mp to enter the tory leadership race, the former home secretary saying that she can unite the party and turn it back into a quote , winning machine. she quote, winning machine. she joins james cleverly, robert jenrick, tom tugendhat and mel stride, all running to replace rishi sunak. nominations close tomorrow. the foreign secretary is condemning a rocket strike in the israeli controlled golan heights, which killed 12 people, including children. david lammy said he's deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation and destabilisation. israel has released this footage of air attacks being carried out against hezbollah targets in lebanon overnight . water bosses, lebanon overnight. water bosses, who repeatedly allow sewage to be dumped illegally, will face criminal charges under the new government plans. environment secretary steve reed warning they will also be stripped of their bonuses as part of tighter regulations. he also says customers will receive refunds if money earmarked for sewage system investment is not spent on that purpose.

>> if water bosses keep pumping these levels of raw sewage into our waterways, they'll face criminal charges. we'll give the regulator the power they need to ban the payment of the multi—million pound bonuses they've been awarding themselves, despite overseeing this kind of catastrophic failure. and we're going to ring fence customers money that is earmarked for investment in improving the sewage infrastructure so that if it's not spent on that, it gets refunded back to customers in discounts off their bills . discounts off their bills. >> those are the latest gb news headunes >> those are the latest gb news headlines for now. now. time for free speech nation for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gb news. >> com forward slash alerts . >> com forward slash alerts. >> com forward slash alerts. >> the labour government ditches a law to protect free speech at universities. kamala harris closes the gap on donald trump and the opening ceremony of the paris olympics outrages many and

bores many more. this is free speech. nation . welcome to free speech. nation. welcome to free speech nation with me, andrew doyle. this is the show where we take a look at culture, current affairs and politics. and of course, we'll have the latest from those loveable culture warriors. we'll try and cover all the things they want to cancel. although we do only have two hours coming up on the show tonight, the olympics are underway in paris, but concerns are growing that women are being marginalised from their own sports. author joan smith joins us to discuss that. baroness claire fox will be here to discuss a blow to free speech, as the government announces plans to potentially repeal the higher education act, and kamala harris has hit the ground running in her first week as the likely democrat nominee for president. we're going to be discussing her chances of beating donald trump with two great guests and of course, myself and my comedian panel will be answering questions from this rather lovely studio audience. my comedian guests this evening are bruce devlin and leo kearse, who . lila, how

and leo kearse, who. lila, how are you.7 >> are you? >> i'm good. >> i'm good. >> thanks. how are you? i'm very happy as ever. you're always so jolly, aren't you? >> yeah. that's what everybody says about me on twitter. >> they know i've seen some stuff. go on. are you back on twitter now? >> no, i'm still banned. i got banned, yes. how did you get banned, yes. how did you get banned for saying i would take a hammer to someone? yeah. no, it was a joke. there was a winking emoji. it was all new on a delivery man for a hammer company. >> that's exactly what it is. well, actually, bruce says the phrase you used is a common scottish parlance, isn't it? it's a common scottish phrase. >> yeah. i'll take a hammer to you. >> is that leo? a scottish phrase? >> but in defence, in twitter's defence, most scottish parlance is about physical violence. >> it is exactly. so it's difficult to tell. anyway, we've got this audience here who have come inside, even though it's very sunny outside. i do appreciate that. let's get some questions from them. we've got paul questions from them. we've got paul. why don't you start? >> yeah. from the introduction. should i understand then that you were all enjoying the family friendly opening ceremony of the olympics? >> well, you know, i didn't watch much of it. paul. did you enjoy it?

>> i've only seen snippets from twitter x. oh nice. yeah, with the blue man and the sort of general degeneracy. really? >> yeah . blimey. well, you've >> yeah. blimey. well, you've made your feelings clear on that. i mean, we saw the smurf guy, the singing smurf, and there were lots of drag queens, sort of, dancing around and things like that. but i watched about ten minutes of it. i found it so tedious, so incredibly bonng it so tedious, so incredibly boring that i, you know, i certainly wasn't outraged, but i just thought it was really tedious. the image you're seeing on the screen at the moment is the one that's caused all the problem, because it has been interpreted that the row of rather corpulent drag queens are somehow, you know , connected to somehow, you know, connected to the da vinci's last supper. and i think you could read it that way. i'm not sure that it's necessarily that it does look like it probably is. leo, what do you make of all this? i mean, we'll look at the phallus there. >> i mean, is it the olympic games? are the olympic games? >> well, if it was, she'd lose. yeah, the thing is, though, she's in a position where where jesus would be. yeah. and, you know, but that's not really

accurate, is it? >> i want to see her pole vault. that's what i want to see. i think you know the intro. it's supposed to show a nation's culture, and it's supposed to showcase the best and provide a, you know, a sort of an inspiring and inspiring thing before we see which country has got the fastest black people . and i fastest black people. and i think in this case it didn't. there was no french culture there. >> there was. well, i have to disagree. have you never seen eurotrash? yeah. >> well i mean it felt like watching eurotrash again. it was. it was all. it was weird. you know, transgender smurfs and stuff like that. but it was all this, this globalised sort of day . everybody's got to be day. everybody's got to be a drag queen. everybody's got to be trans or obese or whatever it is, or sometimes all, all five. and it didn't. there was no there's no frenchness to it. it should if anything, it showed how this sort of global communism is erased any identity from nations. >> bruce. bruce, i mean, you're there's been some intakes of breath here. are you shocked by this commentary? >> no, i'm enjoying it. i'm. is it not? i said that to you

before because i can't pronounce it. dionysus or dionysus or bacchus. is it not going to be something to do with someone who was greek that liked to drink and something to eat and all that? >> god of wine and plenty, yes. well, yes, it sounds like me. >> if i was a drag queen, but, no, i do think that's funny that the driver drag queens are obese. they're all obese. >> like, why not just for the sake of diversity? >> have a few skinny people skinnier? >> draghi. >> draghi. >> okay. i loved when you said corpulent. well, because it made sense about, jennifer saunders reference in abfab. oh, right. >> okay. >> okay. >> from years ago. well, there we go. i'm glad i could help out. >> yeah. thank you. and there they are again. i mean, the thing is, i've seen a lot of people get very upset at this because they feel that their religion has been mocked and i think, you know, i think all religions should be open to mockery. on the other hand, it's the olympic games. it does feel a bit weird that that's the place where you do when you're. because isn't it all about unity and representing everyone? it does feel like an odd place to does feel like an odd place to do mockery, doesn't it? >> and the olympic games isn't about religion. and also they

went for the laziest, the route one. they attack christianity if they'd attacked other religions, if they'd made it a, you know, a genuinely diverse, you know, tearing down of cultural traditions, then then maybe that'd be good. but obviously, you know, they saw what, after charlie hebdo and they thought, no, we're just going to do christianity because, you know, we don't want to be beheaded. >> well, i mean, the obvious truth there is if they had have used that ceremony to mark islam, they wouldn't be here right now. they'd be in hiding. you know? so that's just the truth. >> and also, i mean, they foiled so many islamist terror plots against this, this olympics in france. and to be honest, i mean, the islamists don't really need to attack it because they can just sit and watch on their tv as western civilisation destroys itself. >> but on the other hand, i've seen loads of people online sort going on about how this is satanic and how dare you mock christianity. religion should be able to be mocked. every religion should be able to be mocked. right? no, no. >> why is that? i don't know, i used to think, yeah, let's mock religion. religion, stupid. but now i've seen what they've replaced religion with, and it's worse. i think. go back to go back to wherever we had in the

old days. >> i want to live in burning heretics at the stake. >> yes, yes. when we had proper values and enforced them. >> yeah. i'm not so sure about that, don't you think? everything. but. but do you attend my point that it's a weird place, like at a comedy club? mock whatever you want, but it's a weird place to do it at the olympics. >> yeah, i just, i think the thing that a lot of people had said was it wasn't necessarily authentically french and it didn't necessarily represent, you know, there was no karl lagerfeld. there was no none of his cat choupette. no, there was nothing to do with old couture. ceune nothing to do with old couture. celine was there, but she's canadian. well, she's french—canadian. >> yeah, but still a bit fraudulent. >> oh, come on, no, stop. >> why was lady gaga there? what's she got to do with france? >> i think she was just. yeah, i i'm kind of over her. >> oh, i think many people are. yeah it'sjust >> oh, i think many people are. yeah it's just strange that she's. she wasn't even doing a french accent. she wasn't making any effort. >> she wasn't making any. she phonedit >> she wasn't making any. she phoned it in. >> she was phoning it in. >> she was phoning it in. >> yeah. she was phoning it in. she was like lorraine kelly. no effort. >> one thing, bruce, gareth roberts wrote about this for the spectator, and he made the point

that that's whole spectacle of all the drag queens doing the faux mona lisa, da vinci thing that that actually this was the sort of thing you would see at the royal vauxhall tavern in 1994 and find it embarrassing then. but he was saying at least back then, all these sort of really tacky. >> we didn't have drag race, so we didn't we weren't able to hold them to a higher standard. no, i completely agree, saying at least it was contained. what did i say last night? the makeup was appalling. they need to beat their mugs properly. yeah. >> okay. well, let's move on to another question now. and this one is coming from andy. hi, andy. how are you? >> very well. thank you. good. yes. what's your question? will cancel culture ever stop? >> yeah. well, i don't know. if it does, then so will this show. yeah, but there's been another cancellation. this one is from the liverpool philharmonic, and they cancelled ian dale. so ian dale, who has a show on lbc, i believe, has, he was going to be interviewing lisa nandy, in fact. so the culture secretary andifs fact. so the culture secretary and it's not going ahead now, did you read about this story? yeah. now it's not going ahead

because ian dale used to run biteback publishing and they published a book that some liverpudlians don't like. >> was it him or lisa nandy that ran the one of the one of the people at the event, ran a publishing company. that was all right. yeah. and years ago, it published a memoir of one of the police officers who was involved in hillsborough. yes and, you know, i haven't read that that memoir, but i very much doubt it was you know, saying anything, you know, bad saying anything that would be, you know, i doubt it was crowing about. >> well, i mean, even if it was, it's a it's a book that is published by a publisher that publishes a whole diverse range of opinions and ideas and the idea that if you work at a firm that publishes a book with an opinion that they don't like, i mean, that's such a tenuous, tenuous. yeah, such a tenuous, tenuous. yeah, such a tenuous, tenuous link to the thing. >> but yeah, the there was no sort of back and forth. there was a tweet that didn't really get much traction, but the venue or the philharmonic pulled out saying, you know, there's been a

twitter backlash , so we're just twitter backlash, so we're just going to cancel the event. >> but i just find this so bonng >> but i just find this so boring now, like it's happened so often now, you know, for a long time people say, oh, cancel culture isn't real. and then it kept happening and they were still saying it wasn't real. and then eventually i think everyone has to admit, yeah, it's real andifs has to admit, yeah, it's real and it's happening all the time. but it's getting boring, isn't it? why would why would for instance, why would the liverpool philharmonic hall even care what a few people on twitter think about a book that is tangentially related to this event? >> well, more importantly, if it's the philharmonic, does lisa nandy play an instrument? >> i think she plays the piccolo. really? yeah. >> yeah, yeah, right. okay, so i could understand if she was a flautist and she was off tune or any of that kind of thing. >> you should be cancelled for that. >> no, i mean, i do like her. i think she seems a nice lady, but i think she needs an adenoids. done. >> well, that's a different issue, but i think it's fair for you to raise it. okay. anyway, let's get a question now from maggie. where's maggie? hello. >> hello, are women's cyclists getting stronger? >> yeah. you would have thought, wouldn't you? because you will have seen this story. everyone.

probably. so this is the, competition? i think it was in washington, it was a the elite women's madison at washington's marymoor grand prix. women's madison at washington's marymoor grand prix . and that's marymoor grand prix. and that's the winners on the podium, the 3 or 3 top medals went to, men who identify as women. all three. yeah. right. so and there are arrows there to point them out. not that you would need them because they're hulking great blokes. now this is weird, isn't it? because women, you know , it? because women, you know, it's all very well sort of saying there are debates to be had about certain trans identifying males in women's sports, etc, but they've just won all the medals. yeah, yeah. >> i mean, it was teams that contained a transgender male, but i think, you know, to be to be competitive in elite sports these days, you've got to have a few blokes in your women's team. that's true. and yeah , i think that's true. and yeah, i think what really rammed this home, the sort of unjustness of it, is like one of them is standing there like, no, no breasts or anything like that. nothing that would like make you pass as a

woman standing there and like, because he's wearing lycra shorts with cycling shorts, you can't see the detail. you can see go into detail. i can see individual veins. >> he's the one who's gone into detail. >> wow. i'll have to have a look how. >> now. >> proofs. >> proofs. >> it's got. look, i think wherever you stand on the trans debate, this is clearly , debate, this is clearly, palpably unfair. >> i have an auntie who phones me all the time and says, do you think it's fair because she doesn't think it's fair? >> well, no, i would say 99% of women don't know . women don't know. >> well, that's the whole thing, because the whole reason why sports was segregated by sex in the first place was so that women could win something. that's what the trainer in america, gillian michael, says. regardless of anything else, she said that sex is immutable and you just can't argue the point. and it should be separate. >> but this is so odd because i genuinely don't think there is anyone who disagrees that this is unfair, apart from a handful of crazy activists online. so why are they deciding? >> because they're the ones that got close to the government and now set the rules in every western country. so yeah, basically you've got this gender

ideology that's gripped every organisation, every every government. and i think it's hilarious. like for years we had all these feminists who were , all these feminists who were, you know, anti—men and then, you know, men have found a way to sort of game the system. and feminists have created this. they created the trans, the gender ideology first. >> it was true. >> it was true. >> first, it was no, first it was women can do anything. men can do. and like, you know, women are the same as men. now >> men are women now, that's not what feminists were saying, is that women and men should have exactly the same opportunities. >> what they weren't saying is that there is no biological difference between women and men. yeah, right. well, maybe 1 or 2 were there were some people who were saying sex was a social construct, but that wasn't the general feminist principle, was it? >> it's still funny. >> it's still funny. >> well, leah finds it funny. anyway, i will be talking to the writer joan smith anyway, i will be talking to the writerjoan smith about this writer joan smith about this very topic later on, because it strikes me that labour are not standing up for this. they're not. in fact, they're probably making it worse, let's be honest. but we will talk about that a bit later. not that the

tories were particularly good on this issue either. anyway, let's move on now to a question from philip. hi, philip. >> hi there. as far as the, hollywood film industry is concerned, do you think they're finally starting to learn their lesson? >> yeah, there's a few signs. and there was a report this week about this, in the press about a couple of films that have been really big films this year. twisters is one of them, which is not about the board game . is not about the board game. it's about the cyclones. it's about cyclones. it's a sequel to twister, i haven't seen it, but it's apparently a lot of people running towards, tornadoes and then running away screaming. that kind of thing. sounds a lot of fun. there's some images of it there. it does look fun. you remember the original film back in the 90s, and famously there was that cow sort of flying around. that was a very funny scene with the cow, and they're just, i think there's more cows in this one, the wizard of oz. it's a bit like the wizard of oz. >> oh, right. okay. >> oh, right. okay. >> but without the dwarfish, people. what are they called? >> they? oh the lollipop men. >> they? oh the lollipop men. >> no, that's charlie and the chocolate. >> the lollipop men. anyway,

let's not get, sidetracked, >> so twisters has done extremely well. and the thing about this film is it's not making any kind of political messaging, right? you don't get them running away from tornadoes and then stopping to talk about diversity, equity and inclusion. that's not happening. and because of that, people like it. yeah right. because most hollywood films now you expect at least about 15% of it to be preaching about woke values. and it gets very boring, and it's not happening in this film. and that's why. and the same with this other film, inside out too, which is a pixar film which doesn't do the preaching, ideological stuff, unlike frozen two, which did so maybe hollywood realises they're going to make a whole lot more money if they stop behaving like priests. yeah for a while. >> and we saw this across across all the, all the media that became consumed by this desire to sort of, you know, change the world and teach everybody about gender ideology and all the rest of it. and the only problem is that just made for terrible entertainment. you got at least films like watching strange world, like, i've got a kid, so i watch you know, these disney

disney films and watching strange world. there's a bit where the they find the granddad of this kid, and the kid says, oh, i like this boy. you know, there's a boy and he likes another boy because he's gay or whatever. and the grandad's all like, that is very good. and i really think that's a very good thing and all that sort of stuff. and it's like, so weird, you know? i mean, it's like they're just. it's so clunkily just crowbarred in all the, you know, positive role models and acceptance and these moralising messages and it's like, you get enough of that at work. you work 40 hours a week or whatever. you get enough of that at work with the hr people. you know, giving you all these emails sent around, you know, telling you whatever week it is and stuff. and then, you know, you get off for the weekend, you want to watch something that's entertaining and forget about that stuff, and you still get it crammed down your throat. so obviously disney wasn't making any money. heard all these films that totally flopped. >> it's lost a fortune, lost an absolute fortune. >> so i think the old, chief exec, bob iger, is step back in to try and turn it around. i mean, for me, it was that

cartoon of transformers when the robot announced its pronouns that was the point where i thought, you know, no toasters don't have pronouns. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> no, no, that's true. actually, it's a toaster. >> basically, it's a toaster that fights. yeah, that's what it does. >> that's why i think the bigger problem is it's violent. >> yes. are you a fan of tornado films? >> i'm not really a fan of much, to be honest with you. i know what you mean. >> people like to go and see to the cinema to be entertained, not to be preached at. >> yeah. no no no no, it's escapism isn't it? i see the cinema as voluntary incarceration. i don't understand it and i don't like people. i'm and they often have their feet out or they're eating noisily or they just smell. >> no, that's absolutely right. and people don't know how to behave at the cinema. i had to walk out of jeepers creepers two because people were talking. >> people don't know how to behave at all. no they don't. there was a woman on the train that had her feet and moved into first class. i thought, i'm not dealing. >> she had a feet out, feet out cracking them. what does cracking them. what does cracking mean, cracking? >> you know, when you snap your bones. >> okay. yeah >> okay. yeah >> you know, when you kind of pinch and all that, you're doing that in public honking.

>> okay. >> okay. >> well, absolutely honking and i say to her and i said, are you going to put those away or not? and i went, well it's no. and then the woman had come over and i said, are you going to do anything about that? and she went, well. and i went, well, i'm going in the first class. and you're not charging me. >> you know, they still won't bnng >> you know, they still won't bring back hanging. >> no. exactly i agree. >> no. exactly i agree. >> okay. well let's come on now, because that's all we got time for in this section. the olympics, of course, are underway in paris, but there are concerns that women are being marginalised from their own sport. authorjoan marginalised from their own sport. author joan smith marginalised from their own sport. authorjoan smith will marginalised from their own sport. author joan smith will be joining us sooi'i soon discuss that. please do not go

welcome back to free speech nafion welcome back to free speech nation with me. andrew doyle. the olympics are up and running. but meanwhile, concern continues to grow at the prospect of women being marginalised from their own sports. culture secretary lisa nandy said this week that there could be some circumstances where trans athletes compete against women. nandy suggested that individual

sporting bodies could decide their approach, and both the football association and the england and wales cricket board for example, currently allow trans identifying athletes to compete in women's matches in certain situations, such as if they have low testosterone levels . so here to discuss this, levels. so here to discuss this, i'm joined by the journalist and author joan smith. hi. thank you authorjoan smith. hi. thank you so . i want to ask you about this so. i want to ask you about this because lisa nandy claimed not just a few weeks ago , that the just a few weeks ago, that the era of culture wars is over. and it doesn't look like it, does it? no. >> she's the for minister culture wars, i'm afraid. yes. and what she's doing is continuation of what labour were doing during the election campaign. so i think people like starmer and lisa nandy were actually shaken by how often they got the question, what is a woman which obviously they all struggle with? and so what they started doing was sort of saying, well, of course we know what a woman is and, you know, it'll all be fine. but what you have to look at is what they do and not what they say, because i think they're trying to kind of soften us up and make, make, make us feel that they're even handed not they're not remotely .

handed not they're not remotely. >> so a lot of people online were saying, well, you know, lisa nandy wasn't, saying, oh, we must bring trans identified males into women's sports. she was saying, let's, let's let the various sporting bodies decide for themselves. but do you think that's good enough? >> no, because that's the kind of faux neutral position . so of faux neutral position. so what she's saying is that, you know, biological sex does matter in sport. and of course it does, because the testosterone thing is a bit of a red herring because it's about people going, men going through male puberty and having bigger skeletons and bigger musculature so that isn't changed by by testosterone. so she's she's kind of admitting that it does actually matter, particularly in sport where somebody might get injured. but then she's saying, well, let's leave it up to these sporting bodies who know more than than i do. well it's her job to know that she's the culture, media and sport secretary. it's her job to look at the research. and if she's saying that, what she's saying is i'll leave it up to individual sporting bodies. and we know that some of those sporting bodies are completely enthralled to gender ideology . enthralled to gender ideology. and they think that what trans

identified males want is more important than the rights of women and girls. >> so at this point, given all that we know and all the research that has been undertaken, there can't really be any debate any more about the idea that if you go through male puberty, you do have an innate advantage. i mean, are there still people claiming that that isn't the case? >> oh, yes. but but that's because the whole transgender ideology is based on kind of fantasies and dishonesties and, you know, it's based on the idea that human beings can change sex, and it's based on the idea that they're the most marginalised people in the country. and that so therefore, what they want, what trans identified males want is more important than women and particularly more important than than women's safety. so you're in a delusional world. that's the problem. >> now, am i right that lisa nandy did at one point suggest that rapists should be able to be accommodated in women's prisons if they choose to identify in that way? >> yes, she did, and that was dunng >> yes, she did, and that was during the, the deputy leadership contest in 2020. and

she was directly asked that and said that if a, if a rapist identifies as a even a paedophile rapist, if he identifies as a woman, should be in a women's prison, she also signed a pledge saying that women like me who are transphobic should be thrown out of the labour party. bigoted transphobic members should be thrown out of the party. she's never resiled from that, which is, you know what, one of the reasons that i resigned from the labour party last month. >> and what do you make of that accusation of transphobia? >> i think it's completely invented and made up, you know , invented and made up, you know, trans people in this country, there's not many of them. they have exactly the same legal rights as as everybody else in the country. they have slightly more rights than, than than women because of course , women because of course, misogyny isn't a hate crime. not that i think it should be, but it isn't at the moment. whereas gender reassignment is a protected characteristic, so it's complete nonsense. there are countries like brazil where there is a high level of violence against transgender women . that is because of the women. that is because of the involvement of prostitution in

this country. there's no evidence whatsoever that trans people are a greater risk than me or you. in fact, they're probably at less risk than most women. >> and it's interesting, isn't it, that those statistics from brazil end up being conflated with various global statistics in order to, perpetuate the idea that trans people are face unique threats and a higher preponderance of violence, just simply isn't the case. >> it isn't. and when you when you when you try and ask labour politicians who repeat this line all the time, you know , harriet all the time, you know, harriet harman, they all do it, you know, so how are they oppressed? what rights don't they have? they change the conversation or leave the conversation because they it's a kind of mantra. it's like, you know, the trans debate has a series of things that you're supposed to believe. they're kind of like the beliefs of a religion. so you have to believe that trans women are women. you have to believe that human beings can change sex. you have to believe that they're the most oppressed and marginalised people, and therefore their rights come before the 51% of the population that is female. >> yes. i mean, we've even had the trans day of remembrance for trans people who have died out because of transphobic violence .

because of transphobic violence. but, i mean, we must be talking hardly any single digits, hardly any. >> and even in this country where, where there have, where a trans person has been killed, it's not always clear. it's because they're trans. and sometimes there is an involvement with, you know, prostitution and other things. so it's a complete house of cards. but what disturbs me and i said this during the election campaign is that labour is enthralled to this ideology. and the ideology is basically misogynist. >> so i have got a quotation from lisa nandy, the culture secretary. she said i've been a big supporter of the trans community. i think they're the most marginalised , discriminated most marginalised, discriminated against group of people in our country at the moment . against group of people in our country at the moment. but against group of people in our country at the moment . but there country at the moment. but there is a consideration when it comes to sport about biology. it does matter and about fairness. and there she is repeating the very mantra that you've pointed out that isn't actually based on truth. yes, it's just a myth. >> yes it is, but she is acknowledging there the significance of biology within sports, isn't she? >> but then something follows from that. >> if you think that that that biology matters in sport and it's a very important issue of

fairness. and one could add that it's an issue of safety as well , it's an issue of safety as well, particularly in sports where there's contact. then you then you would logically want to make sure that women are safe and that everything is fair. what she's saying is i acknowledge this, but i'm not going to do anything about it. >> yeah. and it's very interesting. a lot of people watching this will be thinking, well, why? why is it that there are a lot of prominent women you've been writing on feminism for many, many years, but there's a lot of prominent women who seem to be supportive of the idea that gender should supersede biological sex when it comes to public policy. what you would have thought that women of all people would be the ones saying no? >> well, a hell of a lot of women have been saying no, it's what's incredibly disappointing, you know, somebody who was for years a vote, a labour voter and a labour member, is that so many, so many people in the party. that's why that's why i keep saying they're captured by this ideology. you know, they they don't have a capacity to think it through. they won't think it through. they won't think it through. it's something it's very like religious belief. it's like believing in transubstantiation. they don't want to actually be challenged about it. >> and that, as you say, is the problem that if you outsource

these decision making things to these decision making things to the various sporting bodies, but they are captured by the belief system, then you're not going to get anywhere. but the truth is, isn't it? and you speak as someone who's come from the left, who's always voted labour, isn't it particularly disappointing to see to see the labour party? so in thrall to this ideology? and is there any way to override that from within? i know that we've heard from wes streeting . he's making from wes streeting. he's making some of the right sort of statements, isn't he? do you think it's going to go away? >> wes streeting is an exception. i think it was really interesting to watch the leading members of the frontbench squirming during the election in phone ins, because a woman would get through and say , what is get through and say, what is what is a woman? and, you know, if labour was serious about this, what they would do is update the 2010 equality act and they would make it clear that references to sex in that act references to sex in that act refer to biological sex, because it's been distorted by the demands of organisations like stonewall who've said, no, no, that includes gender identity . that includes gender identity. gender identity doesn't exist. it's an airy fairy notion. i mean, how can anybody know what

somebody's gender identity is , somebody's gender identity is, somebody's gender identity is, so if labour was serious about protecting women , that's what protecting women, that's what they would do. i think what they're doing is something that seems to me quite hypocritical, which is to say, oh, we've listened . and, you know, we are listened. and, you know, we are concerned about biological sex. but actually, if you look at their policies, they're in the same position they were before. >> yes, joan. and before you go, just quickly, i want to ask you, you've got a book coming out in november. can you just quickly tell us about that? yes. >> i, i am actually i'm a classicist as well as a feminist, and i've always been fascinated by roman history. and my book is about the first five roman emperors from augustus , roman emperors from augustus, nero, and it's called unfortunately, she was a nymphomaniac and new history of roman women . roman women. >> fascinating stuff. please, i hope you'll come back onto the show nearer the time of publication to tell us all about that. that would be very. i'd be delighted. joan smith, thank you very much indeed. thank you. and there's lots more to come on. free speech nation this evening, including baroness claire fox on the news that an important bit of free speech legislation is set to be repealed. but next, my panel are coming back to answer

some more questions from this rather lovely studio audience. so don't go anywhere.

welcome back to free speech nation. so later in the show, i'm going to be turning agony uncle as usual, with the help of my panel, bruce devlin and leo kearse. and we're going to help you to deal with your unfiltered dilemmas. so if you've got any personal problems whatsoever, please do message us at gbnews.com/yoursay and we'll help you to deal with all of those issues and sort your lives out. anyway, let's get some more questions from the audience. so our first question comes from bob. hello, bob. >> hi. good evening everybody, well, kamala harris be the next president of the united states. >> what do you think, bob ? >> what do you think, bob? >> what do you think, bob? >> oh, god help us. well, it's not a good choice, is it, really? >> no, it's very, very interesting because i think when

it comes to, kamala harris, i mean, leo, the truth is she is a she is a very mediocre candidate. the truth is, i mean, people have started to say that if you suggest she she will be the first die president, then what you are effectively doing is engaging in a racist conspiracy theory. the fact is, she would not be vp if it weren't for her immutable characteristics. the fact is she wouldn't be escalating this far. that's not racist. that's the truth. even joe biden acknowledged that. >> yeah. no, that was he was responding to there was a letter by all these dignitaries saying, you've got to hire a black woman into this role. so he picked one. i mean, she is definitely an explicitly a dei hire. >> he didn't even like her. >> he didn't even like her. >> and yet they didn't even it's not like they looked around and saw who's the best black woman we can get. it's like they just grabbed one that was walking past. it's you know, it's not, you know, isn't it interesting that the democrats i mean, she's been wildly unpopular among her own support base. >> she had to drop out of the primaries in 2020 because she didn't want to be humiliated by getting zero votes. yeah. you know, the point is that up until three weeks ago, all the democratic commentators were

were were accepted that she wasn't any good. yeah. and now they're trying to say she's the next martin luther king, one of the one of joe biden's, points or his supporters would say, like he's got to stay in the race because if he's not the runner, kamala harris will be the will be the runner. >> so she was used. she's seen as so bad. she was used as a tool to keep joe biden in the race. and some some people have even said that joe biden deliberately nominated her to punish the people who deposed him. wow. >> i mean , what do you make of >> i mean, what do you make of this? what does die mean? means diversity , equity and inclusion. diversity, equity and inclusion. >> see, i didn't know that. no, it's the same with hs2. no idea. out to lunch. train right. okay. >> that's fine. are you a fan of kamala harris ? kamala harris? >> i'm, i don't i don't know i said that last night on your show that the women on lorraine, i think i said that on friday. that's reading the asparagus doesn't believe that she is going to be the candidate. it's going to be the candidate. it's going to be michelle. >> really. i mean, i think at this point, it's not going to be michelle. i think there was a possibility she was going to swoop in. yeah, but no, obama's stepped out and said they've anointed . yeah. he's anointed.

exactly. >> it's a bit like sandi toksvig . >> it's a bit like sandi toksvig. >> it's a bit like sandi toksvig. >> it's a bit like sandi toksvig. >> i don't know what that means, but okay, okay. we'll go with that. okay. let's move on to a question from john, hi, john. >> what is so terribly offensive about the albert memorial? >> it's a very good question because there was a news story this week. you know, the albert memorial in kensington and the custodians of the park have put out an essay like this essay talking about how it's problematic and offensive. i think , leo, it's because of one think, leo, it's because of one element of the sculpture, which depicts, someone from a tribe . depicts, someone from a tribe. yeah. and they say that this is offensive. it was sculpted a while ago, right? yeah >> and it was it was sculpted a while ago when, you know , people while ago when, you know, people in tribes probably looked like that. so, you know, it's a it's not and it's not, you know, saying this person's bad because they're in a tribe or they're from this continent or anything. so actually, for the time, it's probably quite a progressive sculpture. >> yeah. why can't they get the head around the idea that

something built in 1872 might not be an advert for woke activism today? yeah. >> and also i keep hearing about, oh, there's government austerity. the government does not it's not paying enough money like somehow these public institutions have got enough money to sit around writing big essays about how everything's racist. >> do you find the albert memorial racist? >> i went to see kylie in hyde park. that's where i that's all i understood . i understood. >> was that racist? >> was that racist? >> i don't think so. i thought she did really well. yes. and she did really well. yes. and she looked as though she was enjoying herself. well, that's good. yes, yes, yes. but the one thing that i did find that i don't know if it's racist or not, one hyde park apparently is a really prestigious address . a really prestigious address. yes. and it's just like a load of newbuilds above a shop on a roundabout in knightsbridge. and i was appalled. so i'm sorry i can't help you with your question, bruce is able to bring any topic around to the minogues in one way or another. >> either the main minogue or the lesser minogue. >> oh hey. >> oh hey. >> well, we all know we all. >> well, we all know we all. >> it's true though it's true. >> it's true though it's true. >> anyway. next on free speech nation. baroness claire fox will

be here to discuss a blow to free speech as the government announces plans to potentially repeal the higher education freedom of speech act. don't go anywhere.

welcome back to free speech nation. education secretary bridget phillipson says the government is to stop further commencement of the higher education freedom of speech act. the bill ensures that higher education providers and students unions must protect freedom of speech and academic freedom, and allows individuals to bring a legal case against their institution if it fails to protect their right to free speech. but phillipson says labour may repeal the bill, which was given royal assent in may, last year. baroness claire fox has been a huge advocate for the bill and i'm delighted to say that she joins me now. welcome to the show, claire. i want to ask you about this

because you've been obviously involved in the house of lords debating this bill endlessly, and it wasn't perfect, was it? but now it's now it's just gone. >> yeah. i mean, it was a bill which i felt was necessary but not adequate to fight for free speech on campus, because you do have to have a change of culture. but i think just having a piece of legislation that gave greater power to lecturers, students , people who'd been students, people who'd been cancelled, who were external speakers just to be able to say no.the speakers just to be able to say no. the law says that you must give us free speech. that was a great boost for free speech activism. and the thing is, it was a done and dusted bill. i mean, we've gone through it. it was months of argument and debate. it was watered down. there was attempts at stopping it. there was amendments. all this went on and on and on. and eventually, with a great sigh of relief , last may, it got royal relief, last may, it got royal assent, and i can safely tell you, it never dawned on me , that you, it never dawned on me, that the labour party would cancel

it. i mean , i was naive, you it. i mean, i was naive, you know, i just thought that they would accept it. they might not honour it entirely, but it didn't. this is a really dupuchous didn't. this is a really duplicitous and cowardly act because it was done via a memo. a communique, a written communique at the end of last week, when in fact, bridget phillipson could have done it in the house of commons. at the despatch box. but she didn't. >> you raise a very good point there. you know, this has just been snuck in just before parliament goes into recess. it hasn't been announced in parliament. there's no opportunity for people to argue about it. is there's something quite ironic, isn't there, that, you know, this is this is actually about this was about protecting free speech. but they don't want to have a debate about it. >> no. and honestly, when you actually read that communique, it's very worrying because it's not even as though they're saying we might repeal this bill, but the extended written explanation actually uses all of the language that we're familiar with, those of us who've ever been on the receiving end of cancel culture because it says,

oh, well, this particular bill, which would, after all, just enhance free speech rights and she said would be very burdensome for the sector that is management. don't like it. that's what she's saying. you know, the blob and all those ngos and the h e higher education activists and lobbyists who actually are the people who have been doing a lot of the cancel culture ing over a penod of the cancel culture ing over a period of time. they they'll find it burdensome, as though it's not burdensome if you're i don't know, professor joe phoenix or one of the many people that you've had on your show over the years. lecturers who the burdensome bit was that they were silenced for perfectly legitimate views on campus. so that's one problem. the second explanation that was given, which i really found disgraceful, was that she said, you know , there are other you know, there are other priorities. you know, universities are having a tough time with their money. let's help them out with that. and really, this legislation could mean that minority groups could be subject to hate speech. in

other words, she's reinforcing the trend towards censoriousness that your programme has highlighted for years and which the bill was meant to counter. she's saying we can't have a free speech bill because otherwise we'll have all these hate speech types wandering around saying, offensive things. and as you know, that's the way that you silence and chill discussion on campus. >> yeah, i mean, it sounds very much almost as though, i mean, i'm not putting words into her mouth, but that she doesn't care about the fate of academics like joe phoenix or kathleen stock, who are driven out of their jobs and harassed by colleagues for having the wrong opinion, or feminists like julie bindel or linda bellos, who is no platformed. you know, surely even the labour party should be able to concede that academic freedom has to be the priority for any higher education institution? >> i think actually the what it reveals, and it's something that that very good interview you had with joan smith earlier about the labour party is they have

got no instinct for free speech. they don't really have a sort of a sense that freedom matters that much. it's a kind of third order party. so of course, bridget phillipson says , i bridget phillipson says, i believe in free speech and academic freedom , but and it's academic freedom, but and it's a very big but. and what one group that's really going to be affected by this, by the way, are students, because it's often done of, you know, we're only doing this because there's a lot of vulnerable students who might be subject to harassment or hate speech. that's why we're looking at it again, not yet been repealed, by the way, but it sounds as though they're going to do that, but the thing is, is that if you talk to students, they will tell you that too often the atmosphere is one of huge self—censorship . you're huge self—censorship. you're frightened to say the wrong thing because you'll be ostracised. you know, it's not a no platforming situation. it's more a climate of conformity and orthodoxy. and that's bad enough in society in general. and we are all upset about that. it's why free speech nation has existed. it rings a bell that we

know that we need free speech, but in an academic context, it's disastrous because the point of universities are that you have free and open research , free and open research, intellectual inquiry. you're seeking the truth . you need to seeking the truth. you need to be able to have dissenting views, people asking awkward questions for and young people in order to be able to become critical thinkers, they need to hear a wide variety of opinion, not just one. you know. edi tick box. agreed. set of approved opinions. that's what's really worrying, isn't it strange that you know the view that you are advocating? >> there would have been the norm just 1520 years ago in higher education. everyone would have accepted that. part of the point is plurality of views that people go there to discuss ideas. what do you think has gone wrong within the universities to such an extent that we even need legislation to protect what should be a given? >> well, i think that there's a couple of things. i mean, one was when they brought in market

forces into universities and turned the student into the customer, rather than somebody who was going to learn . and a who was going to learn. and a lot of academics kind of lost power. and they spent a huge amount of time trying to keep students happy. and often that means keeping the most activist , means keeping the most activist, loudmouthed students happy. that's one thing that's happened, but also , actually happened, but also, actually universities have been a place which is theorised around things like social theories around critical race theory or, you know, a situation at the moment in which decolonising everything counts. and so wrapped up a lot of the most regressive trends that usually demand only one side gets a hearing. and if anyone fights back that they're trying to exhibit their white privilege, you know, all of those things that you're familiar with that got given a kind of intellectual gloss on university campuses. so that's the other thing. and finally, the other thing. and finally, the universities have all signed up to these charters, like the stonewall charter, or there's a

wide variety of them, athena swan, a whole range of them where you basically say, i prove that i am going to be an active anti—racist as an organisation to attract all these, right on students. and we promise that we'll be trans allies, that we'll be trans allies, that we'll be trans allies, that we'll be a particular type of anti—racist and so on and so forth. and this has been incredibly corrupting because they brought on board a wide range of administrators and managers, almost as many of them as there are academics who have basically turned university campuses into a place that has to fulfil the requirements of these third party organisations, rather than genuine places of intellectual engagement and argument. and so on and so forth. i was thinking when i was listening to you having that conversation with joan smith, if you tried to have that on a university campus now, some administrator would say that you'd breached every rule of you know, equity, diversity and inclusion. but imagine if you

had that conversation on a university campus and students heard it. they might learn something. they might not agree with what joan said. they might disagree with the questions you asked, but they could join in the debate and discussion and think about it. and that's what education should be about. and it's what we try and do at the academy of ideas with the events we organise. but sadly, academics have been have been spineless in the face and especially academic management in spineless in the face of some of these trends have looked the other way. and now look what's happened. other way. and now look what's happened . and then, by the way, happened. and then, by the way, we should just finish off by noting we should never be dependent on the law. i mean, if there's one lesson i've learned from this piece of legislation being torn up so easily is, is that we want changes in the law that we want changes in the law that are progressive. of course , that are progressive. of course, we it's great to have enhancements in a new piece of legislation, but never depend on the law or on the law courts. we need to build a culture of grassroots culture from below in order to defend free speech. that's the only way that you can

really guarantee it . really guarantee it. >> thanks, claire fox. that's all we've got. time for loads more to come on free speech nation, so please don't go anywhere . anywhere. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news >> hello there i welcome to your >> hello there! welcome to your latest gb news. weather forecast from the met office. high pressure in charge for the next few days. it stays largely dry and warm. plenty of sunshine though, turns increasingly humid and we see the risk of thunderstorms increasing as we get towards the middle of the week. as this area of low pressure moves in from the south, something to stay tuned to over the coming days. but for the rest of sunday and overnight, it's a quiet night to come . plenty of clear skies come. plenty of clear skies across england and wales, thicker cloud across northern ireland, perhaps into southern scotland, could give 1 or 2 light showers and temperatures

for the vast majority holding up in double figures 12 to 16 celsius to start monday and a dry note for many. if we zoom in to scotland, we can see a cloudier start here, but some sunny spells, a weak weather front bringing some patchy rain across the western isles. a few shallow mist and fog patches quickly clearing and again hazy sunshine for northern ireland, northern england as well, but largely dry temperatures in the mid to high teens and plenty of blue skies across the rest of england and wales, and temperatures starting to rise quite quickly as we go through the day, particularly by the afternoon. some strong summer sunshine developing blue skies for the vast majority. isolated chance of a light shower across the borders region. otherwise, most places dry this week. weather front just slowly pushes into mainland scotland, the far west there, but temperatures holding up generally 2122 in the to north around 25 to 29 across

parts of england and wales. so feeling hot in that sunshine dunng feeling hot in that sunshine during the afternoon, another sunny start on tuesday. a weak weather front pushing south may just give a little bit more cloud into northern england, nonh cloud into northern england, north wales otherwise most places dry once again. an afternoon shower , perhaps over afternoon shower, perhaps over northern ireland, turning increasingly humid as we go through the middle part of the week. temperatures peaking around wednesday . around wednesday. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news

>> including more questions from this wonderful studio audience. some analysis of the american presidential race. and all the latest stories from the world of culture and the arts. but let's get a news update. first from ray addison .

ray addison. >> cheers, guys. top stories tonight. protesters gathered outside downing street and scotland yard earlier demonstrating against the reported arrest of tommy robinson. his supporters say he was detained under anti—terror laws, comes after a complaint was made after a film was allegedly shown at a central london rally yesterday, in breach of a high court order. two men in their 20s have died after a two seater light aeroplane crashed in a field in thorganby, near selby. north yorkshire police received an emergency call just before ten this morning. it's thought the victims are the pilot and his passenger. their next of kin have been informed and an investigation is now underway . investigation is now underway. manchester's mayor is urging people to not rush to judgement following thursday's incident at the airport. there, andy burnham's comments follow the publication of new video obtained by manchester evening news, which appears to show a violent altercation in the lead up to a suspect being kicked by

a police officer. that constable is now under criminal investigation for assault. mr burnham says it's a complicated situation with two sides to it. priti patel has become the fifth mp to enter the tory leadership race. the former home secretary says she can unite the party, turn it back into a, quote, winning machine. she joins james cleverly , robert jenrick, tom cleverly, robert jenrick, tom tugendhat and mel stride running to replace rishi sunak. nominations closed tomorrow. the foreign secretary is condemning a rocket strike in the israeli controlled golan heights, which killed 12 people, including children. david lammy says he's deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation and destabilisation there. israel's released this footage of air attacks being carried out against hezbollah targets in lebanon overnight . water bosses, lebanon overnight. water bosses, who repeatedly allow sewage to be dumped illegally, will face criminal charges now under new government plans , environment

government plans, environment secretary steve reed is warning