The men trying to do friendship, better – podcast

试图增进友谊的人们——播客

Today in Focus

2026-02-27

27 分钟
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单集简介 ...

Can talking about their problems help men forge closer relationships – or is there another way? Josh Halliday reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus
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单集文稿 ...

  • This is The Guardian.

  • Today, the men trying to do friendship better.

  • I am in my mid-30s, 30s haven't actually.

  • And my friendship group historically has been booze, banter,

  • football, taking the mick out of each other.

  • This is Josh Halliday.

  • If you're a regular listener, you'll know his voice.

  • He's the Guardian's North of England editor.

  • But today, we're not talking about anything relating to his job.

  • Until very recently, I think the last year or two, my relationship with my two closest friends,

  • who I've been friends with now for 15, 16 years, has been fairly surface level, to be honest.

  • 90% of our chat is probably football related.

  • It's always with a drink in our hand.

  • If you ask me, name their immediate family, I wouldn't be able to do it.

  • And I think that's quite shocking, really.

  • As well as his two best friends,

  • Josh has a big group of lad mates who tend to meet up once a year for a big booze up.

  • And this means, you know, flying out to a city or getting the train somewhere, drinking all weekend.

  • Over time, he began to realise they all followed the same pattern.

  • Pints banter, more pints shot.