The Big Question
Last week, we asked “does following the news improve your life?” and… collectively we failed to provide a definitive answer. 50% yes, 50% no. Dangerously close to Brexit margins but with far less significant consequences. It’s almost like simple binary questions don’t work brilliantly for complex and nuanced questions, yet here we go again.
On next week’s show we are talking ‘Britishness’ so….
On The Pod
Admittedly, What’s Happening Now talks about the news a lot. We try to go beyond the headlines to find what else is happening, what we should be talking about and what more needs to be said.
This week Sam and James were joined by Emmy Fyles to not just go beyond headlines, but bury under, encircle, to rifle through the bins, to… OK, maybe the analogy has gone too far, but you get it. This week the news was the news.
Emmy even told us all about the clickbait that she can’t escape. You know the one? Oh, you don’t? Well Emmy has sent over her evidence and maintains that ‘now you’ve seen it, you’ll see it everywhere’.
Interestingly, a listener knew exactly what Emmy was talking about and has sent us a a similar link calling it ‘nonsense about being implanted with a medical chip’. We’ve read the story so you don’t have to and, yes, nonsense seems right. BUT the link sent here had a different photo. It’s difficult to tell, but we think the woman in that has changed but the horse may be the same. It’s probably not significant. Maybe it is though? Something to think about. (There’s a chance that our horse recognition isn’t great).
Internews
With the backdrop of such a significant week (us doing a podcast about the news) and also other significant-in-different-ways kind of things happening in the world (Israel-Palestine, impending elections, the very future of the news at stake) we sat down to pick the brain of Richard Sambrook, the former director of BBC News and BBC World Service. Richard told us his thoughts on the recent controversy around the language used by the organisation, as well as how the BBC covered the Queen’s passing and how news might evolve in future. The whole conversation is available as a bonus episode now.
The BBC is one thing, but earlier this year we also spoke to Tatton Spiller, the founder of the hugely successful Instagram news outlet Simple Politics about the way the page has engaged people in new ways, finding an audience that craves a different kind of format. Tatton has done things differently and wants to do so even more, with his new book ‘Politics, But Better’ suggesting ways forward. That interview can be found on our YouTube channel and social media @WHNOnline.
What Else Is Happening this week
Fast food, aeroplane technology and a true-crime story. A real mix this week as we covered:
Bakery chain Greggs have been on a roll with expansion plans as they became the nation’s biggest fast food chain. The hope is that the new outlets really bring in a lot of dough. Donut unsubscribe if you hate puns. Try not to glaze over. We just kneaded to try it. Err…..Sausage roll?
Please fasten your seatbelts for…some exciting news. Or possibly something that a PR team has got into The Times. We’ll see if it works, but James’ certainly hopes so.
Two meals? Too much for a Citibank employee who lost out to to the company in an employment tribunal ruling over his lunch claims. Emmy had her theories on the pod. We’ll leave it to you to decide.
What's Happening Next Week?
We’ll be joined by comedian Laura Walsh to talk what’s happening with Britishness.