee said, Andrew, I want to work at home three days a week, would you give them a job?
Probably not.
No.
Charlotte, I apologise for calling you Leon.
It's Leon.
Welcome to the show.
You work from home.
And you, I mean, we'll talk about what you do in just a tick.
Why do you think that it has become post-pandemic the major thing?
I read a report today that said only 13% of people go to work on a Friday.
There must be, Charlotte, people taking the mickey.
Come on.
I understand why you may think that, but I think since the pandemic, we've seen so many pros to working from home with lifestyle benefits, benefits for the economy, economic benefits for the individual and mental health benefits that people are going more in that direction.
You say mental health benefits.
Andrew made a point about, you know, when you go to work, you interact with people, you have meetings, you have brainstorming sessions.
You should be in this office.
They have loads of meetings, right?
But tell me how being at home is good for your mental health.
Well, you can take into consideration the amount that people have to commute to work.
The average commute for Brits is 59 minutes.
In London alone, it's an hour and 19 minutes either way.
That's an extra, you know, nearly two and a half hours a day that you can take to...
But what about people who can't afford to work from home?
What about plumbers and electricians and nurses?
What about those sorts of people?
I completely understand, but it's industry specific, isn't it?
So you're at home.
What's your business?
I run a business in financial security.
I'm a consultant.
If you consider the amount of time that people take to commute, they could instead be at home.
They could be either actually spending more time working or putting into practice maybe going to the gym, going for a walk, socializing.
Even I, old me, knows about, even I know about Zoom now, and I understand that.
Can we create the same feelings, the same creativity on a computer?
I know we had to do it for the pandemic, but is it the same or not?
I think, yeah, it's an interesting point, the mental health.
Yes, absolutely.
And I think in some ways, it was serendipity that the coronavirus came at the same time and we're suffering the biggest mental health crisis that we've ever had.
But what I think people forget is it's very hard to switch off and make that gap between home and work when you're working from home.
This is my point, and it's about balance, right?
And this is the crux which some people don't like.
Absolutely.
I agree that a sort of home and work balance is probably better for you.
My question to both of you is: do you not think this is yet another example of lazy British people, and there are people out there, taking advantage?
I absolutely get the mental health thing, but don't you think a lot of people, I mean, there's facts.
People take Mondays and Fridays off.
That is ludicrous, man.
That is four days a week.
I don't understand that.
Of course.
However, if your output is questioned by the person that employs you, that isn't somebody that you should be employing.
If you think that somebody is sat at home doing nothing, give somebody else the job.
We have the fewest commuters out of the five main Europic.
Brilliant for the health and the planet.
Yes, of course.
It's not helping us with the flash flooding, is it?
Please don't start me on the climate because I'll be absolutely hopeless.
Are you telling me that businesses can be as efficient or is it just specific businesses?
I think that it's specific businesses certainly.
So what about the businesses that can't work from home?
How do you think, I don't know, any person who has to go out to work feels about people working three days a week at home.
Now we can sit here and go, they all sit in their office from nine until five with an hour from lunch, but that doesn't happen.
We've had hot weather.
They've all been sunbathing.
Commuting and Climate 00:07:46
Come on.
But you do have individuals when you are in an office environment, and I personally have been there.
When I've looked at my colleague's computer and they've been scrolling through the cricket, checking the sport, what's to say that that's any different at home?
If somebody's going to have the work ethic, they're going to have it.
I understand that people are out sunbathing, etc., but it's all about autonomy.
I don't think that everybody should work from home, but you should be given the choice.
And if you have the ability to, you should be given the choice.
But an autonomy is the great word.
But Andrew, do you think there are a number of people who are taking advantage of this new, if we like, future, whatever you want to call it, mental health, absolutely.
Work balance, life balance, absolutely.
Do you think we have a large number of people in this country who are taking advantage of this?
To a degree, yes.
I mean, I don't think you can generalise about everyone, but to me, if you're running an organisation, you need to build an organization which has culture, especially for young people.
You need to train them.
You need to make them as good as they can be, and you need to do the best possible job for your clients.
My personal opinion is I don't think you can do that when you've got a workforce that is spread all around the country.
And it's not about them shirking off or being lazy necessarily because you can be productive from home.
But I don't believe you're giving the best service you can give when you have employees that are dispersed all around the country, all around the world, you know, hybrid working.
So it's really, we would agree about life choice.
It's about mental health.
There will be people who take advantage.
Of course.
And there will be people who don't perhaps deliver the same way in the office as they would at home, but we mustn't generalise.
Is that what you're saying?
Absolutely.
But there are also so many.
I do think there are lazy people though, sorry.
There will be lazy people no matter where you are in the world.
However, there are so many benefits to working from home.
For example, those who have chronic conditions, those who struggle to go to work every single day of the week, not to be too personal, but I, as an individual, suffer with a condition called endometriosis.
It's unfortunately something that affects me a few days a month.
And if I'm in an office environment, I'm spending so much time trying to mask my discomfort from my colleagues, but I'm not paying attention.
If I'm in the comfort of my own home where I've got my own facilities, that makes me more productive, it makes me more focused, it makes me more comfortable.
Do you think that your approach is in the majority of the minority very quickly to finish?
That is in the minority.
I completely agree.
Do you think it will get about the way forward?
Final question, Andrew.
Do you think that we're going to get to a point where everybody works from home the whole time and nobody goes into the office?
No, I don't.
I think we'll find a balance where people are getting back into the workplace, but they will have more flexibility.
It won't necessarily be Monday to Friday, 9 to 5.
And I think that's a positive.
Excellent.
Andrew Block, head of social media.
Thank you very much to D. Charlotte Lyon.
Sorry about that.
Thank you both very much indeed.
Right.
Coming up later, my friends, on Uncensored.
Nobody told me to be so good.
Nobody said you'd be so beautiful.
Nobody wants to be.
Following today's sad news, the pop idol star Darius Campbell Dinesh has died.
We'll talk to his friend and mentor, music impresario Pete Waterman.
He's next on Piers Morgan Uncensored for coming right now.
Welcome back.
Now, in the last few hours, we learned the sad news that singer Darius Campbell Dinesh has died at the young age of 41.
He's best known for starring on the reality talent shows Pop Stars and Pop Idol and for his hit song Colourblind.
As yet, the cause of death is unknown, but his family announced that he was found dead at his apartment in Minnesota.
In a minute, I'll speak to legendary producer and pop idol just Pete Waterman.
But first, a reminder of where it all began for Darius with this unbelievable TV audition that had people frankly talking for many, many years.
My loneliness is killing me.
And I, I must confess, I still believe.
Still believe.
Give me a sign.
Give me baby one more time.
Pete Waterman, thank you for joining us tonight.
Good friend of mine, Pete.
Sad, sad news.
41 years of age.
Too young, too young.
Too young.
I mean, no age, 41.
I mean, you've got to feel for his parents.
I mean, this is tragic, really.
You know, I mean, you watch, you watch that clip there and it was making of a whole different generation of television.
I mean, it was unreal.
I mean, he never got the credit he really deserved about how he worked both pop stars and pop idol.
He was clever.
He was clever.
This is what I found quite interesting, Pete, because many people sort of wrote him off that initial audition.
They maybe saw it as a bit of a jokey situation.
You really believed in him, didn't you, from day one?
You saw something in him that others didn't.
What was it?
What made him different, pal?
Well, for the first time I saw that, right?
That's to be honest, this is the truth.
I've never seen that audition before now, okay?
And I didn't see it on pop stars.
So when he walked in the room on pop idol in Glasgow, you know, Simon and everybody else was saying, oh, no, not Darius, you know.
And I'm going, well, who's Darius?
And they're going, well, this is this crazy Scottish geezer.
And he came out and he sang and I froze.
And I was like, whoa, wait a minute.
This, you know, this guy is different.
He's got real talent.
And so I stood him on one side and I said, and I talked to him.
And it was quite obvious, very quickly, this guy knew exactly what he was doing.
And what's interesting about Darius?
What was interesting about Darius, Pete?
He had several top 10 hits.
He also starred on the West End in Chicago and guys and dolls.
When was the last time you spoke to him?
Did you stay in contact with him?
Yes, and I spoke to him.
I had tea with him just before, two days before lockdown, on the Tuesday, the Wednesday before, the following Wednesday.
And we went to tea.
I met him after my dent.
We went to tea and he was full of ideas.
He wanted to get back into the music industry, wanted me to go over and look after him and mention him through this thing.
He was doing a film in Hollywood.
But you know what?
The truth is, Darius, he was so brilliant at everything he did.
He could never concentrate on one thing.
So I knew I'd got a friend, but I knew there was going to be no business punch.
I just knew that that was not part of what the deal was.
It's quite interesting.
He just could not concentrate.
He was very infectious, wasn't he?
But almost you're giving the impression that there was so much going on the whole time that it was this sort of mishmash.
Just to sum up, Pete, really appreciate you joining us.
You were a friend of his.
You looked after him for a while.
How will Darius be remembered on this sad day?
41 years of age, no age at all.
How will he be remembered, my friend?
The guy that sang, hit me baby one more time and change television.
I really appreciate your time.
Pete, thank you so much indeed.
Pete Warnerman, reacting to the tragic news today.
Darius Campbell Dinesh dies aged 41, an apartment in Minnesota.
I suspect lots more will come out about that over the next few days.
But right here on Piers Morgan Uncensored, we want to bring you the latest news as it happens.
And we thank Pete Waterman for that.
Right, let's move on.
Small Businesses at Breaking Point 00:10:05
Many small businesses in the UK are on the brink.
That is an absolute fact.
Massive energy bills, worker shortages, and soaring inflation has created for many the imperfect storm.
We have a zombie government in Westminster offering few clues on how these businesses can stay afloat.
And, you know, what should they do?
People who have invested their life, their money into trying to make these businesses work, they've had the pandemic.
Have they survived that?
If they have now, many will say it's even worse.
I'm delighted to be joined by my financial expert, Gemma Godfrey.
Lovely to have you on.
And also TV chef Rosemary Schrager and the nighttime, I love this, economy advisor for Greater Manchester, Sasha Lord.
Thank you to all of you.
Let's start with you, Gemma.
I read a statistic today.
Three out of five jobs in the United Kingdom are in small business.
Now, we have talked repeatedly for the best part of 10 days about this cost of living crisis.
Small businesses are in dire straits, aren't they?
This is, I think, one of the biggest problems, and it's not being talked about enough because small businesses have no support.
So we're talking about helping households.
But the big problem here, absolutely, is if three out of five jobs are provided by small businesses and they go bust, we're talking about losing jobs and losing livelihoods.
So, you know, going out and starting a small business, you know, it's incredibly brave and that pressure and responsibility of looking after people's livelihoods is immense.
And the problem here is that because they don't have, there's no energy price cap for them, there's no rebate, and it means that they have to pass on higher energy prices to their customers, which means that they're no longer competitive, which means obviously there's a higher likelihood they'll go bust, but also that pushes up inflation.
So it's an awful time and something has to be done to protect them, to protect jobs, to protect livelihoods.
In terms of the hospitality industry, delighted to have Sasha Lord on the show, nighttime economy advisor for Greater Manchester.
Sasha, you came up with a quote which I think is absolutely on the money.
You say the lights are about to be switched off for the hospitality industry.
Tell me about Greater Manchester, my friend.
Well, I think firstly, Jeremy, we'll start with the good news.
And Manchester has bounced back in Q1 better than any other city in Britain.
But the problem with that is it's camouflaging the truth, I'm being honest.
I think you hit the nail on the head before, you know, these big chains that we have across the whole of the UK, they're going to be able to survive the next couple of years.
You've got the shareholders, you've got the big banks, but actually it's those smaller family-run independents, the ones that prop up the high streets.
You know, on average now, they've taken on about £135,000 in debt during the COVID period.
And don't get me wrong, some of those things like bounce-back loans, deferring VAT, it was fantastic.
But they've jumped out of the frying pan now into the fire.
And I honestly cannot see how they're going to get past October when you're seeing some people who've been paying on average £400 a month in energy, all of a sudden it's £6,000 a month.
And you don't have to be the Chancellor to understand that those small businesses will go bankrupt and the knock-on effect is huge job losses.
What does the government need to do?
I'd like to bring in Rosemary Schrager, TV chef, Rosemary.
What I love about your story is, yes, there are celebrity TV chefs.
You say, you know, lots of my friends have businesses and so many of them feel that there is nothing we can do and inevitably we will close.
What in your mind, Rosemary, can the government do right now, short term, to help small businesses?
Okay.
What I feel very, very strongly about is I was literally around a table with quite a few chefs yesterday.
And I think one of the things we need to do is definitely slash national insurance for the catering industry because that's number one.
And number two, I think we should actually do business rates as well.
They should come down because what's happening, if you can accept, you've got not only the electricity going up, you've got the food going up.
How on earth are they going to sustain the whole thing going on?
It is not possible.
They will literally, as they say, shut the lights out.
I mean, this is an unbelievable because they won't open up again.
Once they close, that'll be...
Take a fish and chip shop.
Take what they have to do.
They have to buy the oil in.
They have to buy the fish in.
They have to use the electricity.
They cannot sustain it.
It's a cheap meal, but it's no longer a cheap meal.
It will be an expensive meal because you cannot feed a family when you have to charge £16 or something for a bag of chips.
And that's take a family of four.
That's a lot of money.
So in our case, I think what they have to do very quickly, we don't need the furlough.
We don't need any more like that.
We need things to be slashed.
Completely.
Completely agree.
You make a really good point, Sasha, to the researchers.
We talk about slashing business rates, cutting VAT, all those things.
We'll come to Gemma in a sec.
You talk about the mental health.
You help a lot of businesses in Greater Manchester.
And a lot of people whose businesses have failed, who find themselves in a really difficult position in this crisis, are massively affected, aren't they, pal?
They are, Jamie.
So imagine, you know, two years on and off.
And especially in Manchester, we had the toughest restrictions more than any other city region.
And you were looking forward to this moment where you can start to make a bit of profit again.
You know, you've protected that business, you protected those jobs.
And we knew it was going to take three to four years before you can get back to pre-pandemic levels.
And now you're hit with this again.
And I'll be honest with you, there was one day, I think it was two weeks ago, when the inflation rate, interest rate rocketed and we knew people were going to pay more for the mortgages and it was just unsustainable.
And at that point, I think a lot of people are at breaking point.
And the stories that I'm hearing now from people, it's ruined businesses, it's ruined relationships.
And you hit the nail on the head.
I cannot tell you right now who is leading this country.
I can't tell you who is it.
Is it the PM who's just got married and he's had two holidays?
You know, is it the two candidates who are taking lumps out of each other?
It is ridiculous.
And somebody needs to take leadership, show leadership, and get a grip.
Because if they don't, the high streets will never recover from this.
I live in Windsor, right?
I'm being completely honest.
All the shops are going.
They're just food shops now.
I absolutely agree with both Rosemary and Sasha that if we don't do something for small businesses, the lifeblood of this economy, to be perfectly honest, what does need to happen, Gemma?
And what tips, I mean, what can you give?
How can you give a business a tip when they're struggling like they are?
No, I mean, as I said, I think they're at the brink, which means that we do need to see the government come in and give them much more support because there's nothing in place at all.
In terms of what they can do, you know, it's the same thing as consumers going to an energy supplier, because again, otherwise the energy supply is not going to be paid at all.
Trying to get some form of an affordable payment plan.
But again, I mean, cash is king for businesses.
If they can try and extend, obviously, the time they pay and try and get it shorter than the time in which they are paid, obviously that comes in handy.
Fitting a budget and going to an energy provider and saying this is actually how much they can afford and trying to work out a payment plan is obviously really helpful.
But I'll tell you what an interesting statistic which kind of gives me hope because I'm coming on with quite a lot of negativity.
And it's that on the one hand, in 2020, we saw about 390,000 business small businesses shut, but actually in the first half of 2021, we almost saw the same amount of businesses start.
So actually, we're actually now turning into a country of entrepreneurs and people are starting to sell their own businesses.
And again, when they do that, they're going to start to employ people.
They're going to start to help also look after themselves more as well financially.
And I think this is something that we should support.
But the government, look, there's so much they can do because at the moment they're doing nothing.
Rosemary, just to finish with you and thank you to all three of you tonight.
You say that unless the government acts and acts now, the hospitality industry will subside.
We've heard from Gemma that it's never been strangely easier to start your new business.
That's the silver lining.
But for them to be sustained, you demand government action right now, Rosemary.
Yes?
Without question.
But not only that, we haven't brought one other thing in, which is actually also equally as important.
The government gave everybody a backup loan to actually do it.
The backup loan has to be paid back.
So not only have we got these extraordinary price rises, we've also got to pay back that backup loan.
Now, this is, I know you've got a certain amount of length of time to do it, but that topped with everything else, it's near impossible.
So yes, I would say the industry is going to find it very hard to come back if nothing is done very quickly.
Thank you all so much.
Rosemary Schrager, of course, Sasha Lord, Nighttime Economy Advisor for Greater Manager on our own.
Gemma, thank you very much to Gemma Godfrey.
Back tomorrow.
Coming next on Piers Morgan and Censor, Jesus Journos.
Please pack as gone tonight.
Richard Tice and Grace Blakely face off.
That'll be lively.
We're coming back in three.
Don't go anywhere.
Welcome back.
Lots to discuss with Jesus Journos for Tuesday night.
The leader of the Reform UK Party and a man who thinks a linen suit looks nice, Richard Tice, plus socialist author Grace Blakely.
Welcome, how are you?
Good, thank you.
How are you?
Lovely, jolly good.
So much to discuss.
Short and concise.
Let's start with this.
Royal Navy migrants.
The Royal Navy are giving up turning away migrants.
Richard Tice.
Well, I mean, it's been so successful, hasn't it?
You know, they were appointed to try and stop the migrants coming.
And instead, what's happened is that numbers are doubling or more than this time last year, basically as was forecast.
And so they're either giving up or actually they're only going to do it for a few months and then hand it back to the border force.
Migrants and Freedom of Choice 00:05:44
But the whole thing's a catastrophe.
And I exposed just a few days ago that actually four out of ten coming across the channel, they're not fleeing a war zone or persecution.
They're fleeing a member of NATO, an applicant to join the European Union called Albania.
Grace?
Well, I mean, if people are fleeing and they're taking their lives into their own hands to cross the channel, I think it is probably incumbent upon us to prevent them from dying and then find a reasonable way to be able to allow them to get into the country.
It's not a war zone in France.
Well, you know, there are all sorts of reasons that people come over from France into the UK.
And ultimately, we actually need people here.
We had this discussion, I think it was last week or a few weeks ago.
We don't have enough workers in this economy.
We've got 5.3 million people on out-of-work benefits, a record number.
We've got a record population.
And a lot of those people are on out-of-work benefits because they are long-term.
We haven't got a people short.
We've got a lot of people being mishandled this year.
We've got a crisis where the benefit system, the structure of that, is such that people are resigning to go.
Historically untrue.
People are resigning to go on benefits.
People just, this is just a completely out-of-date narrative.
This is like the kind of thing that you can do.
But it's the latest data.
It's absolutely not true.
Universal credit is designed in such a way as to penalize people.
And actually, people have turned out dead in their own homes.
Why have you got 1.5 million more people on out-of-work benefits than pre-COVID?
There are no.
Why do you think people are disabled?
Excuse me.
Long COVID is because people be disabled, which means they're dropping out of the house.
I'm going to get a gambler.
Okay, fine.
Electric scooters, it's a bugbear of mine.
Let me explain you why I think that.
Petrol's super expensive.
Insurance is expensive.
I am sick today.
These things are a dangerous disgrace.
Today there is proof, right, that many of the accidents that are caused by e-scooters are people on them who are drunk, for goodness sake.
They should be insured.
They should be marshalled.
Do you not think that we should be stricter on these?
Please tell me you agree.
Look, I do think we should be.
Yes.
I think we should be a bit stricter on them.
But ultimately, we need to get cars off the road.
We need new forms of transportation in cities like this that are super congested.
We need bike lanes.
These things work really well in other cities.
Like, I remember the first time I tried one was in Paris.
It was so easy.
Bike lanes everywhere.
You're not getting in the way of traffic.
They just need to be sensibly regulated.
Absolutely.
Along the same way.
Wear a helmet, follow the highway code and pay some insurance.
Why do you need to wear a helmet?
I don't wear a helmet when I use a bike.
It's called freedom of choice.
If I fall over and hurt myself, that's my individual.
I make my children wear a helmet.
Now you've upset me.
Now, I'm going to do this as best as I can because my mother brought me up as a good boy, and there are certain words that stress me out.
A Scottish council has employed a male period dignity officer.
There's all sorts of accusations about, you know, man.
There he is.
He goes into schools in and teaches students about menstruation.
He's an ex-keep fit fanatic.
Richard Tice, talk to me, please.
I don't think I can, Jeremy.
This is appalling.
How can a man go into a school to talk to girls about periods?
That's exactly what one of my producers said.
She said, I don't think that's a comfortable look.
No.
I mean, come on.
I'm torn, to be honest, because on the one hand, I'm like, yes, you know, where there are positions available to women, we should be giving them to women.
On the other hand, it's probably good for girls to see men talking comfortably about menstruation.
It's probably good for men to know how that sort of thing works.
Because honestly, you can't assume that men don't know.
I think you'd be quite surprised at how little many men know about the female.
It's weird.
I think it's creepy.
I think it's totally inappropriate.
Why is it weird for men to talk about periods?
Going into a school, talking to 13 and 14 year olds.
There's a point here, Grace.
Sorry, let's finish.
This will go down like a lead balloon.
The RAF pulls job offers for white men.
Richard Tice.
What have we got to?
I'm all for diversity, but it's all about quotas and not the ability to do the job anymore.
Exactly.
It should be about merit.
Who is the best person to do the job?
It's almost racist, this policy.
It's unbelievable.
And there's a shortage of people joining the RF, and now we know why.
But quote, frankly, should resign.
The reason that there's a shortage of people joining the AF is because you have shortages in the labour force.
Why?
Because people aren't getting paid enough, and because we don't have enough workers, because we have a ridiculous work benefits.
No, the reason.
It's not a record population, Grace.
The reason that people are on out of work benefits is because there was a massive increase in disability after the pandemic, because loads of people have long COVID.
You can't solve that by forcing people to go back to work.
It's not going to work.
You think a million and a half people have got long COVID, so they can't get to the point of view.
If you look at the data, the biggest power of the big increase in unemployment and in labour force, the decrease in labour force participation is down to one at the time, one at a time.
People retiring early and disability.
Can I go on?
Long COVID, it's like it's like backache, isn't it?
It's like, you know, you can't prove it one way or the other.
And all of a sudden, there's loads of people with long workers.
People are long COVID working from home.
Now, I just want to bring an end to proceedings tonight and bring it down a bit because sad news reached us this week that Boris, number 10, the removal vans have arrived.
There they are.
Bishop's move.
That's good publicity.
Have we done that as well?
Bye-bye, Boris.
For me, a very sad day.
And for you, Richard Tice, a sad day?
No, I think, frankly, you know, I mean, there's a complete vacuum of leadership in this government because he's tried to stay there, but he's not there.
He's on holiday.
And we've got the greatest crisis, economic crisis and energy crisis.
He's not there.
Where's Dominic Raab?
Where's the government?
No one knows.
Do you think he'll rip off the £112,000 wallpaper that he's made paid for?
Do you think he'll take that, old Boris?
I don't think he'll need to now because we all know that Boris felt very under pressure by his tiny salary that just didn't allow him to kind of live in the manner to which he was accustomed.
I'm sure he will now get loads of extremely well-paid speaking gigs that will allow him to adorn his walls in paper hidden.
I think he'll become the envoy for Ukraine and in two years of the Hung Parliament.
He'll come back and we argue about this every single morning.
Economic Crisis and Boris 00:00:28
Don't look so upset, Grace.
It'll be fine.
I hope tonight that you'd agree on something, but in true fashion, you haven't agreed on anything.
But isn't that a great idea?
I think that's why you have us here.
Ah, Grace and Richard, thank you very much indeed.
Have you enjoyed it?
Will you come back next week?
We agreed on these scooters.
That's true, actually.
Yeah, you were the old one out there.
I agree with you.
Ah, be quiet.
I'm going there.
Right, that's it from me.
Don't forget, Piers told me to say this: whatever you're up to, make it, keep it, and make sure it's uncensored.
Have a great night.
You're now to finish.
Turra,
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