>> good afternoon britain. it's 12:00 on friday the 3rd of january. i'm tom harwood and i'm emily carver. don't go outside, stock up on food and medicine. no, it's not a horror film. these are ominous warnings from the nhs as the arctic blast batters britain. we're asking this is if is this an appropriate response to the weather or have we all gone a bit soft, a bit soft, haven't we.7 >> bit soft, a bit soft, haven't we? >> get rid of the windmills? donald trump launches a scathing attack on the government, saying britain is making a very big mistake by retreating from oil and gas, as he urges starmer to open up the north sea? is the president elect, right? >> meanwhile, we have the latest on meghan markle's new netflix show as she rebrands herself as a hyper stylised, traditional wife. well, royal watchers have already slammed the show, saying it looks terrible. will you be watching? >> to be fair, some people said

they're going to watch it, so there you go. and 17 year old sensation luke littler batus stephen bunting, six one in the world darts championship to set up a huge final tonight against michael van gerwen. we're speaking to a former world champion this hour. >> now i know that the whole country isn't glued to their phones. looking at elon musk's twitter x feed the whole time, still less donald trump's truth social feed. but don't worry, you don't have to. we've taken the liberty of looking ourselves. and my goodness me, these two men, these two most powerful men in the most powerful men in the most powerful country on earth, seem rather obsessed with britain right now. >> oh, absolutely. they are tweeting non—stop. in particular, elon musk, the billionaire owner of x, he is tweeting non—stop. he's massively amplifying this grooming gang scandal. for one,

he's amplifying huge loads of other stories that all paint britain and our government in a particularly bad light. so i think we want to have a little bit of a debate today and ask for your opinions. your views are already coming in on this as to whether it's right for elon musk and i guess also donald trump to be commenting so much on british politics and our policies to be hammering the government. do you welcome it? you welcome it. are they shining a light to some of the bad things in our society that are going on, or do you think they should actually, you know, sort out their own country first? >> it is a significant change from diplomatic norms. generally, allies have this sort of unspoken rule that you don't slam domestic policies of other governments. you'd work diplomatically, you might try and influence. but my goodness me, we're in a brave new world now. all the norms of the post—war consensus seem to have been shattered into thousands of tiny shards, and a new world order is being built anew. >> yeah, i mean, loads on free

speech. elon musk takes a keen interest in the sort of non—crime hate incidents and all of that sort of stuff. our criminal justice system failing in certain ways. and of course, now the grooming gang scandal and the need in his mind for a national inquiry. and also, you know, he tweeted that jess phillips should be in prison. so he has been tweeting all sorts of things. do you think that that's right or not? let us know. gb news .com forward slash yourself. but first the headunes yourself. but first the headlines with tatiana. >> emily, thank you very much. and good afternoon. the top stories. the health secretary says the government are willing to work with tech giants who call out grooming gangs. his comments come after elon musk attacked the decision of safeguarding ministerjess phillips, who said it was for oldham council alone to decide whether to launch an investigation into alleged exploitation between 2011 and 2014. well, musk reacted, saying she deserves prison and accused the prime minister of inaction

as director of public prosecutions. kemi badenoch yesterday called for a national inquiry into the uk's rape gang scandal, saying justice for victims is long overdue. meanwhile, labour says it's working to implement recommendations from the 2022 independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, pledging to strengthen the law to protect victims. mr streeting welcomed elon musk weighing in on the issue. >> look, when it comes to tackling the serious issue of child sexual exploitation and abuse, i do think that online giants, social media companies have got a big part to play in helping us to identify and prosecute perpetrators of child sexual exploitation and abuse. so whether it's elon musk or anyone else, if those leaders of those giants want to work with this government, we're willing to work with tech giants to make sure that we keep young people safe online and free from exploitation. >> in other news, the government has launched an independent

commission to transform social care, but proposals for major reform may not be delivered for years. health and social care secretary wes streeting is promising to finally grasp the nettle on social care reform, with an independent commission due to begin work in april. but the commission, chaired by baroness louise casey, is not due to publish its final report until 2028. social care means help for older or disabled people with day to day tasks like washing, dressing, medication and eating. liberal democrat leader sir ed davey says things need to move at a faster pace. >> yes, because liberal democrats have led the call for a cross—party commission. but given the crisis in social care and the impact that has on the nhs, we do need to move much faster. so the liberal democrats will be calling on for many more immediate measures to tackle the chronic shortage of staff in our care system , and for the pace of care system, and for the pace of this commission to be accelerated significantly. we have to tackle this. the

conservatives left the left, the care system, the nhs in a total mess. so we know the crisis is deep, but we've had many reports before. >> elsewhere, the number of patients in hospital with flu has quadrupled in the last month, according to new nhs england data. there were 5074 patients with flu in hospital on the 29th of december, up from 1190 at the end of november. the new figures mean flu cases in hospital have quadrupled in just a month. the figures also showed there were 4102 patients in hospital with flu on christmas day, before it rose sharply by almost a quarter. the nhs has warned that the drop in temperature across the uk, which has led to rare health alerts from the uk health security agency, could lead to continued pressure on hospitals. will that, as an amber weather alert warning that snow and freezing rain will bring hazardous travel conditions and could cause power cuts across much of england and wales, has been issued by the

met office. temperatures are expected to fall as low as minus eight degrees overnight, as a week long spell of wintry conditions hits the uk. the country has been hit by a blast of cold weather, with temperatures falling as low as minus five overnight. the uk health security agency has issued cold weather health alerts for all of england and wales. amber alerts are already in place until the 8th of january, meaning a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions. the met office also forecast cold weather in parts of wales and rural spots in southern england, with between —4 and —5 expected. in other news, the fbi have released new images of the new orleans attacker shamsuddin jabar. the new images show jabar walking along a street dressed in a light brown long coat. they've also released a photo of one of the coolers containing an improvised explosive device. shamsuddin jabar rented truck rammed into crowds in new orleans, killing 14 and injuring

dozens. the fbi believe he acted alone. then, hours later in las vegas, a tesla cybertruck packed with gasoline canisters and large fireworks exploded in flames outside the trump international hotel, with the driver confirmed as an active duty american soldier. the force also says there is no definitive link between the two attacks. in other news, irfan sharif, who was jailed last month for the murder of his ten year old daughter sara sharif, has been attacked in belmarsh prison, according to reports. he is understood to have suffered slashes to his face and body, requiring stitches. he received local care inside prison. a pfison local care inside prison. a prison service spokesperson told reporters police are investigating an assault on a prisoner at the hmp belmarsh on the 1st of january. sharif and sarah's stepmother, benazir bhutto, were jailed for life in december for years of horrific torture and despicable abuse that culminated in the ten year old's murder. the court heard that she suffered unimaginable

pain, misery and anxiety as she was repeatedly beaten, burned, bitten and restrained at their family home in surrey. and finally in sport, luke littler says it'll be the stuff dreams are made of. if he can create history by becoming the youngest ever world darts champion, luke littler beat stephen bunting to book his place in the final of the world darts championship, which takes place tonight. the 17 year old was favourite to progress into the final for a second year running, and swept 39 year old bunting aside to win by six sets to one at alexandra palace in london. >> it's the stuff of dreams. every kid, every adult, they want to pick up the trophy, but this is this is what you've got to do. you've got to be at the top of your game to do it. obviously it'd mean everything, but like i said, there wins seven sets and i'll be over the moon. >> those are the latest gb news headunes >> those are the latest gb news headlines for now. now it's back to tom and emily.

>> well, it's 1210. you're watching listening to good afternoon britain. and in case you hadn't noticed, i certainly did this morning. it's rather cold outside. so cold, in fact, that the nhs has warned us all not to go out early in the morning or late at night. so i guess you can go out in the middle of the day. as the country faces the big arctic freeze, and they're also urging people to stock up on food and medicine supplies. >> i should say that we recommend you stay inside in the middle of the day and watch good afternoon britain on gb news. but this all comes as the uk health security agency warns that the cold snap could put the elderly at risk of death. >> yes, well, we're joined by our scotland reporter tony maguire, in glasgow and our east midlands reporter, will hollis in northampton. should we start with you, will. just how cold is it there? you're rubbing your hands together. >> yes. >> yes. >> well, here in northampton, in

the town centre, it's around three degrees, so not quite freezing temperatures. now it's bright blue, clear skies. but last night, as with most parts of the uk, there were subzero temperatures. and it's going to be the same tonight. and people are gearing up to what could be snow in this part of the country, as well as pretty much everywhere from central england upwards to the north of england. the met office have very recently just announced a amber weather alert. that means that there could be a risk of heavy snow and ice in central and northern england, and that there could be power cuts, there could be traffic disruption. they're advising not to travel unless you have to, and there's up to 30 or 40cm of snow expected in most parts of england, except really the south, where they seem to be quite clear of it. there's as well as the amber weather alert from the met office. there's also a public health alert for the cold

weather. another amber public health alert advising people that it could be really cold temperatures. and that's a real concern, particularly for older people, people over the age of 65, people with pre—existing health conditions and the doctors at the public health body, the uk health security agency, say that there could be a serious impact, especially for those people with health concerns. i've been speaking to a few people out here in northampton today. the older people do seem to be a little bit more concerned about keeping warm, about making sure that their homes are nice and warm as well. younger people seem to just think that this is january, and that's what you can expect from england. but certainly those government agencies are putting out the warnings, advising people that there could be some dangers and some disruptions. >> well, thanks very much for that, will hollis. we're going to zoom further north now and speak to our scotland reporter, tony maguire. what's it like in glasgow?

>> hello. good afternoon. well, certainly here in glasgow, i believe. >> not quite as bad an outlook as it is south of the border, but certainly very, very cold. in fact, some parts of dumfries and galloway. the mercury fell to minus five overnight and a little higher here in glasgow. it was about minus three when i got up this morning. but it's certainly an issue up here is that it's a consistent. so this is about the third fourth morning in a row where that temperature has been so, so low. and of course that builds and builds and it makes for a very uncomfortable new year for a lot of people up here in scotland. if you look quite far north, well, in fact, some of the train lines have been closed north of inverness due to landslides and flooding, and scotrail saying that, you know, transport is going to be an issue. and indeed even the met office jumping on as well and saying if you're planning on journeying anywhere, then think ahead and plan for extra time for those journey delays because scotland today

just has a yellow warning for ice and snow. but that new warning for tomorrow is now extending those yellow warnings from friday all the way through to monday. now, as i said, it is still quite cold here in glasgow. it's still about zero on the nose and usually @gbnews. we like bringing you lots of opinions about people talking about the discussion of the day and a too cold for most. but you know, a special shout out to these two wonderful ladies who did take the time to stop and talk to me this morning about the rising cost of staying warm this winter. was a bit careful before i do a boost, maybe a certain time of day or night, maybe for an hour, and then i turn it off and then i get my billy socks and stuff on just to keep warm. >> i'm not too bad because i've managed to build up enough credit over the summer to cushion the winter, so i don't

have the same worry about not being able to pay. but i appreciate that it is difficult for a lot of people, and i don't think it's fair. i feel that the labour party came in and everybody thought this would be great, you know, like there would be for the people and there would be for the people who were kind of downtrodden. but that hasn't happened. so i'm disappointed in that. >> okay. well, thank you very much indeed to uk director. oh sorry. please do continue. >> no, no, i was just to say very, very quickly that obviously is uk director caroline abrahams. well she's made the point today that this winter is really where we're going to see the effects of those cuts to the winter fuel payment, as this winter is only sure to get colder. >> absolutely. well, thank you very much. tony maguire and will hollis in northampton. that's glasgow and northampton covered there because this is actually a serious issue. okay. you've got the nhs with the sort of nanny statist warnings about how we all need to hunker down and collect our medicines and our

food supplies and everything because of this arctic blast. but with the winter fuel payments being taken away, there are probably a lot of pensioners out there who are wary about turning the heating on, are wary about leaving it on when they should be really in these kind of temperatures. you need to have it on all day, really, don't you? >> absolutely. and we've just seen this week as well the price cap go up yet again, expecting that it's going to go up next time as well. energy is not getting cheaper, but how is the cold impacting you at home? delighted to be joined by gb news viewer john gearing. john, thanks so much for being with us today. firstly, are you managing today. firstly, are you managing to keep warm? >> yeah, i'm fine actually tom, i'm keeping warm. usual heating is on but my house has got double glazing. i'm fairly well sealed. yeah, so at the present moment i'm not too bad, but it is cold outside. i have to say. >> i want to get on to the what you make of the old winter fuel payments being taken away from 10 million pensioners. but

first, what do you make of the nhs warnings? so the nhs have issued these warnings to everyone to stay inside in the morning and the night, to make sure you've got your food suppuesin sure you've got your food supplies in and your medical suppues supplies in and your medical supplies in. do you think that's a good thing or maybe a little bit nanny state gone mad? >> i don't know, i don't bit na