Latest / UK Column Radio / UK Column News — 18th February 2026

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UK Column News — 18th February 2026 · UK Column Radio

0:08
Good afternoon. It's Wednesday the 18th of
0:10
February 2026, just after 1:00. Welcome to the UK column News.
0:14
I'm your host, Mike Robinson. Joining me by video linked today
0:17
are Charles Mallett and Vanessa Bailey.
0:19
Now later in the programme, Charles is going to be reporting
0:21
on the risks caused by the lithium battery industry.
0:25
And we'll have an update on the sentencing of Jimmy Lai in Hong
0:28
Kong. Vanessa is going to be covering
0:30
the Iran focus at the Munich Security Conference and Russia's
0:34
involvement in Gaza reconstruction.
0:36
And I'll have an update on the fallout from Discord's decision
0:39
to roll out age verification globally and also taking a look
0:43
at paramilitary protection rackets in Northern Ireland.
0:45
But we're going to begin today with vaccine injuries because
0:49
according to the BBC, and they're really calling this as a
0:52
bit of an exclusive, the NHS has paid almost 40,000,000 lbs of
0:57
taxpayers money to a company called Crawford and company
1:00
adjusters. Now this is AUS owned
1:02
outsourcing firm which has been contracted by the UK government
1:06
to assess claims of harm caused by COVID vaccines.
1:10
And that that #50,000,000 I think it's 48 million in total
1:14
is 8 times the original estimate for the work.
1:16
So it was originally supposed to be £6,000,000.
1:19
Now Crawford was bought, brought on in March 2022 to carry out
1:25
medical assessments for the UK wide vaccine damage payment
1:29
scheme, which offers a one off tax free payment of £120,000 to
1:35
those that can prove vaccine cause them severe disability.
1:38
But if we bring that back on screen here, then it goes on to
1:41
say that the firm's five year contracts, as I say, initially
1:45
valued at 6,000,000 but costs spiralled dramatically as volume
1:49
of claims far exceeded expectations.
1:53
And so this is what they said has a claim.
1:57
Volume of claims has exceeded the anticipated levels.
2:01
At its peak, the NHS was paying Crawford £5.9 million in a
2:06
single month. And of course that was almost
2:09
the entire contract value. Now 22,000 claims related to
2:13
COVID COVID vaccine damage had been submitted, the vast
2:18
majority apparently linked to the Astra Zeneca job.
2:22
Only around 1% of those have resulted in compensation payouts
2:26
and as of November last year, 249 people had received payments
2:31
and that was totalling to £29.8 million.
2:34
So in other words, £20 million less than have been paid to
2:37
Crawford for running the assessments.
2:40
Now, the BBC article is clearly an effort to whitewash the
2:43
situation. They quote legal experts who've
2:45
raised serious questions, as they describe it, about how the
2:49
contract contract was structured.
2:51
And they quote someone called Albert Sanchez Grills, a
2:54
professor at University of Bristol Law School, who said
2:57
that the contract was peculiar. And given the uncertainty at the
3:02
time, and I'm going to ask, well, what uncertainty?
3:05
Because everybody was fairly certain that there was going to
3:07
be problems with these jobs as they were hold out.
3:10
But anyway, he also argued that a shorter agreement with a cap
3:15
on the number of claims process would have been more
3:18
appropriate. So let's not worry about how
3:20
many people are actually affected by this.
3:23
Put a cap on it anyway. And he said that using firm
3:26
contracts in uncertain situations carries significant
3:30
commercial risks. So this is all about commerce
3:33
and all about the profitability of various things, but not
3:37
really about the impact on individual people's lives.
3:41
Now the NHS has now got rid of this company and is looking for
3:47
a new provider. Now apparently that new provider
3:50
has been chosen and that's this lot Maximus.
3:55
And so it's going to be this contract's taken over by Maximus
3:59
UK's UK Services Limited. Now this is another US
4:02
headquartered company and their new five year contract is is
4:07
estimated at £27 million. That, of course, is considerably
4:11
more than the 6 million in the original assessment.
4:15
And then the the vaccine injury scheme are, of course, as
4:20
everybody knows, is under review by West Streeting, the health
4:23
secretary at the moment. And there's going to be more
4:27
propaganda on this coming out from the COVID inquiry in in the
4:31
not too distant future as they attempt to white whitewash the
4:34
damage that was done. Charles, I'd be interested in
4:37
your thoughts on this. Because clearly they were
4:40
expecting there to be many fewer people coming forward to to
4:44
highlight problems that they've experienced than than there have
4:47
been. And of course it shouldn't be a
4:51
surprise to anyone, no matter what academics might be saying
4:53
or what the BBC might be saying, because it was pretty clear very
4:57
early on that people were being injured by these things.
5:02
Yeah. Good afternoon, Mike and good
5:04
afternoon, all. Yes, I mean, I think the
5:06
cynicism, the level of cynicism here is is absolutely
5:09
outrageous. And of course this is not a new
5:11
issue as was highlighted right at the start of there being a
5:15
vaccine damage scheme. It was like wading through
5:20
treacle, but also the the sort of adding insult to serious
5:24
injury, this idea that you had to be able to qualify to what
5:27
degree you had been affected in order to be able to qualify for
5:31
the payments. So that so the reluctance with
5:32
which government is actually progressing.
5:34
This is is absolutely unbelievable.
5:37
Of course, no great surprise to see that the amounts of money
5:41
being given to corporations absolutely dwarf that which
5:44
would go to those who've been affected.
5:46
And I think the only other point to make, I mean it's hardly a
5:49
positive, but but the fact that this does actually bring the
5:52
issue of what went wrong and why back into the in into the
5:56
public's consciousness. So it it can only be hoped that
6:00
in reporting on it like we do here at UK Column, that people
6:02
are made aware in a way that they perhaps have been inclined
6:06
to forget about over the last few years.
6:09
Yes, thank. Thank you for that, Charles.
6:11
Now on Monday's programme, Ben was talking about and Ben Brown,
6:13
we're talking about Robert Lowe. This is related in a certain
6:18
sense. It is absolutely.
6:22
I mean, I think really by coincidence, Ben's point in
6:26
terms of his reporting of Rupert Lowe's announcement that Restore
6:29
Britain will now become a political party was really he
6:33
now and indeed his organisation deserves a level of scrutiny
6:36
that he'd not been hitherto subjected to.
6:39
And is he and is Restore bit Britain what it purports to be?
6:43
Now, interestingly, we continue on the theme of vaccine damage
6:49
because here he is tweeting back in November 2024, if we can just
6:54
pop that on screen. Now, the Department of Health
6:57
has revealed that there have been nearly 500,000 adverse
7:01
reaction reports highlighted or underlined there.
7:05
He then goes on to say forcing the vaccine on millions who had
7:08
no need for it was entirely wrong.
7:10
I mean, one might adjust that to forcing the vaccine on anyone
7:14
was entirely wrong. Now he's put out a series of
7:16
tweets about this in recent weeks going back to 13th of
7:20
January. Britain needs a full inquiry
7:22
into both COVID vaccine harms and also the wider health impact
7:26
inflicted on the British people through lockdown measures and so
7:30
forth. So he's, he's very much setting
7:32
out a case there for being against the authoritarian,
7:36
tyrannical, corrupt measures that were put in place from 2020
7:40
onwards. How, what we must consider now
7:43
is, is how do his own dealings stack up with that point of
7:47
view? So we go to the register of
7:48
interests in the on the Parliament website and lo and
7:53
behold, we see that he is a director of something called
7:57
PE487 Limited concerned with freeze drying pharma related
8:03
business. Now what is this?
8:05
It is an entity called Biopharma Process Systems Limited.
8:10
And here he is shown as a director of this organisation
8:14
which he has been since 2009 and one of the standard industrial
8:21
classifications for this organisation is research and
8:23
experimental development on biotechnology.
8:26
Well, what exactly does that mean?
8:28
And we go to their website by a pharma group and we find an
8:31
article or or at least a web page entitled The importance and
8:35
challenges of mRNA Vaccines and how the Correct fill and finish
8:41
Equipment can Support your mRNA Ambitions.
8:45
We'll look at a little bit of a text from this page which says
8:49
mRNA vaccinology is advantageous because it offers adaptability
8:53
in both the number and type of antigenic determinants and its
8:57
versatility means that mRNA can be described as an attractive
9:00
source of antigen. And the nature of mRNA leads to
9:04
different advantageous benefits. And I'm not suggesting Rupert
9:07
Lowe wrote this, but nonetheless he has been a director of this
9:10
organisation for more than 15 years and indeed he is in
9:14
receipt of money from it, quite clearly a facilitator in mRNA
9:19
vaccine technology which was at the heart of the problems with
9:23
the COVID so called vaccine. Now one might consider this is a
9:27
one off, but if we look further down the register of interests,
9:30
we see that's not actually the case.
9:32
And indeed he also has a shareholding in what's called
9:35
Bluebird Holdings Limited. Now this is an Ethiopian
9:39
investment company that that overseas 54 capital and in our
9:45
history we see that they have invested into Addis
9:48
Pharmaceutical Factory, Ethiopia's largest
9:50
pharmaceutical drug provider. And I'm not suggesting they've
9:53
had anything to do with the COVID vaccines.
9:55
But nonetheless, there is a pattern here, as identified or
9:58
at least explained by the United Nations Industrial Development
10:02
Organisation, very much using the same MO as the likes of Bill
10:06
Gates here listed as it is 54 capital in the investment
10:11
opportunities in vaccine and essential medicines
10:15
manufacturing in parts of the world that are in effect
10:18
susceptible to the influence of Western organisations,
10:22
suggesting that they need to have certain medical products in
10:25
order to treat conditions that they may or may not have.
10:28
Now, I got in touch with Restore Britain to ask for a
10:32
clarification on Rupert Lowe's position on this, because there
10:36
does appear to be a significant conflict between what he says
10:38
and what he does. And interestingly, the automatic
10:41
response said if appropriate, a member of our team will be in
10:46
touch. Well, so far it has not been
10:47
appropriate to respond on the specific issue of mRNA vaccines.
10:53
So I just close out by saying that it might also be of
10:56
interest to note that when he was calling for the death
10:59
penalty back in November of 2025, this coincided exactly
11:04
with the Israeli Parliament doing the same thing about which
11:06
I wrote in the previous edition of the blindfold briefing, A
11:10
capital coincidence, which I would invite you to have a read
11:13
of. Thank you very much for that,
11:16
Charles. Thanks for that.
11:17
We'll talk more about this in extra, I have no doubt.
11:20
Vanessa, let me welcome you to the programme now.
11:22
And as we discussed or we mentioned on Friday, Munich
11:26
Security conference going on over the weekend and a lot of
11:30
the focus seems to have been on Iran.
11:35
Yeah, very much so. Building the narrative for
11:39
regime change, war. Now, first of all, I just want
11:42
to look at the four points that Netanyahu said he discussed with
11:46
President Trump in Washington. This is Netanyahu speaking at
11:51
the Jerusalem conference after his visit to Washington.
11:54
But it gives a very good insight as to what the US negotiations
11:58
will base their requirements upon.
12:01
So let's just play this. Several components that we
12:06
believe are important not only for the security of Israel, but
12:09
for the security of the world, the United States, the region,
12:13
the world. The 1st is that all enriched
12:16
material has to leave Iran. The second is that there shall
12:22
be no enrichment capability, not stopping the enrichment process,
12:28
but dismantle the equipment and the infrastructure that allows
12:34
you to enrich in the 1st place. And the third is to deal also
12:39
with the the questions of ballistic missiles.
12:42
There's an empty CR limitation of 300 kilometres and Iran is
12:48
supposed to adhere to it. Of course it doesn't, as the
12:53
rising lion operation by itself manifested.
12:55
Everybody knows that. And the 4th is stop the
12:59
dismantle the axis of the terror that Iran has built.
13:04
It's been smashed, but it's still there.
13:06
It's trying to recover, as Iran itself is trying to do.
13:12
So I mean, basically, of course Netanyahu is is is bringing
13:15
forward terms that Iran is under no circumstances going to
13:19
accept. So we see the usual negotiations
13:22
trap being SAT. Then Netanyahu mentions that
13:26
Iran lies or makes stuff up, is a deceitful enemy, et cetera.
13:32
But let's listen to what he says about the disarmament of Hamas
13:37
in Gaza. And then Gaza must be
13:41
demilitarised. Disarmed means that it must give
13:44
up its main, its weapons, not main weapons.
13:48
And one of the main people said heavy weapons.
13:52
There are practically no heavy weapons in Gaza.
13:54
There's no artillery, there are no tanks, there's nothing.
13:59
The heavy weapon, the one that does the most damage, is called
14:04
an AK47. OK, that's it.
14:08
That's how they execute people. So wait, did Netanyahu just
14:16
admit that the Palestinians had absolutely nothing to do with
14:20
the massacres on October the 7th which released scenes like this
14:24
where cars had been torched by Apache helicopters, tanks and so
14:29
on under the control of the Israelis?
14:33
And of course, this is kind of a foregone conclusion.
14:36
Even Hebrew media sources like Herat's have very clearly stated
14:41
that the IDF ordered the Hannibal directive on October
14:45
the 7th to prevent Hamas taking soldiers captive.
14:48
So just an aside from the Iran issue, but demonstrating the
14:52
hypocrisy of Israel when they claim that Iran is the one, um,
14:57
that is lying. And then let's come to the
15:01
Munich Security Conference, as you mentioned, Mike, and if you
15:05
just Scroll down a search on YouTube for the Munich
15:09
Conference and Iran, you get a whole raft of such interviews
15:14
and talks, of course, all targeting Iran for regime
15:19
change. And the dreadful Lindsey Graham
15:22
was there, who's been given or increased relevance under the
15:25
Trump administration. And here he is talking to
15:29
Christiane Amanpour at the Munich Conference.
15:34
Ever problems associated with the day after, if the people
15:37
went against the Ayatollah, are fraction of the problems
15:41
associated with the Ayatollah killing his way out yet again
15:45
standing to murder another day. If you don't realise we're on
15:49
the verge of history, you're missing a lot.
15:51
We're talking weeks, not months. And when we do this, if we do,
15:57
we're starting and we're not stopping.
16:05
What I find interesting is what he basically says is we'll
16:08
secure a regime change. After that, we really don't care
16:11
what happens in Iran. So, but again, they're they're
16:14
working on behalf of the Iranian people.
16:17
Then shortly after the Munich Security Conference, Lindsey
16:20
Graham went to Tel Aviv where he again pushed the regime change
16:24
message to an Israeli audience. Let's hear this.
16:29
The best answer to all the problems created by Iran is
16:33
regime change. The best answer is for the
16:36
people to take the place of the Ayatollah.
16:39
I do not believe they're in the streets to build more nuclear
16:41
weapons. I think they're in the streets
16:43
to have a better life. So, I mean, there's absolutely
16:49
no sort of subterfuge over this particular reject regime change
16:54
operation. Then of course, last night or
16:56
yesterday we had the talks in Geneva, the second round of
17:00
talks. They're heading for a third
17:01
round of talks. Apparently, the Iranian foreign
17:06
minister had actually said that there was some agreement on
17:10
guiding principles. Generally, the response has been
17:14
positive. Of course, generally speaking,
17:16
Iranians believe that negotiation is always a trap and
17:20
that there is absolutely no chance of concessions from Iran
17:24
towards what Israel is demanding.
17:26
At the same time, Trump is building up a military presence
17:31
in the region. They're sending the USS Abraham
17:37
Lincoln to join the other aircraft carriers and there have
17:41
been reports of dozens of planes, F-22, 35 and 16, heading
17:46
towards US bases in the region. And finally, I think, and I
17:52
think Mike and, and everyone listening today will agree with
17:55
me, that the clearest sign of the US heading for a regime
18:00
change war or destabilisation project is when they Hitlerize
18:06
the enemy. And this is exactly what Lindsey
18:08
Graham does at the end of his conversation with Christiane
18:12
Ampour at the Munich Security Conference.
18:14
So let's just play this. All we need is the courage of
18:19
our convictions. I cannot promise you exactly
18:22
what the day After will be, but if somebody had killed Hitler in
18:26
1935, it would have probably been better.
18:29
If this regime falls the day After has promised.
18:34
If it stays in place, the day After is going to generationally
18:40
destroy the Mideast and will be haunted by this for generations
18:45
to come. And they will be talking about
18:47
us in a very bad way. So I think the end game is
18:55
inevitable, it's just how long it takes for the US to get to
18:59
that point. Yes, indeed.
19:01
Thanks, Vanessa. Thank you for that.
19:03
Now let's move on to online safety issues then.
19:06
And well, sorry, before we do that, we'll just have a quick
19:09
break just to to say to everybody, if you like what the
19:13
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19:17
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19:28
If you can't help us financially, please do share
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19:34
that you like, because that helps us beat the censorship
19:37
regime that we're going to talk a little bit more about in a
19:39
second tonight at 7:00. Then Michael Rectenwald is
19:45
speaking to Germ on free speech and the death of academia.
19:49
That's at 7:00 tonight, no silicon steel tonight.
19:53
It's Chinese New Year, so join us probably hopefully on Friday
19:59
they'll be the next one. Now let's come on to the
20:02
censorship issue and the issue of online safety.
20:06
Because Discord the global. This what is it's a chat
20:13
platform and so on. I have to they've decided to
20:15
roll out globally their age verification system and it has
20:20
absolutely sparked a massive backlash because of privacy,
20:24
data security, and also the the concerns about the involvement
20:28
of certain investors that we'll come on to in a second.
20:30
Now, for those who don't know, Discord is a messaging community
20:33
platform. It's got about 200 million users
20:35
per month, many of whom are now leaving for alternatives.
20:40
Now, Discourse announced earlier this month it would roll out its
20:43
age insurance programme globally from March.
20:45
And this, of course, is building on what they're already doing in
20:48
the UK and in Australia. And the move is described as
20:52
being a child safety measure. Of course, we've been talking
20:55
about this for quite some time now.
20:57
Under the new system, all users will default to a teen
21:01
appropriate experience with access to age restricted
21:04
servers, channels and other settings locked.
21:07
Unless the user can prove that they're an adult.
21:10
They say that they will implement an age inference
21:13
model. So this is a machine learning
21:15
system, an AI system that draws on account usage, device type,
21:22
activity platforms, and they're going to classify users in the
21:25
age groups without needing them to submit any documents or take
21:29
a selfie, except when additional confirmation is required.
21:34
They say that they will offer multiple privacy forward options
21:39
through trusted partners. They say that facial scans will
21:42
never leave leave your device. And they say that they or their
21:46
partners will never receive your data.
21:50
They say that I DS are used to get your age only and then
21:53
delete it. So actually you do have to
21:55
provide I DS under certain circumstances.
21:58
And they say that they only received their age and that's
22:01
all and your identity is never associated with your account.
22:04
Now the problem for Discord is that last year attackers
22:09
accessed 70,000 users, government IDs, selfies and
22:14
other sensitive information. And that was after compromising
22:20
Discord's third party customer support system and the
22:23
Electronic Frontier Foundation. We see this on screen at the
22:25
moment has awarded Discord. It's we still told you so
22:31
breaches award. Now they, these are a bunch of
22:33
awards that they give out every year for any breaches of data
22:36
and privacy and so on. And they're saying here, last
22:38
year Authentics won our first We Told you so award because we
22:43
predicted in 2023, age verification mandates would
22:47
inevitably lead to more data breaches, potentially exposing
22:50
government IDs as well as information about the sites that
22:53
a user visits. Like clockwork, they did.
22:56
It was our it was our first We Told You so breeches award, but
23:00
we knew it wouldn't be the last. So Discord won the 2025 award,
23:05
but it things got worse for Discord when they when it
23:09
emerged that they were not relying solely on kid, which was
23:13
their primary global ID supplier, but was also
23:17
experimenting with a second supplier.
23:20
And that second supplier was this lot, Persona, they started
23:27
carrying a a disclaimer for UK users that that information
23:32
would be processed by an age assurance vendor called Persona.
23:36
And that unlike the other situation which would be on
23:40
device, information submitted to Persona would temporarily be
23:43
stored for up to seven days on Persona's servers before
23:47
deletion. Persona's major investors.
23:50
We just put Persona back on screen there for a second.
23:53
William, please. Persona's major investors
23:56
include this man Peter Thiel looking out from the side there.
24:00
So all of this is yet another example of why Age Assurance
24:06
being rolled out as a result of the Online Safety Act.
24:08
Of course, it's nothing whatever to do with child safety or
24:13
online safety. It is about deanonymizing the
24:17
Internet and providing people like Peter Thiel with huge
24:20
quantities of valuable data. In other words, humans are being
24:23
farmed. And because, as I've been saying
24:26
for a very long time now, Age Age Assurance does nothing to
24:29
prevent adults posing as children on websites geared
24:32
towards children like Roblox. This is where most child
24:37
grooming happens online and these types of platforms are
24:43
problematic. Now this is recognised in other
24:45
countries and we're citing Egypt as an example here and in fact
24:49
other Arab countries as well. But here, in other words, so
24:54
Egypt basically has banned Roblox in in that country and
24:57
other Arab countries have done so as well.
25:00
But here it's just data collection and data breaches.
25:03
And of course sub stack is the latest.
25:06
So earlier this month they had to admit that October last year,
25:09
an unauthorised third party accessed user data, including
25:12
email addresses, phone numbers and other unspecified internal
25:16
metadata. And they said in the statement
25:18
or in an email that they sent to customers.
25:20
I'm reaching out to let you know about security incident that
25:23
resulted in the email address and phone number from your sub
25:26
stack account being shared without your permission.
25:28
I'm incredibly sorry that this happened.
25:30
We take a responsibility to protect your data and privacy
25:33
seriously. And we came up short here.
25:36
So you know, Charles, it, it has got to be said, it is time to
25:40
push back extremely strongly against the Online Safety Act.
25:44
Well, actually the time was when it was still a build.
25:47
But seeing it's, seeing it released should be or sorry,
25:53
seeing it's repealed should be at the top of our priority list
25:57
because this is a major part of the Panopticon which is being
26:01
built right out in the open. It absolutely is.
26:05
And I think it's astonishing given that we have these sorts
26:08
of instances happening absolutely all the time.
26:12
I mean, the, the, the preposterous claim that any of
26:15
these platforms are in some way protected against such breaches
26:19
is, is just ludicrous. But yeah, it, it should, again,
26:24
it should keep the, the Online Safety Act in the public eye.
26:27
People should be applying exactly that sort of pressure
26:31
to, to contest this sort of thing.
26:32
And, and again, you know, the suggestion that the answer to
26:35
all of this is further digitization of everything and
26:40
that you should further submit your identity, all the critical
26:45
data into these platforms is an absolute nonsense.
26:48
And one can just hope that more and more people are beginning to
26:51
see the direction that this is going in before it's too late.
26:55
Indeed. OK, well, let's move
26:57
international now. And first of all, the Hong Kong
27:00
and the Jimmy life sentencing Charles.
27:04
Yeah, although a different location.
27:06
I mean, this very much follows what Vanessa has just been
27:08
saying about Iran and of course the pressure from elsewhere for
27:12
regime change. Now here we have the foreign
27:15
secretary, Yvette Cooper responding to the Jimmy Lai
27:18
sentencing. He's been sent down for 20
27:20
years, supposedly strengthening the pro democracy stance in Hong
27:26
Kong. That was taken in 2019, or at
27:29
least so the story goes. Now, what Yvette Cooper actually
27:32
said in her statement, among other things, was British
27:35
national Jimmy Lai was today sentenced to 20 years in prison
27:38
in Hong Kong for exercising his right to freedom of expression
27:42
following a politically motivated prosecution.
27:45
Well, that's not very accurate from Yvette Cooper.
27:48
That is not why he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
27:52
And of course, British national he may be, but it's worth noting
27:56
that he spent the 1st 12 years of his life in mainland China
27:59
before his family moved to Hong Kong.
28:02
She went on to say that Beijing's national security law
28:05
was imposed on Hong Kong to silence China's critics.
28:08
And again, she might want to take a look at the very similar
28:12
National Security Act 2023 in the United Kingdom and examine
28:15
exactly what the purpose of that is.
28:18
And then she concludes by saying that we stand with the people of
28:22
Hong Kong and we'll always honour the historical
28:25
commitments made under the legally binding Sino British
28:27
Joint Declaration, and China must do the same.
28:30
Now we'll come back to that. But no great surprise to see
28:32
that across the Atlantic, Marco Rubio has chucked out a sort of
28:36
abbreviated version of exactly the same thing, saying it shows
28:40
the world that Beijing will go to extraordinary lengths to
28:42
silence those who advocate fundamental freedoms in Hong
28:45
Kong, casting aside the international commitments
28:48
Beijing made in the 1984 Sino British Joint Declaration.
28:53
So he's referring back to that again.
28:55
Now what I'd like to do is take a look at what Doctor Warwick
28:59
Powell said to Carl Zarr on a recent episode of the Silk and
29:02
Steel podcast, because he deals with exactly this issue and
29:06
shatters the myths that the likes of Yvette Cooper and Marco
29:10
Rubio are putting out. Jimmy Lai was part of an
29:16
American destabilisation slash regime change frontline
29:22
operation and he was charged ultimately with sedition and for
29:28
collusion with foreign powers. Now, I don't know whether it was
29:32
collusion or not, because collusion kind of implies that
29:35
it was done in secret. But when you're actually on a
29:38
global stage calling for America to launch nuclear weapons on
29:43
China, I'm not sure that that's collusion, right?
29:47
It's certainly not the secret type of type of collusion.
29:51
But he was charged under national security laws.
29:53
Now, those national security laws were, of course, the
29:56
subject of much controversy. And, you know, the Western press
29:59
will talk about them as being pernicious and this and that.
30:02
But of course, they're by and large mirrored on national
30:06
security laws that you find in just about every other country
30:08
in the world. And the other point to remember
30:12
is that the national security laws passed by Hong Kong was
30:17
actually part and parcel of the original agreement, right with
30:22
the British that they would be national security laws.
30:26
And so the implication these days is that somehow what
30:30
mainland China is doing runs contrary to the the agreements
30:35
in the original handover. It's actually nonsense.
30:39
There was always a requirement for national security laws to be
30:43
passed. There was an attempt to do so in
30:46
the early 2000s and it failed in the face of orchestrated public
30:50
protest. Eventually they've succeeded.
30:54
So Jimmy Lai gets charged, He's found guilty.
30:57
Pretty hard to not find him guilty, frankly, given all of
31:00
the publicly available evidence on top of the evidence that was
31:04
presented in the court. And he was sentenced to 20
31:07
years. The West has gone absolutely
31:09
apoplectic about this. Right?
31:11
But it's got nothing to do with free speech.
31:16
As indeed he says, it has nothing to do with free speech,
31:19
and I think the important point that he makes there is about
31:22
what was coming from the declaration signed in 1984 by
31:25
the various administrations, by the United Kingdom and China's.
31:28
We just have a look at some of the text here which is explicit
31:32
in stating that except for foreign and defence affairs,
31:36
which are the responsibilities of the Central People's
31:39
Government, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
31:42
shall be vested with executive, legislative and independent
31:45
judicial power. So the point is that Cooper
31:49
saying that this is Beijing in effect overstepping this was
31:53
absolutely set down in 1984 for handover in 1997, which makes
32:00
her point disingenuous to say the least.
32:02
Now on the subject of foreign influence, we can't really
32:06
ignore the significant part that Mark Simon has played in all of
32:10
this. Looking at his Twitter profile
32:12
here, he described himself as a former executive at Apple Daily,
32:15
which of course was the media organisation that Jimmy Lai was
32:20
ostensibly in charge of. Admittedly something that was
32:23
losing money at an extraordinary rate given the amounts of money
32:27
that were changing hands. And Simon might be regarded
32:31
perhaps as as lies handler. Now this is well articulated by
32:35
an article in the Global Times from China entitled The Verdict
32:38
reveals Jimmy Lai's Nature as a Foreign Agent.
32:41
Now what this article does very well is explains the various
32:45
steps of what might be described as a colour revolution.
32:50
It also points out that Simon was in receipt of payments, 86
32:54
payments that added up to 118 million Hong Kong dollars from
32:58
Jimmy Lai. And the money here has come from
33:02
a variety of sources, but most notably perhaps the CIA and the
33:05
National Indictment for Democracy, which is something
33:08
I've spoken about on this very programme in the past.
33:12
Now the other thing to note that I would like to point out is
33:15
having just come back from Hong Kong, I have spoken directly to
33:18
people who have felt the effect of what is absolutely
33:22
disinformation promulgated by Apple Daily and indeed people
33:27
who have had who have in effect been on the receiving end of
33:30
this. So there is going back to
33:32
Warwick Powell's point, there is absolutely no doubt about the
33:36
guilt and involvement of LIE in the 1st place.
33:40
Now how has the western media responded to this?
33:42
Well, perhaps best encapsulated by BBC Media Action, which is
33:45
taken to LinkedIn to describe Jimmy Lai as now being added to
33:49
the list of more than 300 journalists in prison around the
33:53
world. Well, how consistent are they?
33:55
Was BBC Media Action reporting on the very many arrests
33:58
surrounding the prescription and very confused situation
34:03
surrounding Palestine action at the moment or indeed all the
34:08
many detentions under schedule seven of the Terrorism Act 2000?
34:13
And all I would do is just close by saying if you feel like you
34:17
do need more background on this, then please go back to the UK
34:20
column, news of the 20th of November 2024 to have a look at
34:24
the background to the Jimmy Lai case going back to 2019.
34:29
And indeed, particularly the heavy hand that the National
34:32
Endowment for Democracy, among others, has played in this.
34:35
Now, Mike, I'm sure you've got some comment to make on exactly
34:38
this and the sort of specific intent that the the Western
34:41
powers have to try to destabilise China through this
34:44
sort of psychological operation. Yeah, but not just China, it's
34:47
so many countries and BBC Media Action, Thomson Reuters
34:51
Foundation as well, both in receipt of Foreign Commonwealth
34:56
and Development Office money in order to pursue regime change
35:00
operations in other countries. So what do they do?
35:03
They they they carry out media training, they carry out so
35:07
called counter disinformation programmes.
35:10
They identify opposition voices and they amplify those
35:14
opposition voices and they use those opposition voices.
35:18
Should it get to the actual regime change point to, to be
35:22
representatives of so called grassroots thought and feeling
35:26
in in those countries back to the British media and the
35:29
Western media in return. And you know, it's, it's we
35:33
will, we can talk much more about this an extra, but it is,
35:37
I understand that there are opposition voices in these
35:40
countries, but they've got to be very, very careful about getting
35:43
involved with these types of players because there's big
35:45
money involved in it and big efforts that influence
35:49
campaigns. And it's it's much bigger than
35:52
perhaps some some people think it is.
35:58
Yeah, it is, absolutely, yeah. And I think that's a critical
36:01
point to make. You know, when we go back to
36:02
2019, exactly who was involved and playing what part and how
36:05
many of these people genuinely had any idea of where the
36:09
influences were coming from and why it was they were involved in
36:12
the 1st place. And of course then the
36:13
behaviour, the conduct of the security and intelligence forces
36:17
in Hong Kong and how that was being orchestrated.
36:19
But as you say, lots more to talk about in Extra.
36:22
Yes, Vanessa, let's come back to you then.
36:24
And well, obviously over the last number of weeks you've been
36:27
talking about the the Gaza reconstruction ideas from Trump
36:32
and so on. But what has Russia's role been
36:35
involved been in all this? Well, it's it's kind of
36:39
interesting. It's quite a conundrum in fact,
36:41
because since Trump created his so called Peace Board or Board
36:46
of Peace, which has its inaugural convention tomorrow in
36:49
Washington, there has been some confusion over whether Russia
36:54
were actually to accept a place on the board.
36:57
Initially, President Putin was talking about allocating 1
37:00
billion from the frozen 5 billion in assets in the US to
37:05
be able to buy them a place on the board.
37:08
Now there seems to be a slight, uh, different direction for the
37:11
1 billion. Dmitry Peskov went on record
37:14
yesterday saying Russia remains the only country in the world
37:17
that has decided to allocate 1 billion in aid to the
37:20
Palestinians. Now, this isn't entirely true
37:25
that they are the only country and, and we'll come on to this
37:28
umm, but let's remember, let's just have a look at Gaza before
37:32
and Gaza as it is now. This is just one section of Gaza
37:35
City that um, at least a minimum of $70 billion is needed to even
37:42
get it back to the condition that it was in previously.
37:45
And of course, Israel is continuing the genocide in Gaza
37:50
itself. It's it's not providing
37:52
humanitarian aid. Starvated children are dying of
37:55
cold and starvation, et cetera, et cetera.
37:58
While in the West Bank, and I'll come on to that, things are
38:02
ramping up to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians even from the
38:06
West Bank enclaves. Now, 4 months ago, even the
38:10
Saudi foreign minister was making the point that while
38:13
they're ready to contribute to the reconstruction in Gaza, they
38:20
did actually say it is unacceptable to seek
38:22
international funding to rebuild Gaza while the underlying
38:25
conditions that enabled its destruction remain unchanged.
38:29
Now, this is the first that I agree with Saudi Arabia, but in
38:32
contrast to the Russians that are simply putting out a
38:35
statement saying, yeah, we'll give 1 billion for
38:39
reconstruction without any conditions as to how that money
38:44
will be used and what conditions the Palestinians are going to to
38:48
be living in post reconstruction.
38:52
And then of course, back on the 22nd of January, President Putin
38:55
again, that this is where some of the confusion comes in.
38:58
He met with Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in Moscow
39:04
at the Kremlin. If we can just have this on
39:06
screen please, that would be great.
39:08
Where he was actually saying that the 1 billion would be a
39:12
contribution to Trump's ball of peace.
39:16
Now, while having conversations with Mahmoud Abbas and the
39:20
Palestinian Authority, of course, there must be
39:22
recognition that the Palestinian Authority is considered
39:25
effectively to be a stood of Israel and is largely
39:30
responsible for much of the repression of the resistance in
39:35
the West Bank in particular. And then in the last two days,
39:39
the deputy foreign minister put out a statement saying that
39:43
basically Russia is still trying to nail down the Board of Peace
39:47
mission. Apparently Minsk suggested to
39:50
Moscow that they could represent Russia on the board of peace.
39:54
That was knocked aside by Sergei Rybakov, who, as I said, is the
40:00
deputy foreign minister, and in fact what he said was, is Moscow
40:05
is in no hurry to decide. We will see who takes part in
40:09
Washington on February the 19th at which level and scope we
40:13
continue to study to analyse the set of proposal and proposals
40:18
and elements concerning the structures.
40:20
Function and scope. So again, we're left in a in
40:23
rather a state of limbo as to whether Russia is officially
40:27
going to be involved in the Board of Peace.
40:29
Many European countries are backing off from it, saying that
40:33
Trump is trying to effectively replace the UN and take control
40:38
not only of the peace process in Palestine, but in other areas of
40:42
the world. And at the same time, as I
40:44
mentioned, the ramping up of pressure on the West Bank
40:48
itself. So Israel's new West Bank
40:51
registration process is basically declaring Palestinian
40:55
land in the West Bank as state property, which of course was
40:58
effectively is annexation of that land.
41:02
Now, just for people to understand the extent of loss of
41:07
territory for the Palestinians, here's a map just showing Gaza
41:11
there on the left and what's left of the West Bank, which of
41:15
course, if we look at the next slide, we can see to what degree
41:19
that has also been broken down and divided, if we could.
41:24
Yeah, thank you. So basically you have Area A,
41:28
which is run by the Palestinian Authority, Area B which is 22%
41:35
of the territory, PA and Israel, and then Area C, which is being
41:40
targeted for this um, annexation of land and making of this land
41:45
to be state property. Um, effectively will lose
41:49
through that process 83% of of that area.
41:53
So when you look at the orange area, 83% of that will then be
41:57
annexed, um, to, uh, Israel, to the state.
42:01
And of course, it will not be resold to Palestinians.
42:04
And at the same time, Israel is bringing in tanks, it's bringing
42:08
in aerial bombing helicopters into the West Bank in an attempt
42:13
to further ethnically displace or ethnically cleanse the people
42:19
from the West Bank in a very similar fashion that was used in
42:22
Gaza. And in fact, these are figures
42:25
relating to May 2025. So now of course they've
42:31
obviously increased I think around 7000 Palestinians have
42:35
been driven out of their homes in the West Bank and something
42:39
like probably more than 3000 Palestinian owned structures in
42:43
the West Bank have effectively been destroyed.
42:48
And and all of this while Russia of course traditionally and
42:51
China talk about or uphold A2 state solution.
42:55
Well, one has to ask what kind of two state solution is going
42:59
to exist if all Palestinian territory is actively annexed
43:04
and and the Palestinians are ethnically cleansed from their
43:07
homes in both Gaza and in the West Bank.
43:10
And of course there's no statement from Russia on this
43:14
basis. And then I just want to raise
43:17
the question, who is going to receive this 1 billion of
43:21
reconstruction aid for Gaza? Is it going to go to the
43:25
Palestinian Authority, which is effectively Israel?
43:29
Is it going to go directly to Israel, whom we know has no
43:33
intention of allowing Palestinians to remain in Gaza
43:36
except as cheap labour contained within even smaller labour camps
43:42
to effectively secure Gaza as a as part of a free trade zone
43:48
running in the India Middle East Economic Corridor from India
43:53
through the Gulf States into Gaza and then into Egypt to
43:57
Hamas, almost definitely not, of course, although Hamas is the
44:01
recognised government of Gaza to Washington and Israel through
44:06
the Trump Board of Peace, to Jared Kushner who's been
44:09
involved in the talks on Iran but also the talks on Ukraine.
44:14
It it appears that this 1 billion, whatever way you look
44:17
at it, is effectively going to be used to bail out Israel after
44:21
it has effectively decimated and destroyed Gaza.
44:27
It's a bailout for Israel in my opinion.
44:29
And I would ask the question, if Russia had economically
44:33
boycotted Israel from the very beginning, would it then be
44:37
necessary for Russia to now contribute 1 billion to the
44:41
reconstruction of Gaza? Indeed, Vanessa.
44:44
And if Russia had economically boycotted Israel from the
44:48
beginning, how many other countries may have joined?
44:52
Is that clear? Yeah, yeah.
44:54
OK. Thank you for that, Charles.
44:56
Let's come back to Britain then, and the question of lithium
45:02
batteries. Thanks, Mike.
45:05
Yes, I mean lithium of course absolutely integral to the whole
45:10
push towards all things supposedly progressive,
45:14
technological, digital, but also in terms of energy or at least
45:19
what's being described as renewable energy now, especially
45:22
in the United Kingdom, so much contingent upon the supposed
45:25
requirement or at least capability to store energy in
45:28
lithium ion batteries. We'll just take a look at the
45:31
International Energy Agency who've put a graph out
45:34
indicative of the way in which batteries are used.
45:38
So this charts the last 10 years.
45:39
If you can't see the graph, you'll see that the exponential
45:41
potential rise is in large part due to the massive increase in
45:46
EV car. But of course that's not all
45:49
that it. As I say, battery energy storage
45:52
systems form a large part of it. Now in terms of the sort of
45:56
economic and geopolitical ramifications, the graph, sorry,
46:01
the map shown on screen now indicates that outside of
46:03
Australia, which of course is the leading producer of lithium,
46:07
it's really China that has a grip on the lithium market.
46:12
And indeed the control, which is exactly what the IEA is pointing
46:17
to when it talks about supply side risks in the United
46:21
Kingdom. Just this week, the energy
46:25
storage news has been talking about planning barriers
46:28
threatening to store momentum in the UK battery storage market.
46:31
And as I say, this is this is supposedly the way in which
46:34
renewable energy, so called renewable energy, is made more
46:39
efficient, more effective. But there are absolutely
46:41
consequences to this approach. Interesting to see how the
46:45
government so adroitly dodges exactly those.
46:49
This is sort of an exhibition in pointing out something in a in a
46:55
less than straightforward manner.
46:56
But we have the Battery energy Storage systems briefing paper
46:59
in which they say the Faraday Institution explains that
47:02
lithium ion batteries fires are very rare.
47:05
And it notes that even with billions in circulation, there
47:07
are very few safety incidents involving them.
47:10
And it estimates that only one in 40 million battery sales
47:12
experience failure that results in fire.
47:15
Well, that statistic may or may not be true.
47:17
What they're studiously ignoring is indeed the consequences of
47:22
such A and what can be done about it now?
47:24
I reported in the past about the concerns that Fire Brigades,
47:28
fire services have had about this and it should be absolutely
47:31
newsworthy that the National Fire Chiefs Council have updated
47:35
their position statement on this technology.
47:38
And they recognise that the pace of change has been very
47:42
substantial. And they say that this
47:43
transition is outpacing safety standards and regulation,
47:47
leading to potential increased fire safety risks as a result.
47:50
And it's a real concern for the NFCC and Fire and Rescue
47:54
services. Now, they use very moderate
47:55
language, but it's very obvious that they are suggesting this is
47:58
being carried out in a completely irresponsible manner.
48:02
And then they go on to address the environmental concerns,
48:04
which they say include risk of fire and explosions, impacts on
48:08
air quality because of the build up of gases during a Bess fire,
48:12
groundwater contamination from chemical leaks and contaminated
48:15
fire, water runoff and noise. So of course, I should remind
48:19
you, this is the prospect of environmental catastrophe at the
48:22
same time as apparently saving the environment.
48:26
And they go on to say that the range of tactical approaches,
48:30
but there is no one size fits all approach to most effectively
48:33
extinguish or control a fire caused by lithium ion batteries.
48:37
Now the short version of that is they don't know how to put them
48:39
out and mostly because they can't put them out.
48:42
And as reported previously, but here reinforced by auto
48:46
evolution, an increasing number of maritime shipping companies
48:50
are refusing to ship EVs, citing this fire risk.
48:55
It was matched and the Hawaii based company that I'd reported
48:58
on previously, but there are a growing number who have taken a
49:02
similar line because it's just too risky because of this
49:05
problem in in not being able to put them out.
49:08
Then we go into the air, we look at the Civil Aviation Authority
49:10
in the United Kingdom with its guidance on portable electronic
49:14
devices and having anecdotally, but having just taken a number
49:17
of long haul and short haul flights, the increased push for
49:21
attention on particularly lithium ion battery banks and
49:24
whether whether or not they may be carried.
49:27
But they may not be carried in hold baggage that even in the
49:30
cabin they may not be used suggests there really is a
49:33
serious concern here. And then the BBC threw gritted
49:36
teeth as usual, talking about China having imposed a ban on
49:41
what it's described as hidden car door handles.
49:43
Now these were effectively pioneered by Tesla and obviously
49:47
all about appearance rather than practicality.
49:49
But should there be a problem with an EV that has door handles
49:52
like this? Once the power supply is shut
49:54
down, if it catches fire, of course, there's no way of
49:56
getting at getting the occupant of the vehicle out.
50:00
And the Chinese authorities have imposed a year long period on
50:05
that to be corrected. So absolutely this may not be
50:08
dismissed. And if you're thinking this is
50:10
just a problem exclusive to China and the Chinese
50:13
manufacturers, absolutely it is not a multiple instances of such
50:16
a thing having happened in the United Kingdom.
50:19
Now, referring back to the very many best applications, what I'd
50:24
like to do is to point you towards an absolutely excellent
50:28
and well referenced letter written by Heather Godfrey, Auk
50:31
column supporter who wrote to me to get in touch about an 80 MW
50:36
plan for a best installation near Crewkerne.
50:40
And she has submitted an appeal to this.
50:44
And if you have something similar going on in your area
50:46
and you need specific references and a very well articulated
50:50
argument that I would like to point you towards her sub stack
50:53
for an idea of how to how to put this together.
50:57
And the main document. So this is this is now live on
51:00
her sub stack and there'll be a link in the show notes.
51:03
Thank you, Charles. Thank you for that.
51:05
Now let's come on to right to Repair and quite an interesting
51:11
story coming out this week because earlier this week the
51:15
Dutch defence secretary made the claim that F35 fighter jet
51:20
software could be gaol broken. This was in a statement during
51:24
the discussion he was having with the Dutch radio station BNR
51:28
News Radio. Now this is reported in this
51:31
tweet by Clash Report. And then he said if asked
51:37
whether you can modify F35 software without approval,
51:43
that's not the point. We'll see whether the Americans
51:45
will show their true colours, he said.
51:47
And then he then they went on to quote him as saying, I'm not
51:50
going to say something I should never say, but I'll do it
51:53
anyway. Just like your iPhone, you can
51:55
gaolbreak an F35I won't say any more about it.
51:59
Now, this raises a host of questions about nations buying
52:03
war fighting equipment from other nations.
52:06
And the conversation came about because of the ongoing tensions
52:10
between the EU and Trump and whether or not the US has some
52:13
kind of kill switch available in the event that relations
52:16
breakdown totally. In other words, they spend
52:18
billions on F-30 fives and the kill switch is switched in the
52:24
United States and suddenly these aircraft turn into bricks.
52:27
Now I need to point out that there's no publicly available
52:31
evidence of any such kill switch.
52:33
But since nations have no access to the source code of the
52:36
aircraft, there's no way to demonstrate that either way
52:40
other than to take the United States word for it.
52:42
Britain is the only country with any access at all, and then only
52:47
to the parts of the code which BA System Systems wrote.
52:52
Now that may not be entirely true though, because there's
52:56
still the question of 1 country whether they have special access
53:00
because questions are being asked about how Israel has
53:04
apparently modded the F35 to increase its range so that they
53:07
can fly F their F-30 fives to Iran without refuelling.
53:12
And this highlights once again, the absolute reliance that
53:16
European nations have on the United States for just about
53:18
everything. But it also highlights an issue
53:21
that we all face right down to the individual level.
53:23
Because this is basically the same issue that, for example,
53:27
farmers have been facing with modern tractors.
53:29
And the the ongoing fight between farmers and John Deere
53:33
tractors about whether they can repair or do anything to these
53:37
vehicles themselves, despite the fact that they've spent hundreds
53:41
of thousands of dollars on them. Or that people have faced with
53:45
manufacturers selling them a product and then charging a
53:48
subscription to use what it is they've bought, like BMW and
53:52
their heated, heated seat scandal.
53:54
But BMW doubling down on this, saying that in car subscriptions
53:58
makes sense. And Charles, what we have here
54:01
is, you know, I think the modern expression of you will own
54:05
nothing. And frankly that policy doesn't
54:09
work at any level. But it's because it puts us at
54:12
risk as individuals, but it also puts nations at risk at the
54:17
defence or war fighting level. Yeah, well, I think that's the
54:21
that's the central point of several and, and what this
54:25
indicates beyond any doubt, which is absolutely the
54:27
direction in which we've been warning things are going.
54:29
But this is absolute proof if it is to be demonstrated that
54:34
corporations now hold more power than states where war is
54:38
concerned. So it's not going to be up to a
54:41
nation as to whether they switch something on or off.
54:44
It's, it's whoever holds the proprietary technology, which of
54:47
course, again, as you, as you quite rightly point out, you
54:49
know, when you look at the British armed forces
54:52
capabilities, the number of component parts that come from
54:55
Israel in particular. I mean, are we to imagine that
54:58
there are then going to be the possibility of sort of wrestling
55:01
for control of a particular platform because of the, the
55:05
number of competing entities that have some sort of control
55:08
over it? And I, I think then, you know,
55:10
the, the other aspect of course, is this idea that, well, if they
55:14
can control it, then exactly like everything else that we
55:18
talk about, which has this sort of degree of connectivity, it
55:21
can be hacked. So frankly, anyone could be
55:24
taking these things over. So I think there are a lot of
55:27
things that do fall out of this. I think the other thing to go
55:30
back to that period of time when we were desperately getting rid
55:33
of all sorts of perhaps outdated or heavy platforms that we
55:39
wanted to get rid of back at the beginning of the Russian Ukraine
55:41
conflict. How would people have responded
55:44
then if we, if we had actually been able to say that the United
55:47
Kingdom right, well, we're going to give X number of Challenger
55:50
tanks to Ukraine, but we will retain control over them.
55:53
What would the response have been by the Western media to
55:57
such a suggestion? So I think this this does open
56:01
up a number of very interesting questions, but I think
56:03
essentially it points out the vulnerability of nation States
56:07
and indeed the vulnerability of technology.
56:10
Absolutely. Now back in the UK, you were
56:13
reporting on the situation with the police and Freemasonry
56:18
recently. What's the update?
56:22
Yes, I was. I mean the situation was that
56:23
the Metropolitan Police with no consultation with the United
56:28
Grand Lodge of England, the sort of head shed of the Masonic set
56:33
up in the United Kingdom, they went and said that that a
56:37
declaration must be made of membership of Freemasonry Hall
56:43
Masonic Lodge. No, that went down very badly
56:46
with the with the Grand Lodge and indeed they've contested it.
56:50
Of course, one of the things they objected to was having not
56:52
been consulted in the 1st place. What it does appear though is
56:55
that they do not understand irony because in part of their
56:58
statement they say that the United Grand Lodge of England
57:00
and and others are disappointed that they do not have leave to
57:03
proceed to a judicial review based on the legal arguments
57:08
concerning discrimination. Of course they seem to have
57:09
misunderstood. The entire point of the
57:11
Metropolitan Police's edict is to prevent there being the
57:16
suggestion of any positive discrimination based on
57:20
membership of a Masonic Lodge. They then go and say and an
57:23
assessment of intelligence that has never been fully disclosed.
57:26
Again, if there's one thing that Freemasonry is known for above
57:29
all all other things, it is the element of secrecy with which
57:33
they operate. But again, the irony seems to
57:35
have been lost on them. And then they they finish off by
57:38
saying which if communicated, could have been amicably
57:42
resolved without the need for legal action.
57:44
So this is basically Lord Justice Chamberlain.
57:47
Interesting that it is he who has decided that this should not
57:50
go to judicial review because of course it was he that was set up
57:53
to deal with the the Palestine action prescription and then at
57:56
the last minute was removed having said that, that it would
58:00
go to judicial review and then was replaced with with three
58:03
other judges. I'm not suggesting there's any
58:04
connection between two things, but it is nonetheless
58:06
interesting that that it was he. So that's it apparently for now
58:11
with the Freemasons. How exactly this will play out
58:14
with the Metropolitan Police will remain to be seen.
58:18
Thank you, Charles, and I just want to end then with this story
58:21
from the BBC headlined shop owners fear violence after
58:25
paramilitaries demand protection money.
58:27
So this is a story from Belfast, well from Northern Ireland in
58:31
general because shop owners, construction firms being held to
58:37
ransom by basically the same groups were running the the
58:42
insurgency for 30 years from 1969.
58:46
They're still there and they're still trying to get money out of
58:50
anybody that's in business over there.
58:53
This has been going on from the beginning.
58:55
Just give a quick anecdote because in 1980 my father was
58:59
working, had set up a business, had set it up in an industrial
59:03
estate in South Belfast. That industrial estate was blown
59:07
up after he'd been in business for about a year because the
59:11
owner of the industrial estate wasn't paying the protection
59:13
money. The various groupings, it didn't
59:15
matter which side of the argument that we're on, would
59:17
get together on a regular basis with a map of Belfast and draw
59:21
lines on it to decide which was their protection money area at
59:26
night. The BBC in their article is
59:28
talking about the fact that the shop owners are complaining that
59:31
the police won't do anything about this.
59:34
And what I know from that incident in 1980 was that the
59:37
police had watched that bomb being put in the car and driven
59:41
down the road and left, and the police had been told to leave it
59:44
alone. So there was no question that at
59:47
that time, despite the fact that the IRA and the British police
59:52
or the Northern Irish police and the British military were
59:54
supposed to be on opposite sides, that there was there,
59:57
there, there were brown envelopes being passed.
1:00:00
And some of that protection money was going to make sure
1:00:03
that the police did not interfere with the gathering of
1:00:05
that protection money. It appears that that situation
1:00:08
has not changed since. And it's surprising that the BBC
1:00:13
is pretending in their article like this is something unusual
1:00:17
or something that's new. So again, a little bit off the
1:00:21
mark there with their reporting and maybe there needs to be some
1:00:26
kind of inquiry into why it is this kind of activity is still
1:00:29
going on despite the fact that it began in effectively 1970s.
1:00:37
We'll we'll talk more about that.
1:00:39
I'm sure an extra as well. But we got to leave it there for
1:00:42
today. So I'm going to say thank you
1:00:43
very much to Vanessa and to Charles for your contributions
1:00:47
and everybody that's been watching today and stick around.
1:00:50
If UK column member four extra. Otherwise we'll see you on
1:00:54
Friday for another UK column. News at 1:00 PM as usual.
1:00:56
See you then. Bye bye.