Episode 82 – Mugabegone! | Partly Political Broadcast

Episode 82 – Mugabegone!

Released on Tuesday, November 21st, 2017.

Episode 82 – Mugabegone!

Episode 82 – Tiernan talks to Oliver Slow (@oslow99) at Frontier Myanmar (@FrontierMM) about the Rohingya crisis, plus a wee bit on Zimbabwe & of course Brexit Fallout.

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THIS EPISODE IS TAGGED WITH: • Myanmar, Oliver Slow, parpolbro, Partly Political Broadcast, Patreon, podcast, political, politics, Robert Mugabe, Rohingya Crisis, satire, Theresa May, Tiernan Douieb, Zimbabwe

Transcript

Episode 82

Hello and welcome to the Partly Political Broadcast episode 82! I’m Tiernan Douieb and this week like Zimbabwean dictator and lovechild of Yoda and Nicky Minaj’s wardrobe Robert Mugabe, I too am ignoring a deadline despite all opposition, which is why this week’s podcast is not quite finished. And that’s the end of this week’s podcast, thanks for listening. HA I JOKE!

As of last Wednesday the Zimbabwean military put Robert Total Jobsworth Mugabe under house arrest, something that I thought was a good move till I saw pictures of his massive house and became slightly jealous. But after his attempts to ensure his wife would succeed him after his nearly four undemocratic decades in power, because there’s no loving gift to pass to a loved one like a country that hates you and is in terrible economic decline. I’m sure that comes after diamond right? Now his own party Zanu-PF set him a deadline to resign by and he’s completely ignored it, not even pretending to ask for a few more hours because the internet went down. Throwing the country into financial turmoil, inflicting violence on many and once ignoring an election loss by saying ‘only God could remove him from office’ it does feel that now he’s 93, people really might want to question their faith as God is properly taking the piss out of the Zimbabwe people on this one. Now thousands of protesters and his own party are calling for his impeachment, an idea many in the US are saying ‘oh man, I wish we could do that’. It feels like it could be a new era for Zimbabwe if Mugabe relinquishes power, and hopefully for many Zimbabwean citizens he’ll have gone by the time you hear this show, but considering his reluctance so far, it may take more forceful methods before his presidency is Muga-Not To Be. Yes I’m ending this bit on that joke. Yes. That is what you’re getting.

Meanwhile in the UK Brexit Secretary and man who looks like he could be erased with one swipe of a de-bobbler David Davis made a speech in Berlin where he warned the EU against putting politics above prosperity. Yes. Really. I HONESTLY DON’T KNOW WHY I BOTHER.

FOOTSTEPS SOUND EFFECT/ SCREAMING IN FRUSTRATION SOUND EFFECT / SLAMMING DOOR SOUND EFFECT

SHORT PAUSE

Sorry. It’s just. Yeah. Sigh. So after Davis’s comments proved he’s the sort of man who’d have a stone throwing party inside a glass house, he told the BBC that the UK had been offering some creative compromises on the Brexit negotiations but they had not always got them back insisting that nothing comes for nothing which leaves many to query why on earth he gets paid a salary. I think the key part of that statement was ‘creative compromises’ as there’s nothing more creative than pretending something is there when it absolutely isn’t. EU Chief Negotiator Michael Barnier, a man who looks like he would host the French version of MasterMind if he wasn’t so constantly stuck with one guest who never has the answers to anything – Barnier has said that it is up to the UK to come up with a post Brexit solution to the Irish border issue, not so much a you’ve made your bed now lie in it, but more you’ve repeatedly shat in the same bed it’s high time you slept it in it waking up every day smelling that distinct whiff of a lack of foresight. He also stated again for the umpteenth time that trade talks will not happen until accounts are settled, aka the Brexit bill paid. This is a comment that’s already caused Conservative MP and what happens when DNA goes on strike Nigel Evans told the government that the UK cannot afford to play Santa Claus to EU bosses, something that ignores just how many toy exports that’d mean we get & a boost to the British toy making industry, as well as cheap, environmentally friendly reindeer based travel and most of the year off on holiday. Evans also seems to forget that Father Christmas doesn’t just go round giving gifts to fulfil contracts he’s already signed because we all know kids aren’t that good at small print.

Next on Conservatives Say The Stupidest Things is Chancellor and world’s saddest hat stand Phillip Hammond who is about to unveil the Autumn Budget so called because what better to time to announce the fall of the economy? On BBC’s the Marr show, when asked about the threat of technology on the UK’s jobs market, Hammond announced that there are no unemployed people. Sure Phil. I mean apart from the 1.42m unemployed people in the UK which doesn’t count self employed or zero hours contract people who aren’t getting work, people on sure start or workfare or apprenticeship schemes that aren’t getting paid, then there are no unemployed people right? It’s amazing that a man who is in charge of setting the country’s budget has confused the number 1.42m with 0, although this could explain the government’s consistently lax approach on tax avoidance. I wonder if Hammond has justified this comment by telling himself there are no unemployed people, just employmentally challenged ones instead. Hammond’s budget is expected to include an expansion of driverless cars – some that many of joked is an apt expression of our government already which I’d agree only more so in the way that we have an automaton leader who has a route programmed and is determined to get us there regardless of obstacles. Hammond was questioned about the safety of the cars after professional bastard Jeremy Clarkson said he nearly died in one, making me think they are definitely a great idea. But Hammond said that they are safe and there would still be work as many years ago people were worried about job losses when computers replaced typewriters. Yes but you idiot, people still have to type on computers. The rest of the budget is expected to target housing and the NHS, two things that I’m pretty sure are only currently fucked because the government have been targeting them for years already.

Lastly as Scottish Labour elected their new leader, Richard Leonard, a man who looks like he constantly has someone blowing a hair dryer in his face, former Scots Labour leader and political chocolate teapot Kezia Dugdale has entered the jungle as part of television’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, despite condemning Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, a politician who admittedly, should only be on television as the answer to every single question on Pointless. Dugdale was not given permission by Scottish Labour to do I’m a Celebrity but they say they haven’t been persuaded to suspend her as a result, probably because she’ll probably end up suspended above something as part of the program anyway. Kezia has deleted her pledge from the registry of members interests to donate any and all money earned from outside interests to charity, but said she’ll give a portion of her TV fee instead, though I’d argue that having followed Jim Murphy’s Scottish Labour leadership, she’s already spent quite some time being paid pretty well to do a series of challenging tests. I find the idea of politicians being on reality tv shows hugely depressing but on the other hand I’d definitely watch parliament.tv a whole lot more if scorpions were involved. Kezia joins Stanley Johnson on the show aka father of Foreign Secretary and walking concussion Boris Johnson. I’m already amazed that at the last minute Michael Gove’s dad didn’t push in front and say he’d do the show instead. Though let’s be fair it’s more likely Stanley’s son will accidentally tell authorities he’s in the jungle to teach journalists and he’ll end up stuck there for 5 years more than intended.

Oh and in Ireland Gerry Adams is standing down as the leader of Sinn Fein in order to spend more time with his real voice.

INTRO

Hello you! How do you feel about politicians doing reality tv shows? Does it bother you as much as me? If they are now counted as celebrities then I’d far rather watch other members of the civil service on these shows. How about shoving Jeremy Hunt in the jungle with a number of NHS staff? Something like that. Anyway, it is something I do feel uncomfortable about though reality tv is depressing to me anyway as the last thing I want to watch for enjoyment is yet more reality. But I’ll stop rambling, thank you all for listening to the show as always and if you’re a new listener then thank you for getting on board, and several of you sent me lovely comments after last week’s chat with James Patrick which I’m so glad you enjoyed slash were equally terrified by. And did you notice, just hours after we recorded that interview, Theresa May gave a warning about the dangers of Russian interference in elections? She didn’t mention bots as she can’t turn against her own species, but it was nice to know that for once this podcast was ahead of the news. I am such a child but I still find the term Russian bots funny. Like I have a Russian bot, and that’s why I call my toilet a Poo-Tin. Tee hee heee hee I’m 36. Hee hee hee. It was formerly a USSArse…ok I’ll stop now.

Thank you to all the new reviews on iTunes which is amazing of you all and please do keep adding those as it does really help get more listeners to the show. Thanks also this week to Andrew who very kindly donated both to the ko-fi and patreon pages making him a total hero and if you too would like gain instant hero status then please do donate towards this podcast at either ko-fi.com/parpolbro for a one-off donation or patreon.com/parpolbro for a monthly one which is really helpful. And I know you’re probably thinking, Tiernan where does this money go? The podcast is free, do you just pocket it so you can while away your evenings throwing pound coins at urban foxes? Well yes, I do but also last week I needed a new podcast mic stand so that was £30 which I paid for with your kind donations but more importantly than that, I had to turn down a kind offer this past weekend from the Zimbabwe Vigil to join them on their Saturday protest outside the Zimbabwean Embassy where they said I could interview and chat with them for the podcast, and I had to say no because I had comedy shows I had to do to well, pay bills and survive. Now I’m by no means asking any of you to pay my bills but the more you donate the more I’m able to justify taking time out to do this show. The past week involved chasing 18 different interviewees till I got one that actually responded and could do it and that was a day’s work by itself. So please do donate or alternatively, maybe hunt down guests and threaten to throw pound coins at them till they speak to me. Now they have all those edges they are super dangerous. Now that is sort of all the admin this week but I did have an email that I wanted to read out so it’s time for:

POST TRUTH

So I love getting emails from you all on the rare occasion it happens, and this week I had a nice email from Euan that I wanted to read on the podcast and I hope that’s ok with him, as I thought I could give a better reply on here than the feeble one I sent him back. So it reads. I mean I’m reading it. It’s not reading itself, that’d be terrifying. So:

Hi Tiernan

I think you really shouldn’t continue to use your podcast as your own echo chamber; its not good for yourself, your listeners or society. Interview someone with whom you disagree about a subject on which you disagree.

This will make your podcast far more interesting as it could actually start a debate.

Keep up the good work

Thanks Euan. I will definitely try to do that and I appreciate the email. In terms of using the podcast as an echo chamber, well firstly, I’ve realised that and I should say I talked about this a lot in my last stand-up show which we filmed this weekend, I’ve stopped being worried about enjoying my echo chamber. Mine is pretty great, it’s filled with a lot of my favourite stuff and after spending time really delving into other opinions a good chunk of time I’ve realised why I don’t listen to them, and it’s because they are shit. Now I am slightly kidding in that for this show I read across all varieties of papers and news sites except never the Mail or Sun or Breitbart because if I wanted that sort of news on this podcast I’d only write it each week after banging my head against a wall for 30 minutes. I do think hearing both sides or arguments a lot of time is very important, and I do agree entirely with Euan’s comments about having different voices on this show, but here’s the snag, I have tried a few times and the few I’ve tried are generally put off by me being a comedian, even though I insist the interviews are serious, and by the fact it’s a free podcast with a very obviously biased voice. I’m not a debater, tee hee, and while I’ve never set out to give this show a proper modus operandi, one of the things I did want with ParPolBro was to allow people to talk for longer than the new normally allows without the sort of tedious arguing that you get on Question Time, a show that you could easily replace with footage of a dog barking while a man kicks a dustbin for an hour. Practically, too, lots of my interviews are over skype and as you’ll hear with this week’s, there is often a delay on the line or something like that which makes actually debating a lot harder to do without it sounding like a garbled mess for you, the listener. No not you. No, behind you. Yes you. But look, how many more of you feel this show needs more diverse voices? Please let me know and more importantly, as I ask every single week on this show, you let me know who I should contact and I will try my best to get in touch with them though I can’t guarantee that they’ll want to speak to me! But the more listeners this show gets, the more people trust it, the more likely it is that I’ll have Theresa May on in a few weeks and I can ask her pressing questions such as how long it takes for her to charge overnight or which operating system she runs on. And if you have anything you want to tell me about the show or well, anything really, do email in to partlypoliticalbroadcast@gmail.com.

Now! On this week’s show there is no budget stuff as that’ll be on next week’s due to idiot me deciding this should come out on a Tuesday rather than say, a Friday. But what it does have is an interview with Oliver Slow from Frontier Myanmar on the horrific situation with the Rohingya people there and I’ll also be looking a wee bit at Zimbabwe. But first, no headlines this week as we gotta go straight to:

BREXIT FALLOUT

At a government cabinet meeting today they decided that they will increase the UK’s offer to the EU for a so called brexit bill. They haven’t mentioned a figure yet and said it would only be in return for the EU moving in December to discuss trade deals. Something the EU said they won’t discuss unless the UK comes up with a settlement deal. So while this might seem like progress I can’t help but feel this is more stale mate to the extent that all your friends are a but chewy but ok for toasting. Rumours suggest that the divorce bill amount could be amount £40bn. Yeah John Cleese must finally feel like he got a good deal eh? So that’s over £1000 per taxpayer in the UK and I must say, I feel like that’s £1000 well spent because look at everything we’ve gained from it. We’ve got er…. And erm….Er…. Nope. Really no clue. Still it does mean that Brexiteers will lose their shit that it’s double the original £20bn the government mentioned that was based on no real figures and Remainers will lose their shit that we’re all paying a lot of money to have a shit time doing something none of them wanted, a bit like every office Christmas party that’s ever happened. The EU Withdrawal bill debates happened in parliament last week and so far the government have seen of all challenges with votes going in their favour even for rulings that under repealed EU law in the UK animals will no longer be seen as feeling pain or emotion which is really backwards news for animal rights and makes the Monty Python sketch now not funny but just dark and sad. Though if the Conservatives realise that as humans, they are animals too, this could make sense judging by their usual numbness.

Tory rebels and Labour have hinted and blocking aspects at later votes, but right wing paper The Telegraph printed a big front page picture of what it called ‘the Brexit mutineers’ ie those Tory rebels who will vote against May’s move to enshrine our leaving date in law. Yeah I dunno about you but nothing excites me more than this sovereign nation we’re chasing where everyone who expresses a view that isn’t 100% kosher with the top dogs gets chased down and threatened. I’m starting to wonder if Britannia only had a lion for self defence from people who are scared of independent thought. In other headline news headline news The Sun aka cheaper than buying firelighters, accused Irish Taoseach Leo Vradaker of being naïve and young and that he should shut his gob on his views that Ireland and the EU should set out their own non negotiable red lines about a border between them and Northern Ireland. Now admittedly, compared to the main Sun readership, Vradaker is probably quite young, but really these comments from The Sun are no more helpful to making Brexit happen than say, well The Sun is in doing anything other than providing decent bedding for unloved hamsters.

Meanwhile Michael Barnier has said that financial services in the UK will lose their passporting rights after Brexit. So what does that mean and surely it doesn’t matter if they now have classic blue passporting anyway right? No, it means they can only trade to banks within the EU if they set up subsidiaries within it and apply for local licences allowing them to trade. So that’s around 5500 firms, about £20bn of services, and about 1 million jobs. So no biggie right? It’s not like we even need banks after Brexit anyway as we’ll all be trading classic British goods like potatoes with say, er, potatoes. Meanwhile the Home Office has said it’s struggling to recruit staff to register EU nationals and deal with immigration in the UK and may have to recruit staff from, get this, that’s right EUROPE! I HONESTLY DON’T EVEN KNOW WHY I BOTHER ANYMORE!

FOOTSTEPS/SCREAMING/DOOR SLAM

Oh and this week:

WHO’S LEAVING BECAUSE OF EU?

This week’s it’s the European Medicines Agency who are leaving from London to go to Amsterdam, which means 900 jobs plus all the economic work and investment it brings are done for and that’s gonna hurt, especially as they’re the ones who would’ve worked out what to use to numb the pain a bit. Also Aston Martin who have said that Brexit may cause them to halt production entirely, which is bad for them but I have to say, I really love the idea that in the next James Bond film we get to see him driving around in a jar of innovative jam.

INTERVIEW PART 1

Now I’m not saying that we in the UK have recently been complaining about a divided country a bit too much, but not only have Myanmar asked us to hold their beer, really, if anyone was going to write a book about internal conflicts then Myanmar aka Burma depending on who’s asking, would already be competing with George RR Martin for longest never ending violent saga. The various ethnic groups that make up the country have now been involved in one of the world’s longest running civil wars, dating back to 1948 since it was granted independence from British rule. And while the UK’s current politics would suggest escaping the Commonwealth was generally a smart move, for Myanmar it led them into years of military dictatorship full of terrible human rights violations and only mostly coming to an end in 2011 after UN intervention and a normal democratic election in 2010 that lead to a civilian government and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi a political prisoner, campaigner for democracy in Myanmar and winner of the Nobel Peace prize, which damn, makes my CV look like shit even if I did win a local poetry competition aged 8. Suu Kyi became Myanmar’s defacto leader in 2015, and it all kinda looked like Burma could become a place that was less known for ethnic conflict and instead for it’s other well known draws like, er, opium. Hmm. But look it really was picking up. Until this year, where now Myanmar is being accused by the United Nations of ethnic cleansing after over 600,000 Rohingya people have been driven out of the country into Bangladesh with reports of thousands more being slaughtered and abused by the military and their villages burned. Aung Sun Suu Kyi hasn’t even attempted to intervene and only today told the UN that a lot of these problems are to do with illegal immigration, as people from her own country are being forced to seek refuge elsewhere. I HONESTLY DON’T KNOW WHY I BOTHER

FOOTSTEPS/ SCREAMING / DOOR SLAMMING NOISE

But why has this happened? Can other countries intervene? Can I make it through this whole very serious horrendous topic without childishly saying Myanmar? No Youanmar! No, no I can’t. So rather than me, a man who’s still unsure exactly where Myanmar is on the map, I spoke to Oliver Slow, chief of staff at Frontier Myanmar, an independent political magazine in Myanmar. Oliver very kindly spoke to me despite the difficulties in arranging an interview with the time difference of six and a half hours. Yes, there is a half hour in there just to make everything harder. And Oliver gave me a clear and informative overview as to where everything is now. I should say we spoke before Suu Kyi’s really stupid comments today, and also there was quite a delay on the line, which I’ve edited out where I can, but what it does mean, is that this interview is considerably shorter than I thought it was because I removed a lot of spare delay time from it. I should also say that I didn’t ask Oliver about the gory details of all of this because if you want to read about that, you can. There’s enough coverage of it and it’s all pretty upsetting as what’s happening to the Rohingya now is truly truly awful. But I felt that it would be more useful for this show to get an explanation of what and why. Hopefully you’ll find this chat with Oliver as useful as I have in understanding the situation.

Here’s Oliver:

INTERVIEW PART 1

And we’ll be back with Oliver in a minute but first:

PARTLY GLOBAL BROADCAST

I don’t know if you’ve heard of the globe but there’s a lot of places on it. I know right? Like even more than 4 or 5 countries. It might even be double digits. And there are a number of important or interesting political stories around the world right now that deserve time spent on them such as the Saudi Arabian prince who’s power grabbing more than someone playing catch with a car battery, or how Germany’s failing coalition talks meaning they may have to have re-elections or how in the US Trump is still being a bellend with the White House official statement saying they are investigating allegations into Senator Al Franken’s sex offences but not Trump’s because Franken admitted it and Trump hasn’t. Yeah great way of deciding whether things should be investigated. Wonder if they’ll use that for murder cases? Well he’s covered in their blood head to toe and wielding the murder weapon but he said he’s innocent so back to square one boys! The only time Trump is ever a man of his word is when he says his word is fake news. And yes, we’re all aware that’s two words which is very much part of it. But look, this week let’s turn our eyes, or more appropriately, our ears, to Zimbabwe, a place that like Myanmar, I find very difficult not to make a joke about Zimbabeme, Zimbabeyou, Zimbabwe, because I am very unoriginal.

This past week the Zimbabwean army placed the President Robert Mugabe under house arrest and took control of state TV in an event that they denied was a coup but unless it was just a really defiant protest against repeats, no one’s sure what else it could be. The reason for this non-coup coup or uncoup was that Mugabe had sacked his vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa which many believe, including Mugabe’s party Zanu PF, that he did to make sure his wife Grace could ursurp power and take control of the country once Robbie retires or dies. This lead to his party giving him a deadline to resign by which he didn’t and now calls for his impeachment and by the time you hear this podcast he could already be more impeached than James. Now before you go thinking ‘aw how could they get rid of him when he’s just being all sweet and caring for his bae wife and shit’ let’s do a rewind selector into just who Robert Mugabe is and exactly what he’s done as leader of Zimbabwe for the last 37 years. And here’s a proper news crunch so don’t be coming all at me about details I may have missed, I’m doing this like a brain burst and you can all do the proper research into the final details of names and what colours his jackets were all on your own time.

So Robert Mugabe started as a political revolutionary. I mean, he didn’t start like that. He was a baby first but I’m fast forwarding because I haven’t got all day. He fought against the white minority rule of Southern Rhodesia, the name Zimbabwe had under British colonial rule. Once again you might wanna add that to ‘countries that really didn’t benefit from us turning up & nicking their stuff’. Mugabe was imprisoned for ten years for insurrection against the government and on release fled to Mozambique, and became leader of ZANU, the Zimbabwean African National Union, and supervised them in the Rhodesian Bush War, an event that lead to the dismantling of the white minority government, a general election in 1980 and then surviving two assassination attempts, Mugabe becoming Prime Minister of the renamed Zimbabwe. While his government sought foreign investment, he expanded education so that Zimbabwe by the year 2000 had one of the best adult literacy rates in Africa and healthcare too and tried to reclaim land from white farm owners to give back to Zimbabweans. Now by this point you’re probably thinking, you know what, he sounds ok? Stick a Hans Zimmer on that and you’ve got a rousing story of a guy who fought off white oppressors to get his people independence with good roles for David Oyelowo and Martin Freeman as the baddie. Add to that all the odd quips he’s known for saying such as ‘he who swallows a complete coconut has absolute trust in his anus’ or ‘a brave man is he who has a running stomach and still wants to flatulate’. I mean if that isn’t an Oscar winning film, I don’t know what is. What do you mean it won’t have enough white people in it to win an Oscar?

Except, at the same time as all this, due to all the spending and population growth, the country was running at a regular budget deficit and incomes declined and many people were living in poverty, meanwhile many of the leaders in government had stacks of cash and a lot of land and were allowed, by Mugabe, to expand their businesses and become super rich and already people were starting to get a bit suspish. Resentment from the white politicians meant white militants attacked the ZANU-PF headquarters which resulted in retaliation from ZANU-PF members and white farmers being killed under the supposition they were South African agents. Meanwhile tensions began to grow between ZANU-PF and the Zimbabwean African People’s Union, the other main black political party. Joshua Nkomo, leader of ZAPU and minister of home affairs demanded more seats in parliament for his party than the four Mugabe had given them. ZANU-PF members started to demanded they were a one-party state and for ZAPU to have no seats and their comments caused street riots between the supports of both. So Mugabe demited Nkomo and as a result things got heavy and long story short, any one who was a ZAPU supporter was considered a dissenter, and they were tortured, beaten and killed while all their land and assets were seized. In areas such as Matelbelled South Mugabe ordered for all stores and deliveries to be stopped despite them already being victim to a third year of drought. This was known as the Gukurahundi, or wind that sweeps the chaff before the rains. Yeah quite poetic for an ultimately horrible series of events. I’m amazed more places don’t think of that. The UK should really get Carol Ann Duffy to rename Brexit and it’d probably seem ok. Anyway, over four years between 81 and 85 human rights group Genocide Watch estimated around 20000 civilians had been killed all because, as Mugabe thought, they were in the way of his revolution. Yeah that Zimmer soundtrack just screeched to a halt right? Oh wait you’re thinking, some other countries must’ve intervened? Well in the UK Margaret Thatcher kept silent for the safety of the few white Zimbabweans and Ronald Reagan invited Mugabe over for tea at the White House because when he said they do not negotiate with terrorists, he forgot to add that they were hunner percent cool to have cake with dictators though.

Following that, and let’s speed through a bit, there was the time Mugabe made the role of president to be kinda all powerful and then his party made him president, then there was more economic problems while money was sent to Zimbabwe from several countries for settling black people without land on unproductive or state owned land, none of which went to them and instead ended up in the hands of several government officials who kept getting wealthier. Then there’s the one where Mugabe does all the homophobia, then there’s the one where he ordered his troops to fight in the mega dodge Second Congo War, or where he got all these journalists tortured and none of them were even from the Daily Mail so it’s definitely not ok and then there’s the blaming everything bad that’s happened in Zimbabwe on Western countries which was only correct to a point like the Zimbabwean excuse equivalent of ‘the last Labour government’, then the more corruption, then the backing of young militants killing white farm owners, then there’s the elections he lost but refused to stand down meaning that Zimbabwe is in no way the democracy that he originally supposedly fought for and it hasn’t been in a long time and all in all by the end of nearly 40 years in charge you gotta think, yeah I preferred his much earlier stuff. So now as many have protested for years, it’s time for him to go, and really after being in the same job for 37 years I’m amazed he wants to stay. I worked at Camden Council for a year and a half and I was like, wow, this is too long to be in one place. ZANU-PF will pass the motion for his impeachment on Tuesday and he could be gone in a matter of days. But what next for Zimbabwe? Well it’s thought that Emmerson Mnangagwa, the vice president he sacked, will take over as president and while Mugabe’s impeachment is wanted, Emmerson is from the same party and has been at Mugabe’s side for many years, having the role as the country’s spy master during the massacres in the early 80’s, has been accused of masterminding attacks on opposition supporters as recently as 2008 and his nickname is the crocodile and it’s not because he’ll see you in a while or particularly loves snap. So will he provide Zimbabweans with the democracy they need? Probably not and either way Mugabe’s got to go first which he’s trying to do everything to stop. But as he once said ‘the only warning Africans take seriously is low battery’ and his now has run out and I really anyone is prepared to lend him a charger anymore.

And now back to Oliver:

INTERVIEW PART 2

Thank you very much to Oliver for the chat. Myanmar is six and a half hours ahead of the UK and you would not believe how tricky that extra 30 minutes makes arranging a time to talk. I mean, why not just round it up to seven or down to six? Why would you do that? I bet they miss a lot of telly. Anyway Oliver is on Twitter @oslow99 and Frontier Myanmar can be found @FrontierMM or frontiermyanmar.net and they have a site both in Burmese and English, and they also have a series of podcasts called Doh Athan which translated means Our Voice and the latest episode, episode 5 has an English and Burmese edition, and explains the current Rohingya refugee situation in even more depth. You can get that from all your favourite pod places so do check that out. Also a good charity campaign to check out if you do want to help is the Burma Campaign, who are on Twitter @burmacampaignuk or online at burmacampaign.org.uk.

And as I’ve already mentioned on this week’s show because what would a podcast that looks at the comedy side of politics be if I didn’t just tirelessly try to hammer home the same few points again and again, if you have someone you’d like me to interview from any side of the political spectrum or an issue you’d like me to talk to someone about then please do let me know and you can do that by messaging me on Twitter @parpolbro, on the Partly Political Broadcast group on Facebook or by email at partlypoliticalbroadcast@gmail.com. Or write the message with your fingers on the back of dirty white vans and when I’m next driving on the motorway I should be able to read it, that is if I’m not too busy swearing as they cut in front of me without indicating like they do EVERY SINGLE TIME. EVERY TIME. EVERY SINGLE TIME. Yeah, just email me, it’s much easier.

END

And that is the end of this week’s Partly Political Broadcast podcast. Thank you to you for listening and please do donate to the patreon or ko-fi pages if you can, please review the show on itunes or stitcher or podbutts or soundwizard or audiobastard or any of your favourite pod places. And if you enjoy this show, please do spread the word as it’s always lovely to get more listeners on board. If you don’t enjoy this show then well done for making it this far, but next time why not try listening to the recorded sounds of a wind tunnel instead?

Thanks as always to Acast for hosting the show and to my brother The Last Skeptik for all of the musics.

This will be back next week when I’ll be looking at the budget trying to work out how Philip Hammond has pushed for 0% growth with the aim it’ll boost the economy by millions.

BYE

This week’s show is brought to you by Philip Hammond’s driverless cars. Seemingly no one at the wheel but full security guaranteed, except for EU citizens, jobs, the economy, the NHS, the housing market….

FOOTSTEPS/ DOOR SLAM / SCREAMING

Episode 82 – Mugabegone!

Released on Tuesday, November 21st, 2017.

Episode 82 – Mugabegone!

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