Latest / UK Column Radio / UK Column News — 7th January 2026

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UK Column News — 7th January 2026 · UK Column Radio

0:08
Good afternoon. It's Wednesday the 7th of
0:10
January, just after 1:00. Welcome to UK column News.
0:12
I'm your host, Mike Robinson. Joining me today by videolink
0:15
are Charles Mallett and Vanessa Bailey.
0:18
Later in the program, Charles will be covering the state of
0:20
Britain's armed forces in a time of piracy in the from the United
0:23
States. Vanessa, we'll have more on
0:26
Venezuela and also substax response to online safety
0:30
requirements. And we'll have a farming update
0:32
and the UK's government's shiny new cybersecurity plan to talk
0:36
about. But we're going to begin today
0:38
with the situation with vaccinations in the UK.
0:41
And back in August, the government announced that a free
0:45
chicken pox vaccine will be offered for the first time to
0:49
children across England on the NHS from January this year.
0:53
And they said that thousands of children will be protected
0:56
against chicken pox for the first time.
0:59
So this is so the question is, is this to be a new vaccine
1:02
added to the schedule? Well, no.
1:04
In fact, GP practices are offering eligible children a
1:07
combination vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and now
1:12
varicella, the clinical term for small.
1:14
Sorry for chicken pox. Apologies for that.
1:17
So MMR has become MMRV as we can see in this Health Security
1:22
Agency report here. So the roll out has been
1:26
confirmed by the UK Health Security Agency from the 1st of
1:29
January this year and MMRV vaccine will be introduced into
1:33
the routine childhood immunisation schedule in the UK.
1:38
They say that it's going to protect against the the four
1:41
diseases that we've mentioned and they say that's been safely
1:45
used for a decade over a decade. It's already part of the routine
1:49
childhood vaccination schedule in several countries including
1:52
Canada, Australia and Germany. And in addition, they're
1:56
reporting that the Hib men C vaccine is no longer to be
2:01
offered at the routine one year vaccine appointment.
2:04
Instead, children are going to get an extra dose of the six in
2:07
one vaccine covering diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio,
2:11
Hib and hepatitis B. And they also announced that
2:14
children born after the 1st of July 2024, for those children a
2:19
new 18 month appointment is going to be introduced and at
2:23
that, at that appointment, 1/4 dose of the six and one vaccine
2:26
is going to be offered at 18 months rather than 12 months.
2:29
And then finally, some moving things backwards and forwards
2:33
because the second dose of the meningococcal B vaccination,
2:37
which was previously offered at 16 weeks, is now moved to 12
2:41
weeks. In fact, that's from July last
2:43
year. And in order to enable that, the
2:45
first dose of the pneumococcal vaccine previously offered at 12
2:49
weeks is now going to be offered at 16 weeks.
2:53
On top of this, then the mobile vaccine vans are seeing MMRV
2:58
added to the list of vaccines they can deliver and pop up
3:01
clinics are being rolled out in various parts of the country to
3:04
make it more convenient, convenient for people to get
3:06
their jobs. Now joining me to discuss this,
3:10
I'm really pleased to say, is Doctor Andrew, Doctor Andrew
3:13
Wakefield. Welcome to the programme,
3:15
Andrew. And I suppose I want to begin by
3:17
asking, why do you think the government has decided to add
3:21
chicken pox to MMR? Good morning And it's great to
3:25
talk to you from Texas. Why they've done it is a mystery
3:29
to me. There is a convenience clearly
3:33
to combining these shots all in one.
3:36
Let me let me take you back to when I was in the UK and my
3:40
experience in talking to David Salisbury who was the principal
3:44
Medical Officer for vaccines at the time of the Department of
3:47
Health. And I done an extensive search
3:51
of all the pre licensing safety studies for the single measles
3:56
vaccine and the combination MMR vaccine.
3:59
And I couldn't find any valid comparisons of the safety
4:04
profile of these these these these these two approaches.
4:09
And I said to him, what evidence do you have that giving the
4:14
triple vaccine, the MMR is as safe as giving the single
4:20
vaccines? And he said we had no reason to
4:24
assume that the safety profile would be any different.
4:28
Now what you're doing is you are giving a human being a
4:34
combination of live viruses in a way in which they've never seen
4:38
them before. You're giving them together and
4:42
you're giving them by injection. You have absolutely no right to
4:47
assume anything in terms of it that the impact of that on
4:51
safety, none whatsoever. That requires extensive study.
4:56
And years ago when I, we didn't have the chicken pox vaccine in
5:01
the UK at the time, but years ago when I first spoke to the
5:07
media about the possible MMR autism link, I asked for further
5:13
studies. That's what I asked for further
5:15
studies. It was not don't vaccinate.
5:18
It was, we need further research.
5:20
Well, that research has now been done.
5:22
We're many years on. And I just want to read you this
5:25
because this is absolutely essential to to where we're
5:28
going with the chicken pox vaccine is this is a review of
5:33
all of the papers, 136 papers that purport to examine the link
5:38
between vaccines and autism. And it's done by and the
5:41
important thing is it's done by a group of people, some of whom
5:44
were profound sceptics about the possible link between vaccines
5:50
and autism, including Peter McCullough, who's the world's
5:53
most published cardiologist who's really come to the fore in
5:57
his criticism of the approach to dealing with COVID.
6:01
But this is the conclusion of the study, and let me just read
6:05
this to you. Combination and early time
6:08
routine childhood vaccination constitutes the most significant
6:13
modifiable risk factor for autism spectrum disorder.
6:18
Combination and early time vaccine.
6:21
So here you have a profound concern that the combination
6:25
vaccines, including MMR are indeed linked to the increased
6:29
risk of autism. Now they're suggesting putting
6:33
another vaccine in chicken pox. Well, let's how does this
6:37
confound Dr. Solopers opinion all those years ago that it was
6:41
reasonable to assume that something you were going to give
6:44
essentially to every child in the country and potentially
6:47
every child in the world was safe when you had no right to
6:51
assume that at all? That the adverse reaction rate
6:56
in terms of febrile seizures is double for the MMRV compared
7:01
with the MMR it is double. This is published.
7:04
These are published data from the manufacturers themselves.
7:09
And so it is not innocuous to combine these in a way in which
7:15
nature has never seen them before.
7:17
It is not innocuous. The other unanticipated effect
7:21
of this was that repeated exposure in the environment, the
7:25
chicken pox was essential in protecting adults.
7:30
What it did is to periodically boost the immune response, the
7:35
antibody response to chicken pox and allow people to be protected
7:40
into old age. When epidemics of chicken pox
7:44
were removed in this country by the routine use of the vaccine,
7:48
then children no longer called epidemics.
7:50
They were no longer chicken pox, they were no longer epidemics
7:54
and that boosting of elderly people did not occur.
7:58
And So what we saw in the face of chicken pox vaccination was
8:02
an epidemic of shingles in older people because they're immune
8:08
response to chicken pox was now diminished.
8:13
What did the industry do? The industry had discovered had
8:16
created a new disorder vaccine associated shingles.
8:21
What did they do? They took the chicken pox
8:24
vaccine, they increased its potency times 10 and they called
8:28
it a chicken pox vaccine. They had created for themselves
8:32
a new market and with it a very painful and debilitating
8:38
condition. So there these, these
8:42
interventions, these breaches of the sort of natural balance
8:47
between man and infection and not without severe consequences.
8:52
So is chicken pox a severe disease?
8:55
No, absolutely it is not. So does it merit the addition of
8:59
a chicken pox vaccine in an untested way to a population?
9:04
I don't believe it does. So those are my immediate
9:08
thoughts. And as we speak, what has
9:11
happened at the Advisory Committee on Immunization
9:14
Practices in this country is that they have now delayed the
9:19
first MMRV vaccine from infancy until four years of age
9:26
precisely because of concerns about the safety profile,
9:30
particularly in younger children.
9:33
So while one thing is happening in the UK, the years of
9:37
experience in the US with this vaccine have led to a different
9:42
policy being enacted. Indeed, Thank you very much for
9:46
that. And I just want to come back to
9:48
the the news here because the MHRA has decided that they are
9:54
going to authorize a new mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
10:01
This is called jab. This is called Zipporah man.
10:04
And this is the comment that they made.
10:07
Patient safety is the is our top priority.
10:09
They claimed the approval of Zaparaman provides an
10:14
alternative vaccine for use in adults to prevent COVID-19
10:17
caused by SARS COV 2. As with all licensed medicines,
10:21
we will continue to monitor its safety closely as it becomes
10:24
more widely used. And of course, they cite a
10:27
yellow card. Once again, I mean just very
10:31
briefly because we've only got a few seconds left, but what are
10:33
your, what are your thoughts on the continued roll out of this
10:37
technology? Well, as John Leake, co-author
10:43
with Peter McCullough, said, repeated vaccination, continued
10:47
use of the COVID vaccine is for the for the insane.
10:52
The safety profile is disastrous and I, I'm extraordinary.
10:58
I mean, I'm astonished that it's actually still on the market.
11:00
There is a big move in this country, in the US to actually
11:03
have it removed from the market. The uptake of booster vaccines
11:08
for COVID is, is minimal. People have no longer any faith
11:13
in public health and are fully aware of the dangers of, or
11:18
certainly there is a growing awareness of the dangers of
11:22
these mRNA based product, so I'm astonished that they should
11:27
adopt that policy. Indeed.
11:30
Well, Doctor Andrew Wakefield, I'm going to say thank you very
11:33
much for joining us today. That's been fascinating.
11:35
We will hopefully see you back at some point in the future, but
11:39
that has been brilliant. Thank you for that.
11:41
Let's move on then to the so-called Coalition of the
11:45
willing. If we just bring this on screen,
11:47
here they are. They're all meeting in Paris
11:50
yesterday to discuss security of Ukraine and also what's going to
11:55
happen post ceasefire and post peace.
11:59
Allegedly. Now the graphic on screen says
12:02
coalition of the killing. I would say thank you to Dennis
12:04
for for drawing my attention to this variation of the of the
12:10
theme. But I think it's quite
12:11
appropriate 31 countries were represented at this thing in
12:15
person or online. White House envoy Steve Witkoff
12:19
and Jared Kushner, of course, were there representing, or at
12:23
least they were representing the United States.
12:26
Yesterday evening, Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron announced at
12:30
a joint press conference that they'd made an agreement to post
12:34
forces in Ukraine as part of their guarantee to protect its
12:37
security. Let's just have a look at what
12:40
Starmer had to say here, he said on the deployment of forces to
12:44
Ukraine in the event of a peace deal.
12:46
This is a vital part of our iron cast commitment to stand with
12:49
Ukraine for the long term. It paves the way for the legal
12:52
framework under which British, French and partner forces could
12:58
operate on Ukrainian soil. And so I can say that following
13:03
a ceasefire, the UK and France will establish military hubs
13:06
across Ukraine and build protection protected facilities
13:09
for weapons and military equipment.
13:12
So Charles, let me welcome you to the program now and I'd just
13:18
be interested in your thoughts on this and where this takes us.
13:24
Good afternoon all and happy New Year.
13:25
I think it takes us into entirely the wrong place and
13:29
it's a it's a, an escalation tactic sort of beyond compare
13:34
really. I think also that, you know, his
13:36
statement is very confused and it's not at all clear really
13:41
what he does mean. I mean, he even gets cast iron
13:43
back to front. So there's, there's a lot more
13:45
to to come out, but I would say one thing that's that's been
13:49
missed is the way in which this clearly raises the possibility
13:54
of triggering of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty
13:58
Organization. And I just want to articulate
14:00
what I mean by that, which is by taking a look at Article 6.
14:03
We just pop that on screen, please.
14:06
So we've got the the treaty itself from 1949 and Article 6
14:10
clarifies the position of Article 5, which is for the
14:13
purpose of Article 5, an armed attack on one or more of the
14:16
parties is to include an armed attack on the forces, vessels or
14:21
aircraft of any of the parties when in or over these
14:24
territories. Now, bearing in mind that
14:26
Ukraine is bordered to the West by 4 NATO countries, Romania,
14:31
Hungary, Slovakia and one other the the IT entirely raises the
14:39
possibility that that the movement of troops in and around
14:44
Ukraine and the area to the West has a significant potential to
14:49
to trigger this simply in a way, possibly by accident.
14:53
But I think it's commonly assumed that Article 5 relates
14:57
to a territorial incursion, when actually it doesn't need to.
15:00
It could, for the sake of argument, be British troops
15:02
operating in Romania or Poland, as opposed to an attack on
15:07
Poland or the Polish people. I think that point's worth
15:10
making. Absolutely.
15:12
Now let's continue with Starmer then, because he went on to say
15:16
this and we'll keep up the pressure on Russia, including
15:20
further measures on the oil traders and shadow fleet
15:23
operating operators funding Putin's war chest.
15:26
Which is pretty hilarious because Trump has plans to seize
15:30
what's being described by mainstream press as a tanker
15:32
involved in Venezuela and Venezuelan oil trade, the Bella
15:36
one. Except that the Bella one is no
15:39
longer the Bella one. It's now the marinara and it's
15:42
been reflagged as Russian. Now Forces News is carrying the
15:46
headline. Ghost riders arrive in the UK
15:48
and online chatter suggests something big is going down.
15:53
The article reports that flight tracking data and local
15:55
eyewitness reports have shown that at least 10 C 17 flights
16:00
have landed at 2 RAF bases, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Fairford and
16:05
they have unloaded Special Forces helicopters, U.S. special
16:09
Forces helicopters which have subsequently been seen on low
16:12
altitude flights. At least two AC130J gunships
16:16
have been seen. Flight tracking data is showing
16:20
the presence of U.S. Navy P8A aircraft flying patrols
16:24
over Irish waters because the, uh, Marinero is in waters near
16:30
Ireland's so-called exclusive economic zone.
16:33
And according to the BBC, then Russia has deployed Navy vessels
16:37
to export, uh, to, sorry to escort, uh, the oil tanker, umm,
16:41
And, uh, so, I mean, this is looking very Cold War like in
16:45
it's sort of standoff between US and potentially US and Russia
16:49
here. But in the meantime, on Monday
16:51
night, uh, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
16:55
Stephen Miller was speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper and he said
17:00
this. We live in a world in which you
17:04
can talk all you want about international niceties and
17:07
everything else, but we live in a world in a real world.
17:10
In a real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is
17:14
governed by force, that is governed by power.
17:16
These are the iron laws of the world that have existed since
17:19
the beginning of time. And not to be outdone, P Texas
17:24
now, of course, Secretary of State for war is heading around
17:29
the world saying things like we're re establishing deterrence
17:34
that's so absolute and so unquestioned that our enemies
17:37
will not dare to test us. Now He was he said that speaking
17:41
to workers at Newport, Newport News VA's shipyard on Monday, on
17:46
Monday, this was he said that he's calling, sorry, he's
17:52
calling his tour the Arsenal of freedom tour just so as you
17:55
know, and of course, he's hyping up the military industrial
17:59
complex. Let's just give you a sort of
18:01
sense of of what he's talking about.
18:03
Have a listen to this. Now here we are in 2026, and
18:08
President Trump is reestablishing dominance and
18:12
deterrence in our own hemisphere.
18:14
You will be a part of that lineage.
18:17
That's pretty cool. I get chills saying it and
18:20
thinking about it. There's something really weird
18:24
about that. But anyway, we'll talk about
18:26
that an extra, I have no doubt. He went on to say that the world
18:29
is taking notice. They're noticing American power,
18:32
they're noticing American strength, they're noticing
18:34
American clarity and leadership. We recognize we're the new era
18:37
of great power competition, a generational struggle to mean
18:41
peace, intend peace through strength, and we'll rise to meet
18:44
that challenge. That's why we proudly call call
18:47
ourselves the Department of War, not the Department of Defence.
18:50
Not because we seek war, but because we truly understand that
18:53
in order to ensure peace, you need to be prepared to deter war
18:56
and if necessary, decisively win it.
18:58
Our purpose is not to be reactive, but dominant so that
19:02
no enemy enemy, any enemy can ever challenge the United States
19:05
of America. It's quite incredible the
19:09
rhetoric coming out of him. But of course, just to finish
19:12
this off, then let's just quickly talk about the Greenland
19:15
issue. And before we do that, let's
19:17
just remind ourselves ourselves of Trump's position.
19:21
In action against Greenland. Well, I don't want to talk about
19:24
Greenland. Let's talk about Venezuela,
19:27
Russia, Ukraine. Don't worry about Greenland in
19:30
about two months. Let's talk about Greenland in 20
19:34
days on Venezuela, by the way. I have to, I will say this about
19:39
Greenland. We need Greenland from a
19:42
national security situation. It's so strategic right now,
19:47
Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all
19:51
over the place. We need Greenland from the
19:54
standpoint of national security. And Denmark is not going to be
19:58
able to do it, I can tell you. So that's his position.
20:02
The question is, what's the British position?
20:04
So here's Yvette Cooper speaking in the House of Commons.
20:09
The House will have seen recent comments from the United States
20:12
and from Denmark regarding Greenland.
20:15
Let me be very clear on the UK position.
20:19
Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
20:23
Our close European partners, our long standing NATO allies and
20:29
all our countries work closely together on security issues and
20:33
will always do so. The future of Greenland is a
20:37
matter for the Greenlanders and Danes and no one else.
20:43
And Starmer was echoing those in comments, those comments and
20:46
comments that he had made. And so, Charles, question is,
20:49
are we are? Where do we draw the line?
20:52
Are we going to war with the United States over Greenland?
20:54
Do you think Europe? I mean not, that's just not
20:56
necessarily just the UK. Well, those that are pulling
21:03
some of the levers are determined that we go to war
21:05
with somebody exactly who it turns out to be sort of yet to
21:08
be decided. But I, I concluded last year's
21:11
news on Friday the 19th with what the Secret Intelligence
21:15
Service and the Ministry of Defence were saying.
21:18
So we'll just have a look at the these two on screen now, Blaise
21:22
Metro Welly, head of MI 6 and Richard Knighton, head of the
21:26
armed forces. And they were absolutely saying
21:28
that whilst there's been plenty of chatter throughout the course
21:31
of 2025, we're now clear there is a single focus and it is war
21:36
with Russia by some means or other.
21:38
Now, of course, this reinforced the narrative of the twin, well,
21:44
sort of combinations really of the state of emergency leading
21:47
through to the very real prospect of conscription.
21:52
And of course this is to sell us the whole of society approach to
21:57
war. Now, as far as the media were
21:59
concerned, obviously there were many people all over this, John
22:02
Simpson being a notable one, writing here with BBC in depth
22:06
saying that he's reported on 40 wars, but he's never seen a year
22:10
like 2025. And lo and behold, of course, he
22:12
too is pointing towards Russia, saying it's becoming clear that
22:15
one of them, one of the wars he's talking about, one of the
22:18
one of the sort of areas of conflict, has geopolitical
22:21
implications of unparalleled importance.
22:23
He means Ukraine. However, he does then go on to
22:26
think about it somewhat by saying that if you thought World
22:29
War Three would be a shooting match with nuclear weapons,
22:32
think again. It's much more likely to be a
22:35
collection of diplomatic and military manoeuvres which will
22:38
see autocracy flourish. It could even threaten to break
22:41
up the Western alliance. Well, quite where he's been to
22:44
provoke a statement about autocracy flourishing as though
22:48
it's as it's not yet happened remains to be answered.
22:52
But I think I would agree with him about the mixture of
22:54
diplomatic and military manoeuvres, but also the ceding
22:58
of power and control to the civilian entities that are
23:01
providing the means by which any sort of war might be prosecuted.
23:05
Whether that is cyber or via space, or indeed via much of the
23:09
hardware that of course is not yet owned or controlled by armed
23:12
forces. And on that very question we
23:15
consider that again. Just before Christmas, the
23:18
United Kingdom sent yet another package of air defence support
23:21
to Ukraine, £600 million worth of British made kit.
23:26
Begging the question. Of course it was.
23:28
Sorry. First of all, just specifically,
23:31
it was Raven and Grave Hawk counter Shyred turrets set to
23:34
bolster Ukraine's defences this winter.
23:36
OK, fair enough. But the but the question is to
23:39
be operated by whom? And when we think back to the
23:41
death of Lance Corporal George Wholey of the Special Forces
23:44
Support Group again just before Christmas, the question has not
23:48
satisfactorily been answered of what was he doing there?
23:52
So, so the question now is how is this situation is going to be
23:57
handled by the Ministry of Defence posturing on the one
24:00
hand almost Hegseth style, saying that peace through
24:03
strength and indeed regarding Russia as as an adversary means
24:07
that we must meet that threat with an appropriate response.
24:11
Now one part of this has been what might be described as the
24:16
somewhat laughable idea that recruits will go through a sort
24:21
of gap year process that be an Armed Forces Foundation scheme
24:25
to the BBC here reporting on what the government's describing
24:28
as a gap year scheme for long young people to bolster skills
24:32
and leadership. Now when you read the detail,
24:35
actually it's projecting that 150 people might come out of
24:38
this by the year 2026. It's not going to make a huge
24:41
amount of difference. However, what I would say is
24:43
that I think it will normalise that relationship with the armed
24:46
forces for young people. And also I think one shouldn't
24:50
forget the comments made by Rishi Sunak when he was in
24:52
office as Prime Minister talking about a a form of compulsory
24:57
service and when pushed, he said that people could have their
25:01
bank accounts frozen if they didn't comply with the request
25:04
for such a service. This could be the sort of the
25:06
thin end of the wedge. Not forgetting of course that
25:08
Serco, who take over the recruitment contract from Capita
25:13
in 2027 has been an unmitigated disaster with Capita.
25:16
But of course, Serco themselves are still in the position of
25:19
recruiting for the recruiting positions.
25:23
You couldn't really make it up Now.
25:26
The next thing is that the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill,
25:30
which the Labour government are effectively dismantling in order
25:34
that there can be prosecutions of British servicemen where
25:36
there will not be prosecutions for members or former members of
25:40
the IRA. And the Telegraph here reporting
25:44
released having published a letter from special forces,
25:47
former special forces personnel and I'll just take a a brief
25:51
excerpt from this, which is that commanders now hesitate fearing
25:55
years of litigation. Troops feel abandoned.
25:58
The public smells cover up allies question our secrecy and
26:01
reliability. This self sabotage needs no
26:04
foreign hand in this troubles bill.
26:06
The government is complicit in this war on our on our on our
26:10
armed forces. So it's really not looking good.
26:13
And of course the prevailing sense of the drop in morale from
26:17
the inside is articulated very well and very sadly by Sean
26:21
Raymond in the Daily Mail, who's just written an article on the
26:25
29th suicide that's taken place within the Rifles.
26:30
Admittedly the Rifles does now comprise 5 battalions so that is
26:33
quite a number of personnel but nonetheless a very sad statistic
26:36
and and indeed a telling one. Now on the procurement front,
26:39
the latest disaster is of course with the Ajax armoured vehicles
26:43
and we've just got a a clip from Luke Pollard, the Armed Forces
26:46
Minister, telling us what the score is.
26:50
That means in the event of any concerns during an exercise on
26:54
use of Ajax that they should be reported.
26:57
And as soon as concerns were reported, within 30 minutes of
27:00
that every, a single Ajax vehicle had stopped being used
27:03
and questions were asked to everyone involved as to how they
27:07
were feeling. That was the right approach,
27:08
that safety measure was the right thing.
27:12
Now we've just had Andy Wakefield on the programme
27:14
talking about vaccines and whether or not something should
27:18
be used on the basis of an assumption.
27:20
And it's interesting to see Luke Pollard there using the
27:22
precautionary principle in the way that it was intended, which
27:25
is if there is a risk or the suggestion of a risk, then you
27:28
stop the activity in order to work out what's going on.
27:30
That has been done in this instance, but bearing in mind
27:34
the sheer cost of the Ajax programme and the length of time
27:38
it's taken to have taken the entire fleet off the off the
27:42
road is spelling significant disaster for the Ministry of
27:46
Defence. Or as one might consider
27:47
labelling them, the Ministry of Pretence because they're putting
27:51
out the idea that we are ready to mobilise and to fight a war
27:54
with Russia, whilst demonstrating absolutely no
27:57
evidence of that being their position.
28:00
I mean, Mike, I don't know if you've got any, any particular
28:03
comment on the way this is looking not just from within the
28:06
United Kingdom, but what Russia, for example, might be thinking.
28:10
Well, no, I mean, I would the first question is what, why?
28:15
Maybe you can answer this. Why is the UK so bad at armoured
28:18
vehicles? First of all, because we seem to
28:20
have problems with successive versions of that.
28:24
But the, yes, I take your point about the, the precautionary
28:29
principle being used, that's only ever used when it suits.
28:32
It's not used with respect to electromagnetic radiation.
28:35
It's not used with respect to medical products.
28:37
It's only used in certain circumstances.
28:39
But I mean, what's your experience with this, Charles?
28:43
I mean the, the, the the armour that is provided for the armed
28:47
forces just seems to be subpar the whole time.
28:52
I think actually it's a factor that that spreads far further
28:55
than just armoured vehicles. I mean procurement as a whole.
28:58
And actually this pertains very, very much to the relationship
29:01
with the recruiters that you're forcing people who have no
29:04
commercial experience to try to make deals with civilian
29:07
organisations. And of course the military
29:10
personnel change, the civilian ones don't necessarily.
29:12
So you have an awful lot of people driving a project who
29:15
don't really know what it is they're doing.
29:17
By the time the project is delivered, it's, it's by and
29:20
large obsolete. You've also got the issue of
29:22
many, many organisations being involved in the same
29:26
organization. And in fact, it's worth pointing
29:28
out that L bit Systems designed the early warning system E laws
29:31
for Ajax. So you've got Israeli parts in
29:35
the Ajax fleet, which is, you know, first of all a compromise,
29:39
but also yet another complication to to the process.
29:44
Well, we'll be talking about Israeli involvement in another
29:47
process later on in the program. But before we get to that, well,
29:50
actually there will probably be some discussion about Israel in
29:53
this segment as well. Let me welcome, welcome, Vanessa
29:55
to the program. And well, obviously since the
29:59
last time you were on, we've had big changes, particularly in
30:03
Venezuela. So bring us up to date with with
30:05
your take on what's happened over the past week or so.
30:10
Yeah. Thank you, Mike, and welcome to
30:13
the new year everyone. Another year of turbulence of
30:15
course started very quickly on the 3rd of January with the
30:18
removal of President Maduro and effectively a major aggression
30:24
by Trump and the US against Venezuela.
30:27
Mike and I have had recently various conversations covering a
30:31
lot of the aspects of what is happening in Venezuela, but I'm
30:34
going to focus on particularly the aspect of Zionist or Israeli
30:40
influence on what happened in Venezuela.
30:43
So what has been the chatter in US think tanks for actually
30:49
years now? Reference Venezuela is
30:53
effectively the influence of Iran and of course the
30:56
resistance movements. If we can just put the the the
31:01
article up on the screen, Maduro, Hezbollah, Nexus, how
31:05
Iran backed networks prop up the Venezuelan regime.
31:09
This is in Atlantic Council. And this is definitely something
31:13
that not only Netanyahu has been pushing Trump with regards to
31:18
the threat from Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, but also the previously
31:26
Nobel Peace Prize winner Machado, who was considered to
31:30
be a viable opposition to Maduro.
31:33
She's now been dropped by Trump. And then so she was basically
31:39
allowing herself very much with Israel.
31:42
Then This was another recent article.
31:44
There is various there are various articles including in
31:47
Fox News, Maduros Terror Island, Hezbollah in Venezuela, the IRGC
31:53
fake passports proxy hub. Let's have a look at the island
31:57
that they're claiming to be infested by Hezbollah.
32:00
You can barely see it on the map.
32:02
It's Margarita Island off the coast of Venezuela in the
32:06
Caribbean there, which apparently now has become a
32:08
training ground for Hezbollah, which is I've struggled to find
32:12
any actual substantiation for that claim.
32:17
But then, of course, we have to remember that just prior to the
32:20
removal of Maduro and the attack on Venezuela, after a massive
32:25
military buildup by the United States under Trump, there was a
32:29
visit by Netanyahu, who had this press conference with President
32:35
Trump. And let's see what they
32:36
basically covered in part of that press conference.
32:43
You needed a very special man to to really carry through and
32:49
really help Israel through this horrible jam.
32:52
You know, these are major factions.
32:55
And it started with our negotiation with Iran.
32:58
I think it probably started with Solomani.
33:02
That was really where you mentioned that today, which
33:05
started with Solomani. Bad guy doing bad things,
33:10
hurting a lot of people, killing the American soldiers and other
33:13
soldiers. But it started right there would
33:16
probably be the starting point. And then from that point
33:20
forward, but you would you have a wartime Prime Minister at the
33:24
highest level. There could be other wartime
33:26
prime ministers, but they'd lose.
33:29
He won. And I think the people of Israel
33:32
appreciate it. I think a lot of the people in
33:34
the world appreciate it, actually.
33:36
And because of that victory, we were able to get peace in the
33:38
Middle East. So of course, he's referring to
33:44
the assassination of Haj Qasem Soleimani, who was instrumental
33:49
in fighting both ISIS and al Qaeda in Iraq and Syria.
33:55
And then let's have a look at what they say about the Abraham
33:59
Accords, which of course is designed to bring various Arab
34:03
states under the control or into the sphere of influence of
34:07
Israel. So let's roll this.
34:09
Tell us. Something about your plan to
34:11
expand Abraham Accords? Well, the Abraham Accords are a
34:15
great, there's a great achievement of Jared and
34:19
everybody that I mean, it was one of the great achievements.
34:23
They'll be expanded. So when he's talking about
34:28
expansion, of course, what he's also referring to are the Isaac
34:32
Accords, which now are seeking to capture or a secure a
34:38
greatest fear of influence for the Zionist movement in Latin
34:41
America started with President Mile of Argentina.
34:46
Interestingly enough, Danny Danon, this was the former UN
34:51
ambassador for Israel, if we can just put that quote up on the
34:55
screen. Israel has long been a beacon of
34:58
innovation and resilience. I am pleased to see that Isaac
35:01
Accord's initiative get off the ground and thank President
35:04
Milay, Sorry for setting an example for his neighbors in the
35:09
region. Now, I find this particularly
35:11
interesting because, as the following short video will
35:15
demonstrate, Argentina was actually among the list of
35:18
countries that Theodore Herzl, one of the founders of the
35:22
Zionist movement, was considering full settlement
35:25
alongside Palestine. So let's just have a look at
35:28
this short video. Those described Argentina as one
35:32
of the most fertile countries in the world and said that the
35:35
authorities would derive considerable profits from the
35:38
station of a portion of its territory.
35:41
In the following years, the Zionist movement also considered
35:44
other territories such as Sinai in Egypt, Cyprus Island and
35:48
today's Kenya to establish a state.
35:50
But in the meantime, settlers continue to enter Argentina.
35:54
Hundreds arrived in 1889, with the help of the Jewish
35:58
Colonization Association, they bought land and founded
36:02
Moyesville, some 600 kilometers from the capital Buenos Aires.
36:06
At its peak in the 1940's, the colony was composed of about
36:10
5000 Zionist settlers. In fact, Moise Villa Ville is
36:18
known as the Jerusalem of Argentina.
36:20
So who's already signed on to the Isaac Accords in Latin
36:24
America? If we have a look at the map,
36:26
you can see there of course Argentina, from which the entire
36:31
project emanated, Uruguay, Panama and Costa Rica.
36:36
So to the South and to the north of Venezuela, and then basically
36:42
if we look again, just there's another section of the press
36:45
conference between Trump and Netanyahu that of course, all of
36:49
this is very much pushing towards a greater escalation of
36:54
aggression against Iran. So let's just roll this.
36:58
So Iran has been greatly reduced in power, prestige.
37:06
I don't want to use the word humiliation because, you know,
37:08
they're trying to build up again.
37:10
But we can't let them build up because if they build up, they
37:13
can't be peace in the Middle East.
37:15
It was a mistake, You know, when they wiped out Iraq.
37:18
Iraq and Iran were about the same power and they fought each
37:21
other with different names for 1000 years.
37:25
And then our country came out and blew up one of those two
37:29
countries, namely Iraq. Then all of a sudden, Iran had
37:34
the whole Middle East all to itself.
37:36
But that's not true anymore. That's not true anymore.
37:43
So clearly, Iran is definitely on the target list.
37:47
And as we spoke about, Mike, there have been a series of
37:50
other countries within the resistance axis that have been
37:53
targeted since the fall of Syria.
37:56
And I just also want to point out that I spoke to Jose Bio
37:59
Morghi, the Ambassador for Venezuela here in Lebanon
38:03
yesterday. Mike, I know that you
38:05
interviewed him a little while back.
38:08
He actually is pretty buoyant about the situation.
38:11
He said on the streets, the government is back in control.
38:14
It didn't lose the control at all.
38:16
Opposition didn't come out on the streets at all after the
38:19
kidnap of President Maduro. There was no surrender.
38:22
The Cuba and special forces were fighting and of course, were
38:26
killed in the attack. And he said that the attack was
38:29
actually huge, not just the helicopters that were seen in
38:32
the video, but also a huge number of drones and jets.
38:36
So it was very difficult for the air defenses to respond
38:39
effectively. But he is relatively buoyant.
38:42
We can maybe talk more about that in EXTRA.
38:45
But then coming back to the Israeli influence in what's
38:50
happening in Venezuela, I want to introduce Paul Singer, the
38:55
billionaire Trump megadono set to make a killing on Venezuela
39:00
oil. Who is Singer?
39:02
This is from the article that Common Dreams In November 2025,
39:07
less than two months before Trump's operation to take over
39:11
Venezuela, Singer's investment firm, Elliot Investment
39:14
Management and one of its subsidiaries, Amber Energy
39:17
linked inked, sorry, a highly fortuitous deal.
39:21
It purchased Citgo, the US based subsidiary of Venezuela's state
39:25
owned oil company, for 5.9 billion.
39:28
Now Venezuela has valued that company at around 18 billion.
39:34
So this was a sale that was forced by a Delaware court after
39:37
Venezuela defaulted on its bond payments, of course, down to the
39:41
pressure of sanctions on them by the United States because they
39:45
dared to nationalize their oil. The court appointed special
39:49
master who forced the sale, Robert Pincus, is a member of
39:52
the board of directors for the American Israel Public Affairs
39:56
Committee, AIPAC. Which is very interesting
39:58
because David Miller went on to X to point out the fact that
40:04
Singer is also the 6th largest donor to AIPAC.
40:08
He's a major benefactor of groups like Friends of the IDF,
40:12
the Israeli military. That have been committed
40:14
genocide in Palestine. He supported United Hatsala, an
40:18
Israeli volunteer EMS organization has links to
40:23
donations for programs that benefit Zionist settlement
40:26
programs in Palestine. So again, we see here the
40:30
Zionist hand, even behind the scenes, destabilizing and
40:34
weakening Venezuela. Thank you for this.
40:37
And just for those who don't know, what's an EMS
40:40
organization? Oh, actually, I'm not sure.
40:45
OK. OK, well, we'll find that out
40:47
for extra. I meant to check.
40:51
Yeah, OK. Find that out for extra and
40:56
we'll let everybody know. OK, Thank you Vanessa for that.
40:59
Let's move on then. If you like what the UK column
41:02
does, please support us. We do need your ongoing support.
41:06
If you would like to support us, there's a link on the front page
41:09
of the website that'll take you to the page that explains how
41:11
you can. Thank you so much to everybody
41:15
that does support us financially.
41:17
Do share any material you find on the UK column, website or any
41:21
of the other platforms that's ours.
41:23
Please do that. And that helps us deal with the
41:25
censorship regime. Now tonight, we're getting very
41:29
controversial because Jeremy's going to be speaking to Bart
41:31
Seybrol about moon landings. That's 7:00 PM tonight and well,
41:37
tomorrow at 1:00 PM, Vanessa and I have recorded the next episode
41:42
of the Syria Podcast. We're not looking at Syria
41:45
specifically because obviously we're looking at the
41:47
implications of what happened, what has happened in Syria
41:51
globally. So let's let's just have a look
41:53
at a quick trailer for this. The UK has been less happy to
41:59
welcome Middle Eastern Christians into British
42:03
territory, which is kind of interesting.
42:05
But we're too busy welcoming the attack theories.
42:08
Yes, exactly. Syria was a linchpin really for
42:13
the entire global resistance axis or the remaining
42:18
independent countries that opposed imperialism and opposed
42:24
the Zionist occupation of Palestine as being a core
42:28
element of their foreign policy positions, right?
42:34
And, and so that goes from Iran, Yemen, through the whole of the
42:39
Middle East or, or West Asia, but then also expands into
42:45
regions of Africa, as we're now seeing coming under attack.
42:49
And of course, Latin America. Venezuela was an integral part
42:54
of the resistance axis. So Machado is also pushing this
42:58
rhetoric that Hezbollah is establishing itself in
43:01
Venezuela, that Iran is embedding itself in Venezuela,
43:05
Hamas is embedding itself in Venezuela, and so therefore
43:09
Venezuela represents a direct threat to Israel.
43:13
And of course, I'm sure that this was discussed between
43:16
Netanyahu and Trump. So 1:00 PM tomorrow for that.
43:29
Please join us for that. And then another reminder that
43:32
on Sunday at 7:00 PM, Jake is speaking to Abby Roberts and
43:37
painting Abby Roberts as part of the next, This is the next
43:41
edition of the 1000 Words podcast.
43:43
So join us at 7:00 PM on Sunday for that.
43:47
OK, Vanessa, let's come back to you then.
43:50
And staying with. Well, we're talking about
43:52
censorship now. And well over the last little
43:56
while we've been talking about the Online Safety Act of course,
43:59
for years in fact, but particularly in recent times,
44:02
the age verification requirements, this is starting
44:05
to affect some platforms, particularly sub stack.
44:12
Yes, many of us have been remarking on the loss of
44:17
subscriptions and the fact that sub stack is divided basically
44:20
into posts, which are equivalent to articles and notes, which is
44:25
a little bit like Facebook. You can just put out information
44:28
and receive comments, but even the notes now are being age
44:32
restricted. Not for everyone, only for
44:35
specific accounts that are of course dissident accounts and
44:40
countering establishment narratives.
44:43
So this is the sub stock official view on the Online
44:47
Safety Act. We believe that a Free Press is
44:50
essential for a free society and that in the modern world, that
44:53
means a free Internet. That's why we work to preserve
44:56
freedom of expression on the platform while putting
44:59
publishers and their communities in control.
45:06
Right? Well, this is not entirely true.
45:09
I mean, they go on to say with that context, the UK is now
45:12
requiring online platforms to label certain types of content
45:15
and ask people in the country to verify their age before viewing
45:19
it with Australia. And Australia is now included,
45:22
expected to introduce similar requirements in mid-december.
45:26
Only specific categories fall under these rules and we've
45:29
shared more details in our support page.
45:32
So what they're then saying is this connect your connection
45:35
with your subscribers won't change and the way you publish
45:37
content for your audience remains the same.
45:40
Your e-mail list publishing process and relationship with
45:43
your subscribers are not affected.
45:45
Totally untrue. And so basically we, we've
45:49
reached a point where thinking coalition, one of the sub stack
45:55
media outlets, and I highly recommend following them, has
45:59
basically piled put together a letter to be sent to the CEO of
46:04
Substack called Fighting back against Substack censorship.
46:08
You can check it out. It'll be linked to in the show
46:11
notes. And basically in that he, he, he
46:17
lays out the problems that we've all been experiencing, which are
46:20
effectively loss of subscriptions, people unable to
46:25
view our posts. Of course, they can still view
46:27
many of the mainstream media outlets that, that are still
46:32
contributing to sub stack. They aren't being affected by
46:35
any kind of request for identification.
46:38
And the fact is also that if you subscribe to sub stack or if you
46:44
subscribe to my sub stack, you already have to provide your ID
46:48
through a credit card. So why on earth are you having
46:50
to then repeat that process? According to Ofcom, there's
46:55
nothing in the Online Safety Act requiring contact that's not
46:58
harmful to children to be age gated, and there's also no
47:02
requirement to restrict legal content for adult users.
47:05
Providers required to use age checks should also seek to avoid
47:10
unnecessary content restrictions, however, according
47:14
to a website called Cyber Eagle. Graham Smiths blog on law, it,
47:21
the Internet and online media. He goes into some detail about
47:25
the Online Safety Act, Guardian of Free Speech, and at one point
47:30
he talks about the Age Verification Providers
47:33
Association that calls out detractors, sorry detractors,
47:38
labeling it as an instrument of censorship that stifles online
47:42
expression. This narrative completely
47:44
misrepresents the acts purpose and effect.
47:48
However, as Cyber Eagle says, one purpose of the ACT is
47:52
suddenly to tackle illegal content.
47:55
The purpose, however, is only the label on the legislative tin
47:58
Effect is what the tin contains. Inside this tin we find
48:02
substantive obligations that will inevitably result in legal
48:06
content being removed, not through over caution, but as a
48:10
matter of what the ACT expressly requires.
48:14
And so just part of the latter. That thinking coalition has
48:19
written to the CEO of Substantive Introducing such aid
48:24
restrictions may represent a breach of Substack requirement
48:28
to protect users rights to freedom of expression as set out
48:32
under Part 1, Section 1 of the OSA.
48:34
Substack acknowledges the possibility for potential errors
48:39
and mislabelling of account content.
48:41
However, it appears very unlikely that these restrictions
48:44
have been applied to a group of accounts who, broadly speaking,
48:47
produce similar content that challenges the mainstream
48:51
narrative. By chance.
48:52
In our capacity as users, we have not faced any equivalent
48:55
restrictions when accessing mainstream media content posted
49:00
on Sub stack. And he gives some examples.
49:02
It's also a point to make that none of our content should be
49:07
labeled as a threat to children or or promoting self harm.
49:14
So why are we being targeted? Of course we know why that's a
49:17
rhetorical question. Oh, by the way, EMS, emergency
49:20
medical services. OK, thank you.
49:25
Thank you for that. Well, of course, this was the,
49:27
this was the the intent from the beginning.
49:29
That's what the UK column was saying.
49:31
Pretty much from 20/17/2018 when the original online harms white
49:35
paper came out, we said this was going to be the inevitable
49:38
result. So there are no surprises and
49:41
Ofcom can say, well, it's not supposed to be used in this way
49:44
and the people that are supporting the regime can say
49:48
similar. That doesn't change the reality
49:50
and and the intent was clear from the beginning because if
49:53
you remember the idea of what what was considered hot, legal
49:57
but harmful had to be dealt with.
49:59
And you know that it all comes down to who defined harmful.
50:03
And so this was absolutely expected.
50:06
Charles, let's come back to you then and bring us up to date
50:10
with what's been going on with farming in the UK.
50:15
Well, we go back to 2025 initially, which was a year of
50:17
great turmoil and huge pressure for the farming and agriculture
50:22
industry in the United Kingdom. But you may recall that the
50:26
supposed publication of the Farm Profitability Review was meant
50:30
to be in October last year. That was held up.
50:32
But just before we do look at it, of course you will take note
50:35
that no expense has been spared in producing that cover image.
50:39
The back in November it was suggested that the Treasury had
50:44
buried the farming report because of the twin controversy
50:47
with the proposed change to inheritance tax.
50:51
And of course, the author of the profitability review is none
50:54
other than Minette Batters, the former president of the NFU.
50:57
And she was questioning the fag packet calculations that were
51:01
conducted by the Treasury and Defra in order to come up with
51:05
the proposed figures for those that would be affected by the
51:11
changes to inheritance tax. But now we've moved to the
51:14
review itself, which was in fact published just before Christmas,
51:17
but it wasn't time for UK column to deal with it then.
51:20
It's a very wordy document and a lot of it is very personal to
51:23
Minette Batters. But she does also have insights
51:25
due to her position with NFU. And one thing just to sort of
51:29
set the tone, that does appear to be an interesting point to
51:32
make. She says that in in her time
51:35
with NFU she often got a recurring negative answer from
51:40
Whitehall if she was asking if farming matters and the answer
51:43
often was no because it's only nought .6% of GDP.
51:49
Now of course that obscures the truth of the matter in so far as
51:53
the rest of the effect on the economy from what's produced and
51:58
then processed and then just exchange and all the rest of it
52:00
going right through to the to the end user, she says.
52:05
And another point she makes at the outset is that all sectors
52:07
have in common is a sharp rise in fixed costs.
52:11
Energy costs have risen significantly since the start of
52:13
the agricultural transition. And we'll come to exactly why
52:16
that may be. She then makes the point which
52:19
of course refers back to the earlier reports on this idea of
52:23
national security. The government has made a
52:25
commitment that food security is national security.
52:28
Yes, indeed they have. And how they're going to live up
52:30
to that. And then finally, she says in an
52:34
age of global insecurity and cyber attacks, building local
52:36
food resilience is equally essential to support our
52:39
national Just in Time food distribution network.
52:43
So what she does in response to setting out these sort of series
52:49
of problems is to put forward a series of solutions that I think
52:54
one must be frank, are are not groundbreaking and are not
52:58
likely to have a significant impact for the farmers.
53:01
And you see the image that's on screen in just a second is
53:04
rather sort of dumbing down, making the whole thing seem
53:07
rather very you simplistic and and childlike, as though if you
53:11
follow these simple steps, your farm will be in profit and
53:14
there's absolutely nothing to worry about.
53:16
Of course, while she does concede that farmers have been
53:20
incentivised not to produce food with all the environmental Land
53:24
Management scheme, she does very much bang the drum for not just
53:27
there being a climate emergency and that land owners and farmers
53:30
are responsible for the solution, but also that
53:33
renewable energy should form part of the backbone of the
53:37
agricultural economy. And if we just look at the
53:41
effect that for, for example, Great British Energy and Great
53:46
British Energy nuclear, which has been sort of slowly brought
53:50
in line with Great British Energy, just just just to remind
53:53
you of these statistics, which is Great British Energy has had
53:55
8,000,000, sorry, £8 billion thrown at it to promise to
54:00
deliver up to 5% of the requirement for electricity by
54:05
the year 2035. That is it.
54:08
So it's no wonder that nuclear has been bought in sort of
54:10
slightly under the radar in order to make the situation look
54:13
better. But of course, things like that
54:14
have absolutely driven the cost up.
54:16
Now we've seen this before because it was only in January
54:20
last year that the government announced very similar sort of
54:24
review and reforms. Talking about cast iron
54:28
commitments, talk for productions, this was 9th of
54:30
January last year in which they said that a cast iron commitment
54:33
to food security while introducing reforms to help
54:36
farmers diversify their income streams to support them during
54:40
poor harvest. OK, what did they actually mean
54:42
by that? They meant renewable energy.
54:44
That was it. That was their one plan was
54:47
sticks and wind turbines or some solar panels on your farm
54:50
guarantee yourself some income, never mind about producing food.
54:54
We'll call it food security, but actually nothing will really
54:56
change and this farm profitability review is not
54:59
really moving too far away from that Now.
55:03
The other significant change just before Christmas was that
55:06
to nobody's great surprise, the government have rode back a
55:09
certain amount on the proposed changes to inheritance tax.
55:13
But we'll just look at the way that they word it because they
55:15
say inheritance tax relief threshold to rise to 2.5 million
55:21
for farmers and businesses. Well, in actual fact, it hasn't
55:23
changed at all yet because the proposed change was first of
55:26
April. And they say having carefully
55:28
considered the feedback, the government is going further to
55:31
protect more farms and businesses.
55:34
And as that belty was overheard saying, sounds like doublespeak
55:37
to me because the threshold at the moment is 0.
55:41
So for the government to suggest that a change to their policy
55:46
before it's actually been enacted is of course
55:49
disingenuous and extreme. But just to look at where that
55:51
does leave things with the inheritance tax and the
55:54
agricultural property relief, we see that what they've done is
55:58
allowed 100% relate rate of relief to be set at two and a
56:02
half million with a 50% relief thereafter, which means that a
56:06
couple will be able to pass on £5,000,000.
56:10
Now what I'd like to draw this to a close with is a reminder
56:14
that the power lies with the people.
56:17
And we've got the grace here reporting that Christmas volumes
56:19
for supermarket sales were under pressure despite highest ever
56:23
sales. So whilst the amount of money
56:26
spent was more than ever before, that's largely an artefact of
56:31
the relationship with inflation. Rather than people buying more
56:36
stuff, they they were simply paying more for the same amount
56:39
or less. Which indicates exactly that.
56:42
Something that Minette Batters did not touch on at all, which
56:46
is the relationship that the the consumer may have directly with
56:50
the farmer and that that is the way that things would change.
56:53
And this is something that I wrote about last year on the UK
56:56
column Farmers protests the wrong target.
56:59
Now of course the inheritance tax thing is going to change.
57:02
So there is now the ability for the public to to dramatically
57:06
change things for farmers by dealing directly with them,
57:08
which is exactly why it is not mentioned in the profitability
57:11
review. Thank you, Charles.
57:14
Now in this age of technocracy, as we're entering the digital
57:19
ID, all the other surveillance and so on that's going on,
57:22
you'll be glad to know that since we're handing our DNA
57:25
effectively over to the British government that they have just
57:28
issued a new cyber action plan. Here it is on screen.
57:32
Let's see what this says it says.
57:34
Backed by over £210 million, the Government Cyber Action Plan
57:38
published on Tuesday sets out how government will rise to meet
57:42
the growing range of online threats it underpins.
57:46
UK government plans to digitise public services.
57:49
This will make more services accessible online, reduce time
57:52
spent on phone queues and paperwork, and enable citizens
57:55
to access support without repeating information across
57:58
multiple departments. These issues can be addressed by
58:01
embedding basic software security practices across the
58:04
software market. Amongst others, Cisco, Palo Alto
58:07
Networks, Sage Santander and NCC Group will come on board as the
58:11
schemes ambassadors and Palo Alto Networks, as everyone who's
58:16
been paying attention to the UK column for the last year or so
58:18
we'll know, is a unit 1800 spawned company.
58:23
Therefore where's our data going, set aside Cisco, U.S.
58:27
company, Sage Santander, Spanish bank, NCC Group, well at least
58:32
it's British apparently. But what?
58:35
What exactly will Palo Alto Networks be providing as part of
58:39
the government cyber action plan?
58:41
I think that's something that we need to invest, investigate some
58:44
more. But Charles, let's finish them
58:47
with electric vehicles. We will and they have been
58:53
pushed very, very hard. They've been subsidised, there
58:55
have been all sorts of incentives and encouragements
58:58
and the policy is foundering. The wheels are coming off now.
59:02
The guidance put out by the government indicates that there
59:05
are going to be changes to vehicle tax for electric zero
59:09
and low emission vehicles. So they're not going to be
59:11
subject in some cases to the same amounts of vehicle tax that
59:15
all other vehicles are subject to.
59:17
Now. The other thing, the point to
59:19
make is from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
59:22
who just published a report yesterday.
59:24
They make the point that although there's been huge
59:28
investment by manufacturers and there are now over 160 EVs on
59:32
the market, with at least 60 more due sorry this year, they
59:37
say that uptake on these vehicles has only risen by 24%,
59:41
which means that only 1/4 of the models are currently eligible
59:45
for the incentive. And the critical part here is
59:48
that it's the manufacturers that are shouldering the burden of
59:51
driving up demand and in enforcing them to subsidise
59:55
their sale by more than 5 billion in 2025.
59:58
Now this is equivalent to £11,000 per battery electric
1:00:02
vehicle registered. And their their conclusion here,
1:00:05
which is hard to disagree with, is that such subsidies are
1:00:08
clearly unsustainable. So bad news for the.
1:00:12
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
1:00:15
Of course, this is then intertwined slightly with the
1:00:18
relationship between BYD and Tesla.
1:00:21
BYD, the Chinese manufacturer now just overtaken Tesla in
1:00:24
global sales. And interestingly the BYD, their
1:00:28
second biggest market is in fact the United Kingdom.
1:00:31
So it shows that wouldn't affect the subsidies and indeed the
1:00:34
policy of pushing these types of vehicles has had on the
1:00:38
audience. And I just conclude by referring
1:00:40
back to the trade sheets for our relationship with Azerbaijan,
1:00:44
because it looked very likely last year and indeed the year
1:00:47
before that, Azerbaijan was the route through which Russia was
1:00:53
importing vehicles from the UK. But there's been a 55% decrease
1:00:57
over the course of the last year.
1:00:59
And of course, there is a massive relationship between
1:01:02
China and Russia as far as vehicles are concerned.
1:01:04
So a sanctions fail, but also AUK fail by the idea that
1:01:10
sanctions do actually do something, and indeed that
1:01:13
electric vehicles can be sold without end.
1:01:17
Indeed, Thank you for that, Charles.
1:01:19
Thanks to Vanessa and huge thanks to Doctor Andrew
1:01:21
Wickfield for joining us at the beginning of the programme.
1:01:24
We got to finish there for today.
1:01:25
We'll be back in a few minutes for some UK column news extra.
1:01:29
If you're AUK column member, please stay on the live stream
1:01:31
and join us for that if you're not a member and maybe you'd
1:01:34
consider joining and helping us out and also getting access to
1:01:38
that content. So we'll see a few minutes.
1:01:41
Otherwise, don't forget German warfare tonight, my discussion
1:01:45
with Vanessa at 1:00 PM tomorrow, and then we'll be back
1:01:48
for another news program at 1:00 PM on Friday.
1:01:51
We'll see you then. Thanks for joining.