>> hello and a very good evening to you. you're with gb news. we'll be joining josh and the team for free speech nation very shortly. first though, a look at the headlines just after 7:00. well, the king and prime minister have paid tribute to the victims of a devastating plane crash in south korea that took the lives of 179 people, including, sadly, a three year old boy. king charles has described the loss as profoundly saddening. offering prayers for the victims families and their loved ones. footage showed the boeing jet landing without wheels before skidding off the runway, crashing into a wall and then bursting into flames. two crew members were pulled to

safety and remain conscious, according to local officials. that crash is one of south korea's deadliest air disasters, and investigations are now underway into whether a bird strike may have caused the gear failure. well, a travel and aviation expert, sally gethin, has been speaking to us today about the events that may have led up to that crash seems to have suffered a catastrophic bird strike, which might sound nothing in the scheme of things. >> but actually, when you consider the powerful engines on board, any bird strike is very critical in a case like this. and that triggered a chain of events where the pilots could not keep in control, they could not keep in control, they could not deploy the landing gear in time. and then they ran out of runway effectively. at that point, they skidded off the runway and they ran right into a wall. but they have recovered one of the black boxes. once they've recovered both black boxes, the investigation will

begin properly. >> sally gethin there speaking to us about the incident in south korea. turning to another fatal crash and the azerbaijan airlines plane over russia was caused by a shooting from the ground, according to the country's president ilham aliyev has criticised russian officials for trying to, he says, hush up the truth about the crash, accusing them of sowing false narratives about the causes. it comes after russian president vladimir putin did apologise for what he described as a tragic incident, after russian air defences fired on the plane, but the uk has dismissed that apology from putin, calling for now a full and independent investigation. the government says that ruthless criminals are responsible for the deaths of three migrants today after a small boat capsized in the engush small boat capsized in the english channel. a major rescue operation near calais in the early hours of this morning saved 45 people, with four still in hospital. it follows news that now 1300 migrants have

crossed the channel since christmas day, despite the government's promise to smash the gangs behind the crossings. seven people have been arrested today after an 18 year old man was fatally stabbed in derbyshire. police found the victim on rose avenue but despite emergency efforts, died nearby. among those arrested are 417 year old boys on suspicion of murder, while others are accused of helping an offender. detectives say they're treating the case as isolated and are now appealing for cctv and dash cam footage to help with their investigation. and wet winter weather is looming as the uk is bracing for rain, possible snow and 70 mile an hour winds this new year. yellow warnings cover northern ireland, northern england and scotland from monday, extending nationwide by the middle of the week. heavy rain could also bring flooding to wales and western scotland, while northern areas face up to ten centimetres of snow and possible blizzards and travel disruption is also expected across the uk, with forecasters urging people to check for

updates before heading outside. those are the latest headlines. your next update at 8:00. now though, it's over to josh and the team for free speech nation for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com/alerts. >> welcome! this is free speech nation. hello! now, as you know, this is a show where we take a look at the culture, current affairs and politics in the uk and around the world. and where necessary, we push back. coming up tonight, should transgender people who hide their biological sex from partners be criminalised.7 the crown prosecution service doesn't seem to think so. we'll learn more from criminal defence lawyer paul britton. as jewish artists and cultural figures claim

they're being frozen out of cultural life in britain, is censorship now becoming increasingly anti—semitic.7 investigative journalist andrew gold reveals all and is celebrated tv producer phil redmond right to urge british broadcasters to break the rules and push back against the industry regulator ofcom. former bbc presenter roger bolton gives his expert analysis. and of course, myself and my fantastic panel will be answering questions from our wonderful studio audience. my comedian guests this evening are chris dan wootton and paul cox. hey, give yourselves a round of applause. look at you. look at this beautiful audience coming out here, dazzling in the between christmas and new year's. they should be home. they should be drunk. maybe they still are drunk. i don't know, but thank you. so look, they've come out colour coordinated. there's orange everywhere. it's lovely. and we've still got a christmas jumper at the back. cling on mate, cling on to the very end there. so how are you guys doing? merry christmas,

happy hanukkah. it feels weird to say this on telly. i'm saying it to you like on a television. hey, merry christmas like i haven't seen you all week, but are you okay? >> merry christmas, officially i am, i've had some alcohol this week, so it's been it's been an unusual, generally easier as a result. yes. i'm thinking of taking it up as a permanent hobby. i'm not, i'm not. how was your christmas? >> i've had no alcohol. all i'm doing is waiting for. i've got two more days of work, and then i'm going to get wasted. what about you, paul? how have you been? >> yeah, we've worked all through. all three of us saw each other on christmas day. spent it with my real family. >> we were so happy to see each other, weren't we? >> christmas day evening when everyone else was eating peanuts and drinking themselves silly. we're all here reading about trans people. well it's wonderful, it's quite. >> what's interesting is how many stories there have been this week. normally it's a bit of a dead, dead week for news, but and certainly along this kind of issues. but there's every day there's they have not let us down. thank you very much. >> there's been a lot of news

indeed. >> well anyway, let's go to our audience. let's go to our first question. it's from gilly. hello, gilly. merry christmas. gili. gili. gili. gili. already? i'm already drinking. sorry, gillian. okay. >> that's okay. has labour got it wrong on single—sex spaces? >> i suspect so britain's equalities watchdog has stepped in after labour insistence that it would be unnecessary to strengthen the law to safeguard single—sex spaces. the equality and human rights commission will examine whether hundreds of pubuc examine whether hundreds of public bodies transgender policies correctly follow the equality act, which allows organisations to restrict access to women only spaces such as bathrooms and those born female. what do you think? have you heard about this story? >> not altogether, but i as a female, i'm very alarmed because i'm afraid if they didn't come out the same showroom as me, they shouldn't be in the same bathroom as me. >> yeah, yeah, that's very good. >> yeah, yeah, that's very good. >> yeah. i mean, that should be just the official policy written down. >> there should be male, female

and maybe others. there are other things that i could say, but others, because i don't feel happy with anybody that was a male in your space. it's fine if they want to be what they want to be, but i don't want them in my bathroom or public toilet. >> i think that's absolutely fine, of course. and that is the way that many people feel scared. yeah, absolutely. because even though that individual may be totally fine, you just can't tell. and that's the point. cressida, what's interesting about this story is we've had this kind of the labour before they got in. they said that they would protect women's spaces. then we've had this wishy washy policy review saying, oh no, this is all kind of trying to fudge it basically. but what i love is how the equality and human rights commission, baroness falkner was like just called their bluff. >> right? it's extraordinary, isn't it? relax, relax. it'll never happen. don't worry about it. it's definitely happened. so, yeah, i tend to agree with you. i mean, i'm always keen to

say it's not necessarily, you know, it's not. it's not people who are trans acting in good faith. it'sjust who are trans acting in good faith. it's just a loophole for wrong'uns close 1516 00:09