Earl Spencer's like a Bond villain

0:02The Telegraph.

0:30Michael Deacon: Shop Halloween decor now at Wayfair.com. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R dot com. Wayfair, every style, every home. Thank you for calling the Bombas Comfort Line. Bombas make socks, slippers, tees, and underwear made with the highest quality materials. Press 1 for comfort, 2 for style, 3 for donation. You chose style. Bombas is styles for whatever you enjoy. You can run in Bombas, lounge in Bombas, dress them up, dress them down, but always give back in Bombas. because with every item purchased another is donated bombas comfort worth calling for go to bombas.com audio and use code audio for 20 off your first purchase that's b-o-m-b-a-s.com and use code audio hello and welcome to the weekend tea with me michael deacon and me poppy open.

1:27Michael Deacon: I think I'm going to have to start off Michael by complaining because last week you were wearing a normal shirt and this week you've gone back to one of your awful shirts. Can you explain why you've decided to do this?

1:39Poppy Coburn: Mainly to annoy you.

1:40Michael Deacon: Okay well you've achieved that quite well. Speaking of headaches, we've got to talk about the royals again. Back of the news. Earl Spencer this time. The plot thickens. He's got a new book out.

1:50Poppy Coburn: Yes, and it's basically, it's all about his relationship with his sister, Diana, the late princess of Wales, and he's made some very controversial claims to do with her former husband, Prince Charles, who is now our king. Some quite extraordinary allegations he's made, which obviously the royal household's not very happy about there was one in particular one line he claims that after diana had died uh l spencer and charles had had a blistering row during which he says our future king said rest assured we'll forget her soon enough now i've got to tell you i find it very hard to believe that charles said that i mean for various reasons but i'll tell you one because i i know you weren't even born when Diana was killed.

2:38Michael Deacon: I was not.

2:38Poppy Coburn: But I remember that was like I was 16 years old at the time. I can tell you the news was wall to wall Diana for weeks. Honestly, if scientists had found a cure for cancer, it would have been a nib on page 34. OK, it was Diana, Diana, Diana. I've never known a news story so utterly dominate the national conversation and the news agenda. and so I don't believe for a second that anyone in the country at that time let alone her former husband would have said oh we'll forget her soon enough because at the time it felt like we will never forget it we will never speak about anything else there will never be any other news again it is just all Diana so it just doesn't sound like something that anybody would say let alone Charles

3:22Michael Deacon: well particularly to Diana's brother why would you speak like a Bond villain to your wife's

3:30Poppy Coburn: brother it doesn't make any sense at all when everyone is grieving exactly i mean everyone's

3:36Michael Deacon: in shock it's the mother of your children who's died in the most horrific possible way and we're supposed to believe i mean it's just so tawdry isn't it it's just it's very very difficult to believe and even if we are supposed to take him at face value why on earth would you share this

3:51Poppy Coburn: with the nation now yeah and another claim that uh earl spencer has made is that uh when news broke and he and Charles spoke on the phone, he claims that Charles sounded, and these are his words, giddily elated. And again, I find that hard to believe. And I mean, even if that's how he sounded to Earl Spencer, it makes me think of, you know, sometimes people will laugh at a funeral, during a funeral. Now that's not because they think funerals are hilarious or they're laughing about someone dying. It's because people can become hysterical in those moments, you know, and they're overwhelmed by the horror of what's happened or their grief or whatever.

4:27Poppy Coburn: And so they let out a laugh. So if he sounded elated, which I frankly doubt, I don't think he was elated.

4:32Michael Deacon: I just think this is conspiracy bait. I think it's the sort of thing where you know it's going to add on to the news agenda. You know it's going to get people talking about you. It's going to get your book sales up.

4:40Poppy Coburn: It's a way to sell a book, isn't it?

4:42Michael Deacon: The Americans are going to love it because obviously they've got all the conspiracies about the royal family. They love the royal soap opera.

4:47Poppy Coburn: That's what they like.

4:48Michael Deacon: Incredibly disrespectful to the king. But, I mean, speaking of American soap operas, our favourite royal couple who are now back in the UK. and this is another slightly difficult to, if not believe, at least comprehend story which is about the most serious of issues by called their school run.

5:04Poppy Coburn: Yes, so they're back in Britain, they signed their children up to go to school there and then after two days, just two days of return, they have withdrawn their children from that school. Very surprising. They say it's nothing to the quality school, excellent school, no problem there, no problem with anybody at that school. But here's what it says in our report here. a critical factor in the decision to withdraw their children was the distance between the school and the property at which the family is staying now hang on a minute it's not this not something they thought to check beforehand i mean normally when you put your child's name down for a school you at least take a moment to find out where the school is how near is it i mean you know on on on your children's first day at school i mean it's stressful enough but you don't want to sort of get in your car, tap in the postcode of the school and go, hang on a minute, it's in Dundee.

5:53Poppy Coburn: I mean, unless you live in Dundee, of course, but I don't believe that Harry and Meghan do. So, yeah, this seems a little bit of a screw-up, I would say.

6:01Michael Deacon: Well, I've got a juicy little bit of royal gossip from Hannah Furness, our Telegraph colleague, who was telling me this week that apparently when they had gamed out the school run to try and figure out the security concerns that would be inherent, because obviously they want the convoy of cars to protect them and their children when they're doing the school run because they're very important people they did it during the school holidays so in the summertime apparently in the middle of the day when there wouldn't be any traffic so again it's this idea of okay so you're spending all of this money on security you put so much thought into your big move back to the UK but you haven't bothered to do something that I think any old pleb normal person the first thing you check is oh yeah there's going to be traffic during school hours because that's the most basic thing in the world is it not and apparently they were very concerned about the school traffic because they'd be quote sitting dust the car it sounds a little bit like an excuse of not wanting to be stuck in traffic i mean it is pretty horrific yes i'm not quite sure i buy the argument that it's a it's a high security concern that they keep pushing with.

7:06Poppy Coburn: Okay. Well, there's another very controversial story taking place in the English countryside this week, and that is to do with Piddington. The village of Piddington in Oxfordshire is up in arms because there's only about 300 people living in that village. It's a very tiny, pretty, picturesque place, and the government wants to place a migrant camp there containing 1 ,250 male asylum seekers, and the local people aren't very happy about that. You shock me. So this week they actually held a vote, a referendum, which is not legally binding. We've heard that before. But anyway, not legally binding, genuinely not this time, but it's a symbolic vote where they said, do we want Pittington to leave the United Kingdom in protest at this migrant camp?

7:50Poppy Coburn: And I think 92 % of villagers voted, yes, we want to leave. We're so unhappy. So, yes, I'm afraid, yes, the Home Offices really wind out these people. They're not happy with Andy Burnham's idea of spreading all of the asylum seekers equally around the country, including middle class areas. They are not taken with this idea.

8:08Michael Deacon: This is a really wonderful state of the nation modern story, isn't it? Every single aspect about this story is just absolutely unbelievable. For one, I did enjoy the morning of the referendum. The good people of Puddington sent out their representative, who is an impeccably done up lady. Blonde hair, blown out, wearing a very sophisticated suit. I think she's been waiting for this moment her entire life. She gave a really wonderful speech announcing their stated desire to be independent of the United Kingdom. But there's so much about this story that is just unbelievable. I mean, for one, Andy Burnham and Angela Rayner think this is completely acceptable because it's about people taking their fair share.

8:48Michael Deacon: And obviously we know that the hotels that have been opened up in the country now for six years, they have predominantly been in poor areas. That's just because it's cheaper to buy up space in these areas. It costs the Home Office less money, so you usually would do a value for money thing. And in a way, that's not fair. But I think when people were protesting in Rotherham to close down the asylum hotel, they weren't saying, let's dump them in Oxfordshire, see how they like it. They were saying, let's close the asylum hotel and remove the people inside, not just move them throughout the country.

9:19Michael Deacon: So that's one aspect. The other thing have been the really incredible safety measures that have been put in place. Not obviously for the people in Puddington. the government doesn't care about them, but for the asylum seekers themselves. So they're going to have to wear high-vis jackets. Right. Because obviously, rural Oxfordshire, lots of dark roads, maybe you're not going to have the lights out in the street. They're apparently running out of funding, so they can't apparently pay for street lights.

9:42Poppy Coburn: Sorry we can't afford any street lighting for you. We spent all the money importing 1 ,250 men, foreign men, into your village. Right, that would make sense.

9:51Michael Deacon: It would take, you know, poor Lib Dems. The poor Lib Dems is obviously now a Lib Dem constituency, at sea and you just think, well, if a general election does come soon, that's one seat that they're not holding up to.

10:00Poppy Coburn: Well, just a year ago, the Lib Dem local MP signed an open letter in which he said that the letter is in solidarity with people seeking asylum. It said, Oxford and Oxfordshire are proud of their traditions of welcome. We ask everyone in Oxfordshire to uphold our values of dignity, humanity and neighbourliness. And of course, he spent the last few months frantically campaigning against this migrant camp, trying to get it put somewhere else, anywhere else except his constituency. So that is delicious. But I will say there is hope yet for the people of Fittington because, and this is a great Telegraph scoop, it is possible that the migrant camp won't be able to open because there may be newts and bats present.

10:42Poppy Coburn: And this is the thing, you know, we have very strict planning laws in this country. You can't build anything within about five miles of a newt. But I think it tells you something about the nature of Britain today, which is basically the concerns of local people, the interests of local people. They don't matter to the powers that be, but all the interests and concerns of newts and bats. Oh, dear. Well, goodness, no, we can't upset them. Yeah, we can't have a migrant camera.

11:07Michael Deacon: I'm visualising something here, Michael. There's like a pyramid of oppression. So at the very bottom, there are middle class English people. You're right at the bottom of the table. We don't care about you. And there is, of course, people seeking refuge, or I think the politically correct term is people on the move. So there were asylum seekers above them. But at the very top of the pyramid, the most oppressed group in British society today, Bats and Newt.

11:29Poppy Coburn: Bats and Newt, there you go.

11:31Michael Deacon: So that helps understand how to navigate modern Britain. We should hand that out to schools, actually. Know your place, Britons.

11:38Poppy Coburn: Well, there's actually someone who's a little bit more oppressed than Bats and Newt. And that is, of course, famous rappers who support the people of Gaza. Because this is... White rappers.

11:51Michael Deacon: White rappers, indeed.

11:52Poppy Coburn: White Western rappers. Because this is the big story in Celebrityville this week. A rapper called Macklemore was the support act on Ed Sheeran's big tour of North America. But he's been kicked off it because he made some controversial comments during shows related to Palestine. He's ranting away about Free Palestine and all the rest of it. Some people took exception to that. He's been kicked off. But now there's a big backlash against poor old Ed Sheeran, whose tour it is, because the support act has lost his place. And, you know, all the Free Palestine people are demanding that Ed Sheeran also, you know, shouts Free Palestine or, you know, he's at a risk of getting cancelled.

12:30Poppy Coburn: It's all a horrible route. It makes me feel a bit sorry for him, even though I'm not a fan. But I'm a bit puzzled because, OK, I know the Free Palestine lot are all very fanatical, but what about normal people? Is this what normal people want when they go to a pop concert? You know, you're paying hundreds of pounds to go and see Ed Sheeran. don't you just want to hear music? You don't want to hear a pop star lecturing you about geopolitical affairs. I mean, are there people out there saying, well, OK, I'm happy to pay£500 a head to go and see Oasis next year, but only if Liam spends half the set telling us his views on the Sudanese civil war, OK?

13:04Poppy Coburn: I don't want to hear Wonderwall. I don't want to hear cigarettes and alcohol. I want to hear Bonehead share his views on Iran.

13:12Michael Deacon: I have to ask the question of, if you buy tickets to an Ed Sheeran concert, do you want to hear Macklemore? I mean, he had one song. Do you remember? I'm going to pop some tags. No, I don't even remember that, I'm afraid. And he got$20 in my pocket.

13:23Poppy Coburn: I know none of his songs.

13:24Michael Deacon: I mean, he probably only has$20 in his pocket now he's been cancelled. Well, there you go. Musical act in the country. It does feel like everyone has been piling on Ed Sheeran. And, you know, I think he made a good point, which is I don't think he made the decision to get rid of him. It was the company who was hosting this talk.

13:40Poppy Coburn: The promoter, I think, isn't it? Yeah.

13:41Michael Deacon: And the idea that Ed Sheeran has to be completely up to date with developments on the Iranian peninsula and what's been happening in Gaza. And Ed Sheeran, what do you think about the Houthis attack on Qatar? Oh, he doesn't have an opinion because he's a pop star. Right. But you're completely right. This is now part and parcel of it. I mean, another very big pop star for my generation is Olivia Rodrigo. She recently did a big concert series, which is I think she sang less than she talked about social issues.

14:09Poppy Coburn: Right.

14:09Michael Deacon: I mean, it's almost part and parcel of you having to go there. So you're on your phone. Oh, OK, she's talking about reproductive rights again. Oh, now she's going to sing a song. Brilliant. Oh, she's back to the repro. OK, I'll go back on my phone.

14:21Poppy Coburn: It does seem to be what's expected now, certainly. I mean, this is the maddest moment of the week for me. There's Paloma Faith, London-born a pop star. She was interviewed on Channel 4 News this week about the Ed Sheeran route. And she said, yeah, pop stars like Ed Sheeran, they need to be. They need to be more political. She's very pro-Palestine. In fact, she said, and I quote here, she genuinely said this with a straight face. She said, I say free Palestine to my children every night. Now, I've got to say, she is the mother of three children. One of them is age nine. One of them is age five.

14:54Poppy Coburn: And the third child is a six month old baby boy. She's saying free Palestine to a six month old baby. I mean, I mean, most kids first words are either mama or dada. His are going to be globalize the intifada. most parents I've got to say from my own experience you're tucking your kids up at night, you say something like sleep well, don't let the bedbugs bite you don't give them a lecture on the evils of Zionism

15:21Michael Deacon: Whenever these pop stars start talking about how it's so important to have politics I always want someone to turn around and say I completely agree with you, Paloma Faith that's why I'm such a big fan of Morrissey because he should be allowed to say what he thinks about the state of politics in Britain

15:35Poppy Coburn: They're not so keen on him

15:37Michael Deacon: Funny that one. Yeah, funny that one. I don't know why. Anyway, still to come, how Sadiq Khan brilliantly mocked Zach Polanski and while Sydney Sweeney's very sexy advert caused a huge controversy this week.

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16:32Michael Deacon: Press 1 for comfort, 2 for style, 3 for donation. You chose style. Bombas is styles for whatever you enjoy. You can run in Bombas, lounge in Bombas, dress them up, dress them down, but always give back in Bombas. Because with every item purchased, another is donated. Bombas, comfort worth calling for. Go to bombas.com slash audio and use code audio for 20 % off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com and use code audio. Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. A missed call doesn't feel like anything. No red flag, no notifications screaming at you. It just disappears into your call log.

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18:09Poppy Coburn: Okay, I'm about to tell you something very, very weird. So stay with me, right? This is a story from America, and it's about the FBI. Now, the FBI has very strict rules about who it will hire, because obviously there are various things. They obviously can't hire someone who's a threat to national security, can't hire someone who's linked to terrorism, any of that sort of thing, political extremism. They've got to be very careful. But there's also a rule that says the FBI cannot hire anyone who has engaged in bestiality. Now, you might think, well, that's a very sensible rule, but also should go without saying, really.

18:43Poppy Coburn: Don't really want to hire someone who's into bestiality for any job at all, let alone as a federal agent. But nonetheless, this was a rule for FBI recruitment policy until now because for reasons i cannot understand they have deleted that rule the fbi director has said that this week and he gave a press conference where i have to say people were asking him why have you done this it became no clearer to me all i can think is the fbi must be getting an awful lot of applications from job candidates who are otherwise perfect for the they would make fantastic law enforcement officers except for one very small blemish on their cv I think honestly he's a wonderful guy but there is this photo of him with a sheep

19:29Michael Deacon: the devil in this story is really with the detail because when Kash Patel he had to defend this interest day hiring change in front of a senate committee and a republican fan of Kash Patel he's usually been quite friendly with him he's the RFK one of the Kennedys did ask him you say it's for people who are victims of bestiality should be allowed to work in the FBI. And he did ask the question, I think, is on everyone's mind, which is, aren't the victims of bestiality the animals? Yeah, I've never heard... Are they the people being hired?

20:02Poppy Coburn: I've never heard of a sheep doing it to a man.

20:04Michael Deacon: What does that even mean? How does that even happen? How are you accidentally a victim of bestiality?

20:10Poppy Coburn: I don't know. There are these predatory farm animals sort of stalking the country and jumping out on... It's the real fact of the people of Piddington. Innocent men at night.

20:18Michael Deacon: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Like, you know, who among us hasn't accidentally been a victim of bestiality? And that shouldn't stop you from achieving your dream working in the FBI.

20:28Poppy Coburn: Rightly so.

20:29Michael Deacon: Although I think, you know, maybe it suggests that you haven't got the best law enforcement senses around you. You would expect that you're keeping an eye out, you're aware of your situation, if you can be taken unawares by an animal. Maybe you're just not cut out from the job.

20:43Poppy Coburn: No. And presumably Donald Trump has approved this change, which I'd say surprised me a bit, because I remember when Donald Trump once declared that his all-time favourite book is the Bible. I'm sure that a committed Christian like him will be well aware that the Bible tells us thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's ox. Especially not if you're going to do that to it.

21:07Michael Deacon: Oh, I love the Americans. They keep us young. They keep us young. Well, we're going to have to stick back to UK politics now. Although I suppose in Zach Polanski's mind, it's not UK politics that animates him. It's world politics. You, of course, have seen the clip of him campaigning. He's going to be the new Green Party candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. And he released a video, no doubt to wind people like you and I up, speaking in Urdu.

21:31Poppy Coburn: Miranam Zak Polanskiye. Ome Holborn and St Pancras. Kaseek Kiliya. Kera. Greens. Kepresha Se. Labour Nay. Entirely in Urdu, yes. He's not a native speaker of that language. No. These presumably are his target voters. Urdu, of course, is the national language of Pakistan and he's decided he's going to campaign this. It's actually new, a new technique for the Greens, as we know in the Gorton by-election in February this year, the Greens were campaigning with leaflets written entirely in Urdu and, well, it did them no harm, did it, because they won that by-election. But it makes a lot of people feel a little bit uncomfortable about it.

22:07Michael Deacon: It does indeed. But someone who I think is feeling particularly uncomfortable about the Green Party's decision to campaign in Urdu is probably Udak Polanski himself. Because, and I'm never, ever going to say this again, he got epically trolled by Sadiq Khan.

22:20Poppy Coburn: So my question is, would you be prepared to say no to a data centre if it didn't secure clean water and energy supply?

22:29Michael Deacon: Assalamu alaikum. I'm surprised that you're asking the question in Urdu. I've asked the question in the UK. I'll be with Sakhala.

22:45Michael Deacon: Well, I thought, Chair, that as the member... That was good pronunciation, actually. ...proficient in Urdu. I would speak in Urdu. I was worried the question may be Urdu. And for those Urdu speakers, I apologise if I spoke with a Russian accent. I mean, he really deserved that, didn't he? The comedic timing on that is just absolutely fantastic.

23:09Poppy Coburn: We don't normally give Sadiq Khan a lot of credit for his banter, I think, for his comedy skills. But that was very, very good. Just to reply to a question in English entirely and with a completely straight face. No perfectly well, Zach Polanski hasn't got a clue what you're saying. All he did in his campaign video was read out a script written for him by someone else. I thought, yes, that was that was very beautiful.

23:31Michael Deacon: It really makes me think of the Henry Kissinger quote. Why can't both sides lose? Why can't both sides lose in this particular debate? But you know what? Credit to Sadiq Khan. You made me laugh.

23:43Poppy Coburn: There is one other thing I want to add on this subject. I wrote my column about Zach Polanski's Urdu video this week, and I got a brilliant comment from a reader who said, isn't Urdu what a Scouse woman gets from the hairdressers?

23:55Michael Deacon: Brilliant.

24:00Michael Deacon: This guy's going to take over your column. Yeah, should be. Sydney Sweeney. Sydney Sweeney. What comes into your mind quickly, don't think, when I say Sydney Sweeney.

24:08Poppy Coburn: I better not tell you or HR will be investigating.

24:11Michael Deacon: That's exactly what I expected. But apparently Sydney Sweeney is not just allowed to be a very attractive woman. She's quite well endowed. She also has to be aware of sensitive feminist issues. She released an advert this week, which is her with no clothes on, but with some tastefully arranged sporting equipment, some American footballs in one instance covering up her lady parts. And this is for a sports betting company. Obviously, big advert of Sydney Sweeney, almost entirely naked, has got people talking, but it's upset a lot of female athletes for reasons I can't entirely understand.

24:52Poppy Coburn: No, they seem to think that the advert is demeaning of women's sports, but it's got nothing to do with women's sports. It's really got nothing to do with women's sports. It's a sports betting firm. and I think we can see who the target customer is here because men overwhelmingly are more likely to be into betting than women and also more likely to be into looking at Sydney Sweeney with her clothes off. So it's not complicated. You can see how this advert is supposed to work but it's got nothing to do with women's supports at all. And I'm also surprised to see so many feminist commentators criticising this advert because I think whatever happened to my body, my choice?

25:23Poppy Coburn: Indeed. That is the mantra for women. And, you know, if a woman is entitled to do whatever she wishes with her body and no one else is allowed to criticise it. Well, doesn't that apply to women who would like to take their clothes off for a sports betting firm advert? I don't know. Whatever happens to sex work is work. Well, I mean, if that's work, surely taking your clothes off for an advert?

25:41Michael Deacon: Sexy work is work.

25:42Poppy Coburn: Sexy work is work. There you are.

25:44Michael Deacon: Why not? I do think the response that some of these female athletes went with didn't really help their case. Because I was looking at some of the videos that people have been putting out on social media. you know it's that classic awful style that people like to do on instagram reels which is they i'm making a serious face and i'm crossing my arms you know that i'm talking about a serious subject but then they would be like this is what a female sportswoman looks like and then they were taking their own clothes off and showing you what their body looks like i was like hang on now i mean i think the men are having a wonderful fantastic all these female volleyball players are taking their clothes off and say sydney sweeney this is what a sportswoman really looks psych i mean it's a fantastic time to be a man but i'm not really sure it helps their case that they should be taken completely seriously and they're just going about their job if they're also showing off their lady parts but there you go maybe i'm a bad woman maybe i'm a bad fan

26:32Poppy Coburn: thank you sydney what a woman as as we can see as we can see well heading back to the british

26:38Michael Deacon: countryside and um quite a strange story this week so lose has decided that it's going to recognise the right of trees. And it's put out this quite strange... The rights of trees? The rights of trees, yes.

26:50Poppy Coburn: Well, like the human rights of trees.

26:52Michael Deacon: Yes, the human rights of trees. Right. Yes. They've put out quite a strange statement with kind of gothic lettering, being like, I pledge to recognise the right, the ancient and inalienable rights of a tree to be a tree. I assume it's so they can't cut them down and maybe build a new asylum seeker on top of them. But the reason I think this story is quite interesting is that it speaks to something quite odd that's happening in the English countryside, which is, is everyone quietly becoming pagan without us realising?

27:20Poppy Coburn: Well, are they?

27:21Michael Deacon: I think so.

27:22Poppy Coburn: We've not seen any of this sort of thing in Gravesend, I can tell you that. I think, Ken, it's safe for now. What's going on in the countryside?

27:27Michael Deacon: The reason I say this is I had a conversation with a friend of mine who lives in rural Cambridgeshire, and they were talking about this new festival that the town has brought back, and it's kind of an ancient Anglo-Saxon festival that has kind of gone by the way by since the Industrial Revolution, and they're bringing it back. And she was describing it, and I was like, are you sure that's not just the wicker man that seems a lot like the plot the film the wicker man do you put a person inside no no no so we just build this big man made out of hay and then we burn him in a harvest ritual to allow the kind of environmental bounties that will come throughout the year and i was like okay you burn a man is there a man inside the man not yet so something quite strange is happening uh to our country people um i i can only assume it's some kind of weird situation that comes from being separated from the cities in some way they're just quietly

28:17Poppy Coburn: going absolutely bonkers or or they're so angry about Piddington they're thinking we've got to we've got to deter the home office from putting anyone here we're gonna we're gonna start burning

28:26Michael Deacon: wickham in that sort of thing well please weekendy listeners if you're living in the countryside and you're bringing back some kind of ancient pagan festivals please do get in touch and tell us why you're doing this and also warn me if I'm traveling near your town because I don't really what I have to be a half a sacrifice. I'm team metropolitan for that.

28:42Poppy Coburn: Ideally, ideally, yes. There you go.

28:45Michael Deacon: Well, let's go to a cultural issue now. Finish up. Is taking the bins out still a boy job? Michael, you're old-fashioned. Yes. You must be taking the bins out.

28:53Poppy Coburn: I'm very old. I mean, it's an old fool's job. Yes, I do take the bins out, yes. Yes, I do. Why do you take the bins out? Why do you have to do that? Well, I've got to do something.

29:01Michael Deacon: Well, apparently Gen Z people think that taking the bins out is a job that should be less to man, and I can understand why, But again, I think I'm not representative of my generation because I usually take the bins out now in I-flat. Right. Because I wake up earlier in the morning. I had to take the bins out today.

29:17Poppy Coburn: What's your boyfriend up to?

29:18Michael Deacon: He was asleep. He was asleep. I mean, sometimes we do it together. I'll hold up a second bin so it doesn't leak and he'll put the other bin into the bin. And this would be our kind of equal opportunities feminist household.

29:31Poppy Coburn: Right. Do you do all the housework? No. Including the bins?

29:34Michael Deacon: No, no. So we've kind of swapped over. So what will happen is usually, again, I'm working late in the office and I'll come home and there'll be a lovely home cooked meal on the table that's been made for me. And the kitchen has been cleaned and he's standing there in his apron and he's like, welcome home. And I'm like, oh, God, another long day of work. You know, where's my whiskey? Where's my cigar? How can I unwind after my difficult day in the office? So we've kind of swapped over gender roles. Wow. We've kept the gender roles, but we're just in the wrong position.

30:00Poppy Coburn: That's very, very modern. That's wonderful.

30:02Michael Deacon: I think I've got the wrong end of the stick, actually. I think I prefer to be cooking and cleaning, not doing the bins.

30:06Poppy Coburn: maybe it is a boy job well i well i i will tell you a fact here and see what you think about this about um five years ago there was a really interesting study okay which i wrote about at the time which is that husbands who refuse to do any housework at all and leave it all to their wives tend to earn higher salaries than men who do their fair share now of course there was a lot of uproar from women when they read this you know horrible sexism and all the rest of it i'm thinking actually wives for the sake of the household finances should be telling their husbands to put their feet up because hey men men who don't do any housework get paid more well great you'll get you'll get a pay rise so sit down don't i'll do the bins i'll do the washing up i'll do the clothes all the rest of it you you sit there in front of sky sports all day and bring home that pay rise

30:52Michael Deacon: yeah would you like a massage so you can bring home that that promotion that we said that's it

30:56Poppy Coburn: i hope the women of britain are listening to that i must remember to mention it to my wife see how it goes down.

31:02Michael Deacon: Good luck. Well, if Michael is still alive next week, you'll be watching The Weekend Team.

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