Fin vs History - The Man Who Transcended Misogyny : Ted Heath | Post War British Prime Ministers, 1945-1979

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

Ted Heath was the rudest man to ever be Prime Minster, as well as the fattest, the grumpiest and quite possibly the nonciest.  The show for people who like history but don't care what actually happe...ned.  For weekly bonus episodes, ad-free listening and early access to series, become a Truther and sign up to the Patreon ⁠patreon.com/fintaylor 00:00 Horatio's shameless plug 01:10 The autoerotic asphyxiation of the 70s 09:20 ‘I don’t see women’ 12:20  The Bush dynasty 15:59 Eloquent Racism 21:37  Spoilt swot 27:35  Bombing Billy Batty 30:15  Beware of the angry growler 33:33 Thyroid can’t handle the strikes   41:47 Three-day week 54:19  Pedophilia is in Vogue 58:16 The Incredible Sulk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Truthers, I'm coming on tour in November and October. Wow. Amazing. I'm coming to some of the best cities in the country. I'm going to Guilford. South End. Winchester. Do you want to make a noise about how much you like the city?
Starting point is 00:00:14 Sure. Birmingham. Yeah. Brighton. Cardiff. No. Dunbridge Wells. That's a tough one, isn't it?
Starting point is 00:00:23 Manchester. Cambridge. Swindon. They are thick as fucking swing. Bristol Oh, you fuck, my sister! There you go. And then London.
Starting point is 00:00:36 Londonistan. Live for the... Live for Sadiq Khan's Londonistan. If he even lets you do the show. Yeah, exactly. Whoa. I don't think you will. By that point.
Starting point is 00:00:48 Yeah. If you support free speech, come to see me in Londonistan. Raise the flag. On the 29th November, you're going to be raising the St. George's flag at the special. Doing two shows early and late.
Starting point is 00:01:00 special recording of the show. Hoxton Hall. That'll be a mosque by the 29th of November. Yeah, probably. Yeah. So get there before it turns into a bloody mosque.
Starting point is 00:01:30 I'm joined by Horatio Gould. This is it. We're here. We've hit 1970. This is part eight. Part eight, Christ. Of our fucking marathon through post-war
Starting point is 00:01:41 British Prime Ministers an audio-visual portrait of managed to climb. The podcast is grinding to a halt. This is... No other podcast is doing this. No other podcast is doing a 10 part... And now we've found out why.
Starting point is 00:01:55 Yeah, because I'm genuinely making myself ill. Yeah, I'm losing my voice because I haven't shut up about fucking Wilson Douglas Alex Douglas you
Starting point is 00:02:05 We've locked ourselves in a hot room during the heat wave to talk about post-war British Prime Ministers While you're out
Starting point is 00:02:14 in your booty shorts Yes White whining Ponder Club A Notting Hill Carnival These to esteem public school boys are in a loft In Crystal Palace
Starting point is 00:02:25 In suits with no air conditioning talking about British imperial decline. We won't know what's the right move for many years. Who can say who's correct? You know? It's not really a hot girl summer. No, it's a sweaty man.
Starting point is 00:02:41 It's a fusty, boring summer. But this is sort of, we're coming now after, how long are you doing this podcast for? Now seven months? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. It feels like years.
Starting point is 00:02:53 But this is what the podcast perspective, if it's from anywhere, is from the 70s. My perspective is from the 70s. Exactly. It's looking back on what could have been while you're stuck in the 70s. Yeah, I guess so. pessimistically looking to the future.
Starting point is 00:03:06 Well, you have that thing about that guy Mark Fisher who says that all the future ends. Yeah. Well, we have no new visions of the future, but it's basically the 70s. I guess the left have quite like a exfixiation with the 70s in many ways because it's like... Asphyxiation?
Starting point is 00:03:20 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they have an auto-o-sphyxiation about the 70s. Right. Did I start there? Yeah. I think you meant fixation. No.
Starting point is 00:03:28 You went, oh, okay, fine. Well, no, carry on then. Yeah. So do you want to not interrupt me when I'm... Sorry, I do apologise. I thought he can't have meant that, but it turns out he did. Mayor Culper, I apologise. You were saying the left have an auto-erotic asphyxiation on the 70s.
Starting point is 00:03:42 Do continue. But basically, because we're now stuck in like a glitch from the 80s, where it doesn't feel like anyone has no idea since the 80s. Politically, you mean? Yeah, politically. Yeah. It does feel like it's culture on repeat. And it just feels like...
Starting point is 00:03:58 I don't know, in many ways, time isn't moving in the same way it used to. Well, I, so I read this, the bits of this book you said, there's a guy called Mark Fisher, who makes Adam Curtis look thick. Yeah. And this guy, Mark Fisher, the guy from 1975, Matt Healy loves him. Yeah. There's a famous clip of Matt Healy talking about how if you played someone from the 60s, music from the 90s, their head would explode.
Starting point is 00:04:21 Yeah. But if you played someone from the 90s music from now, they'd be shocked about how similar it is. But my problem with Mark Fisher, firstly, he killed himself, which does make all his ideas. Yeah. And I was reading a lot of his stuff at uni. And it was really like, he really convinced you of his bleak worldview of kind of, you know, post-clonial. Yeah. And then you realized, oh, you had just had depression. You were just really sad. It's very funny. You were chemically sad. If you kill yourself, it does mean your ideas
Starting point is 00:04:50 lose. I do think that. He's an amazing academic and a brilliant theorist. But it does under mind his point. I think so. Because you go, oh, right, well, he was just really sad. Yeah, because who knows how much was, was accurate analysis. If he just had a biscuit at the right time, then maybe I would think it's true, but he was just fucking depressed. But also, I think it's all framed around music, that argument. And I would say that culturally, at some point in the late 90s, 2000s, maybe the mid-2000s, because I feel like the 2000s are actually quite distinct musically with, like, new metal. Yeah. Well, he says the last true new genre was garage and jungle music.
Starting point is 00:05:29 He said that was the last time it really felt like. But I feel like culture carried on. It's just at some point in the mid-naughties, we stopped caring about music and we started caring about brunch. And that's when culture shifted from music to brunch. Right.
Starting point is 00:05:45 Because that's actually what, culturally, there was a brunch era in my head that's defined. The millennial era. Yeah. The brunches. The brunches. The brunch years by Finn Taylor.
Starting point is 00:05:54 Yeah. A food obsession memoir. No, you have, you have, you know, you have soul, pop, the Beatles, you have punk, Bowie, you have Scar, you know, Disco, Jungle Garage, fucking, New Metal brunch. Right. That's what happened. Right.
Starting point is 00:06:13 And that's probably why he got depressed. What? Because the music stopped and the brunch started. Yeah. Because, you know, my generation, when we were, we were, his generation, we weren't going to see Bowie or fucking the Sex Pistols. We were eating smashed avocado. So that's.
Starting point is 00:06:26 what happened at some point. So your generation killed Mark Fisher. Yes. And it tasted delicious. But we're not here to talk about Mark Fisher. We're not. We're talking about we've got to Ted He's. The point I was trying to say about the 70s in general is it was kind of like it was a period where they clearly needed new ideas. Yeah. And what those new ideas could be could have kind of been, there's lots of different options. It felt like a turning point where something new was going to come in and what that was. Could have been mummy, could have been daddy. But even like, you know, a lot of the things that started in the 80s, I don't know, in the 70s, Snooker was more popular than football.
Starting point is 00:07:03 Yeah, for a brief period. Yeah, amazing. So, like, all these things that we're so used to now are things, like it was just all upside down in the 70s. Yeah. And kind of like, it's sort of, since the 80s, all these things have sort of slowly solidified and haven't really changed in that way.
Starting point is 00:07:16 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I agree. And the 70s, the country could have gone. The 70s, I think we need to recap. We've hit the 70s, right? Evil was going in the 70s. He was a massive star. Nothing like that's happened since.
Starting point is 00:07:28 That's true. So the 70s, it's still Clementeat least Britain economically. Yeah. In the last sort of five or six years, the country's undergone this huge social transformation where you can be gay and you have to wear a seatbelt. You can fist in public. You can fist in public. I don't know if you don't go on about it.
Starting point is 00:07:44 Yeah. Fisting the privacy of your own. Yeah, you have to wear a seatbelt while fissing. Yeah. Yeah, of course. It's health and safety. It's gone mad. Pro gay, anti, you know, pro health and safety.
Starting point is 00:07:54 So you have. So the country's undergone this huge social change. Economically, though, it's still at least Britain. Except the problem is that in a globalised economy, increasingly, everything costs so much. And everything is nationalised. So we must explain to our very thick listeners, this means the government is in charge of wages for a lot of the economy. So because the oil chaos sort of goes on, the Middle East is in chaos from the sort of mid-60s onwards, it basically means that Britain is constantly in a period of high inflation and hilariously you're in a period of high inflation
Starting point is 00:08:31 well i was yes uh what i was going to say was that it's hilarious how ted heath has a thyroid complaint and as a symbol he's literally inflating throughout the 70s as the economy inflates but i too had a period of high well i had staggflation which is um where the portion sizes don't get any bigger but you do somehow somehow i kept getting bigger between the ages i'd say seven and 12 that was an economic doom spiral where no matter how little I ate somehow I kept getting bigger
Starting point is 00:09:01 to the point where I was yeah as I've said before I was kicked out of a pizza hut buffet for it turns out it wasn't all you can eat wasn't all I could eat that was all one could eat the average child could eat but at this point I was probably giving
Starting point is 00:09:16 peak Ted Heath a run for his waist size we're on to Ted Heath today Ted Heath who is maybe my favourite of the prime ministers. He is noted as being an incredibly rude person. The rudest man to ever take office. Particularly dismissive of journalists
Starting point is 00:09:33 and all women. Does not like women. No. But in a way that kind of transcends misogyny, you just really... It sounds like he doesn't see women. It's like people say like, I'm not racist, I don't see colour.
Starting point is 00:09:45 I don't see women. Yeah. I'm not sexist. They don't even enter my view. It's not like he's saying lewd comments about women. No. It doesn't even cross his mind.
Starting point is 00:09:53 He genuinely, he's beyond misogyny. He has moved beyond misogyny to the fact where he doesn't see them at all. Yeah, he doesn't think about them. He never married. Never married, famously. Died single. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:05 Just really had no interest. Women got in the way of politics and of playing the grand piano. He also got accused of being a paedophile, which is what happens when you don't, when you don't get married to a woman, you will be accused of being a paedophile in this country. Yes, that is. That's a very British thing. If you don't marry, it's like with people who don't. drink.
Starting point is 00:10:24 You know, well, what do you mean you don't drink? Are you a paedophile? You're a paedophile. It's the same. What do you mean you're not married? You're not. So Ted Heath is told it several times to like marry for his career. And it's steadfastly boycott. No, I'm not getting married.
Starting point is 00:10:42 I don't see women. Yeah, he Jeffrey boycotts the institution of marriage. Yeah. We should, as we have done, we should set the scene of the era before we discussed the political backdrop. 1970, unemployment rate is nearly 4%. It's starting to go up. The house price is nearly 5 grand. We're importing butter, beef and cheese.
Starting point is 00:11:04 We're mainly exporting cars. Ernie, the fastest milkman in the West, is number one. Benny Hill. You've got Simon and Garf uncle. The 70s is also the low point of all of the English football team. They don't qualify. Also cricket low point. for cricket as well
Starting point is 00:11:22 it's a disastrous point for cricket This is a banger It's a banger His name Ernie This is the early gunfinger
Starting point is 00:11:43 Ernie mate this DJ's sick You're out there whining to fucking 50 cent or whatever and we're in here in suits throwing guns up to Ernie So that's that absolutely slaps MASH is on TV
Starting point is 00:11:58 Coronation Street Yeah This is your life Yeah On Her Majesty's Secret Service Laisenby, Australian Bond A great film The Godfather films
Starting point is 00:12:08 Are coming out in this period The High Point of American Cinema Now fittest women We've got Janice Dixon So the hair is getting curlier Right the first supermodel And this is kind of the height The 70s, certainly America, it's the height of the bush being in, right?
Starting point is 00:12:23 Well, I was going to say, we need to talk about slang for tits as knockers and jugs, but actually we need to talk about the slang for growlers. Because this is where the bush comes. This is where the Bush dynasty starts. The Bush dynasty starts in the 70s. I call it the Bush dynasty. Which push we've seen today? Is it senior or junior?
Starting point is 00:12:44 The Bush did, yeah. My wife's Bush did 9-11. What are they calling a grand? Well, so knockers and jugs, it's getting a bit fucking, they're starting to hit these for six a bit more. Yeah. Because we've gone from, it's a bit more no-nonsense. Puppies is a bit more leathery.
Starting point is 00:12:59 Puppies is disgusting. It's still my, my, so, cunt, twat, and box. Yeah. The economy is hitting the floor. Yeah, and people are getting a bit earthy with their language. The drinks are getting stronger. The slang's getting harder. Twat and box, fat, honey pot.
Starting point is 00:13:17 These are Yiddish terms. Like niche or schmundi All right love Show us your schmundi You've also I've read somewhere That they started calling Women's Vagina's
Starting point is 00:13:29 Map of Tasmania Right Because it apparently looks like Tasmania Oh right Okay Tasmanian devil In terms of the food Touch out Serengetti
Starting point is 00:13:39 Hey what Touching serengetti Touch serengetti In terms of the food This is a real You know It's not a high bar British food
Starting point is 00:13:47 But this is Experimental though We really enter on a deer as a 70s, food-wise. Prawn cocktail, fondue, black forest cato, chicken, Kievs and finders, crispy pancakes. Come on. You know, the crisps. Yeah. Crisps start, really, in the 70s.
Starting point is 00:14:02 Our obsession with crisps. In terms of how what we're calling women's tits, that earthiness is reflected in just the seediness of the age. Seedness of the age, the decor, it's all browns. Yeah. It's, uh, dandruff, it's fucking, there's just pollution. The liquid lunch. This is the height of the liquid lunch. So much smoke everywhere.
Starting point is 00:14:25 Just drinking. Tiredness. Everyone is fucking drunk at all points to get through. There's a grain to it, you know. There's that clip of the liquid lunch. Yeah. Have we shown that before? Yeah, we have shown that.
Starting point is 00:14:34 Do you know what that was? The liquid, do BBC archive liquid lunch. It's pretty fucking depraved and uncivilized to fucking get, get absolutely cunted at lunch. it's still the 70s there's still a hangover from kind of the proper way of speaking so it'll be well-tailored gentleman in a way yeah getting out of manning to like
Starting point is 00:14:55 and it's one of the great British privileges is being able to sort of justify the poverty by just the nature of your voice yeah yeah yeah sirs me gentlemen can you tell me is this your usual
Starting point is 00:15:07 lunch yes I think so yes of course it's a bit of Parliament Sanchise no more than that have you ever eaten more than that for lunch um really what would you say
Starting point is 00:15:20 that you're probably doing the worst possible thing for your health by just having something a highly calerific drink and a highly calerific lunch I wouldn't believe you I think what is the noise to worry as much as you suggest
Starting point is 00:15:34 I should have had what I use and drink and do me more harm than doing what I like that's fucking amazing I wouldn't believe you wouldn't believe you wouldn't believe you there's a claw
Starting point is 00:15:45 to it though you're fucking nailing cans at lunch but no I wouldn't possibly believe it I think worrying would do me a lot more harm
Starting point is 00:15:51 what if I was telling you're doing the worst thing possible I wouldn't believe you would not believe you couldn't believe you in fathomult so we should
Starting point is 00:15:59 start by saying that Heath has become leader he has somehow managed to wrestle the leadership from the titan of Alec Douglas Hume
Starting point is 00:16:07 in his shadow he's all in his shadow everything this entire history is in the shadow of Douglas Hume Heath has wrangled the leadership somehow. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:16:18 A shock. And in 1968, so he won it. There was a three-way contest in the Tory part leadership between Heath, Douglas Hume, and Enoch Powell, who we touched on slightly last time. But Enoch Powell is this insanely academic race baiter who, well, to some. Racism has never sounded so good. It does sound very good. I mean it is worrying how good it sounds Because nowadays you have someone who's like
Starting point is 00:16:48 Let's send back there's Muslimsics You know It'll be like if you ever get a talking head interview At like an EDL rally Yeah So well no one's gonna fucking listen to you Well the middle classes aren't listening Yeah
Starting point is 00:16:59 You've got a flare up your ass Yeah And you're saying stop the bump the bar The problem with power Is that the middle classes Are fucking listening to what you're saying Because he's talking He's making parrills with Greek civilization
Starting point is 00:17:10 He's a professor in Greek He's a scholar and a racist He was nearly the youngest professor basically of all time. He was trying to break Nietzsche's record of 24 and he was 25 when he became a professor, the youngest professor in the British Empire. Many advantages when Britain was the centre
Starting point is 00:17:24 of an emperor. And if the numbers from the rest of the empire who availed themselves of this identification remain small, then no problem arose about the rest of the empire had its own citizenships.
Starting point is 00:17:41 Isn't it amazing how this now is basically just the AI TikToks of London and 2030 like that's what that same argument has become and it's never been more articulate and effective than actually Enoch Powell has a quite a strange voice because it's that
Starting point is 00:17:58 like it's a deep black country Bramian actor but it's a very sophisticated and intelligence and articulous. One of the most educated men of the time it's like a strangled Brummi cat. Yeah. There's like a the Brummies being choked out, but it's still there. It's the cat in the bin
Starting point is 00:18:15 that's talking back after the woman from Coventry's put it in. Don't put me in this bin. Where are you actually from? So are we saying make racism great again? I think make it at least intelligent again. Why is racism now just so thick? Like, who is articulating it
Starting point is 00:18:47 with this sort of devastating clarity? I mean, Powell's also actually is before Rivers of Blood, he is the rising star. Everyone thinks he's the one that's going to lead the Tories. Very intense man, Powell. I think part of the issue is he looks fucking terrifying.
Starting point is 00:19:02 Yeah, and he just like, apparently he never socialized at Cambridge. He was always in the library, always studying, just very self-serious. But immigration had in the sort of immediately in the Atle kind of early 50s they basically say
Starting point is 00:19:17 if you're in the Commonwealth if you're a member of the British Empire you can come and make a life in the motherland in the home country so that's wind rush and all that and they basically think no one's gonna fucking come
Starting point is 00:19:26 so it's fine it's fucked here we won't put a limit on it because it's fucked here and it's really sunny where you are yeah it's the classic British thing
Starting point is 00:19:32 it was lovely where you live yeah look at the fucking weather short it's raining it yeah and then everyone comes and it's only in I think it's
Starting point is 00:19:40 maybe it's McMillin or Wilson who actually puts starts to put a cap on it and then Powell is opposing in 68 he makes the speech to oppose Wilson's policy of the race relations act which would I think that then means it's
Starting point is 00:19:54 that's incitement to violence and it's the beginning of hate speech laws. He so he goes up and makes quite a hateful speech yeah um to try to we'll get one in under the door before the last one. Yeah yeah Indiana Jones was getting his hat out of the door um yeah in 15 or 20 years
Starting point is 00:20:10 time the black man will have the whip hand over the wide man all that stuff he talks about like the roman i see the river tyber foaming with much blood so it's called the rivers of blood speech but why is it called the rivers of blood and what does the rivers of blood actually mean in in reference to the speech because he's talking about he's talking about race war basically but like the roman i see the river of tyber foaming with much blood is there something about the rome letting in um people who weren't barbarians right maybe is that's what he's saying i don't know what is it he not power speech living in birmingham Virgil's aneared
Starting point is 00:20:41 He's referenced in the classics. This intellectual hinterland that he can retreat to. Yeah. Yeah, it's incredible. He's oppressed for Greek at age 25. It's insane. Anyway, Heath's reaction to this as leader is to the next day because no one knows he's making the speech
Starting point is 00:20:55 and he just does it straight to TV and blind signs the entire Tory leadership. So Heath's reaction is to just sack him straight away. And yet, Powell, much in the way that you have this constant sort of nowadays breakaway right of the Tory party, He gets so much letters of, like, response. What percentage of people supported his speech?
Starting point is 00:21:15 He said it was between 85 and 95 of the country. I think it was 68%. Something like that. So basically, the fractures of the Tory party, the modern Tory party start within your power, really. And Heath is like a, is a bit of a, well, let's get on to him as a person, but Heath has founds the one nation Tory group in the 50s.
Starting point is 00:21:36 But anyway, let's now start talking about Edward Heath. He's quite a modern politician. He is, actually. Yeah. He's a paedifier. He's cutting edge. Allegedly, we don't know. So let's talk about young Ted Heath because we all, the reason I love Ted Heath is that we all went to school with someone like him.
Starting point is 00:21:53 A fucking boff. Yeah. He's a fucking swat. He's a teacher's pet. Teachers pet. He's, like, his parents' favorite kid. Yeah. His family dog is named after him.
Starting point is 00:22:04 Yeah. I mean, the level of ego they're building up in this boy. Well, yeah. So it was clearly a. A bit of a prodigy, a bit of a smart kid, similar to Wilson in that way. But his parents then chose him as like the prodigal son. And he was so spoiled. And his brother must have absolutely hated him.
Starting point is 00:22:20 He was allowed to not wear anything for breakfasts. So everyone had to dress up for breakfasts and stuff because it was the fucking 70s. Or it won't be in the 50s then. Yeah. But he could just come down in like a little dressing gown. He could come in a fucking in a kimono. Imagine coming down and just sauntering down in your dressing gal. He had his own chair where he could do his homework.
Starting point is 00:22:34 His special chair? Yeah, he had a special chair to do his. Oh, so funny. Yeah, he was a prefect. He would tell on people for breaking the school rules because he thought he was deeply disloyal to the school. Yeah, he was one of these kind of guys. He's a fucking spot.
Starting point is 00:22:45 They named their fucking dog after it. Yeah, it's crazy. Teddy. And all this, right, you get this, is the family were poor, but he's a massive social climber. He gets a scholarship to a private school. And he goes to Oxford. And he's a key musician.
Starting point is 00:23:02 And obviously, he's in his woolen shorts, practicing the piano every day. Blah, blah, blah. gets an organ scholarship to Oxford was allowed not to do the washing up. He's an absolute spot. When he's at Oxford, he goes on this tour of then
Starting point is 00:23:17 the 30s Germany. So he goes to a Nuremberg rally. One of the first politicians to go out there, right? He's not a politician. He's like, this is his gap year. Imagine your gap year go to a Nuremberg rally. Isn't that insane?
Starting point is 00:23:31 Let's look again, how gap years have changed. They really have. Now you're going to Uganda to help build a toilet. And in the 30s, people were going to a Nuremberg rally going, wow, this guy's got some crazy ideas. But he was a... He said of the spectacle, impeccably well-organized, and immensely impressive, it made me recognized for the first time what a fearsome threat Hitler and his forces would be.
Starting point is 00:23:54 Yeah. In a dreadful way, Hitler's rhetoric gave the Germans the leadership and sensitive nations that they sought. He made them feel good about being German. Yeah. at cocktail party hosted by SS Heath met high-ranking Nazis including goring gerbils
Starting point is 00:24:09 and Himmler described shaking hands with all officials he met he thought poorly of the officials that he met Goebbels was small, pale and in the setting rather insignificant looking
Starting point is 00:24:18 I should never forget how drooping and sloppy Himmler's handshake was when he offered it to me I wonder how such a physically unimpressive man could have harboured such evil just Himla's just wet handshake I mean that was the whole nut to high command
Starting point is 00:24:29 it was in cells taken over yeah it was yeah but um so he he's supposedly because one of the big things in heath's tenure is the is that is getting us into europe yeah so he supposedly this is where he starts to form this idea he also goes to the spanish of war and gets like shot at oh really his car gets like machine guns yeah i mean all of these figures have lived extraordinary young lives yeah living through extraordinary times that's why they're now drunk all the time i think it's i think it's a massive uh it's not a coincidence that the liquid lunch ends sort of in the 80s or at least
Starting point is 00:24:59 where the war generation dies yeah yeah they're all dying off. And I think Callahan being the last actual veteran, Prime Minister, makes a lot of sense. Because that's why they're not touching any of this stuff. Because they think, we're all lived through a war. We're all drunk all the time. But he was anti-appeasement. He was pretty like intuitive about the threat of Nazism. Yeah, so he's in support
Starting point is 00:25:22 of anti-Franco forces in Spain, blah, blah, blah. His car's machine gunned, his hotels bombed. He escapes Europe by hitchhiking, arrives back in the UK days before World War II breaks out. Christ. So, and he serves in the war, and he was an officer in the artillery. He gave orders at one point to a firing squad to kill a Polish soldier convicted of rape. Christ. Crazy.
Starting point is 00:25:45 So, again, the sort of the latent trauma in all the politicians of this era is, like, is mad. He describes feelings of victory being squashed when walking on newly won territory covered by dead bodies. Yeah. And then he's just in office negotiating with the unions. Like, it's crazy. Yeah. In 1970, he wins the election as a sort of surprise. Everyone expects Wilson to carry on.
Starting point is 00:26:07 But I guess the economy is kind of... He overturns quite a big majority. Wilson's got like a 60 seat majority. Yeah. And then Heath wins a 30 seat majority. And it's basically on the economy again. Yeah. Because, as we've said, there's been a massive amount of social change,
Starting point is 00:26:22 which Enoch Powell is trying to stir up. Yeah. And yet the economy is still at least Britain. Yeah. And yet, with the Middle East... ticking off. It's getting more and more expensive for the government to pay or the trade, the miners and shit. And so Heath wins on the economy. Blah, blah, blah, blah, low voter turnout. He also, he's got a yacht. He's an amazing sailor. He's a yachtsman.
Starting point is 00:26:47 Which again is slang for probably being a paper file. In the election campaign, he won the city to Hobart Yacht race, if you know what I mean. If you know what I mean? Isn't that insane? You imagine a political candidate just winning a yacht race in Australia during an election campaign. Why is he going to Australia during the election campaign to win a yacht race? And everyone's like, fucking hell, this guy's sick. He won 330 seats.
Starting point is 00:27:08 Yeah. It's also a time of like bombs are going off everywhere. IRA is now really kicking up because they're fucking, they're aiming for the mainland now. Yeah. Well, bloody Sunday happens underneath. Which we've obviously, we did a series on the troubles. And the British public have just been ignoring the IRA because it's all just having a northern Ireland. Who gives a fuck?
Starting point is 00:27:24 Who gives a shit? Yeah. And then to be fair to them, they come over here and we start giving a shit. Yeah. To be fair. Oh, that's where they are, right? To be fair enough. Fair enough.
Starting point is 00:27:33 Yeah, I am listening. But there's also, the initial terror doesn't come from the IRA. It comes from the most hilariously student name for a protest movement. Yeah. We're the angry brigade.
Starting point is 00:27:44 That's a telegraph, like, coined term for the lefties. It's like the woke brigade. Literally the woke brigade. Yeah. A far left anarchist terror group formed in London, active from 70 to 72, and they're responsible for numerous bombing. on business properties, government
Starting point is 00:28:00 and one of members of Heath's cabinet, but they bomb Miss World 1970. Right. Disgraceful. What, because of beauty standards? I guess because of beauty standards. Is it body positivity? I don't know. I don't know what their what their fucking problem is.
Starting point is 00:28:15 Charlie, can you see... Remember they hate the bush. Because I imagine Miss World 97. Oh, it's because South Africa had two entries, one white and one black. You're joking? That's naughty. Well, hang on. So, but there wasn't two categories for Miss World. World then?
Starting point is 00:28:28 But do you think they were yeah, but do they think they were just mainly annoyed the fact that South Africa got two chances
Starting point is 00:28:34 to win Miss World? They're just like more pure the integrity of this competition is ruined because Africa
Starting point is 00:28:40 have played two. Yeah. So Miss World allowed them to enter because surely the thing to do in response to
Starting point is 00:28:46 that would be to crown the black Miss South Africa as Miss World. Yeah. So you got Gillian Jessup
Starting point is 00:28:52 as Miss South and Pearl Jansson as Miss South South. Miss Africa South. South. South Africa South
Starting point is 00:28:59 So no you got South Africa and Africa South Oh right So South Africa white And Africa South That's fucking crazy And so they bomb a BBC TV van Yeah
Starting point is 00:29:10 In response to this Yeah They bombed the department Anti-Frankco That's crazy Entering different races Into Miss World So do you
Starting point is 00:29:19 Because I mean There's a mad time The 70s Everything There's a future Where Miss World is Just a sort of Ranking races
Starting point is 00:29:25 Attractively competition Yeah And that's probably what South Africa wanted. They bomb, oh my word. They bomb someone called William Batty. Come on. Oh, come on. Billy Batty.
Starting point is 00:29:36 He's been through enough. Billy Batty's been through enough. His school days must have been worse than Heath. He's the director of Ford Dagenham's plant that had practiced unequal pay based on gender. And his house was bombed. Is that film about the Dagenham ladies thing? Is that? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:29:49 Is that about the Dagman? Bill Batty. Billy Batty. Billy Batty's house is bombed. Again, that sounds like a, that sounds like a, a coarsening you feel. Oh, William Batty, yeah, his back door was bombed by the Angry Brigade, if you know what I mean. If you know what I mean, Batty's backdoor got caved in by the Angry Brigade, if you know what I mean. The Angry Brigade's leaders are arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 72.
Starting point is 00:30:13 My point is, this is like, you know, punk is on the way in. Yes. Towards the end of the decade, we'll have punk. People are getting fucking angry. Music's good in this period, right? Music gets good, but then the fucking women's minges are angry. It's growlers. It's the growlers.
Starting point is 00:30:27 When does Graham They're hairy and angry They're hairy, they're angry You know the clip of that Australian guy barking Women's Minges are angry It's crazy It's feminism, it's C-END I asked my mum when it was like
Starting point is 00:30:39 Women's 70s She was like, it's not the Yeah, people were wearing Hairy Minge Badgers Yeah Charlie can you get the clip up Of the Australian man who barks like a dog Yeah
Starting point is 00:30:48 What is this Women's Mingers in the 70s? Women's women's minges in the 70s you try and have sex with this is it this is women's mingers in the 70s you pulled down a woman's pants in the 70s and you see this they saw me
Starting point is 00:31:09 they came they and they later just made in time for these angry mingers you know people on their front gates husbands are putting beware of the hairy Minge on the front gate so that postman can know nothing worse for a postman than angry growler the 70s you know I imagine when do when do Brazilians come in is that in the 60s what do you mean I mean come in oh sorry no no I'm not not Enoch Powell says
Starting point is 00:31:41 this country's got too many Brazilians it's fine I don't mean the people river river the river I think it's the X no Charlie please don't get Charlie we people know what a hairy muff is yeah they don't need to see it This is an audio, this is an audio medium, okay? It's just to set the scene. No, we don't need to set the scene. We're talking about Ted Heath. It's not the history of growlers, although it is.
Starting point is 00:32:04 The Brazilian comes in, it's the 80s. It's the economic inequality. It's the aspirational thing. You're saying that just got a Brazilian? I think so. You've got a landing strip. He's got an aircraft carrier. You've got the Belgrano down there.
Starting point is 00:32:19 Yeah, quickly to be deployed near the Antarctic. That's just for Auckland Islands. seem to know when exactly it came in. The trend of the Brazilian. When did it start? 1990s, apparently. 1990s. So it's Blair's Britain.
Starting point is 00:32:34 Major. Major. Major likes of Brazilian. Major League of sodomy. Do you know that? Did he? Yeah. My wife had a massive crush on John Major. I wonder why.
Starting point is 00:32:43 Yeah. What was the, you know how it's a Brazilian? What was, was everyone just like Scottish before? Like what is the... Oh, the opposite of the Brazilians is a Scottish, which is just... Scottish. Is that when... Couldn't be more hairy.
Starting point is 00:32:54 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, just like down the thighs. Bagpipes. That's the noise. Oh, what clan is... What clan is that killed? It's Mahari Minge.
Starting point is 00:33:07 Oh, fuck, Christ. There's a growler clan. The McGroulers. I'm part of the McRowlers. We're fucking angry. That's how they sound. Because you look at a Brazilian binge and it's like,
Starting point is 00:33:18 it's Boston over. It's all like... Yeah. Yeah, it's a barfight in Glasgow. You pull down a woman. was angry, Scottish minge. You know, but what are you looking at, pal? You want some?
Starting point is 00:33:30 Anyway, the growlers are getting hairy. It's an angry time. And what he, so let's talk about the minor strike in 72. Yeah. Because 72 bloody Sunday happens. It's all kicking off in Northern Ireland. But the miners go on strike for the first time since 1926. Now, they're angry at their rate of pay not increasing equally alongside the other manufacturing
Starting point is 00:33:53 industry. Because what would happen? right is that there are like hundreds of unions yeah so one of them goes into downing street negotiate to pay increase and then suddenly all the other ones go well fuck off we want the same yeah so it is like now wilson is trying to do this like through the back door through william batty's house wilson's trying to do this by getting like the angry brigade of breaking bassy's back door and so wilson had a whole thing about like oh it's um you're coming in for beer and sandwiches, and actually it was white wine
Starting point is 00:34:25 and smoked salmon, but none of the union leaders wanted to be seen to be being that a feat. Because in Germany, apparently, there's like two unions that control everything. So you just negotiate with one or two of them, and it's all sorted. But the fact there are hundreds here, you know, there's a union of fucking dust bin met. There's a union
Starting point is 00:34:41 anything that's important. All your different bins, there's a different union. There's a union of food bin collectors. There's a union of recycling bin that lectures. There's a union of fucking you know, spec savers or whatever. Glasses wearers. So then everyone,
Starting point is 00:34:55 you know, because of the specs they were strike. Yeah, everyone's just like, what? And so, Heath's idea is like,
Starting point is 00:35:04 do you know what? This has to stop at some point because I am inflating. The country's inflating. My thyroid cannot take all these strikes. I don't know. It seems like an awful work day. 13 million members.
Starting point is 00:35:15 But just think about Heath's daily schedule. Yeah. Every morning he must wake. How long does he sit on the end of his bed with a sock in his hand? just yeah I'm coming yeah
Starting point is 00:35:27 it's a fucking shit day bombs going off another coal miners coming in asking for what I fucking get fuck off fuck off so he's reported to
Starting point is 00:35:38 and he's already the rudest man he's already the rudest man he's reported to have said about his own party there are three types of people in this party shits bloody shits
Starting point is 00:35:46 and fucking shit yeah he hates the Tories he hates them all at one point there's an amazing story about how he's on a plane with some journalists and one of the journalists,
Starting point is 00:35:55 like a woman journalist, faints and he goes, quick, fetch some brandy. Brandy, quick, brandy. And then someone brings brandy and rather than give him to the journalist, he just dnails it himself. He's just like,
Starting point is 00:36:04 a woman's fainted and fuck that. He's the most phenomenally rude man. I love him so much. If he's like sat next to a woman at like a big dinner, he will just turn his back on her. He'll just sulk. And she'll speak to him and he'll be like, where's the bloat, love?
Starting point is 00:36:20 he's the definition Where's the bloke? Where's the bloke? Where's the bloke? Where's the bloke? So actually Thatcher's kind of a massive snapback against this. Yeah. And he partly hates Thatcher because she's a woman.
Starting point is 00:36:32 He hates that because she's a woman. Yeah. The only woman he has any respect for is his mother. And that's because his mother named a dog after him gave his own special chair. So basically, she sets such a high bar for women. Yeah, they can never clear it. Yeah. She is such a good mother to him or over-mother's in that he finds all
Starting point is 00:36:50 the woman sexually repulsive. Because nothing beats mummy. She nurtures him into a paedophile. Maybe. We don't know. We don't know. Anyway, so the miners are demanding in 72 a 47% pay increase.
Starting point is 00:37:04 Christ. The government offered 9% which causes a deadlock. So they strike on in 72 and they strike enduring a very cold winter. So he declared a state of emergency, which he will do I think four times during his, which by the third time,
Starting point is 00:37:20 And people are like, well, fuck it. You know, as a prime minister, if you call a state of emergency once. If everything, if everything's in bold, nothing's in bold. No, exactly. It doesn't mean anything. So the cobra, the whole cobra starts in response to this. Oh, really? So Heath is trying to be like strong in unions in the way that Thatcher later actually will be.
Starting point is 00:37:42 Yeah. But he caves. I mean, at one point in 1971, Rolls Royce goes under and Heath saves them. And actually they go on to work. So that's actually an example of like. like the Tories saving a company that then goes on to be profitable again. But everything else,
Starting point is 00:37:56 they're just pumping money into and it's just all failing. Yeah, it's failing. So. But he's like, why he's a modern politician is he's a true, like technocrat. Something almost Cameron-esque about him,
Starting point is 00:38:05 like the Cameron Blair sort of thing. Let's get around the table. Let's work out. Let's compromise. Something that Thatcher wasn't. Thatcher was quite idealistic in many ways and like, you know, strong-willed. Mummy?
Starting point is 00:38:15 Yeah. But he's just trying to... You don't compromise with mummy. He's trying to, he thinks everything we worked out with facts, figures and working around the table. You don't compromise.
Starting point is 00:38:24 Mommy tells you go to bed. You go to bed? Yeah. You don't say, oh, what about, what if I sleep on the sofa? No.
Starting point is 00:38:28 Basically, what I find quite like... The sofa's not for sleeping. Oh, I miss mummy. Oh, yeah. The woman's not for shaving. The woman's not for shaving. A woman's growler is her power.
Starting point is 00:38:44 A woman's power is in her growler. This woman's not for shaving. I think the reason why I like the 70s. as well is it's very soothing learning about this because it feels like everything's been so fucked and it's really good to be reminded how things were so much worse
Starting point is 00:38:59 things have never been worse than even the blitz is better than this but like the yeah and even like because the details of like community that's in it together yeah no one's in it together but here we're just drunk and like everyone's drunk hates everyone
Starting point is 00:39:11 yeah there's no wartime spirit here so he eventually caves and gives the miners something I don't know what but oh 60 But basically, he's given everyone a pay increase and then leaving the country very vulnerable to external shocks. Yes. And the biggest external shock we've had since the war. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:30 And then four days before the cold board come back to agree to their 16%. The Yom Kippur war kicks off, which is the Arab countries invade Israel. And then very quickly, the Israelis always out the six-day war. I don't know. Anyway, it all kicks off down there. But it's interesting how similar it feels to the 70s now. Like the fucking energy shortages, crisis in Israel and Palestine. So much the things we're going through now have happened in the 70s.
Starting point is 00:39:57 Yeah. So basically it was a coalition of Egypt and Syria doing a surprise attack against Israel. Over the Yom Kibur, like festival. And as Israel does, slaps back pretty hard, I imagine. And it starts on the 6th of October, which is the whole point about Hamas doing it on the 7th of October, because it's a holy day in the calendar. So that's why there's that symmetry nowadays. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:19 So, but this. basically, as soon as that starts, anyone who is overtly or covertly supporting Israel gets absolutely fucked by the OPEC, which is the oil-producing nations, where basically the price of oil goes from $2 a barrel in 1972 to $11 a barrel. So it's up fucking 70, 80%. So this basically means the miners have got Heath's balls and a vice because the country can't afford to either pay the miners what they want or import oil. So all fuels off the table. This is when they turn the tap off. The Middle East turns the lights off.
Starting point is 00:41:00 Hello? Hello. Anyone there? Because now before we get to the three day week, we should actually talk about the Europe. Yeah. Because the whole time Heath's gamble or Heath's idea is that we've, you know, the empire is completely gone. The empire's fucked. McMillan and Wilson have seen that off. There's no empire left. Heath is like let's get into let's tie ourselves into Europe finally and so And De Gauls vetoed our entrance twice DeGle's dead by this point DeGall's fucked off
Starting point is 00:41:27 And there's a new president called George Pompadou Yeah And basically heath manages to convince Pompadu to not veto Yeah and so the UK joins the what's then the EEC in 1973
Starting point is 00:41:38 which Heath sees as his greatest The Chief Murray's bit most lasting one And even that's been Even that's been fucked off Blah blah blah We'll get to more Europe later But Hello I'm Dorian Linsky
Starting point is 00:41:47 And I'm Ian Dunn We're the hosts of origin story, the podcast about the history that shapes our political discourse today. Our eighth season is all about the story of socialism from its earliest experiments to the present day. From Marx to Mao, Lenin to the Labour Party, Gramsci to Gorbachev, we'll be exploring the people, the events and the ideas behind socialism and communism. So please join us as we journey through an idea that has changed the world. You can listen to us or watch us on video, on Spotify, your regular podcast app, or now on YouTube. the three-day week
Starting point is 00:42:18 kicks off from New Year's Day 1974 do your parents talk about the three-day week yeah there's an amazing Heath's Christmas message
Starting point is 00:42:29 we've seen this in 1973 is we will have a harder Christmas than we've seen since the war basically you remember when Boris cancelled Christmas during COVID
Starting point is 00:42:38 that's basically what Heath did but there was no virus yeah cancel culture you'll all have to tighten your belts yeah um so yeah this is a time of very bleak political messages saying it's just going to get harder and harder
Starting point is 00:42:50 yeah there's no hope there's no you know it's the opposite you know Obama like hope that poster yeah it's just heath with shit shit everything's shit we set ourselves for expansion and for our standard living we shall have a harder Christmas than we have known since the war right so we have to postpone living standards Yeah. We're just postpone it. Imagine the property to come on saying.
Starting point is 00:43:17 It's definitely postponed. It's right. Livingstanners. Oh, watching. So what this means, three day week, electricity consumption.
Starting point is 00:43:24 Because everyone complaining about their bills rising. Oh, you've got nothing on this. They turn off everything for four days a week. Yeah. Businesses can only open
Starting point is 00:43:32 for three days a week. And if that means you, if you want to do five days, you have to pick morning or afternoon session. Yeah, it's crazy. Right. So non-essential shops, factories, offices closed.
Starting point is 00:43:43 petrol rationing 50 mile an hour speed limit Can you fucking imagine the anger You know when you don't drive No Charlie you know when you're doing Like average speed limit 50 miles an hour Drives me mad Drive me fucking up the wall
Starting point is 00:43:56 Why It's the most painful for your Because you're in like in between fourth and fifth So petrol rationing Most pubs are closed TV they turn the TV off at half 10 That's when match of the day fucking starts This is when Premier League games
Starting point is 00:44:11 Or what's then first division they start doing it on Sundays because they can't afford to turn the flood lights on. So then that's why we now have football on the Sunday. Yeah. Greece would shit food and shit weather. This is we're getting to Greece. England is Greece. I'll say that again.
Starting point is 00:44:27 The UK has become Greece because of this mismanagement of the post-war consensus. The whole country is not today, except it's not in a plastic chair. It's in a fucking leather chair just covered in shun. shit with coal everywhere and the lights are off. And it's not, not today, it's like... Not today. Not today, Roger. During the enforced three-day week,
Starting point is 00:44:51 the Daily Mail commissioned a psychologist who gave advice to couples that this was an ideal moment to experiment more than their sex live when the kids are at school. So yeah. So you've got nothing else to do. I mean, it doesn't sound terrible. But this is when, this is actually, Charlie,
Starting point is 00:45:06 Charlie, this is interesting to you. You're a child of the 70s in many ways. This is where butt stuff really starts. Yeah. Because nothing's, Nothing's open. Nothing better to do. All you've got to do is butt stuff.
Starting point is 00:45:15 Yeah. So William Batty's back door is open, wide open again. The lights aren't on, so you can do it without being feeling shamed for all the dirty stuff you're after. So things in Britain get so bad that Ugandan dictator Ediamine... And this is a real low point, isn't it? Launches a Save Britain fund pledging money. Fucking, it's comic relief the other way around. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:45:41 That's how bad... It's funny from Idy. It's so funny. Like Africa getting patronised by Europe so much. Yeah. I mean, it's like, we're sending Lenny Henry there now. Originally, Lenny Henry was being sent to us going, fucking hell, look at this. And Edie Amin, right, says he's going to pledge a lot of his country's resources.
Starting point is 00:45:59 And he's doing a whip round amongst Ugandans. A lorry load of vegetables. Yeah, so he gets a lot. There's a lorry load of vegetables that sat on a runway, right? And he's calling the chancellor going, can you please send a plane to pick up this veg that my country's given to you before it goes off. And we're just ignoring him because we can't fathom the idea. Which is so
Starting point is 00:46:18 embarrassing. It's so embarrassing. Yeah, he encourages everyone in the December 73. Idiom Edeem launched a sarcastic Save Britain Fund to save and assist our former colonial masters from economic catastrophe while offering emergency food supply. I mean, he's done you there, hasn't he?
Starting point is 00:46:34 He's absolutely done us. Yeah, it's humiliating. It's the most humiliating thing possible. It's such a good bit as well. It's so funny. that's fucking hilarious. To be recently like brokers
Starting point is 00:46:46 free of colonisation and then sending vegetables but it's hilarious. Do you know what? Fair play. A woman when she successfully parks. Come on, love.
Starting point is 00:46:58 Do you know what, E.D. Can I just shake your hat? Why I just shake your hat? He starts sending telegrams to, he sent a telegram to the queen. Yeah. Being like, please. These vegetables are going off.
Starting point is 00:47:09 He has introduced this policy in 72 which will as like a blanket thing for the unions saying your wages will increase with inflation and then inflation goes through the roof and he's going wrong we can't afford any of this obviously not so the unions are getting on are out of control
Starting point is 00:47:28 and so what he does is he calls an election in February 74 under the moniker who governs Britain us or the unions they're bankrupting your tax your taxes are basically just going to their pockets and they turn the lights out. But there's a lot of sympathy for the miners. Yeah, because they've got shit jobs.
Starting point is 00:47:46 Because they've got shit jobs and there's just a more, there's a kind of traditional sturdiness to the lines. And also this is, you know, it's hard for people to imagine nowadays, but whole communities are based around a pit. Yeah. Well, what's kind of fascination about the nature of work
Starting point is 00:48:01 where mining is terrible work? Yeah. But if it gives you a sense of purpose and a role in the community, and friends. It's like, obviously now that it's been replaced by like you work in a sports direction, factory which is safer cleaner kind of better work than working down a mine but you don't have
Starting point is 00:48:17 that sort of camaraderie pride it doesn't like yeah big mug though big mug you don't have a town that's built around being we're a sports direct we're a sports direct town yeah I mean you do but they don't call it that it does show that you just that's the stuff that really matters isn't it but now like you have uh you know people are working like hot desking yeah it's the exact opposite of everyone It's alienated work It's kind of humiliating work In a different way
Starting point is 00:48:46 Whole communities are based around The fact that everyone works In a shit pit Yeah And so they all go to the same pub They all go to the same Working Men's Club I mean
Starting point is 00:48:56 The money they make from the mine They can afford to have a four bedroom house Yeah They have a family of like with five kids The wife doesn't work And they can do that by going down the mine Yeah Do you think Pitt will ever become slang for
Starting point is 00:49:09 Fanny? Yeah I think it will actually. I think it will. They've closed the pits. They closed the pits. Frid.
Starting point is 00:49:14 Frid. You got, yeah, as soon you go to the park and you can't get any action, fucking Thatcher's close the pits again. Oh, I see. Well,
Starting point is 00:49:22 I'm on a minor strike. And by minor, I mean, M-I-N-O-R. I'm only fucking kids until you open the pits. What, so anytime,
Starting point is 00:49:31 anytime someone has sex, you go, scab! Splitter! Yeah, that is the kind of the cucks, the cups, the cuck's picket.
Starting point is 00:49:40 Yeah. Picketing other. No, you're really, you're a massive cocky. You're picketing other people. If you're picketing other people having sex. Yeah, don't cross the punani line. Yeah, that's, that's Heath. He's picketing anyone else having sex.
Starting point is 00:49:54 Yeah, yeah. That's how much of it. He has no empathy for it. He's asexual. Why would you want to spend any more time than you need with anyone but my mum? Yeah, exactly. Any woman just gets in the way of thinking about my mum. So, um,
Starting point is 00:50:09 England don't qualify for the 74 World Cup You know, England lose the ashes The IRA start bombing So we're terrible at sport Is that a tool linked to the economy? Is it just the lack of confidence? Well, just the nation is just crumbling, you know? And so you, let's just say
Starting point is 00:50:26 You go over a decade, right? 64, Douglas Hume, this towering figure of politics, the country feels good about itself, you know, the greatest problem is that we've ever had. You go from Douglas Hume in 64 to 10 years later, you've got
Starting point is 00:50:40 you know if you're a social conservative under I can assume you've now got being gazed decriminalized abortion
Starting point is 00:50:46 the hanging's gone seat belts you know speed limits you've now got you're in the you're in the EEC
Starting point is 00:50:53 but are you I'm just thinking I'm not no I'm not are you implying that this sort of economic situation is because
Starting point is 00:51:00 Wilson decriminalised no sexuality no I'm not saying because of the last episode you said too much too soon no I'm just saying for you know it wasn't because they made
Starting point is 00:51:09 being gay legal that the fucking... I'm not saying the three-day week is because of homosexuality. Because everyone's too busy noshing everyone off. We can't work. It's funny, coincidentally, that all these social reforms happen and then the economy collapses.
Starting point is 00:51:23 They're not linked, but it's funny. We don't know if they're linked. We don't know. We don't know if they're linked. You know, hate speech laws are brought in, people are allowed to be racist. Suddenly, they can't go to work because I'm afraid to drive my mouth.
Starting point is 00:51:35 I'm afraid you're over my mouth. They're Greg Wallace. I'll either say something racist or someone will shove a dick in it. Productivity collapses. Everyone's just gobbling cocks of all races. There's a rainbow fucking blowjob orgy going on down there. Yeah, it's a bad optics that they bring in all the social reforms.
Starting point is 00:51:53 The optics are bad. Yeah, the optics of it. I'm just saying... The ass falls out of the country. Yeah, I'm saying if you're a social conservative in 1964, in 10 years your world's gone upside down. And no one's asked you about it. Yeah. I'm just saying, I'm trying to draw a thread between that lot and that lot today
Starting point is 00:52:07 where, you know, the immigrant. Like, why is immigration such a hot button issue now? It's because no one ever dealt with it. And then Powell said it. He was immediately shut down. And there's never actually been any, like, debate beyond it. And so now it's just this, it's this issue that's never going to go away. No.
Starting point is 00:52:23 It's the big issue, to be honest. For most people, it's the... But this, I want to, what I'm trying to say is this is where the immigration issue starts. It's late 60s. The consensus has now collapsed. It's now bipolar. It starts to be, yeah. I mean, the consensus will be dragged out.
Starting point is 00:52:38 like a fucking end of a toothpaste. Sixth wank of the day, the consensus is just about, it's all there, but it's dust. It's absolute dust. So, five days before the 1974,
Starting point is 00:52:50 the February 74 general election, Powell delivers this pivotal and explosive speech in Birmingham where he declares that the real question at stake in this election is whether Britain would, quote, would remain a democratic nation or whether it will become one province
Starting point is 00:53:02 in a new Europe super state, arguing that it was a national duty to oppose those depriving the UK parliament of its sole authority to legislate. So proto-Farage. Yeah, totally. And so Powell tells people to go and vote Labor. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:53:17 Right. It points out that the Labour Party's manifesto includes dun-dum-dum a referendum on EEC membership. Because actually, at the time, all the anti-EU stuff is mainly from the left. Tony Ben. Tony Ben, Michael Foote, all that lot. Very anti-E. Because they see us becoming just like a vessel for French and German capital.
Starting point is 00:53:37 Yeah, exactly. And they see it basically, what the EU does. They think it's a Jewish cabal. Yeah, probably. Because what the EU does, because the far right and the far left hate the EU, because the EU, what it does is it solidifies centrism, right? Sort of technocratic, middle of the road centristism, it holds onto that. So you can't break free.
Starting point is 00:53:52 So either way, it doesn't work for both of them. That's why, you know, during Brexit, it would have been great to see Corbyn and Farage having like a bromance. Shaking hands for that. Yeah, in the Rose Garden. Yeah, totally. Because they want the same thing, ultimately. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:54:06 So this effectively throws a hand. a hand grenade into his own party's campaign because Heath had taken Britain into the E.C. without a public mandate. Yeah, while there's literal car bombs going off in London. It's a three-day week except for car bombs. It's a seven-day week. The only lie is the fucking bombs that are happening.
Starting point is 00:54:22 Yeah. So he calls an election in February 74. Now, narratively, we'll put a pin in that and we'll return because 74 is fucking hilarious. Yeah. Absolutely hilarious. But just Heath is a one-term prime minister. We'll say that. And what we should also mention is that since he died
Starting point is 00:54:40 there have been a slew how big are these claims fairly big claims all his allies say that Heath's had a complete lack of sexuality he wasn't interested in sex he's asexual which he does seem that way
Starting point is 00:54:57 then also it could be because he's hiding his paedophili what do you think I think the asexuals are probably pedos you think all asexuals are probably yeah probably they're the good ones that don't do it. They're like, right, I'm a nonce.
Starting point is 00:55:10 I'm going to, therefore, I'm not doing anything with anyone. Are there pedos who are, it's literally, it's kids or nothing? Right, I tell you what this is. The difference here, you've got, in the same way you have in cells, you have peed cells. In that you have invoilentiful, in, no, yeah, well, yeah, you have non-offending paedophiles who are peed cells. And you also have involuntary paedophiles, which are people who, they don't want to be pedos. They don't want to be pedos, but they are.
Starting point is 00:55:36 But they are. But you're a peter, mate. Well, there are seven. victim disclosures for which they would have been interviewed under caution and they go from 61 to 92 supposedly indecently assaulting men age between 12 14 10 year old boy toilets paid sexual encounters um so quite a few different ones yeah there's loads i don't want to we need to get into all of them but basically there's like there's a lot there's a lot of allegations what you mean this guy this guy no no no Ted
Starting point is 00:56:08 Big Fat Ted. No, he's not a paedophile. He's an odd man. Yeah. So what do you reckon? Do you think he was one? I really don't know. If he was, he was a paedophile in the 70s when it was fine.
Starting point is 00:56:24 In vogue. I mean, the Overson window. The thing is, yes. Every private school, every Latin teacher at any private school is a pedophile to get the job. Yeah. And I think, I think for a geography, if you're a geography or a PE teacher, they whiffle it down to three paedophiles and then choose from them who gets the job who's the biggest nonce gets the job um the thing is it i i think savel's on tv just fucking going crazy
Starting point is 00:56:47 savels running marathes also it's because you know like the new york blackout there's so many crimes that happened when all the lights went out three day week three day week was just the absolute blood bar for paed a carnival of noncing the three day week an absolute it's a fucking horror film the 70s yeah it is it is and that's that's i think this is where our national obsession with paedophilia begins
Starting point is 00:57:08 we haven't got over that I do think this genuinely I mean this when I say this being a paedophile now is worse
Starting point is 00:57:17 than being a paedophile in the 70s I guess it's because it becomes discredited at some point in the 80s what do you mean
Starting point is 00:57:24 that it culturally paedophilia is accepted in 1970s Britain like there was a debate whether you could use the N word in comedy
Starting point is 00:57:32 up till like 2008 like Louis was talking about it and then it ended saying no you can't Yeah. That happened with
Starting point is 00:57:37 Peter Fidtick. Can you molest a young boy? And so if Heath is a paedophile, I don't think we should judge him by the standards of today. Yeah. I think it was a, it was a 1970s relationship trend.
Starting point is 00:57:48 Yeah. Yeah, he was an honourable paedophile. It was like prawn cocktail. It was just like... Prawn cocktail. It's probably one called. Pedo cocktail. You know, it's an anachronism.
Starting point is 00:57:59 Yeah. It's Saville, it's glitter. Rolf Harris. This is all that take on Heath is yes, he's a paedophile, but we're right. with it. These are pido.
Starting point is 00:58:11 So we've got a cuck and we've got a pido. That's post-war bridge prime ministers. But his legacy, he has to be viewed as a failure as a prime minister, of course. He was dealt a bad hand, but he played it phenomenally badly as well. He didn't have political instincts. He was a very smart man and he had right ideas, but he probably shouldn't have been someone like prime minister because I don't think he had the empathy or instincts to navigate politics.
Starting point is 00:58:36 he's ignoring. Yeah. So he's already not speaking to half the country when he does the addresses because he doesn't see women. Yeah. He's a phenomenally rude man. And he's a quite uninspiring leader.
Starting point is 00:58:45 And then the fact that Thatcher succeeds him, right? Thatcher informs Heath later on that he, she is challenging him for the leadership. And he fails, he then goes into what is known as, quote, the longest sulk in history when it's not until Thatcher resigns in 1990 that he finally sort of basically starts talking publicly,
Starting point is 00:59:06 again. Really? He's just like he's sulking. He just will, he stays in the, in parliament, but he will not abide. He just can't abide,
Starting point is 00:59:13 Thatcher. He's constantly, he's sulking in the commons. Yeah. She's speaking. He's just like, like a toddler just turt, he's sulking during Fatcher.
Starting point is 00:59:23 In 19, when Thatcher's removed from power, Heath was asked whether the report was true that he called his office and said, rejoice, rejoice, and Heath replied, I said it three times.
Starting point is 00:59:32 He fucking hated her. He hated her. so he's known as the incredible sulk because he's sulk and he's fat as anything look at that photo there and look at Heath he's just like fucking woman this fucking he's the Dalton of he is that this is why I like
Starting point is 00:59:48 him he's Timothy Dalton of Prime Minister look at him he's fucking livid he has to a photo with her yeah he refused to work closer to them for 25 years because she is his education secretary yeah and she actually slashes a lot she basically kills all grammar school just livid just fucking
Starting point is 01:00:04 let's a smile give us a smile off cheer up might never happen so yeah that I mean Edward Heath if we're ranking him I'd say he's an incredibly comforting prime minister
Starting point is 01:00:30 in what sense as in just going back because this is where much of Britain's current mindset or inferiority complex. No, I think it's more that if you look at the early 70s and the late 60s, Britain has never been more culturally
Starting point is 01:00:44 powerful. Beatles, Stones. Yes. Win the World Cup in 66. Yeah. You know, Carnaby Street, all that. And yet, by 74, I'm just wondering, has there ever been a greater distance between cultural power and economic power? Has power ever gone so far from hard to soft?
Starting point is 01:01:00 Yeah. Has there ever been a quicker deflation of a dick than Britons? in 64 to 74. Like it's an immediate flaccid, it's a cold shower thinking about mummy. But then is it, is it sort of like
Starting point is 01:01:12 slave songs, the music that came out of that. Yeah. Yeah, it's the blues. It's Negro spirituals. It's Negro spirituals. It's exactly that's what this is. Like the Beatles.
Starting point is 01:01:24 Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath. They're amazing first album which I only recently got back into since Ozzy Osbourne died. Yeah. Shout out RIP. But that was in 1970. Right.
Starting point is 01:01:32 So it's out of this Britain that some of the best music ever written comes. Yeah, Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin? The 70s. The stones. That's what I mean.
Starting point is 01:01:39 This is slave spirituals for a country that's on its fucking knees. And I will also say that this is where Britain is now in that all we are as a cultural power. We have no actual power in the world at all. With Japan with worst toilets. We are Japan with no toilets. Right. And this is where this, in my head, this starts is Heath's premiership. so what the complete shift to cultural stuff all we have is cultural power yeah because here we
Starting point is 01:02:08 completely fuck it right and so that's why i think it's comforting i love how rudy is that's why we can export racist podcasts to the world it's what we have we're not exporting anything else what else are we're not exporting even the italians would make better suits than us now yeah right all we're exporting is racist podcasts um so i i love heath because i also love we i don't think we've had a Prime Minister since who's been so like unpersonable to his colleagues. Yeah. He just hates them, he just dismissive of them. He's a true Brit.
Starting point is 01:02:39 He's a true Brit. And he's also the guy at school who we all went to school and hate. So I'm a big fan of Heath. Yeah. But let's be honest. Let's be honest. It's about to get even worse. Yeah. Because we're about to have Harold Wilson come back. The tiredest Prime Minister who's ever been in office? Yeah. This is this is the most tired of anyone's ever been. and it's about to get even looser at the seams.
Starting point is 01:03:02 We're coming back for Harold Wilson's second term, which is possibly the high point, or the low point of... I don't think Democratic products has ever been so funny as Harold Wilson's second term. If you'd like that episode and our final episode of this series where we finally reached 1979,
Starting point is 01:03:17 they're both already on the Patreon where for three pounds a month, you can become a truth, and you get access to all our bonus episodes. We've done bonus episodes on things like the Rao Mote Manhunt, on um we've done boner episodes on zulu special yeah a concert film we got a live interview of micah vittoria that was live that was live yeah we've got loads of loads of stuff we do one a week we do one a week
Starting point is 01:03:39 one a week and they're getting better and better i'd say hitler in brazil hitler in brazil which is a classic and concurrent to this series we've been doing the great train robbery and the thorpe affair which we'll talk a bit about in the next episode but that's wild and we also talk about pedophiles our most controversial left that was actually the first time we've gone too much for our listeners was Nambler, the North American Man Boy Love Association, where we spent 40 minutes talking about a paedophile association. Yeah, and I think their issue was it wasn't historical enough. But if you have got something wrong with you and you have three pounds,
Starting point is 01:04:09 which is, you know, it's a tight margin, then get your dad to write in and send a postal check to this PO box and join our patron. Anyway, that's been Ted Heath. We will see you for Howard Wilson's second bite of the cherry next time. Good night. Good night. Ugh.
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