that the tory party revealed that the tory party isn't doing terribly well facing electoral wipe—out. according to yougov, with the labour party taking more than 400 seats and as many as 11 current cabinet ministers, can the prime ministers, can the prime minister turn this around? half of hmrc's desks continue to be empty, with staff working from home despite record complaints and waiting times. as the former head of ofsted has said, it's increasingly difficult to have the hard conversations in the workplace that are needed, but that's what hmrc must have. plus it's been a difficult day for the royal mail, as it has announced a reduced service for second class post. this comes amidst news revelations about amidst gb news revelations about counterfeit stamps. state of the nafion counterfeit stamps. state of the nation starts now. i'll also be joined by an ebullient panel this evening, former home office special adviser claire pearsall and the

political commentator kai willsher. as always, as you know, i want to hear from you. it's a crucial part of the programme. email me at gb news. but now it's time for the news of the day with sophia wenzler. >> jacob thank you. i'm sophia wenzler your top story this houn wenzler your top story this hour. a new poll suggests labour could sweep to victory with more than 400 seats at the next election , leaving the tories election, leaving the tories with just 155. uk love is predicting a landslide for sir keir starmer, with the conservatives projected to win even less seats than a previous poll conducted in january and the reform uk party has removed two parliamentary candidates for making statements that they say fell beneath their standards. jonathan kay and mick greeno will no longer contest seats after campaign group hope not hate accused them of sharing racist views on social media. shadow foreign secretary david lammy says the government should

suspend arms sales to israel if it's clear the international law has been breached. it's after british aid workers john chapman , james henderson and james kirby were killed when their convoy was hit by an israeli airstrike while they were delivering vital food aid. they were part of a group of seven aid workers from the world central kitchen organisation . mr central kitchen organisation. mr lammy says britain cannot supply arms to israel if it's proven to have broken international law . have broken international law. >> i have now been calling for 12 days for david cameron to pubush 12 days for david cameron to publish the legal advice so that we are clear on whether israel has contravened international humanitarian law and therefore arms sales should be suspended . arms sales should be suspended. >> ed and royal mail is pushing the postal regulator to speed up reforms, including cutting back on second class deliveries to just three days a week. the postal service says urgent changes are needed to cut costs following a major drop in

demand, falling from 20 billion letters to just 7 billion each yeah letters to just 7 billion each year. but the plan , which would year. but the plan, which would save around £300 million, would also lead to a possible 1000 redundancies. and for the latest story, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gbnews.com/alerts. now it's back to . jacob. to. jacob. >> saint thomas aquinas set out three conditions for a just war. first, the authority of the ruler within whose competence it lies to declare war. second, there is required a just cause thatis there is required a just cause that is , that those who are that is, that those who are attacked for some offence merit such treatment . third, there is such treatment. third, there is required a right intention on the part of the belligerents, either achieving some good object or of avoiding some evil. israel clearly meets the requirements for a just war in what it is doing in gaza. it is

a legitimate authority . its a legitimate authority. its cause is unquestionably just, and there is a right intention. yet israel is losing the propaganda battle and support is declining . how can this be? declining. how can this be? israel is rightly not held to the lower standards of others of the lower standards of others of the dictators, such as bashar al—assad of syria, who is estimated to have murdered over 600,000 of his own people, nor the iranians who were their allies in yemen, have been responsible for 377,000 being killed, nor even the chinese communist party, which holds, according to human rights watch , according to human rights watch, nearly a million and a half uyghur muslims in detention . the uyghur muslims in detention. the atrocities of the dictators are not the standard by which the people of israel or of the west expect to be held. the outrageous treatment of people in syria, yemen or communist china is different. western democracies are expected to do better and are rightly held to a higher standard. this is not

unreasonable. nonetheless, israel needs to win, and we should never forget that in the west , hamas should never forget that in the west, hamas is supported by iran. it is part of a global threat to the west. the world is getting increasingly dangerous and it is visible elsewhere . we and it is visible elsewhere. we see this with what iran is doing through its houthi proxies in the red sea. we see it through the red sea. we see it through the actions of russia in ukraine and the tension that comes from china , not just over taiwan, but china, not just over taiwan, but in a border dispute with india that has been in the news even the last few days . and this the last few days. and this affects us. just recently, we've seen a man attacked on the streets of london, apparently by proxies of the iranian government. we know that the russians are willing to kill people outside their own territory. these threats are not that remote. and to defend ourselves, we need to support ourselves, we need to support our allies. in some ways, our own proxies are operating in ukraine, in gaza and in taiwan. but israel is not at the moment making this for easy us. as

yesterday's deaths show the strikes this week that killed three british citizens are very difficult to explain . analysis difficult to explain. analysis from the telegraph has shown that the idf uses two types of drone strike, one with a blast radius of 5 to 10 yards and another that is extremely precise down to a few feet, a drone operator told the telegraph they could theoretically take out the driver of a vehicle , leaving the driver of a vehicle, leaving the person in the back seat alive. the operator also said that strikes are only ever executed upon approval from a lawyer and a senior officer , so we need to a senior officer, so we need to understand what went wrong. israeli media have suggested that the strikes that killed the british citizens were of this highly precise type. if you take this into account, along with the fact that the aid convoy had alerted the idf of its passage pnor alerted the idf of its passage prior to the strike and it was duly approved, there was negligence in what happened, and we need to know who was responsible . when will there be

responsible. when will there be a court martial? the point is that israel is an ally in the broader global war against iran, as well as russia and china, a cold war, mostly, but with some hot spots. these actions not only work against the western cause by granting our enemies moral ammunition, but they work against israel's interests too . against israel's interests too. israel takes pride not only in being a western liberal democracy , but in having a democracy, but in having a defence force of the highest moral and strategic standards. israel, having been attacked and having a just basis for its response, is losing the propaganda war. it needs to win it and it needs to act in a way that allows its friends to support it with conviction . it support it with conviction. it needs to answer some key questions. for example, how many people does it think have died as a consequence of its military activity? and how many of those were fighters ? if israel were hamas fighters? if israel continues to lose in the court of public opinion , it will lose of public opinion, it will lose in the theatre of war, and that

would be potentially catastrophic for the western world facing threats that we have not faced for many decades. our need to win our our friends need to win our support and they will not do this if the lives of our fellow citizens are lost as ever. let me know your thoughts mailmogg@gbnews.com. but i'm joined now by un special rapporteur on human rights, professor ben saul. thank you very much for joining professor ben saul. thank you very much forjoining me professor ben saul. thank you very much for joining me today. do we know what went wrong? has israel given a clear explanation of the series of errors that led to the recent deaths ? to the recent deaths? >> thanks for having me and firstly, my sympathy to your country for the loss of three british nationals. >> and in my country, one australian was also killed. israel has accepted responsibility and apologised. but it has not yet given a full account of what went wrong. it's not enough to say that this is a

mistake or that misidentification happened. israel has to bring full accountability and to demonstrate, whether this was in accordance with international humanitarian law, which are the rules which govern any country fighting in an armed conflict. >> and israel clearly has the right to self—defence, and it's exercised that, but it does seem as if israel is losing the propaganda war at the moment. i noficed propaganda war at the moment. i noticed that the australian prime minister was particularly critical in his comments overnight in response to the death of an australian that you mentioned . mentioned. >> that's right. and i think, the fact that so many foreigners were killed in this strike has brought new attention to israel's targeting practices, but this isn't just a problem affecting foreigners. i mean, this is a problem which has marked the whole military campaign over the last six months, many, alleged incidents

of violations of international law by israel, documented by actors on the ground, united nafions actors on the ground, united nations bodies, ngos, journalists. so this is a widespread problem. and i think in this incident, we need to know whether israel did everything, feasible , able to everything, feasible, able to verify that the target, according to its information, was military and not civilian , was military and not civilian, not a humanitarian convoy as you as you mentioned in your introduction, these were known , introduction, these were known, known aid routes. these were marked vehicles. there were deconfliction arrangements in place between the ngo and the israeli government. so it does seem to suggest a very high degree of recklessness in targeting and a lack of standards. a lack of sufficient care in the protection of civilians. and i think that's been a hallmark of this whole war. >> but there is a huge

difficulty for israel . it's difficulty for israel. it's fighting hamas, who is part of the civilian population, who hides behind the civilian population and therefore to root out the terrorist enemy , it is out the terrorist enemy, it is going to find itself in these difficult situations . and that's difficult situations. and that's just a reality of how hamas has behaved. just a reality of how hamas has behaved . and it can't be behaved. and it can't be excluded from the responsibility for the deaths of civilians because it uses them as human shields . shields. >> that's right. and urban warfare against insurgencies are always extremely difficult, was to fight israel's not unique in this situation. i mean, these kinds of insurgencies happen in all parts of the world and have been happening for many, many decades. international humanitarian law has been created by states to deal precisely with those difficulties , as well as all difficulties, as well as all other kinds of warfare . so, of other kinds of warfare. so, of course, hamas has a duty itself,

not to misuse the civilian population in order to conceal its its fighters, its positions, its its fighters, its positions, its its fighters, its positions, its its weapons, and so on. of course, it's not been respecting those rules , but that does not those rules, but that does not absolve israel of its obugafions absolve israel of its obligations to still exercise the required level of care in distinguishing between civilians and military targets in its operations, because otherwise it's just a recipe for total warfare on a civilian population . and i think we've seen elements of this with israel not allowing sufficient humanitarian relief into gaza, as the international court of justice has required it to do, as the security council in demanding a ceasefire, has recently insisted upon. and so over 1.1 million cousins now. >> but isn't that isn't that difficult because, we know certainly the israelis tell us that some of the aid is taken

first by the fighters. we know that hamas hid under a hospital, in tunnels, under a hospital, and that if you are fighting an opponent who pays no attention to international law, and you're then expected to uphold it to then expected to uphold it to the nth degree , then don't you the nth degree, then don't you inevitably lose. and hamas winning must be bad for the international order. >> certainly there is always a risk that aid and food relief and medicine might be diverted to the other side in an armed conflict, i mean, that's a risk we always have to take because we always have to take because we can't allow civilians to be starved to death. and that's what's already happening in gaza. i mean, over 30 children have already died from malnutrition because israel has not allowed sufficient aid into the territory . the international the territory. the international court of justice just last week called on israel to open more

land border crossings. you can't drop enough aid by air or bring it by sea because that's just not effective and efficient in delivering humanitarian relief on the on the scale necessary. so look, we are not like hamas. i mean, israel, britain, australia. i mean, our countries should respect international law because we do care about human dignity, human values, human rights. and as a result, we must take sufficient care in protecting civilians even when fighting an insurgent group. >> thank you very much, professor saul. i think that's a fundamental point, which i want to put now to colonel richard kemp, who is joining me. richard, back onto the richard, welcome back onto the program . isn't that last point? program. isn't that last point? and i don't know if you heard it. absolutely fundamental that israel, as a democracy is held to a higher standard. and therefore it has to be pedantic in following the laws of war, even if its opponent is an

insurgent who ignores them . insurgent who ignores them. >> you're absolutely right. and i think israel has a long standing tradition of adhering very closely to the laws of armed conflict, i've been in israel many times. i've been in to israel during this war. i've beenin to israel during this war. i've been in gaza on the ground. i've watched the way that the idf operate. i've seen the actions they take to minimise the deaths of innocent civilians. i think there's no other army in the world that is so sophisticated in its efforts to minimise the death of civilians, but of course, that is not possible. it's not possible to achieve zero civilian casualties or even a small number when the enemy you're fighting is hiding among the civilian population, is fighting from the civilian population, and is tactics are deliberately set out to try and force israel to kill as many civilians as possible, for exactly the reason you described earlier on, which is to make

israel lose the propaganda war which is happening. it's been happening for every conflict that israel , israel has ever that israel, israel has ever fought. so yes, you're right that it fought. so yes, you're right thatitis fought. so yes, you're right that it is necessary to adhere to the laws of war. i believe that israel does adhere to the laws of war, and i do think this particular incident we're talking about is an aberration, we obviously don't know exactly what happened. there are very many occasions in conflict when innocent civilians unfortunately die through accident. if that's what happened here, it may, may, may have been , incorrect may have been, incorrect intelligence. it may have been, technical failure. it may have been a, a failure to pass the information from one element of the idf to another. we just don't know. but the reality is, this does happen. all you have to do is think back to 2021, when the us launched a drone strike against what they thought was a terrorist group attacking us forces as they withdrew from afghanistan , and they ended up

afghanistan, and they ended up killing nine of their ten. in fact , civilians. an killing nine of their ten. in fact, civilians. an aid worker and his nine family members, including seven children, due to a misidentification of a vehicle of the type we may be seeing here. >> and the problem, though, is that it seems to me that it's fundamental for the security of the west that israel wins and that ukraine wins , that there that ukraine wins, that there are these major strategic threats that are bigger than the west has faced in decades . and west has faced in decades. and yet if israel loses the propaganda war, then it ends up losing the war. and this weakens the whole of the west. so what can israel do? or what should we be encouraging israel to do as friends and allies, to do better in getting its message across, explaining what has happened , explaining what has happened, simple things. and we get this figure of 30,000 have been killed. is that true? that comes from hamas. what is israel's figure? what is its figure for the number of hamas terrorists

who have been killed or captured? i feel that they're not pushing their propaganda. their answer to their opponents, as hard as they should . as hard as they should. >> i think you're right. in some ways, it's very difficult for them to do so. my understanding is the idf do not have an estimate of the total number of people killed in conflict , people killed in the conflict, but they estimate, i believe, that around 15,000 hamas terrorists have been killed in this war, which is if you take the hamas figures as being roughly accurate, that's approximately half. so 1 to 1 which which is terrible to say this and reduce human life to mere figures. but that is a significantly better civilian to military death rate than, for example, the british and the americans achieved in afghanistan, which is about three to 5 to 1 civilians. so i don't know if these figures are accurate, but it's a rough guide in terms of the propaganda war. there is a very well

established, narrative against israel, which started off in the 1960s in the soviet union as a deliberate war, a deliberate weapon against israel. it pacified israel as an apartheid state. it classified israel as occupiers , colonialists. and occupiers, colonialists. and that narrative has built ever since then. whatever what happened to israel on the 7th of october? israel had it coming. whatever israel does in retaliation, it's wrong that that's that narrative is extremely difficult to counter . extremely difficult to counter. now, my view is that one way that it could be countered, and i don't see any likelihood of this happening, is that the british government and other governments could actually try and push the truth, rather than supporting the narrative, which they too often do. when we had to provide huge efforts to support ukraine, there was a massive british government information campaign to show the british people why we had to support ukraine. there needs to ,

support ukraine. there needs to, it does seem. >> i'm sorry to interrupt, but i think there's such an important point. does as if point. it does seem as if support from the us and the uk is weakening, as the vote in the united nations showed recently, and a response to the recent and as a response to the recent deaths has shown. >> yeah, you're absolutely right. and i think that that's due to a large extent to domestic political considerations. the us has a presidential election coming up. they have to appease the anti—israel lobby as well as support israel. so they've got to appear to be outraged, whether they are outraged or not, by certain things. and the same applies here in the uk, where as you know better than i do, we've got a general election coming up as well. do, we've got a general election coming up as well . so i think coming up as well. so i think that, you know, that that explains partly why we're seeing outrage. but it is a dangerous thing . of course, the incidents thing. of course, the incidents like this world central kitchen, incident are terrible and they do need to be examined and scrutinised and criticised. but if you if you deliberately set

out to criticise israel unjustly, as happens too often , unjustly, as happens too often, in order for your own domestic political considerations, one of the effects of that is to fuel the effects of that is to fuel the anti—israel campaign and in here in the uk, as we've seen, to help incite the jew hate that we've seen on the streets every week in london and other cities. all right. well, colonel kemp >> all right. well, colonel kemp , thank you very much for joining me again, coming up yet another poll is predicting electoral wipe—out for the tories, with the labour party expected to win more than 400 seats. but can our illustrious prime minister turn it round? and don't forget, we'll be diving into the gb news story that has rocked royal mail on counterfeit stamps.

well, we've been discussing gaza

and the mail. mogs have been zooming in. john says the israelis are not terrorists. this was a terrible accident. people should know that most cutting edge western technology is developed israel. without is developed in israel. without them, we would be at the mercy of our adversaries. bob says. bob i like your message because it jacob, you're spot on. it says, jacob, you're spot on. we of these actually, we like more of these actually, as mogs we must support as mail mogs we must support israel. sad, but israel. it was sad, but predictable. all wars have unfortunate regrettable unfortunate and regrettable collateral john, collateral damage. and john, i think people the uk think most people in the uk indeed throughout the world, consider that israel's actions in are disproportionate . in gaza are disproportionate. bombing civilian targets is not acceptable, and this is why israel losing propaganda israel is losing the propaganda war. certainly war. and john, that's certainly where my mailbag is from. people writing to me, from north east somerset. this afternoon, yougov issued another opinion poll, this time detailed seat by seat. and it has suggested that the conservatives are on track to suffer an even worse defeat than that of sir john major to suffer an even worse defeat than that of sirjohn major to tony that of sir john major to tony blair in 1997. the poll suggested that labour could win more than 400 seats, achieving a

majority of 154, with as many as 11 current cabinet ministers i'm sorry to say 1 or 2 former ministers losing their seats , ministers losing their seats, including the chancellor, jeremy hunt, and the leader of the house, penny mordaunt . and your house, penny mordaunt. and your obedient servant. is there anything that could done to anything that could be done to turn this round? is it too late to cut taxes? roll back green policies reform regulations policies and reform regulations to britain's animal to unleash britain's animal spirits? well, i'm joined now by gb news deputy political editor tom harwood, and my panel, former home office special adviser claire pearsall and the political commentator kai willsher. tom. and we all spend our lives talking about opinion polls. it's one of the great interests of both politicians and journalists covering politics. is this one particularly important at the moment? yeah. >> there are three letters that you send before the word poll in your introduction. mrp now that's a very technical psephological phrase , which psephological phrase, which stands for, multi—level regression and post—stratification. now what does that mean ? that doesn't

does that mean? that doesn't mean that they've just taken a sample of opinion and sort of spread it out and think, oh, that will probably give these sorts of seats. that means they've taken not just those people in their panel, but the attributes, their past voting behaviour , whether they're male, behaviour, whether they're male, female, young, old applied female, young, old and applied it specifically to every attribute on balance, in each seat. and therefore you can get a very accurate picture of how that poll would actually translate onto the country as a whole. now, this happened in 2019 before the 2019 election, the same company , yougov, did a the same company, yougov, did a couple of these mrp polls, and the last one they did was remarkably close to the real result. >> so people will be taking this very seriously. does that have any consequences? >> oh, it. most certainly will. the big get out clause i suppose the conservative party is that they can say that any poll is a snapshot of public opinion, rather than a, a projection or a prediction. so people's minds

can change. one of the big points that the conservatives always point to in these polls is the high level of people saying that they don't know how they'll vote, and the hope of they'll vote, and the hope of the conservatives is that those don't knows will break for the conservative party disproportionately. >> yougov apportions those on previous voting habits , doesn't previous voting habits, doesn't it? so that's why this poll actually is slightly better for the conservatives than some other polls, because it assumes some of the stay at homes will actually turn out. >> there was another big poll using this novel mrp technique that was released in the sunday times. now this was done by a campaigning organisation , left campaigning organisation, a left wing organisation wing campaigning organisation called that had called best for britain that had the conservatives down on 98 seats, which was really very, very low indeed. we're talking about 155 seats for the conservatives in this yougov poll this evening. that's around. that's within ten of that 1997 result. although it's ten fewer than that 1997 result.

so a worse result than john major performed against tony blair. although we might be six months out from a general election so there could still be movement and things can change. >> well, let me bring in my panel >> well, let me bring in my panel, kai of the labour party, rubbing their hands with glee and thinking it's all done and dusted they don't to dusted and they don't have to say anything interesting. they can for office to fall can just wait for office to fall into laps. that's into their laps. that's certainly they should certainly not what they should be i imagine there be doing, but i imagine there are quite a few parties happening in the labour areas tonight. >> i mean this honestly is devastating for the conservatives. i really do think so. i think it's a continued confirmation of rishi sunak's appalling political instincts. and of course, you know , this and of course, you know, this idea that pushing the election out and waiting for a tax cutting autumn statement or for things to improve within the economy , i think that's economy, i think that's farcical, to be honest, because we've seen these kind of get out clauses before, you know, the budget, perhaps , or stopping the budget, perhaps, or stopping the boats. these simply haven't worked . and so i think that is

worked. and so i think that is not going to be working. but also this idea that a new prime minister, a new leader, might help staunch the bleeding. i think that's also for the birds. so. >> well, that allows me to say that i'm supporting the prime minister. but, claire, do you think that is an option for conservative think conservative mps? do you think they spend easter they suddenly spend the easter recess letters to sir recess writing letters to sir graham or that graham brady, or is that utter madness? graham brady, or is that utter ma well,? utter madness . it >> well, it's utter madness. it won't stop some of your colleagues from doing so. and i can see the attraction of that. when you see polls like this, it does send shivers spine does send shivers down the spine slightly will be slightly and people will be worried. we've been worried. however we've been around this block before. we've had three different prime ministers, nothing really has changed. i think people are just generally angry and if we did another vanity membership vote and contest with with your colleagues, then it isn't going to change much. it isn't going to change much. it isn't going to have the desired effect. i think what the country actually wants to see is a party coming through with some ideas that bnng through with some ideas that bring hope to people, because that's what we desperately , that's what we desperately, desperately we haven't desperately need. we haven't

spoken the spoken about housing, the economy needs to pick up those kind of things to get people on side . side. >> but labour's been very careful not to talk about those things. so not to rock the things. so as not to rock the boat. so we have a party who's been office long time. been in office for a long time. and you say new things, and when you say new things, when you've been in office for 40 years, 14 years, people say, well, do that well, why didn't you do that before? a party of before? and a party of opposition doesn't dare say opposition that doesn't dare say anything that anything because it thinks that there's risk in offending there's more risk in offending people than there is in winning supporters so supporters by its dynamism. so this makes for a politics that nobody's happy with. nobody's really happy with. >> i think the problem is >> but i think the problem is that opposition can afford that the opposition can afford to sit there and say nothing at the moment. they just let the conservative party deal with it. and i actually think these poll results bit a double results is a bit of a double edged sword for labour, because it lead slightly it can lead to a slightly laissez faire attitude if they consistently see they're consistently see that they're ahead polls and they'll ahead in the polls and they'll start to take their foot off the gas, they'll start to make mistakes, where the mistakes, which is where the conservative party to be conservative party need to be regrouping, and regrouping, rethinking and coming a coherent plan. coming up with a coherent plan. >> is there hope in the

>> and is there any hope in the poll for the conservatives? any sign life sign that there might be life yet old dog? it's an old yet in the old dog? it's an old dog lasted a few hundred dog that's lasted a few hundred years. dog that's lasted a few hundred yea monday marked the 32nd >> monday marked the 32nd anniversary of something known as rally. now this as the sheffield rally. now this was days before the was the moment days before the 1992 general election, when neil kinnock to stage in kinnock took to a stage in sheffield and with, adorned with flags glitz, glamour , flags and glitz, glamour, celebrities even endorsing the labour party. at this point he was double digits ahead in the polls over john major , was double digits ahead in the polls overjohn major , and it polls overjohn major, and it was almost seen as a victory party before the victory. what happened after that moment of hubns happened after that moment of hubris from the labour party? a concentration of minds amongst the electorate and a decision that actually, perhaps it's not worth the risk from the electorate. now, big questions as to whether we're actually at that point or whether people are so with the conservatives so fed up with the conservatives in government that they'll go for labour. but sometimes there are risks in things can go wrong. >> i remember that evening i was out canvassing, as you might expect, just for an election, and told me been and lady told me there'd been a rally with 20 million people.

turned it 20,000. but rally with 20 million people. turneithings: 20,000. but rally with 20 million people. turneithings: learned. but rally with 20 million people. turneithings: learned anyway. some things you learned anyway. thank tom and my thank you to tom and to my panel thank you to tom and to my panel. coming up next, hmrc continues on working panel. coming up next, hmrc co idling; on working panel. coming up next, hmrc co idling from on working panel. coming up next, hmrc co idling from homen working panel. coming up next, hmrc co idling from home despiteig or idling from home despite millions of telephone calls going unanswered. but i might just know the lady to help them get back to work. plus could the royal mail be issuing royal mail itself be issuing counterfeit stamps?

while the mail mugs have been zooming in in response to the yougov poll, steph says i've been doing yougov an opinion polls for years. just recently, i've not answered any questions regarding the election. they know i'm a conservative voter. just coincidence. and a certain gentleman called daniel has sent him a message saying jacob, will you be losing your seat in the next election? to which the answer is, i hope not. but it was a labour seat up until 2010, and i've always assumed it's

marginal that any mp who thinks he's has another he's got a safe seat has another thing and colin, it's thing coming. and colin, it's not too late for the tories. if sunak took action tomorrow . yes, sunak took action tomorrow. yes, i rather agree with that. we need some it's happened need some oomph. it's happened before and then you can win elections with oomph, the former head of ofsted, amanda spielman, has declared that britain is becoming place where has declared that britain is beis�*ming place where has declared that britain is beis impossible place where has declared that britain is beis impossible to place where has declared that britain is beis impossible to have)lace where it is impossible to have difficult conversations. this comes after inquest into the comes after an inquest into the suicide of primary school headmistress ruth perry found that ofsted had contributed to her death after relegating her school outstanding to school from outstanding to inadequate over safeguarding concerns. spellman who was chief of the education regulator at the time, has defended ofsted by saying that there is often too much focus on being kind to adults working in public service, rather than concern for those using it, which in this case school children. i'm case is school children. i'm actually rather fan of. actually rather a fan of. spellman was her six year spellman was during her six year stint majesty's stint as his majesty's and previously majesty's previously her majesty's chief inspector education . she was inspector of education. she was in favour of high standards and led the public sector in getting civil servants back into the

office, brings me on to office, which brings me on to the fact that half of hmrc's whitehall desks are still empty, and phrase it in this very and i'd phrase it in this very pedantic because not pedantic way, because not everybody desk. so everybody has their own desk. so if desks are empty , if half the desks are empty, many fewer than half the people are going in. this is in are going in. and this is in spite of customer complaints. data published by the telegraph shows that in an average week dunng shows that in an average week during the first quarter of this yean during the first quarter of this year, only 53% of hmrc's desks for servants were in use. for civil servants were in use. maybe it's time for jim o'hara to start having difficult conversations with his staff. well, my panel is here to talk about this former home office special adviser, claire pearsall, the political pearsall, and the political commentator kai willsher, she has a point, doesn't she , that has a point, doesn't she, that it's all very well being nice to people , but actually, public people, but actually, public services need to perform, and if they're underperforming , you they're underperforming, you have to say to some people you're not doing well enough . you're not doing well enough. >> i think it's quite grand to hear somebody from formerly from ofsted i think that's ofsted say this. i think that's misdiagnosing problem that misdiagnosing the problem that ofsted has really, in terms of why aren't school inspections

working? but, you know , yes, working? but, you know, yes, i do think that we need a reassessment of working from home. it doesn't work for everybody. i personally would hate having to work from home all the time. i'm pretty useless , but for some people, personal circumstances mean that it makes sense where they live and so on. but when it's a public service, it changes the calculus, right ? it changes the calculus, right? some public services, depending on the kind of work. some public services, depending on the kind of work . then the on the kind of work. then the dealis on the kind of work. then the deal is different. it can make sense , and it's not a matter of sense, and it's not a matter of just being nice to people. it can be much more serious or make sense. it makes sense sometimes for some people. but yes, the pubuc for some people. but yes, the public expects something from their taxes . and in the case of their taxes. and in the case of hmrc, frankly, the job they're doing at the minute is simply not good enough and they need to be work. be at work. >> experience as a member of >> my experience as a member of parliament on behalf of parliament of hmrc, on behalf of my was when i my constituents was when i started, it was one of the best pubuc started, it was one of the best public services to deal with. it gave the best, fullest answers to and so it's gone

to constituents and so it's gone from being really pretty good to letting everybody down. and this seems to coincide with working from home. and i know coincidence not causality, coincidence is not causality, but likely i'm not. >> you know, i'm sure there's something else going on when an institution goes from doing well to failing, then it's a complicated picture, isn't it? i don't think we should have a sort of a too much of a reaction stopping people from working from home at all. but yes, something needs to be done. something really has gone quite wrong. i'm lucky i'm welsh. i go to the welsh number and we get straight through. but that's not the case for everybody. working with archewell. >> but, miss spellman has a really good point that if you're to get excellence, you sometimes actually have to fire people who aren't performing properly. >> and if we're all lovey dovey the whole time, we will never get from the public sector. >> that's valid point . >> that's a valid point. however, it is also not answering what ofsted are there to do and how badly they've

performed over the past decade at least. ofsted when it was first set up to look into, schools and the quality of education, would have an inspection across an entire week, they would be in a school, they would look at absolutely everything. they would work with the teachers and get a much bigger picture. these days, it's donein bigger picture. these days, it's done in maybe a day, a day and a half. that isn't enough to adequately the level of adequately look at the level of teaching , look at the quality of teaching, look at the quality of the education, to look at any problems may so it's problems they may have. so it's all very well to say we need to have difficult have some difficult conversations because yeah, absolutely going in absolutely you do. but going in for a day with teachers who are incredibly stressed and the level of work that they put in for ofsted inspections is enormous. a trustee of a enormous. i'm a trustee of a secondary school, and i'm also a governor of a primary school, and i have seen both sides of this. the amount of work these teachers put in is astronomical, and the abuse they get is and the abuse that they get is incredible abuse from ofsted or from parents or who are they

getting? they get a lot of not abuse from ofsted inspectors. that would be wrong . they get that would be wrong. they get disdainful information given to them, their people aren't interested and they're quite often not experts in the areas that they're going into . and you that they're going into. and you would assume if you were going to inspect a school that you would have a sound background in education or management and leadership very, very leadership at the very, very least, in have a look least, to go in and have a look at these things and they're not. and parents are now having to work information work from information on the internet, have put internet, which ofsted have put out word grouping of out a one word grouping of a school, whether it be outstanding or good or inadequate. well, what does that actually mean in practice? what is to day teaching like? is the day to day teaching like? >> but isn't a single word very helpful for parents to give them a headline? understanding and then they can read in more detail to see what it is good or outstanding at. >> sometimes. outstanding at. >> sometimes . and i had to look >> sometimes. and i had to look at this when my own child went into the primary school sector some years ago now, and it was

considered to be an outstanding school, and that was fantastic. and you thought, yeah, this is great. and then when you look down and you understood a little bit more why it was outstanding, but you could also see where the failings were. and i don't think necessarily that's highlighted failings were. and i don't think necessariy that's highlighted failings were. and i don't think necessari don't's highlighted failings were. and i don't think necessari don't think1lighted failings were. and i don't think necessari don't think that ted enough. i don't think that people to read into enough. i don't think that peop|is to read into enough. i don't think that peop|is kind to read into enough. i don't think that peop|is kind of to read into enough. i don't think that peop|is kind of a to read into enough. i don't think that peop|is kind of a very ead into enough. i don't think that peop|is kind of a very long nto what is kind of a very long report. okay. >> and you've on working >> and you've got 10s on working from because we've got from home because we've got are you favour? you an you in favour? are you an advocate do you think we advocate or do you think we should people to the office? >> no, i'm an advocate of working from home. if it works with your employer and if you are doing job in the case of are doing the job in the case of hmrc, they're not. they need to be back. >> they to get back to >> they need to get back to work. well thank you very much to next. to my panel. coming up next. we'll the we'll be discussing the extraordinary royal extraordinary state of royal mail revelations mail after gb news revelations of counterfeit stamps. for the latest twist in the tale coming up from our up after these messages from our generous patrick generous sponsors on patrick christys to i christys tonight, 9 to 11 pm, i expose the rogues gallery of paedophiles rapists. paedophiles and rapists. >> britain can't or won't deport . are they living in a town near you? the marxist, pro—palestine,

race baiting head of the teachers union is about to lead teachers union is about to lead teachers out on strike again, punishing vulnerable children. muslim gangs have won the prison turf war. are our jails becoming jihadi training grounds and i interview a global olympic hero who says she'd go to prison with jk rowling as the world laughs at humza yousaf hate crime laws. that's nine till 11 pm. tonight on gb news. i'll be

>> well, every evening i say mail is a crucial part of the programme. and you have been living up to expectations this evening. adam says while civil servants working from home are shirking civil service productivity is shrinking. so tongue twisters are being sent in. this evening, john says why can't hmrc do what my company does? they will not employ anybody who lives more than 30 miles away, because you will find a lot of these people moved

out london and now are out of london and now are refusing come most refusing to come back. most probably get london premium probably get the london premium should in a policy cross should bring in a policy cross by if live more than 30 by all. if you live more than 30 miles away, you cannot work in the offices in london or anywhere else in the country. and pre—empting next and al is pre—empting our next discussion. of discussion. he says the claim of first post counterfeit first class post is counterfeit itself . the service is often itself. the service is often abysmal. the royal mail has been exposed in a gb news investigation, which found the postal service had been ordering members of the public who were collecting their post, or having it delivered to them to pay £5 fines for counterfeit stamps. members of the public claim to have bought these stamps from post all around the post offices all around the country. plot twist, country. in a plot twist, the post office told gb news post office has told gb news that they secure stamps directly from royal mail secure printers. the organisation brought in new barcode scanning system in july, and counterfeit stamps have since been highlighted as a country wide problem. so still with me is my panel, former home office special adviser claire pearsall and the political commentator kai willsher claire, we all like the idea of getting

letters. there's something quite nice about posting them too, but when you put a stamp on, you don't want the person getting your letter to get a £5 fine. what is going wrong? >> i think it's an interesting one. and i think because you can purchase stamps from other places, so not the post office themselves, but you can purchase themselves, but you can purchase them online now, that's always going to be a bit of an outlet for, for people in, in the world of counterfeiting, because it's an easy sell. so i think we all need to be a little bit aware of what where we purchase things what we where we purchase things and it. and there's and why we do it. and there's obviously some money to be made. but i do think that royal mail needs have a long, hard look needs to have a long, hard look at service that offer. at the service that they offer. the we now have the amount that we now have to pay, the amount that we now have to pay, and no surprise the pay, and it's of no surprise the pieces of mail that i had come through this week, one them through this week, one of them had rest were had a stamp. the rest were franked mail. so companies don't use stamps. so you do sort of look at it. it's like the customers are the ones that are going to suffer with this. and a £5 fine for somebody to pick up

a piece of mail that is unwittingly had a stamp that's counterfeit , i think unwittingly had a stamp that's counterfeit, i think is immoral. >> well, i'm afraid i never pay the surcharges. if somebody sends without sends me a letter without a stamp on it, i assume it's from a and they a political opponent, and they want me a lot of money. want to cost me a lot of money. so i'm afraid i let it go back to the sender. but your advice to the sender. but your advice to people buying stamps would be buy from post office, don't buy them from post office, don't get if are get them online. and if they are less face it's bound less than face value, it's bound to swindle. nobody offers to be a swindle. nobody offers you this. seems advice you this. seems fair advice absolutely total sense. absolutely makes total sense. but of these people say but some of these people say they're post they're buying them from post offices. royal must offices. so the royal mail must look this. because if look into this. because if that's true, there must be some problem with the printing problem either with the printing or or with the distribution system. >> absolutely. somebody here is taking advantage, but the fault shouldn't be passed on to the customer. of course, this £5 fine is ridiculous. but but the company has such myriad problems at the minute. you look at how many letters are being posted, even the sort of postal volume has fallen by around 5% each yean has fallen by around 5% each year, accelerating then last

year, accelerating then last year to 9.5. that's the yearly decline. and though we're getting parcels , we're getting getting parcels, we're getting fewer and fewer letters. and that's going to be a generation shift. so the managing decline at the minute in certain ways. >> and royal mail is going through this process, isn't it. of becoming a parcel delivering company rather than a post delivering company. and that is a difficult transition. transition >> absolutely. they have a really difficult job because they have so many operations scattered around the country . scattered around the country. and these generational seismic shifts that are changing fundamentally how they need to operate. young people aren't sending or receiving letters anymore. they need to take that into account. >> and the post office has huge obligations. it's got the universal service obligation . as universal service obligation. as i drive around somerset, i see huge numbers of boxes all huge numbers of post boxes all over countryside, each one over the countryside, each one of has be emptied once of which has to be emptied once a there's a lot to do with a day. there's a lot to do with huge decline in numbers. it's not an easy business. no, it's not, but i don't think that they've looked far enough into

they've looked far enough into the future. >> their future planning hasn't been strategic enough, and kyrees has been kyrees right, there has been fewer of mail being fewer pieces of mail being posted . we're all relying more posted. we're all relying more on parcels, and i think the royal mail took the decision to prioritise parcels over letters , prioritise parcels over letters, which, yes, makes sense on the one hand, but not on the other. if you've got people in the constituency that you look after and also in my own area who are reliant upon hospital appointments coming by letter, indeed they're weeks late . often. >> yeah, but that sometimes the nhs fault, that's another matter . a royal mail spokesman said royal mail takes the illegal production of counterfeit stamps seriously. since the introduction of barcoded stamps , introduction of barcoded stamps, we have able to we have been able to significantly our significantly split our infinitives significantly infinitives no to significantly reduce stamp fraud through added security every barcode security features every barcode is unique, which allows us to identify whether a stamp is genuine or not and whether they have been previously used. and finally, i'd be remiss if i didn't allude to an upcoming crisis for our friends in japan in. by upcoming, i mean in about

507 years time. so a mere blink of an eye. new analysis has revealed that everyone in japan will have the same surname by 2531, owing to the fact that the country still follows a law from the early 19th century that forces married couples to share the same last name, the naming question ends up being saito, meaning helper or assistant. imagine for a moment a britain in which everyone had the last name of smith. that appears to be what japan is facing. however, the great irony of this new analysis is that on current trends, japan's population will be minuscule by 2531. the japanese population is expected to be half what it is now. by the end of the century, owing to declining birth rates. so, in other words, there won't any other words, there won't be any japanese people so the japanese people left. so the real forjapan is not real problem forjapan is not about surname policies, but about surname policies, but about and this about the birth rate. and this must have been an april fool that we've got a day late, but never mind. you very much. never mind. thank you very much. my never mind. thank you very much. my panel. that's all from me. up next, the great patrick next, it's the great patrick christys what on christys patrick, what is on your of this evening? your bill of fare this evening? >> you very much,

>> yes, thank you very much, jacob. the marxist jacob. great show. the marxist union looks like he's union leader who looks like he's going to drag the kids out of school yet again . the monsters school yet again. the monsters that is unable deport that britain is unable to deport a muslim prison gangs. they've won. apparently, they now control our prisons. should we stop israel ? and it's the stop arming israel? and it's the fight back against the hate crime laws. i am joined by a top olympian who says that she would happily share a cell with jk rowling. >> well, we've got too much prison overcrowding for such distinguished people to go to jail, but i hope you will carry on fighting the good fight with all your that's all all your might. that's all coming whether back coming up. whether i'll be back tomorrow jacob tomorrow at 8:00. i am jacob rees—mogg. has been stated. rees—mogg. this has been stated. nafion rees—mogg. this has been stated. nation we're the nation and we're going to the weather, which somerset will weather, which in somerset will be glorious. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> hello again. welcome to your latest gb news weather update. well, there will be some further heavy rain first thing across southern areas, but in general thursday offers some much drier

weather compared to the wet weather compared to the wet weather we've seen recently. northeastern areas have suffered the most with the rain throughout today. that rain will clear away through tonight, but the arrives into the the next batch arrives into the southwest. bursts southwest. we'll see two bursts of rain. this one will turn heavy at first in the southwest, but as it pushes into parts of northern england, it will turn a little bit dry. but most areas will see some heavy outbreaks of rain the night. further rain through the night. further north though, it north and west, though, it should dry and we could see should stay dry and we could see a frost by tomorrow a touch of frost by tomorrow morning. but it's in the southwest tomorrow morning where the rain will be, the heaviest rain will be, and that into parts of that will push into parts of wales, the midlands, into the southeast throughout rush southeast throughout the rush houn southeast throughout the rush hour. moving hour. so if you are moving about on thursday expect some on thursday morning, expect some tncky on thursday morning, expect some tricky conditions . tricky travelling conditions. once clear out the once that does clear out the way, see a mix of sunshine way, we'll see a mix of sunshine and for many areas and showers. for many areas of england wales, will be england and wales, there will be some sunny spells some decent sunny spells in between. fairly between. we'll feel fairly pleasant sunshine, but pleasant in that sunshine, but further it's going to further north it's going to considerably day than it considerably drier day than it has lately . we'll see highs has been lately. we'll see highs of around 11 degrees of around 10 or 11 degrees across northwestern areas. it's still cold though, in the far

north of scotland, and as the next batch of rain bumps into that cold air on friday morning, there's some snow there's a risk of some snow across the highlands and grampians, see grampians, and we'll see outbreaks of quite heavy rain push many northern areas push through many northern areas throughout friday. further south, turns as south, though, it turns drier as the goes but the weekend the day goes on, but the weekend is looking unsettled and seasonably mild. that's exceptionally mild. that's all for bye . for now. bye bye. >> looks like things are heating up . boxt boilers sponsors

news. >> good evening. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom . your wenzler in the gb newsroom. your top story this hour. shadow foreign secretary david lammy says the government should suspend arms sales to israel. if it's clear the international law has been breached . it's after has been breached. it's after british aid workers john chapman, james henderson and james kirby were killed when their convoy was hit by an israeli airstrike while they were delivering vital food aid . were delivering vital food aid. they were part of a group of seven aid workers from the world central kitchen organisation. the founder, jose the charity's founder, jose andre, accused israeli andre, has accused israeli forces in gaza of targeting the workers. systematic early 17 members between the special speciality security people. >> we have three british individuals and three three international crew, plus one palestinian that they were targeted systematically car by car . car. >> in other news, a new poll

suggests