Latest / UK Column Radio / UK Column News — 12 December 2025

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UK Column News — 12 December 2025 · UK Column Radio

0:09
Good afternoon. It's Friday the 12th of December
0:11
2025, a little bit after 1:00. A couple of technical grumbles
0:14
there. I do apologise for those.
0:16
Welcome to UK column News, I mean host Mike Robinson.
0:19
Joining me by video link is Patrick Henningson and Tim
0:22
Norman. And later in the programme,
0:23
Basil Valentine will be joining us for a report on the Filton 6
0:26
trial and also British overflights of Gaza.
0:30
We'll be covering the latest attack on VPNs in the UK and
0:34
also Facebook censorship. And we'll have an update on last
0:37
night's UK column event in Salisbury.
0:39
We're going to begin today with, well, apparently the flu because
0:44
we're all getting it and as a result the National Health
0:46
Service is completely overrun by it.
0:49
So here's BBC front page from yesterday for BBC News Flu cases
0:54
jumped sharply in England as NHS faces worst case scenario today
0:59
that had been changed to flu surge, a challenge for NHS
1:03
unlike any since pandemic. And that was according to Wes
1:06
Streeting. Patrick, let me let me welcome
1:10
you to the programme here. And I mean, where do we start
1:13
with this, assuming you're not completely in stitches at this
1:17
point? Well, I can say Mike is, you
1:21
know, as long as there's not a variant on the loose, I think we
1:26
should all be pretty safe, no? No, no, no, no.
1:29
This is a variant, Patrick. This is the point.
1:31
This is this is a variant. Yeah, I, I, I really I'm so I'm
1:39
so done with the flu and COVID, Mike, I really have no comment.
1:43
But if they if they want to try this one over the holiday
1:47
season, I think it's advert, but population I think is quite wise
1:53
to all this. Well, that is the question, are
1:55
they wise to it? And, and I suppose the question
1:57
that I have is why are they pushing this?
2:00
Well, let's give, I mean, I'm sure there are many, many
2:03
reasons, but let's give one possible explanation because
2:05
here is the the final report of the COVID counter fraud
2:10
commissioner. This is entitled Pursuing
2:13
recoveries and preventing reoccurrence and this is what it
2:17
says. Weak accountability, bad quality
2:19
data and poor contracting were identified as the primary causes
2:23
of the £10.9 billion losses. So this was money taken from the
2:29
British government during the COVID ocracy.
2:31
The report highlights that counter fraud controls were
2:34
inadequate and only improved later in the pandemic.
2:38
And the Commissioner Hayhoe makes further recommendations to
2:42
ensure the country is prepared for further crises that need an
2:45
economic response from government.
2:48
And you know, lots of people won big time during the Covad years,
2:54
Patrick, not only the pharmaceutical companies, but
2:57
also all the people that were pulling taxpayer money out,
3:00
never mind track and trace, which apparently we're going to
3:02
not worry about the the amount of money that was lost to that
3:05
by using that, the continuation of that same policy to sort of
3:11
roll out the digital ID scheme. But but this pulling of money
3:15
out of the state at this time was quite incredible.
3:18
And, well, apparently we're going to.
3:20
We're going to keep going with it.
3:23
Like like all good inquiries, Mike, there you go.
3:25
It was it was a cock up. We must do better next time.
3:28
We must be more, you know, close these gaps in our our
3:32
bureaucracy. Meanwhile, the question should
3:35
have been why did we declare a pandemic in the 1st place over a
3:40
normal flu season and why did we pay businesses to to close and
3:44
people to stay at home? That really should be the real
3:48
question, but that's not what you're going to get here.
3:50
No cover up, no conspiracy, just a cock up.
3:53
Well, no cover up, no conspiracy, just a cock up.
3:57
Could that equally apply to to what we were talking about in
4:02
Salisbury last night, Patrick, do you think?
4:05
Exactly, exactly the same is a great event.
4:08
You were there, Mike, my colleague Tim Norman, he's on on
4:12
this, on the line right now as well.
4:15
It was very good turn out. We were very surprised there
4:17
were more sceptical people in the community than we we
4:21
thought. So it was great to hear some
4:24
alternative perspectives on this from people within the
4:28
community. Craig Murray of course was
4:31
plastic, as was Tim Norman. And I think people came away
4:36
much better informed than when they arrived.
4:39
And that's the whole purpose of why, why we did this event and
4:43
and why we can't conceive that in the 1st place.
4:46
But yeah, I think of the, of all the present we've done so far on
4:50
this subject, it's a very prickly subject for the, for the
4:55
local community and rightfully so.
4:57
It, it really this event, this narrative traumatised the local
5:00
community. It really hit the economy hard.
5:03
So people are, you know, still a bit sore, you could say from
5:09
from this and they, they really want to put it behind them.
5:12
But the problem is the, the, the, the Don Sturdis inquiry and
5:16
I'll gladly deferred to Tim on this.
5:19
It just didn't provide the closure.
5:22
It only raised more questions about what, what, what really
5:26
happened. And as the title of our event,
5:28
Mike is where what didn't happen, Skripal and Novatruck,
5:32
what did not happen, I think we we showed what did not happen
5:35
beyond a shadow of a doubt last night at the event.
5:39
Yes, well, look, let's just have a quick look at comments from
5:43
Craig Murray after the event. I thought that would stay
5:47
enjoyable. The audience were were very
5:49
engaged. I was very impressed by the
5:54
depth of knowledge many people in the audience already had and
5:59
that so many local people are so deeply sceptical about the
6:03
story. And I guess if you live here
6:05
and, and you see if you're a thinking person, you are going
6:09
to understand why so many aspects of the official story of
6:12
the Skrepals are impossible. So, but I was, I was generally
6:18
cheered up by by how deep rooted scepticism is in Salisbury and
6:23
how very many people in Salisbury do understand that
6:26
they've been sold, sold alive. So, Tim, maybe I could welcome
6:32
you on at this point. And I mean, what were your
6:36
thoughts about the audience? That was Craig's opinion.
6:39
I I thought that there was quite a great mix there.
6:42
There were some UK column members and viewers there, but
6:48
but quite a few that weren't. It was a great audience and it
6:52
was particularly good to see we had a a sort of digression about
6:57
Skripal's cat. So Skripal had a a pet cat which
7:02
survived in this apparently Novichok contaminated house and
7:07
at the time the vet raised the alarms the police, he was
7:10
concerned about the welfare of this cat which the police
7:13
eventually put down. Right, Tim, let me just
7:16
interrupt you there because we because we actually do have the
7:18
little bit of video here. So let's let's just show that
7:21
that little interjection. I mean, apparently the cat was a
7:31
pedigree called Nash Van Drake and it was a very loved cat.
7:36
I think it had been sort of specially imported by Sergei
7:39
Skripal and not to forget these two Guinea pigs.
7:44
But yes, I mean, during the inquiry, Professor Commander
7:49
Murphy, the police Chief, Police witness who's being interviewed,
7:55
they asked him about this cat, what was happening with the, you
7:57
know, the police are going in and out of the, of the house and
8:00
how, what was the welfare of the pets like?
8:03
And he just said, well, the cat got very distressed and in the
8:06
end, we had to euthanize it for its own welfare.
8:10
Meanwhile, the Guinea pigs died of thirst.
8:13
And there was also a story. In fact, the vet, when he heard
8:17
what had happened, who'd been caring for this cat, immediately
8:20
got in touch with the police and said, I'm concerned about the
8:22
welfare of the cat. But somehow this message didn't
8:25
get passed through. But nevertheless, we had police
8:28
going in and out of that house. Indeed, in the early days, I
8:31
didn't think the door was the source of this alleged poison.
8:35
So they were using it quite freely and yet they allowed the
8:39
pets to sort of somehow waste away.
8:41
I. Think that veterinarian is in
8:44
the room with us, Howard, if you tell us your what happened then
8:50
and what happened to the cat? Yeah, I was actually treating
8:54
the cat at the time and for those of you interested, I can I
9:00
can tell you more about what it was like knowing Mr Skripal.
9:06
I phoned the police and told him that I was concerned that the
9:11
cat needed a repeat of its medication and I was happy to
9:17
look after the cat if that's what they wanted.
9:20
And then also having having known him personally for a few
9:23
years at that stage, I, I can't honestly say I'd have to go back
9:27
and look at the records to see when, when I first met him.
9:30
But I saw because the cat had regular treatment was a chronic
9:34
condition the cat had and I so I got, I got to know him as well
9:42
as I suppose you could. He used to talk a lot to me
9:46
about him travelling, about his son, about his son dying.
9:52
I met his. So if you want to see the rest
9:55
of that little exchange, do go and have a look at at the live
9:58
stream. But Tim, that you know, the
10:00
point here is that the, the I appreciate we're talking about a
10:04
cat and some Guinea pigs, but but what we're seeing here is in
10:07
a sense an example of the brutality of the state that
10:10
they, they didn't actually care about the welfare of the
10:14
animals. They they destroyed one and
10:16
allowed the others to to waste away.
10:20
That's right. And in fact, it's my
10:22
understanding that the bodies of the animals were incinerated at
10:25
port and down. And it was just another example
10:27
of this sort of systematic destruction of evidence, if you
10:31
like. You know, I mean, people think
10:34
about pets as their friends. And so it's an emotional thing
10:39
about the cats, obviously from the Script House point of view.
10:42
But, you know, materially speaking, we we saw where the
10:47
Roly household used to be that was bulldozed.
10:50
You know, all these places, the mill sissies, these places are
10:55
completely stripped and decontaminated.
10:56
So they're sort of systematic. So you say sort of brutal
11:00
cleansing in every possible way of any evidence that could leak
11:03
back. So it's really fascinating to
11:05
meet someone with that direct connection to the Skripal family
11:08
at the event yesterday. Yeah, it was.
11:10
And Patrick, Craig Murray did offer a couple of alternative
11:15
scenarios that perhaps explain the facts a little bit better.
11:20
What were your thoughts on that? Well, it's not the first time
11:24
I've I've heard that. Craig told us that in the
11:28
summertime at Beautiful Days Festival and that's according to
11:33
his source, which he said has been reliable in the past.
11:38
So as you know, Craig's a veteran of the Foreign Office
11:40
and has relationships in the civil service and people
11:44
connected to these events. So that's his his hypothesis if
11:52
you were based on the sources that Skripal is being held in
11:57
Canada. So make of that what you will.
12:02
I've heard reports from about New Zealand and so forth.
12:05
But that's the question. Where's Sergei script out?
12:08
Where's EULA script out? Why?
12:09
Why weren't they the star witnesses on Sturgis inquire
12:12
because that could have put all questions to rest.
12:15
But we we're guessing that if they were to testify or to speak
12:21
about what happened to them, that that might undermine the
12:25
official state narrative on this issue and then destroy the
12:29
geopolitical value of this being such a divisive story between
12:37
East West relations between the West of Britain and Russia and
12:40
so forth. As it pertains to the support
12:43
for the Ukraine war present as well.
12:46
So that's that's my thoughts on on that.
12:49
Yeah. And but Patrick, he did, he did
12:54
also in the Q&A consider the possibility that in fact the
12:57
Scribales are no longer alive. And that would be quite sad, but
13:03
I think we we can agree that they must be being held.
13:07
If they are alive, they're being held under guard at least,
13:11
possibly at least with Yulia against against her will and
13:16
then being fed or cocooned in an environment where they're being
13:20
told that they're under threat of assassination from the
13:23
Russian state still. And so they can't come back to
13:26
society or have normal lives. Basically living in witness
13:30
protection programme under guard because they're very valuable
13:34
state assets from the Western perspective, because their their
13:39
silence keeps the narrative in place on this story.
13:43
But if they were to talk, I'm sure there would be some new
13:46
details that that would come to the fore.
13:51
Tim, just to finish this segment off then just what, what, what
13:55
are you hoping that this event has achieved?
13:59
Well, clearly we hope to raise consciousness about the
14:02
controversy in the general dissonance in this story and
14:05
just bring it to the the forefront in an accessible way.
14:09
Make people. I mean, I think we're all hoping
14:11
that we could have convinced some people.
14:13
As it turned out, most of the audience was already fairly
14:16
sceptical towards this story. But that's really what we're
14:20
hoping to do, just to raise the consciousness because of the
14:23
geopolitical aspects to it and just on whether or not the
14:27
scribbles were alive. Apparently they both supplied
14:30
statements to the inquiry. So clearly we're expected to
14:34
believe that the British state does have a means of getting in
14:37
touch with them and getting stuck on them.
14:39
But neither of those statements were signed.
14:41
So from a legal point of view, if there had been a court case,
14:43
they wouldn't have admissible and we would be taking them as a
14:46
serious statements. It, it is fascinating that every
14:50
time we speak to you, Tim, there's, there's yet another
14:53
little fact that comes out that that you know so that that yes,
14:58
thank you very much for for that today and thank you very much
15:00
for that for last night. Everybody that was there enjoyed
15:03
it immensely. I know that the viewership on
15:07
the live stream was spectacular, so thanks to everybody that was
15:12
involved in that. And well, keep sharing it,
15:15
please, because this is, as Tim says, really important to get as
15:19
much sort of eye, as many eyes on it as possible.
15:23
OK, let's move on then, Patrick, to the US National Security
15:27
Strategy because the publication of the US National Security
15:30
Strategy has caused quite a furor over the last week or so.
15:34
Well, that and Trump's comments about the EU, of course.
15:38
So just looking at the the this little thing from the
15:43
introduction on Continental Europe, this is what it says.
15:46
Continental Europe has been losing has been losing its share
15:49
of global GDP, down from 25% in 1990 to to 14% today, partly
15:55
owing to national and transnational regulations that
15:57
undermine creativity and industriousness.
16:00
But this economic decline is eclipsed by the real, more stark
16:03
prospect prospect of civilizational erasure.
16:06
The larger issues facing Europe include activities of the
16:09
European Union and other transnational bodies that
16:12
undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies
16:15
that are transfer, transforming the continent and creating
16:18
strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of
16:22
political opposition, cratering, cratering birth rates and loss
16:26
of national identities and self confidence.
16:28
And Patrick, I suppose before we get into the, the, the bones of
16:31
this, this thing, the comments about Europe, I think could
16:37
equally apply to the United States in fact, and with
16:40
particularly with respect to the censorship thing, which we'll be
16:42
talking about later on in the programme.
16:45
But that criticism of Europe is Trump just not looking in the
16:49
mirror at all. Yeah, exactly.
16:53
Everything that's happening in Europe is, is also happening in
16:56
the United States, although slightly different and with
16:58
maybe less intensity, but they're both heading in the same
17:01
direction of travel. And the, the, the mega
17:04
corporations in the state are colluding in order to restrict
17:08
speech. So there's a lot of
17:10
contradictions in a lot of the events.
17:12
I mean, on one hand, they're talking about, oh, the nation
17:15
state is the primary organising principle and we must, you know,
17:19
promote sovereignty of nations. And then on the other hand, the
17:23
United States is saying, well, they're not sovereign to trade
17:25
with who they want to trade with, IE China, Russia or
17:29
enemies of the United States. So it's totally contradictory,
17:34
wholly hypocritical. And they say Europe, Europe's
17:37
GDP is down in terms of overall percentage from the 90s till
17:41
now. I mean, you're talking about a
17:43
span of 35 years. This is the most stupid comment
17:47
in this report. It takes away the obvious
17:51
answers to that question is there's a relative drop in GDP,
17:55
but that corresponds with the rise in growth from Asia.
17:59
I mean, you don't have to be a rocket scientist.
18:02
These people are just idiot. I don't know who wrote this
18:05
report, but it must have been Sebastian Gorka or one of these
18:08
ne'er do wells that's orbiting Donald Trump.
18:11
It's so it's, it's, it's just, it's worse than a, a, a freshman
18:16
first year, you know, political science paper, it's that bad.
18:21
And it, it's, it's, it's completely hypocritical on top
18:24
of that. So All in all, worthless.
18:26
But what it does is it does point to a, a real kind of neo
18:32
worldview where the US wants to maintain its hegemony at the
18:36
expense of everybody else. But at the same time it's
18:39
saying, oh, we recognise the multipolar world.
18:41
I mean, they can't, they can't make up what make up their mind
18:44
on what they're trying to say. It's it's just ridiculous.
18:49
Yes. On the other hand, Patrick, the
18:52
Russian response to seems to being quite positive.
18:56
Well, the the Russians, the Russians are playing the smart
19:00
game. You know, they, they want,
19:02
they'll take any positive that's in there and they'll, they'll
19:06
definitely promote that they, they want to have better
19:08
relations with the United States and stable relations and
19:12
bilateral relations with the US. So of course they're, they're
19:15
going to look accentuate the positive things in there.
19:19
But this report is also very punishing of Russia having
19:24
relations with countries, especially in the Western
19:27
Hemisphere. So again, it's the the
19:30
contradictions are are incredible.
19:33
Right. Well, look, there was one thing
19:34
I did want to bring on screen and that was a comment in
19:38
response to it from Dmitry Peskov and in response to the
19:42
whole Ukraine thing as well. Because it sort of worries me
19:46
that the Russian response here is using very similar, if not
19:51
identical language that being used by Starmer.
19:52
So, for example, Dmitry Peskov here saying Russia's priority is
19:56
to see a stable, guaranteed long term peace achieved through the
20:00
signing of appropriate documents.
20:02
Rather than a ceasefire. And it's, it's the, rather than
20:05
a ceasefire bit of it that I that I'm finding most concerning
20:09
because that's the kind of rhetoric that we've seen out of
20:12
Starmer in the last few days. Starmer using it as
20:16
justification for the continuation of the war.
20:19
Why can't? Why can't they have both?
20:22
Well, you you don't want to. If you're Russia and someone
20:26
who's winning this conflict militarily, A ceasefire provides
20:30
a strategic pause for NATO and the Ukrainians.
20:34
And so they'd rather do background negotiations like
20:38
normal diplomacy to set up a negotiated settlement under
20:42
terms that are agreeable to the main parties, IE the United
20:46
States and Russia, in this case maybe Europe.
20:50
And so it's, it's pointless to have us beforehand.
20:53
So Starmer wants to keep the war going for different reasons and
20:57
Russia wants to keep the war going.
20:59
So yeah, there might be a parallel in, in, in rhetoric,
21:03
but they're they're coming from 2 completely different places on
21:06
this. Yes, OK, well, thanks for that.
21:09
Now over the last couple of weeks we have been absolutely
21:12
highlighting the insane rhetoric out of Western leaders, not
21:17
least Britain and the Britain and European leaders.
21:21
But Mark Ruta has to be probably one of the worst.
21:26
Let's just have a listen to some comments that he was making
21:28
yesterday. We are Russia's next target and
21:34
we are already in harm's way. When I became NATO secretary
21:39
general last year, I warned that what is happening in Ukraine
21:44
could happen to allied countries too.
21:47
That we have to shift to a wartime mindset.
21:50
We need to be ready because at the end of this first quarter of
21:57
the 21st century, conflicts are no longer fought at arm's
22:02
length. Conflict is at our door.
22:07
Russia has brought war back to Europe, and we must be.
22:11
Prepared for the skill of war our grandparents and great
22:15
grandparents endured. Imagine it a conflict.
22:20
Reaching every home, every workplace destruction, mass
22:26
mobilisation, Millions displaced, widespread suffering.
22:31
And extreme losses. Patrick, where do we even start
22:36
with that? Just it's, it's, it's, it's,
22:39
it's, I don't want to use a pro any profanity on the air, but
22:44
it's hard to find the words to, to respond to such a stupid,
22:49
idiotic comment by Mark Ruta. His grandparents or great
22:55
grandparents during the Second World War he's talking about or
22:58
the First World War. They did not live in the age of
23:01
thermonuclear weapons. What is he talking about?
23:05
It's not going to be, you know what, the trench warfare in
23:09
Europe. There's going to be no magic, no
23:10
line between Mets and Germany. It's going to be missiles and
23:16
it's going to end very quickly. No, not even time for suffering
23:21
for many people, sadly. If that's the case, it's just
23:24
ridiculous. I don't, I don't know.
23:28
It's it's. It it really becomes harder to
23:31
to sort of find the words to describe it.
23:33
But but these people are unhinged.
23:37
Yeah. So again, talking up, talking up
23:39
this permanent state of war, justifying conscription, huge
23:44
expenditures in terms of arms and military expenditures.
23:49
And so I have not seen any indication the public in these
23:52
European countries want to go to war with Russia.
23:56
But I see indication that the leadership were polling an
23:59
average of 10 percent, 15% in many cases they want to go to
24:03
war with Russia or they're talking it up.
24:05
That kind of tells you all you need to know in this case.
24:09
Right. Well, well, Patrick, let's just
24:10
very briefly come on to the Venezuela situation then.
24:15
So this is again, totally the Trump administration has just
24:19
gone full neo con here. So they've, they've taken a oil
24:23
tanker, supposedly it's under sanctions and so that justifies
24:28
them seizing it. And it's just this is an act of
24:33
war and they they have their sights set on more tankers.
24:37
And the incredible part about this is that the United States,
24:42
Donald Trump is openly talking about taking the oil.
24:48
So we, we have some, some video clips on this as well.
24:52
But it's, this is a major escalation.
24:55
There's no justification for it at all.
24:58
And yet this is what's happening.
24:59
So this, when Trump was pressed on this, this is what he had to
25:04
say when he was pressed on. What are you going to do with
25:08
the oil once you take it? But before we show that clip,
25:11
you can see here we have some footage of the United States
25:15
sending attack teams in with Apache helicopters doing fast
25:20
roping down to the deck of this Venezuelan oil tanker and then
25:26
at gunpoint, you know, capturing the crew who presumably are
25:31
unarmed. So it's just a, a total act of
25:34
aggression. You see this, this theme over
25:37
and over again with the United States.
25:40
They're very good at attacking people who are unarmed, as are
25:44
their allies like the Israelis. But they, they, they don't dare
25:50
engage militarily anybody that has need to, to strike back
25:55
because we all know how that might end.
25:56
It's probably bad, a bad political ending for Donald
25:59
Trump. So this seems like a Safeway to
26:02
wage war. We have this clip of of Trump
26:04
being pressed here about what you're going to do with the oil.
26:07
It's extraordinary if we can listen to that.
26:10
It's unfortunate what happened. I mean, I know exactly what
26:13
happened. Again, it started a little bit,
26:15
but we'll see if we can put it up.
26:17
We're interested in the seizure of this tanker.
26:20
Well, what happens to the oil on this ship?
26:22
Well, we keep it, I guess. Where does it go?
26:25
What? Port does it go to?
26:26
When you have to follow the tanker, you know, hear good
26:28
news, but just follow the tanker.
26:30
You know, follow. It follow it, get a helicopter
26:33
and follow the tanker. But we're gonna, I guess soon
26:36
we're gonna keep the. Extraordinary.
26:42
So that he looks very haggard and tired as well.
26:45
Donald Trump's just kind of transformed into an old dot in
26:50
this in this second term. I mean, you can see it's just
26:53
he's lagging basically. And it's just a, a ridiculous
26:56
answer. I mean, even Bush wouldn't be so
26:59
brazen as to sort of speak like this.
27:01
But this he has form. Here's Trump in 2023 on the
27:05
campaign trail talking about Venezuela in his first term.
27:09
Let's roll this clip. Venezuela.
27:14
How about we're buying oil from Venezuela?
27:18
When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse.
27:21
We would have taken it over. We would have gotten all that
27:23
oil. It would have been right next
27:24
door. So you know what, where, where
27:30
are the other NATO members or other Britain basically
27:34
commenting on this just outrageous dispense of
27:38
international law and international norms.
27:41
And as as Al Jazeera, great piece here on Al Jazeera, the US
27:46
is already at war with Venezuela.
27:48
So it's it's not like they're going to be at war.
27:50
There are at war. It's already started.
27:53
And so how's the the rest of the so called international
27:56
community that's just so concerned about acts of
28:01
aggression by the Russians and so forth?
28:04
Where are they on the United States with this?
28:07
It's unbelievable. Yes, so we'll we'll keep we'll
28:11
keep our eyes on this and keep reporting on it.
28:13
Patrick, thank you very much for that.
28:14
Now Patrick has to go now. So enjoy your weekend and we'll
28:19
see you next week so. Thanks at the Digital ID protest
28:24
if if you do have that during the ad break, I'll be speaking
28:28
with alongside Gareth and David Icke and others at BBC
28:33
Broadcasting House on Saturday, 1:00 PM central London.
28:37
Be there. Yeah, absolutely.
28:39
See, see you at 1:00 PM. Super.
28:41
Thank you, Patrick. Thank you.
28:42
Uh, okay, if you like, uh, what the UK column does, then, uh,
28:46
please head over to the UK column website, ukcolumn.org is
28:50
where you find it. There is a link here that takes
28:53
you to your page that can explains how you can help us.
28:56
We do need your ongoing financial support.
28:58
So if you possibly join as a member or make a donation, that
29:01
would be fantastic. But please do share material you
29:05
see on the website or this news programme for that matter, and
29:08
get the stuff spread out as widely as possible to beat the
29:12
sensors. Tonight at 7:00 PM, Charles and
29:15
I are speaking to Germ as usual on censorship, on the issue of
29:18
censorship and, and also on the issue of self self censorship.
29:22
That's at 7:00 PM tonight. Join us for that.
29:25
And well, Carl is also looking at Venezuela in the Silicon
29:30
Steel podcast. He's speaking to Diego Sequeira
29:35
on this. This is the truth from Caracas.
29:37
So join Carl at 9:00 PM for that.
29:41
OK, let's see where that takes us.
29:44
Takes us to the issue of censorship.
29:46
And age verification is a thing right across the so called
29:51
western world now. And as Brian mentioned on
29:54
Friday, Australia is the most extreme version so far, banning
29:57
anyone under the age of 16 from accessing social media
30:01
platforms. But just like the UK, they're
30:05
not banning anyone from accessing the actually dangerous
30:08
platforms where most grooming takes place.
30:11
So these are the platforms that were listed by the E safety
30:15
Commissioner in Australia, Facebook, Instagram, Kik,
30:18
Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, Tiktok, Twitch X and YouTube.
30:22
So they are required to take reasonable steps to prevent
30:24
Australians from under 16 from having accounts on their
30:28
platforms. But excluded from that is this
30:32
list, if we can bring out on screen.
30:34
So this includes Discord, GitHub, Google Classroom, Lego
30:38
Play Messenger, Pinterest, Roblox, Steam and Steam chat,
30:43
WhatsApp and YouTube Kids. Now of course, as I've been
30:47
trying to remind everybody as often as possible for the last
30:51
number of weeks, Roblox in particular is a horrendous venue
30:57
for children because it is the location that a vast amount of
31:04
grooming by adults of children takes place.
31:07
Now, this situation in Australia is absolutely reflective of the
31:11
situation in the UK because of course they're using the mantra
31:14
of child protection to try to justify this this this action.
31:20
But they're not protecting children at all because it does
31:23
not handle the issue of adults posing as children on platforms
31:27
that are geared towards children.
31:30
So that it seems to be the same narrative right across the
31:35
planet at the moment. Now let's bring on the
31:38
Electronic Frontier Foundation, the campaign group.
31:42
They've published what they describe as a resource hub
31:45
covering the issue of age verification, and they make the
31:48
point that age verification is proliferating across the United
31:52
States and across the world, creating surveillance and
31:54
censorship regimes that will be used to harm both you youth and
31:58
adult adults. They say that these restrictive
32:01
mandates strike at the foundation of a free and open
32:04
Internet. And they say that while they're
32:07
wrapped in the legitimate concern about children's safety,
32:10
they operate as tools of censorship used to block people
32:13
young and old from viewing or sharing information the
32:16
governments deem harmful or offensive.
32:18
They also create surveillance systems that critically
32:21
undermine online privacy and chill access to vital online
32:24
communities and resources. And so they're saying that their
32:27
new resource hub is a one stop shop for information that people
32:30
can use to fight back and redirect lawmakers.
32:33
The things that actually will help young people like
32:36
comprehensive privacy law. And they make the point that the
32:40
United States is not immune from this despite the First
32:42
Amendment. They're saying that half of U.S.
32:45
states have enacted some sort of online age verification law.
32:48
So this is mostly happening at the state level and they make
32:52
the point that at the federal level of House Energy and
32:54
Commerce subcommittee just a week or so ago was holding a
32:58
hearing on legislative solutions to protect children and teens
33:01
online. So, you know, this is a problem
33:05
right through the threats through the world.
33:08
Now moving on then, because just the issue or the issue that has
33:14
the response from people to age cheques has been the increasing
33:19
use of virtual private networks. And of course, just a month or
33:24
so, a couple of months ago, the House of Lords was running this
33:29
this debate on virtual private networks and whether they should
33:33
be allowed to that we should be allowed to continue to use, to
33:37
use them. So the attack on VPNs was
33:39
beginning in September or so. Well, just recently then, an
33:44
update or a an amendment proposed by the Lords to the
33:51
latest child related legislation is now calling for a ban on the
33:57
use of VPN services by children. So this is by Lord Nash,
34:02
Baroness Cass and Baroness Benjamin and they are asking for
34:07
a new clause to be added entitled action to prohibit the
34:10
provision of VPN services to children in the United Kingdom.
34:15
So we're going to see limitations on the use of VPNs
34:19
beginning with children and I'm quite certain expanding to
34:23
adults at a later date. And then finally on this, and I
34:27
see Basil's with us. I hope Basil will have something
34:29
to to add to this, but I just want to mention this issue here.
34:33
So this organisation, so Retro Uncensored is talking about the
34:42
latest, uh, censorship by Facebook.
34:45
And now they, they call themselves, they say that they
34:47
track censorship, they reinstate blocked accounts, they research
34:51
patterns of suppression and build creative tools.
34:53
Uh, if you just put that back on screen, William, please, uh,
34:57
create, build creative tools that protect cultural, political
35:00
and bodily autonomy worldwide. So they are looking at
35:03
censorship of the transgender censorship of, uh, gender
35:07
related issues. And so just they are saying, for
35:13
example, that Facebook has censored or closed down pages 15
35:20
plus queer accounts erased in one week.
35:22
In this headline, they're talking about Facebook takedown
35:25
of another page called at Women help Women and another one here
35:30
Instagram shadowban of a channel called at Indigenous women
35:34
Rising. Now the problem that I have
35:37
here, Basil, if I can welcome you to the programme is that of
35:40
course lots and lots of people have been complaining about
35:44
exactly this type of behaviour over the last five or six years.
35:49
But the I I would suspect that those same people may be less
35:54
than unhappy to see this type of material being taken down.
35:58
But it seems to me that if we're going to stand for the principle
36:01
of freedom of speech, unfortunately, whether we like
36:04
the particular content that's being taken down or not, we've
36:07
got to object to that, that censorship.
36:13
Hi Mike, yes great to be with you and hello to all our viewers
36:16
and listeners. I'm a free speech absolutist but
36:20
a genuine 1. Not like the so called Free
36:24
Speech Society run by Hugo Young which is extremely selective
36:28
about which causes it chooses to champion.
36:33
You know, other than the conspiracy to murder or commit
36:38
an offence shouting fire in a crowded cinema.
36:40
I believe we should all be able to say what we like.
36:44
It was really the introduction of so called hate speech laws
36:48
that saw the, you know, permanent.
36:51
Well, we hope it's not permanent, but the the the
36:54
biggest meaningful erosion of free speech in Britain.
36:58
And since then, of course, together with the whole question
37:03
of child protection and the conflation of opinions that the
37:08
government doesn't like with extremism and terrorism, we've
37:12
seen, you know, the the margins gradually narrowed.
37:16
The acceptable opinion corridor has become squeezed, hasn't it,
37:21
Mike? And this is just another example
37:24
of it. We see it all the time across
37:27
social media. Doctor Rami Al Adwan, who we've
37:31
talked about on here before, the British Palestinian Dr was
37:34
arrested again last week and apparently because she used some
37:39
terms which the British state has deemed are not acceptable.
37:44
To bring us right up to date on this.
37:47
Just this week the BBC has issued new guidelines for its
37:55
employees and these include avoiding using the word Zionist
38:01
when criticising Israel to avoid causing offence to Jewish
38:05
people. This module of anti semitism
38:08
training, which will no doubt be echoed by the upcoming NHS anti
38:14
semitism training, states that those who claim to be anti
38:19
Zionist not anti Semitic should be aware that many Jewish people
38:22
identify as Zionists as of course too many gentiles,
38:26
including our own Prime Minister and the entire cabinet.
38:30
But anyway, it goes on to avoid unintentional offence.
38:33
They should specify the Israeli government as the target of
38:36
their criticism and all BBC staff now have six months to
38:42
comply with this training. I mean, I wonder where that is
38:47
going to conflict with the right that David Miller won in court
38:54
to be an anti Zionist and, and you have to use the term Zionist
39:00
unfortunately. What if you don't simply want to
39:03
criticise the Israeli government as it stands, but you
39:07
delegitimize Israel? You don't think it has any right
39:09
to exist? I'm not sure where the space for
39:12
that is in that particular BBC module.
39:16
Indeed, thank you very much for that.
39:17
OK, let's let's move on then to the issue of Filton Six.
39:22
And first of all, Basil, I just want to bring this on screen
39:25
from Sky News because the headline here is five Palestine
39:30
action prisoners taken to hospital as hunger strike
39:32
continues. A letter describes the
39:35
deteriorating health of prisoners as their hunger
39:38
strike. Hunger strike continues.
39:40
Now, this is one of the most insidious aspects of the whole
39:45
thing, I suppose. Now, last night then, Craig
39:49
Murray was asked by Patrick for his thoughts on the Filton case.
39:56
So let's just have a quick listen to what he said.
40:02
On this the trial of the Filton 6, just where things are at
40:06
right now, your your thoughts, how you feel about the the
40:11
proceedings so far and where do you think this is going?
40:15
Well, the prosecution have concluded their case.
40:19
What came over very plainly was that all of the security guards
40:25
and most of the police plainly said things that were not true.
40:29
They, they made statements about how violence started, who was
40:33
holding what weapon, who hit whom, which were proved to be
40:39
untruth by video evidence. We also learned that there's a
40:43
real problem with custody of the video evidence because it had
40:47
been in the custody of Elbit. It had actually been given in
40:50
Metropolitan Police evidence bags to Elbit to look after for
40:55
a year. So you know, these were major
40:58
problems with the. That's not standard practise, is
41:00
it? No, it's quite extraordinary.
41:02
It completely destroys a chain of custody.
41:05
And also there was a great deal of it, video which the defence
41:08
were able to show which had been produced on disclosure, which
41:11
had not been shown by the prosecution, Who who of course
41:15
released to the public in the middle of a trial which has
41:18
reporting restrictions. But he was released to the
41:20
public was extremely edited video, some bits of which were
41:24
not even chronological in order to give a false picture of of
41:28
what actually happened. All of which is of course the
41:32
evidence which is now before the jury.
41:34
We're now in the early stage of the defence where defendants are
41:38
setting out that their motives for taking part in the action
41:41
and their version of what happened.
41:42
And of course, what's going to be interesting to see is whether
41:45
the defendants statements are closer to A to the actual video
41:50
evidence. On the issue of the hunger
41:51
strikers Harkins back memories of Irish, you know, Irish hunger
41:58
strikers. This is happening in 2025.
42:00
Your thoughts on on that part of the story?
42:02
I'm I'm horribly worried about this.
42:04
I, I've been very, they're very worried about it for some time,
42:07
that they are now entering the phase where death becomes a real
42:11
possibility and where inadversible harm starts to be
42:16
done, where the body is starting to eat its own organs at this
42:22
stage and things like the muscle of the heart.
42:26
So this is really, really serious.
42:28
And what worries me is we have an extremely authoritarian
42:33
government and the government which seems utterly determined
42:38
in the middle of a genocide to demonstrate it's unwavering
42:42
commitment to Israel and to Zionism.
42:45
I think the government will take pride in not giving way and not
42:49
their demands are perfectly reasonable.
42:51
Their demands are about being given bail rather than kept on
42:57
in gaol on on remand. Their demands are about being
43:02
given access, the defence being given access to all the
43:05
documents showing interactions between Israel and Elbit and the
43:09
police to show political interference in their case.
43:12
You know, these are not unreasonable demands, but I
43:16
think the government is. There's a real danger the
43:19
government will take pride in showing their loyalty to Israel
43:22
by allowing these people to die. And, and I, I, I very much fear
43:27
that's what we're going to see in the next week or two.
43:29
I I'm desperately, desperately worried about this.
43:32
Very concerning. Thank you, Craig Murray, thank
43:35
you very much. So Basil, before we come back on
43:39
to the to the case itself, I'm interested to get your thoughts
43:43
on this. So that they've been taken to
43:45
hospital. Now the question is, is there a
43:48
possibility of the state intervening to to force them to
43:52
take some kind of nutrition? That's always a possibility.
43:57
But David Lammy refused to discuss the hunger strikes in
44:03
Parliament. He was of all people.
44:05
He was attacked by the speaker himself, Lindsay Hoyle, who
44:10
rebuked him for failing to engage with MPs.
44:14
One of the hunger strikers is a constituent of Jeremy Corbyn.
44:18
He's written to David Lammy this week.
44:20
I don't know that he's had a reply.
44:23
As Craig Murray said there, it looks as if the government and
44:26
indeed the corporate media as well, because, you know, even
44:30
the Guardian, let alone the usual suspects like the BBC, are
44:36
assiduously ignoring this case. And it seems they're quite happy
44:41
to to let them die, and what's more, for the whole cause to be
44:47
memory hold in real time. Well, that's it's interesting to
44:51
say that because I did do a quick search of of the
44:55
mainstream media for, for the, for this story and there was
45:00
almost nothing came up. No, that's right.
45:05
You'd really have to dig around. It's only on a few, you know,
45:09
independent media websites that you find out anything about it
45:14
at all, particularly what their demands are.
45:17
But yes, as Craig said, that some of them have already been
45:21
hospitalised. Doctor James Smith, who is an
45:24
emergency NHS doctor in contact with their families, has warned
45:29
this is a trajectory that ends with death.
45:33
But of course we're dealing with a government who are no
45:37
strangers to death. You know, they've been quite
45:40
happy to see the evisceration and mass murder of the
45:44
Palestinian people over the last couple of years and indeed, as
45:47
the classified have uncovered, to actively participate in it.
45:50
So why on earth would the government be concerned about
45:55
the death of its own citizens in this way?
45:58
OK, well, we'll come on to the the declassified story in a in a
46:02
moment, But just before we do that, what are your thoughts on
46:05
the case itself as it stands at the moment?
46:08
Well, as Craig Murray said there that, you know, there are
46:11
questions over change of custody of the evidence and the fact
46:15
that Elbit were given the videotapes back to look after
46:20
indicates once again, as is the case with the banning of
46:24
Palestine action of the very close collusion between the UK
46:28
government, national security state, Albert Systems in this
46:32
case and the state of Israel. They see themselves as one
46:38
profits. And what's more, supporting
46:41
Israel is more important to the British government than
46:45
upholding international law or for that matter the lives of any
46:50
of its citizens. That is becoming increasingly
46:53
clear. When Keir Starmer said I'm a
46:55
Zionist without qualification, he obviously meant it and this
47:00
is what it means in real time. Yes, indeed.
47:03
So let's bring this Declassified article up here first of all,
47:07
because this is headline revealed how British engines
47:12
ended up in Israeli drones and the the subhead says documents
47:16
obtained by Declassified suggest the government has allowed UK
47:19
companies to send drone engines to Israel without export
47:22
licences. And then the next thing I want
47:25
to highlight here is this article from this sub stack and
47:30
it's entitled revealed Israel used Palantir technologies in
47:34
pager terrorist attack in Lebanon.
47:37
Now he's mainly citing this book here the the philosopher in the
47:41
Valley by and by Michael Steinberger and Steinberger's
47:46
absolutely suggesting that Palantir provided much of the
47:52
technology that was used to target those pagers and so on.
47:57
But declassified has also produced a short a documentary,
48:02
sorry, on the issue of the overflights by British and
48:07
actually subcontracted. Then let's just look at look at
48:11
a few seconds from the beginning of of what's on YouTube at the
48:15
moment, and then we can talk about it.
48:18
What does a? British base in Cyprus have to
48:21
do with Israel's genocide in Gaza.
48:24
Although we're really. Proud of what you're doing.
48:25
We can't necessarily tell the world what you're doing here.
48:28
Declassified Travelled to this Mediterranean island.
48:31
How do you think you knew our names?
48:33
To investigate the hundreds of spy flights that Keir Starmer
48:36
has sent over Gaza. That's what they're doing.
48:40
They're off on a death run. The UK is now paying.
48:43
American mercenaries to do their dirty work over Gaza.
48:47
That coincided with Israeli airstrikes and the murders of
48:55
British aid workers. You're suddenly looking on the
48:57
television. Here's your son in a body bag
49:00
and that is 1 memory that will stay mum won't forever.
49:06
So that's just a few seconds from the beginning of this
49:09
report that they've done Basel. But you know, it's, it's, it
49:14
cannot be ignored that the British government, the British
49:18
military companies, global companies, OK, but companies
49:22
like Palantir that receive huge amounts of taxpayer money for a
49:25
whole host of different purposes, all directly involved
49:29
in the deaths of Palestinians. Oh, no, absolutely, Mike.
49:36
It's really off the charts, this whole business.
49:41
Extraordinary confession there by Keir Starmer, which we heard,
49:45
which passed off almost unnoticed at the time, that we
49:48
can't tell the world what you're doing here, he said to the
49:53
troops and Air Force personnel in Aquiteria.
49:56
But obviously with something to hide, well, what could it be
49:59
that they've got to hide there? Why is Britain involved in that
50:03
theatre at all now? They've confessed to the spy
50:07
flights. That's public knowledge now.
50:12
But of course the claim is that the information passed for the
50:16
Israelis has been used, or was used rather solely for the
50:20
purpose of locating the hostages.
50:22
But there are two problems with that.
50:24
One is of course, that the Israelis are habitual and
50:28
compulsive liars. And secondly, that the captain
50:32
who's been largely underground, you know, we're talking about
50:36
only a couple of dozen people. And the idea that these regular
50:41
flights would be needed at night as well in order to attempt to
50:46
locate hostages is is quite obvious nonsense.
50:49
And then of course there's the fact that the spy flights
50:53
coincided with cold blooded massacres.
50:57
That's the key point. The timings are exactly the
51:02
same, including a spy flight was in the air when 3 British aid
51:05
workers, as was mentioned there, John Chapman, Jim Henderson and
51:10
James Kirby were murdered. Now on the back of that, of
51:14
course, the UK government immediately demanded a full and
51:18
urgent investigation from Israel.
51:20
And a year and a half later, Mike, do you think there's been
51:24
one? I do not.
51:28
Of course not. And what's more, of course, is
51:32
that the British government totally failed to press the
51:36
Israelis for any such investigation because, well,
51:40
they would also implicate themselves.
51:43
But the simple fact is that defence ministers like Luke
51:49
Pollard only willing to confirm that flights are ongoing and the
51:54
government would not discuss the intelligence for reasons of
51:57
operational security. Other times they've invoked the
52:00
national security, though what it's got to do with the U KS
52:03
national security, I'm not sure that.
52:06
The simple fact is the government has not escalated the
52:10
matter diplomatically. It has not commissioned its own
52:12
inquiry into the death of the aid workers.
52:15
It hasn't shared the RAF surveillance footage.
52:19
It hasn't provided the families of those murdered with any new
52:23
information. We all know Israel's habitual
52:26
disregard for external accountability.
52:29
And once again, as we highlighted earlier, Mike, the
52:32
government regards its alliance with Israel, which never
52:36
hesitates to describe as an ally, to be far more important
52:41
than either investigating the deaths of the three British aid
52:46
workers or of course, being open with the general public about
52:50
exactly what these flights are all about.
52:53
But that documentary is sub headed.
52:57
Will this put Keir Starmer in gaol?
53:00
And it certainly ought to because, you know, very Direct
53:04
Line can be drawn between these flights and war crimes in
53:09
international law. So, you know, we're we're
53:12
rapidly entering the age of barbarism, unfortunately, Mike,
53:17
where global leaders like Donald Trump, you know, blowing up
53:22
Venezuelan fishermen like the Israelis and now Britain as
53:26
well, just flagrantly demonstrating they have no
53:31
regard whatsoever for humanitarian norms or for
53:35
international law. But the problem here is that
53:38
Tony Blair set the precedent, isn't it that that is basically
53:41
the problem? So these people think that they
53:43
can get away with anything. Absolutely.
53:46
Yeah, right. We're we're we're reaping the
53:48
bitter harvest of 2000 and three 2004 and the failure to
53:54
prosecute people responsible for that illegal war.
53:58
In fact, like Tony Blair, they tend to be rewarded with high
54:03
office and riches and all sorts of other things.
54:07
I mean, as far as I'm concerned, no one who cheerlead for the
54:11
Iraq war has any place in public life.
54:14
But again, you know, I'd have thought that with the
54:19
demonstration of genocide by the Israelis so flagrantly, openly
54:24
and the terrorist, things like that.
54:26
You mentioned there, Palantir providing the software for pages
54:29
that blew up in children's faces.
54:31
You know, let's not forget, you would think that there might be
54:35
some degree of contrition on the part of the, the, the British
54:40
government and Israel advocates, but quite the opposite.
54:44
In fact, they're so doubling down on their lawlessness and
54:47
seeking to suppress and prosecute people, you know,
54:52
seeking to uphold international law or support Palestinian human
54:55
rights. I mean, Francesca Albanese was
54:58
interviewed by Tucker Carlson this week.
55:01
She's being treated like a criminal by the United States.
55:05
She's said to him, my only weapon is a pen.
55:09
And yet she's sanctioned by the United States for seeking to
55:12
uphold international law. I mean, it's, it's the worst
55:15
ever crisis of international law that I can remember, Mike.
55:21
And just to bring this back then to the Filton 6, of course, they
55:24
are facing prosecution for damaging property, one person
55:30
facing a fact, potentially a lifetime term, a life term for
55:36
the physical assault that that is alleged.
55:42
So we've got that on one hand, people that are protesting mass
55:45
murder on one hand, and we've got the mass murderers
55:48
themselves on the other hand that continue to walk around
55:52
Scott free. Yes, exactly.
55:56
People, I'm pleased to say, have been making this point, you
56:00
know, online at various chat shows that why is it that you
56:05
can be a mass murderer. You know, we had Herzog visiting
56:11
Britain recently. He was one of the people that
56:14
put the enormous pressure on Eurovision not kick Israel out.
56:18
As a result of which Spain, the Netherlands this week, Iceland
56:22
have all withdrawn. The Icelandic chap who won it a
56:26
couple of years ago has returned the trophy.
56:29
A large number of Portuguese contestants have said they're
56:33
not going to participate. And the Portuguese broadcasters
56:36
have said, well, we don't care, we'll go ahead anyway.
56:38
We'll get somebody who wasn't even involved in the competition
56:41
to represent Portugal. So, you know, Israel's
56:44
lawlessness is tearing up not just international law but all
56:48
forms of European competition. You know, there's also,
56:53
interestingly, I saw this week legal moves against the
56:58
president of FIFA for failing to hold Israel to account in the
57:04
international football arena. And again, complicity and
57:09
genocide, You know, we're not talking about minor crimes here.
57:13
If the UK government can be proved, will it ever come to
57:17
court? Who knows?
57:18
Because they refused to release the footage that the UK
57:20
government have shared intelligence with a foreign
57:24
entity engaged, actively engaged in war crimes.
57:28
There has to be accountability for that, you know, otherwise
57:33
where does this, where does this end?
57:35
And as you say, the contrast with the prosecution of people
57:40
who haven't killed anyone at all.
57:42
You know, it's arguable whether one or two individuals were
57:45
injured in a relatively minor way in the Filton case, you
57:49
know, that's subdued to say, but their ire has been directed
57:54
against property and seeking to interrupt the supply of weapons
58:01
that are then used used in war crimes, you know, albeit are
58:04
heavily involved in the production of these drones.
58:07
Just this week ago, aged 6 was shot in the head twice in Gaza.
58:13
You know, there's no cease fire. The conditions there are
58:17
absolutely hellish, worse than ever.
58:21
So, you know, there's no morality anymore.
58:24
I mean, just as was the case, Patrick said with Mark Rutte,
58:27
the insanity, it's, it's not only insane, the world situation
58:32
we're in, it's also deeply, deeply sinister.
58:36
Mike, you know, when you've got, you know, people responsible for
58:41
mass murder being greeted as visiting dignitaries and people
58:46
trying to stop the slaughter of innocent children prosecuted,
58:49
We're in a we're in a very strange place.
58:52
Absolutely, Basil. And on that sinister note, we're
58:55
going to have to leave it for today, so I'm going to say thank
58:58
you very much for joining me. You're staying for extra, so
59:02
we'll talk more about this in a moment, I'm quite sure.
59:05
Thanks to everybody that's watched and thanks again to
59:08
everybody that came to watch the Script Owl event last night in
59:14
Salisbury and to the rather large number of people that
59:18
watched it live. That was that was fantastic.
59:20
So thanks to everybody that did. Please do share that.
59:23
Don't forget Jerem and Carl's out tonight, 7:00 and 9:00 PM
59:28
respectively. We'll be back on Mondays,
59:31
usually 1:00 PM. Hope everyone has a great
59:34
weekend. We'll see you then.
59:35
See you then.