Mm-hmm.

And then you have a third going on 40% who also like Nigel Farage.

To know then that the same number of people who were going to vote Labour, Tory, Lib Dem, Green eventually turn out for a vocally anti-Farage candidate like Count Binface actually is a victory of sorts for them.

Of course, Farage has won.

Farage has done as well as the polls say.

The polls put Reform very, you know, on course for maybe largest party in the House of Commons, maybe a majority a few months ago.

The polls are starting to decline for them in the face of this Burnham bounce, but they're not underperforming.

... parties, but find Nigel Farage himself distasteful, which is something that we've seen in national politics as well.

I was doing a

lot more electric guitar so obviously I had to have a red and white square strap because that's what Hank Marvin had and that's what Mark Knopfler had and that's what Dave Gilwell had so you had to play one of these red and white guitars so that was that.

Came out of university, decided I need to get back into doing music stuff, eventually moved to London, started doing stuff with singer-songwriters who were obviously picking up on things like your Joni Mitchells of the world and your Nick Drakes of the world and your Sandy Denny's of the world and all this kind of stuff.

And then I started listening to Nick Jones, which sort of blew the door for a bit.

Yes, yes.

Then started listening to a guy called...

There used to be these compilations that you could find on Spotify back in the day, way, way back.

Begs You More.

have something that we did when we started our agency that we're like man i can't believe i did that yeah yeah you know

well it was yeah it was um it was really exhausting you know at the time we were that we were uh really proud of that we had no other agencies in this that were not even allowed to be in this tour I'm like, okay, well, looking back, I'm glad I kind of did it and had the experience.

But flash forward to the pandemic, 2020, she was getting, you know, she was 20 years older than me and she was getting ready to retire anyway.

And she thought, okay, we've got an election coming up.

Don't know which way that's going to go.

Whether if I cash out now or cash out, then the tax structure might be different.

So she said, let's, she goes, I'm ready to sell.

And in a lot of ways, a lot of these guys and gals, there's probably more low hanging fruit because people are scared to have that conversation with them.

It's a

huge thing.

Well, I think it's the weather and just a bit of culture too.

I wish it changed, but especially on agriculture, which is kind of where I grew up.

So there's a lot of young dudes working away.

It's not easy jobs and there's a lot of high stakes and a lot of pressure.

And I think like a lot of... their peers or kind of elders aren't really supporting them either so I just thought I was making like a point now of just making sure I check in and we were all on this particular night going out to like a pub and like I'd spoken to all of them and none of us were having a great week but like I couldn't help but notice that like when we all met up and we're like how you doing oh class man and I'm like listen you were just in tears like three days ago and you were definitely in tears today and he was he was having a bad day and I just kind of was like that's funny I'm gonna instead of talking about it and telling them off I'm just gonna write a song Because I can't talk about my feelings.

And I feel like there's something about... just getting it out of your system

Why did you get diagnosed with autism as it was? I was

just like any other kid, I guess.

Bubbly, nothing really.

But when I got to like three and four, I think, my mum started noticing.

I didn't...

Obviously, when you're young, you can't talk, but I didn't communicate how other babies would communicate.

So maybe they might cry.

Still going to school, though, around COVID or not?

... massively impact the result?

No.

Actually, I think it's one of those attacks that is, is a double-edged sword.

Yes, people could be put off by it, but my goodness me, how many people are going to be going out on Thursday to vote for the Labor candidate to get rid of the Labor prime minister? How many of them [chuckles] are lo- quite frankly to say, "Andy Burnham, yes, I know you're going to treat Makerfield as a stepping stone.

Yes, because I want you to change the Labor Party and to change the country." I think that is quite a strong sentiment.

Now, let's, let's not just appreciate, Burnham is the only figure in British politics right now to have net positive approval across the whole country.

He, by the way, and th- this is what's so, so fascinating, is there is some uncertainty in these pollings.

That's the Restore candidate.

Yeah

... um, you know, I think, uh, yeah, we're proud of what we achieved.

I think when you get down to the, the final four, there's really nothing between the teams, and that was probably seen across the semifinals and the final.

Um, but yeah, no, it was a really enjoyable season again.

You know, it's probably the best team I've been a part of since being over there.

Um, really enjoyable and, uh, yeah, it'll take a few more weeks probably to get over and to get focused, and I guess international hockey's a nice distraction, but I'm sure when we come back in August, September, you know, we'll be, we'll be focused again to, to go one better.

And then, um, yeah, I guess internationally as well, it was, we had a big bl- break, as I mentioned, um, between December and March focusing on the World Cup qualifier.

Has there been anyone like that that you've come across?

It was king in the run-up to the Liz Truss

TrussBender period of however long it was, [laughs] I can't remember the days.

It has stayed as the most important issue of the hour to almost every single voter out there.

You know, it, you know, immigration trumps it amongst Reform voters, but the cost of living is still there.

Brexit, remain, rejoin, EU, how much to, to, to how many voters is it an important issue? And the answer is not many.

Um, but I think what's more important to think of, uh, this by-election is this, it's more on vibes, it's more on identity.

You know, Andy Burnham saying Britain should rejoin is not the same as Wes Streeting saying Britain re- should rejoin.

I mean, could that be make or break? I mean, if the, if the Greens stand, could that cost Burnham the, the election?

Mm

...

they would still win, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Dudley would be it.

Labour would seriously struggle there.

What's happened in both of these areas is that the Tory vote has been swept aside in such a dramatic way, you would have to wonder why on earth the Tories are still standing candidates there.

What we had last year in parts of County Durham, in, you know, seats in which, uh, the Tories under Boris Johnson won for the first time in 2019, you saw on the ground the Conservative Association, those Conservative branches, uh, drying up, uh, completely, in which the membership, uh, moved almost wholesale to Reform.

I think what we've seen last night and what we're gonna continue to see over the next few days with more results coming in, and what we will see over the next few months, is that sort of behavior repeated in places like Dudley, in places like Newcastle-under-Lyme, in places perhaps on the outskirts of cities that you would assume the Tories would still have strength.

[laughs]

Now they'd be lucky to come in second.

Yeah.

God almighty, what a disaster for Scottish Labour.

Just only a year ago, it looked like we might have a different party in power in Holyrood.

Not anymore, at least it seems not anymore.

So, so what we need to know is two years ago, Labour was surging.

You know, their recovery in Scotland was better than anything we saw in England, better than anything we saw in Wales at the general election of two years prior.

Right

But it'll be interesting to see kind of where she fits in with the other, uh, four MPs in Parliament.

To be honest, what national profile she gets or doesn't get, really, from this because to reiterate, as I said at the start, the implications of this by-election open up so much for the Greens.

They're currently polling 15%.

Whatever they could be now, I'll be honest, we don't know.

You can get into projections, and you can sort of say, maybe Labour loses four points, and the Greens gain four.

That seems to be what some data suggests, and by the way, that would put the Greens in third or second place, and Labour in fourth.

And what image is being projected, not just by Polanski, who, by the way, is, uh, you know, in terms of most voters, is more disliked than liked, but the vast majority of voters don't really have an opinion on him, on him yet.

Do you think that incident is still haunting Labour, Ben? I mean, I was up in the constituency last weekend, and it certainly was something that was brought up to me, and I was told by Labour activists was sort of coming up on the doorstep with Labour voters who just felt so disappointed by that incident that they were considering not coming out to vote at all.

Yeah.

... what Otani did, Reggie Jackson hitting three home runs, right? No one's ever hit four home runs.

What Otani did, three home runs in a post-season game, pulled off with a couple of...

The great Babe Ruth did it.

Um, the context, there are great...

You know, you grew up in, you grew up in Pittsburgh, so you got the benefit of seeing the great Roberto Clemente.

And there were games when Clemente had a great game at the plate, and also his arm in fielding.

Yes.