government human rights record prime minister morris johnson chose this week to attack china over human rights we stand for rules and obligations and that is the sound of space basis for our international relations and be an absolute position of this national security law constitutes a clear and serious breach of the sino british joint declaration so what is the coronavirus recovering british prime minister going to do about a new ongoing national security law that arguably echoes britain's own anti terror legislation albeit after arguably illegal british wars from yugoslavia to iraq libya and syria let alone its imperialist record against china we make clear mr speaker that if trying to continue down this path we would introduce a new route for those with british national overseas status to enter the u.k. granting them limited leave to remain with the ability to live and work in the u.k. and thereafter to apply for citizenship and that is precisely what we will do now

except of course 2 and a half 1000000 chinese citizens would presumably have to be quarantined before getting limited rights in a britain where corona virus has killed exponentially more than in the whole of the people's republic of china but as the united states continues to encircle china with military bases on today's u.s. independence day questions are being asked about democracy in britain this comes after britain's top civil servants are mark sedwill announced he has to quit amidst widespread westminster gossip that boris johnson's top adviser dominic cummings has something to do with it. he was the 1st to give boris johnson a welcome to downing street it was said mark sedwill state is a well good morning everybody a man who sits beside the prime minister as his most senior civil servant will see and serve no longer arguably the greatest television series about civil servants and post-war british democracy is a comedy called yes minister praised for its author. decision by prime ministers it

is set to return this year in a fashion 40 years after its 1st episode joining me last cry from new york is its co-creator the multi award winning film director producer writer and actor jonathan len thank you so much drama coming on so for those who have seen yes minister around the world hacker would be boris johnson to mark sedwill would be so humphrey appleby what did you make of the head of britain's civil service quitting this week well i'm not sure that he actually quit him out of his intention to in as an injection to what i mean obviously he was pushed of ambivalence about it because yes minister and yes fairness or was about the conflict between politicians and civil servants and who's going to run the country. and politicians viewed civil servants as an elitist. non elected group of people who are running the country in what they thought was either their own interests or the country of trust

. and that they were not responsive to the politicians who represented the electorate and the civil servants to do that the politicians were short term grabbers who would do anything to win the next election. those are true those fews are true. both i tell you what though in one of your episodes and she doesn't merge in the series dorothy wainwright who is a special advisor now i have to tell you going on the guy was one of the few programs invited to an event read only cummings spoke relatively recently dominic cummings presumably is the dorothy wainwright character what have you made of dominic cummings is role in government and his ability seemingly to be much better than your special advisor character well i don't know i mean our special advisor and a lot of the want is based on martian williams later lady folk and who is harold's political secretary and who had an extraordinary influence over her. and it was

very seldom that he went against your advice. she wasn't really interested in policy she was interested in the mechanics of government. i think that's rather like dominic cummings though he is a bit interested in polls who police mainly interested in. gettig powerful. even more civil servants but it not even those who have been trained in the job so people like him or come in from the outside albeit as a clos dimension presumably we have the creator of downton abbey on this program a while back who is talking about the mocks astelin prince to downton abbey what do you make of the accusations this is an oxbridge class of the special advisers that are influencing democracy here in britain as a humphrey who you know was oxbridge so as bernard woolley. it's changed

a bit over the years senior civil servants and now not all oxbridge but a lot of them still law and of course our politicians at the moment are dominated not only by oxbridge but also by aten our government. so it's really want to elite dealing with another elite and all struggling for power it's a question of whether you believe that the politicians. but they are on the side of the politicians because they represent those as if they do oh you're on the side of the civil servants because they can handle the politicians error and ignorant behavior even though they are 2 opposing opinions about the very heart of what is what it means to be a democracy what it means to be a democracy is to have the legitimate collision of vested interests if we all agreed there would be no need for democracy there would be no need for voting if we all agreed i think you tell a story about how your series is going to say yes prime minister were seen as anti

british and hand t. o. western democratic when they were taken to the u.s.s.r. and to china when in fact you are affirming actually these are serious about power and democracy and government i think the reason why the soviet union in those days showed us minister was because the to people in the government thought it was actually democratic and the people thought it was actually a bureaucratic western democracy has many folks but it is none the less the best system that's been arrived at as compared to any sort of authoritarian government in my opinion of course i'm sure people watching in iraq syria libya afghanistan across latin america and africa may beg to differ maybe though given the wars the illegal wars by these western democracies yes clearly the wars by

everybody and mean the the russian recently invaded ukraine and crimea russia invaded afghanistan at the time we were doing yes minister. everybody has illegal wars i'm afraid i see no intrinsic. difference my father used to how to great distrust of politicians and he always used to quote from the bible the song of solomon. and the quotation was put not by trust in princes more than faith in chains i think this truth of that i mean i have a distrust of people who want to have power over their fellow citizens i think that applies to just about every country in the world i hold no brief for all the illegal wars that america britain and other western countries have been involved in but i hold no brief for the illegal wars that many of the rest of many countries in the rest of the world have been involved in either but of course the skepticism of

power is often seen as crucial to journalism i have to tell you that the dominant cummings has been briefing the murdoch times apparently saying he has never been briefing against the mark sedwill so how does the press relate to these different issues because i'm i mean some free was often briefed against sometimes by a hacker in there yes minister everybody briefs against everybody else and yes minister and in the real world. the ship of state is the only ship that leaks from the top what do you think some free would have done if acker had tried to dispose of him well i think he would have pointed out the politicians have no idea that how to get anything done without civil servants and told them all by getting were by this demonizing of the civil service. they're losing one of their main alibis

which is you know that they need an excuse every 3 or 4 years when there's an election as to why they didn't keep their promises and the city services that we've been a very good media excuse for that. in the last 48 hours or no if if if they castrate the civil service they will lose that excuse and then have to actually account for why they don't keep their promises you think prime minister boris johnson realizes he's lost as well if you read my letter to the times he said so then yes otherwise no. it well. obviously yes minister explained in detail the problems the illusions the contradictions of the european union as is now. what would you have done then if the civil service was sabotaging a democratically voted for bracks it as there's been. many m.p.'s have told us on

this program that that's what was going on for the past 4 years. i think that's an oversimplification i think. in one sense it was democratically voted for bret's it but there was no plan it was simply a yes or no vote nobody who voted had any idea of what they were voting for in reality. the most asked question on google day after the referendum result was what is the e.u. a small majority of people voted in favor of gregg's it and they were voting for all kinds of things they were basically voting against the government it would be against they'd left out they were voting against unemployment well many beg to differ about that in your show hacker regularly invokes churchill as being the iconic. politician and now we have boris johnson quoting f.d.r. when it comes to coronavirus what do you made of his grand gestures as it were of

him comparing himself to f.d.r. or boris yeltsin wrote a biography of churchill and would like to think of himself as a great bad. those are divided views about how great a man churchill was when he set a very great from 194-2944. and boris sees him self in that light or would like to or would hope to. from there it's a short step to seeing himself as resident. there's there's no shortage of delusions of grandeur on the part of people who governance i mean your fictional prime minister and minister i mean he's often free infuriated frustrated do you think he would have handled coronavirus differently i mean birth johnson he said in public he would shake hands with infected coronavirus patients not something the hacker

would have done presumably oh no hachim was far too timid for that. and probably most sensible. i think forest didn't handle it well whether or not that's a question of how much bad scientific advice he got from the stuff i mean they say that if he hadn't stuck to the lock on in britain we thought to earlier there would be many fewer infections and deaths but i don't know i mean the the interesting thing to me is that the 3 countries for countries with the worst care on a virus problem other than china are started of britain america russia and brazil. they don't have a lot in common politically. they all just. made mistakes about how. old those countries say they're and ling handling the crisis well given that any one of them all of this as you sadly well well you know it's

a catastrophe jonathan i'll stop you there more from the co-creator of yes minister after this prank plus is russia really a democracy given nature nation media is all but damn vladimir putin as an enemy dictator to be threatened with the full force of its nuclear conventional forces we investigate the alleged putin paradox after this week 65 percent plus turn of the well meaning victory for the president in the russian referendum only small coming up to him going underground. before. the world over. toward the compromised by what is a sure national interest people talk about gridlock in congress people talk about.

the right. radicals in both bodies. by centrist approach to politics both domestic and foreign. welcome back i'm still with us mr co-creator jonathan and given that prime minister since capture what's your program as far as we know loved it so its authenticity. why do you think more prime ministers didn't take to heart some of the. refrig contradictions that set out in it i mean for instance trident nuclear weapons local governments in education and health care have absolutely no idea politicians love

love the program because politicians like seeing themselves on television or versions of themselves and they're really only interested in politics as them everything in the show was either true all certainly could have the. and i think this is actually thought of that for the politicians was fair but the portrayal of the civil servants was dead accurate the civil servants felt the exact reverse. what do they think now well i don't know i always thought crime was a complete waste of money. and if that money had been spent then many of other britain's economic problems for the been solved but that wasn't a right or left position i mean sure if you know the you know power who i thought was despicable the number of ways was also against the british independent nuclear terror it's very easy for all of these issues to be boiled down to is a whole labor of government or opposition but there are always nuances you know

proud of course the right wing conservative politician in ulster unionists it's 40 years on i understand that there was supposed to be a revival of something called i'm sorry prime minister i can't quite remember just tell me a little bit about that project whether it's going to be this year well no that wasn't a television that's a stage play. that i wrote late last year on which was going into production which i'm very pleased with it's about jim hacker and humphrey and the eighty's. and jim is now a lot happier and master of half a college oxford. and he got endowment for the college from our russian oligarch. many years ago and nobody thought that would be a problem and now the college is trying to push him out because he's been saying all kinds of things that are politically incorrect so he finds a humphrey who is now a resident in st dymphna as home for the elderly drainage and

he gets hungry to come over to try and help him keep his job it's about these 2 old men who used to have power. and used to be at the center world events and now a completely ignored nobody cares what they think and they don't understand why the world of business upside down well what happens when you get to be old and trickle and powerless john the end there. and here. in the past 72 hours russia amidst a pandemic voted in favor of president amir putin's biggest shake up of the constitutions in 1903 and his russian relations with nature nations remain tense it comes as no surprise that its main stream media is focused on the extension of a presidential term despite the reforms package containing over 140 amendments joining me now assume from canterbury is a professor of russian and european politics and author of the putin paradox reza richard sakwa thanks so much richard for coming on i'm going to say there's wall to

wall us coverage of the kremlin putting bounties on u.s. soldiers heads in afghanistan here in the u.k. we've got continuing coverage of a russian quasi control of major nation politicians and now this referendum which is being ridiculed widely right across nato countries what's really happening as always it's a mixed bag quarter to show you are free and certainly as a political exercise it was impressive i personally have always been a constitutional conservative and though i can understand why a change just a constitution took place now which changed actually 10 percent of the text in history and so the way it did chief there are a number of purposes so. the idea of simply being about an extension to rule i think is misguided he said impressive if you watch any british television here television news it's far from impressive it's not

a democratic vote at all putin has a the lowest support ever and this is all about him retrenching his dictatorship credentials well i must say that the out both at turnout and the years old were impressive we're talking about a 65 percent turnout and with some 81 percent. more voting figures voting in favor 21 percent against but oh. timidly i mean we do need to ask tough questions about changing the constitution to achieve a political outcome yes i accept it wasn't just about the political outcome of the removal of immediate term limits for the incumbent but it was about other things a package of social reforms a package of political reforms which give marginal more powers to the parliament over the appointment of the prime minister and minister to 8000 it is actually giving away power to the legislative part of the governed. to

a point but the language itself of the constitutional change is so obscure that i think there's going to be plenty of debate over exactly what it means yes so balancing there's been much talk of that but at the same time the other packages the legal reforms are in my view very disturbing because it gives the federation council their right to remove judges and so i think it's a question mark about the degree to which it can ensure going into the independence of the courts which is always in the u.s. are not always been as independent as they should be so it's as i say it's a mixed bag and when mixing up constitutional issues with political issues i think it's never a good idea so what have you thought of the coverage here in britain i mean the iraq war supporting u.k. observer newspaper suggests that johnson bracks it trumped the taliban they're all

the work of putin is there a degree of mccarthyite the hysteria oh well here i think are dollops of it i think that what's going on now. is of course all seeing all powerful all controlling from this perspective but of course it's completely nonsense the idea of an organized objects it vote just like the allegation that he do organize the election of 2 in 2016 this is not just mistaken but the way in which it is presented as fact and closing down debate on these issues i think is fundamentally disturbing so yes your show is accused of subversion of the west but i think that what's going on is more disturbing and that is the self subversion of the west to have seen it in some of these extraordinary ringback campaigns against disinformation which too often is simply attacking alternative policy viewpoints of course newsrooms in arguably monopoly media in nato nations rely on reporters on the ground is there

a class dimension. into the analysis that is mean characterizes mccarthyite in that the journalists hanging out in moscow only meet the metropolitan elites that do not support that amir putin yes i think this question of you know journalistic bubbles is that not just is that they meet people who they want to meet is that then this is amplified and this it becomes an echo chamber i think that's extremely worrying and i think it said you're flecked ing in some to gaze the worsening of the professional standards of major some leading western media outlets the new york times coverage recently of the afghan bounty question immediately comes to mind what was your reaction when you when you heard that apparently the taliban and people who have lost relatives because of u.s. u.k. airstrikes i don't know they need bounties from russia to kill american soldiers as

the taliban said itself you know we don't need extra and encouragement but at the same time it's much more disturbing because this new york times story then picked up by the washington post and other newspapers including the guardian in u.k. taking a very uncritical view of it it's obvious that it is clearly to do with a lot of things including the concern about the withdrawal really of u.s. forces from afghanistan and also it's about discrediting to because of the fact that allegedly he was briefed about it but didn't react to it so it's a classic classic washington bubble which i used to be against spectacle newspaper like the new york times should have double check because the source cain explicitly from interrogation off and afghan prisoners who then of course which is dubious and we've got any corroboration and but published as fact now this has been the whole story of you actually great and it's here peter and now of course the context

. the wider context is we have nuclear missiles trained on russia in nato countries and it's more than just a media bubble in that the frontrunner to win in november at the u.s. presidential election joe biden says he will be threatening immediate economic warfare with russia reveals elected and will threaten me or putin personally that he didn't quite explain how i think this is exceptionally dangerous that biden is the front leader in taking the russia gate story and these you know fear x. seriously he after the bounty question he immediately endorsed it as if it was a fact so i think it will make an exceptionally dangerous leader i said this the same about hillary clinton in 2016 where a choice between. bad and bad or in 2016 and i think we're faced again in the united states

a choice between but i don't buy into and i don't know which is the baddest out of them who is you know clearly an eccentric figure at least for example when they were planning to attack on your lawn after the drone came down. pulled the plug on it you know didn't want $120.00 audience to be killed out of it so where biden's language is exceptionally dangerous and the fact that it is indorsed by the washington security establishment is exceptional if no one in europe questions that sort of bad judgment it's clear that beijing has lost all patience with what it calls british imperialism how do you see russia and the superpower of this century arguably china coming together because of the kind of russia gate fake alleged fake stories they were aligning long before they were coming together because they both have

a similar. your point about international politics both your leisure and china and india one has to say in some other countries then good old fashioned soviet internationalists again one thing you could say about is that he had a strategic vision after 2016 it makes sense to get on with your astra and the idea was to peel russia away from china now this couldn't happen because of you actually gate but the i did stuff was not a stupid idea but the way that things have developed is that the russian chinese alignment now is moving into a quasi alliance of course russia is always keeping the door open to improve your relations with the european union and with the united states so it's not slamming the door by any means well no sign of that you have written but aside from hong kong just finally and briefly remind us why. about the fact that russia has been accused highly likely that putin ordered the killing of people in britain

using chemical weapons head of the world cup in russia you don't think that that is reason enough of why they should never be a warming of relations between london and moscow well the script the case of songs we're poisonings to which you refer clearly know and he really knows what was going on i think that never is quite long but i think that we have to work for google ations there's no sign of it anywhere in fact you mention nuclear weapons i think that we are heading towards a period of intensified conflict and i think we're going to head to go for nuclear weapons as well no one wants it but an accident is just waiting to happen professor thank you. for the show will be back on monday to speak to legendary german knew a film director and actor in the hut saw who would invent revolutionize cinema filmmaking francois truffaut once called him the most important film director alive until then watch and join the underground on you tube twitter facebook found out

and instagram. the world. thinks. we can ask. thousands of american men and women choose to serve in the country's military. and the decision little sheltered lives every song came to a complete. the day that i was right. you know told to shut up

kill me and i see how it destroyed my life many screamed at me and he made me come in and you graham my arm and he write me this berthing curia if you take into account that women don't report because of the extreme retaliation and it's probably somewhere near about half a 1000000 women have now been sexually assaulted in the us military rape is a very very traumatizing thing tat happen but i've never seen trauma like i've seen women who are veterans who have suffered military sexual trauma reporting rape is more likely to get the victim punished and be offended and almost 10 year career which i was very invested in and i gave a sex offender who was not even put to justice or put on the registry this is simply an issue of our in violence male sexual predators for the large part of target whoever is there to prey upon whether that's a man or when. our

nation is what they're saying a merciless campaign to wipe out our history to shame our heroes the race. speech that could depend on the state donald trump taking aim at people who want one who was destroyed as part of the intensified anti racism come. to the dean moralized over the coals to defund the american police struggling with the backs of refutation of an overwhelming majority saying they never want their children to become. bussed socializing distancing bars restaurants assaulted and opened the doors from off the bus with the prime minister appealing to the public to go easy.