Latest / UK Column Radio / UK Column News - 4th June 2025

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UK Column News - 4th June 2025 · UK Column Radio

0:08
Good afternoon. It's just gone 1:00 on Wednesday
0:12
the 4th of June 2025. Welcome to UK Column News.
0:16
I'm your host, Charles Mallett, and joining me in the studio
0:18
today is Brian Gersh. Welcome to the programme, Brian.
0:21
Thank you. Brian's going to be analysing
0:23
the comments made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
0:27
as well as looking at the ground truth in Ukraine at the moment,
0:30
particularly following Operation Spider Web, as reported earlier
0:34
in the week. We're also going to be joined
0:36
remotely by Vanessa Beeley from Lebanon, who's going to be
0:39
scrutinising the murky affairs of the Gaza Humanitarian
0:44
Foundation, as well as looking at foreign fighters in Syria.
0:47
And we also have Sandy Adams on Remotelink from Somerset talking
0:52
about the Ocean Conference, access to what are called blue
0:55
spaces and indeed natural resources, as well as a look at
0:59
the most recent attack on the Kursh Bridge in Crimea.
1:02
But we're going to start with the Strategic Defence Review and
1:06
the situation is that we're all going to war.
1:09
At least that is without doubt the central message from the
1:12
defence review, which has been released on Monday.
1:15
Back in February, UK Column surmised that the content of the
1:18
review would be based on the suggestion that the country
1:21
faces an existential threat and that this, for the most part,
1:25
concerns what is consistently described as Russia's illegal
1:29
war of aggression against Ukraine.
1:32
There are nearly 80 references to the ongoing conflict in the
1:36
document, and this is what Keir Starmer had to say about it.
1:40
The moment has arrived to transform how we defend
1:44
ourselves and to renew our nation.
1:47
An investment in British pride and the British people.
1:51
A defence dividend that will be felt in the pockets of working
1:55
people and the prosperity of the country securing growth for
2:00
generations. To become part of a new contract
2:02
to unite the Kingdom. A new spirit of service flowing
2:06
from every part of society, from the supply lines to the front
2:10
lines. Everyone benefits.
2:13
Everyone playing their role, doing their duty to the nation
2:17
and to each other to preserve our way of life and the things
2:22
that we hold dear. Because when it comes to
2:25
security and renewal, nothing works unless we all work
2:30
together. There it is, and as there were a
2:35
Hollywood production, we'll just continue to look on screen at
2:39
the trailer that the governments put out.
2:41
Recently. The government, of course, has
2:43
been releasing several dramatic trailers of the Defence Review
2:47
and each containing the same fundamental tenets based on an
2:50
incorrect premise. The first first duty of
2:53
government, of course, is not, as the state would have it,
2:55
national security. It should be to protect the
2:57
powerless from the powerful. This review is very obviously a
3:02
product of its three key authors, they being George
3:05
Robertson, formerly Secretary General to NATO and a previous
3:09
Defence Secretary during the Blair years, Fiona Hill, former
3:13
member of the US Intelligence Architecture, possibly not
3:16
former, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
3:19
She's also a dedicated Russophobe, she has compared
3:22
Putin to Hitler in the past, and then Richard Barons, the former
3:27
Commander Joint Forces Command, with his own defence industry
3:30
consultancy and a valid interest in AI and space.
3:34
So there are plenty of conflicts of interest here and this will
3:37
be something that Mike Robinson will focus more on in Friday's
3:42
programme. Now in summary, or at least
3:46
regard with regard to the content of the review
3:49
summarised, which is far detailed to cover in any great
3:53
depth in the in the programme. The main points are put by the
3:58
government as being the move to war fighting readiness and this
4:03
draws directly on the integrated operating concept which has been
4:07
mentioned consistently on this programme.
4:09
Next, of course, with Robertson in mind, is the idea that it is
4:14
NATO first, with the review stating that the UK remains at
4:19
the forefront of NATO efforts to safeguard the Euro Atlantic
4:23
against growing Russian aggression in all domains,
4:26
providing the ultimate guarantee of UK and allied security in
4:30
declaring its nuclear deterrence to the alliance.
4:34
There's a lot more in the review on the nuclear issue and it's
4:38
made very clear that nuclear war is not now considered as being a
4:42
remote possibility. Indeed, and I quote, nuclear
4:46
deterrence can no longer be considered separately from the
4:49
wider strategic environment as described in Chapter 2.
4:53
Any future crisis or conflict in which the UK is engaged may
4:57
include nuclear armed or nuclear aspiring states willing to use
5:02
nuclear threats to compel or constrain UK and Allied decision
5:07
taking. And lastly is the idea that
5:10
defence, rather war is the product of what is being called
5:14
a whole society approach. And there's a sense of immediacy
5:17
here with the recommendation on education that to quote again to
5:23
quote the review, to meet the changing needs of the integrated
5:27
force, education must be whole force by default, single service
5:32
by exception. And they say by the end of 2026,
5:35
Defence must establish a career education pathway for the whole
5:39
force, regulars, reserves and civil service designed to
5:44
respond to the changing ways of warfare over time and with NATO
5:48
at its heart. End Quote.
5:49
So with recruitment and retention in mind, both of which
5:53
are are in a parlour state, as has been reported here many
5:56
times, There are initiatives such as improved investment in
5:59
housing, though nothing really, which suggests that the spectre
6:02
of conscription will fade away. And even though the message has
6:05
been one of we're not ready yet for the past three years, here's
6:09
Richard Barron's speaking about the apparent sense of urgency
6:13
and how the money gets spent. People have had this ambition,
6:18
genuinely held it previously, but how do we get from thinking
6:22
about it, wanting it, planning it to a more Ukraine like war
6:28
footing where these things are sort of racing through the
6:30
supply chain and the development and and getting out to the front
6:33
line. So I think there are a number of
6:35
things really in our, in our favour now.
6:37
And you're, and you're right that some of this thinking, it's
6:39
been around for a while now, it's just taken time to, to
6:43
gestate. The first reason this is
6:45
different is we live in a much more threatening world.
6:47
And so you probably don't have the luxury of trying to stay the
6:51
same. You've got to change to stay
6:53
safe and deter effectively. The second thing is we have the
6:57
experience of Ukraine and Ukraine is an illustration of
7:00
war in the digital age. It's not a perfect template for
7:03
how we would fight, but we've learnt lessons in military
7:06
technology and also in the industrial arrangements that you
7:10
need to make that work. Change to stay safe.
7:15
What? What do you make of it, Brian?
7:17
I think, I think Charles, it's a huge propaganda exercise.
7:21
I'm slightly cynical because I'm the age I am and I've seen a lot
7:24
of these defence reviews come and go.
7:27
They've all been a lot of words, glossy paper and at the end of
7:31
the review it's never been implemented fully.
7:34
So you end up with some improvements, but overall a
7:38
decline in the armed forces. And we've just been having a
7:42
look at some interesting statistics here.
7:44
Relax, it's from full fact, so it must be correct.
7:48
But essentially, if we look, the track record is a consistent
7:52
decline in U KS armed forces. We're at the point at the moment
7:58
where we're talking around about 71, possibly 73,000 people in
8:04
the in the Army. When I first came into the
8:08
military scene way back in 72 total personnel 371,000.
8:15
And I think for you, Charles, it was still up at 298.
8:20
And now we're in this pitiful situation where we can't put
8:23
troops on the ground. The reality is the success of
8:26
the Russians in the war in Ukraine has shaken this
8:30
government to its boots and they're now desperate to try and
8:35
pull U KS destroyed military. They they want to rabbit out of
8:40
the hat. So I think this is all words.
8:43
We will see some new equipment but my prediction is if we're
8:47
speaking in five years time, we'll be saying what has not
8:51
worked. Yeah, absolutely.
8:53
Thanks very much, Brian. And going back to Richard
8:55
Barnes, I mean, what what he mentions only obliquely is the
8:57
main driver of all of this, which causes the war industry.
9:00
Now the government that's put out several announcements about
9:02
specific funding initiatives across the whole of the UK,
9:05
which this map shows. Now there's much more to deal
9:08
with and we will doubtless talk about this much more in extra,
9:11
but I would like to leave you with this chart from the
9:14
Financial Times, which shows how the arms industry benefits and
9:17
has benefited over the past five years.
9:19
Now, if you're listening rather than watching, the upward trend
9:22
shown is completely out of kilter with all the with the all
9:25
share line shown at the bottom, which is barely moved by
9:28
comparison. And with the focus of the
9:30
messaging on the commercial collaboration, it would seem
9:33
reasonable to predict that this trend will continue and that
9:36
this investment will cause precisely the sorts of threats
9:39
which are alluded to to materialise and thus the circle
9:43
turn. So we'll we'll come back to that
9:45
in extra. But for now, we will go across
9:47
to Vanessa in Lebanon. And as I say, you're going to be
9:50
talking about the Gaza humanitarian foundation.
9:58
We've got no sign. Oh, that's.
10:02
All right, Vanessa. Sorry, Carry.
10:03
On. Am I back?
10:06
You are back. Am I there?
10:08
Oh, OK. Yeah, basically.
10:12
So this is the multi spectrum genocide that is being waged
10:16
against Palestinians in Gaza and of course in the West Bank.
10:21
And there has been this humanitarian aid complex
10:25
established to supplant the UNRWA agency that of course the
10:30
Zionists have been trying to eradicate for for a number of
10:34
years, which was the primary UN agency providing aid and food to
10:41
Palestinians in all areas of the world, even the areas where of
10:46
course they're living in diaspora and unable to return.
10:49
So if we could just have a quick look at the Washington Post
10:52
headline. US consulting firm quits Gaza
10:56
humanitarian aid efforts amid criticism And if we just have a
11:02
look at the text within the article On Friday, a leading US
11:06
management consulting firm hired last fall to help design the
11:10
programme and run its business operations, withdrew its team
11:13
operating on the ground in Tel Aviv.
11:16
A spokesperson for the firm, Austin Consulting Group, said
11:19
the company had terminated its contract with GHF and placed one
11:24
of the senior partners leading the project on leave pending an
11:28
internal review. And of course, one can say this
11:31
isn't terribly surprising when you look at the figures of those
11:35
that have been killed while they've been gathering to
11:40
receive the aid. So 102 so far killed and 490 now
11:47
up to almost 500 injured. And of course, what's been
11:50
happening is that there have been centres established that
11:54
are effectively being run, as we've talked about before, by
11:59
American private military contractors that are known as
12:03
military mercenaries. And I would recommend that
12:06
everybody does a deep dive into this article by the Grey Zone.
12:10
I'll just run through some of the main points that it makes.
12:14
Top Israeli lawmakers have accused the Zionist regime of
12:19
laundering millions through US humanitarian organisations and
12:24
private military contractors. As I said, as we've talked about
12:28
previously on UK column the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was
12:33
established in Switzerland in February supplanting on riot
12:38
received over 100 million from an undisclosed donor.
12:43
But the Israeli opposition member and former Deputy Prime
12:47
Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said that Mossad and the Israeli
12:52
Defence Ministry are covertly funding GHF.
12:57
So that gives an indication as as to entirely what this
13:01
organisation is determined to do, which of course is to
13:06
increase 1 the starvation levels in Gaza.
13:10
Because if we look at this map, which was embedded in the grey
13:14
zone article, the humanitarian Islands in Gaza plan interim
13:20
phase, you can see basically the red pins there demonstrate I
13:26
think there's only 1237 actual aid points.
13:30
And of course in northern Gaza, the majority of people have been
13:34
told to evacuate to a tiny area in the South.
13:39
So 2,000,000 Gazans basically being kettled into that smaller
13:44
area in the South there. And so those northern ones are
13:48
largely not doing anything. But what this is doing is
13:52
creating IDP camps, internally displaced people camps and then
13:59
providing the so called humanitarian aid points.
14:02
And again, if we look at this, so that first of all there has
14:07
to be security inspection during entry on the aid.
14:10
So that's one delay. Then you have the biometric
14:13
certificate. This again is what we talked
14:15
about, actual biometric surveillance of these IDP camps
14:21
and only the approved Palestinians will receive aid.
14:25
And then basically there's distribution to these IDP
14:29
cities, note the term city. So basically what this is all
14:33
doing is further corralling Gazans into smaller and smaller
14:39
ever shrinking concentration camps that are now literally
14:43
camps, refugee sites, internally displaced people camps.
14:47
Then the aid is provided, as we said, only to those that are
14:52
approved by these American private military contractors.
14:57
They have to go through a series of security measures to be
14:59
allowed to receive the aid. And then once the starving
15:02
people are basically in the lines to receive the aid and
15:06
chaos naturally breaks out because of the starvation levels
15:10
they've been forced to endure, the IDF is opening fire on them
15:15
and killing them because effectively they've been drawn
15:18
out into the open and they can be murdered wantonly by the
15:23
Israelis. So yet again, you know, anything
15:26
that that is described as aid by the Zionist entity or by its
15:31
allies in the UK, EU or US, it cannot be seen as such.
15:36
It can only be seen as a further element of of genocide against
15:43
the Palestinians. Very depressing.
15:47
Vanessa, thank you very much indeed.
15:49
And I should point out the link to the grey zone piece will be
15:52
in the show notes, as indeed it will be to everything else that
15:55
Vanessa's spoken about. Now, Brian, you've been
15:57
following what Marco Rubio has been up to recently.
16:01
I have and I know there's controversy around him and he's
16:05
not everybody's cup of tea, but I was listening to him speaking
16:09
to the American Compass organisation.
16:12
If you've never heard of that, I hadn't either.
16:14
But it's an organisation promoting family, community and
16:19
industry to to help underpin the nation.
16:24
We're talking about the USA of course, the nation's liberty and
16:28
prosperity. So this was their 5th annual
16:31
events. Let's have a listen to what
16:33
Rubio had to say. And then in 1989 and 199091, it
16:39
was my first years in in college and literally the entire world
16:44
just transformed my by for my very eyes.
16:46
Understand you grew up your whole life and like the whole
16:48
world is about the Soviet Union and all of a sudden the Soviet
16:50
Union no longer exists. My favourite memory of that is
16:54
that I was actually taking a course that fall and by a Soviet
16:57
expert at the, I think it's in Gainesville, FL.
17:02
And this poor guy's entire career came coming down over a
17:05
three month period as the Soviet Union collapsed.
17:07
It's like all these years of work, you have a PhD in Soviet
17:10
studies and now the Soviet doesn't exist anymore.
17:12
So I don't know what he did after that.
17:14
I need to check up on that guy because.
17:16
But anyways, the point is the whole world transformed and
17:20
there was this effusive exuberance, the belief that the
17:24
Cold War is over, we won, and now the entire world is going to
17:27
become just like US, free enterprise democracies.
17:31
This is a very idealistic thing to believe.
17:33
But here's the other conclusion they made.
17:36
And that is that everybody that it didn't, nationhood no longer
17:39
mattered when it came to economics, that right now the
17:42
world would no longer have borders.
17:44
It wouldn't matter where things were made.
17:46
What mattered is they were made in the most efficient place.
17:49
And it became mantra. And look, I think it became part
17:52
of Republican orthodoxy for a very long time and orthodoxy
17:54
that I came up in, which was, it's OK if productive capacity
17:58
moves to another country, because what that will do is it
18:01
will free up our workers to do work that's even more productive
18:04
and pays them more. It was the famous or the
18:07
infamous idea that who cares that you lost your job at a
18:10
factory? You're going to learn how to
18:11
code. And then you're going to be,
18:13
you're going to make a lot more money doing that.
18:15
What was completely unrealistic #1 and became incredibly
18:18
disruptive that that decision was made.
18:21
But here's the other implication of it.
18:22
It robbed the nation of its industrial capacity, of its
18:25
ability to make things. And its industrial capacity and
18:28
its ability to make things has two ramifications.
18:31
The first is it hurts your economy, it hurts your country.
18:34
It robs people of jobs. And the transition is not nearly
18:37
as easy. But it also ends up becoming
18:38
corrosive and destructive to communities.
18:41
And as a result, we had a Rust Belt and we had places that were
18:44
gutted. So what I found so interesting
18:49
about that talk is a lot of what he says is, of course, factually
18:53
correct. These things did happen.
18:55
There was a a focus on the global economy and for us and
18:59
other nation states productivity absolutely declined to the
19:04
extent that widespread poverty existed came into being in
19:09
America. It's happened in UK as well.
19:12
He talks about a plan for a world with no borders.
19:16
This sounds very familiar. I'm sure Sandy's will have
19:19
something to say about that in a minute and robbed of our
19:23
industrial capacity. So all these things he's
19:26
describing factually correct. This has certainly happened in
19:30
the US and it's happened in the West.
19:32
But then he's used that wonderful little phrase they
19:37
what he doesn't talk about is the people that actually created
19:40
the globalist policy that America followed or engaged
19:44
with, which caused all the problems in the 1st place.
19:47
So he's not talking about the United Nations even, he's not
19:50
talking about the World Economic Forum, he's not talking about
19:54
the Trilateral Commission. He's not mentioning any of the
19:58
organisations which not only created the policies he now says
20:03
destroyed America, they are still destroying America.
20:06
So let's have a listen to a little bit more of this.
20:11
All of a sudden, that company or that field vanished because it
20:14
moved somewhere else where it was cheaper to do, and those
20:16
jobs were gone and obviously became incredibly destructive,
20:19
not just for the United States, by the way, but for many nations
20:22
in the industrialised West. But the other thing it robbed us
20:25
of is the ability to make things, which is a national
20:28
security impediment impairment and a very significant 1.
20:33
And that's never changed. That's always been true.
20:36
And so today what you find is because of all those years of
20:39
neglect, because of the loss of industrial capacity, we didn't
20:42
just undermine our society, we didn't just undermine our
20:46
domestic economy. We've undermined our position in
20:49
the world. And what you will find, and what
20:51
we find even now is that increasingly on geopolitical
20:55
issue after geopolitical issue, it is access to raw material and
20:59
industrial capacity that is at the core both of the decisions
21:03
that we're making and the areas that we're prioritising.
21:07
Part of the decisions that were made were in the end, if
21:11
something is good for the global economy, that's really what
21:13
matters. Ultimately.
21:15
A lot of public policy decisions were made without the nation
21:18
state in mind. Rather, the decision was, is
21:20
this good for the global economy?
21:23
The other, which is more broad but I think also ties to
21:26
economic policy, is the following.
21:29
Part of the decisions that were made were in the end, if
21:32
something is good for the global economy, that's really what
21:35
matters. Ultimately, a lot of public
21:37
policy decisions were made without the nation state in
21:40
mind. Rather, the decision was is this
21:42
good for the global economy? So again, some very, very
21:47
interesting comments there. He's saying that the nation
21:50
state was basically overlooked for the global economy and this
21:57
has taken America into a dangerous place.
21:59
Notice he said that making things equals national security.
22:05
And here we are in UK where supposedly the government's
22:07
brought in a defence review. And what is it actually?
22:11
What's actually happening? Well, our ability to make steel
22:14
just about gone. Our ability to produce
22:16
munitions? Gone.
22:18
We need the Germans to help us produce barrels for weapons on
22:24
the battlefield. So our manufacturing absolutely
22:28
destroyed by successive governments, and that equals a
22:33
direct attack on national security.
22:35
So where does Rubio sit? Do I trust him?
22:38
No, I don't. If he starts to talk about the
22:41
people that have brought in these agendas, such as the World
22:44
Economic Forum, then we know he's on the right path.
22:48
If he doesn't, this is another complete distraction for the
22:51
American public. In this case, Sandy, I don't
22:54
know whether you've got a very quick comment on that.
22:58
Absolutely. I mean, every, everything that,
23:00
that we, we had has gone, everything's been lost.
23:04
And, and you know, as a, as a nation state, the UK has been
23:10
hollowed out from inside for a number of years.
23:13
And, and we know really who's behind that.
23:16
So I, I totally get what you're saying.
23:19
He's not to be trusted because he's not calling out the actors
23:22
involved. He's, he's just, he's just kind
23:25
of brushing over it. So, yeah, you're absolutely
23:30
right. We, we, everything is, is gone,
23:32
really, that we held dear. Yeah.
23:37
I think I, I, I've just going to talk today about the Ocean
23:43
Conference that's happening. And this is all part, part of
23:45
this big agenda that that is, is, is really taking everything
23:49
away from from us and putting it into corporate hands.
23:52
And that's what we're seeing. And that's really what Rubio was
23:55
talking out about. But he's not calling them out.
23:58
So, yeah, last month I covered David Attenborough's 99th
24:01
birthday and the launch of his new film Ocean, which he's
24:04
proudly shown to schools throughout the the the country
24:08
to get children involved in saving, saving the planet.
24:11
And he's he's, he's kind of lamenting that he's not going to
24:14
live to see his great work seen. And, you know, The thing is that
24:21
the film was released to coincide with the, with the
24:24
ocean conference. You know, he's, he's, he, he,
24:27
this is about the, the, the children going, you know, having
24:31
the, the, all this propaganda put into the schools.
24:34
But it's on the back of this ocean conference that's
24:37
happening in, in Nice next week. So really the conference is, is
24:43
being held in Nice. It's called the Ocean Conference
24:46
and it's really taking into account Goal 14 of the of the
24:54
Sustainable Development Goals. And it's all about conserving,
24:58
you know, conservation and sustainability.
25:00
This is what they're talking about, the use of the oceans,
25:03
the seas and marine resources or, you know, sustainable
25:07
development really. And what they're what they're
25:10
sort of going into is, is the targets that they're looking at
25:14
is reducing marine pollution, managing and protecting marine
25:18
ecosystems, minimising ocean acidification, regulating
25:22
overfishing, prohibiting farming, you know, harm on for
25:26
farming subsidies. And, you know, increasing
25:30
scientific knowledge and enhancing the conservation and
25:33
sustainable use of oceans through international law and
25:36
stopping the the plastic and all that kind of stuff.
25:39
And it all sounds great, doesn't it?
25:41
You know, it's who wouldn't agree with cleaning up the
25:44
oceans for for future generations.
25:47
And this is what's Sustainable Development 14 is proposing that
25:52
it's doing. But there's a, you know, it's,
25:55
it's a very like all the goals 14 is sold as a necessary
26:00
benefit to mankind. But there's also a darker side
26:04
to this and it's related to the financial aspect of ecosystems
26:08
through what is referred to as the blue economy, which involves
26:11
financializing the sea resource, you know, all the resources
26:14
under the sea and the seabed, rather than focusing solely on
26:18
the conservation and environmentalism side.
26:21
So there's always like what what they give with one hand, it's
26:24
all about wonderful stuff like cleaning up the oceans and
26:27
everything. But on the other side, we've got
26:30
this, this really this new economy that they're, they're
26:34
pulling out of a hat. So on the 7th and 8th of June,
26:38
the Blue Economy and Finance Forum are hosting a less
26:41
publicised event in Monaco at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
26:46
And this Foreman Forum is designated as AUN Ocean
26:50
Conference Special Event, and it aims to mobilise funding to
26:53
restore ocean health and accelerate the transition to a
26:56
sustainable and regenerative blue economy.
27:00
And Christine Lagarde is going to be speaking there, of course.
27:03
And so the blue economy is presented as a new model for
27:06
sustainable ocean based development.
27:08
It promotes ocean industries like offshore energy, marine
27:12
biotechnology, ecotourism and seabed mining, all under the
27:16
promise of green growth and climate resilience.
27:19
But in reality, it's a means of financializing, you know, the
27:23
ocean floor and the oceans and turning marine life, ecosystems
27:27
and even the seabed itself into a tradable economic asset.
27:32
The fight, You know, the valuable minerals of the seabed
27:35
are needed to fuel the 4th Industrial revolution, the green
27:38
economy. At the end of the day, that's
27:40
what they're doing. Through mechanisms like blue
27:43
bonds, ecosystem service valuations and carbon
27:46
offsetting, oceans are increasingly being absorbed into
27:50
the financial system. Nature is being replaced,
27:53
packaged and sold. And coastal mangroves become
27:56
carbon credits. Fish stocks become debt
27:59
instruments and, you know, ocean health becomes a, a line in, in
28:04
the whole ESG portfolios. So it's a kind of a seabed gold
28:09
rush really. And it's control over marine
28:12
resources that shifts from communities to banks, hedge
28:17
funds and multinational corporations.
28:20
So small fishing communities are being treated like a threat to
28:23
the environment, but big companies are being allowed to
28:26
expand like massive fish farms, huge offshore wind farms and
28:30
deep sea mining operations. So, you know, at the end of the
28:34
day, it's global organisations like the UN and the World Bank
28:38
and powerful charities are creating plans to divide up the
28:42
ocean. As a result, small Fisher
28:45
fisheries and fishermen and and smaller communities could be,
28:50
you know, that that all their activities could be made
28:52
illegal. And in, you know, a lot of it is
28:57
all about foreign debt or aid, you know, in return for these
29:00
nations to give up control of their own waters, known as
29:03
exclusive economic zones, Eezs, areas that could benefit, you
29:08
know, their own people. These are being sort of swapped
29:13
really for it was almost like a nature swap step for nature
29:18
swaps so that the the people don't actually have a say in all
29:22
this. It's, it's all being handed over
29:24
to big corporations. So I'm just want to look at the
29:29
closer look at the sponsors of this.
29:31
And, and of course, you know, you'll, you'll see that Prince
29:34
Albert of Monaco plays a pivotal role in these initiatives.
29:38
He along with the World Economic Forum and all the major actors
29:42
and he's the founder of the president of the Prince Albert,
29:46
the second of the Monaco's foundation, which organises the
29:49
Monaco Ocean Week in collaboration with the Monaco
29:52
government and the Monaco the Yacht Club and into dish in.
29:56
In addition to the Blue Economy Finance Forum, Monaco Ocean Week
30:00
features various events including the Monaco Smart Yacht
30:04
Rendezvous and the Environmental Symposium organised by the Yacht
30:09
Club in Monaco. And these events focus on,
30:12
quote, sustainable yachting and innovative solutions for ocean
30:18
protection. And Albert's involvement
30:22
underscores Monaco's dedication to the ocean preservation and
30:25
its leadership in promoting sustainable practises in marine
30:29
environments. So, you know, if you look at
30:32
the, the this yacht, this huge super yacht thing, maybe I'm
30:38
missing something, but there's, you know, there's nothing
30:40
sustainable about smart super yachts for the Super rich.
30:44
So in short, the blue economy means nature is not protected,
30:48
but monetized and local stewards and are displaced by local
30:52
global stakeholders. And where oceans are no longer a
30:56
shared heritage, they become a financial instrument.
31:00
So it's not conserving life below water and it's more about
31:04
who profits from it. So that's that's what I'm
31:08
finding anyway. Great Sandy, thank you very much
31:11
indeed. And you're absolutely right in
31:12
terms of putting a value on it. And it's worth pointing out this
31:15
coincides absolutely with publication or reports from the
31:18
UK government about access to what they're calling green
31:20
spaces and blue spaces. And the point of that of course
31:24
is to put exactly that value on it.
31:27
Now you may or may not know that UK column only exists because of
31:31
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we have to work that bit harder and this is how you would do it.
32:10
Now, I'm pleased to say that the interview that went out
32:13
yesterday, Ben Rubin talked to Paul Athan of the Royal Society
32:17
for Arts and Manufacturer of Commerce has been very well
32:21
received and I would encourage you to listen to how it has been
32:23
subverted. Tomorrow, Diane Rasmussen Mcaddy
32:26
talks to Vicky Baggot, who is challenging the library system
32:30
in the United States, particularly on the
32:32
sexualisation of content of literature for children.
32:35
And that falls in line with the series of interviews that
32:37
Diane's been running, particularly with relation to
32:40
Diane Kleinman and indeed the organisation that they are both
32:44
part of. Now tomorrow there is going to
32:47
be a on the assisted dying Bill which you can tune into if you
32:51
follow the link, which will be in the show notes.
32:53
And then getting out and about UK column will be at the Sounds
32:56
Beautiful festival in Dorset at the end of this month.
32:59
So please do have a look at getting a ticket there.
33:02
That will be a great event and be delight to see people in
33:06
person and on the in person front.
33:08
You'll also be able to enjoy beer, truth and freedom all at
33:12
the same time in Thetford towards the end of July 18th and
33:16
19th. And again, a link to that in the
33:18
show notes. So please do get along to it.
33:20
And then UK column will be appearing again at the Hope
33:24
Freedom Music Festival over the August bank holiday this
33:27
weekend. Sorry, this August rather.
33:29
So lots going on. Please sign up for some of or
33:32
all of it and we'd be absolutely delighted to see you there.
33:35
Now that takes us to the after effects of what was called
33:40
Operation Spider Web and an examination of what is or has
33:44
been going on in Ukraine, which Brian is going to have a look at
33:49
for us now. OK.
33:51
Thank you for that, Charles. Well, just just a very quick
33:53
comment. But of course we've seen Western
33:56
media, newspapers and TV video streams alike absolutely crowing
34:03
at the recent attacks on Russia, never mind how dangerous these
34:07
were in view of the fact that it implicated Russian strategic
34:12
assets. But at times radio has been one
34:15
of the leaders of this, that they seem to regard war as a
34:19
joke and they were full of good humour because of the Kirsch
34:22
Bridge bombing. So I'm just putting this one up
34:25
as a as an image to reflect the type of things that the Times
34:29
and other Western media is putting across.
34:31
But of course, the reality for the reality of what's happening
34:34
on the battlefield. We can't rely on mainstream
34:38
media, but we can rely on some very hard working amateurs.
34:42
And I'm just going to bring up defence.
34:44
Let's bring it up here, Defence, politics, Asia.
34:47
I've mentioned before there's a number of these people and I'm
34:50
trying to give them all credit for what they're doing.
34:53
But the reality on the battlefield, of course is
34:56
Russian advances. Yes, very slow, but this is the
35:00
whole point of the Russian tactics.
35:02
It's a creeping advance. It's like lava moving.
35:05
And the reality is that Ukraine is losing on the battlefield.
35:10
And at the time we start to piece surprise, surprise, we get
35:15
these attacks on Russia, mainland Russia.
35:19
So Sandy, you were really quite taken, I think a little bit
35:24
shocked by the attacks that took place over the over recent days.
35:28
So tell us what what you feel. We've had, we know we had the
35:34
drone attacks. Was it last week?
35:38
And, you know, just in, in the last 24 hours, we've had the
35:42
bombing of the Koch Bridge in Crimea, which is a vital link
35:45
between Crimea and the Russian mainland.
35:47
And I've got a video of of that, of that bombing.
35:51
And it's quite shocking really, that it's a third attempt on
35:55
this bridge, which is a vital lifeline.
35:58
And it's it's held dear by by Putin to actually, yeah.
36:03
I mean, it really it was his. It was more than a bridge.
36:06
It was a symbol of Russia's restoration of the Crimea, you
36:09
know, after the people after the people voted to rejoin the
36:13
Russian Federation in 2014. So let's see that that video.
36:18
Thank you. Yeah.
36:20
It said, you know, there is being blown up.
36:22
It was apparently the the Ukrainian USB has has admitted
36:29
it. Here's one of their lieutenants,
36:31
you know, saying this is a Trinity.
36:33
It's the third attempt on, on, on Ukraine and on, on Russia.
36:38
And he, you know, he says, you know, God loves the Trinity And,
36:41
and we're going to continue to do it.
36:43
Basically, you know, this is this is really baiting, baiting
36:50
the Russians and, you know, baiting Putin.
36:53
And this is the drone attack obviously from last week.
36:58
And it just, it, it just shows you, I mean, 41 of, of, of
37:03
Putin's planes were bombed. And this is, you know, this is,
37:09
this is what that we're looking at.
37:11
We're looking at a real baiting of, of the bear.
37:14
You know, I mean, it's absolutely blatant and, and
37:18
it's, it's significant because this bridge really is a symbol
37:21
of Russia's, you know, Russia's referendum, which the West
37:26
continues to deny because they deny the right people's self
37:29
determination when it suits their agenda.
37:32
And you know, if, if we keep pushing, if they keep pushing
37:36
this, sooner or later the response will escalate because
37:39
if you keep kicking the bear, eventually the bear turns round.
37:42
And the tragedy is the people of Europe and America are being
37:45
lied to. They're being told this war is a
37:47
war for democracy, when in truth it's a war for global, global
37:51
hegemony. As we know they're they're
37:53
being, I told Russia is the aggressor and NATO has expanded
37:56
to Russia's doorstep. They've broken every promise,
37:59
armed every hostile neighbour and now sponsors attacks on
38:03
Russian soil. So let's be clear.
38:06
The bombing of the Crimean bridge was a message and now
38:09
Russia will send its own. I'm sure our governments are
38:12
marching us into a war, and they've already committed acts
38:15
of war in our name. So because of this madness, you
38:19
know, if it continues, you know, we we literally are, you know,
38:24
that Russia is forced to respond as any great nation would.
38:29
And the next bridge to fall might not be Crimea.
38:31
It might be the bridge between peace and annihilation.
38:35
So yeah, that's it really. Sandy, thank.
38:39
Thank you very much for that. You indicated to me earlier this
38:42
morning that the people we're going to say in local
38:45
communities, you've got good connectivity with with the
38:48
community. And you were saying to me that
38:51
people are now starting to see through this.
38:53
They're not treating the mainstream media reports as if
38:57
they are the absolute truth. I find that extremely
39:01
encouraging. The other thing I just wanted to
39:03
add to your commentary is that the idea that the the drone
39:07
attacks across Russia on strategic Russian strategic
39:12
nuclear assets, the idea that that was simply carried out by
39:16
Ukraine is laughable. There would have been UK and
39:20
possibly the the US behind, but for Ukrainians to do it on their
39:26
own, I don't think so. And I think we can say the same
39:29
with these attacks on the cursed bridge because they would have
39:33
needed Western expertise to help them carry out these attacks.
39:37
And this is the reality. This is not a war of Ukraine
39:41
versus Russia. It is NATO and Ukraine versus
39:44
Russia. And we need to be accurate in in
39:48
how how we describe this. People need to understand this.
39:52
But Sandy, thank you very much. I'm encouraged that people are
39:56
starting to see through what's happening, the reality of the
40:01
war. Now this is when it's difficult
40:02
for UK column news because. People do say some of the
40:06
information that we put across is very hard.
40:09
It's very disturbing. But if we don't report the facts
40:12
and the truth, what are we to do?
40:15
Many people, as I've shown earlier in the news today, seem
40:19
to think that war in Ukraine is a joke.
40:22
It's something to be laughing and smiling about.
40:25
Let's just hear commentary from the Russian diplomatic team who
40:31
were commenting a few days ago about dead bodies.
40:37
Truly transfer 6000 frozen bodies of Ukrainian soldiers,
40:45
which are on storage with us. We've conducted all possible
40:49
identification procedures and we have organised special transport
40:54
and those bodies will be transferred to the Ukrainian
40:58
side next week so that they can give them a decent burial.
41:02
I don't know if there are any bodies that they want to give to
41:06
us. We would accept them, but that
41:08
is yet unknown. We also agreed on the most large
41:14
scale and prisoner exchange, those who are gravely wounded or
41:21
gravely ill. That will be a humanitarian
41:25
gesture on our side, as the Ukrainian side often speaks
41:29
about the general need for a ceasefire.
41:33
We proposed a specific ceasefire for two or three days on certain
41:40
parts of the front and it will now be worked out by our
41:46
specialists and this will include the cessation of drone
41:50
operations and other things so that the bodies can be collected
41:54
by commanders. It is a hot time of the year and
41:59
there is a danger of epidemics, so we want to create the
42:03
possibility, especially since the Russian army is advancing.
42:11
So we're into the real horrible truth about this battlefield.
42:17
The scale of the violence is on a par with the worst of the
42:21
violence in the Second World War.
42:23
Massive losses. We still don't know the true
42:26
figures, but between Russian and Ukrainian losses, we are
42:30
certainly talking a million men, and the bulk of the bulk of the
42:34
casualties has fallen on the Ukrainian side.
42:37
There is no doubt about this. And of course, what is being
42:40
said in this little clip is that the Russians moving forward are
42:45
having problems because they're moving into areas previously
42:48
defended by Ukraine where there are so many bodies.
42:52
It is, it's presenting a health hazard.
42:56
And remember that Leader of the opposition, Kemi Bananock, Mike
43:00
has shown this clip a couple of times, is very happy to say,
43:03
well, we, we, the UK, are fighting a proxy war against the
43:09
Russians. But of course, it's the
43:10
Ukrainians that are taking the brunt of the of the casualties,
43:15
the dead and the wounded. So this is a vicious war carried
43:19
out by the West, but the UK is there at the forefront and the
43:23
Russians talking in terms of handing back 6000 bodies.
43:28
This is just one incident that they hold on ice.
43:32
It's truly despicable. And of course, the British
43:35
government and Stormer and those who voted for him should be
43:38
ashamed. Now, there's something else that
43:41
was reported by those Russian diplomats.
43:45
So Vladimir Medinsky, who was the main man speaking.
43:49
Let's listen to something else he talked about.
43:54
Now it's regarding children. So what did we hear recently at
43:59
the United Nations, at other platforms?
44:03
We heard about 1.5 million Ukrainian children being
44:06
abducted. Then we had about 200,000
44:10
Ukrainian children. Now the official figure is
44:14
20,000 children. And we tried to get any
44:20
documentary evidence, any corroboration statements from
44:25
parents, but there was nothing, no, no lists.
44:30
And we have a permanently operating children's ombudsman.
44:35
And children who found themselves in a difficult
44:37
situation in the battle zone, they're evacuated.
44:41
And if their families are found, the children are reunited with
44:47
their families, they're given back to those families.
44:49
So what are the actual numbers? We finally received the full
44:56
list. As you see, it's not 1.5 million
45:00
and not 20,339 names. So this number is a very visual
45:11
indication of the fact that the entire story with abducted
45:15
children is just a media operation aiming to impress the
45:20
Europeans. There is not a single child who
45:23
was abducted, but there were children who were saved by our
45:28
soldiers risking their lives, who risked their lives to carry
45:34
out those children from the battle zone.
45:37
And we are now looking for their parents.
45:39
And if we find those parents, we give the children back to the
45:44
family. And there are dozens such cases.
45:51
Well, there we are. Very interesting testimony
45:53
compared to the propaganda that we've seen from Western media.
45:57
Do I believe that the Russians are squeaky clean on this?
46:00
I suspect not entirely because we're in a battlefield
46:03
situation, but there are a number of extremely harrowing
46:08
videos which you can watch on social media, which are from the
46:12
battlefield, showing Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian
46:16
soldiers trying to evacuate civilians, elderly men, women,
46:21
children, from the battlefield zones or the zones which are
46:26
under fire from both sides. And those Russian soldiers being
46:29
targeted by drones, many of which of course will have been
46:33
supplied by the West. Now, on the subject of children,
46:37
back in 2016 Mike Robinson produced a couple of articles
46:41
talking about the basically the lies of the British government
46:46
around unaccompanied children and the children disappearing at
46:51
the time, some 400 children from Syria who'd come to the UK
46:56
unaccompanied by their parents. Those children disappeared.
47:01
There was no major commentary from the BBC or the government
47:05
on that. So that was one particular
47:07
article. But Mike Robinson wrote a second
47:10
one here on the 6th of October 2016 when he was talking about
47:15
having tried to get an answer from Tim Farron about these dis
47:19
the Syrian children that had disappeared.
47:22
But again, a wall of silence. So I'm going to say to our
47:26
audience today, utter, utter hypocrisy by the UK government
47:30
over the subject of missing children.
47:33
And if I can reinforce this statement and this document was
47:37
brought to my attention from 2024, eroding the right to
47:41
family life, human rights violations in Britain's child
47:45
protection systems. It was written by the Children
47:48
and Families Truth Commission. And if you get in some of the
47:51
detail, I won't give it all, but you can see this in your own
47:54
time. Essentially the report is saying
47:57
that the findings demonstrate that the children's social care
48:00
system is profoundly harmful and unsupportive for families and
48:05
children and it's clearly incompatible with human rights
48:08
legislation in the UK. In this section here of key
48:13
findings, you will see the comments from families who've
48:18
been affected by the system and essentially they're saying no
48:21
support, grossly unfair, inaccurate reports, nothing is
48:26
independent and the whole system is unjust as children are taken
48:31
away from parents. So we'll have more on that in
48:34
due course, but Vanessa has probably a very good Segway to
48:38
bring you in because of course, Syrian children have suffered on
48:42
a massive scale, not only in the war zone, but outside of the war
48:46
zone. Yeah, absolutely.
48:49
And not forgetting, of course, the MI 6 incubated White Helmet
48:54
organisation that stands accused by the Syrian people of child
48:58
abduction, organ trafficking and child abuse, of course, in the
49:02
staging of the chemical weapon attacks that were used to
49:06
criminalise the former Syrian government.
49:08
So Britain has its hand behind many of these most nefarious
49:14
harvests, as they're known of war.
49:18
So I'm going to come back to Syria now and try to unravel
49:22
some of the complications surrounding what's actually
49:25
going on. And, and people may sometimes
49:27
think I'm contradicting myself from previous reports, but it's
49:32
a very fluid situation. There's huge power plays going
49:36
on between a number of players in the region, some allies, some
49:41
not. And even within the Jelani are
49:45
elected regime itself, there are things are not all looking good
49:50
for him. So most recently, Trump was
49:53
talking about some of the concessions he was prepared to
49:56
make if Jelani would give him assurances.
49:59
And first of all, if we have a look at this article a few days
50:03
ago in the Washington Post, Syrian leader faces the
50:07
challenge of foreign militants who helped him win power.
50:10
And of course, Trump is basically saying, or he was
50:13
saying that all the foreign militants must get out of Syria.
50:16
So let's just have a look at some of the, or at least one of
50:19
the main reasons that that's an issue for Jelani.
50:23
The most hard line of these fighters are already turning
50:25
their eye on Sharar, or Jelani as we know him, angry that he
50:30
has not yet improved Islamic Sharia law and alleging that
50:33
he's cooperated with the US and Turkish forces to target
50:37
extremist factions. Jelani is attacking us from the
50:41
ground, America from the sky. And of course, this is nothing
50:44
new. This is effectively what was
50:46
happening when Jelani had dominance over Idlib and the US
50:50
was helping him eliminate his challenges for power in Idlib
50:54
itself by by drain strikes having been given the
50:59
coordinates by Gilani and his loyal militia.
51:02
However, America, just as you said, Brian, with the talk from
51:07
Rubio, America seems to be, let's say chameleon like
51:12
changing its policy. So in the last 48 hours, Trump
51:17
has said through his special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, US
51:22
gives the nod to Syria to bring foreign jihadists and ex rebels
51:26
into the army. So a complete flip there by the
51:29
United States. Tom Barrack basically pointed
51:32
out that I would say there is an understanding with transparency.
51:37
Me personally, I would say this is an understanding from the US,
51:42
probably fed to them through the UK elements that are now
51:45
operating in Damascus, that Jolani will not survive without
51:49
the foreign elements in his militia.
51:52
And Barrett goes on, and this is paraphrasing, it is better to
51:55
keep the fighters, many of whom are very loyal to Syria's new
51:59
administration, within a state project rather than exclude
52:03
them. Because of course, if they were
52:04
to exclude them, what has been happening is those fighters who
52:08
believe that Jolani has betrayed their extremist Takfiri roots
52:13
and vision for Syria are now joining ISIS in Syria and
52:18
turning against Jolani. Secondly, Tom Barrack also made
52:23
comments that the US policy in Syria hasn't worked for 100
52:27
years and that it's time to change that policy.
52:30
Of course, Trump tried this previously in his 2016
52:34
presidency and this has been reported in Reuters.
52:39
US to scale down its military bases in Syria, the envoy says.
52:44
So Tom Barrick is basically saying they'll scale down from 8
52:48
bases to 1 and move further to the east.
52:53
Now coming back to the incorporation of foreign
52:57
jihadists into the Syrian Army, which raises certain questions,
53:01
particularly with relation to China.
53:03
This is an article from a Lebanese media outlet.
53:07
The integration of 3500 Uyghur jihadists.
53:11
Now, that's slightly misleading because while the Uyghur
53:15
jihadists are probably the majority of the foreigners
53:18
joining Jolani's official new Syrian Army, they number about
53:24
4000 to 5000 in Syria, but they are outnumbered by the Chechens
53:30
and the Tunisians. So a little bit misleading.
53:33
But however, what is not misleading is, I believe, the
53:36
reasons behind allowing the Uyghurs to remain in Syria,
53:40
which is all about curbing China's influence on the new
53:43
Syrian government. This was a report from the
53:46
Washington Institute and if we have a look at what they
53:49
actually said in the report, there are fears that China is
53:54
making steps to to get close to Jolani's government.
53:59
A week after Assad fell, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated
54:03
that he was deeply concerned and called for urgent efforts to
54:06
prevent terrorists and extremist forces taking advantage of the
54:10
chaos. Two months later, however,
54:12
Chinese Ambassador XI Hongwei met with interim President
54:16
Geolani and Damascus. So clearly from America's
54:20
perspective, they want to prevent Chinese influence again
54:26
in Syria. And coming back to what we
54:29
talked about last week, of course, all of this is happening
54:31
also after the British have very much entered Damascus and are
54:36
heavily influencing decisions that are taken in the Syrian
54:40
capital and by Jolani. So if we just have a quick look
54:43
at the article that's up at the UK column website, The Blair
54:47
Bush Project in Syria that brought al Qaeda to power, which
54:50
goes into detail about the role of Jonathan Powell connected to
54:55
MI Six, former chief of staff for Tony Blair and now, of
54:59
course, national security adviser to Kerr Starmer and
55:03
who's actually running operations in Damascus.
55:05
It appears to be this lady, Lucy Stewart.
55:08
This has been confirmed to me by a number of people in Syria and
55:13
in Damascus in particular. She's embedded in the new Syria
55:19
Foreign Affairs Ministry and is helping to groom the members of
55:23
Jolani's al Qaeda government. She spent five years working for
55:28
Saudi Arabia Media. She's a graduate from the School
55:33
of Oriental African Studies of Arabic and Farsi, a joint
55:37
intermediate Jonathan Powell's organisation, in June 2015, and
55:41
has been there ever since. And this is her job to basically
55:45
groom Jelani or to transform Jelani from the terrorists that
55:49
he was, Mohammed Al Jelani, into the president of Syria, if we
55:53
can just see that. And so so basically the British
55:58
involvement is having a huge effect, in my opinion, on U.S.
56:02
policy, but not only U.S. policy.
56:06
Israel also feels emboldened. There were reports yesterday of
56:10
so called resistance strikes against the occupied Golan
56:14
Heights occupied by Israel and that led to blanket bombing by
56:20
Israel yesterday of a number of sites in Syria.
56:24
So Britain seems to have triggered a change in policy in
56:28
the US and empowerment of the Jolani regime.
56:34
Vanessa, thank you very much indeed.
56:36
And it's something we'll certainly come back to in extra.
56:38
But for now, Law and Order and published at the end of last
56:42
month is the independent sentencing review from Ministry
56:45
of Justice. There's just time to look at two
56:48
of the provisions, the first being a measure which would set
56:51
a very dangerous precedent indeed, so called pharmaceutical
56:54
interventions for those subject to criminal sanctions.
56:58
And this is what the Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmud had to
57:01
say about it. And does that last forever?
57:07
Is it permanent? You, you, you have to keep
57:09
taking the medication, the evidence.
57:12
And you know, these studies are quite small in number.
57:15
There's not huge evidence base here in in terms of what we've
57:18
got available to us in this country, but the evidence
57:21
suggests that the combination of the drugs with psychological
57:24
interventions is actually the best combination for ultimately
57:27
reducing reoffending. What I've inherited from
57:30
previous administrations is a very, very small scale pilot
57:34
that's been running for some years in the Southwest.
57:37
What I've decided is I think that this is a combination of
57:41
medicine and psychological interventions that other
57:43
countries are using to good effect.
57:46
So more and more countries are taking this up.
57:49
I'm not squeamish, squeamish about doing this here.
57:52
So I would like to see a national roll out of the current
57:55
programme that we have. We're going to start with two
57:57
regions and then and then progress to national roll out.
58:01
It's a voluntary programme to start with.
58:04
But I'm also exploring, you know, where the mandation might
58:06
be a way forward for us as to force people to do.
58:10
Chemical castration, something she's apparently not squeamish
58:13
about and in many ways an extraordinary thing to listen
58:15
to, especially when treated in such a bland manner.
58:18
But you will have heard at the end of the clip she referred to
58:20
mandatory castration, which takes us back some decades.
58:24
From the Auschwitz travelling exhibition.
58:27
It is stated that the pseudo medical experiments carried out
58:32
included, sorry, including for example, tests on sterilisation
58:37
using iodine X rays or silver nitrate castration of the
58:42
subhumans. Now not only that, but there's
58:46
the extremely problematic issue of consent.
58:49
And this is what the NHS has to say about that, which is that
58:53
consent from a patient is needed regardless of the procedure.
58:56
The principle of consent is an important part of medical ethics
58:59
and international human rights law, something everybody will
59:02
have a particular view on from what's happened over the last
59:04
five years. But of course, put the other way
59:06
around the the obstacle, or at least the way around this
59:09
particular obstacle concerns capacity.
59:11
And the health service goes on to say that the requirement for
59:14
consent disappears with what they call a severe mental health
59:17
condition such as schizophrenia, bipolar or dementia, and where
59:21
the patient lacks the capacity to consent to the treatment of
59:25
their mental health. Now, these are referred to as
59:29
psychological interventions. And and with regard to that,
59:32
there's absolutely no evidence to substantiate the
59:35
effectiveness of such as seen here in the rather outdated
59:39
scoring profile from the College of Policing where the impact on
59:42
crime is scored as low. Now the preface of all this is
59:47
an extremely alarmist statement as put out by the Home Office
59:51
that we are facing a total breakdown of law and order.
59:55
And as part of this narrative, Mood has also declared that she
59:59
will sort out the very many issues confronting prisons and
1:00:02
in particular the spaces inside them.
1:00:05
This is dealt with in the sentencing review to an extent.
1:00:08
So the reporting here by the Telegraph is not quite as
1:00:11
thorough as it ought to be. But they say that one way to
1:00:13
reduce pressure on prisons is via what's called punishment in
1:00:17
the community, which will, quote, restrict freedom, impose
1:00:22
structure on an offender's day to day life and require people
1:00:25
to confront the causes and consequences of their actions.
1:00:29
End Quote. This follows the increasing
1:00:31
trend towards the imposition of various orders, many of which
1:00:34
who do not even require involvement in a criminal
1:00:37
offence. And then alongside all of this
1:00:40
is the announcement that there's to be a Prevent commissioner
1:00:43
charged with, quote, stopping people from becoming terrorists
1:00:48
or or supporting terrorism. It's likely that any reports
1:00:52
produced by the interim commissioner will inform public
1:00:55
policy around how counterterrorism interacts with
1:00:59
integration, public health, faith and communities, and how
1:01:05
these policy areas can support counterterrorism efforts in the
1:01:08
coming years. So the first agenda item no
1:01:12
doubt will be to look at the review into the actions of
1:01:14
Prevent with regard to Axel Rudiqabana, currently serving a
1:01:17
prison sentence in relation to the Southport killings of last
1:01:21
year, who was of course well known to Prevent.
1:01:26
Finally, on on this subject, with the Liverpool traffic
1:01:29
attack in mind, it's worth considering the government's
1:01:32
push for self driving vehicles which was meant to take effect
1:01:35
this year, 2025. Now the Connected and Automated
1:01:40
Mobility Report 2022 predicated the transition on the theory of
1:01:45
change, another instance of nudge or applied behavioural
1:01:49
psychology. So it's not hard to see how the
1:01:52
actions of Paul Doyle and the associated fanfare of attention
1:01:56
could be used to engender public acceptance for automated
1:02:00
vehicles. So this would be something that
1:02:02
we keep an eye on. They say here the public trust
1:02:05
and acceptance of any new technology is key to its success
1:02:09
and this is identified as a critical factor in our theory of
1:02:13
change modelling. One particularly important
1:02:16
factor in public acceptance is safety.
1:02:19
So as I say, we'll see where that goes.
1:02:22
Now finally to end on a positive, we've heard reports in
1:02:27
from those that distribute the Lights newspaper out in the
1:02:31
Cheltenham area. They've had a really good
1:02:32
response in recent times to what they're doing and indeed to
1:02:36
what's contained within the Light, which is of course an
1:02:38
excellent read. And I would encourage you to get
1:02:42
a copy of the most recent edition, not least because it
1:02:44
deals with our UK column on location event back in April in
1:02:49
Cheltenham. So, so great work and please do
1:02:52
keep in touch with stories like that because it's very important
1:02:56
to reflect that back to the audience that all of this does
1:02:58
actually make different. Now that's all we've got time
1:03:01
for in the programme today. So I'll just leave you with a
1:03:03
few reminders. First of all, don't forget to
1:03:05
tune in to Diane's interview with Vicki Baggett tomorrow.
1:03:09
And of course at 7:00 every evening during the week, at
1:03:12
least Monday to Friday, we have the Germ Warfare podcast going
1:03:15
out and then starting in a few minutes we will have news extra.
1:03:20
So do TuneIn to that. If you're not yet a member and
1:03:23
therefore don't have access to extra, please consider joining
1:03:26
us as a member. And it just remains for me to
1:03:29
thank Brian very much for joining me in the studio and
1:03:32
Vanessa and Sandy remotely. We will see you again on Friday
1:03:37
or indeed in a few minutes for extra.
1:03:39
Thank you very much. Bye bye.