Cheat Sheet | The president and the paedophile, children vaping and toy sales boom

0:01Wilf:Hello, you're listening to Cheat Sheet, where we do the work so you don't have to. I'm Wilfred Frost.

0:08Sophy:And I'm Sophy Ridge. It is Thursday, the 13th of November, nearly the end of the week, for us at least. And this is what's happening today.

0:15Wilf:Emails have been leaked between President Trump and the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, suggesting stronger ties than previously revealed.

0:23Sophy:There's new warnings from medics that vapes are impacting children's attention, memory and mood.

0:30Wilf:And there's been a boost in sales of kids' toys, not just for the kids, but seemingly because the parents are enjoying them too.

0:40Sophy:So we've got some new emails that have been released around Jeffrey Epstein, the super rich American who was also a convicted paedophile. And Democrats say that they've released these emails that rose serious questions about President Trump's relationship with him. Because in one of the emails, Epstein says that Trump knew about the girls. And another one, it suggests that Donald Trump spent hours at the House with one of Epstein's victims, later identified by the White House as Virginia Giuffre. So in retaliation, Republicans have released 20 ,000 pages of documents from Epstein's estate. They've said that the Democrats have been cherry picking.

1:19Sophy:And the White House says this is all a fake narrative designed to smear the US president.

1:25Wilf:Yeah, and I think it's fair to say that this is a massive cache of documents. Obviously, I haven't been through them all. But it's fair to say the suggestion from all of the pickup is that perhaps President Trump knew about what was going on as opposed to took part of it. Of course, he denies even that the former was the case. I think my big question from here is, can he escape the relentlessness of this story that we have seen take other people down? And the big difference I would point out compared to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is that Andrew was just the brother of a king. Trump is the king.

2:02Wilf:And I don't use that word lightly. He doesn't have to face another election. So he is essentially a monarch in that regard from here on out. And by the way, he has the power of pardon. It's open question as to whether he could use it on himself. But don't let's forget his predecessor used it on his son. So in terms of the real question, could it really derail him? I just think he is this Teflon character with an awful lot of power around him. You mentioned there the way that Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, is saying the Democrats have selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.

2:38Wilf:It's an unsurprising and clever tactic from her to divide this on party lines. This isn't an issue that sticks to party lines. And there are some fissures on this topic within the MAGA movement for President Trump, most notably, of course, months ago from Elon Musk. But nonetheless, it would take an enormous amount from here to properly derail President Trump in a way that we've seen happen to Andrew and Peter Mandelson, who weren't kings.

3:06Sophy:I think it's actually a credit to the British media how this story has been covered, because what you have seen in the UK in particular is people really being held accountable for any relationship they had with Epstein, no matter how high and important they are. And we've seen, of course, with the guy who we used to call Prince Andrew, and now we don't anymore, which says it always. We've also seen it, of course, with Peter Mandelson as well, who was sacked as a UK ambassador to the US in September.

3:33Wilf:Of course, all the aforementioned deny any wrongdoing. Just quick outro on the US. Longest government shutdown ever. 43 days is over. The president signed the bill yesterday that had initially passed the Senate, then passed the House. And that shutdown is now over.

3:52Sophy:Now there's a bit of a whodunit going on in Westminster. It's after those extraordinary briefings by Number 10 that seemed to say there was a kind of active plot to get rid of Keir Starmer going on and even suggesting perhaps that West Streeting was linked to it. So now what happened after a very robust denial by West Streeting and an attack about the kind of toxic culture in number 10 is uh kirstama says he's looking into who said what to who he's also

4:22Wilf:apologized to west streeting as well it it's so interesting the fallout after your fantastic interview with west streeting yesterday and actually i shouldn't use the word the fallout because i think the biggest takeaway is west streeting stock has risen i thought he handled it really well and and i think as that interview's gone viral around the country everyone else has said that he is their best communicator that's what people's main takeaways are 24 hours on

4:47Sophy:one uh westminster uh kind of insider said that oh yeah it's incredible kirsten has done the impossible he's united the labour backbenchers behind west street which i thought was quite funny because west is actually sometimes seen as you know a bit too much to the right of the labour party to be really popular with the backbenchers and that's kind of changed because he's come out as you say is this kind of swashbuckling um character really showing his great communication skills.

5:12Wilf:Yeah, of course, he's got great communication skills. You also need in politics to be a great administrator. And the statistics he does point to have been impressive on the NHS. I don't think, though, the people feel it yet, which would be a real achievement. But he has a rude awakening as we seamlessly move on to our next story. Oh, nice, Wilf.

5:32Sophy:I saw that transition happening in real time. I was like, oh, this is perfect. I see what he's doing here. I really thought about that one.

5:38Wilf:But it's not so seamless anymore. but there we go. But of course, he'll be reminded of the difficulties within the NHS today because the British Medical Association has confirmed it's going ahead with its strike. It starts tomorrow for five days. This is the junior doctors, as they were formerly called, of course, now their title is resident doctors. And the health secretary pointed to the fact that over the last three years, they've already got a 30 % pay rise. Of course, they want more and they look at lack of inflation match pay for some 15 years is why they deserve more. I just say, again, so often I come back to the comms on this, that the resident doctors need to pause and think about how many strikes have been in recent years and who in the public sector has got pay rises to end previous strikes.

6:27Wilf:And they fall into that category. So I just think you've got to bring the people with you if you're going to get the government to cave to your strikes. And I'm not sure this time round they're doing that in the same way that they did last time. Yeah.

6:40Sophy:I mean, it's interesting, the polling, because the polling has been really quite obviously in favour of what I always still think was the junior doctors, but they call themselves the resident doctors now, which is interesting. But as you say, it's been getting less and less. And that is going to be the kicker. It's the kind of thing that people really, really see and witness. You know, lots of parents in particular, I think, will be looking at another strike and will be thinking, I'm a bit worried. Will my kid be safe if they have to go to A &E or whatever it is?

7:07Wilf:Particularly with a big flu season pending and coming earlier this season. Just finally on this as well, is he likely to cave? I think not, because this is a massive attack line for the Tories, saying that this government handed out pay rises very quickly to various sectors initially. I just don't think, particularly ahead of the budget where money is tight, that the chances of them doing it again are almost zero.

7:31Sophy:And also there is increasingly within other members of the government, a lot of people looking at West Street and think, blimey, he's got a good deal off Rachel Reeves when they're having to make laser cuts to their department. So I think that narrative is kind of happening. I want to talk about new research on vapes, e-cigarettes, and also nicotine pouches. So this is really interesting because we're seeing this big shift in what's happening when it comes to smoking with young people moving away from cigarettes, vapes overtaking cigarettes for the first time in use in the UK last week. But also these nicotine pouches, use of nicotine pouches has doubled between 2020 and 2024 to 5.4%, which is still relatively small, but it's on the rise as well.

8:17Sophy:These are things that you literally just shove in your mouth. It's nicotine, effectively, and it hits your bloodstream quite quickly. But the thing that's interesting today as well is that there has been some kind of backlash and concerns raised about vapes, with the British Medical Journal saying some kids are even missing lessons in order to vape.

8:35Wilf:Obviously, cigarettes were worse. It affects the lungs and the throat because of the tar and the smoke that comes from it. But the benefits of things like vapes to get people off cigarettes has kind of passed. That was an argument five, ten years ago. Nicotine is bad too. And I just think that we have to clamp down more aggressively in the same way that we do on gambling or did on cigarettes or do on alcohol. And I think this is going to be an area that grows in significance because of the statistics like this.

9:03Sophy:Yeah. And as soon as you give a little gap for the tobacco lobby, then they fill it.

9:09Wilf:Have you started your Christmas shopping yet, Sophie?

9:13Sophy:What do you think? No. No, I have not. We've been quite busy in our defence.

9:20Wilf:We have been quite busy. I've sort of started thinking about it.

9:23Sophy:Oh, that's par for the battle.

9:24Wilf:But we only just have my son's birthday. We're going to talk about kids shopping, right? Christmas shopping for kids. So I've got to kind of think again now. But I love this. Apparently, toy sales are up this year for the first time since the pandemic, 6 % on the year to September. And one of the themes they're saying is responsible is kidult toys, which appeal as much to the parents as the child. Again, definitely fall into this category. I'm being, my son is two, I'm being massively taken back to my childhood, particularly now as he likes trains and cars more than just sort of stuffy toys. Fantastic.

10:00Sophy:I love it. So apparently a third of the sales that have been going for things like Lego, Pokemon, Minecraft, Formula One are actually adults. Is that you, Wilf?

10:11Wilf:Well, he's two, so we haven't had much Minecraft yet. But Lego's coming, big blocks. We need to get onto the small blocks. I can't wait till he wants a remote-controlled car. He's going to get a darn good one. Slash iron.

10:24Sophy:Well, that is all for today's cheat sheet. If you've got a story that you want to cover, do get in touch with us. We've got an email address. We'd love to hear from you as well. That is cheat sheet at sky.uk.

10:34Wilf:And stay tuned tomorrow with Anna and Kamali.

10:40Sophy:How does a banana trigger a CIA-backed coup? Do AirPods herald the arrival of a new global order? What do LED lights say about the future of humanity? I'm Ed Conway, and in each episode of my new podcast, Stuff Matters, I take an object, crack it open, and reveal the world-shaping forces hidden inside. This is economics told through the things we think we understand. Search Stuff Matters on your podcast app to listen and follow.