Mark And Pete

The Labour Party and the Conservatives are at odds with each other this election over the benefit of nationalisation verses privatisation. The broad lesson of the great privatisation experiment is that it has worked well when competition has been unleashed, but less well when a government-run business has been replaced by a government-regulated monopoly.

Why is it not a crime to break manifesto promises? This seems a simple way of making election manifestos genuinely meaningful documents - and also protecting the democratic process. Some allowance could be made for changing situations once power has been won, but why aren't party leaders individually and criminally responsible for broken guarantees. Thoughts?

Why should Jacob Rees-Mogg have to apologise for the remarks he made about the Grenfell fire (The Yorkshire Post, November 6)?Is Rees-Mogg an out of touch smug politician or was it simply that he said that he would have ignored the advice of the Fire Brigade to stay put if he saw the building was on fire. He never implied that those who did as they were told had no common sense. Well maybe it's because sensitive subjects cannot be dealt with on the campaign trail.

Marxist idiot or right wing buffoon.

The bodies of 39 people have been found in a lorry trailer in Essex.The vehicle was found shortly before 01:40 BST at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, police said.Essex Police said the trailer has been moved to a secure location where the bodies of those inside - a teenager and 38 adults - can be recovered.The driver, named locally as Mo Robinson, 25, from Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, has been arrested on suspicion of murder. This tragedy just one example of a of a wider problem of human trafficking and border control, what's to be done?

The UK Parliament just sat on a Saturday for the first time in 37 years to try and get Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal agreed.What was supposed to be the deciding moment - a Yes or No on Brexit - wasn't. And now there might be another delay - what effect will this delay have on the economy and our ability to have the UK governed effectively? How damaging is a Brexit delay?

Eliud Kipchoge has become the first athlete to run a marathon in under two hours, beating the mark by 20 seconds.The Kenyan, 34, covered the 26.2 miles (42.2km) in one hour 59 minutes 40 seconds in the Ineos 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, Austria on Saturday.It will not be recognised as the official marathon world record because it was not in open competition and he used a team of rotating pacemakers. Is this fair?

Prince Harry’s move to take legal action against tabloids for alleged phone hacking is part of the royal’s ramped-up aggressive PR approach designed to send a message to the media, according to commentators.It emerged on Friday night that the Duke of Sussex – who released a strongly worded attack on the British media for their treatment of his wife, Meghan, earlier this week – has issued legal proceedings against the owners of the Sun and the Daily Mirror.Buckingham Palace confirmed claims had been filed at the high court regarding alleged illegal interception of voicemail messages. It comes after a separate legal action was launched by the duchess against the Mail on Sunday for alleged breach of privacy and copyright infringement over the newspaper’s decision to publish a private letter she sent to her estranged father.AdvertisementIt is not known precisely which period the alleged hacking relates to, although it is likely to be historical. It is understood there is a six-year limit on claims, which begins w

Why are world leaders getting into legal trouble. Boris Johnson got into a spot of trouble with Supreme Court and Donald Trump has an impeachment investigation with his name on it. What's up with that?

Large employers would be forced to provide flexible hours to women experiencing the menopause under Labour plans to end stigma in the workplace. A strange unworkable policy with it's heart in the right place.

An 18-carat solid gold loo stolen from the birthplace of Winston Churchill has now been valued at £4.8 million. The fully functioning toilet, named America, installed at an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace, was stolen by a gang of thieves in the early hours of Saturday morning. Initial reports estimated the sculpture at £1 million, but Blenheim Palace chief executive Dominic Hare said it is worth about $6 million (£4.8 million). Mark and Pete bring you the low down.This is an episode of the Mark and Pete show http://markandpete.com

DAVID CAMERON has been accused of causing the Brexit "mess" the British Government is currently embroiled in - is he really to blame? Was the former Prime Minister bad or simply incompetent? David Cameron has a new book out called called "On the Record".

Many small firms can identify with Nimisha Raja's view of Brexit: "We have absolutely no idea what's going on."Ms Raja, founder and boss of Nim's Fruit Crisps, stockpiled supplies last year in the run-up to the original Brexit date in March.But she told the BBC she had no plans to do the same ahead of 31 October.Ms Raja is not alone. New research by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) shows 41% of UK firms have done no risk assessment on the impact of Brexit. What is going on with Brexit, we all need to know. Mark and Pete tease out the options.

There is plenty of constitutional outcry on the front pages of the British papers today, which all lead with Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament ahead of the looming Brexit deadline. Front pages from abroad show the international press is transfixed too.There is “Outrage as Johnson suspends parliament” according to the Guading newspaper. The paper leads with John Bercow’s comments that the decision was a “constitutional outrage” and the paper’s leader says: “Johnson’s move represents a grotesque abuse of the country’s highest office”. Is the the end of democracy in Britain, or something entirely different?

Just days after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle came under fire over their private jet journey, Prince William and Kate Middleton were spotted taking a commercial flight to Scotland. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge flew from Norwich to Aberdeen on a FlyBe partner aircraft Thursday morning. According to DailyMail.com, the royal couple's kids—Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis—and their nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, were also in tow. William was spotted walking alongside his first two children while carrying the family's bags, and Kate followed closely behind with their baby boy."We were delighted to welcome the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their family on board one of our flights again, this time when they flew from Norwich to Aberdeen with our franchise partner Eastern Airways," a FlyBe representative told E! News.

Facial recognition technology, you might think, belongs in a dystopian nightmare. Imagine cameras tracking your every move, knowing exactly who you are, everything you’ve done, what you like and who you meet. But it’s fiction no longer. Married with artificial intelligence (AI), the swarm of cameras perched on buildings and lamp posts the world over can now do all that and much, much more. And it won’t be long before the technology is everywhere.

The proportion of students achieving the top grades at A-level has fallen to its lowest level for more than a decade, this year's results show. What is ther reason? Is the UK failing at education?

Seagulls and what to do about them. Madeleine Goumas, a postgraduate researcher at Exeter University, ventured to Falmouth, St Ives, Newquay and other popular seaside spots armed with a sealed bag of chips and a stopwatch. When she arrived, she placed the chips about an arm’s length away and timed when the seagulls swooped. She observed their behaviour and saw an answer at last on how to stop seagull attack. Listen and be convinced. Or not.

The government has announced an inquiry into the power cut on Friday that left people stuck in trains for up to nine hours and almost a million people in England and Wales without electricity. Is this a sign of Britain losing its power literally and metaphorically? Mark and Pete investigate.

Owners of a porcelain bowl that sat on their shelf for years were 'shocked and delighted' to find it was a rare 18th century Chinese antique worth more than £200,000.While clearing out to downsize their home the owners had an auctioneer in Bath, Somerset, look at the piece, uncovering it's regal heritage. Dating from between 1722 to 1735 the rare bowl was found to be from the reign of the Chinese Emperor Yongzheng. Is it even remotely possible that its worth spending hard cash on such an object?