1 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:10,200 Good afternoon. It's Wednesday the 7th of 2 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:12,800 January, just after 1:00. Welcome to UK column News. 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,680 I'm your host, Mike Robinson. Joining me today by videolink 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:17,480 are Charles Mallett and Vanessa Bailey. 5 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:20,320 Later in the program, Charles will be covering the state of 6 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,920 Britain's armed forces in a time of piracy in the from the United 7 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,120 States. Vanessa, we'll have more on 8 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:30,000 Venezuela and also substax response to online safety 9 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,400 requirements. And we'll have a farming update 10 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:36,560 and the UK's government's shiny new cybersecurity plan to talk 11 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:38,240 about. But we're going to begin today 12 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:41,360 with the situation with vaccinations in the UK. 13 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:44,960 And back in August, the government announced that a free 14 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:49,280 chicken pox vaccine will be offered for the first time to 15 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:52,840 children across England on the NHS from January this year. 16 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,480 And they said that thousands of children will be protected 17 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:58,480 against chicken pox for the first time. 18 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,680 So this is so the question is, is this to be a new vaccine 19 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:04,160 added to the schedule? Well, no. 20 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:07,880 In fact, GP practices are offering eligible children a 21 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,760 combination vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and now 22 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:14,960 varicella, the clinical term for small. 23 00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:17,000 Sorry for chicken pox. Apologies for that. 24 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:22,760 So MMR has become MMRV as we can see in this Health Security 25 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,840 Agency report here. So the roll out has been 26 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:29,840 confirmed by the UK Health Security Agency from the 1st of 27 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:33,720 January this year and MMRV vaccine will be introduced into 28 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:37,520 the routine childhood immunisation schedule in the UK. 29 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,720 They say that it's going to protect against the the four 30 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,240 diseases that we've mentioned and they say that's been safely 31 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:49,840 used for a decade over a decade. It's already part of the routine 32 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,880 childhood vaccination schedule in several countries including 33 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:56,920 Canada, Australia and Germany. And in addition, they're 34 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,840 reporting that the Hib men C vaccine is no longer to be 35 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,160 offered at the routine one year vaccine appointment. 36 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,160 Instead, children are going to get an extra dose of the six in 37 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:11,039 one vaccine covering diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, 38 00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:14,480 Hib and hepatitis B. And they also announced that 39 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:19,400 children born after the 1st of July 2024, for those children a 40 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:23,040 new 18 month appointment is going to be introduced and at 41 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,280 that, at that appointment, 1/4 dose of the six and one vaccine 42 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,160 is going to be offered at 18 months rather than 12 months. 43 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:33,160 And then finally, some moving things backwards and forwards 44 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:37,480 because the second dose of the meningococcal B vaccination, 45 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:41,920 which was previously offered at 16 weeks, is now moved to 12 46 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:43,760 weeks. In fact, that's from July last 47 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:45,720 year. And in order to enable that, the 48 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:49,800 first dose of the pneumococcal vaccine previously offered at 12 49 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,160 weeks is now going to be offered at 16 weeks. 50 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:58,120 On top of this, then the mobile vaccine vans are seeing MMRV 51 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:01,560 added to the list of vaccines they can deliver and pop up 52 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,520 clinics are being rolled out in various parts of the country to 53 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:06,960 make it more convenient, convenient for people to get 54 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:10,200 their jobs. Now joining me to discuss this, 55 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,160 I'm really pleased to say, is Doctor Andrew, Doctor Andrew 56 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,040 Wakefield. Welcome to the programme, 57 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:17,160 Andrew. And I suppose I want to begin by 58 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:21,160 asking, why do you think the government has decided to add 59 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:25,520 chicken pox to MMR? Good morning And it's great to 60 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:29,520 talk to you from Texas. Why they've done it is a mystery 61 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:33,480 to me. There is a convenience clearly 62 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,080 to combining these shots all in one. 63 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:40,000 Let me let me take you back to when I was in the UK and my 64 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:44,680 experience in talking to David Salisbury who was the principal 65 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,480 Medical Officer for vaccines at the time of the Department of 66 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:51,600 Health. And I done an extensive search 67 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:56,200 of all the pre licensing safety studies for the single measles 68 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:58,760 vaccine and the combination MMR vaccine. 69 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:04,040 And I couldn't find any valid comparisons of the safety 70 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:09,160 profile of these these these these these two approaches. 71 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:14,800 And I said to him, what evidence do you have that giving the 72 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:20,519 triple vaccine, the MMR is as safe as giving the single 73 00:04:20,519 --> 00:04:24,360 vaccines? And he said we had no reason to 74 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:28,520 assume that the safety profile would be any different. 75 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:34,120 Now what you're doing is you are giving a human being a 76 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:38,880 combination of live viruses in a way in which they've never seen 77 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,520 them before. You're giving them together and 78 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:47,040 you're giving them by injection. You have absolutely no right to 79 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:51,680 assume anything in terms of it that the impact of that on 80 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:55,920 safety, none whatsoever. That requires extensive study. 81 00:04:56,880 --> 00:05:01,000 And years ago when I, we didn't have the chicken pox vaccine in 82 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:07,800 the UK at the time, but years ago when I first spoke to the 83 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:13,960 media about the possible MMR autism link, I asked for further 84 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:15,800 studies. That's what I asked for further 85 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:18,800 studies. It was not don't vaccinate. 86 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:20,680 It was, we need further research. 87 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:22,360 Well, that research has now been done. 88 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:25,240 We're many years on. And I just want to read you this 89 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,320 because this is absolutely essential to to where we're 90 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:33,120 going with the chicken pox vaccine is this is a review of 91 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:38,560 all of the papers, 136 papers that purport to examine the link 92 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:41,640 between vaccines and autism. And it's done by and the 93 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:44,800 important thing is it's done by a group of people, some of whom 94 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:50,400 were profound sceptics about the possible link between vaccines 95 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,720 and autism, including Peter McCullough, who's the world's 96 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,480 most published cardiologist who's really come to the fore in 97 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:00,800 his criticism of the approach to dealing with COVID. 98 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:05,080 But this is the conclusion of the study, and let me just read 99 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:08,640 this to you. Combination and early time 100 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:13,160 routine childhood vaccination constitutes the most significant 101 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:17,880 modifiable risk factor for autism spectrum disorder. 102 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,120 Combination and early time vaccine. 103 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:25,160 So here you have a profound concern that the combination 104 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:29,440 vaccines, including MMR are indeed linked to the increased 105 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:32,800 risk of autism. Now they're suggesting putting 106 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:37,440 another vaccine in chicken pox. Well, let's how does this 107 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,960 confound Dr. Solopers opinion all those years ago that it was 108 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,280 reasonable to assume that something you were going to give 109 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:47,280 essentially to every child in the country and potentially 110 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:51,520 every child in the world was safe when you had no right to 111 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:56,240 assume that at all? That the adverse reaction rate 112 00:06:56,240 --> 00:07:01,680 in terms of febrile seizures is double for the MMRV compared 113 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:04,520 with the MMR it is double. This is published. 114 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:08,800 These are published data from the manufacturers themselves. 115 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:15,280 And so it is not innocuous to combine these in a way in which 116 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:17,040 nature has never seen them before. 117 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:21,160 It is not innocuous. The other unanticipated effect 118 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,160 of this was that repeated exposure in the environment, the 119 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:30,160 chicken pox was essential in protecting adults. 120 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:35,240 What it did is to periodically boost the immune response, the 121 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:40,120 antibody response to chicken pox and allow people to be protected 122 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:44,720 into old age. When epidemics of chicken pox 123 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,080 were removed in this country by the routine use of the vaccine, 124 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:50,720 then children no longer called epidemics. 125 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,880 They were no longer chicken pox, they were no longer epidemics 126 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:58,040 and that boosting of elderly people did not occur. 127 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:02,680 And So what we saw in the face of chicken pox vaccination was 128 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:07,800 an epidemic of shingles in older people because they're immune 129 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:11,960 response to chicken pox was now diminished. 130 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,400 What did the industry do? The industry had discovered had 131 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:21,800 created a new disorder vaccine associated shingles. 132 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:24,280 What did they do? They took the chicken pox 133 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:28,920 vaccine, they increased its potency times 10 and they called 134 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,400 it a chicken pox vaccine. They had created for themselves 135 00:08:32,799 --> 00:08:38,880 a new market and with it a very painful and debilitating 136 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:42,679 condition. So there these, these 137 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:47,640 interventions, these breaches of the sort of natural balance 138 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:52,120 between man and infection and not without severe consequences. 139 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:55,000 So is chicken pox a severe disease? 140 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:59,280 No, absolutely it is not. So does it merit the addition of 141 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:04,960 a chicken pox vaccine in an untested way to a population? 142 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:08,920 I don't believe it does. So those are my immediate 143 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:11,880 thoughts. And as we speak, what has 144 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,920 happened at the Advisory Committee on Immunization 145 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:19,880 Practices in this country is that they have now delayed the 146 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:26,240 first MMRV vaccine from infancy until four years of age 147 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:30,360 precisely because of concerns about the safety profile, 148 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:32,600 particularly in younger children. 149 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:37,480 So while one thing is happening in the UK, the years of 150 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:42,000 experience in the US with this vaccine have led to a different 151 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:46,000 policy being enacted. Indeed, Thank you very much for 152 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:48,240 that. And I just want to come back to 153 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:54,360 the the news here because the MHRA has decided that they are 154 00:09:54,360 --> 00:10:01,000 going to authorize a new mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. 155 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:04,160 This is called jab. This is called Zipporah man. 156 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:06,600 And this is the comment that they made. 157 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:09,960 Patient safety is the is our top priority. 158 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:14,080 They claimed the approval of Zaparaman provides an 159 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,480 alternative vaccine for use in adults to prevent COVID-19 160 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:21,560 caused by SARS COV 2. As with all licensed medicines, 161 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:24,560 we will continue to monitor its safety closely as it becomes 162 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:27,440 more widely used. And of course, they cite a 163 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:31,200 yellow card. Once again, I mean just very 164 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,800 briefly because we've only got a few seconds left, but what are 165 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:37,520 your, what are your thoughts on the continued roll out of this 166 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:43,240 technology? Well, as John Leake, co-author 167 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:47,800 with Peter McCullough, said, repeated vaccination, continued 168 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:51,480 use of the COVID vaccine is for the for the insane. 169 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:58,000 The safety profile is disastrous and I, I'm extraordinary. 170 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:00,320 I mean, I'm astonished that it's actually still on the market. 171 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:03,680 There is a big move in this country, in the US to actually 172 00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:08,080 have it removed from the market. The uptake of booster vaccines 173 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:13,480 for COVID is, is minimal. People have no longer any faith 174 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:18,520 in public health and are fully aware of the dangers of, or 175 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:22,280 certainly there is a growing awareness of the dangers of 176 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:27,320 these mRNA based product, so I'm astonished that they should 177 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:30,880 adopt that policy. Indeed. 178 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:33,040 Well, Doctor Andrew Wakefield, I'm going to say thank you very 179 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:35,120 much for joining us today. That's been fascinating. 180 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:39,360 We will hopefully see you back at some point in the future, but 181 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:41,280 that has been brilliant. Thank you for that. 182 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,480 Let's move on then to the so-called Coalition of the 183 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:47,160 willing. If we just bring this on screen, 184 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:49,800 here they are. They're all meeting in Paris 185 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:55,400 yesterday to discuss security of Ukraine and also what's going to 186 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:58,760 happen post ceasefire and post peace. 187 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:02,000 Allegedly. Now the graphic on screen says 188 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,080 coalition of the killing. I would say thank you to Dennis 189 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:10,040 for for drawing my attention to this variation of the of the 190 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:11,440 theme. But I think it's quite 191 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:15,800 appropriate 31 countries were represented at this thing in 192 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:19,760 person or online. White House envoy Steve Witkoff 193 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:23,720 and Jared Kushner, of course, were there representing, or at 194 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:25,640 least they were representing the United States. 195 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:30,160 Yesterday evening, Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron announced at 196 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:34,200 a joint press conference that they'd made an agreement to post 197 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,240 forces in Ukraine as part of their guarantee to protect its 198 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:39,960 security. Let's just have a look at what 199 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:44,640 Starmer had to say here, he said on the deployment of forces to 200 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:46,480 Ukraine in the event of a peace deal. 201 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,760 This is a vital part of our iron cast commitment to stand with 202 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,800 Ukraine for the long term. It paves the way for the legal 203 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:58,200 framework under which British, French and partner forces could 204 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:03,320 operate on Ukrainian soil. And so I can say that following 205 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:06,280 a ceasefire, the UK and France will establish military hubs 206 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:09,680 across Ukraine and build protection protected facilities 207 00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:11,880 for weapons and military equipment. 208 00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:18,040 So Charles, let me welcome you to the program now and I'd just 209 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:21,640 be interested in your thoughts on this and where this takes us. 210 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:25,680 Good afternoon all and happy New Year. 211 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:29,240 I think it takes us into entirely the wrong place and 212 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:34,080 it's a it's a, an escalation tactic sort of beyond compare 213 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,920 really. I think also that, you know, his 214 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:41,360 statement is very confused and it's not at all clear really 215 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:43,320 what he does mean. I mean, he even gets cast iron 216 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:45,960 back to front. So there's, there's a lot more 217 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,120 to to come out, but I would say one thing that's that's been 218 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:54,840 missed is the way in which this clearly raises the possibility 219 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,440 of triggering of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty 220 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:00,400 Organization. And I just want to articulate 221 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:03,280 what I mean by that, which is by taking a look at Article 6. 222 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:05,720 We just pop that on screen, please. 223 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:10,000 So we've got the the treaty itself from 1949 and Article 6 224 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:13,280 clarifies the position of Article 5, which is for the 225 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:16,400 purpose of Article 5, an armed attack on one or more of the 226 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:21,000 parties is to include an armed attack on the forces, vessels or 227 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:24,440 aircraft of any of the parties when in or over these 228 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:26,480 territories. Now, bearing in mind that 229 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:31,720 Ukraine is bordered to the West by 4 NATO countries, Romania, 230 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:39,800 Hungary, Slovakia and one other the the IT entirely raises the 231 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:44,000 possibility that that the movement of troops in and around 232 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:49,960 Ukraine and the area to the West has a significant potential to 233 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:53,440 to trigger this simply in a way, possibly by accident. 234 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:57,160 But I think it's commonly assumed that Article 5 relates 235 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:00,520 to a territorial incursion, when actually it doesn't need to. 236 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:02,480 It could, for the sake of argument, be British troops 237 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:07,840 operating in Romania or Poland, as opposed to an attack on 238 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,400 Poland or the Polish people. I think that point's worth 239 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:12,360 making. Absolutely. 240 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,520 Now let's continue with Starmer then, because he went on to say 241 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:20,160 this and we'll keep up the pressure on Russia, including 242 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:23,000 further measures on the oil traders and shadow fleet 243 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,000 operating operators funding Putin's war chest. 244 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:30,120 Which is pretty hilarious because Trump has plans to seize 245 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:32,840 what's being described by mainstream press as a tanker 246 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:36,760 involved in Venezuela and Venezuelan oil trade, the Bella 247 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:39,040 one. Except that the Bella one is no 248 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:42,120 longer the Bella one. It's now the marinara and it's 249 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:46,080 been reflagged as Russian. Now Forces News is carrying the 250 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:48,680 headline. Ghost riders arrive in the UK 251 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:52,240 and online chatter suggests something big is going down. 252 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:55,760 The article reports that flight tracking data and local 253 00:15:55,760 --> 00:16:00,520 eyewitness reports have shown that at least 10 C 17 flights 254 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:05,920 have landed at 2 RAF bases, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Fairford and 255 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:09,440 they have unloaded Special Forces helicopters, U.S. special 256 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:12,520 Forces helicopters which have subsequently been seen on low 257 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:16,720 altitude flights. At least two AC130J gunships 258 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:20,280 have been seen. Flight tracking data is showing 259 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:24,880 the presence of U.S. Navy P8A aircraft flying patrols 260 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:30,840 over Irish waters because the, uh, Marinero is in waters near 261 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:32,880 Ireland's so-called exclusive economic zone. 262 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:36,760 And according to the BBC, then Russia has deployed Navy vessels 263 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:41,240 to export, uh, to, sorry to escort, uh, the oil tanker, umm, 264 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:45,840 And, uh, so, I mean, this is looking very Cold War like in 265 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,760 it's sort of standoff between US and potentially US and Russia 266 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:51,920 here. But in the meantime, on Monday 267 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:55,200 night, uh, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy 268 00:16:55,200 --> 00:17:00,000 Stephen Miller was speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper and he said 269 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:04,280 this. We live in a world in which you 270 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:07,280 can talk all you want about international niceties and 271 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,680 everything else, but we live in a world in a real world. 272 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:14,040 In a real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is 273 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:16,800 governed by force, that is governed by power. 274 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:19,760 These are the iron laws of the world that have existed since 275 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:24,160 the beginning of time. And not to be outdone, P Texas 276 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:29,720 now, of course, Secretary of State for war is heading around 277 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:34,040 the world saying things like we're re establishing deterrence 278 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:37,600 that's so absolute and so unquestioned that our enemies 279 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:41,080 will not dare to test us. Now He was he said that speaking 280 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:46,840 to workers at Newport, Newport News VA's shipyard on Monday, on 281 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:52,520 Monday, this was he said that he's calling, sorry, he's 282 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:55,480 calling his tour the Arsenal of freedom tour just so as you 283 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,280 know, and of course, he's hyping up the military industrial 284 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:01,360 complex. Let's just give you a sort of 285 00:18:01,360 --> 00:18:03,080 sense of of what he's talking about. 286 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:08,680 Have a listen to this. Now here we are in 2026, and 287 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:12,040 President Trump is reestablishing dominance and 288 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:14,120 deterrence in our own hemisphere. 289 00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:16,120 You will be a part of that lineage. 290 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:20,400 That's pretty cool. I get chills saying it and 291 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:24,720 thinking about it. There's something really weird 292 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:26,320 about that. But anyway, we'll talk about 293 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:29,800 that an extra, I have no doubt. He went on to say that the world 294 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:32,000 is taking notice. They're noticing American power, 295 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,120 they're noticing American strength, they're noticing 296 00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:37,960 American clarity and leadership. We recognize we're the new era 297 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:41,000 of great power competition, a generational struggle to mean 298 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,800 peace, intend peace through strength, and we'll rise to meet 299 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,520 that challenge. That's why we proudly call call 300 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:50,000 ourselves the Department of War, not the Department of Defence. 301 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:53,840 Not because we seek war, but because we truly understand that 302 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,440 in order to ensure peace, you need to be prepared to deter war 303 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:58,640 and if necessary, decisively win it. 304 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:02,240 Our purpose is not to be reactive, but dominant so that 305 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:05,880 no enemy enemy, any enemy can ever challenge the United States 306 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:09,040 of America. It's quite incredible the 307 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:12,160 rhetoric coming out of him. But of course, just to finish 308 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,080 this off, then let's just quickly talk about the Greenland 309 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:17,120 issue. And before we do that, let's 310 00:19:17,120 --> 00:19:19,880 just remind ourselves ourselves of Trump's position. 311 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:24,320 In action against Greenland. Well, I don't want to talk about 312 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:26,920 Greenland. Let's talk about Venezuela, 313 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:30,760 Russia, Ukraine. Don't worry about Greenland in 314 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:34,560 about two months. Let's talk about Greenland in 20 315 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:39,640 days on Venezuela, by the way. I have to, I will say this about 316 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:42,880 Greenland. We need Greenland from a 317 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:47,400 national security situation. It's so strategic right now, 318 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:51,440 Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all 319 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,560 over the place. We need Greenland from the 320 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,240 standpoint of national security. And Denmark is not going to be 321 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:02,400 able to do it, I can tell you. So that's his position. 322 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:04,320 The question is, what's the British position? 323 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,880 So here's Yvette Cooper speaking in the House of Commons. 324 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,640 The House will have seen recent comments from the United States 325 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:14,920 and from Denmark regarding Greenland. 326 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:18,640 Let me be very clear on the UK position. 327 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,920 Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. 328 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:29,200 Our close European partners, our long standing NATO allies and 329 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:33,360 all our countries work closely together on security issues and 330 00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:37,360 will always do so. The future of Greenland is a 331 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:41,400 matter for the Greenlanders and Danes and no one else. 332 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:46,960 And Starmer was echoing those in comments, those comments and 333 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:49,960 comments that he had made. And so, Charles, question is, 334 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:52,320 are we are? Where do we draw the line? 335 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:54,600 Are we going to war with the United States over Greenland? 336 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:56,960 Do you think Europe? I mean not, that's just not 337 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:03,040 necessarily just the UK. Well, those that are pulling 338 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:05,040 some of the levers are determined that we go to war 339 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,040 with somebody exactly who it turns out to be sort of yet to 340 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:10,960 be decided. But I, I concluded last year's 341 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:15,280 news on Friday the 19th with what the Secret Intelligence 342 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:18,280 Service and the Ministry of Defence were saying. 343 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:22,360 So we'll just have a look at the these two on screen now, Blaise 344 00:21:22,360 --> 00:21:26,000 Metro Welly, head of MI 6 and Richard Knighton, head of the 345 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,640 armed forces. And they were absolutely saying 346 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:31,720 that whilst there's been plenty of chatter throughout the course 347 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:36,280 of 2025, we're now clear there is a single focus and it is war 348 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:38,520 with Russia by some means or other. 349 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:44,040 Now, of course, this reinforced the narrative of the twin, well, 350 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:47,240 sort of combinations really of the state of emergency leading 351 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:52,160 through to the very real prospect of conscription. 352 00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:57,240 And of course this is to sell us the whole of society approach to 353 00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,000 war. Now, as far as the media were 354 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,280 concerned, obviously there were many people all over this, John 355 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:06,280 Simpson being a notable one, writing here with BBC in depth 356 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:10,000 saying that he's reported on 40 wars, but he's never seen a year 357 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:12,160 like 2025. And lo and behold, of course, he 358 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:15,760 too is pointing towards Russia, saying it's becoming clear that 359 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,720 one of them, one of the wars he's talking about, one of the 360 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,360 one of the sort of areas of conflict, has geopolitical 361 00:22:21,360 --> 00:22:23,640 implications of unparalleled importance. 362 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:26,800 He means Ukraine. However, he does then go on to 363 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:29,440 think about it somewhat by saying that if you thought World 364 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:31,920 War Three would be a shooting match with nuclear weapons, 365 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:35,160 think again. It's much more likely to be a 366 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:38,160 collection of diplomatic and military manoeuvres which will 367 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,320 see autocracy flourish. It could even threaten to break 368 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:44,800 up the Western alliance. Well, quite where he's been to 369 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:48,280 provoke a statement about autocracy flourishing as though 370 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:52,200 it's as it's not yet happened remains to be answered. 371 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:54,760 But I think I would agree with him about the mixture of 372 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:58,120 diplomatic and military manoeuvres, but also the ceding 373 00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:01,520 of power and control to the civilian entities that are 374 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:05,400 providing the means by which any sort of war might be prosecuted. 375 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:09,480 Whether that is cyber or via space, or indeed via much of the 376 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,680 hardware that of course is not yet owned or controlled by armed 377 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:15,160 forces. And on that very question we 378 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:17,680 consider that again. Just before Christmas, the 379 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:21,320 United Kingdom sent yet another package of air defence support 380 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:26,040 to Ukraine, £600 million worth of British made kit. 381 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:28,800 Begging the question. Of course it was. 382 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:31,080 Sorry. First of all, just specifically, 383 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,920 it was Raven and Grave Hawk counter Shyred turrets set to 384 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:36,840 bolster Ukraine's defences this winter. 385 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:39,040 OK, fair enough. But the but the question is to 386 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:41,240 be operated by whom? And when we think back to the 387 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:44,840 death of Lance Corporal George Wholey of the Special Forces 388 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:48,720 Support Group again just before Christmas, the question has not 389 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:52,040 satisfactorily been answered of what was he doing there? 390 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:57,600 So, so the question now is how is this situation is going to be 391 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,000 handled by the Ministry of Defence posturing on the one 392 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,360 hand almost Hegseth style, saying that peace through 393 00:24:03,360 --> 00:24:07,080 strength and indeed regarding Russia as as an adversary means 394 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:11,520 that we must meet that threat with an appropriate response. 395 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:16,280 Now one part of this has been what might be described as the 396 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:21,200 somewhat laughable idea that recruits will go through a sort 397 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:24,280 of gap year process that be an Armed Forces Foundation scheme 398 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:28,360 to the BBC here reporting on what the government's describing 399 00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:32,720 as a gap year scheme for long young people to bolster skills 400 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,240 and leadership. Now when you read the detail, 401 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,800 actually it's projecting that 150 people might come out of 402 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:41,160 this by the year 2026. It's not going to make a huge 403 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:43,600 amount of difference. However, what I would say is 404 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,840 that I think it will normalise that relationship with the armed 405 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:50,200 forces for young people. And also I think one shouldn't 406 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,800 forget the comments made by Rishi Sunak when he was in 407 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:57,000 office as Prime Minister talking about a a form of compulsory 408 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:01,000 service and when pushed, he said that people could have their 409 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:04,280 bank accounts frozen if they didn't comply with the request 410 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:06,320 for such a service. This could be the sort of the 411 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:08,680 thin end of the wedge. Not forgetting of course that 412 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:13,080 Serco, who take over the recruitment contract from Capita 413 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:16,440 in 2027 has been an unmitigated disaster with Capita. 414 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:19,400 But of course, Serco themselves are still in the position of 415 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:23,040 recruiting for the recruiting positions. 416 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,000 You couldn't really make it up Now. 417 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:30,440 The next thing is that the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, 418 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:34,080 which the Labour government are effectively dismantling in order 419 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,360 that there can be prosecutions of British servicemen where 420 00:25:36,360 --> 00:25:40,600 there will not be prosecutions for members or former members of 421 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:44,200 the IRA. And the Telegraph here reporting 422 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,800 released having published a letter from special forces, 423 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:51,960 former special forces personnel and I'll just take a a brief 424 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:55,400 excerpt from this, which is that commanders now hesitate fearing 425 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:58,040 years of litigation. Troops feel abandoned. 426 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:01,840 The public smells cover up allies question our secrecy and 427 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:04,600 reliability. This self sabotage needs no 428 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:06,920 foreign hand in this troubles bill. 429 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:10,400 The government is complicit in this war on our on our on our 430 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,520 armed forces. So it's really not looking good. 431 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,480 And of course the prevailing sense of the drop in morale from 432 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:21,120 the inside is articulated very well and very sadly by Sean 433 00:26:21,120 --> 00:26:24,880 Raymond in the Daily Mail, who's just written an article on the 434 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:30,240 29th suicide that's taken place within the Rifles. 435 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,160 Admittedly the Rifles does now comprise 5 battalions so that is 436 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:36,840 quite a number of personnel but nonetheless a very sad statistic 437 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:39,800 and and indeed a telling one. Now on the procurement front, 438 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,200 the latest disaster is of course with the Ajax armoured vehicles 439 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:46,160 and we've just got a a clip from Luke Pollard, the Armed Forces 440 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:48,720 Minister, telling us what the score is. 441 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:54,680 That means in the event of any concerns during an exercise on 442 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:57,040 use of Ajax that they should be reported. 443 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,080 And as soon as concerns were reported, within 30 minutes of 444 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,320 that every, a single Ajax vehicle had stopped being used 445 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:07,120 and questions were asked to everyone involved as to how they 446 00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:08,600 were feeling. That was the right approach, 447 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:10,080 that safety measure was the right thing. 448 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:14,920 Now we've just had Andy Wakefield on the programme 449 00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:18,080 talking about vaccines and whether or not something should 450 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,840 be used on the basis of an assumption. 451 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:22,840 And it's interesting to see Luke Pollard there using the 452 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:25,400 precautionary principle in the way that it was intended, which 453 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,680 is if there is a risk or the suggestion of a risk, then you 454 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:30,880 stop the activity in order to work out what's going on. 455 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:34,360 That has been done in this instance, but bearing in mind 456 00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:38,680 the sheer cost of the Ajax programme and the length of time 457 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:42,120 it's taken to have taken the entire fleet off the off the 458 00:27:42,120 --> 00:27:46,120 road is spelling significant disaster for the Ministry of 459 00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:47,880 Defence. Or as one might consider 460 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:51,080 labelling them, the Ministry of Pretence because they're putting 461 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:54,720 out the idea that we are ready to mobilise and to fight a war 462 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,680 with Russia, whilst demonstrating absolutely no 463 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,880 evidence of that being their position. 464 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:03,600 I mean, Mike, I don't know if you've got any, any particular 465 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:06,800 comment on the way this is looking not just from within the 466 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,920 United Kingdom, but what Russia, for example, might be thinking. 467 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:14,760 Well, no, I mean, I would the first question is what, why? 468 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,840 Maybe you can answer this. Why is the UK so bad at armoured 469 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:20,840 vehicles? First of all, because we seem to 470 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,560 have problems with successive versions of that. 471 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:29,120 But the, yes, I take your point about the, the precautionary 472 00:28:29,120 --> 00:28:32,120 principle being used, that's only ever used when it suits. 473 00:28:32,120 --> 00:28:35,040 It's not used with respect to electromagnetic radiation. 474 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:37,040 It's not used with respect to medical products. 475 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:39,320 It's only used in certain circumstances. 476 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:43,160 But I mean, what's your experience with this, Charles? 477 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:47,840 I mean the, the, the the armour that is provided for the armed 478 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,720 forces just seems to be subpar the whole time. 479 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:55,240 I think actually it's a factor that that spreads far further 480 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:57,960 than just armoured vehicles. I mean procurement as a whole. 481 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:01,240 And actually this pertains very, very much to the relationship 482 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:04,720 with the recruiters that you're forcing people who have no 483 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:07,400 commercial experience to try to make deals with civilian 484 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,160 organisations. And of course the military 485 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,880 personnel change, the civilian ones don't necessarily. 486 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,320 So you have an awful lot of people driving a project who 487 00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:17,360 don't really know what it is they're doing. 488 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:20,320 By the time the project is delivered, it's, it's by and 489 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:22,680 large obsolete. You've also got the issue of 490 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:26,480 many, many organisations being involved in the same 491 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:28,160 organization. And in fact, it's worth pointing 492 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:31,800 out that L bit Systems designed the early warning system E laws 493 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:35,760 for Ajax. So you've got Israeli parts in 494 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:39,960 the Ajax fleet, which is, you know, first of all a compromise, 495 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:43,160 but also yet another complication to to the process. 496 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,120 Well, we'll be talking about Israeli involvement in another 497 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:50,440 process later on in the program. But before we get to that, well, 498 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:53,560 actually there will probably be some discussion about Israel in 499 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:55,920 this segment as well. Let me welcome, welcome, Vanessa 500 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,280 to the program. And well, obviously since the 501 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:03,080 last time you were on, we've had big changes, particularly in 502 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:05,720 Venezuela. So bring us up to date with with 503 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:08,400 your take on what's happened over the past week or so. 504 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:13,000 Yeah. Thank you, Mike, and welcome to 505 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,600 the new year everyone. Another year of turbulence of 506 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:18,680 course started very quickly on the 3rd of January with the 507 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:23,240 removal of President Maduro and effectively a major aggression 508 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,560 by Trump and the US against Venezuela. 509 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:31,360 Mike and I have had recently various conversations covering a 510 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,200 lot of the aspects of what is happening in Venezuela, but I'm 511 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:40,120 going to focus on particularly the aspect of Zionist or Israeli 512 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,240 influence on what happened in Venezuela. 513 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:49,320 So what has been the chatter in US think tanks for actually 514 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:53,040 years now? Reference Venezuela is 515 00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:56,560 effectively the influence of Iran and of course the 516 00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:01,160 resistance movements. If we can just put the the the 517 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:05,960 article up on the screen, Maduro, Hezbollah, Nexus, how 518 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:09,320 Iran backed networks prop up the Venezuelan regime. 519 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:13,640 This is in Atlantic Council. And this is definitely something 520 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:18,520 that not only Netanyahu has been pushing Trump with regards to 521 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:24,880 the threat from Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, but also the previously 522 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:30,560 Nobel Peace Prize winner Machado, who was considered to 523 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:33,200 be a viable opposition to Maduro. 524 00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:39,320 She's now been dropped by Trump. And then so she was basically 525 00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:41,800 allowing herself very much with Israel. 526 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:44,160 Then This was another recent article. 527 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:47,640 There is various there are various articles including in 528 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:53,520 Fox News, Maduros Terror Island, Hezbollah in Venezuela, the IRGC 529 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:57,600 fake passports proxy hub. Let's have a look at the island 530 00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:00,720 that they're claiming to be infested by Hezbollah. 531 00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:02,400 You can barely see it on the map. 532 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,080 It's Margarita Island off the coast of Venezuela in the 533 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:08,840 Caribbean there, which apparently now has become a 534 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:12,720 training ground for Hezbollah, which is I've struggled to find 535 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:16,720 any actual substantiation for that claim. 536 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:20,840 But then, of course, we have to remember that just prior to the 537 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:25,680 removal of Maduro and the attack on Venezuela, after a massive 538 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:29,480 military buildup by the United States under Trump, there was a 539 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:35,000 visit by Netanyahu, who had this press conference with President 540 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:36,680 Trump. And let's see what they 541 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:40,600 basically covered in part of that press conference. 542 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:49,880 You needed a very special man to to really carry through and 543 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,640 really help Israel through this horrible jam. 544 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,440 You know, these are major factions. 545 00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:58,560 And it started with our negotiation with Iran. 546 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:02,000 I think it probably started with Solomani. 547 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,600 That was really where you mentioned that today, which 548 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:10,120 started with Solomani. Bad guy doing bad things, 549 00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:13,600 hurting a lot of people, killing the American soldiers and other 550 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,320 soldiers. But it started right there would 551 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:20,080 probably be the starting point. And then from that point 552 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:24,160 forward, but you would you have a wartime Prime Minister at the 553 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:26,880 highest level. There could be other wartime 554 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:28,400 prime ministers, but they'd lose. 555 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:32,440 He won. And I think the people of Israel 556 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:34,360 appreciate it. I think a lot of the people in 557 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:35,800 the world appreciate it, actually. 558 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,520 And because of that victory, we were able to get peace in the 559 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:44,160 Middle East. So of course, he's referring to 560 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:49,120 the assassination of Haj Qasem Soleimani, who was instrumental 561 00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:55,120 in fighting both ISIS and al Qaeda in Iraq and Syria. 562 00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:59,280 And then let's have a look at what they say about the Abraham 563 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:03,960 Accords, which of course is designed to bring various Arab 564 00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:07,720 states under the control or into the sphere of influence of 565 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:09,360 Israel. So let's roll this. 566 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:11,920 Tell us. Something about your plan to 567 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:15,520 expand Abraham Accords? Well, the Abraham Accords are a 568 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:19,120 great, there's a great achievement of Jared and 569 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:23,000 everybody that I mean, it was one of the great achievements. 570 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:28,760 They'll be expanded. So when he's talking about 571 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:32,400 expansion, of course, what he's also referring to are the Isaac 572 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:38,560 Accords, which now are seeking to capture or a secure a 573 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:41,880 greatest fear of influence for the Zionist movement in Latin 574 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:46,960 America started with President Mile of Argentina. 575 00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:51,480 Interestingly enough, Danny Danon, this was the former UN 576 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:55,400 ambassador for Israel, if we can just put that quote up on the 577 00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:58,080 screen. Israel has long been a beacon of 578 00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:01,200 innovation and resilience. I am pleased to see that Isaac 579 00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:04,720 Accord's initiative get off the ground and thank President 580 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:09,200 Milay, Sorry for setting an example for his neighbors in the 581 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:11,400 region. Now, I find this particularly 582 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:15,280 interesting because, as the following short video will 583 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,840 demonstrate, Argentina was actually among the list of 584 00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:22,160 countries that Theodore Herzl, one of the founders of the 585 00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:25,400 Zionist movement, was considering full settlement 586 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:28,120 alongside Palestine. So let's just have a look at 587 00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:32,160 this short video. Those described Argentina as one 588 00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:35,320 of the most fertile countries in the world and said that the 589 00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:38,600 authorities would derive considerable profits from the 590 00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:40,760 station of a portion of its territory. 591 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:44,160 In the following years, the Zionist movement also considered 592 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:48,400 other territories such as Sinai in Egypt, Cyprus Island and 593 00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:50,200 today's Kenya to establish a state. 594 00:35:50,720 --> 00:35:54,160 But in the meantime, settlers continue to enter Argentina. 595 00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:58,200 Hundreds arrived in 1889, with the help of the Jewish 596 00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:02,040 Colonization Association, they bought land and founded 597 00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:06,240 Moyesville, some 600 kilometers from the capital Buenos Aires. 598 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:10,280 At its peak in the 1940's, the colony was composed of about 599 00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:18,240 5000 Zionist settlers. In fact, Moise Villa Ville is 600 00:36:18,240 --> 00:36:20,320 known as the Jerusalem of Argentina. 601 00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:24,400 So who's already signed on to the Isaac Accords in Latin 602 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:26,920 America? If we have a look at the map, 603 00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:30,840 you can see there of course Argentina, from which the entire 604 00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:36,320 project emanated, Uruguay, Panama and Costa Rica. 605 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:42,880 So to the South and to the north of Venezuela, and then basically 606 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:45,400 if we look again, just there's another section of the press 607 00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:49,600 conference between Trump and Netanyahu that of course, all of 608 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:54,560 this is very much pushing towards a greater escalation of 609 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,400 aggression against Iran. So let's just roll this. 610 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:05,560 So Iran has been greatly reduced in power, prestige. 611 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:08,200 I don't want to use the word humiliation because, you know, 612 00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:09,880 they're trying to build up again. 613 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:13,240 But we can't let them build up because if they build up, they 614 00:37:13,240 --> 00:37:15,600 can't be peace in the Middle East. 615 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:18,080 It was a mistake, You know, when they wiped out Iraq. 616 00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:21,480 Iraq and Iran were about the same power and they fought each 617 00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:24,000 other with different names for 1000 years. 618 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,760 And then our country came out and blew up one of those two 619 00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:34,000 countries, namely Iraq. Then all of a sudden, Iran had 620 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:35,840 the whole Middle East all to itself. 621 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:39,320 But that's not true anymore. That's not true anymore. 622 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:47,040 So clearly, Iran is definitely on the target list. 623 00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:50,720 And as we spoke about, Mike, there have been a series of 624 00:37:50,720 --> 00:37:53,680 other countries within the resistance axis that have been 625 00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:55,840 targeted since the fall of Syria. 626 00:37:56,520 --> 00:37:59,480 And I just also want to point out that I spoke to Jose Bio 627 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:02,800 Morghi, the Ambassador for Venezuela here in Lebanon 628 00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:05,680 yesterday. Mike, I know that you 629 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:07,520 interviewed him a little while back. 630 00:38:08,240 --> 00:38:11,120 He actually is pretty buoyant about the situation. 631 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:14,880 He said on the streets, the government is back in control. 632 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:16,560 It didn't lose the control at all. 633 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:19,640 Opposition didn't come out on the streets at all after the 634 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:22,760 kidnap of President Maduro. There was no surrender. 635 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:26,120 The Cuba and special forces were fighting and of course, were 636 00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:29,680 killed in the attack. And he said that the attack was 637 00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:32,600 actually huge, not just the helicopters that were seen in 638 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:36,680 the video, but also a huge number of drones and jets. 639 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,640 So it was very difficult for the air defenses to respond 640 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:42,960 effectively. But he is relatively buoyant. 641 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:45,680 We can maybe talk more about that in EXTRA. 642 00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:50,640 But then coming back to the Israeli influence in what's 643 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:55,680 happening in Venezuela, I want to introduce Paul Singer, the 644 00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:59,480 billionaire Trump megadono set to make a killing on Venezuela 645 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:02,640 oil. Who is Singer? 646 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:07,760 This is from the article that Common Dreams In November 2025, 647 00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:11,360 less than two months before Trump's operation to take over 648 00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:14,360 Venezuela, Singer's investment firm, Elliot Investment 649 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:17,480 Management and one of its subsidiaries, Amber Energy 650 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:21,520 linked inked, sorry, a highly fortuitous deal. 651 00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:25,960 It purchased Citgo, the US based subsidiary of Venezuela's state 652 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:28,680 owned oil company, for 5.9 billion. 653 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:33,720 Now Venezuela has valued that company at around 18 billion. 654 00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:37,440 So this was a sale that was forced by a Delaware court after 655 00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:41,240 Venezuela defaulted on its bond payments, of course, down to the 656 00:39:41,240 --> 00:39:45,280 pressure of sanctions on them by the United States because they 657 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:48,840 dared to nationalize their oil. The court appointed special 658 00:39:49,240 --> 00:39:52,400 master who forced the sale, Robert Pincus, is a member of 659 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:56,080 the board of directors for the American Israel Public Affairs 660 00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:58,920 Committee, AIPAC. Which is very interesting 661 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:04,120 because David Miller went on to X to point out the fact that 662 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:08,120 Singer is also the 6th largest donor to AIPAC. 663 00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:12,080 He's a major benefactor of groups like Friends of the IDF, 664 00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:14,680 the Israeli military. That have been committed 665 00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:18,960 genocide in Palestine. He supported United Hatsala, an 666 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:23,000 Israeli volunteer EMS organization has links to 667 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,240 donations for programs that benefit Zionist settlement 668 00:40:26,240 --> 00:40:30,040 programs in Palestine. So again, we see here the 669 00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:34,360 Zionist hand, even behind the scenes, destabilizing and 670 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:37,800 weakening Venezuela. Thank you for this. 671 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:40,480 And just for those who don't know, what's an EMS 672 00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:45,120 organization? Oh, actually, I'm not sure. 673 00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:47,440 OK. OK, well, we'll find that out 674 00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:50,080 for extra. I meant to check. 675 00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:55,760 Yeah, OK. Find that out for extra and 676 00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:59,320 we'll let everybody know. OK, Thank you Vanessa for that. 677 00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:02,320 Let's move on then. If you like what the UK column 678 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:05,600 does, please support us. We do need your ongoing support. 679 00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:09,320 If you would like to support us, there's a link on the front page 680 00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:11,960 of the website that'll take you to the page that explains how 681 00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:15,280 you can. Thank you so much to everybody 682 00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:16,680 that does support us financially. 683 00:41:17,720 --> 00:41:21,240 Do share any material you find on the UK column, website or any 684 00:41:21,240 --> 00:41:23,160 of the other platforms that's ours. 685 00:41:23,800 --> 00:41:25,520 Please do that. And that helps us deal with the 686 00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:29,000 censorship regime. Now tonight, we're getting very 687 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:31,320 controversial because Jeremy's going to be speaking to Bart 688 00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:37,240 Seybrol about moon landings. That's 7:00 PM tonight and well, 689 00:41:37,240 --> 00:41:42,640 tomorrow at 1:00 PM, Vanessa and I have recorded the next episode 690 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:45,440 of the Syria Podcast. We're not looking at Syria 691 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:47,640 specifically because obviously we're looking at the 692 00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:50,480 implications of what happened, what has happened in Syria 693 00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:53,360 globally. So let's let's just have a look 694 00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:59,240 at a quick trailer for this. The UK has been less happy to 695 00:41:59,240 --> 00:42:03,560 welcome Middle Eastern Christians into British 696 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:05,560 territory, which is kind of interesting. 697 00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:08,200 But we're too busy welcoming the attack theories. 698 00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:13,240 Yes, exactly. Syria was a linchpin really for 699 00:42:13,240 --> 00:42:17,280 the entire global resistance axis or the remaining 700 00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:24,440 independent countries that opposed imperialism and opposed 701 00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:28,640 the Zionist occupation of Palestine as being a core 702 00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:34,160 element of their foreign policy positions, right? 703 00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:39,680 And, and so that goes from Iran, Yemen, through the whole of the 704 00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:44,200 Middle East or, or West Asia, but then also expands into 705 00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:48,960 regions of Africa, as we're now seeing coming under attack. 706 00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:54,560 And of course, Latin America. Venezuela was an integral part 707 00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:58,000 of the resistance axis. So Machado is also pushing this 708 00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:01,680 rhetoric that Hezbollah is establishing itself in 709 00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:05,560 Venezuela, that Iran is embedding itself in Venezuela, 710 00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:09,760 Hamas is embedding itself in Venezuela, and so therefore 711 00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:13,400 Venezuela represents a direct threat to Israel. 712 00:43:13,400 --> 00:43:16,040 And of course, I'm sure that this was discussed between 713 00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:29,120 Netanyahu and Trump. So 1:00 PM tomorrow for that. 714 00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:32,880 Please join us for that. And then another reminder that 715 00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:37,760 on Sunday at 7:00 PM, Jake is speaking to Abby Roberts and 716 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:41,560 painting Abby Roberts as part of the next, This is the next 717 00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:43,320 edition of the 1000 Words podcast. 718 00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:46,320 So join us at 7:00 PM on Sunday for that. 719 00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:50,000 OK, Vanessa, let's come back to you then. 720 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:52,600 And staying with. Well, we're talking about 721 00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:56,520 censorship now. And well over the last little 722 00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:59,480 while we've been talking about the Online Safety Act of course, 723 00:43:59,680 --> 00:44:02,920 for years in fact, but particularly in recent times, 724 00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:05,960 the age verification requirements, this is starting 725 00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:10,680 to affect some platforms, particularly sub stack. 726 00:44:12,920 --> 00:44:17,000 Yes, many of us have been remarking on the loss of 727 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:20,760 subscriptions and the fact that sub stack is divided basically 728 00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:25,040 into posts, which are equivalent to articles and notes, which is 729 00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:28,320 a little bit like Facebook. You can just put out information 730 00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:32,040 and receive comments, but even the notes now are being age 731 00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:35,760 restricted. Not for everyone, only for 732 00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:40,200 specific accounts that are of course dissident accounts and 733 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:42,680 countering establishment narratives. 734 00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:47,320 So this is the sub stock official view on the Online 735 00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:50,800 Safety Act. We believe that a Free Press is 736 00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:53,800 essential for a free society and that in the modern world, that 737 00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:56,800 means a free Internet. That's why we work to preserve 738 00:44:56,800 --> 00:44:59,880 freedom of expression on the platform while putting 739 00:44:59,880 --> 00:45:04,640 publishers and their communities in control. 740 00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:09,080 Right? Well, this is not entirely true. 741 00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:12,040 I mean, they go on to say with that context, the UK is now 742 00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:15,440 requiring online platforms to label certain types of content 743 00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:19,000 and ask people in the country to verify their age before viewing 744 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:22,520 it with Australia. And Australia is now included, 745 00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:25,640 expected to introduce similar requirements in mid-december. 746 00:45:26,240 --> 00:45:29,120 Only specific categories fall under these rules and we've 747 00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:32,080 shared more details in our support page. 748 00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:35,320 So what they're then saying is this connect your connection 749 00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:37,880 with your subscribers won't change and the way you publish 750 00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:40,160 content for your audience remains the same. 751 00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:43,440 Your e-mail list publishing process and relationship with 752 00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:45,160 your subscribers are not affected. 753 00:45:45,160 --> 00:45:49,880 Totally untrue. And so basically we, we've 754 00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:55,200 reached a point where thinking coalition, one of the sub stack 755 00:45:55,560 --> 00:45:59,920 media outlets, and I highly recommend following them, has 756 00:45:59,960 --> 00:46:04,920 basically piled put together a letter to be sent to the CEO of 757 00:46:04,920 --> 00:46:08,400 Substack called Fighting back against Substack censorship. 758 00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:11,120 You can check it out. It'll be linked to in the show 759 00:46:11,120 --> 00:46:17,280 notes. And basically in that he, he, he 760 00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:20,840 lays out the problems that we've all been experiencing, which are 761 00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:25,280 effectively loss of subscriptions, people unable to 762 00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:27,920 view our posts. Of course, they can still view 763 00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:31,760 many of the mainstream media outlets that, that are still 764 00:46:32,160 --> 00:46:35,440 contributing to sub stack. They aren't being affected by 765 00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:38,640 any kind of request for identification. 766 00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:44,840 And the fact is also that if you subscribe to sub stack or if you 767 00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:48,400 subscribe to my sub stack, you already have to provide your ID 768 00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:50,600 through a credit card. So why on earth are you having 769 00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:55,080 to then repeat that process? According to Ofcom, there's 770 00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:58,800 nothing in the Online Safety Act requiring contact that's not 771 00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:02,160 harmful to children to be age gated, and there's also no 772 00:47:02,160 --> 00:47:05,360 requirement to restrict legal content for adult users. 773 00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:10,120 Providers required to use age checks should also seek to avoid 774 00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:14,520 unnecessary content restrictions, however, according 775 00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:21,720 to a website called Cyber Eagle. Graham Smiths blog on law, it, 776 00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:25,800 the Internet and online media. He goes into some detail about 777 00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:30,400 the Online Safety Act, Guardian of Free Speech, and at one point 778 00:47:30,400 --> 00:47:33,640 he talks about the Age Verification Providers 779 00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:38,480 Association that calls out detractors, sorry detractors, 780 00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:42,280 labeling it as an instrument of censorship that stifles online 781 00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:44,880 expression. This narrative completely 782 00:47:44,880 --> 00:47:47,840 misrepresents the acts purpose and effect. 783 00:47:48,240 --> 00:47:52,240 However, as Cyber Eagle says, one purpose of the ACT is 784 00:47:52,240 --> 00:47:54,480 suddenly to tackle illegal content. 785 00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:58,520 The purpose, however, is only the label on the legislative tin 786 00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:02,440 Effect is what the tin contains. Inside this tin we find 787 00:48:02,440 --> 00:48:06,760 substantive obligations that will inevitably result in legal 788 00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:10,920 content being removed, not through over caution, but as a 789 00:48:10,920 --> 00:48:14,160 matter of what the ACT expressly requires. 790 00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:18,880 And so just part of the latter. That thinking coalition has 791 00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:24,440 written to the CEO of Substantive Introducing such aid 792 00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:28,440 restrictions may represent a breach of Substack requirement 793 00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:32,400 to protect users rights to freedom of expression as set out 794 00:48:32,400 --> 00:48:34,720 under Part 1, Section 1 of the OSA. 795 00:48:34,720 --> 00:48:39,200 Substack acknowledges the possibility for potential errors 796 00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:41,120 and mislabelling of account content. 797 00:48:41,120 --> 00:48:44,480 However, it appears very unlikely that these restrictions 798 00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:47,720 have been applied to a group of accounts who, broadly speaking, 799 00:48:47,720 --> 00:48:51,000 produce similar content that challenges the mainstream 800 00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:52,320 narrative. By chance. 801 00:48:52,640 --> 00:48:55,800 In our capacity as users, we have not faced any equivalent 802 00:48:55,800 --> 00:48:59,960 restrictions when accessing mainstream media content posted 803 00:49:00,320 --> 00:49:02,880 on Sub stack. And he gives some examples. 804 00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:07,120 It's also a point to make that none of our content should be 805 00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:13,600 labeled as a threat to children or or promoting self harm. 806 00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:17,560 So why are we being targeted? Of course we know why that's a 807 00:49:17,560 --> 00:49:20,920 rhetorical question. Oh, by the way, EMS, emergency 808 00:49:20,920 --> 00:49:24,120 medical services. OK, thank you. 809 00:49:25,160 --> 00:49:27,080 Thank you for that. Well, of course, this was the, 810 00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:29,560 this was the the intent from the beginning. 811 00:49:29,560 --> 00:49:31,280 That's what the UK column was saying. 812 00:49:31,520 --> 00:49:35,280 Pretty much from 20/17/2018 when the original online harms white 813 00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:38,320 paper came out, we said this was going to be the inevitable 814 00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:41,760 result. So there are no surprises and 815 00:49:41,760 --> 00:49:44,600 Ofcom can say, well, it's not supposed to be used in this way 816 00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:48,040 and the people that are supporting the regime can say 817 00:49:48,040 --> 00:49:50,360 similar. That doesn't change the reality 818 00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:53,640 and and the intent was clear from the beginning because if 819 00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:57,160 you remember the idea of what what was considered hot, legal 820 00:49:57,160 --> 00:49:58,920 but harmful had to be dealt with. 821 00:49:59,320 --> 00:50:03,040 And you know that it all comes down to who defined harmful. 822 00:50:03,720 --> 00:50:06,600 And so this was absolutely expected. 823 00:50:06,920 --> 00:50:10,560 Charles, let's come back to you then and bring us up to date 824 00:50:10,560 --> 00:50:12,920 with what's been going on with farming in the UK. 825 00:50:15,080 --> 00:50:17,960 Well, we go back to 2025 initially, which was a year of 826 00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:22,000 great turmoil and huge pressure for the farming and agriculture 827 00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:25,360 industry in the United Kingdom. But you may recall that the 828 00:50:26,120 --> 00:50:30,560 supposed publication of the Farm Profitability Review was meant 829 00:50:30,560 --> 00:50:32,800 to be in October last year. That was held up. 830 00:50:32,800 --> 00:50:35,720 But just before we do look at it, of course you will take note 831 00:50:35,720 --> 00:50:38,400 that no expense has been spared in producing that cover image. 832 00:50:39,080 --> 00:50:44,280 The back in November it was suggested that the Treasury had 833 00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:47,520 buried the farming report because of the twin controversy 834 00:50:47,520 --> 00:50:51,120 with the proposed change to inheritance tax. 835 00:50:51,120 --> 00:50:54,560 And of course, the author of the profitability review is none 836 00:50:54,560 --> 00:50:57,640 other than Minette Batters, the former president of the NFU. 837 00:50:57,920 --> 00:51:01,880 And she was questioning the fag packet calculations that were 838 00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:05,440 conducted by the Treasury and Defra in order to come up with 839 00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:11,240 the proposed figures for those that would be affected by the 840 00:51:11,240 --> 00:51:13,960 changes to inheritance tax. But now we've moved to the 841 00:51:14,320 --> 00:51:17,360 review itself, which was in fact published just before Christmas, 842 00:51:17,360 --> 00:51:19,760 but it wasn't time for UK column to deal with it then. 843 00:51:20,040 --> 00:51:23,440 It's a very wordy document and a lot of it is very personal to 844 00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:25,760 Minette Batters. But she does also have insights 845 00:51:25,760 --> 00:51:29,960 due to her position with NFU. And one thing just to sort of 846 00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:32,640 set the tone, that does appear to be an interesting point to 847 00:51:32,640 --> 00:51:35,400 make. She says that in in her time 848 00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:40,080 with NFU she often got a recurring negative answer from 849 00:51:40,080 --> 00:51:43,520 Whitehall if she was asking if farming matters and the answer 850 00:51:43,520 --> 00:51:49,080 often was no because it's only nought .6% of GDP. 851 00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:53,400 Now of course that obscures the truth of the matter in so far as 852 00:51:53,680 --> 00:51:58,320 the rest of the effect on the economy from what's produced and 853 00:51:58,320 --> 00:52:00,960 then processed and then just exchange and all the rest of it 854 00:52:00,960 --> 00:52:04,800 going right through to the to the end user, she says. 855 00:52:05,120 --> 00:52:07,520 And another point she makes at the outset is that all sectors 856 00:52:07,520 --> 00:52:10,960 have in common is a sharp rise in fixed costs. 857 00:52:11,200 --> 00:52:13,760 Energy costs have risen significantly since the start of 858 00:52:13,760 --> 00:52:16,720 the agricultural transition. And we'll come to exactly why 859 00:52:16,720 --> 00:52:19,600 that may be. She then makes the point which 860 00:52:19,600 --> 00:52:23,880 of course refers back to the earlier reports on this idea of 861 00:52:23,880 --> 00:52:25,440 national security. The government has made a 862 00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:28,600 commitment that food security is national security. 863 00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:30,640 Yes, indeed they have. And how they're going to live up 864 00:52:30,640 --> 00:52:34,000 to that. And then finally, she says in an 865 00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:36,800 age of global insecurity and cyber attacks, building local 866 00:52:36,800 --> 00:52:39,640 food resilience is equally essential to support our 867 00:52:39,640 --> 00:52:42,920 national Just in Time food distribution network. 868 00:52:43,320 --> 00:52:49,240 So what she does in response to setting out these sort of series 869 00:52:49,240 --> 00:52:54,480 of problems is to put forward a series of solutions that I think 870 00:52:54,480 --> 00:52:58,240 one must be frank, are are not groundbreaking and are not 871 00:52:58,240 --> 00:53:01,160 likely to have a significant impact for the farmers. 872 00:53:01,160 --> 00:53:04,560 And you see the image that's on screen in just a second is 873 00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:07,520 rather sort of dumbing down, making the whole thing seem 874 00:53:07,520 --> 00:53:11,040 rather very you simplistic and and childlike, as though if you 875 00:53:11,040 --> 00:53:14,760 follow these simple steps, your farm will be in profit and 876 00:53:14,760 --> 00:53:16,280 there's absolutely nothing to worry about. 877 00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:19,960 Of course, while she does concede that farmers have been 878 00:53:20,800 --> 00:53:24,320 incentivised not to produce food with all the environmental Land 879 00:53:24,320 --> 00:53:27,360 Management scheme, she does very much bang the drum for not just 880 00:53:27,560 --> 00:53:30,960 there being a climate emergency and that land owners and farmers 881 00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:33,880 are responsible for the solution, but also that 882 00:53:33,880 --> 00:53:37,440 renewable energy should form part of the backbone of the 883 00:53:37,440 --> 00:53:41,000 agricultural economy. And if we just look at the 884 00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:46,960 effect that for, for example, Great British Energy and Great 885 00:53:46,960 --> 00:53:50,640 British Energy nuclear, which has been sort of slowly brought 886 00:53:50,640 --> 00:53:53,280 in line with Great British Energy, just just just to remind 887 00:53:53,280 --> 00:53:55,760 you of these statistics, which is Great British Energy has had 888 00:53:55,760 --> 00:54:00,480 8,000,000, sorry, £8 billion thrown at it to promise to 889 00:54:00,480 --> 00:54:05,800 deliver up to 5% of the requirement for electricity by 890 00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:07,680 the year 2035. That is it. 891 00:54:08,120 --> 00:54:10,640 So it's no wonder that nuclear has been bought in sort of 892 00:54:10,640 --> 00:54:13,120 slightly under the radar in order to make the situation look 893 00:54:13,120 --> 00:54:14,560 better. But of course, things like that 894 00:54:14,560 --> 00:54:16,640 have absolutely driven the cost up. 895 00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:20,520 Now we've seen this before because it was only in January 896 00:54:20,520 --> 00:54:24,240 last year that the government announced very similar sort of 897 00:54:24,440 --> 00:54:28,000 review and reforms. Talking about cast iron 898 00:54:28,000 --> 00:54:30,280 commitments, talk for productions, this was 9th of 899 00:54:30,280 --> 00:54:33,840 January last year in which they said that a cast iron commitment 900 00:54:33,840 --> 00:54:36,720 to food security while introducing reforms to help 901 00:54:36,720 --> 00:54:40,080 farmers diversify their income streams to support them during 902 00:54:40,120 --> 00:54:42,200 poor harvest. OK, what did they actually mean 903 00:54:42,200 --> 00:54:44,640 by that? They meant renewable energy. 904 00:54:44,640 --> 00:54:47,080 That was it. That was their one plan was 905 00:54:47,080 --> 00:54:50,360 sticks and wind turbines or some solar panels on your farm 906 00:54:50,600 --> 00:54:53,800 guarantee yourself some income, never mind about producing food. 907 00:54:54,000 --> 00:54:56,840 We'll call it food security, but actually nothing will really 908 00:54:56,840 --> 00:54:59,880 change and this farm profitability review is not 909 00:54:59,880 --> 00:55:03,160 really moving too far away from that Now. 910 00:55:03,200 --> 00:55:05,680 The other significant change just before Christmas was that 911 00:55:06,600 --> 00:55:09,600 to nobody's great surprise, the government have rode back a 912 00:55:09,600 --> 00:55:13,160 certain amount on the proposed changes to inheritance tax. 913 00:55:13,160 --> 00:55:15,400 But we'll just look at the way that they word it because they 914 00:55:15,400 --> 00:55:21,080 say inheritance tax relief threshold to rise to 2.5 million 915 00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:23,560 for farmers and businesses. Well, in actual fact, it hasn't 916 00:55:23,560 --> 00:55:26,640 changed at all yet because the proposed change was first of 917 00:55:26,640 --> 00:55:28,880 April. And they say having carefully 918 00:55:28,880 --> 00:55:31,720 considered the feedback, the government is going further to 919 00:55:31,720 --> 00:55:34,160 protect more farms and businesses. 920 00:55:34,480 --> 00:55:37,760 And as that belty was overheard saying, sounds like doublespeak 921 00:55:37,760 --> 00:55:41,840 to me because the threshold at the moment is 0. 922 00:55:41,840 --> 00:55:46,720 So for the government to suggest that a change to their policy 923 00:55:46,720 --> 00:55:49,360 before it's actually been enacted is of course 924 00:55:49,360 --> 00:55:51,680 disingenuous and extreme. But just to look at where that 925 00:55:51,680 --> 00:55:54,680 does leave things with the inheritance tax and the 926 00:55:54,680 --> 00:55:58,720 agricultural property relief, we see that what they've done is 927 00:55:58,720 --> 00:56:02,560 allowed 100% relate rate of relief to be set at two and a 928 00:56:02,560 --> 00:56:06,320 half million with a 50% relief thereafter, which means that a 929 00:56:06,320 --> 00:56:10,080 couple will be able to pass on £5,000,000. 930 00:56:10,080 --> 00:56:14,320 Now what I'd like to draw this to a close with is a reminder 931 00:56:14,320 --> 00:56:17,240 that the power lies with the people. 932 00:56:17,240 --> 00:56:19,560 And we've got the grace here reporting that Christmas volumes 933 00:56:19,560 --> 00:56:23,080 for supermarket sales were under pressure despite highest ever 934 00:56:23,080 --> 00:56:25,680 sales. So whilst the amount of money 935 00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:31,080 spent was more than ever before, that's largely an artefact of 936 00:56:31,120 --> 00:56:36,160 the relationship with inflation. Rather than people buying more 937 00:56:36,160 --> 00:56:39,080 stuff, they they were simply paying more for the same amount 938 00:56:39,080 --> 00:56:42,080 or less. Which indicates exactly that. 939 00:56:42,120 --> 00:56:46,040 Something that Minette Batters did not touch on at all, which 940 00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:50,320 is the relationship that the the consumer may have directly with 941 00:56:50,320 --> 00:56:53,280 the farmer and that that is the way that things would change. 942 00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:56,440 And this is something that I wrote about last year on the UK 943 00:56:56,440 --> 00:56:59,240 column Farmers protests the wrong target. 944 00:56:59,240 --> 00:57:01,800 Now of course the inheritance tax thing is going to change. 945 00:57:02,120 --> 00:57:06,280 So there is now the ability for the public to to dramatically 946 00:57:06,280 --> 00:57:08,760 change things for farmers by dealing directly with them, 947 00:57:08,760 --> 00:57:11,800 which is exactly why it is not mentioned in the profitability 948 00:57:11,800 --> 00:57:14,120 review. Thank you, Charles. 949 00:57:14,360 --> 00:57:19,120 Now in this age of technocracy, as we're entering the digital 950 00:57:19,120 --> 00:57:22,040 ID, all the other surveillance and so on that's going on, 951 00:57:22,040 --> 00:57:25,320 you'll be glad to know that since we're handing our DNA 952 00:57:25,320 --> 00:57:28,160 effectively over to the British government that they have just 953 00:57:28,160 --> 00:57:32,440 issued a new cyber action plan. Here it is on screen. 954 00:57:32,440 --> 00:57:34,640 Let's see what this says it says. 955 00:57:34,640 --> 00:57:38,640 Backed by over £210 million, the Government Cyber Action Plan 956 00:57:38,640 --> 00:57:42,720 published on Tuesday sets out how government will rise to meet 957 00:57:42,720 --> 00:57:46,240 the growing range of online threats it underpins. 958 00:57:46,240 --> 00:57:49,200 UK government plans to digitise public services. 959 00:57:49,200 --> 00:57:52,000 This will make more services accessible online, reduce time 960 00:57:52,000 --> 00:57:55,240 spent on phone queues and paperwork, and enable citizens 961 00:57:55,240 --> 00:57:58,240 to access support without repeating information across 962 00:57:58,240 --> 00:58:01,120 multiple departments. These issues can be addressed by 963 00:58:01,120 --> 00:58:04,320 embedding basic software security practices across the 964 00:58:04,320 --> 00:58:07,520 software market. Amongst others, Cisco, Palo Alto 965 00:58:07,520 --> 00:58:11,880 Networks, Sage Santander and NCC Group will come on board as the 966 00:58:11,880 --> 00:58:16,200 schemes ambassadors and Palo Alto Networks, as everyone who's 967 00:58:16,200 --> 00:58:18,640 been paying attention to the UK column for the last year or so 968 00:58:18,720 --> 00:58:22,760 we'll know, is a unit 1800 spawned company. 969 00:58:23,360 --> 00:58:27,760 Therefore where's our data going, set aside Cisco, U.S. 970 00:58:27,760 --> 00:58:32,080 company, Sage Santander, Spanish bank, NCC Group, well at least 971 00:58:32,080 --> 00:58:35,360 it's British apparently. But what? 972 00:58:35,520 --> 00:58:39,440 What exactly will Palo Alto Networks be providing as part of 973 00:58:39,440 --> 00:58:41,240 the government cyber action plan? 974 00:58:41,760 --> 00:58:44,040 I think that's something that we need to invest, investigate some 975 00:58:44,040 --> 00:58:47,680 more. But Charles, let's finish them 976 00:58:47,680 --> 00:58:53,400 with electric vehicles. We will and they have been 977 00:58:53,400 --> 00:58:55,520 pushed very, very hard. They've been subsidised, there 978 00:58:55,520 --> 00:58:58,080 have been all sorts of incentives and encouragements 979 00:58:58,080 --> 00:59:02,280 and the policy is foundering. The wheels are coming off now. 980 00:59:02,360 --> 00:59:05,560 The guidance put out by the government indicates that there 981 00:59:05,560 --> 00:59:09,120 are going to be changes to vehicle tax for electric zero 982 00:59:09,160 --> 00:59:11,400 and low emission vehicles. So they're not going to be 983 00:59:11,400 --> 00:59:15,600 subject in some cases to the same amounts of vehicle tax that 984 00:59:15,600 --> 00:59:17,720 all other vehicles are subject to. 985 00:59:17,760 --> 00:59:19,320 Now. The other thing, the point to 986 00:59:19,320 --> 00:59:22,120 make is from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders 987 00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:24,600 who just published a report yesterday. 988 00:59:24,920 --> 00:59:28,160 They make the point that although there's been huge 989 00:59:28,160 --> 00:59:32,560 investment by manufacturers and there are now over 160 EVs on 990 00:59:32,560 --> 00:59:37,320 the market, with at least 60 more due sorry this year, they 991 00:59:37,320 --> 00:59:41,520 say that uptake on these vehicles has only risen by 24%, 992 00:59:41,800 --> 00:59:45,560 which means that only 1/4 of the models are currently eligible 993 00:59:45,560 --> 00:59:48,240 for the incentive. And the critical part here is 994 00:59:48,240 --> 00:59:51,120 that it's the manufacturers that are shouldering the burden of 995 00:59:51,120 --> 00:59:55,160 driving up demand and in enforcing them to subsidise 996 00:59:55,160 --> 00:59:58,520 their sale by more than 5 billion in 2025. 997 00:59:58,800 --> 01:00:02,480 Now this is equivalent to £11,000 per battery electric 998 01:00:02,480 --> 01:00:05,120 vehicle registered. And their their conclusion here, 999 01:00:05,120 --> 01:00:08,200 which is hard to disagree with, is that such subsidies are 1000 01:00:08,200 --> 01:00:12,160 clearly unsustainable. So bad news for the. 1001 01:00:12,720 --> 01:00:15,480 Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. 1002 01:00:15,720 --> 01:00:18,760 Of course, this is then intertwined slightly with the 1003 01:00:18,760 --> 01:00:21,320 relationship between BYD and Tesla. 1004 01:00:21,320 --> 01:00:24,960 BYD, the Chinese manufacturer now just overtaken Tesla in 1005 01:00:24,960 --> 01:00:28,880 global sales. And interestingly the BYD, their 1006 01:00:28,880 --> 01:00:31,160 second biggest market is in fact the United Kingdom. 1007 01:00:31,160 --> 01:00:34,680 So it shows that wouldn't affect the subsidies and indeed the 1008 01:00:34,680 --> 01:00:38,040 policy of pushing these types of vehicles has had on the 1009 01:00:38,040 --> 01:00:40,760 audience. And I just conclude by referring 1010 01:00:40,760 --> 01:00:44,920 back to the trade sheets for our relationship with Azerbaijan, 1011 01:00:44,920 --> 01:00:47,560 because it looked very likely last year and indeed the year 1012 01:00:47,560 --> 01:00:53,280 before that, Azerbaijan was the route through which Russia was 1013 01:00:53,280 --> 01:00:57,200 importing vehicles from the UK. But there's been a 55% decrease 1014 01:00:57,520 --> 01:00:58,960 over the course of the last year. 1015 01:00:59,400 --> 01:01:02,720 And of course, there is a massive relationship between 1016 01:01:02,720 --> 01:01:04,840 China and Russia as far as vehicles are concerned. 1017 01:01:04,840 --> 01:01:10,680 So a sanctions fail, but also AUK fail by the idea that 1018 01:01:10,680 --> 01:01:13,200 sanctions do actually do something, and indeed that 1019 01:01:13,200 --> 01:01:16,120 electric vehicles can be sold without end. 1020 01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:18,960 Indeed, Thank you for that, Charles. 1021 01:01:19,120 --> 01:01:21,480 Thanks to Vanessa and huge thanks to Doctor Andrew 1022 01:01:21,480 --> 01:01:23,920 Wickfield for joining us at the beginning of the programme. 1023 01:01:24,480 --> 01:01:25,880 We got to finish there for today. 1024 01:01:25,920 --> 01:01:29,360 We'll be back in a few minutes for some UK column news extra. 1025 01:01:29,360 --> 01:01:31,920 If you're AUK column member, please stay on the live stream 1026 01:01:31,920 --> 01:01:34,320 and join us for that if you're not a member and maybe you'd 1027 01:01:34,320 --> 01:01:38,040 consider joining and helping us out and also getting access to 1028 01:01:38,040 --> 01:01:41,040 that content. So we'll see a few minutes. 1029 01:01:41,360 --> 01:01:45,880 Otherwise, don't forget German warfare tonight, my discussion 1030 01:01:45,880 --> 01:01:48,840 with Vanessa at 1:00 PM tomorrow, and then we'll be back 1031 01:01:48,840 --> 01:01:51,400 for another news program at 1:00 PM on Friday. 1032 01:01:51,400 --> 01:01:53,040 We'll see you then. Thanks for joining.