Off Air... with Jane and Fi - I may as well be circumnavigating Uranus! (with Anthony Scaramucci)

Episode Date: June 17, 2026

Welcome to this FFM (Friends for Money) podcast. Today, the great friends discuss Hyrox, the Cup of the World, getting passive-aggressive messages from the NHS, holiday reads, and piles. Plus, Anthony Scaramucci, broadcaster, financier and former White House Communications Director, shares his thoughts on Trump and discusses his appearance at Chalke History Festival. You can buy tickets for Fringe by the Sea: https://www.fringebythesea.com/off-air-with-jane-fi-and-special-guest-jan-ravens/Our next book club pick will be a collection of short stories! 'Interpreter of Maladies' is by Jhumpa Lahiri. You can check out our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@OffAirWithJaneAndFOur new playlist 'Coiled Spring' is up and running: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4tmoCpbp42ae7R1UY8ofzaOur most asked about book is called 'The Later Years' by Peter Thornton.If you want to contact the show to ask a question and get involved in the conversation then please email us: [e-mail] us on Instagram! @janeandfiPodcast Producer: Eve SalusburyExecutive Producer: Rosie Cutler Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're going to get a cop off with him. No, Jane, I'm not going to cop off with him because I'm involved in an extremely happy copping off relationship these days. You've copped off. It's not a nice expression, is it? No, it's not. You've still kept the picture of the chap with a parrot, though, I see it. Well, no, this comes in from Marion, who has said, and this is handwritten on very nice,

it's almost like parchment. Oh, thank you. Our sort of lady. Is this your parrot man fee? And no, I'm not a scammer. Well, Marion, I'm disappointed because actually it would have been a fantastic scam if that's where it started.

And you can imagine the follow-up. She could have engaged me in email conversation. And we could have had a lovely chat about names for the parrot, where she had just happened to say maybe it could be a family name like your mother's maiden name. And then we would have gone down the road

of complete nutter and over your bank details. And then you'd have been half a million quid poorer. Well, no, I mean the good news is there's not unfamiliar quid to scan. So you say there's always a bright side. It's a silver lining. But yes, that is the parrot man. Right. And I don't really recognise the man because obviously he didn't really look at the man.

He just looked at the bloody parents. Well, actually, we're on thin ice today because we've both been leering at England fans who we've seen on Sky News, which is on in the monitors, televisions, in the office. And there's some big fellas. There are some, there are definitely some fans who are going to need to deodorise in Dallas. It's going to be stifling in Dallas. Anyway, good luck England. Is it coming home?

What's your vibe today? No. No, I don't. But I've never, you know, because I don't get hugely, hugely involved in football, I just don't, and I don't have that kind of patriotic thing about. because it's not in my lifetime. 1966 is not in my lifetime. So it just has always seemed absurd

that something can come home after it's been lost for so long, apart from if you're Odysseus, and that makes perfect sense. But, you know, it's a long time away. Yeah. I think we just have to... I was alive in 66, but I was talking to my dad about this the other day.

I was, obviously, I was two. I say, obviously, I was two, and I was just a pain in the ass during the game. Oh, I'm there. You can imagine some idiotic toddler. I barely, I'd only just learn to walk because I was so fat. I was really, really slow at walking. I bet you stood in front of the TV just at the wrong time.

All of that. It was just a complete pain in the backside. And obviously I have no memory of that. It must have been the most wonderful days ever. Just typical of my luck fee. I can't remember it. But I wish England luck and I will get heavily involved in their journey and let's hope that it is quite a long one.

And I've really enjoyed the games that I've watched so far. I thought last night's game. Oh, France. France against Senegal, because it did look like there was going to be a little bit of an upset. And then there wasn't. And then there wasn't,

because Mbapi came along and did the business. But I will get very excited about it. But the patriotic spirit and the raising of expectations for them to be dashed, I just feel... Well, that's part of the fun for me. Is it part of the fun, though?

Because the media is largely, if not entirely responsible for this. And then... But it's the endless conversations. We've had about... 466 of them already. Is it coming home? You ask of everybody.

16 page pullout in the Times today. The Times. Let's wait and see. No, it's not coming home. Let's wait and see. It's not coming home, but we want to have some laughs. Can I just say a very quick hello to some of the people who were there last night? Yes.

Oh, yes. Joanna Cannon's event. For starters, Joanna Cannon is just such a fantastic person to talk to. But also, she did this really lovely thing, Jane. Even though this is her book tour, so she, was selling her book an unlikely visitor. The first half of the event in Times Towers, have a look through the app and you can find other similar events. I was going to say, how would I go to an event like this? Well, you would subscribe and become a Times plus member. And then lots of

events, including really fantastic authors, become available to you. And you come along and you go up to the 17th floor, which is an incredible vista of London. It's three sides of the news building. You know, actually in summer, it's just a really good place to do. visit. Didn't have mine. Sob the talk. I know last night it was good, but just come and have a look at the view. It is incredible. It just makes you feel so excited to be in London.

Joanna invited for the first half four of her favourite authors to have a panel discussion with her about books. So she shared all of the love. So there was Matt Haig, Rachel Joyce, Bobby Palmer and Lucy Foley. So they did all of their stuff in the first half and then

Joanna and I chatted in the second half. It was a really, really lovely evening. to say hello to Julia and Julie, who are big fans of this podcast. And I'm spooking you now because I'm saying hello to you. Hello. Amanda, I had a very nice chat with in the ladies. There's always a very high quality of chat in the ladies. And special mention to Bobby Palmer because he absolutely loved the interview with Maggie O'Farrell.

And he said, you know, I just thought it was fantastic. And I listened to it before I interviewed her myself, you did a great job. And I just said yes. That's right, because I've done the same. I can't hug you I'm just fessing up there Bobby if you're listening to Jane's marvellous and

you know it happens she's number one in the charts Maggie O'Farrell now Eve put your mic up love yes what is it I only just had that realisation because you did interview her in December That's very true

That's very kind of but I think Bobby was referring To that wouldn't have been of much relevance No no That's kind of you to put Well done both. Yes. But also I just didn't bat an eyelid. And usually I blush.

I spent my life blushing when I say things that are embarrassing or a lie or slight exaggeration. And I didn't, Jane. You just said it's all right. It's all right. I'm looking for the email that describes Eve as a sentient being. You've got that one. I've saved some for tomorrow. Oh, have you?

Because you're not here tomorrow. So it will be the good ship even fee set sale. All right. One day only. You can discuss the sentient being that is Eve tomorrow. We'll talk about whether or not we can replace Eve with AI. That's never going to happen. No.

No, it really isn't. Okay, where shall I start? Actually, I just want to mention again, I'm having a bit of a crisis of confidence fee. Julie Ann just wants to put me right. She's not the first, she won't be the last. I was listening to Thursday's episode. You talked about Belfast and the horrendous riots and made reference to the fact that the Irish had got together to riot against immigration.

It's yet another example of English people commenting on Northern Ireland without any idea of what's gone on. The riots all took place in loyalist areas of Belfast. These are the very people who refused to identify as Irish and consider themselves more British and the English. Now that's Julianne's view. I suppose we need to be very careful about that.

Yes, there are some in Ireland and some nationalists in Northern Ireland who are not happy with immigration either, but they were not rioting and burning people out of their houses, terrifying children. Julianne, thank you. And yeah, I absolutely take what you've said there. Overheard conversations.

I like this from Bridget. In a closing down sale, I was browsing reduced household goods alongside a couple with a pram and a proud granny, telling the shopperson this was her new two-week-old grandson. The mother had chosen sets of plates, lamps and cushions, whilst the dad was arranging a cab to take them home. When the total cost of their purchases was announced, feeling very pleased with herself,

the mother clapped her hands and said, this is the best day of my life whereupon the dad rather mournfully said that you gave birth to our son two weeks ago I honestly thought he was going to cry well of course nothing beats the birth of a child but some decent bargains at a closing down sale

I mean yeah very close second you can understand it can you that's painful and also a lot less painful yeah which in fact to the dad. He wouldn't be entirely aware of that.

No, but of course, you know, they're joyful days. But it's amazing how many times in your life you do have to catch yourself, don't you? Because you say that something is the best day of my life, and then you suddenly have to insert, apart from the days when I met with our children. You should just be able to sign something that just says, look, it's a given, okay? It's just a given. Don't have to keep mentioning it. Of course, you don't need to keep mentioning it, no.

This is all the best. It comes in from Maria Sinclair. It's not a lovely name. Well, that is another classy listener. Yeah. So Maria Sinclair just sounds like she should be running a very, very high-end wine bar on Jersey. And having occasional adventures with a detective in a sports car. Something like that.

Yeah. Okay. What are you? I wonder what she is doing. I don't know. Okay. It would be good to hear a little bit more. It was a subtle combination of things on Monday's podcast, which has finally led to me writing to you.

I identified with your email as Sarah, who was, I think, at the Hay Book Festival. trying to identify fellow off-air listeners. I've long thought there needs to be some way that we can easily seek each other out, seeing as the tote bags only went to a lucky few. They were a big success, those bags, weren't they? They were. But they went like the clappers. Yes, I mean, it has to be said that we are to capitalism,

what we are also, to the pole vault. I mean, we haven't entirely leapt on board with this just yet. But something's coming, isn't it? Something is coming, but don't hold your breath. It'll get there eventually. Yeah. We think. Then when one of you mentioned the name Stephen, a few times later in the podcast,

it all clicked. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, I would listen to another radio show podcast combo, Adam and Joe, on BBC 6 Music. For the uninitiated, that's the father of podcasting, Adam Buxton. We've interviewed him, haven't we? He was very, very funny. For some reason, we ended up talking about how later on in your life,

you were going to become a road haulage cab driver and watch a lot of porn. Do you remember that? I was going to do that With my sense of direction It seems unlikely But I mean, okay I'm glad that that's the bit you picked on

And the film director Joe Cornish Have we talked to Joe Cornish? I don't think we have Do you know I know loads of people loved Adam and Joe I think I was mired in the business of child rearing When they were really, really hugely successful And I just didn't listen to six music So I think I missed the Adam and Joe boat

And I'd rather regret that Because I know they were really, really good They were absolutely fantastic They used to come on GLR in the very, very early days of their incarnation When they were doing these incredible animations With puppets, they had a late-night Channel 4 show And they're just delightful, delightful men

And I'm glad that it's worked out for both them, actually Anyway, back with Marie Sinclair Asked listeners would identify each other At gigs, festivals and the like By shouting, Stephen And if a fellow listener heard, heard this, they will reply just coming. Isn't that great? That's great. That is good. Okay, we do need something like it. So we need a Jane and Feet equivalent. Just what that is yet,

I don't know, but I suspect it will need either a random northern or Australian accent and could perhaps include the distinct way in which Fee sometimes says the word very. I don't, oh, very. There, there, there, there, there, there. The clue to be really posh is to make it seem like it's an immense effort to be able to speak at all. It's extremely difficult. Yes. Yes, that. There we are, we've nailed it.

Perhaps the hive has some thoughts. Well, I think that would be great. I love the idea of something just so, so nobody else would understand that code, would they, if you just shouted Stephen and you just heard just coming. no one outside of the club would know what that was about. So that's what we need. We can't say Stephen. No, we can't say Stephen.

What would it be? Let's chuck it out to the hive. That's not do all the work, Jay. Oh, God. Especially not in this heat. I am going to France next week. And apparently, there's a heat wave coming to that part of France. We're looking at late 30s.

Really? Yeah. Are you staying in a lovely old Bastide, the walls of which will protect you from many things? I don't. I've no been to this at common. before. Right. So I just need it's a friend's property though so

I don't want to make any judgments. I'm looking forward to it immensely. But yet it's going to be very, very hot. Whoa, okay. Well, best of luck. Oh, don't worry. I'll drop you a voice note. Why don't you? Because I don't know how to. That's why at the moment, but I'll get advice on that.

Are you close to water? Is there a pool? I don't know. You don't know? You haven't found out there's a pool or not? Oh, there is a pool. Oh, okay. Yeah, right. Okay, I tell you what, I think I will send you. a voice note, especially if I'm wilting. It'll provide some cheap laughs.

That'll be great. We'll pop it into the podcast. I was going to suggest that you do, rather than just use it from... Oh, I thought you were just being nice and just saying I'll drop you online. Oh, okay, so I forgot we're any friends for money. That was another question from Julie last night. Oh, was it? Well, that's good. Actually, we should have t-shirts made just for each other with friends for money on. F-FM.

F-FM. Oh, yeah, it works. It does. F-FM. It's the station we should be on. Where have I got to? Oh, I know, anonymous. Yes, we've got to keep her anonymous

because she's got some slightly difficult things to say about her part of the world. First of all, she says, the latest reason I love you is for not having a clue what Hirox is. Well, neither of us did know, did we? No idea. And I didn't realize that it was a sort of fashionable thing at all,

which makes me feel, am I so totally out of the loop? I may as well be circumnavigating Uranus. I just don't know. the planet the planet but you genuinely hadn't heard of a heroics either no and I thought because of the correspondence

that we've had about it on this podcast that it was just for old people but it's not apparently Eve seems to intimate that some of her young friends do I think it's quite a trendy thing it's a bit of a fitness trend but it's a very intense one it's not for the week so you do have to be quite dedicated yeah honestly Jane I don't think that you

should worry about the fact that you're not across all of the latest high-intensity workout training sessions. I think it's quite a leap from your... But also it's a bit of a leap from your algorithm. Yeah, yeah, it is actually. High-waisted pants. Yes. By the way, the news on my blood pressure, because I know people are concerned.

Yeah. Slightly frustratingly, I don't need to take medication. They've just a slightly patronising link to the NHS website with some ideas about. that lifestyle changes. You need to take a bit more exercise and lose a bit of chub. Yeah, that's the gist of it. It's quite annoying, isn't it?

Anyway, so the fags and the Greg's habit and everything else, gone for a Burton. Right, I love exercise, as anonymous, and I do a lot of it, but I find when something goes from a fun way of challenging your fitness to essentially an organised religion, it loses its appeal for me.

Why does this happen to so many things once they've been popular. There was an outcry recently after the popularity of Hirox meant they oversold the tickets and those chasing a personal best had to queue to carry a farmer. That's just no good, is it?

God, there's a lot there. And also, how do we know? I mean, are they authentic these farmers? I don't know. My voice went very high. Didn't it? Yeah. It just sounds nonsense to me.

I mean, why would a farmer give up their time to be dragged around by somebody doing a fitness challenge? Where would you suddenly find them? We should have asked Minot batters about this. We should, shouldn't we? Let's call her back. Let's get her back on to see if she knows where High Rocks gets its farmers from. Now, we need to join in a little further along this quite lengthy email. She was on holiday recently, our correspondent, and noticed that were three books that the majority of people reading by the pool.

they were the F-It list Don't know that one, do you? Have we looked that one up? Do you mind you? The F-It list. Careless people and London falling. Brilliant. Now, the latter two, we both heartily recommend.

Re-careless people, my question is, how is it possible after reading it that the whole world isn't just switching off from anything that Mark Zuckerberg and his gang create? Surely at the very least, reading about him and Cheryl Sandberg's absolute lunacy, it should make so many of us get over

imposter syndrome and recognise that a title and a level of influence does not equal talent or intelligence or empathy or anything you might think is admirable. We're just people making it up as we go along, but some have a lot more money and power. Yes, that's thought-provoking. What is the effort list?

So now I look at it, I actually do recognise that cover. Oh, yes, I've seen it. Have you seen that? Yes, about quite a bit. So is it a self-help manual that basically says? It's a laugh-out-loud comedy. Oh, okay. A woman forced to re-evaluate her life at 40.

The perfect holiday read. No, I don't want that. I've lived that. Been there. And she's harsh, but there we are. Then she goes on fee. Re-Headphonegate. Can we also talk about people who insist on conducting every single phone call on speaker

and talking into the end of their phone whilst holding it out, pointing at their mouths? Yes, you do see that. And again, on holiday, some guy on a bus rang his mum who told him his uncle had died. Where? How? What is last?

words were, etc. And he kept the entire call on speakerphone. I've also recently discovered some of the parents at our school are keys in a bowl types after somebody had that conversation on speaker at our kids' cricket training. Can you believe it?

All sorts of no. Yes, it's the Cotswolds, says Anonymous. Well. Well. I imagine, imagine all of the keys in those bowls. They're all Porsche Cayans and Land Rover defenders. So who have you got in the Cotswolds?

David Cameron. Ed Faisie. No, he lives around me, near me. No, he was the MP for Whitney, wasn't it? Well, he might have been. I'm always seeing him in the park. Maybe he had to give up his country residence. Anyway, let's not speculate about it.

Let's have got me of us. Let's really not. No, let's not. So I'm with our correspondent. It's too much. I don't want to be involved in such personal conversations. And sometimes you have no choice but to listen. if you haven't got your own headphones with you

and you're in a confined space and I completely agree I don't know what these people are thinking of having such private conversations in a very public way I passed a woman who was well she was a brisk lady in linen shall we say this morning

I passed her she was having a very highfalutin conversation mega volume the whole street could hear it I mean you know infuriating she looked like one of those women who built an empire

but perhaps she could just go back to that and leave the rest of us load so we don't have to live listen to her tedious conversations about what she was doing the rest of the day. Yeah. I find as well, and this will be my last, because I know that I've gone on about this a little bit too much. We live in the same kind of street as yours and that there are three-story houses on either side. So it is an echo chamber of volume that comes at you. There's quite a busy pub opposite us and everybody gets on a line bike.

House is on the market fee, remember. It's not that busy. It's a nice pub. Oh, the end one goes that though. I've forgotten that. That story I'd love this. Right, let's move on. Okay, it's great.

It's very handy. You can nip over for chips in the game of ball any time. Thank you. That is a massive plus. Thank you. Huge plus. Wonderful. Right.

I appreciated that backup. Very much. Let's do some midweek. musings with Chavonne who describes herself halfway between Basingstoke and Winchester do you know what the answer is there well I do because I've seen it but the most of the people outside the UK

where does she find herself in Andover wonderful yes and Chavon says that would be a controversial opinion because maybe it's a little bit closer to Basingstokea we don't want to start any trouble in Hampshire God there's enough trouble in the world I'm about to start your book club books so I was relieved to hear I've still got time before you start talking about it. What is it please?

Don't ask me. Sorry, I don't. Jimpa Lahiri, the interpreter of maladies. It's nine short stories. I think it did win some huge prize. Actually, we don't really care about prizes on this podcast at all. We get the last thing we want. Honestly, keep well away if you're a prize giver. We're not interested. But it has come highly recommended by quite a few people and I have got one left. I've been saving them and I've really enjoyed the experience, Jane. Because you, you, you, you, you, you, can set such a fantastically realistic limit on how long it's going to take you to read the story. I enjoy that because sometimes with a very, very big book, I disappoint myself when I don't read enough. Really? Do you ever get that? I disappoint myself on an hourly basis. So, yes, I do.

Actually, Joanna Cannon said something lovely last night about being a properly immersive reader. So when she gets stuck into a book, A, she can only ever do one book at a time. And then if she loves it, she almost lives it for a couple of days or weeks afterwards, she can't dive into the next one at all. And I really identify with that actually. Because I know that you can

go from book to book to book and you can have an audio book on the go. Yeah, always. Bedside book on the go. And I cannot get my head to stretch around two different stories. I have to be in a book. And then if it's been a very good book, I have to just sit with it

for sometimes it is weeks actually. I'll pick up the next one. It is interesting you mention that because I have gone from Elizabeth Strout and I know I keep going on about that book, but honestly it really did make me think.

And the next thing I read was Duncan Ferguson's Big Dunk. And I just want to know, has anyone else in Britain gone or anyone else possibly on Earth gone from Elizabeth Strout on Big Dunn because I wanted to read this book

because I do like football and I just couldn't understand why this book had sold as many copies as it obviously has. I still haven't finished it. Big Dunk does have some story is to tell. It's a little repetitive. I don't know who edited that book. But we've certainly established some facts about Big Dunk. He's big for a start. Although a lot of people in

football, men in football are known as Big and then their name. And I don't think anybody in football is little, but smugging us. I don't know. Anyway, a number of times Duncan just says how well-loved he is and how generous he is. He makes that own assessment, that assessment of himself quite frequently throughout the book. I don't think you're allowed to do that. I'm not sure you are either. It's like people who tell you that they're really funny. I just will be the judge of that.

Indeed, he is, I've got a great sense of humour me. That's always one to watch, isn't it? It is. But he is one of the summarisers at the Cup of the World, and I think he was involved in the Scotland game. So anyway, I just, has anyone else gone from Elizabeth Strout to Big Dunk? Let's go and search.

It does help me to immerse myself in the memories of a pretty successful footballer after being properly made to think by Elizabeth Stroud. Do you remember in lockdown when everybody was appearing on Zoom in front of their bookshel? We played that game

of trying to find the oddest books that were standing next to each other. Snuggled up. And they are funny. So if you'd like to indulge us again with that and try and not rearrange the bookshelf first

because it is very funny sometimes what budges up. Right, we're back. with you, Chavorn. Sorry, we took a massive, massive diversion. We almost got to Alsford there, but we're back. Is that a Hampshire reference? That is a Hampshire reference. I'll have enjoyed that in Hampshire. Yeah, bonnets on. It's very close to where Jane Austen had her house. Austin, Jane Austen had her house. I've been holding off as I'm nervous of short stories ever since I made my way through a good 50% of games and rituals by Catherine Hiney

before realizing it was a compilation of short stories. I was also contemplating your conversations on body image and your conclusion that no woman you've met has been happy with their body. Well, I think I am the anomaly. I'm uncritical of my body. I quite like most of it, but it's more that I don't spend a huge amount of time thinking about it one way or the other. My mum was similar, or at least it always seemed to me that she was, and I certainly never heard her saying anything negative about her body, also her flinch or sigh at her reflection. I do occasionally think something like Oh, I can fill my thighs jiggling

if I'm running in a bikini But it's not really accompanied by any judgment I mean nobody else would probably notice They're surely more likely to notice The happy side of a mum running with her child If they did, I imagine they'd think it's probably pretty normal It doesn't make me feel ashamed or embarrassed I do compliment my children's appearance occasionally

But far less off that I would compliment their accomplishments And often it's a compliment about their choice of outfit or hairstyle rather than purely their actual looks. Anyway, those are my midweek thoughts that I thought I'd share. It's good to hear. I think a mother with that approach to life

is a great gift. I really do. Yeah, I agree. And I think it's probably a lifelong gift that she gave to you, and no doubt you'll spread it to others. It's just incredibly significant. I'm not here tomorrow because I'm going to a funeral,

and I'm not going to say any more about that because it's a friend of mine's husband. But what I will say is that their experience in the end, all you can ask yourself is, does my body work? And if it does, be bloody grateful and get on with things, honestly. It really does. It concentrates your thinking, doesn't it? Any kind of event of that nature makes you think. I completely agree. And just the hours we've all spent wishing we were in some way different, it's just not worth it. Yeah, yeah. It really isn't. But also I do think our conversation about, particularly about, you know, mum's commenting on their

daughter's appearance. I know that we had a couple of men who joined in the conversation, but I do think it's so true of parenting, isn't it, that you really can't tell your child what to do, but you really can show them what to do. And actually, if you're in a heterosexual relationship, if your partner, your male partner, complements you on all aspects of yourself, your personality, kind things, thoughtful things, sometimes says things like, God, I absolutely love your chunky legs or whatever it is and really means it. That is a thousand magic stars to your children to see that it's all part of a loving relationship, just really, really care about the whole of somebody else. And it's not just on us as mums, you know, to guide our

daughters through what is difficult terrain with appearances, because sometimes we have had such weird treatment ourselves. Oh gosh, we really have. We can't really do it authentically, but actually somebody's shining a nice light on us, I think, can really, really do it for us. Well, I think we have got, I do love these when people just dig up something from the olden days that does tell us that we have travelled. Oh my gosh. We have just travelled slightly, haven't we? Jacob's in Bristol. He says, I hope you don't mind me writing. We love you writing. Don't worry about it. Me and my family have been clearing out a deceased relative's house and we happen to find a copy of the Daily Star from 1980. This article really bothered me so much

I had to share it with somebody so have a look please. I know that times have changed and I really hope that male journalists wouldn't write these stories today but I'm curious, what do you think? A policewoman who was sexually assaulted at work her employer's response

was to buy her a bunch of roses, the mind boggles. Well actually, Jacob, it wasn't her employers who bought her the flowers. It was the rugby club. It was the rugby club involved. Do you want to just explain what happened? Because this is only, it's only 1980

So I was still at school, but I was, you know, 16. So not that long ago. Well, it obviously it is. What I mean? So the headline is when PC 51 lost her zip, Carnival prank angers the law. High-spirited ruggar players copped a severe caution when they unzipped a policewoman

at a seaside carnival. The burly lads spotted pretty young WPC 51. Deep sigh. But they were burly. They were burly. They couldn't help themselves. Yeah, and she was pretty. so she's probably asking for it.

And they were burly and couldn't help it. And they trundled through Weymouth in Dorset on their decorated float. Spectators cheered as they lifted her aboard. It was all good, clean fun until the horseplay got a bit rough. First the players tried to pull off the policeman's tie and then they unzipped her skirt. Lads. Anyway, she tried to preserve her dignity and got off the float clutching at her gaping skirt. But, and the article says WPC 51 managed to smile through the prank,

but her superiors were not amused. Well, I mean, I bet she just felt she had to. I doubt she actually did enjoy it. And as Jane has alluded to the article ends by saying, after the carnival, Weymouth Rugby Club sent WPC 51 a bouquet of red roses. It's a small token of apology, said a club official. Well, that was 1980 for you. just Jacob thank you for that

I mean it is amazing what you find when you it doesn't make me wonder why did your relative keep a copy of the Daily Star from the 1980s but people did I've got lots of bits of newspaper but also yeah but sometimes they're just you know being used as wrapping for you know odds and sods that get handed down

I think those are always the fascinating ones aren't they because they're just such random random dates but people used to collect you know If a big news story had occurred, people would keep the copy of the newspaper from the day of the event. I know I did. I did chuck them out recently, but I had loads. Yeah. I mean, I don't think it's no point. There wouldn't be worth anything, would they?

God, I think if you've got some of the all-time cracker headlines, they would be, actually. Would they, okay. So plastered around the newsroom at GLR, second mention of the day, really weird. Sorry about that. That were all of the front pages, the tabloid front pages that are, you know, notable to this day. So the up yours, DeLores and stuff like that. And, you know, we just pinned them up on the wall because we thought that they were clever and they were funny

and they were just all round like bunting around the newsroom. And I often wonder what happened to them and I really hope on the last day that that brilliant radio station went to go and live under false pretenses as Radio London Broadcasting House that somebody did keep them. Because that collection would be immensely valuable because it wasn't just the sun or the news of the world, it was the mirror, it was absolutely every tabloid,

and they would have been great. Stick it up your punter, all that stuff. In the cell of the other day, I did find, I've kept copies of the Times, Fee, from the days my daughters were born, so they've got them. And my elder daughter, all the grandparents have signed the front page of the Times,

which is rather nice. But then you think, honestly, shall I give it to her? I mean, would she want it? What am I going to do with it? It's bizarre. Hang on to it for safekeeping. Hang on to it, okay.

It's stick it up your junta. Isn't it? That was the pun. I just wanted to get that one right. Yes, it was when England, Britain, I was thinking about the World Cup. Why don't people call it the Cup of the World? It's much nicer, isn't it? It is nice. Yeah. Well, let's start that. Let's call it the Cup of the World. Yes, let's be early adopters of a new expression. Yes.

Can we just say thank you to all of the people who have said that, yes, many, many warnings were issued about kids. and chess freezers because there have been some horrendous incidents and because the freezers have a vacuum seal. Right. So you can't get out from the inside. So thank you for that. The dark warning I was always issued with was you mustn't go to bed with wet hair. Oh gosh, that's terrible.

Oh, but I never quite knew what the risks were. Very damp, hello, obviously that's one. Well, I mean, you were always told as well that you couldn't go out with wet hair because then you'd get a cold. Like the viruses would actually come towards you because your hair was wet. Yes, that sounds, it was nailed on you. You get pneumonia if you went out with wear hair. And you couldn't sit on concrete because you'd get piles.

No, that was a radiator. Oh, no, we're cold or hot. So we were told we couldn't sit on cold concrete because we'd get hemorrhoids. Make your minds up. Radiators to... Radiators to hemorrhoids come from hot or cold? I don't know. I've never had one. Right.

Who's our guest today? You're only saying that because you know I had to go to the GP with an incident. Right. Bye. And it was to do with pregnancy. Right. If you were playing two truths and a lie whilst listening to the podcast again, that's the lie. Our guest today is...

I bet he's never been introduced like this before. Well, you'll enjoy it. Man of the World. Former White House staffer. It didn't last long, of course, in the Trump White House. But by God, he's made a good living out of those... Was it 11 days? It was 11 days.

It's Anthony Scaramucci. Sarah Baxter, Anthony, wasn't too impressed by Donald Trump. Trump, what do you think of today's, well, it's so far what he's out to say, his performance? I mean, listen, he looks terrible. I mean, let's just talk about it from a humanitarian perspective for a moment. He just turned 80. He's coming off the UFC fight flying overnight into France. And he doesn't look right.

He looks swollen and terrible. And he's not even speaking coherently. So there's that combination. But underneath it, and I think people shouldn't understand. this, he has a very strong hold on what I would call the voting base, the primary voting base of the Republican Party. And so, yeah, he lost one last night, but he's generally won most of them. And so his entire party is petrified in fear. His cabinet is petrified in fear of him. And so even though they are running this thing without a plan, and even though this memorandum of

understanding, frankly, may or may not be what actually happens. No one's challenging him. No one's saying anything to him saying, hey, well, this isn't going to fly or that isn't going to fly. And so the $300 million was definitely in there. Any journalist that's worth their salt that has sourced it, the 300 billion was in the memorandum of understanding. Just explain the significance of that figure. Yeah. So basically what's going on is the Iranians pursuant to what MI6 would have said, DIA, Defense Intelligence Agency here implemented the Mosaic doctrine, and then they closed the straight-of-forward moves, which is exactly what they were planning to do if the Israelis or the Americans were to attack them. And so now they have a negotiating point, and they're

causing lots of economic damage. We estimate here at Skybridge over a trillion dollars of economic damage. And so what they want is they want $300 billion of reparations to rebuild the country from the missile strikes and the different bombings that have taken place. And the president agreed to that. I mean, it's very clear that he agreed to that. And he's going to lie about it and say that he did it, and that's fine because that's what he does. He's got a congenital streak of lying. But he did agree to it.

It's so unpopular and it's so wildly ridiculous. And he's always comparing himself to Barack Obama. You know, my podcast, Othcaddy K says that he has Obama derangement syndrome, which could be odious, actually ODS, right? And so he's going to be upset about the way everyone characterizes this because it's the JCPOA in a worse form. And it's economically harming to the United States. And by the way, let me just finish. Even his right-leaning, conservative Republican senators are rebuking the deal and strongly criticizing the deal, which shows you his weakening powers, he heads into the midterms. So how will he spin this as a victory?

Well, that's the problem. See, you can't do it. When you guys are reacting and you guys listening to your commentary, he sounds terrible. He, you know, how many times you're going to say fake news? How many times you're going to say it's made up and so on and so forth? It's just impossible. So he doesn't have a way out of this right now. And he doesn't have an advisory team that would sit down with him and provide him a way out of it.

know, if Abraham Lincoln had a team of rivals, he has a hall of mirrors. Everyone's in the room trying to reflect back to him what they think he wants as a representation of himself, right? So we're down to a committee of one in terms of the decision making at the executive branch of the United States, and everybody's frozen out. So when you say, how is he going to get out of this? He doesn't know how to get out of this. And his advisors are too afraid to tell him actually how to get out of this.

And so obviously what would be one of the ways to get out of this is to seek the help now of NATO, the Gulf states, and the international community to try to bridge the gap with the Iranians. Right. Are you, to a degree, disappointed by the other members of the G7? Why hasn't somebody at the G7, or perhaps they have? But why haven't they called him out in public about this? Listen, if you are a head of state in a European country, you're not going to want to call the American president. out in front of everybody else. Moreover, you know, you're looking to a future administration.

He's got two and a half years left or two years and five months left. I think everybody's looking at it saying, okay, we've got to have cool heads here. The guy's obviously not well, okay? And as a result of which he's unwell, but we need this alliance to exist after he goes. So let's be very aware we're here. We definitely don't want to ever invoke Article 5 because he may or may not show up. Number two, we don't want to embarrass him here. It'll just make things worse in terms of whatever the tariffs are going to be

or whatever the type of rhetoric is going to be, whether it's attacking Greenland or other disastrous, psychotic things that he's saying and or doing. So that's the reason. I don't, again, if I was a European leader or if I was Prime Minister Carney, I would definitely not be attacking him here. I would be going to his staff and saying, look, the dude's unwell. Are you guys going to fix it? Okay, can we just...

We're just going to live with it for the next two and a half years. I think that's the fourth time you've referenced his health. And I just want to ask on behalf of the listeners, what do you think is wrong with him? I appreciate he's an elderly man. I mean, but we're all going to be elderly one day if we're lucky. He's 80. What are you saying is wrong with him?

Listen, I'm not a... I'm not a medical doctor, but let me just give you a football analogy, and we'll use British football. If a kid is on the British football field, and he falls and you see a bone sticking out of his leg, you don't have to be an orthopedic surgeon to know that he has a broken bone. Okay, so just look at the way the president is expressing himself.

Look at his facial expressions, his body language, his fatigue. Look at his unsteady gate when he comes off of Air Force One or even when he's lumbering around at the UFC fight. You don't have to be a medical doctor to know that he's an 80-year-old person. And again, I don't wish anybody poor health. I think the president has been a disaster for this country. I've articulated that to the fullest extent that I can't. And I don't wish anybody ill health, even him. But I'm just saying you just have to look at him prima facie and know that he's not well.

And by the way, he's probably too old for the job. Okay. So that's not politically correct, but that's probably, that's probably right. And so we're sitting here now with a guy that's fumbling, but we have a fearful group of people. around him that are afraid to lose their jobs, afraid to get tweeted at, are afraid that they're going to get primary

by somebody that he'll select to knock them out of their position. And so that's why we're frozen like this. You know, this is like, you know, when I was in the first grade, they read me, the emperor has no clothes. I'm like, that's ridiculous. Why would they do that?

Now I'm 62 years old. And I'm like, okay, now I get it. Now I know why it happens. Yeah, well, I'm sure a lot of people agree with you about the Empress New Clothes and Donald Trump. Can we just talk about the straight of Burmurs because so many livelihoods, so many poorer nations are properly impacted by this?

I mean, they've had a really tough time. Is it going to be open over the next couple of days? Listen, I think it's going to be very hard to see that straight completely open. The Iranians by their own communiques, which seem apparently more reliable than the American governments, are saying there's going to be user fees.

There won't be tolls, but there'll be certain. service fees. And so actually, what's happened here, if we're really going to be honest with everybody, is the Americans overplayed their hand alongside of the Israelis. They weakened their standing globally. They've now reduced their influence in the Middle East and even among the Gulf nations. And it's very likely that in the ensuing months, the Gulf nations who used to pay protection money to the American government are probably going to be paying some form of protection money to the Iranians. And so the most terrible thing I can say, and this is just an

honest observation, is that we become more of a hemispheric player, Western hemispheric player as a result of this. And it's also exposed a weakness in our military armaments and our disbursements. We've got a trillion dollars that we're spending, and it looks like we're just spending it in a way that lobbyists and defense contractors want to suspend it as opposed to being prepared for a mid-21st century war. Right. And so this thing has exposed a lot of seams of weakness, and he's embarrassed the country by his actions.

And to add insult to injury, he has nobody that – Article 2 is supposed to be overseen by Article 1, which is our Congress, and they won't do it. And let me tell you something. And this is also a criticism of the Democrats because they don't have a coherent voice in this either. I think that baffles a lot of people in this country. Why aren't they better at calling him out? They're fighting with each other. They're very righteous.

They have this cultural thing that they're trying to impose on the Americans that the Americans don't really like. And rather than forming some level of coherence of Republicans, there's always been better at this. Newt-Indrich 30 years ago, contract for America. They didn't even agree with each other, but they understood that their unity would create a powerful message to the American people. And they swept back into the Congress. The Democrats won't do that. They're still litigating the Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, debacle of 2024. You know, Secretary Clinton was here at the 92nd Street, why, saying that Joe Biden shouldn't have ran.

But yet in 2003, she said, oh, he's running again. I'm going to support him. and the day after the debate, which was an unmitigated disaster, she said, okay, no problem with that debate, I'm still supporting him. So, guys, you can't have it both ways. You can't. You know, you got to get in line and focus on something more core than the picky-yune fights with each other.

Right. And I was listening to the latest edition of the Restis Politics U.S., and you and Katie were talking about that cage fight at the White House over the weekend. Now, you're absolutely right, because it absolutely horrified a picture. Pinko liberal like me and indeed like my colleague Fie Glover, we thought it was appalling. But as you pointed out in that podcast, that's exactly what it was intended to do, to irritate the libs. And Donald Trump's supporters love it, don't know.

Are you a pinko liberal? Yes, totally. Yeah. Okay. All right. All right. This is one way to describe yourself. I mean, you know, I actually admire that. No, listen, listen, you know, if you're a pink. What did you think Jane was just out of interest? If you're a pinko liberal, and thank you for listening to the podcast, but listen to me because I know the country. I've done, I don't know, 200 presidential campaign stops over the course of my career, 71 with Donald Trump. There is lots of layers to this country, but there's America in this country that isn't necessarily America, not a coastal city or something somebody from London would recognize.

Okay, this is a generally nativistic, xenophobic country. This is a country that is ardent about its religion. There's a Bible belt, but there's also a buckle on top of the Bible belt that's actually even more fanatical. And he gets it, and he gets it way better than the Democrats do. And this is, you know, and by the way, Graham Platner is a product of this, the new declared Senate candidate for the Democrats in Maine. And so I would just say to you, you know, if you're getting triggered by this stuff, stop getting triggered by it and learn how to fight him back in the culture war. And what is that? What does that resonate messages? White males that are in the blue collar lower middle income of this country want jobs.

That's actually what they want. And Lyndon Johnson understood that. Jack Kennedy understood that. Franklin Roosevelt understood that. Get back to that message and stop trying to fight him. in that culture war. And if he's doing UFC fights with flyovers, F-35 flyovers, you know, instead of sticking your finger in your mouth and vomiting, come up with a plan of attack to explain how that's not helping the American people

that are actually supporting the guy. Right. So how will the Republican Party reclaim, reclaim itself, I suppose, from MAGA? They'll need to at some point, won't they? It's a great question. And I think the good news is this is a full-on personality cult. And so a result of that personality cult, when he leaves the stage politically, that movement will effectively be extinguished.

That's not to say that there won't be populace elements or embers, flaming embers, left from the movement. Sure, there certainly be some of that. But this will be now the intellectual fight in the Republican Party, where maybe there will be some moderates running, maybe there'll be some people that will think about this from a postpartisan perspective. And remember, there's a huge opportunity.

There's 40% of the electorate that is independent. Imagine a Republican nominee that thought like an entrepreneur and went out and messaged to those 40%. And said, hey, relist as a Republican and help me beat back these atrocious elements of populism and atrocious elements of xenophobia that these guys are professing. So there's a huge opportunity here in 2008. Right. And do you think it'll happen?

I know that some people have said, oh, I'm not even sure there'll be a presidential election in 2020. Yeah, well, they'll definitely be an election. I don't know if we're ready for what I'm saying to have happened. I'd like to see it happen. I'm certainly going to do whatever I can to make it happen. But I will just say this. The country is a very young country. It has a younger culture than your country.

It's only 250 years old. And so what ends up happening to us is we lose our generational memory, we have a tendency to dunk ourselves. 80 years after the revolution, we entered into the Great Civil War. We couldn't solve the stain of slavery through political process or diplomacy. 600,000 of our fellow Americans died. 80 years after that, we entered into the Great Depression, which was the precursor to the Second World War. And of course, guess what? We're 80 years out again.

And so as we lose the generational memory, we don't have the 1,000-plus-year culture like you guys do or places like France or Italy. And we're teeming with immigrants. So the country's constantly re-identifying. But here's the opportunity again. We have in the past renewed ourselves. We've redeemed ourselves. And we've created a renaissance in the country before. And that's the goal now.

We have to use the Trump experience as a point of reflection to say, wow, we got a lot of things wrong. And this man broke a lot of our norms and our standards. And so we now have to think about a way to re-engineer this thing and renew. And I predict it we will. It may not be in 2008, but that time is coming for America. Okay. And Anthony, you're back in the UK. You spend a lot of time in the UK these days.

And you're at the Chalk Literary Festival on Monday evening. Is that right? Do you think there's a lot of pink commies at the... Oh, yes. That's what probably is. Well, there really will be. There'll be lots of people with totebacks and wearing linen, and they will love you. All right.

Well, listen, I'm an American capitalist, but I understand the sentiment, and I actually admire it. And I will be at the chalk festival on Monday night speaking. So, and I love you guys. I appreciate you guys invited me on. Thank you. Thank you. Take care of yourself. Anthony Scaramucci talking to us from his lovely office.

I'll tell you what, Jane, there is nothing that the Pinko Liberals of our literary festival circuit like more than an American capitalist talking Trump. Exactly. Well, I think they'll thrill to Anthony. They will. Anthony Scaramucci, always worth having a word with him, and he's appearing at the Chalk Festival in Britain next Monday. I've forgotten the name of the country I currently live in. That's because I'm the Scarlet Pimpernel.

I could pop up anywhere over the coming months. Right. Peter Granger is our guest on the podcast tomorrow. Angela, I will pass on your adulation to him. You're going to have to stand in the queue behind me. And actually, my sister has completely outdone both of us because she's done one of her dry etchings. It's not a euphemism for him

because she just loves, absolutely loves his books so much. And she listens to them while she draws. His first book is called, what, because I need to start? Do I need to read them in order? I think that would be very helpful. I know that he's on because he's talking about his. latest book, which I think is number 20 in the DC Smith series, but because everybody had recommended him so much, I thought I'm not going to read the last one. I'm going to go back to the beginning.

The beginning, okay. Right. So his first one is, sentient being, an accidental death is the first one. Thank you. So Peter Granger, loads to look forward to tomorrow. And I hope that your friend's husband's funeral does what a good funeral can do. I think it will. He really deserves it. Yeah. If you want to email it, it's Jane and Fee at times. Dot Radio. Congratulations. You've staggered somehow to the end of another off-air with Jane and Fee.

Thank you. If you'd like to hear us do this live, and we do it live, every day, Monday to Thursday, 2 till 4 on Times Radio. The jeopardy is off the scale. And if you listen to this, you'll understand exactly why that's the case. So you can get the radio online, on DAB, or on the free Times Radio. Times Radio app. Offair is produced by Eve Salisbury and the executive producer is Rosie Cutler.