gb news. >> good afternoon. it's 12:00 on saturday the 17th of august and this is the weekend on gb news. and i hope you're having a fabulous weekend out there. thank you for joining fabulous weekend out there. thank you forjoining me. now, thank you for joining me. now, sir keir starmer is accused of being played by his union paymasters after making offers to both train drivers and junior doctors. has the prime minister caved in and is he prioritising unions over pensioners though? and police are on high alert up and down the country as protests get underway again, planned by campaign groups including stand up campaign groups including stand up to racism. these are live shots at the moment on your screen from dover , and as harry screen from dover, and as harry and meghan continue their semi royal tour of colombia , it's royal tour of colombia, it's been revealed that their security detail is using a bullet—proof ballistic briefcase. well, to protect the

couple from potential shooters doesn't sound overly safe considering they couldn't come to windsor, remember any case. all that to come and loads of football, by the way. football. i'm dawn neesom and the weekend starts right . starts right. here. but funny enough, this weekend and this show isn't all about what i think. it's about what you think. you're the important ones here. so i want to hear your views on anything we're talking about. anything you want to talk about the colour of my suit, who my guests are. anything. just have a gossip . anything. just have a gossip. it's saturday, for god's sake. so let me know your thoughts on all the stories we're discussing today. it's really, really simple. you just visit gbnews.com/yoursay and join in our conversation. now keeping me company. this real girl power for the first hour. we have boys later on. sorry i can't help it, this hour though is political

commentator emma burnell and gb news contributor claire pearsall. thank you very much for joining me, ladies. thrilled forjoining me, ladies. thrilled to have you with me . but oh to have you with me. but oh yeah, we've got to talk to a boy now before we get stuck into today's stories, here is the news with saint francis . news with saint francis. >> dawn, thank you very much. and good afternoon to you. 12:02. well, the top story this afternoon. we have heard today that reports of former newsreader huw edwards that he is now accused of sexually assaulting a 27 year old man in assaulting a 27 year old man in a west end club. that's after sending explicit text messages. that, of course, follows earlier revelations that the 62 year old admitted receiving child sex images and videos. the alleged victim claims that edwards, who continued despite being asked to stop, was brazenly aggressive and got off on the risk of getting caught. it's also alleged in the daily mail and the sun today that the former bbc star threatened to kill

anyone who looked at the man whom he described as his possession. and it comes as the bbc is now demanding that edwards returns over £200,000 of his salary following the arrest on separate charges . a private on separate charges. a private funeral of one of the three young girls stabbed to death in southport will take place later. six year old bebe king was attacked during a dance class at the end of last month, and those killings sparked anti—immigration and counter protests across the uk, in part because of misinformation about the suspect . the man behind what the suspect. the man behind what turned into one of those violent protests has apologised to those who were trapped inside a mosque in hull. stones were thrown at the building when disorder broke out there. john francis insists he only ever planned a peaceful vigil to remember the three girls who were killed in southport. he also denies being far right, but admits that describing migrants as an influx of illegal invaders on facebook

was, he says, not the best choice of words . police across choice of words. police across the country are on high alert today as protesters and counter—protests take place nationwide in dover. a march is set for just after 11:00 this morning. that is now underway. anti—immigration protests, though , were cancelled. though, were cancelled. protesters also gathering in birmingham with the group to stand up racism taking to the streets there. it follows the arrest of 460 people so far unked arrest of 460 people so far linked to recent violent disorder, with hundreds now facing court . a teenage boy is facing court. a teenage boy is still being held by irish police after a chaplain was repeatedly stabbed outside an army barracks. a potential terrorist link to that attack is now being looked into. father paul murphy has been treated for serious but non—life threatening injuries. taylor swift passes football tickets and £16,000 worth of

clothes have all been declared in sir keir starmer register of financial interests. it's emerged, though he's no longer writing a book. meanwhile, rishi sunak has spent £47,000, reportedly on helicopter journeys paid for by donors. and nigel farage is the highest earning mp with his income boosted from his role as a tv presenter . boosted from his role as a tv presenter. there's growing concern over a surge in teenagers claiming disability benefits. researchers from the resolution foundation found more than 680,000 young people are now claiming support. that's nearly double the number in 2013, the report shows . 4 in 2013, the report shows. 4 in 5 children on the benefit have learning difficulties , learning difficulties, behavioural disorders or adhd , behavioural disorders or adhd, meaning experts are now calling on the government to address the root causes behind those rising rates . anyone travelling to an rates. anyone travelling to an african country affected by a new strain of m—pox is being urged to get vaccinated fresh advice has been issued by the

european centre of disease prevention and control after the virus emerged in the congo. more than 500 people on the continent have died, so far, and sweden has now also recorded its first case.in has now also recorded its first case. in the us, the president claims a ceasefire deal between israel and hamas is closer than it's ever been , following it's ever been, following negotiations with mediators in qatar. joe biden told reporters there are just a couple of issues still standing in the way of that agreement . of that agreement. >> i'm optimistic. not far from oven >> i'm optimistic. not far from over. just a couple more issues. i think we've got a shot and those discussions are taking place. >> come as an airstrike has hit lebanon, killing reportedly six people so far. israel claims it was targeting a hezbollah weapons centre and at the uk's foreign secretary, david lammy is currently in israel as he continues to push for peace there. >> i am pleased that the reports out of qatar suggest that the

first day of hostage talks has gone well, and it has been important to listen to ministers here in israel and hear too from them that they hope that we are on the cusp of a deal. >> and finally , chester zoo has >> and finally, chester zoo has unveiled plans to become net zero by 2030 and says it wants to inspire other businesses to do the same. it's using renewable technology to help protect more than 500 species of animals, and the process involves using special pumps to heat to and cool all of the animal enclosures . those are the animal enclosures. those are the latest gb news headlines. for now, i'll be back with you just after 12:30 for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone , sign up to news 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. >> thank you very much, sam, and we're off to a flying start out there. thank you so much for getting in touch, tim hooper. hello tim. he says hello dawn and let me see glenn. naughty boy. glenn you say well that emma is a nightmare. so let's see what she comes out with today. emma says hi. stay tuned. she's going to come up with a lot of stuff today. you read all your expectations and i'll try and live down to them . right? and live down to them. right? okay. let's get stuck into today's story, shall we? police forces across the uk are on standby again this weekend amid protests, along with planned gatherings by campaign groups including stand up to racism. we have reporters around the country and first of all, i'm going to where am i going to first? birmingham, where we. hold on. we got jack. all right. yeah. okay. so first of all, we're going to birmingham to jack carson . yes. and we also

jack carson. yes. and we also have ray addison who is in doven have ray addison who is in dover. he's trying to get away from me. that's the excuse anyway . so jack, we're going to anyway. so jack, we're going to come to you first. so tell us what you're expecting to see where you are today . where you are today. >> yeah, well, there's been this planned stand up to racism demonstrations set to start around 1230 today. you can probably see where they're starting to already set up. we can see that gazebo that's been set up there with the socialist workers party banner. we've also got a few palestine flags already very much stand up to racism demonstration , bringing racism demonstration, bringing together a lot of different groups that will be supportive of multiple causes, like the palestine cause, as well as standing up to racism. that had been rumours of an anti—immigration protest here in birmingham today. we've not seen any evidence of that developing so far yet, but we talked as well this morning about the increased police presence. you can probably see here as well. we've got this police van here. there's a couple of other police vans down the street as well. these are here mainly to reassure the community and show

that there is a peaceful protest here today. west midlands police have put out a statement yesterday talking about that. the police are not anti—protest, they're anti—crime and that's why they've had this increased presence within the city today. we've seen it this morning. it's developed into bigger numbers as well. they're trying to manage a lot of things. they're managing the protest demonstrations that are here today. there's also football on at west bromwich albion as well today. so they're trying to manage the football crowds that are going to be in the city around this time. at the city around this time. at the at the same time. but there is hope from the government, at least certainly that a lot of the protests and the violent disorder that we've seen has been has been cut because of the deterrent that fast sentences that people getting sent onto custodial sentences to fines because of their involvement in violent disorder, they're hoping that that is acting as a deterrent. we've got this data yesterday, 460 people already arrested, more arrests to come and 99 people already sent for sentencing. almost 70 of those

are given custodial sentences. they'll be hoping that acts as a deterrent for any violent disorder today . disorder today. >> jack, thank you very much. that's jack carson, who will be staying with us throughout the show. wouldn't it be interesting to see what happens when the football supporters arrive in town as well? so now let's pop down to dover , where they've down to dover, where they've dispatched ray addison ray. good to see you so far away. but we'll live, what's happening where you are now? apart from the idiot in the background ? the idiot in the background? >> well, the protest that was taking place in market square, which is the centre of town here in dover, has actually officially finished because there was a council music event taking place from midday. so the older members of the protest was about sort of, i don't know, 60, 70 people down there at best. they've kind of dispersed and we're going to go and enjoy the music. the younger group have kind of come down here to step out of the way so you get a better shot. they've come down to waterloo crescent now. this is the location where the original anti—immigration protest was said to be taking

place. and there was a small group of about two people, i saw them having a conversation with one of the organisers, and they were absolutely determined to come down here and confront the fascists. and despite the fact that the police told them that nobody was down here, the protests had actually been cancelled and that there wasn't anybody that they could really come and protest. they decided to come down anyway. so they've marched down through the town. chanting fascists off our streets, not very keen on gb news have been chanting about us as well. and you can see here we've got some signs . as well. and you can see here we've got some signs. no! to fascism! fascists! get in the sea and no to racism. these events were organised by two sort of local anti—racism groups, but as you can see, obviously get a sort of loose coalition of, of people who come down here, pro—immigration people come down here. and as you can see, we've got some quite a lot of people wearing black. we've got the sort of masks you might associate with sort of these sort of anti antifa groups, a lot of

palestinian flags on the go as well. and they're on the move now. so we'll keep a track of them. but they've moved down here to where the protest was supposed to be happening. but it's not brilliant. >> thank you very much. that's ray addison down in dover for us at the protest. and jack and ray will be staying with us throughout the show to bring us up to speed on any developments in those stories. now okay. well, you've heard there, we're talking about sentencing. it comes as more than 100 years worth of prison sentences have been handed out so far for the violent disorder seen earlier. this month. the convictions range from violent disorder and assault to writing things on facebook, now let's see what the panel make of this one. i'm joined, as i said earlier, by political commentator emma burnell and gb news contributor claire pearsall, both looking rather fabulous in blue. i have to say. now, obviously you saw from the scenes there, ladies, there didn't seem to be too many people out on the streets, so what i want to talk to you about

at the moment is the sentencing. one story that caught my eye this week was how a sex attacker on the london underground was sentenced to 18 months for sexually assaulting a woman. and meanwhile, we have a 55 year old housewife from cheshire sentenced to 15 months for writing something on facebook. now, what she wrote on facebook was horrible and wrong and ill thought out. but she has been sentenced to 15 months for that. why is someone who committed a sex assault got 18 months? i'm struggling processing this one. claire, i'm going to come to you first. am i wrong to be a bit concerned about people writing things on facebook, wrong things on facebook, but getting those kind of sentences? >> yeah, i think you are. and it's really uncomfortable when you see the amount of violence against women and girls on the streets, on trains, especially this week, we've seen special report about trains and those offenders get nowhere near this. they may not get a custodial sentence. they may not even be caught. people aren't taking it

seriously. and then you have somebody writing something. yes. ill advised, not the greatest thing to ever go and write on facebook and then deleting it . facebook and then deleting it. and they're sentenced to a long stretch in prison with no former offences to take into account. and i just i don't know where this is going to go. and it's a really uncomfortable territory because you shouldn't be inciting hatred, violence and all the rest of it . absolutely. all the rest of it. absolutely. i don't think anybody can see that. but where do you draw the line that something somebody has posted, reposted, retweeted, whatever it may be on social media? what is the cut off for this in comparison to other crimes? and i think that's what everybody is now starting to look at serious crimes, not getting the mentions that they need, not getting the sentencing they need, and something like this, which is very easy to go and get that person is being treated with three police cars, no less. >> i mean, for a middle aged woman in cheshire, it's overkill. i'm not, i'm not, i'm not, i'm not condemning condoning what she did by any stretch people, by the way. but seriously, emma. so, i mean , it

seriously, emma. so, i mean, it just it doesn't make sense also to me that we are releasing because our jails are already because ourjails are already full. remember, we had 500 spaces not so long ago, and now suddenly we can bang everybody up for putting stuff on facebook. but it doesn't make sense to me that we are releasing career criminals in many cases early, from their sentences to put a woman in prison for a facebook comment, see, i probably a few months ago would have struggled with this more , if i'm honest. more, if i'm honest. >> okay, but actually i've seen very real, very close to me. i won't give you details because we've been advised not to write instances where people have taken what's been said online about an organisation. i'm very close to , and have a great deal close to, and have a great deal of love and affection for , and of love and affection for, and gone to their office and threatened them, and so i think we need to be conscious that onune we need to be conscious that online what happens online doesn't always stay online. and

if you are inciting online, it is the 21st century equivalent of shouting fire in a theatre . of shouting fire in a theatre. it's not a free speech issue. and so i do think, yeah, i think there is a there are questions to be asked, massive questions about the way that we deal with sexual assault . i would like to sexual assault. i would like to take those away from i don't think we should do comparable sentencing. i think we should have sentences for different crimes that are about that crime . crimes that are about that crime. should three police cars be sent to arrest a 62 year old woman? that does feel like overkill? i'll give you that one. absolutely, do i think that what she did goes against the law? thatis she did goes against the law? that is written in the land? yes, i do, and therefore that sentence should be appropriate to the law that she's broken. but now it's absolutely fair to question that law . that's where question that law. that's where i think that there is a discussion to be had. but while there is the law of the land , there is the law of the land, there is the law of the land, the sentencing then applies. >> yeah, i just it feels particularly uncomfortable that

somebody what benefit is it to the general public that somebody like this particular lady is banged up in prison for a considerable period of time , considerable period of time, when you've got other crimes going either unpunished or with a much lesser sentence , it just a much lesser sentence, it just feels really disproportionate. now, i don't think there should be no consequences to her actions at all, because it was appalling what she what she put on there . but it's such a on there. but it's such a disproportionate sentence when you see the likes of, you know, knife crime, shoplifting, which goes unchallenged and all of the rest of it, it it doesn't seem particularly proportionate. now, if there was a proportionate response for sort of social media based crimes, if you like, let's call them that, then i think that the public would get behind that. but when you're seeing a sort of older lady being put in prison for 15 months, that's a hefty sentence, which means that she is going to have to put that on every single form that she ever writes ever again. and somebody now has to care for her husband. now, i appreciate that's nobody's fault

but her own. it does seem, in comparison to somebody that's going to get a suspended sentence of eight weeks for going and shoplifting or carrying a knife, you sort of look at it and you think, well, where are we going with justice in this country ? in this country? >> but again, i come back to this. i don't think there should be comparable sentences. i think that crimes should have the sentencing appropriate to the crime . and again, i come back crime. and again, i come back saying i probably was more lax about incitement previously, and that has changed a lot for me in the last few weeks because of my own visible experiences of that incitement actually coming to pass. and so i think that there is, yes, this woman is 62. and when you talk about space in prisons, less female prisons and early release from female prisons is almost certainly an unviolent crime because the vast majority of female prisoners

have not done violent crimes. so i think, again , there are all i think, again, there are all sorts of complex nuances around all of this. i believe that you should be able to challenge the law and challenge, say , law and challenge, say, consensus opinion and challenge non consensus opinion. absolutely visible. but if you put on facebook that people should be burning down a mosque with people inside it , should be burning down a mosque with people inside it, which is what this woman did, then that is that is a crime under our under our current judicial system. if you want to change that law, change the law first, then do that action rather than then do that action rather than the other way around. >> okay. so i mean , i know it >> okay. so i mean, i know it can't it can't happen because he is an american. and in america. but i mean, should elon musk therefore face criminal prosecution for incitement? some of the things he's put on. yeah. >> well, i mean, that's going to be the big argument now, isn't it? it's interesting that elon musk is being held up to be

committing very different crimes. and cyberbullying. but everybody on their form seems to put twitter or x as the, respondent on this. and you just sort of think , okay, well, sort of think, okay, well, that's a platform that's not an individual. are you going after the individual? yes, he's an american. and yes, there are laws that will govern this. but i think this is the problem and this is what we don't get at the moment with online is what we are going to do with it. so the conservative government started out with the online harms bill, which got watered down because it's very, very complex . it's it's very, very complex. it's very complicated, very yeah, the internet moves on and the labour party are going to have the same problem now. and what they're looking to do is toughen it up . looking to do is toughen it up. but going too far in the other direction, i mean, there is always an argument over free speech. it doesn't mean that it's free from consequence. and i think people have to learn that. and you should be able to challenge ideas online. you should be able to have that conversation but not reach over into into incitement and hatred, because there are laws already that do that. but i think online

writing is very , very difficult. writing is very, very difficult. do we go for the platform involved? do we go for the individuals involved? who is the one publishing? and i think if we're going to look at it like that, you start to have a different conversation. >> i couldn't agree more . i >> i couldn't agree more. i mean, this is the problem. this has long been the problem . has long been the problem. social media companies, for as long as they've been around , long as they've been around, which is not as long as as it might feel at times in the in the vast swathe of history, have always claimed not to be publishers, and that has always been the tension. are you the publisher ? are you responsible publisher? are you responsible for the content? >> just because we are running out of time, what about elon musk personally ignoring the fact that he owns twitter stroke x, the fact that some of the stuff he has put up there personally as elon musk, you undo what you've said earlier on, you would have him charged with a criminal offence. >> i can't remember what his individual tweets were. i don't think he directed anybody to burn down a specific mosque, which is what this offence was about. i do think that he is responsible for incitement of

violence. i think his nonsense about the uk being at civil war is i mean, i think he's been captured by his own platform in many ways and the worst elements of it and there's a reason there's a big exodus from twitter at the moment. i mean, i i'm still on there , but i use it i'm still on there, but i use it so much less. >> please don't do what celebrities do and announce your departure. oh god no. >> can you imagine being that big headed? oh my god, i'm leaving twitter. >> i'm leaving forever. >> i'm leaving forever. >> it's all over. get over it. no, i can't bear that. absolutely not. but i think there is a, you know , a rather there is a, you know, a rather than individual stories about whether they're going on there or not. i think there is a move away from using a lot more than has been brilliant. right. >> thank you very much, ladies , >> thank you very much, ladies, we are moving on now, but a couple of you have said this about our reports from ray and jack. and this is from penny. hi, penny, hi, dawn . nice to see hi, penny, hi, dawn. nice to see token palestinian flag bearers at the protest. anti racist, but clearly not anti—semitic or anti—homophobic. lots of you. echoing penny's thoughts on that, right? i have to move on

being nagged for all the best analysis and opinion on that story and much more. please do go to our website which is gbnews.com doing really well as well, i'm dawn neesom. this is gb news. it's the weekend officially and literally the weekend . lots more coming up on weekend. lots more coming up on today's show, i'm asking whether prime minister keir starmer is prioritising prioritising unions over pensioners and whether he has, as it's been suggested, by senior tories , been played by senior tories, been played by his union paymasters. all of that and much more to come. this is gb news, britain's news channel. don't you dare go too far

welcome back to the weekend with me dawn neesom . now, sir keir me dawn neesom. now, sir keir starmer has been accused of front page of two newspapers today, by the way of being played by his union paymasters after making offers to both train drivers and junior doctors .

train drivers and junior doctors. senior figures within the opposition they still exist have said the prime minister has lost control and soon all unions would be demanding double digit pay would be demanding double digit pay rises . despite the fresh pay rises. despite the fresh deals, train drivers at lner , as deals, train drivers at lner, as well as border force staff, have announced they will still be undertaking strike action over the coming months. lucky us. hey so has the prime minister been played and will industrial action continue indefinitely? let's put that to my panel. political commentator emma burnell and gb news contributor claire claire pearsall claire, i'm actually going to come to you first on this one. you are the tory, in inverted commas amongst us today, so i mean, is keir starmer a being played by his paymasters, as we've said, a word you never use in real life, do you ? unless you're talking do you? unless you're talking about this subject, and is he actually putting the unions before pensioners? we've just, you know, had all the winter fuel pay cuts for pensioners. >> yeah , i know, i mean, this is >> yeah, i know, i mean, this is a conversation i've had a lot over the past few weeks is that

you knew you being married to a pensioner. >> obviously . sorry, nigel, if >> obviously. sorry, nigel, if you're watching the leftie , as you're watching the leftie, as we like to say. >> yeah, it was inevitable that any kind of dispute with the unions that a labour government would come in and want to settle that. would come in and want to settle that . but would come in and want to settle that. but it's quite would come in and want to settle that . but it's quite interesting that. but it's quite interesting when you listen to the aslef union, which are the ones who have accepted allegedly this new pay have accepted allegedly this new pay deal, they are still unhappy that in real terms, what is being offered is still a 15% reduction in pay. so what is being offered to people is only giving them back what they haven't had over the last few years, but they should have been entitled to more. so they say. so we are still at this 15%. so you can see that they're setting up the next round of talks, next round of strikes, next round of whatever kind of action that they want to take on. and you look at other unions who are going to be mobilised by the fact that pay increases are being given to train drivers to doctors, junior doctors , gps,

doctors, junior doctors, gps, which i think is going to be settled as well . everybody's settled as well. everybody's going to be looking to see what they can get for their members, which is what unions are there for, understandably. but it feels very much as if we're being told, on the one hand, there is no money. there is an enormous black hole in the finances. pensioners. yeah. sorry i have to freeze this winter, but it's all right because we're going to make sure that all of the unions get their pay that all of the unions get their pay rises. so that to me just strikes it was such an inevitability of a labour government to come in and do that. >> and emma coming to you, i mean, sort of like, you know, pensioners with low enough income to qualify for pension credit will be given fuel payments in the future. this is rachel reeves, literally straight in the door doing, you know, taking money away from pensioners , which leaves pensioners, which leaves a fairly absurd scenario of people living off £11,500 a year, having their fuel payment taken while labour are giving train drivers on £65,000 a year for a34 day working week a pay rise there. >> i mean, i sound fair, there

is a difference. i think one thing labour should have done and should do, and can still do when it comes to the winter fuel rises , is make sure that rises, is make sure that everybody who is entitled to it gets it because about a third of people who are entitled to that benefit are not currently registered to receive it . so registered to receive it. so they should be. and that might be a sensible middle ground to reach in terms of what goes to the right pensioners. generally, i'm in favour of universality when it comes to benefits, i'm not a big fan of means testing, but i do understand why this has been brought in at this time, just in terms of just trying to , just in terms of just trying to, you know, you've got a limited amount of money, you are going to balance the pot . and labour to balance the pot. and labour did make a strong ploy at the election saying we, you know, they they the phrase working people, now that that does imply not not pensioners. now i am on the union negotiations thing. i mean, first of all, i you're

quite right. the word paymasters always makes me giggle, it's used by about nobody else and in no other context. it's not a real word. and we never talk about the tory paymasters. when you're talking about the 8 or 9 donors, they're still heavily reliant on, to fund cchq off. >> you are now . >> you are now. >> you are now. >> yes, it's true, i was being generous , but we're running out generous, but we're running out of time, so. >> but i do think that one of the things that really struck me in james cleverly's comments was his use of the word adversary when it comes to negotiation. now, i negotiate a lot . i'm a now, i negotiate a lot. i'm a small business owner. most of my work comes through contracts. it's all through negotiation. i have never once considered a client as an adversary in those negotiations, and i think that might be the difference here is fundamentally a different approach to what negotiation is and means. >> we will be coming back to this subject later on in the show, because i know a lot of you, certainly pensioners out there watching and listening are getting very angry about this. we will be coming back to this later in the show, but unfortunately we're running out

of time. this particular section now , i'm dawn neesom, this is gb now, i'm dawn neesom, this is gb news. there's loads more coming up on today's show, including. yes, this one doesn't go either. algerian boxer imani khalife has brought a cyber bullying lawsuit against elon musk and j.k. rowling. if she wins, they could be jailed for five years. more of that and much more coming up after the headlines with sam francis . francis. >> dawn, thank you very much. and good afternoon to you. just after 12:30, we'll start with a breaking line coming to us from ireland this hour that a teenage boy has now been charged over a stabbing outside renmore barracks. their army chaplain, father paul murphy , posted on father paul murphy, posted on social media to say he was doing okay after receiving treatment for serious. but non—life threatening injuries. the child, whose age isn't known, is due in court later this afternoon . it's court later this afternoon. it's reported the former newsreader,

huw edwards, is now accused of sexually assaulting a 27 year old man in a west end club . the old man in a west end club. the alleged victim claims edwards, who continued despite being asked to stop, was brazenly aggressive and got off on the risk of getting caught. it's also alleged in the daily mail and the sun newspaper. the former bbc star threatened to kill anyone who looked at the man, whom edwards described as his possession . president biden his possession. president biden has admitted he is optimistic that a ceasefire deal between hamas and israel could be in sight. tensions though, are still high in the middle east, with an airstrike today hitting lebanon, killing at least ten people. israel claims it was targeting a hezbollah weapons centre. there meanwhile, russia is claiming ukraine used western rockets to destroy a key bridge in the kursk region. as kyivs forces continue to make advances in russian territory. president volodymyr zelenskyy says ukraine is inflicting maximum damage on moscows forces there. however, towns in donetsk are still

facing what he's described as the most intense russian assaults . and people travelling assaults. and people travelling to parts of africa are being urged to get the mpox vaccine. but medical experts here warn it's quite likely there are already cases in the uk. the new, more transmissible strains caused hundreds of deaths so far on the african continent, and sweden has also recorded its first case, while pakistan is trying to establish whether some people there have been infected. those are the latest headlines for now. i'll be back with you just after 1:00 for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone , sign up to news smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts

>> sorry. welcome back to the

weekend with me. dawn neesom and two very naughty panellists. i have to say, we were just discussing men as three women sitting around will do and boys. it wasn't that flattering. any case right ? it wasn't that flattering. any case right? elon musk and jk rowling could face a five year prison terms and fines of £200,000 if paris, paris 2024 olympics boxer imane khelif wins her criminal cyberbullying lawsuit against them. khalife, who won gold at the games, included musk and rowling among high profile figures criticising her participation. she has filed a lawsuit with french authorities. important that bit for acts of aggravated cyber harassment and more famous names could be targeted, right? as i said, i've got my naughty lady panel here. political commentator emma burnell and gb news. contributor claire pearsall. now this is not going away. i would rather be sitting here talking about the amazing feats we've seen at the olympics and paralympics are coming up, i believe , on the 28th of august believe, on the 28th of august starting, but once again, we are

talking about the gender biological sex row. clare the fact that imani is suing elon musk, j.k. rowling and potentially donald trump takes some believing. well, they have a few bob to defend themselves. >> yes. i mean, it's quite some feat, isn't it, to name them in lawsuits . you sort of look at it lawsuits. you sort of look at it and you think £200,000 to somebody like elon musk is just sort of pocket change. yeah. >> it's like behind the sofa isn't it? or down the sofa he would find that, i don't know. >> i think he's losing money hand over fist at the moment. >> you can find it in the centre console of his very expensive car and i do. i think it's going to happen. no i don't, and it's interesting. it's been filed in french courts and you wonder where the jurisdiction is going to come in legal terms, j.k. rowling would always be a target for somebody. do i think it was bullying? no, i don't actually i think everybody and this goes

back to what we were saying before, is that you may have an opinion on something and unfortunately, social media has brought out all of the gender specialist experts that we have in the world. and it's an interesting subject to look at, but you need to look at it properly, and i think it's much more complex than anybody could put down on a tweet with no bafisin put down on a tweet with no basis in knowledge. >> i mean, emma, obviously, if this case does go to court and it's in the french courts, by the way , i'm assuming the the way, i'm assuming the athletes, the athlete in question will then have to prove whether they are a biological male or a biological female. no, i would make this argument go away. >> so because that's not what the court case is about. the court case is whether they've been bullied, whoever they are. and so i suspect that wouldn't be the case. now, i bizarrely, you'd be shocked to hear that i'm not an expert in french legal system, but not even the french. what she's not claiming is misinformation, but bullying. i can't imagine that would then

come into it, i can't imagine that would then come into it , there are huge come into it, there are huge issues here. a it got massively conflated with the completely separate issue around trans women participating in female sport. this is actually separate to jk rowling. >> she didn't mention trans women at all. she did none of the things she said. >> absolutely. separately, there is a much more complex, issue around people who are born with. i think it's disorder of sexual development. which is what is, being discussed here. i don't know the details . there are know the details. there are questions around the international boxing federation, who said that imani khalife failed what they call a gender test, which drives me nuts because gender is a social construct. sex is the biological test. you cannot give someone a cheek swab for gender, but, test. you cannot give someone a cheek swab for gender, but , that cheek swab for gender, but, that that they were then seen by that

organisation to have been disqualified over that, that biology. it is incredibly painful, i imagine, for this individual who almost certainly , individual who almost certainly, from what we understand about the condition that's being discussed, grew up as a girl, and then when they hit puberty , and then when they hit puberty, found that there were differences and they live as a woman now, a girl then , and have woman now, a girl then, and have maintained that throughout their life . and the pain that that life. and the pain that that must have caused them then and now to have that constantly questioned and questioned in such a public arena. i think there are, questions to be asked about the duty of care of the boxing authorities putting forward a woman who these questions would be asked about. there are , again, because it is there are, again, because it is alleged, i don't know the details that that khalife went

through male puberty, the biological changes that happen in male puberty, far beyond everyone just goes back to testosterone. but it's more than testosterone. but it's more than testosterone would make them unable to compete in a female boxing category in the same way that you wouldn't put barry mcguigan and mike tyson. >> exactly . i mean, it's like, >> exactly. i mean, it's like, yeah, but surely, claire, there is a very simple way of solving this problem that the olympics committee should have, should have sorted out before we actually even got to the stage of the games taking place. >> yeah. i mean, and that's right. and emma's right that the, the boxing federation , the, the boxing federation, whichever particular body that it was, which is now been discredited, which is quite interesting , that's been interesting, that's been discredited. the ioc had a set of rules for the tokyo olympics, which are the same ones that they have used for the paris olympics. and they said that they couldn't change anything halfway through. so even if new evidence came to light, there wasn't anything they can do about it. so i think that there are real questions for the ioc going forward. the aiba is the

disputed, the aiba is disputed. disgrace one. but i think the ioc needs to look at their rulings on this issue in sports across the olympics as a whole, which we're running out of time, which we're running out of time, which i just want to very, very quickly mention. >> we've got the paralympics coming up. i said on the 28th of august, and there is a visually impaired italian sprinter called valentina portillo, who is the first ever transgender paralympian. she's running in the women's races. just very quickly. what do you make to that more controversy . that more controversy. >> again, if this person has been through male puberty, they will have an increased lung capacity, increased muscular density, which would give them biologically unfair advantage if on the other hand, they didn't go through male puberty, that's a different question. so all of these things are so much more complicated. >> four years ago, they were running as a man in which case i think that that would i would say that that's unfair. >> yeah . >> yeah. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> yeah yeah. unfair. yeah. okay. >> right. but again, it's we'll

be talking about that rather than the amazing athletic feats that people are doing in the paralympics and jul. yes, please move your hair out of your eyes. it's really annoying lol . kiss. it's really annoying lol. kiss. thank you very much. i am trying to see your beautiful face. >> dawn. >> dawn. >> yeah, that's why i've got along. it's cheaper than botox. come on. right. and we're running out of time talking about my blooming hair. a huge thank you to the panel. political commentator, emma burnell and gb news contributor claire pearsall. thank you very much for joining claire pearsall. thank you very much forjoining me. great company. this afternoon. now i'm dawn neesom with a fringe on gb news the weekend, and there's lots more coming up on today's show. the premier league is back! yay! sorry just me man united sit at the top of the table after beating fulham in the first game, but all that could change today with liverpool, arsenal and the mighty west ham. that's my team by the way, in action. all of that and much more to come. this is gb news britain's news channel. don't go too far. we're talking

hey welcome back to the weekend with me dawn neesom on gb news now. cracking show coming up . now. cracking show coming up. but first we're going to talk about football. the premier league is back i'm so pleased. pep guardiola's manchester city side will be looking to win a record breaking fifth straight premier. it must be boring. title this season. however, they are expected to face competition from arsenal once again. while man u kicked off proceedings against fulham last night, sports broadcaster supremo i prefer actually suits you more. aidan magee joins me now to talk all things spherical objects because we talked about football. other sports don't count today. premier league has kicked off with the game last night. i'm going to say this straight away before you start talking about the actual logistics of the football. i was watching it with a group of mates, men, and to a man, when the players took the knee last night, they groaned. there was some choice language as well, but they groaned. aidan, why are

we still having players taking the knee? >> well, we did see an announcement from the premier league.i announcement from the premier league. i think it was at the start of last season that they would see at certain points in the season, so they're not really going against protocol. but you know, as you say , it's but you know, as you say, it's so 2020 isn't it? i mean, i was at my previous employers when the premier league decided that they would do this, and they literally decided overnight there was no understanding of who black lives matter were, and they tried to distance themselves after a while when they realised there were quite a toxic group. yeah. and they tried to distance themselves and try to say, well, actually we're not, we're not really backing the, the organisation. it's just a general kind of movement when really there was no separation between the two. and the fans didn't like it when we came back after after the lockdown and we had fans back in the stadium , had fans back in the stadium, surprise, surprise, there were boos because fans don't like to be called racist on their on their, on their match days, and that's effectively what they were saying that they were. and the fans, the fans, particularly at millwall and west ham, other grounds like that, they decided they were going to take umbrage to it. they don't want to see

politics in their football and rightly so. and so what we've seen since then is a general recoil. lots of black players as well have said, look, this doesn't belong. >> it was the black players. >> it was the black players. >> get it out. les ferdinand was one of them. lyle taylor, the former charlton striker , was one former charlton striker, was one of the ones at the time who said this is ridiculous and so we've seen a gentle recoiling away from it. but i just don't think they want to get rid of it completely because the premier league will be open to accusations of racism. they have their sponsors to consider as well, and i think that's the only reason it really exists, because i don't see what purpose it's serving right now. football is already very , very inclusive. is already very, very inclusive. it's a dynamic sport. it has a variety of different nationalities, creeds, colours , nationalities, creeds, colours, religions, ethnicities on the pitch and has done for a number of years. i don't really see that as a way to express it. >> no . meanwhile, the fa, by the >> no. meanwhile, the fa, by the way, are all mostly hideously white. >> yeah, exactly as you're saying. and it was ever thus. yeah. >> exactly. right. okay, so that's the politics out of the way. but it does annoy you. does it annoy you? i mean, let me know , but what about the actual know, but what about the actual the actual sport, the game. so you want to concentrate on. >> really? yeah. united were

okay last night. they were first out of the blocks against fulham . out of the blocks against fulham. yeah, it was a little bit dull. fulham had the key moments in the second half. there's no question about that. they had some chances to really build some chances to really build some moves and play in their players. their strikers into a one on one situation. they didn't take those chances . didn't take those chances. united, to their credit, fought till the end. they scored with three minutes to go. their new signing, joshua zirkzee . yeah, signing, joshua zirkzee. yeah, getting off, getting off the mark there. he came on with half an hour to go and he finished well. it was a nice deft touch into the corner past bernd leno. and while they weren't necessarily convincing, a win is a win. >> well exactly that. i mean, it doesn't make the most exciting football. so what games have we got going on at the weekend that are going to be the biggies, the ones that you actually need to be involved with? >> i like the look of ipswich v liverpool that's underway 1230, so it should have kicked off by now. the first time ipswich have seen premier league football in 22 years. i covered them last time in the premier league . time in the premier league. they're a great club to cover. they're a great club to cover. they're brilliant food in the press box for one, so i kept wanting to go there and go

there. even though the train via liverpool as well, by the way. oh it is, it is. i mean there's quite a few west ham fans up there, neck of the woods aren't they. so they're back in, back in the division. liverpool the visitors today we heard from the former ipswich captain, luke chambers this morning. he said he still lives in suffolk. he retired there after he played after he's finished playing football and it's a massive eventin football and it's a massive event in suffolk as a whole today, not just in ipswich. that's great for them to have have the top flight football back. they've rather been eclipsed by norwich in the last sort of 15, 20 years in terms of time spent in the premier league. we've got arsenal kicking off as well against wolverhampton wanderers and they could do with being out of the blocks quickly as well. >> brilliant. thank you very much. aidan magee all the football there for you. oh we've got lots more coming up, including a racism row with reginald d hunter. but first the important stuff is the weather and here it is for you . and here it is for you. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> hello and welcome to your latest gb news weather update from the met office. sunny spells and fine weather continuing through this afternoon, but there will be some showers and it will be

particularly breezy across the northwest of scotland. and that's due to this area of low pressure and this squeeze of isobars giving particularly windy and gusty conditions. but further south it's a much quieter picture through the rest of saturday. so for the south—east, plenty of hazy sunshine around, a couple of showers across western parts and particularly across northwest scotland. there will be showers continuing to feed through as well. breezy too here with that wind and over the hills, it's going to be feeling quite cool, but generally it's going to be a largely dry night. fairly but generally it's going to be a largely dry night . fairly fresh largely dry night. fairly fresh temperatures into the low double figures and maybe into the single figures in a few rural spots as well. so to start the day on sunday, lots of dry weather around , but further weather around, but further north there still be showers feeding in the far north—east of scotland may see some brighter skies to start off with, but we are going to hold on to these showers moving in from the west. further south western parts again, seeing some early morning showers, but further east again, more in the way of sunshine. wales. there'll be a couple of showers over the hills, and most

of the south—east will be seeing a bright start to the day. on sunday there will be some cloud continuing to bubble up through the day, but we do see those conditions beginning to settle down. any of these showers starting to melt away across the southwest and through wales, and any showers by the afternoon really being restricted to the far north of england and parts of scotland. and even here there'll be a little bit fewer and further between than we've seen through today . still seen through today. still breezy, though, and not feeling particularly warm with temperatures at best into the mid teens across scotland , but mid teens across scotland, but warmer further south and feeling quite pleasant in that sunshine. if we get to 25 degrees elsewhere through the rest of sunday, a largely fine and dry night, most places staying dry. just a couple of showers still feeding into the far north—west. it's all changed, though , into it's all changed, though, into the start of next week. rain arriving from the west on monday and staying unsettled as we head through the early part of next week. that's all from me. bye bye. >> looks like things are heating up. boxt boilers sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> good afternoon. it's 1:00 gb news. >> good afternoon. it's1:00 on saturday, the 17th of august. and this is the weekend, literally on gb news. hope you're having a good one out there now. sir keir starmer is accused of being played by his union paymasters after making offers to both train drivers and junior doctors . offers to both train drivers and junior doctors. but has the prime minister caved in and is he prioritising those unions over pensioners ? and a theatre over pensioners? and a theatre has cancelled an upcoming performance by comedian reginald d hunter, after reports that israeli audience members were heckled during his edinburgh fringe performance. we'll have the latest on that story . and as the latest on that story. and as harry and meghan continue their so—called royal inverted commas tour of colombia , it's been tour of colombia, it's been revealed their security detail is using a bullet proof ballistic briefcase to protect the couple from potential shooters. doesn't sound very

safe over there, does it? i'm dawn neesom and this is the weekend . weekend. but this show is nothing without you and your views. i promise. i'm going to read as many as i can out. there's so many coming, though, so keep them coming. really, really simple to do. so it's you do this. she says to remember desperately by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay and join the conversation. you can talk about anything you want, including my fringe. sorry. now keeping me company. this is a treat for you. keeping me company this yearis you. keeping me company this year is political commentator matthew stadlen and broadcaster mike parry. thank you very much. and i'll swap the girl power for boy power . but first, and i'll swap the girl power for boy power. but first, more and i'll swap the girl power for boy power . but first, more boy boy power. but first, more boy power, because here's the news headunes power, because here's the news headlines with saint francis . headlines with saint francis. >> dawn, thank you very much.

and good afternoon to you. just coming up to 1:02. and the top story this lunchtime, former newsreader huw edwards is now reportedly accused of sexually assaulting a 27 year old man in assaulting a 27 year old man in a west end club after sending explicit text messages. it follows earlier revelations that the 62 year old admitted receiving child sex images and videos. the alleged victim of the latest claims suggests that edwards, who continued despite being asked to stop, was brazenly aggressive and got off on the risk of getting caught. it's also alleged today in the daily mail and the sun newspaper that the former bbc star threatened to kill anyone who looked at the man, whom he described as his possession . it described as his possession. it comes as the bbc is now demanding edwards returns over £200,000 of his salary, following other charges in ireland. a teenage boy has now been charged over a stabbing outside renmore barracks. army chaplain father paul murphy posted on social media to say he

was doing okay after receiving treatment for serious, but non—life threatening injuries. the child , whose age isn't the child, whose age isn't known, is due in court later today and just a breaking line today and just a breaking line to bring you from scotland. a member of the snp has, we understand, been kicked out of the party for comments about the hamas—israel war that have been described today as utterly abhorrent. john mason has been accused of flippantly dismissing the deaths of more than 40,000 palestinians and party officials, we understand, will now meet to discuss a fixed time penod now meet to discuss a fixed time period of that suspension from the party. so that news just coming to us from scotland, meanwhile, another breaking line from greater manchester police, they have now launched a murder investigation after a man in wigan became trapped in a burning building. he has now died in hospital. officers were called to the fire on dumbarton green in wigan earlier on wednesday morning. this week. thatis wednesday morning. this week. that is now being treated as a

suspected arson attack . in other suspected arson attack. in other news today, a private funeral for one of the three young girls stabbed to death in southport is taking place today. six year old bebe king was attacked during a dance class at the end of last month, and those killings sparked anti—immigration and counter protests across the uk, in part because of misinformation about the suspect of those attacks . well, the man of those attacks. well, the man behind what turned out to be one of the violent protests has apologised to those who were trapped inside a mosque in hull. stones were thrown at the building when the disorder broke out there. john francis insists he only ever planned a peaceful vigil to remember the three girls who were killed in southport. he also denies being far right , southport. he also denies being far right, but admits that describing migrants as an influx of illegal invaders on facebook was, he says, not the best choice of words in the us. the president, joe biden, has claimed a ceasefire deal between

israel and hamas is closer than it's ever been following negotiations with mediators in qatar, joe biden told reporters there are just a couple of issues still standing in the way of an agreement. >> i'm optimistic. not far from oven >> i'm optimistic. not far from over, just a couple more issues. i think we've got a shot. >> well, the discussions are continuing this coming week in eqypt continuing this coming week in egypt and they've been taking place as an airstrike hit lebanon, killing now ten people. we understand israel claims it was targeting a hezbollah weapons centre . meanwhile, the weapons centre. meanwhile, the foreign secretary, david lammy, is currently in israel as he continues to push for peace there. >> i am pleased that the reports out of qatar suggest that the first day of hostage talks has gone well, and it has been important to listen to ministers here in israel and hear too, from them that they hope that we

are on the cusp of a deal. >> david lammy there , speaking >> david lammy there, speaking earlier this week. well, a medicines expert says that we won't know whether there are cases of a new mpox strain in the uk for a few weeks, but has admitted it is likely anyone travelling to an african country where the outbreak of the infectious disease has been declared is being urged to get vaccinated . more than 500 people vaccinated. more than 500 people have died on the continent, so far this year. here in europe, sweden has recorded its first case, while pakistan is also trying to establish whether people there have been affected . people there have been affected. and finally, some sport for you . and finally, some sport for you. ipswich manager kieran mckenna has told his to team stay brave as they are now making their premier league return against liverpool. it's been 22 years since the suffolk club was last in england's football's top flight . those are the latest flight. those are the latest headunes flight. those are the latest headlines for now. i'm sam francis back with you for your next update. just after 1:30 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. >> thank you very much, sam. right, okay, let's get straight into today's story, shall we? now, a lot of not a lot of love in the room from your comments today about sir keir starmer, which is who we're talking about now . he's which is who we're talking about now. he's been which is who we're talking about now . he's been accused of which is who we're talking about now. he's been accused of being played by union paymasters after making offers to both train drivers and junior doctors. senior figures within the opposition. that's a tory, as you might remember them, have said the prime minister has lost control and soon all unions would be demanding double digit rises despite the fresh deals, train drivers at lner as well as border force staff, announced they will be undertaking strike action over the coming months. good luck everybody out there. so we're asking, has the prime

minister been played and will industrial action continue indefinitely? let me pose that question to my wonderful panel, political commentator matthew stadlen and broadcaster mike parry. now front page of two newspapers today, the express and the mail. i get not particularly labour leaning matthew, but they're saying, you know , his keir starmer has sold know, his keir starmer has sold out to the unions and he's putting unions and strikers before pensioners. what do you say to that? >> i accept to start with that. there is a risk and i hope it's a small risk that this could spiral out of control with a domino effect. and no one wants that. ultimately, we all want the same thing, i hope, which is a prosperous country where whether you're a train driver or you're working in the private sector, whatever it is. and of course, labour are renationalising the railways, aren't they? you get a decent wage just to give you a very

small personal example, i had to do some bits and bobs relatively low level work on my car this week. i was expecting a bill of around £500 maybe, which would have been slightly playing up again. >> is it? >> is it? >> it was . it's a vw golf. other >> it was. it's a vw golf. other models are available £1,777. there are i suggest, millions of people in the country who would really struggle to pay that sort of one off bill. so the cost of living is enormous, and we can all point the finger at train drivers or whoever it is we want to point the finger at and say, well, they're paid pretty well, aren't they? what about us? but people are really across the board, i think, struggling to make ends meet. now. the alternative to doing a deal with the train drivers as labour seems to have done this week, although i think they've got to still vote on it. and unfortunately there are going to be further strikes over the conditions rather than the pay. yeah, and i and i accept that this is awkward to say the least

in terms of headlines for labour's transport secretary. but the alternative to getting your hands dirty and doing a dealis your hands dirty and doing a deal is that millions of rail passengers, whether they're commuting to work, whether they're going to birthday parties, funerals, whatever it is, shopping in the centre of towns across the country, they will be negatively impacted, so they will hate it. and also , they will hate it. and also, there's a massive hit to the economy if you allow train strikes to roll on and on and on, as the conservatives did, of coui'se. >> course. >> but we now have our doctors, junior doctors , nurses, junior doctors, nurses, teachers, civil servants, armed forces, police and prison officers, etc. etc. but the pensioners. mike. yeah pensioners, if you're on £11,500 a year, which puts you just over the benefits pension credit . the benefits pension credit. yeah. you've had your winter fuel payment taken away. i think the labour government 11.5 grand. >> the new labour government in the first six weeks has just acted in such a disgusting manner. what a pernicious way to

go about saying keir starmer when he got in, said i represent everybody, not just those who voted for us but those who don't. it's largely believed that those who don't are pensioners. a lot of pensioners don't because they've seen the problems that former labour governments have brought to this country. what's the first thing they do? the most nasty and pernicious piece of legislation i can remember in all the years i've been in journalism, take £300 away from those who are most vulnerable in our society, most vulnerable in our society, most vulnerable in our society, most vulnerable pensioners, most who cannot afford to eat there to heat their own homes. now it'll either be eating or heating because they get between 12 and £13,000 a year. but we're going to take that off them and give it to train drivers. so train drivers can have 70,000 a yean train drivers can have 70,000 a year, many of whom work a four day week, many of whom don't have to work weekends . what kind have to work weekends. what kind of social justice is that, matt? what kind of social justice to attack pensioners to threaten their lives because pensioners die of cold and yet say, oh,

because we're labour. and by the way, the lady who's done all these deals , louise hague. these deals, louise hague. right. who's the transport secretary? she's a former unite shop steward. surprise surprise. thatis shop steward. surprise surprise. that is like that is like taking. i'm sorry, i'm sorry. i'm going to finish. that's like taking the former head of a ftse 100 company, making him business secretary and then cutting income taxes by 50% to accommodate business. it's a racket. what? labour are doing racket. >> all you could say she's well placed, actually, to do business with these people. let me just correct you on something important. i think the labour government isn't giving to money train drivers. these are like you like me, like many of our viewers , hard working people. so viewers, hard working people. so they're getting paid and they've obviously suffered huge hits in recent years like everybody else. like everybody else. that is also true. but we need to have a functioning railway

system in this country or our economy collapses. let me say something else to you, mike. i actually have an enormous amount of empathy and sympathy for those pensioners who are just above, who are just above the level, right, and who are going to suffer . i absolutely, of to suffer. i absolutely, of course i do. i can't pretend that this is just a clear cut one side versus the other side. >> speak up about it. why don't you say it's disgusting what we're doing to our. >> i wouldn't go as far as to say it's disgusting because a sensible government has to balance different interests . and balance different interests. and what i would say to you is i'm surprised, coming from you as a sort of dyed in the wool old school conservative tory voter , school conservative tory voter, that you would prioritise. what in your language would be handouts to pensioners rather than paying hard working train drivers what they merit . drivers what they merit. >> what a load of rubbish. honest to god, it's not a handout to give a pensioner their pension they've been paying. it's what you would call it . no, it's not because they've it. no, it's not because they've been paying national insurance for the last 50 years. they've paid into the system. now the system has gone massively wrong

because of the numbers . but when because of the numbers. but when they started paying in, it was a fair deal . you pay your national fair deal. you pay your national insurance, we give you a pension for years after you multi—millionaire pensioners. >> so multi—millionaire pensioners should be should be giving should be getting this. how many you know how many multi—millionaire pensioners do you know? a few, but not many. right. but that was used for rhetorical purposes. there are lots of pensioners, lots of pensioners who are well off, who can afford to pay. it's painful. it's painful, but they can afford the bills. the people i'm concerned about and this is why i don't want it just to be a he said. she said thing. the people i'm concerned about, as i say, are the pensioners who are just above the cut off point. i am concerned about them and there's millions of them and they do die of cold in the winter. >> we know that because the nhs records prove that , okay, you're records prove that, okay, you're talking about pensioners who might have bought a house in in in 1955 for £25,000, which is now worth a million or something like that. they only live in the south of england, north of a line that goes through sort of

welwyn garden city. no pensioner owns a house worth £1 million that they bought 40 years ago, and they are all going to be terribly, terribly, terribly straitened when the winter cold comes. if you're right, and i think it's disgusting. >> hang on. if you're right and this war on pensioners, this is being set up, isn't it, by the conservatives, by the opposition, unsurprisingly, as a contest between train drivers and pensioners, if you are right, then what is going to happen to our railways? what is going to happen to our economy? because if our economy shrinks, because people cannot get to work as is, what happens when people can't get trains, they can't fly to work on their on their imaginary helipads, then who suffers ? helipads, then who suffers? pensioners suffers as well because the pot is smaller. this is this is basic conservative economics. i would have thought you would understand. >> know what i understand is that unions now know that the opportunity to bully their way to big pay deals is around. >> why are you calling it bullying? bullying >> it's bullying.

>> it's bullying. >> negotiating. no negotiation. >> negotiating. no negotiation. >> no. i'm sorry. it's not. oh, you think it's a negotiation? so? so aslef going to get all they want. hang on. excuse me. they've still got a great deal. and then 24 hours later came back and said, oh, by the way , back and said, oh, by the way, thanks for that. but we're going to have another dispute here at lnen to have another dispute here at lner, you know, thanks very much for the money. but now boom, slap you in the face. we're having another you know full well matt, you know because you're into the political reading situation. unions will now be queuing up to try and get deals to match what the railway drivers have said and what i said at the very outset was, this is this is, i agree, an unfortunate headline for labour because this has come immediately after they were heralding this deal. >> yes. okay and i've also accepted that there is a chance and we all, as i said, because we all have a shared interest in our economy and in the way that we live our lives, including pensioners, we all have to hope that this doesn't spiral out of control, because if it does, you're naive. if it does , we're you're naive. if it does, we're all in a much greater pickle than we already are. >> naive and when you said, oh,

you know, the working man and all that £12 billion is what the government give to the railway companies , they're subsidised by companies, they're subsidised by the taxpayer. so the train drivers are taking taxpayers money. that's your money. and my money. that's your money. and my money and dawn's money. it's you know, it's not taking our money. >> have you heard of the basic concept of working to be paid? i'm so surprised that you're on the side of the argument that you are. because in years gone by, as i say, you would have characterised paying in some cases, wealthy pensioners . money cases, wealthy pensioners. money is a handout and you should have been.i is a handout and you should have been. i would have thought, on the side of the hard working man and woman who are getting us from a to b, i don't think a four day week of 35 hours is particularly hard working . particularly hard working. >> and the reason i say, why don't you go off and become a train driver? the reason i say become a train, and the reason i say bullying is because of course, the train driver unions know that the country closes down if they stop driving trains , down if they stop driving trains, but pensioners can't go out and say if we stop doing anything, the country closes down. that's why it's bullying of the labour

government to say we'll give in to the train drivers, but we're not giving to in all those pensioners for two reasons. they have no economic interest in the country and most of them don't vote labour. so as far as we're concerned, they're fair game for us to bully them and they are bullying pensioners . it's bullying pensioners. it's a horrible thing to see old people. they're vulnerable, bang, give them a smack, says laboun bang, give them a smack, says labour. i think it's disgusting. a nurse, sorry, dawn. a nurse earns £35,000 a year. qualified good pay, good nurse. a train driver is worth twice a nurse. do you agree with that? no, i don't , unfortunately. don't, unfortunately. >> that's all you're gonna have time to say . you're not going to time to say. you're not going to agree, are you? so, i mean, i have sympathy, i have some sympathy for what mike is saying. >> but i'm trying to say we are all on the same side here because it is in all of our interests that pensioners don't freeze and that train drivers actually get us to work right . actually get us to work right. >> okay. i didn't need to say anything then. did i love those sort of debates? i just sit here and sort of like play my fringe. well, that got fiery. we have to move on. unfortunately but for

all the best analysis and opinion on that story and much more , please do go to our more, please do go to our website, which is gbnews.com. i'm dawn neesom and this is gb news. it's the weekend and there's loads more coming up on today's show. a theatre in scotland has cancelled an upcoming show by comedian reginald d hunter following accusations that his edinburgh fringe show was anti—semitic. much more on that story coming soon. all of that, much more to come. this is gb news, britain's news channel. you can put the kettle on, but you're not going too far because it gets better

welcome back to the weekend with me dawn neesom i hope you got a cuppa on the go. or maybe a been cuppa on the go. or maybe a beer. it's a saturday afternoon. been it's a saturday afternoon. why wouldn't you? now a theatre has cancelled an upcoming performance by a comedian ,

performance by a comedian, reginald d hunter, after reports that israeli audience members were heckled during his edinburgh fringe performance after they objected to one of his jokes. the eastwood park theatre, where hunter had been booked to perform next month and which is based in east renfrewshire, home to scotland's largest jewish community, cancelled his showing to owing to the controversial comments , to the controversial comments, let's get more on this story. i'm thrilled to say i'm joined now by journalist nicole lampert . now by journalist nicole lampert. nicole, thank you very much for joining me this afternoon . now, joining me this afternoon. now, another shocking story. what did you make when you first read this story? when you first learned about it? >> thank you for having me on dawn, the person that alerted all of us to it was actually the daily telegraph's theatre critic who happened to be in the room that night and said it was one of the most disgusting things he'd ever seen, giving it a one star review. i think the first thing i saw was there was obviously there was an anti—israel joke, which the audience members got upset by, which was obviously up to them.

but what happened next is what is kind of much more chilling, which is that both hunter and the audience members started attacking the couple, who are british, israeli, telling them to go, calling them baby killers. genociders, the lady tried to remonstrate and was and the catcalls and the booing continued so that this couple, one of them, the man involved, he's in a wheelchair and they struggle to get out. and the whole time, instead of continuing the comedy or moving things on, the comedian was at the heart of it, making jokes. and then after they'd left and dominic hammond was still in there. so we know this. he then did a joke which was just purely anti—semitic about effing jews, having a paywall on the jewish chronicles side. so it was just really upsetting. another example of how anti—zionism is the gateway drug to antisemitism , the gateway drug to antisemitism, really. and, i think makes , you

really. and, i think makes, you know, kind of goes to feel how the jewish community is feeling about how we're perceived by many of our countrymen. like, are we still welcome in this country ? country? >> nicole, is there two things, really? it was interesting that not no other audience members stood up and said, this is out of order. can we stop treating this couple in this appalling way, which i hope to think i would have done had i been there and why? why is it still so acceptable , seemingly to be acceptable, seemingly to be anti—semitic? i mean, it is racism, but it's the only form of racism that seems to be acceptable still. >> well , that's it. you know, in >> well, that's it. you know, in our country, we're obviously having a very important discussions about racism after the far right protests and all of the things that happened. but ironically enough, at the anti—racist demonstrations, we saw several examples of anti—semitism from the so—called anti—racist and that goes to show, exactly as you said , that show, exactly as you said, that anti—semitism is the one

acceptable form of racism. and one thing that i found really interesting about this particular story was the way that the bbc covered it, which was they they didn't mention, the actual anti—semitic joke they made out. it was just about israel, they didn't talk about what had happened to the audience. they didn't quote cavendish or, the couple who have talked out , cavendish or, the couple who have talked out, and cavendish or, the couple who have talked out , and then they have talked out, and then they had their own person there saying , actually, it was really saying, actually, it was really funny. and a jewish person even said, i'm jewish. and i find your joke funny. and said, i'm jewish. and i find yourjoke funny. and it said, i'm jewish. and i find your joke funny. and it was just pure gaslighting, you know, any other any other racism would be taken seriously. and somehow this is a joke and not and not taken seriously at all. and it's incredibly upsetting . incredibly upsetting. >> nicole. this couple who are both in their 50s, as you said, that the husband is disabled and had to be helped out of the theatre while the catcalling was going on from the rest of the audience. they have now said, i mean, they are british, as you say, but they live in israel. they have said they actually feel safer now in israel than

they do in the united kingdom. how does that make you feel, >> i actually know this couple and i know that they, they, they left the uk partly because of anti—semitism, and it's something that lots of people are talking about. every jewish group that i'm on. and since october 7th, we're all every jewish person. i know is on lots of whatsapp groups, everyone tearing their hair out, because it's not it's not the kind of obvious racism, perhaps, that we saw against muslims where people were trying to, you know , trying were trying to, you know, trying to attack mosques. they're not trying to attack synagogues, although there is that too. but antisemitism is at a record level, but it's also this kind of low level bullying that we see. so people, kids are being, you know, told hitler was right at school . there's attacks at at school. there's attacks at universities, people i know had to leave their jobs because of antisemitism in the workplace, the jewish community in this country feels very , very alone country feels very, very alone and unsupported .

and unsupported. >> and nicole, i mean, just very quickly, we're running out of time, unfortunately. do you feel safe personally now , safe personally now, >> sometimes i will say my children are probably don't feel that safe, but, i wonder, i do. >> there is part of me and i am an optimist, but i do wonder where this is going , how this is where this is going, how this is going to get worse and obviously people, you know, we do have the story of the holocaust and it's not something i want to kind of mention. i don't feel that there's going to be a holocaust, but we are through our history and before the holocaust. my family are here because they were running away from pogroms , were running away from pogroms, our history is replete with people, starting with words. you know, finding reasons to hate jews and attacking jews and forcing us out of countries. so it is a discussion that everyone is having. brilliant. >> nicole lampert , thank you >> nicole lampert, thank you very much for joining >> nicole lampert, thank you very much forjoining us >> nicole lampert, thank you very much for joining us this afternoon. really appreciate your time . thank you nicole. now your time. thank you nicole. now let's see what my panel make of this . i'm let's see what my panel make of this. i'm still joined by political commentator matthew

stadlen and broadcaster and mike perry, who got very, very fiery just now. matthew, i'm coming to you first because you are actually working in edinburgh yourself recently you're working at the edinburgh fringe, weren't you, you've had a similar experiences. >> well, i had what i felt at the time was a chilling experience, and i hope my reading of it could sort of be explained away with an innocent explanation. and i'm not convinced. i was interviewing miriam margolyes , who most miriam margolyes, who most people watching will know. she's outrageous. >> she is very outrageous, very funny as well. >> she's also jewish. she is also very, very anti what israel is doing in gaza and also presumably in the west bank. and she said in a sort of serious moment of what was basically a very funny hour on stage at the edinburgh fringe last week, she said that she was no longer welcome in golders green because of her views on israel. now she's jewish, so she's kind of

entitled to say that, yes, of course, but then quite a substantial chunk of the audience overall, there were about 950 people in the theatre, but a substantial chunk of chunk. i'm not saying the majority laughed, and i would guess that a lot of those people were not themselves jewish. i can't prove it . and that really can't prove it. and that really worried me because they were basically, if they were non—jewish, laughing at the idea that who on earth would want to go and spend time in one of the most recognisably jewish parts of this country? in other words, golders green? so i thought to myself, i've got to say something. and no one likes a policeman on stage, do they? no, but i waited for the appropriate moment, and then i said , because moment, and then i said, because we talked about golders green earlier, i should say i've been to golders green a lot, which i have, and i've had some great experiences there. and miriam then said, yeah, me too. i've had great experiences there and i miss the chopped liver and all the rest of it, but it was the reaction of the audience. so when i heard about this reginald d hunter gag so—called and the

audience reaction, it didn't surprise me. and it chilled me further. now the joke he made about israel, you know , that about israel, you know, that i've read about in the telegraph, i wasn't there , telegraph, i wasn't there, seemed to me okay, you know, within the scope of comedy, if he did tell the anti—semitic joke that he is alleged to have told later on in the show, to me thatis told later on in the show, to me that is not acceptable. we no longer live in a society where you can make racist jokes. of course , ideally, no one wants to course, ideally, no one wants to police comedy, but there are lines and we all, i think most decent people know where they are. and just finally, david baddiel, i've interviewed many times. he wrote a book literally called jews don't count. and there is a feeling that anti—semitism to some, is a sort of acceptable form of racism when of course it isn't. but i would also like to add, as a half jewish person myself, that islamophobia is a massive problem in this country, of

course, and that it has almost become mainstream. so let's speak out against all of it. yeah, absolutely. >> unfortunately, we have completely run out of time. i just thought it was important for you to tell your story on that one. matthew. thank you very much. i'm dawn neesom to gb news and there's loads more coming up on today's show. more than 100 years worth of prison sentences have been handed out so far over the violent disorders we've seen earlier. this month. the convictions range from violent disorder and assault to writing stuff on facebook. more of that after the news with sam francis . news with sam francis. >> john, thank you very much and good afternoon to you. just after half past one. and, well, we start this half hour with some breaking news we're hearing from central london this afternoon. we understand that around 70 firefighters are currently battling a blaze at london's iconic somerset house. we're still waiting to verify pictures from social media at this stage. as soon as we get

those, we will of course bring them to you so you can see the scenes there for yourself. but as we know at this stage , smoke as we know at this stage, smoke has been spotted billowing from the roof of the historic building on the strand. that blaze , starting just before blaze, starting just before midday, ten fire engines on the scene with traffic disruptions expected in the area at this stage, the cause of that fire is unknown. and in fact, we're just reading here that there are now 15 fire engines on the scene, 100 firefighters now have been sent. that's according to the london fire brigade crews confirming they are tackling that fire, located in part of the building's roof. so, as i say, a fire breaking out in the iconic somerset house in central london. pictures yet to come into us. when we get those, we will bring them to you in scotland , meanwhile, a member of scotland, meanwhile, a member of the snp has been kicked out of the snp has been kicked out of the party for comments about the israel—hamas war, described as utterly abhorrent. john mason has been accused of flippantly dismissing the deaths of more

than 40,000 palestinians. party officials will now meet to discuss a fixed time period of suspension and in an afternoon of breaking news in greater manchester police, there have launched a murder investigation after a man who became trapped in a burning building has died in a burning building has died in hospital . officers were in hospital. officers were called to a fire on dumbarton green in wigan early on wednesday morning. it's now being treated as a suspected arson attack . in other news, arson attack. in other news, a private funeral for one of the three girls stabbed to death in southport is taking place today. six year old bebe king was attacked during a dance class at the end of last month. the killings of those three girls has sparked anti—immigration and counter protests across the uk, in part because of misinformation about the suspect . misinformation about the suspect. and in the us, the president, joe biden, claims a ceasefire between israel and hamas is , he between israel and hamas is, he says, closer than it's ever been following negotiations with mediators in qatar. joe biden

told reporters last night there are just a couple of issues standing in the way of that agreement. >> i'm optimistic. not far from over. >> i'm optimistic. not far from over . just a couple more issues. over. just a couple more issues. i think we've got a shot . i think we've got a shot. >> those are the latest gb news headunes >> those are the latest gb news headlines for now. plenty more on that breaking story from london throughout the rest of this afternoon. for now, though, back to dawn for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone , sign up to news smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash

>> welcome back to the weekend with me dawn neesom. now the people of southport are celebrating the centenary of its annual flower show today, which will give the community a much needed boost. memorials and tributes are expected to take place to remember those three

little girls who tragically lost their lives during that horrendous knife attack at the end of last month. joining me now is gb news north west reporter sophie reaper , who is reporter sophie reaper, who is live from the flower show. sophie. lovely to see you and thank you for joining sophie. lovely to see you and thank you forjoining us. what's thank you for joining us. what's what's happening up there today ? what's happening up there today? >> well, good afternoon to you, dawn. it's a beautiful day here in southport. despite say it is the funeral of one of those little girls taking place today. but people here have come together. they are showing their community spirit. and one person in particular has done that. he's joining me now is greg, who is the designer of this show garden. now, greg, thank you for joining us. and i know that you you're from southport , aren't you're from southport, aren't you? and that you felt you wanted to mark the death of those poor three little girls. do you want to tell our viewers at home what it is that you did and why you wanted to do that? >> yeah, well, we've got the pink ribbons up, which symbolises the atrocity. and we've got three pink dahlias and

a nice little note there that tells people to sort of reflect . tells people to sort of reflect. and we just thought we'd mention it and show a little bit of respect. >> and what is it that made you want to do it? like i say, i know you're from the area, aren't you? you were born and raised here. >> yeah, well, it's literally walking distance from our house, and i've got eight grandkids and seven granddaughters who could have been there. and it's just it's unbelievable to think how close to home it is. and not just for the kids that died, but all the other people involved. >> obviously, today it is a very sad day when we think about bebe king and alice and elsie, but it's also a real sense of spirit, isn't there people kind of coming out? there are thousands of people here today, don , thousands, all of whom are don, thousands, all of whom are enjoying the sunshine. they're enjoying the sunshine. they're enjoying gardens as beautiful as yours and how does this one compare, given the tragedy that's happened in southport recently? >> well, we wasn't sure whether this many people had travelled to southport , but there's a to southport, but there's a massive, big presence here of the police and everything and everything's protected and everything's protected and everything's fine. and but this show has been absolutely amazing

because after covid, it went down and it took a few years to build back up. and this is the best the show has been for quite a long time. >> very good. let's talk a little bit about your beautiful show garden. what is it that inspired you? what is it that got you into landscaping and gardening? well, i'm from a bricklaying background, from when i was a little kid. >> and then when times fell hard at the end of the 80s, i went and got a job for a landscape gardener. and i absolutely loved it and never looked back. and i think it was coming down to the flower show as a kid, i learned my trade down here and i think that's what did it for me. and i've just never looked back. and i've just never looked back. and i've been here myself for 20. this is my 27th garden myself. >> and of course, this is you know, as we say, there are thousands of people here today. but anyone at home who, you know, maybe fancies coming down later this afternoon or tomorrow, but is perhaps worried that the mood might be a bit sombre given what's happened in southport recently, what would you say to them? >> no, it's definitely not. i mean, the mood, the mood is absolutely brilliant and there isn't a problem. i mean, everyone's got it in the back of

their mind. obviously there's a massive big tribute on lord street and it's full every single day and the town's come pulled together really, really good. but most of the people here are from out of town. there is a lot of people from southport here, but there's millions and millions from outside town . there's thousands outside town. there's thousands and thousands here today. it's been absolutely brilliant. it's a lovely, lovely show. >> greg, thank you so much for joining us. this afternoon. there we are. it is about remembering those three little girls and all those affected by that tragedy here in southport . that tragedy here in southport. but it's also about that community spirit and just everyone coming together to remember them, but also to feel love and support here in southport . southport. >> that's lovely. sophie sophie reaper with a very heartwarming report considering the tragedy that southport has experienced. thank you very much, sophie. now, police forces across the uk are on standby again this weekend amid protests along with planned gatherings by campaign groups including stand up to racism. gb news reporter ray addison is on the ground down in

doven addison is on the ground down in dover, i believe. ray, thank you for joining us again. ray, forjoining us again. ray, what's happening now? where you are ? are? >> well, the protest that came here to be the counter demonstration, that's the pro migration. anti—fascist demonstration has now ended. and the anti—immigration demonstration that was planned for 1130 down on the seafront just never got started at all, apart from 3 or 4 people, which i'll tell you about in a moment that you can see the square behind me is market square that had about 70 people demonstrating against fascism earlier on. they had to stop at midday to let that young woman start singing, which seems a little bit strange, the sort of 50, 60, 70 people down here are all protesting, chanting whose streets our streets. they went on a little walk around here as well, blocked this road, blocked all the traffic. when you've got all the traffic. when you've got a perfectly good pavement here, arguably they could have been

walking down, but they did a bit of a protest and then it all seemed to sort of fizzle to an end. but i spoke to one of the protesters who told me that he came to england in 1999, in the back of a lorry. aram rauf, this is what he had to say to me. >> i had mixed mixed feelings, mixed experience. some people have been very welcoming in the beginning. when i arrived, they even tried to teach me cockney words. i was in like a able to put two english sentences together, but i was going around telling people kushti or saying lovely jubbly and you've built a life here, built a life in here. and from that positivity. but there were also people are actually threatened to cut my head off. there were people also told me many times, go back to your own country. even now , your own country. even now, people, when i speak up to tell people, when i speak up to tell people my experience or how sometimes a terminology is going

across in the wrong way, they tell me your your your guest in our country. well, i'm not a guest. i'm a proud british person and i'm proud of the british values . british citizen. british values. british citizen. i'm a british citizen and i'm proud. >> so he was stressing that he has been broadly welcomed since he arrived here in the united kingdom, and he was agreeing that sometimes the use of terms like fascist, like nazi , which like fascist, like nazi, which some of the protesters were using today , can be quite using today, can be quite divisive for those people who do have genuine concerns about, illegal immigration, the effects of migration , and want to attend of migration, and want to attend some of these events, but certainly would not consider themselves to be racist in any way, shape or form. so the event kind of ended or started to end around 12. but a younger group of protesters were determined to go and kind of find some people to protest to. and so they headed down to the seafront. eventually they found a group of 5 or 6 people stood there with the union flag and started

crowding around them. the police had to intervene and block them from getting access to them. i spoke to those people who were there with the flags . this is there with the flags. this is what they had to say. >> calling me a racist and they're calling me a fascist and a nazi. i'm just british in my country, holding my union jack, looking out for my children and grandchildren whom i've got, three of whom i love. >> my country . and i want our >> my country. and i want our future, you know, our kids to have something to, you know, have something to, you know, have something, you know , when have something, you know, when they when they grow up, you know, i don't want them to inherit something that's, you know, it'll be dangerous for them in the future. they'll have no, no facilities to use. you know, they don't get a doctor's appointment . and, you know, the appointment. and, you know, the grooming gangs are out of control as well. >> they're quite aggressive , and >> they're quite aggressive, and i've come across this on a few occasions. i've come down here just really so i can actually see what the reaction is. there must be 50 police here now protecting four of us. it's,

because they want to attack us, and yet we're the ones that are being called the aggressors. we're the ones that are being called the fascists and the racists. and we're anything but far right . i racists. and we're anything but far right. i mean, what is far right today, you know, you're either far left or you're far right. there's no middle ground anymore. >> well, we've got all this lot here. none of them are waving the english flag . they obviously the english flag. they obviously don't support england . they keep don't support england. they keep saying immigrants welcome. where are they going to put them? are they going to house them? i bet you ask every one of them, not one of them will take one in. >> so perhaps that sums it up from that gentleman there. you're either far left or you're far right. it seems that things are very split at the moment, but not much going on down here. dawn. it all kind of fizzled out into nothing . into nothing. >> thank you very much, ray. that's ray addison reporting from the protest marches for us down in dover today. and the one question i'd just like to ask those protesting is, why are you waving a palestinian flag? i don't understand that bit. any case, i'm dawn neesom. this is gb news. and there's lots more

coming up on today's show. harry and meghan's security use of bullet proof ballistic briefcases to protect the couple from potential shooters in colombia. but the uk was too dangerous for them. talking to a royal expert about that that, much more to come. this is gb news britain's news

soon. hey, welcome back. it's the weekend and i'm. dawn neesom. i hope you're having a wonderful time out there and hope the weather's been good for you, by the way. now, the duke and duchess of sussex continue their four day quasi royal tour of colombia. they have taken part in an art session and planted trees, as royals do, in inverted commas there, by the way, during a visit to a school in the caphal a visit to a school in the capital. but it's been revealed that their security detail is using a bullet—proof briefcase to protect the couple from potential shooters. doesn't sound overly safe, does it? joining me now is former bbc

royal correspondent michael cole. michael, lovely to see you. looking very dapper as usual. you. looking very dapper as usual . thank you forjoining me. usual. thank you for joining me. now this isn't a royal tour obviously, because they've stepped away from their royal duties. what do we make of how this is being handled out in colombia with harry and meghan. >> well good afternoon dawn a pleasure to be with you. the couple have had three layers of security around them. the big, beefy ex—military boys who are the bodyguards close protection . the bodyguards close protection. then there's the outer circle of uniformed police and then mingling in the crowds , mingling in the crowds, undercover police spotting any trouble and they've been travelling around the country in a convoy of bullet—proof cars with a couple of ambulances in the convoy. well, you don't often see that coming down the road from northolt into london, bringing a royal personage back to buckingham palace. but when you look at this tour and as you say, it's the do it our way semi royal tour of colombia, the

sussexes in south america, what you can say is the star of the show has definitely been meghan. and there we see her. she's been wearing many thousands of pesos worth of outfits while she's there smiling, as you can see all the time. i mean , she is all the time. i mean, she is very much to the palace born , very much to the palace born, and, this is the greatest role she's ever played. and she's playing it. playing it to the hilt . i playing it. playing it to the hilt. i must say that the prince, sometimes he looks a bit a bit doubtful, a little bit diffident. but then he warms up when he meets the children, or he meets the wounded veterans who will be taking part in his invictus games. it's a strange thing they've done because, as you say, it's not a royal tour . you say, it's not a royal tour. it's doing it their way. i think at the end of it they will think that they've had a great success and i'm sure that the left wing government of colombia will, relish the little bit of royal stardust that meghan, among

others, with her husband, have brought to the regime because it has had its problems. the lady on the right there is their guest, miss marquez. on the right there is their guest, miss marquez . she was on the right there is their guest, miss marquez. she was a housemaid. she was a mother at the age of 16. but she's now the vice president of the country. and she invited them there. she's a bit controversial because she's the minister of equality as well as justice. and the people are criticising her. there she is again , for riding there she is again, for riding around the country in helicopters. and the official residence for the vice president wasn't quite good enough for her. so she built her own, her own house. so it's another one of those, don't do as i do. do as i say. >> and there's a lot of that about. that's michael cole bringing us up to speed on the duke and duchess of sussex in colombia. thank you very much , colombia. thank you very much, michael. now, i've still got matthew stadlen and mike parry with me and i'm going to. you spoke a lot last time, matthew. it has to be said someone coming to you first on this one. mike, what do you make of the royal

tour of colombia that's currently going on? >> and when matt last spoke, they were words of wisdom, always words of wisdom. no problem at all. i feel increasingly sorry for harry because i think he's getting isolated and i, you know, i can see him coming back within the next two years. oh, really? i think he's so isolated now. this tour of colombia is all about, you know, queen meghan . i was you know, queen meghan. i was going to call the queen meghan. but you have done . but i mean it but you have done. but i mean it is all about that. i mean, they must have spent the last three months desperately searching for a country somewhere in the world where they could do a royal tour and the best they could come up with was the 18th most dangerous country in the world. and the crime capital of south america, colombia. you know, it beggars belief, the lengths they're going to now to try and put themselves in the public eye. i think that their ambitions in life now are going to divide fairly soon. i think she wants to be taken more seriously , to be taken more seriously, maybe even a life in politics, certainly to involve a greater commercial ability to raise

money. harry, i think, is like a guy who's been smacked in the face with a pan, suddenly woke up and thought, what have i done? oh, ouch. >> you've missed out one important ingredient, which is why they're actually there. mike. why are they there? >> will you tell me? i'll tell you. >> they're there to promote mental health for children to and combat cyber bullying. so why not focus on that? because that seems to me, and i'm sure you would agree, a very worthy thing to be doing in colombia. >> matt, if that had occurred to me. first off, i'd have said to you what a worthy trip. i haven't heard one line about the charities they're supporting while they're there. all i've seen are great photo opportunities . great words from opportunities. great words from meghan harry to talking children in spanish. i haven't heard them mention their charities actually, and nor have i, but you have mentioned loads of things. >> i'm very grateful. matthew stadler, mike parry, thank you very much. i'm dawn neesom this is gb news. lots more coming up. but don't you dare go anywhere because it's a great show. we've got more

soon. good afternoon. it's 2:00 on saturday the 17th of august and this is the weekend on gb news. and i hope you're having a wonderful weekend out there. thank you so much for joining me. i really appreciate your company now. packed show for you. sir keir starmer is accused of being played by his union paymasters after making offers to both train drivers and junior doctors, but taking money away from pensioners. has the prime minister caved in and is he prioritising unions over older people posing that question to a former labour minister and a theatre has cancelled an upcoming performance by a comedian, reginald d hunter, after reports that israeli audience members were heckled dunng audience members were heckled during his edinburgh fringe. we'll have the latest on that story . and as harry and meghan story. and as harry and meghan continue their so—called royal tour of colombia, it's been revealed their security detail is using a bullet proof ballistic briefcase to protect the couple from potential shooters. didn't see that in windsor, did they? it doesn't sound safe. i'm dawn neesom and

this is the weekend . this is the weekend. but this show is nothing without you and your views, and i promise i'm going to try and get through them . there's loads of through them. there's loads of you. you're sending messages in. keep them coming, though. and it's really simple to join the conversation. i promise i will read them out. you do it by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay and join what we're chatting about. keeping me company this hour is author and broadcaster jenni trent hughes. lovely to see you and former ukip leader henry bolton. lovely to see you too. thank you for joining bolton. lovely to see you too. thank you forjoining me. but thank you for joining me. but before we get stuck into those stories, here's the news with saint francis for you . saint francis for you. >> dawn, thank you very much indeed. good afternoon to you. just coming up to 2:02, and we'll start this hour with an

update on breaking developments in central london this afternoon. more than 100 firefighters are now battling a blaze at london's iconic somerset house. you can see there on the screen, smoke spotted billowing from the roof of the historic building on the strand. the fire, believed to have started just before midday today, 15 fire engines have now been sent to the scene and crews have in the last hour confirmed they're tackling that fire in part of the building's roof. the cause of the fire is still unknown at this stage. somerset house now, of course, an arts venue , had been set to host venue, had been set to host a breakdancing event this afternoon. they have, in a statement, though, said that that competition and other events in the building are now closed and will not be taking place until further notice as fire crews continue to battle that blaze in central london this afternoon . meanwhile, in this afternoon. meanwhile, in scotland, a member of the snp has been kicked out of the for

party comments made about the israel—hamas war that have been described as utterly abhorrent. john mason has been accused of flippantly dismissing the deaths of more than 40,000 palestinians so far, in that war. party officials will now meet to discuss a fixed time period of suspension . and in greater suspension. and in greater manchester police, there have launched a murder investigation today after a man who became trapped in a burning building has died in hospital. officers were called to a fire on dumbarton green in wigan earlier on wednesday morning. it's being treated now as a suspected arson attack . it's been reported that attack. it's been reported that former newsreader huw edwards is now accused of sexually assaulting a 27 year old man in assaulting a 27 year old man in a west end club after sending explicit text messages to him . explicit text messages to him. it follows earlier revelations that the 62 year old admitted receiving child sexual images and videos. the alleged victim of these latest claims says that edwards, who continued despite being asked to stop, was brazenly aggressive and got off

on the risk of getting caught. it's also alleged in the daily mail and the sun newspaper today that the former star threatened to kill anyone who looked at the man, whom edwards described as his possession in ireland. a teenage boy has now been charged over a stabbing outside renmore barracks. army chaplain father paul murphy posted on social media to say that he was doing okay after receiving treatment for serious, but non—life threatening injuries. the child, whose age isn't known, is due in court today . well, in other court today. well, in other news, a private funeral for one of three young girls stabbed to death in southport is taking place today. six year old bebe king was attacked during a dance class at the end of last month. the killings sparked anti—immigration and counter protests across the uk, in part because of misinformation about the suspect of those attacks . the suspect of those attacks. the government is being warned it will have to increase funding to meet its pledge to end the

so—called 8 am. scramble for gp appointments. the doctor's association claims at least £35 more per patient per year is needed to match the funding levels from a decade ago . during levels from a decade ago. during the election campaign, labour had said it would make booking gp appointments easier. taylor swift passes football tickets and £16,000 worth of clothes have all been declared in the prime minister's register of financial interests . but it's financial interests. but it's emerged sir keir starmer won't be writing a book as first thought. meanwhile, rishi sunak's five helicopter journeys paid for by donors have been declared worth £47,000 and nigel farage has been revealed as the highest earning mp, with his income boosted from his role as a tv presenter . as excuse me, a tv presenter. as excuse me, aslef's lead negotiator claims the situation with lner is toxic as the firm's train drivers prepare to walk out. the unions accusing the operator of consistently blocking attempts

to resolve the dispute over working agreements, which is separate, they say, from the ongoing pay negotiations . ongoing pay negotiations. drivers on the east coast main line between london and edinburgh are set to strike every weekend from the 1st of september to the 10th of november in gaza. it's been reported at least now 18 people have been killed in an israeli airstrike. israel say that they were attempting to hit a military base. hours earlier, president joe biden had claimed he was optimistic of a ceasefire deal with hamas, saying it was closer than it's ever been. following those negotiations with mediators in qatar, joe biden told reporters there are just a couple of issues standing in the way of an agreement. >> i'm optimistic not far from oven >> i'm optimistic not far from over, just a couple more issues. i think we've got a shot. >> and finally, anyone travelling to an african country affected by a new strain of m—pox is being urged to get vaccinated fresh advice has been issued by the european centre

for disease prevention and control after the virus emerged in congo. more than 500 people have died so far on the african continent this year. sweden has now recorded its first case, while pakistan is also trying to establish whether people there have been affected . those are have been affected. those are the latest headlines for now. i'm sam francis, back with you for another update in just under half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code , alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com. >> forward slash alerts . >> forward slash alerts. >> forward slash alerts. >> thank you very much, sam. right. grumpy grandad , you and right. grumpy grandad, you and me have words, mate. i bet this is your message. dawn spends more time telling us how to make comments and promises to read comments and promises to read comments out than she actually does read them, because so many of you are sending in comments, right? okay, how's this one? this is from liza. liza is playing out for meghan and harry because it's to the poor who

can't answer back. she is disgraced, showing her wealth to the poor people of colombia, and says harry looks like a spare thingy at a wedding, so keep them coming in. i am reading as many as i possibly can. oh, right. breathe right. okay, now let's get straight into today's story, shall we? police forces across the uk are on standby again. this weekend amid protests, along with planned gatherings by campaign groups including stand up to racism. i'm joined now by gb news reporter jack carson, who is on the ground for us in birmingham. jack, hi. thanks for coming back to us again. what's happening there now ? there now? >> yeah, well, it's been very peaceful really as a protest here today in birmingham. this is the stand up to racism counter protest that you can see behind me that's currently going on. we've had a multitude of speeches of poetry as well, some some chanting, plenty of mentions of nigel farage and a rise of the far right. lots of different banners as well. one placard there saying the 1970s

called they want their racism back. called they want their racism back . we've had bigots out of back. we've had bigots out of brum as well, and as you were mentioning, the response from west midlands police yesterday, yesterday to say they were ready for the planned protests, as well as the rumoured protest that was circulating online. that's in reference to anti—immigration protests that were rumoured to possibly be happening in this city today. that's very much why this counter demonstration, this to stand up racism demonstration, has taken place in the first place, talking about refugees being welcome. stop the far right being on some of the signs here. but there's been a collection of different people and different groups that have been here today. we've got unit members of unison the union there. we've also got quite a lot of palestine flags. there have been a march from alum rock, a different part of the city of birmingham that had marched here with palestine flags to join in this protest. at the same time as well. i was speaking to one of the speakers who's been speaking to this

crowd here. he's been telling me that he works with a lot of young people. he's a youth worker. he's been telling me that some of them do feel afraid at the moment because of the rumours of different protests, because of the violence that's been seen over different parts of the country as well. west midlands police that said during that statement yesterday that they released about being planned for protest today. they were ready to police this , that were ready to police this, that they said they weren't anti—protest, they were anti—crime. but so far today, dawn, a very peaceful protest here in birmingham. >> jack, thank you very much. and thankfully is peaceful. we've seen enough trouble, haven't we. that's jack carson are live in birmingham for us. thank you very much . now, sir thank you very much. now, sir keir starmer has been accused of being played by his union paymasters after making offers to both train drivers and junior doctors . senior figures within doctors. senior figures within the opposition have said the prime minister has lost control and soon all unions should be demanding double digit rises. will that be the case and will

industrial action continue indefinitely? let me pose that question to former labour minister bill rammell. bill. hello. lovely to see you this afternoon. thank you for joining us. hello, bill. two front pages today. the express and the mail. all right. admittedly not labour supporting newspapers saying that basically keir starmer is putting the unions before pensioners and has completely sold out to his paymasters. what do you make of those stories ? do you make of those stories? >> well, this is the mail and the express playing the traditional tory tunes. look, this these deals are about fairness and they're about getting britain working again. there's a very strong economic case for settlements which will boost economic growth. it's also the case that the tories always depress wages in the public sector , which hits recruitment, sector, which hits recruitment, hits retention , hits staff hits retention, hits staff morale, which then hits the pubuc morale, which then hits the public services, and this is about, rebalancing that the rail

settlement is ultimately better value for money for the taxpayer rather than strikes going on which have already cost £850 million. and i think most people will welcome that . will welcome that. >> keep coming back to this pensioners, you know, if they're on £11,500 a year and therefore not on pensions credit, they'll have their winter fuel payment taken away. how is that fair? >> well, you know, the winter fuel allowance was only first brought in by the last labour government in the late 1990s because of a very low pensions annual increase that year. i'm amazed that it hasn't been means tested before now. there's always been a case for means testing and the reality is that because of the triple lock on pensions, which is significantly boosted pensioner income, if people rely on the basic state pension, there are now less pensioners in poverty than

amongst the working population. so i think that was a change that overdue was overdue . many, that overdue was overdue. many, many pensioners support it, who you know, didn't feel that they needed the winter fuel allowance. but settling these strikes has been an absolute pubuc strikes has been an absolute public and economic necessity. you know, take take the junior doctors for example. we lost. it cost £1.7 billion and a million operations had been cancelled as a result of those strikes. we had to step in. we had to resolve this. the public benefit, and i think most people would support that view . would support that view. >> but the problem just very quickly, bill, i appreciate your time. we are running out of time, unfortunately, but very quickly. okay. you've settled on the financial side of things, but there are still strikes going on. and now we have border force going on strike as well. >> well, look, you know, look at the record of the last tory government. we had more strike

days than the 1970s. you're always going to have some strikes, but i think they're going to be significantly reduced under this labour government because we are bringing back fairness and we are getting britain working again. and that's the most important thing that we can do to drive the economic growth that everyone needs to fund better public services. >> okay , that's bill rammell, >> okay, that's bill rammell, former labour mp, thank you very much for joining former labour mp, thank you very much forjoining us this much for joining us this afternoon. right now. blimey. i'm joined by author and broadcaster jenni i'm joined by author and broadcasterjenni trent hughes and former ukip leader henry bolton. thank you both for joining me. this afternoon. really appreciate your time. now, what do you make about this? look, i know i get bill's point that the express and the mail are just going to be mouthpieces for the tories. what's left of the tories , but what's left of the tories, but it doesn't seem fair to me that you've got train drivers on 55, £60,000 a year for a three day week, not working weekends, etc, etc. getting a pay rise. we've got pensioners who are in poverty, having their payments taken away from jenny. make it,

make sense. >> i am the worst person to be asking about this this morning because i just got off an lner train. oh, the worst. well, you saw i came here 30s before. >> very well. i mean, i'm in awe of you getting anywhere on your train. >> it was an absolute nightmare, and i. i stood up the whole way. there weren't enough. there weren't enough cars on there . it weren't enough cars on there. it was an absolute mess. and on the other hand , i'm actually other hand, i'm actually theoretically a pensioner . and, theoretically a pensioner. and, you know, i, i sit there and i move my pennies from here to there to make things work , like there to make things work, like many people do. and one of the other things that they also say is you can tell a lot about the moral fabric of a country by how they treat their old people. i'm done. >> yeah. no, you're absolutely henry. >> well, henry, i'm mad about all of it. >> but, you know, obviously, you know , labour, you know, pinchers know, labour, you know, pinchers aren't going to vote for labour.

>> they are traditionally and historically conservative voters . historically conservative voters. and they can't go on strike, can they? no. >> and they're likely to continue to be conservative voters at this rate. look, bill rammell just then , i'm sorry, rammell just then, i'm sorry, bill, if you're listening now, you can't sit there and say the british public have a choice between strikes and paying you more and then say you're keeping the country going. you're holding the country to blackmail. now, that said that said , we have had 14 years of said, we have had 14 years of lack of investment into our railways , into in into public railways, into in into public sector pay and conditions. and i totally acknowledge that you can look at armed forces accommodation and salaries. you can look at the royal fleet auxiliary who are feeling forced to strike because they're on 30% less than their counterparts working in the sort of merchant marine, if you like. so there has absolutely the previous

government needs to take a lot of the responsibility for the present problems that we're facing. the government, the present government is facing. but that said , the government is but that said, the government is i feel , giving way out of i feel, giving way out of principle because they are laboun principle because they are labour, because they are, you know, they're close to the unions . they're trying to sort unions. they're trying to sort of sort all that out . and what of sort all that out. and what they are going to do is open the pandora's box if, if, if some parts of, for example, aslef are getting large salary increases, then other people are going to want it as well. it's all got to be paid for. and you know who's going to be paying for it now? the pensioners. well, exactly. >> amongst others, the rmt are already saying, well hold on a minute. we want we want the same as that. the bma border force as we know, have announced a strike at the end of august. >> my, my old mother, bless her heart, who passed away two years ago, would have said, you know what these people need? they need their heads banging together. and they do. they need together. and they do. they need to get some common sense and start realising that there's a country of people out there trying to get on with their life, many of them are

struggling, probably more so than they've ever done in their lives before because of the economic situation, and we seem to have a whole bunch of people who think it's about them, them, them, and nobody else. >> do you do you get that impression? jenny? that's an interesting point, isn't it? it's like it's so often we've heard it with the recent unrest and riots on our street. the government isn't listening. doesn't matter who the government is in charge at the particular time. the government isn't listening to us. the people we need our voices heard. do you get a similar impression with with the labour government? they've only been in for a month at the end of the day and do you get the impression that they really haven't maybe got their finger on the pulse? >> i think that they don't have their finger on the pulse . but i their finger on the pulse. but i also think because i was actually thinking something similar when i was standing on the train, is how long was that journey? >> jenny? >> jenny? >> it was an hour and 15 minutes standing crowded with others. yes yes, with lots of drunk people screaming and shrieking at 10:00 in the morning. yes

yes, but i was actually thinking about the fact that i think that part of the problem is that now we don't care about society. all we don't care about society. all we care about is us. because the fact of the matter is, the pensioners would like a pay rise. you know, they would like more money, everybody would like more money, everybody would like more money, everybody would like more money, no matter how much money you're making. most people want more money, but the money is not there. and so it's not only a question of the government not listening to us, it's a question of us not listening to each other as a society, saying , yes, okay, society, saying, yes, okay, i would like a bit more money, but the fact of the matter is, you know, my mother doesn't have any money. she's struggling. they're taking away her fuel allowance. how on earth is she going to? it is going to be heat or eat, whatever. all the different issues are. and we need to step back and look around us. children going to school with no shoes on. i mean, all these awful things that are going on for people who there's everybody

thinks, oh , i have no money. thinks, oh, i have no money. there's some people who really don't have any money. and as a society, we need to look to them and help as much as we can. i mean, henry, in theory, the first half of the year, britain has the best performing g7 economy, expanding by 1.4%. >> so rachel reeves saying there's this, this £20 billion black hole that she has to get mainly from pensioners to pay for. what do you make of the, the sums that are going on? >> well , you know, it's not so >> well, you know, it's not so much where gdp because gdp is a difficult thing because you've got gdp, which effectively the more people you have in a sense, the more your gdp is going to grow. >> but gdp per capita , per >> but gdp per capita, per person, the wealth of the country per person is actually going down. and so it's a difficult thing, but where i have a problem is with the leadership. what you were

saying, jenny, you're absolutely right. but to deal with that needs some altruistic leadership. leadership with vision. you know , inspirational vision. you know, inspirational leadership, leadership that wants to unite the country and society, we seem to be constantly fragmenting it. but talking about leadership , that's talking about leadership, that's my point here, is that what we saw was labour coming into into government, saying that there was a 20 million black hole. and by the way, we're going to spend 11 point something billion on this and on on helping other countries deal with climate change. and we're going to spend 9 billion on that's your 20 billion. we're not stupid. that 20 billion hole that you were talking about . you've just talking about. you've just created it. now, i'm not a mathematical genius, but i can work that out. so if you hadn't done that, your 20 billion hole wouldn't be wouldn't exist. i mean, that's fairly simplistic, i'm sure, but the point is that our politicians are playing games with the british public, and they have been for a very long time. and that is why so many people are out for themselves, i think, because they don't believe that anybody

else is looking after their interests. >> indeed, thank you very much. we've run out of time on that. what do you think? i mean, are you a pensioner? are you watching this? worried about how you're going to get through the winter? let us know. gbnews.com forward slash yoursay. and for all the best analysis and opinion on that story and much more, please do go to our website. one of the best in the country. gbnews.com. not biased obviously. coming up, does this time of year reveal the complete failure of multiculturalism and integration within the uk? that's what my next guest has argued. more

hello. welcome back to the weekend with me , dawn neesom. weekend with me, dawn neesom. i've just been chatting to jenny about her horrific train journey down here. sounds awful. jenny. she's made it. in any case. but we move on now. is multiculturalism really our biggest strength? my next guest has argued that this time of year reveals the complete failure of multiculturalism and integration within the uk,

saying if you walk through any park or common on a summer's day , park or common on a summer's day, you will see 90 plus percentage of people racially self—segregating. joining me now is historian and senior fellow at the new culture forum at rafe heydel—mankoo. rafe. thank you very much for joining heydel—mankoo. rafe. thank you very much forjoining us. rafe. i read your your tweet that that said this with interest. i just wanted you to explain a bit more about what you mean. >> yes. well, look , barely a day >> yes. well, look, barely a day goes past now when you don't hear from, you know , a minister hear from, you know, a minister or a mayor or a police commissioner, that diversity is our greatest strength , that our greatest strength, that britain is a great multicultural success story. and it's become really the established narrative amongst our political and our media class and woe betide you if you question that. but i'm afraid the sociological evidence and we have years of sociological evidence simply doesn't support that. on the contrary, it suggests quite strongly that far from being a strength, the super diversity we now experience in this country is actually a weakness rather than a strength. and that's for

various reasons. i mean, we've seen some dramatic scenes regarding that in recent days and weeks , but more importantly, and weeks, but more importantly, people in this country, because of diversity and mass immigration are, well, it's embedded racial segregation into our country with the majority of people living in racial silos in this country. and you know, this is as a result of all of that. you know, our united kingdom is fast becoming a united nations. and it's not just a british phenomenon in america. 91% of white people and up to 80% of black people do not have interracial circles of friends. and, you know, a great way to test this actually, is during the summer months, as you said, i'm with the new culture forum. i'm with the new culture forum. i specialise in immigration and integration , multiculturalism integration, multiculturalism and diversity. and, you know, i travel around the country and so i'm always paying keen attention to the levels of diversity in towns and cities and the ways in which people are interacting. and if you just go out, anyone

can go out today to the park in the centre of their town and they will see around 85 to 90% of the people in parks and commons and at festivals are actually self—segregating. you'll have whites, you'll have blacks, you'll have chinese, you'll have indians, and you'll have pakistanis and bangladeshis. and it's a global phenomenon, and it's actually part of human nature. we need to be alert to what's happening here, because we're actually fragmenting our society and weakening the bonds that unite neighbourhoods and communities together . so social cohesion neighbourhoods and communities together. so social cohesion is being damaged by the by by the natural reality of people wanting to cleave to one another. >> rafe it's interesting because at the same time, as i read your tweet, i was watching a clip from the bbc about a 17 year old girl who lived in the exactly , girl who lived in the exactly, grew up in the same area as i did in east london, and she she made an interesting point. she goes, i looked around about my friendship group and she happens to be black, and she goes, we didn't have any white friends. so she start investigating about why her group of 17 year olds, why her group of 17 year olds, why they didn't have any white

friends, and she she really couldn't find an answer to it. and she was confused herself. but is it is it the fact that we're tribal creatures and or will this change in the future? >> well, it is human nature, you know, for example, you know, i know, for example, you know, i know several people in dubai who've been there for 20 years, their entire social circle is english. we know, of course, there are english enclaves in spain where they don't know anybody else who's not. who's not english, don't make any effort to speak the language. it is part of human nature. but the great sad reality is that in the 1990s and the 2000, britain was actually moving towards a status of being colour—blind and of having racial integration , having racial integration, because we only had immigration of 50,000 per year, compared to 700,000 now. and when you have such vast quantities of people coming over here who automatically segregate in their own communities, have their own shops, have their own, you know, watch their own satellite tv stations in their schools now,

you know, up to 90% or more of the pupils will be from one ethnic minority or another, becoming the ethnic majority in those towns. in fact, in parts of the north of england , polls of the north of england, polls have shown that some children have shown that some children have thought britain was a majority asian country because that's all that they see around there. so because of that, it's not surprising that people aren't integrating as much. and also now because of the aggressive way in which diversity has been pushed , die diversity has been pushed, die unconscious bias training. we know that that's backfired. it's made people more more tense, more awkward, more sensitive about race. they see race where once they didn't do that . and so once they didn't do that. and so we know, for example, that even when people do have friends of a different race, they'll be less likely to discuss politically sensitive issues. so it's quite easy actually, to self—segregate. now, of course , self—segregate. now, of course, there are exceptions. i understand full well that people, many people do have, you know, ethnic minority friends or white friends if they are an ethnic minority. but in terms of the your genuine friends, the people that you go on holiday

with, the people you spend your weekends with, the people you could phone in the middle of the night if you have an issue or you're worried, or you can borrow money from those are primarily from your own racial background. >> very interesting point, sir. rafe, thank you very much. that's our senior fellow at the new culture forum, rafe heydel—mankoo , thank you very heydel—mankoo, thank you very much for joining heydel—mankoo, thank you very much forjoining us on that. much for joining us on that. we'll be seeing what my panel, jenni trent hughes and harry bolton make in that. and that's coming straight up after your headunes coming straight up after your headlines with saint francis . headlines with saint francis. >> see you later, dawn. >> see you later, dawn. >> thank you very much . and good >> thank you very much. and good afternoon to you. just after half past two and the top story this afternoon, more than 125 firefighters are now battling a blaze at london's iconic somerset house. we can take you there live now where you can see smoke billowing from the roof of that historic building as firefighters there are tackling the blaze, a large ladder extended above the roof of the building where that fire is believed to have started. it's

situated, of course, on the strand and the fire began just before midday. we also now know that 20 firefighters fire engines rather have been sent to the scene. crews confirming that they are tackling a fire located in part of the building's roof. though the cause, they say of the fire, is unknown. and somerset house, now an arts venue, is currently closed and they have said in a statement in they have said in a statement in the last hour that all events there this afternoon have been cancelled so that latest news just coming to us, live pictures of the scene of that fire in scotland, a member of the snp has been kicked out of the for party comments about the israel—hamas war, described as utterly abhorrent, john manson has been accused of flippantly dismissing the deaths of more than 40,000 palestinians. party officials in the snp will now meet to discuss a fixed time penod meet to discuss a fixed time period of suspension in manchester. police have launched a murder investigation after a

man who became trapped in a burning building died in hospital. officers were called to a fire on dumbarton green in wigan early last week. it's been treated as a suspected arson attack . in ireland, a teenage attack. in ireland, a teenage boy has now been charged over a stabbing outside renmore barracks. army chaplain father paul murphy posted on social media to say he was now doing okay after receiving treatment for serious but non—life threatening injuries. the child, whose age isn't known, is due in court today . whose age isn't known, is due in court today. it's whose age isn't known, is due in court today . it's reported the court today. it's reported the former newsreader, huw edwards, is now accused of sexually assaulting a 27 year old man in assaulting a 27 year old man in a west end club. the alleged victim claims that edwards, who continued despite being asked to stop, was, he said , brazenly stop, was, he said, brazenly aggressive and got off on the risk of getting caught. it's also alleged in the daily mail and the sun newspaper today that the former bbc star threatened to kill anyone who looked at the man whom edwards described as his possession . president biden

his possession. president biden admits he's optimistic that a ceasefire deal between hamas and israel could be in sight, even though tensions are still high in the middle east, with an airstrike today hitting lebanon, killing at least ten people. israel claims it was targeting a hezbollah weapons centre and an infectious disease expert says it is very likely that a new, deaduer it is very likely that a new, deadlier variant of mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is already in the uk. the clade one b strain has been confirmed in sweden after first being detected in the democratic repubuc detected in the democratic republic of congo. the new, more transmissible strain has already caused at least 500 deaths on the african continent. those are the african continent. those are the latest gb news headlines. for now, i'm sam francis sophia wenzler. we'll have your next update just after 3:00 for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone , sign up to news your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward

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>> we're coming back. welcome back to the weekend at the weekend with me dawn neesom right. i'm just going to quickly, quickly because a lot of you got very angry about the pension debate we were having. medusa love that name. says handouts to everybody except the pensioners who are being penalised by this government. we who have worked hard all our lives and paid well over the years for our pensions and our bannau fleeced and our money given to everybody else . and given to everybody else. and just saying, by the way, another interesting name. jenny is right. my pension neighbour is really struggling. she's an elderly lady of 96 and she can't . elderly lady of 96 and she can't. she's basically, you go on. i'm sorry i'm running out of time, but she's saying pensioners are struggling. why aren't labour helping us out? why are they taking money away from us? lots of you are getting in touch about that one. do keep them coming now before the break we were hearing from historian rafe

heydel—mankoo who argued that multiculturalism and integration within the uk had been a complete failure. let me welcome back my panel. the very lovely jenni trent hughes and the equally lovely henry bolton. we were chatting about this during the break and jenny was brilliant. henry was explaining his point of view to me and i looked at jenny and she just went, yes , jenny, don't just go. went, yes, jenny, don't just go. >> yes. now, jenny, what did you what did you make of what rafe had to say earlier on, >> i didn't agree with. there might have been two words in there that i agreed with. okay, but in general, i, i yeah, yeah. and he's a lovely man because i've met him up here before. i don't agree with him at all. my personal experience and my personal experience and my personal story covers a lot of the bases. i grew up in jamaica. yeah i lived in america for a while. i lived here 32 years. when you try, when people start talking about and trying to

compare the multiculturalism between america and here, we are so far ahead here it is not even any kind of funny. we are way aheadin any kind of funny. we are way ahead in this country of america. it is not. yes, there are pockets and a lot of the pockets are actually done are actually by the people. so in other words, that black girl that you're talking about, she might not have any white friends. you put them together and they'll actually be fine. tell you a story. and they'll actually be fine. tell you a story . when i first tell you a story. when i first met you here, you walked in no . met you here, you walked in no. so we sat down, we did a show, and i thought, she's really fabulous. and then i leaned back and i looked at your shoes and i went, oh my goodness, i cannot like somebody who wears stilettos . now, every time you stilettos. now, every time you see dawn, she has some kind of shoes that i'm just amazed. i

don't know how she gets them on. i don't know how she walks in them. we all have things. i do not have any friends who have lip fillers. i tend to avoid women who wear stilettos. i was married to somebody from northern ireland, and when my husband brought me home, we married after knowing each other three weeks. and when my husband brought me home, my father in law opened the door and he just went like that. and i thought, what's going on here? my husband hadnt what's going on here? my husband hadn't told them that i was of the darker persuasion. we walk in and my father in law , god in and my father in law, god rest his loving soul, he looked over and he said, you are catholic, aren't you ? okay, i catholic, aren't you? okay, i love that you know . and so if we love that you know. and so if we keep looking around for things to hang on to, it's like henry was saying, we are creating the divisions and they're always going to be things that you don't like about people. but i

think that in this country , we think that in this country, we are way ahead of a lot of other countries, and i think that we should champion that . should champion that. >> brilliant. jenny, you are wonderful. thank you. i do have trainers in my bag as well, by the way. >> that's even worse . >> that's even worse. >> that's even worse. >> i just shut up. >> i just shut up. >> shall i thank you, jenny henry. yeah. >> i mean , i think one of the >> i mean, i think one of the things rafe was talking about was the parks , i think, and was the parks, i think, and people in parks, people in the summer. one of the things interesting, i mean, there's a beach park, you know, people have barbecues every weekend in the good weather near where i live. and what you see is you see families and that and groups of families because they're sort of families because they're sort of related who unlike the sort of related who unlike the sort of anglo—saxon brit who's off doing his own thing, they stick together as families. the family of, you know, two, three generations, four generations. sometimes they'll go out together and have a barbecue and they'll be with, you know , they'll be with, you know, their, their cousins, family and so on. and so actually, you get

the impression of, of, of self—segregation, but it's not it's a family event. and the gurkhas do it as well, so, because we've got a large gurkha community. but i do think as i was saying earlier, i do think that we place so much emphasis on on getting it right. the dea de dea bit, and we, we, we're highlighting the differences between us rather than what unhes between us rather than what unites us. and i think we see that in what i think is a fragmenting of society. now, i'm not saying if you go back 20, 30 years ago, there wasn't a distinct a nasty racism going on there was there was a great deal of prejudice. and i've always said it needs to be wherever it's found. it needs to be rooted out. and the people responsible dealt with because it's totally unacceptable. but i

think now we've sort of almost gone too far. we're creating those those barriers where people are wary. how do i address this person? are they coloured? are they do i need to address them as anything in particular anyway, i don't know. are they something different ? are they something different? there's a whole lot of nervousness around that, which is creating a very benign, sort of gentle people. i mean, are having that problem at the other end of the scale. we've seen what is perceived to be, and it's a big subject. and as a former police officer, i'd have a lot to say about it . but we've a lot to say about it. but we've seen what we're seeing, an increase in the perception of two tier policing, different approaches to policing. and then when you put those two things together, you're actually exacerbating differences and schisms between different communities, rather than bringing them together and heaung bringing them together and healing them. now there's a whole whole thing about the rates of immigration and how it's managed and how we do immigration. we don't do

integration at all. well in this country. i think as a country, other countries do a lot better, but there's a whole pack there. but i think we've got to be really wary about building barriers, creating barriers through highlighting differences rather than highlighting unity. >> do you think that is something that is happening? the more we are told about how to treat people differently because they are different, the more wary we get and the more we segregate ourselves. >> well, the advantage that i have is of having lived in america for so long, and i will tell you that if we start that nonsense here, we are going to end up where they are and going backwards. celebrate what we have in common and ignore your shoes. oh i do love jenny and i love her even more, even though she doesn't like my shoes. >> thank you so much . the >> thank you so much. the wonderful, jenni trent hughes and henry bolton forjoining me this afternoon. thank you very much indeed. now there is plenty more coming up on today's show, but before that , we have the but before that, we have the lovely nana akua in the studio and telling us what's coming on

her show at 3:00 nana. >> yes, thank you . very >> yes, thank you. very interesting conversation, by the way. we're going to talk about whether you think that there is a two tier approach to policing protests. we'd love to hear your thoughts on that. we'll be discussing that. we will also be following jack carson going live to the march that he is at, and then knife crime. now there's a lot of it people being killed by knives on our streets every single day, it seems. but the answer appears. the police are suggesting that people hand back the knives. so if it's a zombie knife or one of those awful, another machete or anything like that, they have an amnesty. and the last date for that amnesty is the 24th of september. and what they'll do is they'll give you the market value for your knife. seriously. i mean , what knife. seriously. i mean, what are you doing with that knife anyway? apparently that's quite common to give compensation when things become banned, but i'd say that if you happen to have a zombie knife or a machete, there's no real reason for it. so we're going to be asking, is that actually the right approach? also, we couldn't let harry go. he's on his royal faux tour of colombia. and so we're

looking at royal protection. and whether you actually believe that he does deserve the higher version, which is the ravec, which is the protection that the others have, and then finally, keir starmer, is he in hock with the unions? has he been taken for a ride because who's next? i think it's border force isn't it. so that's all coming up. >> brilliant that sounds a real cracker of a show. you certainly don't want to miss it. that's nana akua coming up at 3:00 today. now we're running out of time on this show, but we do have time for saturday showbiz. i know it's not very good, is it? we'll be talking about the devastating news. devastating that molly—mae and tommy fury have split up. oh no, more on that. stop jenny in the corner . more on that coming up very

soon. hello. welcome back to the weekend. on the weekend. hope you're having a wonderful one. i'm dawn neesom and she, more importantly is stephanie takyi and she has all your showbiz for you steph. take it away matthew

perry. >> yeah, such a sad story which has been developing since he died october last year. i think to most people they thought, oh, it was just a drug overdose . but it was just a drug overdose. but it was just a drug overdose. but it actually turns out the surroundings of his death has been more sinister than any of us could have imagined . us could have imagined. obviously, we knew he had a big addiction, drug addiction, which he's been very vocal over the years. but it turns out ten days before he died, doctors prescribed him ketamine to help him deal with depression . when him deal with depression. when they'd done the post—mortem, they'd done the post—mortem, they said that is not the ketamine we prescribed him because the ketamine they gave him would have worn off between 3 to 4 hours. the ketamine that was found in his system was way more powerful and way more deadly. so that alarmed law enforcement's to find out where did he get these drugs from? they've been investigating since his death. and what has been covered is five people, two dodgy doctors, this drug dealer in north hollywood called the queen of ketamine. and then also his own assistant. all of them had been pumping up matthew

perry with vials of ketamine. the assistant himself didn't even know to how administer ketamine. and on the day he gave him 3 to 6 shots of ketamine. so this is all coming out. him 3 to 6 shots of ketamine. so this is all coming out . all this is all coming out. all these people are facing between ten years and life imprisonment. and, you know, for matthew perry's family, they're so happy that the law enforcement actually persisted in looking for this, all this, all this would have been swept under the carpet. obviously, matthew perry did have a drug addiction. and towards the end, that's what he wanted . but still, the way this wanted. but still, the way this has been handled by these five people, especially doctors who should be trusted to look after their patients, the assistant who should have been wanting matthew perry's best interest, this queen of ketamine, who's provided ketamine , which has provided ketamine, which has actually killed someone before this . it's actually killed someone before this. it's just all it's a very tangled web. and it's just a sad ending for a very, very. >> remind me of michael jackson. what happened to him? it does. >> whitney houston, there's been many celebrities drawn over the years. as you know , that have

years. as you know, that have died from addictions. but when you really look into it, you find that most of these celebrities are surrounded by enablers. obviously, they want to keep these celebrities happy, but when you get these tragic stories like matthew perry and michael jackson, the law must step in because something has gone wrong here. >> sad and lonely world, isn't it? we're all so envious of these a—listers and their money. but it's not their lonely behind closed doors . it's just closed doors. it's just horrible, isn't it, as my husband said last night, what they uploaded was more friends. he had no idea who matthew perry was or that he was in friends. by was or that he was in friends. by the way, he hit the nail on the head proper friends, he really did. but taylor swift, who has got a lot of friends now, she does 92,000 of them have come to wembley to see taylor perform. >> this is going to be her third night, so she's got two more shows and then her europe, her european side of her eras tour is over. but for taylor, a lot of people are questioning whether she will be having a moment of tribute for the southport victims. there has been a lot of hearsay that she actually contacted the families

privately to send her condolences, and sources this week have said to me, oh, she might have a moment on stage for them. obviously, we know that some of the funerals are taking place today and whether she actually makes a big deal of it, i don't know, and i don't think i don't know, and i don't think i think for taylor, she wants to keep it private because i think it takes the shine away from which i'm sure she's very aware of. >> and we did want to mention molly—mae and tommy fury. me nehhen molly—mae and tommy fury. me neither, but we've run out of time . steph, that's thank you time. steph, that's thank you very much. stephanie takyi that has been brilliant. i've been dawn neesom loads more coming up, but don't get nana at 3:00 remember? loads more coming up throughout the night . remember? loads more coming up throughout the night. but remember? loads more coming up throughout the night . but first throughout the night. but first i think it's time for the weather. so here it is. thanks for watching. see you . soon. for watching. see you. soon. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news . news. >> hello and welcome to your latest gb news, weather update

from the met office, sunny spells and fine weather continuing through this afternoon, but there will be some showers and it will be particularly breezy across the northwest of scotland and that's due to this area of low pressure and this squeeze of isobars giving particularly windy and gusty conditions. but further south, it's a much quieter picture through the rest of saturday. so for the south—east, plenty of hazy sunshine around a couple of showers across western parts and particularly across northwest scotland. there will be showers continuing to feed through as well . breezy here through as well. breezy here too, with that wind and over the hills it's going to be feeling quite cool, but generally it's going to be a largely dry night. fairly fresh temperatures into the low double figures and maybe into the single figures in a few rural spots as well. so to start the day on sunday, lots of dry weather around, but further north it'll still be showers feeding in the far north—east of scotland may see some brighter skies to start off with, but we are going to hold on to these showers moving in from the west. further south western parts again, seeing some early morning showers, but further east again, more in the way of sunshine.

wales. there'll be a couple of showers over the hills , and most showers over the hills, and most of the southeast will be seeing a bright start to the day. on sunday there will be some clouds continuing to bubble up through the day, but we do see those conditions beginning to settle down. any of these showers starting to melt away across the southwest and through wales, and any showers by the afternoon really being restricted to the far north of england and parts of scotland. and even here there'll be a little bit fewer and further between than we've seen through today. still breezy though , and not feeling though, and not feeling particularly warm with temperatures at best into the mid teens across scotland, but warmer further south and feeling quite pleasant in that sunshine. if we get to 25 degrees elsewhere through the rest of sunday, a largely fine and dry night, most places staying dry just a couple of showers still feeding into the far north—west. it's all changed though, into the start of next week. rain arriving from the west on monday and staying unsettled as we head through the early part of next week. that's all from me. bye bye. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers , sponsors of

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gb news. >> good afternoon. hello and welcome to gb news. where live on tv , online and on digital on tv, online and on digital radio. i'm nana akua. it's 3:00, and for the next few hours, me and for the next few hours, me and my panel will be taking on some of the big topics hitting the headlines right now. this show is all about opinion. it's mine. it's theirs. and of course is yours. we'll be debating, discussing and at times we will disagree, but no one will be cancelled. so joining me for the next few hours is former labour defence minister ivor kaplan and also political commentator lee harris. coming up in the next few hours, police forces across the uk are expected to be on standby again this weekend amid reported protests across the uk. so how safe do you feel on the streets ? and, as the police say, streets? and, as the police say, they will continue their zero tolerance for knife crime following a fatal stabbing in luton? is it time the thugs give

up their weapons? then in the