The Verdict on the Street: Your views on the hottest topics of the week
Our reporters hit the streets to talk to the public in our major cities across the UK about the news hitting the headlines this week. In this episode, we look at Rishi Sunak's first year as PM, free Covid testing ahead of winter, and is October too early to be thinking about Christmas?
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:11 Welcome to The Verdict on the Street,
00:13 the show that listens to its audience.
00:17 We're going to take some of the hottest topics
00:19 out onto the streets of Britain to ask you
00:21 what you think of them.
00:24 In a world that seems full of experts,
00:26 sometimes it's the opinions of the people on the street
00:29 that really matter.
00:30 So, great British public, it's over to you.
00:34 We send our reporters out into a number of cities across the UK,
00:38 armed only with a camera and a microphone
00:40 to ask simply, what do you think?
00:42 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:47 On this week's agenda, we're asking,
00:50 after one year in the job, how is Rishi Sunak
00:52 faring as prime minister?
00:54 Do you support free COVID testing ahead of winter?
00:58 And is it too early to be thinking about Christmas?
01:01 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:04 Let's start then with Rishi Sunak,
01:06 who's celebrating 365 days as prime minister.
01:11 It all started in the wake of Liz Truss's damaging
01:14 economic madness, and his first weeks
01:16 were dominated by an autumn statement of cancelled tax
01:18 cuts, spending constraint, and grim forecasts
01:22 of rising interest rates and the cost of living crisis.
01:26 Sunak came into office promising to do things differently,
01:29 setting up independent investigations
01:31 into ministers accused of poor behavior.
01:34 But his government was still plagued
01:35 by scandal in its early months, with Gavin Williamson
01:38 and Dominic Raab both stepping down,
01:40 and Nadeem Zahawi being fired over his tax affairs.
01:44 With recent by-election losses and a somewhat shaky party
01:47 conference, Sunak now faces a fractured party
01:50 failing to agree on how the next election should be fought.
01:54 But how do you think he's performing?
01:56 Let's see.
01:56 It's a disaster, an absolute disaster.
02:03 But not because of him, basically.
02:05 It's what happened before him that caused the problem.
02:07 I mean, Boris was a disaster.
02:10 Boris was a joke, in fact.
02:12 And even Keir Starmer.
02:14 I don't know, I just don't rate the guy.
02:16 He walked into a mess which Liz Truss--
02:18 I don't think that was her fault. I think
02:20 he's just a victim of times.
02:22 But I think he's getting there.
02:24 He comes across to me as a very eloquent,
02:29 knows what he's doing.
02:31 Whereas Liz, God bless her, you know,
02:33 it didn't work so well for her.
02:36 I mean, obviously, you had Boris before that.
02:39 Boris was just blustered his way through.
02:40 It speaks for itself, how he'd done it.
02:42 Just horrendous, just atrocious.
02:44 I mean, every time--
02:46 it doesn't matter who it is.
02:47 It's just been awful over the last 10 years, really,
02:50 or since I started getting into politics.
02:51 They'll easy win, but they'll be left in a big desert,
02:53 again, like they always have been, haven't they?
02:56 Big death, HS2.
02:58 And who's going to make it up?
02:59 It's all Labour.
02:59 Get the blame, don't it?
03:00 It's all up there, don't it?
03:02 It's OK.
03:04 I mean, time will tell.
03:06 I don't-- I'm keeping an open mind about it.
03:11 He's still got over 12 months before he
03:13 has to have an election.
03:14 So we'll see.
03:17 But at the moment, 50-50 at the moment, I think.
03:22 He has reduced high speed 2 to a railway line between two places
03:30 of no great importance.
03:32 He's absolutely rotten.
03:33 He feels like an interim manager.
03:35 To be honest, I think, I don't know, the last--
03:37 was it 20 years he's been rotten?
03:39 I think he's just slowly--
03:40 made him slowly, rapidly get downhill over the last eight
03:42 years.
03:43 And that's me.
03:44 I live in Scotland.
03:44 I live in England.
03:45 And it's terrible, bad, bad, bad.
03:47 He's absolutely hopeless.
03:50 He's too soft.
03:52 He just talks rhetoric.
03:54 And things don't get done.
03:57 He just says things.
03:59 And you know what?
04:00 Then the next week, he says something else.
04:02 I don't think much of him.
04:04 But is he doing worse than Boris Johnson?
04:08 I don't think he's as bad as Boris Johnson,
04:10 but he's no good either.
04:12 No good either.
04:13 I don't think he's thinking and focusing on the right things.
04:16 Like, it's important to raise the age of smoking.
04:19 I get that.
04:20 You know, I've been going decades and decades,
04:22 and they're all the same.
04:24 You just take no notice of them, really.
04:26 They say one thing and do another, or do nothing.
04:29 He's just trying his best.
04:30 He's trying his best.
04:32 A lot of difficult things to do.
04:33 But I'm not sure he'll do well in the election next year.
04:39 I just like the way he talks, and what he's going to do,
04:44 and things like that.
04:45 Yeah, he's quite nice.
04:46 I don't know about the other one,
04:48 because I don't think he's been--
04:51 well, he's not in power, but I don't think
04:54 he's been around much myself.
04:55 I don't know if he'd be able to project himself.
05:00 I mean, I may be wrong.
05:01 To health matters now, and as winter approaches,
05:08 pressure on an already under-strained NHS
05:10 is becoming a real concern.
05:13 Many of the testing programmes that
05:14 were in place at the height of the pandemic
05:16 have now been wound down, and a new variant
05:18 has been detected in a number of countries around the world.
05:22 So should we reintroduce free testing
05:24 to avoid any new restrictions over the winter months?
05:27 What?
05:30 You mean the kits?
05:31 Yeah, the paper kits.
05:32 Yeah, yeah.
05:33 I'm definitely into seeing free testing again.
05:35 I didn't know you had to pay for them at the moment.
05:38 I've still got a kit from when it was free.
05:41 I'm quite unsure with that, yes or no.
05:43 It depends on the individual.
05:45 It depends if they're comfortable doing that.
05:47 So it varies from case by case for me.
05:50 Whilst free, there were so many other things that were free
05:53 or money spent very unwisely by the government of the day.
05:59 So why not make it free?
06:02 You can still restrict the number of kits
06:05 that you give out to people.
06:07 Pirola is the latest mutation of the Omicron COVID variant
06:10 that cropped up in the summer.
06:12 It's been detected in 15 countries,
06:14 including France, Spain, Portugal, and Germany so far.
06:18 Its appearance comes as here in Britain,
06:20 we've seen more than 100,000 new cases of COVID
06:23 as of the 10th of September, according to the ZOE Health
06:26 study.
06:27 Are you concerned about the rising figures
06:29 ahead of the challenging winter months?
06:31 I think that for it being free, I
06:33 would think that would be the best course of action.
06:36 Because a lot of people will just go,
06:38 and they just won't spend the money on the tests.
06:40 And so they could be going out, and they just
06:42 won't care enough to test to see whether or not
06:44 they have it.
06:45 Yes, 1 billion percent public health is in the toilet.
06:50 If we start to get any more restrictions,
06:52 it's going to be very, very dodgy for the economy.
06:55 It's already massively, like, only alive
06:59 with, what, was it 20 billion the United States printed
07:03 within six months, which was more money than it's ever
07:05 been in that economy.
07:06 It's really scary to think that we'll have
07:09 to prop things up even more.
07:11 Unless there's evidence to show that the vaccine
07:14 has become ineffective for some reason,
07:17 then I don't think any more restrictions
07:20 should be brought in.
07:20 Definitely.
07:21 And I've got no idea what's happening
07:23 about vaccines this winter.
07:24 So it's all very uncertain at the moment.
07:27 Is COVID something you're kind of worried about?
07:30 Yes, very definitely.
07:31 Because I'm caring for somebody with an incurable brain cancer.
07:35 He's got compromised immune system.
07:38 So yeah, it is a worry.
07:40 Not that long ago, I was really ill.
07:42 And I had to cancel on a mate, and he says, have you got COVID?
07:47 And I've got a one-year-old baby.
07:49 I haven't watched the news in months.
07:50 So I've got no idea that it's rife again.
07:53 But I couldn't get a test at the time
07:57 because, obviously, I wanted to protect my family from myself
08:00 if I did have something like that.
08:03 So yeah, available free testing would be great.
08:07 I think if you charge for testing anyway,
08:10 there are some people that just basically can't afford that.
08:16 I don't know how much the cost would be.
08:20 But yeah, if it was free, I think
08:23 more people would be likely to take up on the offer.
08:27 Now then, a simple question for the month of October.
08:33 Is it too early to be thinking about Christmas?
08:36 It might be the most wonderful time of the year,
08:38 but some stores have angered shoppers
08:40 by putting Christmas goods out as soon as August,
08:43 even before their Halloween items.
08:47 So is it acceptable to get cracking
08:48 with the festivities, lights, and decorations already?
08:51 Or are you sick of the sight of it before it's even begun?
08:54 Way too early.
08:58 I think about a month ago, I saw the first sort
09:00 of Christmasy stuff in a supermarket.
09:03 In fact, I took a photograph and said,
09:05 what the hell is this?
09:07 Well, unless it's a bargain, unless it's on a 50%,
09:10 60% sell, then yeah, it's not too early.
09:13 I mean, I used to work at retail, so I know--
09:15 I worked in John Lewis, and the Twinkies stuff
09:19 was always in by the end of September.
09:21 I think if people want to spread their shopping out,
09:23 that's fine.
09:23 I don't do a lot of shopping anyway,
09:24 but I'm a miserable person.
09:26 But no, I think if it helps people, it helps people, yeah.
09:29 And people have already got their Christmas cards out,
09:31 wrapping paper.
09:33 End of November will be fine.
09:37 I mean, we've not even had Halloween.
09:40 So if we haven't--
09:42 so as we've not had Halloween, then get that out of the way
09:47 first, and then think of Christmas.
09:50 Yes, I think so.
09:51 Yes, it's in my mind, but I won't go and buy anything yet.
09:55 Maybe October.
09:56 Obviously, all the retailers have started
09:58 stocking the shelves.
09:59 There's stuff happening.
10:00 It's too soon.
10:01 Well, I'd like to look at it, but I can't bring myself
10:04 to buy anything just yet.
10:05 It's got to be-- well, it can't be warm like this.
10:07 It's got to be colder, yeah.
10:10 Yeah, it is early.
10:11 It is early, because things can change.
10:12 People's habits-- people's wants can change, can't they?
10:16 But you can understand.
10:17 It's a money spinner, isn't it?
10:19 Yes, too early, yes.
10:21 We haven't even had Halloween yet.
10:25 When do you recommend you start, then?
10:28 Oh, I'd say probably the middle of November,
10:31 and maybe after Guy Fawkes night.
10:35 Don't ask me that one.
10:37 I'm in charge of Christmas shopping.
10:39 I just stand well back and let that course, let it
10:42 take its natural course.
10:45 But yes, October I start.
10:47 I'd still point you in the other hand.
10:49 That's-- yeah, why do you start so early?
10:52 Because there are some--
10:54 I like to get the advent calendar type gifts,
11:01 you know, that the perfume companies bring out.
11:05 And you have to get those quite early.
11:07 Never too early.
11:08 I feel like the earlier you start,
11:09 the better deals you get.
11:10 At Christmas time, they increase everything.
11:12 So I don't think it's too early.
11:13 It's good to start getting little bits here and there
11:15 when you can.
11:16 The closer you get to Christmas, I
11:17 think that the more expensive things get.
11:19 And the less time you have to think hard
11:22 about what people want or what you think suits people.
11:25 So I just like to get it done and out the way.
11:27 I have not started yet.
11:29 I normally do in like November.
11:33 Because I just--
11:34 I don't know what to buy.
11:35 Like, you never know.
11:36 So I just leave it a bit last minute.
11:39 Yes, it's too early to ever start Christmas shopping.
11:43 Couldn't say.
11:44 Yeah.
11:46 Yeah.
11:47 When will you be doing yours?
11:50 Five minutes before Christmas.
11:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:56 (upbeat music)