7/6 - Inside Amazon's Warehouse

‘There were rules that you couldn’t not break, if you wanted to keep your job’

Demeaning, poorly paid and tedious: life as an Order Picker in Amazon’s ‘fulfilment centre’ in Rugeley, Staffordshire was a draining, revelatory ordeal for writer James Bloodworth, who worked there undercover in 2016.

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In this enlightening interview with Olly, he reveals how being an ‘associate’ in Amazon’s warehouse meant enduring ten-hour shifts, tethered to an electronic device, walking up to fifteen miles per day; treated with suspicion, and effectively paid under the minimum wage.

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James’s book, Hired: Six Months Undercover In Low-Wage Britain is out now.

In this week’s Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart has news of the return of the mullet, is concerned with how smartphone photography is corrupting our memories - and triumphantly answers his challenge to spend £100 on displaying his face somewhere impressive… in Slough.

Meanwhile, down The Foxhole, Alix Fox explains why the law needs to change regarding ‘upskirting’, how your beard could carry an STI, and advises a listener seeking stealthy, quiet ‘battery-operated boyfriends’.

The Foxhole is sponsored by our friends at MyCondom.com - visit their website now for an astonishing range of toys and products, and get 15% Off when you use our code, ‘Foxhole’.

If you have a question of sex for next week’s show, or a challenge for Ollie Peart to try, don’t hesitate to reach out via our Feedback form.

Elsewhere, in this week’s Lifehack, Jessica Cerasi, curator of the Government Art Collection, offers up her Top 3 tips on how to get the most out of a visit to an art exhibition: read up, bring a friend, and spend longer than you think you want to actually looking at the art! Jessica’s book, Who's Afraid of Contemporary Art?, is out now.

Finally, our record of the week is Beware The Beast by Carpenter Brut,  available to stream now:

Enjoy the show? Support the show! Buy us a beer, review us on iTunes, donate via PayPal, submit an idea for a future episode or just tell your friends about us on social media… we really appreciate it.

See You Next Tuesday!

5/4 - Anatomy of a Music Festival

‘You’re creating a City in the middle of the country’

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From Glastonbury to The End Of The Road, Summer festivals continue to colonise the countryside. But how do people pull together such enormous events year after year?

In our 2017 Summer Festivals Special, Olly meets Pete Lawrence, co-founder of The Big Chill, which went from being a low-key ‘festival in a club’ for 150 people in Islington to an massive outdoor happening, taking over huge venues across Britain, with acts including Lily Allen, The Proclaimers, Basement Jaxx, and Leonard Cohen.

How do you choose the perfect location for your booming event? How can you maintain a counter-culture ethos whilst wooing corporate sponsors? And how can you keep the Police on-side when so many attendees are doing drugs? Pete - now founder of campfireconvention.uk - reveals all...

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Meanwhile, in this week’s Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart - fresh from sitting near Kate Adie at a train station - previews some Summer festivals you’ve never heard of, but should get tickets for NOW. In his top three are G!, in the Faroe Islands; the Archstoyanie Land Art Festival, 200 km southwest of Moscow; and, closer to home, the Brainchild festival, a ‘DIY and volunteer-led festival’ in East Sussex. Also, he explains why every festivalgoer needs a BioLite camping stove and Minipresso portable espresso machine, and receives an exciting invitation to Camp Bestival as part of his quest to become a true trends insider.

Elsewhere, Alix Fox brings news of sex festival Swingfields in this week’s Foxhole, and has a surprising suggested use for Original Source Mint and Tea Tree shower gel. She also tackles another prickly listener question - this week, how to speed up ejaculation when trying to conceive a child within your partner’s most fertile window of conception.

The Foxhole is sponsored by the sex legends who created mycondom.com. They stock all you need for festive fumble in a tent - including the cooling condoms Alix highlights this week. Remember to use our discount code ‘FOXHOLE’ to receive a bewildering 15% off.

If you have a question of sex for a future edition, do get in touch via our Feedback form - you can remain completely anonymous if you wish.

Finally, our song of the week is by brand new outfit Videocean. They sent us their debut track, ‘Fruitless Fever’, and we loved it. It’s out now on uber-cool underground imprint Bon Nudity:

If you enjoy this week's show, please do support us and buy us a beer, write us a review on iTunes, or simply tell your friends about us.

See You Next Tuesday!

4/8 - Having The Last Word

"You’re not dealing with death, but celebrating life"

From David Bowie to George Michael, celebrity deaths are becoming increasingly common, as the rock generation reaches retirement age. How does a paper of record go about documenting their lives?

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Simon Pearson is Obituaries Editor of The Times, and in this interview he explains how profiles of the great and the good are created - ready to be published the moment a notable name pops their clogs - and how lesser-known figures also find their way on to the paper’s illustrious pages...

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Elsewhere, Ollie Peart brings us news of meme warfare, holographic phones and animated April Fools pranks in this week’s Zeitgeist.

Meanwhile, down The Foxhole, Alix Fox is angry about ‘the world’s first smart condom’, and tackles one of the most popular questions to grace our mailbag: what do you do when your sex drive vastly exceeds that of your partner?

The Foxhole is brought to you by our friends at mycondom.com. Use the code ‘FOXHOLE’ at Checkout to get an astonishing 15% OFF!

And, in our new feature The Lifehack, Great British Bake Off winner Edd Kimber reveals his baking tips, courtesy of Squarespace. If you want to build yourself a beautiful website, simply visit Squarespace.com and use the code to 'MANN' to get 10% OFF a year's subscription.

Finally, our record of the week is ‘Lava’ by Tender Central, available to stream now thanks to Boom Ting Recordings:

We'll be back with something very similar next week - but in the meantime, if you'd like to buy us a beer, write us a review on iTunes, or send Alix your sex question, that would all be very much appreciated.

See You Next Tuesday!