patrick >> it's 9 pm. this is patrick christys. tonight with me, ben. leo. >> and only a labour government has a fully costed and fully funded plan to get that much needed investment in. >> labour promised their manifesto was fully costed. now they're pleading poverty. are they're pleading poverty. are they incompetent or just liars .7 they incompetent or just liars.7 and the olympics kicked off in paris a few hours ago , despite a paris a few hours ago, despite a wave of attacks to disrupt the games. was it the worst opening ceremony ever? sophie reaper is live for us on the ground, and prince harry reckons meghan can't come to the uk over fears of acid attacks and stabbings. >> a knife or acid, whatever it is and these are things that are a genuine concern for me. it's one of the reasons why i won't bnng one of the reasons why i won't bring my wife back to this country. >> plus, in a gbbn exclusive, why are bbc fat cats enjoying bumper pay rises whilst they prosecute a cancer patient for not paying his licence fee? meanwhile, illegal migrants are found living in shipping containers and earning just £2 an hour in oldham. so why haven't they been sent straight

back home? on my panel tonight it's political commentator suzanne evans, former bbc political chief john sergeant and social commentator joana jarjue. oh, and look who's on the blower. >> kamala. hello hi. hey there . >> kamala. hello hi. hey there. >> kamala. hello hi. hey there. >> oh, hi. you're both together . >> oh, hi. you're both together. >> oh, hi. you're both together. >> strap yourselves in. let's do this . this. labour's £20 billion porkie pie. next . next. >> very good evening to you. it's just after 9:00. the top stories from the newsroom and we'll start with sport. 10,000 athletes are sailing down the river cen as the paris olympics get underway with a unique opening ceremony. these are the live scenes , unfortunately. just live scenes, unfortunately. just a shot of the eiffel tower for

now. but earlier we saw the rain appearing not to dampen any spirits, as more than 300,000 people lined the route to welcome some of the most famous names in sport and in the last houn names in sport and in the last hour, team gb made their appearance with rower helen glover and diver tom daley carrying the flag on one of 85 boats. meanwhile, people travelling to the french for capital the games are facing massive disruption after vandals targeted the rail network. more than 100 workers have been dispatched to repair high speed rail services around paris, and some routes will return to normal tomorrow. we understand. but 1 in 4 eurostar services have been cancelled and will be out of action over the weekend . out of action over the weekend. here, an alternative healer has been convicted of manslaughter after a 71 year old woman died following one of his slapping therapy workshops. hongkai zhao, who has no medical qualifications, preached the benefits of hitting yourself to rid your body of toxins.

danielle carr—gomm had been following his instructions and stopped taking her diabetes medication at a wiltshire retreat in 2016. a rapist who threw a boy to cover up his crimes has been sentenced to life in prison. anthony stocks raped and sexually assaulted a girl multiple times between 2019 and 2022, when she confided in a boy stocks threw him off a cliff . boy stocks threw him off a cliff. miraculously, he did survive but continues to suffer ongoing health issues. the perpetrator was convicted of a number of crimes, including attempted murder and rape. he'll now spend at least 19 years behind bars. we've heard tonight that a high court order preventing protesters from disrupting britain's busiest motorway has been extended until may next yeah been extended until may next year. national highways secured the injunction today , targeting the injunction today, targeting many demonstrations on the m25 , many demonstrations on the m25, major routes in kent and near the port of dover. it means anyone blocking or endangering the free flow of traffic could

face time in prison. their assets being seized or a fine. the order also covers roads around luton and stansted airports . drivers are being airports. drivers are being taken for a ride when they fill up at the pump. that's according to the aa, which is calling on the government to take action. it comes after the competition and markets authority issued a report that found fuel prices were significantly above historic levels. but independent fuel retailers say their critics aren't taking account of costs like wages and electricity . in like wages and electricity. in the us, donald trump has said a third world war could erupt if he loses november's election, as he loses november's election, as he welcomed benjamin netanyahu to his mar a lago estate today. it was their first face to face meeting in nearly four years, the former us president said he wanted to mend an important political alliance with the israeli prime minister, who had previously congratulated joe biden on his election win in 2020. in spite of that, though, mr trump says they've always been close and staying with news

from the united states. the first tv advert for kamala harris's presidential bid has hit the screens. take a listen . hit the screens. take a listen. >> we choose freedom , freedom, >> we choose freedom, freedom, freedom. i can't move . freedom. i can't move. >> freedom. cut me loose. freedom, freedom. where are you? >> well, featuring that soundtrack. there by beyonce, who has given her blessing to the vice president, the ad touches on gun violence, healthcare and abortion while casting donald trump as a convicted criminal. it comes as a new poll by the new york times tonight puts mr harris level with mr trump. now a stark turnaround from the previous poll, which had joe biden trailing by six points. those are the latest headlines for now i'm sam francis ben up next. and i'll be back with you at 10:00 for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com. >> forward slash alerts .

>> forward slash alerts. >> forward slash alerts. >> now, it's only been a few weeks of a labour government, but already this country is about to be given a fat slap in the face by the politics of envy. it was all going so well, wasn't it? pro growth policies , wasn't it? pro growth policies, commitments to spend billions on projects to make britain great again, and undoing 14 years of tory mess in a very expensive clean up operation? remember all costed, of course, only a labour government has a fully costed and fully funded plan to get that much needed investment in. well, now the honeymoon is over. the tax raids are coming this monday , chancellor rachel reeves monday, chancellor rachel reeves is expected to announce that labour has turned up to government and found a £20 billion financial black hole in the books , a shocking discovery, the books, a shocking discovery, they will insist. how could the tories have been so irresponsible? labour will claim that after discovering what's really been going on inside government, their extravagant spending plans, including giving

pubuc spending plans, including giving public sector workers inflation busting pay rises, are about to become even more difficult. and because of the frivolous tories , because of the frivolous tories, no doubt we'll see painful tax rises in the coming autumn budget. but let me tell you that narrative doesn't wash in this country. we have a thorough and transparent assessment of fiscal events by the office for budget responsibility. labour knew about this . even the institute about this. even the institute for fiscal studies has been warning of a £20 billion black hole for months on end. so the narrative that this comes as a big surprise is a lie. and here's the bombshell proof. in an interview with the financial times on june the 16th, rachel reeves admitted that unlike previous incoming chancellors , previous incoming chancellors, she'd be unable to arrive at the treasury and claim she'd looked at the books and realised things were worse than expected , giving were worse than expected, giving a weak excuse for tax rises or spending cuts. in her own words, she said we've got the obr now. we know things are in a pretty bad state. you don't need an

election to find out. so there we have it , a £20 election to find out. so there we have it, a £20 billion porkie pie. so much for promising no new tax workers on working people. >> we have been really clear that we're not raising income tax. national insurance or vat. all of our plans are fully funded and don't require tax rises over and above what we've already set out . already set out. >> so come the budget in october, labour will no doubt hike up capital capital gains tax to even more eye—watering levels, choosing to hit those with the bravery and foresight to invest in assets , stocks, to invest in assets, stocks, housing and commodities with even bigger penalties. and of course, at the same time, those who aren't even meant to be in the country at all will enjoy free housing, nhs care, access to dentistry and home office pocket money each week to have a jolly good time with they'll also no doubt hike inheritance tax because nothing says aspiration of course, quite like taxing the dead while they're six feet under on assets they've grafted all their life for to leave to their children. labour

have already proven themselves dishonest, and if they're just going to drag everyone down to their envious level, what's the point anymore ? we might as well point anymore? we might as well sit around in our underpants watching loose women while hoping we're not the next victim of a stabbing spree. you're counting the number of small boat arrivals to england each day, more than 1500 since labour took power , by the way. but took power, by the way. but don't talk about that, you bigots. but let's get the thoughts now of my panel. former bbc political chief john sergeant, political consultant suzanne evans and entrepreneur and social commentator joana jarjue. let me get my running boots on panel. good evening to you. good evening . john. you. good evening. john. sergeant, let's start with you. thatis sergeant, let's start with you. that is bombshell proof , is it that is bombshell proof, is it not, that financial times interview from rachel reeves saying we can't just turn up to government and say that it's worse than expected because we've got the obe. now there are a bunch of liars, aren't they? >> well, you can go with a bunch of liars. i call them monkey politicians. it's in fact one of the oldest sort of manoeuvres in politics is that you make sure that you keep your own plans.

the plans you announce you've got a cost. but the other plans, well, actually then happens the events, then happen. you've got to have money for that. and they can then say, well, we looked at the books, and the books are worse than we thought. everyone expected this. the institute for fiscal studies suggested we all knew it was likely to happen, and when they were questioned in detail during the election campaign , they didn't say there campaign, they didn't say there will be no increase of tax of any sort. they said, we're not going to do vat, we're not going to do this. we're not going to do that. so i'm afraid it was a manoeuvre which we can expect. >> but it's the old do you not agree? it's completely dishonest. well you can say a politician, right? >> you can say politics is completely dishonest. they had to win the election. they want to win the election. they want to win the election. they want to win the election. they thought we'd get away with it by not being too specific. but also what they didn't want to do was why waste a crisis? the government is in a crisis now about public spending. make sure the blame is firmly on the government that's just left. that's just what happens. it's what politicians will always do . what politicians will always do. don't be surprised. >> the thing is, the thing is,

though, john, you know ben's absolutely right. rachel reeves gave this interview the financial times. she said politicians have always done exactly what you've just suggested. we make out that things are worse than we thought when we get into office. we blame the previous government. i can't do that. she put her hands up. she said, i can't do that. so here we are, you know. so what have we got? a situation where they talk about lies, damned lies, statistics and rachel reeves claim that she didn't know. of course she flippin well knew. and what's worse about this is that she's now saying her government's now say the government's now saying we're going to make sure that the office for budget responsibility reviews every major tax and spending plan. well, why is she giving power to such a super organisation ? such a super organisation? presumably, if actually if what she's saying now is true, you can only conclude they were asleep on the job. >> no, because you've got to realise that what happened, particularly in the last time this happened, which was when gordon brown was the prime minister and the international economic crisis took place, and was was anyone saying, oh, this is an international problem? oh, no. gordon brown's problem . and

no. gordon brown's problem. and of course, so the conservatives know all about this. they've doneit know all about this. they've done it plenty of time themselves. >> but that's not the point. the point is she's been labour have been caught with their pants down. they've specifically said we cannot do this. we cannot walks into downing street and say that it's worse than expected. they've literally just done that. it's just insane. look, ben , if you were saying look, ben, if you were saying this to me in two weeks time after she's actually made some sort of announcement, then i'd be saying, absolutely right. >> she can't go back on it. but the key thing. no, but the key thing is, they said she's expected to reveal that she will. and realistically, yes, that's going to be a part of it. and maybe she would have, you know, had this in mind to say we already knew that the obr said this 20 billion. but also there's been other things that have been revealed over the last week or so, like yvette cooper in the house of commons was talking about the rwanda plan, the fact that the government have already spent 700 million on it, and they intended to spend 10 million over the next five years. so it's things like that. no, but it's things like at the end of the day, there are certain things that they would have had, you know, been privy

to in terms of information and it would have been certain things not £20 billion worth rwanda. >> no, but true, the obr was saying that. >> but what i'm saying is that in terms of the actual cost of what the government has paid of our money over the last two and a half years of rwanda, they weren't willingly saying that to parliament. they weren't willingly saying that to us. >> about 700 have been caught with their pants down. and you're just shifting the i'm not shifting the blame. >> the blame lies somewhere very, very specific. and it's with the people who have been in government over the last 14 years. if there's blame, who else would they blame? >> the other big. and i'm like, john, i'm very nervous about calling politicians liars. but here is a massive lie is the lie that they're saying that the finances are worse at any time than since world war two. that is an abject, clear nonsense. you know, when margaret thatcher came to came to power, inflation was 8.3%. it's just 2% now. harold wilson, it was 15.5%. it's just 2% now. obviously you know they're talking about unemployment being bad. well, no, in 2010 it was four point. it was 4.4%. it's sorry . now it was 4.4%. it's sorry. now it's 4.4%. it was 7.8% in 2020

ten, the economy has been you know, it's much better than it has on numerous occasions. >> margaret thatcher, because people always regard her as being absolutely, sort of rigidly , absolutely, sort of rigidly, absolutely, sort of brilliantly, sort of truthful. in the 1979 election, she said, we're not going to put up taxes, implying we won't put up income tax. when they got into power within days , they doubled vat, within days, they doubled vat, doubled vat. john to 15%. that's what politicians i just i've just put attention back to the tories. >> i'm talking about this labour administration who virtually signalled about public service and honesty and being good politicians and within a couple of weeks they've just i'll say it, it's a lie. >> they've just the thing that worried me about labour before the election was they never once mentioned spending cuts , not mentioned spending cuts, not once. she also said her manifesto would be fully costed. i laughed my head off because i knew it wouldn't be capital gains tax. are we getting to a stage? seriously, when politics is so bad now that a party puts

forward a political manifesto before a general election, and everybody knows they're going to rip it up once they get, but the thing is, they have also put red lines. >> i if i come back next week and they've, you know, put up vat or national insurance or income tax, then i will completely hold my hands up to any of you. but the point is, they have made clear red lines. if they do put up, capital gains tax or if they do put up, inheritance tax, that's completely different. and actually when we actually look at it, the amount of money that they're going to raise from that is minimal. so i don't think it's kind of like this big ticket thing that they're going to introduce if they go outside of those red lines are the things that actually matter for working people. but i think it's also important to kind of acknowledge the fact that taxing assets is completely different from taxing people who pay capital gains tax are working people. >> they're not some lords who are masquerading around in robes and, you know, waltzing around in their buy to lets. they're hard working, normal people. >> no, but they're going to change. maybe the who qualifies for it. there are people, in fact, who don't pay at the

moment capital gains tax or they don't pay inheritance tax. and it's changing those rules. >> gains tax at the moment is if you your capital gain is less than £3,000, that's not a massive amount of money. we've got. >> we've got to move on. thank you though. i mean, instead of going after the hard workers who risk their investments on assets, you know, stocks and shares and gold and properties, why don't you stop the £3 billion a year starmer has pledged to ukraine or the 84 million they've just promised for africa in the middle east? how about thinking about brits first instead of the rest of the world? anyway, thank you very much, panel. we'll be back very, very shortly. still to come though, after arson attacks caused chaos ahead of the opening ceremony of the paris olympics. we'll go live to our reporter on the ground, sophie reapen reporter on the ground, sophie reaper, for the very latest. we'll also be joined by the former head of the national counter terrorism security office, chris phillips, to offer his expert insight. but up next, the director of the centre for migration and economic prosperity, stephen wolffe, goes head to head with political commentator jonathan head to head with political commentatorjonathan lis head to head with political commentator jonathan lis on whether illegal migrants should be allowed to work in britain or be sent home. is patrick christys tonight with me,

this is patrick christys. tonight with me. ben. leo only on gb news coming up. prince harry says it's too dangerous for meghan to return to the uk because of acid attacks and stabbings. but first, should illegal migrants caught working in the uk be offered an amnesty? it's time now for the head to head. now the home office made quite the discovery on a scrapyard in

greater manchester yesterday morning, as illegal migrants were found living in shipping containers during a raid. immigration officers received intelligence that the migrants were working illegally in the uk and they found they were only being paid £2.33 an hour for 60 hour working weeks, while living in grubby and atrocious living conditions . now, some may argue conditions. now, some may argue that they should be returned to their country of origin, but in comparison to those who crossed the channel with the intention of living purely off the state, should we actually be offering amnesty to those who have come over here with the willingness to work? let me know your thoughts by heading to gb news dot com forward. slash your say or tweet me @gbnews. and while you're there, vote in the poll. i'll bring you the results in a few short minutes. but first, going head to head on. this is the director of the centre for migration and economic prosperity, stephen wolfe. we got there and political commentatorjonathan lis, good evening to you both. thanks for joining me, jonathan. i'll start with you because first of all, let's just clarify something. you don't even think we should call people illegal migrants, do

you? what do you think we should call them? >> i actually think we should call them irregular migrants. and by the way, ben, what you just said is an outrageous smear. how on earth do you know that people are coming here on boats and it's solely in order to sponge off the state? that's an outrageous thing to say about people who might have been fleeing most desperate poverty. the most, horrible conflicts and wars. not all of them. >> jonathan, be honest then. they're not all fleeing war. >> they're coming here to. they're coming here to be productive citizens. you know, we just saw the other day about the afghan refugee who's now qualified to be a doctor. what's to say that people are not given a chance to be productive members of society? they won't be. >> stephen wolf well, that's again an outrageous statement , again an outrageous statement, which not i find unsurprising from those who like to change the language internationally of what is an illegal migrant. >> there are illegal. if you don't have a right to enter into

a country, you then only become temporarily an aspect of not regarded as illegal. if you claim asylum and asylum is granted. and what jonathan fails to understand, and i'm looking at the ons figures now from the year 2001 to 2022. as part of our research, there were 922,623 applications for asylum under the first decisions on that, 578,220 were rejected and what has happened there is, you see, from those numbers that over two thirds initially are rejected from being genuine asylum applicants. so they're not coming here to encourage themselves to have better lives because they're fleeing. torture, as jonathan is suggesting, is because they're economic migrants. and no one, not even the eu or the un, accepts that economic migrants is the same as those who are fleeing torture under asylum applications or the echr. so

that's where jonathan knows he's wrong there. >> he knows i know stephen. >> he knows i know stephen. >> sorry, i never, ever claimed ineven >> sorry, i never, ever claimed i never, ever claimed that every single person coming an asylum, every single asylum seeker, should be granted asylum under the parameters of asylum, there are two different classes, obviously, of migrants . there obviously, of migrants. there are obviously asylum seekers. there are economic migrants. i haven't seen the economic migration is a good thing and i'll defend it. but that's not what we're talking about. you know, i think that we should be having a conversation in this country about economic migration, but ben's ben's kind of assumption was that people are coming here to sponge off the state. economic migrants are coming here to work so they can earn money. and actually, those are questions we have not not all of them, jonathan. >> not all of them allowed to work while they come here because, at the moment, that's what the research is trying to show jonathan, not the state, the research we're trying to show. >> is that your assumption that everyone is coming here as economic migrants are not trying to sponge off the state? that is

not entirely true, either, because they also recognise that as part of the deals that they're doing with the people smugglers who are evil, they are charging them huge fees with interest on it and charging them where they live. they take a percentage of their living wages. all of that is part and parcel of the packaging. in order for that, they can work for here free, run by the gangs. they're not coming here through the normal routes, which is a visa option. they've had plenty of visa options for people to come if they're genuinely seeking economic benefits of working here, they just don't. they choose the route of working with illegal migrants and working with people smugglers to come here. >> stephen, can i can i ask you these guys found in oldham, in greater manchester, living in torrid conditions, working for around £2 an hour, the home office or sources there anyway say that they are assessing whether they should be sent back to their home countries, including belarus and vietnam. why? why are we deciding whether to send them back? why aren't

they just being sent back? >> well, at the end of the day, this is where jonathan i will agree on is that anybody who's here, even if they're in the circumstances that we found, do have the right to make a claim for asylum. so that needs to be assessed properly. but once they have been determined, either not to be a genuine asylum seeker, that's where the law should kick in properly. and they should then be removed under the processes. sadly, in the country. and which is why people smugglers really know that they got a great business model is we tend to not remove anybody permanently unless we've managed to get new deals in place. the labour party hope that they can achieve that. >> well, jonathan, ironically, i think the last labour government to really get serious with deportations was blair's government. and since then, the conservatives included, they've just sat on their backsides doing nothing . doing nothing. >> well, obviously the conservatives, deliberately, kind of stymied the system. so you had tens of thousands of asylum seekers, in, in backlogs, which had largely been cleared

under the last labour government, that was a deliberate political tactic as well as a kind of a sign of the conservatives incompetence. but clearly the new government has said that they want to speed up claims. i do think that we should point out that 75% of asylum seekers for the last recorded year before the law changed, he did apply for asylum , changed, he did apply for asylum, were considered to be legitimate asylum seekers. obviously if you're found not to be a legitimate asylum seeker and you are an economic migrant who hasn't fled torture or war, etc. then under the current processes, you can be deported. but obviously the government cannot deport someone to a country where they're going to be at serious risk of harm, that's you know, britain has obligations, human rights obugafions obligations, human rights obligations , international law obligations, international law and treaty obligations. even if the last government chose to ignore them. >> well, yeah, of course, the problem is, as soon as they they say they've been working in slave conditions here, then they can they can stay under those circumstances. but great debate.

thank you. jonathan liz, stephen wolf, thank to you for joining us this evening. appreciate it. so who do you agree with at home? should illegal migrants caught working in the uk like those chaps in oldham be offered an amnesty? your verdict is now in. just 4% of you think that they should be offered an amnesty. 96% of you are whopping number. say they shouldn't and they should be sent straight back home. right? coming up, is prince harry right to say that it's too dangerous for meghan markle to return to the uk? he says there's risk of acid attacks and stabbings. and do we even want her back, by the way, as well? former daily express royal correspondent richard palmer weighs in later in the show, but next, after preparations for tonight's opening of the paris olympics, were thrown into chaos by arson attacks and explosives theories are being discussed about who could be responsible. we'll cross live to paris before speaking with former head of the national counter terrorism security office, chris phillips. next, this is christys tonight with me. ben leo, back

tick. welcome back. this is patrick christys. tonight with me. ben leo. only on gb news still to come. prince harry reckons it's too dangerous for meghan to return to the uk because of acid attacks and knife attacks. so is he right to fear for public safety in britain? but first, the launch of the paris olympic games tonight has been overshadowed by scenes of chaos after coordinated arson attacks closed multiple train lines affecting nearly a million passengers. the travel disruption paralysed the french

rail network and also affected those travelling from london to paris on the eurostar, including a group of team gb athletes who were left stranded at kings cross earlier today . french cross earlier today. french authorities investigating the arson attacks also discovered a number of explosive devices on the railway. some suggest extreme left wing groups may be responsible, while others say it has all the hallmarks of a russian state attack. and considering russia has been excluded from these olympic games, they'd certainly have a motive to sabotage the event. we cross live now to paris, where gb news reporter sophie reaper is on the ground. good evening. sophie. thank you for staying up so late. i know you've had a marathon of a day. what's the latest? what was the ceremony like? >> well, the weather's still a bit grim here in paris, unfortunately. ben, we've. we've snuck off to a location away from the scene because once it had been finished and everyone started to depart, there were hundreds of thousands of people trying to make their way away from the river seine. so we've managed to come here, away from

all the chaos of people trying to get around, around the city of paris tonight, which is essentially impossible. now in terms of the ceremony itself, obviously, this rain, it wasn't ideal obviously, this rain, it wasn't ideal. the forecast a few days ago was that we were going to have glorious sunshine. it was going to be 29, 30 degrees and it was all going to be perfect. but evidently, i am sure you can tell by my hair that has not worked out for us here today , worked out for us here today, but i think it didn't dampen people's spirits. there were, as i say, hundreds of thousands of people lining the banks of the river sane as we watch that opening ceremony taking place, and people just didn't really seem to care. they had their pack of max and their waterproofs, their hoods up. they had umbrellas over their heads. some people were just getting wet, but they didn't care because it was such a spectacle . i think you could spectacle. i think you could even argue once in a lifetime. i am feel incredibly lucky to have watched that happen in front of me today, of course it was history. the first time an opening ceremony has ever been donein opening ceremony has ever been done in public before. we're obviously used to seeing them

taking place inside stadia instead. so today was the first time we've ever seen it take place outdoors. and what a spectacle it was. it started off with we saw macron shaking hands with we saw macron shaking hands with the head of the international international olympic confederation. we then saw the boats began to make their journey from austerlitz bndge their journey from austerlitz bridge all the way down to the trocadero, where we were positioned. started off with the greeks, that is the olympic tradition. because of the ancient greek olympics . we then ancient greek olympics. we then saw the refugee teams and then it proceeded through alphabetically. we also managed to get a glimpse of team gb. of course, our two flagbearers, tom daley and helen glover, leading the way for us holding that union jack high in the air and despite the rain, despite the gloom, it didn't matter because the eiffel tower was still shining bright in the city of love. the city of light. it was an incredible thing to witness. of course, we also saw performance from many people, but notably from lady gaga, who actually sang in french, which i

don't know if anyone was particularly expecting, but that was one to see. so an incredible spectacle. i feel very lucky to have been here. i know you mentioned it's been a long day, but that doesn't matter to me. the olympics is an incredibly important event, and rightly so, that we mark it as much and as often as we can. >> okay, sophie reaper live on the ground in paris, get yourself a croissant and get yourself a croissant and get yourself to bed. not sure about lady gaga, but yeah, each to their own right to get an expert insight into the security events of the olympics, we now welcome former head of the national counter terrorism security office, chris phillips. chris. good evening. should those attending the paris olympics be feeling concerned tonight, after everything we've seen today? and also, by the way, a few incidents leading up to the games, including the really horrific story about an australian woman who was gang raped by five men a couple of nights back. >> yeah, i think paris has got all sorts of problems . all sorts of problems. >> i do think that, almost certainly the amount of stops that have been pulled out here for the, by the french police

and the military will mean that paris itself is probably quite safe. i think . i think the issue safe. i think. i think the issue is, as we've seen outside of paris, and, you know, especially as events, take part away from the centre. centre of paris. i think, what we saw today is almost certainly not terrorism, because terrorism is there to frighten people and scare people. this was more to embarrass, the olympics and embarrass, the olympics and embarrass the government, i think. and there's lots of people in france that want to do that. >> or who do you reckon is behind it, then? i mean, it's been mooted today that the russians have been getting up to mischief in france. >> yeah, possibly. but you know, it's too obvious for them to do that. i think, you know, this there are so many groups in france, i can tell you that, that employ sabotage one way or the other, that want to cause trouble and want people to know about them, that there's plenty of groups to choose from. and i think, you know, far left, far right. you take your pick in

france, >> somebody asked me today whether i would have liked to have gone to paris for the olympics. and i said, well, do you know what? i wouldn't feel that safe. am i just being a bit of a snowflake, or is there cause for concern? do you think, for spectators attending the games ? games? >> you know, ben, i think, paris and france have got real problems around terrorism generally. i think, you know, we think of the uk as having terrorist problems. i think, france and paris in particular have got lots and a much higher level than we have, i think the, the, the, the police are, are working really hard to keep people safe. but of course, you can never you can never account for the odd person or the individual that decides to go and start stabbing people. i mean , we've had that in kent mean, we've had that in kent this week, in the uk, haven't we? but well, you know, i think, i think there's all sorts of worries for the french police out there. they've got a long two weeks, 2 or 3 weeks ahead of them. yeah. >> as you said, we have our own problems of course. apparently we've sent around 250, 300 british police officers over

there as well. what are they going to be doing? >> well, i mean, it's very important actually to liaise. i mean, we had lots of, foreign cops in, in london when we had our olympics. it's important to have liaison. it's important to have liaison. it's important to have people that are english speakers, for a start, that can help, and i think, you know, there are some things that we do need to work together on. policing is one of them. and if people british people get in trouble out in paris, then i think the british police are there to assist them as well. so i think it's a good, good idea. not that we we've got too many police in the uk at the moment, but, paris certainly has got many more policemen than, than we can put together. >> when do you think we're going to hear about who was responsible for these arson attacks on the railways? do you think they'll announce it to the pubuc think they'll announce it to the public to maybe reassure people who are who are travelling there because i know you've dismissed the russian aspect of it, but i've got a few friends in. how best to describe it without outing them. i've got a few friends in firearm units in the uk here who tell me that, day

after day they are foiling russian, attacks on ukrainian linked, for example, warehouses that are housing starlink devices and so on. so as far as i'm being told, russian agents, if we can call them that, are operating in europe . operating in europe. >> oh, absolutely. you know, we've had we've had loads and loads of murders in and around london and, and, the home counties committed by, by russians, from their security services. absolutely. and yes, there are sabotage, incidents going on specifically aimed at, things that are helping ukraine. i think this is just too obvious for that. i mean, i'm guessing here really, but i think this is probably more likely to be one of the groups within france, listen, i'm not underplaying the threat and the worries about russia. i just think it's too obvious for them to get involved in something like this. yeah, okay. >> chris, thanks for joining us this evening. i know it's a late one, and we'll be back with you,

i'm sure, throughout the olympic games in paris. thank you. right. coming up at 10 pm. i'll bnng right. coming up at 10 pm. i'll bring you a gb news exclusive that exposes the shocking pay rises awarded to bbc executives. despite revenue falling through the roof. flew through the floor rather the other way around. and also it comes at a time when the bbc have been prosecuting cancer patients who haven't paid their licence fee. it really is a shocking story. but next, the shameless sussexes, they're back in the headlines after harry claims he fears acid attacks and stabbings. if he dares let meghan markle step foot back in the uk , so is the duchess at the uk, so is the duchess at risk on british shores, or are the couple playing the sympathy card once again? former royal correspondent for the daily express, richard palmer, explains all in just tick. this is patrick

welcome back. this is patrick christys. tonight with me. ben. leo only on gb news still to come. i'll bring you a shocking

exclusive on the bumper pay rises of fat cat bbc executives, all while they prosecute cancer patients for unpaid licence fees. but first, prince harry. he's back again. he's reignited the row over meghan markle's shattered relationship with britain in an itv interview aired last night, he explained why he still feels it's too dangerous to bring his wife back to the uk . dangerous to bring his wife back to the uk. it's dangerous to bring his wife back to the uk . it's still dangerous to the uk. it's still dangerous and all it takes is one lone actor, one person who reads this stuff to act on what they have read and whether it's a knife or acid or whatever it is. >> and these are things that are genuine concern for me. it's one of the reasons why i won't bring my wife back to this country. >> so will we ever see meghan markle back in britain? i'm delighted to welcome the former royal correspondent at the daily express, richard palmer. richard good evening. does harry have a point here? >> well, i think there is certainly, a history of far right extremists targeting harry and meghan. you know, there've

been a couple of quite prominent cases i think, but i'm always a bit perplexed by this argument that harry comes up with because if you look at, say, homicide rates, comparing the us and uk, the last figures i saw you were about four times more likely to be murdered in the us than than you are in the uk. and sure, we've got our problems over here, but you know , given that here, but you know, given that they've got such a high prevalence of people with, with guns over there, i would have thought the risks were higher over there than, than over here. and i think we have seen, increasingly in the last couple of years that , they have become of years that, they have become polarising figures in the us as well as in the uk, perhaps not quite to the same extent, but, there is there does seem to be a bit of a political divide that if you're a democrat, you're perhaps more likely to be

sympathetic towards harry and meghan if you're a republican. not not so much , so i, i mean, not not so much, so i, i mean, i, we would all be concerned. i suppose, but if it was us in that position, i can sort of understand from that point of view. but richard, not quite sure i follow the logic. yeah. >> so sorry to interject. i mean, i'd understand his point if he was an ordinary brit. i mean, we had an army officer stabbed multiple times just just this week in gillingham. but harry and meghan come here on private jets. they get off at heathrow in a private terminal. they're whisked away in a land rover to a hotel. they've got bodyguards. i mean, and what planet are they at risk of being stabbed or having acid thrown over them? >> well, yes. i mean, you make a good point. i mean, i think that's right that they they have their own protection teams. i mean, he he wants to have access still to scotland yard protection to and national security intelligence , which he security intelligence, which he doesn't now qualify for. and i mean, i'm sure part of this is,

is part of the lobbying that's still going on ahead of the resumption of these court cases. he's been fighting against the metropolitan police and the home secretary, over their refusal to give him police protection while he's here. yeah. >> i mean, it just sounds like he's probably, just doesn't want meghan to be booed , to be quite meghan to be booed, to be quite frank. let me play you another clip from the interview last night. so this is the moment harry invokes the memory again of his late mother, princess diana. take a look . but she diana. take a look. but she wasn't paranoid. >> she was absolutely right of what was happening to her. to her. and she's not around today to find out the truth. >> does your mother motivate you in this ? yeah. in this? yeah. >> yeah. the there's all sorts of things that motivate me. >> so richard prince william, in the statement released after the martin bashir fiasco to the bbc, said that his mother diana, was paranoid . so why is harry now paranoid. so why is harry now trying to paint a different picture? >> it's so interesting, isn't it? i mean , they've both been,

it? i mean, they've both been, marked by the experiences of their mother and everything that went on in those years. but he, i think harry has taken a rather extreme view of, of those events. and, i, you know , i events. and, i, you know, i think they're i think there's plenty of evidence to support what prince william was saying, really, that, she of course, he said she there were occasions when she was clearly being, being watched, the phone calls that were, were, were played over , were played out over cb over, were played out over cb radio. i think it was initially and then leaked to national papers, something was clearly going on at times, but then there were other times when , i there were other times when, i mean, from what i understand, she, she just all the time she thought that, people were plotting against her when that often wasn't the case. >> there's , there's such a stark >> there's, there's such a stark contrast between how william and

harry have handled the tragic death of their mother. isn't there? william has spoken before about having an issue with the press. he's got a problem with them, but he understands that you need to play the game. you need to be a bit shrewd for your own benefit. harry doesn't seem to understand that, and that's why some are saying he's gone on this pretty wild crusade over the past five years or so. there's a stark contrast in how they've handled their mother's death, isn't there? >> there definitely is a stark contrast, and i think , harry, contrast, and i think, harry, harry claimed in that interview, didn't he , that the queen was didn't he, that the queen was backing him in his fight against, the newspapers in this country. do you believe that? and, well, it doesn't correspond with what i was being told at the time, and i'm sure it doesn't correspond with what other royal correspondents would be were being told, i think i think there was a lot of sympathy in the family for him because they've all, let's face it, they have an important constitutional role, but also it's a bit of a national soap

opera. the royal family. and so they've all had their times when they've all had their times when they've been, the person out of favour, the person who the pubuc favour, the person who the public thinks is, is, is, you know , not not the popular one. know, not not the popular one. and so they , they were all and so they, they were all sympathetic up to a point, but they didn't see the sense in picking a fight with national newspapers, with the media in, in general . in general. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> well, because the royal family needs the media as much as the media needs the royal family. >> exactly. and it has been a soap opera, of course, in recent years, mainly in recent times because of harry. this is the moment from the interview last night where he blamed his rift with the family on the tabloids . with the family on the tabloids. it's still dangerous and all it takes is one lone actor, one person who reads this stuff to act on what they have read and whether it's a knife or acid or whatever it is. >> and these are things that are genuine concern for me. it's one of the reasons why i won't bring

my wife back to this country. >> richard, when is harry going to take some self responsibility here? some accountability. the tabloids didn't make him sit down with oprah to air his dirty laundry in public. they didn't make him sit down and write all that rubbish in spare. they didn't make him go to netflix and do a, you know, 4 or 5, six part documentary about his family. they didn't make him do any of that stuff. so why doesn't he just take some responsibility and accept the fact that he's fallen out with his family because he's been treacherous? >> i'm sure he'd sit in a different way, >> but, you know, i personally i think that sooner or later he is going to have to fix his relationship with his family, but while all of this is going on, i think it's going to be quite difficult for him. and, you know, as you alluded to, i mean, there is a difference between william and harry, but but william to, you know, we see it all the time, i think is quite , is quite controlling. you quite, is quite controlling. you know, he wants to control the narrative when he, when he deals

with the media, he can be quite aggressive in a way, but he just doesitin aggressive in a way, but he just does it in a, i would say a more sophisticated way than harry has done , so we saw it this week. done, so we saw it this week. just veering slightly off course. he doesn't want to. he doesn't want to tell us how he spends the £236 million he got from , the duchy of cornwall from, the duchy of cornwall doesn't want to tell us how much tax he is paying. whereas his father , when he was prince of father, when he was prince of wales, did did tell us william is more secretive, but he he, as you say, really he does play the game with the media because he realises that's part and parcel of being a prominent public figure. >> yeah, he needs them. so harry said meghan's not coming back. a lot of brits i suspect will be happy about that. some not. so how do you think harry will be received when he does come back to birmingham for the invictus games? >> well, i think a mixed reception, i suspect, at the at

the invictus games he will get a wonderful reception from, from the public and from the armed forces families who were there because i have to say, you know, i do think that, the invictus games is his greatest achievement, i went out with him to colorado when he went to look at the warrior games, which was really inspiration for him , on really inspiration for him, on this. and i was there when, the first games were held in london and, it is something he can really be proud of, i think. and of course, there are many armed forces families who will, respect him for that and cheer him for that . although, of him for that. although, of course, there are others who there are people who've been involved in invictus who feel he's lost his way. yeah, okay. i've criticised him. >> richard palmer, you are the former royal correspondent at the daily express. thank you for joining us. right. plenty more to come. another action packed houn

to come. another action packed hour, including we're going to speak to the christian teacher who lost his job after misgendering a trans student. he's lost a high court appeal to get his job back, and he's now planning to take his case to the court of appeal , joshua court of appeal, joshua sutcliffe reveals all later in the show. but next, i bring you a gb news exclusive about the hefty pay rises awarded to top bosses at the bbc. that's despite revenue dropping like a stone and job cuts running into the hundreds. you do not want to miss this patrick christys tonight with me, ben leo only on gb news that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news >> good evening. welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. signs of some hotter weather early next week but still tomorrow morning a fresh start with some sunshine and there will be more heavy showers developing through the day in places, but the showers we've seen today, they're tending to fade away . so for most it's

fade away. so for most it's going to be a dry evening. a dry night with lengthy clear spells. we'll keep some showers going near the south—west of scotland and it could turn a bit heavier. that rain as we head towards dawn time. as we head towards dawn time. as we head towards dawn , temperatures will dip down dawn, temperatures will dip down to single figures in some rural spots, towns and cities 10 to 12. so a little bit fresher than recent mornings, but generally a fine and sunny start. recent mornings, but generally a fine and sunny start . a drier fine and sunny start. a drier day tomorrow compared to today across scotland. still a few north—w but i suspect quite a bit of sunshine across central and northern scotland start though in this zone the far south of scotland, north—west england. some heavy bursts of rain, particularly across the lakes. early doors not great on parts of the m6 here a few scattered showers for wales, but most of england and wales also starting dry, fine and sunny. there will be a few showers for northern ireland, but again here likely to be a drier day tomorrow compared to today, so not as many showers around . we will see many showers around. we will see more showers developing through the day over wales, northern england parts of the midlands could catch a rumble of thunder. flash of lightning to not too many showers for east anglia in

the southeast. most places here dry and as i mentioned, a drier day for much of scotland. slightly warmer to edinburgh up to 21. in the sunshine across the southeast 24, maybe 25, but probably feeling cooler across northern england and wales with more cloud and more showers. but the showers disappear overnight and sunday looks like a cracking day. can't completely rule out a shower over the northern isles, where there'll be a bit more of a breeze. but generally light winds, plenty of blue sky, a fine summer's day on sunday and it's going to get a bit warmer and signs of things also hotting up a little bit, particularly across the south into the early part of next week . part of next week. >> looks like things are heating up boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb

>> it's 10 pm. this is patrick

christys tonight with me. ben. leo. in just a few minutes, i'll deliver a gbbn exclusive that reveals how bbc fat cats have pocketed bumper pay rises, all while cutting hundreds of jobs and even prosecuting a cancer patient for not paying their licence fee. is it time for aunfie licence fee. is it time for auntie to stand on her own two feet? meanwhile, at the olympics , feet? meanwhile, at the olympics, some people were just getting wet, but they didn't care because it was such a spectacle. >> i think you could even argue once in a lifetime. >> plus, a christian teacher who was banned from the classroom for misgendering a pupil has lost a high court appeal to get his job back. lost a high court appeal to get hisjob back. he joins me lost a high court appeal to get his job back. he joins me live shortly also. kamala, hello . hi. shortly also. kamala, hello. hi. >> hey there . oh, hi. >> hey there. oh, hi. >> hey there. oh, hi. >> you're both together . >> you're both together. >> you're both together. >> and no, my panel tonight. it's former bbc political chief, john sergeant, political commentator suzanne evans and entrepreneur and social commentator joana jarjue. oh, and elon musk bares all about his transgender child.

>> so my son xavier is dead . >> so my son xavier is dead. killed by the woke mind virus . killed by the woke mind virus. >> strap yourselves in. let's do this . this. the bbc's fat cat pay rise has exposed . next. exposed. next. >> ben, thank you very much. good evening to you. it's just after 10:00. and the top story tonight. well, it is, of course, sport. and the 2024 olympic games have officially been declared open. as the rain started to pour, though, in timely fashion for the first outdoor opening ceremony in the event's history. but the banks of the river seine were still bursting with colour. they'll have to believe me . there we go. have to believe me. there we go. there's some live pictures for you. wonderful. just pointing towards the eiffel tower in the distance, with more than 300,000 spectators cheering and waving

earlier as a fleet of boats carrying sports, top athletes sailed past and team gb were led by flag bearers tom daley, the diver and rower helen glover. the events also seen performances from the likes of lady gaga, with prime minister sir keir starmer, french president emmanuel macron, serena williams and even john legend among the famous faces. taking it all in. here, the chief constable of greater manchester police has responded to video footage of an officer seen kicking and stamping on a man at the city's airport, saying the incident is a source of profound regret . stephen of profound regret. stephen watson insists the force is now committed to supporting a criminal investigation into the officer's behaviour, and it follows the comments from the mayor of the greater manchester council, appealing for a rigorous and swift investigation into allegations of assault. the police watchdog is now looking into the incident and says it will determine whether the officer's use of force was acceptable . the parents of three

acceptable. the parents of three children who died in a fire in east london say they were loved beyond words and missed beyond measure, as they have tonight been named for the first time, 13 year old naka malik, 11 year old ayat and muhammad, who were seven, were at home in east ham when the fire started. more than 40 firefighters were called to the blaze on saturday morning, and the met police say they're now continuing to investigate the cause of the fire. but it's understood that at this stage there is no evidence to suggest any suspicious circumstances . any suspicious circumstances. the health secretary has called the nhs broken following a report into the regulator that oversees care services in england. an independent review has found significant failings at the care quality commission. the cqc inspects around 90,000 services, including hospitals, gp practices, care homes and dental surgeries. the regulator has said it will accept the findings, but wes streeting told us earlier he's stunned. >> there are, you know , cases of

>> there are, you know, cases of hospitals not being inspected for over a decade, a care provider that hadn't been inspected since 2015, and even the ratings that are published and that we use as the to public make choices about where to receive health or care, some of those are, frankly , bogus those are, frankly, bogus because of the way in which they've been put together based on either partial inspections or piecing together more recent inspections with historic verdicts on those health and care providers. >> in australia , doctors are >> in australia, doctors are working to reattach a surfer's leg after he was attacked by a shark. kai mckenzie, who's 23, was surfing near port macquarie about 250 miles from sydney, when he was bitten by a three metre long great white shark. he managed , though, to catch a wave managed, though, to catch a wave to shore where an off duty police officer helped stem the bleeding. and then, in an

extraordinary twist, his severed leg later washed ashore and was put on ice by quick thinking locals . and finally, the price locals. and finally, the price of a bar of dairy milk is up by as much as 12% since last month as much as 12% since last month as the cost of making chocolate continues to rise. the owners of cadbury say cocoa and sugar have become more expensive, along with energy , packaging and with energy, packaging and transport. the firm says it's facing considerable challenges, especially following poor cocoa harvests . i think i can hand harvests. i think i can hand back to ben, although he is munching a chocolate bar, you may have to bear with him. those are the latest headlines for now, i'm sam francis. your next update at 11:00 for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . slash alerts. >> thank you sam. no chalky bars here. just black coffee for

tonight. anyway, back on to more serious matters. the bbc is scrapping hundreds of jobs and even prosecuting a cancer patient for unpaid licence fee as it struggles to balance the books amid falling revenues. but gb news can exclusively reveal tonight that despite tightening the purse strings elsewhere, six top executives at the cash strapped beeb were given a big fat pay rises in the last 12 months. in total, the bbc's executive committee pay packet went from 3.2 million in 2022 2023 to 4.1 8,000,000 in 2324, so 2023 to 4.1 8,000,000 in 2324, so charlotte moore , chief so charlotte moore, chief content officer, whose £26,000 pay content officer, whose £26,000 pay rise took her salary to £468,000. lee tavazzi , the group £468,000. lee tavazzi, the group chief operating officer whose 25 grand pay rise took him to £442,000. chris bright, the chief customer officer whose 13 grand pay rise took her to an annual salary of £380,000. tom fussell , the chief executive

fussell, the chief executive officer of bbc studios, who enjoyed a £15,000 pay rise to £465,000 whopping figures, and gautam ranjan, group director of strategy and performance, who enjoyed a massive £31,000 pay rise to £465,000. and last but not least, rhodri davies, the director of nations. what do they do? whose £14,000 pay rise took him to £293,000 a year. so, all right for some. but meanwhile at the bbc, they're cutting a further 500 jobs by march 2026. and they've also opened a round of voluntary redundancies amid, quote, serious pressure on its finances. its public service headcount has already gone down by almost 10% in the past five years, as revenues for bbc group were down 6% to 5.4 billion for the year to march 2024, and, crucially, get this license fee income was down 3.7 billion. that's 2% year on year, with more than 500,000 fewer

households now paying the annual telly tax. meanwhile as the bbc fat cats enjoyed bumper pay rises, it's been revealed a cancer patient was prosecuted and given a £120 fine for failing to pay for his tv licence whilst he was in hospital, receiving medical treatment. the man, who lives in wales , was on a simple payment wales, was on a simple payment plan of £18 a month to pay for the licence fee. however, whilst he was undergoing surgery at the royal shrewsbury hospital for prostate cancer, the direct debit didn't go through . the debit didn't go through. the taxpayers alliance said it was time for auntie to axe the tv licence and stand on her own. two feet. let's get the thoughts of tonight's panel. former bbc chief political correspondent john sergeant, plus political consultant suzanne evans and entrepreneur and social commentator joana jarjue here we go. another mini workout session. john sergeant, let's start with you. as a former bbc man, massive pay rises for their execs, some up to 30, 40 grand a

yean execs, some up to 30, 40 grand a year, all while cutting headcounts, scrapping programmes and prosecuting cancer patients for not paying their licence fee. >> i've looked at those increases. the first two, charlotte moore, her her salary has gone up, i reckon by 6%, roughly the next one down. the group chief operating officer also about 6%. would you regard 6% pay increase as a big fat pay rise when you're already paid 400 k a year? >> yes. absolutely. yes john, that that you know, she had a she had a 26 had a 26 k increase. >> that's the salary of two people on minimum wage i know what, what do these people do. >> don't you think the percentage makes any difference at all? >> no, i don't really not not when you're at that level. honestly, i personally i'm shocked that anyone any management the bbc is earning nearly half £1 million, particularly chief content officer. i don't know exactly what the huge organisation job's a job description is for that. >> what does the head of nation. it's just interesting . it's just it's just interesting. it's just interesting talking about big fat pay rises. you think, oh,

we'll get a percentage now we'll get a sort of that's a 40% pay raise. no it isn't, it's about 6%. now can i just continue to make my point? can we just just give us a bit of a chance now, the public sector pay rises that we've heard about, which which are in the pipeline, which the government are considering and they think they'll probably agree to for nurses and for various other people in the pubuc various other people in the public sector, those increase are between 5 and 6%. the difficulty the bbc has is that these people on these salaries are in a very competitive market. they can easily they can go from the bbc. >> that's what they know. >> that's what they know. >> they say, wait a minute, they say that. you say they always say that. you say they always say it because they're right. people who leave the bbc. i was one of those who did leave the bbc, my what did my oh, my salary doubled and i was given a sports car to work for itv. so i know a bit about what it's like to go from the bbc salary. >> so you see, it's interesting isn't it, because but the idea that these people couldn't get jobs elsewhere at that level, they would. >> joanna. >> joanna. >> sorry, i'll come back to you. joanna. let's have a joanna.

have a word. >> okay, so the rate of pay, i don't think is as shocking as what you think. suzanne. it's a huge organisation. at the end of the day, these people at the top of it. my problem is that when you look at the state of the bbc at the moment and if you're losing money and especially if you care about the people who work for you and you've got, you know, cutting 500 jobs and then you're also having, otherjobs as well that are open to redundancy, it's a big slap in the face, i think, to be able to walk through the halls knowing that you're the one that's actually got the pay rises and face people. i think that's the problem. it's the timing of it rather than what they're actually getting paid. of course it's competitive, but i also don't think that there's some kind of big trade union movement that's happening when you're making over 400 k. i think it's completely different as well when it comes to doctors and nurses. when you look at their rate of pay and when you look at the amount of work and the type of work that they do, i think they deserve a pay rise. but realistically, being a top exec in a cushy job, i don't think that they're working the type of hours that doctors who have

trained for way longer than these people. >> what does the head of nations do, john? what is that job? does he sit there counting how many nafions he sit there counting how many nations are until the point that that. joanna, can you answer that? do you know the answer? no. >> can i just. i'll do that in a moment. i'll try and do obe i can. i don't quite know why it's me that's being pinion for the isle of man, that's why. no, i left the bbc 24 years ago. but anyway, i'm still you defend them. >> i'm still passionately enough. >> i'm very. no, i'm very happy to defend the bbc in general, as far as this is concerned, joanna is saying that. what terrible timing. these are called the annual accounts. that gives you annual accounts. that gives you a bit of a clue. it's every year these things come out at the same time. wait a moment. at the same time. wait a moment. at the same time, it's also agreed that they will say what they're what they will say what they're what the main characters in the bbc, what they're earning. they didn't in the past, but that's what they do now. so right now your point was what? >> that what's the what's the main what was the these descriptions. >> what are these. >> what are these. >> over 400 grand a year. >> over 400 grand a year. >> the head of nations i he's only not on 300. even from, from

what i understand, it's to make sure that you cover. so for example, when they're doing commissioning and things like that, that it's, it's fair and that, that it's, it's fair and that they're allocating particular, you know, budgets and things like that to make sure that people in wales are getting the programming, etc. >> suzanne, the truth is, at the time when they're chasing cancer patients who haven't paid their their couple of quid licence, that's a separate argument. no, it's not, it's not really. >> it is a complaint john. >> it is a complaint john. >> they're meant to be skint. >> they're meant to be skint. >> no, no it is a completely separate argument as to how you raise the money that the bbc has to spend. then you say and what is the bbc doing with that expenditure. well, if you muddle them up then of course it means that there are more cancer patients who are on reduced fees. you'd have to affect the so that's the point. >> okay. >> okay. >> so can i just say something really, really quickly. so the group director of strategy and performance to and say that the performance to and say that the performance isn't going very well has had about a 30 k pay rise. so it's like, well it's not going very well losing. >> they got 10% reduction in staff. >> you know i worked as a lowly bbc reporter. they took the view

totally contrary to top management. oh we've got to pay them lots or they'll leave us with the lowly journalists. they say umpteen people want to step into your job. you'll keep your salary low, okay? or else somebody else will. >> 400 k a year. >> nearly hypocrisy. >> nearly hypocrisy. >> nearly hypocrisy. >> nearly half a million a year. 300 k a year. all while you know you're ditching your staff, your hard work. >> so if you work for thames water, you can have what, several billion pounds, several million pounds a year. and that's own quarters of private company. >> i admire. i admire your defence of the indefensible, john, john, sergeant joana jaflue john, john, sergeant joana jarjue thank you. a bbc spokesperson told us tonight we've been clear that while guessing so that while the bbc is getting smaller, we also need to attract and retain world class staff. our salaries are below the market rates for other uk broadcasters and the wider media industry. but like most organisations, if individuals are promoted or take on more responsibilities then that is reflected in their pay. absolute as i said, all right. for some anyway , coming up as a church anyway, coming up as a church attempts to oust a vicar after attendance falls to five people, attendance falls to five people, a british church is in crisis. there's a bit of a story behind

that which we'll bring you later on in the press pack. but next a british teacher has been banned from the classroom after refusing to use a trans student's preferred pronouns. he's had his appeal at the high court rejected and now plans to fight for his career in the court of appeals. joshua sutcliffe is live with me in the studio after this short break. this is patrick christys tonight with me, ben leo only on gb news

hello. welcome back. this is patrick christys tonight with me. ben leo. only on gb news. still to come. i'll run you through the very first of tomorrow's front pages with tonight's panel. but first, a christian teacher who was banned from teaching for misgendering a pupil has lost his high court battle to get his job back. 34 year old maths teacher joshua sutcliffe was banned from the classroom last year after being found guilty of, quote, unacceptable professional conduct. this involved him saying well done girls to two children, one of whom was a girl that identified as a male and despite launching a legal appeal despite launching a legal appeal, the judge has now concluded that mr sutcliffe, quote , fails to understand or quote, fails to understand or accept the harm that he caused vulnerable children in his class by refusing to use their preferred pronouns, and upheld his ban from british classrooms. i'm joined now by the man himself, joshua sutcliffe joshua. so this is a very it's getting very convoluted. you've been to court. are you going to go to the court of appeal again?

just take us back to what happenedin just take us back to what happened in class. you refused to use a child's pronouns. why didn't you just go along with it? >> well, i think my christian convictions, you know, led me to not use pronouns at all. i just thought a sensible approach would be to just not use pronouns, but as you read in your opening statement, that wasn't, good enough. and the judge, i think , has made an judge, i think, has made an egregious decision. i think he showed zero understanding of my article nine and article ten rights. and, you know, i thought it was a bit of a pantomime court, in all honesty , i was court, in all honesty, i was instructed as you, as you read there that i should have celebrated the pupils trans transition . and i'm clearly not transition. and i'm clearly not a believer in, leading children down a path of mutilation and down a path of mutilation and down a path of mutilation and down a dangerous path of taking strong drugs, drugs and so on. so i stand by my convictions,

and i'm hoping, you know, this. this, i believe, is a really important for case our nation because, obviously, i have quite strong christian convictions, but this is probably a more universal belief that we shouldn't be leading young people down this dangerous path. and that is what the principal, argument in the court was. so. >> so you weren't obliged by law to use the pronouns, were you? so on what basis were you denied by the high court today or a few days ago? >> well, exactly. i wasn't, denied by law. the teacher, the head teachers of the school and the leadership team thought it appropriate for me to use the child's pronoun. if anything, they should be banned from the profession, your bosses, your old headteacher, the old head teachers. because this is a dangerous path for children, i don't, i don't. we have to really understand what this is, it is it is really harmful to young people to go down this path. and, you know, we have to

as a nation, decide that it's not something that we're going to encourage. and so i'm happy, obviously, to stand, sit here next to you and discuss these things. but it's a much bigger issue than me sat here. yeah. >> of course. i mean, there have been plenty of controversy around the tavistock clinic. and, you know, the conjecture that puberty blockers are reversible. for example, look, last year the tory government did release guidelines on for teachers in schools dealing with trans children. but that came after your incident first kicked off. do you think your results in court would have been different if it had happened after the fact? >> well, you know, ben, that the heanng >> well, you know, ben, that the hearing was actually after the cass review and after that government advice . so that's why government advice. so that's why i was actually optimistic that and you still lost and i still lost. yeah. that's why i've accused mr pepperell of conducting a pantomime court because he's not gone along with government guidance. he's not gone along with professional advice from medical professionals . he's gone advice from medical professionals. he's gone along with his what i would say, strong, cult opinion, dogma

opinion, which no one should conform to. if anything, he should lose his position on the bar. this is children's wellbeing and safeguarding that we're talking about here. and you know, it's a really important issue. >> this sets quite a chilling precedent , doesn't it? it does. precedent, doesn't it? it does. do you fear for your old colleagues in the industry, not just at the school you worked at, but, you know, across the country who will now be forced to go against biological reality, go against their concerns for the safety and wellbeing of children and being dragged to go along with this trans ideology. >> i really fear for the state of our nation, to be honest with you, it's not just teachers, it's professionals across the spectrum, you know, people are being cancelled for holding perfectly reasonable beliefs and for having some care for the young people in their care . and, young people in their care. and, young people in their care. and, you know, sometimes, you know, i have a two year old son, ben. i know you've got children as well. and, you know, sometimes you know, if he goes to touch

the oven, i tell him not to touch the oven. you know, there are times when i tell him not to do things. and so i would i would say that that's a similar case here. there are times as professionals that we would say to young people, no, that's not a sensible thing to do as an adult. you know, in our country there's many freedoms. but for young people, i think that we've got to take an institutional national line on this and say, no, we're not going to encourage this in our schools. >> so you're going to the court of appeal. what's next? are you more hopeful you're going to get a decent hearing there? >> i'm hopeful. ben, i remain hopeful. and because i believe that i'm on the right side of this argument, i believe that i'm in the truth in this argument. so i'm hopeful that we will get justice in this case, but, you know, i really appreciate you having me on. >> i know you're very welcome. as you said, i've got young children. plenty of our viewers have children and grandchildren. and, you know, this is an issue which is growing and growing. and as i said to you, i think it sets a chilling precedent about the future. despite the cass

report, despite the findings in that report, just very briefly, how has this affected you? what are you doing for work now? how has it affected your mental health? if anything? what are you what are you up to? >> yeah, i think my mental health, you know, it can be up and down on the issue because this is something i committed myself to teaching the profession, but, you know, i remain hopeful. i have a firm christian belief. and so that sort of roots me in my in my thinking, and in terms of, you know, professionally, obviously, i've had to adapt and, you know, make the best of a bad situation. >> do you ever think you just should have gone along with it? do you ever think that at times when things are getting hard, you just think, oh, i should have just never. >> i would never go along with that. i would never do that, ben. never. okay, well , look, ben. never. okay, well, look, good luck at the court of appeal. >> when's the hearing, >> when's the hearing, >> i think we've we've got probably 6 to 12 months. the court systems backlogged with a whole number of cases. yeah you know, it's the way that things work in the uk at the moment. >> okay, well, i really

appreciate you coming in and keep us up to date with your progress in the courts. thank you ben. and yeah, thank you . you ben. and yeah, thank you. thanks for coming in. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> that was teacher joshua sutcliffe. thanks very much. right. coming up, sutcliffe. thanks very much. right. coming up , tonight's top right. coming up, tonight's top panel of pundits return to help me run you through the very first of tomorrow's front pages. hot off the press, we'll also be covering the decline of the church in modern britain. the obama support for kamala harris, and, of course, the chaos at the paris olympics. this is patrick christys tonight with me, ben elliott. only gb news

welcome back. grab a cup of tea. grab some bickies. because it's time to bring you the first of tomorrow's newspaper front pages. let's kick off with the i hunt for olympic saboteurs. as fans face days of chaos talking about the arson attacks on the french railways today that have

sent the olympic games into a right mess. the daily mail lafosse despite massive olympic security, arson attacks on rail networks bring france to a standstill and a world exclusive on the princess of wales. catherine, a very different princess of wales. a major new biography by top royal author. i wonder if she'll talk about meghan markle at the times olympics sabotaged paris fears further attacks after rail arson. left wing militants and russia among suspects. the daily mirror chaos at the olympics sabotaged and the daily telegraph far left suspected of olympic sabotage, right , olympic sabotage, right, sticking with the theme of the olympic games of course, has been chaos over there, let's , been chaos over there, let's, take a quick look at this clip from the games today. take a quick look at this clip from the games today . so here we from the games today. so here we are. so it's, so it's not a clip. it'sjust are. so it's, so it's not a clip. it's just some footage of the underwhelming olympic

ceremony earlier today. it's been talked about online as perhaps the worst opening ceremony of all time. i don't think the weather helped because the rain came down across paris. and what's more, they had to sort out an arsonist attacked, of course, as we've discussed on the french railways. so these are pictures from earlier today. there was explosives discovered on the side of the railways, leaving team gb briefly stranded in london, unable to board their train. suzanne, i'm not sure if you watched the opening ceremony yourself. >> unfortunately, i was driving here, so i missed it, but it awfully looks awfully dull. >> it looks naff. >> it looks naff. >> it looks naff. >> i mean, the rain doesn't help. obviously, when you've got grey clouds over overshadowing the whole thing. and of course, this terrible issue on the trains, you mentioned that they were blaming the hard left, i actually heard an interview earlier with a french minister who also suggested it could be a foreign state involved, which wouldn't surprise me either. >> but we of course, we have our gb news homeland security editor mark white today thinks or suggests maybe the russians are to blame. >> yeah, it could be russian.

could be korean, could be chinese. who knows? >> i like how i like how the daily telegraph john said they've just gone with far left. you know, they've got the memo and stuck it to the left. >> i think what is surprising about it all is this enormous effort on security, hundreds of more soldiers and policemen, and nobody didn't seem to look at a map and say, there are these railway lines that in fact, paris is depend on very paris centric, you know , france's. and centric, you know, france's. and you think, didn't they think of this ? why couldn't they have put this? why couldn't they have put or some of these soldiers on patrols patrolling some of these routes? >> i don't know how many hundreds of miles that that rail track is. i should think it'd be very difficult to scrutinise. what do you make of? >> but you don't think they're even trying? >> what do you make of these pictures here? this is from the opening ceremony along the river. i mean, joana jarjue this. this looks like a normal day on the thames, doesn't it? >> it really does. i think especially because of the weather, i actually would probably mistake it for a normal day in the thames. but i think obviously france comes with all these big monuments and they think everybody's going to be

impressed by. and i actually saw a really nice image. i think it was of a basketball court. and you could see the eiffel tower in the background. and i think they've relied on these key monuments so much that everybody's going to be so wowed by seeing the eiffel tower in the background that they haven't bothered to kind of invest or plan on anything else, but it's the olympics. like, why would you not? this is the best stage to basically showcase how amazing your country is . we see amazing your country is. we see amazing your country is. we see a bit of a competition every time it's new year's eve, and you see all the images from all over the world. everybody wants to do it bigger and better and they're like, yeah, just come and see the eiffel tower. it's just any other, any other friday we had, we had, we had a really sort of similar problem, weirdly similar problem in the diamond jubilee that i worked on. >> there were all these boats, but moving very slowly because health and safety said, you mustn't bunch the boats together . mustn't bunch the boats together. so the boats move very slowly. the 80 of them in paris. so the boats move very slowly. the 80 of them in paris . and the 80 of them in paris. and because the camera is a long way away, you don't see the close ups the commentators talk about, oh, they're so and so has done this and done this. and they,

you know, pole vault and done this and that and the other. you can't see who they're talking about. and there are no cameras on the boats themselves. so the whole thing is kind of kept at a distance. whereas at least in a stadium you can light the whole thing, you can control it much more. and of course they move more. and of course they move more quickly. >> suzanne, not a touch on london 2012 nil point for the french, surely? >> no, that's right. but then they haven't got the great nhs, have they? which of course was centrepiece of the 2012. >> they've kind of forgotten that it's supposed to be a performance for the rest of the world as well. it seemed as if, if you were on the boat, you were probably. i mean, if it was better weather, they'd probably get great views of, you know, the surrounding areas and the monuments. but for us, watching at home, we're just seeing boats move at 0.2mph, which is what the chinese are thinking. >> remember their opening ceremony in beijing, all those thousands and thousands of people drumming and doing goodness. they must be looking at this and thinking, wow, what do you know what's doing? >> it's been a bit of a pr nightmare for the french at this games. we had the i mean, a few

days ago we had the really horrific story of this australian woman who was gang raped by five people. then you had the israeli foreign minister who was warning that their athletes would potentially be attacked by iranian militants, then we had the of course, the arson attack. it's not been a good start. and also the australian, not sure if you saw this. the australian cycling team had their vans broken into all their gear, stolen massage tables , cycling gear, bikes all tables, cycling gear, bikes all strewn across paris. it's not been a good start. >> and also there isn't a french government at the moment. there's a president. that's true. the government can't be agreed. so you've got this cunous agreed. so you've got this curious picture. is anyone in charge and who are they? oh, yes. that's that's the man who used to be prime minister oh, he's still there. >> why are people why are people blaming the far left as well? because the far left recently in france, they've had a bit of a victory in the sense that, you know, they kind of had a little bit of a coalition and tactically voted and stuff. so i don't understand why they would say that. the far left of kicking off at this point, it's just nice that the far left is being blamed for once and not

the far. i mean, the far left have blamed whatever, don't they? clearly the facts don't matter to some of these right wing newspapers. >> what about the security, though? there's fears that it's going to get worse, that other other incidents are going to happen. and of course, i mean, what we don't want and what would be just an absolute nightmare for everybody is some sort of attack where people are in. >> unfortunately, we live in the most dreadful world, don't we now, where security has got to be front and centre of every decision ever made by any public event? it's terribly sad. terribly sad. france hasn't fallen just yet. >> but all eyes on france. let's go stateside to america now, where barack obama and first former first lady, i should say michelle obama phones democrat presidential nominee kamala harris as she vies to beat donald trump and become the first woman to be leader of the free world. let's hear what they had to say. >> kamala. hello hi. hey there . >> kamala. hello hi. hey there. >> kamala. hello hi. hey there. >> oh, hi. >> oh, hi. >> you're both together. oh it's good to hear you both. >> i can't have this phone call without saying to my girl kamala, i am proud of you. this

is going to be historic. >> we call to say michelle. and i couldn't be prouder to endorse you and to do everything we can to get you through this election. and into the oval office. >> oh my goodness, michelle. >> oh my goodness, michelle. >> barack, this means so much to me . but most of all, i just want me. but most of all, i just want to tell you the words you have spoken and the friendship that you have given over all these years mean more than i can express. so thank you both. and we're going to have some fun with this too, aren't we? >> oh, what a coincidence. you just happen to take a phone call when all the cameras are there? you know, i'm slightly worried now about that opening. >> oh, you're both together. does she know something we dont?is does she know something we don't? is the obama marriage in trouble? what a weird thing to say. >> i think the whole thing is pretty strange, isn't it? to us? yeah, because that would seem to be the moment it looks false. yeah, it's completely contrived. >> i don't think they would try. i don't think they were trying to make it look, not look false. because realistically, one of the biggest things with kamala harris's campaign so far is that she understands the power of social media. i don't know what

gen z team member she's got, but they're doing an absolute bunder they're doing an absolute blinder in terms of what they're managing to achieve on tiktok. the obamas took a while to endorse harris. >> i only came today or late last night. do you think their involvement now and their backing for kamala, is going to have any effect on absolutely not going to make any difference to voters who've already made their minds up, who they're going to vote for? >> well, no, but the optics, no, but the optics aren't. the opfics but the optics aren't. the optics wouldn't be good. and actually, the republican party were playing on that. the fact that, well, kamala hasn't even had an endorsement from barack obama. we're going to wait to kind of confirm any type of debate. she hasn't even had that. but i actually think it's because, kamala has had so much success in terms of the backing that she's had from various groups across the us, and that maybe barack obama was waiting until the democrats had kind of solidified or even gone through some sort of process, maybe out of respect for other people who might have wanted to be the candidate. but now in record time, basically, she's raised so much money, 1.5 million within 24 hours and counting that he's probably thinking, well, now it's a given. it wouldn't. it's obvious. and even some of the

other people who were kind of, expected to go against kamala and become the republican, the democratic candidate, they've also come and endorsed her. so it's kind of people are falling away at the sides, and obviously she's going to be the person. >> i mean, i very much agree with joanna. i think the other thing that's happening is that behind the scenes, they're saying, thank goodness we're not going to have a fight at the convention. and i think the elders have decided, on the democratic side, that they're not going to. isn't it wonderful that we've got to this stage, that we've got to this stage, that there seems to be a surge of support and excitement? and at that point, barack obama then thinks, well , at that point, barack obama then thinks, well, i'm not going to be in the least bit controversial. if michelle and i back her. >> well, you think you think barack obama was putting his personal reputation ahead of doing his duty for the democratic party? >> that might have been an element. i think it was just out of respect for the other potential candidates. what to do? you know, kamala's kamala's definitely had a bounce. >> you always get it with a new football manager. you get the short term bounce. and i guess

she can stand up and she can string a sentence together. so for the time being, she is a little bit of an improvement on joe biden. i am concerned, though, of course, when biden was in the race, i was quite sure trump was going to win. but as you mentioned, all of you, as you've alluded to, there is now this newfound energy about kamala harris. and i'm slightly concerned, a proper race. yeah. i'm also not that keen on jd vance. he gave his first speech at a rally the other day. it was pretty flat. he tried cracking some jokes, which didn't go down. i think trump could have picked someone better anyway, we'll be back in just a tick with more front pages. but coming up, team gb are desperate for the medals at the paris olympics, of course, but could they kick start their haul of awards tonight in this very studio? find out as i reveal my greatest britain and union jacks shortly. but first, we'll dive deeper into more of tomorrow's front pages, plus the sabotage of the olympic games in france, with tonight's panel offering their unfiltered and top analysis. this is patrick christys tonight with me, ben leo. only on gb news

hello. welcome back. more front pages have just dropped hot off the press. let's get to the daily express. britain cond. massive tax raid on the way . express. britain cond. massive tax raid on the way. claims by rachel reeves of a £20 billion black hole in britain's finances have been declared a con aimed at justifying big tax rises. i covered that extensively at the top of the show and the guardian, millions of public sector workers set for a pay rise. the chancellor is expected to accept the recommendations of a public sector pay bodies for a pay a public sector pay bodies for a pay rises on monday, in a move that economists believe could cost up to £10 billion. john sergeant, the magic money tree in full swing sure is. >> no, they've got to do that . >> no, they've got to do that. and they knew they would have to do it. and they better get all these things done in one go, because all you need to do is to just have a budget and a statement and have it make sure it's complicated and people will take in bits of it, but they

will not take in the whole thing because it's a complicated, very complicated decision about what to do and what the overall expenditure should be. but this is what they've got. and they know they can't have trouble in the public sector. they've got to shut down those strikes. they've got to shut down those difficulties. yeah, suzanne. >> that's that's their excuse. they're saying, well, if we don't sort this out, i mean, actually i think the previous government had budgeted 4% pay increases. >> so it's not that they had to do it. and obviously we've got the got the new recommendation, but i'm afraid i think the pubuc but i'm afraid i think the public sector is so massive now. it's so huge. the state grows exponentially every year. and if the country is in really as tough times as rachel reeves is trying to make us believe, then frankly, i think britain's pubuc frankly, i think britain's public service should do their bit and not want an inflation busting pay rise. >> industrial action in the nhs cost £1.7 billion in total. >> joanna so i mean this was all about trying to get the tory government out there behaving now, aren't they very interesting point. >> do you think, joanna, this i mean the talks with the bma wes streeting saying, you know, i'm going i'm sorting it out with the bma, we're going to we're

going to crack a deal out. why did that come just as labour came into power, were the unions holding out for that? >> well, i think that one of the, complaints before and one of the criticisms of the conservative government was that they weren't really getting around the table in an efficient way. and i think that, you know, sometimes the way that you talk about these, different groups of people also matters. if you get people's backs up, you're not really going to get a good negotiation out of them. and a couple of weeks ago, we were talking about, you know, angela rayner seeming like she was going to it was a done deal with the public sector, while keir starmer was playing kind of hardball. and i had basically said that the pay they're playing good cop, bad cop, they need somebody. they need to feel as if somebody is basically on their side. and i think that, you know, them wanting a labour government , them possibly being, government, them possibly being, you know, a bit more open to having a discussion with the labour government is going to be quite significant. >> well, it's interesting actually, if they do accept 5.5% because i think they were asking for pay rises of up to 35% at one point, and the labour government were clear before they got in that it wouldn't,

you know, it wouldn't be. >> it wouldn't be that high. but i think that realistically , they i think that realistically, they probably know that this is the best that they're going to get or else it's basically volunteering to be striking for the next five years. i think as, as long as it's a bit more than what the conservatives were offering. >> oh, look, some key detail here. maybe not a surprise. it says the cost of giving pay rises to public sector workers has not been fully budgeted in current spending plans. the money will have to be found through existing headroom, changes to fiscal rules or tax rises in the budget. surprise, surprise john, such no surprise . surprise john, such no surprise. >> no, i mean, it is just i'm afraid what we've all we were led to believe during the campaign itself. we knew this was going to happen. now it is going to happen. people still want to have the argument as if as if we weren't warned. okay, but the key thing for the government is to make sure that at this stage, they're not put off, blown off course, they don't want a complicated argument with all sorts of people. well, they want to give the impression this is the honeymoon period. we're setting

out how we're going to go. in the end, of course, we will be responsible for it. >> can i just say that there's another element of this as well? we're all just going to okay, they're just going to, have tax increases. that might not be the case. there is also, you know, another strategy that they might use some of these plans of big spending pledges that they've made . they might just phase them made. they might just phase them out a little bit more. so for example, the things that they wanted to do when it comes to, you know, the green economy and, you know, the green economy and, you know, the 28 billion that they rolled back on in terms of investment for green energy , investment for green energy, they'd already phased that. but then what's going to happen is that people are going to say, look at them. they're u—turning again. no, because what would you prefer? do you want your taxes to go up, or do you want them maybe to delay some of the stuff? i'm just saying there's a different strategy that they could go down. government spending will go up this year and it might like it goes up it might. >> and nationalising the railways, they'll do it. >> it might. this is i'm saying that it might. but what i'm saying is that we've got to acknowledge as well when we're talking about this, not to just jump talking about this, not to just jump the gun and say, they're

definitely going to, you know, increase taxes. and they might to an extent. but then there's another strategy that they might use, which is, like i said, making phasing it out into, i guessin making phasing it out into, i guess in their defence, they've got a stonking majority. >> they're a few weeks into their premiership. they can do what the hell they want, quite frankly, and they've got a lot of time to make up for it. and will of course. now this is a this got me tickled. they will. saint leonard's church in buckinghamshire has seen attendance dwindle down to just five people as locals form a mutiny against the vicar. so reverend christopher hayward has received 21 votes from locals in a secret ballot to oust him. with no one wanting him to stay. the vicar's biggest fall from grace is that he didn't allow the community to have a funeral for a churchwarden, and butterworth not related to benjamin. our suspect, who had been with the parish for 30 years. the reverend's popularity is at an all time low, and claims are surfacing that his behaviour has caused some people distress. but with church of england services down by 1.1 million since pre—pandemic levels, john, is this reverend putting the church at risk with his his antics? >> no, i don't think so. a

rather sad little story . my rather sad little story. my father was a vicar and there was one occasion, one winter day when there was a lot of snow, and we set off from the vicarage to the church, and we then realised that we were the only people there. oh, and my father started the service and i thought, oh, he's going to go through the whole thing and we're going to be stuck with this. so i was about ten years old at the time, and i thought this is dreadful. but in fact, he was very dignified. and there was one prayer before, of course , was one prayer before, of course, we then said amen. and he then led us out of the church. >> hallelujah! susanna, are we becoming a godless nation? >> no. well, i think the nature of our religion has changed. we might not be going to church so much, but i think religion is still very much part and parcel of life. i was really shocked actually, during covid times at how religious people were in terms of things like, oh, if you stand on that yellow dot in the supermarket , stand on that yellow dot in the supermarket, you're going to be safe. you know, if you wear a mask that yeah, yeah, yeah. brainwash. exactly. but it was a kind of religion and it made some kind of medieval religious

ideas look sane. yeah. so i think there's always going to be a part of us that is religious. i think it's in the human psyche, but the way in which we express it is very different. and i think we don't so much go to church regularly as a nation, but believe you me, there's religion there. i mean, the number of people who believe in alternative therapies for instance, despite the fact they're not proven, they're still new religious movements that are thriving. the massive rise of islam, and particularly for british converts to islam as well. so it's just changing. it's religion's always there. it just changes which bit. >> it's funny that you mentioned that about islam, because i feel as if people's religion and acknowledging how much this is a christian country only comes out if it's kind of a rebuttal to how we're turning into some sort of islamist country. i think apart from easter and christmas, which is obviously become so much kind of commercialised. not saying that there's, you know, pockets of this country who are still very christian and it is very much still a christian country, but i feel as if we've become bigger advocates for the religion of christianity when we feel threatened that maybe

another religion might be coming in and taking over, we've got to move on. >> i think we're soft christians. i think we like the idea and the values and the principles of christianity. >> but i love the building, we love the buildings. we love the music, the art we have and all sorts of things. the unserious bits. >> i've got a i've got a break up this holy communion because it's up this holy communion because wsfime up this holy communion because it's time for a union jackass let's start with you, john. sergeant, your gb nominee, please. >> right now, wait a moment. i've got one of the, i've got one of the athletes, and her name is keely hodgkinson. >> yeah, she's an 800 metre runner, 800 metre runner. >> she got, she did, she got a silver at tokyo. >> i think we've got a clip. have you got the clip at 19 and going through the games. >> let's keep it on the clock. she looks as though she's barely breaking sweat. let's keep an eye on the clock. 155 remember, he's the british record and she's got it. 155 right in there. one day. >> love it. so that was keely, a few days ago in london. she set

a new british record and she's now tipped to win gold in paris. so yeah that's your nominee suzanne evans. >> your gb to her. well, mine's an honorary one and it's elon musk who is very very bravely this week spoken out about the problems he's had with his transgender child. he's saying the woke mind virus captured him and he was tricked into signing papers. >> we also have a clip. this was very moving. take a look at this. >> i lost my son. essentially. so, you know, they, they call it deadnaming for a reason. yeah. all right, so the reason it's called deadnaming is because, your son is dead. so my son xavier is dead . killed by the xavier is dead. killed by the woke mind virus. >> yeah. really moving interview, joanna, your gb nominee, please. >> mine is the mp zarah sultana, who i believe is the mp for an area around birmingham. and she voted to scrap the two child benefit cap and knowing that she would be suspended, and she basically put her constituents first ahead of her own political ambitions, which i thought was brave and.

>> okay, my winner today is keely hodgkinson. she is tipped for gold in paris. i love sport, it moves me to tears sometimes and i'm hoping this time around keely does the business in the 800m and in true fashion, olympic style. we have to be very quick for your union jack nominees. please join the show, jackass. >> you know those supermarkets that didn't pass on the fall in oil prices kept up the petrol and diesel prices on the forecourts because they didn't. thenif forecourts because they didn't. then if they weren't going to compete with the supermarkets, want to keep up their prices. greedy, greedy, greedy. >> suzanne, it's prince harry for whingeing again, for having another public tantrum again and once again when everything goes wrong in his life, he blames someone else instead of himself. joana jarjue prince harry and my greatest britain is prince harry. >> now i'm joking, so my, union jack asked donald trump for trying to delay and chicken out of this debate with, with harris. i just think it's crazy how he had so much to say for biden. and all of a sudden now he's like, oh, no, no, we're not

going to do the debate. oh, we might. and she's been tweeting him saying, well, i'm ready when you are. >> yeah. well that race is going to be fascinating. it's really opened up hasn't it. it was the poll said it was trump nailed on and now it's wide open. mar union jackass today is prince harry though. harry please take some responsibility for your actions. nobody made you go and speak to oprah or right spare or go to netflix. just own up to it. i'll be back again on monday from 9 pm. next up, it's headliners. have a good evening and a great weekend. good night. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar, sponsors of weather on gb news . news. >> good evening. welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb. news signs of some hotter weather early next week, but still tomorrow morning a fresh start with some sunshine and there will be more heavy showers developing through the day in places . but the showers we've places. but the showers we've seen today, they're tending to fade away. so for most it's going to be a dry evening. a dry

night with lengthy clear spells. we'll keep some showers going near the southwest of scotland and it could turn a bit heavier that rain as we head towards dawn. time as we head towards dawn, temperatures will dip down to single figures in some rural spots. towns and cities 10 to 12. so a little bit fresher than recent mornings, but generally a fine and sunny start. a drier day tomorrow compared to today across scotland. still, a few showers in the far north—west, but i suspect quite a bit of sunshine across central and northern scotland. a wet start though in this zone. the far south of scotland, north—west england some heavy bursts of rain, particularly across the lakes. early doors not great on parts of the m6 here. a few scattered showers for wales, but most of england and wales also starting dry , fine and sunny. starting dry, fine and sunny. there will be a few showers for northern ireland, but again here likely to be a drier day tomorrow compared to today, so not as many showers around. we will see more showers developing through the day over wales, northern england parts of the midlands could catch a rumble of thunder. flash of lightning to not too many showers for east

anglia in the southeast. most places here dry and as i mentioned, a drier day for much of scotland. slightly warmer to edinburgh, up to 21. in the sunshine across the south—east 24, maybe 25, but probably feeling cooler across northern england and wales with more cloud and more showers. but the showers disappear overnight and sunday looks like a cracking day. can't completely rule out a shower

>> very good evening to you . >> very good evening to you. it's just after 11:00. the top stories from the newsroom tonight. the 2024 olympic games have officially opened. despite a downpour during the first ever outdoor opening ceremony in the event's history, 300,000 spectators cheered athletes sailing along the river senne , sailing along the river senne, with flagbearers tom daley and helen glover, leading team gb in one of 85 boats. the event also saw performances from the likes of lady gaga and even celine dion, making her first on stage appearance since revealing her illness. the world famous singer led a glittering conclusion to the celebrations from the eiffel tower . here, the chief the celebrations from the eiffel tower. here, the chief constable of greater manchester police has responded to video footage of an officer seen kicking and stamping on a man at the city's airport, saying the incident is airport, saying the incident is a source of profound regret. stephen watson insists the force is committed to supporting a criminal investigation into the

officer's behaviour, and it comes after the mayor of