>> good evening. i'm josh howie. this is free speech nation. join us for papal de—banking cancellations from the music world. the view of uk free speech from the us, taking the government to court , and government to court, and wikipedia bias and comedians answering some crazy culture developments from a live studio audience. but first the news. >> josh, thank you and good evening. the top stories the. keir starmer says the release of three hostages from hamas captivity, including british citizen emily de—man, is wonderful news after months of

agony for them and their families. foreign secretary david lammy has also welcomed their release. he said our thoughts are also with those still waiting to be reunited with their loved ones. earlier today, the red cross said that all three released hostages were in good health. emily's mother has thanked everyone who never stopped fighting for her throughout this horrendous ordeal. she says her daughter is finally home and a photograph has since been posted on x of the two of them together. since her release, there were chaotic scenes in gaza city as the three female hostages were released after more than 470 days in captivity, along with 28 year old emily's. released today are two other named hostages , 24 two other named hostages, 24 year old romi gonin and 31 year old doron steinbrecher, who were also freed. today, the israeli prime minister's office says four other living hostages will also be released in seven days time, as the hostages were released after 15 months, there were cheers and tears from

crowds in tel aviv. there are still many others yet to be released at a later stage. in response to the ceasefire being enacted earlier today, terror group hamas fighters gathered in gaza in order to celebrate videos released from the region show members of the hamas armed wing chanting and celebrating as the delayed truce came into effect this morning. aid trucks have been entering into gaza since the ceasefire was enacted. displaced palestinians have begun returning to their homes, and 90 palestinians were reportedly be released today. in other news, tomorrow will mark the inauguration of president elect donald trump as he makes his return to the white house, the soon to be 47th president arrived in washington last night, where he took in a fireworks display with his wife, melania. trump will also host a make america great again rally in around an hour's time in downtown washington, although a counter rally also took place yesterday, with thousands of people attending to protest. the

incoming president. ahead of donald trump re—entering the white house. the keir starmer has recently appointed lord peter mandelson as the british ambassador to the us, and despite reports suggesting that trump may still reject that appointment, chief secretary to the treasury darren jones says this is a positive step for improved relations with the us. >> peter mandelson is a senior and experienced politician that has worked on the world stage as well as, as we all know, extensively at home here in uk government and he will be a brilliant ambassador for us in the united states. and look, this is the first time in 50 years that a british prime minister has picked a politician to be our ambassador in the united states. we want to do things differently. our diplomats have done a brilliant job, including karen pierce. but peter mandelson is a senior and respected politician with a lot of experience on trade and trading relationships between countries around the world. and i think that sets the type of relationship that we want to have going forward with the new administration.

>> and those are the headlines. i'll be back in 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/alerts. >> welcome to free speech nation, where we take a look at culture, current affairs and politics. and when they are being a bit silly, we push back against them. if the world returns to normal, then one week we might struggle to fill the show. but it's certainly not this week. so join us as coming up. tonight. we'll be joined by the founder of the parent group us for them, molly kingsley, who was debunked after she spoke out against school closures during the covid pandemic. we'll be joined by a jazz artist who claims he was forced out of his job for wrongthink. you don't want to miss that, and we'll be joined by the founder of the free speech union, toby young,

who is telling us about the free speech union's latest battles with the department for education and wikipedia bias. and of course, myself. and my fantastic panel will be answering questions from our wonderful studio audience. my comedian guest this evening are jonathan kogan and steve and alan. welcome. hello, josh. how are you doing? >> touching. see you. love to see you guys. how you doing? thank you. >> and our audience here. thank you. yes. so a big, big week. obviously we just saw in the news that the three of the hostages are alive and have been returned to their families. i don't know, the vibe i get from the jewish community is just around the world is just immense relief. right? it's just everybody's. the last few days, we've just been waiting with bated breath. yes. >> yeah, absolutely. and, you know, hopefully we'll see many more returned alive and well. hopefully. >> exactly. now, steve, obviously you're not jewish. you don't care about this. you're going to be open with tiktok. why are we talking about this? yeah, i know, crazy. sorry about that. but you had a good week. oh yeah i've had a great week. yeah. that's the. yeah. but i mean, also on that topic though,

the fact that all it took was this threat of like, if it's not done by a certain by the trump deadline. yeah. it feels like it could have been done earlier. it does feel like that. but anyway, i'm just relieved that they're home. right. we're going to have some questions now from our audience. our first question is from mike. hey, mike. hi, josh. >> is this really the end of tiktok in the united states? >> yeah, i know, very sad news. did you? i saw your latest dance video. it was wonderful, by the way. got some moves. mike. so is this the end of tiktok in the us? tiktok stop working in the us? tiktok stop working in the us late on saturday, shortly before a federal ban on the app was due to take effect because of fears over its links to the chinese government, the us congress passed a law in april mandating that tiktok's parent company must sell to a non—chinese owner or face a total shutdown, and it fail to do so. however, donald trump said on saturday he would most likely give the app a 90 day reprieve from the ban after he takes office on monday, keeping hope alive for users across the states. so it's actually back up and running now, which i'm sure you're incredibly relieved for that. are you on tiktok? i'm not, because i don't want to be

ageist. i'm not saying you're old. no, but you're old and very old. no, but you're old and very old. not very old. no, old. there's a cut off. i think you can only be on it from 8 to 16. >> i don't get the winter fuel allowance. you don't get the winter? >> oh, no one does anymore. come on, look at you with your humble brags. but do you think this is a free speech issue? government stepping in to close down social media platforms? >> yes, i do, but with trump's record of compliance with the law, i think it will be up and running fairly soon. >> yeah, exactly. well, you were you came through. you told me i was very relieved that tiktok were back up and running. yeah. what do you think about all of this? i mean, i was worried for all those gen zs in america. where would they go to for their short videos other than reels on instagram and the same as on facebook? and x videos are a bit like that now, but other than youtube shorts, if you were and clapper if it weren't for that and about 15 other apps, then yeah, exactly. how are you going to get your messages out there? and that message is i can eat a tide pod or whatever the stupid

things they do. so, you know, yeah, it's free speech. yeah, it's a strange one, jonathan, because obviously. well, the funny thing is that a lot of people, a lot of influencers have gone to this other social media, chinese social media platform called little red book or something. it's i think that's i think that's another app. josh. anything ever. yeah.