Vanishing Files, BBC Blunders, Tariff Tantrums, and the Hockey Winners Who Became Losers
The Trawl
Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss
4.7 • 867 Ratings
🗓️ 27 February 2026
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on The Trawl, Marina and Jemma sift through a news cycle that feels less like global politics and more like a lads’ WhatsApp group with state power.
In the US, the Epstein saga takes another disturbing turn as fresh reporting suggests dozens of pages have vanished from the public database — including material relating to allegations against Donald Trump. As questions swirl around the Department of Justice and potential cover-ups, Trump is busy raging about tariffs, lashing out at the Supreme Court, and assembling a “Board of Peace” that looks more like a billionaire protection racket.
Back home, the BBC racks up not one but two eyebrow-raising moments — from by-election “impartiality” that looks anything but, to the BAFTAs fallout that reignites serious questions about racism, responsibility and who institutions are really shielding when things go wrong.
Meanwhile, in a locker room in the States, Trump phones the victorious US men’s hockey team and jokes about “having to” invite the women champions too — thankfully, the women respond with considerably more class (and a rather fabulous Vegas twist).
Add in Tony Blair positioning himself as a global peacemaker while Gaza remains in ruins, rumblings of escalation with Iran, and yet another threat from within Trump’s own supporter base, and the picture becomes clear: power is being hoarded, accountability is being dodged, and the gaslighting is relentless.
It’s dark. It’s absurd. It’s deeply unsettling. But as ever, Marina and Jemma find the clarity, the receipts, and the underrated internet gems that make it survivable.
Buckle up, trawlers.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I can destroy the trade. I can destroy the country. |
| 0:15.0 | Hello and welcome to The Trul, the unofficial support group for people who can bear to keep up with the news. I'm Marina Perkis. And I'm Gemma Forte. And great troll for you coming up, full of Trumpy lunacy. We did the Andrew episode earlier on in the week. We've done a cracking reform one and a time of record. Oh, gosh. We don't know what the by-election result is, but we'll be finding out today when this is in your ears. So bear with us on that and we'll go into it next week. But also... What's that notification going to say? What's the notification going to say when we wake up in the morning? What's it going to say? Who is it going to have gone to? It does feel like a big moment this particular by-election, doesn't it? |
| 0:54.7 | It really does. |
| 0:55.8 | It's because, you know what, it's a bit like I remember back in the 1994 World Cup final |
| 1:00.4 | and it was when Italy were in the final with Brazil and obviously I supported Italy when |
| 1:05.3 | I was younger. |
| 1:06.1 | And going into school the next day, part of it was I couldn't bear all the teasing I was |
| 1:10.1 | going to get, all the gloating. That, part of it was I couldn't bear all the teasing I was going to get, all the gloating. |
| 1:27.8 | That's part of it. Part of it is, I don't want the gloating. And the other thing is, it's a bit of a barometer, isn't it? It is. It is. But where the nation is. That's why it's scary. Just as the midterms in November will be over in the States. It's all important trawlers. |
| 1:29.5 | I tell you what else is important. |
| 1:27.8 | And I am being really over in the States. It's all important trawlers. |
| 1:29.5 | I tell you what else is important. |
| 1:32.2 | And I am being really professional in this episode for a change. |
| 1:37.0 | I am going to do a proper bit of trawl business before we get going, all right? |
| 1:37.9 | Because we never do that. |
| 1:39.3 | We always forget and we do it at the end. |
| 1:40.2 | Go, oh, by the way. |
| 1:42.4 | So I'm going to do a drum roll and everything. |
| 1:43.4 | Hang on. |
| 1:43.8 | There we go. |
| 1:56.5 | Marina and I are being let loose on an actual stage in London on May the 15th at a theatre called the Other Palace, which is in Victoria. |
| 2:03.7 | I'm not quite sure what it's going to entail, |
... |
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