Israel and Palestine protests, landlords furious with Gove, and Producer Laura reveal | Pubcast #26

This week we are without Ed, but our Scottish quota is thankfully filled by a Pubcast debut for Producer Laura.
Laura gives us the lowdown from the Israel vigil held in London on Sunday, and we discuss the pro-Palestine protests the day previous.
We also discuss Michael Gove's planned renters reform bill, which would end the practice of no-fault evictions in the UK, which has infuriated some of his Tory colleagues.
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[@stephenwood2172]

Honestly find it baffling that whenever this issue is discussed there's often no mention of the root cause of all the violence: the brutal apartheid regime.

[@alanmackie8486]

Thank you for bringing this rambling self-absorbed conversation on Gaza down to earth. This atrocity is being discussed as though it came out of the blue when Israel has effectively locked up 2.5 million Gazans in an open air prison for 14 years. Furthermore the deal Netanyahu was cooking up with the Saudis et al would have condemned them to fester in that prison till kingdom come. The lack of context plays into the hands of Israelis who claim in a political context there is in Golda Meir's words ' no such thing as a Palestinian' and Israel therefore has title to all the land. It is a profoundly colonialist concept and a profoundly racist one.

[@mytimetravellingdog]

And if you accept (and it's a dumb insulting analogy given it's an extremely different situation particularly since the Oslo accords) that then you should also understand how the actual apartheid ended and how it might have gone a lot worse if the ANC had committed this sort of mass crime against humanity against white south african civilians and constantly talked about genociding them then a relatively peaceful transition into a democracy probably wouldn't have happened. How it also probably would have destroyed the unity of the international community around the issue and generally.

[@mytimetravellingdog]

​@@alanmackie8486 It did to some extent come out of the blue. Have a read of what they actually did and how they did it and the guide to commiting crimes against humanity they took with them. Have a read if you can still justify Hamas's actions then. It takes what ISIS did and went some further. It's so far beyond legitimate armed resistance that. So yes that's a much worse situation. Also given everything, what the hell do you think Hamas are doing? They knew what would happen. They knew it would kill the prospect of any peace for a generation. That was the point. They want to make things worse for Palestians and provoke Israel into attacking and provoke a wider war. And fundamentally Hamas don't believe in peace and cling to power because of conflict. They obvious oppose it. So it's likely one of the main reasons they committed the atrocity. Israel normalising relations with Saudi Arabia would have made a long term negotiated two state settlement a possibility. That's literally the only way forward now. No one seriously thinks there is another option. And if there was ever a hope of it it's long dead because you can't share a country with people who are genocidal.

[@videoaddict961]

@@mytimetravellingdogI agree with this but the apartheid government weren’t shelling the shit out of the Bantustans, cutting off their power, water etc, in the same way were they?

[@mb7290]

Agreed, they've been incredibly disappointing on this tbh. They seem to have a lack of diversity at Politics Joe which could have something to do with it, not accusing them of racism btw, I'm just saying it might be a blind spot.. Context needs to be reiterated as much as possible anyway, most of the media is treating it like it began on the 7th October. Now I don't agree with attacking civilians, but it certainly wasn't an unprovoked attack.

[@littlestone1541]

When we talk about how antisemitism has increased during this moment, we need to point out that so has Islamophobia. One of which is essentially sanctioned by the government.

[@enemywithin1295]

They did mention that. Difference is one has increased by nearly 1,500%.

[@gegenpress1695]

@@enemywithin1295a Muslim Palestinian child was murdered in America by a pro-Israel supporter.

[@EGF1000]

Last figures I read were 1,350% increase in antisemitic hate crimes in London, and 140% Islamophobic hate crimes

[@guyguy9913]

@@enemywithin1295it always amuses me how people feel the need to bring up another side whenever Jewish suffering is mentioned. It’s always minimised

[@EamonCoyle]

There was honestly no way to clean up or clear up the idiocy of what that guy said on stage and its simply an extension of what Israel do in weaponising the Judean religion that he thinks there is any justification to using gay pride to support the murder of innocents in Gaza.

[@hanumaniam]

Gove's speech was honestly sickening

[@TheFamousMockingbird]

its embarasing that you just hear the same talking points for 15 fucking years now, its like they all have que cards and practice going through them anytime there is some level of conflict escalation

[@MalTimeTV]

I don't know if, when speaking about the demonstrations, we need to pander to the Right's portrayal of them. There were 100k+ people on the march, pretty much all of them like me - people that are simply outraged by Israel's actions against Gaza. But once again, the Right have cherry-picked the attendance and decided to portray it as the general.

[@Alice-go2nc]

This. I was disappointing by this coverage

[@thecollector6746]

It's all the pro-Israel and cowardly "centrists" have at this point. They can no longer convincingly deny that Israel from it's very beginning is a White Supremacist, colonial project that has been waging a slow burn campaign of ethnic cleansing/genocide against the native brown people who have been there for the last 3000 years or so.

[@bandibear]

This! Super disappointed glad I'm not the only one. x

[@harigoodman7718]

Exactly, and seemed to be wishy-washy when taking about Gove’s speech (as a main speaker) which seems to support the IDF’s war crimes in Ghaza but seemed willing (and rightly so) to condemn the pro-Hamas small minority who were next to the Palestinian protest.

[@tombroadway3433]

Olly's position is abysmal. A retreat to "its a complex issue" while disregarding the illegality and basic immorality of the current status quo, and then to try to stake out a position of moral authority by making the blanket claim that both sides have dehumanised the other!

[@albertbrammer9263]

In other words, we need a wealth tax. Damn you Labour for walking back on it.

[@littlestone1541]

Yeah, the Labour Party isn't even a labour party anymore. Starmer and his ilk don't represent the workers any more than the Tories do. They represent the interests of corporate lobbyists, the bosses, big landlords, the CEOs of multinationals, etc... In short they represent the big capital owners, not us. We need a new working class party.

[@jimmyandrews3963]

It’s my own fault for opening a JOE video with my headphones on high volume.

[@julianshepherd2038]

It's like Saturday morning kids TV.

[@Firkinnel]

Compost Corner !

[@andrewclarke6916]

Scared the life out of me too!

[@curtisfullman3694]

Maybe people wouldn't resort to violence if our government wouldn't turn a blind eye to the horrific war crimes Israel has been committing for over 70 years the people have had enough of your government supporting horrific wars and the murder of innocent people of all backgrounds and our government are only interesting in pursuing their own agenda's. But I guess condemning Israel is akin to admitting the role the british government had in completely destabilising the middle east as well as this horrific conflict. The fact out government hasn't officially stated that Israel's plan on inflicting collective punishment of the innocent Palestinians is a war crime is disgusting.

[@stephenwood2172]

Agree and such a shame that Joe doesn't have the minerals to state this objectively true context, presumably because they're too scared of losing viewers.

[@petertbbrett]

Laura was great; she should be a regular! Hearing from the two women who have fled Israel to London, it occurs to me that no Palestinian civilians from Gaza will have been able to do likewise.

[@EGF1000]

Yours is a convoluted, loaded and at best irrelevant comment. I might as well point out that some people drive lamborghinis in Gaza and there are car showrooms with high end Mercedes

[@rippspeck]

@@EGF1000 Way to say nothing of value there, chap. You're just showing your own ignorance: it's literally impossible to leave Gaza these days, especially when you're Palestinian. You're a certified muppet. Take your whataboutism back to your echo chamber.

[@vinylhunter8316]

​@@EGF1000***were***

[@sethsergent9896]

​@EGF1000 mate take a seat and a break from this verbal dysentery

[@alanbarker2279]

The war in Yemen has been ongoing since 2015, with no end in sight. The Saudi-led coalition has been bombing Houthi rebels, who control the capital city of Sana'a. The United Nations estimates that over 233,000 people have been killed in the war, including over 10,000 children. The war has also created a humanitarian crisis, with millions of people displaced from their homes and in need of food and medical aid. Does not get reported or elicit marches, for some reason...

[@paulhutchinson5608]

Your right, though we do have to also add that the very people who support Israel are the same people who support the Saudis. Hell we even have british engineers fixing the planes that bomb Yemen

[@user-xu5vl5th9n]

Move along, nothing to see here.

[@ShakirahIbaad]

There isn’t unity amongst the Muslim community with regards to the Yemen crisis. This one of reasons for a much less wide scale response in the U.K. It’s horrendous that my fellow Muslims allow sectarianism to stop them supporting the oppressed Yemenis.

[@swonder2245]

House spiders are acclimatised to live indoors and actually die in the cold Ava, so they're coming inside your flat to stay alive and your face is providing the spiders with sustenance ♡

[@jezlawrence720]

So what you're saying is she needs to sprinkle fly snacks on her windowsill, and maybe set up a tiny buffet table and bar? ...I concur.

[@iechydda8764]

Alternatively, it's peppermint that keeps spiders away. You can buy a spray for your home with peppermint in it, or put peppermint essential oil and water, or peppermint tea and water, in a spray bottle. I'm trying not to jinx myself but I recommend it!

[@2011iaac]

I was at the demonstration on Saturday. There were quite a few Jewish people (for example Jews for Justice for Palestine) there marching in support of Palestine. I talked to several of them. Neither I nor they (as far as I know) was aware of Hizb-ut-Tahrir being anywhere near our mass demonstration. The march was very mixed in terms of age, ethnicity, religion etc etc. The only chants I heard were calling for an end to the occupation and a cease fire. The right wing in this country are despicable, dishonest and latching onto Israel AND wrongly equating Judaism with Israel. I think Jews for Justice for Palestine would disagree. The anti Palestinian crap from the main stream media has a simple name - RACISM.

[@Lime-tx5eu]

couldn’t have put it better myself

[@Deleteyourself83]

Devils advocate here. People can have different points of view without the reason for holding those views being racism. Name calling anyone you disagree with is always counterproductive, all you're doing is reinforcing the division. You can have the best argument in the world but if you follow that argument by calling me racist I'm going to stop listening and disregard all your points.

[@harigoodman7718]

Bit disappointed that you couldn’t also talk about islamaphobic hate crimes have also doubled (and some of the horrible things that have been said/done on pro-Israel protests. You were right to talk about the rise in antisemitism of course but then, despite claiming a “nuanced” perspective, seemed to fall in the Right’s narrative.

[@cassthefish6946]

This is bang on. And then discussing 2 Israelis who CHARTERED a flight to the UK and discussing their trauma. Ofc it was traumatic. But people in Gaza have no bomb shelters and they cannot charter flights to escape. Israel experienced 1 day of the fear and trauma that Palestinians feel all the time.

[@GetGwapThisYear]

Out of interest, were those two women asked how they feel about Israel’s bombardment of Palestine?

[@llum0121]

Why is the rise in antisemitism in the UK being highlighted so much and not a single mention of rise in islamophobia?

[@michaelohara49]

Isn't it obvious ? One is predominately white while the other is predominately brown, that is the reason, if I was to guess.

[@spewter]

Jewish people have more influence in UK society. There are Jewish people in high positions in most industries and institutions Jewish people are seen as the victims for what Hamas did, whereas there is less sympathy for Gazans following Israel’s attacks Jewish leaders are always very quick to proclaim anti-semitism, whether it truly is bigotry or whether it’s criticism of Israel. Since WW2 and the Holocaust, people in the UK are more fearful of anti-semitism. There is not the same concern for Islamist bigotry “The West” feel more aligned with Jewish people on a cultural level. For example Israel has equal rights for LGBT people and is democratic. Meanwhile, Islam is homophobic and undemocratic, instead aspiring to sharia law and authoritarian societies.

[@ltmund]

Antisemitism is racism. Islamophobia isn't.

[@PerformanceCheck]

Wonderful debut from Laura, great job, insightful podcast! 💫

[@Czechbound]

Hear, hear !

[@EamonCoyle]

I am in Northern Ireland and we have had an eternally mixed relationship with the police but in the case of the march last weekend I think the met should be given a bit of credit for the way they dealt with the protest. It seemed to me that in this instance the police were well trained and did not make any rash decisions or cause additional problems, especially given the political pressure from Cruella. I will caveat that with the reality that the police have a long way to go but I think for general community relations in the UK they should be quietly applauded this time !!

[@kassistwisted]

Story of my life. I'm a small business owner. I have to fight with new landlords to prove I can pay the rent. I've been paying €2500 a month for the last 10 years. Never missed a rent payment. Put down 3x monthly rent three time for security and got every penny back because I took care of the houses. But a mortgage company won't give me a mortgage for more than €750. And now I'm 56 years old so I'm "too old" for a mortgage. I'm going to be working for the next 20-30 years, but they're afraid I will just stop paying my mortgage. And live where? I'm going to be paying someone this money. Why not pay a mortgage with it? It's insane. I've worked in finance. If they want to lend to you, your record of paying rent is good proof of your risk level. But in the US and the UK and the EU, they hide behind their "policy". I don't understand how that benefits them.

[@bensalt1185]

When it comes to housing - there are so many protections for landlords and requirements that tenants have to jump through from minimum earnings to employment types, no pets etc etc. Yet landlords don't have as many minimum standards - there is electrical and gas safety, the contract outlines what has to be covered, but there is no minimum standard focussed on quality. London flat searching literally feels like a gamble...

[@robinsanders5541]

I’m a landlord and don’t see why we have the right to kick out a tenant for practically no reason. I can understand if they don’t pay the rent, trash the place or use the property to engage in illegal activity but those are already covered under other laws. If you want them out, it’s a simple case of informing them that their contract will not be renewed and then ensuring its fulfillment. All this stuff is under agreement in a tenancy contract and if the tenant doesn’t fulfill their side, there are clauses in place that allow its enforcement. Quite rightly so, there are also requirements for the landlord to fulfill. I’m hardly the world’s nicest property owner but I would like to know who is up in arms about this as it will identify the landlords that make people hate us so much.

[@RobertoAlves-hf2tf]

​@@robinsanders5541 the hate comes from political rhetoric happily propagated by the media (right and left). There are bad actors in the industry, as everywhere else, but I've never saw any statistics proving that most landlords evict people for any reason or don't do for repairs. Most landlords see their properties as businesses, and it makes business sense to keep tenants for longer as possible and properties well looked after.

[@mytimetravellingdog]

@@RobertoAlves-hf2tf they evict people because they can charge people more rent. It's not the number of people actually evicted that's the problem . It's the fact that landlords can make an explicit or implicit threat of eviction basically every 6 or 12 months (depending on contract length) to extort more money out of tenants. If tenants challenge landlords, landlords tend to give notice.

[@RobertoAlves-hf2tf]

​@@mytimetravellingdog I am not against any of those proposals, but abolishing section 21 (or any of the other proposals) would not make any difference on this scenario. There were no gov proposals to limit further the ability of landlords raising rents (which is already limited to once a year). In the scenario you gave, the landlord would simply raise the rent in the same way, and if the tenant doesn't pay then it would be a section 8, which takes 1-2 more months in the court, instead of a section 21. Tbh all those proposals look like just mimics for Michael Gove to go on TV. In your scenario, you are probably advocating for "rent price controls", but in reality the gov wouldn't be able to do that effectively in the long term without struggling the economy, and it would eventually become something like the ceiling of energy bills, which feels like they don't exist. In my view the only solution for all this is to increase the house supply, by government building abundant social housing to the point that nobody needs to live on street or squeezing in HMOs.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@RobertoAlves-hf2tf I'm quite pleased with what Scotland has done over the last 5 years or so, increasing the minimum notice time, removing discretionary cancellation, ensuring all tenancies are assured rather than short-assured, and implementing basic rent control. And the situation was already slightly better in Scotland before than it is in England now, since we have tacit relocation - so the cancellation notice was required to coincide with the timing of the original tenancy to even be valid, even with no-fault removals in short-assured tenancies.

[@deansalmon1773]

Even better from what Ava said about the new build buy to let. I’m a carpenter and almost had work on a site. 150 houses, 130 bought off plan by an investment firm to make into rentals.

[@newtonswig]

On the transfer of wealth- aren’t the older generation selling up to pay for their retirement/care?? Don’t think most of us’ll see a penny of our mum’s house value.

[@STOP_red_light]

As the Boomers grow old, more and more will survive for longer than their parents ever did and will require a lot more elder care. Care home fees, poor retirement investments and selling the family home "to unlock the investment in your home" will leave Millennials and Gen Z with very little in terms of inheritance.

[@mikedebruyn]

Hamas moved their political leaders and their family out to Qatar before the attack on Israel. They knew what would happen as a reaction on their upcoming terrorist attack. Why is there no anti hamas element in those pro Palestine marches?

[@stephenwood2172]

Because Palestinians get murdered, raped and kidnapped regardless with Israel clearly not interested in a 2 state solution. Evidence: the West Bank and pre-2006 Gaza

[@mb7290]

Say, hypothetically, the people of Gaza rids itself of Hamas, what then? Will Israel lift the siege? Will they stop annexing land in the West Bank? Hamas aren't in charge there, it's the PLO? The people of Gaza aren't given the option of peaceful negotiations, they tried to protest at the gates in 2018 and thousands of people were shot. Hamas is a product of resistance, if you're against the occupation by Israel, you're against Hamas.

[@MrBarry465]

Because there is a distinct lack of empathy towards the Israeli civilians killed from certain members of the public.

[@damianstarr1696]

Did anyone else find the comment comparing the situation in Gaza/Israel to being marched to the death camps in the holocaust a bit much? I had sympathy for the interviewee until that point but the two situations are not at all comparable. I whilst it’s not my lived experience, it felt off comparing the two

[@ShakirahIbaad]

That lady wasn’t even old enough to have experienced it either. I think she meant a collective communal ‘we’. A better comparison is the displacement of Palestinians who’ve had to flee their homes at many points 1948 onwards, including the many Gazans forced to try and flee to the south of Gaza. These are death marches that are often ending in death and destruction.

[@goldenhourg]

You people should get experts to discuss important issues. Comes across as unqualified and boring 🤷🏾

[@stormy7833]

journalist saying that people made up their mind so it doesn't matter to dive into the topic, how pathetic Oli! I thought you have better journalistic integrity than that. 14:30

[@albertbrammer9263]

Social housing should never have been sold.

[@trevfindley]

Personally I would add to that statement 'without being replaced'. I don't think that social housing should have been sold off en masse to buy votes in the way it was, but I can't help but think that the idea of councils building houses, getting an income from them for a number of years (or at least reducing their DSS costs) before they eventually pass into private ownership (at market rate), could actually be a pretty sensible model for increasing housing stock. It could avoid social housing becoming dilapidated, and if local authorities were responsible for more building projects it may also avoid the shockingly poor design and quality of privately produced new builds. There would have to be cast iron policy of actually building to replace what was sold tho. I think it's a really interesting idea, but I don't know whether it's too idealistic to think that it could actually work...

[@nefariouspurplebadger]

Criticism of the state of Israeli is now part of the official definition of antisemitism. So it’s impossible to criticise the state of Israel or it’s government without being accused of antisemitism. So tell me, how where do we go from here?

[@harlyslamm2888]

Israel is immune to all critism and laws, so they have a green light to do anything they want! And this is where we are today

[@goldenhourg]

We reject the false premise and keep fighting for Palestine

[@markwelch3564]

We challenge the assumption that apartheid is jewish. Isn't assuming that all Jews support apartheid kinda antisemitic itself?

[@harlyslamm2888]

@@markwelch3564 i suppose just challenging you is Anti-semitic! blah blah

[@PostingCringeOnMain]

If Michael Gove is so proud of inclusivity, humanity and democracy why does he lose no sleep when signing off on selling so many weapons to the Saudi regime?

[@paulmarshall4793]

I really don't understand why the IDF or any state militaries that engage civilian areas aren't also terrorists? Id love to understand it a bit more if you have more knowledge on this

[@Alice-go2nc]

They are certainly guilty of terrorising the people of Palestine

[@mytimetravellingdog]

I mean Hamas (and PIJ) have a strategy (that is very much a war crime) of operating from and encamping themselves in civilian areas and using human shields knowing retaliatory strikes on their locations will kill civilians. And we're not talking about mere civilian homes but they go deliberately out of their way to launch from for next to buildings like schools and hospitals and the like. It's why there's simply no good answers to addressing Hamas. Cause they are, along with far right settlers in the west bank the biggest obstacle to a long term peace and two state solution. And anyone stupid enough to still think Hamas are freedom fighters really needs to read accounts of the footage collected in the wake of their attack that was show to journalists yesterday. That's not something you can negotiate with. These are people who drew up guides to committing crimes against humanity. They don't want peace anyway but now there simply will never be anyone sitting around a table with them now.

[@paulmarshall4793]

@@mytimetravellingdog thanks for that explanation genuinely appreciate, what I'm really interested in is what other terrorists are going around that we don't think of as terrorists So using human shields is a big part of it for you? Is that worse than striking civilians do you think? Would we consider Churchill egging on Hitler to start the blitz rather than attack military targets terrorism as well? I really appreciate your reply but I'm honestly still confused. I assume Saddam Hussein would be considered a terrorist

[@lisalisala117]

​@@paulmarshall4793So Hammas didn't strike civilians in their recent terror attack? They were ALL civilians which they attacked & killed & kidnapped & raped. You're still confused tho?

[@roystongrange]

LOVE AVA'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS LANDLORDS!!!!

[@LunaRose1312]

I wonder what laura really thinks about freedom for Palestine, she sounds like she supports israel

[@Akuu820]

This housing stuff at the end needs to be edited into its own separate video. People need to hear this.

[@RandallSlick]

Interesting discussion. Alas, the conflation of Jews with the Israeli government and/or the nastier end of extreme nationalist Zionism is not new. Saw it myself as a student in the 90s whereby certain Palestinian and Lebanese students were loudly and performatively anti-Jewish. Then, Yasser Arafat was their idol. Presumably now simply masked men with AKs fill that role.

[@foehammer5047]

Can someone explain the need for sympathy for Israelis able to pay their way out of a war zone? That's a genuine question; I really struggle with really deep sympathy for them. I understand that they have had a recent tragedy, and suffered an act of terrorism. As individuals I am sorry they have suffered, but to put an Israeli woman who payed to just leave on a chartered flight and give her the same status as those fleeing war on small boats is really weird. Israel voted for a government that is oppressing a people, and now they're surprised when there is push back. "Omg I've had to rent an apartment in London while waiting for out overwhelming military to subjugate those unruly Palestinians again." And to draw parallels with the experience of the Jews during WW2 is madness - it feels like Israeli propaganda is geared towards making its people feel like victims constantly. It's a real hallmark of facism; the enemy is both overwhelming AND weak. "We are the victims. Of these human animals." Victim, animals. Overhelming, weak. Palestinians are CONSTANTLY asked to condemn Hamas. Why are Israelis not asked to condemn their government? I reckon they'd be less perfect victims as soon as the racism is revealed.

[@mahoganyk]

So I'm really surprised you have such strong opinions but haven't done the research to know that Israelis didn't "vote for a bad government." Right before this attack happened, there and been huge protests bc Netanyahu was trying to change the judicial system so that he could stay in power. The majority of Israelis didn't vote for him, but bc of how their political system is fucked up similarly to the American electoral college system but much worde, he was able to essentially elect himself. They were protesting him, and most Israelis don't agree with his politics or support him. His approval rating is terrible. So no, an entire nation is not at fault for their government being horrible, and they don't deserve annihilation. Its really important to question your own beliefs when you get to a point where you can't find sympathy for innocent civilians, and that's not a judgment of you just a reflection of how media and social media has misled you

[@mahoganyk]

Also the same argument could be made about Gaza citizens. They elected Hamas. And actually the approval rating for Hamas is supposedly much higher

[@bridgetveldhuis4473]

​@@mahoganyk20 years ago they voted Hamas in. That's a different generation! Now they're stuck with them.

[@andrewroberts8959]

If you are struggling with sympathy for anyone who has suffered personal tragedy just because of where they are from then there is something wrong with you. I also wonder if you would like people to judge you by the actions the current UK Government has taken. By your logic we should all view you as supporting Israel no matter your personal beliefs, because that is the position of your government.

[@cadesibley7409]

As far as I remember, Conkers work for spiders too.

[@alext-f5255]

Let's have Producer Laura on camera side more often!

[@ashleyjones1519]

Regarding renting and Landlords, terms like housing crisis and emergency make it sound like you're talking about a broken system that's not working and the government should do something about it. The system is working exactly as landlords that lobby and control the system have planned it. They want a market of desperate consumers and low resources. Profit before people.

[@MrRaceyrachel]

Really interesting point about some of the Free Speech advocates being the most keen to censor the pro Palestine protests, or displays of solidarity, e.g. the Palestinian flag or chants. I am myself a member of the Free Speech Union. I think it is incredibly important to be extremely consistent when it comes to Free speech. One of the critisms that comes up often, particularly regarding the left trying to censor speech is that people are quick to label speech as hateful based on their own interpretation of what they think the speaker actually means. This is precisely what I am seeing in regards to the pro Palestine marches. I would assume for example that the vast majority of people when they chant "Palestine will be free" mean free from oppression. I think when it comes to banning, or censoring speech it has to be very clear cut that someone is supporting terrorism and or inciting violence, e.g. the individual with the Hamas banner. We must be consistent, otherwise we are being hypocrites. We cannot have a high bar for speech we agree with and a low bar for speech we dislike.

[@kennycube5126]

Laura was excellent 👍 Get her on more if she wants to ✅

[@vamps_rock]

The housing crisis will never be resolved unless/until there is mass takeover of private housing stock back into the public NOT FOR PROFIT domain. Private _for profit_ rented accommodation should be the anomaly, not the norm and 'luxury' priced housing should be just as 'rare' as those people on the upper echelons of the socio-economic ladder. That way we could all afford to live in decent homes, where no-one is forced into rooms only in HMOs because everything else is out of their level of affordability. Also, I'm very disappointed with what appears to be a one-sided view of Israel in this podcast. We are in the midst of a catastrophic war on Palestine and its people, not just Hamas and its appalling actions. I'm someone who has a nostalgic love of the land of Israel and many of the Jewish people I met during my time spent there, but I am appalled at what I'm seeing from the government and its supporters worldwide. Your commentary here shows very little, if any empathy to the people of Palestine and the impacts of a rise in anti-muslim hate crimes here in the UK since the recent war began.

[@TheLucanicLord]

17:20 "Israel is the only country in the middle east where you can hold a pride march". But they're working on it.

[@bazzaboy1100]

The settlers and fundamentalists in Israel are just as bad as in any other country, and Netanayu's govt. speaks for them, never been for peace.

[@siobhan-rae]

there are gay people in gaza? this argument is so dumb.

[@TheLucanicLord]

26:05 The words must be true for all - Khoms and Yangs - or they are not true at all. 47:00 When you can't afford to pay your mortgage, but you can afford to pay somebody else's.

[@joejanota707]

I'm godfather to my nieces. Me and my sister experienced first hand what can happen should the worst occur. It's worth having contingencies just in case to at least try and provide a decent life for your offspring. The alternative could be the separation of siblings and being passed from home to home with little concern for location, familiarity of surroundings or even quality of living for the child. Should the worst happen, I already have a plan for moving closer to the godmother who is nominated for primary care (She has children herself) and schedule myself to be more involved for financial and personal support. While we hope we never have to do this, we planned all this to make sure that a bad situation isn't worse. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

[@bandibear]

Super disappointed. Supporting Palestine does not automatically mean anti-Israel. To allude to this is disingenuous. Take a stand on the right side of history. One is a coloniser the other colonised. Occupier and occupied. You are feeding into this idea that there is nuance. There isn't. Israel are desperate to conflate themselves with Judaism and have done successfully but its not. PJ take a stand do the right thing.

[@nosyncc]

They essentially spouted the same rhetoric as sky news in this episode

[@muffinnman]

In the news this week we saw two police officers sacked for illegally stopping and search two black people (professional athletes Ricardo dos Santos and Bianca Williams). This is the way black and brown people get treated, this time there were consequences but that's only because it was on camera. Mr dos Santos said he's been stopped nearly fifty times by the police. This relates to issue of pro-Palestine and pro-Israel marches and how they are viewed.

[@FlannelPrime]

It was very insightful to have Laura describe the feeling of the crowd during the Pro-Israel march speeches. That's something that doesn't get captured on video clips. Great podcast as always🎉

[@scepticalsaint]

I love it when secular leftists talk about religion In the context of a protest about an actual war, I’d say the use of “Jihad” probably refers to the lesser Jihad. However, the call to the lesser Jihad is not a call to terrorism or war-crimes. It is probably a call to defend the Ummah, unless there is evidence to the contrary.

[@nosyncc]

Why would you not wait until you’ve been to the pro palestine rally to put this out? You waited a while to talk about the situation just until you were able to report on the israeli side. Could you not have waited until you interviewed at both rallies and analysed them one after the other? It all looks very biased to me

[@RedSntDK]

Lavender is used to ward off most bugs. I can't for sure if it works. I tried getting rid of moths using lavender oil mixed with water, but I don't think it did much difference.

[@pastyman001]

I recall two spider bites on my neck from sleeping. They last weeks and go rotten from the venom, which is why I card jar them and throw them outside now. There was a colony of mini transparent Scorpions living on what was a central line (extension) station in Essex. I can't recall if it was Ongar or North Weald. They lasted years from the 70's but gradually died out.

[@kdog4587]

If you're not religious, you call them guideparents. We have them for our kids and they're in our wills as the people who will look after them should anything happen to us. Congratulations on becoming a god parent :)

[@mytimetravellingdog]

godparents aren't there to look after kids if the parents die though. Historically the responsibility of the godparents is to assist with the religious education of the child. Also I'm very anti-religious but godparents is just the term and it doesn't matter. I mean getting kids baptised if you aren't religious is stupid but people do what they do. Especially if they live in a church school area and getting kids baptised is a way to get them into the school they think is better (but actually statistically probably isn't very good when you understand how they use it to exclude a lot of children)

[@shadowofmyfutureself]

That's a very thick table in the studio. Your discussions are great. Grown up. Thoughtful, revealing, insightful. Thanks.

[@nosyncc]

You didn’t really mention much about the palestine protests apart from reporting on the pro-hamas presence there. Interesting

[@greg4732]

Ridiculous bias

[@mattliamjack3293]

A rose between two thorns😂😂😂. Vote green/left. 🌎💚

[@DinnenG]

Vote tactically, get the Tories out!

[@alexbuckenham1663]

Vote green, get Tories. Grow up

[@DinnenG]

@@alexbuckenham1663 I don't think telling people to grow up is conducive to a mature and respectful discourse my friend

[@nefariouspurplebadger]

Hamas is to Gaza and Gazans what the IDF and Israeli government is to Israel and Israelis

[@cdean2789]

About time we talked about the genocide. Free Palestine 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

[@PeleSahota]

I see talking about words is more pressing than white phosperous

[@robkryten]

Am I right in thinking that home ownership is not an asset unless you own two or more of them?

[@Deedumdee]

the podcast is the podcast ladies and gentlemen

[@TheStupidSilence]

Please do a "love podcasts hate nonces" asmr entry randomly as a nice surprise lol

[@NorthYorkshireMan]

Great podcast! Unfortunately the sheer amount of ads on KZbin is making it hard to watch.

[@lisalisala117]

This is a politics show, so I wish he'd stfu with that intro, it's extremely cringe.

[@henners9747]

Who has Israel ever stood with?

[@julianshepherd2038]

First five minutes is just shouting and bllx talk.

[@paulgee1952]

Yes there are scorpions in the UK , not native and very limited , but yes yellow tailed ones are here. I support peoples right to peaceful protest , even if I don't agree with their cause. Yet that is a liberal right hard won through centuries of social and political struggle and war, costing the lives of millions. Through social media we have access to all the horrors inflicted by conflicts , yet with or without our countries say they continue. Extreme Liberal choices like pacifism is also an acceptable position in the U.K, even if that tolerance on a wider spectrum of a majority of the population would fail against aggressive terrorism and Nationalist violent expansion. As is happening in so many places currently , so be free to protest and feel strongly about the violations being perpetrated , but also vote against people who want to pursue here policies that lead to removal and restriction on those freedoms and for needs services ,including a capable military able to fight is necessary to ensure those freedoms are kept here AND elsewhere.

[@rossco3603]

We do indeed have established invasive scorpions in the U.K. so tread carefully

[@jamesgrover2005]

How do you know it's a spider bite? It left it's web address.. Tetratrichobothrius flavicaudis, or the European yellow-tailed scorpion ... an introduced population exists in the United Kingdom. 🙌

[@hapijoel7569]

For whats its worth, I used Credit Ladder to pay my rent for a year or so to build up the credit score to help get a mortgage, much as Ollie is suggesting.

[@phil637]

The sad thing in this is hamas killed people who wanted peace for both Israel & Palestine. And no matter how many people are killed in this....Peace is the only solution.

[@junky360]

Careful your modesty is showing. I think you mean Israel and Hamas have both killed people who want peace. If we were counting, it's evident who has killed more innocent lives. Israel.

[@SashaGrace94]

I’m a fan of the PubCast but I think you need to get someone from Wales on the show, for balance more than anything as you have a lot of English and Scottish guests but no Welsh ones, but also for an in depth analysis of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act (2016) to compare and contrast how this works in law and practice as it would be really interesting to share this viewpoint with the wider people of the UK. I work in social housing and and am chartered in housing and there is so much in RHW that differs from English legislation such as the protections against retaliationary evictions and no fault evictions in the first 12 months have been outlawed as you can only serve notice at the expiration of the first 6 months of the tenancy and it’s a 6 month notice period now. There are ways to evict under S157 which is breach of contract but that’s not a no fault issue.

[@kaitlyn__L]

I noticed there wasn't really any mention of how the situation is much like that in Scotland as well. I agree the situation is atrocious in England currently, and this proposed law wouldn't have gone as far even before it got watered down, but it's important context about ways it can be done.

[@SashaGrace94]

It would be a great topic of discussion. I’m also an RSL board member so I’d hope I could contribute something on the situation re renting even if only from the perspective of the social sector. There is so much we are doing to improve the stock of social housing and in wales we have the DQR and the upcoming WHQS2 to ensure our homes are affordable and safe for tenants. We are doing lots to increase our SAP scores in homes and ensure tenants enjoy the lowest running costs possible. My employer also rents houses out at intermediate and market rent and builds for sale too either with Rent to Own or there are plenty of discounted S106 homes on our new developments but there aren’t nearly enough of them to cover demand. Also in Scotland and Wales the Right to Buy and Associated Acts have been abolished so you can’t buy your social rented home anymore here, Scotland in 2016 I believe and Wales in 2019.

[@sfBE11]

Surely Laura's line should be the wizard of oz because Oli is like the large head, no joke there, but Laura's putting it all together.

[@singsomethingsimple]

Natural spider repellents: peppermint oil, eucalyptus anything citrusy 😊

[@Jasperyeahhh]

AKCHEWALEE I think you'll find that we DO have scorpions in the UK. A single, invasive species called the Yellow Tailed Scorpion. They can only be found successfully breeding in 'Sheerness' though, and I'm not even convinced that's a real place tbh.

[@rononel8046]

Worth pointing out that Gen Y as well as Boomers have benefitted from house price increases.

[@MissMorph]

Are you sure they are spider bites? Have you been to France lately? Or stayed in a hotel? Perhaps check for bed bugs 😬

[@mrelba9176]

Pro-tip. Don't be irrational and religious.

[@steffmay7969]

does Oli just get louder every episode?

[@YDdraigGoch43]

I need a 2 hour show each time from you guys, daily! ❤ also, im pretty sure there are scorpions somewhere around the london area. Saw it on telly once when i was a teenager, still mortified by it, in fact 😂

[@julianshepherd2038]

Yellow tailed European scorpion.

[@grahamleach6232]

There was a colony of them around Ongar station. Don’t know if they are still there.

[@Jonnycrouch]

The Isle of Sheppy in Kent has a population.

[@dw-yl3ln]

I’ve got one of them plug-in spider ultrasonic defender things, and while it doesn’t get rid of all of them, I have seen less.

[@marythorpe928]

What are Leaders of the world,appeasing Israel.. When history shows that Israel has committed so much brutality, murdered women , elderly, and children , They took their lands , displaced them, .. and gave their land to Israeli's .. And the world Leader stood by and watched all of this. How shameful ..

[@sebastianlukasek]

I hope this logic (as opposed to guilt by association) gets applied to other marches/protests as well from now on.

[@elliesanders885]

Hi Rail Staff here- Imo stay proffesional and don't do stuff that may upset/offend when it comes to PA stuff. For example if I have a trainload of people going to a football game, I might tag "And we do hope the right team wins" when at the stop the football fans are going to alight. It makes the journey nicer for them but doesn't do much to impact anyone else travelling. The tube driver has gone fairly political. Regardless of how much or little I agree with him. All I'll say it's not something I would feel comfortable doing.

[@jackietiernan]

Not lavender. It’s peppermint for spiders. They hate it!

[@tribalmattersmtg5532]

Also if you’re on £38k you should not be renting a place for £1500. I found plenty of places within walking distance of my job (save on transport costs) for £7-900 all bills included. It wasn’t pretty but with 4 years I saved enough.

[@Pobotrol]

Conkers to keep spiders out. There is a well established scorpion colony in the UK in Sheerness docks.

[@hanumaniam]

5:44 when the actual politics starts 😊

[@zeustn9525]

My second video from you on Palestine Israel and I must say it's abysmal. No context, no condemnation of the war crimes past and present of Israel, no context, focusing of marginal incidents on the march, falling on the right's narrative and just shallow knowledge of the issue.. I don't know why but I really expected way more

[@RobertoAlves-hf2tf]

41:19 Ava, please explain how do you get your heating, food, water, clothing, transportation and pretty much everything else without making your income someone else's income.

[@siobhan-rae]

all utilities are nationalised again, profits go into maintenance. same with public transport. retail is still income but if you’re buying from sole traders as opposed to huge corporations it’s a good thing.

[@obscureinception8302]

It's unlikely that Ava was bitten by a spider. It is extremely unlikely that she has been bitten by spiders twice within a few weeks. Despite what the trash media try and portray, spider bites are EXTREMELY rare in the UK (they are also rare elsewhere in the world, even in countries where there are soirees that are a risk to humans. It is also pretty much impossible to diagnose a spider bite if you don't actually see the spider while it is biting, as a spider bite looks no different from the bites of insects, which can have extremely variable reactions, especially if they get infected. Even when medical doctors say something is a spider bite, it more than likely isn't one. I realise this was just 'throwaway chatter' at the beginning of the video, but if you are willing to include anything unsubstantiated, and most likely false, in your videos it suggests that the rest of the content could be just as untrustworthy.

[@ILikedGooglePlus]

Every soiree is a risk to a human with social anxiety

[@wyles965]

Commenter working behind the scenes for the spider lobby.

[@UkSapyy]

In my mid 20's I believe I need a 42k salary to get a mortgage, afford to commute/live, and have some money left so I can save something so I'm not reliant on loans when something goes wrong. (I'm not even trying to live the traveling youth life, I literally cannot afford it, best I can do is try to afford kids before I'm 30). However both my parents have rarely made more than 25k, those are working-class wages, with their shared income probably coming in around 40k a year. I'm seriously bloody worried about this as the oldest son I've got some responsibility to take care of them, the cost of living is stretching them thin, while I can barely afford to save, they are just surviving, they have minimum in regards to savings/pensions, state support isn't great so I can't expect anything to help them so it'd be my wage pickign up that weight, wieght that should go towards me having a family. What assets they do have will go towards their care and private care that can swallow 100k in a year, I've worked in private nursing homes and the cost of a room/care a month is crazy, put me in a ditch overpaying that.

[@Christinebanks11]

Until your parliament legalizes pepper and taserrs for self defense , I do not feel safe there. I can't understand how anyone can feel safe there!

[@786itube]

Think about our delicate ecosystem and open your house and heart to spiders, wasps, ants, scorpions, frogs, snakes et al

[@petergrace4047]

Conkers are supposed to keep spiders away.

[@dodgyscampton5668]

How do you know it was a spider that bit you? Did you wake up and see the spider?

[@tonners.pettitt9938]

Free Palestine! there I said it, I will not blindly watch as both sides commit atrocious acts on the innocent PS well done Laura on your cast debut! PSPS, could you talk a little on the Soroptimist movement, international and UK, they've just been granted consultative status by the UN and women everywhere should be really proud!

[@Mike92_]

I've heard that spiders don't like the smell of vinegar, so possibly putting some diluted vinegar in a spray bottle, and spraying it around a doorway may deter them from entering.

[@TheTimelord62]

Lavender oil and you can help if you hover round the edge of every room and apply the oil rouns the rokm after that. Then you can get a lavender dehumidifier so it helps to keep the small of lavender in the air. Spider's dont like the oil on there flegs and the lavender sends a danger signal to them. So it keeps them out.

[@adrianevans263]

Lmao, lighting issue at the start. Ava looks tinted green. Grinching in prep for the holidays? 😂😂

[@Oldmanpeace]

You need Conkers for spiders.

[@SashaGrace94]

In addition to my previous comment re housing, while I do agree with the idea of a government backed loan for a deposit in the same way as Help to Buy, the issue with this is that with houses as expensive as they are and interest rates at 5.25%, if you look at the Skipton model that is helping renters with a 100% mortgage under certain conditions, you see why a 100% mortgage doesn’t work for most. They use a monthly payment measure rather than an income multiplier model, which I would support, but if you consider interest rates and the limited length of a mortgage, even stretching to 40 years, you are unlikely to be able to buy as nice a property as you could afford to to rent in the current market. So where I live, a house like mine would rent for £1250pcm but my mortgage, with a 22.5% deposit is £1650 over 30 years and the house is worth approx £400k. In that circumstance, assuming the bank would lend you a mortgage on the value of your rental payment with a bit of headroom for a rate increase, you would struggle to buy a house as nice as you could rent and that’s a bit of a problem if you ask me. It only really works if you stay in the property for the duration, if you want to move in 5 years you would have a high chance of negative equity. I’d love to solve the crisis and having more homes available under S106 agreements with looser eligibility criteria so more people can buy them would be a great start IMO.