he up to? and did the public he up to.7 and did the public vote for starmer without knowing that they were getting blair? we're going to be debating the divisive vat on private school fees as well as that now. i'm also going to be joined by an incredible man who's about to undertake one of the world's most extreme adventures. ash dykesis most extreme adventures. ash dykes is heading to the amazon rainforest to explore one of the most remote and dangerous parts of the world. and ahead of that match euro 2020 for the final between england and spain in berlin. i'm going to be asking are the three lions about to lift their first major silverware since 1966? all that and a lot more . but first, an and a lot more. but first, an update on the latest news headlines. >> very good evening to you. the

latest developments from the us first. and we now know the victim who was shot and killed at last night's major trump rally has been confirmed as a volunteer fire chief. the 50 year old was killed as he dived onto his family to protect them from the hail of bullets. in the last few minutes , pennsylvania's last few minutes, pennsylvania's governor has been addressing the media in the us , where he has media in the us, where he has called on leaders to bring down the political temperature and prevent their growing rhetoric elsewhere. what police are describing as suspicious devices have now been found in the car of thomas crooks, the gunman who attempted to assassinate donald trump last night. the 20 year old was shot and killed by security services at the rally after trump was hit in the ear, with him describing it as a bullet ripping through his skin. two other attendees are still in critical condition following the chaos at that rally. this was the moment that gunfire rang

out. if you see something that said, take a look at what happened over. here, prime minister sir keir starmer is among world leaders who have now condemned last night's attack. he says he is appalled at the news. meanwhile, in the us, melania trump says her life was on the brink of devastating change after the attempt on her husband's life. and billionaire elon musk says he'll continue to fully endorse the former president and hopes for his rapid recovery and reform. uk leader nigel farage says trump's assassination attempt is another example of liberal intolerance. in other news, the mother of missing teenager jay slater says she's aware of vile conspiracy

theories surrounding her son's disappearance. debbie duncan's released a statement as it approaches a month now, since the 19 year old went missing on the 19 year old went missing on the island of tenerife. he was last heard from on the 17th of june, telling a friend he'd missed a bus, was unable to locate himself and had a cut on his leg. the princess of wales has arrived and now handed out the trophy at the men's wimbledon final today alongside her daughter princess charlotte. princess catherine presented that trophy to carlos alcaraz following his three set victory against novak djokovic on centre court. it was her second public appearance following her cancer diagnosis , after she made diagnosis, after she made a brief return to the public spotlight last month at trooping the colour . and the atmosphere the colour. and the atmosphere is now building in berlin as england and spain prepare to go head to head in the final of euro 2024. kick off at 8:00, england are going for their first major men's trophy in almost 60 years, while spain are

hoping to regain the title that they won in 2012. luke shaw is expected to start in gareth southgate's only change from their semi—final win against the netherlands. those are the latest gb news headlines for now. bev turner is up next with neil oliver's programme i'm sam francis back with you for another update at 7:00 for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gb news. >> .com. forward slash alerts . >> .com. forward slash alerts. >> .com. forward slash alerts. >> welcome to neil oliver's show with me bev turner. neil is on holiday, so our first topic this evening. former prime minister sir tony blair, and whether his influence is set to rise under this new labour government. blair has already been in the headunes blair has already been in the headlines this week suggesting that labour will have to raise taxes by more than £50 billion if they cannot increase productivity. and also asking britain to embrace, you guessed

it , digital britain to embrace, you guessed it, digital id so is this a welcome return to the spotlight for a respected former leader or a very unwelcome blast from the past? well, joining me to discuss this from novara media, aaron bastani and the political commentator dominique samuels. evening to you both. let's start with you, aaron. you're you're a left leaning commentator. you should be presumably delighted to see tony blair back in the picture. >> not especially, but the biggest story for me with tony blair and the tony blair institute really is the money. so the big problem for me is not necessarily tony blair. the big problem is that you have people like larry ellison, who's the co—founder of a massive company called oracle, having given the tony blair institute hundreds of millions of dollars, he's given 100 million. he's going to give another $200 million. and his big thing is health data, ai. and what was tony blair talking about this week? ai and data and the nhs. so i think it's

important to separate the man from this idea of money and politics and people buying influence and pay to play in politics. we can talk about think tanks and we can talk about lobbyists. in british politics, there is nothing. there has never been anything like the tony blair institute when it comes to its scale. >> now, tony blair would say, my institute is a not for profit organisation. aaron. somehow he's making money. i think he's worth about £60 million. at least that's what he will say online. he's certainly the most wealthy former prime minister. should we should we be worried about that sort of conflict of interest? dominique? is there should there be more transparency about how tony blair might profit from some of the ideas that he's proposing? >> well, i think it's clear how he's profited anyway. he's still being given such a persuading voice in uk politics. and to be honest, i don't know why anyone would be surprised that tony blair still has influence and will have influence, particularly on this government,

because the general direction that we are seeing policy and that we are seeing policy and that we are seeing policy and that we are seeing politics, is towards more control through digitalisation, through ai and through things like digital ids, which and things like health passports, which will be another thing that will crop up. keir starmer's government is simply more of a palatable face to actually push those agendas forward. so whether or not people like tony blair are put at the forefront of these kinds of policies, these decisions have already been made as far as i'm concerned. and did tony blair really as a leave government because we're still debating over the same issues, and yet policy is still going in one direction and one that i believe is about more state control. and tony blair has even alluded to that, saying that keir starmer essentially needs to be more of a ceo, which essentially means he needs to stop listening to people, which i think is a very dangerous comment to make when, you know, we're supposed to be apparently a democracy . a democracy. >> two interesting points,

actually, aaron, to pick apart there a little bit is does keir starmer know that he is there to enact the will of tony blair? i guessis enact the will of tony blair? i guess is question one, but also question two. i guess when we talk about this centralisation and this control via digital and technical means, will people not want that? because there will be some people who really want the state to make decisions for them and not let them have to make those decisions for themselves about, say, their health and what medication they should take? >> it's an interesting one. there are many policies which i could go either way on. it depends who's in charge and what they want to do with it. so, for instance, take north sea oil. i'm opposed to drilling oil and gas in the north sea. why? well, under the tories i think they probably would have just wasted it on a bunch of stuff. they probably would have gotten some tax cuts to some people who i don't necessarily think deserve tax cuts. you could make an argument, say, well, we should be like norway, invest all of that in renewable technology, housing, infrastructure. those are two separate arguments. and it's very similar with data in the nhs. personally, i don't

trust government in this country to deal with that kind of data and that kind of way. it will be sold to on third parties. importantly, though, private businesses already have huge, massive amounts of data on all of us. amazon, facebook , google, of us. amazon, facebook, google, the supermarket companies, the credit card companies. so i can understand the argument for giving data to the state to help us achieve certain things. but i simply don't trust people like tony blair, people like larry ellison, to use that in a in a responsible way. and the key here for me is history and precedent. some people watching and listening may remember the nhs. it upgrades that we saw in the late 1990s, throughout the 2000 that cost £12 billion money wasted. campaign groups in 2011 came together, looked at that and they said tony blair wasn't being malicious. he simply believed everything that the likes of bill gates were telling him. in terms of what these upgrades would mean for the nhs and service delivery, he wasn't sceptical and i think the exact same thing is happening now with

regards to data, and i maybe he's learnt dominique , maybe he's learnt dominique, maybe tony blair has learned so much whilst he's not been in the front line of politics about how to run a huge digital data set infrastructure, maybe. >> i mean, we're all sort of laughing as we're saying it. i'm trying to be, i'm trying to be generous to him in some way. you know, when we saw tony blair on stage this week, it was a reminder, wasn't it, of what an amazing communicator he is. and how convincing his sales technique is. he's just worlds apart from the communication we see from sir keir starmer, for example . example. >> yeah, no, i definitely agree with that. and that's the thing. tony blair can be really quite hypnotising when he speaks, and i've no doubt that he really does believe in what he says. you know, he believes his way is right. his dangerous globalist philosophy is the way forward. i obviously disagree with that completely . but, you know, in my completely. but, you know, in my view, it doesn't matter who it

is, it doesn't matter whether it's tony blair or keir starmer. these are policies that are coming down the line anyway. the conservatives would have probably enacted them sooner or later , especially in in relation later, especially in in relation to ai and data , because that is to ai and data, because that is the direction our society is going in. it probably just would have been a bit watered down essentially. but people like tony blair are dangerous, yes, but they're always going to have influence. they've got enough money to which is sort of what they said, this, this issue of, of this control of the state, putting your medical records all in one place. >> people will be listening and going, well, what's the problem with that? bev? why why is that a problem? it might be really convenient. and you do go to the hospital and they can't access notes that your gp has had. maybe there is some utility here. i think one of the things i found most chilling, aaron, was when he talked about being able to see these records and therefore enact pre—emptive treatment. so working out the

ai, working out the profile of that person, what you're most likely to get and therefore treating you before you've even got something again, there'll be those people who say, well, that's sensible, what's your problem? >> well, we're already seeing something actually like that happening. there's been a trial of something called, it's a it's effectively it's you might call it a liquid biopsy in later life, but an early life. basically, you have a newborn child, they have a small blood sample taken away. they have their entire genome sequence , their entire genome sequence, and there's potential health issues or sensitivities that that can be pulled up. really early. now, i think with a newborn child, that's a very smart thing to do personally. but like you say, no, but so for instance, you know, there might be a condition that is really important and you're going to you're going to avoid, you know, early years or early months mortality, infant mortality. but i would agree, you don't want a newborn child coming into the world. and then you have a doctor saying, yep, there's a 65% chance they're going to need a mastectomy by the time they're 55. that is quite dystopian. so again, we need a broader

conversation around this stuff. and i, i personally don't think that think tanks who are funded by people with a massive vested interest in this stuff being implemented wholesale. i don't think that's the best place to do it. personally >> dominic. >> dominic. >> no. yeah. no, i completely agree with, everything he said, really. and i think the danger is part about that, especially in regards to health, is it takes away an individual's agency to actually decide what's best for their health as well, because we live in a society, as you said, where people are genuinely programmed to believe that they don't know what's for best them. and that's a really important point that i want to make. we are programmed to believe we do not know what's best for us. we're programmed to believe that government and people like tony blair know what's best for us. and that's why some people might be accepting towards policies like this. but the reality is we know what's best for us as individuals and whether it's ai, whether it's government, whether it's politicians, everything they say and push upon us should be taken with an extremely large

pinch of salt, in my view. >> yeah. well, tony blair is back to stay. he ain't going anywhere. and no doubt we will be analysing his ambitions throughout the next few years. if not months, if not years. right. dominique aaron, thank you so much for kicking us off this evening. right after the break. labour have said that they plan to reinstate vat on private school fees. is it a straightforward and sensible way to ease the state school funding crisis, or an unfair and divisive policy, particularly punishing those who want to send their kids to private school ? their kids to private school? you're watching the neil oliver show on gb news with me,

bev. welcome back to the neil show. with me . bev turner this with me. bev turner this evening. now, one policy that labour were very vocal about pnor labour were very vocal about prior to the election was their intention to slap 20% vat on

private school fees . they claim private school fees. they claim that this would raise £1.3 billion, which would fund 6500 new teachers. but does it feel to you like a cruel and vindictive policy designed to divide? well, joining me to discuss this are education expert tom buick and political commentator aaron bastani is still with me. aaron, let's start with you . it felt a little start with you. it felt a little bit to me like the mask slipped with labour when they were so wedded to this idea from the start, 1.3 billion sounds like a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. it isn't a huge amount, but the people that will be targeted by this will be those children who are at private school who then have to move and change their whole life for those kids to move into a state school because their parents can't afford to keep them there. and yet everybody that i've spoken to from labour is totally unmoved by that prospect . prospect. >> well, i think they probably are moved because they look at this through a sort of utilitarian lens and they would

say, well, that might be a little bit bad. but there's other thing which is really bad and needs to be addressed, and that's our political priority, which is the condition of state schools in this country. the question is of course, how much money is it going to raise if this raised 2 billion, which is the top, top number? i think you'd have far fewer sceptics. some people are saying, well, actually you'll have people moving to the state system. go, you're going to raise less tax, you're going to raise less tax, you're going to have to spend more because more people in the state system, etc. so where are we? if it doesn't raise anything, you're going to have a lot more critics. let's say it's somewhere in the region of like, you say, around about a billion. my you say, around about a billion. my personal view is these are private businesses. so a they should pay vat, but secondly, they can adapt. you know, if you talk to people actually in the private school sector, they say the money now the growth market is overseas students. that's where all the money is coming from. okay. well raise the fees on those guys then have a different, fee set up for domestic students, uk nationals and kids from overseas. domestic students, uk nationals and kids from overseas . you are and kids from overseas. you are businesses. you're going to have to innovate in terms of covering your cost base and providing an

affordable product to consumers. we say that with regards to every other business, why can't we say it here? so i think it's a sensible way to proceed. look at it for two, three, four, five years. i think you have to work in partnership with the entire education system, private and public, and reassess. but i personally think on principle, if you're a private business selling goods and services and the private for market prices, you should pay vat. >> but those those overseas students. so you're talking specifically about boarding schools. there is that is that what you mean? so kids who are overwhelmingly kids who are sent overwhelmingly kids who are sent over from dubai, the parents live in dubai, hong kong, wherever they send their children to boarding school here commonly. and you think they should be charged more because they aren't living here? >> well, i don't know, but i would say on an on an ad hoc, you know, basis, i think these are businesses. i think many will be able to absorb the cost. some are going to struggle to absorb the cost. right. and i think that's that's what we're going to work out over the next several years. some are going to struggle to cost. many of them

won't. of course, many of them are very profitable. they're very well run. but like i say, these are private businesses. and normally when we have any sort of, industrial sector and we have businesses which are struggling, we say, well, the market will decide there might be consolidation, they might make cost savings, they might introduce new innovations. and that's going to lead to higher productivity. that's generally the mindset we have with the private sector, with market, with market systems. tom, i don't see why it's not the case here. >> tom, you're an education expert. what do you think the real world implications of this are going to be for the education system ? education system? >> hi, bev. look, first of all, i agree that the state education sector needs more resources. we're spending 8% less on education than we were in 2010. and actually, if you look back through history and i just completed a book on the history of education, actually over the last 150 years, you know, it was the labour government of james callaghan that spent more on education as a proportion of our national wealth than any government since. and i think this policy actually is politically wrongheaded. and really, for three reasons. the

first, it's actually quite a performative policy in the sense that it gives voters the impression that by whacking attacks, which i believe is a double tax actually, on education, on private education, that this money will be then redistributed in a very progressive socialist way to the state sector in order to pay for new teachers that we need. and importantly, for the breakfast clubs that we need in our depnved clubs that we need in our deprived areas. but i think, as aaron was just saying, there tops, this will raise about £19 billion. is the figure that bridget phillipson gave to a house of lords select committee , house of lords select committee, actually, the government's before the current government came in, but under the last government officials said it would only raise £900 million. but the point is, there will be displacement from the private sector into the state sector. so it's performative from that point of view. it's a double taxing that. again, aaron says, well, these are private businesses. actually. most are incorporated as charities and charities don't pay on a lot of

these kind of services that they deliver as part of their charitable objects. and one of the things i'm worried about, someone that's been a ceo of several charities over the years, is that this is going to open a whole pandora's box, where actually charities are going to have to start charging vat on more of the things that they offer for public good and just finally, why actually, this is a wrong headed policy. politically, it does nothing about the class ceiling in our country. the permanent secretaries of whitehall, 60% of them went to private schools, 65% of our judges went to private schools. where in this policy is the progressive nature that will actually lead to a redistribution of opportunity and not just going on a raid of middle class parents who can afford to send their kids to private schools. it's such a good point, aaron, because the billionaires who can afford to send their children to private school, the multi—millionaires they will not be touched by this 20% vat. >> so what you're going to get is those parents who often have

help from grandparents as well. now the doctors, the lawyers, the professions. if you like, who have spoken to granny and granddad and they've said, you know what, we're not going to leave you so much in our will, but we want to put this into the kids education. now, those families are the ones who are going to be hit by this. it's almost like if it's not broken, don't fix it. this, this sort of two tier system is ideologically, of course, fundamentally, of course, it's sort of wrong in inverted commas that you can pay to give your child an advantage in life. if i had my way, i'd wave a magic wand, close all the private schools, but raise the standard beautifully of all the state schools. wouldn't that be a utopia that we could live in, where they all had football pitches and swimming pools and, you know, amazing after school care? and that's not the real world we live in, unfortunately. so how are we going to encourage, as tom was saying, this idea of social mobility with those sort of middle class, if you like , the lower middle if you like, the lower middle classes who are trying to scrimp and save to get their kids to

school, those are the ones that are going to be ending up just feeling like there's nothing to aspire to . aspire to. >> well, we already have a very figged >> well, we already have a very rigged school system in this country. we got rid of grammar schools a long time ago in many places. not all of them, but in many places. and what we have instead is selection by the 11 plus. but by where you live, we have a postcode lottery. so if you live in a nice middle class neighbourhood, you tend to have really nice schools. and if you live in a poorer neighbourhood, you have poor schools. and that is deeply unfair and deeply unjust. and it's an outcome of education reforms over the last 50 or 60 years, which people didn't expect or foresee. and i totally buy that critique. but like i say, the middle class in terms of those states was generally gets a decent deal in terms of the people that can't afford to stay on with regards to these particular institutions. again, i understand, but the point is, what are the private enterprise doesn't have to pay vat. now, some people say education is a pubuc some people say education is a public good. it's very useful. i mean, sos, sos, you know, renovating a house, there are lots of publics. so it's feeding somebody right ? tesco does somebody right? tesco does stuff, which is really useful

for us. it means when you go out you can buy bread and eggs and milk. that's really socially useful. if we didn't have that network of logistics and food distribution, we would we'd be in trouble pretty quick. but we pay in trouble pretty quick. but we pay vat on it. so just as a purely, it's not about even necessarily have to go to fairness. you don't have to go to all those places. you should just say it's a business. there's prices involved. there's a market system. it's voluntary. why aren't they paying vat ? why aren't they paying vat? personally, i would actually introduce vat on everything except food. that includes books, printed matter, kids clothes. people might get upset, and i would bring it down. i think ideally vat should be lower than it is, but the fact is you have something which is a for profit market system, which is private schools. there should be vat. >> doesn't this raise the issue, tom, though, about the role of how much we value children because aaron sounds a little like the child catcher there from tuc bang bang. he wants to tax kids clothes. he's he doesn't care where they go to

school . it's just as useful if school. it's just as useful if you're selling food in tesco's. isn't the point that children are important? the next generation are critically important, and their well—being ? important, and their well—being? maybe we've lost sight of that as a society , i think we have, as a society, i think we have, and i think aaron, frankly, has lost sight of that, as well as someone that i would consider. >> he and i are both on the same sort of left leaning side of progress, vat is one of the most regressive taxes there is on poor and middle income people. you've only got to talk to any standard economist and they'll tell you that we're just coming back, actually, to a really important point aaron made about what would be a progressive education policy then in the state sector. he mentioned house prices. it's why, for example, if labour was really being true to its its roots, like for example, anthony crosland's famous 1065 circular when he was education secretary, that began that process of dismantling the segregation of the 1944 education act. that's why we got comprehensive education. we only

have about 165 grammar schools left in the country. why doesn't a labour government put a levy on house prices? why doesn't a labour government for example, say to aspiring working class parents living often in peripheral housing states across the country, therefore they get tend to get trapped in catchment areas where the schools are not always, for example, rated good or outstanding. why doesn't it give those working class kids a break and say to those parents, you can send your kids to any school? yeah, you know , school? yeah, you know, including any outstanding school that might be within a very good point city area. >> it's a very good point. the clock has beaten us, unfortunately, but fascinating. thank you so much, tom. zurich. aaron bastani a big issue that. thank you. now after the break, world record setting explorer ash dykes is about to undertake his toughest, most dangerous challenge yet. and he's going to be right here on the sofa to tell us all about it. don't go anywhere.

welcome back to the neal oliver show with me. bev turner. now, ash dykes is an explorer, extreme athlete, and motivational speaker who's already trekked from west to east mongolia, become the first person ever to hike the length of madagascar, and became the first person ever to trek along the yangtze, asia's longest river. however, his latest record attempt may be his most danng record attempt may be his most daring and dangerous yet. have a look . look. >> i'm ash dykes. for over a decade, i've completed some of the world's toughest expeditions in some of the harshest and most remote environments on this planet. >> yeah, but she a world first, and despite some parts of the world being overcrowded, hundreds of climbers all queuing to get to the peak of mount everest, there are still places nobody has been to. >> some places so wild even the animals don't know what a human

is. some place is so inaccessible. helicopters are the only route in. >> oh ash, i'm so excited to talk to you with me in the studio now. i was gripped to that, right. give us a bit of a back story because you are amazing and the things you've done are amazing. >> or just crazy. >> or just crazy. >> yeah, possibly. >> yeah, possibly. >> we'll come on to that. yeah, but obviously people know of bear grylls is the main sort of adventurer. there are a few kind of who've broken through to the mainstream kind of household names. you're still a little unknown. forgive me. that i think will probably all change very soon, but where do you see yourself? kind of in the pecking order of elite athletes around the world. >> oh, would it be endurance athletes? is what i meant to say. yeah. endurance athletes, i would say i would put my name's not up there, but my achievements are sit at the top in a non blowing smoke up my that's what i was getting at really. >> yeah. go on. >> so just because i set off. so

i was only 19 when i started i was working in fish and chip shop, lifeguarding, you know, waiting god and raising as much money as i could. and all of the rest of the students in college were going on to the military university, and i just wanted to get out there, where are you living then ? wales. okay. old living then? wales. okay. old colwyn. yeah. >> which is. what's that like there in that particular part of wales? >> it's a small, sleepy town, you know, no one really sort of makes it outside of old colwyn, in a way. >> there's no one really to look up to or to aspire to. there's no good connections, but it's a beautiful part of the world. you know, you've got the sea, the mountains, the lakes, the rivers, all of that. >> so were you always very outdoorsy then? >> i was always very competitive and athletic. it was always sports. i played rugby, football, athletics, you name it. i was always sort of, competing. and then it was sort of later 16, 17 that i very much got involved with the outdoors because i thought it sharpens you up physically and mentally, and you face a lot of adversity. and i think that's the best kind

of way to learn. >> not an easy way to make a living, though. it's not. do you manage to get good financial support now? >> i didn't for the first five years after mongolia, first world record, i can tell you now, i made no more than three k for whole 12 months. i had to live with my parents. same with madagascar. it was a real struggle, the yangtze river was what changed everything it was like onto the joe rogan podcast. it was. i had the book, we had national geographic things sort of blew up. i started doing presenting all over the world, and then we produced another six time, one hour international tv show following the great wall of china , which not a lot of people china, which not a lot of people know about because it's not a record. >> you're big in china, aren't you? >> much bigger than the uk. >> much bigger than the uk. >> don't you have some like, special award for person of special award for person of special interest in china or something ? you mean like a something? you mean like a statue? but you know what i mean. >> yeah, i know it was only last week. there's a few different awards out there, but it was only last week. i returned after being, being appointed ambassador for shaanxi province. yeah. which was really cool. you know, they really sort of got my back over there and i'm trying

to build it up here in the uk as well. >> it's brilliant. and i'm sure you will. you've got such fantastic energy. were you always like the kid that wouldn't sit still in the classroom? he wanted to go out and run around the field. >> yeah, 100. yeah. i was always wanting to, you know, i couldn't sit still in a classroom and like, listen to the teacher and their experiences and their stories. i needed to go out there very much a kinaesthetic learner, you know, learn from hands on practical experience. and that's what travel was about. and what you do next. so the next one takes me to the greenest country in the world, surrey. now 94% of the country is just completely covered in jungle, and we will be attempting via helicopter to begin with. to drop off in the amazon might not be anywhere to land, so we'll lower the helicopter above deep waters and jump helicopter above deep waters and jump into the river. and then from that point, we attempt to summit the highest and second highest mountain. so the machete and hand hacking our way through the bush hunting, gathering, and then we look to find and officially map the source of the coppename river and kayak from source to sea, which will be

highly intense . a lot of, a lot highly intense. a lot of, a lot of your wildlife, your jaguars. you came in your piranha. >> oh, and when you say we what? who is your team? like? how many people do you have now to make something like that happen? >> so it's just a small team of four of us going out there. it's myself. it'sjacob four of us going out there. it's myself. it's jacob hudson, who's producer. it is dick lock and matthew wallace. who are your logistics and wildlife experts, because there will literally be wildlife everywhere. you know, they are already in suriname. they live out there, and even they're a little bit anxious as to where we're going. and what's your biggest danger ? i would your biggest danger? i would say, you know, a lot of people think it's probably like the anaconda or the crocodile stingrays. i would probably say it's the falling trees, because when one falls, they're all connected via vines. and so it's kind of like a tsunami of trees. and every single night we're just hammock between the two trees sleeping out in the jungle. >> are you single, ash? >> are you single, ash? >> i'm not, i'm not. i've got a girlfriend who's going to be very worried at home.

>> i was going to say, what's the impact on your loved ones? i mean, is she very supportive? >> she's very supportive. yeah. it's been three and a half years, almost four years now. so she wasn't there for the mongolian, madagascar and the yangtze. but she was there when i was in china for four and a half months filming the great war. and it was hard, you know, we missed each other, but she was kind of like rooting for me. she kind of knew what she was getting herself into, you know? >> whether and how long will you be away on this trip? >> it will be. it's not a long one. it will be 40 to 50 days. and so it's not a massive sort of 352 day like the yangtze one. but the intensity is ramped right up every any wrong footing, any wrong mistake. we're going to have to be 100% focused effectively. will you have satellite phones? >> yes, as long as they work. >> yes, as long as they work. >> yeah . viasat and globalsat >> yeah. viasat and globalsat have sent satellite communications , so fingers communications, so fingers crossed with this one. we want to live stream every step of the way . way. >> and where can people see that on youtube? yeah youtube, my instagram, tiktok. >> we're just going to try to

get it out there, >> where do you charge stuff in the jungle? >> we'll be taking solar panels. and so during the day we'll probably take a good two hours where there's rocks by the by, hopefully by the side of the river, pull out the solar panels and charge power banks, electronics and then, you know , electronics and then, you know, that should be good enough. >> and what will you eat? >> and what will you eat? >> piranha will be the main piranha source of . piranha source of. >> have you ever eaten a piranha? >> i haven't, this will be the first. so it'll be piranha. we'll have beans and lentils, but the main source of protein will be from the fish of the river. >> how easy is it to catch a piranha? it's not as hard as you think, is all i know. >> no you don't, we'll be able to make. we'll take string with us, right? and then we'll be able to use sort of bamboo latch on the string at the end, find bait in the form of worm, and then, just like, fish them up at then, just like, fish them up at the right area, that is, you're going to be i mean, it's such an obvious and such a kind of a mom thing to say, but you're going to be exhausted, aren't you, when you finish this?

>> like, how will you sleep? you said hammocks between the trees, hammocks between the trees and the jungle is loud as well, you know. >> mozzies. yeah >> mozzies. yeah >> everything that's going to be a isn't it? getting bitten. yeah malaria is an issue. >> yeah. and i did in madagascar icaught >> yeah. and i did in madagascar i caught the deadliest strain of malaria and i made it about three hours. the doctor predicts before i potentially would have supped before i potentially would have slipped into a coma. so i have faced that before i faced dehydration. i've almost died like there's been endless, you know, followed by a pack of wolves for two days, hunted by bears. it's, so i think whilst it sounds reckless, i've built up so much experience since i was 19 years of age through really harsh environments facing adversity, learning about myself, what i'm capable of , myself, what i'm capable of, that i will be going out to suriname with 100% awareness and focus , so people will be sat at focus, so people will be sat at home now sort of, you know, maybe picking amongst the quality street on a sunday evening and thinking, what can i do to give my life a little bit more interest and excitement ? more interest and excitement? >> i we can't do what you do,

but what would your advice be to people who think, i just want to take myself out of my comfort zone? like you say, just do something a bit different. >> oh, you know what? it's endless. i think everyone looks to outside of the uk for good fun, but it's here on our doorstep, you know, and this is all of the training that i've ever done for any expedition abroad has been done here in the uk, whether it's in the mountains, whether it's in the forest, it can be a day hike, it can be kayaking, we've got lots of whitewater, we've got the mountain biking. just going for a run now is perfect. >> yeah, well the weather's or if the weather stays kind to us at any point, not that that bother you. and you were once voted. i love this about you, ash. the seventh coolest person in the seventh coolest. >> it's not quite good enough, is it? hey who was the coolest person in wales? who was the coolest, i think it was the rook. was it chris coleman? chris coleman, rugby player. >> who's that? >> who's that? >> sorry. sorry. football. welsh football manager. >> oh, no. »- >> oh, no. >> well, yeah, i thought it would have been tom jones, but he was like 50th. i'm like, no. >> well, at least you're cooler

than him. you way cooler than him. ash, it's such a pleasure to meet you. >> yeah. likewise >> yeah. likewise >> thanks for having me. and we'll put on social media where people can follow your journey and share that support you so well done. thank you. after the break. not long now until england's footballers take the field against spain in the euro 2024 final. can gareth southgate's men finally come home with some silverware? we're going to be asking our reporter in berlin don't go anywhere.

thank you for joining thank you forjoining me on the thank you for joining me on the neil oliver show. it is me, bev, with you. this evening. not long now. i know this show is exciting, but there is some more excitement to come tonight. of course, england are going to be kicking off with spain in the euro 2024 final in just a little while. it's the first time england have reached a major final on foreign soil, which was a bit of a surprise to me. it could be their first significant

piece of silverware since 1966. so can they do it and would victory change all of our lives? i'm joined from berlin by our reporter chris gooda to set the scene. hello chris. good to see you. great to see you there. hi. right, let's just go back. first of all, before we reflect on this upcoming match of what happened to get to us this place, just remind us who we've beaten so far and what is our performance been like, >> not great in terms of style, but in terms of results. right on the money. that's why england are in the final. and if you ask any football fan, they'll tell you, doesn't matter what it looks like, if you win , you looks like, if you win, you celebrate for managers, if you lose, it's a pile on. if you win, you're a hero. the small margins england so far started okay. they beat serbia, then they drew their next two group matches. still won the group, but there was a lot of criticism. why are all these fantastic players some of the probably the best squad in the

whole of this tournament, not been performing well despite not losing games, but you know, that's the nature of it. if you improve as you go through and england have certainly done that, although little moments, little, little things that make you think, could this be england's day? the first of those came in the first knockout round when they were seconds, seconds away from being knocked out by little slovakia, who many people gave no chance at all. and 80s from the end. jude bellingham, england's star from spain, from real madrid with that incredible overhead kick save the day. then harry kane won the game in extra time . then won the game in extra time. then it was the penalty shootout against the dutch. england had been a hopeless, hopeless over the years at penalties, but they've started to turn it around with lots of preparation, lots of psychology. they won that, they scored all their penalties. they were fantastic against the dutch and then, of course , the, that was sorry.

course, the, that was sorry. i was against the swiss and then it was the, the dutch in the semi—final when we all had a heart attack. i think, when holland scored so early on. but england's saved themselves, with an equaliser, controversial penalty and then another, another little sign, perhaps with another last minute goal from ollie watkins, who was the substitute, came on, england won it by 2 to 1 and here they are playing in the final against spain, who have been, in contrast, pretty much perfect all the way. they've beaten all the big teams. croatia italy, germany, in germany, france as well. who were the pre—tournament favourites? but they're up against the team now in england who are getting better. and they've got those stars. and, psychologically i think england are in a good place as we prepare for what is going to be a huge day. >> it's been sort of these matches have been interesting haven't they, for these like last minute, as you say, you're on the edge of your seat and those sort of 90 odd minute goals in your experience, chris,

you've had a, you know, an esteemed career as a sports commentator and reporter, i can't remember a time when you've had so many matches decided in the last sort of 90s of a game. can you ? of a game. can you? >> no. that's right. i mean, football's changing now since since we've had var and the video referees and all that sort of stuff, you have ages now of added time. there used to be a few minutes. now you sort of get about ten sometimes, so it's, you know, the game's never over till it's over. and, i think, you know, over the years, england have been weak mentally. i think we've always relied on the reputation . we're england, the reputation. we're england, we will never lose. and it always goes wrong. i was, you know, it was interesting. i was i was in, dortmund for the semi—final and all my time of watching football over the years, i've never seen so many fans from one country to spend on one place not far to drive from, the netherlands into germany, but they were. they were like england fans used to be. you know, we're there's

loads of us. we're bound to win. we've got all the support. and i was watching it, in the old town, actually, when you couldn't find hardly any england fans. and i thought, i know what's going to happen here, we are going to win this game. their expectation. it was sort of assuming that because they had all this support they were going to do, and it just felt like england over the years and as soon as we scored, you could see the blood draining out of their faces. and we're different now. we've got the mentality, and, you know, it just feels like england's time after all the failures for so many years, the failures for so many years, the massive disappointments, you know, gareth southgate , he's had know, gareth southgate, he's had a lot of luck with the way the draws have panned out, but you know, now they've done a lot of mental preparation i think they've never been in a better place mentally. and there's a there's a real togetherness about the squad now which we've not had over the years. >> i don't think they've been criticised, chris, haven't they. this england team, for playing it a little safe, maybe in these matches and hanging back a bit. do you think we'll see a

different sort of england tonight. will they just come out on the front foot right from the start? >> no, it's the answer to that. it's going to be the same. it's why would you change it. i mean you know people are saying oh ollie watkins scored that goal. he's go he's got to start now. he's go he's got to start now. he won't. it'll be harry. it'll be the same knowing they've got a very strong bench. you know spain can have the pressure of having to perform because they're the great entertainers. they have been in this tournament. england haven't at all, they've got individuals who are capable of anything. you know, jude bellingham, phil foden, harry kane, cole palmer, sub ollie watkins sub. you know it'll be the same pretty much almost certainly. and you know that kind of collective belief i mean that gareth southgate i mean that gareth southgate i mean he's been he's been sort of very calm almost like he knows i mean they got it. they cut it so fine didn't they. in that game when bellingham saved them. >> i mean we don't i don't believe and i don't want to jinx it chris i don't want to jinx it. >> but none of us do. >> but none of us do. >> it feels it feels a little like at the moment in this country we've had a summer of

rain. nothing works. we're paying rain. nothing works. we're paying huge amounts of tax. we can't get anything treated on the nhs. but what boost would it mean to the country if we win this and do you think it genuinely makes a difference to how we feel about where we live? >> oh, absolutely. yeah. i mean football's always, you know, sport in general is we are the greatest sporting nation on earth because we invented most of them. let's not forget that. and football is football's coming home as the song you know i'll tell you what. and this is another, another thing that sort of makes me think, how sweet would it be to win the title in in germany , go back 19 when that in germany, go back 19 when that song came out, football's coming home 1996, it was in england. we all thought we'd win it. and who won it? but the germans and the germans were singing. i, you know, they were taking the. you know, they were taking the. you know what? out of england, football's coming home. they sang and that hurt a lot for the england supporters. football's coming home. well the boot's on the other foot. the germans are out. they've been booted out. the dutch have gone. england are in berlin. there's a massive amount of people here, you know ,

amount of people here, you know, around, around the city. it's a fabulous place. and, you know how sweet would it be? oh, it'll be fantastic. >> well, it would be chris. thank you so much. thank you so much. chris skudder there for gb news out in berlin. well hopefully. i mean, for me at least, maybe it will be a better, situation than the semi—final because where i was on that evening, as the whole of the village turned on to watch the village turned on to watch the football, we had an electric blow out power surge and all the tvs went off. and in the end, me and my daughters had to sit in the car with the radio on and listen to the football, sat in the car like it was 1940s. anyway, i hope you get to watch the match tonight if that's what you want to do. otherwise keep it to gb news because obviously it to gb news because obviously it will be entertaining here as well. that is it for our tv houn well. that is it for our tv hour, but please stay tuned for the brilliant free speech nation. we've got some extra content online, including a discussion about the disappearance of jay slater and what on earth is going to happen

regarding joe biden and the presidential race. don't miss that. neil will be back with you next week. >> looks like things are heating up. boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news >> hello there. good evening. this is your gb news. weather update provided by the met office. many of us are ending this weekend on a reasonably calm note. we do have some clear spells around, particularly across wales central, southern areas of england, northern ireland and western scotland.

also seeing a dry start to the night. there is a bit of rain and drizzle around though for the north eastern areas, particularly developing and pepping up particularly developing and pepping up across the firth of forth into edinburgh, where dunng forth into edinburgh, where during the second half of the night many of us, though seeing temperatures hold up around 11 to 13 c for your early morning rush hour, then on monday there will be a little bit of cloud around, certainly for the north—east of scotland. some drizzle underneath all of that, perhaps some misty, murky conditions, particularly around some coastal areas, but generally further towards the west. there will be some quite bright sunshine first thing. still, though, that drizzle perhaps lingering through the central belt, northern ireland getting off to a pretty fine start for this new working week. some sunny spells in there and also for parts of northern england. it will be much brighter compared to recent days that we have seen. feeling a touch better here. for the far south though, it is this area of rain that we have our eyes on. this will be turning very heavy very quickly as we head throughout the morning, with some thundery downpours possible. torrential rain. there could certainly be some difficulties on the roads and travelling, so do take care here and there is a rain warning in force for south west england and

wales throughout much of monday that will steadily push its way northwards, perhaps skirting into eastern areas as well. feeling a little cool underneath that rain. 1819 c. but the northern half of the uk faring quite well, around 20 to 21 c here, just with an ice or shower to watch out for into tuesday. that area of low pressure that's bringing the rain to the southwest will just sort of slowly grind to a halt across some central areas, so it is still with us. the band of rain will be swirling its way around first thing on tuesday for parts of wales, the midlands into parts of yorkshire and lancashire. as well. behind that we'll start to see some sunny spells and showers developing again. some of those will be on the sharp side at times when they say, looks like it could be a slightly drier day for many of us, but there is further rain on the cards towards the end of the week. by by. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb

>> well . >> well. >> well. >> there's been an assassination attempt on the former president of the united states. the culture wars are apparently oven culture wars are apparently over, and england are in an actual final. this is free speech. nation . welcome to free speech. nation. welcome to free speech nation with me, stephen allen, standing in for andrew doyle. let's cross now to get the latest news. not available with us at the moment. then we'll plough on to. this is the show where we take a look at the culture, culture, the current affairs and politics. and we don't mince our words, we don't mince. and of course we have the latest from the loveable culture warriors. but according to our new government, the culture wars no longer exist, don't they? all right, coming up elsewhere on the show tonight, we all woke up ,

the show tonight, we all woke up, didn't we, with