1 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:10,280 Good afternoon. It's Monday the 5th of January 2 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,560 2026, just after 1:00. And welcome to UK Column News 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:15,360 Happy New Year to everyone watching and listening. 4 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:18,520 I'm your host, Mike Robinson, joining me in the studio today, 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:20,280 Ben Rubin. Welcome to the program, Ben. 6 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,040 Thank you, Mike. And by video link we have Brian 7 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,680 Gerrish. Later in the programme, Brian's 8 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:28,160 going to be looking at Starmer's moves to bring Britain back into 9 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:29,880 the EU and I'm going to be looking at Cambridge 10 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,560 University's International Security and Intelligence 11 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:34,840 programme. But we're going to begin today 12 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:39,280 with Venezuela. And of course, for those that 13 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:43,480 watch UK column and have used the term Trump Derangement 14 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:47,000 Syndrome to describe how we've been covering his behaviour over 15 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,400 the last little while, maybe the events of the past few days, 16 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:53,480 I've encouraged some to reconsider at least. 17 00:00:53,480 --> 00:00:58,240 But as everyone will know by now, the US invaded A sovereign 18 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:02,040 country and lifted its president and his wife and brought them to 19 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:05,000 New York for trial on drugs charges, apparently drugs 20 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,880 related charges. And Maduro was marched around 21 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,280 the place, as you've just seen on screen for the inevitable PR 22 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:14,600 video video. But let's just begin by 23 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:19,080 listening to the beginning of Trump's remarks from the press 24 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:26,400 conference a couple of days ago. Late last night and early today, 25 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:33,880 at my direction, the United States Armed Forces conducted an 26 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:39,600 extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela, 27 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:43,600 overwhelming American military power. 28 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:48,640 Air, land and sea was used to launch a spectacular assault, 29 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:54,520 and it was a an assault like people have not seen since World 30 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:59,480 War 2. It was a force against a heavily 31 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:05,080 fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas to bring 32 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:08,360 outlaw dictator Nicolas Maduro to justice. 33 00:02:09,199 --> 00:02:13,560 This was one of the most stunning, effective, and 34 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:19,840 powerful displays of American military might and competence in 35 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:25,760 American history. So what are your thoughts on 36 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:28,760 that? My immediate thought is that he 37 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:31,360 sounds like he was slurring his words a little bit. 38 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,880 He didn't sound well at all. Absolutely, absolutely. 39 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:38,720 What was he on? What's the question? 40 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:42,280 What's coming on to my my lips, Brian? 41 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:45,200 What what are your thoughts? Because you know, the suggestion 42 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:49,160 that that this was the most impressive military operation 43 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:51,600 since World War 2 with words to that effect. 44 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:56,880 It's quite, quite a statement. Quite a statement, Mike. 45 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,600 First of all, happy New Year to all our viewers and listeners. 46 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:05,840 Yeah, it's quite incredible to see these events unfold and 47 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:09,200 deeply concerning I think it should be for most people 48 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,720 because is America really under control at the moment? 49 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,800 Is America really the land of freedom and a proper running 50 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:20,720 democracy, or have we got a sort of dictatorship? 51 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:24,280 Now in operation under Trump. And does it mean that he can 52 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:29,040 simply walk into any country in the world if he so chooses? 53 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:33,960 And he doesn't like the the existing incumbent politicians 54 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,160 and their policies. There's so many questions to ask 55 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,760 here, but really, really dangerous events in my opinion. 56 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,040 And indeed, well, during the press conference, Trump was very 57 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,800 clear that this was effectively about stealing Venezuela's oil. 58 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:53,880 But to set everybody's mind at rest, he said this. 59 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:02,960 I thought that would be so I settled 8 and one quarter war. 60 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:07,120 You know what the 1/4 was? Thailand and Cambodia, I did it 61 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:10,480 again. They were, they broke out and I 62 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:14,240 did it in about 5 hours and I settled it. 63 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:17,720 I'm giving myself 1/4. So I'm up to now 8 and 1/4. 64 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:19,959 In other words, I settled the war, but then they broke out. 65 00:04:19,959 --> 00:04:23,080 They had a pretty bad breakout over the last four days. 66 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:27,320 I got them to go back to peace. So I only give one quarter. 67 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:32,800 So he solved it 8 and a quarter wars while he's busy creating 68 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,560 new ones in Africa and South America. 69 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:39,360 And many people are justifying the attack by setting the Monroe 70 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:41,920 Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine, for anybody 71 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:46,320 who doesn't know, was created in 1823 and established a what they 72 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:48,920 described as AUS sphere of influence in the Western 73 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,560 Hemisphere and this was an opposition to European 74 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:55,160 interference in the Americas. There've been lots of references 75 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,720 in the Trump administration rhetoric over the last number of 76 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,920 weeks to this idea of AUS sphere of influence in US Western or US 77 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:05,960 hemisphere and so on. If you listen to to the various 78 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:11,480 comments, the the justification suggests that Maduro's ties to 79 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:16,160 Russia, China and Iran represent the kind of foreign influence 80 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,360 that this doctrine was meant to counter. 81 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:21,040 But the problem, of course, is that Russia, China and Iran are 82 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:23,040 not European in the original sense. 83 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:28,200 The argument is also that the US has a legitimate interest in 84 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:31,080 what they describe as hemispheric stability and 85 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:35,320 democratic governance. It's quite incredible how they 86 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:38,120 can take this position while they behave in this way. 87 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:43,160 They say that humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and refugee 88 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:47,240 flows affect the entire region, and that justifies what they 89 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:51,720 were doing, and also the fact that the United States had an 90 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:54,400 existing indictment against Maduro for drug trafficking, 91 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,960 which they seem to be suggesting is giving some kind of legal 92 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,880 basis for the arrest. All of that, of course, is utter 93 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,040 nonsense because the Monroe Doctrine was a unilateral U.S. 94 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:07,320 policy statement, not international law. 95 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:11,160 It doesn't authorise military operations to capture foreign 96 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:13,120 leaders. And of course, he completely 97 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:17,360 ignored the requirement for Congress to authorise this type 98 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:19,600 of action. And that's a constitutional 99 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:23,320 requirement. So also modern international 100 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:27,520 law, whether that you consider that embodied by the UN Charter, 101 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:32,320 but also also other sovereignty principles, supersedes the 19th 102 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:36,720 century doctrine. And we've got to say that this 103 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,160 action violates Venezuelan sovereignty. 104 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:44,480 That was, as I said, supposed to be in response to European 105 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,360 colonialism. Which makes Trump's actions all 106 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:51,000 the more ironic because over the weekend he was claiming that the 107 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,720 US would be running Venezuela until such times as there was 108 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,200 some kind of new government there. 109 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,400 And so you got to ask, is that not United States colonialism? 110 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:02,880 The hypocrisy seems to be off the charts to me. 111 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:07,920 And of course, using force to remove the head of state, even 112 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:12,440 an unpopular 1, at least from America's point of view, sets an 113 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:15,960 extremely dangerous precedent. And it demonstrates yet more 114 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,480 hypocrisy because Trump and also all the supporting Western 115 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:22,400 leaders continue to criticize Russia and China. 116 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:25,200 And despite the fact China hasn't actually done anything 117 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:28,880 yet, you know, this suggestion that they're going to invade, 118 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:31,480 where does that leave the suggestion that they're going to 119 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:33,760 invade Taiwan? Does that give China in fact 120 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:36,720 free rein to go ahead with that operation, if that, if that's in 121 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,280 their mind, I don't know so. If you're following that logic, 122 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:41,720 then that would make sense, wouldn't it? 123 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:44,840 Absolutely does, no. He was asked at the press 124 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:47,360 conference whether there would be boots on the ground in 125 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:50,240 Venezuela. And Trump said, well, we're not 126 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:52,720 afraid of boots on the ground. We're not afraid of it. 127 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,160 We don't mind saying it. And we're going to make sure 128 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:56,720 that the country is run properly. 129 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:00,800 We're not doing this in vain. And then in yesterday's 130 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:04,160 interview with The Atlantic, they are reporting him. 131 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:07,360 Well, they say that Trump delivered a direct threat to 132 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:09,840 Venezuela's new leader, Rodriguez. 133 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:12,720 If she doesn't do what's right, she's going to pay a very big 134 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:14,640 price, is what they're quoting him as saying. 135 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:18,160 Probably bigger than Maduro. And he made clear that he would 136 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:22,120 not stand for any defiant rejection of the armed 137 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:26,040 intervention in the United by the United States that resulted 138 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:29,800 in Maduras capture. He was asked how regime change 139 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:33,520 in Venezuela is different from the regime change that he 140 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:37,480 himself had opposed in Iraq. And he sort of rushed that off. 141 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:40,159 He said, I didn't do Iraq. That was George W Bush. 142 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:41,320 That's. The difference I've. 143 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,480 Asked Bush that question. Because we should never have 144 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:48,200 gone into Iraq. That started the Middle East 145 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:49,640 disaster. So you know. 146 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:51,760 Is he just a neo con now then Trump? 147 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:53,640 Is that what's happened? Well, this, this is something 148 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:56,120 that quite a number of people are saying is, is MAGA going to 149 00:08:56,120 --> 00:09:00,240 turn into a neo con, you know, movement at this point, right? 150 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:04,080 It's quite incredible. And then he was asked about 151 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:08,160 taking over Greenland and he continued, We do need Greenland, 152 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:09,960 absolutely. We need it for defence. 153 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:14,320 And he said that this was because it was surrounded by 154 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:18,560 Russian and Chinese ships. So the question then is what's 155 00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:20,880 the international response between one of the UN Security 156 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:24,320 Council has scheduled an emergency session for today. 157 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:27,880 I believe that's taking place 10 Amus Eastern Time. 158 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:32,520 So here's the the report from that from the Security Council 159 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:36,760 report and they're talking about the United States's snatch and 160 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:41,360 grab operation. They're saying that, well, 161 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:44,160 basically this, this report here from Security Council report 162 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,480 saying that this session has been brought about by Colombia 163 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:49,680 with the support of Russia and China. 164 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:55,280 The Kelly, Kelly, sorry, Kya Callas, the foreign security 165 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,280 policy administrator for the European Commission, was 166 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:02,280 tweeting out on Saturday. I've spoken with Secretary of 167 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,200 State Marco Rubio and our ambassador in Caracas. 168 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:08,040 The EU is closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela. 169 00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:11,720 The EU has repeatedly stated that Mister Maduro lacks 170 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:16,160 legitimacy and has defended a peaceful transition, defended a 171 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:18,720 peaceful transition under all circumstances. 172 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:21,600 The principles of international law and the UN Charter must be 173 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:23,800 respected. We call for restraint. 174 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:28,000 The safety of EU citizens in the country is our top priority. 175 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,080 So she's basically, basically saying, yeah, it's fine that 176 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:34,240 they went ahead and did this, but but I'm going to defend 177 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:37,960 international law. So break international law, but 178 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:40,880 we're going to defend. It to the UN. 179 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:44,880 Yeah, Ursula von der Leyen then called for a peaceful transition 180 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:48,400 and she said following very closely the situation in 181 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,280 Venezuela, we stand by the people of Venezuela and support 182 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:52,880 a peaceful and democratic transition. 183 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:55,920 Any solution must respect international law and the UN 184 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:57,720 Charter. So there you go. 185 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:01,960 That was pretty much that. And then Friedrich Merckx called 186 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:06,040 the situation complex. He said the legal assessment of 187 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:09,040 the US intervention is complex and requires careful 188 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:11,520 consideration. International law remains the 189 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:14,080 guiding framework. So you start to see the theme, 190 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:19,200 the common narrative between all these people here and well, 191 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:21,960 let's see, what did Farage say here in the UK? 192 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:24,000 Well, here he is. The American actions in 193 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:26,640 Venezuela overnight or unorthodox and contrary to 194 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:29,320 international law. But they make China. 195 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:32,040 But if they make China and Russia think twice, it may be a 196 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:34,720 good thing. So don't worry, international 197 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:36,520 law's there and it is in breach of that. 198 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:39,120 But don't worry about that. So long as it has the outcome of 199 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:41,640 making China and Russia, I think it's a good thing. 200 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:45,520 So let's finish this little segment with the wonderful Keir 201 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:48,560 Starmer and his comments, because this is what he had to 202 00:11:48,560 --> 00:11:50,400 say. The UK has long supported the 203 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:52,320 transition of power in Venezuela. 204 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:55,920 We regarded Maduro, Maduro as an illegitimate president. 205 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:58,480 We shed no tears about the end of his regime. 206 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:01,400 But here we go. I reiterated my support for 207 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:05,080 international law this morning. The UK government will discuss 208 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:08,480 the evolving situation with the US counterparts in the days 209 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:12,320 ahead as we seek a safe, safe and peaceful transition to 210 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:15,720 legitimate government. So clearly all the Western 211 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:19,720 powers reacting in exactly the same way to what the United 212 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:21,520 States has done. Yeah, we don't. 213 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:23,960 We didn't like Maduro. We're glad to see the back of 214 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:25,880 him. But of course we got to support 215 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,200 international. Law got to wag our finger a 216 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:30,400 little bit and say how disapproving we are. 217 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:31,800 Precisely. Yeah, right. 218 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:33,200 But the whole thing just rumbles on. 219 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:35,200 Quite incredible. Isn't it just? 220 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:37,400 Isn't it just? But it doesn't end there, Ben. 221 00:12:37,560 --> 00:12:40,360 It certainly doesn't end there. No, let's just let's just talk 222 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,800 about Trump very quickly, Rob, because this is we're right into 223 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:47,240 the, we're getting into the business end of the second term. 224 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:51,280 And the thing that always jumps out at me, you started your 225 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:54,440 segment by saying we're accused of TDs, right? 226 00:12:54,440 --> 00:13:00,960 Well, I remember Trump 1.0. So 2016 to 20 is a completely 227 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:03,320 different proposition to what we're looking at now, right? 228 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:07,680 So he was very famously putting himself forward as being anti 229 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:10,440 foreign war. We're not sending blood and 230 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:14,320 treasure overseas to overthrow foreign dictators or whatever it 231 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:16,040 might be. Even though he was actually 232 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:18,520 running quite a lot of military operations in the background. 233 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:20,840 He didn't start any new conflicts. 234 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:23,200 Absolutely. But now it's sort of just though 235 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:27,880 not even a year into his second term, he was he's kicking off in 236 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:32,200 Nigeria over Christmas. We've got this operation special 237 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:35,120 operation that's kicked off now. When somebody else used the term 238 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:37,080 special military operation. Yes, they said. 239 00:13:37,560 --> 00:13:39,160 Yeah. That that had a different. 240 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,160 Result he's on the different side, you see, so it's different 241 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,680 for them, but this is it's, it's amazing. 242 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:48,800 And actually that his base is kind of going along with it. 243 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:53,280 And it strikes me that this, the, the Biden term, that single 244 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:56,640 term was basically nearly four years of ritual humiliation to 245 00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:00,640 enrage the MAGA base so that Trump can now be let off the 246 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:04,320 leash and go and stamp his mark across. 247 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:07,840 Well, wherever he's been in Nigeria, he's been in Venezuela. 248 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:11,280 They're talking about maybe taking Greenland at some point. 249 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:13,440 I mean, who knows, right? I mean, this is this is 250 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:20,760 intercontinental grand strategy of the The Kissinger Playbook. 251 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:23,560 And we'll come on to Henry Kissinger again in a moment. 252 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:29,960 I actually ended my last Monday news segment of 2025 with this 253 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:34,840 story of Rothschild and Co. We can just get that up on 254 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:41,240 screen where we had the the great and the good of NATO and 255 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:44,440 civil service establishment here in the UK, convening at the 256 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:47,160 Rothschild and Care offices in the City of London to talk about 257 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:51,640 the opportunity for investors throughout the capital stack of 258 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:56,600 investing in weapons and death, basically the military 259 00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:59,440 industrial complex. So that's how we ended last 260 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:01,720 year. And then this year it all kicked 261 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:08,280 off with Lord Rothschild himself congratulating Donald J Trump on 262 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:13,360 the liberation of Venezuela, Venezuela Libre over on X. 263 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:16,800 But this couldn't really have been a celebration of making 264 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:19,880 lots of money out of kinetic warfare because, well, I was 265 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:22,240 going to say, it seems like not a single shot was fired. 266 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:25,560 He's described it as the biggest or best military operation since 267 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:27,440 World War 2. But we've not actually seen 268 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:29,360 anything. You know, in this day and age 269 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:33,640 where you see almost live streamed military activities, it 270 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:35,520 happens. Like in this instance, we've not 271 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:38,440 seen anything at all, have we? But that is, that in itself is 272 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,240 quite remarkable. Well, he was suggesting that 273 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:43,640 there were quite a number of deaths on the Venezuelan side, 274 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:46,080 No deaths on the United States side. 275 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:49,560 That's what he was saying more or less during his press 276 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:51,040 conference. Yeah, but it was quick. 277 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:53,920 Whatever we can say about it, it happened pretty quickly. 278 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:56,520 So they're not going to be making loads of money in the 279 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:59,600 military industrial complex on this particular conflict. 280 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:03,280 So what was it about then for for Lord Rothschild? 281 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:06,640 Was it about oil potentially? They're sitting on a lot of oil. 282 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:11,000 David Miller doesn't think so. So actually David was over on X 283 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:15,360 opining about the fact that this is actually a message from what 284 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:18,200 he calls Pax Judaica to the rest of the world. 285 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:22,320 We own Trump and so we own you. It was a dry run for a new type 286 00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:25,920 of regime change mission, low cost, lower risk, lighter 287 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:28,760 footprint, which Netanyahu was imposed on the US as a 288 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:32,400 replacement for his and Pax Judaica's previous model, which 289 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:34,600 used American troops and treasure to impose ground 290 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:39,880 invasions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and elsewhere. 291 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:45,680 So actually, this is a move by Hax Judaica, the, the, the, the 292 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:49,040 Jewish empire ultimately, which is what Miller's referring to 293 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:55,080 and that we've seen in operation across Latin America, the South 294 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:58,320 American continent over the past 12 months and of course, before 295 00:16:58,320 --> 00:16:59,800 that. But it's really coming to a head 296 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:03,160 now. We had this announcement back in 297 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:07,119 November. This is the Isaac Chords, which 298 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:13,319 was signed by Javier Miley, the Uber Zionist president of 299 00:17:13,319 --> 00:17:18,160 Argentina, often seen crying his eyes out at the Wailing Wall in 300 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:20,640 Jerusalem. He signed the Isaac Accords. 301 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:26,040 This is basically a version of the Abraham Accords for Latin 302 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:28,720 America, whereas the Abraham Accords focused on the Middle 303 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:32,800 East and includes Saudi Arabia, the UAE, as well as Israel. 304 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,120 And this is based on establishing free trade 305 00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:40,160 agreements between Israel and countries that sign up to it. 306 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:45,600 Those countries will agree to move their embassy to Jerusalem 307 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:49,000 in the same way that the US did during Trump's first term. 308 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:53,920 Actually, these participants will sign the an official 309 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:56,960 declaration that Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist groups, 310 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:00,840 of course, and they will adopt the IHRA definition of 311 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,840 anti-Semitism in order to be part of this club essentially. 312 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:07,000 All right. And this is from November. 313 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:09,920 And now we see this happening in Venezuela. 314 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,320 It seems to me that this is part of part of the deal, ultimately. 315 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:18,520 It's also a massive, massive, massive, just another 316 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:21,240 distraction from the Epstein files. 317 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:24,000 So these have been dripping out over the past few weeks and 318 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:26,520 months. Trump seems to figure pretty 319 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:29,920 heavily in them, as well as most of the rest of the US political 320 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:32,360 establishment the past 30 or 40 years. 321 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:35,120 So what are we going to do? We'll start a war so we don't 322 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:38,000 have to talk about this. And a lot of this is being 323 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:43,880 promoted and aided by the the right wing commentariat, the the 324 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:48,280 MAGA patriot Instagram types, not least this guy. 325 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:53,560 This is BC Drano Rogan O Handley who popped up during COVID as a 326 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:55,880 freedom protester. But actually it's turned out to 327 00:18:55,880 --> 00:19:00,600 be a Slavist Zionist regime propagandist. 328 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:02,960 Basically he's got 3,000,000 followers on Instagram. 329 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:05,760 And it really caught my attention how he was talking 330 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:10,360 about this, this Venezuelan situation over the weekend. 331 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:12,760 Just have a look at this, right? Look at the language and look at 332 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:16,680 how it's been presented. So they're saying that Trump has 333 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:20,360 just captured Venezuela's communist president and sees 334 00:19:20,360 --> 00:19:24,160 17.3 trillion in oil reserves. This is going to deliver an 335 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:27,480 economic boom, the biggest economic boom in American 336 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:29,960 history. Win, win for Trump here. 337 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:34,040 It's what it looks like. They've got 303 billion barrels 338 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:36,880 of crude oil, which the US now controls. 339 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:40,440 And according to this analysis, if they just sold all of that, 340 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:44,080 then we'd wipe out a third of the national debt in just 12 341 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:46,480 hours. Trump, what a deal, what a guy. 342 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,440 Trump's managed to to to execute this. 343 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:53,200 And it wasn't just about oil. It was about protecting the US 344 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,040 dollar. You see over there on the right 345 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:57,240 hand side, which is the world's reserve currency. 346 00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:02,320 And that was down to an agreement made between Kissinger 347 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:06,680 and Saudi Arabia in 1974. All oil sold globally must be 348 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:09,560 priced in U.S. dollars. So they're validating Kissinger. 349 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:12,200 They're saying Kissinger was a good guy, it was good for 350 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:15,200 America. And Trump is protecting this 351 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:18,320 legacy ultimately. And apparently, according to 352 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:22,360 this guy, China was hours away from ending dollar supremacy. 353 00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:25,160 And then we're going to do that in a number of ways. 354 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:30,720 And make the kuan the the, the new world currency through these 355 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:35,200 new payment systems, relationships between the BRICS 356 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:40,240 countries. And Trump stops it just in time. 357 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:43,840 Thank goodness me for Trump. Isn't he incredible? 358 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:47,840 And if you mess with the dollar, you disappear every single time. 359 00:20:48,800 --> 00:20:50,760 It's amazing language. This isn't it. 360 00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:55,680 And this is this. And this is the the, the mindset 361 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:59,960 that is being pushed into the American patriot right at the 362 00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:02,000 moment. This is America first, 363 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:03,440 essentially. Yeah. 364 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:06,520 And that means American basically means America can do 365 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:09,760 whatever it wants and the rest of the world can go swing. 366 00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:15,360 And that was American foreign policy, well, for decades. 367 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,160 And and we thought that was coming to an end, but it isn't. 368 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,400 And Trump is fully embracing it. And actually you can. 369 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:23,120 We can get that back on screen quickly. 370 00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:26,800 We can see that one of the big bonuses apparently is that 371 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:31,800 America has just secured fuel for the $10 trillion AI and EV 372 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:35,920 boom. So apparently this oil windfall 373 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:40,480 is going to help with the AI and electric vehicles. 374 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:42,760 Again, It's all about. The other thing we've got to 375 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:46,120 remember is that Venezuela has quite a bit of quite a lot of 376 00:21:46,120 --> 00:21:47,440 rare earths as. Well, does it? 377 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:49,640 Absolutely. Well, that's a happy accident, 378 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:51,920 isn't it? Goodness, fantastic. 379 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:58,520 And and this is all presented in the language of the kind of 380 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:06,720 start up Silicon Valley, 10X your investment type worldview. 381 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,520 And they talk about this idea of smart money. 382 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:12,520 He's paying attention to what Trump's done. 383 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:15,760 But now you can do this too, right? 384 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,720 So nations do it on a global scale, but you can do this at a 385 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:20,800 local scale. And this is all about building 386 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:25,680 Internet businesses and owning deal flow across digital 387 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:28,440 platforms. You can make loads of money, 50 388 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,160 grand a month, mostly passive. This is all from the same 389 00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:33,560 statement, by the way. This is just one thing. 390 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:35,720 I think This is why I think it's particularly interesting to put 391 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,160 this stuff together. And this is all being positioned 392 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:42,520 towards these people. Blonde haired, blue eyed white 393 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:46,880 American patriots who are supposedly Trump's people and 394 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:51,040 that they should be buying into this whole, this whole agenda 395 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:52,080 for. It's just amazing. 396 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:55,720 It's all presented like this. So it's the strong man, the 397 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:59,800 strong, rugged individual leader taking control. 398 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:01,520 Faffo. You know what faffo means. 399 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,520 Tell me. Faff around and find out. 400 00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:06,760 Really. Yes, yeah, yeah. 401 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:10,840 So no games faffo and Tommy Robinson loves it. 402 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:16,360 So this is obviously lit up the UK the the the supposed patriot 403 00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:20,200 right in the UK literally calling for him to go to Downing 404 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:25,040 St. and to kidnap Keir Starmer, Lawrence Fox doing more or less 405 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:28,040 the same thing and saying there we go. 406 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:31,520 Could you send over some rugged individualists to free us from 407 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:33,800 the warm embrace of collectivism? 408 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:38,720 And that's a a direct reference to the inaugural address just 409 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:42,960 three or four days ago by Zara Mandami in New York, the new 410 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:46,400 mayor of New York saying that we will replace the fragility of 411 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,520 rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. 412 00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:54,640 So the rugged individualism is Trump and his faffo meme and 413 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:59,800 kidnapping communist leaders as, as Mandami would put it, he 414 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,120 probably wouldn't call him a dictator, call him a communist 415 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:07,360 leader. And, and, and that is he's 416 00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:09,480 basically Trump's become a bogeyman. 417 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,120 And it's deliberate, right? They're doing this deliberately 418 00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:16,880 in order to provoke a reaction and to drive parts of the 419 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:20,240 population into collectivism and and and ultimately into 420 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,000 communism because actually, if you go far enough up chain, 421 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,360 these things begin to coalesce, come back together, not least 422 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:29,080 through people. ISO ran Mandami and this is one 423 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,800 of the the images that we shared when he was voted in just a few 424 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,360 months ago. That's him with Alex Soros, son 425 00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:39,000 of George Soros, who is now the the chair of Open Societies 426 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,280 Foundation, which is supposedly a liberal progressive NGO 427 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:45,160 promoting better future for the whole humanity. 428 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,440 But she's also a strategic partner of the World Economic 429 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:50,720 Forum. So now you can see that 430 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:54,960 socialism and capitalism, collectivism and collectivism 431 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:57,880 and individualism all kind of coalesce together into this 432 00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:00,720 totalitarian system. It's been built around us. 433 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:06,320 And that situation in Venezuela is just one great example of how 434 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:09,640 it's all playing out. We'll keep you posted on this as 435 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:11,560 it goes. Vanessa is going to have more on 436 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,120 this on Wednesday. And I've no doubt. 437 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:17,200 But Brian, let's, let's welcome you back to the program and 438 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:21,320 well, Starmer and the European Union because of course, part 439 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,760 and parcel of everything that's going on, going on at the moment 440 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,240 is the threat to the nation itself. 441 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:31,000 Thank you, Mike. Well, of course, that's 442 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:34,000 absolutely right. I just felt that while we had 443 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,920 these momentous world events happening, it was a good thing 444 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:41,960 to keep an eye on what was happening with Keir Starmer and 445 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:47,280 as you say, the European Union. And fascinating for me that my 446 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:52,960 interpretation of what he's up to at the moment Reawoke work 447 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:57,080 that UK. Column did back in 2006. 448 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,120 When we were warning about certain things happening with 449 00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:05,400 young people in the UK. But let's open up with the way 450 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:08,680 the papers have been reporting. So I've just chosen a couple 451 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:11,160 here. We've got the OA paper. 452 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,120 It's talking about a softer course for Brexit. 453 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:18,120 It's interesting that title because it's almost as though. 454 00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:22,200 We haven't come out and we're doing a softer course to get out 455 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:26,840 of the EU. You came up with a wonderful UK 456 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:31,200 column expression of Brexit without the exit and that's 457 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:35,120 stayed out of position. So we've never fully left the 458 00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:37,800 EU. But here's the Daily Express 459 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:42,480 going much stronger and saying full blown Brexit betrayal. 460 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:48,960 And if that was the two of the newspaper headlines, then for me 461 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:52,640 it was also important to keep my eye on what the BBC was saying. 462 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:56,840 So let's bring in this one. So this headline is what's 463 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,560 behind the PMS notable shift on closer ties to Europe. 464 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,800 And in the article, really the message is very strongly. 465 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:09,080 Well, it's just a little bit of manipulation around the single 466 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:14,040 market helping get trade flow. It's about food in particular 467 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:16,920 and farm exports. They need some help. 468 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,520 Electricity comes into it. But of course, of course, as a 469 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:23,160 nation state we can't even power the country. 470 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:25,680 We need to draw on the European grid. 471 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:31,200 So it wasn't only electricity, but it's also trading in power. 472 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,800 I thought that was interesting. Let's have a look at another 473 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,720 headline here because here we should release. 474 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:40,640 They want to pay attention because in this BBC report on a 475 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:46,080 notable shift to closer ties with Europe, we see that in the 476 00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:51,600 text Stormer is acknowledging that what he's doing is a 477 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:54,840 sovereign decision. And I thought this was a very, 478 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:58,040 very important line. OK, he's saying we've got the 479 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:02,880 best relationship with the EU for 10 years, but I think in 480 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:07,200 this article he's having to recognise that what he is doing 481 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:12,240 is absolutely touching on and abusing constitutional issues 482 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:15,240 and he absolutely needs to be called out for it. 483 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:18,680 Let's go on to another headline and see what we get from that. 484 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:20,640 And this time we've got Rachel Reeves. 485 00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:25,600 And in this BBC headline, it's talking about her having pushed 486 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:30,240 for an ambitious youth migration deal and saying that the UK 487 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:35,000 agreed to work towards a. Youth experience visa Now many 488 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:38,320 people would just think this is sort of fluff and nonsense it's 489 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:42,520 just to do with. Is to do with youth and students 490 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:47,080 and it's it's a few thousand students coming into the UK for 491 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:50,400 Europe but is that really what's happening let's have a look at 492 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:55,920 the background to this and this is the meat of it which has come 493 00:28:55,920 --> 00:29:00,120 out in another article here by the Independent. 494 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:04,600 I think it is where it it actually says that the UK is 495 00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:09,960 going to rejoin the EU. Erasmus student exchange scheme. 496 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:12,520 Now people have never heard of this before. 497 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,280 You need to really know about it and understand it. 498 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:20,720 Erasmus, if I remember correctly, a Dutch Renaissance 499 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:26,680 thinker, also a priest and a humanist, but he has been taken 500 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:28,880 up by the European Union as the. Model. 501 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,680 For young people. So where does this leave us? 502 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:36,000 Well, let's actually have a look at the scheme itself. 503 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,400 And I've just got a headline here to to bring up on screen. 504 00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:43,400 So this is the Erasmus literature from the EU itself. 505 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:48,160 It's talking 2021 through to 2027. 506 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:51,280 And this is all about engaging youth. 507 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:55,560 So if we have a look at the actual costs involved here, this 508 00:29:55,560 --> 00:30:00,920 is no small program because we're talking about €26.2 509 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:05,800 billion in order to gauge engage youth. 510 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:10,360 And why do they want to do this? Well, the blue arrow there is 511 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:14,000 highlighting that this is all about reframing the minds of 512 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:19,120 thousands and thousands of young people in order to get them to 513 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:23,040 believe that they're not German or British or French or Dutch. 514 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:27,280 They're actually part of the European project and they're 515 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:31,520 going to think in terms of no borders, never mind Brexit, no 516 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:33,320 borders. They're going to move between 517 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:37,000 countries and they're going to be an internationalist in their 518 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:40,080 whole spirit. Here's a little video clip which 519 00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:42,840 probably spells it out better than me. 520 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,880 This isn't about your Erasmus in the first instance, it's about 521 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:50,640 the EU's youth project, but nevertheless this is about. 522 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:53,840 As young people, we have the power to shape the European 523 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:57,520 Union's future. The EU Youth Dialogue is all 524 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,480 about bridging the gap between young people and policy makers. 525 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,800 It offers us a unique opportunity to make political 526 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,800 decision makers aware of what truly matters to us. 527 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:11,360 Every EU Youth Dialogue takes place under a trio presidency, 528 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:14,280 with three countries chairing the Council of the European 529 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:17,560 Union. Over an 18 month cycle, these 530 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:20,680 countries take it in turns to organize our EU Youth 531 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,280 Conference, where we meet and debate on the chosen topics from 532 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:28,560 the EU Youth Dialogue. During each cycle, we young 533 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:32,240 Europeans are first consulted, making sure there is a wide 534 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:35,840 range of perspectives. Next, we discuss the results and 535 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:38,760 make recommendations for European Union and Member State 536 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,840 policies. So let's take the opportunity to 537 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:46,000 voice our views and help shape European societies, because the 538 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:50,160 best future for Europe is 1 in which we can engage, connect and 539 00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:56,320 empower youth. So that's it in a nutshell. 540 00:31:56,320 --> 00:32:00,120 This is about grooming, reframing, training young people 541 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:04,480 to believe in the European mind, to believe in the European 542 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:06,960 project. And of course, once they've been 543 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:11,480 trained and reframed, they're put in positions of making 544 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:13,280 policy. So if they can come into 545 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:17,400 politics, all the better. But also NGOs and other agencies 546 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:21,800 and these are the people that help drive European policy 547 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:27,440 within their own country of origin or the host country in 548 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:30,640 which they now reside. So this is very, very dangerous 549 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:32,480 stuff. Let's just put up a little bit 550 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,520 of a label over the top of this because the key point here for 551 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:39,440 people, if we pop this one on the screen, screen Mike, and 552 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:44,640 this is about reframing you. So if we so if we bring in the 553 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:48,800 ad on there and to that slide, this is all about reframing 554 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:52,640 youth to believe in Europe and the European project over and 555 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:57,280 above their own nation state. So this is a Trojan horse to 556 00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:00,240 bring in European policy into the UK. 557 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:02,840 Starmer absolutely knows what it's about. 558 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:07,520 And I just want to remind viewers that way back in 2006, 559 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:12,600 the UK column was alone in warning about the highly pro EU 560 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:17,760 charity Common Purpose and what it was doing in order to adopt 561 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:22,840 the same European reframing of children, not of teenagers 562 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:27,520 university age, but children from about the age of 12 onwards 563 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,200 in UK schools. So I think this is very 564 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:34,440 dangerous and it says to me that Starmer is absolutely wanting to 565 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:39,280 continue the EU. He's no intention of making any 566 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:45,520 form of Brexit hard or soft. As as we have been suggesting 567 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:48,360 for a long time, this of course this is a unit party policy, not 568 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:53,000 just not just Starmer. He's just the latest step along 569 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:57,800 the way. Now let's just remind everybody 570 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,320 that we can't do what we do without your help. 571 00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:02,640 And I want to say thank you very much to everybody that helped us 572 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:06,560 in 20252026 is a new year and we're going to have lots going 573 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:08,800 on this year. If you can't support us 574 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:13,000 financially, please click on the Click here button on the front 575 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:14,800 page of the website. It'll take you to a page that 576 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:18,760 shows how you can support us. If you can't support us 577 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:22,600 financially, do share all the stuff you find on the UK column 578 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:24,840 website. There is a host material there 579 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:28,960 to share that helps us defeat the the censorship regime. 580 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:32,880 The more of you that take part in that the better and is 581 00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:37,480 equally appreciated. Now tonight at 7:00 PM, Jeremy's 582 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:40,920 back building a social contract to dismantle the base system. 583 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:43,960 This is discussion with James Roguski about the failure of 584 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:46,159 governments and public health systems. 585 00:34:46,159 --> 00:34:51,960 So join us at 7:00 PM for that. And at 1:00 PM tomorrow, Diane 586 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:54,800 is talking to Chris Allen and Brent Holloway of the Cumbria of 587 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:58,000 Cumbria Action about their outreach work towards the 588 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:01,960 raising towards raising public awareness of globalist agendas. 589 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:08,400 So join us for that as well. And then on Sunday at 7:00 PM, 590 00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:12,600 we will have the latest 1000 Words podcast. 591 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:15,720 Let's have a look at a short trailer. 592 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:21,560 We're going to be chastised by the by the truther slash freedom 593 00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:27,360 slash cult, I said. Terry's dead. 594 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:31,280 And then I laughed. But you know, rabbit holes are 595 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:33,720 underground. You know, they're, they're, 596 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:35,760 they're, they're the opposite way to. 597 00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:38,000 And that woman behind me was crying. 598 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:41,080 So I just without sounding like I'm, I'm not Mother Teresa, 599 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:43,760 thank God, because he's. Right TuneIn this Sunday at 7:00 600 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:46,280 PM for 1000 Words with comedian Abby Roberts. 601 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:53,840 So I'll be I'll be Roberts. This is the next portrait to be 602 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:58,680 pitted by Jake Ferns to join us at 7:00 PM for the first of the 603 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:02,720 podcasts on the on that. And that should be a bit of fun. 604 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:10,440 OK, now let's move back to the UK and the 2026 International 605 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:12,840 Security and Intelligence Program. 606 00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:16,240 So let's bring it on screen. This is Cambridge University. 607 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:20,840 It's going to be hosted once again at Emmanuel College at 608 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,560 Cambridge University. This is a residential program. 609 00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:26,480 It's going to run from the Sunday the 5th of July to 610 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:29,240 Saturday the 1st of August. So basically a whole month is 611 00:36:29,240 --> 00:36:33,200 going to be chaired by Richard Dearlove, the former chief of MI 612 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:37,240 6. And well, the Cambridge Security 613 00:36:37,240 --> 00:36:40,440 Initiative was launched the International Security and 614 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:44,120 Intelligence Program in 2016. And they said that the aim of 615 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:47,280 what they describe as a unique program is to provide an 616 00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:50,840 opportunity for participants to engage with leading academics 617 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:53,000 and practitioners from the intelligence and security 618 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,600 communities in the historic setting of one of the world's 619 00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:59,200 foremost universities. I believe it's also probably one 620 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:04,760 of the most common sources of traitorous behaviour in in this 621 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:07,120 in the country as well, but maybe that may may be a 622 00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:08,600 misunderstanding of history. I don't. 623 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:11,640 Well, they did. They say that Cambridge produces 624 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:14,240 the heretics and Oxford burns them. 625 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:15,520 Really. Yes. 626 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:18,600 Anyway, the teaching program, because this is a teaching 627 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:21,520 program, closely follows that of Cambridge University with 628 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:26,880 lecture, seminars and supervisions, which, well, we 629 00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:30,320 can decide what those are later. All the instruction is is 630 00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:32,040 conducted under Chatham House rules. 631 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:34,480 And So what they say is that that means that when a meeting 632 00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:37,200 is held under Chatham House rules, participants are free to 633 00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:40,520 use the information received, but neither the identity nor the 634 00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:44,360 affiliation of the speaker nor that of any other participant 635 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,880 may be revealed. So applicants applications are 636 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:50,760 invited from undergraduates have completed at least a year of 637 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:53,640 university UH and sometimes more. 638 00:37:54,320 --> 00:37:56,880 UH, also graduates and early career professionals with an 639 00:37:56,880 --> 00:38:00,160 intellectual or professional interest in statecraft and the 640 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:02,640 interlocking themes of intelligence, security, 641 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:05,480 strategy, defence and in foreign policy. 642 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:10,640 And so, Ben, my question is, is this about education or is this 643 00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:14,680 in fact a recruitment programme? Brian, I don't know if you've 644 00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:17,760 got any thoughts on that. Is this about recruitment? 645 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:21,800 I've I've I've asked one or two other people about this and and 646 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:25,080 their view is that it could very well be more about recruitment 647 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:27,480 than anything else, but I'd be interested in your thoughts. 648 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:33,240 Well, my, my immediate response, Mike, is it's so difficult to 649 00:38:33,240 --> 00:38:36,640 tell now what's going on. Are we dealing with the state? 650 00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:37,880 Are we dealing with the government? 651 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:39,880 We're dealing with agents of the state. 652 00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:44,760 It's become increasingly difficult to tell whether thing 653 00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:48,000 whether people are running the country in line with the 654 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:52,640 Constitution. Or they are a cabal that's 655 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:55,280 running to their, you know, to their own agenda. 656 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:57,400 What are you reporting on Venezuela? 657 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:00,400 Just to jump back to that subject, I thought to myself, 658 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:04,280 well, here we are with. America totally out of control, 659 00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:08,280 ignoring the rules based international order just to 660 00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:11,600 throw the rock in the pond. But of course we've got Auk 661 00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:14,680 government that's voted. In a whole load of legislation 662 00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:18,480 to allow it to break the law, we shouldn't be surprised. 663 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:21,680 To allow it to break the law itself or its agents to break 664 00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:23,800 the law, we shouldn't be surprised. 665 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:28,240 Now whether we see increasingly murky groups set up, we've no 666 00:39:28,240 --> 00:39:30,320 idea what they're really there or doing. 667 00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:32,320 And we need to ask that question. 668 00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:35,320 Certainly we need to lift the stones to find out. 669 00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:38,160 Indeed. Well, the program directors. 670 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,920 Here's the first one. Professor Michael Goodman, and 671 00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:45,120 he formerly head of War Studies and now Professor of 672 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:47,520 Intelligence and International Affairs at King's College 673 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,320 London. He's the official historian of 674 00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:53,480 the historian of the British Joint Intelligence Committee and 675 00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:56,200 a visiting professor at the Norwegian Defence Intelligence 676 00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:58,560 School. He's a British Army reservist. 677 00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:01,400 They're not clear as to who he's a reservist for. 678 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:05,080 Is it 77 Brigade perhaps? And has spent many years 679 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:07,600 seconded to the Cabinet Office in the Ministry of Defence. 680 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:12,640 And then Professor David Glow, who's visiting Professor of the 681 00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:14,800 Department of War Studies, King's College London. 682 00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:18,640 Recently British Academy Global Professor at the Department of 683 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,280 War Studies and formerly Associate Professor of History 684 00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,880 at U.S. Military Academy in West Point. 685 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:29,240 And well, the little synopsis says that he brings 25 years of 686 00:40:29,240 --> 00:40:32,000 combined active and reserve service working in the US 687 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,920 intelligence community, including analytical and 688 00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:39,520 operational roles in the FBI, CIA, DIA and Office of Naval 689 00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:45,120 Intelligence. So as I say, the teaching format 690 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:48,200 closely follows that of Cambridge University and so on. 691 00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:53,080 But look, the connections here into the whole Russia Gate thing 692 00:40:53,080 --> 00:40:56,360 in the United States. We've, we look at Russia Gate to 693 00:40:56,360 --> 00:40:59,240 start off with Christopher Steele, he's involved with this 694 00:40:59,240 --> 00:41:01,360 organization. Stefan Halper absolutely. 695 00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:03,840 Richard Dearlove is chairing this event. 696 00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:07,160 Christopher Andrew, the official historian of MI Five. 697 00:41:07,720 --> 00:41:11,000 Well, he's not directly connected to this particular 698 00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:15,320 event, but his his, his work, his academic work, his 699 00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:18,480 historical work on MI 5 is absolutely part and parcel of 700 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:22,040 the curriculum for this. So that's the Cambridge four 701 00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:24,600 that we talked about with respect to Russia Gate. 702 00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:28,160 But then also we've got the same types of people involved with 703 00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:32,600 the Skripal case as well, which is all about building narratives 704 00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,680 against Russia. In fact, Russia Gate, the attack 705 00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:38,880 on Trump was also really about a narrative against Russia 706 00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:42,800 interfering and so on. And then if we just focus on 707 00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:47,440 Christopher Steele for a second, of course, he produced to Trump 708 00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:51,520 dossier also produced or contributed to the Russia report 709 00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:55,120 for the British government and also the Huawei dossier for the 710 00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:57,760 British government. So you know, this, this is these 711 00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:02,240 are the types of people that we have operational here and so on. 712 00:42:02,720 --> 00:42:07,320 But just to to move on to another Cambridge person, of 713 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:11,000 course, the lovely Blaze Metro Welle, who was giving her 714 00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:15,280 inaugural speech as the new head of MI 6 just before Christmas 715 00:42:16,240 --> 00:42:21,240 was she of course, was outed as the granddaughter of the 716 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:24,840 infamous, shall we say, Ukrainian Nazi collaborator 717 00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:29,840 Konstantin Dobrovolski, known to the Abver as the butcher. 718 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:35,080 And that was from 1941 to 1943. And he was accused of rounding 719 00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:39,640 up Ukrainian Jews for slaughter and bragging about the 720 00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:42,960 extermination his his part in the extermination of the Jews, 721 00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:47,680 now Blaise Metro. Eli's response was to deny any 722 00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:51,600 knowledge or contact with him. And then the Foreign Office and 723 00:42:51,680 --> 00:42:56,880 MI 6 issued statements that the BBC was happy to to promote, 724 00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:01,000 saying that Blaise's ancestry is characterized by conflict and 725 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:05,120 division, and as is the case for many with Eastern European 726 00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:07,040 heritage, only partially understood. 727 00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:10,480 It's precisely this complex heritage which has contributed 728 00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:13,040 to our commitment to prevent conflict and protect the British 729 00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:16,320 public from modern threats from today's hostile states. 730 00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:20,360 As the next chief of MI 6:00 Well, it turns out that 731 00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:25,480 Metrovelli's father, Constantine Dobrovolski Junior was was 732 00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:27,560 raised by another Nazi collaborator. 733 00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:29,800 Collaborator. That was his stepfather, David 734 00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:36,120 Metrovelli, who worked at an Abfair run special preliminary 735 00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:39,960 camp at Auschwitz. The camp was in the town of 736 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:43,040 Auschwitz, but it wasn't the same as the concentration camp 737 00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:49,200 that's known by that name now. He was apparently teaching radio 738 00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:55,080 technology to radio operatives for the Abfair, and it's also 739 00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:57,760 noted that he's obviously Georgian. 740 00:43:57,760 --> 00:44:01,080 As we've mentioned from the name, he was also providing 741 00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:05,720 instruction to members of the Georgian Legion, which was also 742 00:44:05,720 --> 00:44:11,560 collaborating with the Nazis. Brian, MI 6 must have understood 743 00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:17,840 enough about her family history before they recruited her. 744 00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:21,960 And now she's following her career in MI 6. 745 00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:26,360 MI 6 is now under her command. And so I wonder, you know, 746 00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:31,000 obviously, having a grandfather who was known as the butcher and 747 00:44:31,400 --> 00:44:34,640 a Nazi collaborator, and also therefore her father being 748 00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:38,800 brought up by another Nazi collaborator, that doesn't make 749 00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:43,360 her a Nazi necessarily. But, you know, what were MI 6 750 00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:46,960 thinking in the recruitment process, do you think? 751 00:44:47,040 --> 00:44:49,800 I mean, why would they choose someone with this kind of family 752 00:44:49,800 --> 00:44:51,400 background? Because, as I understand it, 753 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:54,960 intelligence operatives are fairly well vetted. 754 00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:01,640 Well, very good question, Mike. And my immediate response is 755 00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:06,000 that if you're involved in murky dirty business, you want to 756 00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:10,160 recruit somebody for who come from comes from a murky dirty 757 00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:13,520 background. So in some ways I could look at 758 00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:16,880 her and say, yeah, OK, this is exactly the lady they want 759 00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:20,360 because The Dirty work that's going on in Ukraine in 760 00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:23,240 particular. Is clearly going to continue 761 00:45:23,240 --> 00:45:27,360 throughout this year and many forecast into into next year. 762 00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:31,520 UK is heavily involved in a war, although it's denying that it 763 00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:34,080 is. So whether we've got troops on 764 00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:38,480 the ground or we've got special intelligence services active in 765 00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:42,280 the background, do you want somebody who's capable of of 766 00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:46,720 operating in that murky way. So my my initial impression is 767 00:45:46,720 --> 00:45:49,560 this woman would have been specially chosen. 768 00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:55,360 Because of her connections and murky pass, she's acceptable to 769 00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:59,880 both sides of the Presumably she's acceptable to both sides 770 00:45:59,880 --> 00:46:03,720 of the Ukrainian political divide, those that are on the 771 00:46:03,720 --> 00:46:07,480 extreme right wing in Ukraine, which of course nobody, 772 00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:11,640 including the BBC wants to talk about anymore, or whether she's 773 00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:17,080 connected into the cleaner, more modern Ukrainian political 774 00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:19,880 circles. But they absolutely. 775 00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:23,200 Absolutely would have known what this woman's background is. 776 00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:27,080 My opinion is she's been chosen because of that murky 777 00:46:27,080 --> 00:46:29,880 background. Thanks, Brian. 778 00:46:29,880 --> 00:46:35,040 Now let's let's come on back on to other UK topics and something 779 00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:38,000 that we've been, well, it's been a topic of conversation for 780 00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:41,280 many, many years. And that is the question of the 781 00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:44,800 House of Commons and, and the the Palace of Westminster and 782 00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:48,360 whether it's actually capable of hosting the House of Commons and 783 00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:50,920 the House of Lords anymore. I mean, obviously we've just 784 00:46:50,920 --> 00:46:55,080 seen Big Ben refurbished and it's looking spectacularly good 785 00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:56,360 at the moment, it has to be said. 786 00:46:56,960 --> 00:47:00,000 But that's the outside. What about the inside? 787 00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:04,800 Well, this is a good question. Perhaps we're going into another 788 00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:08,720 dirty, murky subject, but I wanted to flag this up because 789 00:47:08,720 --> 00:47:12,640 again, the UK column was. Talking about the the whole 790 00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:17,120 concept of a major refurbishment to the Parliament in UK, this 791 00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:22,440 was being discussed 50, least 15 years ago and we said that at a 792 00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:29,800 time when we've got the sort of iron fist of the EU around our 793 00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:33,080 throats as a nation state. It was very worrying if we were 794 00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:38,200 going to see Parliament broken up for refurbishment, recited 795 00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:44,800 possibly in another city, a time of great turbulence when there 796 00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:48,600 was another political power clearly attempting to take full 797 00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:51,840 control of the country. We're in a time of turbulence 798 00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:57,440 again and what is now cropped up is that we are to have a major 799 00:47:57,440 --> 00:48:01,360 refurbishment of Parliament. So I'm very wary as to what's 800 00:48:01,360 --> 00:48:03,240 going on here in a political sense. 801 00:48:03,240 --> 00:48:07,400 But also many years ago I had experience of working in a 802 00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:12,720 company undertaking major conditions surveys for very, 803 00:48:12,720 --> 00:48:16,680 very big properties and so including some of the EU's own 804 00:48:16,680 --> 00:48:19,720 buildings in Brussels. And so I've got a little bit of 805 00:48:19,720 --> 00:48:22,680 professional knowledge about how this system works. 806 00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:26,400 And when I look at what we're being told in the media about 807 00:48:26,400 --> 00:48:31,440 what's to happen with Westminster, some of it does not 808 00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:34,240 stack up. So let's have a look at how this 809 00:48:34,240 --> 00:48:38,200 is being reported. No apologies for picking the BBC 810 00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:42,280 because the BB CS, the biggest propaganda outlet in the 811 00:48:42,280 --> 00:48:44,720 country, so many people being affected. 812 00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:48,680 But the picture I'll just describe first of all, because I 813 00:48:48,680 --> 00:48:51,120 suspect some people have trouble seeing what it is. 814 00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:55,880 It's the BB CS picture of part of the problem with Westminster. 815 00:48:55,880 --> 00:48:59,720 So you're down in the bowels of the the building and what you're 816 00:48:59,720 --> 00:49:03,240 looking at isn't a rat's nest, which you might expect to find 817 00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:06,640 in Parliament. No, what you're looking at is a 818 00:49:06,640 --> 00:49:12,800 massive mess of data cables. And my immediate response is if 819 00:49:12,800 --> 00:49:16,400 that is indeed the condition of those cables, somebody needs to 820 00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:20,240 be on a health and safety charge because it's outrageous. 821 00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:22,440 No other company would be allowed that. 822 00:49:22,840 --> 00:49:26,240 But underneath we've got some of the the meat of what this 823 00:49:26,240 --> 00:49:29,040 report's talking about. So it's talking about these 824 00:49:29,040 --> 00:49:37,280 works taking 19 to 28 years to complete with Parliament vacated 825 00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:42,960 or partly vacated or partly relocated for some 12 to 20 826 00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:44,720 years. And I've added a question mark 827 00:49:44,720 --> 00:49:48,680 after that because this time scale is not set. 828 00:49:49,120 --> 00:49:50,720 Now. There's more pictures here from 829 00:49:50,720 --> 00:49:54,080 the BBC now. They tried to make out as though 830 00:49:54,080 --> 00:49:58,640 this is an absolute disaster, but many people in the 831 00:49:58,640 --> 00:50:02,800 professional world of building can of, of buildings and their 832 00:50:02,800 --> 00:50:06,440 condition will say, well, this looks pretty neat and tidy 833 00:50:06,560 --> 00:50:08,840 compared to many. But I can accept that the 834 00:50:09,120 --> 00:50:12,080 system's rolled. So we've got all sorts of 835 00:50:12,080 --> 00:50:17,440 heating, pipe work, ventilation, which is down under the building 836 00:50:17,800 --> 00:50:19,440 if we just bring you over the overlay. 837 00:50:19,440 --> 00:50:24,000 This is what the BBC says, a hot and fusty corridor in the 838 00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:26,560 basement, the Houses of Parliament which carries 839 00:50:26,560 --> 00:50:30,320 hundreds of tangled gas pipes, water mains and electrical 840 00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:33,680 wires, some of which are redundant, dangerous and need 841 00:50:33,680 --> 00:50:36,160 replacing. Well, this would be what you 842 00:50:36,160 --> 00:50:39,240 would see in most older commercial properties, 843 00:50:39,720 --> 00:50:43,040 particularly up in London. But for some reason, now we're 844 00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:47,480 onto the subject of Westminster. My goodness, this is a nightmare 845 00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:49,360 that nobody's capable of sorting out. 846 00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:52,520 So if we go to the next one, we got another picture. 847 00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:57,760 This is a 1945 pipe that was leaking at the flange at one 848 00:50:57,760 --> 00:50:59,040 point. So there's a little bit of a 849 00:50:59,040 --> 00:51:02,320 rust stain on it. But what does the BBC say? 850 00:51:02,320 --> 00:51:06,520 Well, it says that this pipe has been decommissioned and needs to 851 00:51:06,520 --> 00:51:09,680 be removed. However, getting it out requires 852 00:51:09,680 --> 00:51:12,760 removing the otherwise entwined around it. 853 00:51:13,080 --> 00:51:15,520 They can't. They can't be isolated, meaning 854 00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:18,040 the whole system would have to be shut off. 855 00:51:18,440 --> 00:51:23,680 This is completely normal. No commercial operation would be 856 00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:27,440 batting an eyelid at this is what happens in big and small 857 00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:31,240 commercial properties right the way across UK and indeed 858 00:51:31,240 --> 00:51:34,120 worldwide. But suddenly for Parliament it's 859 00:51:34,120 --> 00:51:37,160 a huge problem. We've had to create a specialist 860 00:51:37,160 --> 00:51:38,960 company. Let's have a look at it. 861 00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:45,080 It's it's the restoration and renewal company that's already 862 00:51:45,080 --> 00:51:50,880 spending about 79 million a year in order to think about and plan 863 00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:55,000 what this refurbishment is, is, is going to be and how it's 864 00:51:55,000 --> 00:51:57,880 going to work and what is the cost. 865 00:51:57,880 --> 00:52:01,720 Well, this is where my eyes really started to to bulge 866 00:52:01,720 --> 00:52:06,040 because apparently to refurbish this building is going to cost 867 00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:11,560 between 7:00 and £13 billion and this is Conservative estimate. 868 00:52:11,960 --> 00:52:14,760 And I'm thinking to myself, my goodness, what commercial 869 00:52:14,760 --> 00:52:20,400 operation would be looking at the possibility of non inability 870 00:52:20,400 --> 00:52:24,840 to use a building over 20 years and possibly spending £13 871 00:52:24,840 --> 00:52:28,640 billion to refurbishment, refurbish it. 872 00:52:28,640 --> 00:52:32,000 It sounds incredible. So if we get into a little bit 873 00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:35,640 more of the detail, this is from that company's own reports. 874 00:52:36,040 --> 00:52:40,840 This is just a very simplistic list of what's going to take 875 00:52:40,840 --> 00:52:43,120 place. So the top one which I've 876 00:52:43,120 --> 00:52:48,080 highlighted is it says save the building and renew failing 877 00:52:48,080 --> 00:52:52,520 building services. And the top subject is building 878 00:52:52,520 --> 00:52:55,600 services such as heating, ventilation and cooling. 879 00:52:56,160 --> 00:53:01,200 And apparently that is going to swallow out 51% of those 880 00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:03,720 billions, which we've already identified. 881 00:53:04,080 --> 00:53:08,960 This to me seems completely unbelievable, but you can see 882 00:53:08,960 --> 00:53:11,160 some of the other problems underneath because they're 883 00:53:11,160 --> 00:53:16,200 talking about the need to to conserve the building fabric. 884 00:53:16,200 --> 00:53:20,320 That makes sense, but that's a mere 16% to the cost. 885 00:53:20,800 --> 00:53:23,920 We've also got asbestos removal at 8%. 886 00:53:24,160 --> 00:53:28,040 Asbestos still a big problem in many older buildings, but the 887 00:53:28,040 --> 00:53:32,680 procedures for getting it out are very well established and 8% 888 00:53:32,680 --> 00:53:37,160 of the overall cost sounds to me probably about right for for a 889 00:53:37,160 --> 00:53:39,960 building of that age. If we go on and have a look at 890 00:53:39,960 --> 00:53:43,200 the next table here, we suddenly start to see something different 891 00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:48,160 because now we're looking at a working, creating a working home 892 00:53:48,160 --> 00:53:51,520 for members and Parliament itself. 893 00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:55,360 And that is only going to take 3% of the budget. 894 00:53:55,720 --> 00:53:59,520 So we've got 51% to those billions simply on the 895 00:53:59,520 --> 00:54:05,400 engineering systems and a mere 3% on achieving the reason. 896 00:54:05,400 --> 00:54:07,480 I would have thought you're trying to refurbish the 897 00:54:07,480 --> 00:54:10,040 building. And if we go on to the last one, 898 00:54:10,840 --> 00:54:14,960 there's a lot more to this, but to give people an overview, what 899 00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:16,680 are we looking at in this last one? 900 00:54:16,680 --> 00:54:20,160 Well, it's a building that's got to be accessible. 901 00:54:20,160 --> 00:54:23,840 And what do they mean? It means that anybody who can't 902 00:54:23,840 --> 00:54:29,280 walk, they're in a wheelchair, they can have full access to the 903 00:54:29,280 --> 00:54:32,280 building. And that alone is going to take 904 00:54:32,280 --> 00:54:35,800 6% of those billion pounds in budget. 905 00:54:36,200 --> 00:54:39,640 So some quite extraordinary things taking place here. 906 00:54:39,960 --> 00:54:44,520 But if we get to the meat of my concerns in the next slide, here 907 00:54:44,920 --> 00:54:49,160 is what's actually happening, because is this a simple 908 00:54:49,160 --> 00:54:54,240 restoration and renewal or is it a project which is to be dragged 909 00:54:54,240 --> 00:54:57,880 out over so many years? You have the opportunity to 910 00:54:57,880 --> 00:55:03,520 completely disrupt and reset the UK's constitutional government. 911 00:55:03,840 --> 00:55:07,400 And if you're wondering what the 48 years is that's appeared on 912 00:55:07,400 --> 00:55:13,040 screen, yes, in the report by that renewal company, at one 913 00:55:13,040 --> 00:55:18,800 stage they casually suggest in one of the sentences that maybe 914 00:55:19,040 --> 00:55:24,560 this whole project could disrupt Parliament for 48 years. 915 00:55:25,360 --> 00:55:29,840 I'm going to say as part of my prediction for 2026, what we're 916 00:55:29,840 --> 00:55:34,560 looking at is now a deliberate attempt to completely undermine 917 00:55:34,560 --> 00:55:39,040 and destroy stability within our political process. 918 00:55:39,440 --> 00:55:44,480 And the idea that we're going to spend 13 billion on, on renewing 919 00:55:44,480 --> 00:55:48,760 parliament is a complete, it's not only a nonsense, but it's so 920 00:55:48,760 --> 00:55:51,800 outrageous. We we've got to ask questions as 921 00:55:51,800 --> 00:55:55,360 to what's happening here. So we've got Starmer re 922 00:55:55,360 --> 00:55:59,480 educating youth to believe in the European Union, and at the 923 00:55:59,480 --> 00:56:03,840 same time we've got a perfect opportunity to destroy the 924 00:56:03,840 --> 00:56:06,680 workings of Parliament as we know it. 925 00:56:06,920 --> 00:56:10,880 So perhaps I can throw that back to you, Mike, and say there's 926 00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:13,960 something at work here and I think we really need to pay 927 00:56:13,960 --> 00:56:16,600 attention to it. But we've got nothing to worry 928 00:56:16,600 --> 00:56:17,920 about, Ben, the Citizens Assembly. 929 00:56:17,920 --> 00:56:19,200 So we're going to save the day. I don't. 930 00:56:20,440 --> 00:56:21,880 Do you know what I was just going to say? 931 00:56:22,680 --> 00:56:26,440 Sadiq Khan has just built a new City Hall up in East London. 932 00:56:26,440 --> 00:56:29,080 Maybe they could move in there instead, if that'd be OK, 933 00:56:29,080 --> 00:56:29,760 wouldn't it? Yeah. 934 00:56:30,400 --> 00:56:35,480 Well, well, if the question then to to finish then is are they 935 00:56:35,480 --> 00:56:39,680 intending to sell Britain? I mean, they've been flogging it 936 00:56:39,680 --> 00:56:41,480 off for years, haven't they? Yes. 937 00:56:41,480 --> 00:56:43,280 I mean, basically I've been doing the route. 938 00:56:43,280 --> 00:56:46,320 I mean, it's, it's quite nicely LinkedIn from what Brian's just 939 00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:49,560 been talking about, Right. Like I've been doing a bit of it 940 00:56:49,560 --> 00:56:51,040 for the first time in a few years. 941 00:56:51,040 --> 00:56:53,480 I've been going around the country on various different 942 00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:55,160 trips. Went up to York for the UK 943 00:56:55,160 --> 00:56:58,600 column conference. Was in Stroud with Sandy just 944 00:56:58,600 --> 00:57:03,160 before Christmas. I've been exploring Devon over 945 00:57:03,200 --> 00:57:05,200 the past few weeks, has been fantastic. 946 00:57:05,200 --> 00:57:07,680 And I was up in my mum's over Christmas just outside of 947 00:57:07,680 --> 00:57:09,520 Nottingham, small town called Bingham. 948 00:57:10,280 --> 00:57:13,360 And the thing that you can't help but notice is, well the 949 00:57:13,360 --> 00:57:15,800 first thing, that half the country is now covered in solar 950 00:57:15,800 --> 00:57:19,640 panels, which is awful and it makes me sick to my stomach when 951 00:57:19,640 --> 00:57:21,520 I see that. Then the other one that's really 952 00:57:21,520 --> 00:57:23,800 getting me, and it was particularly related to seeing 953 00:57:23,800 --> 00:57:27,880 my mum over Christmas, is that Bingham is this beautiful, not 954 00:57:27,880 --> 00:57:29,800 quite a village. It's a little bit bigger than 955 00:57:29,800 --> 00:57:31,360 that, right? But it's, it's been there for 956 00:57:31,360 --> 00:57:34,320 hundreds of years. It's got a very particular feel 957 00:57:34,320 --> 00:57:36,960 to it, a very particular architectural style, these 958 00:57:36,960 --> 00:57:40,680 lovely red brick buildings. And it was in the middle of 959 00:57:41,680 --> 00:57:44,680 fields and farmland. And you know, there's huge 960 00:57:44,680 --> 00:57:47,320 swathes of the country that are like that, like these little 961 00:57:49,160 --> 00:57:53,080 small villages, small Hamlets, and they're surrounded by by the 962 00:57:53,080 --> 00:57:55,680 countryside by nature. And that, and that essentially 963 00:57:55,680 --> 00:58:00,480 that is what the country is. And Bing urban. 964 00:58:00,480 --> 00:58:03,160 And this is a good example that can be seen across the whole of 965 00:58:03,160 --> 00:58:05,760 the country is now surrounded by these things. 966 00:58:05,760 --> 00:58:09,120 We can get this up on screen. Are these these building sites 967 00:58:09,800 --> 00:58:12,480 and these new housing estates that are going in. 968 00:58:13,120 --> 00:58:18,120 And this is destroying the the soul of the nation. 969 00:58:18,720 --> 00:58:21,800 Yeah, like the fabric of the country, like what it was, how 970 00:58:21,800 --> 00:58:26,880 it feels, how it looks. And this is just the perfect 971 00:58:26,880 --> 00:58:29,520 example for me of, of what's going on in wrong in the 972 00:58:29,520 --> 00:58:31,680 country. Like where you can essentially 973 00:58:31,680 --> 00:58:38,480 look at a, a field, a Meadow, you know, the surrounding of 974 00:58:38,480 --> 00:58:41,040 something that is ancient and beautiful that's been there for 975 00:58:41,040 --> 00:58:45,440 centuries and say, do you know what that really needs and need? 976 00:58:45,640 --> 00:58:50,760 Some, you know, toy houses made by Taylor Wimpey or some other 977 00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:57,080 FTSE listed house builder to come in and bulldoze over it, 978 00:58:57,240 --> 00:59:02,200 overload the local infrastructure, basically fob 979 00:59:02,200 --> 00:59:05,840 people off with, you know, like this is not a particular comment 980 00:59:05,840 --> 00:59:07,720 about Taylor Wimpey. It's just a comment about 981 00:59:07,720 --> 00:59:11,000 modern, modern construction. So we say these things are not 982 00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:13,560 built to last. So there's no sympathy with the 983 00:59:13,560 --> 00:59:16,400 local area. It's not an asset that you're 984 00:59:16,400 --> 00:59:19,240 going to hand down through generations over potentially 985 00:59:19,240 --> 00:59:22,000 centuries. It's something that you're going 986 00:59:22,000 --> 00:59:26,120 to have to tear down and rebuild in 30 years or 40 years 987 00:59:26,120 --> 00:59:28,400 potentially maybe even before you get to the end of the 988 00:59:28,400 --> 00:59:30,400 mortgage. It's going to run out of it's 989 00:59:30,400 --> 00:59:35,520 going to run out of usefulness. And this is the front line of 990 00:59:35,520 --> 00:59:37,800 the the struggle that we're in at the moment. 991 00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:41,040 You know, if you think about those building sites, the solar 992 00:59:41,040 --> 00:59:43,840 panels going up, you know, we talk a lot about what's 993 00:59:43,840 --> 00:59:47,360 happening in terms of global agenda and global policy here on 994 00:59:47,360 --> 00:59:50,480 the UK column. But it manifests at a local 995 00:59:50,480 --> 00:59:53,200 level, right? And so when you see these things 996 00:59:53,200 --> 00:59:57,160 popping up, understand that that's being driven from these 997 00:59:57,160 --> 01:00:00,480 great macroeconomic and political forces in places like 998 01:00:00,480 --> 01:00:03,160 the City of London or Davros or wherever it might be. 999 01:00:03,440 --> 01:00:05,440 Yeah. So that's the country 1000 01:00:05,440 --> 01:00:08,160 transforming as a consequence of these policies. 1001 01:00:08,360 --> 01:00:11,160 And the other thing that it really flagged up to me is the 1002 01:00:11,280 --> 01:00:14,680 enormous importance of independent local media, because 1003 01:00:14,680 --> 01:00:17,760 if the newspapers in those towns were doing their job properly 1004 01:00:18,280 --> 01:00:20,120 then. Some of this would be happening. 1005 01:00:20,320 --> 01:00:23,800 Yeah, indeed. Well, look, Brian, we're out of 1006 01:00:23,800 --> 01:00:29,440 time, but let's just finish with something slightly lighter 1007 01:00:29,440 --> 01:00:33,440 hearted, shall we say? Because of course we're all 1008 01:00:33,440 --> 01:00:34,800 going to die because of the snow. 1009 01:00:36,560 --> 01:00:39,120 Well, this is true. Snow's the problem, and we're 1010 01:00:39,120 --> 01:00:42,840 all to become snowflakes, to not be able to deal with those snow 1011 01:00:43,040 --> 01:00:46,360 snowflakes as they come down. But I've got to say thank you to 1012 01:00:46,360 --> 01:00:50,640 Mrs. Garish for this one because I found a laughing one morning 1013 01:00:50,640 --> 01:00:53,720 while she was looking at some reports online. 1014 01:00:54,400 --> 01:00:56,000 What? What's the whole thing about? 1015 01:00:56,000 --> 01:00:58,520 Well, of course it's the government ramping up fear of a 1016 01:00:58,680 --> 01:01:04,240 snow hitting the Uki remember the winter of 1963 as a very 1017 01:01:04,240 --> 01:01:08,360 small child when we really did have a problem with snow, but we 1018 01:01:08,360 --> 01:01:11,280 still managed to to survive as a nation. 1019 01:01:11,280 --> 01:01:14,440 The trains were able to start running again, roads were 1020 01:01:14,440 --> 01:01:17,040 cleared and people just dealt with it. 1021 01:01:17,040 --> 01:01:18,920 But now of. Course, the government says. 1022 01:01:19,000 --> 01:01:24,440 That snow, as we can see in this one, is, is a risk to life. 1023 01:01:24,800 --> 01:01:27,600 And this is the thing. It's all about fear. 1024 01:01:27,600 --> 01:01:30,440 Now who's driving the fear? Well, in these articles they 1025 01:01:30,440 --> 01:01:36,400 start talking about the extreme events and. 1026 01:01:36,840 --> 01:01:42,920 Health Protection, Health UK. Health Security Agency and 1027 01:01:42,920 --> 01:01:45,640 there's a. Particular individual who's 1028 01:01:45,680 --> 01:01:51,760 who's actually Portuguese Agostino D'souza and he's 1029 01:01:52,040 --> 01:01:55,680 interesting man. He's got a very European career, 1030 01:01:56,160 --> 01:01:58,400 but he. Said as the cold weather sets 1031 01:01:58,400 --> 01:02:02,040 in, it's vital to check in on friends, family and neighbors 1032 01:02:02,280 --> 01:02:06,480 that are the most vulnerable. And if we press the magic button 1033 01:02:06,480 --> 01:02:10,320 again, he added this, the forecasted temperatures can have 1034 01:02:10,320 --> 01:02:12,080 a serious. Impact on the health of some 1035 01:02:12,080 --> 01:02:14,400 people. Leading to increased risk of 1036 01:02:14,400 --> 01:02:17,800 heart attacks, strokes and chest infections, particularly for 1037 01:02:17,800 --> 01:02:21,960 individuals over the age of 65 and those with pre-existing 1038 01:02:21,960 --> 01:02:25,160 health conditions. So I I think we should thank 1039 01:02:25,400 --> 01:02:29,040 Agostino. For thinking for us and keeping 1040 01:02:29,040 --> 01:02:33,280 us safe from those snowflakes. Because before he got involved, 1041 01:02:33,280 --> 01:02:36,440 no adult in the company in the country was capable of doing 1042 01:02:36,440 --> 01:02:38,840 this. But the the thing that really 1043 01:02:39,120 --> 01:02:43,720 brought a smile to our faces as a family was the fact that these 1044 01:02:43,720 --> 01:02:46,680 agencies were having yellow snow warnings. 1045 01:02:47,040 --> 01:02:52,840 And this brought into my head a Frank Zappa track from some 1046 01:02:52,840 --> 01:02:56,600 years ago because he was also warning about yellow snow 1047 01:02:56,960 --> 01:02:59,840 because that's where the doggies might go. 1048 01:03:00,400 --> 01:03:05,600 So yellow snow warnings in UK, does that mean watch out where 1049 01:03:05,600 --> 01:03:08,320 you're treading or does it mean something else? 1050 01:03:08,320 --> 01:03:11,440 I don't know. But for goodness sake, snow is 1051 01:03:11,440 --> 01:03:13,040 snow. We can survive. 1052 01:03:13,280 --> 01:03:17,120 Let's not let these people make us anxious and fearful of 1053 01:03:17,120 --> 01:03:22,440 something which is quite normal for any country, certainly in in 1054 01:03:22,800 --> 01:03:26,200 Europe or America, wherever we go, where there's cold weather. 1055 01:03:27,520 --> 01:03:29,360 Absolutely. Well, thank you very much for 1056 01:03:29,360 --> 01:03:31,840 that. Yes, we all recommend Frank's 1057 01:03:31,880 --> 01:03:36,280 office satire from time to time. It's it's good stuff. 1058 01:03:36,280 --> 01:03:38,120 OK, well, look, we got to leave it there for now. 1059 01:03:38,160 --> 01:03:39,480 Thank you, Brian. Thank you, Ben. 1060 01:03:39,480 --> 01:03:41,080 Thanks to everybody that's watching. 1061 01:03:41,920 --> 01:03:43,160 We'll be back in a couple of minutes. 1062 01:03:43,160 --> 01:03:46,160 If you UK call UK column member for some news extra. 1063 01:03:46,880 --> 01:03:49,000 Otherwise, don't forget Germ tonight. 1064 01:03:49,480 --> 01:03:51,400 Interview at 1:00 PM. Tomorrow, we'll be back from 1065 01:03:51,400 --> 01:03:54,200 another news program, 1:00 PM as usual on Wednesday. 1066 01:03:54,200 --> 01:03:55,880 We'll see you then. Thanks for joining us. 1067 01:03:55,960 --> 01:03:56,360 Bye. Bye.