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Aug. 18, 2022 - Uncensored - Piers Morgan
45:37
20220818_piers-morgan-uncensored-mick-lynch
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Mick Lynch Blames Tories 00:14:08
Tonight on Piers Morgan Uncensored with me Jeremy Kyle, commuter chaos again.
Strike boss Mick Lynch blames Grant Schapps and the Conservative Party.
He's got to show them that he's some kind of steely right-wing militant, which is what the whole party's becoming.
But will fed up Brits blame him?
He joins us live in the studio.
Health hazards at 50 beaches as failing water firms spew raw sewage.
How can we cure Britain's seasickness?
And top grades plunge on A-level results day, but record numbers are still heading to university, including a certain Kyle Jr.
Many congratulations, Al, so proud.
But the question tonight is still this.
Is a degree still the best investment in a student's future?
Good evening, my friends, and a big, big welcome to Piers Morgan Uncensored.
I'm still Jeremy Carl.
You know what?
I was going to start tonight by talking about rail chaos and militant unions.
I was going to show you pictures of deserted railway platforms and scowling commuters whilst lamenting Britain's summer of discontent.
I was going to complain about selfish union bosses bringing a cash-strapped nation to its knees in the middle of this dreadful cost of living crisis.
I even had a joke about minding the gap between the timetables and reality.
But then I did something I don't normally do, my friends.
I opened Twitter and it seems I've made a terrible, terrible mistake.
Our nation is gripped by Mick Mania.
The man's even got his own fan club.
They're calling themselves the Lynchpins.
Those aren't just picket lines you see at Euston Station.
They're now queuing up for selfies with the undisputed star of the summer.
Union boss Mick Lynch is a media star, raves the Guardian.
Mick Lynch, a folk hero for our time, muses the Herald.
We should all be grateful for Mick Lynch, commands the new statesman.
All right-wing papers, of course.
These reviews are make Andrew Lloyd Weber blush.
He's even won the backing of Bernie Saunders in the US.
Yes, it turns out, my friend, this picket line pin-up is currently bigger than Piers Morgan's ego.
Now, admittedly, I was a little confused by all of this, so I delved a little deeper and discovered why.
Check this.
I kind of love a train strike.
Saves me 55 quid and gives me three hours of midday back.
And there's no train noise whilst working from home, says Steve.
These rail strikes are just cementing work from home practices that make rail less relevant forever, says Andy.
Another one, Vicky, I think.
I'll get a two-hour line.
Yay, more train strikes, says Vicky, and suddenly it all became clear.
So has Britain's most famous union leader really won the nation's hearts and minds?
Or are the Lynch mobs simply enjoying another day at home in their underpants?
Well, I wanted to find out, and I have to say, and I'm going to do this to start, I wanted to discuss the rail strikes today.
We invited the government, no show.
We invited Network Rail, no show.
We invited passenger groups, no show.
Mick Lynch, though, general secretary of the RMT, was the only one to bother to turn up.
And I mean that as a starting point.
People will criticise you and say, oh, he's never off the TV.
The only person that turned up tonight.
What do you say to that?
Well, my job is to articulate the case on behalf of our members.
We've got a job to do.
We've got to get a deal.
That's at the heart of this.
There are some serious issues which have been publicised, but there are some serious issues on the railway.
Funding is the main one.
£4 billion worth of cuts have come out of the railway system.
And I've got to get a deal in a very different period.
They obviously want to drive down our wages.
They want to cut thousands of jobs.
So it's a difficult job to negotiate that, and I'm determined to do it.
So I have to come on the airwaves and try and articulate it.
I want to do it slightly differently, Mick.
Got a script because you're brilliant at delivering it.
I've got perhaps a view, but I want to do this for the people of the United Kingdom.
And I want to say something to start with.
I think everybody would understand you wanting to get a better deal for your workers.
As to what people think about how you're going about it, I don't want to articulate that.
So we went out on the streets and I've got three or four people who, for you, want to ask you directly if you understand what you're doing, the serious consequences of your actions.
Have a look at this.
This is Greg.
I'm a substance misuse recovery worker.
One of my colleagues is off today because he can't get to work.
This is affecting not only him financially and the implications that follow that with not being able to get to work, but also it's affecting his ability to, you know, give out decent care.
These people are already not very stable, hence why they're in crisis and they're turning to drugs.
You're making it a lot harder to deal and give good care when our people can't get to work.
Now, I don't know why you don't do what the Chinese, the Japanese do, sorry, which is keep on running the service.
Just don't take fare.
Let people get on for free.
Screw the companies, not the people.
It's interesting.
Screw the companies, not the people.
Keep the service going.
That's a punter.
That's how I wanted to do it.
I think that's important, right?
Yeah, that is important.
I understand exactly what that gentleman was saying, and it's disruption.
We would love to do the type of action that he's described.
Guess what?
The Conservative government has made that illegal for decades.
We cannot do that.
If we do that, they will sequestrate my union, fine us millions of pounds, and shut us down.
That is illegal industrial action in this country.
We've explored that with our lawyers, and they won't let us do it.
We would love to run that service, even at the cost of sacrificing some of our pay, perhaps.
But a revenue strike, as it's called, it's been used in Australia and Japan very successfully so that we can run the system on behalf of the people and be empathetic with their needs.
As that gentleman was pointing out, we're blocked from doing that.
I think before we get on to the tourists, I think the thing from people on the street, and we'll hear from Ashley, a coffee shop owner, in a minute.
I understand you want to put more money into the pockets of your workers.
And I said to the crew earlier.
Just that, Jeremy.
We start with we want to save our members' jobs.
All right, haven't got a job.
Let me say, money in their pockets.
But what you are doing, and this is what I want to try, I said you wanted to do it differently.
If you listen to Ashley in a tick, in attempting to get that pay rise for your members, we'll talk about other parts of the deal.
You are taking money out of the pockets of small business owners and workers, and these people are angry.
Let's see if this is Ashley Davis.
Have a look at this, if you can.
The industrial action taken by the railway unions have affected us so much that we've had no choice but to surrender our lease to the network operator and hope that they accept that the company doesn't have to liquidate.
At Covent, we've lost about 17,000 in turnover.
I've made almost all of my staff team redundant.
I'm having to get our local MP involved to help us with our pleas for support to be heard by the network operators.
Our lease agreement remains in place with zero compensation and zero financial support currently offered by the unions, network operators and the Department for Transport despite requests.
Businesses like mine are the collateral damage here and we've been completely overlooked.
Nick?
Yeah, I emphasise with that as well.
The problem for us is that our members are threatened with in excess of 5,000 redundancies and the companies are trying to cut the safety standards on the railway and they're trying to chop up our terms and conditions.
If we don't get a pay rise for British people in this country, we will have a cliff-edge recession.
People will stop spending money in the economy, especially the everyday ordinary man and woman will not have enough money to pay their bills.
So they'll shut down their expenditures and all of these type of businesses will suffer because British workers will not be able to have that discretionary spend.
And there's a real danger in this country now of a tiff-edge recession through the cost of living crisis.
In terms of that cost of living crisis that you talk about, let's talk about you, the person.
When you know that people are suffering as they are, and we've talked about energy bills on this show for the last three weeks, food, petrol, absolutely everything.
And those people, not just on benefits and on universal credit, but those jams those people are just about managing, are really in danger of going under.
Do you expect, however much you morally justify the desire to save your union members' jobs, do you understand that what you are doing is further harming and causing more distress for those people?
What do you say to those people, Mick?
Well, what I say is, our members are losing money in this dispute as well.
They are sacrificing their wages on a principle, and they have sacrificed wages over the last two and three years.
We have not had a pay rise on the railways.
How much do you want?
Well, we're looking for something that addresses the cost of living.
But what would you want?
If only you let me finish.
At the turn of the year when the Network Rail deal should have been struck, the rate of inflation was 7.1%.
We've been offered 4%, so that doesn't match that cost of living.
So Network Rail tell us tonight that this is really important.
They've offered an 8% pay rise.
Hear me out.
No compulsory redundancies, extra benefits to workers and their families.
And they say, why don't you put that to your members?
They say that those members would accept that 8%.
I'm doing what I have to do.
Why haven't you put that to your work?
Well, they're wrong and they're not accurate in what they've told you.
They haven't offered 8%.
They've offered us 4% this year.
We had nothing last year.
So that's 4% for two years and 4% next year.
The retail price index yesterday was 12.3%.
If we were to accept that today, we would be underpriced for last year, no increase the year before, and we'd be about a third or perhaps a quarter by the time retail prices come in at the end of this year of the going rate of inflation.
So if I did that deal and our members prepared to accept it, we would be undervaluing our members' productivity and they would get poorer as a result of that.
The cumulative inflation over these three years is likely to be in the mid 20%.
That's the way it's going to go.
If you add up all 36 of those months.
Do you understand the people, Mick, who say, and I know you've heard this line before, but I wanted to get it from you.
You've heard the people say, you know, nurses are on a lot less than the average rail worker, care workers are.
I interviewed somebody from a union and they said, well, their union needs to be stronger.
And I go back to what I said at the beginning that you're doing your best.
What I don't understand is, I get you want to improve what your workers have.
I'm just trying to ask you, I suppose, as careful.
I mean, look, for example, Grant Schapp says he wants to make strikes illegal, right?
Would you advocate your workers still went on strike and possibly face prison to get that pay rise if it was that, would you?
Well, we'll have to see what the law says.
They haven't published these laws.
Grant Schapp keeps saying things every week because he's a desperate man.
Why is he desperate?
Well, six weeks ago, he said he was going to ban overtime on the railway.
The railway runs on overtime because there aren't enough staff.
While there are not enough staff and people have to work overtime every week, and some people have stopped doing overtime because they're so alienated from what the companies are doing.
You've been very, very vocal about this Tory government, a government I describe as a zombie government.
They're nowhere to be seen.
We're a ruddle of ship.
I want to have a worse government than this, Jeremy.
They're absent.
They're absent.
I am absolutely not disagreeing, but I want to talk to you about Labour, right?
Because you described, I mean, Starmer sacked Sam Tarry, of course, for standing on that picket line the other day.
You were quite, I mean, you called him a soft Tory at one point.
Let's imagine Starma was in 10 Downing Street right now.
What would Mick Lynch be saying to Sakir Starmer?
Well, I'd be saying to him now and when he gets into Parliament, he needs to empathise and recognise what working people are going through.
People even on middle incomes are going to struggle this year.
A £4,500 perhaps utility bill cost is going to affect everyone.
Let's not forget you've got to earn that £4,500 with pre-tax.
So you're looking really at about a six or seven thousand pound bill for even well-to-do people in this country.
So he needs to empathise with where they are.
He could put a cap on wholesale gas prices and oil prices, which are produced in the North Sea.
50% of our carbon energy comes from our North Sea.
But BP and British Gas, which we used to own in the public sector, are making billions of pounds, not every year, every quarter.
So there is money in this economy to pay all British workers a decent.
Do you think that Starma would be more sympathetic to your needs?
Do you think, for example, that the railway should be renationalised?
Do you think that's something you might consider?
The railway should be in public ownership, along with a lot of these important infrastructure items, so that we know what we're getting, so that we know that they're running the interests of the people and the economy and the climate, so that the profit motive is taken out of those services.
And what they're doing instead, of course, is privatising the health service.
Every week it's being consumed by American and overseas healthcare providers at profit.
And they're leeching money and subsidy out of our system as they've done on the railways since privatisation.
See, of 12 billion has gone out of the railway since privatisation.
Here's the thing, right?
I decided to do it differently tonight because I think the script is the script, right?
Final question to you, Mick.
And I repeat what I said at the beginning, you came in.
Nobody else did, right?
That says to me absolutely something.
What's your message?
As you do what you do, some people will say you're holding this country to ransom.
Others and many will say he's doing his best for his workers.
Where's the government?
Get to the table, do the deal.
Others will say he's just going to do this as long as he wants.
It's all about him.
To people watching this right now, the real Mick Lynch, not that straightforward, what do you say to those people who are frustrated, angry?
What do you say to them tonight?
Well, I've been addressing meetings this week.
Thousands of people have been turning out to support our dispute because people are angry.
We're doing a job for railway workers and other unions are going to try and do a similar job for their people.
People are really angry about the way they're being treated by this government and the way that work is set up in their society.
Many people live on vulnerable conditions.
They've got no conditions of employment in the workplace.
They can be sacked at the drop of a hat.
We're trying to rebuild a balance at work.
Are you holding the government to ransom?
No, our people are being held to ransom because they've been told that they're going to lose their jobs, won't have a pay rise for multiple years, and their conditions will be ripped to pieces, including their pensions.
Student Debt vs Apprenticeships 00:09:41
I could sit here all night and I mean it.
I really appreciate you coming on.
Thank you very much, Steve.
Mick Lynch, today strikes the beginning of many.
And next and uncensored, it's A-level results day.
But the big question, do you really need to go to university in order to be a success?
We'll do that after the break.
We're coming back in three.
Welcome back, my friends.
Now settle down, settle down.
Stop talking about you lot.
I might be the substitute teacher while that nasty Mr. Morgan's away, but you don't intimidate me.
Thank you very much.
Of course, A-level results and celebrations for many today, commiserations for some.
And for those licking their wounds tonight, here's a thought that will balance your minds.
Prince Harry got one B and a D and he retired at 30, which proves that anything's possible if you believe in yourself and your nan just so happens to be the queen.
Now the best grades of A and A star were down.
Look at this, we're doing it again.
Eight point, look at the money that's spent, 8.4% on last year, which sounds like bad news.
But remember this, is the first year since the pandemic that students sat real exams.
Those top grades are actually up 11% on pre-pandemic levels.
And despite fierce competition, today, 425,830 students have secured a place at a UK university, which is a brand new record.
Now, one of those lucky people is my daughter, Alice.
She got straight A's.
She's off to the University of Her Choice.
I can't mention which one because nobody will talk to her.
But Al, so proud and so happy that you've managed to achieve your dreams.
We're joined now.
Oh, God.
We're joined now by head teacher Serge.
Can you say your surname, please?
Safai.
Safai, I'm only joking.
Financial expert Gemma Globfrey and Sam Prince, made in Chelsea star and business owner, who actually left school at 16, has a very interesting story to tell.
Not a lot of time.
Serge, let's start with you.
I'm probably a bit old-fashioned, and I want to point out straight away.
I went to university, did a meaningless course, had three years of having a great time, and probably would have done what I did if I didn't do it.
Are we now at a point where going to university is not as important, relevant, and guaranteed to give you a job as it was in the past?
Depends.
Depends what you want to go to university for.
For me, I think for certain professions, it's absolutely essential, but for others, no.
And I think we lack alternatives for kids with fantastic talents that I know I horsewipped down the academic route with lovely kids who maybe, if we brought in apprenticeships, et cetera, you know, early on, target these kids, something that can be proud of, that are credible.
That's a far better way to go for an awful lot of kids without them leaving university, which, as you said, a meaningless course with huge debt and perhaps not as employable as they were three years before.
Two things to you, Sam, because I know you probably think like I think.
I'm not being disrespectful.
I think there's too many courses and too many colleges.
I think kids end up in huge amounts of debt and it is not a byword to get a job anymore.
That is not saying that lots of people who get degrees don't succeed, but does it mean as much as it did in the past?
I think university is not essential.
I think life is a course itself.
I think people are pushed down the union route when I didn't do the union route.
And I think I've learned so much of not doing that.
It's interesting.
You left school at 16.
You said, yes, your family had money, but your dad was very strict.
And he's still strict now.
Gave you a grand and you made it on your own.
And that's a great story.
And you proved by working your backside off that you could make something of your life.
Yeah, and I think it's a life lesson.
The fact that if he gave me everything, which at that time, I wanted everything.
The fact he gave me a hard time at a young age has allowed me to really work hard and establish what my passion and dreams really are.
Gemma, we're actually at loggerheads tonight on this.
You think, I mean, I just, I sound like a hypocrite, but it's not a byword to a job anymore.
And you end up in debt.
No, no, I agree.
I mean, I definitely think there is value in certain degrees.
I think it's a challenge because there are certain degrees that aren't applicable.
There are other degrees that are.
Of course, if you have an apprenticeship, which I'm a big fan of, it means that you don't go into debt.
You can get paid.
You can get a job at the end of it.
But I think there are ways in which you can do research to find out which degrees are actually in demand.
And also, there are some companies that are working in collaboration with universities, telling them the skills they need, and we'll give them a year in industry.
And I think things like that are getting much more pragmatic, I think, going forward.
Who was it who said, was it you, Sam, who said your net work is your net worth?
Agreed.
What do you mean by that?
I think meeting the right people is great.
I think putting yourself in the right rooms and shaking is many one thing growing up is that I want to shake as many hands as possible.
Okay, take this the right way because we'll be friends after this.
Isn't it easier if you come from a better background to have that network to succeed than if you don't?
What if you're brought up in poverty?
What if university is the aspiration?
Because frankly, that might be the only way to get on, expand your mind and get into a situation that you wouldn't before if you were more privileged.
I disagree.
I think you can put yourself in certain rooms.
I think you can go to certain places.
There's loads of events every single week.
Social media, right?
Social media.
And I think social media has really allowed that to reach out to whoever you want.
And I think in this day and age, learning is so free.
And I think you can just meet whoever you want.
I think there's a really good...
I don't agree with that.
I think it's great.
I think there's more opportunities.
But the reality is contacts are hugely important in order to get on.
Agreed.
You know, hugely important.
You've had a little bit of a get-up.
Clearly, your parents know what they're doing.
The fact they haven't given you everything.
I actually haven't had to get up.
Yes, I went to a great school until 16, but I haven't been given money.
No, no, but you don't need.
You've got great talent, clearly.
I'm talking about the general population, if you like.
And we've got to get society to have a bit of a say in what society needs out of our education system.
If we just take nurses as an example, I'm sick of hearing how many nurses we need.
Yet, why are we charging nurses to go to uni to get a degree?
Surely something can be done.
Don't tell me about that side dentist.
We train for 10 years on the National Health Service and they go private.
But that's very easy.
But let's just sort it out.
They say, well, I'll tell you what, we'll pay you.
We'll make you a bloody good nurse, excuse me, you know, but you're going to have to work for the NHS for a certain number of years.
You also talk to business about what do you want from our kids in school.
You also talk about how uni's actually there's very little face-to-face time.
Now, my daughter was telling me, I'm not going to where she's going.
There'll only be two terms in about 24 weeks.
What are you doing for the rest of the year, Jim?
I think also the other challenge as well is that a lot of people are going to come out with, let's say, £27,000 worth of debt for £27,000.
Exactly.
And that's a big decision to make when you're 16 to 18 years old.
But then you see that one of the girls on the producers who works on the show said to me it was the best debt I ever took.
She said you don't start paying it back until you get to a certain level.
Did you know that if you start, you can't pay it, it just gets wiped off if you get out of the country for four years?
Who picks up that bill?
But then do we get back, Serge, to the argument that which will go down like a lead balloon?
There are too many colleges and too many black.
I'm always coloured by the fact that I found out years ago that you can go to the University of Kiel and you can do a degree in business and marketing and you can major in Brand Beckham.
What the hell does that do for you?
Exactly, and that undermines the whole education system as far as I'm concerned.
University is getting nine grand a year.
The average that a head teacher will get per pupil is five and a half.
We give them 36 weeks.
My teachers work after school, Saturday mornings to make sure the kids get the exam.
What are they doing for nine grand?
Because there is no face-to-face.
Pupil-teacher ratios are huge.
It's all online.
My kids have been to uni.
I know what it goes.
So I think it's a time maybe to have a look.
If we ever get an education secretary here long enough to actually look at things, let's have a look at what society needs from our education system.
Get every employer we can.
What do you want for our kids?
Let's start off with, you know what?
We want them in on time every day.
We want them to look appropriate.
We want them to be there.
We want a good attitude.
That's never measured by anybody.
As an employer, I personally don't look at someone, I don't look at their education and also I don't look at their degree.
Which is great to hear, but the norm, I'm afraid, is I did a cross-section upstairs, 90% of the people in the production office have a degree.
I'm interested in this apprentice.
Sorry, go on.
I look at it.
I think apprenticeships.
I look at apprenticeships.
I think that's brilliant.
What you said, just expand on that a bit.
Experience, being paid for it, no debt, and probably if you prove yourself, you've got the job.
I'll help at the end of it, absolutely.
And I think that is very pragmatic.
But I think, therefore, it's two ways.
It's not just about people trying to pick useful degrees, but it's also about employers embracing and giving people opportunities.
Because also, from an employer's perspective, you get to train somebody up.
You get to train them in your way.
And you can spend three years training your way up to the position that, again, there are lots of companies out there that they won't even look at people unless they have a graduate degree.
So my Alice today gets the results.
What tips for her and the other students who have decided today that they're going to go?
What would you say?
Okay, obviously, financially, it's going to be really tough.
So here are my tips.
First of all, look at student discounts.
The National Union of Students, they say that they can offer people, if you go to and use all their discounts, they can save people over £600 a year and all the discounts.
It's for clothes, it's for food, it's for rail travel if there were any trains.
Yes.
And rail travel as well.
You get a third off of off-peak travel as well.
Also, using, go for second-hand books as well for your course, if it's obviously still applicable.
Budgeting apps.
Also, there are some bank accounts that will allow you to open up in your bank account and actually give you free money as well as discounts on council tax as well.
So take advantage of student discounts while you can.
You're saying you can do it, Surge, very quickly.
You're saying.
Don't be pigeonholed.
It doesn't have to be very quickly.
Also, very quickly, I just want to say about these apprenticeships.
Ironically, the area where apprenticeships are growing are for top 10 kids.
Right, those kids are going to be all right anyway.
I'm sorry, you're going to get the best.
Businesses are looking around these top companies.
They're looking for the A-star kids.
We need another option for kids who are great, got great talents, and are willing to work with them.
Polluted Beaches and Rivers 00:08:40
Which is what this man is saying.
Thank you to Serge, to Gemma, and of course to Sam Nexton, uncensored.
Aha, the summer, the sun, the sea, the sand, and sewage.
Yes, that's right.
I'll be speaking to the head of a surfers against sewage, who is literally sick of it.
We're back in three.
Don't go anywhere.
All right, button down the hatches, ready the lifeboats, and peg your noses, my friends, because the United Kingdom has been hit by a lunami.
Here we wrote.
Thank you.
A tidal wave of turd is flowing across our nation.
And it's not even Prime Minister's questions.
I've got his dad here.
You'd be forgiven for thinking this week's downpours might be helpful for our parched and arid land.
After all, 11 regions have declared a drought.
Millions are banned from using hose pipes.
But no, thanks to our failing water companies, most of the water falling in us this week is flowing directly into the sea, along with thousands of litres of raw sewage.
Apparently, the UK's sewers can't cope with the showers.
Water companies have opened emergency overflows to send the excess water into our rivers and our seas, unleashing untreated waste into our waterways.
Rivers of crud.
You'll love this.
They've turned the Mersey into the Messy, the Star into the Sour, the Trent into the Toilet, and the Avon into the John.
Pollution warnings are in place at dozens of Britain's most popular beaches.
The south coast of England is the worst affected.
Swimmers there are being warned to stay out of the sea to avoid the toxic discharge.
These people have put the bog in Bogner Regis, you see.
This, my friends, is the scene in Seaford near Brighton, where dirty sewage water is spilling out into the ocean.
Frankly, it brings a ghastly new meaning to getting brown at the beach.
I'm joined now, big sigh there, from noted environmentalist the Prime Minister's dad.
And on his 82nd birthday, would you believe it?
Happy birthday, Stanley Johnson.
Play it!
Happy birthday to Luvia!
Happy birthday to Lucia!
Lovely.
Also, live is Hugo Taghome from Surfers Against Sewage.
He joins us from Fistrell Beach, which has been polluted.
Excellent.
Stanley, let's start with you if we can.
What needs to be done to the water companies who are doing this most irresponsible plowing raw sewage into our seas and our rivers?
Well, I remember when I was growing up, and I was an early environmentalist, way back in the 60s, you didn't go to the beach because you say when you go to the beach, you don't, you know, I'm not going to have a swim.
I'm just going to go through the motions.
You know, it was that bad.
It was pollution then was really, really serious.
Serious pollution.
Well, we moved on from there.
But now, I've got to tell you, it is really bad.
It is really bad.
And I'm just terribly taken by what Emma Howard Boyd said.
And she's the chair of the Environment Agency.
You know what she said?
It's appalling that water companies' performance on pollution has hit a new low.
Water quality won't improve till water companies get a grip on their operational performance.
And then she says, for years, people have seen executives and investors handsomely rewarded while the environment pays the price.
Stay there with that one second, Stanley.
Hugo Tagham was to say, surface against sewage.
Is this normal?
Is this something familiar each and every year?
Or is this a new thing, Hugo?
Well, look, sadly, the last few days are something we're all too familiar with.
Dozens of beaches closed and polluted by sewage pollution.
But we've seen this year in, year out.
Last year alone, water companies discharged sewage pollution for 2.6 million hours on 370,000 separate occasions.
And at some of our most popular beaches, between the red and yellow flags, they discharge 3,500 times.
So this just isn't good enough.
Our bathing waters languish at the bottom of the European bathing water tables.
And also our rivers, just 14% of them, meet good ecological status.
I'll tell you what I don't understand, Stanley.
And you've got a point about the European Union.
I don't want to bring it to your son, right?
But the point is, why are the government not making sure that these water companies don't behave in such a disgusting environmental way?
What is happening is we are not enforcing the rules which we actually have.
I mean, Hewitt has made this clear point.
Years ago, I wrote the EU directives on bathing water.
We had a good framework for water quality management.
That includes just sewage going into rivers, but all sorts of pollution going into rivers and from the sea.
Why is it not being...
I think what has happened is we're losing the thrust of this.
We're losing the thrust.
We're not seeing this in context.
We're forgetting that pollution goes to the rivers, the rivers go to the sea.
This is not just a one-country issue.
It's a pan-country issue.
Whereas I would make the political point, it's high time we went back into what I call the European Environment Agency, which enables us to see where we are.
You know, it's important.
We've got British tourists who have to go abroad to get clean water now.
Hugo, you take what Stanley says.
The question to you would be, what needs to be done?
What are your solutions, my friend?
Well, look, I agree.
And just to make a point on that, in 2012, we were already taken to court.
The UK was catered into court by the European Courts of Justice for the use and abuse of combined sewer overflows.
So the water companies need to invest their vast profits back in to protecting the environment and protecting the people that use it.
Not just surfers, not just swimmers, but all of the businesses right around the beautiful UK coastline that rely on clean and healthy waters.
So do the government, do whichever government's in Power Standard, do they need to force these water companies to behave in the right way?
Yes, it's got to do that.
It's got to deal with it in terms of executive salaries.
By the way, the lady I mentioned before, Emma Howard Boyd, suggested the water executive actually go be sent to prison.
It is a really, really serious.
But above all, we need to have the mechanisms in place for taking them to court.
And we're losing that, of course, now that we have left the EU.
And that's why it is very, very important that we build the kind of consensus on enforcement.
It just to me is tragic.
We're an island.
We've got beautiful beaches and beautiful, beautiful areas.
And if it's being decimated and water companies cannot do it morally, they should be forced to do so.
On your 82nd birthday, I'm allowed to ask you this.
How's your son?
Well, on my 82nd birthday, I can tell you I have had a very friendly conversation with all my children.
And that's when I went to Gamaloff.
Take note.
It takes too long.
Is he all right?
How's he doing?
Well, Jeremy, I'm not going to comment.
I'm not going to comment.
I mean, he is what he is.
And as you can imagine, he is looking, you know.
Do you want to hear my theory?
Yeah, go on.
I think he'll be made the envoy for Ukraine by Liz Truss, who will win.
I think he'll do that for two years because he's a hero then.
We'll put the UK in Ukraine.
Yeah, absolutely.
And then what will happen next is there will be a hung parliament and Boris will return.
Do you think you could handle that?
No, Jeremy, I'm not commenting on this.
I'm here to talk about it.
I know.
I played you.
Happy birthday.
I'll play it again.
You did.
But actually, he...
Happy birthday!
Has anybody played you have?
I bet Boris has a blessing for a birthday, actually.
Stanley, I know you care about the environment.
I do.
And I absolutely stand by you, actually.
People in the past have said you don't care about the climate, you don't care about the environment.
I will say this, right?
Boris's legacy does also include a lot of effort on the environment.
It really does.
I absolutely agree.
And 14 million voted for it.
But I am allowed to ask you one birthday question.
Say yes, Jess, before I ask you.
Say you can ask me this.
Go on.
Trust or sooner.
I trust you.
What about you?
Trust or sooner.
Well, I've got to tell you that by some huge accident, I have mislaid my vote.
And what's worse, and what's worse, I'm leaving the country tomorrow.
No, actually on Monday, until October the 15th.
So if I got you a ballot paper now, what would you take?
You wouldn't, because you wouldn't have the secret number.
Can I tell you something that I've learned?
I mean, we've met before and you're an amazing man.
I absolutely can see where Bojo gets it from.
No, I'm not.
Stanley, thank you, but we agree absolutely with you and Hugo.
This is disgrace and water companies need to be brought to task by whoever is in government.
And if they don't do what's right themselves, they should be forced to do so.
So final words, Stanley.
We need to rethink, go back into the European Environment Ages, which is not just the EU, it is 12 countries who are non-EU countries.
Babies in the Pub 00:05:23
It's unbelievable to pretend we are not part of a much wider...
Birthday, boy.
It's an absolute pleasure.
Stanley Johnson's gone.
No, don't go.
Boris, Dodd.
Well, all right, Stan there.
All right, let go of us.
You go, sir.
Just be careful of the step.
Right.
Now, would you take your baby to the pub, the theatre, or even a comedy show?
Shush, bloody kids.
Shush!
A parent did exactly that at comedian Matt Ford's Edinburgh fringe gig, and he wasn't happy.
Writing on Twitter, he said, someone brought their baby to my show last night.
Sadly, it derailed large parts of it because they wouldn't do the decent thing and just leave when it started crying.
I get it, it must be tough as a new parent, but please don't bring babies to adult shows.
It's always a problem.
So the question.
Shut up.
So is it time to ban the baby?
Will somebody please see to that child?
For goodness sake, let's put it.
We're going to do it properly.
We're joined by comedian, Sajila Kershi.
How are you?
Oh, lovely.
Oh, lovely.
Lovely, apart from the crying baby.
Can you please make it stop?
Shut up.
And journalists and mother to five-month-old margar, Rebecca Reed.
Rebecca joins us as well.
Rebecca, good evening.
Good evening.
Oh, good.
It's one of those delays.
I'm not a little bit bothering me because I have a very small baby.
There we go.
See, responsible parent.
Didn't come to the studio because she's got a five-month-old.
Sajila, I have total sympathy with Matt Ford.
I do too.
You know, you rewrite a show for a whole year, right?
That is our hard sweat.
And you go to Edinburgh and then you, and actually it's not the problem about the baby crying, it's the fact that he didn't, the father, just want to say it was a father.
Oh, here we go.
It's the father.
Yeah, well, didn't take the baby out.
Wasn't it responsible like parents?
So it kind of ruined the show for everybody else.
I have had kids in my shows before.
I mean, I've had someone drop in off an eight-year-old as like some kind of babysitter.
But the point is, if they are disruptive, it's really just polite to take them out.
I'm absolutely with you.
I probably, I want to bring Rebecca back in as the father of five, right?
I'm going to say this and I will be agreed with or not.
I blame absolutely parents.
Why are you taking an eight-year-old to a comedy gig?
I had this conversation the other day with somebody who said, oh, but you know, I've been on holiday.
This is what me and my wife did with Oliver is too, right?
You go out for dinner at six o'clock on holiday, he's in the pushchair, and you get back to your apartment or dinner at 7.30.
You sit on the balcony, he goes to bed.
I don't understand why parents drag kids out to things that are not for children.
And that's why you're at home tonight, right?
I'm at home tonight because she's a fantastic sleeper and I'm not willing to disrupt her sleep routine to go to work.
But if this was during the day, I would 100% have brought her.
There is nowhere between the hours of 6.30 in the morning and 6.30 at night that I don't take my baby.
Obviously, if she starts screaming, I will take her out of wherever we are.
But there's crying and there's crying, right?
A little tiny whimper while you get the bottle ready is not the same as a big, long scream.
I don't think anybody defends big, long screaming, but a little tiny bit of crying might mean the difference between being able to leave the house that day and see other people or being in your house alone all the time.
And you know, being a new parent can be insanely lonely.
Do you think we're unsympathetic to very quickly?
Unsympathetic to parents, I don't.
I mean, I am a parent and I have been that parent that I've taken a son out.
You know, I'm a comedian, so I've taken them to Apollo loads of times.
But then when they're crying, that you take them out, that's a little whimper.
It isn't right.
It isn't fair.
So you don't take your children.
I mean, Rebecca, you said you'd take your child from 6:30 in the morning anyway, so you'd take your child to a pub, would you?
100, not at 6:30 in the morning, but absolutely, I would take my, I have taken my baby to the pub a lot.
I'm going to the pub with my friends and our babies tomorrow.
Why shouldn't it?
If it's obviously, if it's a pub that doesn't allow children, I think that's their mistake because mums are big drinkers.
But generally speaking, why shouldn't you take your baby to a pub?
Okay, listen, there is a delay.
Question from one of my producers who said, why would you take your baby, you selfish lady, and ruin drinkers' time and going there to get away from children, just have a nice time.
What would you say to that?
Do you know who really needs a drink?
People with small babies.
Why on earth would you take it?
Take a child.
Brilliant.
Sejila, that's right.
There are actually gigs during the day.
Bring your own baby so you can, that you bring your baby, and that's comedy.
We know what we're up for with comedians.
I would have thought you said that comedians like being heckled and you turn it round.
Why wouldn't Matt Ford have used the baby and the noise and just turned it round in his gig?
You know, it's like having a horrible heckler that just ruins a show.
It just derails the show.
An hour show, it's like a theatre show.
So when you go to Edinburgh, you've chosen to go and see that show.
What about all the other people who bought the tickets?
Isn't it their right to see that show?
I mean, to be honest, like babies do cry on planes.
We've all been, if you're parents, we've been that person.
Have things changed since you were a mum?
No, no, they haven't.
I mean, I think.
Are you not more sympathetic to people?
No, I'm just a hypocrite because when I was younger, I took my kid out, but now I don't want to hear other people's kids crying.
I'm sorry.
This is very much like me on planes, right?
You know, if I go and like a nice seat on a plane and there's a kid, it winds the hell out of me.
But if anybody even so much as looks at me, Rebecca, if I've got Oliver with me and he makes a noise, I turn into this monster.
Rebecca, last word from you.
But we all know, well, we all know that the rules are different for our own children.
But honestly, we could all stand to be a little bit kinder because I'm telling you, first-hand experience, it's insanely lonely not being able to go anywhere.
And please, a bit of kindness, people who've just had a baby.
Your body's wrecked.
You're exhausted.
You might need a laugh and a drink.
Yeah, there's a lot of drinking going on and laughing.
So I think Matt Ford knew you were out of order.
Double Standards for Men 00:02:12
You should have women like that.
She's struggling with babies and she can come to your gig and have a drink.
You're going to turn into me in a few years' time.
You're saying that now.
Trust me, you'll be saying the same thing at my age.
Listen, I thank you both enormously.
Rebecca Reed, journalist and mother of five-month-old Marga who sleeps well, so she wasn't coming here.
And Sir Jilla, comedian and mother as well.
Thank you both very much.
And next, on and sensor, Jez's Journals are back, and it's the wonderful duo.
Mike Graham and Ava Santina are next.
We're coming right back in three.
Don't go anywhere.
Welcome back, my friends.
Let's get straight to it.
Jezz's Journal's and tonight's Talk TV legend, Mike Graham, and political journalist extraordinaire Ava Santina.
Hello, team.
Hello.
My favourite Jew.
Let's kick off.
Gambia toy boy ban.
Middle-aged women have been warned to stop holidaying in Gambia, looking for toy boys.
The country's tourism board says it wants to attract quality visitors instead.
For the last 30 years, Gambia has gained a bit of a reputation as Africa's sex tourism capital.
Ava Santina, go.
Well, it's sort of like how men, you know, middle-aged men, will take to the streets of Mayfair and maybe pick up a little 20-year-old.
It's kind of the same thing, isn't it?
So, you know, well, Mayfair, I guess that's probably where you find...
I don't know.
I think Mayfair is a bit more expensive than that.
I think that's a good thing.
A couple of rather nice middle-aged men and ealing nice, to be honest.
And I mean, you know, I don't think there's anything wrong with women going looking for toy boys in the same way as there's nothing wrong with men going looking for toy girls.
I mean, what's the difference?
Is there a difference?
I think there is a difference.
There's a little bit more, you know, it's a bit more predatory sometimes when it's men going for younger women.
Well, because there's a power dynamic there that's a little bit more frightening, I suppose.
But when women go to foreign countries to pick up inevitably poorer men and do the old Shirley Valentine thing, it's all about the money, it's all about the influence, it's all about, you know, well, maybe you'll bring him home and they'll have a nice life together living in Bedfordshire.
I don't think it's fair to put that assumption on Gambia.
And also, actually, the complaints from Gambia was that they actually wanted more expensive clientele.
They wanted better quality visitors instead of old grannies looking for young boys.
I mean, good luck with that because that's where they go.
I mean, you can't help that.
Power Dynamics with Women 00:05:30
I mean, I'd like to stop that.
You've never heard it.
I've never heard of people going to Gambia to men.
Maybe like Benedorm.
No, there's loads of money.
Avery Benedorm.
Well, I don't know.
That's where I'd go.
To pick up an older man.
A lot cheaper.
There you have it.
That's an exclusive here on Jez's Journal.
Xavier Santina's heading to Benedorm to find an older place.
Richie Sunak, proving he's a man of the people.
Forget the fact his wife worth sort of 750 million quid.
Speaking to this morning, never heard of it.
The Tory leadership candidate said McDonald's breakfast wrap was his meal of choice from the fast food chain.
Have a look at this.
It's unbelievable.
I get a bacon roll with ketchup and the pancakes.
Hash brown now hash me.
I didn't yesterday, but if I'm with my daughters, then we get the wrap.
Oh, my eldest daughter is all we get the wrap.
So if I'm with her, that wrap with the hash brown and everything in it is what we do.
He's lying, ladies and gentlemen, because the rap was stopped being served by McDonald's in March 2020 and discontinued in January 2022.
So there you have it.
That's a man who wants to be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
What a pile of old tops, Mike Grace.
I think when he goes to the drive-thru, he asks to borrow somebody's cheaper and much smaller car to drive through it so that he doesn't look like he's in a very expensive Range Rover with 150 grand.
Why does he pretend to be somebody that he's not?
I do understand that.
I understand the PR team.
I understand the PR team behind it and why they're doing it.
You know, the other day he came out.
It's not working though, is it, Avid?
Really?
Did you see the shoes he was wearing the other day?
He had those really expensive loafers on that had like this perfectly positioned.
And he was sort of showing it off to the audience.
All it does surely is prove to detractors who might say you've got too much money to be a normal man that you're just being fools.
Man, are you a football fan?
I mean...
No.
Michael, not really.
Man United, British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe says he wants to buy Manchester United.
Bloomberg is reporting the Glazier family is willing to sell a minority stake in the club tonight.
Malcolm Glazier brought United in 2005 for 800 million, did he?
I'm not sure about that.
The family being accused of taking a billion out of the club.
Radcliffe worth nearly 13 billion.
He also owns already French side niece.
Yes.
Or as somebody said in the pre-production meeting, nice.
Nice.
Well, it's not very nice up in Manchester at the moment if you're supporting Manchester United.
They're bottom of the league, right?
They've had the worst start for 100 years.
Even Ronaldo can't get any luck, you know, in addition to being very, very miserable.
And he's now been given a penalty notice by the police for slapping a phone out of a kid's hand.
You know, it's not going very well, is it?
I think the point is that the Glaziers are living proof that foreign investors come into British clubs and rip it off.
Sorry, I think that's why.
But on that point, though, as well, I was thinking, you know, the talk about him earlier was that he was this, you know, he was going to be an English guy bringing in English investment.
He moved all of his funds out of the UK in 2020.
He moved millions out and it's all in Monaco.
So technically, he's a foreign investor as well.
Almost every Premier League club has got foreign investment.
I think they wouldn't have the money without it, would they?
Because he used to be one of the third highest taxpayer in the UK.
But now everybody can afford to buy it in the UK.
We can't afford to buy butter.
Everybody's going to Gambia to get the floodlights on.
Electricity is too expensive.
There you go.
Now, listen, I would make a joke of this, but I can't.
Working, a study at Leicester University has found that a standing desk makes people happier and fitter.
Researchers monitoring the seating habits of 800 office workers.
God, do people really do this for a living?
They've decided that standing up is far more useful.
You stand up all day.
Well, actually, I used to do a radio show.
First started doing radio.
I'm not allowed to stand up because the lights won't work.
I sat down to do the thing and they said, There you go.
They said, You don't sound right.
Why don't you do the show?
So I did the show standing up for about the first three years.
Yeah.
And until I got better at it, and then suddenly I could talk and sit down at the same time.
I love the fact that my director, Ollie, who's an absolute legend, said, Well, we don't stand up.
We can't all stand up because let's all stand up.
Should we just do standing up?
Absolutely ruining.
How do you feel?
Do you feel more comfortable?
Invigorated.
I feel invigorated.
Yeah.
I went to one of the bosses upstairs in the News UK the other day and he's got one of those.
And I was like, You don't sit down.
Right.
I'm knackered.
I'm sorry, I'm knackered.
I'm sorry.
I once interviewed the First Minister of Scotland and I was standing up and he was sitting down.
He hated it.
Because I said, I always stand.
He's like, Can I stand up?
I went, No, you sit there.
I'll talk to you.
And so I was above him.
He really didn't like it.
But people are walking now as well, aren't they?
They're putting treadmills underneath their desks.
Oh, God.
They're walking.
They're walking.
They're walking whilst they're working.
Yeah, yeah, they are.
Yeah, they're getting in like their 10,000 steps or whatever it is.
What are we meant to get?
That is ridiculous.
Also, nobody has a desk anymore, do they?
Because I mean, everything's called hot desking.
Yeah, you don't have a desk.
Oh, I'm sad it won't.
But it's not mine, is it?
See, Ollie's now building his part-up ratio in my ear.
But you know why he's building his part-up, right?
Because I've disobeyed him and stood up.
So now he's going to say, You've got a desk where it's essentially old, if we're honest.
This is Mr. Morgan's.
This whole thing is Piers Morgan's, isn't it?
Even his name behind you.
I know, they couldn't even change that.
Do you know what I mean?
You're going to not put with Jeremy Carr.
No, well, apparently not.
So you won't be voting for Rishi Sunak.
You won't be going to Gambia or Mayfair.
I'm not a Conservative.
I'm not a Conservative member, so I surprised everyone you were too much because old Stanley Johnson told us he's lost his ballot paper and I'm going abroad tomorrow into the day after the election.
Wouldn't be drawn at all.
Well, there you are.
I mean, also, you can vote more than once, I think.
Well, they say they've stopped that, but obviously they haven't.
You can change your mind, apparently.
But Rishi Sunak won't give up, will he?
Everyone keeps telling him, you're not going to win, you're going to lose.
He's something like 13 to 1 in a two-horse race.
Ridiculous.
Guys, no chance.
Honestly, guys, I mean it respectfully.
Ava Santina, Mike Graham, back on Torque Radio tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock.
I love you both.
I'm on breakfast at 6:30.
Why?
There you go.
Thank you so much, indeed, for watching.
It's been a pleasure.
We're back to our night at 8 o'clock.
Thank you to the crew who are brilliant and everybody in the gallery, including Ollie, who told me not to stand up.
Wherever you are, make it uncensored.
Have a great night and have a good one.
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