Episodes
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As described in the title - a fun festive quiz.
We hope you enjoy it. If you do, please share.
Merry Christmas, see you in the New Year.
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No new episode this week due to unforeseen circumstances. We'll be back next week with a Christmas Special. See you then.
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Episodes manquant?
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Where now for Gregg Wallace and the BBC? Esther is focused on the BBC’s HR department – what were they doing? Giles ponders the consequences of a decision made twenty years ago. And if this is the new bar for public opprobrium - who might be next?
Board games at Christmas, marvellous. All the family sat round the fire, rolling the dice…until one falls asleep, one cheats, and one gets so competitive they flip the board and it all ends in tears. Excellent, let’s do it again next year.
The governments new junk food advertising ban has caused quite a stir but what is it exactly? Have they really banned porridge, have they actually banned anything? Time for some clarity, insight and war time meal planning.
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Giles thought he was going to be cancelled due to his last two rather edgy pieces. One was about an Israeli restaurant and the other took a big bite out of the super-woke Jaguar re-brand. But, the total opposite happened and everyone loved them. It’s all in danger of going to Giles’s head and he toys with leaning in and becoming the UK’s answer to Joe Rogan.
If the culture war is truly over, what happens next? And where does it leave a country that has just elected a government that is now totally out of fashion?
Meanwhile, British Airways spends millions on doing up their First Class cabins rather than "...fixing their p***poor app."
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After a very quick diversion round rats learning to drive this week’s episode begins with a debate over farmers and inheritance tax – a tax dodge for the affluent or a hit to hard working farmers? Giles leans on his knowledge of the French Revolution and his own experience of tax ‘manoeuvring’.
Zoe Ball is stepping down from the Radio 2 breakfast show. Is it really to spend more time with her family or is there more to it than meets the eye? Could the North Koreans be involved...?
A possible tip for Apple Inc – admit you were wrong then make more money.
And lastly, by eck! What a repertoire of accents. Sadly, not all are allowed past the censor.
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As the Archbishop of Canterbury resigns Giles asks the key question - does anyone care?
Following Donald Trump’s election victory there is a rumour doing the rounds that some rich celebrities plan to leave the US for Britain. Do we want them, does anywhere want them? Might they be in for a surprise with the reality of modern London not quite matching the dream…
How does one deal with a moth infestation? Top tip: cedar wood, moth balls or sue the house seller for 30million pounds!
Finally, what do you get if you cross a Slovenian girl done good, chat GPT and a White House? A FLOTUS memoir – simples!
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What do Kamala Harris and QPR have in common? Giles and Esther react to the breaking news that Donald Trump is back as the American President. They ponder the reasons and how to break the news to a despondent teenager.
Any mood can be lifted by a good cheese trolly, some people can even build a career off the back of a cheese trolly. Can being married also keep one chipper? Depends on who you’re married to!
Finally, if you own an air fryer it might be spying on you – it’s your own fault. And what is a double dip..?
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Is Kemi Badenoch rude, or just straight talking? Esther has changed her ways and now plays a very polite tactical game; Giles on the other hand takes too much pleasure in expressing his true feelings in glorious technicolour. Who cares if its rude.
It’s all change at British Airways as they switch from lunch to brunch on many flights; Esther isn’t sure what all the fuss is about…
How do you get a nickname and what does it say about you if you don’t have one? Pee-the-pants and Pester discuss.
After the break the decline of the golden arches. As McDonalds’ sales dip Giles considers where the burger giant is going wrong.
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Tomorrow is the big day! Budget Day looms, and we're bringing you a special feature from The Times' brand new show: Feel Better About Money.
In her inaugural money chat, Holly Mead is talking about budgeting and the budget. She looks at the many different aspects of money to help you make better financial decisions about pensions, mortgages, investments. With so many suggestions, rumours and supposed leaks about the upcoming budget, what should we be preparing for now and how?
Find the new show here: https://shows.acast.com/times-money.
Regular Giles programming to resume later in the week.
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Are Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Raynor following in the footsteps of The Coren's builders – telling you how bad the previous tradesmen were?
Who is in charge around here? Giles has a boomer bee in his bonnet and wonders if they’re just struggling to accept their waning influence in society. He takes to the comments to do battle; but he certainly doesn’t call them c…. !
Ozempic may be a miracle drug for those overweight, but it is a killer for restaurants. Fear not Esther can save the day.
Would you pass a ‘real world’ maths test? Would you pass a dad maths test? Time to find out…
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All change this week as The Corens are having work done – brick work not cosmetic work. As a result, they have decamped to someone else’s house…it prompts discussion about interior decor and the ‘Sandbanks House Wars’ where multi-millionaires are competing to build the grandest home.
It turns out Christopher Columbus was Jewish; unfortunately, now he has been branded imperialist and racist its 500 years too late for Giles. Is there anyone else that is going to be dumped on the Jewish community?
After the break, who are the nicest and nastiest celebs that Giles and Esther have ever met? Mostly uncensored.
**One of Brian Clough’s autobiographies was titled ‘Cloughie: Walking on Water.’ In reference to a song the Nottingham Forest fans used to sing about him.
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There are only three weeks left to audition for the new HBO Harry Potter series, sadly for Giles his best wizarding days are behind him, but he has high hopes for his son.
In fact, at fifty-five are most of his best days behind him? Who knows, he’s too old to care. But he does know what goes best with a square of dark chocolate…
“There is no such thing as ‘man flu’” says Giles, but then he goes on to say lots of other things which Esther has more of a problem with.
Finally, a great new dating app for the Catholic church and…something else, no its gone, I can’t remember.
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Three questions:
1) What constitutes modern art? A sieve without a handle, a misshapen squash? Esthers patience with the Turner Prize has reached its limit.
2) What’s the difference between a banana and a phone? ...what's a banana?
3) What’s the first rule of customer relations? The customer is always a tw@t.
Plus, the positives of Oxbridge sliding down the university league tables.
And saving the best till last, look out for Giles and Esther’s absolutely fabulous Jane Horrocks impressions.
** Contains strong language from the start
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What is a freebie, how do you get them and do you have to pay tax?
A tale of two particular freebies this week, interspersed with a collection of Giles and Esthers own freebies from the past.
While Lady Starmer has fallen foul of some members of the press for her new dresses, Eamonn Holmes has been scoffed at for taking his lady friend on a cruise. Esther and Giles have sympathy, freebies aren’t all they’re cracked up to be and anyway they’re part of the business, aren’t they…
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Giles and Esther are thrilled to be back from their long summer break, well Esther is.
And there is so much to talk about; Keir Starmer has taken a truth serum, but is that what people want? Donald Trump went face to face with Kamala Harris in an animalistic US presidential debate. The weight loss drug Ozempic is now being offered to children and Greggs have launched a range of footwear. The world is still mad.
But fear not, take joy in the simple things, just like Giles and Kitty on the way to school…
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Giles and Esther send a quick note from their holidays. They'll be back and raring to go next week.
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A new dawn has broken, has it not… well something like that. Giles and Esther channel their inner Nostradamus to predict last night’s results. If, as assumed Sir Keir becomes PM, what does it mean for his family? Giles considers penning an ode to Kentish Town and all that the Starmers will leave behind.
As Sir Keir awaits his big result, Giles is waiting for his own important phone call, but its from the NHS so who knows when it will come, today, tomorrow…never.
Rumours abound of very underhand tactics being planned within the parental whats app groups of certain private schools. Will it be enough to change Labour policy?
Amidst the big news a smaller but perhaps more meaningful event, the closing of a chapter in the Coren household. When dealing with the emotional toll of children growing up, who better to turn to than A. A. Milne or F. Scott Fitzgerald?
Finally, women are better at espionage than men…how else did Dame Judi make it to be head of MI6..?
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Giles is feeling bright and breezy, and it’s all thanks to Ether. For once he took her advice and tried the latest ‘wonder drug’ Naltrexone. What would have otherwise been a night of drunken excess instead turned into a night of charitable excess. He is a convert. Sadly, neither he nor Esther have made any money out of their pharmaceutical evangelism.
Keir Starmer has exposed the latest ‘get out of jail free card’ for those in public life: ”I’m changing it from the inside.” Seeing it for the cop out that it is they wonder what else could be changed from the inside...?
If one wished to be pale, male and stale, how would one go about it? Giles has all the tips you’ll need. Esther indulges her love of low-level pettiness and offers it to the listeners for those who share her joy of pointless tiny battles.
Finally, a look at the spat between David Tennant and Kemi Badenoch and the effects of success guilt.
** The ambient sounds were out in force this week, with the doors open on a very hot day we had the sound of local children, a workman using an angle grinder and as always, the birds.
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In response to a survey suggesting people are turning away from the news Giles and Esther pander to the masses and happily look past the obvious headlines.
Who or what constitutes a working man? As the blue and red parties scabble to attract anyone who earns a living Giles is temporarily bewitched by the endless tax breaks on offer from the Reform party. His conscience kicks in but with his new found knowledge of the candidates he does a ‘who said what’ quiz for Esther.
Little House on the Prairie - an idyllic serene country existence…? Not so fast! If you survive the warring factions on the plain and the syphilis you’ve still got to fight off the cowboys. Perhaps not the best example of the past to offer to children. Giles and Esther consider some better examples, and more pertinent advice for the young people of today.
Lastly, could it really be true that privately educated children are thinner in middle age than their state educated counter parts? Of course not, Esther is suitably exasperated.
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Esther is front page news after writing about a drug which helps with alcoholism…unusually she hasn’t just written about naltrexone, she’s tried it. It leads to a discussion about the results of alcohol abuse within different economic groups. As ever the Germans are ahead of the game, they’ve decided to only sell England football fans low alcohol beer.
Rishi Sunak has once again shown his gift for the uncommon touch; Giles thinks he shouldn’t be let lose without a minder.
What is the point of going to university? Giles and Esther disagree, but both can see the endless benefits of going to boarding school.
Bring back kids TV, so says Russel T Davis. Esther likes the idea but what would one bring back, TISWAS, Swap Shop or Going Live?
Finally, as protests sweep the nation Giles has a cunning idea, a protest against his own podcast…
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