There's a huge chance you've seen the Netflix drama, Adolescence, but, if you haven't, don't worry, no spoilers in this episode. However, Jemma and Marina talk around the central theme and why we all need to catch up quickly when it comes to the dangerous side of social media. Why is misogyny on the rise? How do we as a society combat the disgusting narratives people like Andrew Tate pedal to young minds? And why did this particular show have such a huge impact on its audience? The drama has bee...
Mar 27, 2025•41 min•Ep. 236
Reeves' Spring statement is looming but as Marina and Jemma await what sound like it's going to be underwhelming, unimaginative and full of austerity, they get into the far juicier news from across the pond. Should any attack be planned on a group chat? And even if so, perhaps inviting in a journalist wasn't the cleverest thing to do. Though given said chat is strewn with emojis and demonstrates no care for the loss of life they're planning to inflict, perhaps clever would be pushing it in the f...
Mar 26, 2025•40 min•Ep. 235
Jemma is fresh off a flight back from her holiday for this episode, so what better way to get her back to into the swing of things than to discuss Reform's dodgy new appointment, who once said Hitler was "brilliant" and described Bashar al-Assad as "gentle by nature". He sounds just wonderful. Next, a moment of commiseration as Jemma and Marina describe how the UK can no longer be considered a rich country due to collapsing living standards for the poorest 40%. Do you know what would come in rea...
Mar 22, 2025•36 min•Ep. 234
While Jemma suns herself on holiday, Marina has taken charge of the running order, so you're in for a Trumptastic ride... Starting with the latest in totally unnecessary trade wars. Not only do the Americans have Trump to deal with, they now have the prospect of even more expensive booze thanks to retaliatory tariffs on The EU. Trump has reassured them however, that they'll be able to drink US made Champagne... Who's going to break it to him? Jemma and Marina discuss the obscene optics of having...
Mar 19, 2025•39 min•Ep. 233
Sometimes, Jemma and Marina feel like they're having a fever dream. First they're agreeing with Dan Hodges from The Mail, then Trump is confusing transgenic mice with transgender mice. Furthermore, upon being told his error, rather than burying himself under a duvet so he can hide due to abject mortification, he's doubling down. Still, it's not like this person is in charge of the US or anything. Oh....... The latest Trump week from hell has been a biggie, he's making another bid for Greenland, ...
Mar 14, 2025•55 min•Ep. 232
The sun has had it's hat on, in the UK. Marina is not in the UK. She's still on holiday, where it's cloudy. What are the chances? Somehow, Jemma has managed to find a Cilla clip that draws a comparison to the situation. Marina takes it well and, Trawl trooper that she is, she's packed her mic so she and Jemma can trawl through what on earth is going on at Reform UK. Despite being able to count the number of MP's they have on one hand, there's serious trouble at mill and a very public spat has en...
Mar 12, 2025•33 min•Ep. 231
The Trawl ladies begin by paying tribute to Hollywood legend, Gene Hackman who has passed away. Morgan Freeman spoke powerfully about him at The Oscar's and then Jemma and Marina select their other highlight from The Academy Awards which was the emotional moment when No Other Land won Best Documentary Feature. The film which you can see on Channel 4 is about life under occupation in the West Bank and was made by an Israeli and Palestine collective. Hearing from a Palestinian man and then an Isra...
Mar 07, 2025•42 min•Ep. 230
What a time to be alive. The news cycle is insane. Even people who normally don't talk about politics, are talking about politics - cue Susannah Constantine. In this episode Jemma and Marina revisit the various scenes from The Oval Office starting, of course, with Starmer's audience with the giant human wotsit that is Trump. Marina and Jemma both agreed that whilst it was faintly nauseating to watch the PM handing over a letter from the King, it was also a diplomatic coup and very cleverly playe...
Mar 05, 2025•41 min•Ep. 229
Jemma and Marina have both followed Ashley on Instagram (where she has a gigantic following) for a while now so were delighted to discover that she listens to The Trawl regularly. Ashley is the political commentator on This Morning, a vocal feminist and passionate about sharing just as much 'reality' on Insta as she does glamour. With all that in mind, Marina and Jemma were fascinated to talk about her stint at GB News, the time she interviewed porn star Bonnie Blue and to find out why she cites...
Feb 28, 2025•45 min
The pod opens by addressing the dilemma many of us face as we try to not raise politics in every conversation, despite it impacting almost every facet of our lives, and the ladies reveal a new word that we can all begin using more often to express how we feel. And no, it doesn't begin with c... Then it's onto Starmer's defense spending announcement which was so significant that the Reform poster boys, or Putin's poodles as they should affectionately be known, didn't even bother to turn up to. Th...
Feb 27, 2025•40 min•Ep. 228
Jemma and Marina are concerned for any Trawlers who may have been left unsettled after their recent chat about Stormzy's controversial McDonald's deal so they are delighted to read a statement on the matter. Though it is written by Michael Spicer so tongues should be placed firmly in cheeks. There is an over view of some terrible behaviour from various MP's and then we're off to CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) or beep, beep, beep and beep as Marina aptly renames it! It shouldn't ...
Feb 26, 2025•47 min•Ep. 227
The Trawl ladies are dismayed to learn that worldwide Joe Rogan has three billion listeners. His is the most popular podcast in the world which is why it's rather disturbing to hear him saying that Musk isn't doing anything for the money..... Fortunately, plenty of other people, aren't as impressed and a clip of former governor Michael Steele, who was also chair of the Republican National Committee, losing his temper MSNBC is blistering and somewhat reassuring given the fact he's a Republican. T...
Feb 21, 2025•39 min•Ep. 226
Just occasionally, social media can deliver something really heart warming and Jemma and Marina were moved by the fact that Jamie Theakston's listeners at Heart FM cared enough to make him see a doctor when they noticed his voice had changed. As a result he received a cancer diagnosis and fortunately now has been given the all clear. His words are really worth listening to. And the BAFTA for best presenter goes to.....David Tennant for making not one, not two but three Trump jokes during his mon...
Feb 20, 2025•33 min•Ep. 225
The sun came out in Britain for about five minutes so Marina and Jemma thought they'd better begin this episode with that incredible news. Maybe blue sky (not the social media platform) will take the edge of the new world order? But first, seeing as the news is borderline dystopian and jaw-droppingly surreal, it's only natural that the BBC should be focusing on Rachel Reeves' LinkedIn and whether or not she put £49 on expenses 100 years ago. TOTALLY NORMAL COUNTRY. Meanwhile, Trump appears to be...
Feb 19, 2025•40 min•Ep. 224
Love, positivity, drama, scandal, horror, and chaos, it's all in the air during this episode of The Trawl. Marina has a theory. She suspects that Jemma had a lot of stuff bookmarked that wasn't appropriate for normal Trawls so has decided to do a Valentine's ep so she can sandwich it in. She might be right... The Trawl ladies kick off with some reasons to be cheerful and reminders that whilst it might not feel like given the political hellscape, the world is full of wonderful people. Not just po...
Feb 14, 2025•42 min•Ep. 223
Marina has been feeling particularly overwhelmed by the news cycle lately so Jemma insists on joining in the UK conversation about identifying as llamas. Labour MP, Andrew Gwynne, has been fired for writing dodgy WhatsApps and his replacement tweeted (years ago) something about not caring if people want to identify as llamas. Cue right wing meltdowns from the usual suspects. Still, thankfully Lee Anderson is on hand to explain what a llama is in case his followers weren't sure. Sadly the trawl l...
Feb 12, 2025•34 min•Ep. 222
Marina and Jemma open with a flicker of good news, before putting on their waders to get stuck into the latest political developments stateside... They revisit the ugly fallout from the two fatal air disasters, Trump's inane ramblings and the insanity of blaming diversity, equity and inclusion before turning their attention to the latest monstrosity to fall out of Trump's mouth when discussing his intentions for Gaza - or what he is now referring to as 'The Riviera of the Middle East'. There's s...
Feb 07, 2025•35 min•Ep. 221
Jemma and Marina open with a nod to the five year Brexit anniversary, sharing details from all the wonderful celebratory street parties and endless Brexit benefits... Except they didn't, as they were and are none, as even GB News found out. There's some chat around Starmer's trip to the EU and what it means before moving swiftly on to another country that is stupid enough to wage tariff wars with its closest trading partners - hello Trump's US. The ladies discuss the caving of Trump on his threa...
Feb 05, 2025•38 min•Ep. 220
It’s the podcast that trawls social media so you don’t have to. Join political commentator Marina Purkiss and broadcaster Jemma Forte to find the most interesting, hilarious and sometimes ridiculous takes of the week’s trending news. Here’s a segment from some of their recent episodes on Trump ‘saving’ TikTok (and why we should be very worried) and whether Labour have just become Tories 2.0? Listen to The Trawl wherever you find your podcasts. If you’ve even mildly enjoyed The Trawl, you’ll love...
Feb 03, 2025•10 min
Marina and Jemma begin this episode talking about their various coping strategies for living through a political binfire and... January. They have classical music in common but a clip from comedian Michael Spicer causes them to wonder, is The Trawl the equivalent to Classic FM? Then, they can't put if off any longer, it's time to find out what the newly inaugurated President has been up to and man, he's been busy. Busy making hellish statements about Gaza, busy deporting people, busy making cuts...
Jan 31, 2025•41 min•Ep. 219
Jemma opens with some imaginings of a world far different from the one we inhabit now, where Trump is deposed, Putin is departed and David Attenborough leads the way, before swiftly moving on to the stark reality of our times... And yes, the world has indeed gone mad, so the first clip of this episode is a pure dose of sense and humanity, which just so happens to come from a 14 year old named Zach. Then into the Labour government we go, and the reviews are far from five stars. Jemma and Marina d...
Jan 29, 2025•38 min•Ep. 218
He's back... Like a bad stench that won't go away, except now it's gone from foul, to putrid and dangerous. Jemma and Marina wade through the inauguration fall out, including an interesting case of f*ck around and find out. They discuss The Village People anthem performed during Trump's big day, which feels like an interesting choice for the MAGA bigots, then it's onto Melania's hat choice (genius move) and the peep show triggered by the garment worn by the partner of Jeff Bezos, or indeed lack ...
Jan 24, 2025•45 min•Ep. 217
Marina and Jemma are finding January 'interesting.' Certainly 'Dry Janning' is beyond them. Trump's been inaugurated for goodness sake and there's a lot of batshittery to Trawl through before they can even begin on that! In this one the Trawl ladies kick off by discussing the 'temporary' ceasefire in Gaza. There's a clip of actor, Guy Pearce, whose response encapsulates the underwhelm they're experiencing given the killing seems to have continued. It's also horrendous to witness Trump and Biden ...
Jan 23, 2025•47 min•Ep. 216
Jemma and Marina were thrilled when two of the original members of UB40 agreed to come on The Trawl Meets. After all, the group are one of the most commercially successful bands of all time, having sold more records than Oasis, over 100 million to be precise. Of course they are almost as known for their political leanings as they are for their wonderful music so it's a match made in Trawl heaven. Even the band’s name is famously a reference to the unemployment benefit form, each had signed havin...
Jan 22, 2025•55 min
Everyone's favourite economy crasher is back on the scene... And she doesn't much like it when you call her that. Yes, Liz Truss is back and this time she's had a cease and desist letter issued to Keir Starmer over the 'defamatory' claim that she 'crashed the economy''. Ok hun. But litigious letters are likely the least of Starmer's worries after what was a monstrous week for Labour. Jemma and Marina discuss the breaking news regrading former Labour minister, Ivor Caplin who appeared to have bee...
Jan 17, 2025•42 min•Ep. 215
Climate change reminded us it doesn't care one jot where you live or how much money you have last week. Marina and Jemma discuss the apocalyptic scenes from LA as fires tore through the region, with some personal experiences that Jemma has permission to share from her friends caught up in the catastrophe. They discuss the perfect storm that led to this and how the fires were not unexpected - in fact, you know who definitely expected the fires? Insurance companies - with many LA residents now bei...
Jan 15, 2025•34 min•Ep. 214
Over the Christmas period, Marina went down a rabbit hole she found completely fascinating. She was vaguely worried Jemma wouldn’t feel the same but she need not have worried. This ep begins with a bit of ‘January’ comedy and ends with potential WW3. Cool! But the meat in this strange sandwich, centres around US H-1B Visas which sounds horrifically dull. Only, when you look into what they are, who supports them, who doesn’t and why, it all suddenly becomes fascinating. Promise! Partly because th...
Jan 10, 2025•39 min•Ep. 213
The Trawl is back! Jemma and Marina are thrilled to be back behind their mics but could not have predicted the kind of fallout and controversy they'd be back with. A certain tech bro, out of control billionaire, has been firing off tweets suggesting, amongst other things, that the US should exert economic pressure on the UK to get far-right agitator Tommy Robinson out of prison and that King Charles should dissolve Parliament, while crossing so many lines there aren't any lines left to cross. At...
Jan 08, 2025•43 min•Ep. 212
The Trawl ladies are getting ready to get back to business. Their thumbs and brains have had a good rest from scrolling and the internet is getting ready for more politics based content. So this is the last 'special' episode before it's back to regular Trawling and Jemma and Marina are enormously grateful to everyone who sent in questions for them to answer and/or put in 'requests.' Find out how Marina and Jemma met, what their biggest regret in life is and who they would shag, marry or snog in ...
Jan 03, 2025•45 min•Ep. 211
On the first day of the New Year, Marina and Jemma aren't quite ready to look forwards. So instead they return to the Trawl archives to relive some of the weirdest and most wonderful parts from vintage episodes. Lots of laughs, some wonderful clips and a very healthy smattering of bell-ends. We hope you enjoy! Happy New Year! Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast Patreon https://patreon.com/TheTrawlPodcast Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@TheTrawl Twit...
Jan 01, 2025•34 min•Ep. 210
