as the bank of england has decided not to cut interest rates after inflation has risen to 2.6% in november. meanwhile, uk car manufacturing slumps and official figures reveal that over half of brits receive more in benefits than they contribute in benefits than they contribute in taxes. and after the french rape trial that shocked the world, we'll be asking if the sentences handed out to gisele pelicot abusers were harsh enough. and is it time to crack down on the depraved websites that encourage and enable these sexual crimes? the prime minister looks set to appoint lord peter mandelson as britain's new ambassador to the us, with extensive experience on national and international stage. will the veteran labour spin doctor build bridges with

the incoming trump administration, or will his accident prone past counts against him? and has parental responsibility sunk to an all time low, as two thirds of schoolteachers say that their lessons are regularly disrupted by bad and unsafe behaviour. the tony blair institute has recommended that parents should face prosecution still with their children's bad behaviour. and joining me in the studio this evening, i've got my fantastic panel, jake berry, former mp and chairman of the conservative party, and julieta dasilva, broadcaster and commentator. but first, here are your news headlines. >> good evening. at 6:01, the main news from the gb news centre. a key aide to donald trump has described lord mandelson as an absolute moron, after downing street confirmed the labour peer is to become the

uk's next ambassador to the united states. lord mandelson, who served under tony blair and gordon brown, will take up the washington appointment as donald trump returns to the white house. sir keir starmer said he would bring unrivalled experience to one of the uk's most important allies. but posting on x, chris lacivita criticised the decision by the uk government to replace a professional diplomat with what he described as an absolute moron, as he referred to comments the peer had made previously when he described president trump as a danger to the world. the us has confirmed it's killed the leader of the isis terrorist group in syria. us central command forces carried out an airstrike targeting abu yusuf on thursday. another isis terrorist was killed in the strike, according to officials in washington. a us

military spokesman said the strike underscores america's commitment to preventing isis regaining strength in syria and threatening the west. two men have been charged with assaulting police officers following an incident at manchester airport in july. 20 year old mohammed himars is charged with two offences of causing actual bodily harm and one charge of assaulting an emergency worker and another of common assault. 25 year old mohammed ahmad is charged with causing actual bodily harm. they will appear at liverpool magistrates court on the 16th of january. the crown prosecution service said no police officers would face criminal charges. a seven year old girl has died and a teacher and five other students have been wounded in a knife attack in the croatian caphal knife attack in the croatian capital. police said the attack at a primary school in zagreb happened just before 10 am.

today in the prezzo neighbourhood. they confirmed that a young male suspect had been detained. the teacher is said to have suffered life threatening injuries and remains in hospital after undergoing surgery. the department for health and social care has announced a package of gp funding to help bring back the family doctor. the government is consulting with the british medical association on the measures. they include greater flexibility to employ doctors as the health secretary vows to reform general practice. finally, this hour, the met office and the rac are warning travellers to prepare for disruptive weather and extremely busy roads as the christmas holidays begin. yellow warnings for high winds have been issued, and parts of the uk could see gusts of up to 85 miles an hour. millions of travellers have now started their festive journeys, with motoring agencies warning

of very heavy congestion on main roads. today in particular has been branded frantic friday. so stay tuned, of course, to gb news radio for all the very latest travel information. in the meantime, it's back to miriam for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gb news dot com forward slash alerts. >> welcome to dewbs& co with me, miriam cates, and joining me until 7:00. i've got my panel, jake berry, former mp and chairman of the conservative party, and judith da silva, broadcaster and commentator. and of course, as always, please do sendin of course, as always, please do send in your views and opinions at gbnews.com/yoursay and we'll be reading out some of those throughout the set throughout the show. now, our first story

tonight, which is a tragic and very disturbing story. frenchwoman gisele pelicot has said that she never regretted the decision to make her trial public, and that she respects the court's decision after her ex—husband has been sentenced to 20 years in jail. 72 year old dominique pelicot has been found guilty today of raping, drugging and inviting other men to rape his ex—wife, gisele. his lawyer says that he is considering lodging an appeal. now, the french court in avignon found 47 men guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault in a mass rape trial. so let's hear gisele pelicot own reaction to the verdict avec une profonde emotion. >> aujourd'hui , vous ce procede >> aujourd'hui, vous ce procede etait une tres difficile et a cette instant, je pense en premier lieu a mis trois enfants. david. caroline et florian. je pense egalement a des petits enfants parce qu'ils sont l'avenir, et c'est aussi

pour ceux q j'ai monet c combat gisele pelicot. >> there now juditha gisele has attracted international acclaim for her bravery. she could have waived, she could have remained anonymous, but she chose to be public. how much impact do you think that's had? >> i think that's probably the most pivotal choice she made, because what she was doing, which she said herself, was changing the narrative on where shame lies. a lot of the reason why a lot of people who are victims of sexual abuse or assault do not come forward, is they cannot deal with this stain that they would be left with because people always judge. they always judge the victim as they did her. but she was going to brave the fire of that, because what she was showing is that even with evidence, this overwhelming amounts of evidence of what happened to me, i'm still willing to go through the same judgement that, oh, i swam nudein same judgement that, oh, i swam nude in a lake. but she's letting people know that brave, that shame, because it shouldn't lie with you. it should lie with your with your abuser. and if i can do this with what overwhelming acts were done to

me, you have no reason to be afraid as well. so it's very a truly empowering thing that she did. >> absolutely. now, jake, obviously very, very disturbing story. and some of the journalists that have witnessed the trial have written about their own trauma, just hearing and seeing the evidence. some of the discussion today, though, is around whether or not these sentences are harsh enough. do you think they are? do you think there's more the french courts should be doing? >> so i think this case, and i agree that the giselle's bravery needs to be applauded. but it's rocked french society. i was speaking to some french friends and every single dinner table, quite correctly, across france, is discussing this appalling case. and i think lots of people cannot believe that something so dark, so vile would happen within french society. it's quite a sort of permissive society. it's quite a there's a, there's a it's quite a macho society in many ways. thankfully, you don't really have that in britain as much. of course we have some of it. it's rock french society. and i think there is now going to be an outcry to say, have these vile

and disgusting men who raped a woman when she's been drugged and abused by her husband. have they been punished enough? and i think the answer is probably not. some of the sentences seem extremely lenient to me when you think about the ordeal that this woman has gone through and been brave enough to go through the courtroom and explain. >> angelito, i think it's the case, though, that in france, 20 years is the maximum sentence for rape, whether it's one victim or many. but i think one of the other things that has shocked people in society, as jake said, is that these men don't fit the stereotype of sexual predators, or at least not on the surface. they're very, very ordinary men from obviously very ordinary backgrounds. two thirds of them are fathers. >> that's the key thing, is that which >> that's the key thing,