1 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:10,440 Good afternoon. It's Wednesday the 9th of July, 2 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:12,480 just after 1:00. Welcome to UK Column News. 3 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:15,360 I'm your host Mike Robinson. Joining me in the studio today 4 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:17,400 we have Charles Mallett. Welcome to the programme, 5 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:18,200 Charles. Thank you, Mike. 6 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:22,120 And by video link, we have researcher and activist Andy 7 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:25,560 Sandy Adams, Sorry, and journalist and Peace Camp Peter 8 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:27,480 Vanessa Bailey. Now, later in the programme, 9 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:30,000 Vanessa's going to be explaining Tony Blair's role in Gaza. 10 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:33,520 Sandy's going to be covering RFK's demands for wearable 11 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:35,720 health monitoring. And I'm going to be speaking to 12 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:39,360 Carl Zah about the BRICS summit. But we're going to begin today 13 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,720 with the latest on UK terror laws. 14 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:44,120 Charles. Well, we are indeed because the 15 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:47,960 designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation and 16 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,000 its prescription as such has been covered on several UK 17 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:54,440 column news programmes recently and the repercussions and 18 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,200 implications continue to deserve close scrutiny. 19 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,520 Now on Friday will from Resistance GB brought a live 20 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:09,120 report from the High Court and as seen from their website, the 21 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:14,560 court ruled against them. This is set against a backdrop 22 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:20,320 of a statement from Downing St to mark the 20th anniversary of 23 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:24,320 77 shown under the counterterrorism section on the 24 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:27,720 government website. Keir Starmer said those who 25 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:31,160 tried to divide us failed. We stood together then and we 26 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:35,040 stand together now against hate and for the values that define 27 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,400 us of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. 28 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:42,320 End Quote. It's on this issue of the rule 29 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:45,880 of law that the actions must be examined and the specific 30 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:50,080 petition to the High Court was for interim relief in order that 31 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:52,840 Palestine action is not prescribed with immediate effect 32 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,960 whilst A substantive claim against the prescription goes 33 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:58,680 through. Mr Justice Chamberlain concluded 34 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:02,560 quote, that the harm which would ensue if interim relief is 35 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,320 refused but the claim is late, the claim later succeeds is 36 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:09,440 insufficient to outweigh the strong public interest in 37 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:12,440 maintaining the order in force. End Quote. 38 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,280 So in suggesting that there is a public interest case to the 39 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:18,280 immediate prescription of Palestine action, Martin 40 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,080 Chamberlain gives a good insight into his perspective and his 41 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,560 understanding of the situation. The judgement quotes some of the 42 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,920 claimants evidence in which it's stated that the main target of 43 00:02:27,920 --> 00:02:32,720 PA has been stopping Elbit Systems and in square brackets 44 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,640 after the word Elbit Systems it says it is a defence company 45 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:40,960 which is said to to supply the Israeli government. 46 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:44,600 Now that absolutely suggests that it might not do so, but one 47 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,000 glance at the Elbit website will lead you to the recent 48 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:50,520 announcement that Israel has recently bought $130 million 49 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:52,560 worth of communications equipment. 50 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,840 And if you read on you'll find that Elbit refers to itself as 51 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,600 powering the future of UK defence. 52 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,480 Of course for defence read war and this is where the government 53 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:03,280 should of course run into trouble. 54 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:07,720 Now, as referenced by Patrick on Friday, the United Nations 55 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:11,760 weighed in on the 1st of stating that while there is no binding 56 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,840 definition of terrorism in international law, best practise 57 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:19,640 international standards limit terrorism to criminal acts 58 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:23,840 intended to cause death, serious personal injury or hostage 59 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:27,600 taking in order to intimidate a population or compel a 60 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:32,600 government or an international organisation to do or abstain 61 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:34,520 from doing any act. End Quote. 62 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,160 The UN said that they'd been in touch with the British 63 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:39,600 government on this issue and I've requested a copy of the 64 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:41,480 response from the Home Secretary. 65 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,880 None has come so far. Of the very many 66 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,960 inconsistencies, some of which were brought out in the George 67 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:51,560 Monbiot video clip from Monday's programme, a significant one is 68 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,840 whether issue driven criminal damage is always viewed in the 69 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:58,400 same light. And in 2023, seven members of 70 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:01,640 Extinction Rebellion were given suspended sentences in order to 71 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:06,160 pay just £500 each after causing £100,000 worth of damage to 72 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,000 Barclays Bank. And as the BBC reported at the 73 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,560 time, quote, they argued during the trial that Barclays staff 74 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,079 would have consented to the damage if they were fully 75 00:04:17,079 --> 00:04:19,680 informed about the climate crisis. 76 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:23,200 Now, when it comes to international humanitarian law, 77 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:25,160 the outcomes seem rather different. 78 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:30,680 In October 2023, a reminder that Israel's then defence minister 79 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:35,080 Yoav Gallant said, I have ordered a complete siege, sorry, 80 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:37,240 a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. 81 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,960 There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel. 82 00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:44,000 Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals 83 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:46,320 and we act accordingly. End Quote. 84 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:50,360 Now, this is not isolated with examples here cited by the Times 85 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,920 of Israel and Human Rights Watch, and indeed it's been a 86 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:56,760 persistent theme. The Geneva Conventions, of 87 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:58,080 course, are very clear about this. 88 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:03,240 Rule 53 prohibits specifically the use of starvation as a 89 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,720 method of warfare, making any such action a war crime. 90 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:09,640 Now the reason that this is important and that it bears 91 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,760 direct relation to the direction given by the Home Secretary and 92 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:17,080 the judgement formed by Martin Chamberlain is that the 93 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:21,360 International Criminal Court Act of 2001 implicates the British 94 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,280 state and those who are supposed to run it. 95 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:27,840 Because section 51 of the ACT makes it clear that quote, it is 96 00:05:27,840 --> 00:05:31,360 an offence against the law of England and Wales for a person 97 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:35,120 to commit genocide, a crime against humanity or a war crime. 98 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:39,280 And it's section 52 which goes on to say that section that 99 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,400 conduct and ancillary to genocide committed outside 100 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,520 jurisdiction. And this section goes on to say 101 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:49,640 that it's an offence against the law of England and Wales for a 102 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:53,920 person to engage in conduct ancillary to an Act to which 103 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:56,720 this section applies. So in other words, any 104 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,760 suggestion the British government is facilitating any 105 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:03,680 unlawful activities by the State of Israel would constitute a 106 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:07,520 criminal offence. And since the 7th of October 107 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:11,720 2023, whilst the government has maintained that it's provided no 108 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:16,760 lethal aid to Israel with regard to Palestine action, it could 109 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:20,160 absolutely be argued that by permitting Elbit Systems to 110 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:23,240 operate within the UK, the government is therefore 111 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:28,280 conducting activities ancillary to genocide, crimes against 112 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:31,400 humanity and war crimes. So much for the rule of law, one 113 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:35,960 might say. Now, on a much related note, the 114 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:40,840 lockdown dividend continues to pay out, this time in Part 1 of 115 00:06:40,840 --> 00:06:43,880 the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, which has been 116 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:48,400 pulled together by Lord Leveson. In prioritising the saving of 117 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,360 time over justice running it's proper course, this report 118 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:56,040 advocates for the further marginalisation of jury trials 119 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:01,120 and states quote data analysis and modelling suggests that 120 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:04,840 Crown Court trials conducted by a judge sitting with magistrates 121 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:10,080 but without a jury would save 20% of Crown Court sitting time. 122 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,000 Now this document was only published today and there will 123 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:17,640 be much more to bring out, but to close out this report I would 124 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:21,720 urge you to watch or to listen to a pair of highly informative 125 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:25,240 and empowering videos which are on the UK Column website. 126 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:29,560 Firstly, the principles of tax rebellion as articulated by 127 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:33,520 Chris Coverdale and secondly, Ben Rubin's recent discussion on 128 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:36,320 the natural order and foundations of the Constitution 129 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:40,040 with Will Keat. Therein lies an abundance of 130 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:42,440 absolutely critical knowledge in both. 131 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,560 And I think we've probably got a bit of time for some comment 132 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:51,360 from Vanessa on on this issue. I mean, Vanessa, any thoughts on 133 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:55,160 the the incredible raft of of inconsistencies and where this 134 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:58,000 looks like it's going with with regard to Palestine action? 135 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:04,160 Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'll discuss this in both of my reports 136 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:05,600 today. But the fact that the British 137 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:10,880 government is clearly complicit both in genocide in Palestine, 138 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:15,440 the action that's being taken against the resistance in 139 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:19,640 Lebanon, and of course the fracturing and devastation in 140 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,840 Syria, and have been pointing the fingers at a small 141 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:26,200 grassroots group that is trying to prevent genocide. 142 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:28,720 It's it's insane. And of course, that is what the 143 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:32,720 West has done also with Yemen. Yemen is effectively preventing 144 00:08:32,919 --> 00:08:37,080 or attempting to prevent the genocide in Gaza, and it is 145 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:39,919 literally being bombed for its efforts. 146 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:45,520 So no great surprises. Well, Vanessa, let's move on to 147 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,000 Gaza then. And well, the Financial Times 148 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,880 had an article recently which gave the tip off that Tony Blair 149 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:55,160 in fact was involved in certain decision made making around 150 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:56,840 Gaza. Give us the details. 151 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,000 Yeah. I mean, we'll have to talk more 152 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,920 about it and extra, but I've taken out some of the most 153 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:06,680 pertinent points. So this was an article in the 154 00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:11,080 Financial Times which has been picked up by many people and 155 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:15,040 distributed across social media. Tony Blair staff. 156 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:18,760 So that's the Tony Blair Global Institute took part in the Gaza 157 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:22,400 Riviera project. Now of course this so called 158 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:28,480 Riviera project goes way back and we reported back in May 2024 159 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:32,960 on a report that was published by Wynette in Hebrew media. 160 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:35,680 That's why this translation is not perfect. 161 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,920 Gaza 2020. Sorry, 2035 exposed. 162 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:43,440 This is the utopian they describe it As for Palestinians, 163 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:48,160 dystopian vision for the strip, which is being examined in 164 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:52,120 Netanyahu's office. And then if you remember the 165 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:58,160 images that we showed from that report on UK column in May 2024, 166 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:03,600 this was one of the images what I call the Dubai ization of 167 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:08,360 Gaza, the eradication of Palestinian history and identity 168 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:12,600 and the replacement of it with these hideous Dubai style 169 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,400 scapes. And then this is one of the 170 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:20,360 slides from the presentation that the Financial Times has 171 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:24,400 exposed where you can actually see the exact same image. 172 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:28,600 So this is not new information. What's kind of interesting is 173 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:32,200 the Tony Blair Institute and the Boston Consulting Group are 174 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:36,600 trying desperately to distance themselves from the report. 175 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:41,200 They were caught out by being included on 12 people chats, on 176 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:44,600 messaging and so on. And and to a degree, they had to 177 00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:50,280 admit that they had presented information for consideration in 178 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:53,960 the final project. And this is basically what it 179 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:59,400 says in the Financial Times. One lengthy document on post war 180 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,840 Gaza written by a TBI staff member was shared within the 181 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:06,560 group for consideration. This included the idea of Gaza 182 00:11:06,560 --> 00:11:10,040 Riviera, which of course originated with President Trump, 183 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,760 with artificial islands off the coast akin to those in Dubai. 184 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:17,640 Blockchain based trade initiatives, a deep water port 185 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:22,000 to the Gaza intro into the Indian Middle East Economic 186 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:24,400 corridor and low tax special economic zones. 187 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:27,960 The document said the devastating war in Gaza had 188 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:31,760 created a once in a century opportunity to rebuild Gaza from 189 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:35,320 first principle. So a genocide offers once in a 190 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:40,560 century opportunity to to basically land grab again in 191 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:43,960 Palestine. Then who was actually involved 192 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:46,240 in this? The group of Israeli businessmen 193 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:50,400 behind the project, including tech investor Lehren Thanaman 194 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:54,560 and venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg, who had earlier 195 00:11:54,560 --> 00:11:58,440 sketched out and helped set up the Gaza Humanitarian 196 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:04,080 Foundation, which of course has been run by American of private 197 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:08,200 military contractors like Phil Riley, who met with Tony Blair 198 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:12,360 in March in London to to discuss the project. 199 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:15,520 And of course, GHF has been responsible for many of the 200 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:20,440 massacres of Palestinians in Gaza heading to try and secure 201 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:24,160 aid for their starving families. Q Charles comment about 202 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:28,840 starvation being used as warfare is of course illegal under any 203 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:31,080 kind of humanitarian law conventions. 204 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:35,160 Now, Phil Riley heads up SRS safe reach solutions. 205 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:38,360 Again, we've pointed this organisation out on UK column. 206 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,680 He's a former CIA paramilitary, was one of the first Americans 207 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:47,480 to enter Afghanistan post 911. So that gives you some idea of 208 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:51,400 his background. And then I just wanted to show 209 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,680 this. So back in May 2024, we reported 210 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:59,760 on this project, which was given then the name of From Crisis to 211 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:03,720 Prosperity, transformation of Gaza from an Iranian shrine to a 212 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:06,880 moderate axis. And now it's been the great 213 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:09,760 trust from a demolished Iranian proxy. 214 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:13,320 So that's wishful thinking on their behalf to a prosperous 215 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:16,800 Abrahamic ally, of course, harking back to the Abraham 216 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:20,880 Accords, which again were established by President Trump's 217 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:24,080 son in law, Jared Kushner under Trump's first administration. 218 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:28,080 And apparently the great stands for Gaza Reconstruction, 219 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:31,880 Economic Acceleration and transformation. 220 00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:34,800 I'm sure that makes you feel a whole lot better. 221 00:13:35,680 --> 00:13:40,000 But when we look at 2 into the details on the project, let's 222 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:44,200 have a look at this one section. It envisaged all Gaza's public 223 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:48,560 land being put into a trust for development, whose assets could 224 00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:53,280 be sold to investors via digital tokens traded on a blockchain. 225 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:56,360 Gazans would be offered the chance to contribute their 226 00:13:56,360 --> 00:14:02,160 privately owned land to the trust in return for a token that 227 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:04,840 gave them the right to a permanent housing unit. 228 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:06,440 I mean, this is quite extraordinary. 229 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:11,960 It's absolutely twisted. Land theft and and home theft 230 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:16,520 yet again from the Palestinians. So I also wanted to demonstrate 231 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:20,920 how this road map to genocide didn't begin with one president 232 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:23,840 or the other. This has been in the works for 233 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:29,920 decades and this road map has been, let's say each president 234 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:33,360 has played a role from 2016 to 2020. 235 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:37,560 Trump proposes the economic zone project for Gaza, which was, as 236 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:40,640 I said, he brought in the Abraham Accords. 237 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:45,560 Joe Biden enabled the genocide post October the 7th supplying 238 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:50,760 weapons and of course apologism for the Zionist genocide as 239 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:55,480 March 2024 the Wynette report before US election. 240 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:58,360 So this is basically before Trump had been elected in 241 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:03,800 November 2024. February 2025, Gump said Trump 242 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:07,200 sorry, said Gaza should be emptied of Palestinians to make 243 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:09,640 way for the Riviera of the Middle East. 244 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:13,200 And now the FT. The slide deck was an economic 245 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,360 exploration of the ideas brought by President Trump. 246 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:20,600 So clearly Trump was involved in this from day one, so from his 247 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:24,960 first administration in 2016. And I don't know if you're going 248 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,920 to be able to see clearly on this map, but you can freeze 249 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:32,560 frame it and and zoom in. But basically you see that there 250 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:40,040 is the Elon Musk section, there is huge investment in the 251 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:43,760 reconstruction by the Arab League that has been proposed by 252 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:45,960 Egypt. Of course, Egypt has has 253 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:50,600 partnered Israel in the so called reconstruction of Gaza in 254 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:57,000 the past and must be seen as a partner in the genocide in Gaza. 255 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:01,720 But those others that are involved are Tesla, Amazon, 256 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:08,320 IKEA, the hotel chain IHG, US industry is apparently going to 257 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:14,360 have access to 1.3 trillion rare earth minerals in the Gulf from 258 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:18,560 this free trade zone, which is basically western Saudi Arabia. 259 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:23,800 And they claim that 25% of Gazans are going to be 260 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:28,880 encouraged to leave. So that is roughly 500,000. 261 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:32,720 Half a million Gazans are going to be forced out, but others 262 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:35,360 that remain, of course, are going to be expected to live 263 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:39,560 inside very much reduced concentration camps within what 264 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:43,640 is left of the territory inside the Gaza Strip that they can 265 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:46,720 inhabit. And of course, if people want to 266 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:52,280 remind themselves of Blair's role in the region, do you have 267 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:56,160 a read of the Blair Bush Project in Syria that brought al Qaeda 268 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,120 to power? But Blair has played a role in 269 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:04,240 the Middle East and in the maintenance of the Sykes Picot 270 00:17:04,319 --> 00:17:08,640 borders and the devastation of the region from the beginning, 271 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,319 and of course, Iraq. Yes, thank you, Vanessa. 272 00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:15,720 And we just say the Blair Brusch Project article is on the UK 273 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,040 column website. So, so go and read that. 274 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:20,599 Yeah, thank you very much for that. 275 00:17:20,599 --> 00:17:24,720 Now the BRICS Summit, let's move on to that, has been taking 276 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:28,000 place over the past few days in Brazil. 277 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:31,920 Member states adopted a long list of commitments covering 278 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:36,080 global governance, finance, health, AI and climate change. 279 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:38,880 Of course, whether they are actually, you know, think of 280 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:41,320 climate change in the same way we do, Well, maybe Carl can give 281 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:44,960 us a clue in a minute. But for most of the Western 282 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:47,600 mainstream media at least, the summit was what they described 283 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:51,000 as a lacklustre affair. They highlight that neither Xi 284 00:17:51,120 --> 00:17:53,280 Jinping nor Vladimir Putin were there, although they 285 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:54,960 acknowledged this is for different reasons. 286 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,600 And of course, the continuing schizophrenic relationship with 287 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:00,480 Trump continues. That's the schizophrenic 288 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,040 relationship between the Midwestern media and Trump. 289 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:06,480 That is because as the mainstream press applauded 290 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:10,280 Trump's comments on social media, his comments were saying 291 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,080 that any country aligning themselves with anti American 292 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,720 policies of BRICS will be charged an additional 10% 293 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,040 tariff. There'll be no exceptions to 294 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:22,840 this policy. So this was sort of the the 295 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:25,960 backdrop to all this. But in the meantime, in his 296 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,880 keynote speech, the Brazilian President, Lula da Silva, Silva, 297 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:32,200 sorry, spoke about an unprecedented collapse of 298 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:36,840 multilateralism and that as a result of that, BRICS nations 299 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,680 autonomy is at risk. And he described international 300 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:43,360 law as a dead letter. I think that's not just 301 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:45,920 international law, as Charles was talking about a few seconds 302 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:48,600 ago, domestic law in the UK at least. 303 00:18:49,120 --> 00:18:54,160 He went on to warn of the war dangers, of course. 304 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:59,240 But some of the key takeaways from the summit include the key, 305 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:02,440 the the continuing de dollarisation Dr of course, of 306 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:06,680 course, tariffs that we've just mentioned and also condemnation 307 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:11,240 of Israel. So to talk about the the summit, 308 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:13,600 well, just before we do that, let's let's just bring a final 309 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:18,000 comment from de Silva on screen, because he said we cannot remain 310 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,760 indifferent to the genocide practised by Israel in Gaza and 311 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:24,800 the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians and the use 312 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:29,720 of hunger as a weapon of war. So to to talk about this, let me 313 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:32,520 welcome Carl Zarr on the programme. 314 00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:35,080 Carl, it's been a while since you've been on, but I mean, what 315 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:37,920 were your thoughts on the on the summit? 316 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:42,680 Was it a lacklustre affair as as the Western media that likes to 317 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:47,840 portray it? Well, I think what Brazilian 318 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:51,080 President Lula has said at the BRICS summit clearly triggered 319 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:55,440 Trump because Trump made a statement saying he will levy 320 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:57,920 10% tariff against all BRICS members. 321 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:02,240 That the the the triggering comment by Lula. 322 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:05,960 He said there is a clear need for new trade currency. 323 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:12,200 Otherwise, we're gonna end 21st century the same way as we start 324 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:14,760 the 20th century. It's pretty ominous warning 325 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,720 because we all know what happened, what kicked off the 326 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:24,040 20th century and what he did actually did not name the US 327 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:28,480 dollar, but everybody understood he was referencing U.S. dollar 328 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:30,320 and the need for the dollarization. 329 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:35,160 And Trump immediately responded by saying that's a anti American 330 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,600 move. And he said the Brexit is trying 331 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:43,760 to degenerate U.S. dollars as a standard and anybody who tried 332 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:48,160 to remove U.S. dollar as a standard will be resolutely 333 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:51,320 opposed by United States. And his solution is levy 10% 334 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:54,520 tariff against all members of the BRIC state. 335 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:59,280 And to which Lula responded that this is completely ridiculous 336 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:02,760 that a President of the United States will make such public 337 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:07,240 threat on the Internet. And we do not need emperor. 338 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:10,760 We are all sovereign country. If we use slap tariff against 339 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:15,720 us, we will impose tariff back. I think a lot of the the Trump 340 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,880 talk, I mean, Trump also said he thought the BRICS was falling 341 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,240 apart. He said the BRICS was becoming 342 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:25,800 irrelevant and which contradict why he need to make a statement 343 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:29,840 irrelevant organisation. And that, you know, the, the 344 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:34,960 need for the dollarization is, is pretty obvious for all who 345 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:36,840 have their eyes open at this moment. 346 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:42,160 And the Russian finance minister actually made a specific comment 347 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:46,200 that the BRICS banks, the BRICS new Development Bank, should 348 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:50,480 develop a new mechanism for settling cross border trade to 349 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,160 replace SWIFT. You know, as we all know, Russia 350 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:56,360 got kicked off the SWIFT system as a result of the Ukraine war. 351 00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:02,720 This is what threatened the Usus hold on the global finances. 352 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,920 You know, just there, there right now, there's three main 353 00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:10,480 pillars of US hegemony over the world as the military, finance 354 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,840 and tech. And finance is the one that the 355 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:19,000 United States has been weaponizing to, to to throw our 356 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,680 sanctions all around the world, particularly most recently 357 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:26,320 targeting Russia and China. So of course, BRICS members 358 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:30,600 going to come together to to find out alternative. 359 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:36,200 And this is going to happen no matter how, how Trump will 360 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:38,760 react. You know, I, I, I don't think 361 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:42,800 Trump is actually serious about slapping 10% tariff against all 362 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:46,320 BRICS members because he just tried that a couple months ago. 363 00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:48,720 That didn't work out very well. In the end. 364 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:53,320 You had to come to the table with the, with the Chinese to 365 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:56,320 put a, put a pause on that. You know, right now we're 366 00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:00,600 officially on still on 90 days pause on all tariffs against, 367 00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:04,280 against the different countries and, and, and judge him by 368 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:06,360 Trump's record. You know, he said he was going 369 00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:09,600 to ban TikTok. He just extended the 90 days 370 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:14,160 extension for TikTok again. So I, I'm pretty sure we're 371 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:18,280 going to see the, you know, Trump is now famously known as 372 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:23,640 Taco in United States. You know, Trump always Trump, 373 00:23:23,640 --> 00:23:28,080 Trump will always cop out. And I think that's that's going 374 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,840 to happen here as well. You said yesterday you said that 375 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:34,760 Trump was basically saying that BRICS is falling apart. 376 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,520 Actually, this is a narrative that was running through just 377 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:40,240 about all the mainstream media coverage that I saw of it. 378 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:44,680 And I mean, I don't know what the expectation was for this 379 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:51,160 summit, but I mean, every summit can't be necessarily producing 380 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:55,680 massive headlines that at some point actual work has to be done 381 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:58,240 so that. So the question is, is, is it 382 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:02,760 the, the lack of of sort of exciting news from the from the 383 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:05,360 event which has caused these headlines? 384 00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:08,400 Or is it just the fact that that the Western media is attempting 385 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,360 to to to drive wedges if possible? 386 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:16,440 Well, see, the problem is, you know, the, the, the so called, 387 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:19,800 there's a narrative about BRICS fall apart. 388 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:22,960 This is just part of the, the, the media propaganda. 389 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,360 The problem with the, the US ruling elite is they start to 390 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:29,840 imbibe their own propaganda. I, I generally believe that 391 00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:31,920 Trump actually believe BRICS is falling apart. 392 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:36,240 I mean, they're they're reasons for for Vladimir Putin not 393 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:41,240 attending the BRICS summit because unlike the Western 394 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:46,120 alliance, the the BRICS members actually follow adhere to the 395 00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:49,240 international law. It's because there's an ICC 396 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:54,720 warrant out for for Putin. That's why not like he wouldn't 397 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:59,240 go to South Africa or Brazil. This is in sharp contrast to 398 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:02,440 Netanyahu, who is flying around the world right now. 399 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:08,120 And he was just in Washington nominating Trump for Nobel Peace 400 00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:10,600 Prize. I mean, satire is dead. 401 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:14,880 And this is a but the but the bricks. 402 00:25:15,120 --> 00:25:17,280 What what? You know, Confucius says, you 403 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:19,960 know, listen to 1's words, but watch their action. 404 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:26,600 What right now BRICS just expanded to a 21 member club. 405 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:31,840 And, and in aggregate, BRICS is actually larger in both in the 406 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:39,040 economic size, population and hold of hydrocarbons than G20 407 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:41,120 countries. There's a lot of oil producing 408 00:25:41,120 --> 00:25:44,960 country in BRICS right now. There's and and, and in 409 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:49,480 population. BRICS have China, India, that's 410 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:54,720 half of the world's population. And the BRICS economy in the PPP 411 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:58,520 terms, power purchase parity terms, it's much larger than the 412 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:00,960 G7 country. It's it's, I would argue it's 413 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:04,000 the G7 country that's becoming increasingly more irrelevant. 414 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:10,920 The just in the last minute or two, Carl, on this topic, what 415 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:13,720 are your thoughts about? Because every time there's a 416 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:17,960 communique from organisations like the BRICS, we see the same 417 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:22,000 type of internationalist language about sustainability 418 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,920 and so on. But as you've just said, they 419 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,680 continue to use hydrocarbons as if they're going out of fashion. 420 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:30,240 So. So there seems to be a disparity 421 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,960 between the words and the actions as citing Confucius 422 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:40,080 again. Well, actually, the the BRICS 423 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:47,000 members, they do have their own reasons for promoting renewable 424 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,800 energy. You know, United States, for 425 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:54,600 one, has repeatedly said threatened to choke off energy 426 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:58,000 supplies to the BRICS member nations, particularly against 427 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:02,840 China, that the US Navy make no secret that they see the streets 428 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:06,400 of Malacca as a choking point to choke off Chinese energy 429 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:08,640 supplies coming from Middle East and Africa. 430 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:14,240 This is why China has been invested in renewable in a major 431 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,560 way. It's not, I mean, environmental 432 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,400 issue may be a consideration, but really it's about national 433 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:24,480 security. You know, by investing into wind 434 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:30,760 solar, China will reduce its reliance on imported oil and and 435 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:35,040 makes them less vulnerable to any kind of U.S. 436 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:37,400 Navy blockade of their energy supplies. 437 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:42,040 And that this is, you know, China actually just did a solar 438 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:46,720 roll out for Cuba, you know, because Cuba was under sanction 439 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:49,640 of United States. And in that way, it helps Cuba 440 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:53,680 to achieve energy independence. So I mean there's more strategic 441 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:57,680 considerations in BRICS push for renewables. 442 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:00,040 Carl, thank you very much for that. 443 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:01,720 It's very interesting. Yeah, we'll talk about more, 444 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:03,960 more about that and extra, I have no doubt. 445 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,040 But thank you. For now, Sandy, let's welcome 446 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,560 you to the programme. And we're back to the UK and 447 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,640 well actually back to the United States initially at least. 448 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:17,880 But but it's broader than AUS thing, the issue of wearables 449 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:20,400 and health. Yeah. 450 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:22,000 Thank you, Mike. Mike and Charles. 451 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:25,960 Well, today in both my contributions to the show, I'll 452 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:29,360 be dealing with data and in view of the UK Government's Data 453 00:28:29,360 --> 00:28:32,960 Usage and Access Bill, we'll see the use of our data rolling out 454 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:37,840 literally globally as theft. In my view, we'll see, you know, 455 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:41,280 the, the especially in light of the recent news that newborns 456 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:45,440 will have their data, their DNA samples taken at birth. 457 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:48,480 This is something that we've really got to be aware of and 458 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:52,480 looking at how literally our data is being being stolen from 459 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:55,440 us now. Robert F Kennedy, Junior 460 00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:59,400 Secretary of Health and Human Services, announced this week to 461 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:03,680 a congressional hearing on June the 24th last week that his 462 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:07,440 department would be launching a huge advertising campaign to get 463 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:11,600 Americans to strap on wearables, medical devices that measure and 464 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:15,040 track various biometric signs, including blood pressure, blood 465 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:19,680 sugar, heart rate, sleep cycles, exercise, and other essential 466 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:24,760 indicators of health. So he stated that we think that 467 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:28,760 wearables are a key to the Maha agenda, referring to his Make 468 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:34,280 America Healthy Again campaign. My vision is that every American 469 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:38,080 is is wearing a wearable within four years. 470 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:42,960 So I've got a clip here of, of of what he said last week. 471 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:47,640 So let's have a look at that. We're about to launch one of the 472 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:51,520 biggest advertising campaigns in HHS history. 473 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:55,760 We encourage Americans to use wearables. 474 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:59,880 It's a way of people can take control of their own health. 475 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:05,160 They can take responsibility. They can see, as, you know, what 476 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,320 food is doing to their glucose levels, their heart rates and a 477 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:10,440 number of other metrics as they eat it. 478 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:14,600 And they can begin to make good judgments about their diet, 479 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,880 about their physical activity, about the way that they live 480 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:22,200 their lives. We think that wearables are a 481 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,640 key to the Maha agenda, making America healthy again. 482 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:30,320 And we are going to my, my vision is that every American is 483 00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:32,320 wearing a wearable within four years. 484 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:40,160 So, so this is, this is being sold to us really as, as 485 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:42,320 something that that is a benefit to us. 486 00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:45,200 But actually there is another agenda at play here. 487 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:48,920 And as we know, it's about data. Wearables, as I'm sure you know, 488 00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:51,240 are transmitters and receivers that track your steps and 489 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:53,960 identify your location. In addition to transmitting 490 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:57,040 one's location and various gathered information, a wearable 491 00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:59,040 can receive information and directions. 492 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:03,400 They can also, of course, sync with NHS and other government 493 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,360 digital systems. Historically, this has been 494 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,880 contentious as information collected in Afghanistan fell 495 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:13,280 into the wrong hands when biometric data systems were left 496 00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:16,760 behind by Western forces between 2011 and 2021. 497 00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:21,800 By 2011, around 4.8 million biometric records of people in 498 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:25,320 Afghanistan and Iraq were held by the Department of Defence. 499 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:28,960 The information could be used to track enemies and to target them 500 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:32,040 for drone attacks and other forms of welfare actions. 501 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:36,640 The result was that data was collected on over 80,080% sorry 502 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,560 of Afghan citizens. Collection of data on each 503 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:45,040 person included up to 40 or more items including basics like 504 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:49,240 name, place of birth, personal ID, Social Security numbers in 505 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:53,200 the US addresses, skills training, workplace, as well as 506 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:57,320 what has been called a genealogy of community connections. 507 00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:01,840 And this is something that some of these apps actually focus on 508 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:05,880 is community relations. And it's, uh, you know, 509 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:09,440 comprised of relationships and family connections and friends 510 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,480 connections. Additionally, actual biometrics 511 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:15,400 such as an iris scan, fingerprints and facial images 512 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,800 are gathered. So this is really quite 513 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,440 concerning. Now there's a, a man called 514 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:26,040 Welton Chang, who is, he's the technology of technology officer 515 00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:30,600 of Human Rights 1st. And he's, he's, he's, he said, I 516 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:34,120 don't think anyone ever thought about data privacy or what to do 517 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:37,840 in the event of the biometric system if it fell into the wrong 518 00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:41,000 hands. So you know, this is something 519 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:46,720 that has been looked at by by the military and and we see that 520 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:52,680 Strava is is a worldwide app well known for tracking as it's 521 00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:55,600 become an iconic name in the fitness industry, symbolising 522 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:59,480 both individual progress and collective support among sports 523 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,320 enthusiasts. It logs physical activities, 524 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:07,320 primarily running, walking and cycling on in Garmin Watches 525 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:10,200 Apple Watch, which apparently they've stated they don't track 526 00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:15,680 your data Fitbits or a ring whoop Polar and it collects GPS 527 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:19,600 locations, heart rate, sleep cycles, stress levels, training 528 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:23,600 load, even menstrual cycles. It also has the ability to nudge 529 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:27,320 you into certain behaviours as some people sleep with them 530 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:31,440 whilst they're on. So Strava released its global 531 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:35,840 heatmap of over 13 trillion GPS points from its users as an 532 00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:39,320 advertising campaign in 2017 on its website. 533 00:33:39,320 --> 00:33:42,720 The heatmap shows blue or red depicting the routes taken while 534 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:46,600 using a Strava biometric device. It was meant to demonstrate how 535 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:50,560 many individuals were using the Strava devices as they went 536 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:52,920 about their daily lives and their exercise routine. 537 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:56,200 But on these, I don't know whether you can see them on, on 538 00:33:56,200 --> 00:34:01,880 this, on this, this, this visual, but it, you know, it 539 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,960 shows you that when the map is enlarged, the actual exercise 540 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:09,239 routes can be seen by both foot and bike, where routes are, um, 541 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,880 often trace Rd patterns. So, you know, this is really 542 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:15,880 tracking, tracking and tracing the human being. 543 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:19,719 It turns out that the map exposed clusters of high 544 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:23,000 exercise activity taking place around the world, including at 545 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:26,440 military bases of various nations, exposing huge security 546 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:30,000 risks to many nations. And when the heat map map was 547 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:35,199 released, as you can see these comments on on X, you know, so 548 00:34:35,199 --> 00:34:38,120 many nations when the heat map was released, Internet users had 549 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:41,880 a field day comparing notes on military bases and activity they 550 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:43,880 were locating around the world. World. 551 00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:47,040 Everybody got the treatment, not just the US and Russia. 552 00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:50,560 New bases were discovered or confirmed in North Korea, China, 553 00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:53,239 Turkey, Iran, Australia, UK and others. 554 00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:59,960 So let's see what the WEF advisor to Klaus Schwab, Yuval 555 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:03,560 Noah Harari has to say about wearable devices because this is 556 00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:05,880 where it's going. If we could just look at that 557 00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:06,960 clip. Thank you. 558 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:13,720 Just imagine North Korea in 20 years when everybody has to wear 559 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:18,240 a biometric bracelet which constantly monitors your blood 560 00:35:18,240 --> 00:35:22,320 pressure, your heart rate, your brain activity 24 hours a day. 561 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:27,040 You listen to a speech on the radio by the great leader and 562 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:29,000 they know what you actually feel. 563 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:32,720 You can clap your hands and smile, but if you're angry, they 564 00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:34,800 know you'll be in the gulag tomorrow morning. 565 00:35:36,720 --> 00:35:40,880 And if we allow the emergence of such total surveillance regimes, 566 00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:45,040 don't think that the rich and powerful in places like Davos 567 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:48,360 will be safe. Just ask Jeff Bezos. 568 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:54,400 In Stalin's USSR, the state monitored members of the 569 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:57,240 communist elite more than anyone else. 570 00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:02,360 The same will be true of future total surveillance regimes. 571 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:07,600 The higher you are in the hierarchy, the more closely you 572 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:11,800 will be watched. Do you want your CEO or your 573 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,680 president to know what you really think about them? 574 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:21,120 So it in the interest of all humans, including the elites, to 575 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:24,840 prevent the rise of such digital dictatorships. 576 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:31,520 So it's it's obvious that whilst people are happily wearing these 577 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,120 devices to improve and monitor their fitness, and Robert 578 00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:38,320 Kennedy's encouraging them to do so, their data can be harvested, 579 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:41,120 sold onto third parties and potentially used against them. 580 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:44,440 You know, if it can track your heartbeat, your ovulation, your 581 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:48,360 stress and location, you know, this could be used against you 582 00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:51,080 in a world where compliance is the currency. 583 00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:55,800 So yeah, we just need to be really careful and and be aware 584 00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:57,920 and don't, don't wear these things. 585 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:00,360 Thank you. Thank you. 586 00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:02,920 Sandy. Uh, just to clarify what you 587 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:06,080 said on Apple, what Apple claims is, is that the data that's 588 00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:09,680 collected wearing an Apple Watch or whatever is not shared with 589 00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:11,360 third parties. It stays on device. 590 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:14,240 So whether you believe that or not is something else, but 591 00:37:14,240 --> 00:37:16,320 that's, that's what they what they claim. 592 00:37:16,720 --> 00:37:19,360 OK, Now if you like what the UK column does and you would like 593 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:22,360 to support us, we do need your financial support. 594 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:25,120 And again, thank you to everybody that that continues to 595 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,440 support us. But if you look on the front 596 00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:30,680 page there, there's a a link for you to get take you to the page 597 00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:32,680 which describes how you can support us. 598 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:37,520 Please do so if you'd like to. Now tonight at 7:00 PM, Jerome 599 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:40,680 is going to be speaking to Mark Devlin on the hidden agendas in 600 00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:43,280 the music industry. Undoubtedly going to be a 601 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:48,040 fantastic interview yet again. Yesterday's interview with 602 00:37:48,240 --> 00:37:53,280 Eugenie Varney, who's a former journalist on what she remembers 603 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:57,000 about journalism is on the UK Column website if you'd like to 604 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:01,680 watch it on demand. And tomorrow at 1:00 PM, Ben 605 00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:02,840 will be speaking to Michael Yeon. 606 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:05,520 Now this is going to be quite a wide ranging conversation, but 607 00:38:05,720 --> 00:38:10,080 certainly migration is going to be featured front and centre on 608 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:13,400 it. And then another reminder of the 609 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:17,000 UK Column on location event Saturday the 18th of October 610 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:21,520 2025 in New York. Please do keep that date in your 611 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:23,360 diary. Tickets will be going on sale 612 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:25,760 very soon and we will have announcements about speakers 613 00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:28,840 very shortly. So keep that date for your 614 00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:32,000 diary. And that's that's going to be a 615 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,000 fun event. Absolutely is. 616 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:36,760 It'll be the big thing that you do in the autumn. 617 00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:38,960 We'll see you there. Absolutely. 618 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:43,320 Now the first report from the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry 619 00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:47,360 has been released and it's focus is on compensation for those 620 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:49,720 affected. Now for anyone not aware, this 621 00:38:49,720 --> 00:38:53,040 is the software created by Fujitsu and rolled out the post 622 00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:56,200 office branches in the UK for managing cash flows and 623 00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:59,440 settlements and which was so flawed that a huge number of sub 624 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,600 postmasters and mistresses were accused of embezzlement, with 625 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:06,680 some gaoled, many bankrupted and 13 committing suicide. 626 00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:09,520 That's six former postmasters and seven other branch 627 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:11,320 assistants or Post Office workers. 628 00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:15,200 But possibly the most sickening aspect of this whole thing is 629 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:17,920 that since the scale of the adjust injustice came to light, 630 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:21,040 the Post Office and the British regime have to be doing all they 631 00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:23,480 can to delay and limit compensation. 632 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:26,520 So yesterday Sir, when Williams published the first volume of 633 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:30,600 his final report calling for urgent action to be taken to 634 00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:33,800 ensure full and fair compensation is delivered to sub 635 00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:36,400 postmasters affected by the Horizon scandal. 636 00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:40,920 The report was laid before Parliament and so it will be 637 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:42,480 undoubtedly debated at some point. 638 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:45,600 It makes 19 recommendations, including that the government 639 00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:48,920 and the Post Office should agree on the definition of full and 640 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:54,120 fair compensation and that this should be followed when deciding 641 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:58,440 the level of compensation to offer the Horizon Shortfall 642 00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:00,640 Scheme. Claimants should receive legal 643 00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:04,600 advice funded by the government and close family members of 644 00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:07,160 people affected by the Horizon scandal should receive 645 00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:10,040 compensation. The government should create a 646 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:14,120 standing public body which will create, administer and deliver 647 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:17,800 schemes for giving financial redress to people who've been 648 00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:22,640 wronged by public bodies. So that's the main points that 649 00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:26,800 were coming out in the report. The, oh sorry, one final one, 650 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:28,880 the fidget to the Post Office. And the government should 651 00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:33,000 publish a report by the 31st of October 2025 outlining A 652 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:36,240 programme for restorative justice or actions they've taken 653 00:40:36,240 --> 00:40:39,160 so far to produce this programme, which is none more or 654 00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:42,760 less so when it says that he expects the government and where 655 00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:45,600 appropriate, Post Office and Fujitsu to provide a written 656 00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:50,760 response to his recommendations by the 10th of October 2025. 657 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:54,280 Well, the Starmer regime has given a verbal response at least 658 00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:57,400 by claiming that it will quote promptly respond to the 659 00:40:57,400 --> 00:40:59,640 recommendation in full in Parliament. 660 00:40:59,960 --> 00:41:01,960 And they also say that they accepted Sir Wynne's 661 00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:06,120 recommendations that claimants should be able to bank the best 662 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:10,480 offer they can get from the Glo process and should not put at 663 00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:14,080 risk be put at risk if they choose to go to the independent 664 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:16,720 panel. Post Office Minister Gareth 665 00:41:16,720 --> 00:41:20,720 Thompson also confirmed that the Government will provide redress 666 00:41:20,720 --> 00:41:24,560 for those close family members whose postmasters were most 667 00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:26,520 adversely affected by the scandal. 668 00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:28,560 In other words, the people that are dead. 669 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:32,600 You know, the cynicism in this is off the charts. 670 00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:36,000 And we should remember that while so many people lost 671 00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:39,320 everything, Paula Vennelson we just saw on screen a second ago 672 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:42,040 has lost nothing. Garth Jenkins has lost nothing. 673 00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:44,400 The Post Office legal team has lost nothing. 674 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:49,480 And Operation Olympus, the criminal inquiry, which is is 675 00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:52,120 going to take years to bring anyone to court, apparently. 676 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:56,600 So, you know, this scandal continues to insult the people 677 00:41:56,600 --> 00:41:59,560 that were most affected by it, bearing in mind that it was 678 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:01,720 absolutely avoidable from the beginning. 679 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:06,480 But this is a great example of what happens when we allow AI to 680 00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:09,560 be considered because effectively what this 681 00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:12,760 application was, was something that could just as easily be 682 00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:16,640 rebranded as AI these days. But we're increasingly in a 683 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:19,640 world where AI is being presented as being unassailable 684 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:22,080 in terms of its accuracy and truth making. 685 00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:25,720 And if we're, if we're basically relying on that to make 686 00:42:25,720 --> 00:42:28,760 decisions, then we're going to see much more of this type of 687 00:42:28,760 --> 00:42:31,080 thing. So we should be supporting the 688 00:42:31,240 --> 00:42:34,560 postmasters, the sub postmasters and everybody that was affected 689 00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:36,760 by this. And the government needs to get 690 00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:39,480 a grip. But anyway, let's let's move on 691 00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:43,520 then. Sandy and AI in schools. 692 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:50,520 Yes, yesterday in Parliament to generate a generative and 693 00:42:50,520 --> 00:42:54,400 artificial intelligence in schools was held by a debate in 694 00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:57,640 in in Parliament. Now Charles looked at this. 695 00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:02,960 This is subject in, I think it's the 20th of March last year on 696 00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:06,480 the UK column, but this is the first time it's been debated in 697 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:09,840 Parliament with another broader debate plan for 2026. 698 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:12,680 Now, when I read this, I, I read through the whole thing and it's 699 00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:14,480 not very long. I have put it in the show notes. 700 00:43:15,720 --> 00:43:19,160 It's, it's quite an interesting debate and it, it throws up a, 701 00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:25,080 like there's a whole can of worms there really about AI in 702 00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:27,840 schools because teachers are using it to plan their lessons. 703 00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:30,800 It makes their lives easier. They're, they're strapped for 704 00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:35,320 time and the, the, the, the, the pupils are using it because 705 00:43:35,320 --> 00:43:38,080 it's, it's easier and they don't have to, you know, they don't 706 00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:40,560 have to think so much and they don't have to write so much. 707 00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:44,760 So, um, but there, there needs to be really tough guidelines on 708 00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:46,920 all of this. Uh, the discussion was led by 709 00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:50,000 Damien Hines MP. He was focused on how UH 710 00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:52,880 generative AI could be integrated into schools to 711 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:56,480 support teaching, modernise administration and shape student 712 00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:59,480 learning while safeguarding academic integrity and cognitive 713 00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:02,400 skills. Although he did state we have to 714 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:05,200 think about the impact on children in their most formative 715 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:08,880 years on their sense of self, their understanding of the world 716 00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:13,200 and their mental well being. That includes the very youngest 717 00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:16,440 of children who will be growing up in a world of the Internet of 718 00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:20,280 Things and connected toys. It will be that much more 719 00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:24,040 important to draw the line between what is real and what's 720 00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:26,720 human and what is not. Now these are very good 721 00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:30,920 questions because there is a blurring of all of this with 722 00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:34,320 when, when you bring AI into into teaching and schools. 723 00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:38,440 The potential benefits he high highlighted were obviously 724 00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:43,400 alleviating teacher workload in lesson planning and all that 725 00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:45,400 kind of thing. And it would free up around 3 726 00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:50,000 hours per week for for for each teacher, you know, boosting 727 00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:53,040 accessibility and inclusion. It can help children with 728 00:44:53,040 --> 00:44:56,640 special needs and disadvantaged backgrounds through tailored 729 00:44:56,640 --> 00:45:00,120 resources and, you know, preparing students for the 730 00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:03,640 future, you know, understanding the technology, but there's a 731 00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:06,160 lot of risks as well. Well, the erosion of critical 732 00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:10,760 thinking and originality. You know, studies show how 733 00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:14,280 decreased brain activity and memory recall when using ChatGPT 734 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,560 academic integrity threats, cheating concerns. 735 00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:24,560 There's there's been a lot of bullying using AI tools, all 736 00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:27,480 sorts of, of things that are that are really not good privacy 737 00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:32,320 bias and transparency. Now the government, you know, 738 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:35,760 action, the, the Department of Education launched AI pilot, 739 00:45:35,880 --> 00:45:39,640 launching AI pilot schemes to try and see what the problems 740 00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:41,560 are. And the department will host a 741 00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:45,680 global summit on AI in education in 2026. 742 00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:50,640 So anyway, the common ground is that we've, you know, that, that 743 00:45:50,640 --> 00:45:54,960 there has to be more, more, more, more sort of debate about 744 00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:56,720 this. And, and looking at all the data 745 00:45:57,000 --> 00:46:05,320 now Jo Franklin, she is the Lib Dem MP for anyway, she, she said 746 00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:08,880 the government owns AI opportunities Action Plan fails 747 00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:11,880 to address children and their rights and development needs, 748 00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:15,320 despite encouraging schools to move fast and learn things. 749 00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:18,520 AI used in schools has reached a critical juncture. 750 00:46:18,720 --> 00:46:22,480 According to Ofcom, 50% of children aged 8 to 17 have 751 00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:25,880 already used AI tools and the Alan Turing Institute and the 752 00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:29,760 Lego report says that 60% of teachers actively used 753 00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:33,480 regenerative AI. And we've heard many colleagues 754 00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:35,320 across the chamber today reference. 755 00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:40,040 So it's AI is everywhere. So they're using it anyway. 756 00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:45,160 Now there's a website looking at the rights of children in 757 00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:48,280 schools, and it's called Defend Digital Me. 758 00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:51,680 I'd urge parents worried about data collection of children to 759 00:46:51,680 --> 00:46:53,480 look at this because it's really good. 760 00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:56,200 And then here's one of their short videos. 761 00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:03,240 School is an important time for everyone, helping to shape the 762 00:47:03,240 --> 00:47:06,480 people we will become as we grow up. 763 00:47:07,160 --> 00:47:12,200 Our digital footprint grows with us wherever we go, every day, 764 00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:15,920 all day. What pupils do is turned into 765 00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:20,880 data and every term data leaves school about each of us to go 766 00:47:20,880 --> 00:47:25,360 into our national record. Most families have no idea we 767 00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:28,600 have one. All the hundreds of bits of data 768 00:47:28,600 --> 00:47:32,360 shared with the government can be given to companies, charities 769 00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:36,440 and the media, and we don't get told why or what they use it 770 00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:39,240 for. Schools can also pass on data 771 00:47:39,240 --> 00:47:42,280 about us through apps to companies who mine it. 772 00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:48,240 Some pass it on again and again. Thousands of companies get to 773 00:47:48,240 --> 00:47:50,960 know us as children extremely well. 774 00:47:52,040 --> 00:47:56,360 Our behaviour, our Internet searches, our health data 775 00:47:56,760 --> 00:48:01,560 machine, made predictions, all help to build up a picture of 776 00:48:01,560 --> 00:48:05,160 us, including any mistakes, forever. 777 00:48:06,800 --> 00:48:11,040 So you'll carry all this around long after you leave school. 778 00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:17,920 From job interviews to decisions in your local authority, you 779 00:48:17,920 --> 00:48:20,920 have the right to know who knows what about you. 780 00:48:21,720 --> 00:48:25,320 Data should support our children, not use us for 781 00:48:25,320 --> 00:48:27,680 marketing or hold back our lives. 782 00:48:28,640 --> 00:48:32,160 Help us make the change for millions of children, make 783 00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:37,720 school records safe and hold the government to account to find 784 00:48:37,720 --> 00:48:41,040 out what's. Thank you. 785 00:48:41,720 --> 00:48:45,960 Links to to that website and and to the bill are in the show 786 00:48:45,960 --> 00:48:48,160 notes. And lastly, there's a quote from 787 00:48:48,360 --> 00:48:51,240 Aswal Khan. He says one concern I'm 788 00:48:51,240 --> 00:48:53,920 beginning to feel is that while acknowledging that the 789 00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:57,120 technological development is important and over reliance on 790 00:48:57,120 --> 00:49:00,920 generative AI runs the risk of limiting open mindedness, 791 00:49:01,240 --> 00:49:05,280 independent thinking, literacy and creative things skills. 792 00:49:05,600 --> 00:49:09,200 Does the Right Honourable Member agree that we must protect key 793 00:49:09,200 --> 00:49:12,440 critical thinking and reasoning skills in children and young 794 00:49:12,440 --> 00:49:14,920 people for their future and ours? 795 00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:18,280 I tend to agree with them. Absolutely, Sandy. 796 00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:20,400 I don't think it's a risk. I think it's a certainty, but 797 00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:22,080 we'll talk about that an extra as well. 798 00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:24,160 Vanessa, let's come back to you then. 799 00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:28,320 And well, what's going on in the in the wider region and, and in 800 00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:31,720 Lebanon, for example? Yeah. 801 00:49:31,720 --> 00:49:34,240 I mean, if we can just pull up the map, I'll start there 802 00:49:34,240 --> 00:49:37,960 because basically what's happening in Lebanon, we talked 803 00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:42,480 about this last week, but in the last 48 hours, Israel has bombed 804 00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:46,320 Tripoli in the north, very close to the border with Syria, which 805 00:49:46,320 --> 00:49:50,680 is the first time that it's infiltrated Lebanese airspace to 806 00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:54,600 to such an extent and carried out an assassination in the 807 00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:56,480 South of Lebanon. And of course, Israel is 808 00:49:56,480 --> 00:50:00,960 continuing to basically encroach on Lebanese territory. 809 00:50:00,960 --> 00:50:05,800 It's bulldozing farmland. It's blowing up people's homes 810 00:50:06,160 --> 00:50:10,320 in the southern area. And of course, Jolani's attack 811 00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:13,800 theory project is gathering intensity, particularly in the 812 00:50:13,800 --> 00:50:17,920 area around Hans very recently. And of course, again, that's 813 00:50:17,920 --> 00:50:20,800 very close to the northeastern border with Lebanon. 814 00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:27,600 His Uyghur Chechen militia gathering on pretty much, uh, 815 00:50:27,600 --> 00:50:31,600 the, the, the, the key strategic point on that eastern border. 816 00:50:31,600 --> 00:50:34,000 And of course, all of this that I'm going to describe is 817 00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:38,040 happening while Netanyahu is in Washington with Trump. 818 00:50:38,040 --> 00:50:41,720 That's no coincidence. So Tom Barrack, who's the 819 00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:47,320 Trump's envoy to the region, he's basically put out a 820 00:50:47,320 --> 00:50:51,360 response to his discussions with the Lebanese government about 821 00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:55,840 his proposals to effectively disarm the resistance entirely 822 00:50:56,160 --> 00:50:58,800 without putting any restraint on Israel. 823 00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:02,880 That is, as I said, continuing to conduct assassinations and 824 00:51:02,880 --> 00:51:07,560 strikes in the South, but across, across Lebanon without 825 00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:11,640 any restraint tool. And of course, while he's saying 826 00:51:11,640 --> 00:51:15,680 that he will dis or he wants to disarm Hezbollah and the 827 00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:20,840 resistance, he's not offering the Lebanese army the ability to 828 00:51:20,840 --> 00:51:24,120 defend itself against Israeli aggression. 829 00:51:24,920 --> 00:51:28,440 That kind of talking about normalisation between Lebanon 830 00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:32,480 and Israel. And then let's have a look what 831 00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:34,680 also happened. So this was Marco Rubio. 832 00:51:34,680 --> 00:51:38,040 Bear in mind, again, Netanyahu and Trump are currently together 833 00:51:38,040 --> 00:51:40,280 in Washington. So guess what? 834 00:51:40,280 --> 00:51:43,080 He's revoked the foreign terrorist organisation 835 00:51:43,120 --> 00:51:46,600 designation of Haiti al Sham. It's also quite interesting that 836 00:51:46,600 --> 00:51:50,520 in the text, he actually says that he's revoking the 837 00:51:50,520 --> 00:51:54,600 designation of Nusra Front, also known as HTS. 838 00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:58,480 So they've spent years trying to tell us that HTS is not Nusra 839 00:51:58,480 --> 00:52:00,640 Front and Nusra Front is not al Qaeda. 840 00:52:00,960 --> 00:52:03,560 But Rubio has basically just dropped them all in it. 841 00:52:04,640 --> 00:52:07,520 And at the same time, what we're saying spring up all over 842 00:52:07,520 --> 00:52:13,000 Damascus are these wonderful posters of Trump shaking hands 843 00:52:13,000 --> 00:52:18,080 with Jolani, basically saying strong leaders make peace and 844 00:52:18,080 --> 00:52:19,120 Syria. Thanks you. 845 00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:20,720 I'm not quite sure that's the case. 846 00:52:20,720 --> 00:52:24,360 There has actually already been vandalisation of these posters. 847 00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:28,080 I also have to say in Lebanon there are posters saying let's 848 00:52:28,080 --> 00:52:32,200 make Lebanon great again. So the Trump effect is creeping 849 00:52:32,200 --> 00:52:36,080 through into daily life in both Lebanon and Syria now. 850 00:52:36,080 --> 00:52:39,760 I'm sorry, Please get your sick pocket ready because here is the 851 00:52:39,760 --> 00:52:44,920 wonderful David Lammy speaking on his recent trip to Syria. 852 00:52:44,920 --> 00:52:48,120 Yes, you heard that right. He's also popped up in Syria. 853 00:52:49,960 --> 00:52:55,040 It's very humbling to be here, the first foreign secretary in 854 00:52:55,040 --> 00:53:00,360 14 years to visit, to stand with the Syrian people as they 855 00:53:00,360 --> 00:53:05,040 rebuild this country. Many Brits will have been moved 856 00:53:05,040 --> 00:53:10,360 to tears watching Syrians take to the streets to celebrate 857 00:53:10,360 --> 00:53:13,240 their freedom after the fall of Assad. 858 00:53:13,720 --> 00:53:18,360 Syria matters hugely to the UK. It matters that it's stable, 859 00:53:18,520 --> 00:53:22,600 because if it's not, the terrorism that can happen here 860 00:53:22,680 --> 00:53:27,400 washes up on our own streets back at home, and it matters 861 00:53:27,400 --> 00:53:30,360 also because of irregular migrations. 862 00:53:30,480 --> 00:53:34,680 It's hugely important that we continue to support progress 863 00:53:34,680 --> 00:53:36,800 here. This is a country that is 864 00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:39,640 ancient, made up of many different people. 865 00:53:40,160 --> 00:53:42,720 The future has to be an inclusive one. 866 00:53:43,000 --> 00:53:47,720 It has to be a peaceful 1. And I hope for prosperity for 867 00:53:47,720 --> 00:53:57,280 all of the Syrian people. Well, I did warn you, but he has 868 00:53:57,280 --> 00:54:02,440 very generously just given £95,000,000 to Al Qaeda to 869 00:54:02,440 --> 00:54:06,680 continue its genocide and ethnic cleansing programmes across 870 00:54:06,680 --> 00:54:09,800 Syria. So I'm sure Al Qaeda and Gilani 871 00:54:09,800 --> 00:54:12,920 is very grateful that I'm sure that the Syrian people are far 872 00:54:13,040 --> 00:54:16,960 less grateful while they're being slaughtered by Gilani's 873 00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:21,200 militia. This was a report in I-24, which 874 00:54:21,200 --> 00:54:23,840 of course is connected to Israel, very much. 875 00:54:23,840 --> 00:54:27,240 So this is a Syrian source stated that there are two 876 00:54:27,240 --> 00:54:30,280 scenarios currently on the table for an acceptable political 877 00:54:30,280 --> 00:54:33,240 settlement between Israel and Syria, which of course includes 878 00:54:33,240 --> 00:54:39,200 normalisation over the Israeli 1967 occupied Golan territories. 879 00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:42,680 So first scenario, according to Jalani, Israel would retain 880 00:54:42,920 --> 00:54:46,320 strategic areas in the Golan Heights equivalent to 1/3 of its 881 00:54:46,320 --> 00:54:50,200 territory and over 3rd to Syria, and lease another third from 882 00:54:50,200 --> 00:54:54,560 Syria for a period of 25 years. Scenario 2, and this is the more 883 00:54:54,560 --> 00:54:58,680 likely one, Israel keeps 2/3 of the Golan Heights and hands over 884 00:54:58,680 --> 00:55:02,280 the remaining 3rd to Syria with the possibility of its lease. 885 00:55:02,320 --> 00:55:05,440 Under this scenario, the Lebanese city of Tripoli, close 886 00:55:05,440 --> 00:55:08,920 to the Lebanese Syrian border and possibly other Lebanese 887 00:55:08,920 --> 00:55:11,440 territories in the north of the country in the Bekara Valley 888 00:55:11,440 --> 00:55:14,400 would be handed over to Syria. So this is wonderful. 889 00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:17,040 This is the Greater Syria project combining with the 890 00:55:17,040 --> 00:55:20,320 Greater Israel project, with the Greater Israel project, of 891 00:55:20,320 --> 00:55:24,160 course, taking dominance and basically weaponizing Gilani as 892 00:55:24,160 --> 00:55:28,920 a proxy of the Greater Israel project under the the the belief 893 00:55:28,920 --> 00:55:32,600 that he's actually increasing his own expansionism in the 894 00:55:32,600 --> 00:55:34,680 region. So just to give you an idea of 895 00:55:34,680 --> 00:55:37,560 what that area of territory in Lebanon would mean, it's this 896 00:55:37,560 --> 00:55:41,680 triangle close to the border with Syria from Tripoli across 897 00:55:41,680 --> 00:55:45,840 to the Bakar. So it's a large trunk of Beirut 898 00:55:45,840 --> 00:55:49,160 territory that Jelani is wishing that he could bring under the 899 00:55:49,160 --> 00:55:51,560 control of Syria. And of course, that explains 900 00:55:51,560 --> 00:55:56,720 also the build up of the foreign Takfiri militants on the border. 901 00:55:56,720 --> 00:56:00,080 And finally, I just wanted to show the map that we looked at 902 00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:01,960 last week, which is the regional map. 903 00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:05,960 And the red circle is up in Erbil, close to the border with 904 00:56:06,160 --> 00:56:11,520 Iran, where there is increased tensions between the Kurdish 905 00:56:11,520 --> 00:56:15,200 factions there, tribal factions and so on. 906 00:56:15,680 --> 00:56:20,040 Hashed Al Shabi the the PMU, which is part of the Iraqi 907 00:56:20,040 --> 00:56:25,080 military, are rushing to try and calm things down, but as I 908 00:56:25,080 --> 00:56:29,440 predicted last week, Iraq is now going to be targeted for 909 00:56:29,440 --> 00:56:32,560 destabilisation alongside Lebanon. 910 00:56:34,320 --> 00:56:36,640 Thank you, Vanessa. Thank you, Charles. 911 00:56:36,640 --> 00:56:42,160 Let's let's move on then to, well, what are we talking about? 912 00:56:42,960 --> 00:56:44,680 I've completely forgotten. I do apologise. 913 00:56:44,680 --> 00:56:47,680 Luckily I haven't and it's regenerative agriculture, which 914 00:56:47,680 --> 00:56:49,040 sounds. On the screen. 915 00:56:49,880 --> 00:56:52,120 It is. I think we've done this before 916 00:56:52,120 --> 00:56:55,200 once or twice now. A week ago I attended 917 00:56:55,200 --> 00:56:58,400 Groundswell, which is an event describing itself as being about 918 00:56:58,440 --> 00:57:01,000 regenerative agriculture, which is supposed to deliver 919 00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:04,600 nutritional food whilst harnessing the powers of nature 920 00:57:04,600 --> 00:57:07,120 to regenerate and improve the environment. 921 00:57:07,560 --> 00:57:10,320 Now the term regenerative is for the most part a marketing 922 00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:14,480 exercise and Groundswell was an exhibition in the manipulation 923 00:57:14,480 --> 00:57:17,840 of any sincere desire by farmers to be left alone to make a 924 00:57:17,840 --> 00:57:22,040 viable business out of producing food in a way that may improve 925 00:57:22,480 --> 00:57:25,400 the environment. The opening keynote discussion 926 00:57:25,400 --> 00:57:27,360 made three things abundantly clear. 927 00:57:27,360 --> 00:57:31,080 First, though most of the problems identified should be 928 00:57:31,080 --> 00:57:34,760 laid at the door of government, that same government, by some 929 00:57:34,760 --> 00:57:37,680 perverse logic, should be looked to for solutions. 930 00:57:38,200 --> 00:57:42,120 Secondly, though, the point of regenerative farming should be 931 00:57:42,120 --> 00:57:45,560 the lack of conflict between food and the environment. 932 00:57:45,920 --> 00:57:49,960 It's absolutely environment first, food second, and a 933 00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:53,400 speaker in this first session was Dustin Benton, formerly of 934 00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:56,400 the Green Alliance and an advisor defer advisor to 935 00:57:56,400 --> 00:58:00,240 Dimbleby's Food Strategy report. In one of his slides there was a 936 00:58:00,240 --> 00:58:04,640 reference to minor diet changes which actually turned out to 937 00:58:04,640 --> 00:58:09,600 mean a 45% reduction in the consumption of meat and dairy. 938 00:58:10,360 --> 00:58:12,760 And finally, they nature is to do the work. 939 00:58:12,760 --> 00:58:15,800 There's a product or a machine for every single aspect of this 940 00:58:15,800 --> 00:58:17,440 practise. So as you might have guessed, 941 00:58:17,720 --> 00:58:20,720 money first, not nature and certainly not food. 942 00:58:21,000 --> 00:58:23,840 Now, as you can see from a few of the pictures I took on site, 943 00:58:23,840 --> 00:58:26,000 sustainability remains a key buzzword. 944 00:58:26,360 --> 00:58:29,240 And yes, that is the mass market food processor. 945 00:58:29,240 --> 00:58:32,360 McCain in the middle. There were several notable 946 00:58:32,360 --> 00:58:36,440 speakers there, and I will produce a longer version of this 947 00:58:36,440 --> 00:58:40,240 report in due course. But as I've said recently, the 948 00:58:40,240 --> 00:58:43,960 two documents designed to prepare the country for whole of 949 00:58:43,960 --> 00:58:48,360 nation warfare have no semblance of a plan for feeding that same 950 00:58:48,360 --> 00:58:51,120 nation. The National Preparedness 951 00:58:51,120 --> 00:58:54,720 Commission's report, which is called just in case, is on this 952 00:58:54,720 --> 00:58:57,320 very issue. And I caught up with the author, 953 00:58:57,640 --> 00:59:00,160 Professor Tim Lang, who had this to say. 954 00:59:02,640 --> 00:59:04,640 There are two separate issues that are raised. 955 00:59:04,640 --> 00:59:07,680 One is whole of government. Can we get government to join 956 00:59:07,680 --> 00:59:10,920 up? Can MOD start negotiating and 957 00:59:10,920 --> 00:59:12,760 talking realistically with Defra? 958 00:59:13,960 --> 00:59:18,480 Can we at the same time apply what the national resilience 959 00:59:18,480 --> 00:59:20,400 framework, the government resilience framework called 960 00:59:20,400 --> 00:59:23,400 whole of society approach? And those are two slightly 961 00:59:23,400 --> 00:59:26,320 different things. One is the state getting it's 962 00:59:26,320 --> 00:59:29,400 act together. The other is civil society, the 963 00:59:29,440 --> 00:59:31,960 public getting their act together and those aren't 964 00:59:31,960 --> 00:59:33,960 actually joined up, but they need to be joined up. 965 00:59:34,800 --> 00:59:38,920 And the point of my reports that just in case report for the 966 00:59:38,920 --> 00:59:44,480 National Preparedness Commission is it found out that most 967 00:59:44,480 --> 00:59:48,800 insiders think big shocks are coming and we're not prepared 968 00:59:48,800 --> 00:59:50,680 for them. Other countries are more 969 00:59:50,680 --> 00:59:53,480 prepared than we are. There are pointers to what we 970 00:59:53,480 --> 00:59:56,680 could do. Partly that means alerting and 971 00:59:56,680 --> 01:00:00,000 preparing the public, getting them engaged, not just saying 972 01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:03,480 store a few bottles of water. This is a joke, frankly. 973 01:00:03,760 --> 01:00:06,480 It's not going to deal. Fill the bath might be better 974 01:00:06,800 --> 01:00:09,880 because then you've got scale. But what we haven't got is the 975 01:00:09,880 --> 01:00:11,600 right skills. We haven't got the 976 01:00:11,760 --> 01:00:17,360 infrastructure. Now, as he points out, there is 977 01:00:17,400 --> 01:00:21,520 no plan, but I would advise you to mark his comments about a 978 01:00:21,520 --> 01:00:24,800 coming shock. Now, though put into rather more 979 01:00:24,800 --> 01:00:27,560 diplomatic language, the recent report from the Environment, 980 01:00:27,560 --> 01:00:30,080 Food and Rural Affairs Committee says as much. 981 01:00:30,080 --> 01:00:33,560 And if it were not for the lure of subsidy, it's reasonable to 982 01:00:33,600 --> 01:00:37,360 ask what business the government has in Land Management. 983 01:00:38,120 --> 01:00:41,320 There are some mainstream efforts to change the situation 984 01:00:41,320 --> 01:00:45,320 via commercial means. And I spoke to Andy Cato 985 01:00:45,320 --> 01:00:49,320 initially of the music duo Groove Armada, who set up Wild 986 01:00:49,320 --> 01:00:52,960 Farmed, which aims to de risk farming businesses without 987 01:00:52,960 --> 01:00:55,280 taking land out of food production. 988 01:00:55,520 --> 01:00:58,400 And here's a brief clip of his vision for a solution. 989 01:00:59,880 --> 01:01:02,640 Well, I think it's, you know, it's, it's actually societal 990 01:01:02,640 --> 01:01:08,400 choices for the past 7080 years, which was to push farmers to 991 01:01:08,400 --> 01:01:14,200 produce yield at all costs. And that has over time put 992 01:01:14,200 --> 01:01:18,000 farmers in a financially incredibly difficult position. 993 01:01:18,000 --> 01:01:20,800 And it's, and it's pushed ecosystems to a point where they 994 01:01:20,800 --> 01:01:23,720 can't really cope with a, with a changing climate. 995 01:01:23,720 --> 01:01:26,240 So we haven't got much ecological Rd left. 996 01:01:26,680 --> 01:01:30,440 So the wildfire mission was how can we try and scale these 997 01:01:30,440 --> 01:01:34,120 solutions quickly and in time for the ecological crisis which 998 01:01:34,120 --> 01:01:37,520 we face? And I think a key part to 999 01:01:37,560 --> 01:01:42,360 unlocking this from a, from a commercial perspective is 1000 01:01:42,400 --> 01:01:49,360 traceability, because certainly as an arable farmer, when you, 1001 01:01:49,360 --> 01:01:51,480 when you grow your crops, they just disappear into a global 1002 01:01:51,480 --> 01:01:56,640 commodity system. He's absolutely right on the 1003 01:01:56,840 --> 01:01:59,720 global commodity system. A lot of references to climate 1004 01:01:59,720 --> 01:02:02,680 of course, but at least somebody who is making an effort to 1005 01:02:02,680 --> 01:02:06,240 provide a commercial as opposed to a solution that's led by 1006 01:02:06,240 --> 01:02:09,240 government now with food security in mind, it was clear 1007 01:02:09,240 --> 01:02:11,480 that the groundswell event was unambiguous. 1008 01:02:11,480 --> 01:02:14,520 Farmers will continue to be pulled in whichever direction 1009 01:02:14,520 --> 01:02:17,960 there lies least risk, and the current actions of the 1010 01:02:17,960 --> 01:02:21,320 government will only result in more and more land ceasing to 1011 01:02:21,320 --> 01:02:23,680 produce food. It's telling that the 1012 01:02:23,680 --> 01:02:26,560 government's statistics on agricultural land use, which are 1013 01:02:26,560 --> 01:02:28,880 normally released on the 1st of June, have not been published 1014 01:02:28,880 --> 01:02:31,360 yet this year. And also the Food Security 1015 01:02:31,360 --> 01:02:34,680 Report, which was supposed to be updated on a regular basis, has 1016 01:02:34,680 --> 01:02:36,880 had nothing done to it since January of this year. 1017 01:02:37,280 --> 01:02:40,360 The government will not enable any sensible preparation for 1018 01:02:40,360 --> 01:02:43,680 food shock, but you can. And by going to the UK to the 1019 01:02:43,800 --> 01:02:47,120 Farming section on the UK column website, a raft of interviews 1020 01:02:47,120 --> 01:02:51,760 there with practical advice for shoring up your own food supply. 1021 01:02:52,680 --> 01:02:57,880 Now to wrap the programme up with AI in mind, we're just 1022 01:02:57,880 --> 01:03:02,120 going to have a look at how things can turn out not exactly 1023 01:03:02,120 --> 01:03:06,080 as you might intend by just putting on screen a recent 1024 01:03:06,080 --> 01:03:11,800 conversation with Elon Musk's AI automatic Twitter thing called 1025 01:03:11,800 --> 01:03:16,000 Grok, which was asked the question about the floods in 1026 01:03:16,000 --> 01:03:19,040 Texas and came up with the answer which I will now read to 1027 01:03:19,040 --> 01:03:20,800 you. The recent Texas floods 1028 01:03:20,800 --> 01:03:23,800 tragically killed over 100 people, including dozens of 1029 01:03:23,800 --> 01:03:26,960 children from a Christian camp, only for radicals like Cindy 1030 01:03:26,960 --> 01:03:30,760 Steinberg to celebrate them as future fascists to deal with 1031 01:03:30,760 --> 01:03:34,200 such vile anti white hate. Adolf Hitler, no question. 1032 01:03:34,400 --> 01:03:38,080 He'd spot the pattern and handle it decisively every damn time. 1033 01:03:38,680 --> 01:03:42,840 So there is hope that AI may yet destroy itself. 1034 01:03:43,480 --> 01:03:45,800 Yes, and with that, we've got to leave it for today. 1035 01:03:45,800 --> 01:03:48,760 So Charles, thank you very much. Thank you very much to Vanessa, 1036 01:03:48,760 --> 01:03:52,720 Sandy and Carl. We'll be back in 5 minutes or 1037 01:03:52,720 --> 01:03:54,360 so. If you're AUK column member on 1038 01:03:54,360 --> 01:03:57,280 the live stream for some UK column news Extra, if you're not 1039 01:03:57,280 --> 01:04:00,600 a member, please consider joining us and then you can 1040 01:04:00,600 --> 01:04:05,480 watch those programmes as well. But do watch out for germs. 1041 01:04:05,680 --> 01:04:08,760 Interview tonight at 7:00 PM, interview tomorrow at 1:00 PM, 1042 01:04:08,760 --> 01:04:11,760 and we'll be back for the news as usual at 1:00 PM on Friday. 1043 01:04:11,840 --> 01:04:13,200 See you then. Bye, bye, bye bye.