the 650 mp5. of any of the 650 mp5. >> and a second wave of remote controlled explosions in the middle east hitting hezbollah members as the israeli pm netanyahu accuses britain of undermining israel maternity care failings nearly half of the units in england, inspected by the watchdog received the bottom two ratings. >> the health secretary, wes streeting, brands it a national shame and veterans honoured. >> gb news remembers the 22,000 british servicemen who bravely helped conduct nuclear testing back in the 505 and 605. we're going to be hearing from some of them very shortly . them very shortly. sue gray, you

feel very strongly about this , feel very strongly about this, don't you, andrew? >> she she's the chief of staff. how does the chief of staff, who is the prime minister's gatekeeper, earn more than the prime minister? >> you see, i think the prime minister's not really there for his wages, though, is he? because the prime minister will go for on decades, making a fortune, as they all do. i think i'm actually i'm all right with her being paid a significant amount of money to do a very important job. >> she had a zero zero 20 £0 pay rise. i know right in the public sector at the moment, with a pensioners being told they can't have their winter fuel 20,000. yeah. so doctor, we junior doctors 22% pay rise to pay train ride train drivers 15% pay rise. sue gray 20% pay rise. yeah. very nice. if you can get it, let us know your thoughts this morning. >> gbnews.com/yoursay. i'd be really interested . what does it really interested. what does it tell us about this government? i suppose if she is making more than the prime minister, does that matter to you? let us know first. the very latest news with tatiana sanchez.

>> thank you. the top stories from the gb newsroom. it's been revealed that sir keir starmer has received more freebies than any other mp since 2019, totalling around £100,000. a cabinet minister has defended the prime minister, saying he's in a pressured job and should be allowed to enjoy gifts and hospitality if it is declared correctly. this comes after it was also revealed the prime minister's chief of staff, sue gray reportedly takes home a salary of £170,000. that's £3,000 more than the prime minister and greater than any conservative predecessor. the business secretary says ministers have no political inputin ministers have no political input in the pay of their advisers, as he defended sir keir starmer amid criticisms of his chief of staff's salary. in other news, five women have told the bbc that they were raped by former harrods boss mohamed al fayed when they worked at the luxury london department store the bbc has heard testimony from

more than 20 female ex—employees who say the billionaire who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted them , including rape. assaulted them, including rape. the documentary and podcast al fayed predator at harrods gathered evidence that during its ownership, harrods not only failed to intervene but helped cover up abuse allegations. harrods current owner said they were utterly appalled by the allegations and said his victims had been failed, for which the store sincerely apologised. former royal correspondent charles rea spoke to gb news this morning. >> he has always been a controversial character, you know, from the cash for questions row way back in the 905 and he was accused of sexual assault in around about 2009, which was never proven. and now we've got these allegations now these are far, far more serious allegations than the than the previous ones. people will stop going to the store. but that's why i think harrods have moved

so quickly this morning to say, look, we are we are the new owners. we are a different harrods. we would never have covered anything up like this, they accept the i think they accepted that there was a cover up and it shouldn't have happened and have offered apologies to all the victims involved. >> the israeli government has declared a new phase of war following a wave of walkie talkie and pager explosions across lebanon . the. lebanese across lebanon. the. lebanese terrorist group hezbollah have accused israel of being responsible for the co—ordinated attacks. it's understood 20 people were killed yesterday, while 12, including two children, lost their lives in the blasts on tuesday. that's as nearly 3000 people remain in hospital with 200 in a critical condition. meanwhile, israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has hit out at the new labour government, accusing it

of being misguided and undermining israel . a health undermining israel. a health watchdog has warned failings in nhs maternity wards are more widespread than previously thought. a review conducted by the care quality commission rated almost half of services as inadequate or requiring requiring improvement. only 4% were classed as outstanding and 48% were rated as good. the body, which inspects and regulates health providers in england has called for urgent action to avoid poor care and preventable harm becoming normalised . and police have said normalised. and police have said an eight year old boy has died after he fell from the window of after he fell from the window of a house in nottingham. officers were called to an area in the district of sherwood at around 7:00 last night, and that boy was taken to queen's medical centre in the city, but could not be saved. officers remain at the house investigating the circumstances of the fall, and those are the latest gb news

headlines. for now, i'm tatiana sanchez. i'll have more in half an hour. >> 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. >> very good morning . we've made >> very good morning. we've made it to thursday. this is britain's newsroom on gb news with me bev turner and andrew pierce. >> so to keir starmer's chief of staff sue gray, a contentious figure to say the least. we now know she takes home a salary of £170,000. that is 3000 more than the prime minister and the highest we think ever paid to a political adviser in number 10. so one pensioner, as she's done . so one pensioner, as she's done. >> all right. she's the only pensioner is doing all right this winter, isn't she? >> well, this government, but we're also now finding out that sir keir starmer has received more freebies than any other mp since taking the keys to number 10, totalling around £100,000. >> let's have a listen at what

he previously had to say about decency in politics when he was leader of the opposition. >> as ever, one rule for them, another rule for everybody else. a new britain built on decency, security, prosperity and respect is welcome in my labor party. >> prosperity, presumably only if someone else is giving you stuff. >> and he apparently he's also his his his list of freebies. it's since he became, since 2019, 107,000. it's about to soar because we now know he's got a really nice package from arsenal football club. because unlike the prime minister, the former prime minister rishi sunak, who sat in the stands at southampton, he has to go in the hospitality box because of his security. what's the difference? >> i don't know. it's fascinating, isn't it, that the acting with this sort of impunity, i just think that he appears to feel as though, well, we are maybe the political left. we can get away with it. i don't

know what it is. >> well, let's talk to andy williams, political commentator, who, it's fair to say, leans more to the left than i do. >> i think that's very fair to say. good morning. >> andy. very good to see you. sue gray salary has risen over £20,000 since she was working for keir starmer when the labour party paid her wages. nobody else in the public sector is getting a £20,000 pay rise. what doesit getting a £20,000 pay rise. what does it look like? >> well , i does it look like? >> well, i don't have a problem with the amount she's paid. i actually think if you look at the job she does, which is a very significant job that requires a particular set of skills, i think it's a perfectly reasonable amount. and she'd earn more in the private sector. however, the optics of this are really, really bad, she was offered the opportunity to be paid less than the prime minister. so this story didn't happen, and she said no. and i can't understand why she made that decision . the problem for that decision. the problem for me. well, clearly. and the problem for me is that when the adviser, when any adviser becomes the story and this happened with alastair campbell towards the end of his time in tony blair's number 10, when the adviser becomes the story, that is a problem because it's

overshadowing the good work that the government is trying to do. >> and the fact is, andy, she's become the story. and they've only been in power not even three months. right. it's over. her getting involved in in very overtly political appointments. was she using her influence to try and get a £370 million football stadium built in a part of ireland where she used to work? i mean, she i cannot recall if chief of staff, who's had such a high profile and such a negative profile. so quickly. >> yeah. and it's not sustainable. and i do think that part of it is that in that role, you're going to upset some people because you're the prime minister's gatekeeper. you are necessarily sort of keeping people from having the access that they would like to the pm. however, she's obviously rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way. i think what's really interesting, looking at the story on, i think it was the bbc story on, i think it was the bbc story originally and the briefings from some of her colleagues in number 10 are incredibly aggressive, very, very negative. and so few people would have known her salary.

>> andy. so this , this, this >> andy. so this, this, this leak about her salary has come from people very highly placed, designed to undermine her, of course, to finish her off, in my view. >> yeah. and i mean, i don't think it will, but it is. it's a problem and it's a distraction. and then when you pair it with all of these stories about freebies, it makes it look like this is a government that's on the take. now, i don't think that's the case, but it just looks really bad. >> and £7,000 of freebies. the second highest mp in terms of freebies took 40,000. he's got his nose so deeply in the trough his nose so deeply in the trough his feet are barely sticking out. >> well, look, i actually i think this story is a little bit overblown. i don't think, you know, there's no suggestion that there's been any undue influence as a result of any of these gifts or donations. but, look, i accept i accept it's a huge amount of money. hang on. >> lord darzi got a pass to number 10 for a week. all access. >> he did very briefly. but if we think that's influenced, i think this is i think this is naivety rather than any you know, malpractice going on here.

i do think, i think this government's been on a very steep learning curve. i think they've realised that when you're in government, it's much harder than being in opposition in lots of ways. and the comms and the way things are being presented has been really, really poor. but if you look at it, compared to previous governments and, you know, look at boris johnson for example, in my view, did more to debase the office of prime minister than anyone who's ever held it. and some of the, you know, some of the things he was doing, whether it was wallpaper, whether it was arranging for an £800,000 loan via the bbc chairman, you know, it's not comparable. so i think we should just need we need to put this into some perspective. >> the wallpaper was paid for by by a donor. yeah. it wasn't pubuc by a donor. yeah. it wasn't public money. >> no no no no i know that. but nor is this. >> we're talking about is getting paid by the taxpayer. >> yeah, but as i said, i've not a problem with her with the salary itself. my problem is the fact that she's being paid more than the pm. and by the way, i think our prime ministers should be paid a lot more. i agree with you. no they're not. i don't think they're in it for the money and nor should they be. but we can't have a situation

where, i mean, £166,000. i accept that that puts you in the top 2% of earners. for most people, that is a lot of money. but in reality it's two months of nigel farage on gb news. >> do you think that bringing me on to my next question, that mp5 should be allowed to have other jobs? >> it's a really difficult one. i wouldn't ban it. i think they should be allowed to have other jobs with caveats, and that caveat is, if you're doing if you're doing your job and you're doing yourjob and serving your constituents properly and spending enough time in your constituency, then i don't have a problem with you doing, you know, an advisory role on the side or presenting on gb news, for example, i was asked about this in relation to nigel farage. i don't have an issue with him doing that. my issue with him doing that. my issue is, is he spending enough time in clacton? and that goes for all mp5. >> you can never tell that. so, you know, unless somebody is scrutinising the time sheets of mp5 to work out whether their constituents are happy with their input or not, you can never assess that. so either we pay never assess that. so either we pay our mp5 more and get the best people that would otherwise go in to be captains of industry and do incredibly well with very smart business brains, or we pay them less and expect them to

take revenue from other streams . take revenue from other streams. >> i would be in favour of paying >> i would be in favour of paying them more and pretty much scrapping the expenses system and saying, here's whatever the figure is. but a lot more, and you can do what you like with it, and you can have a second home or not have a second home. you pay your energy bills, whatever. but then it's transparent. they've got that money and then maybe they don't need to go and take that second job. >> do you agree with david lammy, the foreign secretary who said on sunday that actually we should be like america and have a system where the prime minister's partner, consort, wife in this case is given taxpayers money to pay for their outfits. he's wrong about that actually, because in america there isn't that system. but do you think we should be should there should be public support for the prime minister? >> i think there should be a lot more infrastructure around the office of the prime minister. i mean, if you think about it, the that building is not fit for purpose. number 10, as an office and a home, it's small. it's cramped, it's incredibly old. and compare it to the white house or pretty much any other head of state residence in the world. i mean, it's the infrastructure around the prime minister. >> mind you, he's not the head

of state. he may think he is. he may think he is. the king is the head of state. >> very, very fair point. oh any other, any other. but andy, are you just speaking the language of the champagne socialists? >> because i'm seeing them a lot now. i've heard that phrase bandied around for years, and i've never really sort of thought i'd met one. and now they appear to be everywhere. and i would definitely put the starmer's in that category. maybe people in that level of elite life just expect a better quality of life now. >> well, again, i think if you're if you're doing a job as significant as prime minister you need to be properly looked after. you know, you need to. you're not getting much sleep. you're not getting much sleep. you're having to make big decisions. every single day. >> they're not cooking their own tea, are they? >> i think they probably are. >> i think they probably are. >> they probably are. they don't. they don't have a housekeeper, which i think which i think number 10 doesn't have a housekeeper. no. >> are you telling me sam cam used to like, you know, whip up beans on toast? >> boris johnson got into difficulty because the bamfords sent a food parcel every morning. do you remember that? yes daylesford. and if you go to chequers for dinner and lunch, you have to pay. if it's friends

they have, the prime minister has to pay for it. extraordinary. >> yeah. and that's what i mean. i think we, i think we do need to have a it might not look good to have a it might not look good to the public, but we need to have a serious conversation about actually are we giving our leaders the resources that they need to actually do their job properly? does the labour prime minister really need to get a donor to give him 2500 pounds for designer spectacles? >> can't just. can't you just go to specsavers? >> i wish he would. >> i wish he would. >> oh yes. i think you're not alone. there's a lot of people i would, i would rather that he did because again, even though i don't think there is any £6 absolute bargain, i don't think there's any undue influence here. >> but it opens him up to a flank of criticism, particularly when he's been so strong on cracking down on, you know, unethical ways of doing things in politics, like double standards. and it does. >> right. andy williams, political commentator. thank you so much forjoining us. you've all been getting in touch at home. padraig has said a naive government, they know exactly what they're doing. and as for this guy saying the prime minister needs a higher wage, that's you. andy said. are you on the take? you're not on the take, are you? no, he's not

right. up next, israel declares a new phase of war in the middle east and as the israeli prime minister says, keir starmer is sending mixed messages over his support . are we about to get support. are we about to get dragged into this conflict? you're with britain's newsroom

gb news. good morning. welcome back. >> britain's newsroom gb news. >> britain's newsroom gb news. >> right. israeli security services have revealed they've arrested one of their own citizens who is suspected of being involved in an iran backed plot to assassinate benjamin netanyahu . netanyahu. >> this comes as the israeli government declares a new phase of the war, following a wave of walkie talkie and pager explosions across lebanon aimed at hezbollah. >> that's right, the lebanese militant group hezbollah, which is backed by iran, has accused israel of being responsible for these coordinated attacks, which is highly likely, isn't it? >> who else? let's talk to andrew fox, a retired parachute regiment officer who is a

research fellow at the henry jackson society specialising in the middle east. morning to you, it's pretty clear , andrew. it's it's pretty clear, andrew. it's israel. and while there may be outrage at the tactics there in a war with hezbollah , they have a war with hezbollah, they have to prosecute it whichever way they see fit. >> that's right. they're in a war and they've been in a war with hezbollah since 8th of october last year, >> since then, since obviously, the 7th of october attacks by hamas in the south of israel, 60,000 people in the north of israel are displaced from their homes by, by rockets from hezbollah . and i think what hezbollah. and i think what israel is doing with these measures they're taking now is they're giving they're giving hezbollah a choice, either back down or this escalates to an actual fighting war on the ground, and i think israel are now trying to force this issue so that they can get those 60,000 people home and secure their northern border. >> do we get a sense yet of which direction that's going to go? andrew >> it's very hard to say because clearly hezbollah have a vote in

this as well. and hezbollah aren't an independent agency. they're backed by iran . and this they're backed by iran. and this is all iranian strategy. they've surrounded israel with a boa constrictor of proxy, proxy fighting forces in different countries around the middle east. and really, it's iran that have the final say in all of this , now, i think there's this, now, i think there's a there's more we could do in the west to deescalate here. yes. we've sent forces to the middle east, particularly the americans. there are two aircraft carriers and a nuclear sub, in the vicinity of the middle east now. but we need to sort of apply diplomatic, economic and potentially even military threat to iran to get them to deescalate because they're the root cause of this entire thing. >> but what you're suggesting there is that the west start to threaten iran, including the uk, and i don't think our viewers and i don't think our viewers and listeners watching and listening to the show today would be on board with us getting involved again with another area of the world in which it feels like we don't have a significant strategic interest . interest. >> we have a huge strategic

interest in the middle east and that's one of the reasons why this continues to be a focus. oil is still an important, an important lifeline for our society . we've seen a huge cut society. we've seen a huge cut in shipping going through the suez canal because of the actions of the houthis , who are actions of the houthis, who are another iranian proxy, and that's making everyone's lives more expensive. and it's clearly having an impact on, on pricing around the world. >> but given how a priti key interest here, given how much we've already committed to ukraine at the moment of taxpayers money, given how little money labour say they have here to spend on domestic issues, i think the suggestion that we also have to start ploughing money into the middle east would go down very badly with the british electorate . with the british electorate. >> i mean, that's possibly fair, but actually, you know , in terms but actually, you know, in terms of british effort, we're talking about something incredibly minor here that we don't really have an armed forces that can provide anything at any scale whatsoever. what we're really realistically talking about here is america, because the world at the moment is a chessboard.

there are two players. there's china and there's america, and everyone else is a player on the chessboard, iran are a very clear chinese ally. they're providing arms and funding to the to the russian forces as they fight ukraine. they're they're russia's number one provider of strategic weapons in in ukraine, so making iran back down and we've actually seen diplomatic measures to make them back down on the ukrainian front in the last week, as the sanctions have been announced. so we're really talking about america here. i don't see a huge role for british troops, and certainly nothing in the ground space capacity. what we're really talking about is air power. but i think the most important thing is the diplomatic and economic pressure. well, the military pressure. >> okay, andrew, i hope you're right. thank you so much. andrew fox, retired parachute regiment officer thank you for your service, andrew. and also research fellow at the henry jackson society. >> and netanyahu, of course, is very unhappy with this government for suspending some arms sales to israel. many more to come. this is britain's newsroom on gb news. alex, has your.

newsroom on gb news. alex, has your . weather. your. weather. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news. >> morning. time for your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. a fine day for most. it is a bit dull out there for quite a few of us. first thing, and parts of the east coast may stay a little drab, but most of us will see some good spells of sunshine yet again. there's a bit of an easterly breeze which will bring a cooler feel, especially on some of these north sea coast, where it may stay a bit dull, but the mist and low cloud clearing from parts of southern england, south wales and should eventually break up over the midlands too. as i mentioned, some of these eastern coasts may stay a bit dull and if it does, temperatures could really struggle, but with some sunshine across the southeast. temperatures getting into the mid 205. quite as warm as yesterday in western scotland, but still likely to be over 20 celsius here. so a fine day to come. again, parts of the far north could be a little misty.

could be some haar at times around the coast of the northern isles and maybe the eastern side of scotland, staying a bit drab and cool throughout parts of the east coast of england. certainly keeping that cloud and if anything is going to come back inland overnight. but a fine evening across northern ireland and much of wales, along with most of southern england. temperatures will be falling away under those clear skies and nofice away under those clear skies and notice quite rapidly that cloud just spilling back inland over the midlands , over northeast the midlands, over northeast england, over eastern scotland. as we go through the night, and maybe once again. but getting back into east wales and parts of south—west england. but again, the vast majority will stay dry. that cloud may be thick enough for a little drizzle on eastern coast. temperatures holding up with the cloud in double digits. single figures across parts of scotland and northern ireland, where again particularly western scotland, northern ireland having another fine and sunny day tomorrow. but in the south it will change, starts fairly cloudy. it may well brighten up, but then we are expecting some quite heavy showers to break out as we go from late morning

onwards across the midlands, southern england, parts of south wales, some thunderstorms are possible too. further north it stays dry again. quite cool and cloudy on the east coast. feeling warm in western scotland with some sunshine. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers. sponsors of weather

gb news. >> 10 am. on thursday the 19th of september. live across the uk. this is britain's newsroom with andrew pierce and bev turner sue sizeable salary. >> sir keir starmer's chief of staff, sue gray. who else is getting a taxpayer funded salary of £170,000, which is more than the prime minister? well, at least we can say one pensioner is better off under this labour government and it's a freebie fiasco. >> the prime minister has declared gifts and free stuff totalling more than £100,000,

the highest of any mp walkie talkie blast. >> israel has declared a new phase in the war as the israeli prime minister netanyahu accuses britain of undermining israel by cancelling arms deals . cancelling arms deals. >> and are much beloved. pharmacies may well be in peril . pharmacies may well be in peril. up pharmacies may well be in peril. up to 6000 of them across britain are protesting against funding cuts today. it's a huge story. this anna riley has more . story. this anna riley has more. >> i'm here at halton pharmacy in leeds, where i'll be speaking to a pharmacist who's taking part in this day of action. >> it comes as pharmacies have faced a 40% cut in their budget, and 1400 pharmacies have shut in the last ten years because they cannot afford their bills . cannot afford their bills. >> the labour government are going to sort all this out, didn't you? a veterans honoured this morning? gb news remembers the 22,000 british servicemen who bravely helped conduct nuclear tests back in the 505

and 605, and we'll hear from some of those veterans very shortly . shortly. >> love our pharmacies. absolutely love them. >> and they're supposed to be taking up a lot of the slack from gps because it's very difficult to get a cheap piece of point. you don't need us to tell you that because we all know about that 8:00 queue on the phone number 45 8:00. so if they're having their money cut, how can they do their job? >> yeah. stuart busby's pharmacy. every time i mention her on here, somebody goes in and says. bev gave you a mention this morning, sue, the pharmacies are the lifeblood of our community. still new mums, babies with a rash, old people with an ache and pain, or anyone just has something they don't want to trouble the gp with. they go to the pharmacist, they should go to the pharmacist and we are treating them appallingly 40% cut in their budgets. that's a shortfall that they have to personally make up for as a business. it's mind blowing. let's talk about that and a lot

more this morning between now and midday. first at the very latest news with tatiana sanchez . latest news with tatiana sanchez. >> bev turner thank you. the top stories. it's been revealed that sir keir starmer has received more freebies than any other mp since 2019, totalling around £100,000. a cabinet ministers defended the prime minister, saying he's in a pressure job and should be allowed to enjoy gifts and hospitality if it's declared correctly. this comes after it was also revealed the prime minister's chief of staff, sue gray, reportedly takes home a salary of £170,000. that's 3000 more than the prime minister and greater than any conservative predecessor. the business secretary says ministers have no political inputin ministers have no political input in the pay of their advisers, as he defended sir keir starmer amid criticism of his chief of staff salary. in other news, five women have told the bbc that they were raped by

former harrods boss mohamed al fayed when they worked at the luxury london department store. the bbc has heard testimony from more than 20 female ex—employees who say the billionaire who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted them, including rape. the documentary and podcast al fayed predator at harrods gathered evidence that during fides ownership, harrods not only failed to intervene but helped cover up abuse allegations. harrods current owner said they were utterly appalled by the allegations and said his victims had been failed, for which the store sincerely apologised. former royal correspondent charles rea spoke to gb news this morning . spoke to gb news this morning. >> he has always been a controversial character, you know from the cash for questions row way back in the 905 and he was accused of sexual assault in round about 2009, which was never proven. and now we've got these allegations . now these are these allegations. now these are far, far more serious allegations than the than the previous ones. people will stop

going to the store. but that's why i think harrods have moved so quickly this morning to say, look, we are the new owners. we are a different harrods. we would never have covered anything up like this, they accept that i think they accepted that there was a cover up and it shouldn't have happened and have offered apologies to all the victims involved. >> in other news, the israeli government has declared a new phase of war following a wave of walkie talkie and pager explosions across lebanon . the. explosions across lebanon. the. lebanese terrorist group hezbollah have accused israel of being responsible for the co—ordinated attacks. it's understood 20 people were killed yesterday, while 12, including two children, lost their lives in the blasts on tuesday. that's as nearly 3000 remain in hospital, with 200 in a critical condition . a health watchdog has condition. a health watchdog has warned failings in nhs maternity

wards are more widespread than previously thought. a review conducted by the care quality commission rated almost half of services as inadequate or requiring improvement. only 4% were classed as outstanding and 48% were rated as good. the body which inspects and regulates health providers in england has called for urgent action to avoid poor care and preventable harm becoming normalised . the harm becoming normalised. the national pharmacy association will hold a ballot for members next week on whether to take industrial action for the first time ever. if the vote passes, pharmacies could open for fewer hours or potentially provide reduced services. that's as the association calls for an additional £1.3 billion in funding across pharmacies in england . the duke and duchess of england. the duke and duchess of sussex will reportedly stay neutral on the us presidential election. the pair have urged americans to go out and vote without giving their take on the two candidates. the couple marked national voter registration day on tuesday, with the archewell team to take

part in a letter writing activity. staff sent out letters to unregistered voters to encourage them to vote in november , and it may still only november, and it may still only be september, but it looks like the christmas countdown is already on. >> i know what i know. >> i know what i know. >> what do i know? i say what i say. >> we come and we go. >> we come and we go. >> certainly not everything . >> certainly not everything. >> certainly not everything. >> and that's our first glimpse of the main event. john lewis 2024 christmas advert. last yean 2024 christmas advert. last year, the retailer gave us snapper, the perfect tree and now we have a look at what's to follow with a new campaign centred on john lewis's recently revived never knowingly undersold price pledge, which beganin undersold price pledge, which began in 1925. and although there's still 87 days until christmas, the department store has dropped three first look images teasing one of the season's most highly anticipated clips. >> if i'd been them and those are the latest gb news headlines. >> for now, i'm tatiana sanchez. more in half an hour for the

very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . slash alerts. >> welcome back to britain's newsroom on gb news with me bev turner and andrew pierce. now if you go into central london today, trafalgar square, one of our most famous visitors , you'll our most famous visitors, you'll be greeted by a fourth, the fourth plinth, with artwork that aims to quote unite the trans community around the world. >> it looks like a blimmin fridge. >> oh, listen, you've not heard the half of it yet. right. it's the half of it yet. right. it's the work of. it's the work of mexican artist teresa margolis. and it's made up. i'm glad you're sitting down, andrew. it's masks depicting the faces of transgender and non—binary people. >> what's it for? why do we need that? why? why do we need a

mexican artist anyway? can't we find a british one or even a london one? and why do we have to? what's it got to do with the trans community? i mean, it's just. this is the mayor of london, presumably. yeah. >> it's like it's literally wokeness at its on steroids. this a lot of the people apparently who had their faces masks are masked are sex workers. again why we used to call them prostitutes. yes that's right. you did, and apparently the work investigates the social and aesthetic dimensions of conflict, creating sculptures , sculptural sculptures, sculptural installations, photographs, films and performances imbued with material traces of death. >> and they're they're not. so they're not just transgender people. they're also non—binary people. they're also non—binary people. what's non—binary? >> it means they don't identify as either male or female. right. this drives me mental. i'm getting so sick of this because. do you know why? because i think about my kids. >> trafalgar square, the fourth plinth we've seen there will be

a wonderful statue made of the late queen at some point. put it there. why, why? >> why, what are you trying to tell us? why? it's just. it's the tyranny of the minority. i've said it before, and this means that i'm now going to have to have another conversation with my teenagers at home about what non—binary is, and why some people describe themselves as non—binary. and maybe that's a good thing, because what i say to them around the kitchen table is there's no such thing as non—binary. you're either female, you're either male, you're either born of a woman, or you're born as a man. that is it. some people can play around with their identity and that is fine. let them do what they want to do in the privacy of their own home. but do not feel you need to come home from school because of this stupid art project and say, oh mum, i'm non—binary. it'sjust insulting. non—binary. it's just insulting. >> it'sjust non—binary. it's just insulting. >> it's just insulting, frankly. what a waste of time and money. how much did it cost, by the way? oh i don't know. >> we've got to find that out, haven't we? >> the price of that. because no doubt the long suffering community charge player taxpayer in london had to pay for it. >> yeah. no doubt. let us know your thoughts. this morning. >> gb news comment. maybe you

like it. maybe you think bev and i are being, not we not sufficiently open minded. >> maybe. >> maybe. >> that's ridiculous. oh, it is ridiculous. now, something of real significance. more than 100 real significance. more than 100 real people. exactly have been honoured with the nuclear test medal for operations carried out in the 505 and 605. >> so lab rats international. that's right. lab rats international is the group that is fighting for veterans justice. they've organised a special medal ceremony in weston, and our reporterjack weston, and our reporter jack carson has the story. a warning this report contains some flashing images. >> and once again, we watch the fireball as it forms testing bombs, which assured britain's military power in a nuclear age in the 19505 and 605. >> 22,000 british servicemen participated in nuclear tests and clean ups this week in weston—super—mare. more than a hundred were officially recognised with their nuclear test medal by the mayor of weston and deputy lord lieutenant of somerset. the event was organised by lab rats international, who have represented millions across the world. exposed to fallout from

the testing programmes, founder alan owen explains the importance of honouring the men. >> they haven't been thanked for their service because the medals came in the post in the jiffy bag, so to organise this for them to be thanked for their service and to be recognised is so important to them. the average age of our veterans is now 8788 years old. they need this recognition and they need to be thanked for what they did, because what they did was incredible. you know, my father included, who could not be here to receive it. so my sister and i did it on his behalf. it's just fantastic to say that what they did mattered. what they did for their country has been recognised. >> operation grapple saw nine british nuclear weapon tests carried out close to christmas island in the pacific ocean between 1957 and 1958. terry broomhall was in the royal engineers at the time, and says they weren't told of the dangers of the h—bomb test. >> we weren't aware because we weren't issued with any

protective clothing. we just put our little jackets on like that right . and we had to sit with right. and we had to sit with our backs to where it was going off with our hands over our eyes. no protective clothing. and when it actually went off, our backs burnt it felt like you were going to catch fire because were going to catch fire because we had our backs to it. and, and then we could see all the bones in our hands because of the light shining through. and then we were told after a little while you could turn round and look at the bomb, and it was like a big ball coming up out of the sea. brian unthank was also at christmas island, and another witness to the test. lifelong sacrifice, and the fight f0|to the test. >> he was part of the raf witness to the test. >> he was part of the raf catering squadron. the tests catering squadron. the tests have had a profound effect on have had a profound effect on his life. his life. >> we started to have illnesses >> we started to have illnesses in a couple of months after i in a couple of months after i left christmas island. i left christmas island. i actually lost all my teeth at actually lost all my teeth at the age of 20. i then met a the age of 20. i then met a

girl, got married in 1960, the girl, got married in 1960, the first few years of our marriage first few years of our marriage life, she had multiple dangerous life, she had multiple dangerous miscarriages. i had three sons. miscarriages. i had three sons. the third son had a double hole the third son had a double hole in his heart . in his heart . the third son had a double hole in his heart. i've since had 93 the third son had a double hole in his heart. i've since had 93 skin cancers removed . they skin cancers removed . they skin cancers removed. they didn't tell us about the skin cancers removed. they didn't tell us about the irradiated air that we were irradiated air that we were eating . drinking irradiated eating . drinking irradiated eating. drinking irradiated water, eating irradiated fish, eating. drinking irradiated water, eating irradiated fish, walking barefoot on heavily walking barefoot on heavily irradiated sand. their thoughts irradiated sand. their thoughts were you were safe. they weren't were you were safe. they weren't telling us. not just me. all of telling us. not just me. all of us, about the millions of us, about the millions of invisible bullets that are being invisible bullets that are being fired at us through illnesses. fired at us through illnesses. >> the h—bomb nuclear test >> the h—bomb nuclear test series showed the british had series showed the british had the technology to influence the the technology to influence the cold war, but for the men that cold war, but for the men that were, their service has meant a were, their service has meant a lifelong sacrifice, and the lifelong sacrifice, and the

fight for fight for justice goes on. jack carson gb news. >> what a shocking report. well, let's talk now to alan owen, who is the founder of labrats international and was featured in that report. alan, a medal in a jiffy bag sounds insulting. it seems to me like they deserve a lot more because they were subjected to serious problems with their health. and, have they not been entitled to any financial compensation ? financial compensation? >> yes. good morning . yes to >> yes. good morning. yes to when we got the medal. when rishi sunak, announced the medal in the national memorial arboretum in november 2022, we were hopeful for a big ceremony for them, for their service. they'd waited over 60 years for this medal. and then they arrived in a jiffy bag in the post, some of them, their postman even shook their hands because there was nobody there to give them. what they, the recognition that they deserved.

so we felt that at our annual reunion that we hold each year, that we needed to do something for them. veterans had even organised their own ceremonies locally and families had organised them for the veterans locally and we felt that we needed this recognition because they've been airbrushed from history. they are not taught aboutin history. they are not taught about in schools during any cold war history lessons. these people saw the deadliest of man's creations , and they've man's creations, and they've been forgotten. and one veteran said to me, he did national service. he said, all these years he was 88 years old and he'd never been thanked for his service by anybody. he was demobbed and just left, and i think that's a shame. it's a real shame. so we had to organise this, this ceremony because we're still fighting . we because we're still fighting. we are now have a new labour government. and as your headunes government. and as your headlines show, they were , put

headlines show, they were, put into power on honesty, fairness and transparency. and we've been working with keir starmer and sir john healey as secretary of for state defence for many years now, in opposition and they called for compensation and an apology . and now they're in apology. and now they're in power. we want them to carry on with that because they've made promises to these veterans that it's a scandal that's 70 years or 72 years old now from the first test. and so many people died. >> alan, i was going to say how many of them are left ? many of them are left? >> so, so many of them have died. >> so how many of them, alan? how many are left? how many are left? >> oh, how many are left? so of the 22,000 that went out, there were only going on people that have applied for the medal and the people that have applied for the people that have applied for the medal is about 2500. so there's 10% left worldwidenuclear

28,000 records about the nuclear test veterans that has been hidden away under national security issues. and i can't see how a blood test for all these guysis how a blood test for all these guys is a national security issue. and yes, we believe that they were experimented on. >> did they get paid anything for the test, alan? >> no, only just normal overseas pay, >> no, only just normal overseas pay, which you would get if you went anywhere overseas and they did not know . went anywhere overseas and they did not know. i went anywhere overseas and they did not know . i spoke to did not know. i spoke to a veteran last night that was posted to christmas island. he volunteered to go to christmas island , and it was only two island, and it was only two months afterwards that he was on christmas island, that they told him about the nuclear testing that was about to take place. >> wow. >> wow. >> and if i'd known, i would have never volunteered . have never volunteered. >> alan, it's not often that we're lost for words on this show, but that is really extraordinary. well done to you and keep us posted on, because we want to know if the if the new government is going to do

compensation and is going to honour these men. >> yeah. any time soon. >> yeah. any time soon. >> amazing. alan, thank you very much. >> we are we are still fighting and we do have a crowdfunder and you can find it on our website at labrats international. thank you very much for watching and you very much for watching and you have us on side. >> we are very much on side. thank you so much. the founder of labrats international. thank you. you know what astonishing isn't it? put those men on your stupid plinth. put those men on your plinth. why aren't they all on there? why does their story not be in the curriculum like great that keir starmer is saying we have to learn about the holocaust. fantastic. yes, that should be every child should know about those men. >> lab rats. that's exactly what they were very wound up this morning. >> andrew, as you can see up next up next to something much less serious. >> well, it's serious. this would be serious for the late queen. tupperware has gone bust. oh, no. exactly. and is filing for bankruptcy. where are you going? to put last night's leftovers. >> just when i thought my day couldn't get any worse and remember when the daily mirror put a butler? >> it had a fake butler in the

mirror in the buckingham palace. the revelations, all of us. the queen's breakfast cereal was in tupperware. >> very sensible, practical and attractive. and tupperware parties. i grew up with my mum having tupperware parties in the house. that's devastating news, right? we'll hopefully have some more uplifting news as well. after this very quick break. don't go anywhere

break. good morning. 1024 this is britain's newsroom with andrew pierce and bev turner. we're joined by the broadcaster and journalist claire muldoon. new to face this show, but familiar to gb news viewers and political commentator jonathan lis in the studio. and this isn't on our list, so please say if you want to save it to the second hour. but have you seen the plinth in trafalgar square? >> hideous. >> hideous. >> absolutely hideous. hideous. it's ridiculous. good. what is it? it's not a piece of art . it? it's not a piece of art. >> it's people's masks that are

trans who identify as trans. and they're taking over the fourth plinth in trafalgar square, in the capital of the uk, to see what taking over. >> i mean, it's a piece. it's a piece. i mean, it literally is a piece. i mean, it literally is a piece of art. someone she's an artist. you can you can agree or disagree, whether it's good art, but it is art. well, that's art, isn't it? that's very subjective. of course, and that's completely fine. we can have a debate about whether art is good or not. >> great lump of pointless art about trans people. why does trafalgar square need to have that on? andrew, i think it's quite offensive to say it's pointless when these are commemorating. >> he's commemorating people from the cursory look at the story who have been, i think it's been people who've been killed. >> they're not dead, they're not dead, they're not dead . dead, they're not dead. >> they had their faces. >> they had their faces. >> there was memorial no, no, the type of art is a mexican style of memorial. >> so in mexico, that sort of. but they would use real they would use they would use death masks and also sometimes real skulls. okay. so that's, that's sort of the mexican element of it. again, why are we not celebrating british art and a

british way of portraying art, but also the conversations you have to have claire with your kids about the trans and non—binary issues. i'm having it forced down my throat again. >> well, you are, and it's such a small proportion of society which is which is not representative are is there for everybody. art is there to educate. art, as i said, is very subjective. some people love it, some people hate it. certain pieces of art. anthony gormley's statue of the angel of the north. beautiful, wonderful. we know exactly what it does . but know exactly what it does. but this this is. why aren't people saying it's culturally appropriation? which is because it's using mexican style of death mask. and then to use the trans lobby of virtue signalling again, getting things down our throats constantly. i'm sorry. the debate is, is we shouldn't be having it. >> i honestly don't know why it's such an important part of our cultural life. >> is trafalgar square. yes. so why do we need this obscure, piece of artwork? >> i think it's interesting when you have people's faces carved into the side of , you know, a

into the side of, you know, a kind of container, like. >> but you can't see them from the ground. >> look, it's if it gets people talking. >> that is one about talking about normalising, not talking about normalising, not talking about normalising. i don't think normalising psychological dysfunction around gender. >> we can talk about art or we can talk about trans rights. it's sometimes difficult to talk about not trans rights. >> it's not trans rights. it's normalising psychological. >> when you talk about normalising, that's also really, really problematic and dangerous because these trans people have always existed. you can disagree about whether people can change genden about whether people can change gender, but trans people have always existed. i agree, and it's completely fine. and legitimate to talk about trans people to put trans people in art, but it was always trans people are also british. some british people are trans. you know, trafalgar square is the centre of our capital. it's not going to be there forever. it's completely fine to have them for a limited amount of time, to get people talking, to get people looking at art. do i like this art? do i not like this art? why don't i like it? why do i like

it? what is it trying to convey? >> but the thing is, i'll tell you, jonathan, if people actually turn round as we have done and said we don't like that piece of art, we will be branded transphobic. >> yeah, you've just said it was offensive. >> i said, it's offensive. some of the language i thought it was because i hadn't read the story, because i hadn't read the story, because i hadn't read the story, because i probably because i didn't know we were talking about it right now. i thought they were dead and it was memorialising them. so that's why i thought it was even still, even if they are dead. >> so what? >> so what? >> well, i mean, so why do we have to have a massive piece of art which memorial is all about pointless? >> it is about normalising the concept that you are not male and you are not female. and the non—binary issue is not the trans issue. it's always about the fact that, well, this it's normalising. i've got no i've got no other word than that. why is it it shouldn't be normal, but that's a, that's a separate conversation from the art because what you're saying is it's not normal. >> whereas i'm just saying that people have non—binary people have always existed, people who don't conform to gender don't feel like they conform to genden feel like they conform to gender. people who have been trans, i view, as you just acknowledged, have existed forever. so why is it not normal? >> london is one of the great cities on the planet, right? i

don't have something on that. >> and we also have a huge lgbt diversity, as you well know. >> what's trans? why can't we have something that reflects london cultural life? >> well, i mean, look, the nice thing about multiculturalism, london is not only a massive centre of lgbt life, it's also hugely multicultural city. and of course, it's legitimate to talk about different cultures and to have different cultural interests. i mean, the british museum is literally a world museum, less than 1%, less than 1%, 0.1 or oh point between 0.1, 0.2. >> so how is that getting bigger every day? how is that reflective? >> because children are being you're allowed. >> children are being influenced by every single monument. is not about trans people. >> virtue signalling by the mayor of london. thank you. >> and that's exactly what i said at the beginning. >> what is the and what is the virtue that is being. >> this will tick a box. >> this will tick a box. >> look at me sadiq khan. i'm so trendy. >> and with it i think it's like i'll have to. >> i didn't have the masks on bikes actually, to go and look at, i will look. >> andrew, i love art, i love pubuc >> andrew, i love art, i love public art. i will go to this exhibit. i'll look at it. i'll see what i think about it from an artistic perspective and an aesthetic perspective. and then i'll look into art critic. we're literally talking about that .

literally talking about that. i'm saying i can't comment on it before i've really seen it. well we've shown you a photo. there's a photograph of it. it's hideous about it. it's hideous. >> andrew, that's a bit mean. >> andrew, that's a bit mean. >> well, no, he's not mean. it's just ridiculous. i mean, how can you expect me to comment on art? i haven't seen the artwork in person. i did say we can talk about it. >> you did a good job, right? what do we want? what else do we want to cover? just. we've only got a couple of minutes left. i think. claire, should we do? boris, we must help ukraine get into nato. now. >> do we have to do this? well, i mean, i mean, i mean, even that just i mean, the whole ukraine thing, i just don't get i mean, i think it's an absolute an aberration of war. and i think zelenskyy is a bit of a crook. and i'm just not getting it at all. i think if they were to put ukraine into nato, it would just put the burden of financial issue onto every single other nato state. but in saying that, i think it might be a good thing just to get get them in nato. it might give them more protection, it might enable this whole sham of a to war stop because there's something funny going on. >> is it a sham of the war? ukraine was literally invaded,

but they were invaded because of the repeated threat to put ukraine into nato and the provocation. kremlin talking point . point. >> how is it not a fact? >> how is it not a fact? >> it's not a fact that nato expanded in 2004. this is not some kind of sudden and actually russia has very few borders. why why did it matter now? >> why didn't it matter in 2014 when he went into crimea? >> why did the russians? >> why did the russians? >> why did the russians? >> why did the fact that the crimea weren't nato? why did britain and other countries not support ukraine militarily? >> ukrainians didn't. well, they did support ukraine in some ways. but you did not have all you can have all kinds of arguments about what happened in 2014 and the role of the west. >> we turned a blind eye to it. >> we turned a blind eye to it. >> well, look, it was it was a localised war. you could definitely argue that the west didn't give enough attention to it , which often happens when you it, which often happens when you have when you which often happens when you have localised conflicts that sort of become frozen conflicts, even though they sort of bubble away the west, if it doesn't affect their direct interests, they're not interested in it. and then

obviously, when russia launched a full scale, if the west does, if it doesn't affect our direct interest. >> right. we don't have a strategic interest in ukraine as a country as well. i'm so sick of all these people coming out on the media shouting for war out of some principle, some ridiculous idea that putin wants to take over the world. he's been he's been the head of russia for 25, 26 years. if he wants to take over the world, he could have done it by now. right? >> so let's just he couldn't have done it by now. why? >> but there's never been this idea that he's got this imperialist ambition. >> what do you think the invasion of ukraine was? >> it is so much land grab, as was crimea wanted. >> this is a it is so much more country style war of aggression to take over. they literally tried to take rubbish. >> we ignore that. >> we ignore that. >> that's not rubbish. at all. >> that's not rubbish. at all. >> claire. yeah. jonathan, good to see you both. right. we'll be back. and also tupperware's gone bankrupt. maybe that's why i'm so wound up this morning. here's tatiana with your .

tatiana with your. news. >> thank you. and good morning. the top stories. it's been revealed that keir starmer has received more freebies than any other mp since 2019, totalling around £100,000. a cabinet minister defended the prime minister, saying he's in a pressure job and should be allowed to enjoy gifts and hospitality. if it's declared correctly. this comes after it was also revealed the prime minister's chief of staff, sue gray, reportedly takes home a salary of 170,000. that's 3000 more than the prime minister and greater than any conservative predecessor. the business secretary says ministers have no political input in the pay of their advisers, as he defended sir keir starmer amid criticism of his chief of staff salary . a of his chief of staff salary. a woman who alleges she was raped by her former employer, mohamed al fayed. the egyptian billionaire who owned harrods for more than 25 years, says she's still petrified of someone that's no longer alive. five women have told the bbc that they were raped by the former harrods boss when they worked at

the luxury london department store. the bbc has heard testimony from more than 20 female ex—employees who say the billionaire who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted them, including rape. the documentary and podcast al fayed predator at harrods gathered evidence that during its ownership, harrods not only failed to intervene but helped cover up abuse allegations. harrods current owner said they were utterly appalled by the allegations and said his victims had been failed, for which the store sincerely apologised . store sincerely apologised. former royal correspondent charles rea spoke to gb news about this morning. >> he has always been a controversial character, you know, from the cash for questions row way back in the 905 and he was accused of sexual assault in around about 2009, which was never proven. and now we've got these allegations now these are far, far more serious allegations than the than the previous ones. people will stop going to the store. but that's why i think harrods have moved

so quickly this morning to say, look , we are we are the new look, we are we are the new owners. we are a different harrods. we would never have covered anything up like this, they accept the i think they accepted that there was a cover up and it shouldn't have happened and have offered apologies to all the victims involved . involved. >> in other news, the israeli government has declared a new phase of war following a wave of walkie talkie and pager explosions across lebanon . explosions across lebanon. lebanese terrorist group hezbollah have accused israel of being responsible for the coordinated attacks . it's coordinated attacks. it's understood 20 people were killed yesterday while 12, including two children, lost their lives in the blast on tuesday. that's as nearly 3000 remain in hospital, with 200 in a critical condition. meanwhile, israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has hit out at the new labour government, accusing it of being misguided and

undermining israel . and a health undermining israel. and a health watchdog has warned failings in nhs maternity wards are more widespread than previously thought. a review conducted by the care quality commission rated almost half of services as inadequate or requiring improvement. only 4% were classed as outstanding. 48% rated as good. the body which inspects and regulates health providers in england has called for urgent action to avoid poor care and preventable harm becoming normalised . and those becoming normalised. and those are the latest gb news headlines. for now i'm tatiana sanchez. more from me in half an hour 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. >> up next, pharmacies now facing an uncertain future with

big cuts to their funding. find out how many are protesting today. this is britain's newsroom on

gb news. 1039 this is britain's newsroom with andrew pierce and bev turner. up to 6000 pharmacies across the country could be on the picket line in the coming weeks. >> so in an effort to highlight what they call a 40% reduction in funding from the government, as many as 6000 pharmacies across the uk could hit the picket line as the national pharmacy association prepares to strike. >> the organisation says cuts to funding were reducing the ability to provide safe care. remember, we need them to do the jobs that often gps aren't doing. >> that's right. so joining us live from leeds to bring us the latest on this story is our reporter anna riley. good morning anna. in leeds. now just explain to our viewers again. just remind us why the

pharmacies are feeling under so much pressure . much pressure. >> good morning to you both. yes. well, i'm in halton pharmacy at the moment. i'm joined by ashley cohen . he's the joined by ashley cohen. he's the owner here. and that pressure that they're feeling is that 40% cut that they've had from the government not getting enough money to pay their wages , to pay money to pay their wages, to pay their staff, to pay for the drugs as well. and that's meaning that from january to june just this year , 18 june just this year, 18 community pharmacies per week have closed. ashley, can you just tell us about the pressures, tell us about the funding and tell us about why you're taking part in this action today. >> well , today is a call to >> well, today is a call to action. it's to say to the government and also the public that enough is enough. we have had ten years of chronic underfunding into our sector. and when i say underfunding, we have had now five years of a 0% contract come to an end and the

pressure that that puts on us, my team and the whole community is, is relentless. and you mentioned the closures of pharmacies . we've seen 1500 pharmacies. we've seen 1500 permanently closed their doors . permanently closed their doors. and we're now seeing pharmacies having to reduce the services that they're providing to the pubuc that they're providing to the public because they're not being funded. so the pressure on us and my team is relentless at the moment, and it's today is an action day to say we need things to change. >> and what is that underfunding meant to you? >> well , it's meant to you? >> well, it's significant cash. so to just give you one example, national living wage going up this year in april by 10% costs us about £70,000 extra a year for this year alone. so it means for this year alone. so it means for us that we need to borrow more . we need to raid our more. we need to raid our savings. we need to look at contingency plans, because at the moment, the amount that we're getting paid by the government to do the simple things like dispense medication is not enough. we are constantly dispensing medicines at a loss, and we are providing or i am providing out of my pocket the

drugs budget, and it is a crucial service that you provide, especially now when a lot of us can't get gp appointments. >> they all say go to the pharmacy first and you also provide to hospices, care homes and prisons here as well, don't you , with dispensing. so how you, with dispensing. so how doesit you, with dispensing. so how does it feel that other sectors, such as junior doctors have got a pay such as junior doctors have got a pay boost but but not the pharmacies? and what do you think to this government. >> well, the noises that we're heanng >> well, the noises that we're hearing are, are great. so wes streeting and stephen kinnock, who's the pharmacy minister, and rachel reeves, who's the chancellor, but also a lead constituency mp, have all made the right noises for pharmacy while in opposition and during the election. i've been very supportive, been talking about the role that we can play, that we're part of the solution. but talk is cheap. we need a restoration of our pay from ten years ago to stop the closures, and i understand the pressures of other people and other public sectors. but we have literally had 0% in our core funding for

ten years. so in order for us to achieve the maximum aim which the government want , which is to the government want, which is to take the pressure off primary care doctors and gp practices , care doctors and gp practices, we need that funding restored so that we can actually take that pressure off, increase capacity and keep people out of hospital and keep people out of hospital and lots of pharmacies taking part in this day of action today around the uk, but also a petition going to parliament. yes. so today we see a cross—party pharmacy sector presenting a petition of over 350,000 signatures to sir keir starmer , which is part of the starmer, which is part of the protest today, to make sure that the voice is heard, that we keep shouting loud and proud of the sector, that we can, that we can help, we're agile, we want to help, we're agile, we want to help them be part of the reform in the future. and i think, as lord darzi said, a week ago, the nhs was in a critical condition. he said. we can help play the part in the three areas that they recommended. the pharmacy sector for me is in life. on life support and without urgent

injection we probably will be end of life, so we really need that to be listened to now, urgently by the government. >> thank you ashley, thank you for speaking to us this morning. so that's the picture here from the pharmacy sector, not just in leeds but across the uk . leeds but across the uk. >> okay. thank you anna. anna riley there. you've been getting in touch at home. christine has just said this story worries me a lot more than the doctors going on strike. they're so important to me, says brenda. they are so important. and they really the government really do need to listen to this, because if we are getting a worse and worse system under the nhs, which we are where we can't see our gp's, we need our pharmacies more than ever and they've just given a 22% pay rise to junior doctors to stop them going on strike. >> what are they going to do to pharmacists who aren't asking for higher wages? they're just asking for money to cover the cost of the drugs they administer. yeah. >> let's see what else you've been saying, here we go. benjamin netanyahu says, david, complaining he's not getting the backing from the labour government. clearly, netanyahu hasn't got the memo. it's all

about suits and glasses. so donate to starmer and grey fund and you'll be okay, fella . and, and you'll be okay, fella. and, brexit crusader says i've stopped watching bbc and itv news because of woke plonkers like him. i think that's jonathan lis. get him off the telly. no, we like having him on the telly because we do like to hear all opinions here on gb news and you have found us because you stopped watching bbc and itv, so we must be doing something right. up next. >> are those e—bikes and scooters that you can hire? dangerous? one council big one is threatening to ban them completely. this is britain's newsroom live across the uk on

gb. news 1049 you're with britain's newsroom on gb news now. >> as if it wasn't wound up enough already this morning. how safe are those e—bikes? well

brent council has issued a stark warning to lime bikes. you know the things stating that they must address safety concerns if they want to continue operating in the borough. >> that's a spokesman for the firm, said it wants to work with the council to find a solution to the issue. now remember, these bikes are not just in london, they're in manchester, birmingham, bristol, milton keynes, nottingham, derby and they're a pest. they're everywhere and they often just dumped on the ground. >> yeah, they are . >> yeah, they are. >> yeah, they are. >> they literally fall over them. >> i've often thought for the visually impaired they must be a nightmare. completely. they are strewn all over the pavements in west london, where i live. the scallies who like to commit crimes at night, use them. jump on them, bomb it away quickly. once they've robbed your car because they're quiet or stabbed your teenager. they're a nightmare. >> let's talk to the criminal defence lawyer, nick freeman, who is a friend of the program. nick. morning. they are a complete pain, aren't they? and it looks like brent council in north london is losing patience

with them. >> yeah. look in the wrong hands. if they used irresponsibly, they are a complete nightmare. and they're clearly being a nightmare in brent council. but there are things that can be done. i think they are the way forward, but they are the way forward, but they need to be managed and we need to have proper regulation. and at the moment, you know, if someone can just discard it and cause a hazard and never really be accountable for that and for the way they ride them, then that's not a satisfactory situation . so dealing with the situation. so dealing with the discarding what many councils have around the country are stations . and unless you deposit stations. and unless you deposit the bike back in a station with a photograph that you've done so you will continue to be charged on on your credit card and that seems quite a simple solution, and i'm not quite sure why it's not happening in brent. so the council needs to work with the american company who supplies these bikes , and there needs to these bikes, and there needs to be a system in place. and that system already exists for many areas, as i say, that you discard it and you continue to be charged for it, which seems a

sensible idea. >> sorry, sorry, nick. carry on. finish, >> 50 finish, >> so that sort of deals with that aspect. and of course, you know, for all sorts of people , know, for all sorts of people, they're unsightly, they're dangerous. they don't want to be on the ground, and they're going to be accidents. but a similarly pressing problem is the fact that there's no accountability, for the way these, these vehicles are driven, they're very heavy. they're about 32 kilos, much heavier than pedal cycles . the electric motor is cycles. the electric motor is supposed to take you at 15.5 miles an hour, and then you have pedal power in addition. so if you get hit by one of those, you'll certainly know about it . you'll certainly know about it. they're used in crime with no idea at any stage who is using them, because there's no means of identification. and i have again, quite a simple solution. and it relates to bikes. it relates to e—bikes, and that is to have the same law and the same means of identification that applies to motor vehicles. so there is a system in place to identify a culprit at any one time. and i acknowledge

nothing's perfect. and there will be people like to do with cars who put on the wrong plates. et cetera, et cetera. but at least that goes some way to solving this problem and making people responsible and accountable. and then we have a situation where they don't have to wear helmets. so you can be going 25 or 30 miles an hour in one of these bikes on the pavement through red lights. i mean, there's no speed limit for them , there's no drink drive them, there's no drink drive limit. there's no drug drive limit. there's no drug drive limit. by and large, if you actually get someone and stop them, how are you going to enforce a law that doesn't really exist? and if they actually injure somebody or kill somebody, you're relying on the offences against the person act 1861 and wanton and furious cycling. the maximum sentence is two years. so i hope what i'm illustrating is the system is a complete mess. there are solutions. they are environmentally friendly, but we need to find those solutions and put them in. we've been talking about it for years now. they need to happen. the government needs to get a handle on this, make it happen, and then there

will be benefit for lots of people and it does need the government to do it. >> nick doesn't it? >> nick doesn't it? >> definitely. the government have to be involved. you know , have to be involved. you know, there's they're supposed to be environmentally friendly. it's good. look, for me, i don't really understand the point of an e—bike when you can pedal. surely pedalling is the way to keep yourself fit and healthy. sitting there with an electric motor, conveying you at 15.5 miles an hour. well, okay, you're in the fresh air, but there's a lot of pollution about and i'm not sure of the benefits of that. but having said that, it must be preferable to taking the tube, so there are benefits, but if the government don't don't want to encourage this by having safe infrastructure making people have helmets, making people have helmets, making people have insurance , making people have insurance, making people have insurance, making people have insurance, making people responsible for the way they drive . then, we've the way they drive. then, we've we're going to we're going to continue having these conversations, aren't we, on a very negative and negative front . very negative and negative front. >> okay. brilliant. well done. nick. nick freeman there. criminal lawyer who can get as many words per minute as about as fast as he can drive.

>> but he talks a lot of sense, doesn't he? he does. >> don't go anywhere as the weather. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> morning. time for your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. a fine day for most. it is a bit dull out there for quite a few of us. first thing in parts of the east coast may stay a little drab, but most of us will see some good spells of sunshine yet again. there's a bit of an easterly breeze which will bring a cooler feel, especially on some of these north sea coasts where it may stay a bit dull. but the mist and low cloud clearing from parts of southern england, south wales and should eventually break up over the midlands too. as i mentioned, some of these eastern coasts may stay a bit dull and if it does, temperatures could really struggle. but with some sunshine across the south—east, temperatures getting into the mid 205. quite as warm as yesterday in western scotland, but still likely to be over 20 celsius here. so a fine day to come. again, parts of the far

north could be a little misty. could be some haar at times around the coast of the northern isles, and maybe the eastern side of scotland. staying a bit drab and cool throughout parts of the east coast of england. certainly keeping that cloud and if anything is going to come back inland overnight. but a fine evening across northern ireland and much of wales, along with most of southern england. temperatures will be falling away under those clear skies and nofice away under those clear skies and notice quite rapidly that cloud just spilling back inland over the midlands, over northeast england, over eastern scotland. as we go through the night, and maybe once again. but getting back into east wales and parts of south—west england. but again, the vast majority will stay dry. that cloud may be thick enough for a little drizzle on eastern coast. temperatures holding up with the cloud in double digits. single figures across parts of scotland and northern ireland, where again particularly western scotland . northern ireland scotland. northern ireland having another fine and sunny day tomorrow. but in the south all change starts fairly cloudy. it may well brighten up, but boxt boilers. sponsors of w

go from late morning onwards go from late morning onwards across the midlands, southern across the midlands, southern england, parts of south wales. england, parts of south wales. some thunderstorms are possible some thunderstorms are possible too. further north it stays dry too. further north it stays dry again, quite cool and cloudy on again, quite cool and cloudy on the east coast . feeling warm in the east coast . feeling warm in the east coast. feeling warm in the east coast. feeling warm in western scotland with some western scotland with some sunshine . sunshine. >> that warm feeling inside from sunshine . sunshine. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers. sponsors of boxt boilers. sponsors of weather weather than

am live in aberdeen where the prince will vis.: shortly . am live in aberdeen where the prince will vis. theirtly . am live in aberdeen where the prince will vis. the prime freebie fiasco. the prime minister has declared gifts and

free stuff totalling more than free stuff totalling more than £100,000. that's the highest of £100,000. that's the highest of any mp and maternity care any mp and maternity care failings. >> nearly half of the units in failings. >> nearly half of the units in england inspected by the england inspected by the watchdog received the bottom two watchdog received the bottom two ratings. the health secretary, ratings. the health secretary, wes streeting, says it's a wes streeting, says it's a national shame. >> he's right. it is. israel national shame. >> he's right. it is. israel declares a new phase in the war declares a new phase in the war as the israeli prime minister as the israeli prime minister netanyahu accuses britain of netanyahu accuses britain of undermining israel by cancelling undermining israel by cancelling various arms deals and workers various arms deals and workers who support the homeless are who support the homeless are going to get the same access to going to get the same access to discounts and savings as nhs discounts and savings as nhs staff , thanks to prince william. staff , thanks to prince william. staff, thanks to prince william. >> our royal reporter cameron staff, thanks to prince william. >> our royal reporter cameron walker has the details. walker has the details. >> prince william demonstrating >> prince william demonstrating it is possible to end it is possible to end homelessness , continuing his homelessness , continuing his homelessness, continuing his mission and rewarding workers homelessness, continuing his mission and rewarding workers supporting vulnerable people. i am live in aberdeen where the supporting vulnerable people. i am live in aberdeen where the prince will visit shortly . prince will visit shortly

stories. it's been revealed that sir keir starmer has received more freebies than any other mp since 2019, totalling around £100,000. a cabinet minister has defended the prime minister, saying he's in a pressured job and should be allowed to enjoy

gifts and hospitality. if it's declared correctly. this comes after it was revealed the prime am live in aberdeen where the princtitivill visit shortly am live in aberdeen where the princtit was ilsll shortly am live in aberdeen where the princtit was revealed :ly am live in aberdeen where the princtit was revealed the prime after it was revealed the prime minister's chief of staff, sue minister's chief of staff, sue gray, reportedly takes home a gray, reportedly takes home a salary of £170,000. that's 3000 salary of £170,000. that's 3000 more than the prime minister and more than the prime minister and greater than any conservative greater than any conservative predecessor. the business predecessor. the business secretary says ministers have no secretary says ministers have no political input in the pay of political input in the pay of their advisers, as he defended their advisers, as he defended sir keir starmer amid criticism sir keir starmer amid criticism of his chief of staff salary . a of his chief of staff salary . a failed revealed that of his chief of staff salary. a woman who alleges she was raped of his chief of staff salary. a woman who alleges she was raped by her former employer, mohamed by her former employer, mohamed al—fayed, the egyptian al—fayed, the egyptian billionaire who owned harrods billionaire who owned harrods for more than 25 years, says for more than 25 years, says she's still petrified of someone she's still petrified of someone that's no longer alive. five that's no longer alive. five women have told the bbc that women have told the bbc that they were raped by the former they were raped by the former harrods boss when they worked at harrods boss when they worked at the luxury london department the luxury london department store. the bbc has heard store. the bbc has heard testimony from more than 20 testimony from more than 20 female ex—employees, who say the female ex—employees, who say the billionaire, who died last year billionaire, who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted aged 94, sexually assaulted them, including rape. the them, including rape. the documentary and podcast al fayed documentary and podcast al fayed predator at harrods gathered predator at harrods gathered evidence that during fire's evidence that during fire's

ownership, harrods not only ownership, harrods not only failed to intervene but helped cover up abuse allegations. harrods current owners said they were utterly appalled by the allegations and said his victims had been failed, for which the store sincerely apologised. former royal correspondent charles rea spoke to gb news this morning. >> he has always been a controversial character, you know from the cash for questions row way back in the 905 and he was accused of sexual assault in round about 2009, which was never proven . and now we've got never proven. and now we've got these allegations. now these are far, far more serious allegations than the than the previous ones. people will stop going to the store. but that's why i think harrods have moved so quickly this morning to say , so quickly this morning to say, look, we are the new owners. we are a different harrods. we would never have covered anything up like this, they accept the i think they accepted that there was a cover up and it shouldn't have happened and have offered apologies to all the

victims involved . victims involved. >> in other news, business and trade secretary jonathan reynolds says restrictions on uk arms exports to israel are fair and proportionate. the uk suspended some arms export licences to israel earlier this month over concerns the countries violating international humanitarian law international humanitarian law in gaza. well, fears have intensified that the conflict between israel and lebanon could escalate after a second wave of attacks in beirut yesterday. judnh attacks in beirut yesterday. judith raanan . lebanese judith raanan. lebanese terrorist group hezbollah have accused israel of being responsible for the co—ordinated attacks, which saw a wave of walkie to appear before a crown

bailed to appear before a crown court on the 1st of october. the national pharmacy association will hold a ballot for members next week on whether to take industrial action for the very first time, if the vote passes. pharmacies could open for fewer hours or potentially provide reduced services. that's as the association calls for an additional £1.3 billion in funding across pharmacies in england . large firms will face england. large firms will face a crackdown on late payments to small businesses as part of a new package of government support to tackle the issue, which sir keir starmer said is one of the biggest reasons businesses collapse. the government says small businesses have long been calling for rules to clamp down on late payments of invoices. it refers to when another business is late for paying another business is late for paying for goods or a service, and can leave smaller suppliers cash strapped while they await and can leave smaller suppliers cash strapped while they await the money that they are owed . the money that they are owed . the money that they are owed. and there may still be 87 days the money that they are owed. and there may still be 87 days

until christmas, but it looks until christmas, but it looks like the countdown is already like the countdown is already on. on. >> i know what i know. >> i know what i know. >> i know what i know. >> what do i know? i say what >> i know what i know. >> what do i know? i say what say. >> we come and we go. say. >> we come and we go. >> we come and we go. >> certainly not everything. >> we come and we go. >> certainly not everything. >> certainly not everything. >> certainly not everything. >> our very first glimpse of the >> our very first glimpse of the main event, john lewis 2024 main event, john lewis 2024 christmas advert. last year, the christmas advert. last year, the retailer gave us a snapper, the retailer gave us a snapper, the perfect tree and now we have a perfect tree and now we have a look at what's to follow with a look at what's to follow with a new campaign centred on john new campaign centred on john lewis's recently revived never lewis's recently revived never knowingly undersold price knowingly undersold price pledge, which began in 1925. the pledge, which began in 1925. the through the decades tv advert is through the decades tv advert is the first in a three part the first in a three part campaign for the all important campaign for the all important retail golden quarter, which retail golden quarter, which will culminate with the will culminate with the department store's christmas department store's christmas spot. spot. department store's christmas spot . and those are the latest department store's christmas spot . and those are the latest spot. and those are the latest gb news headlines for now. i'm spot. and those are the latest gb news headlines for now. i'm tatiana sanchez. i'll be back in tatiana sanchez. i'll be back in half an hour for the very latest half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code , alerts by scanning the qr code , alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts suppliers slash alerts .

slash alerts. >> welcome back to britain's newsroom live. across the uk on gb news with me, andrew pierce and bev turner. >> now you're not andrew pierce. you just said me, andrew pierce. she's had a change. she's changed sex. >> do you know what put me off? >> do you know what put me off? >> you were whispering something to me when we came back on air. i was about to say, andrew, you've forgotten that you're on the telly again. >> we are talking about maternity services. or beverley, who will be particular because a health watchdog has warned failings in nhs maternity wards are more widespread than previously thought. >> it's a really awful story. the care quality commission rated almost half of services as inadequate or requiring improvement, and only 4% were classed as outstanding, so the health secretary, wes streeting, says the findings are a cause for what he calls national shame and have been for years in my opinion. so joining us now to discuss the findings is the founder and ceo of the

motherhood group, sarah igwe. sarah. great to see you, sandra. oh, i'm so sorry. sarah. great to see you, sandra. oh, i'm so sorry . we're having oh, i'm so sorry. we're having a very successful five minutes here, aren't we? >> she doesn't know who she is, so she's. >> i know who you are. >> i know who you are. >> yeah. we don't believe in names that are here today. so listen, sandra , this didn't for listen, sandra, this didn't for me personally. we didn't take didn't need a report to tell us how poor maternity services with any woman who's been through the doors of a maternity unit will tell you in recent times that they are underfunded, overstretched, demoralised, and the women are not getting treated well at all. what's your experience? how did you get involved with this organisation? >> i can 100% agree with what you just said. >> now, i've heard hundreds, thousands of accounts from mothers , specifically black and mothers, specifically black and ethnic minority mothers, who have said that they are not listened to in maternity care services, that they feel really unsafe. they've been on the receiving end of racism, microaggressions, stereotypes which ultimately have led to poorer outcomes for black and brown mothers in maternity care. i got into this because of my own personal lived experience of

on end to be seen, being days on end to be seen, or being on the receiving end of ill treatment and inadequate care as a whole, dismissive staff, you know, sort of pretending that certain illnesses are not, you know, very catastrophic. we need more staff listening proactively to the needs of mothers, black mothers in particular as well. >> and i'm interested that you mentioned, because people will say, well, why is it relevant what your ethnicity is when you go in, you should all be treated the same. but let's face it, is the same. but let's face it, is the great leveller. it doesn't matter if you're posh or you're poor or where are you from giving birth. this should be the best moment of your life. but women of colour are having a much worse time statistically. recently it was you were five times more likely to die in childbirth if you were black. >> it's gone to down three times more likely. nothing to celebrate at all about, but we are more likely to have complications in our pregnancy. emergency c—sections, miscarriages , neonatal deaths, miscarriages, neonatal deaths, as well as perinatal mental health issues. but the least likely to get support for that. that's why we amplify the voices

of those who are more likely to face disproportionate outcomes in maternity care, because that's not just in the uk, that's not just in the uk, that's in america. >> i think the statistics are even worse in america. that's in the in the uk, isn't it? and thatis the in the uk, isn't it? and that is a complicated issue because just just to unpack that a little bit for me, because it's about poverty, perhaps for some black women is it not, is that. no. primarily it's are you not listened to first and foremost? >> primarily race and racism has a lot to do. so actually treating somebody differently because of the colour of their skin, not giving them pain relief because they are deemed as stronger or harder or can bear more pain or ignoring certain symptoms because they are ill equipped to actually spot them in darker skin tones. and so i would say racism and stereotyping is probably one of the most, you know, factored reasons as to why these are there are poorer outcomes. i don't think that financial stability has anything to do with these outcomes. you can see those from more affluent areas, those, like myself, who are educated to a master's level, still have had traumatic experiences and are more more likely to have complications.

that's interesting. >> so it's not that the poorer women who might be disproportionately ethnic minority, haven't had scans. they haven't seen the doctors in the same way. maybe they haven't paid for antenatal classes that cost money. you don't think that's playing a part in it? >> no. it might have some sort of, you know, factor, but we can see that those from different parts of across the uk, across london, even as long as you are from a black ethnic minority background, you face the same. you face you face poorer outcomes than compared to our white counterparts. and you could literally see those from particular areas still are on the receiving end of poorer outcomes. >> why is that? why is that statistic improved from being five times more likely to die to only three times more likely to die? >> i believe it's because there's a lot more awareness going on, a lot more campaigns. we have our black maternal mental health week on monday, which raises awareness to the disparities that black women face in maternity care. we believe that black women are taking more ownership of our care , advocating, speaking up care, advocating, speaking up and taking note, not taking no

for an answer. >> yeah, because hospitals are intimidating places. i realise you've never been through the birth experience . birth experience. >> andrew pierce i'm leaving this interview to you, but we've all been in those hospital settings where it can be really intimidating someone with a white coat and a badge. >> it's hard to assert yourself and sometimes in labour you really need to have your. if you feel like instinctively something's going wrong, you need to have the voice to find your voice in that environment. you shouldn't have to, but you do. >> the problem is, when people do speak up, they are gaslit to believe that it's all in their head or they're told no, not now, or go back or come back later. so we're finding that actually it's a struggle to even articulate yourself. and also when you're in excruciating pain like pregnancy, you know, laboun like pregnancy, you know, labour, that's the time where you feel like services or staff should listen to you. the first time and not having to repeat yourself over and over again. >> okay, well it's interesting. well done for raising awareness. sandra igwe there from the motherhood group. up next, do you enjoy that interview, andrew? >> fascinating. >> fascinating. >> i do think i mean, i've heard it is appalling what's going on

in maternity. >> awful. >> awful. >> it's been going on for decades and let's face it, we've got a new government now. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> wes streeting. if you're watching, i can send you a little to do list. now, i'll tell you why. this bit of tupperware is causing chaos in the turner family. this morning. here it is. 19705. look at those.i here it is. 19705. look at those. i remember growing up with those. one of them, i think, had flower in it, and the other one might have had sugar in it. my mum sent me this this morning and i'll tell you why it's causing uproar. don't go anywhere. this is britain's newsroom on

gb news. welcome back to britain's newsroom. jonathan lewis and clare muldoon are with us. as you can see, we're already talking. i'm very upset about the tupperware issue. tupperware has gone bankrupt, so my mother is watching the show. morning, mum. and she's whatsapped a

picture of the tupperware that she owns. and she said, you and your siblings can fight over it in the will. >> isn't it sad? it's a it's a victim . here it is. victim. here it is. >> of. can you see that ? >> of. can you see that? >> of. can you see that? >> looks like a coffee cup. >> looks like a coffee cup. >> oh. >> oh. >> those tops. no, those tops. remember the orange ones? we had them in orange. oh, we've got those. and we had them in green. >> those? yeah. >> those? yeah. >> and it was such an event for a mother to host a tupperware party. once we'd all gone to bed, it was. and there were treats and there was everything. and then the big boxes arrived, and you had to wait weeks because we didn't have next day delivery from major retailers. what an exciting time it was. >> and why has it gone bankrupt? >> and why has it gone bankrupt? >> end of an era, isn't it? >> end of an era, isn't it? >> and they've still withstood withstood the test of time. >> yeah. it's not that is not single use plastic. >> exactly. >> exactly. >> this is environmentally friendly jonathan. but i would have thought the whole anti—plastics movement has been part of the death knell for tupperware. >> i don't really understand why it's gone bankrupt in a sense. if you just, without looking at the economics of it, because i use tupperware all the time, i haven't bought any for many

years, so maybe that's part. maybe that's the problem, as you say, it is actually quite good because you reuse it so much. they were from the 19705, but to be honest, most of my mother's tupperware is actually in my house because whenever i go round to my, i go round to my mum's and she gives me leftovers. i always just forget to take them back. so she's like, the next time i think it's a change in our consumerism as well. >> we're more likely to have a takeaway, which would be in a plastic box. right? and would you put that in the washing machine, the dishwasher, and reuse that? or the invention of ziploc bags, you know, from the us. so we've got all of that in terms of single use plastic. but then tupperware really i mean, it's solid. it the tops don't morph. they don't melt. they still fit. well. >> they're typekit the spag bol in there. and using it again looks like a crime scene. >> it's true. but isn't it funny? who thought we'd all have such a place in our hearts for tupperware? maybe they should have made more of the fact that they were going to go under before they went under, and we might have been one of those campaigns that would have got them back on in all our cupboards. >> sets of seven. >> sets of seven. >> do you unite the left and

right? >> yeah, exactly. the that every every every little what is it. every pot's got a lid. there we are. >> yeah, exactly, exactly. >> yeah, exactly, exactly. >> anyway, my heart is broken over that. right. can we move to on censorship? jonathan, this is a play that's been cancelled. why? >> okay, this is a really interesting story, because as you know, often we talk about cancel culture and we debate whether cancel culture exists. and we talk about how the supposed supposed woke mob is trying to cancel . right, people, trying to cancel. right, people, this is a really interesting example that flips that on its head. this is a production of a midsummer night's dream at the royal exchange in manchester, which is about to open and it's been cancelled. supposedly this hasn't been confirmed, but a lot of people have said this because there was pro—palestine and pro—trans words in the play. there was a free palestine was written on the set , and it there was a free palestine was written on the set, and it was a modern day retelling of a midsummer night's dream, and one of the characters was rapping about free palestine in a rap, and there was some reference to trans rights as well in midsummer night's dream, because it was. it's a modern retelling

of a midsummer night's dream, which incorporates new stuff that's completely that's not what anyone's arguing about. and so apparently there was some disagreement. the theatre said, this is not going to be okay. can we reach some kind of compromise? the director said this is my vision for the play, and i'm not going to compromise. and so the play has been shelved. huge expense, obviously, because you have a five week run and obviously a big reputational expense as well for the theatre. and so i think this is that we need to have a conversation and equity, the actors union is talking about this, of having a conversation about censorship and artistic expression that you might not like things that you don't see in the theatre. the theatres have an absolutely right to put things over , even if you don't things over, even if you don't like them, even 100%. >> one word bottom. >> one word bottom. >> yeah, i was thinking that. >> yeah, i was thinking that. >> i think it was going to be it was a rude mechanicals that were going to be scrapping the great character shakespearean. >> oh, i see extreme. >> oh, i see extreme. >> i mean yeah, i mean i wouldn't, i would get irritated by it if it was in the production midsummer nights. yeah, but you would at least have the choice to buy the tickets, right? >> it's a modern day. i mean, we're talking about art in the fourth plinth. i think that is

completely a monstrosity and really ought not to be there. but when you're talking, because everyone has to see that when you're there, you've got no choice. the choice is to buy the ticket. and as you quite rightly said, there's been a lot of time and money invested in this. and do you think that the investors didn't know the director's vision when he set out his plan for that play and his, sorry, her? well, of course they did. of course they did. of course they knew. so let's just wrap that up. and i think it's appalling. and i'm not one for cancel culture at all. this place should not be cancelled. it should definitely go ahead. absolutely. >> 100% it herself. >> 100% it herself. >> no, it's the theatre that's pulled it. >> so they pulled it because she wouldn't come. >> well that's well that's what because that's you know, it's not yet confirmed. >> you said the theatre said that there were some technical issues but it was on. >> it was on front row on radio four the other day. and people a lot of people have confirmed it around the production that it was because of this sort of political issue. but i think that we often hear about cancel culture and censorship. i do think it's worth pointing out that it does happen from both sides, and it's wrong whenever it happens, of course, because

people have the right to legal expression. >> also, just remember, massive jewish community in manchester. my jewish community in manchester. my home town, huge jewish community. that might be that. the objection has come from the free palestine. >> look, there will be a lot of people, but they shouldn't be. >> absolutely. i'm not saying it's right. >> there will be a lot of people who find it offensive or uncomfortable, and that's not a reason to start talking about offensive and uncomfortable. >> claire apparently there's a pupil at a school in scotland that's allowed to identify as a wolf . wolf. >> a what, a wolf. wolf. oh, and professor tommy mackay, who is one of the leading neuropsychologists in scotland, has said there is no such body dysmorphia thing that this child could actually have. >> they're calling it to identify this. >> animal dysphoria is a furry species dysphoria. >> are there any wolves in scotland? >> there might be miri eisin 5g. there might very well be, but he might have maybe read some harry potter or she might, i don't know the sex of the child and in fact the local authority has been kept quiet. we mentioned it was mentioned that aberdeen, there was a school in

aberdeenshire, but i don't know if that is still the one. my sister is a teacher in scotland, right in a very special needs school and she said the amount of enabling social workers that actually say we need to get them actually say we need to get them a furry outfit to wear because they, they're identifying as a cat or a dog and i'm sorry, the world's gone mad. it has gone completely mad. but psychologically , from one of the psychologically, from one of the leading psychologists, educational psychologists in scotland has said there is no such. scotland has said there is no such . there is no such dysphoria such. there is no such dysphoria like this. they should not be indulged. he actually used the word snap out of it and common sense, which is one snap. >> he's a wolf. he can snap at everything. >> he can bite it. but that's even. but you need i think there's a safeguarding issue here, not only a safeguarding issue for the child that presents himself or herself as a wolf, but also for the other kids in the class. wolf, but also for the other kids in the class . what's that kids in the class. what's that message sending out right, jonathan, how does the teacher address this child ? address this child? >> i don't really know why we're talking about this on national

television. this is something because it's a real thing. yes. >> it is so common. >> well , why we're >> it is so common. >> well, why we're talking about this? because this is this is an attempt by people who viciously hate trans people to put a story about the makes it look ridiculous, makes the idea of identifying about something that you're not make so ridiculous, so ridiculous and preposterous and obscene that obviously no one could ever believe that it could take place . so school could take place. so school should obviously not indulge such stupidity. that is nothing to do with gender equivalent of what happened in 20 years ago. it is what happened . it's the it is what happened. it's the equivalent of what happened 20 years ago. when i was told, well, if two men can marry, then why not two dogs? as one mep once said to me in brussels, this is the kind of level of discourse. this is something that's happening in a school. >> for a start, there is not one person here that hates trans people, so i want to pull you up on that. there's not one person at this table who hates trans people. >> the agenda behind this kind of story is transphobic. >> no, the agenda. i'll tell you something, jonathan. if there was a debate on a trans issue

and one of the stations brought in someone who identified as a furry, the trans person would be up in arms. this is not about trans gender, but the reason we're talking about it. no, it's not. it's not the reason we're talking about it is because children are being indulged. children have fallen down a horrible rabbit hole. they might want to identify as one of those when they're down there as well. >> he's a wolf. he loves rabbit holes. >> it is. it's about safeguarding children. it's about getting the status quo back up and running and giving children parameters within the common good. >> the thing is that we don't know the precise circumstances of what's happening. >> i don't need to know. >> i don't need to know. >> that's the problem. we don't know if this child has other special needs or educational needs or whatever. >> it might be irrelevant because professor tommy mackay is head of autism and is a. >> i'm so pleased to be able to quote him . so there's nothing quote him. so there's nothing neurodiverse about this. and he said it. >> well, he also in that quote that i read was basically it

seemed to be a kind of an anti—trans position subliminally, when he was saying that children should not be can't identify as things that they're not, we need to sort of you can't possibly know what's going on in his head. >> subliminally, jonathan. jonathan, if you were jonathan, if you were 12 years old and you said to your mum and dad, i think i'm a wolf, what would they have said? >> well, obviously i'm not the child in question. >> yes, but the point is, parenting . it's parenting. parenting. it's parenting. >> look, what would they have said? look, there might be some circumstances where. and we don't know what's happening in school. none of us knows who this child is or where the school is. but what we don't need to know the child in some circumstances, you can say this is clearly a child having making it up for attention or whatever. and there are other cases where you kind of think we need to treat this child with sensitivity and respect and work around it and warn them when it's a full moon. >> i was just about to say, what a nightmare for the teacher. what about a nightmare for the other children in the class as well? >> no evidence about whether other children in this class are. i can get by it or offended or listen and funny or anything.

>> i can give you a real world. i can, i can give you a real world example of this. i've got a friend and in their son's class, there are two kids who identify as furries. this is in devon, in a sleepy little town in devon, and that child was upset at night, my friend's child saying, i told x that he's not actually a dog and he got in trouble for saying to the child, you're not really a dog. and he was upset at night because his teacher had told him off. and his mum was saying to him, you know what, we have to be kind. we have to accept everybody. and itook we have to accept everybody. and i took him to one side and i went, no, you don't know. and i had a word with his mum and i said, you don't need to say you have to accept. you need to empower him to call out absolute balderdash, which is what it is. >> the point is that people are not growing up. we do not have adults in this country in the main, as far as i believe, who actually believe that they are dogs or cats or who actually believe that they are , they believe that they are, they might be doing it for kink or as kind of role playing kink. >> thank you. it's a sex thing. no it is, but there are adults

people. >> but that's that's not what we're talking about right now. there are circumstances in which people do not believe you're defending this nonsense. i'm saying i love the fact that you are. >> jonathan. >> jonathan. >> this is not an appropriate conversation to be having on tv , conversation to be having on tv, because we don't know what is actually because we are getting this third hand and we're turning it into a bigger conversation. we don't know the identity of this child or what's going on, or the identity of the child. >> clearly is a wolf. >> clearly is a wolf. >> the trouble is, jonathan, that that sort of laissez faire, blase attitude to this is what has got us into the situation where there are furries in every school across the country. >> they fare better. it is. it might do more harm than good to tell this child. and again, i don't know what the circumstances are . circumstances are. >> circumstances are. >> it's a wolf that's a major. >> it's a wolf that's a major. >> it's a wolf that's a major. >> it may do more harm than good to kind of fight back against children when they say they are something that you don't think they are, it may often does more harm than good. >> i do on this. would you not

say you're not a wolf? >> it's my nephew and niece are not this child. i don't i don't mean to be. they have different needs. >> but, you know, i don't want, i don't want. don't mean to be flippant. however, what about the toilet breaks? what's going to happen if you're a wolf? go out and do it in a tree. i mean that that's that's the extension from where you're sitting. jonathan. yeah. do they sit it really is. do they sit in a chair ? chair? >> don't. it's just too much. >> don't. it's just too much. >> it's too much. >> it's too much. >> it's too much. >> it's pathetic. and we the schools allowed it and we and social services really i think it's really silly for us to be talking about an individual policy in one school with one teacher and one child, that we have no idea who they are. >> why? >> why? >> i've given you a real life example. >> we can discuss things, but we're discussing it. we're discussing it without knowing about the circumstances. >> there can be no circumstance extrapolating certain things. there are no mitigating circumstances in which that child should be told, yes, you're a wolf. don't bite me. >> what if it's considered, for example, that the child would be at risk of harm if you you know, these are these are impact. these are safety assessments that are drawn up with children

and look in the mirror and see what you see. >> they will not see a wolf. >> they will not see a wolf. >> jonathan clare, that has just been marvellous and mind expanding. i can just imagine the messages coming in. >> yeah, they'll be howling . >> yeah, they'll be howling. yeah, howling. >> we're not taking it seriously jonathan, because i can see that it is ridiculous. >> all right. here's your news with the wonderful tatiana sanchez who's not a wolf . sanchez who's not a wolf. >> andrew thank you. the top stories. it's been revealed sir keir starmer has received more freebies than any other mp since 2019, totalling around £100,000. a cabinet minister has defended the prime minister, saying he's in a pressured job and should be allowed to enjoy gifts and hospitality. if it's declared correctly. this comes after it was revealed the prime minister's chief of staff, sue gray, reportedly takes home a salary of £170,000. that's 3000

more than the prime minister and greater than any conservative predecessor. the business secretary says ministers have no political input in the pay of their advisers, as he defended their advisers, as he defended the prime minister amid criticism of his chief of staff's salary . business and staff's salary. business and trade, says tree jonathan reynolds says restrictions on uk arms exports to israel are fair and proportionate. the uk suspended some arms export licences to israel earlier this month over concerns the countries violating international humanitarian law international humanitarian law in gaza. fears have intensified that the conflict between israel and lebanon could escalate after and lebanon could escalate after a second wave of attacks in beirut yesterday . lebanese beirut yesterday. lebanese terrorist group hezbollah have accused israel of being responsible for the co—ordinated attacks, which saw a wave of walkie talkie and pager explosions across lebanon. the idf says they are not

responsible. it's understood 20 people were killed yesterday, while 12, including two children, lost their lives in the blast on tuesday . that's as the blast on tuesday. that's as nearly 3000 remain in hospital, with 200 in a critical condition . with 200 in a critical condition. a woman who alleges she was raped by her former employer, mohamed al fayed, the egyptian billionaire who owned harrods for more than 25 years, says she's still petrified of someone that's no longer alive. five women have told the bbc that they were raped by the former harrods boss when they worked at the luxury london department store. the bbc has heard testimony from more than 20 female ex—employees, who say the billionaire, who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted them, including rape. the documentary and podcast al fayed predator at harrods gathered evidence that during its ownership, harrods not only failed to intervene but helped cover up abuse allegations. harrods current owners said they were utterly appalled by the allegations and said his victims

had been failed, for which the store sincerely apologised . store sincerely apologised. former royal correspondent charles rea spoke to gb news this morning. >> he has always been a controversial character, you know, from the cash for questions row way back in the 905 and he was accused of sexual assault in around about 2009, which was never proven. and now we've got these allegations. now these are far, far more serious allegations than the than the previous ones. people will stop going to the store, but that's why i think harrods have moved so quickly this morning to say, look, we are the new owners . we look, we are the new owners. we are a different harrods. we would never have covered anything up like this. they accept that. i think they accept that there was a cover up and it shouldn't have happened. and have offered apologies to all the victims involved . the victims involved. >> and a thunderstorm warning has been issued for large parts of england and wales over the next two days, bringing the

threat of frequent lightning and large hail. the first met office warning, which is in effect from midday until 8 pm. tomorrow, stretches from the west midlands to the south east and includes the south—west. it also covers the south—west. it also covers the western part of wales, including cardiff and swansea. the agency says lightning strikes during the storms could cause damage to buildings , and cause damage to buildings, and those are the latest gb news headlines. for now i'm tatiana sanchez, back in half an hour 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. >> monstrosities up at noon. >> monstrosities up at noon. >> good afternoon britain, emily and tom are here. we're just saying we should read out some of your reactions to the debate about furries. jeff. furries in your schools when you were growing up, you to. >> no, no no wolves. no wolves,

no wolves. what was your pet? >> what would your parents have said if you'd have come home at 12 and said, i think i'm a dog or a, you know, and then would they allowed you to live as one? because that's what happens. >> i know there is no way that i can allow to have lived as anything other than a human being. >> that's why probably child abuse, if you if you allow or force a child to live as something other than a human, is something other than a human, is something that's subhuman, well, that's exactly i think my mum would have said you're not and that's it. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> i think your mother would have said, you're getting a thick ear. >> yeah. in fact, that's what our, theresa said at home. i think allowing children to identify as animals is abuse. and the schools are just enabung and the schools are just enabling this abuse to continue. >> are they actually doing this though, or is this kids winding teachers up? >> trust me, i have children and every school in our area has a furry in it. this is not rare anymore. >> i mean , i was at school with >> i mean, i was at school with people who would say things just to irritate teachers who would say things to sort of pull people's legs and, you know, yeah, but it's being indulged

now. >> that's the thing. it's being indulged because you have you have i find it really. you have teachers who genuinely believe that there are probably 100 different genders, right? >> kids in your class, tom. they'd have taught them down and said, don't be insubordinate. >> yeah, i just don't. i just don't think it i don't think i've seen any evidence at all of anyone identifying as a different species or a or, you know, whatever the problem is, if any of the teachers felt they wanted to call out the furry child, the parent would be in saying , don't compromise. saying, don't compromise. >> my child has freedom of expression. if they believe they're an alsatian, they're an alsatian. well, that's the problem in school. >> if they're an alsatian, go and be taught in a kennel, a kennel, i mean , world's gone kennel, i mean, world's gone mad, hasn't it? >> this is just too silly. >> this is just too silly. >> this is too silly. we're doing serious news from 12:00. well, obviously, there's another woke monstrosity in trafalgar square. >> i don't know if you've seen it. >> oh, yeah, we've seen it. >> so we're going to be discussing that, but also the artist, the mexican artist, apparently she some of her

previous work, she's used bodily fluids from deceased people. so obviously she likes to, you know, step outside of the box with her artwork. but yes, 726 face masks of trans and gender variant people right in the middle of trafalgar square . stunning. >> did she actually win a competition to get on that plinth? >> i don't know, she probably just wrote suella. >> i don't know why they don't just put a statue of her late majesty the queen. >> i agree it is so evident. we need we need a statue of the queen. >> that is the perfect talking of the queen, tom, here's her grandson, prince william . he's grandson, prince william. he's going to be in aberdeen today looking at how to help the homeless. this is britain's newsroom on gb news. go

welcome back to britain's newsroom. it's been quite the show this morning. alan has said

he wonders if there's a sinister side to this furry business. these are kids who identify as a cat or a dog or a wolf, as we've just been discussing. and alan says there might be a sinister side. furry is a thing on the internet, and to according my son, it's a big thing. if we allow children to identify as furry animals, do we need to join up the dots? and you're right, it isn't. it is an adult preoccupation. it's a it's a kink that jonathan alluded to, particularly in america. they have furry conventions. >> it's so weird. >> it's so weird. >> it's so weird. >> i love getting that. look at your face. a form of abuse. >> it's for the children. it is. >> it's for the children. it is. >> well, you've got to wonder why. where are the children seeing this? where is it becoming normal to them to think that you're, you know, a siamese so unsettling for the other children in the class ? k says, children in the class? k says, dear god, beat me up. stop pandenng dear god, beat me up. stop pandering to these kids who are attention seeking. and olly said less, jonathan less. maybe he could do with a shave. or is it because he's identified as a wolf man, a child, as a child , wolf man, a child, as a child, for heaven's sake, a lot of you are giving jonathan a hard time, but i have to say, i love having

jonathan on because he will defend the indefensible. and i love that about him. >> yeah, and it is indefensible. >> yeah, and it is indefensible. >> it does make for some very good debates, though. >> this is the child. if you're just tuning in or listening, the child who's being allowed to identify as a wolf in a school in aberdeenshire. that's right. as a wolf. >> and the teachers will indulge it. babs says , i want to it. babs says, i want to identify as the prime minister and then resign. yeah. wow. and we're talking about this fourth plinth as well in trafalgar square, which has a it's a piece of artwork made up of the masks of artwork made up of the masks of trans or non—binary people, hundreds of them . and they're on hundreds of them. and they're on this plinth, you know, the plinth that they changed the statue, don't they ? every few years. >> hideous art. >> hideous art. >> there it is. >> there it is. it >> there it is. it looks >> there it is. it looks a >> there it is. it looks a bit like an egg box. >> almost. >> almost. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> it's not particularly pretty. it's just white. there's no colour on it. it'sjust it's just white. there's no colour on it. it's just stuck together. loads of people's faces, and here we go. fourth plinth says collins statue of the late queen. or a monstrosity full of trans people. they've obviously ignored the will of the people. again, what a

surprise. >> and this is another triumph for the mayor of london, isn't it? sadiq khan , more virtue it? sadiq khan, more virtue signalling of the worst sort. it's just appalling, it's a really important part of london's cultural life , london's cultural life, trafalgar square. and that should not be there . yeah. should not be there. yeah. >> glynis. morning. glynis says bev and andrew your guest, who thought the boy who identifies as a wolf thought he should be indulged for his mental well—being. in all this? nobody seems bothered about the mental well—being of the other children in the class who are expected to support it. i completely agree, glynis , the child who says glynis, the child who says they're a wolf, says malcolm. the teacher needs removing and forced to take an intelligence test. but as i say, but the child who's identified as wolf is probably going to get bullied to almost inevitably, you might be quite frightened of him. i mean, not just because he's a wolf and wolf is scary, but you'd be frightened of them playing that victim card . you're playing that victim card. you're bullying me. it's exactly what happened to my friend's son. you're bullying me because you say i'm not a wolf. and we have to be hashtag, be kind and

accept everybody for who they say they are. even if the truth is in front of your eyes. >> it'sjust is in front of your eyes. >> it's just extraordinary, isn't it? what? what we're doing to our kids. not what we're doing to our kids. it's appalling. >> it is appalling, the only furry we had at school was tufty, the road safety club . i tufty, the road safety club. i used to love that. you're right. sir flip flop . thank you for sir flip flop. thank you for reminding us of that. >> and pete's got a nickname for the prime minister. i've got a new nickname for our pm. go on, greasy palm starmer. >> his name? keir starmer's name is lending itself to so many catchy little puns. care free gay care free gay care. >> because, as the daily star says in its front page, the king of the badgers, because he's got free gear worth £107,000 since since 2019. unbelievable >> yeah, right. get in touch this morning. we've we've got one more section of the show to 90, one more section of the show to go, and we're going to be seeing. prince william is in aberdeen today looking at how homelessness is being tackled. he's launching a new real initiative to help. don't go

anywhere. britain's newsroom

gb news. >> scotland. >> scotland. >> sorry. we're looking at your responses to the story about the wolf. >> you've got to read that one out from john. >> and somebody just tweeted me. john said. i do hope little red riding hood isn't at that school. >> the prince of wales is celebrating his new partnership with the nation's leading energy provider, blue light card. it's all part of his bid to tackle homelessness, so it's estimated that 52% of the 60,000 people thought to be working within the sector are struggling to pay their bills. >> now, here's what members of the public had to say. >> and prince william being here, obviously as a future king trying to tackle an issue like this, what do you make of that? >> i think that's excellent. i think he does a great job, i really do. i i think the future is in good hands. the snp

government in scotland have utterly failed to solve the homeless problem . homeless problem. >> so i don't think prince william is going to be able to do very much either. >> do you think the prince should be doing something else with his time in? >> yeah, yeah, yeah. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. >> so joining us now live from aberdeen is our very own royal correspondent, cameron walker . correspondent, cameron walker. cameron, this is very important project for prince william . project for prince william. >> yeah it certainly is andrew. and here's some irony for you. 44% of the estimated 60,000 homelessness workers in the united kingdom are struggling themselves with the cost of housing, and that includes people like housing officers, night shelter managers and outreach workers . and the prince outreach workers. and the prince of wales is homewards project. that's his five year plan to demonstrate it is possible to end homelessness in the united kingdom. has partnered with the blue lights card, and that is the uk's number one discount card that provides discounts to emergency service workers, armed forces, workers, nhs and the like. and now homelessness

workers are going to be added to that list, being provided with financial support, of course. but also prince william hopes it will improve their mental wellbeing. and it's understood that prince william has been involved in this project and has been kept up to date with it since its infancy, and homewards , since its infancy, and homewards, of course, is wanting to champion the blue light cards and support those who are helping those who are either experiencing homelessness or are at risk of becoming homelessness. because it can be. it's thought, a huge challenge to deal with the complex issues surrounding homelessness when it comes to addiction , financial comes to addiction, financial problems and the like. and prince william here in aberdeen, as you said, andrew, a little bit later on this morning, meeting some of the workers who are helping people who are experiencing homelessness in aberdeen. aberdeen, one of the six flagship locations in the united kingdom providing blueprints and finding solutions on how you can end homelessness in this country. and it's thought that hopefully after five years, that blueprint can then be expanded and scaled across the country. >> okay . thank you. cameron

>> okay. thank you. cameron cameron walker there. it's been quite a week andrew pierce hasn't it . and it's been quite hasn't it. and it's been quite a show as well. and you might have seen us yesterday. we were talking about bernie spofforth. she was the twitter user who got arrested. i'm doing an interview with bernie this afternoon , with bernie this afternoon, which you can watch on gb news youtube channel. a nice big long sit down. >> so and i'll be with you next week, but i'll be from the labour party conference in liverpool. lucky you may not be as triumphalist as they thought it ought to be. haven't considered. they've just won an election, but they're making such a mess of everything, aren't they? >> right. see you soon. here is emily and tom. oh, hello. >> well, at 12:00, we've got a lot coming up. the bank of england is going to make a big decision on interest rates . it's decision on interest rates. it's predicted that they're going to go in the anti—growth direction. but we'll have all the details and we'll reveal who the biggest, britain's biggest scrounger is in this country. >> and some of those who are close behind. next, at 12 to 3. good afternoon britain .

good afternoon britain. >> looks like things are heating up. boxt boilers sponsors of weather on . gb. news weather on. gb. news >> time for your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. another fine day for the vast majority today. it is a bit drab across parts of the east and it is quite breezy across the south as well . we do across the south as well. we do have high pressure, just about still in control, but low pressure is edging up from the south. that is going to change things for tomorrow. it's also squeezing the isobars together. that's why it's quite breezy across southern england. quite a lot of cloud over east wales and the midlands to start with. that's going to break up a little bit, but parts of lincolnshire down into the east midlands, north norfolk may stay fairly drab until quite late in the day. a bit of mist elsewhere on eastern coast, but for most it's a fine, sunny september day. quite warm as well , day. quite warm as well, temperatures up to maybe 25 in the capital, perhaps even a little higher. most places in the sunshine over 20 celsius through this evening. we'll

continue to have the fine conditions, but we'll continue to have a bit of a breeze blowing across the south, and this cloud will start to push back inland across these eastern counties of england. so for some here it will stay grey all day. a bit of haar on the east coast of scotland, but northern ireland and much of the rest of scotland dry, fine and sunny, well into the evening. we are going to start to see a change through the night and more particularly tomorrow. the cloud is going to thicken up across these eastern areas and actually get thick enough, maybe to produce a little bit of drizzle here and there , especially on here and there, especially on the coasts and hills. it will be another pretty mild night where it stays cloudy, but with clear skies across western scotland. northern ireland temperatures are likely to dip down into single digits, but in the south we'll hold up in the teens. tomorrow is a similar start. in fact, it's going to be a grey start for most. some drizzle over the pennines and on the coast of north—east england , coast of north—east england, southeast scotland. then it brightens up, but then , brightens up, but then, particularly from late morning onwards, the likelihood of some heavy showers across the south

may even catch some afternoon thunderstorms. they could provide some big downpours across the south by the end of tomorrow , but again further tomorrow, but again further north, many places in the west fine and sunny. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers . sponsors of boxt boilers. sponsors of weather on

>> well . >> well. >> well. >> good afternoon britain . it's >> good afternoon britain. it's 12:00 on thursday the 19th of september. >> i'm tom harwood and i'm emily carver. >> interest rates hold breaking this very second. the bank of england announces its latest decision to freeze interest rates despite rates being slashed in the united states, the cost of borrowing remains high in this country. will this dampen our growth ? dampen our growth? >> and sir keir scrounger, the prime minister, has been given more freebies than any other mp

since the 2019 general election, with sir freebie accepting gifts and tickets worth more than £107,000. what do you make of that walkie talkie warfare ? that walkie talkie warfare? >> israel has declared a new phase of war after it has accused of being behind a second wave of remote controlled explosions in lebanon . explosions in lebanon. >> well, there you go. another month. well, actually, they went down last month, didn't they? but for the first time in four years, marginally. and now held held at 5%, this at a time when just yesterday, the united states federal reserve cut their interest rates by, by nought point 5%, i mean, a considerable cut, a cut that was at the upper

end of