Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Wesley Smith: UK Correspondent on the significant boost in the defence spending

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Wesley Smith: UK Correspondent on the significant boost in the defence spending · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: And we're joined now by Wisley Smith, Hella, Whisley Mornige, Andrew,
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  Speaker 1: how are you very good? The big story right around
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  Speaker 1: the world is seeing that Kirstama wants to spit more
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  Speaker 1: on defense.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, if his intention was to make the
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  Speaker 2: nation sit up and listen, he certainly succeeded today. This speech,
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  Speaker 2: which I listened to live, sounded to say that the
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  Speaker 2: UK's on a war footing. He described Russia as a
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  Speaker 2: menace and said the UK needs a sharper focus on defense,
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  Speaker 2: enhancing intelligence budgets too. Probably no coincidence of cause Andrew
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  Speaker 2: that all this comes just ahead of his trip to
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  Speaker 2: Washington to meet President Trump, who has raised more than
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  Speaker 2: a few eyebrows with his recent comments on the Ukraine war,
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  Speaker 2: appearing somewhat warmer, should we say in his approach to
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  Speaker 2: Vladimir Putin. Well, Starmer spoke of his visits to Ukraine
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  Speaker 2: and how he felt personally affected by what he'd seen
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  Speaker 2: and said we must stand by its people. So he
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  Speaker 2: needs to show now he means business in Washington, but
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  Speaker 2: has a huge diplomatic to achieve. So he made a
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  Speaker 2: point of underlining the UK's decades long mutually supportive relationship
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  Speaker 2: with the US and said it must continue to go
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  Speaker 2: from strength to strength. So in the comments he pledged
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  Speaker 2: what he calls the biggest increase in defense spending since
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  Speaker 2: the end of the Cold War, thirteen point four billion
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  Speaker 2: pounds a year I guess around thirty billion New Zealand
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  Speaker 2: dollars from twenty to twenty seven. But on the day
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  Speaker 2: householders here had energy prices will rise again from April secure,
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  Speaker 2: Starmer said we all have to shoulder some of the
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  Speaker 2: burden through hard choices. Much of the funding will come
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  Speaker 2: at the cost of international aid, although that's a budget
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  Speaker 2: cut to almost half that very much to the disquiet
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  Speaker 2: of some who fear it will dentiur global reputation. He
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  Speaker 2: did say, however, he hoped it could eventually be restored.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, the squealing from aid agencies has you can
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  Speaker 1: hear it over here in New Zealand. That's for sure.
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  Speaker 1: They're really complaining about the whole thing. But at the
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  Speaker 1: same time, it has been a very long time when
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  Speaker 1: that any country has been on what you call war footing,
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  Speaker 1: and that war footing all through the ages has always
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  Speaker 1: meant hardship. So what interesting times we live in such
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  Speaker 1: interesting times had apparently there is a solid gold toilet
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  Speaker 1: seat worth what six million New Zealand dollars and it's
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  Speaker 1: now been stolen it.
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  Speaker 2: It was an art installation, fully functioning eighteen carrot solid
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  Speaker 2: gold toilet called America Make of that what you will
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  Speaker 2: by the artist Barizio Catalan. It was on display at
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  Speaker 2: the Blenham Palace, one of England's most lavish stately homes,
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  Speaker 2: birthplace of the wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill. Now that
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  Speaker 2: it's taken a while for this case to come to
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  Speaker 2: Oxford Crown Court, as the said gold's toilet seat disappeared
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  Speaker 2: back in September twenty nineteen, when ninety eight kilograms the
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  Speaker 2: gold alone was valued at two point eight million pounds.
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  Speaker 2: It's never been recovered. The court heard, it had most
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  Speaker 2: likely been split up into smaller amounts of gold. It's
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  Speaker 2: only been on display for a day when the overnight
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  Speaker 2: raid happened. Whoever removed it used sledge hammers which were
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  Speaker 2: left at the sea with water pouring out of the pipes.
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  Speaker 2: The entire operation, Andrew only took about five minutes well,
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  Speaker 2: the prosecution claimed. In a couple of days contact was
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  Speaker 2: made with a jeweler in London's famous Hatton Garden, and
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  Speaker 2: the court heard a lot of preparation must have happened
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  Speaker 2: before the raid and claimed one of the men accused
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  Speaker 2: of the theft had visited the exhibit and taken a
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  Speaker 2: photo just hours before that raid. What three men are
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  Speaker 2: up in court and the trial continues.
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  Speaker 1: Fantastic. When you have to go, you really have to go,
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  Speaker 1: and it seems and I thank you. That is Weizley Smith.
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  Speaker 1: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.
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  Speaker 2: Listen live to News Talks it Be from five am weekdays,
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  Speaker 2: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.