What A Day - Boris Battles For Britain

Episode Date: December 12, 2019

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defends his title today as the nation holds general elections. He’ll be facing threats from all sides, including UK Bernie Jeremy Corbyn.  Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers announced that they’ve come to a tentative agreement with his accusers. If we learned anything about rich men in power, we should've guessed that Weinstein’s offer wouldn't be good.  And in headlines: cocaine sweaters, Khalil Mack is on the nice list, and WAD’s Person Of The Year.

it's thursday december 12th i'm akilah hughes i'm gideon resnick and this is what a day the cruising down highway 66 without a care in the dang world of daily news podcasts yeah roads are great asphalt go off king on today's show uk voters head to the polls an update on harvey weinstein's legal battles and then some headlines okay let's start with the election in britain today british voters are heading to the polls once again this is the second time that the country has held a general election since britain voted to leave the europe Union. The election was called by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London. He's currently pretty unpopular. He and his conservative party, the Tories, are hoping to win a majority in Parliament so they can finally, once and for all,

get Brexit done. In fact, get Brexit done is their campaign slogan. It's not a great one. It's been three years since the Brexit referendum, and the politics in Britain are deeply divided as ever, just like America. Besides Johnson's Tory party, which has been in power for a decade, there's also the Labour Party, helmed by Jeremy Corbyn, which has promised to put a second Brexit referendum back to the voters. And then there's the Liberal Democrats, who have promised to cancel Brexit altogether. The Tories have been projected to win in essentially all recent polling, but in the past few days, Labour has narrowed the gap, something we saw in the last election in 2017 as well, which resulted in a hung parliament where no party won a majority. And that could happen again, according to Mark DiStefano, a media and politics reporter for BuzzFeed UK. So heading into tomorrow, the final polls have shown still that the Conservatives are ahead anywhere between 5% to 10%. But if it's not at that higher end, if it's not at the 10% end, and it's closer to that 5% end, Boris Johnson could actually be returned with a hung parliament,

which would be a disaster for him, because for the entire purpose of the election was for him to get a commanding majority, so that he can then go into parliament and get the Brexit deal over the line. Of course, Brexit does loom large over the election, but there's also big healthcare issues at play. Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party have campaigned on increased spending for the National Health Service, or NHS. Britain, of course, has publicly provided health care. Corbyn has warned that Boris Johnson may attempt to privatize NHS more or take a trade deal with the Trump administration that could drastically increase drug prices.

In recent days, reporters have been pushing Boris Johnson on the failings of the NHS under his party. In one striking incident, a reporter showed Johnson an image of a sick child lying on the floor of an underfunded NHS hospital. Johnson responded by taking the reporter's phone and putting it in his pocket. I asked BuzzFeed's Mark DiStefano about NHS and how it's become a central animating issue in this election. Yeah, unlike the US, the NHS is kind of like the third row. You know, it's the kind of thing that both the Tories and Labour need to support in terms of getting re-elected or getting elected. And Labour have framed themselves for decades as the party of the NHS. And Jeremy Corbyn has done everything in his ability this election over

the last couple of weeks to make this a single issue election, to make this an election about the NHS. He, you know, brandished leaked trade documents between the US and the UK, which suggested that post Brexit, the NHS could be on the table when it comes to a US-UK trade agreement. And, you know, everything that Boris Johnson does is trying to nullify that tax. So the Conservatives have come out and committed billions of more funding to the NHS. But Jeremy Corbyn's chance to win this election is to appeal to those people who have been to the NHS, who have maybe themselves or a father or a grandfather or grandmother, and actually have a emotional connection to the NHS in this country. And his singular message is that the Tories are trying

to sell the NHS and you cannot trust Boris Johnson to be in charge of the National Health Service. And whether that, again, whether that actually has been effective, we'll see. But as you said, you know, the Boris Johnson insane moment where there was this sick boy that was lying on the ground of a hospital and he was being asked about, you know, what do you think that this is, the Tory government has been in charge of the NHS for such a long time, and you get situations like this. He did that weird thing where he pocketed the journalist's phone because he was trying to make a political point about something else. So he's very sensitive to those attacks for sure. But I guess a good thing for the NHS going forward

is that it does kind of have this bipartisan support across the spectrum at the moment. Right. And to the point of Johnson, too, you've been doing reporting as well on, you know, prior things that he's written as a right wing columnist. And there's obviously offensive stuff that was in there. I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about what you found and what it reveals about Johnson. And then secondarily, too, is it a situation where people find that shocking? Are they accustomed to that? Does it have a material impact if this person is already quite unpopular? Yeah, it's kind of interesting. And I think that a lot of people's reactions to this, I think, well, yeah, sure, we know that's

who Boris Johnson is. He's the kind of colourful clown who has a long history of writing pretty sort of fruity stuff when it comes to sex, gender, race. And for those who don't know, you know, Boris Johnson was a journalist for decades and he was the editor of the Spectator magazine, which is a conservative magazine, while he was also an MP. And so there is just reams and reams and reams of stuff for people like me, journalists, to go through and sort of find out was called 72 Virgins. It was about this weird, you know, Islamo-fascist terror plot that gets foiled. And the main character is a foppish Tory MP,

very much like writing himself into this novel that he had written. And in it, you know, he uses the N-word, which is something that I'm sure in US politics would be something that would be like almost disqualifying for a candidate for higher office to even contemplate putting into words. You'd think. You'd think.

But I think that you also bring up another point, like there's something about this and it comes to how Trump is treated. You know, Trump's base and Johnson's base, a lot of this stuff is baked in. A lot of this idea that Johnson says what he means and he kind of makes the jokes that people are willing to make or he makes the jokes that people make down at the pub when a few mates are having beers. So I think that these are an important... I still think it's important reporting for journalists to highlight that this is the way that he sees the world,

that this is the way... I mean, there was one instance that he wrote for a Spectator column where he very much mocked a Chinese flight attendant's accent and sort of spoke in this retrograde 1970s impression of a Chinese person. It's kind of strange that someone who will likely be prime minister or, you know, returned as prime minister on Friday, this is the man who would write this type of thing. But we are in a weird sort of 2019 political world where sort of past comments don't really matter. And trust the media is very low as well. Yeah. While Johnson draws some, I want to say striking similarities to another leader we know, the American president has yet to hide from an interview in a fridge. Yeah, that actually happened on Wednesday. It was a walk-in fridge that Johnson hid in.

He was going in there to avoid an interview with Piers Morgan. I mean, worst places to hide. A situation where no one wins. The polls close at 10 p.m. UK time. And what a day we'll be following the results and covering them as they come in. And if you're in the first huge MeToo scandal regarding Harvey Weinstein. If this is a hard topic for you, be warned, we discuss the crimes he's accused of, which may be especially upsetting to hear for some listeners. Accused rapist, stand-up heckler, and disgraced filmmaker Harvey Weinstein is back in the news.

Yesterday, lawyers involved with the settlement negotiation process announced that Weinstein and his bankrupt film company have come to a tentative $25 million agreement with dozens of his victims. It's still up in the air, and we'll get to that in a moment. Under the terms of the still tentative agreement, though, Weinstein has no obligation to admit wrongdoing, and the money isn't even coming from him directly. Yeah. Consequences for the rich and powerful are only kind of real. So the money is part of a proposed global settlement and would go to more than 30 actresses and former Weinstein company employees. Their accusations include rape and other forms of sexual harassment.

Under the agreement, they each stand to get far less than a million dollars. We don't know how it will break down exactly yet, but if you think about it, that money doesn't really begin to address the losses of the actresses who were blackballed in the industry at the height of their careers, but ain't that America? And to the point about how it's not his money, that is correct. It's the insurance company hired by the Weinstein Company because I guess if your boss is an accused rapist,

there should be an insurance policy for that. It's important to note that the deal still has to be officially signed off on by all the accusers and get court approval. Late yesterday, lawyers representing two of the accusers put out a statement rejecting the deal, so their cases won't be covered by this agreement. Okay, and that's not the only reason that Weinstein was in the news. Also yesterday, he appeared in court not for his civil suit, but for the outstanding criminal case against him. He was there for potential bail violations. The assistant DA in that case said Weinstein's ankle monitor had been untraceable at least 56 times. Weinstein said it's because of dead batteries and bad cell service. The judge wasn't hearing it. Yeah. And the DA went on to note that Weinstein is obviously a flight risk, citing his endless resources.

And the judge raised his bail from $1 million to a $2 million insurance company bond or $5 million in cash. The $2 million bond was immediately paid by a celebrity bondsman, which is a real job, just bailing out celebrities. And that bondsman is requiring that Weinstein keep wearing the ankle device, even though New York City can't actually mandate it. Weinstein's criminal trial begins January 6th, and he faces up to life in prison. He's charged with two counts of predatory sexual assault in connection with the alleged rape of The Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra between late 1993 and early 1994. And Weinstein is also accused of forcibly performing oral sex on production assistant Mimi Halle in 2006 and raping another woman who hasn't been publicly named in

2013. Weinstein has denied all allegations of sexual abuse. Yeah, let's just hope that justice is served here. And now to some ads. Let's talk about the best part of my day, sleep. Which, that sounds like I don't love my job. I love my job, but I also really like sleeping. You know that not getting enough is, as you probably realize, it's just not good. According to Harvard and Johns Hopkins, chronic sleep deprivation has been shown to lead to all kinds of bad diseases. But it can be tough to get a good night's sleep, especially if you're too hot. Not just like sexy, but like overheated.

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And if you don't love it, they'll refund your purchase and arrange a free pickup. For a limited time, get $150 off your purchase when you go to 8sleep.com slash day. That is E-I-G-H-T sleep.com slash day. That is E-I-G-H-T, sleep.com slash day. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. A shootout in a Jersey City kosher market is being investigated as a targeted attack. The gunfire on Tuesday lasted for hours and killed six people, including a police officer, three bystanders, and both of the suspects.

Investigators say that one of the suspects posted anti-Semitic rants online and had ties to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, which is recognized as a hate group. An active pipe bomb and a manifesto were also found in the suspect's van. The mayors of Jersey City and New York publicly recognized the attack to be anti-Semitic. Yesterday, we told you about reporting in the New York Times regarding a new executive order from the White House that would interpret Judaism as a race or nationality. That is not exactly what a draft of the order against anti-Semitism on college campuses says, though its intent appears still to target the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement.

Trump signed the order on Wednesday, joined by a group including two men that will certainly not be invited to my Hanukkah party, Robert Kraft and Alan Dershowitz. But one person who is coming to my Hanukkah party is today's special headlines guest, Cricket's own Sarah Lazarus. Hey, how's it going? Hey, pretty good. Yeah, well, you've been reading her words in the What A Day newsletter. Now you finally get to hear her voice. So Sarah, are you excited about being our headlines guest or is this just more of your job?

It is my job out loud. Love it. Take it away. Time announced their person of the year on Wednesday, giving it to 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg. Thunberg spent the year calling out world leaders who failed to address the threat of global warming and telling audiences like the United Nations, the Pope, and several world leaders how climate change will affect future generations. Not in a great way. She also led the school strike for climate change in September, which united millions worldwide in history's largest climate demonstration. We're super inspired by Greta, but we're a little upset by the timing because What A Day also has a Person of the Year award,

and it seems like time went out of their way to announce right before ours and make us look like idiots. Which isn't even fair because our selection process is actually a lot more rigorous and some would say more accurate. Anyway, the WOD Person of the Year is also Greta Thunberg. Yeah, congrats, Greta. Congratulations, the WOD Person of the Year is also Greta Thunberg. Yeah, congrats, Greta. Congratulations, Greta. Chicago Bears linebacker Khalil Mack just made Santa's nice list

for donating $80,000 to clear customers' layaway accounts at his hometown Walmart. That is awesome. That is awesome. Unfortunately, not all of today's Walmart slash Santa news is so jolly. It's a surprise. Walmart Canada recently got in trouble for selling a Christmas sweater featuring Mr. Claus himself blowing fat rails about the headline, let it snow.

That's right. In the world of this sweater, snow is actually illegal drugs. To me, this behavior doesn't even qualify you for the naughty list. It gets you on the damn sicko list. Yeah, oh man. You perverts. I bet you guys wanted that delivered. I loved it. I think you really nailed it.

Walmart pulled the sweater, but it's still available and selling well on Amazon, aka worse Walmart. Yeah, I bought them all. But here's the craziest part of this story. Apparently, because the product description of the sweater on Walmart Canada included the line, quote, Santa really likes to savor the moment when he gets his hands on some quality grade A Colombian snow. A Colombian government agency is threatening to sue Walmart as of Tuesday.

I don't even know whose side I'm on now. If we restrict the free speech of naughty sweaters, what's next? Naughty birthday cakes? Can I wear my naughty baseball cap without getting sued by Columbia? It does seem like a slippery slope. A slippy, snow-capped slope. Covered in cocaine.

Thanks for coming on the show, Sarah. Thank you for having me. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show Make sure you subscribe Give us a rating Send us your Memoji And we'll tell you if it looks like you

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Check it out and subscribe At crooked.com Slash subscribe I'm Akilah Hughes I'm Gideon Resnick And that's how you announce A Person of the Year award What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And that's how you announce a Person of the Year award while making a real splash. That is for you, Time Magazine.

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