English Addict Ep 367 -🔴LIVE stream / Sunday 18th May 2025 / Join the LIVE Chat & Learn English

We are having a lovely day today.

The sun is out.

Everything is ever so nice.

It is English addict once more coming to you.

Live and direct from the birthplace of the English language. We all know where it is.

Come on, Mr. Duncan. Stop talking. Get on with it.

What do you want?

To watch your lovely, lovely live stream coming live from.

Oh my goodness, it's England.

It's.

So much to do today.

A lot of things we have to do today.

It is a busy one. It is also a hot one as well.

We have a round 18 or even

20 Celsius right now in England.

For us,

that is very warm, by the way.

Hi everybody. This is Mr. Duncan in England.

How are you today?

Are you okay? I hope so. Are you feeling happy?

Are you happy today? On this Sunday,

the 18th of May,

ten days before we meet up in Paris.

Ten days?

Well, it's ten days until I go to Paris with Mr.

Steve.

But of course, we are meeting on the 1st of June together.

Everyone is meeting up.

When I say everyone, I don't mean everyone.

But some of you will be meeting myself and Mr.

Steve on the 1st of June.

We are getting together in Paris.

I can't wait, I have to say I am really excited about meeting up with you.

I really can't wait. I can't wait Mr. Steve can't wait.

I have a feeling you also can't wait as well.

Sadly, we have to wait.

We have no choice.

We cannot make time go any faster.

Excuse me.

Mr. Duncan, what are you doing?

Are you wearing lipstick? No, this is not lipstick.

This is something to keep my lips soft

and smooth so I can speak to you in a nice, clear way.

Here we are, then. It's lovely to be with you. I are, Mr. Duncan.

I talk about the English language.

I've been doing this for quite a long time.

Five minutes? No, five days.

Definitely not five months. No.

You are nowhere near trying.

19 years and you might be near.

It will be 19 years this year that I've been doing this.

I still can't quite believe it, but I have been here for a very long time,

and I plan to continue doing this for a very, very, very long time into the future.

Lovely to have you here today. A lot of things to talk about. Of course we do have him.

The man will be with us.

Mr. Steve will be joining us a little bit later on in around about 2:30.

He's been so busy over the past two days because the weather is so beautiful.

We've had such lovely weather.

And by the way, did you see my live stream last week as well?

I was taking a lovely walk and showing you some of the beautiful scenery around here in the place in which I live.

This guy will be with us at around about 2:30.

He's been such a busy bee over the past couple of days, and he also is very excited.

Mr. Steve will be with us.

We are both

joining some of you in Paris on the 1st of June.

That is happening.

Well, I would say it is happening two weeks from today.

Oh my goodness, two weeks from today we will be in Paris

meeting up with some of you. I can't wait.

And of course if you can't be there, if you can't get there, it's okay because we will be streaming the whole thing live, as well.

Hello to the live stream. Lovely to see you.

Who was first?

Oh. Very interesting.

Beatrice.

Congratulations to you.

It just so happens that we are meeting up with you in Paris.

We are looking forward to it.

It should be okay.

Although I did hear from Louis this morning.

He sent me a message to say there is a big football match taking place on the 31st of May, and I think it's between

France and I can't remember who else it is.

I think it might be Milan, I might be wrong.

So there is a big football match taking place the day before.

We have our live rendezvous, so that should be very interesting.

If Paris win, because apparently that is the team that is playing the French team, the Paris team.

You can tell that I don't know much about football.

I am revealing my ignorance of the game of football, but if they win, I would imagine

there will be a lot of people out and about in the streets the following day, so that should be very interesting.

Very interesting indeed.

We are hoping to do some lovely sightseeing as well.

We will be visiting a couple of places.

I want to go and see the Monet exhibition at the orangery.

I am looking forward to seeing that very much.

One of my one of my things on my list of things that I would like to do before I sniff it.

To be honest with you,

Mr. Steve is coming up.

We are talking about criticism in a few moments from now.

Criticism. Mr.

Duncan, do you ever get criticised for things?

I know I get a lot

of criticism

from people, mostly from Mr.

Steve.

He is my biggest critic.

Well, we will be looking at that in a few moments from now.

What else are we doing today?

We are looking at well, we will be playing the game, by the way.

Guess the picture idiom that also is coming up a little bit later on as well.

Also, we are talking about bargain shops, shops where you can go in and buy lots and lots of things for a very low price.

We have them here and we will be talking about those a little bit later on.

As well.

We also have a very interesting phrase that we are going to talk about.

What does it mean? If you dig the dirt,

dig the dirt, what does it mean and what is it all about?

Find out a little bit later on.

Also, we have nature.

We have an animal that is lost and lonely.

We also have an animal that keeps coming into the garden on a very regular basis at the moment.

All of that coming up today, I told you it was going to be a busy one, didn't I?

As I mentioned, we are in Paris. We will be there.

And as a way of getting me in the mood and hopefully you in the mood

for a little bit of tete a tete.

I cannot wait for the day when we meet up in Paris.

It should be a lot of fun.

I can't wait, I really can't.

It's going to be so much fun.

We are going to have a super duper time, and we will be getting together on the 1st of June and the City of Romance.

Apparently,

according to a lot of people who like to have a little kiss and a little by the same.

I wonder how many people go to Paris for their honeymoon.

I would imagine a lot of people who get married will go on holiday to a place

that is romantic, and I would imagine one of those places would be Paris, or maybe Rome.

I think Rome is another popular choice.

If you get married and maybe you want to spend a little bit of time with your new partner. Oh,

ooh la la.

As they say in France, the live chat is very busy.

We have Vitus. Hello.

We have you.

Nene. Hello.

You, Nene, it's nice to see you here today.

I haven't seen your name before.

Is it your first time or have you been here before?

Maybe it is not your first time.

We also have Vvip Lee. Hello. Vvip, nice to see you here as well.

A lot of people asking Mr. Duncan.

What is that on your shoulder?

This? You mean this? This?

Why are you so nosy?

You are so nosy.

You are always asking questions.

This is an item of clothing

that you have probably seen already in one of my recent lessons.

But you will be seeing a lot of it next week because I am making a full length lesson.

I used to make very long lessons, almost like mini movies, little movies.

So I've been making one of those.

And in that movie lesson

I've been wearing this shirt.

But this is no ordinary shirt.

First of all, it doesn't belong to me.

It's actually Mr. Steve's shirt. Also,

if I told you that this shirt is almost.

40 years old.

40 years old. This shirt.

And yet it still looks rather nice.

Would you like me to model it?

Because I used to be a model

in my dreams.

Oh, yes. I like this.

Do you know what? I might wear this in Paris.

I think the Parisians will really like this.

Look at that.

Oh. Fancy pants, Mr. Duncan.

Fancy pants.

I think this type of shirt.

Has a name.

This particular design is called paisley.

It is a paisley design.

It reminds me a little bit of those magic eyes.

Do you remember Magic Eyes? Many years ago? They used to have magic eyes.

And they were paintings or pictures that you would look at, and they would reveal an image hidden within it.

Well, this shirt reminds me

of a magic eye.

It really does.

It's lovely, isn't it? Very nice.

And this shirt,

it must be very good quality.

That's all I can say. I think it's very good quality because

it is nearly 40 years old and it still looks quite nice, even though I think maybe there are a couple of buttons missing.

And you know what happens when you have a favourite item of clothing?

Quite often it will wear out very quickly,

but I think this is quite a nice shirt and I haven't worn this for ages, so that's the reason why I decided to wear it.

Oh, do.

I might wear this in Paris.

We will see what happens.

So for those wondering what is that thing on your shoulder?

That thing is this shirt,

which I'm now having difficulty taking off.

There it is.

Will I wear this in Paris?

We will have to wait and see.

Mr. Steve will be with us in a round ten minutes from now.

Francesco says it looks like the type of shirt that a hippie would wear.

Do we still have hippies

in the 1950s, late 50s, 1960s

hippies were everywhere.

They were often referred to as beatniks in this country.

So here in the UK, we used to call them beatniks.

A beatnik is a hippie.

In the USA they had hippies.

Quite often they would be, I suppose, their political view would be more towards the left of politics,

and quite often they would get involved with protests and anything connected to social justice.

I suppose. Hippies. I don't think we have hippies anymore.

There might be 1 or 2 in politics, but I don't know.

I don't know if there are still hippies around.

If you don't know what a hippie is, I'll look it up on the internet.

I'm sure they will tell you all about it.

Talking of Europe, because we are meeting up in Paris, the Eurovision Song Contest took place last night.

Oh my goodness.

I am one of those people who is so old.

I remember when the Eurovision Song Contest was just about songs,

funny songs.

See, I remember puppet on a string.

Puppet on a string was a song that would the Eurovision Song Contest a long time ago.

I'm just a puppet on the string.

Something like that.

Anyway, I can't remember how it goes, but it was a big song way back.

But nowadays, of course, all of the politics,

as you might say it, has contaminated everything we do.

It's very hard to do anything nowadays without politics being in there somewhere, spoiling the whole thing.

I have to say, it does seem a little bit sad that that happens, but

who won? By the way? I can't remember who won.

Who won the Eurovision Song Contest?

I don't even know.

I didn't watch it.

You see,

I'm sure someone will tell me.

I know who didn't win.

I know we didn't win.

I'm definitely sure that we did not win.

In fact, I don't think we got any votes midway through the telephone voting.

I don't think we got any votes.

I wonder why why, why are we so unpopular?

I don't know why.

I have no idea what could be happening.

Apparently Austria

were the winners of this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Austria. Thank you for telling me, everyone. That's lovely.

Now I know.

Are you a person who enjoys criticism?

I think these days we do live in an age where people are more likely

to criticise other people.

In fact, there are many people nowadays who make a lot of money from simply criticising other people.

And I think it is an interesting word to criticise, to be a critic,

criticise and of course criticism.

The word critic derives from the Greek and means skilled judge.

It is worth noting that a person can be self-critical sometimes.

It is an interesting word,

the action of putting forward an objection or expressing the thought of a person or group is to criticise,

to be critical,

to be a critic, a person who criticises another person or a group of people is often referred to as a critic.

A person who criticises other people.

It is a common action.

The thing said, is criticism.

It is the thing being put forward as a thought or a mistake.

So quite often when you criticise someone, you are expressing your own opinion

about that person or that thing or that group.

You are finding fault

with, that person you are talking about, or expressing the things that are not good or things you are dissatisfied with.

For example, you might say to someone, you are not working as hard as you used to.

Maybe your boss is unhappy with your work.

He might criticise your work because you are not working as hard as you used to.

So that is a type of criticism.

This painting could have been done by a child of five, so perhaps one of your friends decides to take up a hobby.

Maybe they they want to start painting pictures.

And they show one of their pictures to you.

One of their beautiful paintings.

But you don't like it, so you criticise it.

You say things against that particular thing, and I suppose also against the person who painted it.

So you might say, oh, this painting, it's not very good.

It could have been done by a child of five, a child

could have painted that picture.

That is a type of criticism.

We might also describe it as unfair criticism.

Maybe you are being very unfair or unkind about it as well.

So sometimes criticism is just a way of being mean and horrible to another person.

The person doing the criticising is often referred to as a critic.

The critic is the person doing the criticising.

A social commentator might also be described as a critic.

Let's face it.

Have you noticed these days it would appear that everyone is now a social commentator?

If you have a computer and the keyboard,

you two can become a social commentator and they do seem to be everywhere at the moment.

A person who criticises might also be described as a social commentator.

They are making comments about society and the way in which we live.

Sometimes the things said, not just

I will explain what we mean there.

If something is not just it means it is not fair.

The thing being said is unfair.

It is not just it is cruel. It is unfair.

They are often seen as unfair criticism.

So sometimes if you criticise another person,

sometimes it can appear as if you're being cruel

and mean to be too harsh or make unreasonable remarks towards

someone might be seen as unfair criticism.

Criticism, of course, can also be useful.

I think sometimes it is a good thing to criticise

other people

and the way they do things.

So sometimes criticism, criticising, making comments about something

can be useful.

It can be useful as a way of making sure something is done correctly and within the rules.

We often describe it as constructive criticism,

criticism that has been thought about criticism.

It is helpful.

It is possible to criticise another person and help them at the same time.

It is possible. Sometimes we describe it as useful criticism

or valuable criticism.

This happens to me a lot, by the way.

I remember when I first started making my YouTube videos a long, long time ago.

A lot of people used to criticise me.

They used to say some very mean and unfair things.

So it does happen quite a lot.

What about you?

Do you like being criticised?

Have you ever criticised another person?

I would say that it is fair that

a lot of people do not enjoy criticism.

They do not like being criticised at all.

Talking of which, here is a guy who loves to criticise everything Mr.

Steve will be with us in a few moments from now.

Yes, he is here today.

Mr. Steve will be joining us in the studio.

We are talking about discount shops, shops that you can go into and buy lots and lots of things for a very low price.

Also, we will be looking at the phrase digging the dirt.

What does that mean?

Find out in a few moments from now right here on English Addict.

Don't go away.

You do.

English addict is with you on a Sunday afternoon.

Mr. Steve is coming soon.

I'm a big boy now.

As it says on the screen, English addict is with you today.

Coming up at the moment. Yes.

He will be with us.

I really have to clean my studio.

I do,

I I'm very aware that I am surrounded by dust.

I don't know why there is dust everywhere in my studio,

all over my monitors, all over my table.

There are cobwebs all around me.

And I have a feeling Mr.

Steve might be angry about that because he does not like cobwebs.

Because where there are cobwebs, there are normally spiders.

And Mr.

Steve does not like those spiders.

They get everywhere. Here he is. Then it is the one, the only.

He is loved by everyone. Well

almost everyone.

It's Mr. Steve

and now everyone.

And may I add my welcome to what is a gorgeous day here in the UK.

To all you beautiful, wonderful viewers from across the globe,

we have had an unprecedented period of good weather.

You've probably mentioned this, Mr. Duncan.

We've had something like, oh, a month, at least three weeks of rain and Surrey of sun.

We've had three weeks of constant sun, at least every day, hardly a break.

And, I know friends that have been on holiday to Spain, to Portugal,

to all over the world, and they've come back and they said the weather was better here.

Yeah, that's very, very unusual

because normally we are renowned for having lots of rain, but not at the moment.

And so I've been able to get out in the garden.

Mr. Duncan has been able to do lots of filming outdoors for new lessons for you, all of which I'm sure you've noticed.

Yes, working very hard, traipsing across fields, climbing over

fields.

Okay, Steve, I waterfalls. Are you okay? I don't know what you're about there.

You've been making a lot of effort.

I have to make your new lesson. Can I just say you are actually right there? Steve, I have been.

I don't think I've been so busy as I as I have in a very long time.

If you were wondering what was going on, then I haven't put the microphone next to Mr.

Steve.

And I realised at the very last moment.

So, Steve, can you do something for me?

Can can you just hold on for a second?

I'm going to play something and then I will, I will adjust Mr.

Steve's microphone, because it is nowhere near the place where it should be doing it deliberately.

Deliberately.

'm almost certain no one noticed that.

I don't think anyone noticed.

Do you think they noticed? Steve,

do I sound any better now, Mr. Duncan?

Yeah. He was. Could you hear me before? Let's hope things are better now. Anyway.

We have to draw attention to it.

No, I did panic slightly.

I panicked a little bit because I realised that whatever I was doing with my my controls, I couldn't get your voice to appear.

And I thought, oh, I know what I've done.

I haven't put Mr..

Mr. Steve's lovely microphone next to his face.

Anyway, it doesn't matter.

It's deliberate. Deliberate?

You want to silence me, Mr. Duncan?

If every week you want to silence me.

If I wanted to silence you, Steve, it would be very easy to do. Trust me.

All I have to do is pull out Mr. Steve's plug.

You just love to do that. Would you? Would

very much.

For those who are wondering what this is, it is English addict with myself, Mr. Duncan.

And there he is. Mr. Steve.

We will be meeting up in two weeks from today.

Two weeks from today. We will be meeting up in Paris.

Hopefully the weather will be.

I really hope the weather is nice. Steve,

we'd better take an umbrella just in case.

In fact, I would say anybody coming on the trip look at the weather forecast and decide if you need to bring an umbrella.

Yeah, because otherwise you will be getting very wet standing wherever.

We will be standing for the live stream. Yes.

At a location yet to be disclosed. Well, it's in Paris,

so it's somewhere in Paris.

There are a lot of places where it could be, but that that.

That's all I'm telling you for now. It's somewhere in Paris. And

we are looking forward to it.

We've been very lucky, actually. I will say one thing, Steve.

The previous rendezvous in Paris and then in Rome last year, and hopefully this year it will be nice.

But we've always been very lucky with the weather so far.

It's been lovely each time, so hopefully this year we will be blessed with beautiful weather.

We will see what happens.

We saw something yesterday, Steve which was a bit sad.

I saw something that made me sad.

Do you remember what you saw yesterday with me?

We saw the little lonely sheep.

There he is

now I say he, but it's actually a lady.

It's a lady. Sheep.

And a couple of weeks ago. There are lots and lots of sheep in the field.

But now there is just one with a few cows, and this poor sheep does not know what to do.

It's all on its own.

And we noticed yesterday it was behaving in a very strange way.

So there it was yesterday, just sitting there watching us.

It didn't look very happy, did it, Steve?

No, I think it's lonely.

I don't think sheep and cows communicate.

So the poor sheep. I think he's been left behind.

When the farmer came to take the sheep away a couple of weeks ago and replaced them with cows.

One sheep was hiding somewhere, and it's been left behind. Yeah.

So this this sheep, you can see now on the screen, it was left behind, and now it's living in the field.

And it's a pretty big field.

Although there are also six cows.

In fact, I would say cattle.

When we say cattle, we normally mean a mixture of cows and bulls.

So quite often if you have a mixture, quite often we use the generic term cattle.

Cattle normally refers to to bovine animals.

Anything cow related,

the poor little thing.

And not only that, Steve, talking of animals, we've had a very

busy visitor in the garden on our bird feeder.

In fact, we've got two of these particular birds coming into the garden.

Would you like to have a look? Here we go. Take a look at this.

Oh, hello, it's Mr. Woodpecker.

There is Mr. Woodpecker visiting the garden this week.

He keeps coming into the garden now.

I'm not sure why, but there are two suddenly there are two woodpeckers, Mr. Steve.

Not one woodpecker, but two.

Yes. They must be feeding their offspring, I think so.

So you can clearly see this is a male.

You can tell that that's a male, because it has the little red patch on the back of its head.

So that is a male woodpecker.

But I have to say it is pretty amazing to have woodpeckers coming into your garden.

Not one, but two.

And you might be right, Steve.

You might be right.

It might be gathering food to feed to one of its young.

I'm not sure that's the best quality food to, to be giving to, young birds in the nest.

Perfect. That's all.

That sort of food is full of minerals and fat.

If there's one thing birds love, it is something with lots of fat.

They love that sort of thing.

But I think that's more akin to, junk food that we would have.

Oh, okay.

I think really the woodpecker is being lazy.

The parents are being lazy.

And instead of searching for nice live insects, caterpillars, grubs

that, would, really give a lot of protein to the growing birds, the chicks.

It's going for easy junk food in the form of the fat balls in our garden.

Look, I'm not sure all of those things are pure, so I don't think there are any chemicals added to it now, but it's not what they would find.

Naturally. That's.

I agree with you.

Yeah, you're right there. So, I how strong those offspring will grow up.

We don't know.

Well, most people nowadays have some type of bird feeder in their garden, and I haven't seen any birds suffering in any way.

In fact, I would say we have a lot of birds coming in, especially during the breeding season, because they are all frantically frantic.

There's a good word to be frantic means to to be crazy about something.

You are moving in a crazy way. You are frantic.

You are trying to do something in a hurry.

You do it frantically so they are all a little bit frantic at the moment, trying to look after their babies.

Yes, foetus. They're lazy woodpeckers.

They don't want to look for worms in the tree bark anymore.

Yes, it it must be.

I mean, they use it.

Parents use a considerable amount of energy birds in bringing up their, their chicks.

They use huge amounts of energy flying around looking for food.

And this must be like going to McDonald's or there are, of course, other fast food outlets.

Yeah. If you're feeding very hungry. You want to feed your kids quickly, easily, cheaply.

You don't have to cook at home. You don't have to go out growing your own vegetables.

Let's just go.

Just take the kids to McDonald's.

It's quick and easy, and now it'll satisfy their hunger. Yeah.

And I think that's what the woodpeckers doing.

But, I mean, maybe it's maybe it's looking for grubs at other times.

And the chicks are getting maybe they're growing twice as big.

Maybe they'll be so fat. Okay. They might be able to fly out of the nest, Mr. Duncan.

But the thing with birds is they don't get fat because they they have an incredibly high metabolism.

So their heart rate, it's something like 160 beats a minute.

So a bird's heart is sort of.

But up, up up up up up up up up up up up like that.

So that little heart is pounding away all the time.

They're they're metabolism is so high.

And that's why they normally eat things with high energy lots of protein, things that are well,

I suppose peanuts is another thing that birds eat quite a lot as well, but they they absolutely love it.

That particular breed is the great spotted woodpecker.

For those who are wondering, Christine has just said they have those in Italy.

And must have yes.

Junk food. Just in case.

Probably my pronunciation.

Not Chuck food.

Junk junk food. Poor quality food.

Like we would tradition really associate with any burgers or something like that.

So let's not keep naming names because now I'm not naming names.

But yeah, we all know you kind of have. Yeah.

But yeah, we might be we might be getting sponsored by them at some point.

You see, that's all

it would be. Lovely fast food, junk food.

That's it. So yeah, probably fast food.

Okay.

Janine, is probably the best way of describing that food that we put out for the birds.

It's fast food. What about peanuts?

What about peanuts and peanuts?

Yeah, that's fast food for birds. But.

But they will get nuts anyway.

Naturally.

From from certain plants.

I know, but they have to work hard to get the nut out of the the shell.

Oh, I see, whereas we've just provided it to them on a plate, so to speak. Yes,

that's fast food.

It's a very strange debate to have when you think about what's happening in the world.

And here we are talking about whether or not

birds enjoy junk food. Isn't it interesting?

Anyway, we have a lot to talk about today, Mr. Steve.

We are looking at a very interesting phrase that is often mentioned when we are talking about the media and reporting

on certain people and personalities, and also something I want to mention right now.

Now we have a problem in this country, don't we, Steve?

When I say a problem, I'm talking about the high street.

And when I talk about the high street, I'm talking about areas where there are lots of shops for people to go to to buy their things.

And over the years there have been many different types of shop.

One particular type is one I want to mention right now, cheap shops.

When we talk about cheap shops, we are talking about shops that

have a certain type of

brand where they offer good value for money.

So cheap shops, we have them in this country.

Quite often they are.

Well, here is an example of a cheap price shop in the UK.

Poundland a very big company now I think this company is owned by an even larger company.

So this is just part of their company.

But if you go into this shop, well, certainly many years ago, you could go into a shop like this and everything inside it would be,

can you get Steve?

€1.2.

Something.

I don't know what the exchange rate is. Yes, everything was a pound. Poundland.

Literally everything actually was never that. Everything was a pound. No.

Well that's the point I'm trying to make.

So in the past it all used to be a pound.

But nowadays if you go into one of these shops, a lot of the things in there are not a pound,

they're more than a pound, which always makes me wonder why they still call it Poundland.

There are many other stores like this as well that you can go into and buy lots of things.

So maybe you want something very simple like toothpaste or soap or something that you want to buy.

A lot of you buy a lot of it and it works out cheaper.

But apparently this company, Steve, is having to close lots of shops.

I've heard this.

This is really weird, by the way.

I never thought that I would see the day where Poundland,

possibly the cheapest priced shop or the lowest priced shop

on the high street in the UK, is actually closing stores.

But don't forget Woolworths, which was, Woolworths was regarded as a sort of a discount shop, a place to go to get bargains.

Woolworths didn't survive.

I think because people have worked out that places like this,

sometimes they don't get the bargain they think they're getting, particularly if things were already

cheap.

Anyway, sometimes things were a pound, but in fact they were already a pound because that's what they were worth before. Yes.

And sometimes that things are repackaged into smaller packages and you don't get so much.

So it looks like you're getting that toothpaste.

It looks like you're getting, the same sized toothpaste tube you might have got before, but you're paying 50 or less or something.

Yeah, but in fact, when you get it home, you realise there's less in it.

So, Oh. They were popular for a while.

I suppose they are still popular, but do you happen to close shop?

I remember when they first arrived on the high street in this country, and it was a huge thing at the time, and they would queue up.

Sometimes people would queue outside before it opened to get in there to buy their bargains.

And of course, but these days it's really changed a lot.

The other thing, of course, is, I mean, I don't know how long these shops have been open.

Ten years, probably no longer than that. Some of these have been open for nearly 30 years. Yes.

But even if it was only ten years, think of inflation over the last ten years

that inflation, even if it's only 3% a year, that's 30%.

And then of course, as we well know, after the pandemic, we went through a phase of very high inflation.

So in real terms over the last ten years, inflation's probably been closer to 50% at least.

So what used to cost a pound is now going to be £1.50.

So that's probably why they're having to I haven't been in one of those shots for a long time.

But I don't know whether everything still is a pound or not.

No. Well, well a lot of the things in there are more than a pound.

So it does make it does make the brand of the shop very misleading.

But also, yes, the reason why people go into these shops, of course, is because most things in there are seen as affordable,

something that's affordable is something that is within your price range.

It is affordable.

Quite often things were discounted.

And of course, one of the things that people would love about these shops is you would go in

and there would be hundreds and hundreds of the same thing.

So they would often buy things from the supplier

in large quantities, which means that they would get it cheaper and then they pass that low price on to the customer.

So that was always the way that these shops operated.

They buy everything from the supplier in huge amounts.

And of course, when you go into the shop you can buy things also in huge amounts.

But sometimes, as we've said, the quantity you get in the package is less, and sometimes they look like certain brands

because the, but they're produced by somebody else and they mimic the brand on the packaging. Yes.

And so you're not actually getting the brand you think you're getting.

But you know, we've got a lot of, shops in this country, sort of grocery shops that have taken over from the

Sainsbury's and the Tesco's that we have here.

We've got Aldi and Lidl, which are just German shops that sell things very cheaply.

The different brands, and they've become extremely popular.

So maybe

these shops aren't doing so well because of the rise of, of the big superstores like Little and Aldi,

where people can probably get their things for the same price, that they do in the sort of Poundland type shops.

I don't know, don't know the reasons I will. I think you're right, Steve.

What you said a few moments ago about the prices rising of things generally and even cheap

discounted shops like the ones you just mentioned.

Many of the things in there are just as expensive

as some of the other high street shops that cater for people with

more income, as it were.

Mauricio, says that, he, Hello? Mauricio.

Mauricio.

Went to Poundland and Poundland and bought some Jaffa cakes this

were they the same?

Were they as it mcvities who makes Jaffa cakes?

I wonder if they were the same make or whether they looked the same.

Did they taste the same only Mr. Duncan? Well, no.

That's it, I am.

I am the expert on everything connected to Jaffa Cakes

and Mustaq.

Mustafa says what does affordable mean?

That is something that you you have the money for you.

You've got enough money to pay for it.

Yes it is.

It is within your ability to to buy that thing.

You can afford that thing, something that you have the money to buy that thing with.

You can afford that thing.

Yes. For

example, I might be able to afford to go out and buy

a Ford Fiesta, for example.

I might be able to afford that.

I might be able to afford the monthly payments, for example.

But, could I afford to buy, a Rolls Royce?

The answer is no, because I haven't I don't have enough money.

It's something that's within your budget, that you have enough money to reasonably pay for it and not

be out of pocket, not be in debt in general, day to day life.

And I think it's worth mentioning this in general, day to day life, the things you can afford

are normally the things that allow you to survive, such as heating, electricity, and of course, food.

The things you can afford generally are the things you you need,

so you have to have the ability to afford those things.

And then, like Steve just said, if you want to treat yourself to a luxury item,

then you have to make sure that you can afford that as well.

We can also use time.

Time.

You can afford the time if you have spare time, if you have some free time,

then we can say that we can afford to do that thing because we have enough time to do it.

So it can be expressed in many different ways and in interesting ways.

Yes, I, I always find it fascinating the way habits change in society.

And I think one of the places where this is really become obvious is in the high street when you go shopping and we don't do it anymore, do we?

I can't remember the last time we went shopping to the supermarket or even to a clothes shop or anything together.

I can't remember.

No, we buy most things online, which, I mean, the high street, as they say,

the popular, headline that we see now is that that the high street is dying

in, in the UK because, people have discovered and since the I mean, it's been getting worse and worse for a number of years.

But since the pandemic, when everybody sat at home and just ordered everything online, a lot of people,

lot more people then discovered how easy it was to do that.

And it's not often a particularly pleasant experience. Shopping.

I don't enjoy shopping on the high street, because one thing that annoys me is the music that they play in the shops.

It's loud, always loud music, and here I just can't concentrate on what I'm buying.

It puts me off buying anything.

And also when you do go and you see something you like half quite a lot of the time, they haven't got the size.

Yes, that you want.

So you come away, dissatisfied.

Whereas if you just stayed at home and gone on to Amazon, you'd probably found the same item and could have ordered it online.

Yes. So I've got to get to the live chat because we've got loads of questions coming through.

Yianni, what is the high street?

The high Street is the place.

The area normally in the centre of a town where there are lots of shops,

lots of shops, places where you can buy all of the general things you need the high street.

So that is normally the term we use to describe the area.

Normally in the centre of the city or town, the high street, the general area where people do their shopping.

And I suppose, as Steve said, these days the high street is,

I suppose, dying away.

People just find it easier to to go on the internet and buy their things from there.

It is interesting.

Yeah, that that is what the high street is.

Every town, I would say every town in the, in the UK has a street called the High Street in it.

I don't remember ever having a town, seeing a town that doesn't have a high street.

And you know that that's where all the banks are. That's where all the shops are.

If you want to buy anything, you always automatically go to the high street.

So every town in Britain has even the smallest town probably will have a street called the High Street, because that's where all the shops are.

And the banks we often describe it is the retail hub as well?

Yes. Is the office the area where the shops are

good?

I think we've covered that one really, really well, to be honest.

We have an interesting phrase coming up and we are going to play guess the Picture idiom a little bit later on as well.

I hope you will stay tuned for that.

We have a lot to talk about.

I'm suffering slightly today, mister.

Stay with my hay fever.

Isn't it a shame?

Yes, my throat's I'm a bit croaky today.

If your voice sounds a bit, you know, when you're talking, if you're having problems talking, you can say, oh, my voice is a bit croaky.

It it sounds a bit like a frog.

A frog makes a croaking sound, doesn't it?

Oh, oh, I can't I can't impersonate a frog.

But when we say our voice is croaky, you're saying it sounds like you've got a frog in your throat, right?

Right.

Because typically at this time of the year, hay fever, causes inflammation wherever.

And I've got a bit of that as well. Right? Right.

That's why I keep drinking water. I'm doing my frog impression. Rabbit.

Rabbit, rabbit, whoever rabbit went through certain towns in the UK where the high street is still quite vibrant.

Busy London, of course.

And sort of cities where that are very pretty are very architecturally, very pleasant,

where people, it's nice to go out because you might meet some friends and you might go out for a drink or a nice meal somewhere.

As, as Beatrice mentions, like baths, for example, bath is a lovely, pretty

city.

And, it's nice to go there because the buildings look nice.

The shops are all nice. This place to have a nice cup of coffee. Yes.

Whereas if you were to go to a town that looks a bit shabby, that's not very attractive.

Then maybe the high street is suffering there and the shops are closing.

Well, of course the big thing that towns love is tourism.

Tourism is what a lot of places these days rely on

for, for their for their income, I think.

So I wish my oh my hay fever today is really playing up.

I it really is bad. It's gone straight to my throat today.

And as you know, if you are speaking in your job, you need to be able to use your voice.

We'll take a very quick break so I can clear my throat and then we will be back with more English Addict.

We are looking at an interesting phrase and also we will be playing guess the picture idioms.

Oh. That's better.

Oh my goodness.

I was choking, coughing, drinking water and generally falling around all over the place.

Just. It's it's just the seasonal allergy.

It's not illness.

It is just my little allergy that I get this time of year.

Unfortunately, Mr. Steve is with us. We are looking at a very interesting phrase now.

There are lots of phrases in the English language, but here is one that often

is talked about or mentioned during certain periods of time when things are reported

normally concerning a person, a famous person, or maybe a company,

and the phrase is to digging the dirt.

Oh, Mr. Steve, I think this is a very interesting subject.

I thought of this morning because it would appear that when we think of certain things like, well, I suppose journalism,

there is

a lot of occurrences where journalists might try to dig, dig the dirt on other people.

If you are digging the dirt, have you heard of this phrase, Steve?

Yes, I am, yes.

If you're digging the dirt or digging for dirt, it means that you're looking for things that,

maybe the person that you're investigating wouldn't like the general public to know, secrets

that you might have hidden in your past, that, somebody might go looking for digging for it.

And it means that they're looking for,

as I said, things that you don't wish other people to know about. Yes.

Maybe things you've done in your past that you that go against your image,

that make you look, I mean, depends on what your image is.

If you're in the public eye and you've got a certain image, then, yeah.

For example, if you are a rock star,

for example, but no point in somebody's publishing details of you

having an affair with somebody because people would pretty much expect that to be the case anyway.

But if you were, a public figure that put yourself out as being very like a politician for example,

that was always sending messages about how other people should live their lives,

and then suddenly they're discovered somebody does some digging, some investigating, discovers,

oh, they did something quite bad in the past, and then they publish and it makes you look like a hypocrite.

Well, I think I think a good example in recent times was Ellen, I'm sure you've heard of Steve Elon.

And she was one of these big personalities became a huge star.

But her personality on TV when she presented

was always about being kind to other people and having humility, but also kindness to other people.

And then of course, it came out that she wasn't so

kind and she did not possess as much humility in real life.

And the press, the media slowly turned her image from one thing to another.

And of course, it led to her program being cancelled.

And then she had she had to.

Well, I think she lives now in this country.

So she now lives in the UK, not very far away from your sister, by the way, Steve.

Right.

Ellen, you know who I'm on about?

Yes, I did, Ellen DeGeneres is Ellen's.

Yes. Yeah, very well known.

But I think if you put yourself too high up,

if you present yourself in a certain way, you've got to make sure that in real life

you are also similar.

You are a similar type of person or else the media or maybe somebody's reporting on you might have other ideas.

An interesting phrase in English.

I always think this is a very interesting phrase.

Digging the dirt.

Of course, if you are doing it in the garden, it means you are just moving the dirt around or you are digging a hole.

You are searching for something.

Maybe you are planting something in the ground.

So it is an interesting phrase and also an interesting idiom.

So as a phrase, we are expressing the action of looking for hidden secrets

or information that may cause shame to someone.

We often refer to these things in various ways, don't we, Steve?

How do you meet Mr. Duncan?

Well, we give those that that shame can can come in many forms.

Such as? Yes, scandal, some kind of scandal.

I always find it interesting in this country.

If, generally, I'm speaking generally here.

If politicians or public figures, that have to meet a supposed to maintain a certain level of standards,

because if you're a politician, you've got to really be very upstanding.

You are supposed to be somebody who is very moral, obeys the rules.

And of course, during the pandemic, we had a lot of instances when politicians were being caught out

by the media breaking the rules that they were imposing on the general population.

Yeah, it's about not going out and not socialising yet.

And of course, the press dug the dirt and discovered followed

politicians and discovered that they were going to parties, going to see mistresses. Yes.

Anyway, let's not go into the details of things. No, I'm not going to. But but what?

I want to move on slightly, Steve, because what we're actually talking about here is image.

So a person's image.

So it doesn't have to be a politician.

No. Be it, it can be a movie star.

It can be a company even even a company.

Okay.

Can can quite often have its image destroyed by some sort of scandal.

So a few years ago, there were a couple of banks, big banks that were were exposed to various

wrongdoings, and let's just say they were up to no good.

And that caused the whole structure, the structure of their companies to be seriously harmed.

So I think I think a good word is image, isn't it, Steve?

Yes, definitely.

I mean, we think of a car company, VW, Volkswagen.

Here's another example.

A very supposedly reputable company really is a reputable company.

But of course, there was a big scandal a number of years ago over emissions and emissions scandal.

Yeah.

So it turned out that they were, falsely publishing emission figures for their new cars, which turned out to be wrong.

But, you know, and the press would have been digging around, digging out the dirt, digging for the dirt on that story.

And it was a huge story.

And of course, it led to a lot of reputational damage, to, Volkswagen and of course, individual people, politicians we've mentioned.

But,

I was

something I was going to refer to was the perception if you're having an affair with somebody else.

So if you're a married person and, the press always,

always like to reveal if they found out if you're having an affair with somebody else.

That always published that.

But in certain countries, the effect on that person, varies.

And in the UK, usually if a politician here is caught having an affair, okay, then pretty much their career is over.

They will have to resign.

But in other parts of Europe, it's not necessarily an end to your career.

It's a very different perception.

In other countries, than we have here.

I, you know, I can't think of one single person that that's happened to.

Yes. I can't think of any examples, but but certainly, it's always a I mean, if the Prime Minister,

for example, was, was caught, having an affair with somebody else that they'd have to resign, probably.

Whereas in some other countries

that's not necessarily the case or the press just wouldn't even bother reporting it because nobody would be interested.

Because it doesn't have that kind of a reputational damage that it would in other countries like the UK.

Well, I think, I think for most of the time anyone with authority or power or a certain status, they will protect their image.

I suppose we could go back in time to, the past presidents, JFK, JFK, Kennedy was often seen as a very moral person.

But of course, later on, lots of things came out about him

having affairs, having affairs on the side, seeing other women, his involvement with Marilyn Monroe

and also he he even had serious medical problems that he they, they suffered from as well to keep his image safe.

And look what happened to President Clinton.

I mean, he was impeached. I think that's what we call a fall from grace.

A fall from grace. Exactly.

Whereas in other countries, as Christina says, for example, in Italy, there's a very different reaction,

maybe a more, nuanced or realistic approach to human nature, but of course it to.

Yeah.

So but if you put yourself on a, on a moral pedestal, on moral high ground

and then you break that code, then, the press will find you out, can I just can I just say we got the live chat?

Very busy again.

Christina says I agree with Mr. Steve.

The reaction is very different here in Italy.

I just said that.

Sorry, I just said that, Mr. Duncan. Did you say Italy? Yes.

Did you actually name Italy because I.

Well, I mentioned Christine is comment. Oh I see, I beg your pardon. You're not listening to me, Mr. Duncan.

I'm only joking.

Yeah. So.

Yeah. Yes. Italy. France.

I think sometimes maybe Louis can answer is on that offer.

I can't remember who it was.

It was a, president in France.

It was.

I can't remember, but,

maybe you can tell us the countries you live in if politicians, having affairs with other people, is it the end of their career?

It pretty much is in the UK.

I don't want I don't want to keep on about affairs because there's other things.

They can be scandals over as well. People.

Now, these days, I would say Steve, the big one these days is what people say

or what they have said. Yes, in the past.

Yes. So on. I think these days things that you said,

not you as in you,

Steve, I know people generally things they said in the past

have been uncovered and then used against that person, like on social media.

Yeah. Well yes. Yes, on social media.

On, on the, the internet as they call them.

And they comments that they've made in the past.

So maybe one night they were feeling angry. We've all been there.

And you type something on your computer and then you send it, you put it on to Facebook or Twitter and then

you forget about it.

And then the years pass by and then you become famous or you become popular.

And then one day

there is a revelation about your past

where you back in 2008, you said something that might not be politically correct.

Now, in 2025.

And so that thing is then used against you, even though it might be something you don't really believe,

but it was a moment where you decided just to type something and then send it and that's it.

That's it.

It's it's amazing these days how things you said in the past can suddenly be revealed and, and in some cases destroy your life.

Yes. I mean,

yeah, there was the Canadian prime minister was was is a case I remember

from not too few number of years ago when he was a teenager, he was up to doing all sorts of things.

And of course that was revealed, but it doesn't mean he would do it now.

A lot of people are being judged based on what their views and opinions were or their actions were as safe.

For example, a teenager as opposed to now when they're adults.

Of course, a lot of the time it's because somebody wants to Louis mentioned this.

It's often competition.

Somebody wants to get somebody else's position.

They find out some information and they use it against that person.

But this isn't we're talking about high profile figures.

But this can happen, to anybody at work.

You can you can put something on social media.

And you could be scrutinised at work.

You've got to be very careful what you say on social media about you, the company that you work for. Yes.

Because you don't know who's going to be looking at it. And,

your, your

reputation could easily be damaged if you do something that, for example,

in many places of work, certainly out there in America, it's absolutely you and and and also here having a relationship with somebody at work.

Yes. Is taboo almost taboo.

It's it's it's not seen as something I think more so in America. Yeah.

I think it's virtually I might be wrong here, but from what my understanding is it's just totally not allowed.

That's it.

But here it's okay.

But depends on how high you are in the structure of the company.

This is not just about being against relationships though.

I think this is a is about one person having authority and then another person who they have a relationship with.

Being somehow fated.

So a person who is who has some sort of authority in a company, Steve, they they have to make decisions, don't they.

Yes. And

I would imagine if you are having a relationship with someone who isn't at your same level, is they are not at your level.

They might be lower down your influence by being in a relationship with them.

You could be influenced by that and then your judgement is changed because of it.

So I think that's one of the reasons I do remember many years ago, I think it was CBS

in the States.

There was some scandal a long time ago with a couple of employees who who were found to be

in a relationship, and I think one of them had some sort of authority and the other person was lower down.

And that's the problem.

I think quite often these conflicts of interest, if you are both working for the same company and you are in a relationship,

there might be a

situation where you will favour each other because you are you are in love.

Tom says.

I've heard the expression,

the past is haunting them.

Him or her? Yes.

You could say that's something that you might have done in the past.

And, it people remember, and it's not going away.

It stops you from maybe getting promotions at work, or or being involved in

certain social circles, perhaps because something happened in the past that

a wrong impression was given or a bad impression.

And, sometimes it takes a while for people to forgive.

It depends on what that thing was.

And but you can certainly get into trouble with work like that, and you can stop being promoted if you upset people at work.

People will take note of that up here

and they'll say, oh, that that person, always seems to be very sarcastic, or that person is always,

criticising other people for coming out with inappropriate comments or maybe making suggestive remarks to other colleagues.

Yeah.

And, so but you might have changed yourself over the years, but,

your past will haunt you because people will constantly remind you of what you did in the past.

That was bad.

And I think this happens to all of us, I'm sure in my young days,

a long time ago, maybe I said things and thought things that I don't actually have.

Now we'll look at the subject a bit more.

A secret that would destroy a person's reputation is the dirt.

So when we talk about digging the dirt, the actual dirt is everything that's lower down you are digging.

You are trying to find those secrets, those things they want.

They want to find all of the dirt, the reputation or good name of a famous person

or a well known company might be damaged in some way by a secret racist.

So let's go on, mister. Nice. Go on.

So this is normally something that's kept hidden away, and then it is revealed.

I think that and it's something that happens quite often.

To dig the dirt is to search for any information that might create a scandal or negative publicity.

Of course.

Again, social media these days is often weaponized against certain people.

Certain companies, even people that have certain points of view

and and sometimes things that are revealed about someone and they become a huge issue.

They become something that is talked about a lot, and it can damage a person's reputation or even take away their livelihood.

But when it comes to companies, reputations being damaged, quite often, it's one of the employees that will be

will report this to somebody, maybe the press, because they don't agree with what's going on.

Or maybe somebody is

losing their job

and they think that it's been unfair the way they've lost their job, but they of course have lots of dirt. Yes.

How you can say somebody might say, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to sack you

if you don't, if you say, don't get better and you might say, well, if you sack me, I'll reveal all the dirt that I know about you,

about the way you had an affair with that person, or the way that that dodgy deal was put through.

So quite often people get fired from their jobs and and then to get revenge, they then reveal this information.

Yeah.

To, it's also interesting to, to point out and I think again, that's a very good point, but but also a person

these days might be forced to sign a type of contract, a non-disclosure agreement,

which means even if you leave the company, you can't talk about what happened within the company.

So maybe there is some sort of pension or maybe some money that they will they will pay to you later.

As long as you don't talk about the company after you've left, if you get made redundant.

Usually, when you in order, the company will offer you an extra payment

over and above what the statutory payment is, and the government would that they are required to pay.

Yeah.

But to get that extra payment,

you have to sign, as you say, and a disclosure agreement to say that you won't talk about anything to do with the companies.

And, for a period of time. Yes.

They often refer to it as an NDA, a non-disclosure agreement.

And you are not allowed to talk about all the things that went on

moving on, or the company could take the money off you or sue you.

But but yes, it's

of do we say, don't we you know, don't sack me because I've got I've got dirt, I've got all, I've got lots of dirt on you. Yes.

And that's a phrase you can use.

It means you've got a lot of stuff that you know they've done.

That's bad. Yes. A well hidden secret.

Steve, might be described as a skeleton in the cupboard or in the closet, so you might have something hidden away.

I think this is a great expression, by the way, because it talks about something

or it's expressing something that you've you've had put away or hidden for a very long time.

And I think it refers to maybe there being a body hidden away.

Yes. And it's been there for so long. It's now a skeleton.

So you have skeletons in the cupboard or in the closet, something that you've hidden away, and you don't want other people to find out about.

I suppose someone is going to say, Mr.

Duncan, do you have any skeletons in your cupboard?

I don't, fortunately, I don't have any skeletons in my cupboard.

What about you, Steve?

Do you have any skeletons?

And we've all got things that we've done.

None of us are sane, are we? We're. We're human beings.

And probably if we look back, we, we there will be things that we probably wish we hadn't done.

Yeah, maybe not recently, but it could be many years ago that you wouldn't want other people to know family members, work colleagues.

But fortunately, we are not, in the public eye when.

Well, I suppose we are, in a way, but there's really nothing much that

that would affect you or I if it came out, because we're not in the big media.

Well, so to speak. You might be Steve. You might be surprised.

Even on YouTube, there is there are lots and lots of people on YouTube who report

on other people on YouTube with, past and the things they've said and done in the past.

So here on YouTube, there is a huge industry on here with people revealing secrets and things about other people on YouTube.

We often refer to it these days as spilling the tea.

I have absolutely no idea what that refers to,

but if you are going to spill the tea about someone, that means you're going to reveal the secrets or spill the beans.

Yes, that's another another expression.

If you don't give me a promotion, I'm going to spill the beans on you. Yes.

About that. Targeting the left.

When we were going up to the 15th floor together, and you got a little bit excited, that sort of thing.

Christina says we all have skeletons in the closet. Yes.

And, When people have lots to drink, they usually, start to reveal, their past.

Let's call them indiscretions.

And so when we're in Paris, we're going to get everybody very drunk, and then they can tell us all the skeletons in that cupboard.

Yeah,

well, that is the problem, Sam.

I'm joking. Well, that's.

No, that's actually a good point, because quite often people will tell other people things

in confidence because they think, well, I will tell you, I can trust you.

Here is the secret to surviving in this world.

Don't ever tell anyone anything that you would not like other people to know about.

Never do that, because quite often people do like to to reveal other people's secrets.

There are very few people you can actually trust. Yeah, yeah. And we've got to move on. Steve.

Yep. Fine.

Action can also be described as digging up the dirt.

You are finding other people's secrets.

Newspaper journalists. Now this is something we grew up with, wasn't it, Steve?

In the 1970s, the 1980s, newspapers would always try and find out the secrets

of the rich and famous and then publish them normally at the weekend.

So on Sunday, quite often there would be some exclusive behind

the scenes what this person is really like.

We have information about this famous star that will you will not believe in tomorrow's newspaper, read all about it.

So newspaper journalists will often try to find dirt on famous on a famous person so as to generate readers or clicks.

So these days I suppose it's very similar. These days, isn't it, Steve?

But not quite as bad as it used to be.

Now, I think the most famous person that was hounded by the press constantly was Princess Diana.

And and I mean generally people blame the press for, for her death.

She was hounded.

But of course, lots of things were revealed about what she was doing.

She was a very famous person married to,

who is now the king,

and of course, becomes a very, interesting subject for, for people to read about.

Forgotten the point I was going to make.

Actually.

But, but yes, I think generally since then, that of course, there's been various other scandals.

Michael Jackson but I think Princess Diana was a very good one because also,

and this is the danger, if you are a famous person, sometimes you need

the publicity, you need the newspapers to promote something that you are doing.

So that relation ship between a famous person and the media is a very strange dance.

And sometimes you have to be very careful when you are playing with that.

And that, I think, is what happened to Princess Diana.

She did sometimes not always use the press in certain ways, and that is a very dangerous thing to do, because one day the press,

the newspapers, the media might decide to turn on you and and try to find out everything they can.

So you do have to be careful if you are using the press or the media to promote yourself or to put something.

I'll remember that, Mr. Duncan, when I'm famous, okay? Or infamous?

Finally,

before we move on to expose or reveal a person's shameful secret

might lead to their disgrace and downfall.

Yes, we've seen that happen a lot of times, haven't we?

We do, of course. It depends on the celebrity.

If the celebrity, or the person is has already got a reputation for bad behaviour, then it's not going to be.

It's not going to have much of an impact,

if it's revealed some other bad behaviour that they've committed, it's only going to add to the reputation.

And quite often for some people, like rock stars

for example, who you would generally assume are behaving badly anyway, that's part of their image.

Then when something new is revealed

that they've done that could destroy somebody else's career, actually enhances their career and their reputation.

I mean, look, what with rappers and things like that,

particularly with rock stars, I mean, the not the more bad things they do, their reputation just gets stronger.

Okay, I'm not sure if, P Diddy would agree with that.

Well, I'm not mentioning names, Mr. Duncan.

And of course, of course, you mentioned Michael Jackson in the past.

He was he was involved quite often in scandals and things that were were said about him, but never really proven.

And then in this country, of course, we've had some celebrities and they fallen a very long way.

Yes. From Grace I'm not going to mention the names, but we've had some real big scandals

involving celebrities over the years and TV stars, I suppose if you are going to dig the dirt, dig the dirt on someone,

sometimes it can be a good thing because you might reveal a thing that person is doing that is wrong.

So it's not always a bad thing.

But I think there was a period of time where everything became news.

Whatever it was, it was always presented as if it was some sort of big headline or some sort of scandal taking place.

But I think that it's a very interesting subject, and I think it is one that we've

all come into contact with at some point because we read newspapers, don't we?

We look at the internet, we go online, we like to find out what our famous,

what our favourite celebrity is doing.

Yes. And and there's a few people have pointed out, it's quite often jealousy that motivates,

revealing that kind of behaviour.

Sometimes it's because, it's revealed that they're in fact hypocritical,

that they're saying one thing in public and then doing the opposite.

So people will want to reveal that, particularly if it's a politician or,

somebody that's supposed to have, you know, it's supposed to be always on their best behaviour.

Yeah. But but yes.

And but sometimes people are jealous and, where there's money,

there's always somebody who is trying to bring somebody else down so that they can take their place.

And, and we do like in this country sometimes we do like to see people falling.

Yeah.

We like to see people.

We always it's almost it's quite nasty really. Well, it's a sport in this.

But you are right Steve.

In, in the USA and this is something I've said before, the one thing I well, many things I admire about the United States is if you do

something quite often, there will be many people encouraging you and giving you support and leading you forward to do it. Here

we tend to be the opposite.

We want to hold other people back.

We we, we like to criticise or try to bring that person down, as you said.

And I think it is it is a big problem in this country where we don't really like success.

We see it almost as a bad thing.

We become very jealous and envious.

But I think in the in the United States, there is a lot more positivity behind

a person that wants to do something with their life or if they have an idea.

It's a different mindset, very different indeed. And I do admire that. I have to be honest.

But yes, as Lewis says, it's really jealousy at the end of it.

A lot of it is jealousy. You some you want to see somebody brought down, of course.

I mean, we're talking about celebrities a lot, but it could happen to somebody at work.

You might send an email, accidentally send an email, or deliberately send an email, and, it could get you into trouble anyway.

Yeah, yeah, it can happen.

Anyway, Steve, we're going to have a quick break.

Well, when I say a quick break, it's only going to be for about eight seconds.

It's going to be the world's shortest break because we are moving on now to the game that we love to play every week when we have time.

And guess what? This week we do have time.

It is time to play guess the picture idea.

You to be.

Here we go.

Guess the picture idiom.

Everyone loves this. I don't know why, but

I suppose it is one of those mysteries that will follow mankind forever and ever as we play

guess the picture idiom I will just move Mr.

Steve over slightly so it's not hidden away, just one moment.

And there he goes. That's better.

Mr.. Steve, we are playing guess the picture idiom.

It's very simple, really. All you have to do is look at the idiom on the screen.

It will be presented in the form of a picture.

And all you have to do is guess what the idiom is.

These are all phrases that are used in the English language quite often.

And here is the first one right now.

But the question is what is the picture idiom?

Oh hello.

So there's a nice set of teeth.

Look at that.

See, this is a well-known phrase in the English language.

It is honestly, it is a phrase that is often used.

Maybe you are expressing the way you feel, or maybe you see

the way a person appears.

And we will often use this phrase, especially if you are really, really happy about something.

And this is a phrase that we often use in English.

Do you have any idea what it could be? Mr.. Steve,

I'm struggling with this one, Mr. Duncan.

I'm I'm, I'm, quite taken by those lovely teeth.

They're very lovely.

Perfect teeth.

And, it's, it's, you know, they must be Hollywood teeth.

I think they probably are a nice set of teeth.

Is the expression you would say to somebody, oh what, what lovely teeth you have a, what a, what a lovely set

of teeth you have. Yeah.

Oh. I think people are beginning to get it.

So we have some.

We have some coming through now. Thank you.

Also, Vitus, Leah,

Yanny and Beatrice as well.

We have a few guesses coming through.

So if a person is very happy about something

like this, you see, you're doing this.

Quite often we will use this particular expression.

I will give you the answer and then we can do two more of these.

I think we have time to do at least two more, if not three more of these.

The answer to the picture idiom is.

Smile from ear to ear.

I think Beatrice got that.

I think, and the test suite test.

I think the test was first.

Ung was very close as well.

You smile from ear to ear.

A person who looks very happy about something, we can say that person is smiling from ear to ear means that they. Yes.

A smile is so exaggerated. They're so happy that it almost goes all the way to their ears.

So, I'm.

Oh, I'm all ears, says Lisa earlier.

Sorry, I'm all ears.

That that is an expression, and I can see why you would get that.

I'm all ears that you say that.

That is that is an idiom, isn't it?

If you say I'm all ears, it means you've got my full attention. That's it.

A person who listens intently.

I'm all ears.

Yes. The.

Your total focus is on listening to what that other person says.

Something like somebody might say to you, oh, you're not.

Did you hear what I say?

Will you listen to me? Are not concentrating in. Your reply might be okay. I'm all ears.

It means you. You're totally focus. Anyway. That's not the answer to this, but it is is another idiom.

This is smile from ear to ear.

You are showing your happiness.

Which of course you'll all do.

All we doing right now, because you're on Mr. Jenkins live stream.

I'm sure you're all smiling from ear to ear because you're so happy.

Here's another one.

This is another well-known expression.

Quite often when we are talking about careers,

finding a job, or trying

to establish yourself in life, there it is.

It's a very long leg.

It is a long leg. It's my leg that is actually my leg.

I spent all morning trying to photograph my leg, and it's very hard to do if you ever.

Have you ever tried photographing your own leg?

It's really hard to do.

It's harder than you realise. It's.

It's a bit like trying to photograph your own bum.

I don't think that's your leg, Mr.

Duncan, because you don't have shoes like that. Well, I might do, I might, they might be.

They might be my secret shoes that I never show you.

Well, I don't think you have any shoes like that, but it is still true.

It is difficult to take a picture of your own leg. You. You might not realise it.

Unless, of course, I suppose you could use a mirror.

And the same thing applies to

your bum as well, because you can't really take a picture of you if you if you, you can't.

It's impossible. You have to get someone else to do it for you.

If they are brave enough.

So here it is. The picture idiom.

This is an expression we often use when we are trying to become established.

Or maybe you are trying to get involved in a certain thing to become part of something.

Do you have any idea?

Mr.. Steve, I do and say to a number of people on the live chat, yes, you, you, you really want to get into an organisation

that could be a place of work, could be somewhere, a society, musical society, or somewhere like that.

It's very difficult to get in. Maybe a golf club. Maybe you play golf and you can't get in.

Then you might use this expression.

It's very interesting.

Yeah.

It looks as if we've had a few answers coming through from Louis Beatrice, also from Christine,

later on as well.

So this particular phrase is often used when we are trying to get in to an organisation or maybe a thing

that is hard to become part of, to be part of something, sometimes you have to do a certain thing first.

And this is what this particular phrase refers to.

The answer to this is.

Get your foot in the door.

You have to get your foot in the door.

Yes, Leo got that correct correctly?

Yes. It's get your foot in the door. Yes.

So to you have to get your foot in the door so the door is closed.

Whatever it is.

So the other side of that door, a company, a group of people, you want to be the other side of that closed door.

If that door opens a little and you stick your foot in, yes, it means that you've just found a little way in. Yes.

And the door then can't close, the door can't close. And then

the implication then is that you will slowly get your whole body in

and you might, for example, get to go to an interview with that company. Yes.

But the only way you get to go for that interview is because, you know, somebody that works there.

And they might put your name forward for an interview.

Otherwise you might have been sending lots of CVS there and nobody's noticed.

Yes, but then you, by coincidence, you meet a new group of friends and they say they're working for this company, and you say, oh,

I'm trying to get my foot in the door with that company. Can you get me an interview?

That's very. Actually, that's quite good.

If you want to work for a big organisation.

Now I'm going to use the BBC

as the example.

It's a very hard door to get through if you want to work for someone like the BBC,

getting your foot in the door, getting in there is really hard.

So normally you will find any opportunity you can

to get your foot in the door.

You might have to go for lots and lots of interviews, or perhaps you have to start off doing a very horrible job.

Maybe you have to work in the mailroom, or maybe you have to work in some sort of secretarial job.

You have to start low down and then you work your way up.

But the important thing is that you get your foot in the door. Yes.

Very important. Yeah, that that is what you've said, that. That's quite good.

You start off in a very low ranking job.

Maybe you're under overqualified for what

that job is, but you so want to work for this company that you're prepared to take any job.

Just to get in there to get your foot in the door, and then you can build from there.

Do we have time for one more?

I'm just wondering. I think you know what?

I don't think we have time for one more. Because we only have two minutes left.

Two minutes? Oh, right.

Okay, Mr. Duncan, so you know what we are doing next, don't you, Mr.. Steve?

You know what happens next before we say goodbye.

Steve is going to tempt me

with what is coming up for us after

the lives. Oh, I see what you mean. Yes.

You mean a cup of tea and a piece of homemade cake?

Yes. Homemade teacake that I made yesterday. We will put it in the toaster.

We will put lots of butter on it.

We will sit there and relax, and then we may well go for a nice walk, because it's such a lovely weather.

It is an absolutely beautiful day, so I feel as if it might be a crime if we don't go outside and enjoy some of that lovely weather, I think.

So, yes, we'll try to get outside. By the way, look out for my new lessons.

There are so many lessons being published at the moment,

and of course we will be doing some special things whilst we are in Paris as well as the live stream.

Please. Also, if you haven't liked this, live stream, please like it.

If you remember, it really helps Mr. Duncan's channel.

And if you're new to the channel and you like what you see, then please do subscribe as well.

It is very important.

It doesn't seem like a very important thing, but those lovely

lights underneath make all the difference.

And of course, if you like what you see, you can subscribe as well.

In fact, we've had lots of recommendations over the past 3 or 4 months from artificial intelligence,

which is now recommending my lessons to thousands and thousands of people, which is rather nice to know.

Thank you, Mr. Steve, for your company.

It's been good fun, lovely to be here and enjoy learning English this week, and I will see you all, next Sunday.

Same time, same place.

Yeah, thank you very much. So you are definitely here next Sunday.

I'm definitely here next Sunday.

And of course the Sunday after that.

We will definitely not be here because we will be in Paris doing our live stream in the middle of the street.

That will be very interesting to find out what happens at Steve.

It will be.

And, yes, it will be a it'll be fantastic.

Several looking forward to that.

If you haven't decided yet, you haven't got too much time left to decide.

If you want to join us in Paris, I've got the end of it.

It's worrying me, Mr. Duncan. Yes, I've got lots of plants that need watering.

Okay, so I'm going to have to enlist the help of a neighbour or my sister.

Yeah. To come and regularly look after the house.

Yeah.

So we will be doing that, and then they will all stay nice and alive for when I come back.

Okay.

Bye bye.

Thank you, Mr.

Steve. And we will see Mr.

Steve next Sunday.

There goes Mr.

Steve has left.

Well he has not left the building but he certainly has left his comfortable chair.

I'm going as well.

Now it's almost time to say goodbye. 4:00 is striking.

The clock has struck four and it is now time for me to go.

Cup of tea, a little slice of Mr.

Steve's cake, and then I am going outside.

Please look out for my new lesson.

There are so many lessons on my YouTube channel.

New lessons?

Look out for them and there will be lots of new lessons coming up as well.

I am so busy.

I am spending most my life at the moment doing this.

If I was honest with you.

Catch you later.

See you soon.

Take care of yourselves.

I will be back with you on Wednesday and I will see you then.

This is Mr. Duncan. That's me saying thank you for watching.

See you later.

And of course, until the next time we meet, you know what's coming next? Yes you do.

Take care.

Keep that smile upon your face.

Smile from ear to ear.

And I will see you soon. And of course.

Ta ta for now.

See you again very soon.