Reform Raffle, Tory Receipts & Starmer Confusion

The Trawl

Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss

News, Politics, Government

4.7 • 867 Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2026

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Marina and Jemma are back in the trenches, sifting through the chaos so you don’t have to.

In this episode, why Keir Starmer can be both competent and deeply frustrating, a baffling “free energy bills” stunt linked to Nigel Farage, and yet more questions swirling around Reform’s candidates and Tice's company tax affairs.

There’s also a diplomatic cringe moment featuring David Lammy and JD Vance, a Tory hypocrisy masterclass, and a reminder that British politics remains, above all else, spectacularly weird.

Plus: unconscious bias checks, Brexit queue rage, a genuinely heartening vox pop, and an underrated section that delivers exactly what it promises.

It’s messy, it’s ranty, it’s occasionally unhinged. It’s The Trawl.

Thank you for sharing and please do follow us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast

Patreon

https://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcast

Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawl

Twitter

https://twitter.com/TheTrawlPodcast

If you’ve even mildly enjoyed The Trawl, you’ll love the unfiltered, no-holds-barred extras from Jemma & Marina over on Patreon, including:

• Exclusive episodes of The Trawl Goss – where Jemma and Marina spill backstage gossip, dive into their personal lives, and often forget the mic is on

• Early access to The Trawl Meets…

• Glorious ad-free episodes

Plus, there’s a bell-free community of over 3,300 legends sparking brilliant chat.

And it’s your way to support the pod which the ladies pour their hearts, souls (and occasional anxiety) into. All for your listening pleasure and reassurance that through this geopolitical s**tstorm… you’re not alone.

Come join the fun:

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Okay, it's Friday. Let's try.
0:03.6	Be a little bit cheerful in this draw.
0:06.1	I think that people don't realize quite what are real and the second-hand embarrassment is unavoidable due to the losers running the world.
0:35.5	I'm Marina Perkis.
0:36.8	And I'm Gemma Forte, and let's start off by saying thank you, trawlers, to all of you.
0:43.6	And some of you particularly have just been so kind lately.
0:48.2	We've actually had a lot of you getting in touch to say that, obviously, the trawl is audio,
0:53.3	it's an audio experience. But you would love to
0:55.9	see a little bit more sort of footage of sort of behind the scenes, the planning process, what Marina
1:02.2	and I go through when we're sort of setting up each week and sort of doing the running orders
1:06.4	and everything. So do you know what? Really? They want to know that? Yeah. Yeah. And I thought budget-wise,
1:12.2	we're not quite there yet in terms of sort of getting a crew to come and capture us at our wild best.
1:17.6	However, I just thought, look, if that's what you want, we're here for you. So we have managed to
1:22.9	capture a little bit of audio taken from one of our writing sessions where we scroll through socials, so you don't have to. I'm trying to stay sane. I'm saying she's stale. Two glasses to help steady me nerves. Medication. I haven't lost it. I'm so angry. Bordered on the jury. I love my lips. Certainly don't want you. I'm on medication.
1:45.4	For God's sake.
1:46.1	That's not the last thing I want.
1:47.5	I'm not, thank you. I'm mad. I'm on drugs. I'm on pills for God's sake. That's about the long and short of it, isn't it? It is. that was actually Gail Platt from Corrie,
1:59.3	posted by Wibble Wobbs,
2:00.8	but I thought it was pretty spot on.
2:03.7	So there you go.
2:04.5	You've had you a little is that was actually Gail Platte from Corrie posted by Wibble Wobbs, but I thought it was pretty spot on.
2:03.6	So there you go. You've had you a little behind the scenes of Trawl HQ. Right, we've decided to start
	...

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