i'm darren grimes, your host. and boy, oh boy, do we have a show tonight. strap yourself in. because if you thought that 2024 was has been a mess, wait till you see what labour's got cooked up for 2025. let's start with sir keir starmer. after years of telling us that he's the second coming of tony blair, promising change, growth and a shiny new britain free from cronyism, what's the first thing he does when he gets into office? no, not lord alli garbs. he asks uk regulators for ideas to boost growth. that's right, 14 years of labour in opposition. and their big plan is to ask has anyone got any bright ideas? it's like watching a bloke who spent the entire party drinking someone else's wine when it suddenly his round, he remembers he's left his wallet in the house. classic keir. now, if you're feeling the pinch this new year, don't worry. labour's got you covered. they're offering £6.6 billion in loans for solar panels. absolutely brilliant. because what we really need in britain in the dead of winter is more solar panels. i mean, i'm just sure i'm confident that the sun's ju

i'm darren grimes, and i can promise that you're in for a very lively show. lot of you messaging in to say that you miss your willie. well, i'm afraid. i'm afraid willie is in australia and someone called fred just replied saying, well, lose some weight then i'll let you decide what that gag is about. right. let's crack on with tonight's first debate. i'm going to abuse my position here and kick us off. brace yourself for this one. take a deep breath in. something's happening in this country that should send shockwaves through each of us. britain's legal system is getting dangerously cosy with islamic religious authority. the times reports that a high court decision is undermining the very heart of secular law, all thanks to a fatwa, which is a religious ruling from a sharia council. yeah, you heard that right, my friends. a british judge used an islamic fatwa to decide whether a five year old to feed a raqeeb, should live or die. she'd suffered brain damage, and doctors were ready to turn off her life support. but her parents, with the help of the islamic co

welcome to dewbs& co with me, darren grimes joining me until seven. my panel. the political consultant alex dean and the former labour advisor matthew lazan former labour advisor matthew lazar. now, as always, this show, my friends, is as much about my opinion and their opinion as it is yours. so get your views in at gbnews.com/yoursay. now, as i said at the start, though, britain has reportedly been asked to pay up billions of pounds of taxpayers cash as part of the deal deal more like a surrender to hand back the chagos islands to mauritius. it's been revealed in the times. talks have stalled over the 99 year lease of a crucial anglo—american airbase on the island, which sources have suggested mauritius demanded £800 million a year for, as well as asking for billions in reparations. a grift if ever i've seen one. this comes as sir keir starmer is facing calls to abandon his surrender of the islands altogether after the new mauritian government rejected another proposal deal last week. now, matthew, if nigel farage is right and the trump administration say i d

. >> i'm darren grimes and i'm with you through until 6:00. >> his majesty king charles iii.re emphasising the importance of community, compassion and service amid a turbulent year for both the king and princess of wales, who had their own health battles this yeah their own health battles this year. now, in a break from tradition, his majesty king charles delivered this year's christmas speech from the fitzrovia chapel, a former hospital in central london. it's the first time in over a decade it hasn't been recorded at a royal residence, with his majesty the king choosing to focus on community and healthcare. after a year where both he and the princess of wales have been battling treatment for cancer. well, joining me now to discuss this is gb news royal correspondent cameron walker. cameron, thank you very much for your company. how significant is it to be away from a royal residence? the first of his majesty the king's reign, and actually a chapel he's never visited before. >> well, merry christmas, darren. yes. you're right. it's incredibly rare for the monarch to excuse m

well, i'm darren grimes and the weekend starts here.yes, sally costello and ben said earlier that it was dawn neesom. ihave earlier that it was dawn neesom. i have left my blonde bob at home. but fear not, because this show it's still the same. nothing without you and your views. let me know your thoughts on all of the stories we'll be discussing today by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay. join the conversation now. keeping me company this hour is the former labour adviser scarlett mccgwire, as well as the political commentator and broadcaster duncan box. but before we get stuck in to today's stories, we're going to get your news headlines with tatiana sanchez. >> darren, thank you very much. and good afternoon. let's get you up to speed on that. breaking news that more than 35,000 migrants have crossed the engush 35,000 migrants have crossed the english channel illegally in small boats so far this year. the milestone figure was reached this morning after at least 250 migrants made that illegal journey in five small boats. after more than a w

i'm darren grimes and i can promise that you're in for a very lively show.s crack on with tonight's first debate. i am going to abuse the privilege of the chair and kick us off. my friends. a round of applause for mi5, mi6 friends. a round of applause for m15, mi6 and friends. a round of applause for mi5, mi6 and gchq friends. a round of applause for m15, mi6 and gchq holding the fort while britain's borders are leakier than a cheap colander from poundland, hundreds of thousands of fighting age men wandering about this country with sudden onset amnesia. no names , no bac

i'm darren grimes, and i can promise that you're in for a very lively show.re going to crack on with tonight's first debate, and i'm going to abuse my position in the middle here and kick us off. we need to be absolutely blunt. as a nation, another innocent little girl is dead. and once again, the people who should have protected her were too scared to act. ask yourself why.7 because in britain today, it's apparently worse to be accused of racism than it is to ignore a child being beaten, tortured and ultimately killed. the tragic case of sara sharif, just ten years old, is a damning indictment of a society that's utterly paralysed by fear, fear of words and fear, frankly, of baseless accusations. the horror that that child endured should neven that that child endured should never, ever have happened. broken bones, burns, injuries so severe that they frankly defy comprehension. and yet there was no intervention. why.7 because no intervention. why? because asking questions about a bruised child suddenly coming to school wearing a hijab might, god forbid, upset

i'm darren grimes and i can promise that you're in for a very lively show.s crack on with tonight's first debate. i am going to abuse the privilege of the chair and kick us off. my friends. a round of applause for mi5, mi6 friends. a round of applause for m15, mi6 and friends. a round of applause for mi5, mi6 and gchq friends. a round of applause for m15, mi6 and gchq holding the fort while britain's borders are leakier than a cheap colander from poundland, hundreds of thousands of fighting age men wandering about this country with sudden onset amnesia. no names , no backstory, no names, no backstory, no passports. they're more lost than sleepy joe biden at an international summit. but don't get too comfy just yet in your safety and security, because mi5's safety and security, because m15's top dog, ken mccallum, he's just done a podcast where he's just done a podcast where he says they're making uncomfortable choices as a vital service. what's the translation there? what does that mean? they're shelving counter—terrorism efforts because chasing down russian

i'm darren grimes, and i can promise that you're in for another very lively hour.usually run a segment in this show called ask the five, and your contributions recently have been brilliant, so we thought we would honour you tonight, and we'll be answering your questions for a whole hour. so i hope they're ofcom compliant. let's without further ado, ask the five. right? your first question comes from a viewer called andrew. >> on a scale of 0 to 10, i'd like to ask the panel what they think of keir starmer's time in office so far , and what they office so far, and what they estimate it could be for next yeah >> well, before we like a pack of rabid lions tear into that one. benjamin, do you want to give the labour line? >> it's like being on radio four. any questions? this isn't it. well, i think that the economy is everything. quite frankly, it seems obvious. but the fact is that they've had all these tax rises, all these difficult decisions, getting rid of the winter bonuses for wealthy retirees. i think these are good things that keir starmer and rachel reeves hav

i'm darren grimes and the weekend my friends starts here. now, as you know by now, this show is absolutely nothing without you and your views. let me know your thoughts on all of the stories we'll be discussing today by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay. join the conversation there. now keeping me company on today's show is the political commentator matthew stadlen and the broadcaster charlie downs. but before we get stuck in to today's stories, here's your news headlines with sam francis. >> darren, thank you very much and good afternoon to you. fast approaching 1:02. well, the top story today. labour has claimed a record pace for removing migrants from the uk, but channel crossings are still at an all time high. the home office says nearly 13,500 people have been removed since labour's election win in july. that's the most in any six month period since 2019, but the number of channel crossings continues to rise, with now over 21,000 migrants arriving by small boats, including a record 609 on thursday alone. home secretary yvette cooper says labo

i'm darren grimes and this is the weekend. now this show is absolutely nothing without you and your views. let me know your thoughts on all of the stories we'll be discussing today by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay and join the conversation now. keeping me company on today's show is the former labour advisor, paul richards, and the deputy editor of spiked fraser myers. but before we get stuck in to today's stories, here's your news headlines with sophia wenzler. >> darren. thank you. good afternoon. it'sjust >> darren. thank you. good afternoon. it's just gone. 1:00. these are your headlines. foreign secretary david lammy has offered his heartfelt condolences to the people of south korea and thailand after a plane crash killed 179 people. two crew members have been rescued, but all other people are feared dead. the youngest victim was a three year old boy, according to local media outlets, and five of those killed were children under the age of ten. it's understood the boeing 737 800 jet was making a second attempt at a crash lan

welcome to dewbs& co with me, darren grimes in for michelle. joining me until seven.my panel tonight, lord moylan, conservative party peer. and james schneider, former adviser to jeremy corbyn. now my friends, as always, this show is as much about your views as it is ours. get your views in at gbnews.com/yoursay. i've got that open here now. the row between reform uk leader nigel farage and conservative party leader kemi badenoch has deepened today, with reform uk even hinting at legal action against the tory leader. they've actually opened up their back end on their website tonight to allow the papers to check the accounts and see what's actually going on in that website. it follows reform's claims that it now, of course, has more members than the conservative party. that's according to the digital tracker that you can see on your television sets right now. but however, kemi badenoch has slammed the announcement as fake and accused reform uk of issuing misleading figures. now, as you would expect, farage has hit back, accusing her of being bitter, upset and angry. th

gb news pretty much every night or i mean, you've had quite a good christmas actually, because darren grimes has literally been on gb news aukus gave you a few days off, which was good, but you must go on air every night and think, right, i want there to be some good news. >> there's something that they've done which has gone well. yeah. >> i mean, you could do you could very easily do two hours of. by the way, can i just quickly apologise for whatever i look like because i did get changed. i don't know if this actually. >> you look lovely. >> you look lovely. >> anyway, so i could do two hours of what this government has done that day. every single day. we're not allowed, of course, and it wouldn't be right to do that, but it does seem to me as though they keep scoring own goals. they don't. they don't see. i mean, the messaging is awful. you mentioned the rose garden there. you mentioned it's the lies though is the thing you know, is it lies, though, because they'd say £22 billion black hole tories did this, tories did that. >> is it miliband or. >> is it miliband or. >> is it miliband or.

i'm darren grimes and my friends. the weekend starts here. with. now. as ever, this show is absolutely nothing without you and your views. let me know your thoughts on all of the stories we'll be discussing today by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay and join that conversation. keeping me company this hour is the broadcaster matthew stadlen and journalist duncan barkes. but before we get stuck in to our stories of the day, here's the news headlines with sophia wenzler. >> darren. thank you. good afternoon. it'sjust >> darren. thank you. good afternoon. it's just gone. 12:00. these are your headlines. russian air defences may have shot down an azerbaijan airlines flight after misidentifying it. according to us military sources. us media is reporting that america had intelligence indicating russia may have believed the flight was a drone and engaged its air defences. white house spokesman john kirby has said the us has seen early indications that russia could have been responsible for downing the jet that crashed on the 25th of december, killing 38 people. the p

i'm darren grimes, and i can promise that you're for in a very lively show.e just got to read out this comment from stephen. stephen says willie was on with ben leo last night. i'm glad he's back on the saturday five i love willie. well , five i love willie. well, stephen, your preferences are your own. >> we all love willie and oh, god, patricia comments i love willie. >> you can count on the aussies not holding back enough about will's love life. is that serious? yes , serious. i'm serious? yes, serious. i'm serious. thank you for the comments. keep them coming in. we'll crack on now with tonight's first debate. and it isn't willie. it is alex. alex, what have you got for us? >> well , it's been what have you got for us? >> well, it's been a big week again for keir starmer, hasn't it? his fragile government has been rocked by another scandal this week . louise hague, the this week. louise hague, the transport or should i say ex transport secretary, has been forced out by downing street because of her prior fraud convictions. now she's claimed that she's tol