Vine

Zack Polanski, the Green Party Leader, had called Zia Yusuf, of Reform UK, “a fascist” on Question Time on the BBC last week, and he was asked about this on The Jeremy Vine Show

Green Party leader Zack Polanski made a thinly veiled goad at Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf.

The 42-year-old politician, who became leader of the party last month, said he feels the Greens’ popularity has surged recently because, in part, of his honesty and desire to challenge issues. He had clashed with Mr Yusuf, who is Nigel Farage’s top aide, during last week’s Question Time, during which Mr Polanski called the politician “a fascist”.

And Mr Polanski, from Salford, Greater Manchester, was interrogated about this on by Jeremy Vine on his Channel 5 show this week. The Green Party leader said: “The reason why we are surging in the polls and the reason why we are getting so many members is because if something walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I’ll call it a duck, and actually Nigel Farage, when he worked in the European Parliament, used to join forces with the Swedish Democrats.”

He later used the term “far right” in his response to Mr Vine, which led to a furious reaction from fellow panelist Carole Malone on Wednesday. The journalist and columnist said: “How dare you throw words like ‘Nazi’ around? Do you even know what that means? You are just going to let Reform get more votes by talking like that.”

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But Mr Polanski hit back at Ms Malone, describing her response as “faux outrage” and bringing the discussion onto immigration. He made the point he feels there are no “safe and legal routes” for anyone to reach the UK.

The topic came up on The Jeremy Vine Show after Mr Polanski was praised for his work on Question Time last week. He sat alongside the likes of Mr Yusuf, Tory MP Nigel Huddleston and journalist Annabel Denham in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

Audience members applauded Mr Polanski when he accused the Reform politician of “spreading misinformation and fear” during a discussion, sparked by a guest challenging Mr Yusuf not to use the word “immigration” for the whole of the programme.

But Mr Yusuf swiftly declined the challenge, and instead insisted immigration is “the number one issue” in the UK at the moment. The 39-year-old businessman argued there has been “far too much mass immigration in this country” for some time.

Yet, Mr Polanski remained defiant – and continued his approach on The Jeremy Vine Show this week. Mr Vine, who has presented the programme since 2018, said Mr Polanski was “very tough” on Question Time, a stance for which the Green Party politician expressed no regrets. Later on the Channel 5 show, Mr Polanski stressed it is this approach which has led to the continued rise in the polls of the Green Party.

The Jeremy Vine Show was quickly halted on Friday after a caller made a rude and explicit comment to Ann Widdecombe during an intense debate about doctors’ strikes

Channel 5 viewers were left shocked when a caller made inappropriate remarks towards Ann Widdecombe live on the Jeremy Vine show last Friday. The host, Jeremy Vine, was joined by commentators Ann, aged 77, and James Schneider, a former Labour adviser to Jeremy Corbyn.

The panel was discussing the latest doctors’ strikes which began on July 25th. They spoke with a caller named Gregg from Tyne and Wear, who shared that he had previously worked as a junior doctor for five years before leaving the profession to earn five times more at another company.

Gregg stated: “[Being a doctor] is not about the money for me. It’s about the love of the job – it was the hardest decision I had to make. But I have just one thing I need to pose to Ann Widdecombe?”

He then asked: “Hi Ann, how are you?” To which she responded: “How’re you?” Gregg replied: “I’m good thanks for asking. I’m off to work soon but me and a few of the lads at the plant…” At this point, Jeremy interrupted, saying: “Hang on Greg. You’re not going to be rude to Ann. I can just feel the storm coming.”

Ann retorted: “He can be rude to me,” reports the Express. Gregg then made an inappropriate comment, saying: “I was just wondering if she was going to get her t**s out for the lads.”

Jeremy quickly intervened, halting the show and stating: “You see, I saw it coming. The guy’s a clown.” Ann agreed, saying: “You did see it coming.”

“I did see it coming. It’s ridiculous. I could tell,” Jeremy added. “And apologies for the language there. Let’s move on.”

Viewers were left fuming after the inappropriate comment was aired, with many expressing their outrage on social media. One user vented: “Absolutely pathetic. 12-year-old ringing up. Horrible mysogny as well. #jeremyvine.”

Another seethed: “Pathetic man, doing that to Ann. These jokes are so old – he must have the IQ of a 10-year-old to think it’s still funny #jeremyvine.”

A third chimed in: “What a twat! I’m no fan of Ann, but speaking to her like that is disgusting! #jeremyvine.” Jeremy promptly issued an apology live on the show following the incident.

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Ian Dury’s son admitted in an interview that he had lost his driving licence after being reported to the authorities by BBC presenter Jeremy Vine

Cycling champion and BBC star Jeremy Vine caused the son of a British punk rock legend to lose his driving licence after snapping him engaging in a bad habit while behind the wheel, it has emerged.

The son of Ian Dury, Baxter, revealed the embarrassing information while being interviewed on BBC 6 Music by Huw Stephens. He explained that he had been looking at his phone in a traffic jam when Jeremy Vine cycled past and caught him red-handed.

Ian Dury was an innovator in the late 70s and early 80s’ burgeoning punk rock and new wave genres, frequently troubling government censors with countercultural and suggestive imagery, such as in his UK Number One chart topper ‘Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick.’

Baxter Dury has followed in his father’s footsteps. He was driving to his home in West London from producer Paul Epworth’s studio, where they had been working on his latest album, Albarone, when the BBC star recorded him.

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Dury, 53, told Huw Stephens: “Do you know what? This is a tragic story, but I drove there for the first half (of making the record) and then lost my license.”

However, Baxter did not blame Jeremy Vine for reporting him, telling the BBC that he probably deserved it.

Baxter went on to explain: “I got caught in a traffic jam, and Jeremy Vine took a film of me looking at Instagram, which he deserves to, I’m not arguing about (it). “

Realising that Vine could catch him once again, he added: “Shouldn’t probably say that publicly, he’s probably in the other room, isn’t he?”

When the BBC Radio 2 presenter heard that he’d caught Ian Dury’s son red-handed, he shared his love of his father’s work, but did not apologise. He told the Mail: ‘This is very unfortunate. I would like Baxter to know that I love his dad’s music.

‘I’m afraid mobile phone use in cars in London, particularly the posher parts, is an absolute curse. So I am quite tunnel-visioned about it.

‘We have 1700 road deaths a year. Sorry to be serious about it. Best wishes to Baxter.’

Jeremy Vine has recorded countless numbers of drivers flouting road rules over the years, often posting examples on social media to raise awareness of what cyclists face every day. However, last month, he made the surprising decision to stop posting videos after receiving abuse.

The TV presenter has racked up hundreds of millions of views, without making a penny, across various social media platforms, which has also brought with it huge waves of online hate.

He said on X: “I’m stopping my cycling videos. The trolling just got too bad. They have had well over 100 million views but in the end the anger they generate has genuinely upset me.”

Vine also shared the serious death threats made against him for sharing videos of drivers breaking the rules, with online trolls branding him “England’s biggest ***hole” and calling for the Channel 5 debate host to be crushed by a lorry.

After making the decision to quit, the TV star said he would miss the conversations sparked by the videos, which could be about relatively small infractions.

“Some of the biggest videos were actually about the smallest incidents, like someone turning left in front of me,” he said.

“People are happy to discuss it and I actually think that we’d all be safer if we all understood each other. People are going to drive 4x4s in Kensington and whatnot but they need to have a bit of care for me on a bicycle.

“You might be in total control when you pass close by but the person on a bicycle doesn’t know that. I just hope I was part of a dialogue about it.”