Latest / UK Column Radio / UK Column News Podcast 10th July 2024

Transcript

UK Column News Podcast 10th July 2024 · UK Column Radio

0:08
Good afternoon. It's Wednesday, the tenth of July twenty twenty four, just
0:11
after one o'clock. Welcome to uk Call Him News. I'm your host Mike
0:14
Robinson joining me by videoing. Today we have Charles Mallett and Vanessa Billy.
0:18
Welcome to the program both. Now we are getting kicked off here with the
0:24
NATO summit, and well the family photo has been taken. This began yesterday,
0:29
but Keir Starmer appears to be missing in action. Apparently he didn't manage
0:34
to get there on time for the family photograph and they didn't want to wait
0:37
for him to turn up. Now, as you may have seen brighton sonny
0:41
here in Plymouth, not so brighton sunny. At the summit, it's being
0:45
described as gloomy. And why would that be Well, first of all because
0:48
Ukraine's losing, that's the main issue for them, but also they're particularly concerned
0:53
about the mental acumen, let's say, of the man in the middle there
1:00
at the front, Joe Biden. But so Joe of course got on stage
1:06
and the first thing he did as he opened the conference, because he got
1:08
to open the conference, was to announce five new strategic air defense systems for
1:15
Ukraine, and so we get the theme. The war narrative is going to
1:19
continue. Eventually. Keir Starmer did turn up, so here he is arriving
1:25
in Britain's equivalent of Air Force one, which is really exciting. And well
1:30
what did he do? Well, he of course said that we are going
1:34
to continue funding and supplying weapons to Ukraine. But on top of that,
1:40
don't worry Ukrainians. You make a decision what you're going to do with storm
1:44
Shadow missiles. Fire them into Russia as much as you like, because that's
1:48
your decision. And of course firing them into Russia would be a purely defensive
1:52
thing. But it got even better because gloomy or not, one person had
1:57
a smile on his face, and that is Jen Stoltenberg, who was honored,
2:00
apparently and humbled to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Joe Biden.
2:06
I'm not sure whether Joe knew what he was doing. He was just following
2:08
the actions as usual, I suppose. So that's the war situation, that's
2:15
what's going on in Washington for the seventy fifth anniversary of NATO, purely defensive
2:22
alliance prosecuting wars right across the world in the meantime, a massive faroor over
2:28
the actions of Victor Orban So here he is. This is what he said
2:35
whenever Hungary and he took over the presidency of the European Council. What we
2:39
can do is what is always the job of the presidency to do, to
2:44
put the proposals on the table, so we won't be deciding, but will
2:47
help the twenty seven prime ministers to decide. We'll be there in all the
2:52
places that are important for Europe, will explore all the situations. So he
2:57
decided that, having assumed the presidency of the European Council, that he would
3:01
fly off to Kiev. Here he is. A few days ago he met
3:07
Zelenski, of course, with an effort to pull together a peace deal.
3:12
He left Zelenski and flew off to Moscow, where he met President Putin,
3:20
and this absolutely had the whole of Europe, as we'll see in a second
3:23
in a spin. And then he flew off to sorry, off to China
3:30
where he met with sheishin Ping. And this was really pretty unprecedented, and
3:36
as I say, the Europeans absolutely upset about it, as we're going to
3:40
see. So let's start off with Ershalla vonder Lean, Hungarian PM Victor Orban
3:46
is visiting Moscow. Appeasement will not stop putin. Only unity and determination will
3:50
pave the path to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine. So
3:55
Orban's they are trying to organize peace. Urshalla is still agitating for war.
4:00
Charle Michelle the same. The EU rotating presidency has no mandate to engage with
4:04
Russia on behalf of the EU European Council. Is clear. Russia is the
4:09
aggressor, Ukraine is the victim. No discussions about Ukraine can take place without
4:14
Ukraine. But of course the first place he stopped was in Ukraine. So
4:18
I'm not quite sure that sear Michelle thinking straight there. It gets even better
4:23
Donald Tusk, of course, Prime Minister of Poland, now that he's left
4:28
the previous president of one of the three EU bodies. PM Orban on his
4:32
way to Moscow, we'll serve, we will serve as an important tool in
4:36
making the first step towards piece. As the quote from Orbon, the question
4:40
is in whose hands this tool is? And then we've we'll have Schultz or
4:47
Band travels to put in this Hungarian Prime Minister. The European Council is represented
4:53
in foreign policy by Charle Michelle, so they're all really desperate to make sure
4:57
that he's put in his place, and similar from the Lithuanian Prime Minister,
5:01
the Latvian Prime minister, the Estonian prime minister, the Finnish Prime minister,
5:05
the Swedish Prime minister, and the Czech prime minister and the Danish Prime minister.
5:11
So the absolute faroar over this. But in the meantime then we have
5:17
Orban back in the EU setting up his Patriots for Europe group, with more
5:21
and more people organizing around him for this. So France twenty four getting very
5:30
excited about this situation. And the headline Herelepen Orban and the Patriots for Europe
5:34
is the EU being undermined from within? Well, if we're talking if suing
5:40
for peace is some kind of undermining of the European Union, then perhaps that
5:44
is what they're doing. So I just want to highlight this tweet from Kenneth
5:49
Roth, who of course is chairman of the Human Rights Watch, and he
5:56
said, at stake in the French and US elections are the defense of Ukraine's
6:00
democratic future from prudent's colonial invasion and with the prospects for democracy in Europe,
6:06
the far right has a different plan. And I replied by saying peace you
6:11
mean, and Vanessa will start well by welcoming you to the program first and
6:15
say, it is quite incredible to me that the far right is now being
6:19
criticized and well, first of all, is taking this position as opposed to
6:25
the liberal elites who are pursuing war as fast as they possibly can. But
6:30
it's down to the far right to attempt to negotiate peace and being heavily criticized
6:34
for that. Yeah, I mean in France, it's not only the far
6:39
right, it's also what is considered to be the far left, which is
6:43
the Popular Coalition, and melon Sean is getting heavily criticized again for basically taking
6:51
a position of peace on almost every single issue. I mean, it's extraordinary
6:59
times living in where people who are literally brokering peace and then end to war
7:03
are being vilified and ostracized and absolutely demonized. It it's quite extraordinary. Yes,
7:14
Charles, I don't know. I'm sorry, Hi Jackie you here,
7:16
but have you got any thoughts on this whole thing? Well, I think
7:21
Vanessa's quite right. It's really you know, this is an extension, certainly
7:26
in the United Kingdom of the reframing of the terminology surrounding the far right and
7:30
extremism, and it seems now that peace is yet another sort of qualifying criteria
7:35
that's been lumped in with all the others. And it is quite extraordinary.
7:40
I mean to see all band attacked for reasons in effect that are not directly
7:46
the reasons that anyone really wants to declare. Of course it's effectively attacked by
7:54
subterfuge, but really it goes at his politics and indeed all the vest did
8:00
interests involved in prosecuting war by proxy in Ukraine. It is absolutely shocking.
8:05
But to see that nobody apparently will stand up in defense of what he's doing
8:11
on end of peace is a terrible indictment on the people that are supposed to
8:16
be taking part in shaping their countries for the benefit of those living in them.
8:20
Indeed, an issue that I've been talking about for a little while now
8:26
is this whole business of sexual violence as a mechanism being used in warfare,
8:33
and the fact that the British government has been arguing against it for quite a
8:37
long time, and my point has been Charles, that will just stop the
8:41
wars and then we wouldn't be a feature of warfare. But bring us up
8:46
to date on this, thanks Mike. Yeah, well, I think there's
8:50
really a different or perhaps additional dimension to it, because, as you say,
8:54
to cite there being a problem with sexual violence instrument of war is overlooking
9:01
the fact that war in itself is of course an enormous problem, especially if
9:05
bearing in mind the last segment, war is not going to be put off
9:09
in the name of peace. But yes, so as a way of sort
9:13
of exemplifying how this is now weaponized against in this case, I would say
9:18
Russia will look at the statement put out by Deirdre Brown in recognition of the
9:26
International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, which actually took place
9:31
back on the nineteenth of June. But this is a speech that she gave
9:33
in Vienna on the fifth of July, and the text of it, I
9:37
would say, points very much towards it being used as a means by which
9:43
to attack Russia. So she says that they mark the International Day, they
9:46
pay tribute to the victim survivors and those around the world who dedicate their lives
9:50
to ending conflict related sexual violence. Okay, fair enough to a point,
9:54
notwithstanding Mike's caveat. But in the OSSE region, vanting evidence of conflict related
10:01
sexual violence committed by Russian forces against Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of wars indicate its
10:07
potential use as a tactic of war. So straight away there's a focus,
10:11
even though this is supposed to be about an international day. And she goes
10:15
on to say, successive Moscow Mechanism reports have documented the considerable scale of purported
10:20
acts of sexual violence and so forth during their war of aggression against Ukraine.
10:24
So it's the same language coming out war the war of aggression against Ukraine,
10:30
with no sort of qualification of what exactly she's talking about. And I've now
10:35
got a slide from the twenty fourth of April when Mike spoke about this,
10:39
and indeed Barbara Woodward talking about the committed to the commitment to reduce or deal
10:46
with this, but without actually going so far as to stop war. But
10:54
they've referred to the Moscow mechanism by the OSSE, the Organized for Security Cooperation
11:01
in Europe. So I think we just have a look at that and to
11:05
see how this in effect comes about. So that the Moscow mechanism established by
11:09
allsc participating states in nineteen ninety one allows for one or more participating states to
11:16
request ODIHR, which stands for the Office of Democratic Institutions of Human Rights,
11:26
to inquire another participating state whether it would agree to invite a mission of experts
11:31
to address a particular, clearly defined question on its territory relating to the human
11:35
dimension. Well, we'll come back to the human dimension, but of course
11:37
we have to consider therefore, who are the participating states? And as I've
11:41
put in red text at the bottom there, although not exclusively of the fifty
11:46
seven participants, they are largely derived from members of the EU and NATO.
11:50
So it's not really a great surprise to see that they might commission a report
11:54
that has the specific remit to investigate actions by Russia. And of course the
12:00
report finds that Russia is at fault. So I thought it would be worth
12:05
casting our eyes a bit further back, and here we've got twenty eighteen report
12:09
from the State Department in United States in which they talk about human rights in
12:16
the Donbas region and saying that government and pro government forces, as in Ukrainian
12:20
government and pro government forces at times committed abuses, including torture against individuals detained
12:26
on national security grounds. Further, they go on to say that, according
12:30
to NGO's abuses included beatings, forced labour, sorry, psychological and physical torture,
12:35
public miliation, and sexual violence. The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission
12:45
to Ukraine continued to document reports of sexual and gender based violence by both sides
12:50
during the year. So the point of this, it's not really to say
12:56
that Russia hasn't done this, and but it's really to point out that this
13:01
is just yet another way in which Russia is demonized, and effectively the vehicle
13:07
here is the Elimination of Sexual Violence Day, which has been hijacked to make
13:13
a point of casting Russia as the bad guys. And I thought i'd draw
13:18
you back to UK column content from two thousand and eight, in which Mike
13:22
wrote about the then situation in Georgia an article entitled Encirclement of Russia continues.
13:30
And I've just taken a quote out of this which says, while NATO continues
13:33
to inflame the situation, Russia continues its diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.
13:37
And here we are almost twenty years on, or at least getting on for
13:41
twenty years on, and nothing has changed. So we'll look again at NATO,
13:46
and of course they refer to corruption and as though it's in hand in
13:52
glove with conflict, and actually with specific regard to Ukraine. This again was
13:56
from a twenty eighteen article, and they say that the impact of corruption on
14:01
national security, sovereignty and independence has been well illustrated by the developments in Ukraine.
14:07
And yet of course now we've had something of a whitewash, and it's
14:09
not seen like that at all in the mainstream. But again here we have
14:15
a quote from former US President then Joe Biden stating in two thousand and nine
14:20
that Russia over the last decade or so has used another foreign policy weapon.
14:24
It uses corruption as a tool of coercion to keep Ukraine vulnerable and dependent.
14:31
So he's talking about reform with that in mind. I think that's very pertinent.
14:35
It shows how long pushing Ukraine to the fore has been part of the
14:39
agenda with which to destabilize Russia. But also it gives an insight into certainly
14:46
to Mike's last segment, as to why actions of people like Victor Olbanner are
14:50
so well resisted, and on Monday's News Brian showed a brief mention of the
14:56
Telegraph article that said that Ukraine was to be told it's too corrupt to join
15:01
NATO. So I thought we'd just go through the background to that and look
15:05
at the NATO website as it was yesterday during of course the something that Mike's
15:11
mentioned, but in particular relations with Ukraine and how this suits the other organizations
15:18
that are part of NATO at the moment. So they say that the situation
15:22
is regularly addressed through the Annual National Program the ANP, NATO will be in
15:28
a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree
15:31
and conditions are met so effectively, it's always the sort of moveable feast and
15:37
Ukraine are constantly led to believe that they will absolutely become a member of NATO,
15:41
but it's not quite clear when so specifically, they talk about reforms needing
15:46
to happen relating to good governance, the fight against corruption, the rule of
15:50
law, human rights, and the security and defense sector in accordance with Euroatlantic
15:56
principles. And standards. So just to conclude, it seems very much that
16:00
the tone of the summit now, of course is that you weapons will continue
16:04
to pour into Ukraine, and it suits NATO and allies and certainly the sort
16:11
of EU block very well to continue to be able to do this, because
16:15
of course, if if Ukraine were a member of NATO, that would absolutely
16:18
change the situation for all the other members of NATO due to Article five,
16:23
which Mark again was explaining about on Monday. So to keep Russia at arm's
16:29
length by a proxy war is of benefit to all the states that are currently
16:33
doing at that at the moment, and of course to the defense industry.
16:37
So it's very hard to see how that will change and certainly something that will
16:41
be interested to see developers. The week goes on. Thank you Charles,
16:45
Thank you Vanessa. Let's come on to Gaza then, and well the Lancet
16:48
has been publishing some information on death statistics. Yeah, I mean, I'm
16:55
very much focused on Gaza today and all my reports because the IOF brutality and
17:00
savagery has increased exponentially across the enclove and areas are being re invaded, rebombarded
17:11
since people have actually returned to already bombarded areas considered to be safe after the
17:18
withdrawal of the Israeli forces. So this came out. It was published on
17:23
the fifth. Counting the dead in Gaza is difficult but essential. So let's
17:29
have a look at what it actually says. It's a relatively short report,
17:34
so it talks about the armed conflicts that have indirect health implications beyond the direct
17:40
harm from violence. Even if the conflict ends immediately, there will continue to
17:45
be many in direct deaths in the coming months and years from causes such as
17:49
reproductive, communicable and non communicable diseases. The total death toll is expected to
17:56
be large given the intensity of the conflict. Destroyed healthcare infrastructure, severe shortages.
18:03
I mean it's not exactly just severe shortages, they are being deliberately starved,
18:10
the shortage of water and shelter. Shelter has of course been destroyed.
18:14
Also, water plants have been destroyed, processing plants have been destroyed, the
18:18
population's inability to flee to safe places, and the loss of funding to UNAH,
18:25
one of the very few humanitarian organizations still active in the Gaza strip,
18:29
and of course we know it isn't still active because Israel has prevented any activity
18:33
by Unrah inside Gaza. It goes on to say, in recent conflicts,
18:40
such indirect deaths range from three to fifteen times the number of direct deaths.
18:45
Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths put one direct death to the thirty
18:51
seven or let's say, thirty eight thousand deaths reported. It's not implausible to
18:56
estimate that up to one hundred and eighty six thousand or even more deaths could
19:02
be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza, and bearing in mind at least
19:07
fifty percent of that number will probably be children. Using the twenty twenty two
19:11
Gaza Strip population estimate of two point three million, this would translate to seven
19:18
point nine of the total population in the Garza Strip. And a report from
19:22
February the seventh, twenty twenty four, at the time when the direct death
19:25
or was twenty eight thousand, estimated that without a ceasefire there would be between
19:30
fifty eight point two two thousand deaths without an academic or escalation and eighty five
19:37
thousand, seven hundred and fifty deaths if both occurred by August six, twenty
19:41
twenty four. I mean horrifying numbers, and actually, funnily enough, there
19:48
have been a state of videos from British Palestinian doctors in particular who've managed to
19:53
enter Gaza and who are working in the decimated hospital systems. This is one
20:00
doctor, doctor Ahmed, who's working at the al Axa Hospital in Darryl Bella,
20:04
which is another area that was relatively safe for about a week or so
20:10
and is now under heavy artillery fires. So let's just have a look at
20:14
whether his testimony burns out what the lancer has said, this is especially poignant
20:22
and hard to speak about, you know, given what happened yesterday. There
20:26
was a bombing of one of the schools and we had child after child after
20:32
child get brought into the resuscitation room with different extensive of traumatic injury standing over
20:40
one child intubated with a depressed skull fracture, another with the shaft of injury
20:44
probably ten years old, so severe that we could see an exposed kidney and
20:49
likely a transacted spinal cord, trying to rush them to the o R to
20:55
salvage what we could, and then in the backdrop, as a pediatrician,
20:59
I see small children sitting in the corner with lesser physical traumatic injuries, but
21:03
no doubt witnessing death and destruction and dying in a way that their little brains
21:08
and could never be capable of coping with. And so the bleeding has to
21:15
stop, the bombs have to stop, and access to all types of humanitarian
21:21
have to be allowed. You know, if there's any doubt from anybody whether
21:23
or not humanitarian aid has been allowed, I can promise you the answer is
21:26
no. The number is underestimated. And the reason I say this as a
21:32
medical professional, this ice you. Where I work today is full of DKA
21:36
patients, diabetic patients who get a very treatable disease, but they're dying of
21:38
the most simple thing because the insulin is unavailable because they are not allowed to
21:42
bring it in and refrigeration is gone. There are people dying of chronic as
21:47
many amputees as they are from the trauma. There's amputies of diabetes uncontrolled,
21:51
and these people will be permanently disabled after this. For the numbers are vastly
21:55
hot. I would say four or five, six times higher easily. I'm
22:00
sorry. I think he was actually from the US, and he mentioned that
22:03
he brought suit around six suitcases full of medicines that had been donated. All
22:10
of them were seized by the Israeli authorities. Then I just wanted to point
22:15
out that in the last twenty four hours, Israel has bombarded children's football match
22:19
in the Al Audo School in Central Gaza in fron Unis. So let's just
22:25
have a look at the video. There are distressing themes in this video.
22:30
Yeah, that's people at least killed in that attack and dozens more injured.
23:04
No terrorists, just kids trying to unwind and play football. And I just
23:10
wanted to point out you mentioned the demonization of Russia in Ukraine, and we
23:17
have a perfect example when it comes to actually holding Israel to account for the
23:22
crimes that is obviously committing. This is Kirstarmer's response, and on the other
23:27
side is his immediate demonization of Russia over the alleged bombing in Ukraine. Let's
23:34
just roll this. I don't think is wise. And this is you know,
23:40
we're always being asked to do. This is for politicians to sit looking
23:45
at clips on social media or on programs and forming instant judgments about whether it's
23:51
a breach of this law or had that doesn't seem to be wise, but
23:57
when it comes to Russia are perfectly acceptable extraordinary hypocrisy. Indeed, indeed,
24:04
you don't really know what to say about that. Okay, thank you,
24:08
Vanessa. Okay, if you like what the UK Column does you would like
24:12
to support us, the place to go is support dot UK column dot org
24:15
options to help us out there. We do need your support, so if
24:19
you can help, please do. But whether or not you choose to do
24:25
that, please do share material. We are being centered on the various platforms,
24:29
the Facebook being the latest of them, and so we need your help
24:33
to get the reach that the algorithms will not provide, so if you can
24:37
help us with that, that would be great too. And please do pick
24:41
something up at the UK column shop if you would like to not least your
24:45
life in their hands. Which many people in the chat box have noticed is
24:48
sitting on the shelf behind Charles there, so thank you very much for that,
24:52
Charles. But Charles, tomorrow at one pm you are interviewing Laura Damaray.
24:59
Is that how you provides her name? Well? I was unsure as
25:03
well, but no, it's Demiray. Laura Demiray is a registered nurse in
25:07
Idaho. She is absolutely a ball of energy and now wisdom. She's been
25:12
effectively applying the principles that are set out in the Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates
25:18
and using into position the practice of interposition. And she's been approaching county boards
25:25
and effectively getting legislation put in place or policies changed according to stopping mRNA COVID
25:33
vaccines from harming people. And this is because of what she saw working in
25:37
the care sector very early on in twenty twenty and she was absolutely appalled.
25:42
And since she's gone out and done something on her own, well, I'm
25:47
obviously as part of a large network. She's gone off her backside and done
25:51
it. And it's a very very impressive story of how to take on the
25:53
authorities and succeed. So I really would encourage people to tune in and find
25:57
out how to get amongst it. Brilliant. Thank you, Charles. And
26:03
another reminder of a dead for your Darry which is Saturday, the nineteenth of
26:07
October. The place is Bristol and we will be really live that day and
26:12
so we do encourage well as soon as we make the details available of it
26:18
for it, which will be very very soon now, we encourage you to
26:21
come along and join us for that. Now, the question is change.
26:26
This is what Keir Starmer says we're going to see. And the first change
26:32
perhaps is the latest buzzwords of the day from the Labor government and that is
26:37
mission driven government. So let's just I'm sorry to do this to you,
26:41
but let's just have a listen to very briefly Ed Milliband talking about mission driven
26:47
government. The government's mission is clean power by twenty thirty. We are a
26:52
department of the brightest and the best driving that mission. And as part of
26:56
that, I'm delighted to say that we've recruited christa former Chief executive of the
27:00
Climate Change Committee, widely admired and respected around the world, to lead the
27:07
mission. Chris, welcome, Thank you so much for doing this. Well,
27:11
thank you for having me. I mean it's the opportunity of a lifetime,
27:14
and I mean that we are going to get this mission done. It
27:17
is the gateway to the building arbanization of this economy and I couldn't resist it.
27:21
I'm so pleased to be here. That's what we mean by mission driven
27:23
government. So there you go, the brightest and the best. I hope
27:32
everybody find the humor in that. But let's have a look and see.
27:37
This is the man that we just saw on screen with Milliband, Chris Stark,
27:41
head of Mission Control for Greenpop, sorry, head of Mission Control for
27:45
Clean par twenty thirty. This is the new organization they're setting up. They're
27:48
calling it Mission Control for Clean Par. We have no details exactly what that
27:53
means just yet, but let's look at the some of the words from the
27:57
press release. Under Chris stark'sleadership, a top team of energy experts will break
28:02
down barriers and accelerate progress on energy projects. Mission Control will be a one
28:07
stop shop, bringing together a top team of industry experts and officials to troubleshooting,
28:11
negotiate, and clear the way for energy projects. But Chris Stark isn't
28:18
just the new head of Mission Control for Clean Power. He's also the head
28:22
of the Carbon Trust, who work with all kinds of organizations. GSK is
28:26
just one of them, many many other organizations to try and help them meet
28:30
their carbon targets. So, Charles, I don't know what you make of
28:36
that, but we both thought that Ed miller Bands video clip was well,
28:42
frankly hilarious, all right. It nice to see him again, isn't it.
28:49
I think I mean that the press release sounded a little bit like it
28:55
was written in nineteen ninety seven and it's been sort of kept in a drawer
28:56
somewhere to be brought out now. But I think really the more serious point
29:02
to be drawn out of it that is now that the suggestion exactly like you
29:06
say, we're talking about change, talking about sort of mission, need government,
29:07
all this kind of thing, but we're now led to believe that climate
29:14
and energy are completely inextricably linked, and that everything that concerns energy also concerns
29:22
climate, which of course means that we never in fact examine any of the
29:26
science behind the suggestion that either the climate is changing or that it's changing for
29:30
the worse, or that we have anything to do with the fact that it
29:33
is changing. And the area that I'm going to talk about now, which
29:37
is an immediate announcement. You think of all the things they could have talked
29:40
about, but the one thing that was pushed out hard was onshore wind and
29:45
a policy statement on onshore wind, which we'll just put on screen now from
29:49
the Department for Energy Security and Net zero leveling up, and of course the
29:56
Treasury very significantly because all this is about money. But within the policy statement
30:03
on onshore Wind, they say they're going to be delivering our clean power mission
30:08
and it will help boost Britain's energy independence, save money on energy bills,
30:14
support high skilled jobs and there we go tackle the climate crisis. Quite how
30:18
is something that they don't tend to articulate particularly well. Now there's quite a
30:23
bit of detail to go into here which is very significant, but it does
30:26
bear close scrutiny because of the ramifications. So that what they say is that
30:32
currently planning policy includes two tests set out in footnotes fifty seven and fifty eight
30:37
to paragraph of the National Planning Policy Framework that apply to onshore Wind. Together
30:42
they say that development can only be considered acceptable either a in areas allocated in
30:49
a development plan or through local development orders, neighborhood development orders and community right
30:56
to build orders. This sets a higher bar than is set for other forms
31:00
of development. So whilst that might seem out of kilter in effect, and
31:07
that it is making a special situation for wind turbines, that there is of
31:12
course a good reason for that, which is their enormous stature, untightenliness and
31:18
all the infrastructure that's required to put them up and make them work, and
31:22
then be with the now exception of proposals brought forward by neighborhood development orders and
31:26
community right to build orders where the proposal has proved community support, well,
31:33
how exactly is that accurately measured? In practice? This has often been interpreted
31:38
to mean that any opposition means the proposal cannot be considered acceptable. So that's
31:44
what they want to change. And they've gone on to say these policy tests
31:48
no longer apply. The removal of these tests from planning policy means that onshore
31:52
wind applications will be treated in the same way as other energy development proposals.
31:56
Now that should set alarm bells ringing. We've reported enough now on the approach
32:02
to using vast tracts of land for in particular solar battery energy storage systems,
32:09
and in fact specifically the issue of using best and most ersatile farmland, which
32:15
of course should not ever be part of the program. But that's very much
32:20
crept in. So they go on to say on the on the changes that
32:27
the extract they use that they say that the planning authority should now not require
32:32
applicants to demonstrate the overall need for renewable or low carbon energy and recognize that
32:37
even small scale projects provide a valuable contribution to significant cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
32:44
Now, this is very significant. So the specific technology that somebody is actually
32:49
intending to put out there doesn't effectively need to be audited at all, doesn't
32:52
doesn't need to be examined because it's simply the principle that using a technology that's
32:58
generally recognized as being green or environmentally friendly or renewable is good enough and therefore
33:02
it should be allowed to go ahead. That's a terrible precedent to set,
33:07
I would argue a very dangerous one. And then the second point is they
33:12
say that they will approve the application if its impacts are or can be made
33:16
acceptable. Well, again, there's an awful lot of room for maneuver there
33:22
in exactly what that might be translated to mean. But nevertheless, once suitable
33:25
areas for renewable and low carbon energy have been identified in plans, local planning
33:30
authorities should expect subsequent applications for commercial scale projects outside these areas to demonstrate that
33:37
the proposed location meets the criteria used in iding suitable. So again, effectively
33:45
that once the president, people will be able to do more or less as
33:50
they please. Now, the significant point to make with this is that they're
33:52
trying to encourage new development, but of course they're at a stroke forgetting about
33:57
all the wind turbines that do exist, and of course the sort of end
34:00
of life process for it, which we see a great deal of inconsistency in.
34:06
And we'll just look at a paper from Scotland, the Future of onshore
34:09
wind Decommissioning in Scotland. An awful lot of wind power set out all over
34:15
Scotland over the last few decades, a lot of which is coming to what's
34:19
regarded as end of life, and really what is the plan for that?
34:22
And we have the National Grid here effectively trying to fudge the situation and create
34:29
a story that's really not quite true. So they asked the question can wind
34:34
turbine blades be recycled? And I've entitled this not so Green because they say
34:39
that for a form of energy to be considered truly green, where it has
34:44
a zero or less than zero impact on the environment across its lifespan in terms
34:47
of waste and emissions, it's important also to consider its end of life environmental
34:52
impact. So therefore, for wind turbines, what does that mean. Whilst
34:57
it's partially true that can't be recycled, manufacturers and operators are going to great
35:02
lengths to ensure they are ultimately as sustainable as possible, finding ways to either
35:07
recycle, reuse, or rebuild them using recyclable materials in the future. The
35:13
subtext there is they haven't worked out how to do it, they're not doing
35:15
it, and so things are basically being dug into the ground. Fiberglass here
35:21
we go. Fiberglass is not totally recyclable. It's non biodegradable, made up
35:23
of composite, which means it's extremely difficult to process the point of recycling.
35:29
Instead, it's usually discarded as waste at landfills or incinerated. Now, the
35:35
key point with this, of course, is how does it actually manifest in
35:39
the structure itself. But they go on to say that whilst they're treated as
35:44
waste, not all of them are destined to landfill, and that some are
35:46
finding innovative ways to recycle. But is that really the case? And I
35:51
thought, we just look at an article from Power Technology and describing it as
35:55
winds Dirty Secret, in which they say materials are problematic, and they get
36:00
to the heart of it, which is effectively that having been designed to withstand
36:05
extreme weather conditions, the resin epoxy resin is durable and difficult to break down.
36:09
The tough coating makes it near impossible to separate the materials comprising a blade.
36:14
Separating the fibers from the polymer using high temperature results in the degradation of
36:17
the plastic parts and damage to the glass fibers. So the point with that
36:22
is that because these fibers and coatings are over the other materials that might on
36:28
their own be described as recyclable, they're not recyclable because of what they're covered
36:31
in. So this is again, as I say, making what they're calling
36:37
clean power synonymous with climate change is effectively to completely duct the issue now with
36:43
the changes in planning policy of whether or not something should go there in the
36:45
first place because it does what it says it's going to do, and also
36:49
how it can be disposed of, and if they're prepared to do this with
36:52
wind, then we can consider that all the battery storage setups and all the
36:55
rest of it's going to go all over the country will have the same sort
36:59
of slipshot as stut applied. Indeed, thank you, thank you. No,
37:02
let's go back to Gaza, then Vanessa, and well the question is
37:07
what happens when the Israeli military gets bored? Yeah, this is a new
37:12
article again in plus ninety seven to two mag which is an Israeli media outlets,
37:17
the headline I'm bored, so I shoot the Israeli Army's approval of free
37:22
for all violence in Gaza. Israeli soldiers describe the near total absence of firing
37:28
regulations in the Garza War, with troops shooting as they please, setting homes
37:32
ablaze, and leaving corpses on the streets. So let's see what it says.
37:37
It's a very long article. I do recommend people find it. It's
37:42
not behind a paywall, and it'll be in the show notes. Six sources
37:46
gave testimony to ninety seven to two recounted how Israeli soldiers routinely executed Palestinian civilians
37:54
simply because they entered an area that the military defined the kill zone. Effectively,
38:01
the testimonies paint a picture of a landscape littered with civilian corpses, which
38:06
are left to rot or be eaten by stray animals. The army only hides
38:09
them from view ahead of the arrival of International eight convoys. Two of the
38:15
soldiers also testified to a systematic policy of setting Palestinian homes and fire after occupying
38:22
them. And if you go to TikTok you can find multiple videos testifying to
38:28
this. And here is just one very quick example that was put on telegram
38:32
yesterday. So if we just show this one, if they haven't nun that
38:52
basically this is entertainment, and that includes also the detonating of higher areas,
39:00
including schools and mosques and hospitals and so on. So continuing with the article,
39:06
there was total freedom of action, said be another soldier who served in
39:09
the Regular Forces in guards of the months, including in his battalion's command center.
39:15
If there is even a feeling of threat, there is no need to
39:19
explain. You just shoot. When soldiers see someone approaching, it is permissible
39:22
to shoot at their center of mass, their body, not into the air.
39:27
He continued, it's permissible to shoot everyone, a young girl or an
39:31
old woman, And continuing again a explained that shooting at hospitals, clinics,
39:37
schools, religious institutions and buildings of international organizations required higher authorization, but in
39:45
practice I can count on one hand the case is where we were told not
39:50
to shoot, even with sensitive things like schools. Approval feels like only a
39:54
formality. In general, A continued the spirit and the operations and was shoot
40:00
first and ask questions later. That was the consensus. No one will shed
40:05
a tear if we flatten the house when there was no need, or if
40:08
we shoot someone we didn't have to. I mean, this is just extraordinary.
40:15
And then they go on to talk about the fact that before humanitarian convoys
40:19
arrive, so this is foreign humanitarian convoys. S noted that the bodies are
40:23
removed. A D nine caterpillar bulldozer goes down with a tank and clears the
40:30
area of corpses, buries them under the rubble and flips them aside so the
40:35
convoys don't see it, so that images of people in advanced stages of decay
40:40
don't come out. He described, I saw a lot of Palestinian civilians,
40:45
families, women, children. S continued, there are more fatalities than are
40:50
reported. We are in a small area. Every day at least one or
40:53
two civilians are killed because they walked into a no go area. Or a
40:58
kill zone. I don't know who is a terrorist and who is not,
41:01
but most of them did not carry weapons. And yesterday, basically what is
41:07
a snuff video was released by Channel fourteen in Israel showing the kind of Unit
41:14
eight two hundred pipes carrying out a drone strike on two children easily under the
41:20
age of twelve. I would say, just looking at the video, one
41:23
was injured trying to make it to safety. The other is clearly dead in
41:28
the red T shirt. And let's just roll this. Mlis year she was
41:38
just to look for they had a hamal because it's and mister king gamimu cam
41:55
gami musas gamil is jun la the marcav supported. I mean, you know
42:16
this is just summer re execution of anything that moves basically in Gaza. It's
42:22
just idiots. Okay, well, indeed, let's move on then, Charles
42:30
to back to Europe and spears. Thanks Mike. Yes, the announcement by
42:37
the European Space Agency of what they're calling a successful launch of the Ariane six
42:44
launcher. Now this, interestingly, this is prior to this, there's been
42:47
a widespread report in the mainstream press about a crisis amongst in sort of the
42:54
launching capabilities, which, bearing in mind, have been doing this since nineteen
42:59
fifty seven, does seem quite extraordinary. But nonetheless, this is the picture
43:01
on the right of the Arian six, which effectively has a great payload and
43:06
can take satellites up into space. Now we've spoken about this to an extent
43:15
recently, especially the militarization of space, and I think I just want to
43:20
join some of the dots on this. Now. One contentious thing, bearing
43:24
in mind this is being held it as a sort of European triumph. Is
43:28
that just a couple of weeks previously the meteorological capability of Europe, which was
43:32
due to be launched by the Arian technology, has in fact switched to go
43:38
to SpaceX. So there's been a few upside down smiles about this the Metio
43:45
SAT. Here we see the satellite to be launched with SpaceX. And the
43:49
reason this is relevant is because of all the various links to defense. So
43:53
I've called this climate and defense. And this is just from the meteorological website
43:59
saying that it's it's the first European sounding satellite in a geostationary orbit and it'll
44:04
bring a revolution for weather forecasting. And climate monitoring in Europe and Africa and
44:08
make it possible for the first time to observe the full life cycle of a
44:12
convective storm from space. Well, I don't think I'm the only person who
44:15
thinks that there might be a bit more to it than that, because weathering,
44:21
sorry, weather forecasting and monitoring systems are already fairly sophisticated. So it
44:27
does look rather as though there's another gender at play, and that follows the
44:31
previous segment. So from the European Commission going back a few years, this
44:37
gives the sort of genesis on the fundraising side of it, and talk about
44:42
the space sector being boosted by investment of two hundred million euros coming in on
44:46
the financing side of it, and of course this as always is the critical
44:51
part. So when we look at the Arianne Group website and we see their
44:55
shareholders, which are air Bus and Saffron, it describes that they're equally owned
45:01
by the two groups and that Ariane Group houses the entire scope of their civil
45:07
and military launcher activities and competencies in a single coherent company. Well again that
45:15
should, I believe give some cause for concern, but especially when we consider
45:22
our own Space Command UK Space Command and exactly what they're up to and what
45:28
the influences are there. They describe themselves as being or rather having a mission
45:34
to protect and defend UK and allied interest in from and to space, and
45:40
on their page they refer to Skynet being the mod Satellite Communications Capability, a
45:47
family of military communications satellites which provide strategic communications services to the Armed Forces and
45:53
its allies, and Skynet five with six coming is the most recent generation of
45:59
the UK military satellites. But of course what they don't mention is that it
46:05
is Northrop Grumman and indeed Airbus that are effectively enabling this, And of course
46:10
we now know that Airbus certainly has links on the European side of it to
46:15
the Ariane project, so that in effect all tentacles cover all bases and that
46:22
definitely does have implications for the UK defense side of it. To go into
46:30
greater detail on this, I would recommend that you go back to twenty twenty
46:32
and look at David Ellis's report specifically on Sky to get a better idea of
46:38
that. But the other thing I was talking about really was climate and defense,
46:43
and this idea that climate change is increasing the likelihood of conflict around the
46:51
world, and therefore to put out technology into space with the specific or at
46:57
least the declared purpose of monotor are in climate and weather, but in actual
47:01
fact finding that every single time it links back to defense is becoming a sort
47:07
of a well worn path now. And just to highlight what I mean,
47:12
I will just point to an announcement made in May which is to do with
47:16
nine million pound funding for satellite instruments to monitor the climate. This is from
47:21
the UK Space Agency. And then we look at the detail and we talk
47:24
about the Earth Explorers program includes missions such as the European Japanese EarthCare due to
47:30
launch later this month, to improve the reliability of climate predictions and weather forecasts
47:35
more than decade in the making. EarthCare has significant UK contributions from Airbus Defense
47:38
and Space UK and of course taale Zelina Space UK to well known defense entity.
47:45
So one might ask the question, what exactly is it that the defense
47:50
industry wants to know about the weather that is so actively and aggressively pursuing these
47:55
sorts of initiatives, or is there much more to it than that. So
47:59
this is an area that seems to be very much developing, and I think
48:02
one that we, you know, we must look into further as and when
48:07
the time comes. But of course also it's one that has very much has
48:10
a bearing on the the sort of accusations against Russia with regard to all their
48:15
various capabilities, not least nuclear. And just very briefly, Charles, do
48:21
you think what are we looking at here that there's that old document from the
48:23
US military about owning them owning the weather for military purposes and warfare purposes?
48:30
Is this Do you think this is potentially linked to assessing how they are owning
48:35
the weather, looking at how they're attempting to affect weather on battlefields. Yeah,
48:42
I mean, I think that's a very good question. And when I
48:44
when I did last deal with this issue of the militarization of space, is
48:46
exactly what I did. Look at some of the some of the sort of
48:50
treaties and various bits of legislation that do concern that. But of course,
48:53
like so many of these things, how these how exactly it's interpreted, and
48:59
what people are able to draw from it and decide what they can and can't
49:02
do is always a sort of raft of contradictions as people interpret it however they
49:10
like to. So yes, I mean, good question, and I'm not
49:14
absolutely sure where it will go, but it does look like, yeah,
49:17
you certainly using where they're using space as a tool of war is absolutely on
49:23
the agenda. Yes, okay, thank you, and Vanessa, let's come
49:27
back to you. And the question of prisoners that are in Israel Pastinian prisoners.
49:35
Yeah, I mean, bear in mind, we only ever hear about
49:37
the I think it's around one hundred and twenty now hostages inside Gaza. We
49:43
never hear about the nine thousand, six hundred Palestinian hostages held in administrative detention
49:50
or in military jails in the occupied territories, So that's without the potential.
49:57
I think I've seen numbers around nine thousand also arrested from inside Gaza, and
50:02
many of those are still in arbitrary detention. This is a recent report by
50:09
EUROMAD human rights organization, killing, torture and injections of unknown substances. The
50:15
international community must act on Israeli violations of Gaza detainees, and of course that
50:21
includes sexual abuse, rape, torture by electrical methods and so on. And
50:29
this just absolutely shocked me when this sort of came across the media in the
50:35
last two days. Moers as a by it from Bethlehem in the Occupied Territories,
50:39
was arrested nine months ago. In just release and there you see him
50:45
on the left as a boxer. He was a sportsman and a boxer.
50:49
And the other photo is his release and basically the Palestinian Prisoners Club put out
50:57
a short statement. The occupation released the prisoner Mozares after nine months of detention
51:02
where he was subjected to a systematic assassination attempt. They did try to kill
51:07
him. During his time in offer prison. He faced systematic and brutal assaults
51:12
that included the breaking of all his limbs visible in the circulating videos, and
51:16
he was left without treatment until his liberation. So I put together a little
51:22
compilation of the videos that have been circulating in the last twenty four hours.
51:27
And and really, you know, every day we see things that shockers and
51:30
horrifiers in Gaza, but this really got me. So if we can just
51:35
play this city in until you were sure, as your mum, you did
52:24
them what I'm saying you did them. And I just wanted people to remember
52:35
the videos, the multiple videos and photos of released hostages from Gaza and to
52:39
note the difference here, I think was one of the first hostage releases.
52:45
You can see basically the resistance forces. You can see that the hostages are
52:50
in good health and that they have good relationships with their captors who kept them
52:54
safe under Zionist bombardment. All of them were given food, water, even
53:02
though Palestinians were starving and without water, you know, I mean, it's
53:08
so obvious the difference, And I really want to recommend people watch this interview
53:15
that Mike and I did a few days ago with Professor David Miller, who
53:22
goes into enormous depth, I mean, absolutely blew my mind over certain aspects
53:29
of the Zionist movement in Britain and the extent to which they have infiltrated all
53:34
sectors of British society and are influencing many of the movements that are manipulating public
53:43
opinion in the UK. Please do watch it on the basis of the report
53:46
that I've also just made about the brutality and the savagery of what is a
53:53
genocide or ethno supremacist movement. Yes, Vanessa, thank you very much for
54:00
that. So okay, let's come back to the UK. And well,
54:06
Wes Streeting is our new Health secretary, so let's bring him on screen because
54:13
he's talking about what is the future for the health service in the UK.
54:19
And just as I read through this, just think about this. This is
54:22
a labor politician apparently, so he mak making it. I've missed, I've
54:29
mislabeled this, So I do apologize for the mislabeling of these graphics. I
54:35
haven't done and you've forgotten something this morning. But anyway, this is West
54:38
treating. So he said, I want to end the begging ball culture where
54:43
the Health Secretary only ever goes to the Treasury to ask for more money.
54:46
I want to deliver the treasury billions of pounds of economic growth. So this
54:51
is what he's talking about, for the health service becoming a driver of economic
54:54
growth. The government's agenda for health and social care can help drag er economy
55:00
out of the sluggish productivity and poor growth of recent years. We will make
55:05
Britain a powerhouse for life sciences and medical technology. So when care Starmer's talking
55:09
about change, well, Debbi's been reporting on the fact that the Tory government
55:15
has been wanting to make Britain a powerhouse for life sciences, in medical technology
55:20
over the last dozen years, number of years anyway, and well nothing is
55:25
changing here another example of nothing changing. Streading goes on to say we can
55:30
develop modern treatments for patients and help get Britain's economy booming. He said the
55:36
NHS and social care are the biggest employers in most parts of our country.
55:40
They should be the engines of economic growth, giving opportunities in training and work
55:45
to local people as well as providing public services. When care, Starmer said
55:51
he would lead a mission driven government. So there's that term again that we
55:53
heard from Ed Milliband. When ker Starmer said he would lead a mission driven
55:58
government, that's what he meant, working together to shared mission. This government
56:02
will get Britain booming. So, Charles, I don't know what you think
56:07
about that, but it just struck me about how the Liver Party no longer
56:15
even nearly represents what the Liver Party once did. They don't, sorry thought
56:23
they don't, Mike, and I think you're absolutely right. It's an extraordinary
56:28
kind of contortion. But it does go back. I mean it does go
56:30
back to the to the nineteen forties, and it questions the whole genesis of
56:37
the NHS and all the resistance to it then, And I think that's something
56:42
that never should be forgotten, because of course it was only really with the
56:45
with the government control and all the safety and security that people were hoping for
56:52
in relation to their freedom. Where we sort of heard that before. But
56:57
no, absolutely not. Actually, I just might say that it seems like
57:00
such gobbledegook in a way, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been
57:04
Stoltenberg rather than where Streeting that had said it. But no, I mean
57:08
it's it's senseless. I suppose I'd be surprised those that did vote Labor.
57:15
I wonder what they make of it, I really do. It's yeah,
57:17
it seems very very much out of step. Yes, indeed, well,
57:22
don't worry. Stoltenberg is making another appearance, so although he does look a
57:24
bit like kir Starmer in a second. So I'm gonna apologize for not having
57:29
the the attribution correct on the graphics. But anyway, before we get there,
57:34
let's just talk about devolution. Because yesterday the well, all the Metro
57:39
mayors were gathered together at Dining Street. This is simply brilliant, says Peter
57:46
Stefanovich, Metro mayors at Dining Street to meet Prime Minister kir Starmer working together
57:52
to deliver a change the change our cities and country deserve so the Government in
57:58
their press Relea is talking about all the natural mayors coming together at Dining Street
58:01
to begin the process of shifting power out of Westminster through a major program of
58:07
devolution that will power up all country, sorry corners of the country. In
58:10
their first roundtable, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister will continue putting into
58:15
practice the government through the commitment for a reset in relationships between central and regional
58:21
governments, focusing on public service respect and collaboration. Leaders will come together to
58:27
discuss a new partnership approach and agree early actions needed to scale up devolution in
58:31
power regions to deliver change for their communities, helping to unlock economic growth and
58:37
tackle regional inequality. But as we've noticed already, they're not delivering change at
58:43
all. They're delivering the same policy agendas that we've seen under the Tory government.
58:49
The Deputy Prime Minister Reyner will also use the meeting. Did also use
58:52
the meeting to mark the beginning of the process of establishing local growth plans across
58:58
the country. Charles behind them had your life in their hands. If you
59:02
haven't got a copy of this yet, you need to get one because that
59:06
is showing the foundations of all this stuff that they are pushing through at the
59:09
moment. So let's bring the misattributed Yen Stoltenberg on screen. In fact,
59:16
Keir Starmer saying, my fundamental belief is that those with skin in the game
59:22
are the ones who know best what they need. That's why for many years
59:24
I've been in constant dialogue with Metro mayors across the country about what works for
59:30
their areas, and I will continue that now as Prime Minister. It's also
59:36
why I've made a priority to meet with all Metro mayors in my first week
59:38
of Prime Minister. By resetting these crucial relationships and putting more power in the
59:44
hands of local leaders, I'm determined to make sure they have the support they
59:47
need to play their part in delivering growth in every part of the country.
59:53
This devolution agenda is part and parcel of Agenda twenty one Jedny twenty thirty.
1:00:00
We shouldn't be surprised that we're seeing it being pursued vigorously by this Prime minister
1:00:07
and this government. We'll be reporting much more on this in the coming days
1:00:12
and weeks, so well, we've got to leave it there for today.
1:00:15
I'm going to say thank you very much to Vanessa and Charles for joining me
1:00:19
today. Thank you all for watching. We'll be back in a couple of
1:00:21
minutes if the UK called member for some extra but otherwise, don't forget the
1:00:27
interview at one pm tomorrow, and we'll be back for another news program at
1:00:30
one pm as usual on Friday. We'll see you then, Bye bye,