So can you do basically what should be my job and break that down and explain it for people so they've kind of got it jotted down for the next few weeks?

Yes.

So basically, the government have said that they will balance tax receipts and day to day spending.

So the sort of current spending items, they'll do that in 2029, 30.

And Rachel Reeves left John Healy quite a sort of chunky margin for error on that fiscal rule, something like 24 billion of headroom.

But what's come along now? since we had the spring forecast is what's been happening in the Middle East.

And that raised inflation, that increases spending.

I mean, this chipmaker we had on the programme, for example, was talking about non-competes in people's contracts and gardening leave periods and things like that, sort of stripping out some of the bureaucracy to try and boost a bit of growth.

much

bigger, healthier leaf and just fantastic kind of fruit quality.

It's got the taste characteristics that we've always sort of celebrated from British food.

But with the kind of, you can see productivity increasing, but you've got to be able to manage the fruit the risks so it's can you protect them against prolonged dry spells and can you kind of avoid them getting too stressed at any type of year so I think there's some subtle changes in we're growing warmer climate varieties of cherries that don't need quite so many chill units and we're basically looking for combinations, whether it's in our orchards, combinations of root stocks and varieties that are a bit more resilient.

In some cases, we're going back to what we used to grow because they're relatively resistant to a lot of pests and disease.

We're moving away from the kind of the sweet red dessert varieties we ended up with because they basically, they need, those farming systems or those orchard systems just they need all the inputs.

And so if you don't want to put the inputs on, you've got to kind of change the way you're growing things.

Yeah and that's fantastic to hear and I think the knock-on effect of that as well as I hear from other farmers is that when you have that sort of much more farming imbalance with nature you tend to not get huge explosions of pests because again you've got the balance in the ecosystem and you've actually got the predators for the pests so things like ladybirds for aphids etc and because your ecosystem's in balance you tend not to get these explosions of pest species um so that and again it means that you can have sort of uh less less impact and less intervention from your side

Good morning, Captain.

Hey, good morning, Chef.

Actually, the conditions out here are beautiful today.

Beautiful.

We had a really tough week on the weather.

I posted a video, and people started vomiting just watching.

That's how rough it was out here.

When do you think the real action, what traditionally has been the real action out the gate for king salmon?

i would imagine the live bait pins are loaded for the gills right now

yeah they actually have some really nice cheered up bait uh we had i actually had a ish out with me last we issued his wife oxy.

They charted the boat for their shop and we took the guys down south with the with the bass gear throwing swim baits.

The guys were just clobbering him on the big anchovies.

Swim bait guys did really good so but a lot of a lot of a lot of bait in the in the city.

All the pens are completely full.

We slid in on one of the swim bait trips.

Jay, what are your expectations with the numbers of fish that are being caught right now? How long is this going to last? Do you think you'll be able to fish through the whole system?

What's going on out there? Tell our listeners.

I always like to send you yesterday's photos because yesterday always tells a story.

You know, you're only as good as you were yesterday.

Well, actually today, but everything.

The salmon has been wonderful here since the opener.

It's been limited to about a fish a ride.

And, you know...

i give you an eight plus on things right now i mean you got the only thing we're a little shy on is butts and i'm seeing guys that are sending me photos out of the north bar they're catching some out there occasionally as well as they're still scraping them up in the bay i think there's going to be a lot more halibut caught in the bay don't you

It'll be a little bumpy.

Some guys are going to lose their breakfast, but, you know, that's salmon fishing.

Ocean conditions and, you know, the excitement's running high.

Everybody is excited to go chase a salmon, and who can blame them? All those years of closure, a little taste, a little nibble.

Last year, a few days of really spectacular fishing.

The numbers are supposedly higher this year.

So, you know, guys are going to go check it out.

Those are pigs too, guy.

What's the consensus up and down the coast that the kind of action you're going to experience?

Well, you know, I hear like this.

I've heard when the guys have got on, like the fish were like cement.

And then I hear there's pockets of areas where there's just nothing.

Or just a handful of fish.

So that tells me there's some big schools around.

We had a real tough spring as far as life.

Live bait will be available, James?

What kind of hookups are you getting inside the bay right now? And I know we're all looking forward to the big salmon opportunity coming up, and you guys got to just be chomping at the bit hearing what the commercial guys are doing out there.

Yeah, I know.

We're definitely looking forward to some good fishing.

I had a...

Had a good week on bass, and we actually got a shot on some really nice halibut.

Early in the week, just after the last show, when I talked to you on the weekend, the tides mic'd down.

They got really nice with clean water all over the bay.

Is live bait going to be available to these guys at that time, do you think? And additionally, how deep are they going to have to go for these early season fish? Are they up high? Are they down deep?

But once they are out of the way, what is your anticipation now that they're diminishing, the moon's starting to diminish, all of it's starting to line up?

Well, I mean, you know, first of all, you always have a shot at getting a halibut.

No matter how crummy the water is, no matter what the the tides are, you do have a shot.

Now, on a low recruitment year like this year, you almost have to pick good tides.

You have to find clean water.

All the stars have got to

line up.

What's the difference? What's going on here? Why are we seeing so many big fish?

What size are those averaging now? Because they, those look like just a consistent solid size of about five to seven pounds.

Yeah, that's about where we're at.

Um, some fish up to 10, 12 pounds this week, but, uh, a lot of, you know, a lot of mixed grade.

Just depends on what school you're on.

The stuff that's been biting on the edge of the channel's been definitely bigger.

I think those are fish are going out the ocean or coming back in or doing something.

But they're, uh, they've been larger.

[laughs]

James, what kind of action are, are you gonna be experiencing now that these tides have dropped off? And I understand bait's back in the bay, and, uh, stripers haven't left yet either.

No.

You know, in fact...

I mean, everything's been covered up.

We've had to deal with just finding spots of clean water.

I mean, who knew if there was fish in it or not? But, you know, it was like just looking for patches of clean water anywhere to fish this last week 'cause the conditions were so bad.

But yesterday we lost one foot three, uh, of movement, a foot, almost a foot and a half of water movement.

What are you experiencing now? Do you think we're gonna see that drop and, uh, things get back into shape?

James, uh, what's the action like out there? It looked to me like those guys were just proud to be on one of your first ever trips on that boat in the photos.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, everybody was stoked.

Um, and I, and I felt bad because I had people booked the week before that thought they'd be on the f- first trip, and the people from the week before thought they'd be on the first trip.

I'm like, "Finally, somebody gets to be on the first trip." But, uh, really enjoying the new boat.

It's, um, it's an upgrade from the one...

Although the one is in Santa Cruz now fishing, uh, out of Stegnaro's Fishing Charters.

I wanna go." So yeah, we gotta f- get her flown out from Nashville now, but she wants to, uh, wants to go on the new boat, so we'll have to pick a date, buddy.

In the last year and a half, uh, it doesn't matter how they voted in the past, whether they've signed letters supporting this party or that party in the past, I would say every single one of them to a man or woman has talked about the pressure that tax is causing and the confusion that the tax system is causing at the moment.

moment.Yeah. It's, it's a big, it's a big topic, right? And last year's employer National Insurance rise, uh, had a, had a big impact, very visible impact, particularly on the hospitality sector.

We can, we can see that through the jobs numbers that we've had through over the last few months.

I think the other sort of interesting angle from the elections is what it tells us about the longer term, right? You know, it's a very fragmented political backdrop.

Um, and, you know, going into the next election, labor's gonna have some pretty tough choices, whoever's in charge.

Because if you look at the plans for spending, they're looking pretty austere towards the end of this decade.

Obviously, lots of the tax rises that were announced, uh, back at the autumn budget, they don't come in until later this decade either.

James, your sense on that, on what Anna's saying, just in terms of is the, is the real bite of some of this inflation still actually to, to come in the second half of the year, do you think?

Yeah.

So a couple of guys w- were smart and they ration their bait.

We've been rationing out of the boats and just kinda trolling it, slow trolling it in- instead of taking it in and out of the water, changing it rapidly like we usually do.

It's a little different system.

But it's working out.

We're catching fish, uh, especially with the good tides.

We're on a really good tide set all the way through the week, so the bass course have been dropping down.

I know there's been some exciting, uh, announcements and schedules and dates and all that other fun stuff coming on the salmon front, and it looks like you're gonna have a real salmon season.

But before you do, did you hear anything on the radio about the commercial salmon opener?

I did, and I can tell you the numbers were less than stellar.

Um, you know, we got a couple things working against us.

We got a lot of warm water.

I know the numbers are there.

Um, the guys up from GGFA and everybody's put a lot of work in on, uh, you know, holding off on fishing, um, and the pen programs and everything.

They, they really kicked butt this year.

Tell them what's going on in the bay because somebody threw the striper switch again.

James Smith, a medical doctor supporting the hunger strikers who's volunteered in Gaza during Israel's assault.

Three of the four who have continued with their hunger strike have now been on hunger strike for more than 50 days.

They are well into, um, a critical stage wherein they may experience, um, sudden or very rapid decline in their physical health, um, and they're at increasing risk of death, and that risk increases with every passing day.

As a healthcare worker who's been supporting, uh, the hunger strikers, who's in regular contact with their next of kin, um, this is an extremely critical moment, um, a- and frankly speaking, it defies comprehension that, uh, members of the government have refused even to meet with the hunger strikers in an attempt to resolve this situation.

As a healthcare worker, um, and someone who has worked in Gaza during the course of the genocide, I'm of course invested in, um, their- their- their demands, all of their demands, but I'm particularly concerned about, um, their access to comprehensive and quality healthcare as the hunger strike progresses, and the extent to which the state, uh, and its various appendages, um, respect and uphold, uh, their rights to healthcare, um, and their rights to, um, to dignity.

Um, the- the- the situation now is beyond critical.

Particularly concerning is that hunger strikers have been shackled, um, in one instance, cuffed, um, w- wrist to wrist and, um, uh, shackled to a prison guard while receiving treatment in hospital.