00:00:01.84
alexei sayle
hello everybody podcast number eight did you say 86 86 podcast number 86

00:00:04.79
Talal K
I did say 86, yeah.

00:00:10.64
alexei sayle
uh we had a week off cars till i was on his holidays and we are back now tremendously re-energized uh in uh Well, you know, just the world seems to go from bad to worse.

00:00:26.91
alexei sayle
I think i wish I could think of a more... um ah better metaphor for that. What's like a crappy chocolate bar and then an even worse chocolate bar?

00:00:36.99
alexei sayle
Or... an even worse...

00:00:39.85
Talal K
Like a fruit and nut?

00:00:40.11
alexei sayle
like a bad... like a ghost... Yeah, chocolate bars probably not right, yeah.

00:00:46.27
Talal K
How about like crab? Multicolored?

00:00:49.98
alexei sayle
Ghosts from like... and

00:00:54.22
alexei sayle
ah Like Waitrose, don't know, Waitrose multi-colored onion oven chips, you know, have you ever had them?

00:00:54.39
Talal K
crowd

00:01:04.01
alexei sayle
They're very nice, you know, as what they do like,

00:01:06.00
Talal K
multi-colorured

00:01:06.92
alexei sayle
Yeah, so there's like parsnip and they're all like in chip form, but parsnip and yeah.

00:01:10.46
Talal K
Oh, yeah.

00:01:12.64
alexei sayle
Going from them to kind of McCain microwave. The world's gone from Weichos multicolored chips, veggie chips, to McCain microwave oven chips.

00:01:24.86
Talal K
McCain oven. But doesn't the first thing need to be bad? You said you like the multicolored chips.

00:01:30.20
alexei sayle
Yes, that's true, yeah. Yeah.

00:01:31.83
Talal K
So should be something bad to begin with.

00:01:32.06
alexei sayle
this ah I just... This is...

00:01:34.30
Talal K
No, let's workshop this. We can you can make this work.

00:01:37.31
alexei sayle
our I watched... It's a pretty shitty film, but I watched this film last night about a group of improv actors who go undercover for the police.

00:01:47.72
Talal K
Yeah, I've heard about this.

00:01:48.05
alexei sayle
You cover it's got... Yeah.

00:01:49.84
Talal K
The improv community is going mental about this film.

00:01:51.30
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:01:54.56
alexei sayle
in a good...

00:01:54.56
Talal K
You said it was shitty.

00:01:56.23
alexei sayle
Well, it's not fantastic, no. i mean, it's... um Nick Muhammad, who's...

00:02:05.00
alexei sayle
You know, he's in Ted Lasso, and I think he's apparently got Yeah.

00:02:07.17
Talal K
He's in everything. He's in everything.

00:02:09.50
alexei sayle
He's also got, apparently, this very funny stand-up character. But I think he works at civil theatre, so I'm not going there.

00:02:17.68
Talal K
It's called Deep, Deep Cover.

00:02:19.99
alexei sayle
Deep cover, yeah. Yeah. It's pretty stupid, but...

00:02:23.31
Talal K
Yeah, but it does like, it is genuinely about improv. Like they talk about improv theory and stuff in it, don't they?

00:02:29.63
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:02:31.43
Talal K
Did it make you like improv anymore or wanted to try it?

00:02:33.44
alexei sayle
No.

00:02:36.41
alexei sayle
God, no. Well, I do. I mean, I do any comic improvises, really, but obviously not in that sort formalised, you know, and seen.

00:02:48.44
alexei sayle
Not in that way, but, you know, I mean, yeah, I make, you know, I think in any one-hour stand-up show, I would make up a couple of minutes. Right there and then, you know, as I do in this, as I do with that terrible bit just now about the oven chips.

00:03:02.95
Talal K
Oh, yes.

00:03:02.97
alexei sayle
That was improvised. It wasn't funny. just improvised. Um...

00:03:08.26
Talal K
But you could still tell it came from the mind of a world-class comedian.

00:03:11.53
alexei sayle
Yes, exactly. Yeah, even when I fail, I...

00:03:13.36
Talal K
They were at the core of it.

00:03:15.06
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:03:16.37
Talal K
Yeah. Yeah.

00:03:16.62
alexei sayle
Yeah. So, anyway, um yeah, the world...

00:03:22.72
alexei sayle
ah ah Last well Friday morning, wasn't it, really, Israel illegally attacked Iran. um i mean, I always think... I've said this before, me people call it the most moral army in the world, the idea. I think it's the most cowardly army in the world. I mean, it... um you know, just to bomb a country from outside that country, really, which is what they mostly do.

00:03:47.41
alexei sayle
I did read somewhere my that that they have the Iranians have shut down, and you don't get much information, but they have shut down three F-35s.

00:03:58.78
alexei sayle
So...

00:03:59.34
Talal K
Yeah, but they were the first first people, first army to ever shoot down the fifth generation of the F-35.

00:04:05.25
alexei sayle
Right, yeah, yeah. So that's that's an achievement.

00:04:11.41
alexei sayle
And I think what happens is that, um yeah, the the the they think, I mean, fifth-generation aircraft can get, you know, can by and large get around Iran's air defences, whereas the fourth-generation jets, they can then mark targets for the fourth-generation jets, F-15s and F-16s that the Israelis possess, and then they fire missiles from outside Iran's borders, is my understanding of it.

00:04:38.65
Talal K
And they've got like Mossad agents who are setting off car bombs in and Iran as well

00:04:41.74
alexei sayle
Yeah, i mean I mean, they call other people terrorists. I mean, setting off fucking car bombs. Of course, they've been whining today about this hospital. I mean, it's just calling the Iranian terrorists because they bombed a hospital.

00:04:54.88
alexei sayle
I mean, I think it's funny, isn't it, to discover that ethno-fascists have no sense of irony.

00:04:58.49
Talal K
well. There was...

00:05:02.93
Talal K
The hospital in in Tel Aviv will got bombed.

00:05:06.26
alexei sayle
It's in somewhere or other, yeah.

00:05:07.92
Talal K
in Israel.

00:05:08.38
alexei sayle
Big hospital, yeah.

00:05:09.51
Talal K
I didn't know about that one.

00:05:09.81
alexei sayle
but so Where they've obliterated every hospital, every school, every clinic, every university in Gaza, you know.

00:05:13.47
Talal K
Yeah. Yeah.

00:05:16.63
Talal K
And of course the human shields thing, because you know, the Mossad headquarters is in a very, ah very populated area and all their iron dome missile bases are like in the middle of the city, just like in between residential buildings.

00:05:16.91
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:05:21.74
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah. yeah yeah

00:05:29.52
alexei sayle
yeah

00:05:32.48
Talal K
There was a video, someone filming from their balcony.

00:05:32.56
alexei sayle
yeah

00:05:35.00
Talal K
It's just blocks of flats.

00:05:37.44
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:05:37.69
Talal K
And in between them, there's a rocket shooting up from the ground.

00:05:39.81
alexei sayle
ah right yeah Yeah. Just the the the hypocrisy is staggering, really.

00:05:42.21
Talal K
And so, yeah, they are hypocrites, yeah.

00:05:45.31
alexei sayle
And obviously the bias of our Western media. So, you know, i mean I mean, obviously, I mean, yeah i mean like in Syria, one you know one one is not a supporter of the Iranian regime, but by any means, they're terrible pack of bastards, but

00:06:05.60
Talal K
Mm-hmm.

00:06:09.02
alexei sayle
You have a certain sympathy with the with the um the Iranian people. And there was an interesting, there was a woman on there, they kind of cut her off. ah I think they thought she was going to be more neutral. She was somebody from Harvard, but obviously Iranian.

00:06:24.81
alexei sayle
And she was in Cambridge. She was coming from Cambridge on the BBC News before. And she was saying... that, you know, the patriotic feelings are spreading. and Even when people hate the regime, they feel that their country is being assaulted and therefore there's a huge wave of patriotism in Iran, which is not I've not heard from any other mainstream media.

00:06:48.44
alexei sayle
You know, and she you know she said, know, this is, I think the shock really got her off pretty quickly. yeah But you're not getting back on. um You know, yeah it's a legal assault.

00:06:55.85
Talal K
Because they want...

00:06:57.88
alexei sayle
You know, it's illegal and the rest, you know.

00:06:59.05
Talal K
Yeah.

00:07:01.35
Talal K
They really cut her off.

00:07:01.55
alexei sayle
um They went um they went to the weather, but I think they went to the weather pretty rapidly. Yeah.

00:07:08.97
Talal K
yeah know they want Obviously, there's over the last few years, there's this you know rising anti-government feeling in Iran and you know with the ladies cutting their hair and and you know just rejecting this Islamic...

00:07:21.45
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:07:26.92
Talal K
fundamentalist kind of governing, which I, you know, obviously, you know, most people think religion and government shouldn't be in the same bed, but so I think maybe they thought it would make us more inclined to agree that Iran needs help, you know, overthrowing their government and all that.

00:07:28.52
alexei sayle
yeah

00:07:35.44
alexei sayle
yeah

00:07:49.24
alexei sayle
yes which would you mean by us wrestling governments yeah but i think i think i mean it certainly they will have um

00:07:52.08
Talal K
Us Western, you know, audiences,

00:07:58.81
alexei sayle
It will have the reverse effect. I think that there will be, as this woman says, there will be a huge wave of patriotism, because which is people feel when their country is attacked, I think.

00:08:09.96
Talal K
Mm-hmm.

00:08:10.25
alexei sayle
um noticed, as said, similarly with the Ukraine, really, that my friend Marco, who was very yeah critical, of you know very left-wing and critical of Ukraine, the regime in the Ukraine, once they were attacked, he became very nationalistic, really.

00:08:26.14
alexei sayle
I think that is... and ah You know, I don't know really, but the the people of Iran have endured a long war relatively recently, and so ah I mean, I may be more habituated to what that means than the Israelis who've never you ive never really suffered attack since the 70s, I suppose.

00:08:51.63
alexei sayle
ah So I don't, you know...

00:08:51.84
Talal K
They're finally, at least they're finally but you know picking on someone their own size in a way.

00:08:57.19
alexei sayle
Well, it's not quite their own size, but yeah, somebody less tiny than yeah the other people they picked on. So ah anyway, that that's happening. so you know and we'll see We'll see whether Trump comes in.

00:09:13.88
alexei sayle
on you know Interesting developments in the United States. I mean, I think I saw a figure somewhere saying that 80% of Congress people are actually bribed by AIPAC, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee.

00:09:28.87
alexei sayle
But there's an interesting situation developing in New York for the mayor race where a Muslim called Zoran Mamdani seems to be, yeah, fantastic.

00:09:37.04
Talal K
He seems pretty cool.

00:09:38.96
alexei sayle
Fantastic.

00:09:39.75
Talal K
Yeah. What, is he taking the lead?

00:09:42.60
alexei sayle
Yes, taking the lead in some polls, yeah, 35 to 31. I mean, Cuomo's obviously a hideous, corrupt sex pest. But, ah yeah, and I don't know whether, I know i think this is perhaps, don't know whether this is this is for the nomination, so presumably the process is controlled by the Democratic Party, so I wonder whether they'll.

00:09:53.36
Talal K
know that.

00:10:05.38
alexei sayle
rig the election or whatever, but at the moment he seems to be building building a leader and it would be a remarkable thing if a ah socialist was mayor of a larger city in North America.

00:10:07.53
Talal K
Right.

00:10:18.26
Talal K
Fucking A, man.

00:10:19.38
alexei sayle
Yeah, so anybody who's listening to this who can... We have international listeners. Anybody who's listening to this who can vote in that election, please do and vote for Mamdani.

00:10:34.59
alexei sayle
He's also interesting, though, because he is he's a brilliant kind of... um

00:10:40.65
alexei sayle
he's a brilliant communicator really because he they they did this gotcha question and there was a debate with all the mayoral candidates and they said in which country would you know as mayor of New York which country would you visit and Cuomo said Israel and the other fucking bought and paid for stooges said Israel and he said I'd stay here

00:10:55.07
Talal K
all said Israel.

00:11:00.03
alexei sayle
And then they said, would you believe in Israel's right to exist? And he says he said, I believe it's right to exist as a state where all people have rights, just like it in the United States, which is a kind of irrefutable argument, really.

00:11:15.20
alexei sayle
ah brilliantly framed that, you know, no waffle just cut straight to the, yeah to making his point, you know, and there's there's a real object lesson there for people, you know, on our side of the street, really. I mean, I don't, I mean, the new party is Ghent.

00:11:33.80
alexei sayle
getting closer i think there will be an announcement very soon i think um and you know that's i mean i think we have to go all i mean even if whatever doubts we have think we have to go all in with this initiative because there is a huge space opened up on the left in brenton really because it's been abandoned by everybody really

00:11:40.89
Talal K
But that's Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. but that's when you

00:11:55.03
alexei sayle
And then like the Greens and so on aren't making inroads into it. So there is a massive, you know, space, I think, that could be captured by ah left party.

00:12:06.70
alexei sayle
But it's got to be done in the right way. And I have spoken to people who say, you know, it can't be done in the old-fashioned way, that it has to be very much located in its... Each branch has to be located in its community and has to be involved in community activism as well.

00:12:24.04
Talal K
Much like Andrew Feinstein was saying on our show.

00:12:25.92
alexei sayle
Exactly, yeah. It's that model, yeah. I think that model, I mean, it's not easy to do. I mean, God knows people. I was i was talking to somebody who'd worked with Jamie Driscoll, and he said, you know, it's like herding cats.

00:12:38.23
alexei sayle
it It was like herding cats who've got, you know, ideological differences with each other. it I mean, it's it's it's it's it's not an easy task, particularly with people I think.

00:12:44.03
Talal K
Yeah.

00:12:48.67
alexei sayle
I was always in, a years ago, and there was an American chain of hotels opened in Liverpool called the Staybridge Suites. And the one thing that they... It was just on the edge of Liverpool 8, really, you know, Toxas, and they did they recruited very heavily from the area.

00:13:04.53
alexei sayle
The one thing they wouldn't do was recruit people who had worked in the hotel industry before because they thought they'd got into bad habits. And I think that's probably true of the... You know, this party has to be... i mean, it can't not be people...

00:13:20.60
alexei sayle
you know, from the old left, as it were, you know, but they've got into some bloody bad habits, really, and it's got to be, there's got to be an influx of people, you know, from outside the, you know, the formal left, really, I think.

00:13:33.01
Talal K
People who are already embedded in their communities, maybe.

00:13:35.78
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah.

00:13:35.93
Talal K
Like, find find some volunteers, some activists who are already active in their community and

00:13:43.02
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah.

00:13:45.26
Talal K
And that's that's, yeah, I like that hotels.

00:13:45.54
alexei sayle
And so, um

00:13:49.07
alexei sayle
It's yeah. Yes. I just thought nicely improvised. ah Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:13:55.10
Talal K
When I was hopping from bar job to bar job, I would carry bad habits over with me. And by the by my, like, 10th bar job, i was

00:14:00.02
alexei sayle
yeah

00:14:04.31
Talal K
ah I was stuck in my way. No one could train me anything.

00:14:07.75
alexei sayle
yeah

00:14:08.56
Talal K
I'd be like, fuck off. I'm more experienced than you. You don't teach me anything. And I would do it my way. And luckily I was decent at the job.

00:14:14.67
alexei sayle
yeah

00:14:15.59
Talal K
But yeah, it's hard to...

00:14:17.59
alexei sayle
I mean, some of those fucking you know endless meetings and talking and talking and talking, is is it's got to stop, really. It can't because it won't work.

00:14:28.62
alexei sayle
It'll be the same old shit all over again, really. So anyway, but we will be, I mean, as we were talking, I mean, hopefully when...

00:14:32.45
Talal K
need some disruptors.

00:14:39.60
alexei sayle
I know Jeremy wants to come back on, and when then either if he wants to make the announcements about the new party on this podcast, or when the new party is launched, we will be...

00:14:49.81
Talal K
yeah You saying that kind of defies...

00:14:52.22
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:14:53.57
Talal K
You take away his ah ability to announce anything. You've just announced it. Or not.

00:14:57.98
alexei sayle
Oh, no, well, and everybody knows it's coming.

00:15:00.25
Talal K
Okay.

00:15:01.50
alexei sayle
But nobody knows who's a part of it, how many MPs. It'll have at least five MPs, but... I think the my information is there will be more than five MPs. Yeah.

00:15:13.27
Talal K
Oh man, yeah.

00:15:14.01
alexei sayle
yeah

00:15:15.22
Talal K
Something to be hopeful and excited about.

00:15:16.73
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah. I think that's what we all need, really. So it is on its way.

00:15:24.37
Talal K
Yeah, it looks like we will be getting Jezza back. um So, you know, throw your people listening at home can like email in any questions they'd have for him and that.

00:15:36.60
alexei sayle
yeah yeah

00:15:37.15
Talal K
And if we like it, we'll think about reading it to him.

00:15:40.65
alexei sayle
yeah well i was in i'm not betraying i was i was i met a couple of friends in in the in the cafe in the very nice cafe in the park in russell square were talking about the new party and then i um One of the people, Richard Sanders, the documentary maker, went to get a coffee or something, and I was just looking at my phone and talking, and when I looked up, Jeremy was sitting in his seat.

00:16:13.49
alexei sayle
Because we'd been talking about the new party, it was like, you know, if you speak his name, he will come in your time of need.

00:16:21.02
Talal K
He's such a cheeky little devil, isn't he?

00:16:22.59
alexei sayle
It was funny.

00:16:22.90
Talal K
he's got He's a funny guy.

00:16:23.23
alexei sayle
Yeah, it was very. It was deliberately. It was like, what the fuck? Yeah. um

00:16:29.98
Talal K
He's a bit of a rock star as well, isn't he?

00:16:31.52
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:16:32.93
Talal K
Speaking at the kneecap gig before kneecap come out.

00:16:37.45
alexei sayle
Did he? I didn't say na see it.

00:16:38.17
Talal K
He's still got it with it with the kids.

00:16:38.78
alexei sayle
That wasn't good. Yeah. Yeah.

00:16:41.67
Talal K
Yeah, the Wide Awake Festival, the one at the end of my road, we spoke about it here.

00:16:44.35
alexei sayle
All right.

00:16:44.51
Talal K
But yeah, before kneecap came out.

00:16:45.05
alexei sayle
Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:16:47.39
Talal K
You know, there's like tens of thousands of people and bloody Corbyn comes out like it was throwback to Glastonbury 2017.

00:16:51.60
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah.

00:16:54.12
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:16:55.33
Talal K
And like, losing their minds. Like the everyone, the kids still fucking adore him, you know.

00:17:02.89
alexei sayle
yeah yeah

00:17:04.72
Talal K
i remember that Glastonbury appearance where it was the pyramid stage and that field was full and we were two fields over and all the fields were full.

00:17:09.72
alexei sayle
yeah

00:17:16.38
Talal K
were full of people who wanted to just go and hear him talk. He's such an as unassuming little kind of allotment-tending, jam-making kind of you know knitted sweater wearing.

00:17:23.06
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's extraordinary.

00:17:29.91
Talal K
And just, yeah. But what is it about him? you know what Obviously, apart from his integrity and and and honesty and all that, but like, it can't just be that that make kids lose their shit when they see him, is it?

00:17:35.68
alexei sayle
Honestly. Decency, yeah. Yeah.

00:17:44.76
alexei sayle
Well, people people want what he's saying. you know People want it brought into being what he proposes, and it's only the fucking... Again, our bought and paid for legislature, you know, Labour and Conservative who are stopping that happening, you know.

00:17:57.74
Talal K
yeah

00:18:01.40
Talal K
And he still makes videos where he's in the street talking to people, walking.

00:18:01.80
alexei sayle
They won't... Yeah.

00:18:04.58
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:18:04.88
Talal K
Like imagine any of these absolute tools who are in government ah on on the on the front benches, like spending a second on the street and the abuse they would get.

00:18:09.70
alexei sayle
yeah

00:18:13.31
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:18:14.32
Talal K
Like they wouldn't.

00:18:14.71
alexei sayle
Yeah. It's just by himself as well. I mean, I don't know. I'm like, he's just, he's got no protection. I mean, fucking Starmer, even when he was candidate, travelled with a bloody range over full of fucking, you know, he's got no protection at all.

00:18:27.95
Talal K
Yeah.

00:18:31.88
alexei sayle
I shouldn't be saying this, I suppose. But, you know, he just travels about. Anyway, think,

00:18:44.08
alexei sayle
I think it's important that he's involved, but I think also that he shouldn't be the head of it. mean, or he, and I don't think he's going to be really, I mean, he's going to be, he's going to be part of it, a part of the leadership, but he's not going to be the entirety of it.

00:19:01.28
Talal K
Yeah, yeah he we'd need a protege.

00:19:05.04
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:19:05.17
Talal K
Like a younger...

00:19:08.58
Talal K
Someone with a bit more metal, you know, or a bit more bark in them, right?

00:19:13.57
alexei sayle
Yep.

00:19:18.11
Talal K
Maybe I'll go sign.

00:19:20.34
alexei sayle
Well, that person, I think, is in ah my sources tell me that person is in place. It's just a question of, you know, they get up getting that the kind of dotting the I's and the T's.

00:19:33.33
Talal K
You can't help but, you know, but every five positive thoughts you think, oh, but what's the point? Is it even going to work? Or they'll just be, they'll be defeated.

00:19:40.21
alexei sayle
Well, yeah, it's still going to be. It's an enormous, it's a you know, whether they will allow, you know, whether the deep state, you know, which Dharma is very much representative, I think. We'll allow whether the, you know, we can have one step at a time, really, one day at a time. i mean, we can only go as far as we can go, really. I mean, you know, whether the money markets. the I was that's an event of my publishers um the other night, and one of the guys, people speaking, was Oliver Bullock, who wrote a very interesting book called Butler to the World.

00:20:12.82
alexei sayle
which is about how, but you know, all, you know, the Britain is the haven in the world for laundering ill-gotten cash, you know, whether you're a Chechen, you know, whether you're a people trafficker you know, obviously Russian oligarchs or...

00:20:22.78
Talal K
oh

00:20:32.60
alexei sayle
you know Chinese a lot of Chinese you know Britain is where that money is washed really and whether the that and that's been encouraged by it um you know successive Labour and Conservative administrations and how they would feel if if you know a socialist government emerges in Britain, really.

00:20:55.16
alexei sayle
I mean, very very powerful and very dark forces, I think.

00:20:55.38
Talal K
Yeah.

00:20:59.32
Talal K
Yeah.

00:20:59.56
alexei sayle
They wear suits and they went to Eton, but they are thugs of the First Order, really. I mean, that would be a challenge.

00:21:08.74
Talal K
Yeah.

00:21:08.91
alexei sayle
the money but I think you know you'd have the money markets would be a challenge.

00:21:09.14
Talal K
The gangs of the world.

00:21:12.31
alexei sayle
you know The military would be a challenge.

00:21:15.22
Talal K
Was there any insight into how they launder their money here? Is it just property?

00:21:18.69
alexei sayle
ah was a very good but a very good It's a very good book, Butler to the World. I recommend people read it. I mean, I just i spoke to it because I read it. It's just fucking depressing, really. They do it through a multiplicity of ways. Property is

00:21:35.65
alexei sayle
yeah

00:21:39.03
alexei sayle
you Obviously, also, one of the ways is... British, you know, places that are Britain but aren't Britain, the British Virgin Islands is the primary example, really, which is, you know, is it's but is the size of Halifax or something, but has 12,000 banks.

00:21:48.78
Talal K
Mm-hmm.

00:21:57.83
alexei sayle
I mean, I think that it's, you know, there's various ways in which money is laundered.

00:22:00.78
Talal K
Bloody hell.

00:22:07.13
Talal K
Hello, Wilf.

00:22:07.71
alexei sayle
love it.

00:22:10.41
Talal K
Just saying hi to Wilf, sorry.

00:22:11.84
alexei sayle
I will, yes.

00:22:13.08
Talal K
I've got to do it for the fans. um Yeah.

00:22:18.11
alexei sayle
ah But it's ah I recommend it. I mean, it's profoundly depressing, really.

00:22:23.70
Talal K
Butler to the world.

00:22:24.80
alexei sayle
Butler to the world, Oliver Bullock. Yes.

00:22:29.89
alexei sayle
And what we haven't even... i mean, we did mention it, I think, on the podcast two weeks ago. We haven't even mentioned our... I showed Jeremy our, he hadn't seen them, our viral TikTok videos.

00:22:46.05
Talal K
it's I can't blame you. you You've been very ah keen to know the stats every few days.

00:22:50.98
alexei sayle
Yeah, I know.

00:22:51.19
Talal K
You'd call me up.

00:22:52.06
alexei sayle
It's sort of sad, isn't it, really?

00:22:53.57
Talal K
No, but you don't have the thing to look at. you know um have

00:22:56.96
alexei sayle
no

00:22:57.51
Talal K
ah For a second, I was getting annoyed with you for keeping on asking me, but I realized I've got it in my hand every day, and every day I check it, and I just look at the stats and okay, cool.

00:22:57.73
alexei sayle
I think that's better. Yeah.

00:23:03.85
alexei sayle
Yeah. yeah

00:23:06.61
Talal K
But you don't have that. So, of course, you're curious to bloody know.

00:23:08.16
alexei sayle
No. Yeah.

00:23:10.64
Talal K
and know what an experiment it's been, man.

00:23:10.67
alexei sayle
I think it's, yeah.

00:23:12.84
Talal K
like ah do you want to Well, but I'll give you some stats

00:23:17.51
alexei sayle
Yeah. Tell the people, sort to tell the stats.

00:23:20.08
Talal K
I'll give you some stats in the last, oh, this is, and this is only Instagram, but that is where most of, we found that the idea was to do a TikTok thing, but we found that most of the interactions and views have come from Instagram, um which is the app I use most anyway, for better or worse. But ah in the last 30 days, we've had 3.7 million views on our Instagram account.

00:23:44.95
alexei sayle
wow

00:23:46.01
Talal K
351.1 thousand people, one new followers Instagram. people have like liked it or commented or shared ah one of one of our videos we have fifty five thousand new followers on instagram Sadly, this hasn't translated in a relative degree to podcast listens.

00:24:13.79
alexei sayle
No, it's weird, isn't it? Well, I guess it's different.

00:24:15.81
Talal K
But I guess, I think there is kind of a rule, not a rule, a theory of marketing is that, you know, when you do advertising, which is what this is, is technically an advert for the podcast in a way.

00:24:28.00
alexei sayle
Right.

00:24:29.69
Talal K
But an advert, you'll only capture one out of every 100 people who see your advert, isn't it? And that's a successful thing.

00:24:38.05
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:24:38.50
Talal K
according to like advertising is yeah so um so we have had a slight increase in podcast listens but um it's a matter of tenacity you keep doing it and you'll keep building the fan base and the audience but you know this is people who are just looking at their instagram app and then you're showing up on their for you page

00:24:39.99
alexei sayle
And that's people who've watched the advert multiple times as well, I think.

00:24:51.91
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:25:00.26
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:25:01.04
Talal K
And you're the fuck is this? Or they're like, is that Alexis Sale? Or they're like, oh my God, it's Alexis Sale. And they they've just, ah you're being introduced or reintroduced into people's lives who didn't even know you had a podcast.

00:25:13.44
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:25:14.57
Talal K
Who didn't even know you have a ah content on Instagram or anything like that. So we're just making the first impact. the The highest viewed video is the third video from the first video.

00:25:29.57
Talal K
series of three. So we've made six videos all together, three and three. And the third one of the first lot has 2.1 million views.

00:25:41.30
Talal K
And the second one, 1.1 million. The rest are all around the 200,000 mark or under. One of them has half a million.

00:25:52.71
Talal K
So I think if we keep going, that's going to be what we should expect is around 200,000 views.

00:25:56.54
alexei sayle
Right, yeah. Yeah. She's still all right, isn't it?

00:25:59.59
Talal K
um which is incredible. This is like, you look at other influencers and that's pretty pretty normal.

00:26:01.32
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:26:06.00
Talal K
They'll have the odd video, which really makes an impact and and gets millions, but most on the most part, 100,000 or ah you know even like 50, 60,000, that's kind of normal for like an influencer.

00:26:17.91
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:26:20.45
Talal K
But you've created something really original and funny.

00:26:25.41
alexei sayle
yeah so it was ah Yeah, yeah, we'll do some more next week, yeah.

00:26:25.49
Talal K
Do you want to keep doing? Do you want to keep doing it?

00:26:32.32
alexei sayle
It took us about, I mean, I know it all looks thrown to me. It took us about five hours, didn't it, to do the second three, really, just trying to think of the dance moves and the track, really, and the end we went back to the original track.

00:26:44.15
Talal K
Yeah. Yeah, Linda came in and screamed at us.

00:26:46.17
alexei sayle
Ah. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

00:26:48.74
Talal K
What are you doing? People like the first one, just do it again. And you can't say fairer than that, really.

00:26:54.65
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah.

00:26:56.54
Talal K
So thanks, Linda.

00:26:56.91
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:26:57.38
Talal K
Yeah, she kicked us up the ass. And then once she intervened, it took us 10 minutes to do the whole thing um and film three more.

00:27:01.53
alexei sayle
yeah

00:27:05.44
Talal K
um But that was knackering. I think we and also it's just easy to just overthink it, isn't it?

00:27:10.30
alexei sayle
yeah yeah

00:27:11.22
Talal K
I think that's what happened. I think you could have easily done one of the songs I played to you.

00:27:18.06
alexei sayle
Yeah, it's just getting it. it's ah ah It seems really simple, but in fact, it's very complicated to get just the right mixture of dance moves and track and and the mark.

00:27:27.70
Talal K
But I also enjoyed your artistic integrity and it's kind of nice to see because I feel the same way as like if you don't want to or if you're not feeling keen on something then don't do it you didn't want to do it you weren't feeling the music you weren't getting the dance you didn't want to fake it or yes that was that was good it was good

00:27:33.30
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:27:38.93
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah.

00:27:45.21
alexei sayle
Yep. Well, yeah, you're, you're, yeah. um So, I mean, we'll do some next week. we would I'm thinking of doing Marxist ideas of false consciousness and um commodity feishize fetishism.

00:28:04.10
Talal K
Oh. um

00:28:07.62
alexei sayle
I was talking, I was the the husband of one of the authors at the publisher's event was a Marxist scholar and so he he suggested what's he a commodity fixation perhaps or ah commodity fetish fetishism month he fe

00:28:24.90
alexei sayle
in Marxist terms.

00:28:25.22
Talal K
Let me, I'm trying to find it. Commodity.

00:28:29.86
alexei sayle
I don't give it away.

00:28:32.02
Talal K
Yeah, commodity fetishism.

00:28:33.81
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:28:36.16
Talal K
Ah, yes. All right. Something to look forward to then.

00:28:40.39
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:28:42.98
Talal K
Speaking of something to look forward to, if I could squeeze a quick plug in, it might kill the vibe, but let me just squeeze this in. We're doing four shows at the Museum of Comedy and we have got a discount code for our patrons.

00:28:51.95
alexei sayle
Hell yeah.

00:29:01.39
Talal K
Oh shit.

00:29:04.18
Talal K
Yeah, okay, I know how to do this. I just realised everyone's going to hear this, not just the patrons. um ah But we're playing the Museum of Comedy, Sunday the 6th of July, Sunday third

00:29:13.72
alexei sayle
as of harvardd I haven't checked on the sales figures, really. I don't know if our videos have resulted in an uptick.

00:29:20.38
Talal K
Yeah, let's see. um Let's see.

00:29:21.35
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:29:22.62
Talal K
Sunday 6th of July, Sunday 13th of July, Sunday 27th of July, and Sunday 17th of August. You can go to Museum of Comedy, click the search icon at the top, type in a Alexi Sale, and you'll find the shows. 6th, 13th, 27th of July, and 17th of August.

00:29:42.27
Talal K
And if you are a Patreon member of the Alexi Sale podcast, um I have managed to wrangle out of the Museum of Comedy a 15% discount for tickets.

00:29:55.06
Talal K
And what I'll do is when I posted this episode, I will make a post on the Patreon so that the Patreon members see what the code is. Yeah, there we go. That's how I'll do it.

00:30:06.78
Talal K
There's a secret code. If you type that in when you're buying your tickets on the website, you will get a 15% discount. And if you want access to that code and full video versions of this show, head to patreon.com forward slash AlexiSalePodcast.

00:30:23.46
Talal K
That's patreon.com forward slash AlexiSalePodcast. Can you say it one time for me, Alexi?

00:30:29.23
alexei sayle
I was, uh, lexyselpodcast.com. I don't know, patreon.com.

00:30:36.09
Talal K
Yes, exactly. Well done.

00:30:37.41
alexei sayle
No.

00:30:37.83
Talal K
Nice one. um Thank you for all our patrons. um In the last month, we've had, oh my God, we've got 10 new patrons and we really appreciate you.

00:30:50.41
Talal K
Should we give them a quick shout out?

00:30:52.34
alexei sayle
Sure. Sure.

00:30:53.99
Talal K
um But doesn't it doesn't matter if I say their name, so I'll say their name. Let's have a let's do a little improv game.

00:31:00.63
alexei sayle
All right.

00:31:01.68
Talal K
I'll say their name and then you just like say the name and say something to them.

00:31:07.91
alexei sayle
All right.

00:31:08.10
Talal K
What do you think?

00:31:08.84
alexei sayle
Okay.

00:31:09.91
Talal K
All right, we've got some new patrons in the last month.

00:31:12.45
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:31:12.71
Talal K
First up, our man on the horn.

00:31:15.13
alexei sayle
Al Man on the Horn. Hi, Al Man on the Horn. Why do you call that?

00:31:21.94
Talal K
Okay, we've also got...

00:31:21.96
alexei sayle
Does he live on the Horn of Africa or is he like a jazz trumpeter?

00:31:30.23
Talal K
I can't answer that for you.

00:31:30.52
alexei sayle
I don't know.

00:31:31.74
Talal K
Write in, please. i'll man on the horn Okay, Cat M.

00:31:34.80
alexei sayle
Cat M. Hi, Cat M. Thank you for signing on to be one of our pat Patreon people.

00:31:45.63
Talal K
This is a great game. Joe C. H.

00:31:48.32
alexei sayle
Josie H., yay! Josie H., yay! Welcome! Stuart

00:31:53.44
Talal K
Stuart L.

00:31:55.36
alexei sayle
L., welcome! Hey, welcome to the podcast. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

00:32:01.56
Talal K
ah No more were Hayes. I don't want you using that as a crutch.

00:32:03.76
alexei sayle
All right.

00:32:04.52
Talal K
Conrad N.

00:32:06.43
alexei sayle
Conrad N. Hi, Conrad Are you German? Are you German?

00:32:14.68
Talal K
Lewis.

00:32:15.29
alexei sayle
Are you from Bad Munchengladbach?

00:32:16.43
Talal K
Are you German?

00:32:20.34
alexei sayle
I don't know.

00:32:20.79
Talal K
Could be. ah Lewis N.

00:32:23.24
alexei sayle
Lewis N. Yeah, man. Willkommen. Welcome. Bienvenue.

00:32:29.53
Talal K
nearly there. Richard G.

00:32:32.01
alexei sayle
Richard G-Man, the G-Man, yay!

00:32:37.31
alexei sayle
Yo!

00:32:38.57
Talal K
And finally, ah many thanks to Mariam H.

00:32:43.10
alexei sayle
Mariam H. Hey! Welcome on board the Good Ship, SS Alexis L podcast, registered in the British Virgin Islands.

00:32:57.63
Talal K
I imagine.

00:32:59.02
alexei sayle
under a flag of convenience so that all the huge profits

00:32:59.18
Talal K
um

00:33:03.69
Talal K
ah Also in the Patreon, we have a cool chat room for all our patrons to chat and discuss topics. Someone called Fnord has brought up a topic that's kind of ah kicked off a bit of a chat in the chat room there.

00:33:17.69
Talal K
ah They are dreading going to work, going back to work because their big boss just got an MBE. And they're going to not start screaming at them, to stop stop pretending we still have an empire.

00:33:34.60
Talal K
How can you say you stand for equality when you have a medal that screams inequality?

00:33:34.74
alexei sayle
Yes.

00:33:39.06
alexei sayle
I saw, yeah.

00:33:40.51
Talal K
um

00:33:40.90
alexei sayle
I saw Tracy Ann Oberman had been given an NBE or an OBE for her work in excusing genocide.

00:33:46.23
Talal K
Yep.

00:33:48.91
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:33:49.23
Talal K
Yep. Mark brings that up.

00:33:51.50
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:33:52.16
Talal K
Whereas you've got legends like Benjamin Zephaniah who rejects their

00:33:56.05
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:33:57.93
Talal K
medals and stuff and um any thoughts any other thoughts on on the king king pinning a badge on you

00:34:06.27
alexei sayle
No, no, no. and No, i mean that I mean, it's a way, I mean, clearly, I mean, some you know somebody like Tracey Ann Oben, for instance, I mean, there's obviously the Labour Party award in there for...

00:34:23.44
alexei sayle
Doing, I think, you know, taking part in the anti-Corbyn smears and so on, you know, doing things that are profoundly morally wrong. So that's kind of, that's so that's what your, that's what your gong is worth. and know I mean, I've got a few, I know, I mean, like Lenny's got a knighthood and I know other people have got these things. I mean,

00:34:48.88
alexei sayle
it's not worth much.

00:34:52.44
Talal K
no

00:34:55.61
Talal K
What was the Jason Isaacs thing I saw?

00:34:56.28
alexei sayle
I've never really been offered.

00:34:59.15
Talal K
Here it is. Jason Isaacs.

00:35:05.58
Talal K
So I follow this Instagram account, which just makes me, i don't know, I do it, it's called Jewish News, and they're very Zionist.

00:35:13.63
alexei sayle
Yes, one of the, yeah.

00:35:14.55
Talal K
ah But it's, but they're also not like it's just like a, they're very formal. They write very plainly.

00:35:23.11
alexei sayle
Hmm.

00:35:23.92
Talal K
um And it's just, I guess I use it to just inform myself on, on the conversation on the other side.

00:35:29.63
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:35:29.81
Talal K
and Jason Isaacs, I've been called a Zionist baby killer for wearing a hostage pin.

00:35:35.86
alexei sayle
Hmm.

00:35:36.46
Talal K
The Harry Potter White Lotus star who is Jewish told New York magazine. Okay. Okay. I love how the news make a news story by just copying and pasting another ah publication's news story.

00:35:46.28
alexei sayle
Yes. That's what J. Listen to me, that's yeah. Yeah.

00:35:49.36
Talal K
And like you'll the get a whole article just based on a tweet. I'm like, what is the laziest journalism?

00:35:52.84
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:35:57.22
Talal K
ah He now wears the symbol at every red carpet event and media appearance despite backlash because it matters to the families of the Israelis being held captive by Hamas.

00:36:09.28
Talal K
But he acknowledged that public figure figures are under intense pressure and said he understood why many in the industry choose to say stay silent. Just for wearing it, I've been called a Zionist baby killer and Zion Nazi, he said.

00:36:28.33
Talal K
he's very proud of his pin. I don't think he is a baby killer.

00:36:34.90
alexei sayle
No.

00:36:34.98
Talal K
I think that is probably an unfair thing to call him.

00:36:37.80
alexei sayle
Yes, but he is a is a supporter of Israel, really.

00:36:40.88
Talal K
He's a supporter of baby killers.

00:36:42.69
alexei sayle
Yes, he's a supporter of an ethno-fascist apartheid genocidal state.

00:36:52.07
Talal K
I'm sick of people using their Judaism as a reason to support Israel. It's not.

00:36:57.23
alexei sayle
No, well, it's tribal, isn't it?

00:36:57.74
Talal K
And that,

00:36:58.84
alexei sayle
But it's it is it's not, you know.

00:37:02.65
Talal K
and they're at their latest post is slandering the New York mayor candidate.

00:37:07.19
alexei sayle
Right, with Zamdani, yeah.

00:37:09.24
Talal K
Zohran Mamdani.

00:37:09.40
alexei sayle
Yeah. i'm done

00:37:12.19
Talal K
know he get I don't know everything about but he seems to just get it. And he understands that everything's fucking connected as well.

00:37:18.63
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:37:19.14
Talal K
So he's not just harping on about Palestine, which I respect that he does it at all. But ah the video I saw of him last night is on the streets. Again, in the streets, unafraid. just And he's talking to Halal food trucks.

00:37:30.32
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah, I saw that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:37:33.65
Talal K
You saw that one. And so a big part his manifesto is to... because people own the licenses to have a food truck.

00:37:42.32
alexei sayle
Right.

00:37:42.98
Talal K
And so if you, but if you have a food truck, so many people already own the licenses and the and the street permits that there's no room for you to buy one.

00:37:48.36
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:37:52.00
Talal K
So you have to rent it off the people who are owning it.

00:37:54.59
alexei sayle
Yeah, presumably there's corruption.

00:37:55.17
Talal K
And it could be one person who owns several.

00:37:56.55
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah.

00:37:58.39
Talal K
And they're just hoarding them basically and then renting them out, which means that these food trucks have to hike up their prices to cover the costs of that.

00:38:00.59
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:38:05.40
alexei sayle
yeah

00:38:07.13
Talal K
And so he wants to tackle that. And I guess, you know, if you don't actually have a food truck, you shouldn't have a license or a permit and rent it out to others, which is such a obvious thing, isn't it?

00:38:18.19
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:38:18.24
Talal K
But this is how what capitalism does is just, it just, this thing just becomes in over time.

00:38:21.03
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:38:25.07
Talal K
It's like, oh yeah, that's another way I can, exploit people and make a bit of money.

00:38:28.82
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:38:30.12
Talal K
Okay, let's do that. And then that becomes a new norm. When it's so illogical and mean, cruel.

00:38:37.92
alexei sayle
Yeah. But it's good. I mean, his focus is he he will speak. He's not, for I mean, he doesn't, what's impressive about him as well is he's honest. He will speak. if he When asked, he will reply. But, he if you know as ah you know, his pitch for mayor is very much based on local issues, you know, free buses,

00:38:55.38
Talal K
Yes.

00:38:56.88
alexei sayle
and yeah um you know um uh food stores run by the city uh various other things you know other things and he's very clear about how he's going to pay it he's going to i you know raise corporate tax to the same level as new jersey and so on and so forth um so yeah

00:39:17.53
Talal K
I hope he wins so that we get something similar here. Because Sadiq Khan, as much outrage as there was against him and his bloody U letters and all that, ah he's not... I've not felt any effect from him.

00:39:26.86
alexei sayle
now he's just No, he's um just ah reckon another Labour Party politician, really.

00:39:29.00
Talal K
What...

00:39:32.10
Talal K
What has he done for us?

00:39:32.26
alexei sayle
just Yeah, well, he's you know he's he' he's just a run-of-the-mill Labour Party politician, really, you with all that that implies, really.

00:39:43.49
Talal K
Hmm.

00:39:45.78
alexei sayle
it was it was it was you know It was exciting when he was elected, but yeah, his policies are...

00:39:50.07
Talal K
The first time, yeah, but he's dull.

00:39:51.40
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:39:53.23
Talal K
I've not felt any impact from him.

00:39:53.69
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:39:54.91
Talal K
apart The only thing I felt is that we don't have a fucking Tory mayor.

00:39:58.94
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:40:00.05
Talal K
And you know that's it, which I'm grateful for.

00:40:02.88
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:40:03.89
Talal K
And obviously the representation that he's ethnically, he's an ethnic face in a very diverse city. But to what end?

00:40:13.15
alexei sayle
Yeah. yeah

00:40:14.78
Talal K
He hasn't done anything really that I felt.

00:40:16.32
alexei sayle
No. No.

00:40:20.23
alexei sayle
No, nothing. Nothing stunning, really.

00:40:25.23
Talal K
um When I landed in France in the airplane, I got off the plane and I saw three Israel Air ah planes in the in the in the airport

00:40:39.03
alexei sayle
hello Yeah.

00:40:42.40
alexei sayle
Right.

00:40:44.16
Talal K
and all parked up.

00:40:47.42
Talal K
And i it wasn't the same time as the Iran strikes, it was before that, so it can't have been them fleeing like many Israelis have done, it's just fleeing Israel.

00:40:54.98
alexei sayle
Right.

00:41:00.40
Talal K
um But I started shaking and getting really tense just because I i have not, and i I haven't encountered an Israeli person in real life since the genocide started.

00:41:03.55
alexei sayle
Yeah. Right.

00:41:12.96
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:41:13.74
Talal K
And I started, you know, I didn't know how I would, if I was stuck behind them in the queue in security and I saw them waving their passport around and like, you know, if any of them acted at all arrogant or I would say something or I would react or, and I didn't want to get in fucking trouble.

00:41:18.26
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:41:25.67
alexei sayle
Which they are prone to do. yeah

00:41:30.24
Talal K
And then what if it escalates and suddenly I'm in a fucking French prison?

00:41:38.89
Talal K
So I started getting really nervous about that, man. What if I bump into one?

00:41:43.92
alexei sayle
yeah

00:41:45.46
Talal K
And my government can't be done. Don't worry, don't stop. And, um, and ah when you go to queue to get through security, you know, they've got like a signs going, ah European passports this way and, uh, international passports this way.

00:42:07.21
alexei sayle
All of those, yeah.

00:42:08.65
Talal K
And they had international passports this way and they had flags like Britain, America, blah, blah, and then the Israeli flag. So I had to queue in the, I had to line up in the queue that had the Israeli flag on it.

00:42:17.68
alexei sayle
Right. Yeah.

00:42:20.80
Talal K
Anyway, so luck, I don't know, my girlfriend must have spoken to someone because I didn't end up bumping into any in the airport. But for the rest of my holiday, I, you know, I couldn't truly get away from it all because I i was in the back of my mind knowing that there was three plane loads of Israelis floating around somewhere in the vicinity you and I could bump into them at any moment.

00:42:39.51
alexei sayle
yeah

00:42:43.67
Talal K
And what am I going to do? ah

00:42:47.33
Talal K
But yeah, the one time I thought I had encountered a group of them, they turned out to be Arabs and because they were acting really arrogant and up themselves.

00:42:55.94
alexei sayle
I really...

00:42:57.22
Talal K
and They turned out just to be rich Arabs. was like, oh yeah, every we're all cunts. Everyone's a fucking type.

00:43:02.71
alexei sayle
It used to be, yeah last time I flew to Australia, which was 2016, Terminal 4, I think, both flights to the Middle East and Israel departed from Missouri.

00:43:13.40
Talal K
Oh.

00:43:13.55
alexei sayle
I don't know whether that's still the case. So it was people in you know Arab garb and a you know lot of Orthodox Jews and stuff. I don't know whether that is still the case. No, think it was Terminal 4.

00:43:25.28
alexei sayle
Terminal 4, Terminal 3.

00:43:25.29
Talal K
God, putting them all together. That would definitely not be the case today.

00:43:28.24
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:43:28.36
Talal K
Surely they would be wise enough to separate them.

00:43:29.69
alexei sayle
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah

00:43:34.42
Talal K
You want to minimize any potential.

00:43:38.82
Talal K
Yeah. And then, yeah, fucking...

00:43:43.49
Talal K
I went away seemingly during the most eventful week, man. Fucking hell. I guess the World War III rhetoric isn't helpful or or necessarily accurate or, you know, everyone's saying World War III more than they have been for the last however long, but more so in the last week.

00:44:04.54
Talal K
Is that a useful rhetoric to say that we're on the brink of World War III, do you think?

00:44:04.67
alexei sayle
I

00:44:07.88
alexei sayle
i don't think we are, I mean, I can't really see how we, I mean, Iran doesn't really have have anybody.

00:44:18.44
alexei sayle
I mean, i know Pakistan has made noises about, said, if if if the United States dropped a nuclear bomb Iran.

00:44:22.06
Talal K
Mm-hmm.

00:44:27.98
alexei sayle
um Iran I think they would respond in kind but I can't see any nuclear arm power that's really particularly tangled up in this really mean obviously Iran has quite strong links with Russia but they're not going to I can't entirely see how this would really lead to

00:44:53.42
alexei sayle
nuclear conflict

00:44:56.59
alexei sayle
uh you know which is you know yeah i guess yeah

00:44:56.87
Talal K
Okay, good.

00:45:03.23
alexei sayle
i mean apart yeah i mean apart from the i mean you don't know i suppose what you don't know is that i mean and this is a you know is's i mean given that the australis are i mean all most of them really but obviously the government in particular are insane and in possession of a lot of nuclear weapons whether If they were ah facing some, rather than a fake existential crisis, if they were facing a real existential crisis, whether they would they would use their nuclear weapons, really.

00:45:35.38
alexei sayle
Given that they're fanatics, I guess that they would really, and that would be, that the situation doesn't seem to exist at the moment, but there is a danger of it, I think.

00:45:44.62
Talal K
I wouldn't put it past them, man, especially if they become desperate.

00:45:48.30
alexei sayle
Yeah, so say there was like a coup, know, suddenly there was a coup, you know, the Muslim brother got back in Egypt or something, and then Egypt... ah turned its attention to Israel.

00:46:02.15
alexei sayle
You could quite easily see them using nuclear weapons. you know When the peer-to-peer, as we say, when when they're faced with an armed force, that is, relatively speaking, the match of their own, they that which they haven't had to do since the 60s,

00:46:19.82
alexei sayle
yeah they wouldn't use nuclear weapons in that case.

00:46:25.36
alexei sayle
ah So...

00:46:25.58
Talal K
Did you see the march to Gaza stuff?

00:46:29.63
alexei sayle
I've only been... ah ah funny i mean is it so I mean, I was always assumed that the Egyptian thought authorities would place a lot of obstacles in their way.

00:46:40.11
alexei sayle
Isn't that the case?

00:46:40.87
Talal K
Yes, exactly.

00:46:42.73
alexei sayle
Yeah, well, fucking... I mean, Sisi is even worse than Mubarak, if that's possible, really. it's ah I mean, it's a vile regime and in Egypt, really. Brutal, repressive, and, of course, you know is ah is and close you know, cooperates very closely with the Israelis.

00:47:00.26
Talal K
Yeah, it makes me hang my head in shame.

00:47:02.51
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah. ah But no, so I've only... They're arresting, like, people who... I don't know, is it still... Are they still allowing it to proceed?

00:47:12.69
alexei sayle
But, you know...

00:47:13.55
Talal K
They're just blocking them.

00:47:13.71
alexei sayle
Oh, right.

00:47:14.35
Talal K
They can't get any closer to Gaza, I don't think. And a lot of people are flying back and leaving.

00:47:19.34
alexei sayle
Yeah, that's kind of what I expected, really. Yeah.

00:47:22.87
Talal K
But it looked like a huge, huge, cloud what do you call it, caravan?

00:47:25.53
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:47:29.57
alexei sayle
Yeah, no publicity over here, of course, from the mainstream media.

00:47:32.80
Talal K
No.

00:47:37.26
Talal K
And who was it who said they're gonna send, it was it Malaysia? They're gonna send a thousand ships?

00:47:44.51
alexei sayle
that real?

00:47:44.66
Talal K
Mass, a mass flotilla? Was that real?

00:47:49.07
alexei sayle
and don't know. i mean, that...

00:47:55.39
alexei sayle
I mean, if they did, it would be... mean, obviously, the Israelis stopping the Greta Thunberg boat, the Madeleine, it's piracy. and see you know But then, you know o's to stop you know, they break international law every minute, every second of the day. So why should they be bothered with stopping, you know, attacking vessels in international waters?

00:48:20.30
alexei sayle
Yeah. um but if they had to I mean and also I think the boat was actually registered in in Britain but of course the British government yeah the British government was you know somehow not managed to make any protest about that

00:48:26.73
Talal K
is there a British boat? Yeah.

00:48:31.55
Talal K
Oh man. Yeah.

00:48:35.28
Talal K
It's just so many crimes on top of each other and and no one, no one reprimanding Israel for it.

00:48:38.34
alexei sayle
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, really, you know, a British vessel, yeah. Seized in international waters by a foreign power should be should be, you know, should expel the fucking ambassador.

00:48:50.32
Talal K
Mm-hmm.

00:48:50.96
alexei sayle
Hateful bloody fascist in tears.

00:48:53.55
Talal K
Oh God, I hate her.

00:48:54.11
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:48:55.35
Talal K
This is from The New Arab. Malaysian groups plan thousand ship flotilla to break Israel's siege of Gaza. This is this is articles from 15th of June.

00:49:06.34
alexei sayle
So it's not the Malaysian government, but just groups within Malaysia. Right.

00:49:09.87
Talal K
Malaysian civil society organizations on Saturday announced plan to launch what they described as the largest maritime mobilization in the world to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

00:49:12.13
alexei sayle
Right.

00:49:20.49
Talal K
The campaign known as the Thousand Ship Flotilla.

00:49:26.05
Talal K
I keep thinking of like a taco restaurant when I hear that. I think it's some sort of meal meal deal at Taco Bell. Thousand Ship Flotilla. aims to dispatch vessels from multiple continents in a coordinated effort to deliver humanitarian aid and pressure Israel to end its siege.

00:49:44.09
Talal K
The initiative was unveiled during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur by Azmi Abdul Hamid, head of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organizations.

00:49:57.92
alexei sayle
Well, good for them. Let's see what happens.

00:50:00.46
Talal K
That'll be exciting.

00:50:02.11
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:50:04.48
Talal K
that though Israel would consider it an act of war and just bomb the shit out of them all.

00:50:09.46
alexei sayle
Yes, I would have thought so.

00:50:10.09
Talal K
Possibly.

00:50:13.23
Talal K
Possibly. Good luck to them. I kind of wanted to. I might, I'd love to do something. Actually, go and do it.

00:50:24.07
Talal K
Volunteer on that, on one of those boats.

00:50:29.03
alexei sayle
Okay.

00:50:32.03
Talal K
I'll let you know.

00:50:33.09
alexei sayle
Yeah. He's going to...

00:50:36.15
Talal K
um Someone, I'm looking for this

00:50:41.18
Talal K
message. Oh, people are asking about the Liverpool and Shoreham tickets. there no There's no tickets available yet, but yes, Liverpool and Shoreham are all but confirmed. we will be coming up there probably in October.

00:50:59.40
alexei sayle
Yep.

00:51:01.93
Talal K
But someone mentioned...

00:51:05.28
Talal K
There's this kids TV show. I'm looking for the comment, but if I don't find it, I'm sorry. But there's a kids TV show. Then one of the characters apparently has the exact voice that you use on Sandwich Bar.

00:51:17.42
alexei sayle
Really?

00:51:18.79
Talal K
Yeah, there it is. Have you ever heard had the misfortune coming across kids program Steve and Maggie?

00:51:24.28
alexei sayle
no

00:51:25.01
Talal K
Maggie sounds like a customer from the imaginary sandwich shop.

00:51:29.11
alexei sayle
I was actually... All right.

00:51:30.95
Talal K
Yeah.

00:51:31.88
alexei sayle
All right.

00:51:32.34
Talal K
And then someone YouTubed it and agreed with Tina. Thanks, Tina. um So we should check that out.

00:51:37.46
alexei sayle
I don't... Yeah, don' way I don't... I did once... i did a series, I can't for Nickelodeon something, called Olive ah of the Ostrich. About a psychopathic ostrich.

00:51:50.60
Talal K
Yep.

00:51:52.67
alexei sayle
Years ago.

00:51:52.72
Talal K
I went off and watched one after you told us about that.

00:51:53.26
alexei sayle
Oh, did you?

00:51:55.23
Talal K
Yeah, it's funny. You're like narrating it really. and

00:51:57.73
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:51:58.30
Talal K
Yeah.

00:51:59.59
alexei sayle
He replaced Rolf Harris.

00:52:02.78
alexei sayle
um

00:52:02.81
Talal K
You replaced Rolf Harris.

00:52:06.94
Talal K
You ever meet him?

00:52:08.44
alexei sayle
Yeah, ah he came.

00:52:12.63
alexei sayle
He came back still. it was at the BBC or something. He came and said hello somewhere.

00:52:20.36
alexei sayle
i remember where it was. I remember...

00:52:23.71
alexei sayle
cant believe I think Billy Connolly and Pamela Stevenson lived next to him on the river, sort of somewhere, know, from Berkshire or somewhere. And they actually moved because he kept coming round.

00:52:38.40
alexei sayle
I seem to remember them telling me.

00:52:38.49
Talal K
Yeah. Yeah.

00:52:41.82
alexei sayle
Coming round with his bungee.

00:52:46.30
alexei sayle
So in the end they had to move.

00:52:50.28
Talal K
um We've had some fun on the Instagram. We've had some celebrity followers, new followers.

00:52:55.46
alexei sayle
Oh, really?

00:52:56.01
Talal K
Yeah. Patton Oswalt followed us.

00:52:58.69
alexei sayle
oh cool. Yeah, he's good. He's funny.

00:53:00.36
Talal K
Yeah, really like him.

00:53:01.86
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:53:02.38
Talal K
And don't worry, I've been reaching out to these people, seeing if we can make something of it.

00:53:04.69
alexei sayle
a

00:53:05.52
Talal K
um And Louis Theroux followed us.

00:53:08.07
alexei sayle
He's a good guy. He does good work, anyway.

00:53:12.15
Talal K
I'm trying to get um Gary Lineker's attention.

00:53:16.82
alexei sayle
All

00:53:18.66
Talal K
and

00:53:20.55
alexei sayle
right. Yeah, it's all done.

00:53:21.20
Talal K
Okay, that's...

00:53:22.53
alexei sayle
Fish to fry.

00:53:24.28
Talal K
Dawn French followed us.

00:53:26.07
alexei sayle
All right.

00:53:27.29
Talal K
And Paloma Faith. It's all very nice.

00:53:29.63
alexei sayle
Yep, it's all good.

00:53:33.07
Talal K
ah So thank you to them and all the new followers. Dawn French, it was very sweet. I messaged her saying... sorry for doing this on your behalf. I was like, come on the podcast.

00:53:45.32
alexei sayle
Mm.

00:53:45.52
Talal K
And she said, no, darling, I'm all podcasted out. ah She's enjoying her time.

00:53:52.92
alexei sayle
She fell foul of the Zionist lobbies, didn't she, ah the other week?

00:53:53.09
Talal K
um

00:53:55.70
Talal K
She did, but then did an apology and I thought, don't, you don't need to do that, man.

00:54:02.18
alexei sayle
No, don't. Never, no.

00:54:07.34
Talal K
You don't need to do that. What happened with the kneecap? They did...

00:54:13.34
alexei sayle
and They were just remanded, I think. I think I heard the BBC, the only information I i know, heard the BBC report saying that the magistrate had said he didn't know really whether he had jurisdiction in the case, really, so he remanded them to return in a month or so.

00:54:31.01
Talal K
Oh, is that what that means?

00:54:31.36
alexei sayle
um

00:54:31.81
Talal K
okay

00:54:34.61
alexei sayle
i think, i mean, I would have thought it presents the, I mean, it would be interesting to see whether the, the,

00:54:41.80
alexei sayle
the ah Crown Prosecution Service puts them in a... You know, because they've made this ludicrous prosecution anyway, whether they will let it drop.

00:54:54.46
alexei sayle
I mean, there's been quite a few cases quietly dropped. I mean, janet um when all those people who were charged because of being at the head of that march, which I was at the head of, yeah, I mean, yeah the the all the charges have been dropped against them.

00:55:04.68
Talal K
Back in January.

00:55:08.74
alexei sayle
The only charges that still being... followed through with are Chris Nynum and Ben Jamal. There's also Liberty, I think, got an important ruling the other day that all these anti-protest laws that...

00:55:24.88
alexei sayle
Priti Patel, I think, brought in have been ruled to be illegal.

00:55:27.16
Talal K
Yeah.

00:55:31.61
alexei sayle
So anybody convicted under those laws, the Labour, of course, didn't take them away but kept them in place. um that Anybody convicted of those laws, I think, will now have to, will be, um you know, I guess they can seek compensation for illegal prosecution.

00:55:50.41
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:55:50.73
Talal K
Oh, good.

00:55:51.49
alexei sayle
I don't know. but ah So that the courts have been chucking out a lot of bad legislation that the Labour Party has been trying push through. They're obviously they trying very hard to silence criticism. and I mean, yeah the situation in which some of the Palestine action people are on remand held on remand in Belmarsh, which

00:56:18.76
alexei sayle
nearly two years before their case comes to court is is monstrous, really. And, you know, it tells you who, shows you who the Labour Party, who Starmer and his cronies are.

00:56:36.84
alexei sayle
Yeah, they're not good people.

00:56:42.74
alexei sayle
Patton Oswalt, he's in a very funny film called Young Adult, isn't it, with Charlize Theron.

00:56:48.44
Talal K
Love that film.

00:56:49.51
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:56:49.79
Talal K
Yeah.

00:56:52.05
alexei sayle
We've rather lost control of our um film club, haven't we, really, what with one thing and another. We should have a think about what we're going to watch next.

00:56:59.10
Talal K
Yeah, sorry about that, listeners.

00:57:00.22
alexei sayle
Okay,

00:57:00.83
Talal K
Yeah. um Let's address that post Glastonbury.

00:57:06.05
alexei sayle
when are you going to Glastonbury?

00:57:08.39
Talal K
It's next week.

00:57:10.03
alexei sayle
So are we doing the podcast next week or you going to be...

00:57:12.10
Talal K
I don't want to let the listeners down.

00:57:12.61
alexei sayle
You are.

00:57:13.74
Talal K
So we shall endeavor to record something earlier in the week so that you will have a podcast next week.

00:57:14.42
alexei sayle
No.

00:57:16.96
alexei sayle
Okay.

00:57:19.53
Talal K
um

00:57:19.53
alexei sayle
Yep.

00:57:20.50
Talal K
Hopefully even with a nice guest. um I can't say i'm not completely conflicted about Glastonbury considering, you know, their treatment of, of Paul Curry and

00:57:27.36
alexei sayle
Mmm.

00:57:35.80
alexei sayle
That film I made.

00:57:37.56
Talal K
that film you made and in general kind of,

00:57:41.38
alexei sayle
didn't make it but i was in it

00:57:43.70
Talal K
That general, um just the commercialisation of Glastonbury. Like, it's not... It's not what it used to be.

00:57:50.55
alexei sayle
I don't know they're still the yeah ah you had a lovely time last year didn't you

00:57:50.79
Talal K
Glastonbury's not... Like, it used to be. It's lost its heart. All these pop stars. But it's a well-paying gig and it's fucking Glastonbury and I'm not taking part and...

00:58:04.58
Talal K
I loved it and i've I've got you and Lisa to thank for... bringing me in last year uh charlotte and kev at the theater and circus um cabaret tent they asked me back and you know i'm flattered and uh yeah i'm gonna be doing a i'm on the glastonbury app if you look for my name well i'm doing plugs because we're gonna wrap up okay we're gonna uh

00:58:19.98
alexei sayle
o and Indeed.

00:58:28.59
alexei sayle
Yeah.

00:58:31.02
Talal K
a I'm doing a set on Friday and I'm emceeing for four hours on the Saturday ah haven't had a gig in like I can't think of one before Glastow last year I don't know when my last fucking gig was so I'm

00:58:47.30
alexei sayle
You're going to be sharp then.

00:58:48.80
Talal K
um'm going to be really on the ball luckily I've squeezed in a couple practice gigs I've got a gig on Friday and Monday before Glastow so get some stage time

00:58:54.57
alexei sayle
Good.

00:58:57.76
alexei sayle
Good?

00:58:57.94
Talal K
Come check me out or don't because I might be shit. um But anything you want to promote or advertise, anything you've got going on, Alexi?

00:59:09.14
alexei sayle
Me? No,

00:59:09.82
Talal K
Yeah.

00:59:12.84
alexei sayle
no don't think so. I'm just trying to get starting book finished, really. I don't think, no, I've only got, you know, stuff with you, really. The live podcast is the next thing.

00:59:24.57
Talal K
Live shows. Are you going to the march on Saturday?

00:59:28.07
alexei sayle
ah didn't know, what is there another one? so did did our patron a bit They never let me know. i don't know. Linda knows, I suppose. Is there a proper big, another march?

00:59:37.51
Talal K
um I'm almost certain.

00:59:41.59
Talal K
Come on. I thought there was.

00:59:49.29
Talal K
Saturday 21st of June.

00:59:52.26
alexei sayle
all right no one's empty yeah all right

00:59:53.07
Talal K
Yep. Russell Square to Whitehall. That's near you. Russell Square to Whitehall.

01:00:02.04
Talal K
Um... Maybe I'll try and find you. Maybe we can take a couple pictures together or something.

01:00:06.84
alexei sayle
yeah yeah good idea yeah yeah yeah

01:00:10.03
Talal K
Share them with our new followers.

01:00:15.19
Talal K
Yeah? Why don't I come over to yours? I'll come pick you up for the march.

01:00:20.34
alexei sayle
Well, I've got Tai Chi beforehand, so I have to.

01:00:23.19
Talal K
Oh.

01:00:25.48
alexei sayle
It's complicated.

01:00:26.79
Talal K
Right, okay, we'll speak about that.

01:00:28.38
alexei sayle
Yeah, we'll

01:00:30.13
Talal K
But anyone in London, solidarity, free Palestine, come join the march.

01:00:37.96
alexei sayle
Maybe, yeah.

01:00:41.54
Talal K
All right.

01:00:41.73
alexei sayle
Who are our celebrities? Patton Oswalt, who else? Oh, Paloma Face, Louis Theroux.

01:00:45.18
Talal K
Louis Theroux, Paloma Faith, uh...

01:00:50.98
alexei sayle
Jason Isaacs.

01:00:53.04
Talal K
Ha ha!

01:00:54.84
alexei sayle
Yeah, Jason Isaacs. Big shout out to Jason Isaacs. One of our subscribers.

01:00:59.96
Talal K
Oh, Dawn French.

01:01:01.17
alexei sayle
Yeah, Dawn.

01:01:01.99
Talal K
James and Isaacs, thanks for the follow, man.

01:01:04.65
alexei sayle
Yeah.

01:01:09.02
Talal K
Yep.

01:01:10.34
alexei sayle
White Lotus Season 3 was shocking.

01:01:16.51
alexei sayle
So...

01:01:18.21
Talal K
Well, I thought it wasn't bad.

01:01:21.53
alexei sayle
Oh, that was awful.

01:01:23.26
Talal K
thought it wasn't bad at all.

01:01:27.08
Talal K
I loved... them

01:01:30.10
Talal K
Walter and...

01:01:32.46
alexei sayle
Walter Goggins and Mary Lou, think me, Jake.

01:01:33.75
Talal K
Oh, Goggins. Yeah, but not even them two. When he goes off to Bangkok, what's the guy called? Rockwell, Sam Rockwell.

01:01:40.73
alexei sayle
Yeah.

01:01:42.08
Talal K
I've got a soft spot for Rockwell.

01:01:42.82
alexei sayle
That was, yeah, I thought that was too too overblown, that storyline. I mean, that the the the brief... The stuff with them in the hotel together um worked, really. But then the rest of that storyline, I think, well, like the whole thing, none of it worked, I think.

01:02:03.92
alexei sayle
No, that's not going to... What's he called? Mike White's not going to follow us, is he, on that basis? The writer, producer, director.

01:02:15.02
Talal K
Sawatikrap, Mike White. Please forgive us.

01:02:20.48
alexei sayle
i become a follower Israeli president Isaac Herzog he speaking started following the podcast disgraced former head of the ah former editor of Jewish Chronicle Jake Wallace Simmons he's following the podcast he's signed on he loves the Marxism videos

01:02:47.19
alexei sayle
and

01:02:47.49
Talal K
Ted Cruz followed us.

01:02:57.46
alexei sayle
Marjorie Taylor Greene insane right wing although anti-war with Iran insane right wing congresswoman she's followed the podcast um

01:02:59.54
Talal K
Yeah.

01:03:13.11
alexei sayle
um the um Louis XIV of France. he's he's followed he's he's he's He's a follower. um Pontius Pilate.

01:03:28.61
alexei sayle
Emperor Octavian. They've all followed the podcast. Marie Curie.

01:03:39.31
Talal K
Yup. Anansi, the mythical folklore character from African traditional folklore.

01:03:48.21
alexei sayle
Yeah, they follow the podcast.

01:03:48.93
Talal K
Anansi has followed us, yeah.

01:03:50.11
alexei sayle
Yeah.

01:03:52.61
alexei sayle
And Jason Isaacs again.

01:03:53.24
Talal K
And the, yup.

01:03:57.37
Talal K
And the Babadook.

01:03:57.40
alexei sayle
Yeah. that

01:04:03.89
Talal K
Very kind of them all.

01:04:05.38
alexei sayle
They're all, they're all, they're all, they've all signed on to support

01:04:14.79
Talal K
So you're in good company, everybody.

01:04:16.53
alexei sayle
Yeah.

01:04:21.80
alexei sayle
lord Lord Nelson.

01:04:24.12
Talal K
God.

01:04:24.38
alexei sayle
several and Several figures from the Napoleonic Wars. I could go on like this forever. Blucher, commander of the Russian forces.

01:04:32.49
Talal K
I really wish you wouldn't.

01:04:36.38
alexei sayle
Napoleon himself. And the Duke of Wellington. A rare meeting.

01:04:45.07
alexei sayle
Boabdil, the last... You could probably fade this out.

01:04:51.78
Talal K
And Paula Abdul.

01:04:53.34
alexei sayle
Paula Abdul, yeah, yeah.

01:04:54.71
Talal K
And the and like cartoon cat from the music video she was in.

01:04:54.86
alexei sayle
Oh, yeah.

01:04:58.46
alexei sayle
Yeah, H from Steps.

01:05:00.85
Talal K
oh that was a big one.

01:05:02.11
alexei sayle
Yeah, he's signed.

01:05:04.22
Talal K
Yeah. Because these's he was an admir admiring your dancing.

01:05:09.38
alexei sayle
Yeah, well, you know, one professional to another.

01:05:12.88
Talal K
Hmm. Hmm.

01:05:14.19
alexei sayle
Clarence Clemens, the late saxophonist in Bruce Springsteen's Street Band. east street band

01:05:24.74
alexei sayle
And many, many more. Jason Isaacs for third time.

01:05:32.22
Talal K
ah Do I have to say Bye-bye, listeners.

01:05:34.03
alexei sayle
Bye-bye.

01:05:34.47
Talal K
Bye-bye.

01:05:35.36
alexei sayle
Bye-bye.