Podcast · News

The Trawl

by Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss · English · News

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 epis

New episodes: Several times a week
Typical length: 43 min
Latest: 14 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

14 Oct 2026 · 46 minNew

From Russia With Bots, Trump's Diesel & Reform's Whitewash

Way to make Vladimir Putin happy. It's been quite the week. Andy Burnham has reignited the debate over Russian interference in Brexit. Marina and Jemma get into the murky world of online influence, bots and the extraordinary power of social media to shape what we think. Plus, Trump's reported Russian diesel deal has the Trawl ladies asking precisely whose interests he's serving. And just when you thought Reform couldn't provide any more material, they turn to its investigation into the Channel 4 undercover sting. An investigation commissioned by Reform, looking into Reform, which concludes…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

10 Oct 2026 · 13 min
The Trawl Drop-In: Kemi's Tax Breaks For The Wealthy
The Trawl ladies are off to Tory conference and Kemi Badenoch has found a headline-grabbing pledge in scrapping inheritance tax on family homes. But who actually benefits, what might it cost, and what happens to everyone else? Jem has some thoughts, including a memorable encounter with a very wealthy former Dragons’ Den investor.Plus, the Conservatives’ plans for Reform defectors, a spectacularly unfortunate Chris Philp soundbite and the usual dose of political absurdity. It’s a Drop-In, so there’s no pudding. Just plenty of food for thought. Normal service resumes next Wednesday! Join The…
9 Oct 2026 · 24 min
The Trawl Drop-In: Polanski Under Pressure: The Greens and Zionism
It’s our first ever Trawl Drop In! A slightly less structured, more spontaneous outing in which Jemma and Marina tackle the stories that didn’t make the main pod. And blimey, there’s plenty to get stuck into. Has Zack Polanski’s party spectacularly misjudged its controversial conference motion on Zionism? Marina and Jemma get into the fallout, the leadership questions and what it all means for the left, while making clear that supporting Palestinian freedom and opposing antisemitism should never be mutually exclusive. Join The Trawl's Facebook BRAND NEW Facebook Group:…
E414 · 8 Oct 2026 · 43 min
Trump, Hegseth & the Apocalypse: It's All Gone Bonkers
The Trawl ladies are still looking for the bit where it gets better, and this week it's hiding behind a potential outbreak of pneumonic plague in Russia. Don't panic, Trawlers, Jemma and Marina have a plan, and it's mostly denial. Then there's Pete Hegseth's guide to who gets into the armed forces, which Marina reworks into some dating advice for Jemma's Hinge profile. And Jemma has questions about who in the Bible wouldn't make the cut. With the midterms five weeks away, Trump is on the rally trail in states he won comfortably last time. The hypocrisy klaxon is blaring away for his talk of…
E413 · 7 Oct 2026 · 43 min
A Hopeful Trawl: Burnham Highs & Braverman Lows
This week on The Trawl, there are… dare we say it… reasons to be cheerful. Andy Burnham is talking public ownership, electoral reform and a closer relationship with Europe, and suddenly the future doesn't seem quite so bleak. Marina and Jemma revisit the highlights from Labour conference, including plans to bring empty high-street buildings back to life, and ask: could hope actually be making a comeback? Then, things get considerably less wholesome. Suella Braverman finds herself under fire after a very revealing discussion about who gets to call themselves English, while Robert Jenrick's…
E412 · 1 Oct 2026 · 38 min
Cornell: Since When Is an Essay Justice?
Content warning: this episode discusses rape and sexual violence. Marina and Jemma open with some hope. Between Macklemore, Ed Sheeran's bad week, and the Andy Burnham effect, is the tide turning? Then they switch gears. In 2024, a Cornell student alleges she was drugged and then raped and sexually assaulted for seven hours at a fraternity house. A group chat of 57 people were made aware of it. Seven men allegedly took part. Two were expelled, and others were told to write essays. The case has now been reopened. Marina and Jemma look at what the group chat didn't do, why institutions keep…
E411 · 30 Sep 2026 · 40 min
Hunger Games At The White House & Very British Insults
Two episodes in two days, because Marina couldn't sleep. Trawlers, this one's a tasting menu of the week's finest nonsense. The Trawl ladies start with GB News being crowned "most trusted news channel" by its own viewers (custard is the favourite custard among people who eat custard), then pay homage to a homegrown delusional wally who lasted 49 days and still gets the odd LBC slot. Then it's over to the White House. Trump rolls out the red carpet and a black-tie state dinner for the leader of China, while Americans can't afford their groceries and the war with Iran drags on. Jemma and…
E410 · 29 Sep 2026 · 48 min
Is This... Hope? Labour Conference, Ireland's Stand-Off & Reform's Balls-Up
Jemma and Marina hit Labour conference with Andy Burnham's speech: social care, "Your First Home" and the triple lock. Both have opinions and neither can quite agree on how many pensioners will turn up with pitchforks. Plus Shabana Mahmood reads the room, and Jemma and Marina ask whether this is actual hope or just adrenaline and conference biscuits. Then to Reform, where a council has decided the best way to help women and girls is to close all ten of its nurseries, leaving 402 children and 116 staff in the lurch. Then football. One hotel-room summit, 160+ athlete signatures, one player who…
27 Sep 2026 · 54 min
The Trawl Meets Owen Jones
Columnist, bestselling author, Guardian journalist, broadcaster and one of the most prominent voices on the British left for well over a decade, Owen can always be relied on to say exactly what he thinks, no holds barred. He’s also someone who has never been particularly troubled by the idea of annoying people which, frankly, is one of the reasons Marina and Jemma like him. He’s fiercely critical of the right, deeply unimpressed by Keir Starmer’s Labour, passionate about Gaza and increasingly interested in what the rise of the Greens and Reform means for the future of British politics.…
E409 · 24 Sep 2026 · 38 min
How Much Is Integrity Worth? Sheeran's Backlash, Tom Watson's About-Turn & The Budget Headache
Ed Sheeran is crying on stage after the backlash over Macklemore being dropped from his tour, while Macklemore remains remarkably clear that this isn’t about him, or Ed. Marina and Jemma get into the row, the strange spectacle of a global superstar discovering the politics of Palestine in real time, and why having “FU money” might occasionally mean having the courage to say - no. Then there’s the rather extraordinary case of former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson joining Palantir, the controversial US data company with major contracts across the British state. From fighting phone hacking and…
E408 · 23 Sep 2026 · 46 min
America's Losing It: Trump Silenced the Press. The Press Silenced Trump & Europe Stocks Up On Beans
It’s another beautifully normal week on Planet Trawl. Europe is quietly preparing for war, we’re being told to stock up on tins and Trump is threatening to annihilate Iran while simultaneously floating a peace deal. So that’s nice. Marina and Jemma discuss Trump’s increasingly bonkers attempts to control the press, a House of Representatives that has essentially buggered off until after the midterms, Fox News unexpectedly standing up for journalism, and JD Vance begging everyone to just give them a little more time. Meanwhile, America’s farmers and truckers are discovering that 'drill, baby,…
E407 · 19 Sep 2026 · 47 min
The AI Apocalypse (Brought to You by the People Selling It)
Buckle up, Trawlers - the Trawl girls are finally doing the AI special they've been promising for two years but haven't got round to. Until now because the news has forced their hands. From Sam Altman and Elon Musk suddenly (suspiciously) calling for a "slowdown," to Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton leaving Newsnight's Victoria Derbyshire lost for words, to an ex-Anthropic researcher quitting over fears AI could kill us all by the decade's end, Jemma and Marina ask the obvious question: is this genuine alarm, or a very convenient story for an industry that needs to justify its valuations?…
E406 · 17 Sep 2026 · 42 min
Trump’s Cheques, Sydney’s Boobs & The FBI
Sydney Sweeney has bosoms, Trump has a $5,000 promise, and somehow the FBI is having a conversation about bestiality. So yes, it’s been another perfectly normal week on Planet Earth. In this Trawl, Marina and Jemma get stuck into Sydney Sweeney’s gambling ad and ask whether “my body, my choice” also means “please don’t criticise my choices”. Trump, meanwhile, is promising Americans $5,000 if Republicans win the midterms, because nothing says sound economic policy like a giant election-shaped cheque. The Trawl ladies also head stateside for Trump’s latest diplomatic contributions, the…
E405 · 16 Sep 2026 · 46 min
Ed Sheeran's Lonely Apolitical Era & Reform's Crypto Bros
Ed Sheeran dropped Macklemore for saying Free Palestine, and now the support acts have since been dropping Ed Sheeran. Turns out "apolitical" is a position, and it's not a popular one. Andy Burnham finally did something and slapped a trade ban on Israeli settlement goods and US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee is furious about it. Excellent work. An Israeli newspaper is reporting Netanyahu had an explicit warning before October 7th and sat on it. Jemma and Marina go through what that means and why it matters. Meanwhile, Reform have banked £72 million from two donors with very interesting…
E404 · 10 Sep 2026 · 48 min
Is THIS Patriotism? Boy Burkas, Foreign Cash and RNLI Beef
This week, Marina and Jem start in America — where Trump calls 18 dead soldiers "small potatoes," posts AI-generated videos of himself beating world leaders with a hockey stick, and explains trade to a room of adults too scared to tell him he's wrong. Rinse, repeat, somehow getting worse. Then they come home to Blighty — where things are going brilliantly. Hundreds of men in matching black balaclavas staged two days of (NOT) spontaneous protests in Dover and Portsmouth, injuring police, blocking ferries, and terrifying British families trying to get into town. Arrests: none. Funny that —…
E403 · 9 Sep 2026 · 52 min
Reform's Rabid Conference & Trump's Fireman Fantasy
Trump reinvents 9/11 with himself as the hero, fireman-carried, fist in the air, saving the day from... four miles away. Meanwhile, it's all happening at the Reform conference, Farage lays out exactly how he'd neuter the House of Lords if it gets in his way, a woman protester gets her hair pulled and is hit with a crutch by livid OAPS and Robert Jenrick "resigns" from a job he doesn't have over a budget that doesn't exist. Plus: Zia Yousaf's dog-whistle campaign video, the finest vox pops democracy has to offer, and one man who is, unfortunately, very open to dating his cousin. It's a pretty…
E402 · 9 Sep 2026 · 39 min
SIZZLING SCANDAL 🔥 Reform's Big Fat Foreign Money Scandal (And Farage's Best Excuses Yet)
Jemma and Marina wade through the wreckage of Reform UK's worst week yet. A year-long undercover sting by investigative outfit Verbatim catches Nigel Farage's closest aides, head of policy James Orr and confidante Dan Jukes, on tape discussing how to secretly fund Reform's own polling through a fake American donor, all while a fictional $500,000 donation dangles in the background. Farage himself calls the scheme "amazing" and "bang for buck" on camera. Cue two sackings, a genuinely spectacular pile-up of excuses (entrapment! pub banter! "I wasn't listening"! they're just contractors!), and a…
E401 · 3 Sep 2026 · 37 min
Trumps AI Slop, Falklands Threats & Midterm Meltdowns
Trump is renaming lakes, posting increasingly deranged AI images and apparently gearing up to declare the midterms rigged before they've even happened. Meanwhile, the US is reportedly threatening Britain over the Falklands, Trump's CIA director is making mysterious trips to Moscow, and democracy feels increasingly like it's being held together with Sellotape. Then there's Israel and Gaza, where the rhetoric and imagery become ever more horrifying, Netanyahu gets a very frosty reception at the UN, and the UK promises a “comprehensive reset” of its Israel policy. Jemma and Marina also look at…
E400 · 2 Sep 2026 · 43 min
The Sainsbury’s Fleece, Reform Brain Farts & The £450k Birkin
It’s been a busy week in politics. Andy Burnham is back, delivering a barnstorming speech attacking the legacy of Thatcherism and Brexit… before promptly getting himself into a spot of bother over a Sainsbury’s work-experience scheme, political donations and a rather fetching supermarket fleece. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer quits as an MP, James Cleverly quits the Shadow Cabinet to spend TWO YEARS campaigning to become Mayor of London, and Reform continues its relentless assault on reality. Marina and Jemma ask why every Reform brain fart seems to become a BBC headline, examine Robert Jenrick’s…
E399 · 28 Aug 2026 · 40 min
Carney Plays Chess & Reform's Marriage Policy Falls Apart
Builders openly bragging about dodging tax at a trade show, Trump quietly admitting his own tariffs backfired by striking a deal to import cheaper beef right after telling ranchers he had their backs and an American food safety crisis. Jemma and Marina have a lot to talk about what with food recalls stacking up in the US. There are dodgy eggs, blueberries, cheese and lettuce, as regulators get gutted from underneath. Then, closer to home: Reform UK's baffling new housing policy. Announced by divorced Richard Tice, it prioritises married couples and quietly punishes single parents and people…
E398 · 27 Aug 2026 · 45 min
Dolly Parton's Legacy & Trump's 'Human Printer' Natalie Harp
Marina and Jemma start by paying tribute to the utterly irreplaceable Dolly Parton, celebrating her extraordinary talent, generosity and legacy and remembering how she managed to reach people across political and cultural divides with warmth, compassion and a whole lot of rhinestones. Then it’s back into the grubby world of Trump. The Trawl ladies dissect his bizarre comments to a teenage lifesaver, discuss the staggering US national debt, soaring oil prices and despair at the people around him who seem determined not to notice any of it. They also get stuck into the increasingly strange…
E397 · 25 Aug 2026 · 45 min
Harry & Meghan, Rain, Ukraine & The GB Press Outrage Machine
This week on the Trawl, the rain finally arrives and apparently that's the cue for the water companies to start dumping sewage, for the right-wing press to blame Muslims for our water shortages, and everyone to start shouting about everything. Marina and Jemma look at Reform's recent setbacks, its curious approach to free speech, Andy Burnham's surprisingly punchy trip to Ukraine, and the extraordinary media frenzy over Harry and Meghan returning to Britain. Plus, why the press seem determined to turn every issue into an immigration story, and a sobering look at the treatment of the late…
E396 · 20 Aug 2026 · 41 min
Trump Opens A Bank, Reform Comes For Your PIP
Right, buckle up, trawlers... Trump's crypto company has been rubber-stamped as an actual bank (by his own government no less!) and Marina and Jemma wave a cheery bye Felicia to his press secretary Caroline Levitt (left to perish on the decoy plane while Trump and a "very very very close aide" swanned off on the catering flight). They boggle at the Tates' Temu lawyer, a shouting salami in sunglasses, vowing to take their extradition fight "to Trump" - plus the 30-odd bellends doing solidarity press-ups outside a Miami jail. Then it's back home to Blighty, where Reform reckon they'll save…
E395 · 18 Aug 2026 · 51 min
Jason Arday : When The Press Becomes A Mob
In this powerful episode of The Trawl, Jemma Forte and Marina Purkiss unpack the tragic death of Jason Arday. Arday was Cambridge’s first black professor, who endured an extraordinary media storm in the final weeks of his life. The Trawl ladies examine the 188 articles published about him in just nine days, the racist and hostile commentary that fuelled the story, and the wider questions it raises about who gets scrutinised, who gets forgiven, and who is allowed to belong in positions of power. They also discuss Nigel Farage’s Clacton victory, Count Binface’s impressive vote share, Lee…
E394 · 13 Aug 2026 · 45 min
Trump's Getting Rattled: The Abdul El-Sayed Effect 🔥
In this episode, things go from bad to worse before finally getting a little bit hopeful. Marina Purkiss and Jemma Forte dive into Trump’s latest chaos, the increasingly bizarre state of US politics, vaccine decisions that have them seriously worried, and the extraordinary rise of Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Trump's obsession with the Michigan Senate candidate offers a rare glimmer of hope, particularly when the Democratic candidate refuses to play Trump's favourite game of intimidation and personal attacks. Donald Trump is facing fresh questions over his financial affairs, his…
E393 · 12 Aug 2026 · 45 min
Reform Beef & Climate Grief : Data Centres Anyone?
The Trawl is back from holiday, and unfortunately the world hasn't sorted itself out while Jemma and Marina have been away. This week: Britain is hot, dry and heading for a seriously dodgy harvest, while data centres are springing up demanding vast amounts of energy and water. But don't worry, apparently the answer, according to one journo at The Telegraph is to embrace Mediterranean life and crack open an Aperol. Plus: Reform's latest dramas, Richard Tice's very shouty standards investigation, Farage's £5 million headache, Elon Musk's latest nonsense, and a reminder that some people are…
4 Aug 2026 · 42 min
The Trawl Meets Count Binface!
Count Binface lands on The Trawl just in time to take on Nigel Farage in Clacton and proves, once again, that British politics is now virtually indistinguishable from science fiction. From 99 Flakes and grabber machines, to sewage, HS2, billionaire donations and why Parliament should relocate to Wheelie, the self-declared intergalactic candidate unveils his latest manifesto while Jemma and Marina discover he's thought more deeply about public policy than quite a few actual politicians. Plus: why he won't stop the boats (but he will stop the bots), whether he'd rather share a lift with Nigel…
E392 · 30 Jul 2026 · 47 min
Trump's Press Dinner Disaster : Fascists, Billionaires, BS
Andrew Tate is back behind bars and somehow tweeting like he's starring in a wartime epic, while Donald Trump spends an hour at the White House Correspondents' Dinner reminding everyone why normalising him remains such a dangerous game. Marina and Jemma pick apart another extraordinary week of political chaos, from Trump's latest constitutional musings and Elon Musk's painfully awkward media appearances to the voices refusing to stay silent on Gaza. There's also praise for politicians willing to speak plainly, a debate about Sadiq Khan's record, some gloriously savage internet commentary,…
E391 · 28 Jul 2026 · 41 min
Burnham's Picky Bits, Body Shaming and CPAC Weirdness
Andy Burnham's honeymoon period is in full swing as the latest polls show Labour nudging ahead of Reform, but is the 'Burnham bounce' here to stay? Marina and Jemma weigh up the new Prime Minister's energetic start, ask whether his Manchester-first approach will win over the rest of Britain, and discuss Zack Polanski's social media mishap. Elsewhere, they take aim at the body-shaming directed at Andy Burnham's wife, marvel at the gloriously unhinged characters gathered at CPAC UK in another round of Blind Date, and end on a surprisingly fascinating deep dive into... salt. Yes, really. Along…
E390 · 23 Jul 2026 · 35 min
Tate Arrested in Capri Pants, Trump's Meltdown & MAGA's Masculinity Crisis
The Tate brothers are arrested in the US as Britain seeks their extradition, Donald Trump delivers yet another fact-free election rant that major US networks refuse to air live, and MAGA's latest obsession with testosterone gets even weirder. Marina and Jemma look at the growing normalisation of misogyny, unpack an astonishing Fox News clip that comes with a trigger warning, and wonder why JD Vance apparently can't see someone eating an ice cream without feeling awkward. Plus: capri trousers, loafers, accidental QVC modelling tips, and the usual social media gems that somehow make political…

About The Trawl

The Trawl is a English news podcast from Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Jemma Forte & Marina Purkiss
Language: English
Category: News
New episodes: Several times a week
Typical length: 43 min
Latest episode: 14 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1634883984
Rights: Marina Purkiss & Jemma Forte

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