Zack Polanski reveals biggest ick on Subway Takes and it’s not the Met Police
Green Party leader Zack Polanski has revealed he wishes nobody would ever wear a tie again in an appearance on a special Tube-based episode of Subway Takes.
The popular online interview series involves commuter and celebrities telling their hottest opinion to host Kareem Rahma, who agrees or disagrees before digging in further.
Polanski’s ‘take’ is that politicians ‘should wear who sponsors them all over their clothes’ – an idea Rahma says he agrees with 100%.
The Green leader misattributes the concept to the American comedian George Carlin, when it was actually proposed by fellow comic Robin Williams.
While the two men largely agree on all points, a single bone of contention comes towards the end when Polanski says: ‘No one should ever be wearing a tie, any time, ever.’
It comes as Polanski sees a dip in his poll numbers after he retweeted a post on X criticising the police response to last week’s knife attack in Golders Green.
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The post blasted Met officers for ‘repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head’, referring to the alleged attacker. The Green leader later apologised for ‘sharing a tweet in haste’.
A YouGov poll found the percentage of Brits who had an unfavourable view of Polanski rose by 8% in the aftermath of the incident.
In an interview on the BBC’s Today programme today, he said: ‘Two things can be true at the same time. Officers are incredibly brave when they run towards scenes of crimes that most people, including myself, would want to run away from.
‘At the same time, I think it is accurate – and that I was also traumatised – by seeing someone handcuffed repeatedly kicked in the head.’
Meanwhile, Polanski has also admitted he was wrong to claim he worked as a spokesman for the British Red Cross.
A story in the Times newspaper yesterday revealed Polanski had described himself as a ‘spokesperson’ for the charity on his personal website in 2020.
The claim came up again when he was crowdfunding for his successful run to become the party’s deputy leader two years later.
However, the British Red Cross told the newspaper Polanski had ‘not been a spokesperson’, adding that it had raised the issue with the leader’s team.
Asked about the claim on the Today programme, Polanski said: ‘I used the wrong word, and I accept that.’
He said: ‘I hosted various fundraisers for the British Red Cross, and indeed I would go on stage and speak for them about the amazing work they do tackling humanitarian crises, on the climate crisis and indeed for refugees all around the world.’
The Green leader said he had made sure ‘that’s been taken down’, as the charity does not support any particular political party.
According to the Times, Polanski had also previously claimed to be a full member of the National Council of Hypnotherapy when he was not.
Labour seized on the reports just hours ahead of the local elections, saying it was ‘not the first time the Green Party leader hasn’t been straight with the public’.
A spokesperson said: ‘He refuses to say if his council candidates have been suspended for vile antisemitism after claiming to have acted.
‘Now there are serious questions about the work and qualifications he has boasted about. This is a matter of trust.’
Elsewhere in the Today interview, Polanski said he was not yet ready to be Prime Minister.
Laughing, he told the show: ‘I’ve been leader for eight months and there’s lots of skills and lots of knowledge to get.’
The Green Party is expected to make significant gains in the English local elections tomorrow, with some London borough councils predicted to switch from Labour to Polanski’s party.
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