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Michael Walker

British journalist and host

Aug 14, 2026

11:08
Tell me about how you went from being a one-man band to building your own team of roofers.
11:15
Oh, it's a crazy story.
11:17
But the short of it is we started out by wearing plain white T-shirts and we thought we'd stand out.
11:24
That was completely wrong.
11:25
And then we thought we'd get all black T-shirts with a little blue logo.
11:29
And then we started hiring people and I didn't really mind about uniform.
11:33
We all just wear multicolored tops, whatever we could find, even wearing other companies' tops, when I didn't think branding was important.
12:48
But did you design your own on-site workwear apparel? And if you did, what does it actually look like now? Describe.
11:47
most people can see what bamboo makes as a material right and as i said my family from india you see it all the time it's used in construction you go across southeast asia it's there and everyone can see bamboo solid looks like kind of scaffolding poles you can get that hemp is generally seen and people kind of know what a cannabis plant looks like but you know you can see what a weed looks like pretty floppy right so you might think of it um okay Is it similar to, I don't know, growing sugar beet or something like that? What I'm trying to get to is what does it have in that stalk that gives it the strength that allows you to make building materials out of it? Is it just incredibly dense or is it just it's absorption, it's give and take?
12:33
It's it again, it's one of these magical unicorn plants.
12:36
So your, your actual chemical makeup is very much like a weed.
12:40
It is very, very strong on the outside.
12:43
It is looking to survive.
12:45
It comes in as a natural seed to come in and says, you know what? I'm in the ground.
12:50
I'm here for a short period of time and I'm going to do whatever it takes to survive.
15:21
Do you grow the hemp here in the UK or is it...
38:02
that's a big flux there,
38:05
Michael.
38:05
No, no, no.
38:07
So there's a drafting team and then it went through a series of committees and then it goes to the bishops themselves who are, you know, the notional authors.
38:16
I would say that Leo had more direct input into the shape and content of this encyclical.
38:21
But yeah, there were certainly many hands involved in putting it together.
38:26
To me, okay, the slavery one's quite epochal, like to acknowledge the church's role in enabling and even participating in slavery.

6 MINS LATER

44:58
official church stance?
53:54
Talk about the significance of this.
53:58
Yeah, I have to say, on our show, we're still calling him Prince Andrew because I don't think the royal family can get out of this so easily, just saying, "We're taking the title off him.
54:04
It's got nothing to do with us, Gov." Um, they obviously knew he had a relationship for a long time before they stripped his title of that.
54:11
Um, in, in terms of this particular case, um, it's actually remarkably similar, um, to the row...
54:16
Well, it's more than a row, isn't it? The investigation into Peter Mandelson, um, which is that what these emails appear to have revealed is that when there were powerful men in positions of responsibility and influence, they used that influence, they used that access that they had to forward on confidential information that was sort of, that should have been kept secret to Jeffrey Epstein.
54:38
Um, in the case of, of Mandelson, that involved what was going on in Number Ten Downing Street.
54:42
When it comes to Prince Andrew, this seems to be, um, what was discussed on trade trips.
55:29
If you could elaborate on that and also tell us where has he gone and what comes next? Where was he taken?
53:54
Talk about the significance of this.
53:58
Yeah, I have to say, on our show, we're still calling him Prince Andrew, 'cause I don't think the royal family can get out of this so easily, just saying, "We're taking the title off him.
54:04
It's got nothing to do with us, Gov." Um, they obviously knew he had a relationship for a long time before they stripped his title of that.
54:11
Um, in, in terms of this particular case, um, it's actually remarkably similar, um, to the row...
54:16
Well, it's more than a row, isn't it? The investigation into Peter Mandelson, um, which is that what these emails appear to have revealed is that when there were powerful men in positions of responsibility and influence, they used that influence, they used that access that they had, to forward on confidential information that was sort of-- that should have been kept secret to Jeffrey Epstein.
54:38
Um, in the case of, of Mandelson, that involved what was going on in Number Ten Downing Street.
54:42
When it comes to Prince Andrew, this seems to be, um, what was discussed on trade trips.
55:29
If you could elaborate on that and also tell us where has he gone and what comes next? Where was he taken?
53:54
Talk about the significance of this.
53:58
Yeah, I have to say, on our show, we're still calling him Prince Andrew, 'cause I don't think the royal family can get out of this so easily, just saying, "We're taking the title off him.
54:04
It's got nothing to do with us, Gov." Um, they obviously knew he had a relationship for a long time before they stripped his title of that.
54:11
Um, in, in terms of this particular case, um, it's actually remarkably similar, um, to the row...
54:16
Well, it's more than a row, isn't it? The investigation into Peter Mandelson, um, which is that what these emails appear to have revealed is that when there were powerful men in positions of responsibility and influence, they used that influence, they used that access that they had, to forward on confidential information that was sort of-- that should have been kept secret to Jeffrey Epstein.
54:38
Um, in the case of, of Mandelson, that involved what was going on in Number Ten Downing Street.
54:42
When it comes to Prince Andrew, this seems to be, um, what was discussed on trade trips.
55:29
If you could elaborate on that and also tell us where has he gone and what comes next? Where was he taken?
Max FriedmanCORRESPONDENT
51:45
Michael Walker is a longtime music journalist who's written extensively about this period.
51:50
The labels did not know the audience was the size that it was for rock and roll music.
51:54
They found out when Woodstock happened and 350,000 people showed up to see a band set were popular bands of the day, but no one saw that coming.
52:04
They realized there was a lot of money they were leaving on the table.
Max FriedmanCORRESPONDENT
54:22
Cooper might have put it, a little more icing on the cake in the form of an encore.
54:28
The spontaneous call for encores when you got into stadiums got a little bit ritualized because it just seemed like good business, I suppose.
54:35
It just became part of the plan.
54:37
And then audiences began to just absolutely expect it.
Max FreedmanCORRESPONDENT
57:24
Michael Walker is a longtime music journalist who's written extensively about this period.
57:28
The labels did not know the audience was the size that it was for rock and roll music.
57:33
They found out when Woodstock happened, and 350,000 people showed up to see, uh, you know, bands that were popular bands of the day.
57:41
But no one saw that coming.
57:42
They realized there was a lot of money they were leaving on the table.
Max FreedmanCORRESPONDENT
59:57
And Michael thinks those prices made a lot of bands feel obligated to offer, as Alice Cooper might have put it, a little more icing on the cake, in the form of an encore.
60:06
The spontaneous call for encores when you got into stadiums got a little bit ritualized because it just seemed like good business, I suppose.
60:14
It just became part of the plan, and then audiences began to just absolutely expect it.

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