Good afternoon. It's Wednesday the 9th of April
2025, just after 1:00. Welcome to UK Column News.
I'm your host Mike Robinson. Joining me by video link, we
have Charles Mallett, Vanessa Bailey and Sandy Adams.
Now, later in the programme, we're going to be covering gene
editing, the Middle East and food security.
But we're going to begin with censorship because the news
today is a bit shoot. The video sharing platform has
decided to shut down operations in the UK as a result of the
Online Safety Act. I'm going to do something I
don't normally do. I'm going to read the statement
in full because I just want to make it clear in their words why
they've done this. So they said that after careful
review and ongoing evaluation of the regulatory landscape in the
United Kingdom, we regret to inform you that Bitshot will be
discontinuing it's video sharing service for UK residents.
The introduction of the UK Online Safety Act of 2023 has
brought about significant changes in the regulatory
framework governing content and community interactions.
Notably, the ACT contains sweeping provisions and onerous
collective corrective measures with respect to content
moderation and enforcement. In particular, the broad
enforcement powers granted to the regulator of communication
services, Ofcom, have raised concerns regarding the open
ended and unpredictable nature of regulatory compliance for our
platform. The Bit Shoot platform has
always operated on the principles of freedom of speech,
expression and association and strive to Foster and open an
inclusive environment for content creators and audiences
alike. However, the evolving regulatory
pressures, including strict enforcement mechanisms and
potential liabilities have created an operational landscape
in which continuing to serve the UK market exposes our company to
unacceptable legal and compliance risks.
Despite our best efforts to navigate these challenges, the
uncertainty surrounding the Online Safety Acts enforcement
by Ofcom and it's far reaching implications leaves us no viable
alternative but deceased normal operations in the UK.
Therefore, effective immediately, Bit Shoot platform
users in the UK will no longer be able to view content produced
by any other Bit Shoot user because the OS as primary
concern is that members of the public will view content deemed
unsafe. However, we will permit UK BIT
should users to continue to post content.
The significant change will be that this UK user posted content
will not be viewable by other UK users but will be visible to
other users outside the UK. Users outside the UK may comment
on that content, which the creator will be will continue to
be able to read, delete, block, reply and flag.
Users outside the UK may share UK user produced content to
other users outside of the UK as normal.
In other words, for users in the UK, including content creators,
the Bit Shoot platform is no longer a user to UK user video
sharing service. We deeply regret the
inconvenience and disappointment this decision may cause to our
UK users and partners. This decision was not taken
lightly. It reflects our commitment to
maintain the highest standards of compliance, protecting our
community and ensuring that our platform remains a safe and
sustainable place for creative expression globally.
We recognise the value of our UK community and extend our
sincerest apologies for the disruption caused by this
necessary step. Our support teams are being
available to answer any queries or concerns regarding this
transition. We appreciate the support and
engagement of our community around the world and remain
dedicated to providing a platform that champions free
expression and innovative content sharing in an
environment of regulatory certainty.
Thank you for your understanding.
Now I'm going to say that's the end of their statement, but I'm
going to say that I do understand this absolutely.
But of course, for UK users, the way to deal with this is to use
AVPN, which everyone should be doing by default anyway because
the particularly since the requirement under the
investigative Paris legislation for Internet service providers
to collect all the metadata for every website you visit on
behalf of the British regime. So this is another platform
falling in the UK. And Charles, I'd be interested
to get your comments on this because it follows on, of
course, as we've been talking about over the last couple of
weeks, the announcement of small forums shutting down because of
the restrictions imposed by the regulatory regime around so
called user to user platforms. What are your thoughts?
Well, I think in the first instance, although it's not
expressly written down in the Online Safety Act 2023, I think
this is precisely the consequence that they have been
intending to engineer. Now of course with the
assistance of Ofcom, who as they point out have been handed
enforcement tools to to the tune of being able to find
astronomical fees. So this is really exactly what
was hoped to be delivered, the shutting down of free speech and
indeed the gifting of the space to magnify the narrative by the
mainstream who do not fall foul of this.
And you know, I use the rather crass analogy, but what this has
done is to turn responsibility for an action into that of the
the holder or the hoster of the of the platform.
And I said it would be a bit like a pub being held liable if
a fight broke out inside it. Now, unless the pub had
specifically conducted an action to incite such violence, then
why on earth should it be held liable?
But in this instance, of course, bit shoot anybody that has
what's described as a user to user content is now being held
liable. So I can appreciate exactly what
it is they're saying. I think of course it's regret,
but they're not minded to challenge it because we, UK call
them, certainly believe that the first port call is to is to
challenge this in the strongest possible terms.
Well, that that's absolutely right.
But of course, by doing what they're doing, they they're
vastly raising the profile of the situation, so that's got to
be a good thing. Yeah, absolutely.
No, it has I mean, I think, I think, you know, the majority of
people will of course be be blissfully unaware of this.
And and indeed what what possible gain does the
mainstream have for reporting this?
Absolutely none at all. They fund Ofcom and therefore
they're to be protected by it. So I yeah, you are quite right.
And I think bit shoot, you know, is fairly well known across the
board. So hopefully there will be that
sort of effect. And that's I think that's what
we have to hope for. And of course that people are
watching this are going to continue to put that word out.
I think that this there is that sort of degree of separation,
people not really understanding how freedom of speech is
absolutely directly affected by this.
Yes. And I'll just end by reinforcing
the idea of using a virtual private network of VPN because
although they're not, they don't do what they claim to do in
terms of privacy and, and protection and so on.
At least getting your connection to the Internet outside of UK
jurisdiction means that it's much harder for the UK
government to Snoop on which website you're you're visiting
and so on. And of course, it gets around
this particular limitation if you happen to be in the UK.
Now related to this, of course, is data protection.
And well, let's just remind ourselves about the UK's Data
Use and Access Bill. It's been mentioned many times
on this programme along with its predecessor, the Data Protection
and Digital Information Bill. Now the main features of this
bill are all encompassing. It's an all.
Sorry, I'll try that again. The main features of this all
encompassing a bill include a huge relaxation of data sharing
rules it takes. It expands the definition of
what are class class's legitimate interests.
It creates a new parse for the Secretary of State to amend the
scope of Article 9 of the U KG DP are prohibition on the
processing of special categories of personal data.
Now what are those? Well, that's things like
political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, genetic
data, biometric data, health data, these kinds of things.
And it's also removes cross border restrictions on data
sharing, allowing the mass export of data to the United
States in particular. Now this needs to be seen in the
context, I believe of operational Operation Stargate
and the massive building out of the AI powered bulk data
processing capability which was announced by the Trump regime
immediately following his inauguration.
So it should perhaps come as no surprise then that the EU, which
is until now being famous for its regulatory regimes, is
moving in the same direction as it possibly can.
The European Commission has now finalised its plans to simplify
and potentially remove many of the regulatory requirements
imposed by the General Data Protection Regulation, otherwise
known as GDPR, which has until now been widely seen as the
global lead in data protection legislation.
But not for much longer. So according to Michael McGrath,
who is the European Commissioner overseeing data privacy laws,
the aim of the exercise here is to, quote, improve the
competitiveness of the European economy through a whole range of
simplification measures. Recently, he said it's an
objective of the European Union to continue with full
implementation, enforcement of the data privacy framework.
And he also announced the E US intention to permit data sharing
with U.S. companies. It's my expectation, he said,
because of the mutual benefits that it provides for European
companies, for American companies, that there's a
willingness in both sides at the of the Atlantic to continue with
us. So the question is, will, will
Trump put tariffs on data? I I suspect not.
But meanwhile, here in the UK, the Apple saga continues to
rumble on. And if you remember, under the
latest iteration of invest investigatory powers claimed by
the Starmer regime, the UK government demanded that Apple
provide a backdoor to encrypted data on Apple's iCloud data
storage infrastructure, and Apple refused to comply.
Instead, they removed the ability to enable advanced data
protection functionality on Apple devices here in the UK.
And they then took the case to the Investigatory Parse
Tribunal, which is the court responsible for overseeing the
use of this legislation. But those hearings were to be
held in secret, so a group of privacy campaigners, including
open rights group Big Brother Watch and Index on Censorship,
took this issue to the tribunal and a judge has ruled that the
hearings should be heard in public.
So the tribunal said that it did not accept that the revelation
of the bare details of the case would be damaging to the public
interest or prejudicial to national security.
And this is a good step in the right direction.
The Investigatory Powers Act and its recent amendments are really
an anathema to data protection and anything which helps expose
it for what it is is good news. But the key point here is that
while you and I want our data to be private, and Apple, for
marketing reasons, perhaps wants that to be private as well, the
regime in this country does not want that to be private.
And worse than that, they want the fact that they don't want it
to be private to be private. So that means that under this
legislation, if you remember, it is against the law for a tech
company to let any individual know that the spokes have
demanded access to the personal data.
Again, Charles, any thoughts on this?
Because this is, I think, a bit of a win.
Well, I mean, yes, I suppose we have to be a little bit guarded
in, in what we really do regard as a win in the first instance.
But no, I mean, I would, I would absolutely totally agree with
that. I think there's like with all of
these sorts of topics, I think that the, the main point is the
hope that this goes out to a wider audience and that people
do actually get some sense of what not just what is going on,
but what has been going on. Of course, this is something
that's been covered on the news in its various guises for so
many years. And yet the the traction that it
gains is invariably very, very little.
And, and often when it is appreciated exactly what the
situation is in effect, the door has closed and it's too late.
But yes, I would absolutely agree.
I mean, let's, let's just hope that we can put it down as a
win. OK.
Thank you for that, Charles. Now let's come on to, well, what
you're calling a digital prison. I'm, I'm calling it a digital
prison. I'm, I'm referring to what's
happened just yesterday with the news that Companies House is to
introduce a new verification scheme for identity.
Of course the word verify creeping into virtually
everything that pertains to online or digital activity, as
though in some way it confers the idea of security, which is
the one of the main selling points.
But the reason for describing it as a prison is it seems that
that the walls are in effect closing in or or there is an
attempt for the walls to close in from directions over which
people have very little control. So of course, company's house is
the conduit that draws people in who are going to be conducting
any sort of business activity, at least in the first instance
where they're incorporating their their organisation.
And indeed they're going back to company's house to file all the
various documents that are required over the course of the
year. So it should be made clear that
first of all, this is not going to affect the records that are
already on the company's house book, but this will take a
future effect. And the reason this is happening
is because of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act
going back to 2023. Now it really has a rather
misleading title, as I'll go on to articulate, but it's said
that the role of the Act was to reform the role of Companies
House and improve transparency over UK companies and other
legal entities to strengthen our business environment, support
our national security and disrupt economic crime.
Now I think it's questionable as to whether any of those things
will be achieved, certainly not all of them and certainly not
via the mechanism of that particular piece of legislation.
But there will be certain other consequences which I would
imagine are fairly predictable and therefore have been
engineered into the system. One of which is reported by the
UK Cybersecurity sectoral analysis of this year, published
quite recently by the Department of Science, Innovation and
Technology. And of course, no great
surprise, but the industry has swelled by over 12% in the last
year and now delivers a return of just over £13 billion and I
think we can expect an exponential increase there.
And of course the important point to note is that many
organisations in that field are in effect covering both sides of
the fence by saying that they're going to provide the security,
but also providing the the systems themselves that require
the security. So it, it's all fairly well
covered off 1 might say. Now this obviously relates to
the, the notion of digital identity.
I just think it would be worth remembering the facile terms in
which the government put their message for this in order to try
to convince people that it was a good idea.
So here's Peter Kyle, the minister for the department.
We've just been speaking about trying to advertise this
product. All right, mate, Can I get a
pint of lager, please? Yeah, of course.
Can I just use my? Yeah, no worries, It's got this.
Someone here? Hi, can I have a pint of
Christmas cracker please? Certainly.
I know it's a surprise for everyone, but I don't get asked
for my ID anymore. But for loads of young people,
they get asked all the time and they want to buy a drink.
So we're changing the law so that next Christmas young people
will have their ID on their phone so they won't have all the
hassle of needing to get ID or leaving their ID at home or
their paper ID getting lost or damaged.
There's already 50 digital apps like this one, but what it means
is that bar staff can scan to prove somebody's identity and it
doesn't give away any personal information.
So it means that giving your ID is safer than it's ever been
before. Changes like these are going to
create economic growth for our country, which is key to our
plan for change. There you are.
Great, thanks. You put it on the tab.
So this means by next Christmas, buying a pint will be a little
bit easier. Well, I'm not sure if it would
have been able to cram any more untruths into such a short video
clip, but he had a fairly good go at it.
Of course, first thing to note might be that the government
minister didn't try to help a member of the public who'd just
dropped something right next to him, which I thought was quite
indicative. But the the point is that he is
really honestly trying to make a case for security and
convenience versus the possibility that you might
occasionally drop something that is physical on the floor.
And that's really his only selling point.
But this is the direction that we are to be consistently
pushed. And that's why this verification
scheme that companies are trying to roll out is just yet another
trap by which people are going to be ensnared and forced into
something that really has absolutely no benefit and plenty
of risk. And that's what I want to go on
to talk about because a report has been published by tallers of
all people, the defence business of course, who stand again in
this theatre. And they've constructed a report
where they say that they're concerned about digital identity
storage on mobile telephones, of course, exactly what Peter
Carl's been talking about. But he's suggesting they're all
trying to suggest that because it's digital and there's a
biometric security verification that it therefore is
impregnable, which could not really be further from the
truth. And so this is referring to
people who've got images stored of identity documents and
therefore there's a low security threshold there.
And therefore there should be a a mechanism by which we're able
to deal with that via this this much vaunted idea of digital ID.
And so let's just have a quick look at some of the companies
that are involved in this space and we'll be holding some of the
infrastructure that we are supposed to rely on, one of them
being Capgemini. And here's a the piece from
Hedgehog talking about 20 gigabytes of sensitive
information having been stolen. Now the reason I've highlighted
them is because I put in a Freedom of Information request
to the Ministry of Defence recently about the veteran ID
card in order to find out who's going to be dealing with the
data, because it certainly isn't going to be the Ministry of
Defence. And as seen on screen now, it
says the main third party provider of support to the
development of the digital card service is a company called Cap
Gemini. So it's a fail for them.
The next one we look at is a data breach reported here by
Bearings Law and in this instance we're talking about
Shared Services Connected Limited, SSCL.
And again in response to the Freedom of Information request I
put in they state, the Ministry of Defence state the personal
information of veterans applying for the digital veteran card
will be processed and held by Shared Services Connected
Limited. So they don't, they don't, they
don't get it right either. Next, of course, and entirely
probably the the whole company's house infrastructure is run by
Amazon Web Services. So first of all, we've got the
enormous conflict of interest when we're looking at
transparency and how companies actually conduct their business.
And it's worth noting that Amazon paid no corporation tax
between 2020 and 20/20/24. And yet here they are providing
the very basis upon which Companies House is trying to
build all this nonsense. So we then see that Amazon Web
Services, of course, certainly many government services on the
back of it, but they've had plenty of breaches as well.
So that doesn't work either. And I think it's beginning to
look increasingly like dropping your wallet on the pub floor
might be the best possible outcome.
And just to round this off, it's worth noting that all this goes
full circle because the. If there is an issue with this,
who do you get in touch with via the outsourced contact centre
service? None other than Hinduja Global
Solutions and they they are indeed part of the many
businesses that the Hudinja brother, Sorry Hinduja brothers
involved in the 2001 cash for passport scandal with Peter
Mandelson refers back to. So, so really just an absolute
nest of incompetence and dishonesty and and frankly, what
should be another nail in the coffin of digital identity.
Thank you, Charles. Thank you for that.
Now let's move to the Middle East then.
And Vanessa, what's going on, escalation happening in that in
the region? Yeah, definitely.
It looks like some kind of escalation, but I would also say
it's very much about fake news both in the UK, the EU and the
US to try and portray Iran as. Severely weakened prior to the
indirect or direct, according to Trump talks that are going to
take place in Oman on Saturday. So let's have a quick look at a
few of the reports that have been coming out in the last few
days. So first of all, there was a
claim, and actually this was in the Telegraph.
Iran abandoned Putin's under relentless US bombardment.
This was a claim that Iranian advisers were fleeing Yemen
under the US heavy bombardment, which of course has been denied
both by and Shrullah in Yemen and by Iran itself.
And of course, the fact is that while Trump is claiming that the
US aggression has basically beaten and Shrullah back, of
course it hasn't. The missiles are still coming
both towards the occupied territories of Palestine and
towards US and Israeli shipping in the Red Sea.
Then this report came out. Again, very recently, Iran
backed Iraqi militias considered disarming amid threats from the
Trump administration. Again, this is denied, but it
was picked up by let's say soft Zionist media in Haaretz, which
we can have a look at that report again it talks about with
disarmament of militias in Iraq. Iran signals a major strategic
shift. It's saying that pro Iranian
militias of course, again describing them almost as
proxies of Iran, which is untrue, have agreed to disarm.
But it doesn't necessarily indicate a weakening of Iran's
power in Iraq, but does point to Tehran recalibrating it's
strategy following the blows to it's Ring of Fire, which of
course include Lebanon, Palestine and the international
coup in Syria last December. So effectively what it's trying
to say is that Iran is in a weakened position.
It's prepared to compromise during the talks on Saturday in
Oman. This is an article again in what
I would call as a sort of soft centrist Israeli media as
reconstruction stalls Lebanon, victims of Israeli strikes,
which was during the previous war between Hezbollah and
Israel, say they won't bow to US pressure to normalise with
Israel. So what is the US trying to do?
It's trying to withhold funding for the reconstruction of the
South and and that includes the 1000 southern suburbs of Beirut
through the IMF and the World Bank.
Which of course is a. Very typical strategy of the
United States. On the 6th of April, the US
envoy, what's her name, sorry, Morgan Otargas, came to Lebanon.
And of course, she is pushing for the full disarmament of
Hezbollah again using the threats that IMF and World Bank
won't put any funding into the rebuilding of Lebanon, but also
threatening that the. US will withdraw.
From the Oversight Committee, which effectively will give
Israel full freedom to act in the South without any kind of
calibration by the United States.
Next false. Report Hezbollah is apparently
ready for disarmament talks if Israel withdraws from South
Lebanon. Well, Israel should have already
withdrawn under the original ceasefire agreement.
And in reality, what this is trying to do is to go for not
only the withdrawal of Hezbollah from the southern region to the
north of the Litani River, which is part of the UN Resolution 17
O1, which was part of the ceasefire agreement.
But as I've mentioned, of course, Israel has maintained
its presence, military presence in five areas of the S 5
strategic high areas from which it is on a regular basis
attacking civilians in in that area.
But it's also been carrying out air strikes on a regular basis,
drone surveillance, drone strikes, drone assassination.
So it's not at all holding to the ceasefire agreement.
And and then finally today, this was a major report that came out
in Saudi Arabian media, of course, Saudi Arabia working
regularly to reinforce a Zionist agenda in the region.
And it looks like we have lost Vanessa, unfortunately, so well,
she'll be back in a second. But anyway, there is a final
You're back. No, you're not back.
Am I back? Yeah, you're back.
Yes, OK, right. Sorry.
You were talking about Iran's Alkyd Special forces are used by
root for to smuggle weapons for Hezbollah.
Yeah, which of course is is clearly untrue, but it may
signal an attack by Israel on the port itself.
We could hear Israeli jets in the skies yesterday.
And finally, there were reports on social media that there were
special US representatives landed in Israel yesterday for
talks. But also Ben Gavir, one of the
most extremist members of Netanyahu's government, has
embarked on an official visit to the US after being boycotted by
Biden administration. So what we seem to be seeing is
a build up of stories to facilitate some kind of
escalation, but also prior to the meeting on Saturday between
Stephen Witkoff and the Iranian representatives.
Thank you for that well, more for the Middle East just after
the ad break. So let's have a look at at this.
If you like what the UK column does, you'd like to support us,
support.ukcolumn.org it's a place to go and you can join us.
You can make a donation. You can join us as a member.
These are two different things. If you want to watch UK Column
News Extra, please make sure you join as a member and there are
various time periods that you can join over.
You can pick something up from the UK Column shop and we still
have a few T-shirts from the event at the weekend and those
will be going up in the shop in the next day or two.
Or if you would like to get something from Clive to
card.com, if you use the link on this page, we get a small
Commission on that. But if you can't do any of that,
that's absolutely fine. But please do at least share the
material you see on the UK Column website and prefer if you
share content from the the website rather than sharing
stuff that's on the platforms. The share links are provided and
of course you can use other platforms if you wish.
No yesterday's interview thinking with your heart.
This was yours, Charles. It was indeed absolutely
terrific. It's it's gone down really well.
So I'd very much encourage you to, to get a good listen to
Jonathan Marshall, who I met last year at a country show.
He performs with amazing Stallion and Falkons.
But he he addresses the what he he describes as the anti nature
agenda absolutely perfectly. And it's a really, really
delightful and and uplifting interview.
So please do have a listen. Thank you, Charles, and tomorrow
at 1:00 PM Brian will be putting out the second part of his
discussion with Carl Schwantz Schwartz on 9/11.
And so do join us at 1:00 PM for that if you possibly can.
There is a Glasgow Peace Walk being run by Stanford Peace.
It's taking place on the 12th of April 2025 at 12:00 PM St Enoch
Square. Details on screen.
The details be in the show notes as well.
Please get to that if you possibly can and Diane has.
Just to highlight this crowdfunder on give, send go
send go for this is legal defence for slap suits against
freedom of speech. This is sorry.
This is sorry, Charles, can you remind me who this is?
Because. It's completely fallen out of my
head. I, I'm afraid to say I can't
help. Like I, I don't, I don't know
who that is. So I'm.
I do apologise, well I do apologise for that as this is
life and it's completely fallen out of my head.
So. So anyway, the details will be
in the show notes for that as well.
So do please support that if you can.
This is about what's going on in libraries and freedom of speech
and defamation lawsuits and all kinds of stuff around that in
the United States. But nonetheless, it should be of
importance to everybody. Vanessa, let me come back to you
then. And well, we're looking at Iran
again, but what's obviously Netanyahu's meeting Trump in the
last day or two. So what?
What were they saying? Yeah, well, I just wanted to
play this excerpt from the meeting, or rather the press
conference between Trump and Netanyahu, which was what Trump
said on the upcoming Iran meeting.
So let's just roll this. Wait, wait, wait.
We're having direct talks with Iran and they've started.
It'll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting and
we'll see what can happen. And I think everybody agrees
that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious.
And the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with
or frankly that Israel wants to be involved with if they can
avoid it. So we're going to see if we can
avoid it. But it's getting to be very
dangerous territory and hopefully those talks will be
successful and I think it would be in Iran's best interest if
they are successful. We hope, we hope that's going to
happen. So here Trump basically is
saying, despite the reports saying that these talks would be
indirect talks, in other words, they would be overseen or
moderated, let's say by Oman. He's now saying they're direct
talks with his envoy, Stephen Witkoff.
And Reuters picked this up. So Trump says US, Iran set for
direct nuclear talks. Tehran says that they will be
indirect. And in fact, the Iranian foreign
minister went on X immediately after to basically point out
that as far as he's concerned, if we can just put the tweet up,
Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for
indirect high level talks. It is as much an opportunity as
it is a test. The ball is in America's court.
Interesting that everybody seems to be using the ball in the
court analogies, including, of course, the United States and
Trump over the Russian Ukraine negotiations.
But I think for me, what this signals is America is basically
setting Iran up for failure by Trump saying this will be a
direct talk by Iran basically saying no, We maintain that they
should be in direct talks. There is potential, of course,
for the United States and it's it's slavish media to basically
portray Iran as as being obstructive even prior to the
talk. So we'll wait and see.
And that, of course, in the context of the previous report
suggesting Iran's weakness in the region and the weakness of
its allies that are under threat but are certainly not as weak as
they're being portrayed by Trump and Western media.
So we will see what happens on Saturday.
Thank you for that. Thank you very much, Vanessa.
Now Dan Kleiman was who was the crowd founder was for.
I do apologise, Dan. I'm very sorry about that.
I'm very embarrassed, but there we go.
We will move on. Now back in March, at the
beginning of March, we introduced you to this company,
Colossal, the genetic manipulators who are trying to
raise money for Jurassic Park, it seems.
Now if you remember they were into they are into gene editing
to recreate what they say. So let's quote this the last
megafauna and other creatures of the past.
But only the ones they say that had a measurably positive impact
on our fragile ecosystems, like the woolly mammoth.
If you remember, they hope that having mammoths running around
the Arctic tundra will encourage grasses to grow, which will
capture loads of carbon dioxide. So if you remember, they edit,
they gene edited, sorry, they gene edited a mouse to give it
long. Hair as the first step.
To getting to the woolly mammoth.
But don't worry, they've they'll only start experimenting on
actual elephants when they're convinced the process is safe
and. Effective.
Well, anyway, they've taken a step forward with the creation
of three Dire Wolves. Wolves.
So this is the the announcement page on their website.
The three dire wolves are called Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi in
assault to Game of Thrones. At least the last one is.
Where dire worlds were a thing, Colossal says that on the 1st of
October 2024, for the first time in human history, Colossal
successfully restored a once eradicated species through the
science of de extinction. After a 10,000 plus year
absence. Our team is proud to return the
Dire wolf to its rightful place in the ecosystem.
Colossal's innovations in science, technology, and
conservation made it possible to accomplish something that's
never been done before, the revival of a species from its
long standing population of zero.
Well of course this is total nonsense.
The reality is they took an existing animal like grey wolf
and they played with its genome very slightly.
They in fact adjusted 14 very specific genes to make it look
like the extinct dire wolf. And then they declare that
they've brought back the extinct species.
They didn't bring back the extinct species and their claims
are just as fictional as the CGI dire wolves in Game of Thrones.
Now remember, in this country this nonsense is enabled by by
the Genetic Technology Precision Breeding Act 2023.
And if you remember when it was introduced, Joe Churchill,
Minister for Agri Innovation, said new tech genetic
technologies could help us tackle some of the biggest
challenges of our age around food security, climate change
and biodiversity loss. But as Charles reported some
time ago, this isn't just about vanity projects like woolly
mammoths and direwolves. This is happening to our food
supply. And so the question is, what
could possibly go wrong? Well mate, let's let's have a
look at it. Because meanwhile in Australia,
efforts are afoot to deal with the cane toad problem there by
genetically engineering those animals to create a keen a cane
toad tadpole which never grows up.
Instead it remains A tadpole, A cannibalistic tadpole that
voraciously eats other cane toad eggs.
And the nut jobs have done this claim.
This will reduce the wild population of claim toads of of
Ken toads sorry, which is out of control in Australia now.
The project, which is a collaboration between a number
of universities and foundations and also state governments, has
so far received permits to run experiments in controlled
settings in WA and the NT and the gene edited tadpoles have
not been tested in the wild yet, but field trials are expected in
WA later this year after what they laughingly call a risk
assessment. Now the depressing irony here of
course is that Ken Totes were initially released in Queensland
in 1935 in order to control Ken Beatles, but ended up creating a
bigger problem than the one that they were trying to solve in the
1st place. So again, I'm going to ask what
could possibly go wrong? What could possibly go wrong,
Charles? Well, I think the list is
probably limitless. And as far as I recall, when
Pandora's Box was opened, it was it was not a great outcome.
So I think this is absolutely extraordinary for in so many
respects. I mean, it's, it's completely
beside the point whether the technology exists or not, the,
the idea that the introduction or the removal of one species
can be done in such a way as to not disrupt that ecosystem with
a negative, a net negative outcome is, is perfectly
extraordinary. Nobody knows.
And so it's the same, you know, with, with all of these things
to, to suggest that just because it can be done, that therefore
somehow it's legitimate to, to do it is perfectly bizarre.
And you know, you referred to the gene editing, the spring
trials this year. I mean, if you read the safety
data or the, the, the provisions in place to try to stop anything
happening, they're absolutely laughable.
It's you just put a 20 metre strip around the edge of a field
that you're growing something in and then you hope for the best.
I mean, that is it, that is literally what you do.
So, so this is, I mean, it's a terrible joke, but it is a joke.
Absolutely, Sandy, let me welcome you to the programme
then and food related stuff, but let's look at beef prices to
start off with. Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you, Mike.
I mean, obviously we were at the UK column conference at the
weekend and there are a number of farmers there, which was
great. So interaction with them is
always good to see what's going on, on the ground.
And there were a few very concerned beef farmers at the
conference. Beef prices are rising
significantly and obviously this will affect both farmers and and
consumers. The decrease follows A sustained
reduction in cattle numbers, influenced by factors such as
declining direct payments to farmers and challenges in
business profitability. Specifically, the beef female
breeding herd experienced a 4.5% drop to 1.34 million per head,
marking the largest annual reduction in cattle per head in
in the country in UK ever. The tightening supply has led to
record high prices paid to farmers which are called farm
gate prices, which is really the the the the price they reach at
market. For instance, farmers I spoke to
at the conference said that beef had formerly fetched 400 to 600
lbs per animal at market and it's now fetching anything up to
1800 lbs at market and rising. So farmers are facing high costs
for feed, energy and transportation also.
These combined factors have led to a noticeable price increases
to to you know, in beef and abattoirs play a major role in
influencing the price of the beef in the UK.
Even though they don't officially set the prices, they
exert power in the market, often to the farmers disadvantage.
Their role is in grading pricing and controlling access to the
supply chain gives them a sort of quasi pricing power.
I think from what I can gather, the UK meat processing industry
has been consolidated in recent years down to three larger
corporations. I mean we're seeing this across
the board with this consolidation of of power to
larger corporations from small and medium sized businesses and
and that's what's what's happened to the meat processing.
And according to the Cattle and sheep UMM Farmers Association, a
lot of the farmers feel that these companies are operating
like cartels and they struggle to get a fair price on at the
markets. They're the three big UMM
companies that have consolidated are UMM, ABP Food Group, which
is Anglo Beef, UMM Processors UMM and they employ about 13,000
people across divisions and they operate in nine countries in
Europe with a turnover of €5 billion a year.
Massive company. And there's another one called
Dawn Meats, which have been sort of amalgamated with Dun Dunbier.
Now there's a picture here of them and they, they, they've,
they've invested 9 million in net zero climate commitments,
which is what they're getting that, that kind of that, that,
that what what's happening in that, that photograph.
They seem to be having a big conference about it and they
have something called Pan Vault 40 to Plan 40, which is
targeting net zero operation emissions by 2040.
So the next one is the Keypad Group and Keepap is an an Irish
owned company with significant operations in the UK and that
again reported a revenue of 1.2 billion in its financial year.
So we've you know, these are big movers and shakers.
So it's not about market control, it's it's, it is about
market control. The dominance of these large
processors means that they have substantial control over the
meat supply chain and this consolidation can limit the
bargaining power of of individual farmers.
What we have to remember also when you know going back to
Dunbaynet Dunbia which is one of the biggest meat processors is
that they they are aligning to the 17 goals.
Now, given that the government net 0 policies call for no meat
production by 2049, will they collapse the meat processing
eventually to fulfil their commitments?
As a Plan 40 focus focuses on environment, food, farming and
society and it would seem that meat production is a bit of a
conflict of interest for these corporations.
So what is really happening anyway?
That aside, the recent price increase in beef is forcing some
farmers to sell sooner and destock, especially those
struggling with rising input costs like feed, fuel, energy,
interest rates and tax. So, you know, a lot of them
fearing a a price drop, there's a sort of selling and destocking
and it's keeping farmers in in quite a high anxiety state
because some of them are exiting the industry altogether due to
regular, you know, regulating or financial pressure.
But in the long term, this this reduces the breeding herd, which
tightens the future supply and drives up the prices.
So will this push up the supermarket beef price?
Well, of course it will. You know, we expect continued
price hikes or smaller portion sizes and what they call shrink
flation, you know, when they reduce the size of the product
but sell it at the same price. So also the supermarkets could
easily push the sale of cheaper lab grown highly processed
artificial meat. And I think they will with real
meat being priced out of the supermarket.
What a great opportunity to replace it with all these
meatless products. Supermarkets are profit driven
and alternative proteins offer lower production volatility and
higher margins and and they also appeal to the ESG investors and
net 0 agendas which are being pushed by the UN.
So we've got all these these agendas all pushing, pushing the
meatless market, if you like. So, you know, they've got
control over, you know, food supply chains and they don't
have to deal with stubborn farmers and activists and stuff.
Now supermarkets are already subtly nudging.
They're being pressured really with ESG frameworks and
government incentives to promote sustainable proteins, which
increasingly includes, you know, lab grown, you know, insect
based or plant based substitutes.
Lab growing meat is on the horizon.
It's, it's getting regulatory approval in various markets in
the UK and that's next in line. We've got 3D printed meat.
It's in its early stages, pilot testing mostly abroad, but it's
a flashy tool for for shaping texture and and the poor product
and fake meat, obviously plant based.
It's already here in our supermarkets with products like
Beyond Porn, Vivera and it's likely to be heavily promoted if
beef beef prices stay high. And as we know, it's all part of
the UN Environment programme to fulfil the SDG goals and to, to
promote veganism. So this isn't just about price,
it's about control and reshaping the food system.
You know, high beef prices, pharma hardship, consumer
anxiety, which creates the perfect opening to push
solutions aligned with net 0 synthetic food economies and
vertical integration. That's vertical brewing.
The the UK government has allocated approximately
75,000,000 towards the development of sustainable
protein sources including Cultivate meat, insect protein,
all of that kind of, you know, meatless agenda stuff.
And to facilitate the introduction of lab growing meat
products. The Food Standard Agency has
received 1.6 million to establish efficient safety
assessment process for all these novel foods.
Meanwhile, Morrison's and other major UK supermarkets have been
closing their fresh meat and fish counters.
Morrison's announced in March 2025 that they plan to close 35
meat counters and 35 fish counters by April by the end of
April and already Tesco and Sainsbury's have have already
closed their fresh fish and meat counters.
Well, the supermarkets can continue with their meatless
agenda and pedal inferior, highly processed meat products.
I mean, uh, fake meat products. Um, but I, I think it will fail.
Um, it, you know, it really is time that we moved away from,
from the supermarkets. You know, we know that yes,
farmers are under pressure but the future depend depends on us
really. It, it presents a crucial moment
for consumers to make informed choices that support the farmers
by prioritising high welfare and socially locally sourced meat
and, you know, veg. Can you know, all those locally
sourced veg and meat products? Consumers can help sustain
British farmers and rural communities.
While the UK beef industry faces significant, significant
challenges, it's not doomed. Instead, it's, it's an
opportunity for for all of us to see it as a sector of
transition, you know, requiring the support of consumers.
And so really the answer depends on our collective choices.
We have to support our farmers. It's in our hands and it's a
perfect opportunity for people to rethink the way they buy
their food. It certainly is, particularly if
the if the price is getting closer in the supermarkets to to
good quality food that's available direct from the farms.
Thanks, Sandy and and Charles sticking with food security
then. Yeah, very closely related.
But really as Sandy articulates, the question is what is either
the response of the public or indeed government to any of
this? And this concerns what's being
referred to as a wheat strike. The farmers encouraged by the
Farming Forum to withhold wheat supplies from flour Millers,
which is being described as being likely to give rise to a
shortage of bread and other sort of bakery products in the shops.
Particularly in relation to Easter weekend coming up and of
course hot cross buns and that kind of thing.
Now I will be playing the ball and not the man, but it does
bear relation to think that the person behind this is chap
called Clive Bailey who as I say has been managing the Farming
Forum and it was he that was coordinating gatherers and
protesters in London back in November 2024 and inviting
people to register via via a digital platform.
Now, it was said at the time that the data was not being
held, but nonetheless, there seem to be a few question marks
around that. Now, another person who's been
involved in this is a chap called Ollie Harrison, just
shown there on the tweet. And obviously this has been
pushed out by some of the sort of the usual channels.
So we're just going to have a look at what he himself, Ollie
Harrison, says about the intent behind this withholding of
wheat. You might be wondering why bread
and hot cross buns are being short at shops at the moment,
and I'll tell you why. Because mill and wheat is
staying on farms, farmers that are growing milling wheat have
gone on strike. From the 1st of April they will
not be loading any trucks with milling wheat and we're probably
going to run out of flour which will result in run out of
Hoskos, Bruns and bread. So if you wonder why the shells
are empty, get on to your local MP and say you need to help
these farmers out. You can't carry on putting them
out of business. It's not good.
So yeah, if there's Russian bread and cakes and hot cross
buns, it's the politicians fault.
It's not our fault we can't carry on no longer, but we won't
be in business. No, I can't be sure exactly who
came up with the idea or indeed what sort of take up there's
been from farmers and what the effect will be either with the
Millers or with the shelves in shops and supermarkets.
But there do seem to have been a number of considerations that
that have not been taken into account.
One of which is the sort of legacy effect of the poor
harvest last year and indeed the effect of the environmental Land
Management schemes that have been introduced by the previous
Conservative government and then brought in and indeed changed
recently by the Labour government.
So we have the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board
here stating that there's likely to be an increase in imports by
13%, which equates to about 2.75 million tonnes of wheat this
year. So the point there is that in
actual fact, if it were necessary, it seems possible to
imagine that this shortfall in wheat from UK producers could
easily be augmented by imports, which of course would entirely
nullify any attempt at at protests via that.
But also it's, you know, worth pointing out this doesn't
actually affect the government, not even one bit, but it's seems
to be in direct response. What he's referring to is the
instant withdrawal of the sustainable farming incentive
SFI and the inheritance tax changes that were made in the
Autumn budget. But the the point with this is
that SFI was not a food growing scheme in the 1st place.
The the, the whole point of it was that it was supposed to take
land out of food production in order to supposedly benefit the
environment, with the effect that 107% increase in uncropped
parable land became an almost immediate consequence as the
scheme was oversubscribed, which is why it's been stopped.
So it's almost as though these people are wanting to have it
both ways by complaining about a scheme that's been stopped, but
also suggesting that food should be withheld.
So it really all is leading to the same place, which is, as he
quite rightly identifies, a food shortage.
Now, the problem with that is that it's an absolute gift to
the government because it illustrates that there is an
emergency that the government needs to take control of.
And that in itself is a problem. Now, the other thing I want to
draw attention to is Olly Harrison himself.
I've showed this before. His pinned tweet on on Twitter
is reads the number of people who've died from glyphosate
exposure in 40 years. 0. Number of people died from
consuming GMOs in 22 years, zero.
It carries on in this vein. The point is that he is very
much invested in the what's become a traditional and very
destructive form of industrial agrochemical farming.
Now, I would just like to point out that safety data sheet from
Bayer, the manufacturers of glyphosate via many of their
Roundup products is runs entirely contrary to what he
says. And I think people just really
do need to think about this. I've just drawn out a few to
humans. It causes serious eye
irritation. I mean, that frankly, be the
least of your worries. It's toxic to aquatic life with
long lasting effects. It's toxic to honey bees or
chief pollinators. And it talks about avoiding
risks to human health and the environment.
So this is not a good thing to be splashing about the place.
And if you consider that it is applied very liberally to crops
and indeed to exactly the sort of wheat he's pointing out
that's going to flour Millers, how is your body supposed to
cope with that? First of all, it's coated in a
highly toxic chemical. But secondly, that is a chemical
that the crop itself is able to withstand because of various
processes via either hybridization or gene editing
that it's it's undergone. So I think that's in relation to
human health. That is something that people
really do need to consider. On that score, the government
have just reinforced the point that they made a change to the
law in November. This is to do with birth
defects, which they say are going to be prevented by
fortifying flour with folic acid.
Now the drama with folic acid. They say here that they're going
to fortify bread with it, reducing neural tube defects by
20% in the UK. How on earth can they know that?
The answer, of course, is they can't.
The NHS here saying about folic acid.
Folic acid is available on prescription.
Your doctor will explain how often to take it.
Exactly like fluoride, it is a medication.
It therefore requires A dosage that is a appropriate to the
person taking it. So to apply it liberally or in
whatever quantity to a bread that you cannot regulate the
consumption of is reckless in the extreme and people should be
made very, very aware of that. So we've got glyphosate and
folic acid coming together also to to refer back to the state of
emergency. The govern government may easily
extract from this and therefore start to dictate in a way that
they might not be doing now. I point back to the National
Preparedness Commission, which has had specific insight into
the idea that there is going to be a food security.
Of course, we should bear in mind that food security is, is
really a completely nebulous concept anyway in terms of
national self sustainability, because we have had not really
more than about 50% capability for a long, long time, certainly
not 100% capability since the 18th century.
So, so this is sort of slightly arbitrary debating now.
I would just like you to to draw your attention in closing to a
couple of things. First of all, I, I've written an
article that's been on the UK column website for for a little
while, but suggesting really that the the chief target here
is supranational. This is exactly what Sandy has
been talking about. This is the sustainable
development goals of the United Nations and so much else
besides. But also good spectre of climate
change and of course the nonsense that's behind that.
And also, please go to the farming section on the UK column
website where there's so much more about all of this sort of
thing. Thank you, Charles, Vanessa,
let's finish off with you then and more on the Trump and
Netanyahu meeting. Don't worry about the time.
Just take your time and do it. Yes, so interesting that the
Economist has actually just very recently published an article
talking about Turkey and Israel are becoming deadly rivals in
Syria. Of course we've been talking
about that at UK column for some time now, a few months now.
How the Economist frames that. It's very much that Israel fears
that Hamas will end up in Syria and under the the umbrella of
Turkey. Turkey fears the relationship
between Israel and the Kurdish factions in the North East of
Syria, but both of them are united over the common ground of
keeping Iran and Iranian influence out of the region.
Now Netanyahu has been lobbying the US, in particular Marco
Rubio who's known to be one of the the most ardent pro Zionists
in the administration, although the entire administration I
would argue is pro Israel, pro Zionist.
So he's been regularly calling Rubio to tell him to to cancel
the sales of F30 fives to Turkey.
And I just want to roll this again the section of the press
conference between Netanyahu and and Trump where Trump covers the
Turkey issue. So let's have a look at this.
And I told the Prime Minister, I said, just baby, if you have a
problem with Turkey, I really think I'm going to be able to
work it out. And I have a very, very good
relationship with Turkey and with their leader.
And I think we'll be able to work it out.
So I hope that's not going to be a problem.
I don't think it will be a problem.
Now, with that being said, I believe it was Turkey.
And I said that to him. I said it.
I said congratulations, You've done what nobody's been able to
do in 2000 years. You've taken over Syria with
different names, but same thing I said, you've taken it over.
He's taken it over through surrogates.
He goes no, no, no, no, no, no, it was not me.
I said it was you, but that's OK.
You don't have to say, well, if sort of maybe was me, OK.
But what he did, he said, look, he's a tough guy and he's very
smart and he did something that nobody was able to do.
You know, you got to hand it to him.
Any problem that you have with Turkey I think I can solve.
Now, what's interesting here is that Trump is actually laying
the blame for the international crew that finally toppled the
Syrian government after 14 years of of regime change, which was
backed by the US, the UK, the EU, the Gulf states, Israel, and
and suddenly it all becomes Turkey's problem.
That's one aspect of this. The other thing, of course, is
that Trump is pushing for deconfliction.
In other words, I think what he's pushing for because his
attitude towards Israel, in my opinion, would be favourable to
that of his attitude towards Turkey, even though Turkey is a
NATO member state. And what's interesting is the
slight change in rhetoric from Turkey, not since the meeting,
but just leading up to that meeting.
And of course, we can assume that there were back channel
conversations going on with Turkey.
So let's have a look at what Mr Fidan, the Turkish foreign
Minister, has said. So he's basically saying the
bottom section. One by one, out of all these
capabilities that the new state can use against ISIS and other
terrorist threats. Yeah.
So, so basically, of course, what they're referring to is
Israel's bombing of the T4 airport and Palmyra and also
Hama to the South of Idlib. So they're basically making the
claim that they're only installing air defence and
military capabilities for Jolani's government in Damascus
in order to combat ISIS. Well, I mean, where if we heard
that one before and he says it again here basically.
Sorry, Mike, if you can just read that for me again, I'd
really appreciate it. Yeah, it says.
So basically what Israel is doing in Syria is not only
threatening the security of Syria, but also paving the way
for future instability of the region.
I don't think that it's good for Israel's future.
In the region. Yeah.
So again, we have here Turkey using the combating ISIS card,
which again was used for years by the West, while of course
ISIS is a proxy of the West inside Syria.
So now Turkey and Israel Mull A deconfliction line in Syria.
So again, this is post the, the, the Trump press conference.
So Trump is clearly, in my opinion, putting pressure on
Turkey to back down and basically retreat behind an
agreed line, which doesn't appear to to yet have been
finalised. But I just wanted to show here
the why this area in particular is so important.
So I've put in a circle there, basically the area that Israel
has been intensively bombing, that Turkey was planning to move
forward with air defence and military capability in order to
allegedly combat ISIS. But look how close that entire
circle of military air bases is to the potential of Israel's
expansion up that eastern corridor.
So the last thing that Israel wants is a Turkish expansionism
into that central Syrian area. And of course, again, just to
remind everybody, Israel is looking to partition Syria.
Turkey is looking to maintain a so called unified Syria under
Turkish control. And one interesting point that I
just wanted to make, this actually came out in Newsweek
and it's talking about Syria's new resistance.
There are a number of resistance factions forming in Syria since
the international coup in December last year.
But this is a fairly interesting and in depth article on the
formation of what is known as Kuli al Bas, which is
effectively claiming to represent a segment of the
population in southern Syria to combat Israeli expansionism in
the South of Syria, which of course has been ongoing since
December the 8th. So again, interesting regional
developments, but the potential for conflict to some degree
between Turkey and Israel is definitely still.
There with the US. Trump showing that he wants to
act as arbiter in that potential confrontation.
Brilliant. Thank you for that.
Well, we've got to leave it there for today and would say
thank you very much to Vanessa, Charles and Sandy for joining me
today. Thank you all for watching.
We'll be back in a few minutes for UK column news Extra if
you're AUK column member. I won't be back for two weeks
and I'm off on holiday so I hope everyone has fun while I'm away.
But join us for extra in a couple of minutes if you're a
member and we'll see you on, or at least Patrick and Charles.
We'll see you on Friday as usual.
See you then. Bye bye.