Politics chat 30%, shit chat 70%. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be

Just on the last point, I work for local government, and in my council there have been no silly spends, no crazy IT packages or Hilton hotels. Despite the irony of the term, we are what is classed as a "well-run" council. I was in the budget meetings yesterday. We are still £35m out of pocket, with adult social care being asked to cut a further £10m of services that are already down to the core services. The question was raised about selling off the council house, but we can't because it's made of RAAC so it has no value. Our services are stretched to the furthest limits, and we have asked Michael Gove for resources to meet the shortfall to key services, the reply via our head of council is that "it is not looking likely that the national government has any desire to fund services ahead of the next election".

This episode was unhinged. 5/7 would watch again

Ava’s comeback was incredible 😂

I like the new mellow intro! Thanks for listening. You guys are so good.

I feel alienated by the lack of screaming

What Ava said about Rachael Reeves was a brilliant little nugget of political journalism that I appreciated learning about. I must admit, though, that stuff like that gets lost in the sheer avalanche of comedic fluff. It is funny and enjoyable to watch, but so is quality political insight and punditry. I love this podcast, though, so maybe I've just got to give in to the sheer unhinged nature. Did appreciate the mellower intro. Swings and roundabouts.

That Ava comment was so funny, I died for about 30 seconds laughing

I used to listen to these for a bit of politics chat. Now I do so because it's genuinely one of the most reliably silly laughs I get. I was trying to take the train last week, desperately trying to stop looking insane as the logistics of being 'noo-noo'd' was discussed for half an hour.

Honestly one of the best pod dynamics on here

Absolutely loved Ava's savagery

Thank goodness you all brought a degree of common sense to the debates!!!!!! Brilliant....made my day 😀Thanks for lifting our spirits.

This episode is up there as one of my faves. Bravo!

For what it's worth, I'm glad you've finally dropped the shouty intro

These guys are absolutely mental. Made me LOL 4 times.

"See what happened to the last guy who did that" - now that, is iconic!

A 2k mortgage payment per month of a 6k monthly salary equates to 1/3 of your salary. That same percentage is touted as reasonable for renters to pay…

Learning the term "Jetpacking' was reason enough for me to be glad I didn't miss this episode.

The less… vigorous opening is much easier on my headphones to be honest

If you watch the enquiry video with Nicola Sturgeon, she was pretty clear exactly why phones were purchased during the pandemic to allow staff to work from home. There is a concerted effort to tarnesh everything she did during Covid. She said via WhatsApp what every sentient person thought during the pandemic regarding Bozo.

I love the intro to this podcast, ignore the haters!

36:36 truly exceptional Ava 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

During Covid if my parents lost their job and could no longer afford their mortgage the government would give them a break and they would still be able to live in their house. If I lost my job and could no longer pay my rent the government suggested having a 'friendly conversation with your landlord'.

Be wonderful if there was just a mention in the description of where the subject of the title of the video starts getting talked about

As a child of divorce, Ed's right. Divorce can be very funny.

National sport of Russia? Synchronised falling out windows if the oligarchs are anything to go by

Genuinely look forward to these every week

Even though I live in Spain, it makes me sad to watch the UK disinitigrate into irrelevance 😢

Ava’s Theresa May crying impression 😂😂😂😂

Ava’s take on housing was odd. Why should homeowners have to tolerate housing insecurity the same as renters? Why a race to the bottom? A good way to ensure a transfer of wealth to the gov and the rich is by forcing people out of their homes, paying extra stamp duty, solicitor fees, surveys, losing money invested in improving their home etc. Most mortgaged properties are the homes of children. The impact of housing insecurity on children is horrifying. If we care about the outcomes of children, we should be trying to make sure families are not priced out their homes. Renters deserve better, but hating on people with mortgages for not wanting to lose their homes isn’t the one.

He's A list now, that's why he's not screaming.

Has Oli been working out and your trying to hide it under all that denim...?

Best (funniest) episode yet!! Which is good because PMQs was especially s**t this week.

This is the best episode evee. My sides hurt from the divergent conversation on divorce

When I first heard it, I thought Oli said ‘hate nonsense’, which reminded me of nonce sense from Brass Eye.

best intro ever my ears thank you.

Sunak probably sneers at squirells

I prefer the new style of intro

Don't stop the intro but I do enjoy the change up keep us guessing but the intro must stay we need to constantly know @PoliticsJoe stance on Nonces :D

Some good banter today

Thought it was odd when Ed said he thinks all divorces are funny. Then proceeded to laugh at Oli "Child of Divorce" Dugmore as he lost his composure like Nicola. Great episode.

“Buy two for the price of three”… you’ve been had! That is not a deal!

I welcome the screaming

Sneak the alienation over the whole pod, the pod version if the emotional vampire from What We Do In the Shadows

Oli, we are " Never in the supermarket, fucking... "

2:59 I didn’t have a work phone when we went into lockdown because I used the phone on my desk in the office which I went to every day. There, solved that mystery.

Stuck in a washing machine is the most stupid thing ever. They never look stuck.

Those people saying they switched off at the intro I use to be same.. You would ramble for like 10-15mins before you get to your main topics... Very annoying I'd switch straight to Novra as they get straight into the hot topics of the day... But i do like your podcast and hope you take on board our positive criticism.

No shouting is better 😊

A hall of fame comment from Ava 👏

Ed looks increasingly uncomfortable in these videos. I can't help but wonder if we are seeing workplace harassment in real time.

What is going on with that jacket is it to big, or just padded?

Maybe unpopular opinion, but the intro screaming was fun in the beginning but it seemed like you guys felt the need to keep outdoing yourselves with louder and rowdier screams each time. This made the novelty factor ware off much quicker than it should have and set the wrong tone. Admittedly I've also turned it off right after hearing the screaming. The thought process is "I would like to hear what they are saying, but don't have the headspace right now for unnecessarily loud noises". The little catch phrase isn't bad, and it can probably be said with a little more mirth than today's episode, but it definitely needs to be toned down from what's now become the "norm" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sunak is the real Spiderman.

47:10 unfortunately a lot of the ‘objectively mental things’ were done out of desperation to try to balance the books. Some of the councils would have been bankrupt much earlier without them.

Don't pander to the haters, shout at me until my ears bleed xoxo

Nice and calm. Much better.

Much prefer the new intro.

Oli I like the intro! Don’t change your style to accommodate haters

avas kier has become uncanny

Alienate people at the end not at the start. Shout right at the end thanking people for listening lol

I love the yelling. Yell more. Its my second favorite thing that happens during the show.

I kind of remember that thing with Bill Gates and his ex-girlfriend. It’s partly true. As _Business Insider_ put it, “by 1997, three years into Bill and Melinda's marriage, the couple had an arrangement that Bill could spend a long weekend with [Ann] Winblad every year at her beach cottage in North Carolina.” So it wasn’t a month or even two weeks, and there wasn’t a provision in a pre-nup, it was just an arrangement that Bill and Melinda had, at least in the first years of their marriage.

I really don't mean to be rude, but watching this podcast for politics is a waste of time. I get the banter- it would be funny in other circumstances but, as a young person, it's a shame to watch other young-ish adults being ridiculous. I'll politely leave PoliticsJOE to it and find another podcast

Ava is a blessing! 😂

Gates could spend one weekend a year with his X-girlfriend

21:24 Ed wins the argument with this! 😂

that was weird....a rare occasion with no drink and when Olly said "that's not allowed" about Ed being cynical he sounded drunk lol

I feel as tho Ed looks like a postman. Does anyone else think that Ed looks like a postman?

Thespliffcast

He’s quit so he can do no work as an mp and earn a second wage! In that substack he said he had discovered 70 free hours after quitting as a minister.

love podcast ha nonsense the politics Jo podcast ladies and gentlemen

Quorn is good

Any update on the carnage in the EU? Deep recessions, farmers blockading cities in multiple countries.....

The only reason most of these mental council money sink investments happened was because when the Tories started slashing council budgets they also scrapped a load of regulations that prevented councils making risky private investments and actually told councils that they were expected to make high return investments in order to make up for their shortfall in budgets. And now the Tories are blaming all council financial crisis on the fact councils did follow this government advise and made reckless investments like they were told despite having zero experience in the area

I for one, miss the introduction

Stuggling to pay your mortgage is the policy of envy?

20:21 definitely siding with Ed on this one😂

Divorce = not funny Suicide from quorn = hilarious

instead of an intro have an outro, int-ros are out-ro and out-ros are in-tro

Elon Musk, Graham Linehan? Both hilarious divorces

Odd that ed is so anti USSR pro CIA when he looks like a USSR propaganda poster of a steel working engineer or something

Ed's more of Donald Findlay man

another busy t-shirt or is this oli's new style?

These episodes are getting more and more Reddit

Ed speaking nothing but the truth from 41:05 onwards

I need to know what is the opposite of jetpacking?

Was Reeves in the Adams family films

Bring back the screaming!!!

Grandma!

37:22 solid smokers cough

I used to love this podcast used to get good political chat something things I wouldnt have known or seen and abit of banter and segwaying but it just seems now its completly reversed? Took 15 minutes to get into pmqs and then barely even spoke about it or have any real insight... its a shame I love em to bits but just a shame on the direction. Also why was it cut off at 45minutes like that... finally got into talking about some relevance with councils and then cut off 😂😂😂

Weird episode guys. Almost like this PMQ wasn't worth discussing.

miss the yelling intro, please never drop the tagline tho whether it's shouted or stated modestly

pmsl u guys should bring back the pub drinks cos u lot r off the rails when sober lol

I like the fun banter, but it felt like the moment an interesting political insight was about to be said (which the pm reaction is about) it was shut down to talk about something completely off topic. The end was good quality but the start felt actively self-destructive

17:23 Sorry - am i going on? pahaha

Think my approval rating of Ava dropped because of the Kardashian stuff, XD Still Captial J Journalist.

Im sorry to nicola but i wish i wasnt a paramedic during the pandemic, if i cried watching people die constantly itd be unprofessional but when she ends up being held responsible for her actions she cries about it and its all okay in the media...

Lol mablethorpe iceland shall be our new Jerusalem