big game hunting as a u.s. backtracks for making tracks from syria all of the more coming up in today's going underground but first to our top story of the new year more revelations of a shadowy alleged conspiracy involving nato the u.k. foreign office and british intelligence to distort public perception of the world around them the integrity initiative has been identified in the past few weeks by the purported anonymous organizational collective which released this video on you tube brittle has in fact created a large scale information secret service in europe the united states and canada which consists of representatives of political military academic and journalistic communities with a think tank in london with the head of it as part of the project britain has time and again intervened into domestic affairs of independent european states leaks about the alleged british government conspiracy concerned direct corruption in spain but from suspicious activity in the bernie sanders u.s. election campaign to a concerted plan of action against this t.v. channel r.t.

drazen is government appears to have been involved in a covert destabilization strategy that knows no borders britain is capable of conducting such operations in the following states spain france germany italy greece the netherlands live through india norway serbia and montenegro london's near term plans to create similar clusters include latvia estonia portugal sweden belgium canada armenia ukraine moldova malta czechia countries of the middle east and north africa poland slovakia rumania belgariad georgia hungary cyprus austria switzerland turkey finland iceland denmark and the usa joining me now is one of german corbin's close as parliamentary allies chris williams and has raised the issue of the integrity initiative in the smearing of the left in britain in the house of commons because that's for. coming back on so

why do you believe aside from the focus obviously on bricks that the mainstream media just isn't particularly interested in your concerns about a taxpayer funded organization but that's a very good question and one wonders whether or not all these clusters of journalists who are apparently associated with the integrity initiative has anything to do with it because there are a number of people who have been named problem journalists have been named in the documents which have been released one has to ask the question therefore is it because of their involvement that they are not. covering this real scandal actually and you know reminded of the operation mockingbird that was in existence in the united states it was launched i think in the early one nine hundred fifty s. at the height of the cold war and wasn't really properly exposed and so the nineteen seventies i think it was the church report without actually you know highlights of this scandal the been taking place where you know the cia were effectively paying journalists to put out you know propaganda effectively and

misleading stories and this is very troubling i mean you know we value a free press in this country don't we i think it's really important for the you know we're confident that you know people in the pay of some shady organization in fairness to some of the mainstream media journalists we are slowly bit by bit since you're by them in three questions starting to hear from them deborah haynes foreign affairs editor of sky news implicated in this some of the leaks as her position at the times saying i have no formal or informal relationship with the integrity initiative and we're also hearing from david a lot of it was with the i've never heard of any of these go to going to these so basically we are seeing the generals who are being named in a document by a multi-million pound taxpayer funded organization it's got a wish list these are the guys we can probably get. well i mean according to some of the documents i've seen some of these. people have actually attended meetings

now if this is not true i mean i'm a bit of the trying to big themselves up in olds trying get more funding but look if you know if i was a journalist to be named in the shady organizations activities then you know i'd be probably wanted to sue them frankly for you know misusing their name in that way the new york the question has a call yes revealing this is a multimillion dollar operation that arguably does information in stopping affecting public perception what was it like what you went to the registered address of the institute whether to their return addresses they they have a registered address in scotland and it's at the end of this remote dirt track actually it was the dead of night when we arrived there and it was rather spooky i've got to say and when i reached the end of the track i was confronted with this derelict mill there wanted to lights on in a couple of the units there and did speak to some of the people who had businesses located. at the mill they'd never heard of the introduced

a craft died then went to their offices in london just the temple station and then on this is a state funded organization bearing in mind as well i am a member of parliament here and therefore because we were being stonewalled by ministers in terms of the written palm and trick questions and indeed the oral questions that we that we tabled on the floor of the house of commons of it will try and ask questions directly to the organization if they can clarify anything and i was met with a very hostile reception i mean shouted out the door slammed in my face now for an organization which is receiving nearly two and a half million pounds in the last eighteen months from the government in this country to the taxpayer from the taxpayer to treat a member of parliament in that way. poses a number of questions as and i mean it suggests that they have something to hide doesn't it and i think there are more questions i think need to be port about this organize a. and we do desperately i'm in need to get to the bottom of what on earth is going

on why is the foreign commonwealth office why is the ministry of defense as well as the funding this organization what are they getting out of a more troubling still is why is it this organization the state funded taxpayer funded body is engaged in smearing jeremy corbyn and the labor party and officials of the labor party to this is completely unacceptable and totally alien it seems to me to british democracy lisi the. says it gets its funding from multiple sources including the european union the foreign office and your defense nato to ensure its independence also gets from private individuals so i mean you know your amount of our state is would say they would say that wouldn't they i mean let me it could be a wishlist i mean the fact it was in the scottish mill and the names of these journalists as we hear it do you think it's like these people are still in the cold

war mentality and they're in the league show that they wishing to be able to control the perceptions of international affairs against china or against russia or against germany and again but they wish for it and they haven't been that success well they've got me that success because he's a leader of your party after all well that's true but i mean i was see one of the individuals who was involved with this organization monies to get himself implanted into the bernie sanders campaign to as we know in the end didn't actually get the democratic nomination but whether it's successful or not the fact remains that they are seeking to influence democracy in this country and that is just unacceptable i mean you call how of state funded organization receiving millions of pounds of said engage in a process of smearing the labor party smearing the official opposition in this country seeking to influence public opinion in relation to you know potentially future government i want to get on to the subject of world war and peace as a world president drum obviously believed to toward was very important come under attack. from the liberal left the script incident was

a water book in poor relation to be left of the most countries make spilled over under russian diplomats chris daughterly of the institute of state crew of general richard barron's one of these two explicitly stated because he asked if he was required to warn the public of the dangers of russia vladimir putin very quickly after there were calls in parliament to back this channel and sputnik what did you think of these latest revelations of their involvement in attempts to close britain it's a troubling case and you know it's troubling that it seems that you know the trying to set up a country and trying to create a mindset which then justifies further expenditure on the arms industry and so on and you know i just think you know a number of us who absolutely questions and look what happened it's completely on except i'm going to make an excuse and i totally appalling what what what what went on there i think it's perfectly legitimate to ask questions and be clear and certain before we take any precipitous of action or they would truly say that's

because you don't understand the russian threat against this country and that i'm not sure they would say this but that russia wants to invade britain well i mean we've heard these stories in the in the past seventy joy joy in the hearts of the of the cold war and in my opinion in a russia doesn't pose any threat to the united kingdom it's warm i mean you know it's a struggling economy you know and so the sanctions of you know an impact there's no doubt about that but let's also remember the you know the soviet union the last twenty thirty million people in the in the second world war i mean tony benn used to make this point on a regular basis you know why would a nation that has suffered so greatly want to engage in you know a significant the will world war again in that sense and so no i don't i don't really accept that and i think you know surely we should be seeking peace we should be using diplomatic means to you know create a safer world and start using our ingenuity to you know trade. decent society to

support and build our public services role than to create this mindset where we want to expand the arms industry and pour all our eggs in that basket i don't think that's a sensible way forward at all what we should be promoting it seems to me is peace and that's certainly would be a high priority for labor i think going forward to try and ensure that we have a safer world and that's one of the reasons of course why germany called in has appointed a shadow minister for peace and disarmament and i think in the event of a labor government that would send an incredibly powerful message around the world a permanent member of the un security council who has a priority of peace and is all movement role than you know war and an almost manufactured by the russian federation as they denied involved in the script all of that we haven't been able to get hold of what they may or may not have been involved in doing it was do but it's not just corby in russia the left china is also a great tackler latest revelations and what do you make i mean you mentioned. operation walking but there are attempts to make use of the entertainment industry and they

said that china should be perceived as the enemy in the bigger the films. you know this race is all about softening up public opinion and you know and i just think we need a different approach a different mindset putting you know peace and harmony center stage really role than trying to this kind of bellicose sort of approach that this organization is seeing to try to foster i think is very very dangerous because it would be in the end you know look if we end up in a hot war with any of these countries i mean it's ordinary people that pay the price isn't it but their lives regarding the film industry and these attempts to influence the film industry would by the taxpayer there were. i don't think anyone going to is ken loach's a daniel blake the palme d'or award winning film being bought of the institute of to go no integrity initiative what do you make of the chairman of the tories james cleverly accusing your shadow. bayley of misunderstanding i don't know blake in

explaining to her that the ken loach one was not a documentary shows a callous streak i think within the conservative party also betrays the fact that they are utterly out of touch with reality the truth is and we know this from the u.n. reporter who report the back end of last year's show fourteen million people in this country living in poverty one point five million destitute we know that the universal credit thing they refer to as universal discredit actually cause immense suffering and poverty and the government seems hell bent on rolling this this this floor this broken system and inflicting it on the country as a whole and it really isn't fit for purpose and i think the deputy chair of the conservative party needs to think very carefully actually before he rushes on to social media to denigrate something which is a serious as this and yes most employees are made and watch it well indeed and i

think you know jeremy invited her to do so and it was it might not have been a documentary cathy come home with it one of the loaches earlier seminal pieces had a profound impact on public consciousness in relation to homelessness in the one nine hundred sixty s. led to the formation of shelter and had a really positive impact i think on housing policy and i'm hoping that i don't your blake will do a lot worse because williams thank you after the break. the politics of heroin the life of legendary novelist and actress collab with award winning director watch westland film about her it's release in the u.k. this friday and from the headlines the hospital flooded with patients and water well the one next door well is dr funs as the americans apply a sticking plaster that combat readiness here the congo over the more coming up about two are going underground.

join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics or business i'm showbusiness i'll see you then. the most important moments are when the principals of the foreign minister or the president actually ask your opinion when that happens you are on your own and you're not just into the two you actually. have to say what you think.

welcome back joining me now to go through some the week's top stories a broadcaster a former liberal democrat m.p. lembit oh big happy new year all of you forget all that british special forces probably still in syria we don't know about going to go formation of it late last night but in the senate trump one i think implicitly backing drums syria policy yes well let's do this one let's stay with the story the independent reports jump bolton contradicts by saying syria withdrawal depends on defeating isis or i still that's it sure they were defeated trump said it would have evoked one thousand nine percent of the caliphates gone according to pompei zero one of very close associates ninety nine boiler to clean their vote kills one thousand percent of all known caliphates yes the problem here is small little fly in the ointment you're getting some kind of a mixed message here not for the first time from the administration because there are new conditions to withdraw all that is difficult to hear bolton saying well actually we're not so sure. about going away from from so no drums treated again

how can you really misspoke about that how could you be undermined all the time by your president i mean it's amazing you're not going to get on everyone not just the president undermines everybody else that's the new consistency that way you can never be caught out because you just say you misspoke that's what's happened with this there's no chance of the americans walking away from syria they might move away a little bit but with wheels and wings you can still get there apart from london paris beijing and moscow in the u.n. security council today being briefed about humanitarian situation we are hoping that from indeed it is out of there let's go to the british army where they're not trying to close down this channel using the integrity initiative what is this they're recruiting big time controversial set of posters has come to the fore the in one of the gamers gamers your army needs you and your dry drone killings of the beans in ten years you are a gamer on a joystick or running a drone of these folks are self-taught and they've paid

a fortune in time and money to become absolutely great practitioners in exactly the skills you need to run a drone it's not the only poster there are the ones calling for snowflakes to join the army as well just even would oppose doing on facebook that he wasn't consulted before he may resign from an english army he says that he will resign as soon as he can he's still got to serve some time before he leaves but dres may help in the n.h.s. this story from the sun yes another mixed message coming up here ash and water waste brand new five hundred million pound n.h.s. hospital lies empty just three miles from where to reason made launched and it says plan now to resume a the prime minister went to all the hague children's hospital to say how she and the conservatives are going to revamp the emmy a privatized but about you might say that millions my degree at the same time career and the private contractor too big to fail failed and so there's. a thirteen

story building which is part of the royal liverpool hospital lying empty now this hospital has been flooded not just with patients but with water because it had both pipes and all other kinds of problems there as well the irony three miles away from where we were told the n.h.s. was safe and to ease the maze hands it seems to be drowning in its own water that's a problem it's embarrassing but i guess they'll just carry on regardless and the sun attacking terrorism it which is interesting up in liverpool which is also ironic having ironic is that on voted for british and eventually in libya they were going very well as far as i understand it this story for military success after success after military dot com reports u.s. troops and got on remained focused on congo despite local coup attempt short version here is the americans are mad because it's really near the congo congo causes lots of troubles trying to ensure you can see in the region i think they just try to control the congo let's be honest about that not doing a good job of it seem to have provoked the locals and got on an attempted coup

arguably not a us spend the coup it didn't work but it's still going on that the u.s. is it was a u.s. friend because it was only in september president was applauding closer ties with china putin of russia and bongo in july was saying close ties who is behind this it can ask their heads because he's a way out of the country and medical treatment how convenient at the moment who is behind the coup you know who knows what we know is the americans are involved so let me guess is the wildcats maybe the americans trump says maybe indefinitely the troops have to be in got on to secure u.s. safety at home maybe he's misspeaking them but a big thank you well in the first part of the program we heard from chris williams in about the use of hollywood as neo con propaganda that accusation could probably not be leveled against a new decide to be on the hollywood film about one of the fronts his most subversive novelists call it which stars keira knightly and on the quest is your.

by watch westmoreland whose previous film is oscar winning film alice we caught up with him before christmas ahead of this week's release of the film in the u.k. . watch welcome back to going underground tell me about collette another british director goes to hollywood makes a film urge in a reasonable period because well yeah it's not quite a hollywood movie it was made in europe it was financed out of the u.k. and it was shot in france and hungary. is a story of french writer who lived at the turn of the century who famously had their apprenticeship writing books as a ghostwriter for a husband who took all the credit for her work over stories about seeing how she fights off this giant male ego to claim credit but when i jokingly said merchant ivory this is very different arguably well yeah approaching this period piece we wanted to see what we could do to loosen up the whole genre of period piece because it can be a very uptight or own a bit of a bastion of of whiteness and upper class privilege so we approached it to show

what life in the nineteenth century was really like it's a period piece with belching and farting and i mean within the first five minutes there in the bond a lot of period pieces you spend two hours waiting for people to get engaged and. and all the time it's like collette was a very sensual writer and in the in the movie you know she is very much a sexual explorer but was never any negative consequence on her for a woman being sexual now everyone presumably is talking about the female identity the sex identity in the film i mean i want to talk about that but this constant issues of opposition of different town and country rich and indebted because they're not rich collette comes from a family a country family that fallen on hard times and when she gets married she can't afford the parents can't afford a dowry so that scene is quite scandalous because we're leased from. middle class

publishing family in paris and this the marriage is a bit of an odd fit initially but you were working on this film for many years before. me too were those are all of the. women being abused in favor of men within us as yeah i mean the movie's timing is extraordinary because it really speaks to the me too in the times of movement but really this is been going on not just for years voting for millenia i mean women have been kept down by men within male power structures you know women have not been given a fair shake so this is just one example of that kind of story of you know very interesting example because it was such a dynamic character and it was such a very particular time there's like a seismic shift happening in gender roles around that time and a lot of that got refracted through this marriage of these two tremendous characters and it automatically lends itself to cinema because she was an actress as well as a. very cinematic about story around the time the marriage goes on the rocks you

know in movies often you get long looks into the mid distance a lot of melancholy collette was unstoppable she decided she was going to go on the stage and not like the high theatre it wasn't shakespeare she actually went into the musical with like the performing dogs and the russian acrobats and you know was it was seen as a scandalous move she starts touring around france doing these very out there almost pieces of performance art which is very striking and really it's the sort of the genesis of silent movie acting it's she was a mind to do these plays and scandalized people wherever she went and hair was very important to rose mcgowan was on this show and she was really about the boards of hair in hollywood well yeah collette was very famous for her she was known in her village as the girl with the head she had incredibly long braids she used to call her whips. and. when she got married she moved to paris was often commented on as

part of her rustic charm she was very much outside of the kind of bohemian elite and sort of kept her own distance from it and then in a radical move she actually cut her hair off into a ball which gave you the iconic look and at the time again this was seen as something very new and quite shocking but within a matter of months many society women started copying her before anyone thinks i mean the idea here i'm going only read about women's hair being that important why was that it's political because when. she was really making a statement of some of that going to a look that was more kind of free and independent and modern at the beginning of the twentieth century we think of a lot of technological innovations like invention of telephones invention of motor cars invention of gramophone but really there was a lot of style innovations around sort of women declaring their independence that

were also happening and a lot of innovations in terms of understands and of sexuality and of course the way she dressed and in the film there's a transformation visit very much a transformation in the way she dresses you go so rigidly from a country style into kind of a young parisienne fashionable look but then she moves to a more undrugged in a style that we often associate with color that she was moving away from traditional feminine department and not the going to single trump would probably favor and would be really what you would i don't know donald trump and call it would have to say it's of about i'm sure she wrote him but i'm trying to draw that relevance between the i mean to be able to compare the idea of even being able to compare thought nineteenth century paris with twenty first century u.s.a. you really think there is that could be a lot has changed in the last hundred years but a lot hasn't i mean in the movie willy says women writers don't sell and of course that was a. the nineteenth century many women writers took on male pen names like george

eliot and shores sonde career bell for the bronte sisters and then people say that was a hundred years ago well j.k. rowling goes by the initials j.k. because she was advised by a publishers that woman's name woman's purse name wouldn't sell to a young male audience so we're seeing the same thing today now some may say this is very different to the oscar winning previous film it was still well it's how do you how do you how did you make that huge break out it seems who i think is a very different film. every time i approach a film i'm looking to break new ground or want to do something new book each film looks a woman just tackling something that's kind of you know a very difficult and their life still alice it was illness and it was very much a look at illness and the individual how you know not to let the illness become your identity but become the person who's living with and fighting the effects of

the disease in collette it's a woman who is disease is her husband she is you know fighting for her own rights as an artist again something that's very much holding her back during class is becoming more important in your films i know i mean when you won sundance years ago with your your late husband is it becoming more important there's always an awareness of class and economics in my movies i sometimes see films and i'm always like where did they get the money from how are they doing this how are they affording this that is one of the first things that rich and i always used to work out and the class dynamics of the story are always incredibly important to us was respond thank you thank you it's been a pleasure. award winning director watch westerlund speaking to be there before christmas you can go and watch collette in u.k. cinemas from this friday and that it brought first episode of the season will be about gone saturday to speak to margaret that. a delayed critical vote that could

potentially topple teresa mayes minority government a deal then even touch my social media will few months out of the fifty two years to the day that the louisville kentucky draft board refused but all these conscientiously claim when describing his opposition to the vietnam war he said i will not disgrace my religion my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice freedom and equality . so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy. let it be an arms race on this very dramatic development only closely i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very. time to sit down and talk. to. us veterans who

come back from war often tell the same stories. were going after the people who were killing civilians they were not interested in the wellbeing of their own soldiers either they're already several generations of them so i just got this memo from a certain branches officer says we're going to attack and destroy the government in seven countries in five years americans pay for the wars with them money others with their lives if we were willing to go into harm's way and willing to risk being killed for a war surely we can risk some discomfort for an easy for.

this is a humanitarian crisis a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul. demands funds for his first televised address from the oval office the democrats say he's holding the nation to ransom by continuing the government shutdown. british m.p.'s and journalists face an increasingly aggressive backlash as frustrated members of the public and from. the. right well if you were offended by that i

think this is the.