Mark and Pete

2021 could be bad and I mean really bad. Mark and Pete here go through predictions for 2021 by analysing trends in business, politics, religion and culture from 2020. It could be worse. But there is a bright spot a possibility of redemption. Listen to the whole episode, or skip to near the end to find out. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mark-and-pete--1245374/...

Happy #Christmas everybody! Here's a funny festive feast of humour from your favourite friendly curmudgeons to ease you into the Yuletide season. Don't give up, keep the faith, have a giggle. Yours, Mark and Pete. Jingle Bells 7 by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Become a suppor...

Predictably, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla warned on Tuesday that people who don’t take the Covid-19 vaccine will become a “weak link” that allows the coronavirus to spread. Bourla, whose company is in late-stage testing for a potential inoculation, said he understands the public’s concerns about vaccines, which are being developed in record time. He said Pfizer will only request authorization from the...

Online shopping has grown massively within the last ten years, with more and more consumers opting to update their homes, wardrobes and pick up gifts from the comfort of their own homes. This digital uprising has obviously had a huge impact on the lives of High Street shoppers and businesses alike. Departments stores such as the long established Debenhams are closing down, what comes next? Mark an...

"I have never made any pretence of my opinion that the post coronavirus recession in the UK is going to be ghastly. However, events of the last few days have forced me to reconsider that opinion. I now think that calamitous may be a better description. I want to keep this blog to manageable scale so let me set out the short form of my reasoning. The UK was already forecast to run a deficit of £370...

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of two men killed in the volcanic eruption that destroyed the ancient Roman city of Pompeii nearly 2,000 years ago. The find was made in a dig carried out during the coronavirus pandemic, the Italian culture ministry said. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mark-and-pete--1245374/support . Supporters get updates on new pr...

The home secretary, Priti Patel, has avoided the sack despite a Cabinet Office inquiry reportedly uncovering evidence of bullying within the Home Office. Priti Patel broke the ministerial code, but was it justified? Mark and Pete have the answers. MARK AND PETE PODCAST EPISODE: markandpete.com Boris Johnson has said he continues to have "full confidence" in Priti Patel following a report concludin...

Australian researchers say the discovery of a two-million-year-old skull in South Africa throws more light on human evolution. Neo-Darwinian evolution is just a theory, on Mark and Pete we are strong believers in creation being by God. The skull was a male Paranthropus robustus, a "cousin species" to Homo erectus - a species thought to be direct ancestors of modern humans. The two species lived ar...

And so we are back to square one. With hospitalisations for Covid-19 rising again, it feels as if all the sacrifices we made have only pushed the problem into winter, just as the models predicted, and that we have to do it all again. It is as if lockdown is our natural state and the last two months have been a curious aberration. There is a sense that a government desperate to avoid history would...

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mark-and-pete--1245374/support . Supporters get updates on new projects and hot takes on the latest news plus Mark and Pete Extra  in depth commentary episodes and Mark and Pete vs AI  comedy episodes. All right here in this podcast feed.  Thank you for your support, welcome to the community.

Free school meals for children is a hotly talked about topic as the UK heads into the winter months and continues to battle coronavirus. Here's the lowdown on free school meals and what should happen about free meals when the school are closed. About 1.3m children in England will be able to claim free school meal vouchers in the summer holidays, after a campaign by footballer Marcus Rashford. But...

There is a move afoot to sanitize fairy tales, to remove sexist stereotypes from them. Mark and Pete in this special short episode argue that this is a mistake. This is at the heart of the culture war. It’s often said that fairy stories in their original pre-Disney form are far too brutal for kids. It was said back in 1812 when the Brothers Grimm (whose tales appear in the coloured fairy books, tr...

The Church of England has invested in musical artists, some of which are very different from what you would expect! In a challenge to the church Mark and Pete argue that investment in business part of the future for the church! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mark-and-pete--1245374/support . Supporters get updates on new projects and hot takes on the latest new...

Going to work in the post Covid new normal is different. Will coronavirus have made work clothes obsolete? Unless you were already working from home before the days of social distancing, you’ve probably had to adapt to remote meetings. Technology has enabled many companies to ensure business continuity, and video calling has been a crucial tool for that. What are the ramifications of this crucial...

Pensions are not all they seem. At any rate, the goalposts are moving. Men and women in the UK will have to wait until they are 66 to draw their state pension from Tuesday, after a decade of increases in the qualifying age for the benefit. Ten years ago, women could claim their state pension at 60 while men qualified at 65, but changes in recent years have brought both qualifying ages in line, and...

The group that sponsors the presidential debates said Wednesday that it will make format changes to the next two showdowns between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden “to maintain order” in light of their fractious first showdown. What should the next debates look like? Is there a way to get something useful out of them? Mark and Pete have the answers. Become a supporter of...

Many police officers are "absolutely baffled" by the new COVID 19 regulation and they I think speak for all of us. What is going on? The lockdowns and other measures need to be done consistently to work but they are difficult to follow. Some might want to rebel but they are hampered by not really knowing what they are rebelling against. Mark and Pete have the answers. Become a supporter of this po...

If cash is on the way out, we are all in trouble - from all sides. Listen on to find out more and keep safe. Physical money has been with us for thousands of years for a reason. Cash is essentially untraceable, it’s easy to carry, it’s widely accepted and it’s reliable. If the power goes out, or there’s a blip in the electronic systems that make the online commerce world go round, cash is there. I...

Mark and Pete come from different perspectives to give solutions to the worlds problems. And make fun of them. Here Pete breaks it down and invites you to subscribe. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mark-and-pete--1245374/support . Supporters get updates on new projects and hot takes on the latest news plus Mark and Pete Extra  in depth commentary episodes and M...

Novak Djokovic has apologised for hitting a line judge with a ball at the US Open, saying he is "extremely sorry for creating her such stress". The world number one was disqualified from his fourth-round match against Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta. The Serb, 33, who had just had his serve broken, took a ball out of his pocket and hit it behind him, striking the woman in her throat. "This whole situa...

Nancy Pelosi will never live this one down. The Democratic House speaker was captured on security footage -- leaked to Fox News -- inside a San Francisco hair salon not wearing a mask, even though the city's Covid-19 restrictions only allow service outside. Cue a gleeful eruption from conservative media and from President Donald Trump himself, who slammed her for not wearing a mask "despite consta...

Elon Musk has unveiled a pig called Gertrude with a coin-sized computer chip in her brain to demonstrate his ambitious plans to create a working brain-to-machine interface. "It's kind of like a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires," said Musk. What does this mean for the future if our brains have chip in them? Can we be hacked? Is it a sign of the End Times or the Mark of the Beast? Or something w...

In an amazing PR success, singer Taylor Swift has donated £23,000 to a London-based student struggling to raise the funds to take up a maths course at the University of Warwick. Vitoria Mario's online fundraising page details how she has lived in the UK for four years after moving from Portugal. But she is not eligible for maintenance loans or grants. Vitoria said: "I was worrying too much about t...

What a mess. Gavin Williamson and other ministers are under immense pressure over the botched handling of English A-level results after Scotland announced a dramatic U-turn and major research showed that high-achieving pupils from poorer backgrounds are likely to be hardest hit. The universities minister was writing urgently to vice-chancellors, asking them to be lenient with their offers and keep...

It’s no secret that life can be easier for beautiful people. Studies have shown being good looking has benefits for your health, intelligence and helps with making friends. Being physically attractive can also literally pay off, as many people believe it can mean you make more money. In short, beautiful people are more confident, have more social skills and are seen as more able by employers, whic...