The Trawl

Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss•twitter.com

The Trawl is the podcast that dives headfirst into the political chaos, media spin, and social media absurdity of the week - so you don’t have to.

Hosted by broadcasters and political commentators, Jemma Forte and Marina Purkiss, it’s part therapy, part takedown, and always unfiltered.

Each episode, Jemma and Marina trawl through the week’s most viral tweets, jaw-dropping headlines, and rage-inducing soundbites - offering sharp analysis, dark humour, and the occasional expletive. From Westminster to world affairs, they call out hypocrisy, amplify truth, and remind you that you’re not losing your mind - just living through it.

If you’ve ever shouted at the news or laughed through the tears, The Trawl is your people.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last refreshed: October 12th, 2025 at 6:56 AM ⓘ

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Episodes

013: Liz Truss Doesn't Accept The Premise of Your Mortgage

Our trawl of Twitter this week will inevitably be focussing on the fall-out of the not so “mini”, mini-budget and we thought it might be interesting to have a gander at the impact it will have specifically on mortgages and therefore renters too. With a morbid fascination, Marina & Jemma also observe the reactions to the budget, which range from shock, fear, denial, delusion, and for the very few pure delight! We also look on with awe at broadcasters in BBC local radio, as they quiz the Prime...

Sep 30, 2022•46 min

012: The Dark Arts of Thinkie Tankie Bankies

In the 12th edition of The Trawl, Marina Purkiss & Jemma Forte take a deep dive into two articles that feel worthy of some proper scrutiny. In short: basically we’re now being governed by extremists. There’s a lot of Think Tank chat too… one of whom has blocked one of our hosts. The political pair also discuss UK PM Liz Truss’ tete a tete…or tete a tit as far as Truss is concerned… with Joe Biden at the UN conference. Plus there are some clips from LBC’s James O’Brien on trickle down economi...

Sep 26, 2022•41 min

011: Spanking The Treasury - (Mini) Budget Special

Who really benefits from Kwasi Kwarteng’s changes to taxes and government investment? Marina & Jemma trawl through Twitter to make sense of what the government is describing as a “fiscal event”, whilst some people online are describing the trickle down illogic as “a raid" on the economy. It’s a weird week when even Julia Hartley Brewer – a staunch supporter of Brexit and the Tories - says that she’s `’struggling with this mini Budget. I’m largely pro cutting taxes and smaller government, but...

Sep 25, 2022•40 min

010: The Bankers' Bonus "Fiscal Event"

As the UK transitioned from pomp to politics, the Tories prioritised some of - you guessed it! - the richest in society. In this week’s trawl, Marina & Jemma crawl through the debris of The Queue, struggle to side-step the national debate surrounding the privilege of queue-jumping, and then focus on chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s gift to bankers during a cost of living crisis… he even reduced benefits for the poorest in society to, whattaguy! Hang on, did anyone see banker’s bonuses written on ...

Sep 24, 2022•38 min

009: Historical, Hysterical, Socialism, Corruption and... Top Gear

The Queen died last Thursday on the 8th September and, as you’d expect, Twitter lit up with tributes from dignitaries from around the globe and tweets from millions of people expressing heartfelt sadness and grief. Then, as the days went by a lot of it sort of transcended into some absolute sheer, solid lunacy. Reporters who’d been on duty for hours started scraping the barrel for both superlatives and stories, fights between republicans and monarchists broke out and certain media figures starte...

Sep 15, 2022•1 hr 6 min

008: New Cabinet Carnage, Bonfire of Rights and “Specific & Limited” Tory Dystopia

This week’s trawl includes the world’s best booking on a politics show, Twitter’s thoughts on the UK’s new PM, breakfast telly lunacy and more besides. There’s a breakdown of the new cabinet with singing from Jemma whilst Marina gives listeners an illuminating explanation of fracking (can you guess how many of the 20k wells we need have been built?). In a dark week, there are a few shin kicks for right-wing commentator Mike Parry, discussion of the various names of Grant Shapps, and our politica...

Sep 07, 2022•1 hr 2 min

007: Heckling Tories, Meeting Starmer, BBC Impartiality

This week’s Trawl is brimming with corruption, politicians getting an earful, cost of living panic, Tory incompetence and Twitter take downs. Outgoing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson shares some thrifty advice, Marina discusses meeting the Labour leader, and Jemma sings a new jingle for lorrrrrrrrd offfff the weeeeeek!! There’s also a gut-punch clip of a dinner lady discussing the reality of poverty in the UK, which will be exacerbated by the looming energy crisis, and several moments where the ...

Sep 02, 2022•1 hr 6 min

006: Lord of the Lies, Honest Government, Tory Obliteration

Rishi's lovin' it and Truss is ready to go nuclear... whilst Johnson is missing in action. In this week's episode Marina 'still en France' Purkiss and Jemma 'was on TalkTV' Forte scroll through 1000s of tweets, so you don't have to. In their trawl of Twitter our duo have concerns about Sunak's big little lies, share some lolz about the Boris Johnson movie (not sure Jemma's alternative title will pass the marketing dept), and there’s a bit of pudding at the end of the pod about the glamour of sta...

Aug 25, 2022•1 hr 2 min

005: Tories Urge Whilst Prices Surge

🎧 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Podtail | Pocketcasts In episode five, political commentators & broadcasters (& can they call themselves podcasters now too?!) Marina Purkiss and Jemma Forte sigh and laugh and sigh some more. Our chuckling duo also find some solace in the shape of a few visceral and fact-filled voices. As Jemma points out, Britain’s basically stopped working and needs switching off and on again. People on Twitter have got plenty of ideas on how to fix ...

Aug 16, 2022•55 min

004: Tory clowns, the UK frowns, and a lorra Brown

“Perhaps a nice contrast to nuclear annihilation…” Jemma ‘is back from beefa’ Forte and Marina ‘has the builders in’ Purkiss, once again scroll through Twitter, so you don’t have to. In the fourth episode of the pod they discuss former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s comments on the UK’s economic crisis, ponder little Englander Liz Truss’ latest remarks about the Welsh & Scottish leaders, and there’s your weekly dose of trade union heart throb Mick Lynch. 🎧 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spoti...

Aug 10, 2022•46 min

003: RMT dreamboats, tits and Tories

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Podtail | Pocketcasts Broadcasters and political commentators, Marina and Jemma, contemplate why the focus of the latest Conservative leadership debate appeared to be on how cheap Liz Truss’ earrings were, when simultaneously Martin Lewis was shouting into the Twittersphere about warm banks. Our hosts grapple with Labour’s stance on labour and when that all gets too much, they turn to Mick Lynch for some words of wisdom. As ever there’s an underra...

Aug 01, 2022•52 min

002: 55% Tory Dimwittery vs 3% climate and 100% Mick Lynch

From Don’t Look Up to maximum cringe… this week political commentator Marina Purkiss and broadcaster Jemma Forte discuss the UK government’s removal of bodily autonomy from an international human rights statement (could UK abortion laws be changing?!), the Conservative leadership race including how anyone overseas can vote, and Supertanskiii’s appeal . This episode also contains clips from Andrew Marr on LBC, GB News, and our podcast chart rivals, Newscast. Give us a follow over on Twitter, we’r...

Jul 24, 2022•37 min

001: The Tombola of Tory Talent

Political commentator Marina Purkiss and broadcaster Jemma Forte delve into the week in tweets. The Trawl doomscrolls Twitter so you don’t have to. Each week our hosts discuss who in politics has digitally soiled themselves and who has been excellent in no more than 280 characters. Following hot on the hells of the pilot episode, Episode 1 was recorded on Sunday 17th July 2022 during the wearying heights of the Conservative Party leadership election amidst record temperatures in the UK. You can ...

Jul 17, 2022•34 min

The Trawl podcast: Pilot Episode

Here’s the pilot episode of The Trawl . Please let us know if there is anything you’d love to hear more of in future episodes by sending us some feedback over at @TheTrawlPodcast We’ll be on “all the networks” soon. For now, keep in touch by subscribing to get our emails: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thetrawl.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ...

Jul 11, 2022•37 min

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