1 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:10,360 Good afternoon. It's Wednesday the 3rd of 2 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:13,720 January 2024, just after 1:00. Welcome to UK Column News. 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:16,040 I'm your host Michael Robinson joining me in the studio today. 4 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:18,360 Charles Mallett, Welcome to the programme, Charles. 5 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:21,160 Thank you very much. And we've got a happy new year 6 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:23,760 to everyone. And Debbie Evans is joining us 7 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:27,560 by video link as usual. And Debbie, let's get kicked off 8 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,480 then because, well, the health service continues to collapse. 9 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:34,640 It does indeed. Happy New Year everyone. 10 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:37,280 And it's not too happy for people waiting for treatment in 11 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:38,880 the NHS. Because of course we know the 12 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,840 junior doctors have just started a six day strike. 13 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:44,680 This is the longest in NHS history. 14 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:49,480 Started at 7:00 today and it finishes at 7:00 on January the 15 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:52,160 9th. Now this means all doctors under 16 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:56,080 consultant level. That doesn't include GPS, and it 17 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:59,080 also doesn't include military doctors either. 18 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,880 So it's possible that you may see some military personnel in 19 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:08,080 hospital for the next 6 days. But crisis in the NHS and more 20 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:12,840 worry too, as Japanese researchers have they've just 21 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:18,000 put out a study saying to expect or predict a pandemic of heart 22 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,080 failure. Now this is being blamed on 23 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:24,000 COVID-19 and the study apparently shows that people who 24 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:29,240 haven't had the vaccine are more at risk because COVID is the 25 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:31,760 cause. Now obviously we know of the 26 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:35,560 huge problems that we've seen with serious adverse reactions 27 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:37,840 with regards to the COVID-19 vaccine. 28 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:40,480 There doesn't seem to be any research into that. 29 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:43,080 And I can tell you that most people that I speak to that are 30 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:46,560 unvaccinated don't appear to be having heart trouble at the 31 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:49,640 moment. Well the question is what is the 32 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:53,240 reason reason for this? Is it to cover up, let's say, 33 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,960 any speculation or any discussion or any analysis of 34 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:02,360 whether COVID-19 vaccines are responsible for the heart issues 35 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,320 that are clearly happening and excess deaths in general? 36 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:11,480 This was tweeted out by Leo Varadkar, the Irish tea shock on 37 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:15,840 the 2nd of January yesterday. No excess deaths here, that's in 38 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:20,200 Ireland during COVID pandemic. OECD report says as Health 39 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:25,960 Minister hails high vaccine uptake and this is linking to an 40 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,920 independent dot IE article this article. 41 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:32,160 The headline is no excess deaths here during COVID COVID 42 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:36,160 pandemic. So the question is what was this 43 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:38,480 about? Well the OECD published or at 44 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,720 least the Irish government published this graph based on 45 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:46,720 the OECD statistics. And of course the OECD had 46 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,720 decided that really the statistics over excess mortality 47 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,560 just didn't seem to be quite right and needed the the models 48 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,240 were being used, didn't seem to be quite right and maybe they 49 00:02:55,240 --> 00:02:58,360 needed to be adjusted And so they have been adjusted now and 50 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:03,440 you can see there that New Zealand had the adjusted figures 51 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:07,480 are in the light blue of course had apparently the lowest excess 52 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:12,840 mortality with looks like about -4% excess mortality. 53 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:17,280 Ireland looks like about -3 or so that looks like the 4th 54 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:21,480 worth, the 4th best. In these new adjusted figures we 55 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:24,920 can see the OECD average in the middle there with the red bar 56 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:31,800 and to the right of that the UK, the United Kingdom is has a 57 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:36,000 reasonably significant excess mortality even with the adjusted 58 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:42,080 figures, the worst countries there the likes of Turkey, Costa 59 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,120 Rica, United States significantly worse than the 60 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:47,800 United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Colombia and Mexico. 61 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:52,400 Now the reason that they're saying that the figures could be 62 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,080 made negative with respect to Ireland is because they say they 63 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:00,080 have now adjusted for population growth and so on compared to 64 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:04,200 population pre COVID-19. But of course, for two years 65 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,120 nobody was allowed to travel terribly much. 66 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:11,200 And so it's a population increase has happened certainly 67 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:15,000 in 2023 as a result of immigration and so on. 68 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:18,720 But there's some questions to be asked about this still. 69 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,600 But the problem is that if we go back a year or two, we see 70 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:27,120 headlines like this Ireland's excess mortality rate fourth 71 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:31,640 highest in the EU and that's from Breakingnews dot IE and 72 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,320 from the Irish Examiner here. Funerals delayed as increase in 73 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:37,520 number of deaths puts mortuaries under pressure. 74 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,400 These were from, well, that was from January 2023. 75 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,680 So it's all a bit unclear how the OECD has arrived at this 76 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:50,600 particular claim. Let's have a look at this 77 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:53,120 because of course the the big question that remains in the big 78 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:57,920 elephant in the room is whether we're seeing the same excess 79 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:01,440 mortality in Africa and we certainly didn't with during the 80 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,320 COVID years themselves. So this was the New York Times 81 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,520 from 2022 trying to cope with this fact, with their headline 82 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:10,720 Trying to solve a COVID mystery mystery. 83 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,320 Africa's low death rates. And here's LSE, the London 84 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,560 School of Economics from May this year. 85 00:05:16,840 --> 00:05:20,880 Africa's COVID-19 statistics highlights bias and excess death 86 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,680 modelling, so they're all flailing around trying to find 87 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:27,480 an explanation which for excess mortality, which doesn't involve 88 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,760 vaccinations. And I just find that quite an 89 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:35,120 incredible situation. In the meantime, the MHRA, 90 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,680 because of course they do great things, have announced the new 91 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:40,960 well, they announced this actually in May last year, the 92 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,040 new international recognition framework and bringing this back 93 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:48,760 on screen because they have now stood this up. 94 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:53,120 It is now formal and any medicine coming into the UK 95 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:56,680 that's recognised by other certain other countries can be 96 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:01,120 applied for and get an automatic pass by the MHRA because the 97 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:03,720 international recognition framework is now live as of the 98 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,040 1st of January this year. Let's look at the other 99 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:09,520 countries we've got Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Singapore, 100 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:13,080 Japan, United States, European Union and European Economic 101 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:17,120 Area, including the various member states are all involved 102 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:19,120 in this. And So what they're said, but we 103 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:22,000 don't need to worry because what they're saying is as a sovereign 104 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,520 regulator, the MHRA retains ultimate authority to accept or 105 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:28,640 reject applications submitted under the IRP. 106 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,600 But the shared global expertise inherent inherent in the IRP 107 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:36,000 process is designed to result in a more rapid, efficient and cost 108 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:37,960 effective process for applicants. 109 00:06:38,280 --> 00:06:41,040 At launch, the MHRA will partner with regulators in those 110 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:44,680 countries and we'll just that'll just be issued in for various 111 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:49,000 various medications. So Debbie, that must make you 112 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,920 feel particularly positive about the New year and of course we 113 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:56,600 must recognize the MHRA taking a leading role to become at least 114 00:06:56,600 --> 00:06:59,320 it would like to see itself as the global regulator. 115 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:03,400 Well, this was always the intention obviously from the the 116 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,760 get go the global regulator. But I I think it's going to be 117 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:08,440 very interesting the next board meeting. 118 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:11,200 So perhaps people that are watching might like to ask some 119 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:12,840 questions because grab your ticket. 120 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:16,480 Now the MHRA board meeting which is scheduled for Tuesday the 121 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:22,680 16th of January 10:00 to 12:30. Now please submit questions 122 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:28,240 prior to I think it's Monday the 8th of January there 2024. 123 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:31,440 They won't accept questions afterwards but a lot of 124 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,560 questions to be asked. Our eyes are completely focused 125 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:37,880 on the MHRA for the for the foreseeable future. 126 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:41,120 So please join me for the MHRA Board meeting and grab your 127 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:42,800 ticket. But staying on health. 128 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:47,000 And I see this week that Sky brought out a story about the 129 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:52,280 RSV jab would cut baby hospital admissions by more than 80%. 130 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:55,440 Now we've talked about this before, this injection that 131 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:59,760 they're giving to babies. This is not a vaccine, This is a 132 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:04,600 monoclonal antibody. The study included 8000 babies 133 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:10,000 up to the age of 12 months. And we've had interviews with 134 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,720 Doctor Roz Jones on previous occasions, consultant 135 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,040 paediatrician and we've been saying RSV respiratory center 136 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:18,040 seal virus. Most children make an 137 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:21,160 unremarkable, which in medical speak is a good recovery. 138 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:23,920 They do not need these injections. 139 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:28,040 So please parents, grandparents, please inform everybody, um that 140 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:32,120 that may need to know. Moving on this year, if we do 141 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:36,720 get our election and the Labour win, we can look forward to 142 00:08:36,720 --> 00:08:40,159 Labour's new plan to open up the NHS to private entrepreneurs. 143 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,880 So they're basically looking at ramping up and accelerating 144 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:48,600 clinical trials at home health tests and promoting the NHS app 145 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:52,440 which seems to be being picked up by an awful lot of people. 146 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,680 Also yesterday I picked up a copy of the Times because I was 147 00:08:56,680 --> 00:09:00,640 alarmed by the front page which says cancer diagnosis. 148 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:04,600 So they're going to be diagnosing One Britain a minute 149 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:08,560 by 2040 with cancer. Now this is a warning from 150 00:09:08,560 --> 00:09:12,160 Cancer Research UK, which of course we've done work on before 151 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:16,760 and we know that Cancer Research UK is funded by Big Pharma. 152 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:20,640 But if we look further into this article you can see that the 153 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:24,040 plans are to wipe out cervical cancer by 2040. 154 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:27,840 There'll be a smoking ban, so that will reduce lung cancer. 155 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:31,320 AI will be reading scans and X-rays. 156 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:33,040 Do you trust AI? I don't. 157 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:37,200 There will be cancer vaccines And the Holy Grail blood test. 158 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:40,040 Well, you might remember that's the early test for cancer. 159 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:44,600 Grail was a company that was formed by Jeff Bezos and Bill 160 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:46,160 Gates. And of course they're going to 161 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:50,000 be doing lung screening too. And then who remembers the good 162 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,040 old days where you knew who a nurse was when you walked into a 163 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,480 hospital? You knew who they were because 164 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:58,760 the uniform. Well, I'm sorry folks, but the 165 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:03,360 uniform is again changing for this year into a new national 166 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:05,080 uniform. And apparently the chief nursing 167 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:09,960 officer says that patients are getting too confused with all of 168 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:12,600 the uniforms. Well, I don't know about you, 169 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:16,080 but if you see the next screenshot, the myriad of 170 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:20,040 different uniforms that are set to hit our wards, it is 171 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:22,920 absolutely insane. And I certainly wouldn't be able 172 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:26,320 to remember who was who based on that chart. 173 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:29,080 So it looks as though it's going to be doubly confusing. 174 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:33,320 And then my final slide for health really on this segment is 175 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:36,120 that Somerset Council are saying that they're heading for 176 00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:39,920 bankruptcy because of the significant while the rocketing, 177 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:44,040 rocketing care costs. So there's going to be a 178 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:48,640 national 6.5% rise in council funding this year, but they just 179 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:50,120 can't keep up with it. I think. 180 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,960 Look for more council bankruptcy bankruptcies associated to 181 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:56,320 healthcare. Thank you, Debbie. 182 00:10:56,320 --> 00:11:00,120 Now, Charles, Speaking of finances, and we're not talking 183 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,560 council finances but public sector finances. 184 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:05,520 We are, and we're going to look at how the government's been 185 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:07,840 spending your money since it's the start of the year. 186 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:13,120 So we'll go back to data from 2023 provided by the Office for 187 00:11:13,120 --> 00:11:15,320 National Statistics. And these are the public sector 188 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:18,280 finances released just before Christmas and they describe how 189 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:21,600 the relationship between UK public sector monthly income and 190 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:26,200 expenditure leads to changes in deficit and debt. 191 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:32,360 So the first graph and of course statistics can be drawn up and 192 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:34,120 interpreted in a number of different ways. 193 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:37,880 But this shows the the government borrowing and this is 194 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:43,680 on the left hand side is goes back to 1994 coming up to 2023. 195 00:11:43,680 --> 00:11:49,080 So you can see the enormous uplift in borrowing in 2020. 196 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:54,360 To set that in context, we will go on and have a look at the 197 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:58,440 borrowing expressed as percentage of GDP, gross 198 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:04,040 domestic product and of course the coronavirus restriction 199 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:11,120 pandemic period is dwarfed by those of the 1st and 2nd World 200 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:13,080 Wars. But what's interesting to note 201 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:17,040 between the two points is that not only have there been periods 202 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:21,400 of surplus, but also the cyclical nature of the way in 203 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:24,760 which government manages finances. 204 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:28,440 Now I'm afraid we are sticking with graphs to be able to 205 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:34,160 illustrate these points and the next thing we'll go on to is the 206 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:38,680 net debt. So again, not not talked about, 207 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:43,160 probably enough in mainstream media, but net debt is running 208 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:48,680 at more or less 100% of GDP now, which as the graph says at the 209 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:53,400 top here, hasn't been seen since the early 1960s. 210 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:57,280 So it does illustrate the predicament that we find 211 00:12:57,280 --> 00:12:59,800 ourselves in, at least in terms of how the government is 212 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:04,440 managing the money that it takes from the taxpayer via all the 213 00:13:04,440 --> 00:13:09,600 various means and mechanisms. So that's the the borrowing side 214 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:11,960 of it and the debt side of it. The next thing to consider is 215 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:14,960 how on earth is the government actually spending this money? 216 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,000 Where's it going and what are they doing with it? 217 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:21,560 So we'll just bring on screen something from the Institute for 218 00:13:21,560 --> 00:13:25,800 Fiscal Studies, their tax lab part of their website, which has 219 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:30,280 a colourful pie chart here. And the reason for wanting to 220 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:34,600 put this up on screen is first of all to draw your attention to 221 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:39,360 the absolutely enormous segment which is labeled other, And in 222 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:42,640 effect that's items of expenditure that aren't 223 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:45,680 annotated in enough detail to be able to provide detailed 224 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:48,480 breakdowns. So there's an awful lot of room 225 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:51,600 for manoeuvre, in effect for government being able to hide 226 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:54,160 exactly what it is and where money's going, something that UK 227 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:57,040 column has concentrated on a lot in the past. 228 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:01,360 But but also what's interesting to note is the the quantity of 229 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:05,800 health spending, and indeed the way that the IFS explains it. 230 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:09,680 So we'll just read what's gone on screen now, which is that the 231 00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:12,840 major trend of the past 70 years has been a steady increase in 232 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:15,520 the share of national income devoted to government spending 233 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:19,000 on health, and a corresponding decrease in the share of a 234 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,240 national income devoted to defence. 235 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:29,160 So between 1955 and 2023, health spending increased from 2.8% to 236 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:34,120 8.4% of U kg DP. Now, what's interesting is how 237 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:37,480 the IFS described this. They say that the rise was 238 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:42,360 offset by a fall in defence spending from 7.6% to 2.2% of 239 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:45,120 GDP, and they refer to this as a peace dividend. 240 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:49,160 They say this peace dividend allowed the government to spend 241 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:53,320 more on health without increasing the size of the 242 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,480 state. I would say that last clause is 243 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:58,880 extremely questionable in many respects. 244 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:02,600 First of all, has there really been a peace dividend? 245 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,680 And if we're to believe that there has is it really being 246 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:09,000 genuinely offset by anything that we can describe as a health 247 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:12,800 dividend, I would put it that that again is extremely 248 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:15,160 questionable. So we'll just go on to a couple 249 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:19,200 more graphs just to again set the context. 250 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:21,680 But this is this is government spending overtime just to get a 251 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,520 sense of of where we are and again this is by percentage of 252 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:27,880 GDP. So we're at the right hand side 253 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:30,880 of the graph now with the enormous blip for the for the 254 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:35,480 COVID-19 restrictions and when the economy was effectively 255 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:39,400 damaged, hopefully not beyond repair, but but absolutely very 256 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:41,880 considerably. And then just retrospectively, 257 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:48,560 we'll just close by looking at statistics provided by the DWP 258 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:52,840 and these show the the benefit claimants, 53% of households in 259 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:56,120 the United Kingdom are now receiving benefits of one sort 260 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:58,120 or another and this shows the allocation of where they're 261 00:15:58,120 --> 00:15:59,960 going. Debbie's spoken at length about 262 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:03,160 the PIP Personal Independence payment and the disability 263 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:08,120 living allowance which are shown there and tally up to well over 264 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:13,240 4 million recipients. But but just to give an idea of 265 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:18,560 the of the damage that can be done and how it's sort of that 266 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,240 there has been an immediate sense of some sort of recovery. 267 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:24,400 We can see that whilst state pension recipients have gone up, 268 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:28,680 employment and support allowance fell by 6.2%. 269 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:32,480 This sorry, this is going back to to immediately following the 270 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:37,200 restrictions back to 2022 job seeker allowance fell by 35%, 271 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:41,000 housing benefit fell by 7.9%. So the the reason for for 272 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,520 showing that sort of historic data is just to you have an idea 273 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:46,920 of first of all how the government are managing the 274 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:51,000 money that we give to them, but also how the economy if given 275 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:54,400 the chance can bounce back. So obviously much more data to 276 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:57,760 come out of course this year, which will be reported on when 277 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:00,240 that happens. OK, thank you. 278 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:02,920 If you like what the UK column does, you'd like to support us. 279 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:06,800 community.ukcolumn.org is the place to go and you'd be very 280 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:09,680 welcome as a member there. Your support very much needed. 281 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:13,119 You could pick something up at the UK column shop Let's not 282 00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:16,000 forget the MHRA not fit for purpose T-shirts. 283 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:21,040 We want to keep that campaign going and but do share material 284 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:23,920 you find on the platforms, especially ukcolumn.org UK 285 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:28,440 Column extracts.co.uk. Now, very briefly, tomorrow at 1 286 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:34,360 PMI had an interview with Ben Pyle, climate campaigner that 287 00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:37,920 will be going out tomorrow if you want to understand a little 288 00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:40,760 bit more about what's going on with the climate change 289 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:44,080 narrative and how that fits in with many other narratives that 290 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:45,720 we are hearing about at the moment. 291 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:50,680 And then on Sunday we will be hosting another symposium from 292 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:54,040 the International Centre for 911 Justice, this time entitled 293 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:57,240 Genocide and Empire in examining October the 7th and the 294 00:17:57,240 --> 00:17:59,200 geopolitics of the war on Palestine. 295 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:04,360 So Professor Richard Faulk, Professor Atif Kabarsi, Vanessa 296 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:07,400 Bailey, Aaron Goode and Kevin Ryan will be speaking at that 297 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:10,440 will be hosted by Pierce Robinson, starts at 6:00 PM on 298 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:12,840 Sunday evening. Please join us for that. 299 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:16,240 Very briefly, Debbie, very briefly please. 300 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:20,000 Your blog is up. It is indeed, yes, and as you 301 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,360 can see, COVID jabs are going to be sold on the High Street. 302 00:18:22,360 --> 00:18:24,840 But be ready for that because they're 100 lbs each. 303 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:28,080 Can AI predict, predict your death? 304 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:31,400 Yes it can. And plenty more about peace and 305 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:33,080 security. Cybercrime. 306 00:18:33,360 --> 00:18:37,120 Sir John Edmonds, who's been knighted as the lock up 307 00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:38,800 professor. OK. 308 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:43,200 Thank you. And finally a reminder then that 309 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:47,080 Andrew Bridging will be hosting another debate that's on trends 310 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:50,120 and excess deaths on the 16th of January at 9:30 AM. 311 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:54,440 He's asking once again for people to write to their MPs and 312 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:58,040 make sure that they attend. OK, let's move on now. 313 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:01,160 One of the features, particularly since the COVID, 314 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:05,120 but actually before that, has been the issue of behavioural 315 00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:09,680 change and behavioural change applied psychology being pushed 316 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:14,160 on all of us. And of course that the Spy B 317 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,480 document being an exclusive for us at the time. 318 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:21,640 Public Contracts Scotland. I want to thank the viewer that 319 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:23,520 sent this to me. Public Contracts Scotland has 320 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:27,760 put this contract notification out because of course probably 321 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:32,560 the original policy area where behavioural change was viewed as 322 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:34,880 being important was energy efficiency. 323 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:38,800 So this is a contract for the replacement of LED lights, St. 324 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:42,320 lighting in Scotland. And if we just look at the title 325 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:45,760 here, it comes under the heading of energy efficiency and 326 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:48,240 behaviour change. And actually this is something 327 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:53,440 that goes right through the Net 0 documentation from very many 328 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:55,840 sources. Let's just look at one of the 329 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:58,920 sources. This is C Sustainable Energy 330 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:01,320 Advice. This is a New Zealand based 331 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:06,000 organization and let's just have a look at what they say about 332 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,480 themselves. Since its inception in 2011, C 333 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,000 has worked with the User Centered Energy Systems or Users 334 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:16,760 TCP by the International Energy Agency to lead the first global 335 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:20,440 behaviour change research collaboration called Task 24 336 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,000 Behaviour Change in DSM for this research. 337 00:20:23,360 --> 00:20:26,520 C collaborated with hundreds of behaviour change experts around 338 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:30,640 the world to figure out how to best tackle such a complex and 339 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:36,400 messy problem, and in order to sort of visualise this Task 24 340 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:38,360 they produced this handy graphic. 341 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,760 So let's just have a look at this in a little bit more detail 342 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:44,120 here. So they're talking about 343 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:47,640 behaviour right in the centre of there and various rings around 344 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,000 the technology, social infrastructure and environment. 345 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,800 And then they're looking at and the types of change agents that 346 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,560 they have in place that can help people change their behaviour. 347 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:00,320 Decision makers being government through the government, 348 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:03,640 ministers through policy and local government and so on. 349 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:06,960 What else we got here? We've got experts, of course. 350 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:11,560 They're used to help us change our our behaviour. 351 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,480 We've got the media up at the top there, we've got industry, 352 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:19,120 we've got investors, so banks and so on, because money is a 353 00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:21,240 good way to encourage people to change their behaviour. 354 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:25,520 We have other behaviour changers, and this might include 355 00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:28,600 social media, influencers for example, but also healthcare 356 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:32,280 workers, education, our school children and so on. 357 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:38,840 And then we have of course ourselves and the type of NGOs, 358 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:42,120 but Community NGOs, but also ourselves, our family and 359 00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:45,200 friends, because we obviously influence each other and we help 360 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,800 each other change our behaviour, hopefully in the way that the 361 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:52,320 government wants, don't we? So let's bring this on screen, 362 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:54,640 just to give you an idea of the scale of this. 363 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:58,880 So this is the Energy Institute and they've published this page, 364 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:01,600 Energy Insight, Energy Efficiency and Behaviour Change. 365 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,320 And they're looking at international behavioural change 366 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,320 mechanisms through the United Nations, through the World 367 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:11,520 Energy Council. We've got Europe listed through 368 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:15,880 the European Commission Director of General General Energy and 369 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:18,920 the European Environment Agency. We've got the UK government 370 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,240 through its Department of Energy and Climate Change. 371 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,880 And that includes of course the behavioural insights team that 372 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:29,320 we've mentioned so many times. We have well smart meters 373 00:22:30,360 --> 00:22:33,680 derogation guidance, we'll talk about smart meters in a second. 374 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,840 We've got non UK government organisations, Carbon Trust, 375 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:42,320 Demos, UKERC, we've got academic institutions including the 376 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:46,920 British Psychological Society, the Energy Institute, we've also 377 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:50,920 got Stanford University ethos that we've got energy company 378 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:54,600 initiatives from British Gas and EON, in particular other 379 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:58,840 organisations including RAC and then other countries. 380 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:03,800 But this was what struck me. Over Christmas happened to catch 381 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:06,920 a couple of advertisements for half price electricity. 382 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:09,960 We can catch up on our chores. If you're a British Gas 383 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:14,800 customer, we can cook our Sunday roast and so on. 384 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,480 But the question is then who takes part? 385 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:22,680 And the truth is that the people take part are people with smart 386 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:24,240 meters. Of course, a smart meter is 387 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:29,000 requirement and a smart meter is absolutely a key mechanism for 388 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:34,240 behavioural change. So this advertisement going on 389 00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:39,840 on televisions across the UK over Christmas, because that is 390 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:44,160 an absolutely key part of the whole climate change net zero 391 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:50,360 agenda, is how we actually encourage our US to do the right 392 00:23:50,360 --> 00:23:52,240 thing as the government would see it. 393 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,600 And that is something that we have been really wanting to 394 00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,880 encourage everybody to think about just how much your 395 00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:02,720 behaviour is being influenced. Remember the Mindspace document 396 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:04,800 says you won't realise it's being done. 397 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:07,960 Debbie Let's move on to education. 398 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:11,880 Yeah, and let's stay on the theme of behaviour as well. 399 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:15,200 And for people that are, you've got sharp ears. 400 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,600 You'll notice that special educational needs won't be 401 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:21,480 mentioned in this segment. And that is very important to 402 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:25,920 remember for many reasons. So who's heard of the EWF, the 403 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:31,160 Education World Forum? Gillian Keegan, our Education 404 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:34,640 Secretary, has been celebrating role of international education 405 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:37,400 and promoting the benefits at the EWF. 406 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,360 Well, we're not talking about the WEF, it's the EWF. 407 00:24:40,360 --> 00:24:44,080 So let's go and look at the Education World Forum and we can 408 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:45,400 see. But it's the world's large 409 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:48,240 largest gathering of education and skills ministers. 410 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:53,000 They're going to be meeting the 19th to the 22nd of May and 411 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:56,400 there's 120 ministers, over 114 countries. 412 00:24:56,400 --> 00:25:00,240 So this is a big a big organization and with we see who 413 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:04,000 supports it there's plenty of names that you're you're 414 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,520 recognised just to read out a few McKinsey, Microsoft, Lego, 415 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,280 National Geographic. Then you've got the Department 416 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:12,560 of Education, Foreign Commonwealth and Development 417 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:14,800 Office and the department Common Trade. 418 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:19,560 So a big organization. So let's look at the WEF because 419 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:24,760 I'm seeing this word reset reset being used everywhere and 420 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:28,080 especially in education. So back in 215 they were talking 421 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:32,000 about how to reset education and how to help. 422 00:25:32,360 --> 00:25:37,840 So we decided to look at the UK and to see how we were resetting 423 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,040 education and resetting behaviour. 424 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:44,760 This article in Schools Week says that this is going to be an 425 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:48,560 alternative provision to support learners to reintegrate into 426 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,120 mainstream school. So why are they not in 427 00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:52,840 mainstream school in the 1st place? 428 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:55,760 Perhaps they could be special educational needs and they're 429 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:58,680 going to be using this CALM programme for mindfulness and 430 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:04,920 mental health well-being. But in 215, also in Schools Week 431 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:09,360 you'll see that Nicky Morgan appointed A behavioural guru. 432 00:26:09,360 --> 00:26:13,480 If you like, Tom Bennett's, his name is he already advised on 433 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:18,440 teacher training and he is now being appointed to tackle pupil 434 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,000 misbehaviour. So if you go and look on the 435 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:26,280 government's thegov.uk page, you can see that he has created a 436 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:31,280 culture of behaviour management in school, and indeed he's even 437 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:33,520 got his own page on the National College. 438 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:37,200 If you see that slide next, you can see his face coming up 439 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:38,640 there, so you know what he looks like. 440 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,080 The National Have you got the slide for the National College? 441 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:45,320 That's it. And if you go to his bio on 442 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,800 there, you'll see that this whole thing started really from 443 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:51,360 a book he wrote called Running the Room. 444 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,880 Well, we'll find out what room he was running in a minute. 445 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:00,400 If we look at the early career hub, we can see that he wrote an 446 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:02,960 article called Resetting and Rebooting Behaviour. 447 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:07,400 This is a man who doesn't have a lot of experience, as you'll 448 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:11,040 come to find out, but he wants to basically outline class 449 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:14,680 routines, make children practice till they get it right, sell the 450 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:18,560 benefits, which means basically making a pact with student and 451 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:21,680 teacher and always follow up. Well, I can tell you now that 452 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:25,080 will not work with special educational needs children. 453 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,080 It's not a one size fit all at all. 454 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:32,520 So we've now got behavior hubs. UH, the DfE have been investing 455 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:36,240 10,000,000 lbs into behavior hubs. 456 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,640 So I went to look at the behavior hubs that they're 457 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:43,000 rolling out and you'll be able to see them in the next slide 458 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:44,760 there. Apparently they're 459 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,840 transformative and these are behaviour hubs that are actually 460 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:52,120 within mainstream schools. They're actually there. 461 00:27:52,360 --> 00:27:56,680 So who is Tom Bennett, I hear you ask yourself? 462 00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:00,280 Well, Tom Bennett started well his his dad was a taxi driver, 463 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:03,840 his mum was a nurse and he did a degree in philosophy and then he 464 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:07,560 kind of drifted into nightclubs and Soho nightclubs. 465 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:12,240 So he modelled his children's behavioural plan basically on 466 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:17,120 what he saw at nightclubs. He did a PGCEA teaching and then 467 00:28:17,120 --> 00:28:19,880 said, well there's not a lot of behaviour going on here, so I 468 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:23,640 need to specialized in it. But actually when you deep dive 469 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:26,920 further into who Tom Bennett's is, you can see that he was an 470 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:31,800 ex nightclub bouncer and he has used the behaviour that he's 471 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:36,800 witnessed in a Soho nightclub to devise this whole behavioural 472 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:39,800 policy. Now I don't think he was 473 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,480 terribly good at it because he actually got barred from running 474 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:47,280 a nightclub because he couldn't control rowdy night goers. 475 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,600 This was a a bar called the O Bar. 476 00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:54,640 So do you trust Tom Bennett's with his behavioural techniques 477 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,800 for your children? And where are they in reset? 478 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:01,200 Because I heard from a youngster during the Christmas holidays to 479 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:04,680 say that her whole floor of her school had been turned into 480 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:08,040 reset, which was separate cubicles separated by glass 481 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:11,760 sounded like a prison to me. And while I was carrying on 482 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:15,920 looking at education in December, the gender questioning 483 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:19,120 children, non statutory guidance for schools and colleges in 484 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:21,280 England, the draft was brought out. 485 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:25,560 Now this is intended for schools, colleges and teachers. 486 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:29,520 And you'll see the foreword has been written by Gillian Keegan, 487 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:32,920 MP, Secretary of State for Education and Kenny Badenoch. 488 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:35,280 And you can see some of the things that are happening in the 489 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:37,400 consultation. I haven't gone into it in depth 490 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,960 because it's a big document, but you can see single sex spaces, 491 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:44,880 toilets, changing rooms, showers, all sorts of things are 492 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:47,640 in this consultation. So please go and look at it. 493 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:52,240 Although I think there could be backlash from this because as 494 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:55,960 the MailOnline a warning schools that follow government trans 495 00:29:55,960 --> 00:30:00,080 guidance are at high risk of successfully being sued and 496 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,200 apparently schools seem to be hiding children's gender 497 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,760 switching so that they don't want families informed. 498 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:12,080 So keep an eye on that story. But I think what was most 499 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:18,200 terrifying was the the news that dozens, well, a lot of children 500 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:23,840 under 5 have been referred to the NHS transgender service. 501 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:27,120 Now, I mean, I I don't even know where to start on this because 502 00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:31,040 these are preschoolers. There were 382 youngsters aged 6 503 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:35,760 and under and seventy of those were three or four and they were 504 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:39,320 being referred on for transgender counselling. 505 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:43,320 They've now actually admitted that maybe this should stay to 506 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:45,760 under sevens, but even that's bad enough. 507 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:50,960 And then also I saw this story about the Welsh government using 508 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,560 teenage girls to attract migrant men. 509 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:57,400 These are schoolgirls, 14 year old girls to attract migrants 510 00:30:57,400 --> 00:31:01,080 into Wales and I think we've got a short bit video to show you 511 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:06,680 now. Hello and welcome to Wales. 512 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:09,440 We understand being a refugee isn't easy. 513 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:12,160 They go through so much. Fleeing your country is 514 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:14,920 difficult, but Wales wants to help you feel welcome. 515 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:17,360 The Welsh Refugee Council here to help you. 516 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:22,720 You can contact them here. Wales is seen as a nation of 517 00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:25,320 sanctuary. We welcome anyone and everyone. 518 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:27,360 We recognize your skills. And talent. 519 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:29,720 The Welsh Refugee Council offers a lot to support. 520 00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:31,520 Not only this, but Wales offers free. 521 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,600 Education and health. There are many job opportunities 522 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,160 here in Wales. IKEA works closely with the 523 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:40,640 Welsh Refugee Council, providing jobs for refugees that come from 524 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:43,600 all over the world. We understand that you've been 525 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:46,880 through a lot and that is why the Refugee Council is here to 526 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:49,080 help you. Thank you for listening. 527 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:55,200 So do you know what's going on in your child's school? 528 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:01,640 Thank you, Debbie. OK, election, Sam, I just want 529 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:06,560 to very briefly mention this. So the ultimate election year. 530 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:08,320 Sorry, this is still you Debbie, is it? 531 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:11,400 Yes, I'm quite happy to go into this. 532 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:13,640 If you want to go into this segment now, yeah, I didn't 533 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:15,520 realise, but it's the ultimate election year. 534 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:20,120 So apparently 64 countries plus the European Union are all 535 00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:23,920 heading for the polls, which is a combined population of 49% of 536 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,400 of of the population heading for the polls this year. 537 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:28,760 Yeah. OK. 538 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:31,480 Thank you. I think that was that was that 539 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,680 Then we've got election officials see a range of threats 540 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:39,200 in 2024 from hostile states to conspiracy theorists. 541 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:43,120 Yeah, indeed. And and this, this looks like, 542 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:46,560 you know, I'm talking really about Black Swan events here and 543 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:50,080 the US elections could be what they're saying is could be 544 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:54,760 jeopardized because of cyber attack or ransomware or anything 545 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,440 else that might happen. So the elections are definitely 546 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:02,360 we're wondering what's going to happen, and plenty of people are 547 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:04,680 actually quoting Black Swan events. 548 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:05,320 Right. OK. 549 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:07,400 Well, we'll have a little bit more on that in a minute. 550 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:12,320 But before we get to that, let's head over here Charles and 551 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:14,560 abortions. Thanks Mike. 552 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:19,320 And in fact, specifically to do with legislation surrounding not 553 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:24,080 actually abortions but the zones or buffer zones as they're being 554 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:25,920 referred to around abortion clinics. 555 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:29,160 So I've got a headline here from the Catholic Herald, Scottish 556 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:33,320 Catholic group Lambasts world's most extreme abortion buffer 557 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:37,040 zone. So this is from 2023. 558 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:42,520 But a group of Scottish Catholic Bishops has come out and spoken 559 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:47,120 against the proposed legislation, which you may find 560 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:50,400 is ringing a bell in terms of legislation that was passed in 561 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:54,800 England in 2023. But they said as part of their 562 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,240 statement, to remove freedoms from peaceful, law abiding 563 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:01,960 citizens sets a chilling legal precedent for everyone, 564 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:04,400 including those who support abortion. 565 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:07,680 We believe that calls to introduce buffer zones around 566 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:11,360 abortion facilities where there have been no reported incidents 567 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:16,679 of harassment or intimidation by participant, sorry participants 568 00:34:16,679 --> 00:34:21,639 in peaceful vigils are mistaken. Such vigils bear tangible 569 00:34:21,639 --> 00:34:25,520 witness to our common freedoms of expression, speech and 570 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,159 assembly. So what is it they're actually 571 00:34:28,159 --> 00:34:30,080 talking about? Well, it's the bill in the 572 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:33,520 Scottish Parliament at the moment, which is put forward by 573 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:36,000 Julian McKay. It's the proposed Abortion 574 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:40,280 Services Safe Access Zones Bill. And the reason for talking about 575 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:42,679 it now is the calls for written evidence, closed just before 576 00:34:42,679 --> 00:34:45,639 Christmas. But interestingly from the text 577 00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:48,880 here, or rather alarmingly, this includes any behaviour that 578 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:52,239 might stop a person from getting an abortion or make them feel 579 00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:55,760 scared or upset. I've underlined that because so 580 00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:57,920 imagine that people might be going to have an abortion 581 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:03,120 without already feeling scared or upset Is a strange stance to 582 00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:06,520 take on the matter. But further down we sit we see 583 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:08,920 that it would also be an offence if a person behaved in these 584 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:11,480 ways in other places. If their behaviour could be seen 585 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:14,440 or heard from the safe access zone, for example, where 586 00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:18,120 someone's house is within a safe access zone boundary, they could 587 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:21,280 commit an offence if they do something which could be seen 588 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:25,360 through their window by a person in the safe access zone. 589 00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:30,120 So straight away we're we're moving into the area of thought 590 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,640 crime exactly as we were in England and Wales with the 591 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:36,720 slightly different legislation. But in a sense there what was 592 00:35:36,720 --> 00:35:39,880 happening was that the what has happened is that councils, local 593 00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:43,120 authorities, have been given the power to create public spaces 594 00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:46,560 Protection Orders within which they can either prohibit or they 595 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:50,920 can mandate certain behaviours. And the one that received 596 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:56,040 particular attention last year was silent prayer and in effect 597 00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:59,360 the Well, they didn't actually undo the legislation. 598 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:01,240 But of course the ludicrous position was that the 599 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:06,200 authorities police had to ask the would be offender whether or 600 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:09,400 not they were in fact committing an offence, IE praying. 601 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:12,800 So how anyone was supposed to tell was not possible to 602 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:14,400 determine. We'll just have a quick look at 603 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:16,920 the part of the legislation itself. 604 00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:19,120 So we've got the safe access zones here. 605 00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:22,040 The last bit of this is what I want to draw your attention to, 606 00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:25,880 which is that each safe access zone consists of each public 607 00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:30,760 area of land within 200 metres or such other distance as 608 00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:33,440 extended. So it's an enormous area 609 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:35,920 potentially that could be covered by this. 610 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:38,280 We'll then go on and look at the offences. 611 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:40,680 And again, part of the point that the Catholic Bishops were 612 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:45,360 making is not only the attack on freedom of speech, but also the 613 00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:48,880 point that a lot of you know this is already captured by 614 00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:52,040 existing legislation, particularly here as we see at 615 00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:55,600 sea causing harassment, alarm or distress, which is covered by a 616 00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:59,360 multitude of other parts of existing legislation. 617 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:04,120 The other point to make here is that the that specific rhetoric 618 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:07,440 is all to do with disapproval of abortion. 619 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:11,040 In England, the Public Spaces Protection Orders were put out 620 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:14,840 to deal particularly with any comment on abortion, whether in 621 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:18,880 support or against. But this is all anything that's 622 00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:22,560 negative about abortion. So again we'll just go on now 623 00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:29,040 and have a look at the another thing that that is very very 624 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:32,640 open to interpretation and it's terribly subjective part of the 625 00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:35,360 bill, which is that where a person does an act in a safe 626 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:38,240 access zone constituting an offence and the ACT has a 627 00:37:38,240 --> 00:37:41,920 continuing effect. It does not matter whether the 628 00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:45,600 person referred to is in the safe access zone at at the time 629 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:49,880 the person does the ACT. So the the bones that that are 630 00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:54,120 created by this bill are absolutely enormous and I spoke 631 00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:57,240 last year the close of last year about the the Super complaint 632 00:37:57,240 --> 00:38:02,880 about police abusing the powers given by section 60 and it's 633 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,760 hard to see that legislation such as this wouldn't be open to 634 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,560 similar sorts of abuse. We'll just go on and have a 635 00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:14,040 quick look at the extension of sorry, wrong we've we've anyway, 636 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:18,040 if we just go back. Yeah sorry the the extension of 637 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:22,280 the zones which may be approved by ministers if the operator of 638 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:25,760 the area puts forward a proposal to extend the area. 639 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:28,680 Also it's worth noting that ministers themselves may of 640 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:31,280 their own accord extend the zone. 641 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:35,160 It's not at all clear why they would be intervening without any 642 00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:39,320 previous complaint or comment from the abortion centre itself, 643 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:42,560 but again, extraordinary power to grant a minister. 644 00:38:43,040 --> 00:38:45,400 So and now we'll just set this in the context of the overall 645 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:48,760 sort of abortion picture. Now the next lot of statistics 646 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:52,640 are from England and Wales really because it's a larger 647 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:54,800 sample size. But I just thought it was 648 00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:57,400 interesting to note that statistics annual statistics 649 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:01,560 from June 23 are delayed till April 24. 650 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:06,000 These come from the 2021 statistics, but they do show the 651 00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:10,480 overall trend, which is that over 200,000 abortions were 652 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,600 conducted in England and Wales during that period, which is the 653 00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:19,480 highest number since they started in 1967 and to age 654 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:21,640 standardise that. The trend is of course exactly 655 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:25,880 the same, 18.6 abortions per 1000 women. 656 00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:31,640 So it it is a massive uptick as you can see since 2016, which 657 00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:34,680 comes at a considerable cost. So we'll just look at the 658 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:39,760 British Pregnancy Advisory Service which says that the in a 659 00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:44,120 sense the NHS foots the bill for almost all of the abortions that 660 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:46,280 are conducted, whether or not they take place in a private 661 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:49,120 facility or not. Private facilities of course can 662 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:52,680 be paid for by the individual but but in almost all cases are 663 00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:57,440 funded by the NHS at a cost. Here there is a a scale so it's 664 00:39:57,440 --> 00:39:59,560 hard to determine exactly what the figure would be. 665 00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:04,200 But but ranging between 480 lbs up to 15110 lbs. 666 00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:08,440 So it's a very significant part of a health budget. 667 00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:12,040 Because of course this is termed as being essential healthcare 668 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:15,280 and therefore any any sort of dissent, as it were. 669 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:17,560 At least that's the way it's being put is, is not. 670 00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:20,800 To be tolerated. So I would just leave you now 671 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,680 with something I talked about briefly last year, which is the 672 00:40:24,240 --> 00:40:27,960 fetal sentience committee bill. Now this has been sort of seized 673 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:33,280 upon by the pro-life lobby as being a possible chink in the 674 00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:36,800 clouds, because this is due to set up a committee which will 675 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:40,560 determine the very tricky area of fetal sentience. 676 00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:44,160 So we'll we'll keep an eye on that and indeed on the abortion 677 00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:46,320 buffer zone bill itself. Yes. 678 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:49,800 OK, let's come back on to the issue of elections then. 679 00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:52,040 And well, here is the independent this morning. 680 00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:55,680 Putin to run as independent. Sorry, that's not this morning. 681 00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:58,560 That's the 17th of December Putin to run as independent 682 00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:00,600 candidate in Russia's presidential election. 683 00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,360 Here's what it means and the sub headline is Putin will be up 684 00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:07,000 against a selection of harmless candidates in heavily staged 685 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:09,480 elections in mid March next year. 686 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:12,520 And of course that was published in mid-december so that's mid 687 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:14,160 March this year that they're talking about. 688 00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:17,960 And Debbie was mentioning a couple of minutes ago major 689 00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:21,280 elections right around the the world it seems at the in this 690 00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:25,640 coming 12 months or so. But I just had to laugh at the 691 00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:30,840 idea that heavily staged elections in Russia when in the 692 00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:33,480 United States we have Donald Trump. 693 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:35,160 Now what? Whether you like them or loathe 694 00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:39,400 them, has been blocked from the GOP primary ballot in two states 695 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:41,960 already. We'll see how many more follow 696 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:43,320 suit. And of course, he's still being 697 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:46,720 prosecuted as hard as he possibly can at the moment. 698 00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:51,200 And PBS News are there asking can he still run for president? 699 00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:56,240 And then we have this because Sam Bankman freed of course in 700 00:41:56,240 --> 00:42:02,880 prison at the moment for fraud because of his cryptocurrency 701 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:04,400 business which went out of business. 702 00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:08,000 But of course he was also funding the Democratic Party to 703 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:11,920 the tune of $100 million or so. And so this particular tweet 704 00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:15,440 saying Sam, Sam Backman free donated $100 million in stolen 705 00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:19,240 custom customer funds to U.S. politicians, today the 706 00:42:19,240 --> 00:42:21,840 Department of Justice announced that they're dropping 6 charges 707 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:24,600 against them and will not prosecute him for a political 708 00:42:24,600 --> 00:42:28,280 campaign finance violation. Are you surprised? 709 00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:30,360 The most corrupt Department of Justice ever. 710 00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:33,000 So that was put out on the 30th of December. 711 00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:36,680 So quite an incredible situation that we're happy to to throw 712 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:38,880 these allegations around at Putin. 713 00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:43,400 But the election certainly in the United States probably know 714 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:46,080 better. And I I wonder what's going to 715 00:42:46,080 --> 00:42:49,320 happen at the upcoming British general election. 716 00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:53,520 Certainly lots of heavy influence going on there, not 717 00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:56,680 least from Tony Blair. But Debbie, sorry, you mentioned 718 00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:59,840 Black Swan events. I did, yes. 719 00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:03,080 And it's also interesting to know that Taiwan elections are 720 00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:06,160 this month, January, so everybody's holding their 721 00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:08,280 breath. But looking at Black Swan 722 00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:11,600 events, let's remind ourselves what the World Economic Forum 723 00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:13,520 put out just a couple of years ago. 724 00:43:15,560 --> 00:43:18,800 The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken our economies and societies to 725 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:21,080 the core. He's shown us how vulnerable we 726 00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:24,120 are to biological threats in the digital world. 727 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:26,520 Similar risks are being overlooked right now. 728 00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:29,840 The cyber attack with COVID like characteristics would spread 729 00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:32,520 faster and further than any biological virus. 730 00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:35,800 It's reproductive rate would be around 10 times greater than 731 00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:37,560 what we've experienced with the coronavirus. 732 00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:41,520 To give you an idea, one of the fastest worms in history, the 733 00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:45,640 2003 Slammer Sapphire One doubled in size approximately 734 00:43:45,640 --> 00:43:50,160 every 8.5 seconds, infecting over 75,000 devices in 10 735 00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:54,240 minutes and almost 11,000,000 devices in 24 hours. 736 00:43:54,680 --> 00:43:58,600 Fortunately, at least until now, cyber attacks have not impacted 737 00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:01,600 our health the way pandemics have, But the economic damages 738 00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:04,760 and therefore the impact they have had on our daily lives have 739 00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:07,200 been equal and sometimes even greater. 740 00:44:07,800 --> 00:44:10,920 You see, the only way to stop the exponential propagation of a 741 00:44:10,920 --> 00:44:14,080 COVID like cyber threat is to fully disconnect the millions of 742 00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:17,040 vulnerable devices from one another and from the Internet. 743 00:44:17,720 --> 00:44:21,120 All of this in a matter of days. A single day without the 744 00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:24,000 Internet would cost our economies more than 50 billion 745 00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:26,320 U.S. dollars. And that's before considering 746 00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:28,400 the economic and societal damages. 747 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:31,440 Should these devices be linked to essential services such as 748 00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:34,320 transport or healthcare? As the digital realm 749 00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:37,160 increasingly emerges with our physical world, the ripple 750 00:44:37,160 --> 00:44:40,400 effects of cyber attacks on our safety just keep on expanding at 751 00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:42,360 a faster pace than what we're preparing for. 752 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:45,800 COVID-19 was known as an anticipated risk. 753 00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:49,480 So is the digital equivalent. Let's be better prepared for 754 00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:52,080 that one. The time is now. 755 00:44:56,640 --> 00:45:00,640 So is the time 2024? Well, it would seem that a few 756 00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:03,800 people are saying that yes. And one of those is Gary 757 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:08,080 Cardone. He's a US entrepreneur, and he's 758 00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:13,560 warned that the a Black Swan event in 24 could derail the 759 00:45:13,720 --> 00:45:17,240 2024 US elections. He's convinced that something's 760 00:45:17,240 --> 00:45:19,520 going to happen between now and August. 761 00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:23,720 And he's not alone because the CBS reporter Catherine Herridge 762 00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:27,560 was also and you can go and this was on Face the Nation and you 763 00:45:27,560 --> 00:45:32,320 can go and listen to this. She's also warned of a Black 764 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:35,200 Swan events and it's coincidence. 765 00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:38,960 Serendipity, I don't know. But a film coming out in April 766 00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:45,080 this year called Civil War, which is all about 19 states in 767 00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:48,840 the USA, seceded from the US government, which creates a new 768 00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:52,560 Civil War and it's basically a race to the White House. 769 00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:58,920 So I think we've got a little trailer of Civil War. 19 states 770 00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:01,120 have seceded. The United States Army ramps up 771 00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:02,960 activity. The White House issued warnings 772 00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:05,880 to the Western forces as well as the Florida Alliance, the. 773 00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:08,840 Three term president assures the uprising will be dealt with 774 00:46:08,840 --> 00:46:10,880 swiftly. Let me know if you want to try 775 00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:12,440 anything wrong. I think that's aware there's 776 00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:15,960 like a pretty huge civil war going on all across America. 777 00:46:16,240 --> 00:46:19,520 We just try to stay out with what we see on the news. 778 00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:28,520 Seems like it's for the best citizens of America. 779 00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:35,360 The so-called western forces of Texas and California have 780 00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:39,400 suffered a very great defeat at the hands of the United States 781 00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:43,360 military. Mr. President, do you regret the 782 00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:45,760 use of air strikes against American citizens? 783 00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:52,960 We're moving to DC today. You need to go down there. 784 00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:55,920 They shoot journalists on the side in the Capitol. 785 00:46:56,160 --> 00:46:58,320 Every instinct in me says this is death. 786 00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:02,400 What? Every time I survived the war 787 00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:05,080 zone, I thought I was sending a warning home. 788 00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:09,960 Don't do that. But here we are. 789 00:47:10,760 --> 00:47:12,440 There's some kind of misunderstanding here. 790 00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:14,680 What? Oh, you're American. 791 00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:19,840 OK, OK. What kind of American are you? 792 00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:31,800 You don't know. The Western forces will reach 793 00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:34,720 the White House on July 4th, OH. My God. 794 00:47:34,720 --> 00:47:40,480 Get in the car. Move, move, move. 795 00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:47,440 You're going to hang back. I'm not hanging back. 796 00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:58,120 One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and 797 00:47:58,120 --> 00:48:07,840 justice for all. God Bless America. 798 00:48:14,680 --> 00:48:18,000 How likely is a Black Swan event in 2024? 799 00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:20,880 Bit of predictive programming there, perhaps. 800 00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:24,480 Now I'm going to say thank you again to a viewer who sent me 801 00:48:24,640 --> 00:48:27,000 received an envelope today and inside it was, it was a 802 00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:29,280 newspaper cutting and the headline on the newspaper 803 00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:33,520 cutting was opinion. BBC now a threat to all local 804 00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:35,040 newspapers. So I thought, well, I'll go and 805 00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:39,600 see if I can find that online. And I just did a search on this 806 00:48:39,600 --> 00:48:42,160 particular search engine. But other search engines do 807 00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:44,720 exist and I encourage the use of alternatives. 808 00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:47,680 But let's just Scroll down through this a little bit and 809 00:48:47,680 --> 00:48:50,280 see how widely this was published. 810 00:48:50,280 --> 00:48:53,360 And you can see these are all each, each line of this is 811 00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:56,880 individual local news, news organisations around the 812 00:48:56,880 --> 00:49:00,440 country, ending there with the Shropshire star at the bottom. 813 00:49:01,240 --> 00:49:05,840 So this is the headline BBC now threat all local newspapers, so 814 00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:08,600 let's just choose one of them. This is the Eastern Daily Press. 815 00:49:09,200 --> 00:49:11,440 And let's look at a little bit of the text of this, because 816 00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:14,920 what they're basically saying is that in October 2022 the BBC had 817 00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:19,840 made plans to what they described as strengthened local 818 00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:22,560 online news. Now this is local BBC online 819 00:49:22,560 --> 00:49:27,280 news provision and the the local newspapers are basically 820 00:49:27,280 --> 00:49:29,760 complaining because the BBC is funded by the taxpayer 821 00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:33,240 effectively. And therefore if it encroaches 822 00:49:33,280 --> 00:49:38,120 on the markets of these local newspapers, big commercial 823 00:49:38,120 --> 00:49:40,840 organisations, they have to try to compete with the BBC by 824 00:49:40,840 --> 00:49:43,760 through selling advertising. Whereas the BBC just gets this 825 00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:47,600 massive bun from the UK government and they're 826 00:49:47,600 --> 00:49:51,360 complaining that this is anti competitive and so on. 827 00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:55,840 Well, the problem is I would accept this argument from local 828 00:49:55,840 --> 00:50:01,200 news if they weren't accepting money from the BBC for these 829 00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:04,320 which are local democracy reporters. 830 00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:07,760 So the BBC is providing local democracy. 831 00:50:07,760 --> 00:50:09,480 We've reported on this many, many times. 832 00:50:09,480 --> 00:50:12,440 But the BBC is reporting, providing local and funding 833 00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:16,600 local democracy reporting service to these local news 834 00:50:16,720 --> 00:50:20,000 outlets for them to benefit. So let's just have a look, what 835 00:50:20,000 --> 00:50:22,920 is the LDRS? The Local Democracy Reporting 836 00:50:22,920 --> 00:50:26,320 Service is a public service news agency funded by the BBC, 837 00:50:26,880 --> 00:50:30,280 providing provided by the local news sector and used by 838 00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:32,280 qualifying partners. So if you're a local news 839 00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:35,560 outlet, you're a qualifying partner, you can get money from 840 00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:39,920 the BBC to fund your journalists and they say it's like a 841 00:50:39,920 --> 00:50:42,480 franchise. Now this this I think is the 842 00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:45,040 main danger with respect to local news, not the fact that 843 00:50:45,040 --> 00:50:48,240 the BBC is is competing commercially. 844 00:50:48,240 --> 00:50:52,040 So if we just put that back for a second, it says it's like a 845 00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:54,840 franchise, different companies with different approaches, but 846 00:50:54,840 --> 00:50:58,880 using common editorial standards and all publishing into the same 847 00:50:58,880 --> 00:51:00,720 system. And those common editorial 848 00:51:00,720 --> 00:51:04,200 standards, of course, are the BBC's editorial standards and 849 00:51:04,200 --> 00:51:07,440 the the system that they're publishing into is the BBC's 850 00:51:07,440 --> 00:51:12,240 system. So that to me is the danger to 851 00:51:12,240 --> 00:51:18,760 local reporting, not so much the BBC encroaching into local news 852 00:51:19,320 --> 00:51:21,720 spaces. And if the local newspapers are 853 00:51:21,720 --> 00:51:24,880 worried about the competition from the BBC, maybe they should 854 00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:26,560 consider just doing a better job. 855 00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:28,920 And frankly, that's not too hard. 856 00:51:29,680 --> 00:51:34,240 But anyway, let's move on. Let's have a look at this. 857 00:51:34,640 --> 00:51:38,560 Charles, I think this is you. It is, and we're going to go to 858 00:51:38,560 --> 00:51:41,360 the Horn of Africa, where there's been news in the last 859 00:51:41,360 --> 00:51:43,960 couple of days. First of all, we'll hear from 860 00:51:43,960 --> 00:51:49,840 the Addis Standard reporting. A historic memorandum of 861 00:51:49,880 --> 00:51:53,440 understanding with Somaliland sees Ethiopia secure access to 862 00:51:53,440 --> 00:51:57,880 sea, diversify seaport. So this this is a story that in 863 00:51:57,880 --> 00:52:01,400 fact tells the reader that Ethiopia will have access to 864 00:52:01,400 --> 00:52:06,800 coastline for the first time since 1993 when Eritrea split 865 00:52:06,880 --> 00:52:09,440 and took that particular part of coastline. 866 00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:13,440 Almost immediately after this headline came out was a counter 867 00:52:13,440 --> 00:52:18,400 report, which the Guardian has written up here, and it says 868 00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:22,080 that Somalia vows to defend sovereignty after Ethiopia. 869 00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:25,280 Somaliland deal. Now why would that be and how is 870 00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:29,240 it relevant to us? Basically The Ethiopians have 871 00:52:29,240 --> 00:52:33,720 been granted port access, but specifically if they wish to 872 00:52:33,720 --> 00:52:37,600 take it up, which presumably they do, to have a military base 873 00:52:37,600 --> 00:52:41,240 at this port. And in response to that, 874 00:52:41,240 --> 00:52:44,480 Ethiopia has declared that they will recognise Somaliland as 875 00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:46,880 being a sovereign state, making them the first country in the 876 00:52:46,880 --> 00:52:49,240 world to do so. That's caused a lot of 877 00:52:49,240 --> 00:52:51,760 controversy within Somalia. So we'll just go on have a look 878 00:52:51,760 --> 00:52:53,680 at the next part of the text from the Guardian, which is 879 00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:56,440 taken from the government of Somalia. 880 00:52:56,440 --> 00:53:00,080 They say Somaliland is a part of Somalia under the Somali 881 00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:03,120 constitution. So Somalia finds this step to be 882 00:53:03,120 --> 00:53:05,880 a clear violation against its sovereignty and unity. 883 00:53:06,120 --> 00:53:07,800 The Somali cabinet said on Tuesday. 884 00:53:08,000 --> 00:53:11,680 The agreement was null and void with no legal basis and Somalia 885 00:53:11,680 --> 00:53:15,320 will not accept it, it added. In response to this, the Somali 886 00:53:15,320 --> 00:53:17,920 government has recalled its ambassador in Ethiopia, for. 887 00:53:19,040 --> 00:53:23,400 So the relevance at the moment is significant in in many 888 00:53:23,400 --> 00:53:26,600 respects, and I'll just put a map on screen now to illustrate 889 00:53:26,600 --> 00:53:29,440 what I'm talking about. Vanessa has spoken at length 890 00:53:29,440 --> 00:53:34,640 about the various effects, both economic and military, on the 891 00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:37,040 Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. So the area we're talking about 892 00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:42,000 is framed by that red rectangle. And just to point out that 893 00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:45,440 Israel's Red seaport is of course accessed via the Gulf of 894 00:53:45,440 --> 00:53:48,720 Aden and the Red Sea up there at the north side of that port of 895 00:53:48,720 --> 00:53:51,160 Islet. So we'll just zoom in a little 896 00:53:51,160 --> 00:53:53,520 bit on the area. And what we're talking about is 897 00:53:53,520 --> 00:53:57,880 marked by the red area, the port of Berbera, which will be 898 00:53:57,880 --> 00:54:02,720 accessible to The Ethiopians fire, a corridor which I'll come 899 00:54:02,720 --> 00:54:06,680 onto in just a second. So what I want to get a sense of 900 00:54:06,680 --> 00:54:11,520 is the British and other international involvement in the 901 00:54:11,600 --> 00:54:13,280 area. In fact, sorry, I will just go 902 00:54:13,280 --> 00:54:16,800 back one, because I've underlined Djibouti, the country 903 00:54:16,800 --> 00:54:21,640 to the northwest militarily. Djibouti is home to Camp 904 00:54:21,640 --> 00:54:25,320 Lemenier, the Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa, 905 00:54:25,400 --> 00:54:27,720 which is the American forward base. 906 00:54:27,720 --> 00:54:33,480 From there, Africa Command. It also hosts a Chinese military 907 00:54:33,480 --> 00:54:37,120 base and it's therefore very significant. 908 00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:39,720 This looks like Ethiopia are also going to be able to operate 909 00:54:39,720 --> 00:54:42,440 militarily within that area, particularly when we find out 910 00:54:42,440 --> 00:54:44,240 what's been going on behind the scenes. 911 00:54:44,240 --> 00:54:50,080 So I will just move on to a report about UK investment into 912 00:54:50,320 --> 00:54:54,160 training Somali troops. So we've got from September last 913 00:54:54,160 --> 00:54:57,600 year a further 5 million in funding going to their security 914 00:54:57,600 --> 00:55:03,320 forces and that is on top of significant amounts of money 915 00:55:03,320 --> 00:55:07,920 that have gone in there since 2020, 247,000,000 to to ATMOS 916 00:55:07,920 --> 00:55:11,440 and indeed direct training operations between the UK 917 00:55:11,440 --> 00:55:17,440 military and the Somali forces. Now what is not credible is that 918 00:55:17,440 --> 00:55:20,720 the UK would have had absolutely no idea that Ethiopia didn't 919 00:55:20,720 --> 00:55:24,320 have military designs on this coastal region. 920 00:55:24,880 --> 00:55:28,360 Nevertheless, the next slide shows the UK ambassador at the 921 00:55:28,360 --> 00:55:31,680 time, Kate Foster, launched construction of what is called 922 00:55:31,680 --> 00:55:35,840 the Hargeiser Bypass. So we should see a picture here 923 00:55:35,840 --> 00:55:39,280 from May 2021 showing all the various vehicles that were going 924 00:55:39,280 --> 00:55:41,440 to start the construction process. 925 00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:44,440 And I'll just read to you what Kate Foster, the then ambassador 926 00:55:44,440 --> 00:55:49,080 to Somalia, said at the time, which is we are proud to support 927 00:55:49,080 --> 00:55:52,080 the Hargeiser Bypass, which is a crucial part of the Berber 928 00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:55,200 corridor. Once this 240 kilometre project, 929 00:55:55,400 --> 00:55:59,200 in coordination with our Abu Dhabi and European partners, is 930 00:55:59,200 --> 00:56:01,440 completed late next year, it will improve the lives of 931 00:56:01,440 --> 00:56:04,600 hundreds of thousands of people by creating jobs, unlocking the 932 00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:07,600 region's economic potential, and ease the delivery of 933 00:56:07,600 --> 00:56:10,760 humanitarian supplies. Well, she might concentrate on 934 00:56:10,760 --> 00:56:12,880 humanitarian supplies and unlocking the region's 935 00:56:12,880 --> 00:56:16,000 potential, but exactly what does she mean by that? 936 00:56:16,360 --> 00:56:18,760 And indeed, I go back to whether or not she would have had 937 00:56:18,760 --> 00:56:21,240 knowledge that Ethiopia had military designs. 938 00:56:21,240 --> 00:56:26,000 The UK is embedded in Addis Ababa, where we support the 939 00:56:26,040 --> 00:56:30,240 African Union Standby brigade, and indeed with close relations 940 00:56:30,240 --> 00:56:34,040 with what's going on in Djibouti with the Americans, it is 941 00:56:34,200 --> 00:56:37,280 frankly not plausible that she would not have known that this 942 00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:39,720 would have been controversial. So we'll now look at what Chris 943 00:56:39,720 --> 00:56:44,000 Heaton Harris said again back in 20/21. 944 00:56:44,200 --> 00:56:49,080 He was then a minister, FCDA minister, and he says we have 945 00:56:49,080 --> 00:56:52,400 also forged A partnership with Dubai Ports World to invest in 946 00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:55,200 logistics facilities along the Berber corridor which runs from 947 00:56:55,200 --> 00:56:57,600 the coast of Ethiopia. These investments have the 948 00:56:57,600 --> 00:57:00,680 potential to drive economic growth and boost stability 949 00:57:00,680 --> 00:57:04,240 across the Horn of Africa. And he goes on to say again, 950 00:57:04,240 --> 00:57:06,480 those are hugely positive developments. 951 00:57:06,480 --> 00:57:09,120 And again, we are proud to play our part. 952 00:57:09,400 --> 00:57:13,000 British International Investment, the Uks development 953 00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:17,160 finance body is investing in the port with Dubai Ports World as a 954 00:57:17,200 --> 00:57:20,720 part of a 1.72 billion investment into free ports in 955 00:57:20,720 --> 00:57:23,040 Africa. Free Ports is in red text there 956 00:57:23,040 --> 00:57:25,560 and I'll come back to that for a particular reason. 957 00:57:25,840 --> 00:57:28,440 But if you haven't heard of British International 958 00:57:28,440 --> 00:57:32,440 Investment, then I will just look into that now as we bring 959 00:57:32,440 --> 00:57:35,960 that on screen and they describe on their website what it is 960 00:57:35,960 --> 00:57:38,240 they're set up to do going back to 1948. 961 00:57:38,240 --> 00:57:41,520 So, so fairly shortly after the the end of the Second World War, 962 00:57:41,800 --> 00:57:44,600 they were established as the Colonial Development Corporation 963 00:57:44,920 --> 00:57:48,680 in order to do good without losing money and that's changed 964 00:57:48,680 --> 00:57:52,560 a bit over time. In 2004, they were reconfigured 965 00:57:52,560 --> 00:57:54,840 to operate mainly as a fund investor. 966 00:57:55,280 --> 00:57:57,960 We had a pioneering role in establishing the private equity 967 00:57:57,960 --> 00:58:01,520 industry in emerging markets. By the end of 2007, we were 968 00:58:01,520 --> 00:58:06,040 working with 42 fund managers across 100 funds and lo and 969 00:58:06,040 --> 00:58:09,320 behold, it's changed again. So by 2022, we were renamed as 970 00:58:09,320 --> 00:58:10,840 British International Investment. 971 00:58:10,840 --> 00:58:13,320 The new name signifies the increased breadth of what the 972 00:58:13,320 --> 00:58:16,880 organization does and highlights our role as part of the UKS 973 00:58:16,880 --> 00:58:19,920 offer to help developing and emerging countries meet their 974 00:58:19,920 --> 00:58:23,520 significant financing needs for infrastructure and enterprise. 975 00:58:23,520 --> 00:58:26,400 Well, again we come back to the question who actually benefits 976 00:58:26,400 --> 00:58:28,840 here? Is it Somaliland or Somalia or 977 00:58:28,840 --> 00:58:33,280 Ethiopia or none of them because the partner that's been referred 978 00:58:33,280 --> 00:58:40,200 to Dubai Ports Worldwide is DP, sorry, DP World has a map here 979 00:58:40,200 --> 00:58:43,480 showing their global reach through this, this process 980 00:58:43,480 --> 00:58:45,960 effectively of developing infrastructure in countries. 981 00:58:45,960 --> 00:58:50,760 And of course the great part of this is that it enables them not 982 00:58:50,920 --> 00:58:56,280 to create the conditions for the host countries to be able to get 983 00:58:56,280 --> 00:58:59,120 product in rather more. It's question being able to get 984 00:58:59,120 --> 00:59:03,000 mineral resources out. And the United Arab Emirates 985 00:59:03,040 --> 00:59:07,680 often not talked about in terms of Africa did trade worth $70 986 00:59:07,680 --> 00:59:12,480 billion in Africa last year, which puts it on a par with the 987 00:59:12,480 --> 00:59:15,680 United States of America. It's very significant in the 988 00:59:15,680 --> 00:59:19,320 region and they say on their website that they know that 989 00:59:19,320 --> 00:59:22,200 creating and enhancing their trade partnerships is the key to 990 00:59:22,200 --> 00:59:24,400 unlocking economic growth in that region. 991 00:59:24,800 --> 00:59:27,920 Through a focus on Somaliland, landlocked Ethiopia and other 992 00:59:27,920 --> 00:59:31,640 Horn of Africa countries, DP World aims to transform lives, 993 00:59:31,640 --> 00:59:35,760 find new logistics solutions and build the region. 994 00:59:35,920 --> 00:59:38,480 And compete with the Belton Rd. Absolutely. 995 00:59:38,480 --> 00:59:40,120 Yeah. So, exactly right. 996 00:59:40,120 --> 00:59:42,240 So, so there'll be a competition with China. 997 00:59:42,240 --> 00:59:44,600 It's also worth pointing out that on the military side of it, 998 00:59:44,600 --> 00:59:46,800 Russia has long we've been eyeing up the Red Sea coast 999 00:59:46,800 --> 00:59:48,960 there and there's been in negotiations with both South 1000 00:59:48,960 --> 00:59:52,400 Sudan and Eritrea trying to get a port in there. 1001 00:59:52,400 --> 00:59:54,200 So. So we we may end up in a 1002 00:59:54,200 --> 00:59:57,360 situation where we've got Ethiopia, China, America, Russia 1003 00:59:57,680 --> 01:00:01,080 and indeed Somalia all with military capabilities along that 1004 01:00:01,160 --> 01:00:04,200 bit of coastline. So that that definitely worth is 1005 01:00:04,200 --> 01:00:06,600 worth our attention, particularly since we are 1006 01:00:06,600 --> 01:00:10,280 funding A considerable part of it because the investment 1007 01:00:10,600 --> 01:00:12,600 platform is of course government sponsored. 1008 01:00:12,920 --> 01:00:16,360 So I just have to show quickly now the government free ports, 1009 01:00:16,360 --> 01:00:21,240 because this is actually a post European Union initiative which 1010 01:00:21,240 --> 01:00:23,520 you may not have heard of free ports in the UK. 1011 01:00:23,520 --> 01:00:27,080 And they say that they're going to be new hubs for global trade, 1012 01:00:27,080 --> 01:00:30,960 investment and innovation within the UK, create a favourable 1013 01:00:30,960 --> 01:00:33,840 environment and exciting opportunities for businesses. 1014 01:00:34,160 --> 01:00:37,480 By choosing to invest within Auk Freeport, you could access a 1015 01:00:37,480 --> 01:00:41,520 wide range of customs and tax benefits as well as support from 1016 01:00:41,520 --> 01:00:43,960 government around planning, infrastructure and innovation. 1017 01:00:44,200 --> 01:00:48,600 So obviously an attempt to effectively conflate this idea 1018 01:00:48,600 --> 01:00:52,400 with developments going on in Africa and in order to exert 1019 01:00:52,400 --> 01:00:55,400 both soft and hard power as they might describe it at the same 1020 01:00:55,400 --> 01:00:57,600 time. So we'll keep an eye on that one 1021 01:00:57,600 --> 01:00:59,600 for sure. Well, we will, because Plymouth 1022 01:00:59,680 --> 01:01:02,960 is a Freeport already. I'm sure there are a number of 1023 01:01:02,960 --> 01:01:05,400 others around the country now sticking with international 1024 01:01:05,400 --> 01:01:08,080 things, but maybe not. Let's bring this on screen. 1025 01:01:08,080 --> 01:01:11,400 This is a letter from the Secretary of State, the Right 1026 01:01:11,400 --> 01:01:14,200 Honourable Mark Harper to Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London. 1027 01:01:14,640 --> 01:01:18,160 And Mark Harper begins by saying, Dear Sadiq, but he's 1028 01:01:18,160 --> 01:01:22,920 really complaining about Ulas. Let's a particular aspect of 1029 01:01:22,920 --> 01:01:24,520 Ulas. Let's try not try to keep a 1030 01:01:24,520 --> 01:01:27,200 straight face as you watch this. This is what he had to say. 1031 01:01:27,200 --> 01:01:29,680 Thank you for your letter. Also signed by the Right 1032 01:01:29,680 --> 01:01:32,560 Honourable Ben Wallace MP seeking my departments. 1033 01:01:32,560 --> 01:01:35,400 That's the Department of Transport support in allowing 1034 01:01:35,400 --> 01:01:38,840 suitable vehicles to be donated, to be donated to Ukraine through 1035 01:01:38,840 --> 01:01:43,000 the ULEZ scrapbage scheme, he goes on to say. 1036 01:01:43,000 --> 01:01:46,000 As Russia's barbaric invasion of Ukraine nears second 1037 01:01:46,480 --> 01:01:49,400 anniversary, it is vital the UK stands at the forefront of 1038 01:01:49,400 --> 01:01:52,240 supporting both Ukraine's government and its people in 1039 01:01:52,240 --> 01:01:56,240 this valiant fight. Given your ULES expansion 1040 01:01:56,240 --> 01:01:59,840 scrappage scheme has been in effect since August 2323, I'm 1041 01:01:59,840 --> 01:02:04,520 surprised that you've not made contact until now, given the 1042 01:02:04,520 --> 01:02:07,560 clear opportunity that your scrappage scheme could provide 1043 01:02:07,560 --> 01:02:10,360 in allowing roadworthy vehicles to be sent to Ukraine. 1044 01:02:10,760 --> 01:02:13,760 So one of the points that we've made from the beginning of this 1045 01:02:13,760 --> 01:02:16,880 conflict is that the West and the UK in particular, have been 1046 01:02:17,080 --> 01:02:21,000 using the Ukraine as effectively A dumping ground for all the 1047 01:02:21,000 --> 01:02:22,600 rubbish that we can't get rid of. 1048 01:02:22,920 --> 01:02:27,680 And mainly up to this point it has been, you know, useless 1049 01:02:28,360 --> 01:02:31,120 military equipment and so on. Now we need to get rid of our 1050 01:02:31,120 --> 01:02:34,400 cars as well because of some government policy that says you 1051 01:02:34,400 --> 01:02:35,920 can't drive it in London anymore. 1052 01:02:36,160 --> 01:02:39,160 And we're going to do that by dumping it on the Ukrainians. 1053 01:02:39,640 --> 01:02:42,960 It's just hugely cynical. To me, it's just appears to be 1054 01:02:42,960 --> 01:02:46,880 hugely cynical. But anyway, Debbie, let's end 1055 01:02:46,880 --> 01:02:51,040 off with a video of about the British Army. 1056 01:02:52,160 --> 01:02:59,000 Yes, have a look and see. Welcome to your six second 1057 01:02:59,000 --> 01:03:04,080 update for January 2024 from the British Army UP. 1058 01:03:04,080 --> 01:03:05,680 Lionel Typer commences in January. 1059 01:03:05,880 --> 01:03:08,520 Spanning 11 countries, it will be the largest coordinated 1060 01:03:08,520 --> 01:03:11,440 deployment of UK service personnel for a generation to 1061 01:03:11,440 --> 01:03:13,640 multiple multinational exercises across Europe. 1062 01:03:14,400 --> 01:03:17,200 It will prove the British Army's battle readiness and commitment 1063 01:03:17,200 --> 01:03:21,680 to NATO. A modern British Army fit for 1064 01:03:21,680 --> 01:03:24,560 the challenges of the future requires us to adapt the way we 1065 01:03:24,560 --> 01:03:27,200 train to meet the need of future soldier. 1066 01:03:27,360 --> 01:03:29,920 Army Basic training will be changing in 2024. 1067 01:03:30,400 --> 01:03:33,880 The new Soldier Academy has been created unifying all Army basic 1068 01:03:33,880 --> 01:03:36,760 training under one new organization recognized for its 1069 01:03:36,760 --> 01:03:39,240 excellence in providing spiritual home for the British 1070 01:03:39,240 --> 01:03:41,000 soldier. More details on the Soldier 1071 01:03:41,000 --> 01:03:43,200 Academy will be made available later this month. 1072 01:03:45,360 --> 01:03:48,080 Finally, are you interested in medical career in the Army? 1073 01:03:48,480 --> 01:03:50,920 And did you know that our medics developed their career by 1074 01:03:50,920 --> 01:03:54,160 working alongside the NHS Army personnel from various medical 1075 01:03:54,160 --> 01:03:57,400 disciplines currently treating military and civilian patients 1076 01:03:57,640 --> 01:03:59,640 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham? 1077 01:04:00,000 --> 01:04:02,480 Search Army Jobs for further information on how to. 1078 01:04:02,480 --> 01:04:07,080 Become an Army Medic. And that's the 62nd update for 1079 01:04:07,080 --> 01:04:12,560 January 2024. I'm sure we'll have more to say 1080 01:04:12,560 --> 01:04:15,720 about that in extra, but the fusion between the British Army 1081 01:04:15,720 --> 01:04:18,240 and the NHS I found particularly interesting. 1082 01:04:18,480 --> 01:04:21,080 Yes, indeed. And we'll just very briefly 1083 01:04:21,080 --> 01:04:26,480 Debbie and with this from Bob. Bob Moran, Fabulous. 1084 01:04:26,480 --> 01:04:28,600 We're coming up to Epiphany. These are the three kings, the 1085 01:04:28,600 --> 01:04:30,560 three wise men. And how wise are they? 1086 01:04:30,840 --> 01:04:34,280 One is holding on to his gold. There was no pandemic. 1087 01:04:34,600 --> 01:04:37,160 Another, instead of having frankincense, has got common 1088 01:04:37,160 --> 01:04:39,120 sense. Climate change is a hoax. 1089 01:04:39,480 --> 01:04:43,440 And the other one carrying unvaccinated sperm men can't get 1090 01:04:43,440 --> 01:04:45,560 pregnant. Thank you so much, Bob Moran. 1091 01:04:45,880 --> 01:04:47,000 Yes, indeed. OK. 1092 01:04:47,000 --> 01:04:48,000 Well, we've got to leave it there. 1093 01:04:48,080 --> 01:04:52,040 Thank you very much for everybody for our first news of 1094 01:04:52,040 --> 01:04:55,800 2024. We'll be back as usual on Friday 1095 01:04:55,800 --> 01:04:58,840 at 1:00 PM. Don't forget the interview with 1096 01:04:58,840 --> 01:05:02,000 Ben Pilot 1:00 PM ukcolumn.org/live tomorrow. 1097 01:05:02,000 --> 01:05:04,920 I'll see you in a few minutes for extra review. 1098 01:05:05,000 --> 01:05:07,640 UK column member. Otherwise we'll see you Friday. 1099 01:05:07,640 --> 01:05:08,840 Bye, bye bye. Bye.