Mark And Pete

Nancy Pelosi will never live this one down.The Democratic House speaker was captured on security footage -- leaked to Fox News -- inside a San Francisco hair salon not wearing a mask, even though the city's Covid-19 restrictions only allow service outside. Cue a gleeful eruption from conservative media and from President Donald Trump himself, who slammed her for not wearing a mask "despite constantly lecturing everyone else."Pelosi comes across as a hypocrite, since she has frequently rebuked Trump for undermining government advice on masks.

Elon Musk has unveiled a pig called Gertrude with a coin-sized computer chip in her brain to demonstrate his ambitious plans to create a working brain-to-machine interface."It's kind of like a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires," said Musk. What does this mean for the future if our brains have chip in them? Can we be hacked? Is it a sign of the End Times or the Mark of the Beast? Or something worse?

In an amazing PR success, singer Taylor Swift has donated £23,000 to a London-based student struggling to raise the funds to take up a maths course at the University of Warwick.Vitoria Mario's online fundraising page details how she has lived in the UK for four years after moving from Portugal.But she is not eligible for maintenance loans or grants.Vitoria said: "I was worrying too much about the money, what I have to do and if I have to look for a job. She actually made my dream come true." How ethical was this? Mark and Pete weigh in.The American singer,whose 16 top 10 British chart hits include the aptly titled Wildest Dreams, wrote a message on Vitoria's fundraising page as she confirmed her donation.At that stage, Vitoria had collected nearly half of her £40,000 fundraising target, and Swift wrote: "Vitoria, I came across your story online and am so inspired by your drive and dedication to turning your dreams into reality."I want to gift you the rest of your goal amount. Good luck with everything you do

What a mess. Gavin Williamson and other ministers are under immense pressure over the botched handling of English A-level results after Scotland announced a dramatic U-turn and major research showed that high-achieving pupils from poorer backgrounds are likely to be hardest hit. The universities minister was writing urgently to vice-chancellors, asking them to be lenient with their offers and keep places open for pupils pursuing appeals amid fears that this year’s results will not truly reflect pupils’ abilities. Mark and Pete have the answers.

It’s no secret that life can be easier for beautiful people. Studies have shown being good looking has benefits for your health, intelligence and helps with making friends.Being physically attractive can also literally pay off, as many people believe it can mean you make more money. In short, beautiful people are more confident, have more social skills and are seen as more able by employers, which translates to higher wages. So what's wrong with us, why are we biased, bigoted, showing microaggressions and unconscious bias towards ugly plain people and favouring beautiful attractive people? And what's to be done about it? Mark and Pete have the answers.

In 1976, a professor of economic history at the University of California, Berkeley published an essay outlining the fundamental laws of a force he perceived as humanity’s greatest existential threat: Idiocy. We see strange decisions abounding - is it because there are just so many many stupid stupid idiots? Mark and Pete have the answers.Buy the idiot by FyA MARK AND PETE PODCAST EPISODE: markandpete.com

Is the stock market gambling? Should people consider trading in the stock market to be a form of gambling? The answers to these questions are an unequivocal. Investing in the stock market is not gambling, and novice investors should not think of it in that way claim creators of new easy to use apps designed to get you into stocks and shares. Mark and Pete have the answers.

There's an old Yiddish witticism "To make God laugh, tell him your plans." Perhaps we’re accustomed to thinking of Jesus only as “a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isa 53:3). His crucifixion is certainly no laughing matter. Or maybe the image of a laughing Jesus offends simply because it makes him too human. Yet Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus is able to sympathize with us because he is exactly like us (minus the sinning). God has gifted us with a sense of humour; it stands to reason that Jesus had one, too. Mark and Pete look at the Bible and find plenty of laughs. And as Christians we also find lots to laugh about within Christianity today. What about religion makes you laugh?

In a recent disclosure by the Information Rights Unit we find that neck and choke holds are specifically taught by the Metropolitan Police as not to be used because of the inherent danger to the suspect. However they are used and sometimes people get hurt or killed unnecessarily. We expect to be kept safe by the police, but do they go too far - or is it the case that the police are simply doing an impossibly tough job.This song satirises that situation. The song from Mark and Pete's podcast is meant to be funny to highlight that the issue is not in the slightest funny.For more by Mark and Pete: markandpete.com

The “New Normal” may well not be normal at all. So we need to change, to know your place means to change because everything has changed. Church, work, homelife - how are you going to fit in and work it out post Covid-19? Mark and Pete have the answers.

If there is one thing everyone living through the Covid-19 emergency agrees, it is that it is unprecedented. Everyone is surely right about that. But what follows in politics, economics and social behaviour from that recognition? Will President Trump still be president by the end of the year, or will he lose by a landslide in November.? What will happen over the next six months, will it be more shocking than the first half of 2020? Mark and Pete have the answers, and some of them may surprise you.

Whether it be enjoying a day out with the kids or getting some peace and quiet with the sea by your side - most of us love the coast. Rubbish, including plastic, food wrappers, paper plates and beer bottles were left strewn across the beaches in the UK, leaving people furious at the disgusting state of them. What is to be done about this outrageous behaviour and breeching of social distancing? Mark and Pete have the answers.

As lockdown measures have been eased across England, people have been returning to beaches, parks and beauty spots to enjoy the warmer weather.But they've found many public toilets are still closed, and without the option of using loos in cafes, pubs and restaurants, it has left scores of people with an urgent question - where do I go when I need to go? Mark and Peter have the answers.

Overnight in March, the doors of every church building were closed, unilaterally. And they were not responsible. It was not their fault. But it could have a permanent effect. Lockdown was dramatic and shocking for church communities. Emerging from it will be far more nuanced, and no less difficult. Mark and Pete look at the changes in leadership and structure that could enable to churches to enjoy revival rather than permanent closure.

The death of George Floyd, an African-American man in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has prompted a global outcry over the scale of racism and police brutality that exists today. Mr Floyd pleaded to officers “I can’t breathe”, but police officer Derek Chauvin continued to press his knee into Mr Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes. Mr Floyd was pronounced dead, and the tragedy of his death has sparked protests in the US and beyond. The UK Black Lives Matter Twitter account tweeted on June 3: “As BLMUK we have agreed that while we are not calling for protests, we will support people to protest in a way that is safe for them, as well as for our communities. What is the best way to protest? Are these protests valid? Mark and Pete have the answers.

America was ready to explode even before George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis police.The twin tragedies of 40 million people — one-quarter of the US workforce — losing their jobs and 100,000 people losing their lives during the coronavirus pandemic had turned the US into an emotional tinderbox that was waiting for a spark to set it off.Mark and Pete have the answers.

A growing number of senior Conservatives are demanding the resignation of Boris Johnson’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, over allegations that he broke the government’s lockdown rules on several occasions. Should Cummings go? Mark and Pete have the answers.

We do not know how this pandemic will end. We do know that we will be poorer when it’s over: GDP is plunging around the world.Millions of households have missed, or expect to miss, payments on at least one bill as a result of the coronavirus crisis, and could face serious consequences as a result, the charity Citizens Advice has said.Since the lockdown started, millions of workers have been furloughed or laid off by employers, and seen their pay fall as a result.Measures have been put in place to allow borrowers payment holidays and stall evictions, but the charity said that after these protections are lifted, millions face a “financial cliff edge”.

Will the US and the UK experience a "recession of historic proportions" that dwarfs the global financial crisis, well according to new forecasts which warn of a collapse in investment, surge in government debt and spike in unemployment that leaves one in five people jobless in some countries. What is going to happen. Mark and Pete have the answers.

When the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union dissolved, the Western world thought, with considerable justification, that the generational struggle with communism had ended. But in our exultation, we forgot to finish the job. Communism lived on in mainland China and is once again challenging the free world for dominance. This time, they’re doing it with our money. As we have begun to realize these past few years, and as the coronavirus outbreak has made even clearer, China has used our free markets and open-mindedness against us, running an economy based on the bizarre fusion of communism and mercantilism while cracking down ever more on its people’s natural rights and freedoms. Is it time for the free world to rejoin the fight?