Karen for Taoiseach, Sex With Machines & Best Before Bollocks #011

Episode Eleven of Don’t Call Me Darling sees Niall and Karen getting stuck into politics, relationships, attraction, religion, friendship and, somehow, a woman who married a bus.

Could Karen ever enter politics? She has a few things to say about the Social Democrats, while Niall looks back at Bertie Ahern and remembers his own days with Real Radio.

Then things take a slightly stranger turn with mechanophilia, the sexual attraction to machines, including the story of a 35 year old woman who actually married her bus.

Back at home, Niall has a few complaints about Karen throwing perfectly good food in the bin because of best before dates, along with arguments over sausages, rashers, squeezing the bread and exactly who knows what they are doing in the kitchen.

They also ask whether either of them would survive modern dating if they suddenly found themselves single, whether couples really need to sleep in the same bed to stay close and the ridiculous little things couples pretend they never argue about.

Is life actually better with children or without them? Is intelligence sexy? And when it comes to physical attraction, does size really matter, or are we all far more obsessed with weight and appearance than we admit? Somehow, Pierce Brosnan and his Remington Steele days enter the conversation too.

Destiny Divine joins the discussion as Karen attempts the seemingly impossible task of convincing Niall to believe in God.

There is also the art of haggling. Would you ever ask for a better price, and can Niall rely on his legendary charm to talk his way into a bargain?

Following the debate around Ed Sheeran, Niall and Karen ask another question: how important are close friends as you get older, and how many of the people we call friends are actually true friends?

And finally, this week’s Listener Dilemma could test even the strongest marriage: “My wife wants her mother to move in.”

Real marriage, real stories, real laughs and real truths. It’s Don’t Call Me Darling with Niall and Karen Boylan.