The Trawl

Usually reserved for our beloved Patreon Lords and Ladies, this week  The Trawl Goss  is breaking out and landing in your feed - for free! With Jemma and Marina taking a well-earned break (their first in three years of  The Trawl ), they’re giving everyone a taste of the juicy, unfiltered goodness their superfans enjoy regularly. In this raw and unedited episode, expect: 🕵️‍♀️ Backs...

Jemma and Marina sit down with long-time colleague and friend, Jeremy Vine. They chat about how he got his start in politics, the inner workings of his TV show and what it’s like broadcasting on Election night. There’s a few juicy behind the scenes stories, and lots of laughs along the way. Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast ***VOTE for us in the Podc...

In this episode, Marina and Jemma dive headfirst into the week’s online chaos, starting with a very British debate about kids and iPads at the dinner table. Kirstie Allsopp has thoughts, and so do they. From there, it’s a whirlwind tour through cultural clashes, viral romances, and the latest Trumpian monstrosity: a golden ballroom and a concrete patio.  They unpack the U.S. employment nosedi...

This week on  The Trawl , logic takes a holiday and truth is just a vibe. Marina Purkiss and Jemma Forte wade into yet another week where the internet resembles less a town square and more a hall of mirrors. There’s a man convinced liberals hate breakfast, a woman who’s rewriting reality on live radio, and a politician who’s untethered from the facts yet remains unchallenged.  The ladies...

This week on  The Trawl , Jemma is holding the fort while Marina dials in from across the pond — on an Aperol-fuelled mission to confront Ron DeSantis (allegedly). Meanwhile, Trump’s been busy spreading his own unique brand of diplomacy terrorising Scotland, schmoozing Ursula von der Leyen with his usual brand of gibberish, and trying to memory-hole Epstein. He also undermines Starmer, slags...

This week, Marina and Jemma dive into a whirlwind of chaos and clarity—from the Lionesses’ triumphant Euros win (yes, again) to the surreal scenes in Epping, where far-right protests collided with police apathy and a mob of counter-protesters.  The Lionesses win was surely a source of joy for all England fans, surely? Er, sadly not, and one man in particular went to the trouble of calling up...

Clive Lewis is the Labour MP for Norwich South and takes a bold stance in areas like water privatisation, the NHS, welfare, wealth taxes and Palestine. They discuss how he feels about the direction the Labour party has taken, and what it was like to make an anti-monarchy statement when he was sworn in as an MP. Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast Patre...

This week, Marina and Jemma unpack the most expensive hissy fit in presidential history: Donald Trump is suing Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal for a casual $10 billion, meanwhile it appears JD Vance is on manoeuvres....  Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert, the most-watched late-night host in America is seemingly being cancelled not long after calling out a $16 million Trump settlement...

Marina Purkiss and Jemma Forte have done the doom scrolling so you don’t have to, bringing you the viral chaos, the political drama, and the bits the mainstream misses. First up, the scandal that broke the internet—yes,  that  Coldplay affair. It had everything: shock, schadenfreude, and memes so relentless they almost made you forget how painful it must have been for those involved. The...

This week on The Trawl, Marina and Jemma dive into the truly gobsmacking and head-scratching events of the week - so you don’t have to. We start with Trump elbowing his way into Chelsea’s Club World Cup glory, and then it’s onto the swirling chaos of the Epstein files, with GOP evasions, metadata shenanigans, and conspiracy theories so spicy they could be served with fries. Marina breaks her “no i...

Jemma and Marina are determined to ensure that The Trawl contains as many 'glimmers' as possible so begin the episode with some positive news about butterflies. Also featured is a heart warming story about raving school kids and the Trawl ladies share what each of them have been doing to mitigate how bleak the news is currently.  They do go on to discuss why Rory and Alastair acknowledging th...

Hold onto your hats Trawlers. Not the cheeriest episode ever recorded but the Trawl ladies do try to provide lightness where possible so begin by reflecting on some of the good things Labour have achieved in their first year, including more free school meals, nationalising steel and rail and recruiting 6, 700 more mental health workers. And yet, does any of it make up for their complicity in the o...

What's the world coming to Trawlers? Yes, the news cycle is astoundingly awful but, as ever, Jemma and Marina nominate themselves to wade through what's happening so they can chat all through with you. They begin by paying tribute to Liverpool player Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva who sadly died in a car crash. For some reason, Trump is very anti finding the Epstein files which, after...

This week, Jemma and Marina tackle Venice’s most OTT nuptials as Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez say “I do” amidst a spectacle that felt like a  Succession  spin-off. From helicopters to haute couture and a Vogue cover cameo, the ladies break down the eyebrow-raising moment, including Leo Di Caprio's terrible attempt at camouflage and a Dolce & Gabbana dress that could have Bezos in fo...

For days the headlines have been consumed by what Bob Vylan said at Glastonbury. Jemma and Marina discuss. But, before they disseminate all the Glasto fallout and furore, they enjoy some British language discussion. Find out how to end a call you've had enough of and how to be polite while conveying disapproval. Then, find out why Farage has made such an outlandish claim, it's compelled the Albani...

Right then, strap in Trawlers and let's raise a lukewarm pint of Champagne to the anniversary of the Brexit referendum - because nothing says “taking back control” like spiralling food prices and passport queues longer than a Glastonbury toilet line. Then it’s over to Labour HQ, where the party that once marched for peace now wants to slap a terrorist label on Palestine Action. Because apparently,...

Jemma and Marina were absolutely thrilled to have ex-SNP MP and broadcaster, John Nicolson on the podcast for a really juicy chat about UK politics. They discussed whether or not Scotland would ever become independent, and what it was like to be a presenter on TV during the 9/11 attacks. Thank you for sharing and do tweet us @MarinaPurkiss @jemmaforte @TheTrawlPodcast Patreon https://patreon.com/T...

Another week trying to wade through and make sense of an insane news cycle. The Trawl ladies hadn't had Trump bombing Iran on their bingo card but that's exactly what happened last weekend when Trump single-handedly decided that that was the way to win the Nobel Peace Prize. At time of record, Trump's own intelligence reports state that the strikes weren't wholly successful. He says they're wrong,...

From the brink of WW3 following Israel’s attack on Iran, to the hypocrisy of Western leaders, Jemma and Marina unpack the realities of war, nuclear tensions, and the unchecked power of certain world leaders. They chat about Netanyahu’s latest warmongering, expose how some leaders operate without accountability (because who needs rules, right?), and call out the West’s Olympic-level hypocrisy when...

This week on  The Trawl , Jemma Forte and Marina Purkiss sift through the latest chaos so you don’t have to. As the world teeters on geopolitical uncertainty, they dive into the headlines—from Trump’s embarrassingly sparse birthday parade and the powerful No Kings protests sweeping the U.S., to the chilling political violence in Minnesota. Plus, the G7 Summit gives us Trump fumbling paperwork...

Marina and Jemma begin the episode with a quick round up/ precis of the recently announced spending plans from Rachel Reeves. There's stuff to like but it's not the most scintillating, partly because it's pretty sensible which doesn't create massive headlines, as it shouldn't. Acknowledging that politics  should  be dull but that 'dull' doesn't make for a very entertaining podcast, the T...

One of the juiciest Trawls of all time starts in a very dramatic manner. Jemma and Marina want you to dig out the popcorn while they spill the tea on everything that has happened since they last gathered behind their mics.  What a time to be alive! Last week, Musk broke the internet as his bromance with Trump imploded in real time via increasingly outlandish tweets between the two billionaire...

When Trump told Zelensky he didn't hold any of the cards, what he didn't know was the Zelensky actually had an entire Royal Flush up his sleeve and that he was demonstrating a rather brilliant Poker Face. Last week Ukraine completed its biggest long-range attack which destroyed 40 Russian warplanes, wiping out a large percentage of their military hardware. It was in the planning for at least 18 mo...

It's all happening. That said, potholes might not be getting fixed, loft extensions might not be getting signed off and bins might not be getting collected -  those  things may or may not be happening, but Doge has been announced. Yes, this episode goes into what is happening in various Reform led councils. Firstly, having decided that Musk's Doge has gone 'so well' in the States (spoile...

This episode begins with Jemma and Marina explaining why they weren't aligned this week for pretty much the first time in Trawl history, though their disagreement was quickly put to rest once they'd consulted listeners and asked what you think.  There's a quick goodbye to the MOTD version of Gary Lineker and then, it's straight into what's happening in politics here in the UK. However, before...