Page 94, the Private Eye Podcast.

Hello and welcome to another episode of page 94.

My name is Andrew Hunter Murray, and this week we have a bumper crop of stories to tell you about.

First of all, we're going to be talking about big tech, big government and IT contracts.

They don't normally go altogether, but on a couple of very unusual occasions recently,

they have been. We'll be finding out why.

After that, the story of the sailors who have been trapped offshore due to the coronavirus crisis.

There are thousands of sailors whose contracts have been extended who are stuck in limbo

unable to go and see their families in some cases not even being paid for their time.

We'll be speaking about what can be done to try and get them home.

And finally, a trip to the street of shame where the Barclay brothers, the reclusive billionaire

twins who own the telegraph, the Ritz and a great deal else besides have fallen into an extraordinarily

acrimonious row. There have been allegations of bugging, scalduggery, numerous other nefarious activities and we'll be finding out what's going on there.

But first, a walk along Whitehall.

Richard Brooks is one of the eyes correspondence on matters of big government, and in a recent

issue of the magazine magazine he had a story

about something very unusually going quite well. This was the furlow scheme

designed to pay various workers who had been temporarily semi laid off by their firms and

Despite the various emissions that might have occurred with it nonetheless it has actually kind of worked

Richard wrote about this for the eye and I asked him a bit more about it.

First of all I asked him if it wasn't a bit unprofessional and contrary to the spirit of

private eye to write about anything actually working.

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