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Speaker 1: Gavin Gray is a UK correspondent, given good evening to

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Speaker 1: you guy there. Now we've had a call between Donald

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Speaker 1: Trump and Posen which has not been as successful as

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Speaker 1: a a lot many would have hoped. How is Europe

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Speaker 1: reacting to it?

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Speaker 2: Well? I think yeah, good news is as short supply

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Speaker 2: as most sit things really aren't they at the moment.

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Speaker 2: But I'm afraid that the news hasn't gone down well.

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Speaker 2: Many perceive that Russia is gaining in the upper hand

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Speaker 2: in these negotiations. Certainly the US side has not got

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Speaker 2: out of this most recent phone call. What they were

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Speaker 2: hoping to announce a general ceasefar is not happening. Only

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Speaker 2: this cease far on attacking power plants and energy related sites.

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Speaker 2: And I think across Europe there is this growing feeling

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Speaker 2: that perhaps Donald Trump doesn't realize he's being played by

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Speaker 2: a man who frankly doesn't care very much about keeping

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Speaker 2: this going for a long time, to make it very

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Speaker 2: uncomfortable for Europe, to make it uncomfortable for America, and

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Speaker 2: hoping that he gets quite a lot of land and

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Speaker 2: rare minerals out of Ukraine, not really caring too much

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Speaker 2: about the loss of life. So we've had a meeting

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Speaker 2: in Berlin with the French President Emmanuel Macron and the

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Speaker 2: German Chancellor Olaf Schultz, and they are saying that this

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Speaker 2: limited ceasefire plan is an important first step, but both

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Speaker 2: are saying we need a complete ceasefire. What is the

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Speaker 2: problem with that. The British Prime Minister Sekirstarma has spoken

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Speaker 2: to Vladimir Zelenski of Ukraine and reiterated the government's on

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Speaker 2: wavering support. So I think lots of people thinking, okay,

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Speaker 2: well that's a start. It's not what I think the

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Speaker 2: American President was hoping to announce, but let's see where

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Speaker 2: this next meeting goes in a few days time.

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Speaker 1: And on the issue of work well beneficiaries being paid

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Speaker 1: for not working, this has obviously been something that's been

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Speaker 1: rumbling along for a couple of weeks now, but the

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Speaker 1: government refusing to rule out further cuts to benefits.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so Ron, I mean, for those who haven't heard,

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Speaker 2: in the UK, we have more than four million people

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Speaker 2: signed off from work with either physical and or mental

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Speaker 2: health conditions. It currently costs roughly one hundred and forty

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Speaker 2: billion New Zealand dollars a year in benefits, and that

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Speaker 2: is said to be rising within five years to more

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Speaker 2: than two hundred and twenty billion New Zealand dollars years.

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Speaker 2: It is quite unsustainable, and yesterday the government announced cuts

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Speaker 2: equating to about eleven billion. They've tightened on the eligibility

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Speaker 2: of getting these disability related benefits. They've also cut some

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Speaker 2: of the amount of the benefits. And yet people have

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Speaker 2: immediately turned around and said, well, first of all, some

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Speaker 2: groups representing charities said this is immoral and devastating. But

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Speaker 2: on the other side there are people saying this doesn't

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Speaker 2: go far enough. The total bill, as I said, could

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Speaker 2: be up to two hundred twenty billion New Zealand dollars

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Speaker 2: in five years, so five billion is a bit of

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Speaker 2: a drop in the ocean. But the government being us, look,

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Speaker 2: with the growth target not being reached in the UK

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Speaker 2: and the need to tighten the belts even further, are

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Speaker 2: you going to need to cut more? And the government

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Speaker 2: not giving a direct answer to that, but certainly they

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Speaker 2: are admitting this is painful. They are admitting many of

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Speaker 2: their own MPs don't like it, but they do have

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Speaker 2: a big majority and many of those are on side

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Speaker 2: with the Prime Minister.

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Speaker 1: Now we know that inflation, the CPI is calculated using

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Speaker 1: a basket of goods. In the UK, the statisticians are

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Speaker 1: going to change what's in the basket, what's in, what's out.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is fascinating as to what they now consider

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Speaker 2: is not relevant and what is. There's a basket of

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Speaker 2: seven hundred and fifty two items and the Office of

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Speaker 2: National Statistics, a government body, collects the costs of these

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Speaker 2: products and services across different retailers to come up with

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Speaker 2: monthly inflation figures. So what we have now lost are

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Speaker 2: basically turkey mints is one thing that's been removed. Another

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Speaker 2: thing is advertising in a newspaper has been removed, and

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Speaker 2: another thing is DVD rentals. I mean, gosh, I was

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Speaker 2: surprised to see that still in the list. But we

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Speaker 2: have added yoga mats I know, and virtual reality headsets

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Speaker 2: have both been added to the list this year. It

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Speaker 2: is quite extraordinary to see who comes up with these things.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, the spending on virtual reality headsets has written

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Speaker 2: massively and now stands at well over a billion New

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Speaker 2: Zealand dollars as we look into twenty twenty six. Is

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Speaker 2: the expectation and exercise mats not only used for yoga,

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Speaker 2: but other times of home workouts home gyms as well,

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Speaker 2: so men's sliders or pool sandals have been added. Pulled

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Speaker 2: Pork has already substituted an other and ready Gammon joint.

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Speaker 2: Mango is added to the selection of fruits. Cushions are

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Speaker 2: into bolster, the soft lounge, furnishing side of things and

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Speaker 2: what I Love. Though we didn't see any return ees

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Speaker 2: so Vinyl records were out of the list about thirty

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Speaker 2: years ago. Last year they came back in after the

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Speaker 2: sudden boom of young people in particular wanting to listen

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Speaker 2: to new music on vinyl.

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Speaker 1: Goodness, mate, fascinating stuff, Gavin, thank you very much for that.

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Speaker 1: Gavin Grande are UK europe correspondent, Yoga Mets, Men's Sliders

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Speaker 1: and Paul Pork of all thanks.

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Speaker 2: For more from Hither duplessy Alan Drive.

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