Boonta Vista - EPISODE 126: This is a Tory-Free Polycule

Episode Date: November 25, 2019

Andrew, Ben and Theo are investigating sinister anti-Tory bias in the British housing market, unfair use of sickies, and Nick Giannopoulos' attempt to corner the market on slurs. *** Support our show and get exclusive bonus episodes by subscribing on Patreon: www.patreon.com/BoontaVista *** Email the show at [e-mail]! Call in and leave us a question or a message on 1800-317-515 to be answered on the show! *** Twitter: twitter.com/boontavista Website: boontavista.com Merchandise: boontavista.com/merchandise Twitch: twitch.tv/boontavista

Welcome to Buente Vista. I am Andrew here for episode 126 and we are here at a group job interview. That's the worst kind of job interview that they can be. I'm pretty convinced. Terrible. Hate it. Let's go around the room and say what our biggest flaw is, Theo. So I would say that I'm just in general too good at all of the things that I do. And you may say, well, that's not a real flaw, but I have an effect that everyone around me despises me for being extra super good at the job that I do now. And you may say, well, I'm thi, I'm thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, I'm thi, thi, thi, I'm thi, thi, I'm thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, I'm the the biggest, I'm the biggest, the biggest, the biggest, the biggest, the biggest, the biggest, the biggest, the biggest, the biggest the biggest the biggest the biggest the biggest the biggest the biggest the biggest the biggest the biggest the biggest the biggest the biggest the biggest the biggest the biggest thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, thi, thin, thi, thi, thi, thin thi, thi, thi, thi, thi' thi, thi, thi, th well, that's not a real flaw, but I have an effect that everyone around me despises me for being extra super good at the job that I do now and the job that I could be doing with you, the corporation, whom, look, I know you've got some, you've got some boots on there. Would it be untoward if I licked them? And what about you, Ben? What's your biggest flaw in the

workplace? Oh my biggest problem is that I always work exactly 10% harder than anybody else in the room. You take the hardest working person there, I'll beat them by 10%. Calculate it. Also I steal stationary. Like a lot. I'm stealing unbelievable quantities of printer ink and reselling it on the street for cash. Every time you walk out a backpack just rustling with several thousand byroes in there. I've gone to every floor in the office building taken just a little bit from every stationary cupboard. Someone's uh, someone walks into the stationary cupboard and you're there hunched on the ground mouth on a hose that kind of leads down and up towards the commercial printer.... the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thracea. the. theck. theck. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the stationary cupboard and you're there hunched on the ground, mouth on a hose

that kind of leads down and up towards the commercial printer, magenta powder all over your face. Oh dear. My biggest flaw is chronic sexual harassment. But, but I make sure that nobody is left out by sexually harassing every single person in the company. Oh, I'm an equal opportunity. Oh, I'm an equal opportunity.

I hate everyone. Oh, yeah. I'm an equal opportunity. I hate everyone. Men, women, it's all the same to me. Oh dear. How we, how we doing guys? Oh, we're good.

We're good. We kind of got here through a complicated sequence of events this morning. We've been building a deck. It's very exciting. I get to kind of make up for years of giving the impression that I'm some sort of a feat mathematical golem. Um, through several hours hours to to to to to to to to th th th th th th th th th th th th th th how th how th how th how th how th how th how th how th how th how th how th how tho th how we're tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho wea wea tho we wea th tho tho th th th how we th how we th how we th how we th th how we th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tha that tho tho tho tho that that that that that that that tho tho tho the impression that I'm some sort of a feat mathematical golem. Through several hours of hard labor. But during this, we found a pigeon being hassled by a new neighborhood cat that I do not respect.

It's a tiny ginger tabby and it is a huge shithead. It's pigeon's lame. And exactly when we were supposed to be podcasting, this is before I'd told anybody that I was going to, because I do feel deep shame about the things that I do. This had to hop in the car and take this pigeon to a vet, but no vets are open. So I have with me here under a towel. Small bird problem. So at what point are you just going to pull the plug and kill this pigeon?

Oh, I was thinking this on the way. The people would just absolutely like hit this bird with a rock. It's very lame. As in it's unable to- It's unable to- It can't move real good. So sorry to any listeners. But it's a friendly enough bird. I hope he pulls through. We'll see. Yeah, I had to do that once when, this is back when, before wife of the show, my wife, Elnor and I were married, living in wedded bliss, and we lived in a sharehouse in Melbourne with a bunch of other people.

Lots of, here's an irony for you, lots of very vegan animal rightsy type people, you know? And then the cat, cuss-cours, cat of the show, our cat, cus-cours, brings in a pigeon that she is mauled and we all went, oh no, and then everybody said, someone's got to do something about this pigeon. And all of a sudden, reverting to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the thion, thi thi thi-a, thi-a, thi-a, thi-a, thi-a, thi-a, thi-a, thi-a, thi-a, thi-a, thi-a, th-a, th-a, here, here, here, here, th-a, th-a, their their their their their their their their their their their their the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thi-s thi-s thi-s thi-s thi-s'-s'-s'-s'-s'-eanananananan's thi-eananan, thi-eanan, thi then everybody said someone's got to do something about this pigeon and all of a sudden reverting to gender roles all of the women in this house simultaneously turned and looked at me and I went oh no I don't want to have to womp this pigeon with its shovel but that's the way it played out really. This was at like you know 1130 at night there's no vet's open and also and the the thets th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th that the and all the and all the and all the and all the and all all all all all all all all all the the the the the the thi the the their their their their their their their their their the the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the the the the the the theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-n' theeeeeeeeee. the the th's the way it played out really. This was at like, you know, 1130 at night. There's no vets open, and also I'm not taking a pigeon to a vet.

Outrageous. Would you have had to pay for services to be rendered to this pigeon? You don't pay for the services. You take them to the vet and they say, thank you for bringing me this bird and they can't, to to to the vet and they say thank you for bringing me this bird and they can't swear at you or frown at you even though you've just introduced new work to them. You pay nothing, you sign a little release form and then you walk away. And then they hit the pigeon with the shovel. With a medical shovel. I spent a lot of time debating about whether or not I wanted to Want is the wrong word, but whether or not I thought it was a better idea to just like

Try to bludgeon this pigeon with a shovel or do like a stabbing type motion whether it was better to try and like, you know, shear the things head right off But I could I could see if well because I was like what if you what if you whack the pigeon and that doesn't do it? That's bad you're not doing any favors then but then I was like yeah but if you try to like tactically behead a pigeon with a shovel and that didn't go right I think that's worse. I think it's worse. I'm going to do neither, just personally. I'm going to let a professional sort this issue out for me. My understanding is that you're there right now with the bird immediately in front of you? It's to my side, yeah. You're looking at it and all your hearing is a lot about chopping its head off and you're staring into its eyes. I feel, I feel like out of all of the birds, just ranking them faculties-wise. This pigeon is, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, not, th, not, th, not, th, th, th, not, th, th, th, th, th, thi, not, thi, thi-uh, thi-uh, thi-uh, thi- just ranking them faculties wise, this pigeons are not able to understand our words.

I believe it to be completely oblivious to the human language. They can sense tone. Oh. Very well. Well, I'll be interested to see how this pans out whether or not you, well, maybe at some point you'll take the towel off and the pigeon's just dead due to neglect and the lack of engagement. That is it, and there is a possibility I've considered. And the hope for I guess.

No, I hope the pigeon makes it. You really, do you think this pigeon's gonna pull through at this point? I have to believe that. I have to believe there's some good left in there there there there is going to be exactly like the music video for the modest mouse song, Ocean breathes salty, acceptance of pigeon instead of a cry, check it out. I'm not going to. Oh dear. So, Theo has an unwelcome visitor in his house, a dying pigeon. But speaking of unwelcome visitors in the home, Ben, Jesus Christ.

Uh-huh. So, so it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's the the music. the music the music the music. the music the music the music the music the music the music the music the music the music the music the the music the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the the the the the the the in the home, Ben. Oh, Jesus Christ. Uh-huh. So, so it's, it's, it's election time in the UK. And people, people are getting cranky at each other. But I understand that this has kind of bled over into the housing market. This is correct. Yeah, you know how there's like, when there's been a big rise of conservative, anti-immigrant sentiment, how there's been like a really bad form of discrimination happening in housing? It is of course against conservatives.

That's the worst problem we've got on our hands right now. The true discrimination. And someone writing for the Telegraph in the UK has done a deep, deep dive into the horrible ways in which people politely tell young conservatives that they don't want to live with them. Harrowing stories like this, when Olivia Leaver, a young conservative, went looking for student accommodation, she couldn't have imagined the reception that she would receive from one household. Arriving at the flat, there was a sign reading, fuck the Tories. And once inside, she found similar literature insulting Boris Johnson and Brexit,

and a poster of Shegivara. Only one of the housemates made the effort to meet her, and later on she received a text from another reading, I saw you were the leader of the young Conservative Party in duty and you support Brexit. We are a very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their the house their their their their their their their their the house-tha-tha-s. their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the. the. the. theauu. theau. theauiiii. theauii. theaui. theauiaui. their their their their the leader of the young conservative party in duty and you support Brexit. We are a very left-wing house and I think there could be potential clash. Which is not unreasonable. Like let's say right off the bat, let's say that you happen to be the leader of the young conservatives at your university or whatever. And you go to look at a house and has a big sign up and says, fuck the Tories and fuck Boris Johnson and we hate people like you of your ideology. Like do you not just turn around and walk back out of the building at that point? Imagine there's a there's a room you're at the entryway to this room and the door is closed but the doorway is before you and upon the door there is a sign that says, if you enter upon this room, a man will bop you on the head with a hammer.

As a conservative, the only option left to you, I believe, is to enter the room, be bopped on the head with a hammer, and then be paid to write a column about it. Say, hey, someone bopped me on the head. Well like, how could I have known? Like even outside of the fact that conservatives definitely think that somebody saying, hey, your chosen political ideology, which is often about excluding other people from society and being anti-immigration and trying to make the society we live in as as hateful and divided as possible. They think that somebody saying that they don't like that about you is the same as

someone saying, hey you should change the color of your skin. Even apart from that, like if I showed up to look at a rental and everybody in there was like, we're all crust punks. Uh-huh. I'd go, cool. Yep. See you later guys. You know, if you turned up and everybody there said,

literally how you met your wife. If you turned up, if you turned up for a sharehouse and all of the people sitting on the couch said, so we're all Harry Potter fanatics and every Friday night we do a marathon of every single Harry Potter movie and every Saturday first thing in the morning while you're trying to sleep in we all loudly gather in the hallway and do a reenactment of a scene from one of the books. And attendance is mandatory. Attendance is mandatory. Would you be like, hey, I'm really mad, A, that these people want me to do this, and B, that when I didn't want to do it, they got mad at me. It's very strange.

Plus, it's to me the thing that, well, one of the strangest things about this is, this this is, th. . This is, th. This is, to me, the thing that, one of the strangest things about this is that this is conservatives that need to rent, right? If you, you know, somehow establish a, like a slumlord sort of situation and then you become a conservative, that's understandable. It's also evil, but it's understandable because it's rational self-interest. But if you're still a renter, if you're like, you know, just trying to make it as a student in this world, you know, scrounging, doing what you can to survive,

and you're a young concept, that's just very bizarre to me. You've got your whole life to do that. Why don't you not do that for a little while longer and just be a normal person? Yeah, the classic thing of, what is it that people say, if you're not, if you're not left wing when you're young, you've got no heart. You got no dick. Yeah, look, I think the weirdest thing in the world is young conservatives. Is people who look at the world and the way it is and say, ooh, what if we accidentally spend

too much money trying to help people? What if we help people too much? What if we put too little flammable cladding on the walls of this rental that you are looking to rent? What if we removed too many of life's obstacles and hardships for people, you know? What if not so many people had to go to fucking dreary make work jobs for their entire existence? Just to justify the system that we have in place. I'm sorry, I couldn't bear it. You're making no sense whatsoever.

Couldn't bear it. I don't like it. Don't like to hear about it. I don't like to see it. It's not good. It's not a phenomenon that's limited to rentals either. This sinister trend to the incident could have been put down as a one-off, but it is in fact part of a sinister trend in the rental market, student and otherwise, where some households

have been vetting potential tenants for their political views. Living solo in London, I was oblivious to this phenomenon until August last of these things that we're talking about is other strangers in society being able to vet you to see if they think you'll get along. That is what the common factor in both of these things is, dating apps and seeing if you can share a property together. Also what's the end game here? Like people must like me for my disgusting beliefs? We just come around with a cattle prod to give everyone a shock until they support.

No, it's not that. It's the scenario that we all want out of life, which is the marketplace of ideas and the constant battlefield of ideology. Let's be civil for a little bit. It's also taking place in your house all the time. Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't you love to come home from a hard day of work and then just like argue with your flatmate about conservative policies for like several hours every night? Wouldn't that make for a nice peaceful existence to spend the several hours of your weekdays that you don't have to spend at work arguing with somebody who thinks that like lots of people don't have a right to exist? Or even better you should

be forced to date them for some reason? Yes, that one too. Yep, so it gets worse. Among the many responses I received, one reader said the problem was much greater than I'd imagined that some flatmate adverts were now warning off people who did not have Eurofile or left-wing world views. To examine the issue, I logged on to spare room. the tho'n hunting up and down the country. According to its statistics, someone finds a housemate on there every three minutes.

I search for a number of terms such as Labour, Tory, Colburn, Conservatives, Socialism and Brexit to see what adverts they would yield with some shocking results. So hold on a second. This seems like perhaps a tiny touch of confirmation bias in the sense that while trying to prove that just going about your business as a conservative makes it like impossible for you to rent or to share a flat with somebody, instead it's I went on to a rental website and put these terms in, found every ad that yields these terms and then said, see everybody's vetting by these

criteria. I logged on, I searched for rooms where you enter a man bops you on the head with a hammer. I searched for the following terms, hammer, bop, head, sign, door. I was dismayed by what I found. And soon afterwards my head was full of big, big tall lumps. And when I pushed down on one to push it back into my skull, another one popped up somewhere else on my head. First off, at no point did I discover a conservative or brexiteer prejudice towards labor or rema or remainers. I wonder why.

Well, it didn't sound like you were looking for it, but okay. In results that paralleled my dating article, I discovered it was members of the left who are most intolerant, starting with a double room in East London. The photographs of the flight were delightful, but the advert reads, no Tories, despite simultaneously asking for the applicant to be a friendly person. It seems like they're kind of redundant phrasing there, I guess, saying it twice. It's two advertisers a photograph with a labor banner. Next up, there's a 750 pound per month double room in a peaceful warehouse. It looks like a fun dig, where the tenants describe themselves as a creative, kinky and active bunch of people, but they also stipulate no Tories need a ply.

I don't want to live in a sharehouse where people describe themselves as kinky. Kinky and active together? Sounds like a threat. Very active. Not only are we kinky, but the kinkiness will be taking place. It will absolutely be happening. This is not passive kinkiness at all. Yeah. If you come home there's going to be active kinkiness around the house. Pushing like sex swings out of the way trying to get down the hall. Sliding over in the loom on the hardwood floors. No thank you.

In my search, anti-Torrey sentiment became a continual theme. Later I stumbled upon a room in a house whose tenants classify themselves as a bike nerd couple with a strange obsession that their flatmate must like bikes or at least tolerate them. But all of this becomes immaterial if you're conservative as they demand no smokers or Tories. I love like how how much you could just replace Tories with arsoals in all of these. Yeah no pricks. Sorry. Yep. Which begs the larger question like that because that's clearly what these people mean by this isn't it? No smokers, no arsoa-sos. If you're an arsoa-s-sm-no, no they they they they they they they they they, no they, no they, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, thes, thes, thes, thes, thes, thes, thes, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, they's, they's, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're th larger question like that because that's clearly what these people mean by this isn't it? No smokers, no arsoles

If you're an arsoal don't apply to live here, you know I think the person writing this article should maybe be asking why so many people feel the need to conflate Their ideology with being an asshole, but that's not what it's about You should be forced to live with me and I could tell you about the the the the the th th th th. th. th. th. th. the thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi their their their their tho' their their their tho-I I'm their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thr-I. thr-I's thr-I's thr-I's tho-I's tho-I's tho-I's tho-I's tho-I's tho-I's tho-I's tho-I's tho'eee. that's not what it's about. It's about you should be forced to live with me. And I could tell you about why I'm not an asshole actually. It keeps going. Perhaps the most illiberal students are taking their cues from leading lights within the Labour party, such as Laura Pidcock, who, at 32, is already tipped as a future leader, but who, when asked by the Sunday Times, if would have beer with a Tory, wrinkled her nose.

Oh no! She has previously said that she couldn't be friends with a conservative. That's it. She wrinkled her nose. That's the whole thing. It's not like them going into quite her saying. I really do feel like the difference with a lot of this is that it's, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, the the the thi, I, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, their, their, their, thin, thin, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, thi.ei. toooooooi. thi. thi. thi. And, of this is that, like I was saying, it's so much of conservative ideology these days, or at the very least, the conservative ideology that we see blasted through the media and the types of people on, like, Twitter and Facebook and stuff who want to make a big deal out of the fact that they're conservative.

People who consider themselves, youthemselves leading advocates for conservatism. Is that the thing that we keep coming back on over and over again is that these are the people who want to make really clear that so much of what they're fighting for and so much of what their ideology is about is their right to be offensive to other people. They're right to offend others, their right to say things which hurt other people's feelings and to treat other people in ways that they themselves would not want to be treated. Not because it's a good thing to do, but because it's their right. Because it's their right to do. And I don't know where the confusion comes in, for this type of person that when you spend, their right, their right, their their their right, their their right, their to their right, to their right, to to to their right, to be to be their right, to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to thiii. thi. thi. thi. their, their their right, their right, their right, their right, their right, their right, their right, their right, their right, their right, their right, their right thri. threate the. to this type of person that when you spend a

lot of your time publicly aligning yourself with an ideology that for so many people is synonymous with causing offense to others and then being unapologetic and apparently relishing your right to just kind of be a piece of shit to other people that other people would would look at that and say not really who I'm looking to hang out with. Yeah no I don't want this in my personal living space thank you. Yeah. Like and that that is somehow censorship. It's also a particularly a historical take I think for? Because, like, the Tories are racist now, right? But not even long ago, they were like super outwardly racist. And that kind of overlaps with housing policy, right? So like in the 60s, a conservative MP, Peter Griffiths, got elected

on the... Peter Griffin? That's right. Peter Griffin, Conservative, the 60s a conservative MP, Peter Griffiths, got elected on the... Peter Griffin? Peter Griffin, Conservative MP. Oh Jesus fucking Christ. Oh, you guys remember a family guy? No. It's still going. It's still going. It's still going. But he got elected on the on the slogan. If you want an N-word for a neighbor, vote labor. And the Tories refused to disavow him as a party. And this, because it was too popular with the conservative base.

And this affected policy, it affected the way that people moved into suburbs and all that sort of thing. So like, to, and I don't think that the the way that people moved into suburbs and all that sort of thing. So like to, and I don't think that the Tories, you know, have changed that much to crib, you know, Stuart Lee. The difference now is that they couched their racism in more cryptic language, right? But, you know, we've seen with Brexit a thing that is clearly motivated significantly by race, not just conservatism, and for them to say that they can identify as Tory and be accepted into places when so much of, like you said their ideology relies upon not accepting others and the actual material results that come out of that is just bizarre it's just an odd it's a

very odd thing to to conclude. I think there's one other that yeah there is a fundamental aspect to this which is like you're saying the idea that you you should be able to have so much of your ideology be around offending other people and pushing other people to the margins of society, but also saying this should never actually come back to have any material impact on me or my life, or my relationships, or my employment, or anything else. And I think that that goes to show, for how many people in the conservative world, political ideology, it isn't a real thing.

I think for a lot of people who are very left-wing, not everybody obviously, speaking in generalizations, but for a lot of leftists, the point is that you're trying to help bring about some kind of material change that helps people other than yourself. Bring about something that causes an actual change and an actual impact in other people's lives. Whereas this strain of conservatism is so much of the time about, you know, I just want to be able to do exactly what I want. I don't care what happens to other people. You know, so much of conservatism is about the about the individualism of everything. But also the same people who rave on

about personal responsibility are the ones who don't think that there should actually be any impact from their own behavior and their own public associations to hateful ideologies. Weird stuff. And also I would say that, like you said, it's sort of a very kind of, it's a bit of a game, but it's also sort of just like pushing numbers around on a ledger that says, you know, if we spend this much less on, um, on, you know, health services and public housing and all that kind of thing, you know, we will get less tax out of it. And they don't come face to face with the human results of it. And here it is, like this is them

on the flip side coming face to face with actual human consequences for pushing numbers around on a ledger. And it comes as a shock to them, right, to say, oh, hey, this actually, my ideology is having results, you know, actual kind of physical results on somebody, but it's having results on me, the protagonist of the universe. So therefore, it's bad. This is great. Commenting on my findings, spare room said, So therefore, it's bad. This is great.

Commenting on my findings, spare room said, Recently we have seen more mentions of political preferences in adverts, which unfortunately is the sign of the times we live in. Choosing who you live with based on how they vote isn't counted as discrimination. However, we'd always encourage people to say who they do want to live with, rather than who they don't. So instead of saying, I don't want th don't want th don't want th don't tho th don't tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho th tho tho tho tho tho tho thi thi tho tho to say, I don't to say to say to say to say thi to say, to say, to say, to say, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to they don't. So instead of saying, I don't want to live with a cunt, say I would like to live with someone who isn't a cunt. And she concludes this way. Of course it's perfectly normal to have preferences in housemates that they're

tidy and friendly to live with for starters, but this trend seems a step too far. Ultimately it's not really anyone else's business how other people vote. But it's all so tedious. Who wants to talk about Brexit when they get home from a hard day's work? Lefties take note, many young Tories would choose a glass of wine and Love Island over an evening discussing politics. And some of us even like bikes too. Imagine liking a bike. Isn't she making essentially the point for who wants to talk about Brexit when they get home from Hard Day's work?

No one. That's why you don't live with a bunch of fucking Tories. And live with people who are obsessed with the shit. Yeah, like, it's probably not a great point to make when you are the head of a student politics fucking body. Like, no one would want to talk about politics after work, and that is your entire life. So these are the things that happen to you in this world obsessed with social capital. When you poison the well and then you have to drink from the well and you say, ah, someone

poisoned this. Yuck! Yuck! It's no good. But this leads us to an article from Bernard Salt. Ben, I believe you described Bernard Salt to me before we started. Could you repeat that for us now? He'd be the guy that wrote the e-text on millennials wasting their money on avocado when they should be buying houses? It's true. If you simply did not eat several avocados, you'd have enough money wasting their money on avocado when they should be buying houses. It's true, if you simply did not eat several avocados, you'd have enough money for a house by now.

He wrote one that just got savagely owned by just about everyone, because he's basically just spent an entire article complaining about how he doesn't like how modern cafes look and that young people go there and then concluded that they should just have houses instead. He's a well-loved figure, Bernard Salt. Before we get too much into the article, can I just maybe say we could swap out your metaphor before Andrew of poisoning the well, with perhaps that they have salted the earth? Oh! And then lead into, I know we can't do it now, we've already done it now. We've that, we've that that that that th that th th that th th th th that th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th the that they have salted the earth. And then lead into, I know we can't do it now, we've already done the, we've already

done the transition, but maybe next time when we're leading from something about, you know, political ideology, you know, salting the earth and then into a Bernard salt article and it may not come up often, we just, we could leave, but do that one. Wait, can I offer an alternative to that one as well? Obviously we can't use it at this stage, but another one we could have done is, um, those, uh, Tories will be crying ironically into the S. J. W. Tiers mug. And you know what's in tears, salt. And speaking of salt, Bernard salt. Not bad, that's the third one, for the third time that we need one. Beautiful. So we can't obviously, not this time. Nothing with them, but.

No, I'm filing that away. I'm pulling open a big drawer in the rusty filing cabinet that is inside my mind's palace. I'm flicking down with my finger, the many manila folders and I'm getting to S, opening up my salt file, placing both of those in there for the next time this comes up. Thank you guys. You might want to put a little tag in the B file for Bernard just linking C-C-Salt as well.

I don't come into your mind palace and tell you how your filing works, do I mean? I mean, no, please don't don't, please don't ever enter my mind palace. I've got it just exactly as I like it. Everything is where it should be. I'm not happy there, but at least I know where everything is. It's all way too much like the early 2000s movie The Cell. The Cell. That's sorry, Jennifer Lopez and Vincent's Dinofri. I think this is about the ninth the cell reference. Tassim Singh, I believe. Yep.

Mm-hmm. Was that his last good movie? Oh, no. Please, how dare you? You didn't like the fall? Oh, I haven't seen the fall properly. Oh, the fall's beautiful. Self-less. The one... beautiful. It's very good. But selfless, was that what it was called? Self slash less?

The one, no it wasn't good, don't worry about. Ryan Reynolds, Ben Kingsley, Sevely stuff. Immortals was also not good. I didn't watch that one. It was like a kind of, you know, swords and sandals type deal. obviously cool imagery and everything. But just bad stuff, it's a bit of a snicker. Anyway, I'm not sure how we got that. But several weeks ago we had a friend of the show, J.R. Hennessyon, and we were talking about wage theft from large chains of supermarkets. A lot of businesses all over

Australia if we're being honest. But Bernard has chosen to write an article that supposes that maybe it is a two-sided coin, a double-edged sword if you will. He says like most Australians I've been horrified by the recent stories about businesses underpaying staff over many years. And it raises the question, is anyone ever inadvertently overpaid? An employer has a duty of care, indeed a moral obligation to ensure that workers are paid their full salaries and entitle into a timely manner. I would raise a further question.

Who gives a shit? Now, like every other article by a conservative, this forms the standard template of, I get my disclaimer out of the way at the start. There's always, they always do the bit up the start, which is like, you know, yes I believe people should be entitled to equal rights and a presumption of innocence, but they always have the big butt. This is crucial for businesses as it goes to the matter of their social license, which is kind of like a right to operate granted not by a regulatory authority, but by the community.

I reckon the tobacco industry, for example, is right on the edge of having a social license to operate in Australia. And I think the coal industry's social license is under review. Hmm. You know that thing that actually affects things in a material way? Like, we'll probably shut down coal soon, I think, because their social license doesn't get renewed? Like anyone gives a crap? Yeah.

And also that's 1,000 percent going to be the only context in which anything ever happens to call in this country is where there is so much pressure from the actual community. Stop making money. Unless of course Prime Minister Scott Morrison gets his way and somehow manages to pass a law stopping people from boycotting businesses? So that'll be cool. Yeah it's going to be cool going to every business simultaneously all moments of the day because you're not allowed to boycott anything. Yep. Oh Jack is the only way that you can't the th th th th th the th th the th the th th the only th th the only th the only th the only th th th the only the only th thi the only thi the only thi thi thi thi the only to stop making to stop making thi thi to stop making to stop making to stop making to stop making to stop making to stop making to stop making to stop making to stop making to stop making to stop making to stop making to stop making to stop making to stop making to stop making the only making the only making the only making the only making the only making the only making the only the only the only the only the only the only the only the only the only the only the only the only the only thi thi thi the only the only thi thi tho the only the only tho-m-m-up make make making money money money tho-m-m-up make making money money. Stop making money tho-up. tho' tho' tho' tho' tho' simultaneously all moments of the day because you're not allowed to boycott anything? Which is the only way that you can fulfill that requirement? But it continues, the problem for any business is that once you're on the social license

review list it's hard to get off. And if you get a reputation for being fast and loose with the rules, customers, especially Australian customers, are likely to lose trust in you. Eventually they'll withdraw their gift of a social license to operate, and they'll do this by collectively viewing you as evil or greedy or both. And that's why there's no more banks in Australia. Remember?

Yep, we finished that. Remember how we had the Banking royal commission and it showed literally millions of instances of banks flouting the law, doing all types of illegal transactions, and you know charging dead people money for things. I saw an article just the other day about how Westpac, through its monitoring, established a whole bunch of suspected pedophile activity. And let's just say for example, Ben, what would you expect that a business would do when finding out that a bunch of their customers were doing suspected pedophile activity? What's the next step in this process?

I'd probably take that information to the police. That seems like a reasonable thing to do, right? Close, it was a close guess. What they did was just kept making money from them? And that was the end of the story. That was gonna be my second guess. Yeah. And so yeah, that's why the social license has been withdrawn by the people of Australia and the four major banks are no longer setting record-breaking profit margins every year even in a stagnant economy.

They shut down due to no social license. The social license inspector came around in, so sort of a buzz cut under the hair, which is green I think, sort of rainbow badges all over. And they've said, can I just see your social license real quick? And sorry, it's being revoked Madame and they chided them for gendering them and all that sort of stuff. And then they they shut down I think or maybe nothing happened. They've taken their social license card and cut it in half with a big pair of scissors. It's gone.

It's gone. So sorry. Bernard says this is the stuff that scares boards witless and rightly so. We Australians get mightily antsy about issues of fairness especially when it comes to the treatment of workers. Do we? Do we or do we live in a country that's like bizarrely enthusiastic about the idea of criminalizing all union activity? Do we live in a country where instead of say sending the board members of the banks that profiteered from dead customers to jail, instead we support governments which say things

like we're going to make it that if a union is ever a day late on filing any of its paperwork that the union is forcefully dissolved. I'm not sure which country we're in. It's hard to say. Yep. This is the stuff the scares board members witless when they are forced to resign from the bank and take five million dollars out the door with this raises another question that to my way of thinking the Salty Way is on the same spectrum. If a business is held to account for ensuring that the terms of an employment contractor delivered to the letter the letter the letter the letter the letter the letter the letter the letter the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the scares. the scares. the scares. the scares. the scares. the scares. the scares. the scares. the scares. the scares. the scares. the sca the sca the sciss. the sc. the sc. the sc. the sc. the sc. the sc. the sc. the sc. the sc. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. thea. thea. thears. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. thea. their the salty way, is on the same spectrum. If a business is held to account for ensuring that the terms of an employment contractor

delivered to the letter, as they should, then so too should employees. I mean, fair's fair, right? Turn about his fair play. All right. Let's see where he's going with this. So here's the big, here's the big turn. The worm is, is the worm is the worm is the worm is the worm is the worm is the worm is the worm is the worm is the worm. the worm. the worm. th is the worm. th is th. th is th. th is th. th. th is th. th. th, thus. tha, tha. tha. thauck, tha. tha. tooing, tooing, tooing, tooing, tooing, tooing, tooing, tooing, tooing. tooing. tooing. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. thau. thau. thau. thau. thau. thau. thau. thau. te. te. thau. thau. te. thau. toda. t big, here's the big turn. The worm is currently doing a big turn. So is chucking a sickie wage theft from an employer? No.

No, that's part of your, you're given that time. Yep. The end, and that's, yeah, that's a big, big full stop and the article's over now. Just for any international listeners, ching a sickie is what's known as taking a day of sick sick leave from work. Oh and for Americans, sick leave is a thing where if you can't come into work because you're sick they still pay you for it. Yes, there might be an alien concept to many of you.

So I believe it's just basically a statutory entitlement if that's what the word statutory means. If you are if you are like a permanent full-time employee you get like what is it 20 20 days? But 10 a year I think is the average. 10 a year. I'm pretty sure. Really? Yeah. It's less than I thought. Oh no sorry I was thinking of personal leave like oh right. Yeah. Sorry. That's a American listeners again. That's a thing where you don't have to be at work. But you don't have to give a reason either. And you get 20 of them. Yeah. minimum. Some companies will give you more, yeah. So is chucking a sickie wage theft from an employer or is there sufficient wiggle room

within the I'm feeling crook early morning phone message to assuage the conscience of even the most ardent sickie taker? And is this behavior simply tolerated as yet another cost of doing business? It is literally the cost of doing business. It is literally baked in in the law to say that if you want to employ a person full-time, they are. It's funny because the word that he used up the top there, you'll notice when he says, let's rewind it, selector, right back to his very first paragraph where he did his big caveat, his big, hey, I believe in being nice to people,

thing at the start. He says an employer has a duty of care, indeed a moral obligation to ensure that workers are paid their full salaries and entitlements. Huh. And I'm pretty sure that sick full salaries and entitlements. Hmm. Huh. And I'm pretty sure that sick leave and personal leave are entitlements. But he's saying that though sometimes you don't, you know, you want those entitlements even though you're entitled to them. There's something, sorry, I'm missing some, I'm a bit confused this morning, but that's all, so he's saying that people have this entitlement, and that they're entitled to,

but people are taking those entitlements in a way that is sort of already accounted for in the cost of doing business, and they're taking them and that's bad but then he's and then uh huh yep mm-hmm so we've got oh yeah yeah okay let's let's see if you guys can help me figure out this part all right he says if so is this behavior simply tolerated as yet another cost of doing business if so it suggests that sickies are essentially an add-on benefit to formal leave entitlements. No, no, they're in the... Sorry, we've covered it. So, no, the formal leave.

Hold on. Let him spell that for you here. Okay, please. He has a hypothetical boss saying, sure. Look, you get four weeks annual leave, plus sick leave and long service leave and we will also tolerate one or two sickies per year meaning no doctor's certificate is required. A sickie is a sick day. I mean like let's let's let's boil it down to what he really means when he says sickie. The the Australian concept of chucking a sickie is to call in

sick to work even though you are not actually too sick to go to work. Just sick of bloody working am I right? Oh, oh, you are right though. You are 100% right. Yeah, and look, I work at a place now, I work at a job that I'm very happy with that has what I consider to be a very like progressive leave policy which is that you just have 30 days of leave a year and you can use them how you want and if you call up and say I'm not really feeling it today so I'm not going to come to work that that counts as a day of

your leave. You don't have to say you don't have to like pretend you don't have to come to work, that that counts as a day of your life. You don't have to say, you don't have to like pretend. You don't have to, please, I can't. Oh, so sick. Yeah, you don't have to do the song and dance, the sicky song and dance or whatever. They even have in their policy, like a list of things that you can use to take your days of personally for and the very first one is like mental health days. And I when I was signing up to work at this place, I was like, that's really good to me. To see like the concept of a mental health day actually acknowledged as a legitimate use of your leave that you are entitled to. As opposed to the way it works in a lot of workplaces which is you get different types of leave and they're clearly segmented into personal leave which a lot of places think is like only to be used essentially for like

annual leave and holidays and stuff and also you have to ask them like at least a month out from the time to say I want to take a week off or whatever and that you know that sick leave is you have to prove to the boss's satisfaction that you are literally too unwell to physically unable to come into work in order to qualify for using that particular type of leave. But that's it's not what it's for. It's for days when you can't or essentially don't want to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be a to be a to be to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to be a to to be a to to. And to. And to, you. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, to, to, to, to, to order to qualify for using that particular type of leave. But that's, it's not what it's for. It's for days when you can't or essentially don't want to be a work. Also, there's a couple of like implications about the kind of environment that he's describing as well, right?

Where one, you should come into work even if you absolutely do not want to come into work so much that you are happy to burn through your limited leave just so that you can be there even though you're not feeling it. Like so you're going to turn up, you're going to be doing a crappy job because you don't want to be there. But clearly this job to him is just make work, right? You've got to dig a hundred holes, you know, before you, and then fill them back in. Like, and perhaps the reason why people are taking sickies, is because your job sucks, and people don't want to be at your place, at your place of work.

So maybe there's something deeper going on here and your employment is actually bad and needs to be looked at. Well, maybe, but that's probably not it. I mean, he's also describing a fairly mythical workplace of one that's very happy to give you every type of entitlement that you're actually owed. Yeah. Uh-huh.

So he goes on, this isn't simply a matter of the fairness of business and worker rights. It's the far bigger issue of how we build a culture of doing the right thing, of engaging in ethical behavior and treating others fairly in all forms of commercial exchange. Now again, I would come back to the idea that, like, thehea, thia thiiiii, that that that that that that that that th. th. th. th. that, that that that, that, that, that that that, that that that that that's, that's, that's, that's, that, that's that's that's, that's, that's that's that's that's that's th. thoes th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. that that that that that that that that's that that's that's that that that that's that that that that that that that that that th come back to the idea that like again this workplace, the workplace that I'm in now that I was talking about has a lot of those sorts of things. Workplace policies that are set up for me to have a nice life. They're not actually geared around the workplace. They're geared around them set like, you know, they even say in the leave

policy like, it's there to be used. You're supposed to take holidays. Take a bunch of holidays all year so that you don't get burnt out. Because that's what inevitably happens at workplaces where either they make it really difficult for people to take holidays, or there is the, there is the kind of, um, inbuilt cultural expectation within the workplace, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be their to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their the is the kind of inbuilt cultural expectation within the workplace that anybody who takes holidays is being selfish. The same thing with sick leave. When you have those workplaces where like people get sick but they keep coming into work. And they act like they're being a brave martyr and they're not letting down the team while they fucking cough all over everybody and make like everybody else sick and need to stay home which in and of itself is probably if you are the type of person who's obsessed with workplace productivity is probably one of the worst things you could be doing.

But um, but no, it's just it makes a tremendous difference to have a workplace which very clearly considers things through the prism of we want people who work here to not be burnt out, to not hate working here, and to feel like if they're having a hard time or if they're just having a day where they're like, you know what, I just, I don't want to drag myself into work today and just be miserable or for whatever reason, that you are entitled to just say, you know what, we're calling this one to write off. And that in turn, that's the starting basis of this social element of the contract with your workplace that he's talking about. You need to start with the workplace the workplace the workplace the employees the employees the employees the employees the employees the employees the employees the employees the employees the employees to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to be our employees to be to be to be to be to be to be to be miserable to be to be to be to be miserable to be miserable to be miserable to be miserable to be miserable to be miserable to be miserable to be miserable to be miserable to be miserable to be miserable to be miserable, be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be toea. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. Wea. toea. Wea. Wea. toea. Wea. We toea. Wea. We toea. toea. to contract with your workplace that he's talking about.

You need to start with the workplace saying, we treat our employees with respect, and we give them what they need to lead, like, you know, relatively happy and healthy lives. Because it doesn't work the other way. You can't say, we're real hard asses about everything, and we expect you to make sure that you're doing absolutely everything, you know, within the, both both, the, the, the, the, the, the, the the letter, the the letter, the the letter, the the the the the the the the the the their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, and the work work, the worke, toe, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the work work, the work work work work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work, the work work work work work work work work work work work work work work, the work, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, oreau., work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, their work, the work're doing absolutely everything you know within the both the letter and the spirit of all of our different policies and everything. Because that's just not how it works. I think the reality for most people in workplaces are if you are extremely stringent about policing policies and policing people's behavior and you know questioning their motivations and

their honesty about everything by making them, you know, drag their ass out of bed and go to the doctor and get a sick leave certificate every single time that they have a flu and can't go in a work for one day, then people will, people will afford you exactly the same shit right back. They'll say, you give me no leeway and you don't trust me, so fuck you. Yeah, and then, but then they're surprised when, you know, they make people turn up to the dick-sucking factory and then one day, someone just quits on the spot and then comes back and drives a bulldozer through one wall of the factory, and then throw all the workers workers workers workers workers workers workers workers the workers the workers the workers through all the workers and then through the other wall of the factory and they go how does this happen why does

this man feel so such animus towards his job here at this wonderful factory yeah that's my my general thing is just like if you treat people in a workplace like children they will respond in kind. If you treat people in a workplace like children, they will respond in kind. If you treat people like they have no agency, like they can't be trusted, then they will stop being trustworthy. If the position that you treat every employee of yours with in a workplace is, I need to be a fucking eagle-eyed, domineering piece of shit because you know otherwise I'll give you an inch and you'll take a mile or whatever, then people will start from the position of

if I'm not going to be trusted anyway, then why should I behave in a trustworthy way? So this idea that you know everybody's meant to come to their workplace with, hey, maybe if I give enough of myself to my employer that will start treating me nicely.......... It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It's. It. It's. It's. to. to. to. to. to. to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to be, to be, thi. thi. thi, to be, to be, to be, to be, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi,to my employer, they'll start treating me nicely. It's fucking absurd. Let's get this bank another billion, guys. We can do it. Maybe then it'll start to trickle down. Bernard says, you know those self-service checkouts in supermarkets? I'm shocked to learn that some people deliberately misenter expensive goods as cheap ones,

putting through an avocado as an onion say. This this, this, this, this, this. This, this, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, thi, thi. This is, thi. This is, thi. This is, thi. This is, thi. thi. thi. thi. It's. It's is is thiol- tho, tho, it's is is is is is is. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. This is. This is. This is. This is. This is thi. This is thi. This is thi. It's is thi. It's the. It's theffia' is thea' is thea' is theffia' is thea' is thea'era'erthrough an avocado as an onion say. This is theft, obviously, and the majority of shoppers who are honest end up paying more to compensate for those who cheap the system. Wrong. Supermarkets absolutely build this into their costs because they know that the amount that they lose from people putting things through the wrong way is still less than it costs them to pay human people.... th people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people.... th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th. This, th. This, th. This, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. This is th. This is th. This is th. This is th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This, th. This is th. This is thi. This is thi. This is thi. This is thi. This is thi. This is thi. This is thi's is thi's is thi's is thi. This is things through the wrong way is still less than it costs them to pay human people a living wage to do that work. Well he literally says that in the next in the next sentence as if there's not some sort of as if he's drawn the correct conclusion here. Supermarket operators probably accept such losses given that the alternative, employing more checkout labor would cost them more. So if we're operating within the logic of his entire premise here, it's the supermarket

that is fucking up its own social license by saying, well, rather than employ members of the local community and actually give something back to the place that we're operating, you know, in the form of jobs, which then turns into income, which then local people can spend in stores, which can be taxed, which can go back into the community. Instead, they would rather say, well, we'd rather lose a bit of money to shoplifting, but not have to actually pay anybody, you know, enough to have a job, and to pay superannuation, and have sick leave and all that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, thin, thin, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, then, th, th, th, th, th, thin, the the the thin, they, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, they, thin, thin, thin, thin, then, then, then, then, job and to pay superannuation and have sick leave and all that kind of thing. So they're already starting from the position of fucking up their social license and that's

why people steal from them. Well, so every single one of these examples he raises as if, you know, it's a tip for tap, but it's about like a hundred thousand tits for one tat I would say in, I, I, I'd, I'd, I'd, I'd, I'd, to say, to say, to say, to say, to say, to say, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th th th th th thi thi tho, tho, thooo, thoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, th to to th to's about like a hundred thousand tits for one tat I would say in in every case, right? There's no way any of these balance out. Woolworth's made over $50 billion in revenue last year, right? Like there is no way that that their tit is not larger than our tat. Well, they also... Their tits and tats are not matching. They made, um, they made, you know, $50 billion and somehow still managed to steal $300 million in wages and their employees. Yeah. So the idea that we're meant to be fucking sympathetic of somebody, some millennial probably, stealing an avocado, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. There's no pleasing him. He says we're spending too much money on avocados and then you put them through his

onions and you're still bad somehow. I know, right? Yeah. And then you were also putting onions through Ben as well, side by side with the avocado so that you can make your famous dish. Yep. And can you just regal us with that dish please? Oh it's well it's the flavor sensation that everyone's talking about. Yep, well they're certainly talking about it. So cheesy cheesy onion eggs, yeah. Cheezy onion eggs. Hmm. It's the dish that's on everyone's lips. Yeah I feel like it's the dish that's on your lips. Probably still a little bit of my mustache yes certainly. Yep. Um, how?

Uh-huh. So, yeah, it's cheesy onion eggs. Cheezy onion eggs. Cheezy onion eggs. Yeah, right. So you've got onion and eggs. Oh, absolutely. But I feel like you're leaving something out there.

So you got the, you got the, you got the, youogether but yeah we're gonna take that one step further we're gonna put a little bit of cheese in there it's cheesy onion eggs is basically what the dish is go on I I don't know whether there's any on to go to so this is now this perhaps in like some sort of sandwich so you could put the cheese on the sandwich. Well, if you've got bread, you cannot go past a cheesy onion egg sandwich for sure. But if you don't have bread, I'm perfectly fine by itself your cheesy onion eggs. So you'd put some salt on there, wrapping up the burnt salt thing.

Ah, good, nice. Now, before we get out of here, we need to check in on an Australian cultural icon, a titan of industry, if you will. We are of course talking about long-time entertainment industry figure, Nick Geonopolis. Now, I don't know how to start explaining this to an audience that is not Australian. Right? It feels like any point that we start off from is a racism point. All right, well, let me at least, let me at least, like, taking a step back in the larger scope of things. We need to at least explain that Australia, despite having, you know, over 25 million

people, a bunch of capital cities, lots of money flying around and all that sort of thing. Apparently, the Australian entertainment industry is entirely composed of about 12 people. It has been like Peter Helia and Nick Gionopolis for like 30 years. Yeah you got you got it's Carl Barron still around like just just so much of Jimmoan so much of in Australia. I think we lost Peter Moon I think we lost Peter Moon along the way. Okay but uh... jah-We've just just so so so to the the same. But uh... the the the the, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the they. the they. the the they. the the the the the the the they. the the the the the the the the the the the they. the the the the the the the the we've, I think we lost Peter Moon along the way. Okay. But uh...

We lost him in what sense? Just, he's not in the 12 anymore. Oh, right. We didn't lose dead. He's not dead. Yeah. Okay. I mean, he could be, but I haven't checked. But I guess, like, you know, if somebody, if somebody in Australia, like, hits it big on the world stage, Hugh Jackmans, Yamago Robbies or whatever, they fuck off to Hollywood

and they're just living the life now. Australia's domestic entertainment industry in terms of comedians, the kind of people who may get on to like panel shows, the people who host like big radio stations, the people who are on morning shows and that kind of stuff, that has largely been the same, like even comedy in the sense of people like Nick Gianopolis, people who do like Australian political comedy, even that has all been like either the Chaser or the working dog guys for fucking decades. We keep them all in a big chicken cage.

In the backyard, they're happy enough pecking about, but we've got a panel show, we've got some reality TV show where someone, we have to pretend that we have celebrities, to put them on an island perhaps, they're wearing a loincloth and so we open the cage door. We get the Bondive vet out, roll the dice. Who else is in there? We get a, Julia's Amiro can, we'll grab her out and clean them up, chuck him on TV. Yeah. So, so with that out of the way. Nick Gianopolis is somebody who has been on, chuck him on TV. Yeah. So, so with that out of the way, Nick Gianopoulos is somebody who has been on, he was on TV in like, I want to say,

the late 80s, through to doing like a couple of movies in the 90s, and then since then I think he's basically been doing, like, comedy shows in the theaters for decades since then. But here's the thing. He has a very specific identity. And let's get into it now. Nick Gianopoulos puts fellow comedians on notice for using Wogs in shows, as in the word, Wogs.

Now, like most people, I looked at this article and I thought to myself, huh, Nick Gionopolis is mad at comedians for using the slur, Wogs, in their shows. Maybe this is a thing where he's like, hey, I'm a Greek guy who's been saying wogs in my comedy forever, but you're a white guy who's using it as a slur and I don't like it, was what I thought to myself. But no. Nick Gionopoulos has put comedian colleagues on notice warning that to stop using the word that made him famous. In a move which has reportedly unsettled the Melbourne comedy scene, lawyers for Gionopolis

have sent letters demanding that rivals stop using the word Wogs. The Wogs out of work star yesterday told Sunday Morning Herald he had trademarked the word to protect his business interests. My trademarks are Wogs or Wog Boys. I don't own the word Wog he said. This is, I feel like I'm tumbling down a set of stairs right now. My lawyers have been hired to protect my trademark. It's understood that Geonopolis trademarked the word in the early 1990s following legal advice. Now at this point I feel like we need to have a brief conversation about the word Wog in Australian culture, right? So it's a word of a

fairly indeterminate origin. Some people think it's like various types of acronym, like Western Oriental gentlemen. Every single back-ronym that people claim to be true is universally false all the time. It's never the actual origin of a phrase, but people love them. As soon as, as soon as there's like three different acronyms that someone thinks the thing is, it's none of them, but also it will never be answered in any satisfactory sense. No. So in Australia, when it was a large influx of Greek and Italian immigrants,

in the middle of the 20th century, obviously, this was, this is a thing where we had big influxes of migrant communities, then assimilating into Australian culture and obviously assimilating into like the white part of Australian culture meant that there were lots of clashes, lots of racism, lots of exclusions of people. I think in some ways it's maybe comparable to think of the word Wog as kind of being like Australia's version of the N-word where it was like being used as an exclusionary slur against segments of the community and those segments of the community then said,

we're just going to embrace this word and make it ours now. So that it's not a horribly harmful thing every time someone says it to us because we're also saying it to each other. Which is sort of what's happened here except Nick Gionopolis has said, we're reclaiming this word and by we, I mean me for trademark purposes. Yes. My lawyers will be in touch. So I guess what I'm saying is that in Australia it has a strange,

it has strange connotation in history in the sense that it obviously started off being intended as a harmful slur. It then turned into a, we're all friends and we all say this to each other so it's fine thing. I think if you, if you asked most of the people in th th th th th th th th th th the people in th the people in th the people in th th the people in th th th th th th th the people in th th th th th th th th thus thus thus thus thus the thus the the the the the the to be to be to be to be to be to be the. thing. I think if you asked most of the people in this country, most of the people in this country would probably say, oh, it's not a slur or an offensive term, it just means this. And by that I mean, you know, like, look at the government that we have elected.

I think that there are a lot of people that if you ask would say oh no it's not offensive but at the same time you can absolutely use it as an offensive slow. So with respect with respect to Nick Gianopoulos's request for entertainers to stop using this word lest it infringe on his trademark we will be removing all instances of the word from this point out. So Nick Gionopolis has traded the treated the treated treated treated the treated th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thus thus thus thus the the that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that the the the the the the the word. the word. the the the.a the the. I the. I the. I the. the. I have the. the. the. the. that that of the word from this point now. So, Nick Gianopoulos has traded off the word Fogs for more than 30 years since he first burst onto the showbiz scene with the successful stage show Wiggs out of work in 1987.

It saw him go on to launch the groundbreaking television series Acropolis now and starring the smash hit film, Which bought in 13 million dollars at the Apox Office. Other successful stage shows included Boys, Garamama, a s'garama, and most recently Star Wicks. Hmm. Which I think is certainly not copyright infringement. I mean he's got half of that title down Pat, doesn't he? Certainly not infringement on the most aggressive, aggressive enforcers of copyright. God, could you imagine that lawsuit?

Nick Gianopolis versus Disney? It's understood that lawyers for Giannopoulos have recently sent letters to Melbourne comedians requesting they stop using the word, WX, to promote their shows. There would have been a show passing off as one of mine and my lawyers would have sent them a letter, Gionopoulos said. The government ruled in my favor in the mid-90s sayingians who trade in ethnic-based comedy and believe they should be free to use the word, "[ks, are upset by the restriction. For 18 years, Italo-Australian comedian Gabriel Rossi has performed a comedy show

called a very witty exmus. He said he had not received a legal letter but had been advised to change the name of his annual show just in case. As someone from Italian heritage who grew up in the 70s and 80s I see it as somewhat of an insult that this fellow thinks he owns the word Mr. Rossi said. I grew up with the word particularly as a young boy. Mr. Rossi has now changed the name of his show to a very ethnic X-Mis. Imagine if you were able to trademark the N-word, for example, and then stopped everybody from using it, thereby fixing racism forever. Galaxy Brain move that would be. Yeah, except if it suddenly

became way too lucrative. Oh no. Licensing everyone to use the N-word. Oh no! Disney owns the N-word now. They're doing live-action remakes of the little N-word, the N-word and the tramp. Oh boy, that would be the darkest timeline. Oh no. Well, that's it for us folks. As always, if you would like an extra show every week, you can go over and subscribe on Patreon.com slash Buntavista. If you would like to write into the show, maybe tell us a story, maybe ask us a question, maybe ask for that coveted cheesy onion eggs recipe. It's very straightforward.

It's basically cheesy onion eggs is kind of what it is. Maybe we could write the recipe up and you could put it on Patreon as a patron exclusive. How about that? I can even make a video of making the recipe although it's very straightforward I must stress. It is just cheesy onion eggs. Onion eggs. Yeah. So yeah if you want to write in about that please run into mail bag at Buentevista.com and if you want to leave us a message Australian listeners can call the hotline on 1803171755 US listeners can call 732-7346 and UK listeners can go fuck themselves. Yep. That is of course a shout out to a friend of the show EDI who said that that's what she thinks in her head every time I do not include the UK in that list.

But hey, if you would like something in the UK, a little treaty for your little sweeties, you can head over to EADS store, Little Comrade.com, and get yourself some tiny pro-Jermy Corbyn clothes for your children. Because she's got little cute, little cute socialist t-shirts for your kids. So check that out. Little Comrade.com and that's it for us. Thanks everybody and we'll see you next week. Bye. Bye. Bye. you