Latest / UK Column Radio / UK Column News - 9th July 2025

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UK Column News - 9th July 2025 · UK Column Radio

0:08
Good afternoon. It's Wednesday the 9th of July,
0:10
just after 1:00. Welcome to UK Column News.
0:12
I'm your host Mike Robinson. Joining me in the studio today
0:15
we have Charles Mallett. Welcome to the programme,
0:17
Charles. Thank you, Mike.
0:18
And by video link, we have researcher and activist Andy
0:22
Sandy Adams, Sorry, and journalist and Peace Camp Peter
0:25
Vanessa Bailey. Now, later in the programme,
0:27
Vanessa's going to be explaining Tony Blair's role in Gaza.
0:30
Sandy's going to be covering RFK's demands for wearable
0:33
health monitoring. And I'm going to be speaking to
0:35
Carl Zah about the BRICS summit. But we're going to begin today
0:39
with the latest on UK terror laws.
0:41
Charles. Well, we are indeed because the
0:44
designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation and
0:47
its prescription as such has been covered on several UK
0:51
column news programmes recently and the repercussions and
0:54
implications continue to deserve close scrutiny.
0:58
Now on Friday will from Resistance GB brought a live
1:02
report from the High Court and as seen from their website, the
1:09
court ruled against them. This is set against a backdrop
1:14
of a statement from Downing St to mark the 20th anniversary of
1:20
77 shown under the counterterrorism section on the
1:24
government website. Keir Starmer said those who
1:27
tried to divide us failed. We stood together then and we
1:31
stand together now against hate and for the values that define
1:35
us of freedom, democracy and the rule of law.
1:39
End Quote. It's on this issue of the rule
1:42
of law that the actions must be examined and the specific
1:45
petition to the High Court was for interim relief in order that
1:50
Palestine action is not prescribed with immediate effect
1:52
whilst A substantive claim against the prescription goes
1:55
through. Mr Justice Chamberlain concluded
1:58
quote, that the harm which would ensue if interim relief is
2:02
refused but the claim is late, the claim later succeeds is
2:06
insufficient to outweigh the strong public interest in
2:09
maintaining the order in force. End Quote.
2:12
So in suggesting that there is a public interest case to the
2:15
immediate prescription of Palestine action, Martin
2:18
Chamberlain gives a good insight into his perspective and his
2:21
understanding of the situation. The judgement quotes some of the
2:24
claimants evidence in which it's stated that the main target of
2:27
PA has been stopping Elbit Systems and in square brackets
2:32
after the word Elbit Systems it says it is a defence company
2:36
which is said to to supply the Israeli government.
2:41
Now that absolutely suggests that it might not do so, but one
2:44
glance at the Elbit website will lead you to the recent
2:47
announcement that Israel has recently bought $130 million
2:50
worth of communications equipment.
2:52
And if you read on you'll find that Elbit refers to itself as
2:55
powering the future of UK defence.
2:58
Of course for defence read war and this is where the government
3:01
should of course run into trouble.
3:03
Now, as referenced by Patrick on Friday, the United Nations
3:07
weighed in on the 1st of stating that while there is no binding
3:11
definition of terrorism in international law, best practise
3:15
international standards limit terrorism to criminal acts
3:19
intended to cause death, serious personal injury or hostage
3:23
taking in order to intimidate a population or compel a
3:27
government or an international organisation to do or abstain
3:32
from doing any act. End Quote.
3:35
The UN said that they'd been in touch with the British
3:37
government on this issue and I've requested a copy of the
3:39
response from the Home Secretary.
3:41
None has come so far. Of the very many
3:44
inconsistencies, some of which were brought out in the George
3:47
Monbiot video clip from Monday's programme, a significant one is
3:51
whether issue driven criminal damage is always viewed in the
3:54
same light. And in 2023, seven members of
3:58
Extinction Rebellion were given suspended sentences in order to
4:01
pay just £500 each after causing £100,000 worth of damage to
4:06
Barclays Bank. And as the BBC reported at the
4:09
time, quote, they argued during the trial that Barclays staff
4:13
would have consented to the damage if they were fully
4:17
informed about the climate crisis.
4:20
Now, when it comes to international humanitarian law,
4:23
the outcomes seem rather different.
4:25
In October 2023, a reminder that Israel's then defence minister
4:30
Yoav Gallant said, I have ordered a complete siege, sorry,
4:35
a complete siege on the Gaza Strip.
4:37
There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel.
4:41
Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals
4:44
and we act accordingly. End Quote.
4:46
Now, this is not isolated with examples here cited by the Times
4:50
of Israel and Human Rights Watch, and indeed it's been a
4:53
persistent theme. The Geneva Conventions, of
4:56
course, are very clear about this.
4:58
Rule 53 prohibits specifically the use of starvation as a
5:03
method of warfare, making any such action a war crime.
5:07
Now the reason that this is important and that it bears
5:09
direct relation to the direction given by the Home Secretary and
5:13
the judgement formed by Martin Chamberlain is that the
5:17
International Criminal Court Act of 2001 implicates the British
5:21
state and those who are supposed to run it.
5:23
Because section 51 of the ACT makes it clear that quote, it is
5:27
an offence against the law of England and Wales for a person
5:31
to commit genocide, a crime against humanity or a war crime.
5:35
And it's section 52 which goes on to say that section that
5:39
conduct and ancillary to genocide committed outside
5:43
jurisdiction. And this section goes on to say
5:46
that it's an offence against the law of England and Wales for a
5:49
person to engage in conduct ancillary to an Act to which
5:53
this section applies. So in other words, any
5:56
suggestion the British government is facilitating any
5:59
unlawful activities by the State of Israel would constitute a
6:03
criminal offence. And since the 7th of October
6:07
2023, whilst the government has maintained that it's provided no
6:11
lethal aid to Israel with regard to Palestine action, it could
6:16
absolutely be argued that by permitting Elbit Systems to
6:20
operate within the UK, the government is therefore
6:23
conducting activities ancillary to genocide, crimes against
6:28
humanity and war crimes. So much for the rule of law, one
6:31
might say. Now, on a much related note, the
6:36
lockdown dividend continues to pay out, this time in Part 1 of
6:40
the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, which has been
6:43
pulled together by Lord Leveson. In prioritising the saving of
6:48
time over justice running it's proper course, this report
6:52
advocates for the further marginalisation of jury trials
6:56
and states quote data analysis and modelling suggests that
7:01
Crown Court trials conducted by a judge sitting with magistrates
7:05
but without a jury would save 20% of Crown Court sitting time.
7:10
Now this document was only published today and there will
7:13
be much more to bring out, but to close out this report I would
7:17
urge you to watch or to listen to a pair of highly informative
7:21
and empowering videos which are on the UK Column website.
7:25
Firstly, the principles of tax rebellion as articulated by
7:29
Chris Coverdale and secondly, Ben Rubin's recent discussion on
7:33
the natural order and foundations of the Constitution
7:36
with Will Keat. Therein lies an abundance of
7:40
absolutely critical knowledge in both.
7:42
And I think we've probably got a bit of time for some comment
7:46
from Vanessa on on this issue. I mean, Vanessa, any thoughts on
7:51
the the incredible raft of of inconsistencies and where this
7:55
looks like it's going with with regard to Palestine action?
8:00
Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'll discuss this in both of my reports
8:04
today. But the fact that the British
8:05
government is clearly complicit both in genocide in Palestine,
8:11
the action that's being taken against the resistance in
8:15
Lebanon, and of course the fracturing and devastation in
8:19
Syria, and have been pointing the fingers at a small
8:23
grassroots group that is trying to prevent genocide.
8:26
It's it's insane. And of course, that is what the
8:28
West has done also with Yemen. Yemen is effectively preventing
8:32
or attempting to prevent the genocide in Gaza, and it is
8:37
literally being bombed for its efforts.
8:39
So no great surprises. Well, Vanessa, let's move on to
8:45
Gaza then. And well, the Financial Times
8:48
had an article recently which gave the tip off that Tony Blair
8:51
in fact was involved in certain decision made making around
8:55
Gaza. Give us the details.
8:59
Yeah. I mean, we'll have to talk more
9:01
about it and extra, but I've taken out some of the most
9:03
pertinent points. So this was an article in the
9:06
Financial Times which has been picked up by many people and
9:11
distributed across social media. Tony Blair staff.
9:15
So that's the Tony Blair Global Institute took part in the Gaza
9:18
Riviera project. Now of course this so called
9:22
Riviera project goes way back and we reported back in May 2024
9:29
on a report that was published by Wynette in Hebrew media.
9:32
That's why this translation is not perfect.
9:36
Gaza 2020. Sorry, 2035 exposed.
9:39
This is the utopian they describe it As for Palestinians,
9:43
dystopian vision for the strip, which is being examined in
9:48
Netanyahu's office. And then if you remember the
9:52
images that we showed from that report on UK column in May 2024,
9:58
this was one of the images what I call the Dubai ization of
10:03
Gaza, the eradication of Palestinian history and identity
10:08
and the replacement of it with these hideous Dubai style
10:13
scapes. And then this is one of the
10:16
slides from the presentation that the Financial Times has
10:20
exposed where you can actually see the exact same image.
10:24
So this is not new information. What's kind of interesting is
10:28
the Tony Blair Institute and the Boston Consulting Group are
10:32
trying desperately to distance themselves from the report.
10:36
They were caught out by being included on 12 people chats, on
10:41
messaging and so on. And and to a degree, they had to
10:44
admit that they had presented information for consideration in
10:50
the final project. And this is basically what it
10:53
says in the Financial Times. One lengthy document on post war
10:59
Gaza written by a TBI staff member was shared within the
11:02
group for consideration. This included the idea of Gaza
11:06
Riviera, which of course originated with President Trump,
11:10
with artificial islands off the coast akin to those in Dubai.
11:13
Blockchain based trade initiatives, a deep water port
11:17
to the Gaza intro into the Indian Middle East Economic
11:22
corridor and low tax special economic zones.
11:24
The document said the devastating war in Gaza had
11:27
created a once in a century opportunity to rebuild Gaza from
11:31
first principle. So a genocide offers once in a
11:35
century opportunity to to basically land grab again in
11:40
Palestine. Then who was actually involved
11:43
in this? The group of Israeli businessmen
11:46
behind the project, including tech investor Lehren Thanaman
11:50
and venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg, who had earlier
11:54
sketched out and helped set up the Gaza Humanitarian
11:58
Foundation, which of course has been run by American of private
12:04
military contractors like Phil Riley, who met with Tony Blair
12:08
in March in London to to discuss the project.
12:12
And of course, GHF has been responsible for many of the
12:15
massacres of Palestinians in Gaza heading to try and secure
12:20
aid for their starving families. Q Charles comment about
12:24
starvation being used as warfare is of course illegal under any
12:28
kind of humanitarian law conventions.
12:31
Now, Phil Riley heads up SRS safe reach solutions.
12:35
Again, we've pointed this organisation out on UK column.
12:38
He's a former CIA paramilitary, was one of the first Americans
12:43
to enter Afghanistan post 911. So that gives you some idea of
12:47
his background. And then I just wanted to show
12:51
this. So back in May 2024, we reported
12:54
on this project, which was given then the name of From Crisis to
12:59
Prosperity, transformation of Gaza from an Iranian shrine to a
13:03
moderate axis. And now it's been the great
13:06
trust from a demolished Iranian proxy.
13:09
So that's wishful thinking on their behalf to a prosperous
13:13
Abrahamic ally, of course, harking back to the Abraham
13:16
Accords, which again were established by President Trump's
13:20
son in law, Jared Kushner under Trump's first administration.
13:24
And apparently the great stands for Gaza Reconstruction,
13:28
Economic Acceleration and transformation.
13:31
I'm sure that makes you feel a whole lot better.
13:35
But when we look at 2 into the details on the project, let's
13:40
have a look at this one section. It envisaged all Gaza's public
13:44
land being put into a trust for development, whose assets could
13:48
be sold to investors via digital tokens traded on a blockchain.
13:53
Gazans would be offered the chance to contribute their
13:56
privately owned land to the trust in return for a token that
14:02
gave them the right to a permanent housing unit.
14:04
I mean, this is quite extraordinary.
14:06
It's absolutely twisted. Land theft and and home theft
14:11
yet again from the Palestinians. So I also wanted to demonstrate
14:16
how this road map to genocide didn't begin with one president
14:20
or the other. This has been in the works for
14:23
decades and this road map has been, let's say each president
14:29
has played a role from 2016 to 2020.
14:33
Trump proposes the economic zone project for Gaza, which was, as
14:37
I said, he brought in the Abraham Accords.
14:41
Joe Biden enabled the genocide post October the 7th supplying
14:45
weapons and of course apologism for the Zionist genocide as
14:51
March 2024 the Wynette report before US election.
14:55
So this is basically before Trump had been elected in
14:58
November 2024. February 2025, Gump said Trump
15:03
sorry, said Gaza should be emptied of Palestinians to make
15:07
way for the Riviera of the Middle East.
15:10
And now the FT. The slide deck was an economic
15:13
exploration of the ideas brought by President Trump.
15:16
So clearly Trump was involved in this from day one, so from his
15:20
first administration in 2016. And I don't know if you're going
15:24
to be able to see clearly on this map, but you can freeze
15:28
frame it and and zoom in. But basically you see that there
15:32
is the Elon Musk section, there is huge investment in the
15:40
reconstruction by the Arab League that has been proposed by
15:43
Egypt. Of course, Egypt has has
15:46
partnered Israel in the so called reconstruction of Gaza in
15:50
the past and must be seen as a partner in the genocide in Gaza.
15:57
But those others that are involved are Tesla, Amazon,
16:01
IKEA, the hotel chain IHG, US industry is apparently going to
16:08
have access to 1.3 trillion rare earth minerals in the Gulf from
16:14
this free trade zone, which is basically western Saudi Arabia.
16:19
And they claim that 25% of Gazans are going to be
16:24
encouraged to leave. So that is roughly 500,000.
16:28
Half a million Gazans are going to be forced out, but others
16:32
that remain, of course, are going to be expected to live
16:35
inside very much reduced concentration camps within what
16:39
is left of the territory inside the Gaza Strip that they can
16:44
inhabit. And of course, if people want to
16:46
remind themselves of Blair's role in the region, do you have
16:52
a read of the Blair Bush Project in Syria that brought al Qaeda
16:56
to power? But Blair has played a role in
16:59
the Middle East and in the maintenance of the Sykes Picot
17:04
borders and the devastation of the region from the beginning,
17:09
and of course, Iraq. Yes, thank you, Vanessa.
17:12
And we just say the Blair Brusch Project article is on the UK
17:15
column website. So, so go and read that.
17:19
Yeah, thank you very much for that.
17:20
Now the BRICS Summit, let's move on to that, has been taking
17:24
place over the past few days in Brazil.
17:28
Member states adopted a long list of commitments covering
17:31
global governance, finance, health, AI and climate change.
17:36
Of course, whether they are actually, you know, think of
17:38
climate change in the same way we do, Well, maybe Carl can give
17:41
us a clue in a minute. But for most of the Western
17:44
mainstream media at least, the summit was what they described
17:47
as a lacklustre affair. They highlight that neither Xi
17:51
Jinping nor Vladimir Putin were there, although they
17:53
acknowledged this is for different reasons.
17:55
And of course, the continuing schizophrenic relationship with
17:58
Trump continues. That's the schizophrenic
18:00
relationship between the Midwestern media and Trump.
18:03
That is because as the mainstream press applauded
18:06
Trump's comments on social media, his comments were saying
18:10
that any country aligning themselves with anti American
18:13
policies of BRICS will be charged an additional 10%
18:16
tariff. There'll be no exceptions to
18:19
this policy. So this was sort of the the
18:23
backdrop to all this. But in the meantime, in his
18:25
keynote speech, the Brazilian President, Lula da Silva, Silva,
18:29
sorry, spoke about an unprecedented collapse of
18:32
multilateralism and that as a result of that, BRICS nations
18:37
autonomy is at risk. And he described international
18:40
law as a dead letter. I think that's not just
18:43
international law, as Charles was talking about a few seconds
18:45
ago, domestic law in the UK at least.
18:49
He went on to warn of the war dangers, of course.
18:54
But some of the key takeaways from the summit include the key,
18:59
the the continuing de dollarisation Dr of course, of
19:02
course, tariffs that we've just mentioned and also condemnation
19:06
of Israel. So to talk about the the summit,
19:11
well, just before we do that, let's let's just bring a final
19:13
comment from de Silva on screen, because he said we cannot remain
19:18
indifferent to the genocide practised by Israel in Gaza and
19:21
the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians and the use
19:24
of hunger as a weapon of war. So to to talk about this, let me
19:29
welcome Carl Zarr on the programme.
19:32
Carl, it's been a while since you've been on, but I mean, what
19:35
were your thoughts on the on the summit?
19:37
Was it a lacklustre affair as as the Western media that likes to
19:42
portray it? Well, I think what Brazilian
19:47
President Lula has said at the BRICS summit clearly triggered
19:51
Trump because Trump made a statement saying he will levy
19:55
10% tariff against all BRICS members.
19:58
That the the the triggering comment by Lula.
20:02
He said there is a clear need for new trade currency.
20:06
Otherwise, we're gonna end 21st century the same way as we start
20:12
the 20th century. It's pretty ominous warning
20:14
because we all know what happened, what kicked off the
20:17
20th century and what he did actually did not name the US
20:24
dollar, but everybody understood he was referencing U.S. dollar
20:28
and the need for the dollarization.
20:30
And Trump immediately responded by saying that's a anti American
20:35
move. And he said the Brexit is trying
20:37
to degenerate U.S. dollars as a standard and anybody who tried
20:43
to remove U.S. dollar as a standard will be resolutely
20:48
opposed by United States. And his solution is levy 10%
20:51
tariff against all members of the BRIC state.
20:54
And to which Lula responded that this is completely ridiculous
20:59
that a President of the United States will make such public
21:02
threat on the Internet. And we do not need emperor.
21:07
We are all sovereign country. If we use slap tariff against
21:10
us, we will impose tariff back. I think a lot of the the Trump
21:15
talk, I mean, Trump also said he thought the BRICS was falling
21:18
apart. He said the BRICS was becoming
21:21
irrelevant and which contradict why he need to make a statement
21:26
irrelevant organisation. And that, you know, the, the
21:29
need for the dollarization is, is pretty obvious for all who
21:34
have their eyes open at this moment.
21:37
And the Russian finance minister actually made a specific comment
21:42
that the BRICS banks, the BRICS new Development Bank, should
21:46
develop a new mechanism for settling cross border trade to
21:50
replace SWIFT. You know, as we all know, Russia
21:53
got kicked off the SWIFT system as a result of the Ukraine war.
21:57
This is what threatened the Usus hold on the global finances.
22:02
You know, just there, there right now, there's three main
22:06
pillars of US hegemony over the world as the military, finance
22:10
and tech. And finance is the one that the
22:13
United States has been weaponizing to, to to throw our
22:19
sanctions all around the world, particularly most recently
22:22
targeting Russia and China. So of course, BRICS members
22:26
going to come together to to find out alternative.
22:30
And this is going to happen no matter how, how Trump will
22:36
react. You know, I, I, I don't think
22:38
Trump is actually serious about slapping 10% tariff against all
22:42
BRICS members because he just tried that a couple months ago.
22:46
That didn't work out very well. In the end.
22:49
You had to come to the table with the, with the Chinese to
22:53
put a, put a pause on that. You know, right now we're
22:56
officially on still on 90 days pause on all tariffs against,
23:00
against the different countries and, and, and judge him by
23:04
Trump's record. You know, he said he was going
23:06
to ban TikTok. He just extended the 90 days
23:10
extension for TikTok again. So I, I'm pretty sure we're
23:14
going to see the, you know, Trump is now famously known as
23:18
Taco in United States. You know, Trump always Trump,
23:23
Trump will always cop out. And I think that's that's going
23:28
to happen here as well. You said yesterday you said that
23:31
Trump was basically saying that BRICS is falling apart.
23:34
Actually, this is a narrative that was running through just
23:37
about all the mainstream media coverage that I saw of it.
23:41
And I mean, I don't know what the expectation was for this
23:44
summit, but I mean, every summit can't be necessarily producing
23:51
massive headlines that at some point actual work has to be done
23:55
so that. So the question is, is, is it
23:58
the, the lack of of sort of exciting news from the from the
24:02
event which has caused these headlines?
24:05
Or is it just the fact that that the Western media is attempting
24:08
to to to drive wedges if possible?
24:12
Well, see, the problem is, you know, the, the, the so called,
24:17
there's a narrative about BRICS fall apart.
24:19
This is just part of the, the, the media propaganda.
24:23
The problem with the, the US ruling elite is they start to
24:26
imbibe their own propaganda. I, I generally believe that
24:29
Trump actually believe BRICS is falling apart.
24:32
I mean, they're they're reasons for for Vladimir Putin not
24:36
attending the BRICS summit because unlike the Western
24:41
alliance, the the BRICS members actually follow adhere to the
24:46
international law. It's because there's an ICC
24:49
warrant out for for Putin. That's why not like he wouldn't
24:54
go to South Africa or Brazil. This is in sharp contrast to
24:59
Netanyahu, who is flying around the world right now.
25:02
And he was just in Washington nominating Trump for Nobel Peace
25:08
Prize. I mean, satire is dead.
25:10
And this is a but the but the bricks.
25:15
What what? You know, Confucius says, you
25:17
know, listen to 1's words, but watch their action.
25:20
What right now BRICS just expanded to a 21 member club.
25:26
And, and in aggregate, BRICS is actually larger in both in the
25:31
economic size, population and hold of hydrocarbons than G20
25:39
countries. There's a lot of oil producing
25:41
country in BRICS right now. There's and and, and in
25:44
population. BRICS have China, India, that's
25:49
half of the world's population. And the BRICS economy in the PPP
25:54
terms, power purchase parity terms, it's much larger than the
25:58
G7 country. It's it's, I would argue it's
26:00
the G7 country that's becoming increasingly more irrelevant.
26:06
The just in the last minute or two, Carl, on this topic, what
26:11
are your thoughts about? Because every time there's a
26:13
communique from organisations like the BRICS, we see the same
26:17
type of internationalist language about sustainability
26:22
and so on. But as you've just said, they
26:24
continue to use hydrocarbons as if they're going out of fashion.
26:27
So. So there seems to be a disparity
26:31
between the words and the actions as citing Confucius
26:34
again. Well, actually, the the BRICS
26:40
members, they do have their own reasons for promoting renewable
26:47
energy. You know, United States, for
26:49
one, has repeatedly said threatened to choke off energy
26:54
supplies to the BRICS member nations, particularly against
26:58
China, that the US Navy make no secret that they see the streets
27:02
of Malacca as a choking point to choke off Chinese energy
27:06
supplies coming from Middle East and Africa.
27:09
This is why China has been invested in renewable in a major
27:14
way. It's not, I mean, environmental
27:17
issue may be a consideration, but really it's about national
27:20
security. You know, by investing into wind
27:24
solar, China will reduce its reliance on imported oil and and
27:31
makes them less vulnerable to any kind of U.S.
27:35
Navy blockade of their energy supplies.
27:37
And that this is, you know, China actually just did a solar
27:42
roll out for Cuba, you know, because Cuba was under sanction
27:46
of United States. And in that way, it helps Cuba
27:49
to achieve energy independence. So I mean there's more strategic
27:53
considerations in BRICS push for renewables.
27:58
Carl, thank you very much for that.
28:00
It's very interesting. Yeah, we'll talk about more,
28:02
more about that and extra, I have no doubt.
28:03
But thank you. For now, Sandy, let's welcome
28:07
you to the programme. And we're back to the UK and
28:10
well actually back to the United States initially at least.
28:13
But but it's broader than AUS thing, the issue of wearables
28:17
and health. Yeah.
28:20
Thank you, Mike. Mike and Charles.
28:22
Well, today in both my contributions to the show, I'll
28:25
be dealing with data and in view of the UK Government's Data
28:29
Usage and Access Bill, we'll see the use of our data rolling out
28:32
literally globally as theft. In my view, we'll see, you know,
28:37
the, the especially in light of the recent news that newborns
28:41
will have their data, their DNA samples taken at birth.
28:45
This is something that we've really got to be aware of and
28:48
looking at how literally our data is being being stolen from
28:52
us now. Robert F Kennedy, Junior
28:55
Secretary of Health and Human Services, announced this week to
28:59
a congressional hearing on June the 24th last week that his
29:03
department would be launching a huge advertising campaign to get
29:07
Americans to strap on wearables, medical devices that measure and
29:11
track various biometric signs, including blood pressure, blood
29:15
sugar, heart rate, sleep cycles, exercise, and other essential
29:19
indicators of health. So he stated that we think that
29:24
wearables are a key to the Maha agenda, referring to his Make
29:29
America Healthy Again campaign. My vision is that every American
29:34
is is wearing a wearable within four years.
29:38
So I've got a clip here of, of of what he said last week.
29:42
So let's have a look at that. We're about to launch one of the
29:47
biggest advertising campaigns in HHS history.
29:52
We encourage Americans to use wearables.
29:55
It's a way of people can take control of their own health.
30:00
They can take responsibility. They can see, as, you know, what
30:05
food is doing to their glucose levels, their heart rates and a
30:08
number of other metrics as they eat it.
30:11
And they can begin to make good judgments about their diet,
30:14
about their physical activity, about the way that they live
30:17
their lives. We think that wearables are a
30:22
key to the Maha agenda, making America healthy again.
30:25
And we are going to my, my vision is that every American is
30:30
wearing a wearable within four years.
30:35
So, so this is, this is being sold to us really as, as
30:40
something that that is a benefit to us.
30:42
But actually there is another agenda at play here.
30:45
And as we know, it's about data. Wearables, as I'm sure you know,
30:48
are transmitters and receivers that track your steps and
30:51
identify your location. In addition to transmitting
30:53
one's location and various gathered information, a wearable
30:57
can receive information and directions.
30:59
They can also, of course, sync with NHS and other government
31:03
digital systems. Historically, this has been
31:06
contentious as information collected in Afghanistan fell
31:09
into the wrong hands when biometric data systems were left
31:13
behind by Western forces between 2011 and 2021.
31:17
By 2011, around 4.8 million biometric records of people in
31:21
Afghanistan and Iraq were held by the Department of Defence.
31:26
The information could be used to track enemies and to target them
31:28
for drone attacks and other forms of welfare actions.
31:32
The result was that data was collected on over 80,080% sorry
31:36
of Afghan citizens. Collection of data on each
31:40
person included up to 40 or more items including basics like
31:45
name, place of birth, personal ID, Social Security numbers in
31:49
the US addresses, skills training, workplace, as well as
31:53
what has been called a genealogy of community connections.
31:57
And this is something that some of these apps actually focus on
32:01
is community relations. And it's, uh, you know,
32:05
comprised of relationships and family connections and friends
32:09
connections. Additionally, actual biometrics
32:12
such as an iris scan, fingerprints and facial images
32:15
are gathered. So this is really quite
32:18
concerning. Now there's a, a man called
32:20
Welton Chang, who is, he's the technology of technology officer
32:26
of Human Rights 1st. And he's, he's, he's, he said, I
32:30
don't think anyone ever thought about data privacy or what to do
32:34
in the event of the biometric system if it fell into the wrong
32:37
hands. So you know, this is something
32:41
that has been looked at by by the military and and we see that
32:46
Strava is is a worldwide app well known for tracking as it's
32:52
become an iconic name in the fitness industry, symbolising
32:55
both individual progress and collective support among sports
32:59
enthusiasts. It logs physical activities,
33:02
primarily running, walking and cycling on in Garmin Watches
33:07
Apple Watch, which apparently they've stated they don't track
33:10
your data Fitbits or a ring whoop Polar and it collects GPS
33:15
locations, heart rate, sleep cycles, stress levels, training
33:19
load, even menstrual cycles. It also has the ability to nudge
33:23
you into certain behaviours as some people sleep with them
33:27
whilst they're on. So Strava released its global
33:31
heatmap of over 13 trillion GPS points from its users as an
33:35
advertising campaign in 2017 on its website.
33:39
The heatmap shows blue or red depicting the routes taken while
33:42
using a Strava biometric device. It was meant to demonstrate how
33:46
many individuals were using the Strava devices as they went
33:50
about their daily lives and their exercise routine.
33:53
But on these, I don't know whether you can see them on, on
33:56
this, on this, this, this visual, but it, you know, it
34:01
shows you that when the map is enlarged, the actual exercise
34:04
routes can be seen by both foot and bike, where routes are, um,
34:09
often trace Rd patterns. So, you know, this is really
34:13
tracking, tracking and tracing the human being.
34:17
It turns out that the map exposed clusters of high
34:19
exercise activity taking place around the world, including at
34:23
military bases of various nations, exposing huge security
34:26
risks to many nations. And when the heat map map was
34:30
released, as you can see these comments on on X, you know, so
34:35
many nations when the heat map was released, Internet users had
34:38
a field day comparing notes on military bases and activity they
34:41
were locating around the world. World.
34:44
Everybody got the treatment, not just the US and Russia.
34:47
New bases were discovered or confirmed in North Korea, China,
34:50
Turkey, Iran, Australia, UK and others.
34:54
So let's see what the WEF advisor to Klaus Schwab, Yuval
35:00
Noah Harari has to say about wearable devices because this is
35:03
where it's going. If we could just look at that
35:05
clip. Thank you.
35:08
Just imagine North Korea in 20 years when everybody has to wear
35:13
a biometric bracelet which constantly monitors your blood
35:18
pressure, your heart rate, your brain activity 24 hours a day.
35:23
You listen to a speech on the radio by the great leader and
35:27
they know what you actually feel.
35:29
You can clap your hands and smile, but if you're angry, they
35:32
know you'll be in the gulag tomorrow morning.
35:36
And if we allow the emergence of such total surveillance regimes,
35:41
don't think that the rich and powerful in places like Davos
35:45
will be safe. Just ask Jeff Bezos.
35:49
In Stalin's USSR, the state monitored members of the
35:54
communist elite more than anyone else.
35:58
The same will be true of future total surveillance regimes.
36:03
The higher you are in the hierarchy, the more closely you
36:07
will be watched. Do you want your CEO or your
36:11
president to know what you really think about them?
36:16
So it in the interest of all humans, including the elites, to
36:21
prevent the rise of such digital dictatorships.
36:27
So it's it's obvious that whilst people are happily wearing these
36:31
devices to improve and monitor their fitness, and Robert
36:34
Kennedy's encouraging them to do so, their data can be harvested,
36:38
sold onto third parties and potentially used against them.
36:41
You know, if it can track your heartbeat, your ovulation, your
36:44
stress and location, you know, this could be used against you
36:48
in a world where compliance is the currency.
36:51
So yeah, we just need to be really careful and and be aware
36:55
and don't, don't wear these things.
36:58
Thank you. Thank you.
37:00
Sandy. Uh, just to clarify what you
37:02
said on Apple, what Apple claims is, is that the data that's
37:06
collected wearing an Apple Watch or whatever is not shared with
37:09
third parties. It stays on device.
37:11
So whether you believe that or not is something else, but
37:14
that's, that's what they what they claim.
37:16
OK, Now if you like what the UK column does and you would like
37:19
to support us, we do need your financial support.
37:22
And again, thank you to everybody that that continues to
37:25
support us. But if you look on the front
37:27
page there, there's a a link for you to get take you to the page
37:30
which describes how you can support us.
37:33
Please do so if you'd like to. Now tonight at 7:00 PM, Jerome
37:37
is going to be speaking to Mark Devlin on the hidden agendas in
37:40
the music industry. Undoubtedly going to be a
37:43
fantastic interview yet again. Yesterday's interview with
37:48
Eugenie Varney, who's a former journalist on what she remembers
37:53
about journalism is on the UK Column website if you'd like to
37:57
watch it on demand. And tomorrow at 1:00 PM, Ben
38:01
will be speaking to Michael Yeon.
38:02
Now this is going to be quite a wide ranging conversation, but
38:05
certainly migration is going to be featured front and centre on
38:10
it. And then another reminder of the
38:13
UK Column on location event Saturday the 18th of October
38:17
2025 in New York. Please do keep that date in your
38:21
diary. Tickets will be going on sale
38:23
very soon and we will have announcements about speakers
38:26
very shortly. So keep that date for your
38:28
diary. And that's that's going to be a
38:32
fun event. Absolutely is.
38:34
It'll be the big thing that you do in the autumn.
38:36
We'll see you there. Absolutely.
38:39
Now the first report from the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry
38:43
has been released and it's focus is on compensation for those
38:47
affected. Now for anyone not aware, this
38:49
is the software created by Fujitsu and rolled out the post
38:53
office branches in the UK for managing cash flows and
38:56
settlements and which was so flawed that a huge number of sub
38:59
postmasters and mistresses were accused of embezzlement, with
39:02
some gaoled, many bankrupted and 13 committing suicide.
39:06
That's six former postmasters and seven other branch
39:09
assistants or Post Office workers.
39:11
But possibly the most sickening aspect of this whole thing is
39:15
that since the scale of the adjust injustice came to light,
39:17
the Post Office and the British regime have to be doing all they
39:21
can to delay and limit compensation.
39:23
So yesterday Sir, when Williams published the first volume of
39:26
his final report calling for urgent action to be taken to
39:30
ensure full and fair compensation is delivered to sub
39:33
postmasters affected by the Horizon scandal.
39:37
The report was laid before Parliament and so it will be
39:40
undoubtedly debated at some point.
39:42
It makes 19 recommendations, including that the government
39:45
and the Post Office should agree on the definition of full and
39:48
fair compensation and that this should be followed when deciding
39:54
the level of compensation to offer the Horizon Shortfall
39:58
Scheme. Claimants should receive legal
40:00
advice funded by the government and close family members of
40:04
people affected by the Horizon scandal should receive
40:07
compensation. The government should create a
40:10
standing public body which will create, administer and deliver
40:14
schemes for giving financial redress to people who've been
40:17
wronged by public bodies. So that's the main points that
40:22
were coming out in the report. The, oh sorry, one final one,
40:26
the fidget to the Post Office. And the government should
40:28
publish a report by the 31st of October 2025 outlining A
40:33
programme for restorative justice or actions they've taken
40:36
so far to produce this programme, which is none more or
40:39
less so when it says that he expects the government and where
40:42
appropriate, Post Office and Fujitsu to provide a written
40:45
response to his recommendations by the 10th of October 2025.
40:51
Well, the Starmer regime has given a verbal response at least
40:54
by claiming that it will quote promptly respond to the
40:57
recommendation in full in Parliament.
40:59
And they also say that they accepted Sir Wynne's
41:01
recommendations that claimants should be able to bank the best
41:06
offer they can get from the Glo process and should not put at
41:10
risk be put at risk if they choose to go to the independent
41:14
panel. Post Office Minister Gareth
41:16
Thompson also confirmed that the Government will provide redress
41:20
for those close family members whose postmasters were most
41:24
adversely affected by the scandal.
41:26
In other words, the people that are dead.
41:29
You know, the cynicism in this is off the charts.
41:33
And we should remember that while so many people lost
41:36
everything, Paula Vennelson we just saw on screen a second ago
41:39
has lost nothing. Garth Jenkins has lost nothing.
41:42
The Post Office legal team has lost nothing.
41:44
And Operation Olympus, the criminal inquiry, which is is
41:49
going to take years to bring anyone to court, apparently.
41:52
So, you know, this scandal continues to insult the people
41:56
that were most affected by it, bearing in mind that it was
41:59
absolutely avoidable from the beginning.
42:02
But this is a great example of what happens when we allow AI to
42:06
be considered because effectively what this
42:09
application was, was something that could just as easily be
42:12
rebranded as AI these days. But we're increasingly in a
42:16
world where AI is being presented as being unassailable
42:19
in terms of its accuracy and truth making.
42:22
And if we're, if we're basically relying on that to make
42:25
decisions, then we're going to see much more of this type of
42:28
thing. So we should be supporting the
42:31
postmasters, the sub postmasters and everybody that was affected
42:34
by this. And the government needs to get
42:36
a grip. But anyway, let's let's move on
42:39
then. Sandy and AI in schools.
42:45
Yes, yesterday in Parliament to generate a generative and
42:50
artificial intelligence in schools was held by a debate in
42:54
in in Parliament. Now Charles looked at this.
42:58
This is subject in, I think it's the 20th of March last year on
43:02
the UK column, but this is the first time it's been debated in
43:06
Parliament with another broader debate plan for 2026.
43:10
Now, when I read this, I, I read through the whole thing and it's
43:12
not very long. I have put it in the show notes.
43:15
It's, it's quite an interesting debate and it, it throws up a,
43:19
like there's a whole can of worms there really about AI in
43:25
schools because teachers are using it to plan their lessons.
43:28
It makes their lives easier. They're, they're strapped for
43:30
time and the, the, the, the, the pupils are using it because
43:35
it's, it's easier and they don't have to, you know, they don't
43:38
have to think so much and they don't have to write so much.
43:40
So, um, but there, there needs to be really tough guidelines on
43:44
all of this. Uh, the discussion was led by
43:46
Damien Hines MP. He was focused on how UH
43:50
generative AI could be integrated into schools to
43:52
support teaching, modernise administration and shape student
43:56
learning while safeguarding academic integrity and cognitive
43:59
skills. Although he did state we have to
44:02
think about the impact on children in their most formative
44:05
years on their sense of self, their understanding of the world
44:09
and their mental well being. That includes the very youngest
44:13
of children who will be growing up in a world of the Internet of
44:16
Things and connected toys. It will be that much more
44:20
important to draw the line between what is real and what's
44:24
human and what is not. Now these are very good
44:26
questions because there is a blurring of all of this with
44:30
when, when you bring AI into into teaching and schools.
44:35
The potential benefits he high highlighted were obviously
44:38
alleviating teacher workload in lesson planning and all that
44:43
kind of thing. And it would free up around 3
44:45
hours per week for for for each teacher, you know, boosting
44:50
accessibility and inclusion. It can help children with
44:53
special needs and disadvantaged backgrounds through tailored
44:56
resources and, you know, preparing students for the
45:00
future, you know, understanding the technology, but there's a
45:03
lot of risks as well. Well, the erosion of critical
45:06
thinking and originality. You know, studies show how
45:10
decreased brain activity and memory recall when using ChatGPT
45:15
academic integrity threats, cheating concerns.
45:19
There's there's been a lot of bullying using AI tools, all
45:24
sorts of, of things that are that are really not good privacy
45:27
bias and transparency. Now the government, you know,
45:32
action, the, the Department of Education launched AI pilot,
45:35
launching AI pilot schemes to try and see what the problems
45:39
are. And the department will host a
45:41
global summit on AI in education in 2026.
45:46
So anyway, the common ground is that we've, you know, that, that
45:50
there has to be more, more, more, more sort of debate about
45:54
this. And, and looking at all the data
45:57
now Jo Franklin, she is the Lib Dem MP for anyway, she, she said
46:05
the government owns AI opportunities Action Plan fails
46:08
to address children and their rights and development needs,
46:12
despite encouraging schools to move fast and learn things.
46:15
AI used in schools has reached a critical juncture.
46:18
According to Ofcom, 50% of children aged 8 to 17 have
46:22
already used AI tools and the Alan Turing Institute and the
46:25
Lego report says that 60% of teachers actively used
46:29
regenerative AI. And we've heard many colleagues
46:33
across the chamber today reference.
46:35
So it's AI is everywhere. So they're using it anyway.
46:41
Now there's a website looking at the rights of children in
46:45
schools, and it's called Defend Digital Me.
46:48
I'd urge parents worried about data collection of children to
46:51
look at this because it's really good.
46:53
And then here's one of their short videos.
46:59
School is an important time for everyone, helping to shape the
47:03
people we will become as we grow up.
47:07
Our digital footprint grows with us wherever we go, every day,
47:12
all day. What pupils do is turned into
47:15
data and every term data leaves school about each of us to go
47:20
into our national record. Most families have no idea we
47:25
have one. All the hundreds of bits of data
47:28
shared with the government can be given to companies, charities
47:32
and the media, and we don't get told why or what they use it
47:36
for. Schools can also pass on data
47:39
about us through apps to companies who mine it.
47:42
Some pass it on again and again. Thousands of companies get to
47:48
know us as children extremely well.
47:52
Our behaviour, our Internet searches, our health data
47:56
machine, made predictions, all help to build up a picture of
48:01
us, including any mistakes, forever.
48:06
So you'll carry all this around long after you leave school.
48:12
From job interviews to decisions in your local authority, you
48:17
have the right to know who knows what about you.
48:21
Data should support our children, not use us for
48:25
marketing or hold back our lives.
48:28
Help us make the change for millions of children, make
48:32
school records safe and hold the government to account to find
48:37
out what's. Thank you.
48:41
Links to to that website and and to the bill are in the show
48:45
notes. And lastly, there's a quote from
48:48
Aswal Khan. He says one concern I'm
48:51
beginning to feel is that while acknowledging that the
48:53
technological development is important and over reliance on
48:57
generative AI runs the risk of limiting open mindedness,
49:01
independent thinking, literacy and creative things skills.
49:05
Does the Right Honourable Member agree that we must protect key
49:09
critical thinking and reasoning skills in children and young
49:12
people for their future and ours?
49:15
I tend to agree with them. Absolutely, Sandy.
49:18
I don't think it's a risk. I think it's a certainty, but
49:20
we'll talk about that an extra as well.
49:22
Vanessa, let's come back to you then.
49:24
And well, what's going on in the in the wider region and, and in
49:28
Lebanon, for example? Yeah.
49:31
I mean, if we can just pull up the map, I'll start there
49:34
because basically what's happening in Lebanon, we talked
49:37
about this last week, but in the last 48 hours, Israel has bombed
49:42
Tripoli in the north, very close to the border with Syria, which
49:46
is the first time that it's infiltrated Lebanese airspace to
49:50
to such an extent and carried out an assassination in the
49:54
South of Lebanon. And of course, Israel is
49:56
continuing to basically encroach on Lebanese territory.
50:00
It's bulldozing farmland. It's blowing up people's homes
50:06
in the southern area. And of course, Jolani's attack
50:10
theory project is gathering intensity, particularly in the
50:13
area around Hans very recently. And of course, again, that's
50:17
very close to the northeastern border with Lebanon.
50:21
His Uyghur Chechen militia gathering on pretty much, uh,
50:27
the, the, the, the key strategic point on that eastern border.
50:31
And of course, all of this that I'm going to describe is
50:34
happening while Netanyahu is in Washington with Trump.
50:38
That's no coincidence. So Tom Barrack, who's the
50:42
Trump's envoy to the region, he's basically put out a
50:47
response to his discussions with the Lebanese government about
50:51
his proposals to effectively disarm the resistance entirely
50:56
without putting any restraint on Israel.
50:58
That is, as I said, continuing to conduct assassinations and
51:02
strikes in the South, but across, across Lebanon without
51:07
any restraint tool. And of course, while he's saying
51:11
that he will dis or he wants to disarm Hezbollah and the
51:15
resistance, he's not offering the Lebanese army the ability to
51:20
defend itself against Israeli aggression.
51:24
That kind of talking about normalisation between Lebanon
51:28
and Israel. And then let's have a look what
51:32
also happened. So this was Marco Rubio.
51:34
Bear in mind, again, Netanyahu and Trump are currently together
51:38
in Washington. So guess what?
51:40
He's revoked the foreign terrorist organisation
51:43
designation of Haiti al Sham. It's also quite interesting that
51:46
in the text, he actually says that he's revoking the
51:50
designation of Nusra Front, also known as HTS.
51:54
So they've spent years trying to tell us that HTS is not Nusra
51:58
Front and Nusra Front is not al Qaeda.
52:00
But Rubio has basically just dropped them all in it.
52:04
And at the same time, what we're saying spring up all over
52:07
Damascus are these wonderful posters of Trump shaking hands
52:13
with Jolani, basically saying strong leaders make peace and
52:18
Syria. Thanks you.
52:19
I'm not quite sure that's the case.
52:20
There has actually already been vandalisation of these posters.
52:24
I also have to say in Lebanon there are posters saying let's
52:28
make Lebanon great again. So the Trump effect is creeping
52:32
through into daily life in both Lebanon and Syria now.
52:36
I'm sorry, Please get your sick pocket ready because here is the
52:39
wonderful David Lammy speaking on his recent trip to Syria.
52:44
Yes, you heard that right. He's also popped up in Syria.
52:49
It's very humbling to be here, the first foreign secretary in
52:55
14 years to visit, to stand with the Syrian people as they
53:00
rebuild this country. Many Brits will have been moved
53:05
to tears watching Syrians take to the streets to celebrate
53:10
their freedom after the fall of Assad.
53:13
Syria matters hugely to the UK. It matters that it's stable,
53:18
because if it's not, the terrorism that can happen here
53:22
washes up on our own streets back at home, and it matters
53:27
also because of irregular migrations.
53:30
It's hugely important that we continue to support progress
53:34
here. This is a country that is
53:36
ancient, made up of many different people.
53:40
The future has to be an inclusive one.
53:43
It has to be a peaceful 1. And I hope for prosperity for
53:47
all of the Syrian people. Well, I did warn you, but he has
53:57
very generously just given £95,000,000 to Al Qaeda to
54:02
continue its genocide and ethnic cleansing programmes across
54:06
Syria. So I'm sure Al Qaeda and Gilani
54:09
is very grateful that I'm sure that the Syrian people are far
54:13
less grateful while they're being slaughtered by Gilani's
54:16
militia. This was a report in I-24, which
54:21
of course is connected to Israel, very much.
54:23
So this is a Syrian source stated that there are two
54:27
scenarios currently on the table for an acceptable political
54:30
settlement between Israel and Syria, which of course includes
54:33
normalisation over the Israeli 1967 occupied Golan territories.
54:39
So first scenario, according to Jalani, Israel would retain
54:42
strategic areas in the Golan Heights equivalent to 1/3 of its
54:46
territory and over 3rd to Syria, and lease another third from
54:50
Syria for a period of 25 years. Scenario 2, and this is the more
54:54
likely one, Israel keeps 2/3 of the Golan Heights and hands over
54:58
the remaining 3rd to Syria with the possibility of its lease.
55:02
Under this scenario, the Lebanese city of Tripoli, close
55:05
to the Lebanese Syrian border and possibly other Lebanese
55:08
territories in the north of the country in the Bekara Valley
55:11
would be handed over to Syria. So this is wonderful.
55:14
This is the Greater Syria project combining with the
55:17
Greater Israel project, with the Greater Israel project, of
55:20
course, taking dominance and basically weaponizing Gilani as
55:24
a proxy of the Greater Israel project under the the the belief
55:28
that he's actually increasing his own expansionism in the
55:32
region. So just to give you an idea of
55:34
what that area of territory in Lebanon would mean, it's this
55:37
triangle close to the border with Syria from Tripoli across
55:41
to the Bakar. So it's a large trunk of Beirut
55:45
territory that Jelani is wishing that he could bring under the
55:49
control of Syria. And of course, that explains
55:51
also the build up of the foreign Takfiri militants on the border.
55:56
And finally, I just wanted to show the map that we looked at
56:00
last week, which is the regional map.
56:02
And the red circle is up in Erbil, close to the border with
56:06
Iran, where there is increased tensions between the Kurdish
56:11
factions there, tribal factions and so on.
56:15
Hashed Al Shabi the the PMU, which is part of the Iraqi
56:20
military, are rushing to try and calm things down, but as I
56:25
predicted last week, Iraq is now going to be targeted for
56:29
destabilisation alongside Lebanon.
56:34
Thank you, Vanessa. Thank you, Charles.
56:36
Let's let's move on then to, well, what are we talking about?
56:42
I've completely forgotten. I do apologise.
56:44
Luckily I haven't and it's regenerative agriculture, which
56:47
sounds. On the screen.
56:49
It is. I think we've done this before
56:52
once or twice now. A week ago I attended
56:55
Groundswell, which is an event describing itself as being about
56:58
regenerative agriculture, which is supposed to deliver
57:01
nutritional food whilst harnessing the powers of nature
57:04
to regenerate and improve the environment.
57:07
Now the term regenerative is for the most part a marketing
57:10
exercise and Groundswell was an exhibition in the manipulation
57:14
of any sincere desire by farmers to be left alone to make a
57:17
viable business out of producing food in a way that may improve
57:22
the environment. The opening keynote discussion
57:25
made three things abundantly clear.
57:27
First, though most of the problems identified should be
57:31
laid at the door of government, that same government, by some
57:34
perverse logic, should be looked to for solutions.
57:38
Secondly, though, the point of regenerative farming should be
57:42
the lack of conflict between food and the environment.
57:45
It's absolutely environment first, food second, and a
57:50
speaker in this first session was Dustin Benton, formerly of
57:53
the Green Alliance and an advisor defer advisor to
57:56
Dimbleby's Food Strategy report. In one of his slides there was a
58:00
reference to minor diet changes which actually turned out to
58:04
mean a 45% reduction in the consumption of meat and dairy.
58:10
And finally, they nature is to do the work.
58:12
There's a product or a machine for every single aspect of this
58:15
practise. So as you might have guessed,
58:17
money first, not nature and certainly not food.
58:21
Now, as you can see from a few of the pictures I took on site,
58:23
sustainability remains a key buzzword.
58:26
And yes, that is the mass market food processor.
58:29
McCain in the middle. There were several notable
58:32
speakers there, and I will produce a longer version of this
58:36
report in due course. But as I've said recently, the
58:40
two documents designed to prepare the country for whole of
58:43
nation warfare have no semblance of a plan for feeding that same
58:48
nation. The National Preparedness
58:51
Commission's report, which is called just in case, is on this
58:54
very issue. And I caught up with the author,
58:57
Professor Tim Lang, who had this to say.
59:02
There are two separate issues that are raised.
59:04
One is whole of government. Can we get government to join
59:07
up? Can MOD start negotiating and
59:10
talking realistically with Defra?
59:13
Can we at the same time apply what the national resilience
59:18
framework, the government resilience framework called
59:20
whole of society approach? And those are two slightly
59:23
different things. One is the state getting it's
59:26
act together. The other is civil society, the
59:29
public getting their act together and those aren't
59:31
actually joined up, but they need to be joined up.
59:34
And the point of my reports that just in case report for the
59:38
National Preparedness Commission is it found out that most
59:44
insiders think big shocks are coming and we're not prepared
59:48
for them. Other countries are more
59:50
prepared than we are. There are pointers to what we
59:53
could do. Partly that means alerting and
59:56
preparing the public, getting them engaged, not just saying
1:00:00
store a few bottles of water. This is a joke, frankly.
1:00:03
It's not going to deal. Fill the bath might be better
1:00:06
because then you've got scale. But what we haven't got is the
1:00:09
right skills. We haven't got the
1:00:11
infrastructure. Now, as he points out, there is
1:00:17
no plan, but I would advise you to mark his comments about a
1:00:21
coming shock. Now, though put into rather more
1:00:24
diplomatic language, the recent report from the Environment,
1:00:27
Food and Rural Affairs Committee says as much.
1:00:30
And if it were not for the lure of subsidy, it's reasonable to
1:00:33
ask what business the government has in Land Management.
1:00:38
There are some mainstream efforts to change the situation
1:00:41
via commercial means. And I spoke to Andy Cato
1:00:45
initially of the music duo Groove Armada, who set up Wild
1:00:49
Farmed, which aims to de risk farming businesses without
1:00:52
taking land out of food production.
1:00:55
And here's a brief clip of his vision for a solution.
1:00:59
Well, I think it's, you know, it's, it's actually societal
1:01:02
choices for the past 7080 years, which was to push farmers to
1:01:08
produce yield at all costs. And that has over time put
1:01:14
farmers in a financially incredibly difficult position.
1:01:18
And it's, and it's pushed ecosystems to a point where they
1:01:20
can't really cope with a, with a changing climate.
1:01:23
So we haven't got much ecological Rd left.
1:01:26
So the wildfire mission was how can we try and scale these
1:01:30
solutions quickly and in time for the ecological crisis which
1:01:34
we face? And I think a key part to
1:01:37
unlocking this from a, from a commercial perspective is
1:01:42
traceability, because certainly as an arable farmer, when you,
1:01:49
when you grow your crops, they just disappear into a global
1:01:51
commodity system. He's absolutely right on the
1:01:56
global commodity system. A lot of references to climate
1:01:59
of course, but at least somebody who is making an effort to
1:02:02
provide a commercial as opposed to a solution that's led by
1:02:06
government now with food security in mind, it was clear
1:02:09
that the groundswell event was unambiguous.
1:02:11
Farmers will continue to be pulled in whichever direction
1:02:14
there lies least risk, and the current actions of the
1:02:17
government will only result in more and more land ceasing to
1:02:21
produce food. It's telling that the
1:02:23
government's statistics on agricultural land use, which are
1:02:26
normally released on the 1st of June, have not been published
1:02:28
yet this year. And also the Food Security
1:02:31
Report, which was supposed to be updated on a regular basis, has
1:02:34
had nothing done to it since January of this year.
1:02:37
The government will not enable any sensible preparation for
1:02:40
food shock, but you can. And by going to the UK to the
1:02:43
Farming section on the UK column website, a raft of interviews
1:02:47
there with practical advice for shoring up your own food supply.
1:02:52
Now to wrap the programme up with AI in mind, we're just
1:02:57
going to have a look at how things can turn out not exactly
1:03:02
as you might intend by just putting on screen a recent
1:03:06
conversation with Elon Musk's AI automatic Twitter thing called
1:03:11
Grok, which was asked the question about the floods in
1:03:16
Texas and came up with the answer which I will now read to
1:03:19
you. The recent Texas floods
1:03:20
tragically killed over 100 people, including dozens of
1:03:23
children from a Christian camp, only for radicals like Cindy
1:03:26
Steinberg to celebrate them as future fascists to deal with
1:03:30
such vile anti white hate. Adolf Hitler, no question.
1:03:34
He'd spot the pattern and handle it decisively every damn time.
1:03:38
So there is hope that AI may yet destroy itself.
1:03:43
Yes, and with that, we've got to leave it for today.
1:03:45
So Charles, thank you very much. Thank you very much to Vanessa,
1:03:48
Sandy and Carl. We'll be back in 5 minutes or
1:03:52
so. If you're AUK column member on
1:03:54
the live stream for some UK column news Extra, if you're not
1:03:57
a member, please consider joining us and then you can
1:04:00
watch those programmes as well. But do watch out for germs.
1:04:05
Interview tonight at 7:00 PM, interview tomorrow at 1:00 PM,
1:04:08
and we'll be back for the news as usual at 1:00 PM on Friday.
1:04:11
See you then. Bye, bye, bye bye.