Mark And Pete

Royal Mail is failing Britain. First-Class prices, Second-Class service, and a postal system that seems increasingly incapable of delivering the post. Quite an achievement, really, for an organisation whose principal purpose is, well, delivering things.A First-Class stamp now costs £1.80, compared with just 41p in 2010. That's an increase of nearly 340%. And what do we get for this rather impressive rise in postage prices? According to the latest annual figures, only 75.7% of First-Class letters actually arrived the next working day. Which means roughly one in four didn't.Perhaps First Class now refers to the price rather than the service.In this episode of Mark and Pete, we investigate the extraordinary decline of Royal Mail, Britain's historic postal service, and ask a fairly straightforward question: how can something become so much more expensive whilst becoming so much less reliable?Royal Mail has been part of British life for over 500 years. From Henry VIII to the Penny Black, from red pilla

Winston Churchill is out, hedgehogs are in, and the Bank of England has decided that Britain's greatest heroes should make way for wildlife. Yes, really. The man who helped save Britain from Nazi Germany is being replaced, eventually, by something that curls into a ball when frightened. Which, come to think of it, might be a fairly accurate description of British political leadership these days.The Bank of England has announced that Britain's new £5, £10, £20 and £50 banknotes will feature animals instead of famous historical figures. Goodbye Winston Churchill, Jane Austen, JMW Turner and Alan Turing. Hello hedgehog, barn owl, puffin and bumblebee.Now, we like hedgehogs. Who doesn't? Delightful little creatures. Excellent at eating slugs, although rather less impressive at winning world wars. But why, exactly, are we removing the people who helped make Britain great from the money we use every day?In this episode of Mark and Pete, we explore the extraordinary decision to replace Britain's nati

The Elgin Marbles, the Parthenon sculptures, the British Museum, Greece, cultural ownership, restitution and one of the longest-running arguments in European public life. In this episode of Mark and Pete, we ask the awkward but increasingly unavoidable question: should Britain finally give the Elgin Marbles back to Greece?The debate is back because Greece has renewed its pressure for the return of the Parthenon sculptures, and with a new Prime Minister in Britain there is, inevitably, the suggestion that perhaps this is the moment for a deal. The argument has been running for more than two centuries, which is impressive even by diplomatic standards.The sculptures were removed from the Parthenon in Athens in the early nineteenth century by Lord Elgin, then British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Greece was under Ottoman rule at the time. Elgin claimed permission. Greece has long argued that an occupying power had no moral right to give away part of the country’s most important ancient monument.And that, real

Esther Rantzen, Childline, The Silver Line, That’s Life!, consumer campaigning, British television history and the extraordinary legacy of one of the most recognisable broadcasters of the last half-century. In this episode of Mark and Pete, we look back at the life of Dame Esther Rantzen, not simply as a television personality, though she was certainly that, but as someone who used fame, rather unusually, to make life better for people who were being ignored.Rantzen became a household name through the BBC’s That’s Life!, which mixed consumer complaints, investigative journalism, odd little human-interest stories and, every so often, a dog that appeared able to say “sausages”. It was a very British mixture. Slightly chaotic, occasionally ridiculous, but often surprisingly serious underneath. And that was really the point. The programme made consumer rights feel like something ordinary people could actually understand and act on, rather than a matter for committees, clipboards and somebody in a beige office say

Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory, his return to the White House, an extraordinary first day in office and his ambitions for Greenland. This Mark and Pete compilation revisits the beginning of Trump’s second term and some conversations that sound, listening back, suspiciously like advance notice.We thought we were recording a podcast. Parts of it now sound rather like a trailer.Bringing together episodes recorded around Trump’s second inauguration, we consider what his election victory meant for America and the wider world. What had Americans voted for, exactly? What did Trump want to achieve? And how much of what sounded like campaign theatre was about to become everybody else’s Tuesday?Then came his first day back in office. A quiet introduction, perhaps. Find the stationery, settle into the chair. Apparently there was a different plan. We discuss that eventful opening and what it suggested about the pace, priorities and ambitions of the new Trump administration.And then there’s Greenland. Yes, Greenland

OpenAI may have cracked one of the most famous unsolved problems in mathematics.In this episode of Mark & Pete, we look at the extraordinary claim that an OpenAI research system has solved a 90-year-old problem connected to the Navier–Stokes equations, the equations used to describe how fluids move.That means water, air, blood flow, turbulence, weather systems, aircraft, oceans and quite a lot of the physical world around us.The Navier–Stokes equations themselves are not new. Mathematicians and engineers have used them for generations. The problem was something much deeper: nobody knew whether, in three dimensions, a perfectly smooth fluid flow could eventually develop a singularity, effectively a mathematical blow-up where velocity becomes unbounded in finite time.That question became one of the Clay Mathematics Institute’s famous Millennium Prize Problems, with a $1 million prize attached.OpenAI now says its system has produced a proof showing that such a finite-time singularity can occur under permitte

The people building AI say it could destroy humanity, which is an unusually frank product review.In this episode of Mark and Pete, we ask: Do We Need a Kill Switch, or Just Kill AI? As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful, the argument about AI safety is getting rather harder to dismiss. Sam Altman and other industry leaders have raised serious concerns about where the technology could take us. Donald Trump wants America to win the AI race. British parliamentarians want stronger controls. Meanwhile, the rest of us are trying to work out whether the thing helping us write an email should really be allowed to run anything more consequential.It is a fair question.AI could bring enormous benefits: better medical research, useful discoveries, less tedious work. We use it ourselves. So this is slightly awkward, admittedly. Being pleased that a machine has saved you three hours does not settle the question of who should control it, or what happens when something goes badly wrong.And that is where the kill s

Warren Buffett spent sixty years proving that patience pays, which is awkward news for everyone selling a six-week millionaire course.In this episode of Mark and Pete, we celebrate Warren Buffett’s investment philosophy, his business ethos and the unfashionable possibility that building something worthwhile might take a while. Quite a while, actually. You may need to sit down.As Buffett steps back from leading Berkshire Hathaway, we look at what made the “Oracle of Omaha” so extraordinary. There are the investment returns, obviously. Those rather startling numbers. But behind them sits an approach to business that sounds almost disappointingly sensible: understand what you own, pay a reasonable price, choose people you trust and give good decisions time to work.Then, apparently, resist the temptation to fiddle with everything.We explore Buffett’s relationship with Benjamin Graham, the influential value investor and author of The Intelligent Investor. Graham taught him to look beyond the share price and examin

Here’s the episode 2 description, keeping the JLR story central but widening into the bigger British-industry and net-zero question.Jaguar Land Rover is cutting around 4,000 jobs, trying to save £1.7 billion and facing fierce competition from China, tariffs, rising costs and the lingering effects of a devastating cyberattack. Britain’s biggest carmaker is not going bust. But something is clearly going wrong. citeturn131080news47In this episode of Mark & Pete, we ask: is Jaguar Land Rover running out of road?JLR employs about 43,000 people globally, around 34,000 of them in Britain, and is a hugely important part of UK manufacturing. Yet it now plans to remove nearly 10% of its workforce while lowering the number of vehicles it needs to sell just to break even. At the same time, remarkably, it still intends to invest somewhere between £15 billion and £18 billion over five years in electrification, digital technology and manufacturing. citeturn131080news47Which brings us to the electric elephant in th

Donald Trump is promising Americans a $5,000 payment if Republicans win control of Congress. He calls it a dividend. Critics call it a bribe. And somewhere in the middle sits one of the strangest election promises in recent memory.In this episode of Mark & Pete, we ask whether the proposed $5,000 Trump dividend is actually a reward for American economic success, a spectacular piece of political theatre, or something uncomfortably close to buying goodwill with public money.The numbers are enormous. A payment of $5,000 to every eligible American adult could cost well over a trillion dollars. That immediately raises the obvious question: where does the money come from? Trump points to tariffs, economic growth and increased government revenue, but the sums do not neatly add up. Governments have, admittedly, never regarded that as an insurmountable obstacle.We look at whether the proposal could legally count as bribery. Strictly speaking, probably not. The payment would not depend on how an individual person v

Robotaxis have arrived in London. Uber and British autonomous-driving company Wayve have launched the UK’s first public autonomous ride-hailing service, using specially equipped all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E cars. You can now request an UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort and, if fate is feeling futuristic, a self-driving car may turn up instead.There is, however, one small detail.There is still a driver.For now, each of London’s first robotaxis carries a qualified human safety driver behind the wheel. The initial fleet is tiny, around 15 cars, and passengers can refuse the autonomous option if they would rather be driven by a person with all the usual British motoring qualifications, including muttering at cyclists and becoming unexpectedly theological at roundabouts.Then BBC technology editor Zoe Kleinman tried one.Most of the journey apparently went perfectly well. And then, near the end, a van door suddenly opened into the robotaxi’s path and the human safety driver intervened.Which is, admittedly, no

Victoria Beckham Holdings has finally made a profit. After 18 years of fashion shows, beauty launches, celebrity cachet, private investment, substantial losses and, one assumes, quite a lot of very expensive beige, Victoria Beckham’s fashion and beauty business has posted its first operating profit.And not a tiny one either.For 2025, Victoria Beckham Holdings reported revenue of £129.8 million, up 15 per cent from £112.7 million the year before. Operating profit came in at £7.3 million, compared with a £1.6 million operating loss in 2024. EBITDA rose more than fivefold to £12.1 million. It was also the company’s fifth consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth.So, has Posh finally done it?Well, yes. But there is quite a lot of history sitting behind that £7.3 million.Victoria Beckham launched the label in 2008, debuting her ready-to-wear collection at New York Fashion Week. The beauty arm followed in 2019. For years, though, the business lost money. By 2022 it was reportedly nearly £54 million in debt, w

Keir Starmer resigns as MP, bringing an extraordinary political career to a rather abrupt close. After becoming Labour leader in 2020, winning a huge Commons majority in the 2024 UK general election, becoming Prime Minister and then leaving Downing Street in July 2026, Sir Keir has now decided to leave Parliament as well. So the question rather writes itself: was Keir Starmer Britain’s worst ever Prime Minister?That is the deliberately provocative question Mark and Pete tackle in this episode. Starmer was spectacularly successful at getting Labour into power. He took a party flattened in 2019 and, five years later, put it back in government with 411 MPs. You cannot really call that political incompetence. Yet that 411-seat victory came on only about 34 per cent of the national vote, an enormous parliamentary majority resting on a rather less enormous popular mandate.What happened afterwards, though, is rather more awkward. A premiership of barely two years, collapsing public enthusiasm, internal Labour rebell

Britain’s favourite flowers, the occasions we buy them for, and one extraordinary donation of 17,000 white roses are at the heart of this episode of Mark and Pete. We look at why roses still dominate the British flower market, why flowers matter so much emotionally, and what happens when thousands of perfectly good blooms are rescued from the bin and turned into something useful.Because flowers are odd things, really.We cut them off a living plant, wrap them in paper, hand them to someone we love, and somehow this is understood as tenderness rather than horticultural violence.And yet it works.Roses remain Britain’s favourite flower, with tulips, daffodils and sunflowers also near the top of the list. We send flowers for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, funerals, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, new babies, illness, apologies, thank-yous and, occasionally, simply because someone thought of us. Which means flowers accompany us through almost the whole human story.Birth, love, celebration, sickness, regret and

Why do advertisers use cute animals to sell us everything from toilet roll and insurance to paint, tea and batteries? In this episode of Mark and Pete, we celebrate Britain’s most memorable advertising animals, from the Andrex puppy and Compare the Market meerkats to the Dulux dog, Churchill the bulldog and those slightly unnerving PG Tips chimps.Because there is a principle here. A very successful one.Brands discovered long ago that if the product itself is dull, technical, embarrassing or simply not terribly lovable, attaching a cute animal to it can work wonders. Toilet paper is toilet paper. Insurance comparison websites are not exactly objects of affection. Paint is useful, but few people have ever gazed misty-eyed at a tin of emulsion.Then along comes a Labrador puppy.Suddenly the product feels warm, soft, friendly and familiar.The Andrex puppy first appeared in 1972 and became one of the longest-running advertising mascots in Britain. The Compare the Market meerkats arrived in 2009, built around the ma

Dolly Parton has died at the age of 80, and in this episode of Mark and Pete we pay tribute to one of the most remarkable, successful and strangely universally loved entertainers of the modern age. Singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, philanthropist and owner of rather more rhinestones than most regional theatres could manage between them, Dolly Parton became something far bigger than a country music star.Born into poverty in rural Tennessee as one of 12 children, Dolly went from singing in church and appearing on local radio to becoming one of the biggest names in American music. She wrote thousands of songs, sold more than 100 million records worldwide and gave us classics including Jolene, 9 to 5, Coat of Many Colors and, of course, I Will Always Love You.And that last song alone has quite a story.Dolly wrote I Will Always Love You as a farewell to Porter Wagoner when she left his television show to pursue her own career. Elvis Presley later wanted to record it, but his manager demanded half the pub

Britain’s obesity crisis is getting worse, and the latest figures suggest younger adults are gaining weight faster than ever. According to the King’s Fund, obesity rates in England are now at record levels, with around 30% of adults living with obesity or severe obesity, roughly double the proportion seen in the early 1990s. Among 16 to 24-year-olds, the rise is even more striking. Around 18% are now obese or severely obese, compared with just 6% in 1993.Hence the title of this episode of Mark and Pete: Gross Britannia: Britain Is Getting Fatter.Cheerful stuff.But beneath the slightly rude title sits a serious question. What on earth has happened to us?This is not simply a matter of people becoming greedier, lazier, or somehow morally defective because they have discovered crisps. The environment around food has changed enormously. Ultra-processed food is cheap, convenient, heavily marketed and everywhere. Portion sizes have grown. Delivery apps can now bring a week's worth of calories to the front door b

zE-scooter accidents in Britain are rising sharply, with hundreds of riders and pedestrians suffering serious injuries and hospitals seeing a worrying increase in children hurt while using electric scooters. They are fast, cheap, convenient and now thoroughly woven into city life. They are also, increasingly, a menace on Britain’s streets.In this episode of Mark and Pete, we look at the growing problem of e-scooter injuries, road safety and regulation in the UK, and ask whether it is time riders had to prove they can actually use one before being unleashed upon the rest of us.Recent figures from three major children’s trauma centres in England make grim reading. Between 2019 and 2024, 477 children were treated for e-scooter injuries, with cases rising from fewer than ten in 2019 to nearly 150 in 2024. The average age was just 12. Around a quarter suffered head injuries, almost one in five suffered facial injuries, and fewer than 2 per cent were recorded as wearing helmets.Nationally, the picture is scarcely m

Ferrari’s first electric car has arrived, and the Ferrari Luce is causing exactly the sort of argument you would expect when the most famous maker of roaring petrol-engined supercars decides to plug one into the mains. The new fully electric Ferrari Luce has more than 1,000 horsepower, four electric motors, a top speed of around 192 mph and a claimed range of 329 miles. It will cost about £440,000 in the UK. Which is quite a lot to spend to avoid buying petrol.But even that figure was comprehensively upstaged when the unique Ferrari Luce “Chassis 0” was sold at Monterey Car Week for an astonishing $40 million, around £30 million, setting a world record for a new car sold at auction. The proceeds are going to educational projects through the Ferrari Foundation, so at least somebody has managed to spend £30 million on a car and emerge looking reasonably public spirited.In this episode of Mark and Pete, we ask whether an electric Ferrari can really still be a Ferrari. For generations, the Prancing Horse has mean

Tomato sauce spill, Swaffham traffic, Norfolk news, lorry accidents, road closures and one enormous quantity of ketchup are the unlikely ingredients in this episode of Mark and Pete. Because sometimes the great machinery of world affairs pauses for a moment and Britain gives us the news story we actually need.A truck carrying tomato sauce overturned near Swaffham in Norfolk, spilling its load across the road and leaving emergency services with the sort of clean-up operation nobody quite expects when they start a shift.Yes. A truck load of tomato sauce.There was disruption. There was a road closure. There was an impressive amount of red stuff where red stuff really shouldn't be. And somewhere, presumably, there was a very unhappy person looking at several thousand meals' worth of tomato sauce spreading itself across Norfolk.Naturally, Mark and Pete approach this important breaking story with the journalistic seriousness it deserves.Which isn't very much.We ask whether motorists were able to ketchup