Brian wants to know, are we seeing the concept of love your neighbour in Piddington? Ella Whelan.

Well, the problem is not that they're not neighbours yet, and the word neighbour is quite contentious.

I think the really interesting thing about Piddington is that it's kind of become an acceptable, nice, little bit of waitrosey sort of version of something that's happening across the country and has been happening, which is people in a local area not wanting to have imposed on them.

A significant number of people, over 1,200 people, young men from a different country with different cultural views, different customs, different languages, move up the road with no sort of respect for consideration about integration, safety, or even just sort of neighborly feeling between the people.

I think the interesting thing is that it's now become quite legitimate to say that, whereas in previous years, any concerns about asylum seekers, immigration, anything to do with that was considered just a sort of a racist endeavor.

I think the thing that I find interesting is Piddington has been grumbling away for a very long time.

They've only really got much traction on social media.

Is that the right approach? Can it really make a difference to communities like this and elsewhere? It can

Mm.

I wouldn't have my two children without IVF, which was a very, yes, invasive, serious procedure that I, uh, will kiss the feet of every doctor that was ever involved in them, because I have two beautiful kids as a consequence.

And I think that the fact that we...

Look, it's a consequence of modern society that there are lots of women who quite enjoy their careers and are quite, having a lot of fun in the office or wherever it is they are, um, and are wanting to.

I mean, like, let's be real here, that egg freezing, you can paint it as this sort of very dystopian thing, or you can also paint it as a solution to women who wanna buy a bit of time.

And it can be a dodgy insurance policy, but for some women it works.

And, you know, it's a consequence of modern society that women aren't wanting to have children at 22.

But Ella, I do think-

Yeah, we're looking forward to reminding everyone about Zach Polanski and his, you know, breast-whispering antics because I feel like it's now obligatory whenever his name comes up.

I hope he never lives that down.

But it will be interesting to see what kind of ticket he runs on because, I mean, Hackney being their sort of flagship win and their big sort of stage at the moment having done so well in the election, the interesting thing has been to see how little the Greens talk about Green issues.

um in a way because they're sort of trying to play to the like palestine thing and um and do that thing but it's also because labor in london is very green i mean it is very it it does all the road closures it's all about the ulairs it's all about planting trees it it has already done it all um and so in hackney it's been really interesting to watch them sort of struggle to find something new to do and actually they haven't and they've and they're in trouble in hackney as well because they've upset a lot of parents who they promised they were going to change nursery fees and they didn't.

They went up again.

There's lots of other sort of things that are on the back burner that they said they would bring forward.

So they're not in a brilliant place and their big win is proving to be sort of slightly disappointing.

yeah ella what have you made of it i mean we've all seen pictures of um you know french police just standing around doing nothing as people climb into the boats you know the notion that this is some great collaboration um uh you know great sign of anglo-french solidarity seems nonsense

Ella Whelan, what do you think he's going to do?

Well, we know that Andy Bannon was pretty anti-Brexit.

We know that he wasn't just a Remainer.

He's very vocal about, you know, wanting to, whether it was a second referendum, being open to any of these possibilities.

It puts him in an awkward position being the king of the North, because obviously we know that in the North there's a very strong Leave vote and a remaining support and sort of identity with Leave vote.

And I think you can see that make itself clear and sort of support for reform, support for the Brexit party back in the day.

And that's all still very strong.

But do you grant him a place in the sun?

Ella, could you shop your children to the police?

No, I couldn't.

If one of them murdered someone, I might have a bit of a moral dilemma on my hands.

But, you know, the, the kinda large portion of what David Lammy has been talking about, you know, serious things, but things like shoplifting or, you know, antisocial behavior, I think there are other more effective ways of showing and teaching children that there are consequences to their actions.

So marching them back into the shop, making them say sorry, making them do a bit of community service for that shop or, you know, those kind of, I suppose, more informal things are, I think, the ways in which parents do need to hold their children accountable, and themselves.

But the police? No way.

I think there is a real unwillingness for, or, I suppose, a breakdown in the relationship between parents and wider society, and I suppose authorities, but also people like shopkeepers or other members of the public as well.

I mean, I suppose it's just how would you show a child, beyond getting them to apologize, 'cause they've already stolen in the first place in this particular hypothetical we're talking about, how would you show them the ultimate authority? How would they learn that?

So yes, I, I think absolutely.

Can I just say how r- revolutionary [laughs] this idea, this, uh, portrayal that Iko's putting forward is? Because the idea that children have a purpose, but it's, it's just this thing that you do, it's a natural thing, it's not overthought, it's so unusual to hear that today because...

And it's so important to put it that way, 'cause I think a lot of the time now prospective parents, certainly women I talk to, think that it's this thing that you're gonna...

I mean, uh, of, of course, it's this big monumental thing that you do, but it seems like an insurmountable challenge to a lot of people.

That's what I was trying to get at in the article.

Because despite the fact that raising children has become easier in terms of like we've got washing machines, disposable nappies, formula, tho- you know, technically it's a lot easier than our mothers and our grandmothers had, but emotionally, psychologically, now it's this, this fraught thing.

You've got to do the gentle parenting, you've got to do the exclusive breastfeeding, you've got to, you know...

Mm-hmm.

Um, take us through the, the logic of what you're saying in The Telegraph.

Right.

So, you know, I think first and foremost, you can make a very straightforward defense of artistic freedom and a defense of free speech, which says that whatever somebody says, um, however abhorrent in this case, um, you know, ex-- long, long periods of repetitive antisemitic comments, you know, it's, it's not explainable by his mental health.

It's not explainable by a blip with his bipolar.

This is a man with a ve-very, very clear ax to grind with Jews, who has repeatedly made antisemitic comments.

He's based some of his, um, recent album, you know, around...

Call it, one of the tracks called Heil Hitler.

Would you?

So yes, I, I think-

Can I just say how r- revolutionary [laughs] this idea, this, uh, portrayal that Eka is putting forward is? Because, you know, the, the idea that children have a purpose, but it's, it's just this thing that you do, it's a natural thing, it's not overthought.

It's so unusual to hear that today because...

And it's so important to put it that way, 'cause I think a lot of the time now, prospective parents, certainly women I talk to, think that it's this thing that you're gonna...

I mean, uh, of, of course, it's this big monumental thing that you do, but it seems like an insurmountable challenge to a lot of people.

That's what I was trying to get at in the article.

Because despite the fact that raising children has become easier in terms of like, we've got washing machines, disposable nappies, formula, tho- you know, technically it's a lot easier than our mothers and our grandmothers had.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm

... uh, managerial, technocratic politics, you know, no as, uh, aspirational agendas for growth, all the rest of it, that's longstanding.

It seems to me, I think it's obvious that there are two things that you could do that would genuinely change the direction, and it makes some real, um...

G- get, gather some real momentum in relation to the economy.

One is to just completely reassess spending and be v- completely brutal of it, have three core function of the state: defense, law and order, and provision of essential public goods.

So whether that's, you know, wealth, good welfare, safety net, transport, schooling 16, you know, the, the, the things that s- survival things of a, of a state, and everything else, get rid of it.

Just, and, you know, to take one example, you know, fundamental healthcare on the NHS and all of the other bloated bits of it, whether it's public health messaging or the rest of it, just slash it.

Mm