The Independent Republic of Mike Graham on Talk Radio.

Good morning and welcome to the Independent Republic of Mike Graham right here on Talk

Radio. We have reached the end of yet another week, ladies and gentlemen, it would seem that the

government has now completely dismantled the lockdown. Yesterday, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, more or less, threw open the doors of the country

and issued instructions for everyone to go out and spend money,

get organised for a holiday and generally rescue the economy.

At one point, he was actually recommending that what you should really do is go out and buy a sofa.

I'm not quite sure what the point of that is, but there we are.

It seems that gyms, nail bars, hairdressers, restaurants, pubs, and basically everything else

you can think of are all open for business. We appear to have stopped talking about the virus that

caused the lockdown and instead we are now all about getting out and about. And I have to say,

I was out and about last night, and I'll be telling you about that later on with Kevin O'Sullivan who's going to be joining me.

He also joined me for dinner last night.

And it was a fantastic event.

It was absolutely glorious, beautiful, fantastic.

You know, the idea of actually being out in the dark was so thrilling that I'm not sure I'm going to recover from it until possibly tomorrow.

We'll be testing the temperature of the nation this morning with former Labour MP Kate Howie, and I'll also be asking

about the latest BBC scandal, which is not just that they are considering axing politics

live with Andrew Neal, one of the few broadcasters who is actually neutral and without any bias

whatsoever. It's not just that they are considering the use of trans-friendly pronouns,

according to the front page of the Times today,

but that they are definitely bringing back the licence fee charge for the over 75s,

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