1 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:11,040 Good afternoon. It's Monday the 27th of October 2 00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:14,400 2025, just after 1:00. Welcome to UK column News. 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,120 I'm your host Mike Robinson and my Co Co host in the studio 4 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:20,160 today is Ben Rubin. Welcome to the program, Ben. 5 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:22,680 Thanks, Mike. And joining us by video link are 6 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:25,640 Sandy Adams and Diane Rasmussen. Now later in the program, 7 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,440 Diane's going to be covering attempts to change behaviors in 8 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:32,840 one of UK console and she'll be talking quite a bit about Magna 9 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:35,680 Carta later on as well. Sandy is Sandy is going to be 10 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:40,320 reporting on the World Heritage event in Glastonbury and protest 11 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:43,320 over data centres in Merseyside. Ben's going to be covering more 12 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:47,800 protests, this time with UKIP, but we're going to begin with AI 13 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,240 and it's continuing roll out into government. 14 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:51,920 Ben. Indeed we are. 15 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:53,000 Yes. Hello everybody. 16 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:56,880 Artificial intelligence. What could possibly go wrong? 17 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:00,000 We're going to migrate all of government to a new 18 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,960 technological paradigm. It's completely experimental. 19 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,760 All core functions of major government departments are now 20 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:08,800 going to be run on these new algorithmic systems built by 21 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:12,520 multinational corporations owned by unaccountable billionaires 22 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:14,640 with 0 loyalty to the British people. 23 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:17,560 Who better to lead the charge than David Lammy? 24 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:22,080 Let's have a listen. We're at a new technological 25 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,320 frontier, one that will transform how government 26 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:28,920 delivers for you. In our justice system, we're 27 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:33,480 already seeing what's possible. AI is helping our probation 28 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:37,880 officers spend less time on paperwork and more time working 29 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:42,720 directly with offenders to cut crime and protect communities. 30 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:47,200 It saves me hours of typing case notes and reports, allowing me 31 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:51,000 to focus on what really matters, which are supporting my team and 32 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:53,240 managing risks. I'm announcing that we're 33 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:57,040 expanding this technology to 1000 more probation officers 34 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:01,400 across the country. This is AI enabling us to be 35 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:05,440 more human, not less. Handling routine tasks so people 36 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:09,440 can focus on what humans. Can do AI is one of the most 37 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:13,280 powerful tools governments have to modernize public services to 38 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,160 make them faster, easier, and more reliable. 39 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,280 That starts with giving public servants the best AI tools built 40 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,160 with strong privacy and safety guard rails to help government 41 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:26,440 work better for everyone. The Ministry of Justice is 42 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:32,560 expected to save up to 240,000 days of valuable time every 43 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:36,400 year, allowing staff to spend more time monitoring offenders 44 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:40,720 and keeping our streets safe. There's a global race to lead on 45 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,080 AI. We're determined to win it for 46 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:47,240 jobs, for growth, A justice system that truly works for 47 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:52,320 everyone. A global race for AI. 48 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:54,160 Who decides that we're in a race? 49 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:59,160 How does that happen? They decided for themselves. 50 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:01,800 They're running this race. Nobody else particularly wants 51 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:03,760 to be involved in it. It is big. 52 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:05,680 Seems like a slippery slope to me, Ben. 53 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:07,920 It certainly does, yeah. So, but they're at it. 54 00:03:07,920 --> 00:03:10,840 They're implementing this stuff. They're running experiments at 55 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:13,160 the moment, right? But this is absolutely coming. 56 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,000 So what's Lammy just described there? 57 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:18,440 They've put this into the probation service. 58 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:23,800 They're using it for case notes. So essentially conversations 59 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:27,000 between probation officers and people who are going out onto 60 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,200 probation are being recorded by this system, and then that's 61 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:33,240 being annotated and that's been presented as something that is 62 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:36,680 positive for society. Whereas actually what we're 63 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,480 ending up with is really quite important. 64 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,000 Interactions with crucial interactions with people who are 65 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,160 going back into society are actually being handled by an 66 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:48,160 algorithmic system. And there's no control here, as 67 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,920 far as I can tell about what's being put into the system, how 68 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:56,920 it's then being interpreted, and also what's going on with that 69 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:58,560 information in the background, right. 70 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:01,520 And this is just a microcosm. They talked about expanding this 71 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:05,400 out to 1000 more case officers across the probation system. 72 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:09,320 Apparently that's going to save 240,000 days a year. 73 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,800 And the whole thing's presented almost as an advert for for open 74 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:14,640 AI and by extension from Microsoft. 75 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:19,720 I mean, that came from Lammy's personal Twitter page X page, 76 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:24,160 and he's up there speaking as a joint representative of this 77 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,120 initiative with the Chief commercial officer of Open AI. 78 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:29,920 It's almost like the British government kind of in joint 79 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,440 enterprise here with this multinational corporation. 80 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:35,520 And of course, you know, it's not like there's anything 81 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,160 particularly bad going on at the Ministry of Justice at the 82 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:40,920 moment. I mean, let's not forget last 83 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:45,120 week that Hadoosh Kabatu, the illegal immigrant who triggered 84 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,160 the Epping protests, who had sexually assaulted a 14 year old 85 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:50,960 girl in Essex just eight days after he crossed the Channel, 86 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,640 was sent down for 12 months and then accidentally released from 87 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,640 prison. At which point a manhunt then 88 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:00,600 ensues around central London. And he's seen walking around 89 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:05,160 McDonald's in, in, in Dalston, not far from where I used to 90 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:07,560 live, right. So, you know, the people that 91 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:10,240 have done this are the people that are implementing these new 92 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,080 technological systems. And obviously, by the way, Lammy 93 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:17,480 was quick to jump all over that after the gentleman was 94 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,360 apprehended again, basically saying that he's going to be 95 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:24,680 deported this week, assuming that they can still locate him 96 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,480 when it comes around. So that needing to happen. 97 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:31,520 So, but this isn't just the Justice Department. 98 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:34,800 This is the the whole of the whole of government. 99 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:39,080 So they've been running this trial since the end of last 100 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,800 year. You can see here a report 101 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:47,640 talking about the Microsoft 365 Copilot experiment which has 102 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:53,440 been running across 20,000 civil servants in DWPHMRC, the Home 103 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,520 Office, Ministry of Justice as we just talked about, plus a 104 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:59,520 bunch of other government departments, Defra, ONS, 105 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:02,120 Companies House. And apparently this is all about 106 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:06,160 task completion, efficiency, user satisfaction, action and 107 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,000 nothing whatsoever to do with centralisation of power and 108 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:12,280 extraction of profit, which is ultimately the, you know, the, 109 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,520 the end point of all of this. Importantly, particularly in the 110 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,080 context of what we just heard about in terms of the probation 111 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:21,600 service, one of the things that came out of this report is that 112 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,120 in sensitive areas like grievance handling or 113 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:26,920 performance evaluations, there is a lot of concern about the 114 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:32,480 accuracy of the outputs and any area, any errors could lead to 115 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:34,520 reputational risk. So I think that probably plays 116 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:37,360 directly into this thing with the probation service, right? 117 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:41,600 If you were having conversations with a prisoner about going back 118 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:44,120 into society and that conversation is being 119 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:47,120 inaccurately recorded and analysed by the system, then 120 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:49,840 that could deliver severe reputational risk and not as 121 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:51,920 reputational risk, public safety risks. 122 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:55,480 And that's already been identified in the trial, but 123 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,600 apparently no ones particularly interested in that and they're 124 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:00,280 continuing to roll this whole thing out. 125 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:04,200 In fact, this has now become the single issue for the civil 126 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:06,200 service. We can see here the One Big 127 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:10,040 Thing 2025 program which is now live. 128 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:15,560 So the one big Thing, which runs from October until February next 129 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,440 year, is about civil servants learning to use AI confidently 130 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,080 and responsibly and applying it to the work that they do, which 131 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:24,280 is all about apparently helping us be more efficient and 132 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:26,840 effective as we deliver the citizens, even though that 133 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,280 doesn't appear to be the outcome of this. 134 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:31,760 Who's pushing this into the system? 135 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,680 So be our behavioural insights team, absolutely front and 136 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:40,080 centre in this. They released a kind of a 137 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,520 blockbuster report actually. I mean, the amount of work that 138 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:46,440 has gone into this, the AI and human behaviour report where 139 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:49,640 they look at augmentation, adaptation, alignment and, and 140 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:55,760 adaptation inside companies and government departments. 141 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:59,600 We'll put a link to this like really quite in in some ways a 142 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:02,120 phenomenal piece of work until you really begin to understand 143 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:04,000 what it is they're trying to achieve with it. 144 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:06,800 They've developed this process that they're taking 145 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:10,640 organisations through, which is about moving from no adoption on 146 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:13,720 the left hand side there in the centre to deep adoption on the 147 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:17,000 right hand side and how to and helping people to build 148 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:21,120 motivation, trust and capability to migrate along this journey. 149 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,800 Essentially overcoming threats to things like competence, 150 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:27,720 relevance and identity, right? So this is about manipulation 151 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:32,600 and coercion into engagement with this new technology and 152 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:36,400 overcoming questions like why am I making myself redundant, which 153 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:38,960 is probably what a lot of people are asking is this stuff is 154 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:43,280 being rolled out now. That report has come from this 155 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:47,440 fella Michael Holdsworth, PhD, who's the chief behavioural 156 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:50,560 scientist at the Behavioural Insights team, still basically 157 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:53,280 not directly owned by the British government, but 158 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,680 essentially operating as a kind of non governmental organization 159 00:08:57,440 --> 00:08:59,960 as part of Nestor's. We talk about them pretty much 160 00:08:59,960 --> 00:09:01,320 every week. Certainly I do. 161 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:06,880 And this, this guy actually was one of the original co-authors 162 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:08,920 of the Mindspace document, right? 163 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:11,960 So the original document that came out in 2010, which was the 164 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:14,960 precursor to the Behavioural Insights team and Nudge unit, 165 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:18,640 developed in the Cabinet Office underneath David Cameron, 166 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:22,280 obviously working closely with David Halpern, who's still the 167 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:25,440 President, I believe, emeritus of the Behavioural Insights team 168 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:28,040 and this guy's new book, entertainingly, it's called The 169 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:32,160 Hypocrisy Trap, which apparently means he's telling us that we 170 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:36,000 need to rethink hypocrisy and that will improve our 171 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:37,560 relationships. What? 172 00:09:37,560 --> 00:09:40,120 Just by being more hypocritical. Well, you know, you just can't 173 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:42,440 be, you can't be too judge mental on this stuff. 174 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,120 You know, all right, these are the people pushing this stuff 175 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:47,760 out into the system. And it's it's not just labour 176 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,840 insights team in UK government. This is the whole, what do they 177 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:54,120 call it? Civil society, charitable 178 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:57,680 foundation, tech entrepreneur, tech visionary paradigm is 179 00:09:57,680 --> 00:09:59,960 pushing this thing forward. Let's have a look at Omejar 180 00:09:59,960 --> 00:10:02,000 network. They're talking about 181 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,520 envisioning a future where our shared humanity steers our 182 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:09,360 digital future. And they introduced this term 183 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,680 recently, which is about hard wiring humanity to the grid. 184 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,800 Yeah, think about that. They want to hardwire us to the 185 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:21,360 digital control grid, starting in government but then 186 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:25,960 absolutely rapidly moving across the rest of society as well. 187 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:29,600 And this stuff is dangerous. I will be completely upfront 188 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,440 with you. And we know it already, not 189 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:33,960 least because of its provenance and where it's come from. 190 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:38,280 But, you know, this report issued by MIT earlier on this 191 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:41,880 year, she talks about this idea of cognitive debt and the fact 192 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:45,080 that in their controlled trial, people who were using AI 193 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:48,840 performed worse than their counterparts in all levels. 194 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:51,960 So this is destroying people's minds, right? 195 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:54,400 And it's been pushed into the education system. 196 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:57,880 The whole thing's also built on fraud as well, pretty much, 197 00:10:57,880 --> 00:10:58,960 right? So they're certainly playing 198 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:01,760 fast and loose with intellectual property legislation. 199 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:06,280 Open AI submitted some evidence to the Lord's Communications and 200 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:09,200 Digital Committee earlier on this year. 201 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:11,240 I think it was actually, you know, start of last year, start 202 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:13,160 of 24. And they were asked if they 203 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:16,120 could explain their position on the use of copyrighted material. 204 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:18,600 And they said, well, it would be impossible to train today's 205 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:21,480 leading iron models without using copyrighted materials, 206 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:23,360 which they haven't paid for, right? 207 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:24,920 So essentially they've ignored the law. 208 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:29,920 Let's just say that and actually this entire thing, this entire 209 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:34,640 industrial paradigm is coming extraordinarily confusing 210 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:36,800 financially, right? So they've introduced this term 211 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:40,240 of a, what they're calling a circular economy, which is this 212 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:43,320 phenomenon where you have a handful of tiny, a tiny handful 213 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:46,520 of, of dominant companies who are basically engineering a new 214 00:11:46,680 --> 00:11:49,800 technological and financial system that everything in our 215 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:52,240 society is going to run on. And they're blurring the lines 216 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:55,760 between a customer, a supplier and a partner. 217 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:59,840 So we can see that NVIDIA announced back in September that 218 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:03,920 it was going to invest $100 billion in Open AI and NVIDIA 219 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:05,800 make the microchips that this stuff runs on. 220 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:10,480 Open AI is the organization that builds the, the the AI models 221 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:14,480 and that David Lammy is introducing into the government, 222 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:17,920 amongst others. NVIDIA announced an investment 223 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:21,840 of 100 billion into Open AI and in exchange, Open AI committed 224 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:24,320 to building 10 gigawatts of data centre capacity. 225 00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:26,600 So basically, we'll give you some money, but then you give it 226 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:28,960 straight back to us. And then we present this as 227 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:32,560 turnover and economic activity. But it's not, it's kind of 228 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:35,480 closed loop of people just shuffling money around between 229 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:37,920 themselves really doesn't make any sense at all. 230 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:40,080 And that's just one example out of this diagram. 231 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:41,760 And this is, this came from Bloomberg. 232 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:43,840 There's a lot of people talking about this at the moment. 233 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:47,400 My view is the circular is really just a way of saying this 234 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:52,600 is basically an elaborate scam. And this completely takes us 235 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:56,680 immediately straight back into this territory because Microsoft 236 00:12:56,680 --> 00:12:59,040 are at the centre of this, are a strategic partner of the World 237 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:02,080 Economic Forum. The organisations on that chart 238 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:04,920 that we can see here that aren't World Economic Forum partners 239 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:07,640 are largely owned by organisations like BlackRock, 240 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,680 who owns 8% of NVIDIA. And actually, I suppose none of 241 00:13:10,680 --> 00:13:15,080 this should really be a surprise because our justice system as of 242 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:21,160 2019, based on this program, AI Advisory Group established by 243 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:23,560 Lord Burnett of Malden, who was the Lord Chief Justice at the 244 00:13:23,560 --> 00:13:27,680 time, was set up alongside of a bunch of other senior judges, 245 00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:30,520 but also a lady called Cade Burth Butterfield, who is the 246 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:33,360 head of AI and machine learning at the World Economic Forum. 247 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:38,080 So this this has been engineered for at least six years now and 248 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:40,600 that this is what our government is being migrated onto. 249 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:45,640 This is going to be a big topic during UK called News Extra, I 250 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:49,360 have no doubt. Diane, let's let's welcome you 251 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:52,920 onto the program. And well, one council in the UK 252 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:56,120 has been having interesting conversations, including about 253 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:58,440 behaviour. So let's let's hear what you 254 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:00,080 think about that or what's been going on. 255 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,160 Yeah, thanks Mike and hello Ben and Sandy and, and to everyone 256 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:05,640 watching today, it's great to be here. 257 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:09,120 I attended a Durham County Council meeting at last week on 258 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:13,440 the 22nd of October because it's the council where I live now 259 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:15,520 currently. And there have been some 260 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:18,320 interesting things going on in this council, largely because 261 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:21,600 there's very large majority of Reform Party local councillors 262 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:24,720 who really do seem to be doing the best they can for their 263 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:27,560 local residents. And so I wanted to cover a 264 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,080 little bit about what happened at some of the the two main 265 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:32,280 points of the meeting. And 1 is about about freedom of 266 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:34,120 expression, the council. And the other one is about 267 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,200 Maya's Law, which is related to child safeguarding, which I will 268 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:40,080 speak about a bit later. I wanted to credit to me the 269 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:43,280 people Northeast, the Rumble channel that I work with appear 270 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:45,520 locally. They have recorded a large 271 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,800 portion of the the council, which is now available on the 272 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:51,360 Rumble channel. And this will be available if 273 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:54,480 you want to watch the full video in the show notes as well as the 274 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,640 entire council meeting, which is available on YouTube directly 275 00:14:57,640 --> 00:14:59,920 from the council. But what I would like to talk 276 00:14:59,920 --> 00:15:03,480 about first is the amendment to the Code of Conduct based on 277 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:06,800 freedom of expression. And the amendment has to do with 278 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:10,080 relating to Human Rights Act in 1898, Article 10. 279 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:14,120 And saying that basically that any member of the council has 280 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:18,320 the right to say what they want to say based in speeches or in 281 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:21,840 writing and on social media. And that this is a proposal to 282 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:25,080 amend the member Code of Conduct to include specific reference to 283 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:27,480 members rights to freedom of expression. 284 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:29,920 So first, let's hear how they announced this item in the 285 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:34,440 agenda. The report sets out the legal 286 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:37,880 basis for freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European 287 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:42,120 Convention of Human Rights in the Human Rights Act 1998, and 288 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,160 in particular the right for individuals to express their 289 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,800 views through public protest and demonstrations, published 290 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:52,520 articles, books, leaflets, television or radio 291 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:56,400 broadcasting, works of art, the Internet and social media. 292 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:02,960 So that's the item and now I'd like to play a clip from 293 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,560 Councillor Darren Grimes, who is the deputy leader of Durham 294 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:07,000 County Council, who has reformed. 295 00:16:10,040 --> 00:16:14,520 We need to actually get back to a sensible democratic debate 296 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:19,200 where each of us recognise that we are ultimately accountable to 297 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:23,480 our voters at the ballot box. If our voters find what any of 298 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:27,560 us in this Chamber have said on social media, in this chamber, 299 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:31,240 wherever else to be objectionable in any way, shape 300 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:35,040 or form, they are absolutely free to do. 301 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:39,160 What is their right, their democratic rights that we wear 302 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:43,960 this poppy to actually stand up and remember those who fought 303 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:47,560 for us to actually be able to exercise that right. 304 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:51,680 And that right says that if you invite someone at the ballot box 305 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:55,480 who stands for election, you are able to put them up the behind 306 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,480 and tell them to get out, right? It's as simple as that. 307 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:01,920 I'm accountable to the people of County Durham through that 308 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:05,599 ballot box and long may that continue to be the case. 309 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:09,240 But I'm afraid what we've seen actually since May is the 310 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:14,359 weaponisation of the standards process, a weaponisation to 311 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:17,400 actually alter people down who you disagree with, with 312 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:21,440 vexatious complaint that says I didn't like something you said. 313 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:25,560 You know what I say to that? That's called life. 314 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:29,000 You don't always agree with everything anyone says. 315 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:32,960 I think you'll find that both of us on this side of the chamber 316 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:36,520 disagreed vehemently when the Liberal Democrats stood up and 317 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:40,760 said to a vote in which 17.4 million people took place. 318 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:44,960 Bollocks to Brexit, That was offensive to me. 319 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:49,720 I didn't complain about any of the Liberal Democrats. 320 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:53,920 I stood against them in an election and we did quite well 321 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:56,000 actually. I wonder why that is. 322 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:01,080 Could it be because there was obviously to contend evidence 323 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:03,960 for the electorate? I would because it has to guess 324 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:08,120 My friends are actually imposing you and taking part in that 325 00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:14,240 process. So in response to that, we have 326 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:16,720 a reply from Councillor Amanda Hopgood, who is the leader of 327 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:18,520 the Liberal Democrats here in County Durham. 328 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:20,960 And let's hear what she had to say about what Darren said. 329 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:25,400 Councillor Hopgood. Yeah. 330 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:28,440 Thank you, Chair. I think it's already been said. 331 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:31,920 No one in here, I'm sure, will disagree with the principle of 332 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,040 free speech. In reality, Chair, though, this 333 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:38,800 amendment does nothing more than put into writing what is already 334 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,040 considered when each complaint comes in. 335 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,200 But what it is doing is publicly given. 336 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:48,000 In their view some members the right to be aggressive and 337 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,800 offensive all in the name of politics. 338 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:54,760 It won't reduce the number of complaints, it's already been 339 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:57,080 confirmed by the monitoring officer. 340 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:02,320 The complaints will still have to be looked into whether or not 341 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:05,640 this passes or not. The only thing that will 342 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:09,640 actually change the number of complaints and therefore up till 343 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:14,680 now 11,000 lbs of wasted taxpayers money is the people 344 00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:17,120 being complained about changing their behaviour. 345 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:26,920 So her overall point being that just because we can't say 346 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,360 something in the chamber doesn't mean that we should do so. 347 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,320 So then there was a bit of chaos that broke out after that. 348 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:37,760 Let's see this final clip. The dehumanization that comes 349 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:42,640 from opposition members who have the goal, the temerity to 350 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:46,440 suggest that their record is completely unbleashed in that 351 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:48,400 regards. How dare you? 352 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,200 How dare you? Yeah. 353 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:55,040 And I find it absolutely extraordinary that Councillor 354 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:58,440 Shuttleworth, who stands up and frankly is aggressive in his 355 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:02,360 tone in nature, can stand there and say that actually we on this 356 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:04,800 side of the chamber have questions to answer. 357 00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:07,360 I would ask him to take a good hard look in the mirror. 358 00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:11,880 Ultimately, the Liberal Democrats, I believe, have shown 359 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:15,960 their authoritarians here. The Liberal part of their name? 360 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:19,080 Long since forgotten. The Democrat part of their name, 361 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:21,360 Well, no. No further than that Brexit 362 00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:25,360 vote, that's forgotten too. I think ultimately the 363 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:28,680 authoritarian street is to call for censorship. 364 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,880 I'll note that the leader of the Opposition stood up there and 365 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:34,080 said I need to change my behaviour. 366 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:36,320 Do you know what that means, my friends? 367 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:39,600 It means silence. It means censorship. 368 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:45,600 What is liberal about that? The key tense of liberalism, 369 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,280 which may I please raise the point of political. 370 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:51,600 Moment. May I raise a point of personal 371 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:55,840 reflect clarification. I did not say that whatsoever. 372 00:20:56,160 --> 00:21:00,920 I did not infer that he had to stop putting posts on at all or 373 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:02,920 silence them. Those were the word. 374 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:06,200 Science never came out of my mouth when I spoke. 375 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:15,400 Thanks for the clarification, Council. 376 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:17,680 Grimes, Tony. Download, please. 377 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,840 OK. So the change of behaviour, what 378 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:25,280 could that mean in the context of speech, if not silence? 379 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:28,880 I find that absolutely extraordinary goal. 380 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:33,760 The same thing. I did not say silence. 381 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:37,680 He can say that twist it as many times as he wants, but I did not 382 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:40,600 say he had to be silenced. I said it was a change of 383 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:45,840 behaviour. So, Mike, I don't know if you 384 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:49,200 have anything to say about this change in behaviour, but just to 385 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,600 say that this amendment passed of 63 to 28 votes. 386 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,640 OK, very good. No, I've got nothing, nothing 387 00:21:57,640 --> 00:21:59,960 particularly to add to that. But what? 388 00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:02,280 What is? What is Maya's law then? 389 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:07,400 Maya's law is something that is in sort of supporting this 390 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:11,280 little girl who was shaken to death in 2022 by her mother's 391 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:13,960 boyfriend. The mother is now in prison in 392 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:17,600 the BBC reported last week, unfortunately that on the 15th 393 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:21,800 of October that Parliament turned down this law taking 394 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:25,080 place which is basically meant to help identify, notify those 395 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:27,640 who might be putting children at at risk. 396 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,880 It is also supported locally because the girl was in County 397 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:34,400 Durham by Amanda Hopkud, who we just heard from the the Liberal 398 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:38,520 Democrats, as well as Liz Twist who is the Labour MP up here in 399 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,280 the area. Unfortunately, however, what we 400 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:45,000 found out when we heard from the children's Minister, the Labour 401 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,840 MP Josh McAllister, he said that he agrees that we need to change 402 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:50,800 the law and that is what we are undertaking. 403 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:54,720 However, I do not believe that now would be the time to to 404 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:58,480 introduce a child risk disclosure scheme specifically, 405 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,760 but many of the proposals are reflected in what the government 406 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:04,400 is taking forward. So basically he's saying it's 407 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:07,400 not the time for child safeguarding against potentially 408 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:09,760 dangerous people being around children. 409 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,480 I did an interview with Councillor Kenny Hope, who is 410 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:15,760 another Reform councillor here in County Durham on Maya's Law 411 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:19,400 who's been leading the effort to promote this in County Durham 412 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:21,760 and around the country. So here's a short clip from 413 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,520 that, from that interview that I had with Kenny after the meeting 414 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:27,480 on Tuesday. All right. 415 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:29,480 Hello, this is Diane Rasmussen with UK column. 416 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,600 I just watched a very long County Council meeting with 417 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,160 Councillor Kenny Hope present. Of course, I wanted to talk to 418 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:39,840 you in particular about Maya's law because I know that you've 419 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:41,840 been doing a lot of work to get this law through. 420 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,120 And if you could maybe tell the audience a little bit about what 421 00:23:44,120 --> 00:23:46,600 the law is for and what what you want to do with it. 422 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:48,920 Yeah. So Maya's Law is strengthening 423 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:55,480 safeguarding if if children baby Mia was murdered by her mum's 424 00:23:55,760 --> 00:24:00,800 boyfriend several years ago and it was a bit of a harrowing, 425 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:06,840 harrowing event, and if these safeguarding measures were in 426 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:10,640 place then that could have prevented Mia's death. 427 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:15,280 Hence the reason why we at full council today are very, very 428 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:18,920 strong in wanting to move forward, change our policies to 429 00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:23,920 help now in County Durham, our safeguarding policies within 430 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:28,360 within the county to further look after our children. 431 00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:34,080 So just to say quickly, there is a petition that is available on 432 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:37,280 the UK government website. It has just under 8000 433 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:39,880 signatures. Of course we need even 10,000 to 434 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:41,680 even get it looked at in Parliament. 435 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:45,000 So this will be about disclosure and safeguarding for these at 436 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:46,840 risk children. And the link to sign the 437 00:24:46,840 --> 00:24:48,200 petition will be in the show notes. 438 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:50,800 So everyone please sign to help us get this passed. 439 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:54,120 Thank you. OK, Dan, thank you very much for 440 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:56,320 that. Sandy, let me welcome you to the 441 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:58,360 program. And well, we're heading off to 442 00:24:58,360 --> 00:25:02,000 Glastonbury again, where all the best Agenda 21 Agenda 2030 443 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,960 activity seems to happen and we're we're looking at World 444 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:09,440 Heritage. Indeed, I mean it's been fun and 445 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:13,120 games actually. This last Saturday on the 25th, 446 00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:17,200 Glastonbury Town Council held a consultation event regarding the 447 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:21,080 ongoing scoping exercise for WHS status. 448 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:24,280 That's the people haven't asked for, which has currently cost 449 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:29,080 over 30,000 lbs when they can't even maintain the public toilets 450 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:31,760 here. So it's, you know, the people 451 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:35,360 aren't too happy about it. It was very poorly advertised. 452 00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:40,360 I've got a a slide here to show you the the makeshift shift 453 00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:45,040 board went up 45 minutes before the and you can see they really 454 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:46,440 spent a lot of money on that one. 455 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,320 And there was another huge event happening at the same time in 456 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,640 the town. And this wasn't a mistake 457 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:54,720 because it happened the same time last year. 458 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:58,000 They were, you know, the, the event was, was, was happening 459 00:25:58,000 --> 00:25:59,720 when there was a big event in the town. 460 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,800 So they are actively discouraging people to attend. 461 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,440 So we did our own internal advertising for it. 462 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,880 And they were very shocked that so many people turned up because 463 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,400 they did, they weren't expecting it and they didn't want it. 464 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:19,840 So yeah, we had the next slide is, is the consultants we had, 465 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:24,040 we had two people speak on behalf of the contractors about 466 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:29,680 local WHS bids that were successful to WHS, and that was 467 00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:31,960 the city of Bath and Asbury and Stonehenge. 468 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:34,640 And there was a level of manipulation to try and get us 469 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:37,720 to agree that it was a good idea because they just really 470 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:40,200 presented the very what they thought were the positive 471 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,080 aspects. Now, it wasn't long before the 472 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:45,400 17 goals crept into the PowerPoint. 473 00:26:46,360 --> 00:26:50,160 And he was challenged by a resident about the links to the 474 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:54,560 UN and the WEF, quite rightly. So. 475 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:56,920 Let's hear how he tried to justify this. 476 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:01,640 He was actually a really nice guy, but was a bit misinformed. 477 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:04,920 Oh yeah, we had that. There's this, we'll go straight 478 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:08,840 to, yeah, there's a, a clip of the, there's a slide of the, the 479 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:14,720 woman that she, this lady was, was presenting on on behalf of 480 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:19,040 WHS for the Avebury and Stonehenge, which has a lot of, 481 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:23,800 a lot of adverse reactions to what's happened at Avebury and 482 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:27,120 Stonehenge with, with what's happened to the sacred sites 483 00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:29,480 there. So let's hear what this, this 484 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:34,040 consultant has, has to say about what he believes. 485 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:37,520 He's got the 17 goals there up on the on the screen and he 486 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,320 doesn't really get it. You listen to what he says. 487 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:42,680 He's a lovely man but sadly doesn't get it. 488 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:46,960 No, what the what relationship is between the World Economic 489 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:50,520 Forum and UNESCO is I can speak to these. 490 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:57,400 So we adopt the indicators and we respond to the indicators in 491 00:27:57,400 --> 00:27:58,680 the Sustainable Development Goals. 492 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:02,520 So I'm going to say 2 for example, 1 is about eradication 493 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:04,880 of poverty. Now how that influences how we 494 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:11,920 campaign for new housing and developments is to ensure that 495 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:16,280 or to we campaign that developers ought to be creating 496 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:20,320 more space for allotments and prophecy gardens so people have 497 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:23,120 the ability to grow their own food, so that there is greater 498 00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:26,840 control over use of chemicals, over the availability of food, 499 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:30,200 the affordability of food. That's a fundamental way for us 500 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:37,120 to be able to influence in a very direct way how people can 501 00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:40,720 help to eradicate poverty, which is why, you know, it's not, 502 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:43,040 we're not the only reason. I'm not proclaiming all of that, 503 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:46,400 but Bath has got double the number of allotments per person 504 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:48,680 who lives in Bath than the average of the UK. 505 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,680 We're not going down to World Heritage, but it gives us a 506 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:59,240 focus to be able to specifically look at those indicators and how 507 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:01,000 those can be changed through our work. 508 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:10,960 However, the. Recognition of polity through 509 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:12,040 the world is the fact that none is alone. 510 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:13,000 Absolutely. I'm not here to. 511 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:14,240 I'm honestly, I'm not here to disagree with you. 512 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,680 My, my journey. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 513 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:17,800 Absolutely. Absolutely. 514 00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:22,680 So all I can say is I haven't got anybody coming in to Bath 515 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:27,680 telling me how to run my business, how to run the charity 516 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:30,160 that I work, what our campaigning priorities are. 517 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,240 I don't have a group of people influencing what we should be 518 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:35,520 saying and how we work in in engaging people. 519 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:38,880 That's self determination. That's what we do as an 520 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:42,800 independent charity and we are facilitators to be independent 521 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:46,320 because, like it or loathe it, that tourism is good enough in 522 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:48,800 Bath to make our charity financially independent. 523 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:52,480 So we are free of a voice about how we express ourselves now. 524 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:59,560 So he thinks he's autonomous or the World Heritage Site or 525 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:02,600 whatever is autonomous, but they are clearly not. 526 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,720 So after the presentation we were encouraged to discuss any 527 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:09,960 issues with three different groups on round tables, the 528 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:14,040 consultants, the council and the working party and the public 529 00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:16,600 group who'd been cherry picked by the council. 530 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:20,720 It's a form of gatekeeping. And this, this next slide is a 531 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:24,920 warrior woman who stood up on a chair and refused the Delphi 532 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:28,600 technique that they, they'd encourage us to, to participate 533 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:30,600 in, which is where they put you on separate tables. 534 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:35,880 And, and we, we were, we were asking for a panel discussion 535 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:38,120 actually. Now this lady in pink in the 536 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:43,440 next slide was she's the, the deputy town clerk became very, 537 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:46,920 very irate, I have to say, saying it was their event and we 538 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:50,080 must do as we're told. We don't tell people in 539 00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:51,720 Glastonbury to do as they're told. 540 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:55,840 So we won the battle for a panel Q&A and we had a heated 541 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:59,240 discussion about the lack of transparency regarding unminuted 542 00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:03,120 secret meetings with lack of community engagement and a a 543 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:07,320 call for an open debate. Now, I, I did look at some of 544 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:09,560 these slides. If we have the next slide up 545 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:13,560 within the presentation, I realized there was some very 546 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:17,640 interesting slides and, and following it up, one of them was 547 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:23,360 the sustainable Tourism toolkit. And so I looked at this and I 548 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:24,680 put everything in the show notes. 549 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,160 It's really interesting to have a look at this because there is 550 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:30,200 a, a rather darker agenda at at at play here. 551 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:36,120 So I did some research and it, it, this particular toolkit 552 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:39,640 explains the collaboration of the UN and the WF in the 553 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:44,440 transformation of tourism under the 17 sustainable goals with 554 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:51,440 the United Nations World Tourist Organization, who have this sort 555 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:54,640 of logo with tourism at the heart of the 17 goals. 556 00:31:55,160 --> 00:32:01,360 Now the next, the next slide is, is how in, in this document, 557 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:06,600 which is the, the, the UN tourism document, how they are 558 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:11,840 using goal 12:14 and 8:00 to promote this. 559 00:32:11,840 --> 00:32:15,840 And they, they, they've put addendums to these three goals. 560 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:21,880 So for instance, target 8, they've put it Target 8.9 devise 561 00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:26,000 and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that 562 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:28,720 creates jobs and promotes local culture and products. 563 00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:35,880 And then also SGG 12 point B develop and implement tools to 564 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:40,000 monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism. 565 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:45,280 So if we then go on to the next slide, now I looked at this, 566 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:52,120 this is EU, the the UN tourism's digital transformation under the 567 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:55,920 seventeen goals. And it, you know, once 568 00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:59,840 inscribed, basically the World Heritage status becomes a 569 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:03,400 subject to international oversight by ENESCO and it's 570 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:06,560 partner bodies. So local control is kind of 571 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,120 eroded and they take control really. 572 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,960 Sites are activated economically through the global tourism 573 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:16,200 industry involving public private partnerships. 574 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:19,760 Now we've spoken about all this, this big corporations coming in 575 00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:24,160 and and taking over. And UNESCO pushes visitor 576 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:28,400 management systems and digital destination platforms part, 577 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:31,080 which is part of the broader smart city, smart region model 578 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:34,680 under Gender 2030. It's been a very long term plan 579 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:38,400 because Tony Blair's government and the obviously the Lisbon 580 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:42,520 Treaty explicitly promoted a post industrial model. 581 00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:44,760 Now this is something I've been looking at for years, 582 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:48,680 positioning the UK as a service and cultural hub within a 583 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:51,920 globalised economy. And manufacturing that was 584 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:56,040 destroyed in the 1980s by all those governments would be 585 00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:59,240 outsourced to low cost regions, while Britain would profit from 586 00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:03,120 finance, education and tourism, all tightly integrated with 587 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:05,800 supranational governance. And this is this is where this 588 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:07,480 is all coming together in my head. 589 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:11,320 So heritage and tourism become instruments of technocratic 590 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:15,120 management and surveillance, not necessarily preservation, and 591 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,400 certainly not spirit spiritual pilgrimage. 592 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:23,040 And it's been witnessed at Machu Picchu and Uluru, both WHS sites 593 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,600 and other world sacred sites where indigenous local people 594 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:30,440 have been overlooked. So I also, I was looking at this 595 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:34,080 and thinking, well, the whole idea of the long term idea of 596 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:39,040 this plan of the SDGS is to actually reduce plane and car 597 00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:40,840 travel. So where does this fit in with 598 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:43,159 tourism? And I suddenly, you know, got a 599 00:34:43,159 --> 00:34:45,080 bit of an aha moment and here we go. 600 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:50,159 The next slide is virtual reality market size. 601 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:56,280 And these are the biggest virtual reality sectors, you 602 00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:59,880 know, that are coming through. And the next 1 is really how 603 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:03,560 that can be monetised. And the, the, the fact that the, 604 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:08,000 the, the market for virtual reality tourism is massive. 605 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:09,320 And this is what we're looking at. 606 00:35:10,240 --> 00:35:14,640 So the next slide is, yeah, digital and virtual travel. 607 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:18,880 Now this comes from the UN World Tourist Organization. 608 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:21,760 It says the use of technologies including the Internet of 609 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:24,880 Things, location based services, art, virtual intelligence, 610 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:30,000 augmented, augmented and virtual reality are you know, they're, 611 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:33,800 they're bringing all of this in and it's a, it's a way of, of 612 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:37,600 keeping the carbon down. If you can sit at home and and 613 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,800 go somewhere in your virtual reality headset instead of 614 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:43,640 actually getting on a plane, then it's a win for them. 615 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:47,280 So this is this is sadly, this is what we're looking at. 616 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:51,560 Sandy, thank you. Sandy, thank you very much for 617 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:55,560 that. Now let's move on and say if you 618 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:59,320 like what the UK column does, we do need your financial support 619 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:02,920 and we thank everybody that is giving us that at the moment. 620 00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:05,040 Thank you for being a member or making a donation. 621 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:07,320 If you'd like to. If you have a look at the front 622 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:11,440 page of the UK Column website, there is a blue button there to 623 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:14,040 press to find out the various options for helping us. 624 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:17,520 If you can't help us out financially then please do share 625 00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:20,480 material that you see on the UK Column website because that 626 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,600 helps us defeat the censorship algorithm. 627 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:28,280 Now tonight Jerome is talking to Quinton Junk. 628 00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:33,200 The title of this is he was told he would die within four years 629 00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:37,600 and in fact he went on to live for 20 so far and is still going 630 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:39,560 strong. That's on Germ Warfare tonight, 631 00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:43,560 so have a look at this at 7:00 if you can. 632 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,600 And Dan, very, very briefly, please. 633 00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:50,840 The so-called Banned Books and Libraries article is now up. 634 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:54,680 Yes, thanks Beck. I just posted this this morning. 635 00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:58,440 This is a version of the article that I posted in the Scottish 636 00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:00,720 Union for Education sub stack a couple of weeks ago. 637 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:03,680 There's some very important information here again about the 638 00:37:03,720 --> 00:37:07,000 child safeguarding and what our children are being faced with in 639 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:10,480 libraries today. OK, so that is up on the UK 640 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:14,920 column website front page now reject digital ID. 641 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:17,120 Diane, 1st of November, you're speaking at this one? 642 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,240 Yes I am. This is a please join us on the 643 00:37:20,240 --> 00:37:22,600 1st of November at the Monument in Newcastle. 644 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:26,000 I will be there speaking along with Fiona, Rose Diamond and and 645 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:27,280 someone from the Freedom Alliance. 646 00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:29,400 So please join us, it'll be a great day. 647 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,320 And then why Scottish education matters? 648 00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:37,280 This is the conference for the Scottish Union Free Education 649 00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:40,640 which I will be attending as well on the 15th of November. 650 00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:42,880 Tickets are around 25 lbs in Glasgow. 651 00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:45,080 OK. Thank you, Diane. 652 00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:50,800 Now to get back on track here a little bit, we have a couple of 653 00:37:51,240 --> 00:37:54,240 video clips from the from the conference that we want to show, 654 00:37:54,240 --> 00:37:57,600 but we'll do that in in extra from the conference that we held 655 00:37:57,720 --> 00:38:00,840 a week or so ago. But let's let's move on. 656 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:04,360 Then the question is, is history repeating itself? 657 00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:06,800 Banned. It doesn't repeat, but it 658 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:07,920 rhymes. Isn't that what they say? 659 00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:09,320 That's what they say. They do, yeah. 660 00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:11,880 Someone in the chat box a minute ago said is the civil war 661 00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:14,920 started yet? And they're certainly trying for 662 00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:17,320 it. So this weekend up in London, 663 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:20,360 there were a bunch of St. protests. 664 00:38:20,720 --> 00:38:24,720 The Guardian presenting this is a rerun of the famous Battle of 665 00:38:24,720 --> 00:38:29,360 Cable Street from I think it was 1936 where anti fascists 666 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:33,360 protested against Moseley's black shirts and they're saying 667 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:36,480 that history is repeating. Essentially what this is about 668 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:39,600 is a UKIP protest. Interestingly, not Tommy 669 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:42,320 Robinson, it's UKIP. You can see there. 670 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,280 Haven't seen that in a while actually, that purple flag, 671 00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:46,000 right? Yeah. 672 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,640 And but they're very much in the kind of, as you would expect, in 673 00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:54,080 the National, in the nationalist spirit, should I say, but not 674 00:38:54,080 --> 00:38:56,920 welcoming White Chapel scenes of provocation. 675 00:38:56,920 --> 00:39:00,000 So the March was diverted up to the West End and they walked 676 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,120 down, I think these actually looks like New Oxford Street. 677 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:06,320 And they walked down to Speakers Corner, but you can see there 678 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:10,240 someone's holding a crucifix. You've got lots of Union Jacks, 679 00:39:10,240 --> 00:39:11,760 lots of, I don't know. Well, they almost look like 680 00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:14,000 Templar flags, don't they? And there's certainly a lot of 681 00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:18,280 Christian iconography of play here led by this chap Nick 682 00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:22,240 Tenchoni, who's been the leader of UKIP since February. 683 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:27,400 So another splinter organization to dish unite the right wing of 684 00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:30,720 British politics, pretty much exactly the same as what's going 685 00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:33,080 on the left wing of British politics at the moment as well 686 00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:36,560 with the Green Party and what Corbyn and Zara Sultana are up 687 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,800 to. And then the response over back 688 00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:43,360 over in Whitechapel was the the local kind of Bangladeshi and 689 00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:48,640 Pakistani Muslim crowd community I saw is mainly the men were out 690 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:56,600 on the street all blacked up and faces covered and protecting 691 00:39:56,600 --> 00:40:00,040 their turf essentially, right. And this is very much in the 692 00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:04,080 vein of this kind of slippery slope towards sectarianism that 693 00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:06,560 we appear to be being dragged down at the moment. 694 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:08,600 And I don't think this is heading in a particularly 695 00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:12,800 positive direction at all. But one of the things that 696 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:17,440 jumped out at me in particular was this interaction now between 697 00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:23,200 one of the stand up to racism, anti fascist protesters and some 698 00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:26,920 of these young men, these young Muslim men out on the streets of 699 00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:28,280 Whitechapel. Let's have a little look. 700 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:33,080 There's no. Need for that? 701 00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:35,760 We're on the side side bro. Yes we are bro. 702 00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:45,320 Do you hear that? We're on the same side bro? 703 00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:48,800 No, we're not. Which puts quite an interesting 704 00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:51,640 spin on that, doesn't it? Because stand up to racism. 705 00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:54,800 We're going up all around the country on a weekly basis. 706 00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:56,720 They're in Plymouth over the weekend. 707 00:40:56,720 --> 00:41:01,800 They're all around the UK standing up for immigrant 708 00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:06,640 community, standing up for refugees, facing down the anti 709 00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:10,880 fascist building. This, you know, United Colours 710 00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:18,440 of Benetton Group of, of, of, of, of all different races and 711 00:41:18,440 --> 00:41:20,760 creeds. But actually it turns out that 712 00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:24,560 that is a very shaky alliance. And I think that what these, for 713 00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:26,560 me, that's a really stand out moment, I think. 714 00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:29,320 And these deserve to be seen by a lot of people, particularly on 715 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:32,040 the political left, right, because actually what you think 716 00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:34,640 is happening is not actually what was happening. 717 00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:38,880 And it's entirely possible we're going to start to see some of 718 00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:41,680 these supposed alliances disintegrate, and then who knows 719 00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:45,840 what will happen. The the UKIP demonstrators, 720 00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:48,440 they're supposedly right wing fascists. 721 00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:49,720 Of course. Oh yes. 722 00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:51,560 They they are, they're barefaced. 723 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,360 You can see exactly who they are exactly. 724 00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:58,680 The left wing protesters covered up and we'd actually couldn't 725 00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:00,320 see who they're. Always masked up. 726 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:02,520 Yeah, absolutely. And then I look at all of those 727 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:06,880 young, the, the sort of the young Bangladeshi men, and it's 728 00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:08,040 like they will. It's almost like they're in 729 00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:10,280 uniform. So you're saying black shirts? 730 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:12,360 You know, we're presenting this as the back of the cable St. 731 00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:14,840 OK, Well, mostly fascists with the black shirts. 732 00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:16,200 Well, they're all there in black shirts. 733 00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:17,840 Like, was it? What's actually going on there? 734 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:20,360 Not, not quite as cut and dry as the Guardian certainly would 735 00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:22,600 have you believe. Sandy, let's come back to you 736 00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:27,560 then and sticking with the idea of protest, but this time over 737 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:32,000 the dissenters. Yes, the, the goodly people of, 738 00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:36,200 of Merseyside, their, their national residents association 739 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:41,600 held an event on Saturday and I, I was just really knocked out by 740 00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:45,880 how aware they were and how well they presented their case about 741 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:49,760 these data centres because without the, the data centres, 742 00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:53,960 digital ID cannot happen really. So here's one of the banners 743 00:42:53,960 --> 00:43:00,120 from, from the from the event and it, it, it really he tells 744 00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:02,400 you exactly what these data centres are all about. 745 00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:05,960 If I can have the next slide up. Yeah, there's about, there's 746 00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:07,760 hundreds of these planned for the UK. 747 00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:12,280 They, they've got extreme power consumption, which is less power 748 00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:16,720 for the people. One MW is 24 hours power for 749 00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:20,640 1000 homes. There are massive fire risk due 750 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:24,680 to thermal run runaway which has happened and and these flat 751 00:43:24,680 --> 00:43:27,400 fires take take hours and hours to put out. 752 00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:30,320 And the, the the fire brigade are against these data centres 753 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:33,400 as well. By the way, generators and 754 00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:36,800 lithium battery storage say these are all toxic water is 755 00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:41,560 needed to cool them down. And it's, it, it really what, 756 00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:44,560 you know, what these data centres mean for us is that 757 00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:49,200 basically we lose out and, and the, and the digital ID marches 758 00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:52,200 on. So I just want you to just, if 759 00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:56,520 you could just listen to this, this clip from the National 760 00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:58,960 Residents Association, which I must say I did. 761 00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:02,960 I've done an interview with Cassie from National Residents 762 00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:04,440 Association. Do look at it very, very 763 00:44:04,440 --> 00:44:06,160 powerful. But let's have a look at this 764 00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:10,160 next clip from the Merseyside National Residents Association. 765 00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:14,520 Thank you. Welcome friends, concerned 766 00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:20,320 residents welcome today's today's rally. 767 00:44:20,720 --> 00:44:24,520 Sefton Residents Association part of the National Residents 768 00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:28,320 Association and the the rally for today is about the site 769 00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:32,400 which is proposed for a data centre just here Bridal Rd. in 770 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:36,200 Bootle. The aim of today's rally is to 771 00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:39,480 raise awareness most local residents about the risks and 772 00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:42,840 impacts and the things that they can do to push back against this 773 00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:45,400 proposal. This proposal's in the planning 774 00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:48,600 stage at the moment and we have every opportunity to push back 775 00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:51,920 and work back against the the infrastructure that's been 776 00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:55,000 placed upon us as part of a surveillance society. 777 00:44:56,360 --> 00:44:58,600 Some background to National Residents Association, it was 778 00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:01,960 formed in 2022 by a group of concerned residents from around 779 00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:04,280 the UK. They must create a national 780 00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:06,760 group which can protect our national and local communities. 781 00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:10,440 New members are always welcome from anywhere in the UK and more 782 00:45:10,440 --> 00:45:12,680 associations that join the more influencer that we have. 783 00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:15,040 The National Residents Association is an umbrella 784 00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:18,320 organization helping local groups to organize themselves. 785 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:22,880 Because Keir Starmer has given the British population the 786 00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:26,680 greatest chance in human history to change this world for the 787 00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:29,560 better. Inadvertently be it. 788 00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:33,280 But he doesn't know the opportunity that he has given us 789 00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:37,680 to unite behind one single cause, and that is the digital 790 00:45:37,680 --> 00:45:38,440 identity. Yeah. 791 00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:41,960 Yeah. I want to cover three things. 792 00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:45,680 I want to show you a vision of what his world will look like 793 00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:51,160 and his global partners. I want to show you how and who 794 00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:53,240 are putting this world together for us. 795 00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:57,320 I want you to go away and research everything I say. 796 00:45:57,320 --> 00:46:01,000 Do not believe anything I say, but I will give you specific 797 00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:04,200 people who will tell you more detail and truth than I can. 798 00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:09,040 And thirdly and most importantly, I want to give you 799 00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:14,520 solutions. Well, there we go. 800 00:46:15,160 --> 00:46:19,920 People of Sefton really, really well informed and and yeah, the 801 00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:22,480 the National Residents Association doing a great job 802 00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:23,280 there. Thank you. 803 00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:28,320 Thanks, Sandy. Diane, let's let's come back to 804 00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:31,320 you then. And Durham Cathedral has been 805 00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:35,920 featuring Magna Carta. Yeah, they've had a really great 806 00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:38,520 exhibition that has been on since July and it ends on the 807 00:46:38,520 --> 00:46:41,880 2nd of November. So excuse me, I thought this 808 00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:44,680 would be a good time to talk about the exhibition, which I 809 00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:47,960 visited just over the weekend in case anyone wants to go in its 810 00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:50,120 final week. So this is the officially, the 811 00:46:50,120 --> 00:46:53,680 name of the exhibition is Magna Carta, and the North Durham 812 00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:56,800 Cathedral in particular has a lot of documents that are 813 00:46:56,800 --> 00:46:59,800 related to the Magna Carta, including early and original 814 00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:02,600 versions which are not found everywhere and they're only 815 00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:05,280 available every few years. So it's a really chance to see 816 00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:09,040 what is available once you go into the exhibition space, you, 817 00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:11,480 you, you first, you see a whole lot of really beautiful 818 00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:15,000 historical items on display. So this is kind of just the sign 819 00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:18,280 that you see when you're first going into heading towards where 820 00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:20,720 the actual big Nakarta's are located. 821 00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:24,080 So I just want to go quickly through a few of these just just 822 00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:26,160 for a little bit of visual enjoyments. 823 00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:29,960 There's some Roman stones here that are on on available for 824 00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:33,160 example. We also have a library, so of 825 00:47:33,160 --> 00:47:37,240 course is UK columns Librarian had to mention the library with 826 00:47:37,240 --> 00:47:39,560 the space that you walked through to get to the exhibition 827 00:47:39,560 --> 00:47:42,520 area was originally the dormitory of the monks that used 828 00:47:42,520 --> 00:47:46,280 to be part of Durham Cathedral. And it has now been what is 829 00:47:46,280 --> 00:47:49,880 called the new library since for since 1856. 830 00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:53,200 When you finally go into the exhibition space where there are 831 00:47:53,200 --> 00:47:57,080 only 15 people allowed in at a time and there is an airlock to 832 00:47:57,080 --> 00:47:59,040 protect the documents that are available. 833 00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:03,080 There are some things related to the basically the start of the 834 00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:06,760 Magna Carta and some of the political situations that led to 835 00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:09,080 what happened. So here's one for example. 836 00:48:09,080 --> 00:48:12,200 That is I just took this photo because I thought it was just a 837 00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:16,040 beautiful documents of course called Polypritus written by 838 00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:20,360 John Salisbury around 11:59. This version is from about 14 839 00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:23,800 Madrid and this document says, according to the exhibition, 840 00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:27,480 explored political authority, including what makes a good or a 841 00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:30,000 bad ruler. Drawing on stories from the 842 00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:32,200 Bible of bad kings punished by God. 843 00:48:32,200 --> 00:48:34,200 It even suggests ways to deal with them. 844 00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:36,560 Quote. It is not only permittable 845 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:40,400 permitted, sorry, but it is also equitable and just to stay 846 00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:43,280 tyrants to slay tyrants. Sorry, I'm confusing that to 847 00:48:43,280 --> 00:48:46,120 slay tyrants. This text may have influenced 848 00:48:46,120 --> 00:48:49,440 the barons when they included a clause in the 12:15 articles 849 00:48:49,880 --> 00:48:51,880 putting the King's affair under their scrutiny. 850 00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:55,440 So from there we could go on to see why the North and Durham 851 00:48:55,440 --> 00:48:57,760 were so important to the Magna Carta. 852 00:48:58,040 --> 00:49:01,000 It was the barons who rebelled against King John in the North 853 00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:03,160 in 12/15. They were from all across 854 00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:05,480 England, but most of them were from the North and so they 855 00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:09,160 became known as the Northerners and they were the ones rebelling 856 00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:12,120 against King John for some things that were going on at the 857 00:49:12,120 --> 00:49:14,520 time. And these articles were the 858 00:49:14,520 --> 00:49:17,680 barons that resulted from their work aimed at limiting the 859 00:49:17,680 --> 00:49:20,600 powers of King John and preventing unjust behavior, 860 00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:23,880 establishing that no one, not even the king, which is 861 00:49:23,880 --> 00:49:26,720 important in 2025, was above the law. 862 00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:30,360 These demands eventually became the document we know today as 863 00:49:30,360 --> 00:49:34,120 the Magna Carta and Durham in particular was important because 864 00:49:34,120 --> 00:49:36,840 it was being so close to Scotland and so on, but also 865 00:49:37,200 --> 00:49:39,800 because of the the the northern location. 866 00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:43,840 It was strategically important for various reasons, and they 867 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:47,960 sort of had some situations around the outside of the direct 868 00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:51,600 authority of the crown, and they became very powerful for this 869 00:49:51,840 --> 00:49:55,200 situation, geographically and politically and otherwise. 870 00:49:55,720 --> 00:49:58,640 So I took a few photos which I know we won't be able to read, 871 00:49:58,640 --> 00:50:01,800 but just to kind of understand what they look like to go 872 00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:05,520 through very quickly. This is the original 1216 Magna 873 00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:07,560 Carta. And then from there we've got 874 00:50:07,560 --> 00:50:11,200 the 1217 Chamber of the Forest, which goes along with the Magna 875 00:50:11,200 --> 00:50:13,440 Carta. This was issued on behalf of 876 00:50:13,440 --> 00:50:15,920 King Henry the Third when he was 10 years old. 877 00:50:16,560 --> 00:50:19,680 The charter curbed the unbridled power of the monarchy over 878 00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:23,160 England's forest and reasserted the rights of the common people. 879 00:50:24,120 --> 00:50:28,440 Then there's the 1225 Magna Carta, which is available next. 880 00:50:28,440 --> 00:50:32,280 And then also we have the related 1225 Chamber of the 881 00:50:32,280 --> 00:50:34,840 Forest, which again extended the the Magna Carta. 882 00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:38,280 As I said previously in the updated version, this is from 883 00:50:38,280 --> 00:50:42,080 the exhibition from the preamble from the 1225 Magna Carta with 884 00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:45,960 the Great Seal of the King saying quote, know that we have 885 00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:50,320 of our own spontaneous goodwill given and granted to all of our 886 00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:52,880 realm. These liberties written below to 887 00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:55,480 be held in our Kingdom of England forever. 888 00:50:56,360 --> 00:50:59,520 And so this is known as the definitive Magna Carta. 889 00:50:59,760 --> 00:51:04,640 The 1225 version the the kind of it was the one of the the final 890 00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:07,560 version that as it was issued under the king seal was on the 891 00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:11,320 28th of March 1300. And there are only a few 892 00:51:11,320 --> 00:51:13,960 examples of the 1300 version that survives. 893 00:51:14,200 --> 00:51:17,560 And Durham Cathedrals example is an almost perfect condition 894 00:51:17,560 --> 00:51:20,080 apparently according to the other ones that are still in 895 00:51:20,080 --> 00:51:23,840 survival, but is the 1225 version that is used as the 896 00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:26,760 definitive version in terms of what the text says. 897 00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:30,680 And so from there, we can see this was something that was 898 00:51:30,680 --> 00:51:32,960 displayed in Galilee Chapel, which is part of Durham 899 00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:36,240 Cathedral, sort of summarizing how this is still important to 900 00:51:36,280 --> 00:51:39,720 us today, saying that Magna Carta established the principle 901 00:51:39,720 --> 00:51:43,440 that everyone is subject to the law, even the king. 902 00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:46,920 It guarantees the rights of individuals, the right to 903 00:51:46,920 --> 00:51:51,080 justice and to a free trial. And I went there with Tim 904 00:51:51,080 --> 00:51:53,400 Coulter from We the People Northeast, who has also 905 00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:56,920 contributed to UK column. And so we talked about it a 906 00:51:56,920 --> 00:51:59,040 little, a little bit standing there in Galilee Chapel. 907 00:51:59,160 --> 00:52:01,000 And he's a bit of an expert on this. 908 00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:02,640 So let's hear what he had to say about it. 909 00:52:04,360 --> 00:52:06,280 This is Diane Rasmussen from UK Column. 910 00:52:06,320 --> 00:52:09,320 I'm here in Durham Cathedral this afternoon with Tim Coulter 911 00:52:09,320 --> 00:52:12,840 of We the People NE as well as has been a recent contributor to 912 00:52:12,840 --> 00:52:15,920 UK Column as well. And we've just visited the Magna 913 00:52:15,920 --> 00:52:18,160 Carta and the North exhibition which ends on the 2nd of 914 00:52:18,160 --> 00:52:20,240 November. What did you think of the 915 00:52:20,240 --> 00:52:23,080 exhibition, Tim? Well, it was a great pleasure to 916 00:52:23,080 --> 00:52:27,920 come to this exhibition and actually finally see three 917 00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:32,880 different Magna Cartas, the 1216 Magna Carta, which was one year 918 00:52:32,880 --> 00:52:37,920 after the original Magna Carta, the 12:25 and the 1300 Magna 919 00:52:37,920 --> 00:52:40,440 Carta. But it was a real thrill for me 920 00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:43,200 to actually come and see them because I've got here one of my 921 00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:45,960 books. I got Magna Carta and to the 922 00:52:45,960 --> 00:52:49,560 Constitution of America and the effect it's had on the common 923 00:52:50,240 --> 00:52:54,320 law constitutions of the world, which have been so badly 924 00:52:54,640 --> 00:52:57,080 affected during the COVID period, of course. 925 00:52:58,800 --> 00:53:00,080 So what? What do you think is the 926 00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:04,560 relevance of Magna Carta to today's world in 2025 and 2020 927 00:53:04,560 --> 00:53:07,320 as well? Well, I think it's got a massive 928 00:53:07,320 --> 00:53:12,000 relevance in all sorts of ways. Obviously this, the Magna Carta 929 00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:16,160 is the basis of of many individual liberties which have 930 00:53:16,160 --> 00:53:20,960 been so attacked at the moment. It's the basis of course is the 931 00:53:21,320 --> 00:53:27,320 trial by jury and the the fact they're trying to do it diminish 932 00:53:27,320 --> 00:53:33,280 or get rid of trial by jury is extremely significant in the 933 00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:38,080 attempt for we could say new aristocracies to try and take 934 00:53:38,080 --> 00:53:43,120 over on general living and do away with the liberties of the 935 00:53:43,120 --> 00:53:45,200 individual. And it seems to be something 936 00:53:45,200 --> 00:53:47,640 that we're seeing now with some of the things going on in the 937 00:53:47,640 --> 00:53:48,960 current government in this country. 938 00:53:49,520 --> 00:53:56,000 Well, absolutely. I mean King John when 1215 Magna 939 00:53:56,000 --> 00:54:00,800 Carte he's he put his seal to that I believe or he signed it. 940 00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:06,400 And of course, we're seeing now he was an authoritarian and 941 00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:11,720 we're seeing a similar attacks on us now through authoritarian 942 00:54:11,720 --> 00:54:15,960 measures like the interaction of digital ID, taking away our 943 00:54:15,960 --> 00:54:21,520 individual liberties which we fought for in the past and wish 944 00:54:21,520 --> 00:54:24,200 to retain. I hope you can join me this 945 00:54:24,200 --> 00:54:26,880 coming Saturday when I'll be speaking against Digital ID at 946 00:54:26,880 --> 00:54:29,120 our rally up in Newcastle at the Monument. 947 00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:31,840 Thanks for joining me today Tim. It's been a great afternoon. 948 00:54:31,840 --> 00:54:34,320 I appreciate your time. Oh, well, thank you very much, 949 00:54:34,360 --> 00:54:36,080 Diane. Yes, it's excellent. 950 00:54:36,120 --> 00:54:37,080 Thank you. Thank you. 951 00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:42,920 So I would encourage everyone, if you can get up to Durham 952 00:54:43,120 --> 00:54:45,960 before Sunday, this so which is the last day of the exhibition, 953 00:54:45,960 --> 00:54:49,440 or to remind your local politicians and your national 954 00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:53,360 politicians and monarchs that nobody is above the law in this 955 00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:55,960 country. Indeed. 956 00:54:55,960 --> 00:54:57,480 Thank you, Diane. Thank you. 957 00:54:57,480 --> 00:54:59,640 Nobody is above the law. We'll see what happens, 958 00:54:59,840 --> 00:55:05,560 particularly with the former Duke of York and see whether 959 00:55:05,560 --> 00:55:08,880 whether he turns out to be above the law and not too distant 960 00:55:08,880 --> 00:55:12,200 future. But look on last week's last 961 00:55:12,200 --> 00:55:15,640 Monday's program, Ben, Last time we were on, I think we showed a 962 00:55:15,640 --> 00:55:18,840 little bit of video from Edge of the Matrix. 963 00:55:19,120 --> 00:55:21,680 With. Respect to the trans activists. 964 00:55:21,920 --> 00:55:24,360 Indeed we did. Yes, I think Sandy showed it and 965 00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:28,440 it showed a chap called Steve who was at our event up in York 966 00:55:28,800 --> 00:55:32,840 last weekend being attacked in Liverpool. 967 00:55:32,920 --> 00:55:38,320 And it got quite a reaction, not least in the chat box actually. 968 00:55:38,760 --> 00:55:42,840 And I wanted to just replay it and just put another spin on 969 00:55:42,840 --> 00:55:46,880 what we saw actually, because this is a really important issue 970 00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:48,560 in terms of what's going on in the country. 971 00:55:48,560 --> 00:55:49,880 And it's just what's the clip again? 972 00:55:51,280 --> 00:55:53,200 Well, I hope you. Fucking Irish, the police. 973 00:55:53,400 --> 00:55:58,600 It's been. Serious. 974 00:56:06,840 --> 00:56:08,920 What the fuck is? That is assault. 975 00:56:09,040 --> 00:56:11,440 You were making a muck. That is absolute. 976 00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:12,480 Assault. Fucking. 977 00:56:12,520 --> 00:56:16,720 Country you would make everything worse. 978 00:56:16,720 --> 00:56:17,560 What? The fuck? 979 00:56:17,600 --> 00:56:22,880 Why are you? Doing this, my friend fucking 980 00:56:22,880 --> 00:56:30,200 died last year. So the first thing to say is, 981 00:56:31,040 --> 00:56:33,960 and that woman should absolutely not have attacked him like that, 982 00:56:34,040 --> 00:56:37,520 right? And that was uncalled for, 983 00:56:37,520 --> 00:56:39,840 dangerous. If he got that stuff in his 984 00:56:39,840 --> 00:56:42,680 eyes, potentially could have caused him some serious problem. 985 00:56:42,680 --> 00:56:45,280 What was that stuff? It was like chili sauce 986 00:56:45,280 --> 00:56:47,200 basically. So, you know, she's, I don't 987 00:56:47,200 --> 00:56:49,440 know if she's deliberately gone to find something that's going 988 00:56:49,440 --> 00:56:52,520 to cause him a problem, but you know, that's that she shouldn't 989 00:56:52,520 --> 00:56:57,440 be doing that, right. But also, and what what I saw 990 00:56:57,560 --> 00:56:59,960 happened in the chat box last week was a lot of people come in 991 00:56:59,960 --> 00:57:06,360 basically just start insulting her, her looks and made a lot of 992 00:57:06,360 --> 00:57:10,000 assumptions about her based on what she did and what she was 993 00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:11,880 saying and all that kind of thing. 994 00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:16,040 But if you actually listen to what she said, she said that, 995 00:57:17,160 --> 00:57:20,080 well, you're making a mockery. She used some expletives that I 996 00:57:20,080 --> 00:57:22,680 won't repeat, and she said you're making everything worse. 997 00:57:22,680 --> 00:57:26,000 And then at the end, she said, I had someone die last year. 998 00:57:27,240 --> 00:57:31,440 And what you're looking at there is someone who's experienced 999 00:57:31,440 --> 00:57:33,960 some quite significant trauma, who's obviously got someone 1000 00:57:33,960 --> 00:57:36,760 quite close to them who has died. 1001 00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:38,760 And I don't know if they took their own life. 1002 00:57:38,760 --> 00:57:42,040 I don't know anything about it. But it's clearly had an impact 1003 00:57:42,040 --> 00:57:44,960 on her. And it sounds like it's related 1004 00:57:44,960 --> 00:57:48,160 to this issue of transgenderism. And I think what people need to 1005 00:57:48,160 --> 00:57:51,760 be cognizant of is that there are a lot of people in this 1006 00:57:51,760 --> 00:57:55,720 country who are being physically, mentally, 1007 00:57:55,840 --> 00:58:01,360 psychologically, spiritually abused by the system, by 1008 00:58:01,360 --> 00:58:07,760 academia, by teachers, by people in healthcare, by people in the, 1009 00:58:08,080 --> 00:58:09,680 you know, like, like psychologists. 1010 00:58:09,680 --> 00:58:12,280 I mean, this, this, these ideas are absolutely everywhere, 1011 00:58:12,280 --> 00:58:15,800 right? And they're in a bad way. 1012 00:58:16,880 --> 00:58:22,240 And what they need from us is empathy and understanding. 1013 00:58:22,720 --> 00:58:28,200 And I just wanted to, to replay that to draw that out, right? 1014 00:58:28,200 --> 00:58:32,000 Because it's very easy to demonise and point fingers and 1015 00:58:32,000 --> 00:58:33,960 go on about how awful other people are. 1016 00:58:34,360 --> 00:58:37,720 But even just in that clip, from what we just heard, you can sit, 1017 00:58:37,720 --> 00:58:40,200 you can sense, you can tell because she communicates it. 1018 00:58:40,200 --> 00:58:42,480 There's something really quite traumatic has happened to her. 1019 00:58:42,480 --> 00:58:45,800 And there's a lot more going on around that than that moment 1020 00:58:45,800 --> 00:58:48,640 where she lost control and she and she carried out that attack 1021 00:58:49,240 --> 00:58:53,400 and that kind of interaction. We need to avoid that. 1022 00:58:53,400 --> 00:58:56,160 But the issue that we're talking about here is absolutely going 1023 00:58:56,160 --> 00:58:58,960 to be front and centre over the next year or two is this. 1024 00:58:59,440 --> 00:59:03,480 This issue gets dragged out into the public discourse on a on a 1025 00:59:03,480 --> 00:59:06,320 more regular basis. So stick with us on extra 1026 00:59:06,320 --> 00:59:09,080 because I've got a couple of comments on this as well. 1027 00:59:09,080 --> 00:59:11,000 So we're going to have a bit of discussion on it. 1028 00:59:11,240 --> 00:59:13,960 We're also going to be talking about Magna Carta and so on. 1029 00:59:14,520 --> 00:59:18,800 But Diane, let's just end them with a final thought. 1030 00:59:20,880 --> 00:59:23,360 Yeah, well, I thought that since Halloween is coming up this 1031 00:59:23,360 --> 00:59:26,400 week, it was worth scaring everybody a little bit or maybe 1032 00:59:26,400 --> 00:59:29,440 trying to prevent some fear. So the New Jersey Department of 1033 00:59:29,440 --> 00:59:32,760 Health has said that to scare COVID away, that getting the 1034 00:59:32,760 --> 00:59:35,800 COVID vaccine is your best protection against COVID. 1035 00:59:36,040 --> 00:59:37,720 Talk to your healthcare provider. 1036 00:59:37,960 --> 00:59:41,000 So I'm not sure who's more scared of COVID or of the 1037 00:59:41,000 --> 00:59:44,320 vaccine in 2025, Mike. But either way, obviously we 1038 00:59:44,440 --> 00:59:46,160 should continue to be scared for sure. 1039 00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:49,600 For sure, that's definitely the message that is being 1040 00:59:49,600 --> 00:59:51,520 encouraged. OK, well, look, let's leave it 1041 00:59:51,520 --> 00:59:54,480 there for for today. Thank you very much, Diane, 1042 00:59:54,480 --> 00:59:56,880 Sandy and Ben. Of course, we'll be back in a 1043 00:59:56,880 --> 01:00:00,120 couple of minutes for some extra, don't forget germ warfare 1044 01:00:00,120 --> 01:00:05,040 tonight. And we'll see you at, well, 1:00 1045 01:00:05,040 --> 01:00:07,320 tomorrow actually for another interview. 1046 01:00:07,320 --> 01:00:10,000 And we'll be back for the news 1:00 PM on Wednesday. 1047 01:00:10,000 --> 01:00:11,360 See you then. Bye bye.