Kyriazis will extol the delights of open air theatre, even during britains disappointing summer. After 12 00, well be debating whether dwindling british towns and cities should simply be left to decline. But before all of that, here are the latest news headunes that, here are the latest News Headlines with Polly Middlehurst i michael, thank you. Good morning to you. Will the top story from the newsroom is that the government is under renewed pressure now to tackle the migrant boat crisis after six people died crossing the English Channel yesterday. The home secretary Suella Braverman, described the incident as a tragic loss of life and confirmed she chaired a meeting with border force teams, officials. Campaigners also say officials. Campaigners also say the incident was an appalling and preventable tragedy. While and preventable tragedy. While mps from all parties are calling for action to stop criminal gangs profiting from the dangerous journeys, 59 people were rescued by french and british coast guards yesterday after an overload vessel carrying migrants got into difficulty off the coast of france. S k marsh, whos france. S k marsh, whos managing and support coordinator at the migrant charity samphire , says that there are safe and legal ways for migrants to come to the uk. To the uk. Not a lot of people do know what the options for safe legal routes are, but of course we use humanitarian visas with the ukrainian situation , people were ukrainian situation, people were brought here safely and legally , never having to navigate the asylum system or get into a small boat. So it can be done. We do have mechanisms available, but theyre very , very narrow but theyre very, very narrow and dont catch everyone and they dont catch everyone thatis and they dont catch everyone that is allowed to be here. So its we know now that nothing is going to work, nothing is going to deter people. So we need to start looking at how we get them here safely and process them quickly. Quickly. Now the health secretary, steve barclay, is open to requests , he said, for patients requests, he said, for patients from wales and scotland to be treated in england amid record waiting lists. Treated in england amid record waiting lists. Mr treated in england amid record waiting lists. Mr barclay treated in england amid record waiting lists. Mr barclay has ianed waiting lists. Mr barclay has invited both scottish and welsh Health Secretaries to discuss how all parts of the uk can tackle waiting times. In wales. Tackle waiting times. In wales. More than 73,000 people have been waiting over a year and a half for treatment and at least 21,000 people are waiting for about the same period for an appointment in scotland, said secretary of state for wales david davis says everyone should have access to the health care they need. It is a National Health service and theres a clue in the name there and everyone across the United Kingdom is paying across the United Kingdom is paying the same amount of tax towards the nhs and it is therefore manifestly wrong that some in parts the some people in parts of the United Kingdom waiting over United Kingdom are waiting over two for treatment that two years for treatment that would never happen where, frankly, conservatives are frankly, the conservatives are running the nhs. And were running the nhs. And so were offering to patients in offering to give patients in wales same rights that they wales the same rights that they would get in england, which is to theyre prepared to to if theyre prepared to travel, go to any travel, they can go to any hospital them hospital which can offer them the treatment need. The treatment they need. Pledged to recruit labour has pledged to recruit more than 6500 new teachers in a plan to tackle regional recruitment gaps. Supply Teacher Spending has doubled in the last year and labour says that its recruitment plan to create more opportunities for young people would more than fill teacher vacancies. An ad temporarily filled roles which would give stability for children worst affected by teacher vacancies. Affected by teacher vacancies. Well, the shadow education secretary, bridget phillipson, says that also ending tax breaks on private schools would put money into teacher recruitment, have to re establish teaching as a really valued and respected profession in our country. And labours plans would deliver more teachers into our classrooms. We would end the tax classrooms. We would end the tax breaks that private schools enjoy and put that money into recruiting more teachers. But alongside that, all of the different incentive payments and bursaries are currently bursaries that are currently available , we want to simplify available, we want to simplify that make it more effective that to make it more effective in teachers in the in keeping teachers in the classroom. Classroom. The government says its going to bring forward changes to regulations around single sex toilets in public spaces, all new non domestic, public and private buildings will now be required to provide separate single sex toilets for women and men , or a self contained private men, or a self contained private toilet as a minimum. Women an and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch says gender neutral toilets has removed the right for privacy in public facilities and the new regulations will protect the dignity and safety of everybody. His majesty, the of everybody. His majesty, the king says he is horrified over the devastation caused by wildfires engulfing hawaii island. The maui part of it island. The maui part of it particularly , and has offered particularly, and has offered his condolences to victims affected. Local government have affected. Local government have confirmed there at least 93 people have died making it the deadliest us wildfire in more than a century. Mauis governor josh green warned at a News Conference on saturday afternoon that the number of dead would continue to rise as more bodies were recovered. Search teams were recovered. Search teams with sniffer dogs sifted through the ruins of lahaina for days after a fast moving blaze levelled the historic resort town, obliterating buildings and melting cars as now stargazers were out in force last night as the annual summer poseidon meteor shower reached its peak fragments the size of grains of sand travelling at around 130,000 miles an hour, lit up the sky, up to 100 shooting stars. An hour could be seen. The shower is considered to be one of the best this year because it produces bright meteors and is one of the most active. The meteor shower will continue, particularly tonight and until. Continue, particularly tonight and until. The continue, particularly tonight and until. The 24th of august continue, particularly tonight and until. The 24th of august. Youre watching jb news across the uk on your tv, in your car, on Digital Radio and on your Smart Speaker by saying play gb news. This is britains news. Channel thank you very much. Polly thank you very much. Polly middlehurst. As rishi sunak returns from his Summer Holiday in california, his mind must be on the upcoming parliamentary yeah on the upcoming parliamentary year. A Cabinet Reshuffle will offer the Prime Minister a last throw of the dice before next years general election. Labours polling lead is barely dented since he took over the leadership last october are now making political predictions is a fools errand. Who could have predicted what would ensue in westminster this time last year . But in the tradition of political punditry as entertainment to handsomely remunerated soothsayers will tell us three things that they expect in w1 over the next few months. Im expect in w1 over the next few months. Im joined by the Deputy Editor of a conservative home, henry hill and gb news senior political commentator nigel nelson. Welcome both. Nigel, are you willing to play, willing to give us im willing to play, yes. I mean, fools errand, as you say, but this fool will have a go. Good. So i mean my three for good. So i mean my three for the year are that rishi rishi sunak will not stop the boats. Absolutely no chance. But i think that thats a pretty much a given at the moment. My second one, which is probably the more controversial, is i think the triple lock on pensions will be abolished , but maybe not abolished, but maybe not immediately because youve got an election coming up. But i think that it is doomed to go. Think that it is doomed to go. And my third prediction would be that Nadine Dorries will still be mp of mid bedfordshire up to the election. Up to the election , yes. And that she might hold the seat. Well, im not quite sure. She wont quit just before the election, but we will see an extraordinary situation that henry what do you think . A very controversial idea that the triple lock might be scrapped . I was going to say one of mine is it wont i think it should be. I think you could move it towards a more sensible sort of means tested system that targeted help where it was needed. But the triple lock is on to becoming part of on the way to becoming part of the at this point, the constitution at this point, the constitution at this point, the conservative party, just before election where before a general election where theyre behind theyre already 20 points behind in polls, i think theyve in the polls, i think theyve learned you aim learned from 2017, you dont aim for at your core and for square at your core vote and start firing at them when youre when struggling in 2017, when youre struggling in 2017, they out blue, they suddenly, out of the blue, proposed what was proposed this idea of what was more less a death tax wasnt more or less a death tax wasnt it was it was that people would have into their housing have to tap into their housing wealth social care. Wealth to pay for social care. And again, can make a you and again, you can make a you can make an argument for it if you like, if they have the housing but bad, bad housing wealth. But bad, bad politics. Prediction is politics. So my prediction is that that will in that one that will stay in place. Prediction, place. My second prediction, getting spirit of the getting into the spirit of the game and going quite specific, i think government going think the government is going to win. Supreme appeal win. Its Supreme Court appeal on policy and its on the rwanda policy and its still wont get anyone to rwanda. Right, because court rwanda. Right, because the court of appeal, the court of appeal judgement government judgement against the government was, suspect. Was, i think, quite suspect. And so suspect government will so i suspect the government will win. But nonetheless, the implementation hurdles going win. But nonetheless, the im be mentation hurdles going win. But nonetheless, the imbe huge. Tion hurdles going win. But nonetheless, the imbe huge. Tion dontes going win. But nonetheless, the imbe huge. Tion dont suspect ing to be huge. So i dont suspect well have got anyone there by christmas. Third one, christmas. And the third one, perhaps cynically, perhaps slightly cynically, is i think of the talk and think for all of the talk and all of the big speech and Everything Else and all the Beautiful People have beautiful graphics people have been twitter, dont been sharing on twitter, i dont think were to have make think were going to have make a single step closer single concrete step closer towards cambridge towards building in cambridge this Big Cambridge 2040 plan that developed with that michael gove developed with much much much announced with much fanfare. Think once we get to fanfare. I think once we get to christmas, well that its christmas, well see that its weve progress towards weve made no progress towards actually anything actually building anything and although my although people might say, my goodness, about goodness, a prediction about cambridge rather specific cambridge is rather specific when about when were talking about national when were talking about naļ¬orbe when were talking about natior be a when were talking about natiorbe a general point youd be making a general point about way that were not about the way that were not getting with building stuff. Getting on with building stuff. I mean, i could have done that, but i could have made that at any point in the ten at any point in the last ten years, have been years, and it would have been thats general point. Thats a general point. We werent build enough houses. Of course werent. Houses. Of course we werent. But of this but but the significance of this is that its not just about cambridge. Its not its not a local story. They want they want cambridge for uk cambridge to be the hub for uk global manufacture of global manufacture and export of high it is a high end tech. So it is a National Policy decision. Theyve said they to theyve said that they need to expand it. Expand cambridge to do it. I just dont think that they will. And people are wondering and if people are wondering what about, if you what were talking about, if you want to see Michael Goves future vision, looks awfully future vision, it looks awfully like to me. It looks like history to me. It looks like history to me. It looks like britain used to like its what britain used to look well, precisely. Like its what britain used to loo all well, precisely. Like its what britain used to loo all of well, precisely. Like its what britain used to loo all of these precisely. Like its what britain used to loo all of these beautiful all of these beautiful graphics made by graphics that have been made by i of beautiful and i have sort of beautiful and youre like cambridge, i have sort of beautiful and youknow, like cambridge, i have sort of beautiful and youknow, with. Ike cambridge, i have sort of beautiful and youknow, with all cambridge, i have sort of beautiful and youknow, with all of mbridge, i have sort of beautiful and youknow, with all of the idge, i have sort of beautiful and youknow, with all of the stone you know, with all of the stone and streets and everything and the streets and Everything Else. It all looks lovely, else. And it all looks lovely, but dont think were but i just dont think were going build any of it. Going to build any of it. Nigel lets talk a little bit about the labour party and will the party come under the Labour Party Come under strain, you think, the strain, do you think, in the coming months . Mean as the coming months . I mean as the government off net government may be backed off net zero bit, will there be zero a little bit, will there be a strain in labour . Weve, weve seen some strain over ulez yes. The emission free zones, the migration be tricky migration issue will be tricky because keir starmer has committed to maintaining committed himself to maintaining barges , for example, some of barges, for example, and some of his people dont like that. Talk to me about the strains the to me about the strains in the labour this period. Labour party in this period. Mean all of those well, i mean all of those will come into it. I mean, if we start with with ulez, i think that that all politicians that the that all politicians were scared off by the uxbridge by election and what it shows is that people seem to be in favour of tackling climate change. And its the fourth Biggest Issue beneath beneath cost of living. Nhs and immigration. What they dont want to do is pay for it. So every time they confront kid with a payment, there becomes a problem. Hence uxbridge. So keir starmer is moving away from ulez schemes and i think that that i think thats unfortunate because hes based his entire Economic Policy around around turning britain into a green superpower i do you think labour will look as if its splitting, that its under strain . Well, labour look credible. Will labour be tested on its credibility before the election or yes, before , before, election or yes, before, before, before the election . So obviously, as we come up to the election, their manifesto is going to come under greater scrutiny. Thats think scrutiny. And thats why i think sir keir is being so sir keir starmer is being so concerned lviv small and concerned lviv small c and cautious about policies that cautious about the policies that hes because hes putting together because even hasnt even though he hasnt said it yet, he knows, jeremy hunt yet, like he knows, jeremy hunt rolled over Ā£30 billion of yet, like he knows, jeremy hunt rollcuts er Ā£30 billion of yet, like he knows, jeremy hunt rollcuts into 30 billion of yet, like he knows, jeremy hunt rollcuts into the illion of yet, like he knows, jeremy hunt rollcuts into the 25 on of yet, like he knows, jeremy hunt rollcuts into the 25 six of yet, like he knows, jeremy hunt rollcuts into the 25 six fiscal of tax cuts into the 25 six fiscal yeah tax cuts into the 25 six fiscal year. Things like the conservatives popular conservatives very popular expansion care and not expansion of child care and not actually next actually funded beyond next yeah actually funded beyond next year. The moment labour year. So the moment if labour win next election, theyre year. So the moment if labour win to 1ext election, theyre year. So the moment if labour win to comelection, theyre year. So the moment if labour win to come intom, theyre year. So the moment if labour win to come into office yre year. So the moment if labour win to come into office and going to come into office and the going to be like, the obr is going to be like, well, jeremy hunt promised to set several Government Departments on fire to balance the you please the books. Could you please update how thats going . Update us on how thats going . So going to make so theyre going to have to make some very, very hard decisions, which is why hes reining in spending think spending commitments. I think the will come the real strain will come actually election, actually after the election, even win a fairly even if they win a fairly comfortable majority, because youre been comfortable majority, because youre power been comfortable majority, because youre power for been comfortable majority, because youre power for 13, been comfortable majority, because youre power for 13, 14 been comfortable majority, because youre power for 13, 14 years. Een out of power for 13, 14 years. You want to be getting on with spending and yet instead spending money and yet instead labours to to be labours going to have to be desperately trying to fix the fiscal they might desperately trying to fix the fiscalto they might desperately trying to fix the fiscalto raise they might desperately trying to fix the fiscalto raise taxes,y might desperately trying to fix the fiscalto raise taxes, which |t desperately trying to fix the fiscalto raise taxes, which wont have to raise taxes, which wont be wont be the be popular, there wont be the capital these big projects capital for these big projects and that is going to be very, very painful. Theyre to very painful. Theyre going to inherit a very difficult situation be situation and it will be interesting to how they get interesting to see how they get through interesting to see how they get thr nigel always like to talk nigel we always like to talk about elections about general elections because theyre you theyre very exciting, but you just gave me a thought a moment ago. I wonder whether something much than much more significant than a general is general election result is underway. The commitment general election result is undtwony. The commitment general election result is undtwo major1e commitment general election result is undtwo major partiesnitment general election result is undtwo major parties to ment general election result is undtwo major parties to nett the two major parties to net zero changed. Im not going zero were changed. Im not going to exactly how, but if it to say exactly how, but if it were changed that would actually be probably more significant than result of the general than the result of the general election. Yes probably would be. I mean, if they do change it, i mean, at the moment we still seem have both parties seem to have both parties saying, committed to saying, yes, were committed to net and the issues net zero by 2050. And the issues they have sort out is how we they have to sort out is how we get there and take the public with us. So i dont i dont see either party reducing that commitment. I dont see how we can i mean, weve made an International Promise to reach net zero where where the difficulty is going to come is in specific projects. Ulez being an example , whether or not you an example, whether or not you you ban oil and gas boilers , you ban oil and gas boilers, theres a whole host of things , theres a whole host of things, these things that youve got to win the public over because ultimately theyre going to have to pay for them. Nigel i was struck just then there was an item on the news about single sex lavatories. By about single sex lavatories. By the way, i dont think gb news would comply with with this new commandment, but of course, why are we talking about single sex lavatories . Its lavatories . Because its a conservative attempt to open up a front on wokery. Conservative attempt to open up a front on wokery. Firstly, how a front on wokery. Firstly, how broad do you think that front might be . And secondly, how successful so i mean broad. There is a huge focus on trans issues. You now have the trans issues. You now have the banking, the banking story after nigel farage as well. The governments been quite aggressive saying its aggressive about saying its going in new banking going to bring in new banking regulations on this agenda. Tends responsive. So tends to be quite responsive. So it on where controversy it depends on where controversy anses it depends on where controversy arises the public arena and arises in the public arena and the government as for the government responds. As for effectiveness, like the effectiveness, things like the bank, bank thing could work bank, the bank thing could work because theres tens of thousands of really concrete cases people cases potentially of people having but i think having this problem. But i think the issue with lot of this the issue with a lot of this cultural stuff is that fundamentally mostly fundamentally the voters mostly vote they going to feel vote on are they going to feel better know, better off . You know, its a cost of living crisis. Its life is for very many people. Is hard for very many people. A lot of this culture stuff. If you think back to a tony blair or even Margaret Thatcher in their controversial their sort of controversial cultural were cultural policies, they were never on that. Never really elected on that. They won election on other they won the election on other stuff. They they stuff. And then they just they just it right. And i think just did it right. And i think thats danger the thats the danger for the conservatives here, which is that arent feeling that if people arent feeling like cost living crisis like the cost of living crisis is addressed, isnt is being addressed, this isnt going that many voters. Nigel, do you think theres any mileage wokery for the any mileage in wokery for the conservatives . Not or any danger to labour that matter . Well, conservatives . Not or any danger to laccordingthat matter . Well, conservatives . Not or any danger to laccording tot matter . Well, conservatives . Not or any danger to laccording to two atter . Well, conservatives . Not or any danger to laccording to two mpsļæ½ well, conservatives . Not or any danger to laccording to two mps iaiell, conservatives . Not or any danger to laccording to two mps i speak to. I mean on both sides what theyre saying is it just doesnt come up on the doorstep. The cost living is still the the cost of living is still the major issue. People want want major issue. People want to want to better off. And wokery to feel better off. And wokery doesnt play. Mean, think doesnt play. I mean, i do think that, latest that, for instance, the latest announcement that that that you will have sex spaces for will have single sex spaces for lavatories. I mean they even lavatories. I mean they even have a lavatory zara apparently and twitter have been talking about it should be called the kwasi kaiser but but the idea of that im in favour of things like that i think is a perfectly reasonable thing to do in the house of commons. Weve got gender neutral lavatories, but they are proper cubicles with their own wash basin , their own their own wash basin, their own mirror. The their own wash basin, their own mirror. The one of the their own wash basin, their own mirror. The one of the ways of mirror. The one of the ways of solving the problem of the whole trans debate is having the right spaces. So its not about saying spaces. So its not about saying a trans woman is not a woman. What you have to do is actually solve spaces. So there is somewhere where women have safe spaces to go to. Well, we became slightly specific at the end of that general discussion, but most grateful to henry hill and nigel nelson for sticking your necks out, which is a very dangerous thing to do. One of the great things, by the way, about being a political pundit is youre never judged on results. Ive neverjudged on results. Ive got things wrong consistently over 25 years. It has over the last 25 years. It has not affected my employment whatsoever. Are watching whatsoever. You are watching Michael Portillo on gb news britains news channel. After the break, well discuss the troubling data breach that has exposed of northern exposed every member of Northern Irelands danger exposed every member of northern ireletheir danger exposed every member of northern ireletheir families danger exposed every member of northern ireletheir families to danger exposed every member of northern ireletheir families to fear anger exposed every member of northern ireletheir families to fear. Nger and their families to fear. The temperatures rising. A the temperatures rising. A boxt solar proud sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Weather on. Gb news. Hello there and Greg Dewhurst and welcome to your latest news, weather. Looking ahead, it stays weather. Looking ahead, it stays rather unsettled. Therell be quite cloudy skies sunday showers , but it does start to showers, but it does start to turn warm through the week. And looking at the bigger picture, low pressure still dominates at the moment, bringing wet and windy weather. But towards wednesday, pressure starts wednesday, High Pressure starts to build for the rest of to build in for the rest of sunday. A fairly cloudy picture out there. Winds lighter than out there. Winds lighter than yesterday. Less showers around yesterday. Less showers around to some of showers could be to some of the showers could be heavy across parts of scotland. Northern ireland, but plenty of dry weather, skies quite dry weather, though. Skies quite grey. There will be a few glimmers of sunshine that glimmers of sunshine and that will temperatures around will lift temperatures to around 22 celsius towards the 22 or 23 celsius towards the south east. Generally the high teens to low 20s most into teens to low 20s for most into the evening time. This area of low pressure starts to move in. Wet weather spreading in to the west country parts of wales later in the evening and then later on in the evening and then that slowly pushes north and eastwards. Some really heavy eastwards. Some really heavy rain across northern rain developing across northern parts northern parts of wales into Northern England head into the england as we head into the early hours , staying dry across early hours, staying dry across northern scotland Northern Ireland and scotland and fairly warm night across and a fairly warm night across the board. So a wet start to monday morning across england and wales. Monday morning across england and wales. Heavy rain at times slowly pushing north and eastwards. Met office eastwards. The met Office Warning in force much of the warning in force for much of the day. Dry and brighter for scotland and Northern Ireland, with of sunny spells but with plenty of sunny spells but scattered heavy showers here and temperatures under the cloud feeling quite cool, struggling to reach much above 17 or 18 degrees. 21 or 22 towards the southeast. But the temperatures southeast. But the temperatures rising , boxt southeast. But the temperatures rising, boxt solar proud sponsors of weather on. News. The peoples channel, britains news. Britains news. Channel welcome back. 25 years ago, welcome back. 25 years ago, 29 people were killed in the omagh bombing carried out by dissident republicans. In february of this year, we were reminded that the Police Service of Northern Ireland still faces mortal danger when gunmen ambush that senior detective John Caldwell as he loaded the boot of his car after coaching a youth football team. He was shot several times and narrowly survived the murder attempt. Even a quarter of a century after the belfast good friday agreement, Police Officers in Northern Ireland often conceal their occupation in for fear of being targeted by republican terrorists. But now, shockingly, the psni itself has revealed the names of every officer in its ranks, including ones working with the intelligence services. With the intelligence services. To explain more, im joined by by a member of the Northern Ireland policing board and former leader of the ulster unionist party, mike nesbitt. Mike welcome to gb news. Thank you for joining mike welcome to gb news. Thank you forjoining us. I mean, you must be in deep about this must be in deep shock about this and very concerned about the consequence ounces. Consequence ounces. Yes, michael, im in deep shock. But much more importantly, so is the policing community. I think theyre stunned and theyre angry about this leak because as you say, the big threat is dissident republican terrorist s and the attempted murder of. Sorry, attempted murder of. Sorry, detective chief inspector John Caldwell back in february was a real visceral reminder of the threat and of the fact that dunng threat and of the fact that during our conflict, over 300 Police Officers were murdered and not just on duty. Lets remember that they were killed in their kitchens , making their in their kitchens, making their morning cup of tea. They were killed sitting in supermarket car parks at a sporting and cultural events and just having a pint with their mates in their local. So that kind of 24 over seven fear of terrorist attack remains real because there are a small number of people that we know as dissident republican terrorists who believe that it is legitimate to murder, to pursue their aims. Pursue their aims. Tommy, youre on the police board. What role does that give you at present . What is there that you can do . What questions will you be asking . Will you be asking . Well, the questions that we asked when we met the chief constable and senior colleagues on thursday of this week began with the kind of who , what, with the kind of who, what, when, where and why of this catastrophic data breach. And we were shocked to discover it wasnt down to one individual or a Single Police department. There were multiple opportunity iis for different people at different ranks and levels to spot that. The data sheet that was going to be uploaded had a facility where with just one click of your computer mouse , click of your computer mouse, you could get behind the screen what was on your computer screen and access the source data, which included, of course, surnames of every Single Police officer and staff member. Their initial, their rank and the location of where they were working. And the problem with this, michael, is that we now, if youre a dissident republican or youre a person out to do damage , lead you into the area damage, lead you into the area of jigsaw identity. In other of jigsaw identity. In other words, youve got a lot of data from one dataset. You then look to another dataset to try and expand your knowledge. And the expand your knowledge. And the obvious one is unfortunately the electoral roll, which has just been updated and one officer from the Catholic Nationalist Community made clear on friday that hes leaving the country, not just leaving the police because hes very afraid that because hes very afraid that because hes very afraid that because he has an unusual surname that that jigsaw identity is going to come to pass very easily for anybody whos out to harm him. You put your finger on what must be one of the greatest fears, which is that the success that the Police Service in Northern Ireland has had in recruiting officers from the nationalist community in recent years will be reversed because so many of those officers think and possibly quite correctly, that there are now immortal danger. Dangeh yes, and the chief constable made clear to us on thursday that they were aware that dissident republicans are claiming, and i stress claiming claiming, and i stress claiming claiming to have access to at least some of that data. And i, i dont want to underplay the threat , but i dont want to underplay the threat, but it is a course of fact that they would say that, wouldnt they . Because it is very much in their interest to maximise panic, fear and anxiety within the policing community andindeed within the policing community and indeed society more generally. And indeed theres a logic that would say if you do have access to the data, why make that public . Because you dont want the police being any more cautious than they will be at the moment. Although i think given the panic that is running through the Police Family at the moment, i cant imagine anybody can be more cautious than theyre being at the moment because the threat must be considered to be very real. And you as a member of the police board, how do you satisfy yourself now that every possible assistance is being given to all of officers, perhaps one of the officers, perhaps one should say, particularly from the nationalist community . I have that was well, i have to say that was my on on on my main concern on on on thursday, michael. I was, of course, concerned to know and understand how it happened. And perhaps more particularly, what measures place measures were being put in place to ensure that it cannot happen again. But was more concerned again. But i was more concerned about the fallout and i think the fallout is particularly severe in terms of the safety and security of the 10,000 people, both officers and police staff, whose names are on that list and the open question is, does the psni , does any force in does the psni, does any force in the United Kingdom have the resource and the capability to conduct 10,000 india vigil risk assessments in a timely manner . And the polices response was that they are going to have to prioritise how they deal with these risk assessments. Theyre these risk assessments. Theyre going to triage as they put it. So, for example, if you do have an unusual surname , then you are an unusual surname, then you are perhaps more at risk than others. Clearly, the risk to the nationalist and republican and catholic officers is higher because once again , its in the because once again, its in the interests of dissident republicans that people from the nationalist community have absolutely nothing to do with the psni. So this is an opportunity to try and put people off joining the force to try and encourage them to leave the force because retention is going to be a big issue as well as recruitment. Now its a very, very grave moment. Mike nesbitt , i thank you mike nesbitt, i thank you very much for joining mike nesbitt, i thank you very much forjoining us on a sunday morning. My next guest is sunday morning. My next guest is a professor of politics at Birkbeck University of london, and hes lent his considerable expertise to exploring the most urgent questions of identity that occupy a new battleground in western politics. His book, white shift populism, immigration and the future of white majorities, explores the likely impact of current levels of immigration on countries like the United Kingdom and the United States, and how to handle the transformation towards multiracialism. Im delighted to say that professor Eric Kaufmann is with me in the studio. Thank you so much for coming to gb news on a sunday morning. Tell news on a sunday morning. Tell us a little bit about that, about adapting to the changing populations. So there will be populations. So there will be countries where there has been a white majority, but there will not be in the future. How do we go through that process in is this bound to happen . And what are the ways in which we make it happen peacefully . Right. Yeah. So in the book, i sort of go through the populist moment, the post 2014 rise of Ukip National front in france and then subsequently with trump and salvini and others. And essentially the others. And essentially the argument is that it is this ethno cultural shift that is ultimately behind the rise of national populism, not economic hard times or distrust of the system or Something Like that. System or Something Like that. Yeah, and of course you look at the United States, its projected to have a non hispanic, white popular asian dipping below 50, around 2050. Canada new zealand, not much further than that. And then much further than that. And then in western europe itll be towards the end of the century. And i think this really will be a defining shift that is going to shape the political landscape. Doesit to shape the political landscape. Does it shape it . It. How does it shape it . It shapes terms of two shapes it in terms of two responses. Either embrace responses. You either embrace that diversity and equity and you sort champion it and you sort of champion it and thats of where the thats kind of where the cultural is going. Or cultural left is going. Or youre saying, actually, we want to sort of safeguard, slow things down as National Community becomes important so you get the other side reacting and really the one of the and thats really the one of the major fault lines that we face. And in explaining rise of and so in explaining the rise of national populism, you cannot not downplay. You cant cant talk enough about the importance of these of slow moving. Of these sort of slow moving. But consider sequential ethnic shifts. Ice, the ethnic shifts. Yeah ice, the ethnic shifts. Yeah ice, the ethnic shift itself. Do you think that can be adapted or changed or influenced or do you think thats pretty much a given . And really what were talking about here are the reaction of the left and the right to it. Its not a given in the sense that the pace of immigration, the scale of immigration can shape the speed of that transformation. And also clearly transformation. And also clearly the assimilation process and melting process through intermarriage is also occurring. So what it is really about is about the speed of migration and the increase of diversity on the back of that the speed of back of that versus the speed of assimilation and the decrease of diversity on the back of that and the balance of those and where the balance of those two things should be. And i think the problem in a way that we face that on the left side we face is that on the left side of ledger, theres of the ledger, theres a tendency, a tendency to say that if in favour of if youre not in favour of rapid, speed change, youre rapid, high speed change, youre a bigot. So youre either an open person or a closed person, and shut down the debate and thats shut down the debate over the speed the proper speed of ethnocultural change and of assimilation in a society , its assimilation in a society, its very difficult to raise those issues. So the only people who issues. So the only people who can raise them are populists like donald trump or matteo salvini. And that is why one of the reasons weve seen the rise of populism, because they are talking about things that the mainstream is too scared to talk about. You talked about the rise of populism in 2014, and you gave some examples. Is that because you think the rise of populism is over or has it stabilised . What is your view on that . No , i think its a feature of no, i think its a feature of the system that we have now because of this ethno cultural shift. Right. And the taboos around talking about it amongst elite, centrist parties , there elite, centrist parties, there is an opportunity for National Populists who are willing to have that conversation and press that issue. The main issues have sort of largely revolved and realigned from the economic left, right, free market versus redistribution issues to the more cultural sort of globalist, nationalist, open, closed, whatever you want to call it. Those issues, i think, are going to be defining western politics. And thats why so called popular ism, the reason we have populism , is because the elite centre mainstream is not willing necessarily to touch these hot button issues. So you have to button issues. So you have to move to these populist parties. And so i do think its going to be a feature then of politics Going Forward back in the 1980s i was campaigning in birmingham where there had already been very considerable population shifts and i was very struck by a thing that a voter said to me, a thing that a voter said to me, a white voter, and she said, you know, i see this transformation around me of the population. And i dont necessarily have an to that, but i want an objection to that, but i want to moment was i asked to know what moment was i asked by politicians whether that was what i wanted at what point was this ever put to the population 7 this ever put to the population . And that question stuck in my mind and it helped me to explain the 2016 referendum result , not the 2016 referendum result, not in the direct way that people were kind of voting against immigration, but rather that uniquely they were being given the chance to decide something about their society. And because most unusually, almost uniquely, theyve been given this opportunity, they seized it. Yeah, but i think thats right. And you know, this is part of, again, the problem is because if we look at the psychological literature , you psychological literature, you know, theyve done experiments where they say, well, imagine the United States being majority non white and then answer these questions and actually what you get is a lot of people become a lot more conservative on immigration become more immigration and they become more populist. Of these things. Populist. All of these things. And i think is sort of and so i think this is sort of well the other well established. The other thing established, thing thats well established, though, your though, is attachment to your own your own way of own group and to your own way of life is not the same as dislike , like superiority towards another group. Again a very well established finding in the psychology literature. So if im really attached to my family, it doesnt make me dislike the family next door more. And yet these two things have been squashed together. So anyone who squashed together. So anyone who expresses disquiet about pace of ethnic change is seen as a bigot. Actually, thats wrong. They may attached to their may just be attached to their own group, own city or own group, their own city or whatever. Thats not the same whatever. Thats not the same thing as disliking a group. And yet those things are conflated, which makes it impossible to have and so have the conversation. And so those are built and those pressures are built up and theyre released at certain moments. 2016 one. Moments. And 2016 was one. I mean, if we look at the brexit vote, immigration was the top issue 40 of brexit voters. Issue for 40 of brexit voters. That pretty much tells you whats behind that phenomenon. Whats behind that phenomenon. Do you want to Say Something about the progress of integration . Mean , i was very integration . I mean, i was very impressed in a by the united impressed in a way by the United States. I mean, obviously you had a black president. Had a black american president. Sorry, youre canadian. Canadian, but thats all im canadian, but thats all right. Worry. Right. Dont worry. The states had a black the United States had a black president. It had two black secretaries of state. More recently, ive been quite impressed by the United Kingdom. You know, weve had a number of people of asian origin in the cabinet and now, indeed, Prime Minister , are you impressed by minister, are you impressed by the speed of integration or do you think its out of kilter with the change of the population mix . It depends what level well, it depends what level were talking about. So i think in terms of employment , in terms in terms of employment, in terms of british identity , its been a of british identity, its been a success. And i think the us is also a success. But of course thats at the level of political and economic integration in my own belief , chief, and economic integration in my own belief, chief, in a and economic integration in my own belief , chief, in a way, and economic integration in my own belief, chief, in a way, is that without the intermarriage and identification , ethnic and identification, ethnic assimilation, the deeper kind of ethnic assimilation which if you look in the us, American History at the jews and italians and irish and all these people who arrived over 100 years ago, you know, it took 3 or 4 generations for ethnic neighbourhoods to break up marriage to cross catholic, protestant, jewish lines. And i think for that lines. And i think for that deeper ethnic assimilation , when deeper ethnic assimilation, when were talking sort of 3 or 4 generations, is an and so thats why even though you can have successful economic and political integration without that deeper integration, youre going to get these pressures around people seeing and not feeling familiar in a particular environment. So yes, long term, their assimilation is going to happen. But in the medium term, were going to get pressures around it. Change of subject. Youve written quite interestingly. Interestingly on the origins of wokery. Now people might not think that the origins matter very much, but there is academic debate about this and one of the reasons its important to understand the origin is perhaps that one can understand the best way to counter it. If you were inclined to counter it, you want to word about that . To say a word about that . Yeah, sure. I mean, the well, yeah, sure. I mean, the first thing to say is just a quick definition for people. Wokery wokeness making sacred of historically race, historically marginalised race, gender and Sexual Identity groups. Thats wokeist sacred. Yeah. Yeah. Thats making it sacred. And thats making it sacred. And its tied to an ideology which i call cultural socialism, which is have to have equal is that you have to have equal outcomes for historically outcomes for our historically marginalised race, gender and Sexual Identity groups and harm protection, cycle protection, including cycle logical protection from offence or emotional safety. So thats wokeness. Where does it come wokeness. Where does it come from . I think theres kind of now theres a couple of books out recently. Chris rufos americas cultural revolution. Out recently. Chris rufos americeanotherral revolution. Out recently. Chris rufos americeanother book volution. Out recently. Chris rufos americeanother book by ution. Out recently. Chris rufos americeanother book by a ion. Out recently. Chris rufos americeanother book by a writer theres another book by a writer called Richard Hanania on the origins of woke, and theres really this, but really two views on this, but i think theres really two pathways and the one is more about cancel culture and the other is more about critical race, radical gender theory and ideology. If we take cancel ideology. If we take cancel culture, that actually comes more through a sort of incremental evolutionary process, starting with well intended this idea of preventing discrimination. But preventing discrimination. But then that becomes, oh , your then that becomes, oh, your workforce isnt mirroring the population. You need quotas and timetables or its, well, we have to be sensitive to different groups. And that then becomes hyper sensitivity. Oh, you are criticising the Supreme Leader of iran. Thats leader of iran. Thats islamophobia. Thats making the workplace a hostile environment. So this is a slow ratcheting effect that explains kind of political correct onus. It explains some of the things that occur within the woke corporation , so to speak, and corporation, so to speak, and cancel culture, people being fired for faux pas. Cancel culture, people being fired for faux pas. But then you fired for faux pas. But then you have this sort of Critical Race Theory stuff which has more of a kind of revolutionary postmarks input. So the left new left giving up on class , moving to giving up on class, moving to identity as the new source of radical social change, which in the 1960s, Herbert Marcuse and the 1960s, Herbert Marcuse and the new left black panther movement, third world socialism and all that kind of radicalism, which then feeds through into Critical Race Theory and radical feminism and then eventually winds up in terms of, you know, die and well, the content of some of the radical die and also the teaching in schools and defund the police movement. So you have these kind of two, two strand, if you like , one thats strand, if you like, one thats more about cancel culture, one thats more about critical race and gender ideology. But they kind of now are overlapping in many ways as brilliant analysis. Eric very , very great eric very, very great pleasure to have you. And i think we ought to have you back because i think weve just sort of begun that discussion. Thanks, michael. Brilliant. Thanks, michael. Brilliant. Thanks for coming in to gb news. After Stefan Kyriazis after the break, Stefan Kyriazis will the shelter this will seek the shelter of this studio explain joys of studio to explain the joys of open theatre Michelle Dewberry and im keeping you company right through until 7 00 this evening. Gb news is the peoples channel britain. Britain. Welcome back. Stefan kyriazis welcome back. Stefan kyriazis joins me now to share his latest forays into the world of theatre. And you have been , theatre. And you have been, stefan, welcome to the open air theatre in regents park. I theatre in regents park. I have. How was the weather . It was terrible. Michael. Its the castle fall, which is set in santa fe. And theres the opening line where the compere is saying and welcome everybody sunny welcome everybody to sunny sandra pay. And we were all sat there it was there like this. It was unfortunately was unfortunately press night was called which happens called off which happens occasionally. We all went. We all bedraggled we all went home bedraggled but we came is came back because this is britain are what we are. Britain and we are what we are. Michael and we celebrated and we pushed through and it went ahead and there is still nothing more glorious than that setting. I mean, the trees of blow in mean, the trees kind of blow in the wind overhead. Its gorgeous. Its changed time its changed over time because i went as child because when i went as a child in particular, was a teenager in particular, it was a teenager anyway, was a midsummer anyway, it was a midsummer nights now like nights dream, and now its like fall. I mean, thats quite advanced. This is because theyve been doing a lot of deep diving into musicals that arent always so often thats been often produced. So thats been one big missions over the one of the big missions over the last years. Fall yes, it last 5 or 10 years. Fall yes, it is. Its very relevant at the moment. Its about a drag show. Its about identity. And obviously lot going on obviously theres a lot going on in very in america thats very troublesome about that. Its about love and who we are. Its troublesome about that. Its aicelebration,d who we are. Its troublesome about that. Its aicelebration,d thtwe are. Its troublesome about that. Its aicelebration,d wh it hasire. Its a celebration, ian. It has a stonking. It has the i am what stonking. It has the i am what i am. We are what we are song. So its based on its the Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman Broadway based on an old broadway show based on an old french play. But wouldnt seem yes. But wouldnt it seem rather fashioned rather Old Fashioned now . Because i recall, in la cage because as i recall, in la Cage Aux Folles , the gay male. Aux folles, the gay male. Couple, one of them pretends to be a woman in. Yes. When the sun is getting married to a very respectable right wing family. And the parents are coming round. Yes. So theyre not actually accepting that theyre actually accepting that theyre a gay couple because one of them goes disguise. Is that goes in disguise. Is that acceptable today . So. Well, this is at the root of because basically the of it all, because basically the son theyve lovingly son who theyve lovingly raised, george, of the. George, is the sort of the. Compere zazzara albarn is the drag queen hostess, mother , drag queen hostess, the mother, the son asks his own parents to erase who they are. So this yes, it is relevant because it still speaks very much to how people are rejected by their own families, by the greater world at large. Its painful. Its awful. Its very badly done by the son, and it is resolved. It the son, and it is resolved. It is resolved through the show. Is resolved through the show. But yes, this is at the nub of it all, this feeling of rejection of being isolated. And look whats happening in america at the moment. And it allows us to go from are what we are is to go from we are what we are is the opening the drag the opening number, the drag queens our frock girdles queens under our frock girdles and illusion and jocks. We are an illusion and jocks. We are an illusion and it takes us through this journey. In the first act where all this happens to the very end album, the drag queen ushers the other off stage and he other cagelles off stage and he turns it into am what i am. Turns it into i am what i am. And its defiant and beautiful. And its defiant and beautiful. And i have to say, i did sit there thinking, i wish were there thinking, i wish we were allowed to secretly film in theatres its something allowed to secretly film in thould its something allowed to secretly film in thould watch its something allowed to secretly film in thould watch over s something allowed to secretly film in thould watch over and mething allowed to secretly film in thould watch over and over. Ng i would watch over and over. Its the best moments its one of the best moments ive seen. Great show and its just so a great show and its just opening. And better opening. Its opening and Better Weather is promised, by the way. On until october. Yes, its on until october. Sorry. No, its on until september 16th. Its a good show. Hit the emotional. Doesnt hit the emotional truth of that one. That act one finale, the rest of the show for me didnt quite nail it. I think the Douglas Hodge performance in 2008 was superior. But 2008 was was superior. But still, its a glorious experience. Yes, some of those experience. Yes, some of those big numbers are wonderful to see. And you had another item you wanted to talk to me about, the effect. This one is exciting. This is on at the national theatre. This is on until october the seventh. This prebbles play. And this is Lucy Prebbles play. And she wrote in 2008. Shes now a writer on succession. Shes become big deal. She also become a big deal. She also wrote and this wrote enron, the play, and this is exciting because apart is really exciting because apart from play itself , its an from the play itself, its an evolved piece. Its a changing creature that previously it was written around billie piper. Written around billie piper. This time we have three black actors and the actress who has a black father, and shes also canadian. So her canadian identity is weaved into the story, as is the black experience. So the script has experience. So the script has been tweaked and altered, and this is kind of exciting. And the show itself is in traverse. So a kind of catwalk bisects the audience. We sat either side staring at each other. Its harsh. Black lighting rigs. The characters dont have shadows. Its just panels of light popping up its just panels of light popping up and down. And its about drug trials. So its about big pharma, but its also about love. Is the drug or is the drug love . What do we feel . Do we love . What do we feel . Do we know what we feel . Do we know what we think . Like, what is our what we think . Like, what is our brain is it the brain doing . Is it the characters are are being used in an experiment to test out the effect of a drug and they fall in love. And we dont know how thats come about. Antidepression medication that trialling. A that theyre trialling. And a big of that dopamine. Big part of that is dopamine. And dopamine gives us that good feeling. Gives impulses. Feeling. It gives us impulses. And yes, theres also the and yes, and theres also the question partway through is one of them on a placebo . So nobodys able to trust their feelings. The performances, all four performances are excellent. The girl, taylor russell, the canadian , is a hugely exciting canadian, is a hugely exciting young actress and i know you dont like tittle tattle. Michael but might possibly michael but she might possibly be styles. Shes be dating harry styles. So shes shes yeah. So this is very shes very yeah. So this is very exciting. It was a star studded opening night, but the main guy, Paapa Essiedu , who is thrilling Paapa Essiedu, who is thrilling. I had not seen him on stage before. He was in i may destroy you, the Michaela Cole show. You, the Michaela Cole show. Hes done lots of shakespeare. Hes done lots of shakespeare. Hes one of the people tipped to be james bond, and hes thrilling. Raw, vulnerable, thrilling. Raw, vulnerable, natural , thrilling. Raw, vulnerable, natural, ballistic, quixotic, quick , silver, charismatic. Natural, ballistic, quixotic, quick , silver, charismatic. I quick, silver, charismatic. I could not take my eyes off him. I believed everything he did. I was just his performance. Enough was just his performance. Enough was thrilling. The play is interesting thoughtful , and interesting and thoughtful, and theres no props except a bucket. And you want to know what was in the bucket. Michael not sure i do. You probably dont because theres a brain in the bucket. Oh and i hadnt guessed. Its all about the brain and its all basically about the lead female doctor on the trial who herself suffers from depression, pulls the brain out and talks to it. As in, you are here guiding my body to make me have the best day. Our bodies are honed by thousands of years to be the most efficient machine they can be. What do you say to that . And the brain in this dialogue kind of responds back, whispering , youre tired, youre whispering, youre tired, youre old, youre useless, youre past it. Nobody wants to listen to you. Why are you bothering . And you. Why are you bothering . And whats point . And there was whats the point . And there was a in the audience because a chill in the audience because this is this thing in the top of our heads that we somehow think that our brain and our emotions are outside us. Theres something ephemeral, this beautiful but there beautiful illusion. But there this thing sat right there and its just its suddenly this thought of what its doing to us and why and how i came out. My brain was somewhat expanded and confused, but still in your skull. Luckily, luckily , and not in luckily, luckily, and not in a bucket. And you brought it here within your skull today. I just wanted to very quickly mention some things to you. I went to see patriots. This is by peter morgan, who wrote the crown. Tom hollander plays Boris Berezovsky and its a bit of a didactic experience, a bit of a lecture, but you do learn a lot. You learn, for example, that putin and abramovsky, for that matter , were both the creatures matter, were both the creatures they were absolutely made by bons they were absolutely made by Boris Berezovsky. Its a good evening at the theatre. I just evening at the theatre. I just wanted to reflect on a season at glyndebourne opera. Ive been glyndebourne opera. Ive been i think five times. I think its been announced standing season, including the fact that we had two revivals of 40 year old productions, a stunning David Hockney painted sets for the rakes progress and a midsummer nights dream by peter hall and successful and popular amazingly great people are engaged. Yes, and by the way, glyndebourne has no public subsidy , which is very no public subsidy, which is very interesting. And it creates a problem for the other opera houses explain how they houses to explain how they get by without and the last by without subsidy. And the last thing to mention you thing i wanted to mention to you was i went to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and some people might say, well, i dont see marching dont want to see marching bands, the variety of the bands, but the variety of the movements, the precision of it all, the special effects are in front of the of edinburgh castle. Youve got rockets and fire machines, fireworks , rocks. Fire machines, fireworks, rocks. Youve got spotlights and lasers, the whole thing brilliantly coordinated and absolute precision. And i tend absolute precision. And i tend to think that nothing works in britain, but blimey, the military does. Stefan kyriazis absolutely marvellous. Still working that is it for this houh working that is it for this hour. Ill be back in just a few minutes for our topical debate. Well be talking to one of the creators of a new podcast that deals with parkinsons disease about how unleashing her creativity has helped to creativity has helped her to cope her illness. Stay with us. Us. A brighter outlook with boxt solar, proud sponsors of weather on. Gb news. On. Gb news. Hello there. And Greg Dewhurst. And welcome to your dewhurst. And welcome to your latest gb news weather. Looking ahead , it stays rather unsettled ahead, it stays rather unsettled and therell be quite cloudy skies sunday showers, but it does start to turn warmer through the week and looking at the bigger picture, low pressure still dominates at the moment, bringing wet and windy weather. But towards wednesday, high but out towards wednesday, High Pressure build in for pressure starts to build in for the rest of sunday. A fairly cloudy picture out there. Winds lighter than yesterday. Less showers around to some of the showers around to some of the showers could be heavy across parts of scotland, Northern Ireland, but plenty of dry weather, skies quite weather, though. Skies quite grey. There will be a few glimmers of sunshine that glimmers of sunshine and that will lift temperatures to around 22 or 23 celsius towards the south east. Generally the high teens 20s for most into teens to low 20s for most into the evening time. This area of low pressure starts to move in wet weather spreading in to the west of wales west country parts of wales later on in the evening. And then that slowly pushes north and eastwards really heavy and eastwards some really heavy rain developing across northern parts into northern parts of wales into Northern England as we head into the early hours, staying dry across northern and scotland Northern Ireland and scotland and a fairly warm night across the board. So a wet start to monday morning across england and wales. Heavy rain times and wales. Heavy rain at times slowly pushing north and eastwards. The met Office Warning in force for much of the day. And brighter for day. Dry and brighter for scotland and Northern Ireland, with plenty sunny spells but with plenty of sunny spells but scattered heavy showers here and temperatures under the cloud feeling quite cool, struggling to reach much above 17 or 18 degrees, 21 or 22 towards the south east a brighter outlook with boxt solar proud sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Of weather on. Gb news. Im jacob rees mogg, the member of parliament for North East Somerset and a former government minister. For years i have walked the corridors of power in both westminster and the city of london. The london. We need to have the arguments, discussions on london. We need to have the argu we 1ts, discussions on london. We need to have the arguwe make discussions on london. We need to have the arguwe make itdiscussions on london. We need to have the arguwe make it betterions on london. We need to have the argu we make it better crop on how we make it better crop failures, famine, war, suffering on a scale completely unimaginable. We are putting channel welcome back to the second hour of sunday with Michael Portillo. Noone has struck so please saunter with me into sunday afternoon with some topical debate. Arts culture and world affairs. To begin with. We world affairs. To begin with. We are debating the governments levelling up agenda, not whether it will work, but whether its the right idea. One of our panellists thinks that some towns are destined to dwindle andifs towns are destined to dwindle and its a waste of money to try to prop them up. So our topical debate today is should struggling towns simply be allowed to decline . Ukrainian allowed to decline . Ukrainian troops continue to hurl themselves against heavily entrenched russian positions across ukraines south east. But as a breakthrough on land proves elusive. Could a new front be elusive. Could a new front be opening up in the black sea . The waters have been more viciously contested since moscow reneged on a deal to allow ukrainian grain ships to sail through. Former Royal Navy Rear admiral chris parry will brief me. The bbc will rerun its iconic series |, bbc will rerun its iconic series i, claudius , based on the book i, claudius, based on the book by Robert Graves , introducing a by Robert Graves, introducing a new generation to an epic drama of deceit, murder , murder and of deceit, murder, murder and political intrigue. The now political intrigue. The now almost 50 year old series might be more familiar than we expect , however, as its been cited as the precursor of later blockbuster tv shows like game of thrones and the sopranos and Gillian Lacey solymar is a successful journalist and businesswoman who has diagnosed with early onset parkinson when she was 48. 12 years on, shes preparing to unveil her new musical irrepressible at the Edinburgh Fringe festival tomorrow. Shell join me to explain how creativity has helped her all of that to come. But first, the latest news headunes but first, the latest News Headlines with Polly Middlehurst i michael, thank you. Good afternoon to you. Will the top story from the newsroom today is that the government is under renewed pressure to tackle the migrant crisis after six people lost their lives yesterday crossing the English Channel. The home secretary, Suella Braverman, has described the incident as a tragic loss of life and shes confirmed she immediately chaired a meeting with border force officials. Campaigners also say the incident was an appalling and preventable tragedy and mps from all sides are now calling for action to stop criminal gangs profiteering from the dangerous crossings. 59 people were rescued by british and french coast guards yesterday after an overloaded vessel carrying migrants got into difficulty off the coast of france. Well, came marsh, whose manager and support coordinator at the migrant charity samphire, says there are safe and legal ways for migrants to come to the uk. Not a lot of people do know what the options for safe legal routes are, but of course we use humanitarian visas with the ukrainian situation. People were brought here safely and legally, never having to navigate the asylum system or get into a small boat so it can be done. And we do have a mechanism available, but theyre very, very narrow and they dont catch everyone that is allowed be very narrow and they dont catch everysoe that is allowed be very narrow and they dont catch everyso itsit is allowed be very narrow and they dont catch every so its we. Allowed be very narrow and they dont catch every so its we know ed be very narrow and they dont catch every so its we know now be very narrow and they dont catch every so its we know now that here. So its we know now that nothing is going to work, nothing is going to work, nothing is going to work, nothing is going to deter people. We need to start looking at how we get them here safely and process them quickly. Process them quickly. Now, people in scotland and in wales could soon be able to get nhs treatment they need in england, all in order to cut long waiting lists. The health long waiting lists. The health secretary, steve barclay, has said hes open to requests and hes invited both scottish and welsh Health Ministers to discuss how all parts of the uk could tackle waiting times. In could tackle waiting times. In wales, more than 73,000 people have been waiting over a year and a half for treatment and at least 21,600 people in scotland have been waiting for about the same period of time for their appointments. Secretary of state for wales david davis says everyone should have access to the health care they need. It is a National Health service and theres a clue in the name there and everyone across the United Kingdom is paying across the United Kingdom is paying the same amount of tax towards the nhs and it is therefore manifestly wrong that some in parts the some people in parts of the United Kingdom waiting over United Kingdom are waiting over two treatment that two years for treatment that would never happen where, frankly, conservatives run frankly, the conservatives run in nhs. And so were in the nhs. And so were offering in offering to give patients in wales the same rights that they would get in england, which is to, prepared to to, if theyre prepared to travel, can go to any travel, they can go to any hospital can them hospital which can offer them the treatment need. The treatment they need. Has said its the government has said its going to bring forward changes to regulations around single sex toilets in public spaces , all toilets in public spaces, all new non domestic , public and new non domestic, public and private buildings will be required to provide separate single sex toilets for women and men or a self contained private toilet. As a minimum. Women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch says gender neutral toilets has removed the right for privacy in public facilities and the new regulations will protect the dignity and the safety of everyone. His majesty, safety of everyone. His majesty, the king says he is horrified over the devastation caused by wildfires engulfing the Hawaiian Island of maui and hes offered his condolences to the victims affected local sources in maui have confirmed now that at least 93 people have perished , making 93 people have perished, making it the deadliest. Us wildfire in more than 100 years, with a number of dead expected to rise as more bodies are found. So search teams with sniffer dogs sifted through the ruins of lahaina four days after a fast moving blaze levelled the historic resort town, obliterating buildings and melting vehicles as Robert Kennedy jr, whose father and uncle were both assassinated because of their political views, has bid to run as the democratic candidate for us president in 2024. In the United States , as his uncle, president states, as his uncle, president John F Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, as was his father while running for the democratic president ial nomination in 1968. Robert kennedy jr is the fifth member of his family to run for president of the United States and is aware of the risks of running for office. I think all of it, everybody in my family is aware of the risk. But, in my family is aware of the risk. But, you in my family is aware of the risk. But, you know , in my family is aware of the risk. But, you know , i in my family is aware of the risk. But, you know , i think, risk. But, you know, i think, you know , life is filled with you know, life is filled with risks. So and i think once cheryl was convinced that that there was a path to victory and that i think she felt like , you that i think she felt like, you know, because i have a passion. Know, because i have a passion. In to do this, to solve some of these problems for our country. And im in a unique position to be able to do that. That she gave me the green light. Robert kennedy jr there youre with gb news across the uk on your tv , news across the uk on your tv, in your car, on your Digital Radio and now on your Smart Speaker by saying play gb news. This is britains news channel. All. Thank you. Channel. All. Thank you. Polly middlehurst. Along with Polly Middlehurst. Along with the plans to get brexit done, the plans to get brexit done, the promise to level up britain so as to improve the Economic Performance of areas outside the south east of england form the centrepiece of the conservatives 2019 manifesto. But as we near the end of another parliamentary term, evidence of success might be called patchy. Previous governments have also strained to improve the Economic Performance of the regions , with performance of the regions, with limited success. So is it time to give up . One of our panellists thinks so. Sam ashworth hayes of the telegraph wrote on twitter that a lot of ex industrial towns and cities should quote , be allowed to die should quote, be allowed to die or shrink rather than be kept on life support , end of quote. And life support, end of quote. And against that proposition, we have Peter Edwards from labourlist and joining us from leeds , we have Data Scientist leeds, we have Data Scientist and co founder of the data city, tom fourth. Well, first of all, sam, why do you think these towns and cities should be allowed to go to the wall . So i think its basically just a consequence of the natural trends in the british economy. And you actually the levelling up white paper sets some of these out itself. A good number of these towns and cities shot in the industrial shot up in the industrial revolution. Did so revolution. They did so as a result of industrial or geographical advantages that no longer same time, longer exist. At the same time, the economy very the modern economy is very strongly agglomeration. The modern economy is very stro good agglomeration. The modern economy is very stro good for agglomeration. The modern economy is very stro good for firmsigglomeration. The modern economy is very stro good for firms andymeration. The modern economy is very stro good for firms and workers 1. Its good for firms and workers to be near each other. This is partly why london so partly why london is so productive you let these productive and if you let these trends out, have a trends play out, youd have a Movement People from these movement of people from these outlying to london, and outlying regions to london, and this is something were trying to exist to sorry. And to exist to resist. Sorry. And it feels a bit like pushing water because weve water up a hill because weve had repeated attempts at levelling in various guises. Levelling up in various guises. None have worked none of them have worked terribly the terribly well. Weve had the idea people out from idea of moving people out from london in Government Departments and places like and offices to places like newport, the ons, the net effect of that was to drive away Skilled Staff while not really improving weve improving the local area. Weve had of maybe, had sort of ideas of maybe, perhaps can use defence perhaps we can use defence procurement a sort of procurement as a sort of regional subsidy thats more in defence procurement, but its not for these not done very much for these areas. I think basically if areas. And i think basically if you have a of you were to have a policy of saying were going to do much less in the way of trying to keep these towns without much economic existence economic rationale for existence as today, going as they are today, were going to people in london, to let people build in london, in manchester, in in leeds, in manchester, in edinburgh that wants edinburgh, in a place that wants to and were going let to grow. And were going to let people around. I think it people move around. I think it would be much better off for it. And why we have and peter, why should we have large ins where more than large towns, ins where more than 100 years ago had coal and 100 years ago we had coal and steel and cotton spinning . Well, michael , youve hinted well, michael, youve hinted at the answer to the question. Really . These Great Northern towns and ive lived in places like leeds york and like leeds and york and carlisle, they a rich carlisle, they have a rich industrial and think Industrial Heritage and i think it be bad politically and it would be bad politically and economically and morally to write morally. It write them off. Morally. It speaks were in speaks for itself. Were all in one country. After each one country. We look after each other, pay tax together. So other, we pay tax together. So weve towards weve got responsibility towards each i think economically each other. I think economically it wouldnt work as well because yes, there are absolutely downtimes for regions of the uk depending on Macro Economic trends or Government Investment and so on. But look at places like sheffield or liverpool that had a very tough time in their 80s and 90s. And then have been regenerated. Theres been Huge Investment and it would be bad politically as well because i think the conservative government of today they learned the political lessons of the 80s, which are you have to govern in the interests of the whole United Kingdom. People from the labour perspective, like me say theyre not like me would say theyre not doing and theyre only doing that and theyre only paying doing that and theyre only paying service. But people paying lip service. But people like mp like rishi sunak yorkshire mp and do understand and michael gove do understand and michael gove do understand and theres a political and that theres a political imperative moral imperative as well as a moral one govern for the whole one to govern for the whole united. United kingdom. What exactly is the moral imperative . I mean, do cities have to exist . I mean, have a right to exist . I mean, manchester went from a population of 5000 to a population of 5000 to a population of 5000 to a population of many hundreds of thousands over a very brief penod thousands over a very brief period of time. When it so happened that we were importing cotton and we were the manufacturers of the world and so but those times have so on. But those times have passed. Why is it that cities are allowed to grow but not to shnnk are allowed to grow but not to shrink morally . They can shrink and i think they can shrink and they do shrink at times, but cities can also have a second act, and we should never discontinue that, which is perhaps think perhaps sams proposition. Think of manchester. It now has mediacity in salford as a rebirth. Ive spent a lot of time in liverpool, which we know was devastated and you know, for example, industry and especially the maritime industry in liverpool, much less than they used but the cultural used to be. But the cultural sector in liverpool is enormous. And at the other end of the and then at the other end of the country theres a huge Financial Services bournemouth, Services Sector in bournemouth, which would be perhaps the last place of as being place people think of as being the city upon but also its the city upon sea. But also its about bringing together the talent of the United Kingdom, because were not the republic of the republic of of london or the republic of birmingham. One united of london or the republic of birmingh and one united of london or the republic of birmingh and across one united of london or the republic of birmingh and across you united of london or the republic of birmingh and across you and ed kingdom and across you and i have very different political backgrounds. But were bound together by shared values and our shared faith in country. Our shared faith in a country. Now, tom is a available to us remotely. Tom fourth and your field is data. What does data tell us . What light does that shed on this debate . Shed on this debate . Thanks for having me. So the data says pretty clearly that the uk has a really big problem with the economys of its large cities, except for london being extremely weak. So sam mentioned agglomeration , and that would agglomeration, and that would suggest that we should have large cities with strong economies. In fact, leeds, the city where i am in, and i would include bradford, which is five miles down the road from me and wakefield, which is eight miles down road from me. That down the road from me. In that all together as one West Yorkshire region, our economy is 30 to 40 weaker than a similar sized city in continental europe, a city like amsterdam , europe, a city like amsterdam, rotterdam, somewhere like leon. So the data says that we dont do very well. The problem that weve got in terms of arguing to abandon anywhere is that our problems are in the places that should be thriving. Its not leeds and manchester and birmingham that are struggling, not really anywhere small that we might think doesnt have an economic future. This is a High Economic future. This is a High Value Services city now. It was coal, steel and railways 5100 and 150 years ago. But today weve got fantastic firms like asda , first direct loads of asda, first direct loads of companies doing high value added services. We just need more of them and to be to be blunt, we need the same kind of support to grow as other cities in the south east, such as oxford and cambridge. If bradford received the same kind of investor as oxford enjoys , i have no doubt oxford enjoys, i have no doubt that it would be as successful as oxford if were going to talk about abandoning anywhere, we should be thinking about abandoning oxford as a city which is more reliant on the pubuc which is more reliant on the Public Sector than anywhere else. And yet refuses grow. Else. And yet refuses to grow. Instead of spending our money on growth oxford, we should instead of spending our money on growthit oxford, we should instead of spending our money on growthit here. Yrd, we should spend it here. But tom, lets take the case of leeds. What exactly is the problem . I mean, you have a very fast rail link to london which cannot be said of bradford, by the way. Youve just got channel 4. You have a marvellous airport with capability of flying all over europe. So what is it that leeds is lacking to enable it to take off . So we do have a fast electric railway to london. We dont have an electric railway to any other city in the uk. An electric railway to any other city in the uk. So if i want to city in the uk. So if i want to go to manchester, its on an old diesel railway that hardly works. If wants to go to sheffield, its on diesel railway that its on a diesel railway that breaks down the time. If breaks down half the time. If i want go to newcastle or york, want to go to newcastle or york, its on a diesel railway that doesnt our airport, we doesnt work. Our airport, we want expand it. We actually want to expand it. We actually voted through the city council here, voted through to it here, voted through to expand it and that. And michael gove blocked that. He the project in and by he called the project in and by the time that the public inquiries due to be held there, the airport wouldnt have been able to expand. So are held able to expand. So we are held back severely. We mean back quite severely. We mean just my area of work, the just in my area of work, the government just recently set up a big new institute called aria, the advanced research and Innovation Agency actually set up the Wikipedia Page about it. I was so excited about it. And then without any consultation , then without any consultation, without any discussion, they just put the headquarters in london. Its not clear why thats not the best place to do advanced research and innovation in. In the uk , weve weve got a in. In the uk, weve weve got a huge number of people in the sort of northern and midland cities and we could do better. Tom, thank you very much. Im going to bring in sam possibly to conclude the discussion. I was i was struck by the example of media city that was quoted by peter here in manchester, a clear example of how actually sensible location of business can transform a citys prospects. Yes, i just think we dont have a way of reliably doing this. We havent sort of isnt a magic formula. And you can see the sort of levelling up white paper where all the ideas are sort of a little bit vague and places. Um, i think the thing i keep coming back to is we have the oldest Housing Stock in europe that tells you europe and partly that tells you that got richer than that we got richer than other places earlier, also places earlier, but it also tells were still tells you that were still living the places we were living in the places we were a century or more ago. And theres no particular reason that should be the theres no reason be the case. Theres no reason we have this distribution we should have this distribution of the country frozen of the across the country frozen in think were to in aspic. I think if we were to let people where they want let people live where they want to build the place to live, to build in the place they to build, we would see they want to build, we would see a significant redistribution towards most towards the southeast in most cases. Think thats cases. And i think thats something be welcomed. The something to be welcomed. The american enrico american economist Enrico Moretti has estimated that if you housing constraints you loosened housing constraints in jose and san in new york, san jose and san francisco, would boost francisco, you would boost that countrys around and countrys gdp by around 9. And the evidence we have suggests that similar that there are similar distortions uk. If we distortions in the uk. If we were to allow people to be where they productive , to they are most productive, to work, they to work, work, where they want to work, everyone significantly everyone would be significantly better the better off. And i think the current of attempt to try current sort of attempt to try and say, well, we can try and current sort of attempt to try and severyonerve can try and current sort of attempt to try and s. Everyone as can try and current sort of attempt to try and s. Everyone as productivei current sort of attempt to try and s. Everyone as productive as make everyone as productive as london basically to failure. I must say i have thoroughly enjoyed debate. Ill say to enjoyed that debate. Ill say to tom fourth, i am also as a railway broadcaster, deeply shocked by the railways in north england. Thank you very much as well, peter roberts, for coming in and sam ashworth, hes a very good debate. After the break, good debate. After the break, were going to be hearing from rear admiral chris parry , rear admiral chris parry, formerly of the royal navy, on the expanding conflict between ukraine and russia in the black sea. A brighter outlook with sea. A brighter outlook with boxt solar proud sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Weather on. Gb news. Hello there. Hello there. Im Greg Dewhurst and welcome to your latest gb news Weather Forecast. Looking ahead, rain on monday, particularly across england and wales as low pressure moves through, but it does gradually turn warmer and dner does gradually turn warmer and drier and we can see that on the bigger picture. Low pressure dominating weather pattern dominating the weather pattern the days, but then high the next few days, but then High Pressure we head pressure building in as we head towards wednesday. So for sunday, starting to go downhill across england and wales as we move through the rest of the day and into the early hours as this wet weather spreads slowly north and eastwards, some heavy rain developing, particularly across north northern north wales into Northern England. By the end of the night and could see some and here we could see some localised flooding. A met Office Warning in force for warning in force drier for Northern Ireland and scotland. Temperatures remaining temperatures generally remaining in double figures. So that wet weather first thing across england outbreaks of england and wales outbreaks of heavy rain pushing north and eastwards some eastwards. We could see some localised Flooding Issues but it does become dry and does gradually become dry and brighter from the west by the afternoon, Northern Ireland and scotland a brighter day here mixture of sunny spells and scattered showers in the best of any sunshine, temperatures reaching around 21 or 22 celsius. But if youre stuck under the cloud and the rain, it will feel on the chilly side that rain does push away by tuesday, it does start to then brighten up. Weve got plenty of sunny for the day ahead. Sunny spells for the day ahead. A showers largely a scattering of showers largely across and the west of across the north and the west of the uk and into wednesday and thursday. That High Pressure continues build plenty of continues to build in plenty of dry weather sunny spells and dry weather, sunny spells and temperatures rising , a brighter temperatures rising, a brighter outlook with boxt solar proud sponsors of weather on. Join the live desk on gb news. The peoples channel. Britains news. Britains news. Channel welcome back. Week. Last welcome back. Week. Last month, russia pulled out of a deal to allow ukrainian shipments of grain through the black sea. And since then, that body of water has become ever more hotly contested in the ongoing war. Russia has pulverised ukrainian ports and ukraine has struck two russian ships with maritime drones overhead. Nato and russian aircraft jostle in the skies. Rear admiral chris parry, lately of the royal navy, has been following the events since the war started and joins me now. War started and joins me now. Chris, very good to speak to you. Welcome to gb news. How new is the conflict in the black sea in this particular war . Are we putting too much emphasis on saying that something has happened since the grain shipment movement . Shipment movement . Youre absolutely right, michael. Its been going on right from the start. Its just that its increased in prominence recently as the ukrainian counter offensive doesnt actually have any news to give out. To give out. I think attention has shifted to what is happening at sea. We know about the grain deal, what we havent seen right from the start is the fact the ukrainians have mined quite a lot of their waters stop russian waters to stop Russian Amphibious attacks on odesa and their ports in the west. You know that they attack the moskva with surface to surface missiles. These drones have been, if you like, ready to attack russian targets as soon as they have made themself vulnerable. And as you hinted , vulnerable. And as you hinted, most of the action has been in the air where russian aircraft have been intercepting nato Surveillance Aircraft and also nato drones , some of which nato drones, some of which theyve tried to bring down with decoys and trolling fuel over them. So the action has been there all the time. I always say with maritime warfare, its always out of sight, out of mind, and people never really consider it. And its coming to the fore now. I think one of the things worth stressing about the black sea, its inland sea. Black sea, its an inland sea. Its only 350 miles from north to south and 750 miles from east to south and 750 miles from east to west. So in some ways quite a lot of the land capability is being used against naval vessels. You wouldnt see that in a normal naval war. Territories one of the things that strikes me about the black sea of course, is that it emphasises the few options that russia has for reaching the oceans at the western end of the country. So western end of the country. So they have to either go through they have to either go through the black sea or they have to go through the baltic, or they have to go through ports which are , to go through ports which are, you know, liable to being frozen in. This is all part of the National Russian story, isnt it . That they suffer these extraordinary difficulty things which make them feel insecure . Which make them feel insecure . Oh yeah. I mean, youve got a declining population and youve got huge landmass with a coastline that needs to be defended across tens of thousands kilometres. So they thousands of kilometres. So they feel pretty paranoid. Youre feel pretty paranoid. Youre absolutely right, michael. You know, the Northern Fleet base, which is their biggest base up to and east of norway to the north and east of norway and sweden and finland , that and sweden and finland, that thatis and sweden and finland, that that is where they deploy most of their ships from. They do have a baltic base. The big have a baltic base. The big problem theyve got, of course, is having to get their ships out through the bosphorus into the Eastern Mediterranean , and that Eastern Mediterranean, and that is constrained by the montrose convention in 1930, which doesnt allow belligerents to put ships into the black sea. So youve got a lot of russian ships sitting in the Eastern Mediterranean. Some of them based in syria, died to get involved in the conflict. But they cant because of the treaty. And the turks certainly wont let. And youre absolutely let them. And youre absolutely right. And what has made it right. And what has made it worse for putin and russia, of course , is theyve managed to course, is theyve managed to get sweden and finland into the Nato Alliance by their actions. Nato alliance by their actions. And theyve made the baltic , and theyve made the baltic, except for Saint Petersburg and kaliningrad, essentially a nato lake. Weve been looking at pictures of aircraft there and i suppose one of the areas that is most frightening for those of us who are not ukrainian or russian, those of us who are in nato countries is that nato and russia are really jostling in the air. How fearful are you of the air. How fearful are you of the consequences of those of those little jostles in the air . Well, weve seen in the past the russians have been entirely reckless when theyre dealing with these close encounters. And the chances of an accident or indeed a promoted incident, a so called false flag, are very high. And i think we have to game situations where drones are brought down in increasing numbers or indeed we have an incident with a manned aeroplane and that that response needs to be proportionate and give sufficient deterrent to russia to stop doing it. I mean, russias convinced theyre in a proxy war with nato anyway , and proxy war with nato anyway, and so theyre going to be more reckless. I think theyll take reckless. I think theyll take chances. And i think the more desperate they get on the ground in ukraine or indeed over the black sea, youll see more more of this sort of provocative activity. Activity. Have you been surprised, chris, by the effectiveness of the ukrainian maritime drones . The ukrainian maritime drones . Do you think the russians have been surprised and at what distances its possible for the ukrainians to strike them from . Ukrainians to strike them from . I dont think anybody should be surprised, michael. I mean, dare i say it, i actually for passed this in a book in 2014 that this would be the future of maritime warfare. Its people have got very late to the table. And i dont think we should doubt how much assistance the ukraine are actually getting from our allies and possibly ourselves in developing this technology. Its not difficult. The germans used radio controlled drones like this in in world war ii, the japanese used kamikazes, obviously manned ones, both by surface means and in the air. So its not a new technology. Its just been appued technology. Its just been applied much more systematically and against specific targets in the black sea. Its going to have to be dealt with. But, michael, if i tell you that colombian drug runners have been using similar vessels like this for up to 12 years now without the explosives on the end , the explosives on the end, youll see that this has been around for a while. And you know, when you see similar vessels going from colombia to islands in the west indies, you see the range is not an issue. See the range is not an issue. Ive said to a lot of people , ive said to a lot of people, weve got to be very careful about looking at lessons we get from ukraine. Its a context , from ukraine. Its a context, specific lessons, learning environment. Theyre not general lessons really for warfare. In lessons really for warfare. In some ways, its the last war of the 20th century, not the first war of the 21st. Yeah, but if i may, chris, ill just pick you up on that because, i mean, it strikes me that what we know about warfare is that there is huge technological movement during warfare. I have this impression warfare. I have this impression that nato was quite enjoying experimenting with drones and with other technologies which can do without being a combatant. Arent we learning things . And isnt Technology Moving forward again . Moving forward again . Yeah, its existing technology and what weve done is applied that technology. And is applied that technology. And youre quite right, michael, its a laboratory, but its a laboratory for the russians too. Theyre finding out where their weaknesses are, where they need to improve their kit, their logistics and Everything Else. And certainly there will be a move forward. But what im saying is that in many ways, the future of warfare has seen very much like the, you know, the future is very much like the present, only more so there is not a great leap in technological advances that were seeing at the moment, and not just yet. Not just yet. Thank you very much, chris parry. Very good to have you parry. Very good to have you once again on gb news. In a few minutes, well discuss the rerunning of i, claudius on the bbc. That will be with cultural historian dr. Philip kinsley. Historian dr. Philip kinsley. Before that, heres a reminder of the latest News Headlines with Polly Middlehurst. With Polly Middlehurst. The top stories this hour, some breaking news, in fact, 509 migrants crossed the English Channelin migrants crossed the English Channel in ten small boats yesterday. That brings the total yesterday. That brings the total for the year so far to more than 16,500. Thats according to home office figures. And that comes office figures. And that comes as the government is under renewed pressure to tackle the migrant crisis after six people died crossing the English Channel yesterday. The home channel yesterday. The home secretary, Suella Braverman , secretary, Suella Braverman, described the incident as a tragic loss of life and confirmed she chaired a meeting with border force officials. Afterwards, campaigners also say the incident was an appalling and preventable tragedy. While mps from all parties are calling for action to stop criminal gangs profiteering from the dangerous crossing. Also in the news, people in scotland and wales could soon be able to get nhs treatment they need in england. Thats to cut long waiting lists. The Health Waiting lists. The health secretary, steve barclay, says hes open to requests and ianes hes open to requests and invites both scottish and welsh Health Ministers to discuss how all parts of the uk could tackle waiting times in wales , more waiting times in wales, more than 73,000 people have been waiting over a year and a half for treatment and at least 21,000 people in scotland have been waiting for about the same penod been waiting for about the same period of time for their appointments. And labour has pledged to recruit more than 6500 new teachers in a plan to tackle regional recruitment gaps. Supply Teacher Spending has doubled in the last year and labour says that its recruitment plan to create more opportunities for young people would more than fill teacher vacancies. More on all those vacancies. More on all those stories by heading to our website. Gbnews. Com. Website. Gbnews. Com. Thank you very much, polly. Thank you very much, polly. The bbc will rerun the landmark series i claudius later this month. Its based on Robert Gravess prize winning book. The series was lauded when it was released in 1976. It depicts the viciously disputed succession , viciously disputed succession, some blood spattered politics of early imperial rome and it inaugurated a trend for complex , flex and morally ambiguous plot lines that still dominate Television Series today. To explain its significance further, i am joined by cultural historian at the university of leeds, dr. Philip kingsley. Hello, philip. Thanks for joining us on gb news. And tell me how lovely , how good was i . Me how lovely, how good was i . Claudius does it stand the test of time and was it really very influential for. Yeah, i think youve got to look at it in the context of the broader sweep of 70s drama. And i think what happens in the 70s is that drama just comes of age. The 60s is about excitement ,. The 60s is about excitement, energy, high concept series and the 70s is about maturity complexes , 80 and depth and complexes, 80 and depth and i think theres lots of reflection there too. You only have to look at the dramas around the Second World War to see that theres a lot of coming to terms with that monumental moment in our history right through decade. So right through the decade. So that idea of complexity and maturity extends to the historical dramas. And you know, there are so many of them throughout the decade. This is throughout the decade. This is 1976. Its a its a 12 part series. Its the its the apex of all of those kinds of things, really. And on the one hand, it really. And on the one hand, it offers an escape. Okay. You can you can step into your metaphorical toga. You can you can indulge in the murder of mayhem. But it also offers a sense of parallel as well to whats going on in that social, cultural moment, whats going on in that social, cultural moment , that very cultural moment, that very incredibly difficult social cultural moment of the 1970s. Glimpses. Glimpses. Again, its about its about complexity. Complexity. We caught glimpses there of derek jacobi, Brian Blessed amongst others. Remind me, if amongst others. Remind me, if you would i mean i was around at the time, but i do need reminding what else formed part of that, i think rather golden age of bbc drama making. Age of bbc drama making. Yeah, id call it quality drama. Okay, so i think it starts around 1970, 1971. And a good example to start with is probably elizabeth r which is which was a great historical saga. Which was a great historical saga. Um, and which was a great historical saga. Um, and you come to i claudius, but towards the end of the 70s as well, there are there are series like edward and mrs. Simpson and particularly tailor, soldier spy, which is really about melancholy and looking back and introversion. And i back and introversion. And i think all of those things are marked and they they represent really the psychological complexity of what 70s drama is all about is it is it too much to hope that the bbc could continue to make quality drama of that sort . Or are there enough history reasons why the battle has really passed to the to the netflixes of this world . I think it is too much to ask and im not sure there are industry reasons really. I think there cultural reasons , as you there cultural reasons, as you know, were never going to get civil ization know, were never going to get civilization again. For example, on the bbc, well get a kind of a very poor version of that was civilisations. I dont that was civilisations. I dont think its just netflix , think its just netflix, actually. Im involved with the new Culture Forum and weve just produced a series called the west, which has got lots of rave reviews and is really doing what the bbc should be doing now. I think its identity politics more than anything thats stopping the bbc developing not only quality drama, but quality documentary as well. Documentary as well. Sorry, could you explain that a little bit more . Because im very interested in your answer, but i havent quite followed it i well, i suppose the Marshall Mcluhan used to say, didnt he . The message is the medium. I think now the message is the ideology and if you talk about all of the introversion, the cycle draghi, the complexity of the 1970s, i think all of that stuff is filtered through race, gender and sexuality now. And i think i think the nuance is taken away from it. And i think taken away from it. And i think were dealing in very simplistic, broad theoretical sweeps which we didnt used to. It was about it was about people before. Its about concepts and ideologies now. Ideologies now. And philip, i dont know whether youve had a chance to look at i, claudius again, i just wonder whether you can recommend it to viewers. But i mean, very often stuff that was made ago seems rather made decades ago seems rather slow on ponderous to the viewer today. Slow on ponderous to the viewer today. Has slow on ponderous to the viewer today. Has this slow on ponderous to the viewer today. Has this suffered that today. Has this suffered that fate or do you think it stood the test of time quite well , i the test of time quite well, i think its stood the test of time. I mean, the last time i watched it, i must admit, was about 20 years ago. And that was on dvd. And then i revisited it because i knew we were going to talk about it today. Think talk about it today. I think its i think its excellent. One of the great things about it is that it isnt just quick that it that it isnt just quick , after another and , one scene after another and a shallow engagement with with characters. I think it is slower. And i mentioned tailor soldier spy. And i mentioned tailor soldier spy just a few minutes ago and i think thats another classic example of depth and slower storytelling , which enables you storytelling, which enables you to really engage with the characters and i think thats what were seeing on, on, on channels like hbo and pay per view and things like that, you know, much more complex, longitudinal narratives which are actually much more satisfying. Do you think theres any hope that we will see more of the old bbc output . I mean, i must say i would very much welcome seeing tailor , soldier spy again. , soldier spy again. Yeah, well, i keep mentioning it because i wrote about it a couple of years ago, but i hope so. We saw a rose the freedom pass. The freedom, i think from 1970. Last year. Pass. The freedom, i think from 1970. Last year. And i was 1970. Last year. And i was surprised that they that they rescreened that i mean, the real quality of the bbc and the reason i pay my licence fee is really for the archive. And weve only got a tiny bit of it on, on iplayer. So so i, i really do hope so. I think if this , i think this is being this, i think this is being screened on, on bbc4, i think it might be on wednesday. Um if the audience is big enough and if and if the response to it critically and commercially is, is good , then yes, we will see is good, then yes, we will see more. So fingers crossed. Lets hope we do well. And i would say that we have financed it, havent we . We were the licence payers that archive exists thanks to the money we paid over over the years and now that we have the technology, let it be opened up to us. Please. Thank you very much. Dr. Philip kiszely. After the break, ill be joined by Gillian Lacey solymar journalist, lacey solymar, a journalist, businesswoman co founder of businesswoman and co founder of a podcast about living with a new podcast about living with parkinsons disease tannoy this is the final call for all Long Distance lovers. Im flying round the world to marry a man that ive never met. How do i know that youre even the person you say you are . Please fasten your seatbelts. Maybe were not actually supposed to be in this relationship. As we expect turbulence ahead. Can you not see my insides breaking . How far would you go for love . Brand new 90 day fiance uk, available to stream only on discovery . Watch at no extra cost. Say, get discovery into your voice remote to activate. Gb news radio. Welcome back. Gillian welcome back. Gillian lacey solymar is a successful businesswoman and journalist, formerly business and economics correspondent at the bbc. At the age of 48, she was diagnosed with young onset parkins disease and has been living with it for 12 years. The neurodegener lviv illness has many side effects , illness has many side effects, but one that gillian didnt anticipate was a burst of creativity in which shes written and staged a new musical called irrepressible at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, a woman from today travels back in time to become embroiled in the tumultuous love of admiral nelsons mistress, Emma Hamilton. The debut performance will take place tomorrow. And heres a sneak preview from the dress rehearsal scandal. Sex and rock n roll is a chance. Dont listen or youll just be a tiny little footnote of my history. Of my history. A threesome. What a sordid game. All decent readers should complain. Marry me. Yes my darling. Marry me. Yes my darling. Yippee. Yippee. Yippee. We cannot be divided. Our we cannot be divided. Our fates totally collided. I love fates totally collided. I love you. And you. You. And you. You and me. And also me. We. You and me. And also me. We. Can let her go. Can let her go. Ultimate sacrifice. All this ultimate sacrifice. All this tuneup has. Tuneup has. Just im delighted to say that gillian joins me from edinburgh now. Good afternoon to you. And now. Good afternoon to you. And thank you very much for coming on. Gb news you must be extremely excited about the inauguration of the piece tomorrow. And was i right in tomorrow. And was i right in saying be terrified . Haha, was i saying be terrified . Haha, was i right in saying that creativity was an unexpected outcome or symptom or whatever of your illness is absolutely right. Illness is absolutely right. I didnt expect it at all. I thought, i mean, when i was diagnosed, id never heard of this creativity element of it, andifs this creativity element of it, and its not that common, it has to be said, but its not a side effect of the illness, but its a side effect of the drugs. Actually been on these actually but ive been on these drugs years years, and drugs for years and years, and at they did nothing really at first they did nothing really well, no, not true. They well, no, thats not true. They did were supposed did help, but they were supposed to illness, but they did help, but they were supposed to nothing illness, but they did help, but they were supposed to nothing on llness, but they did help, but they were supposed to nothing on the ss, but they did help, but they were supposed to nothing on the creativityey did nothing on the creativity side and then bit by bit, i started having all these ideas which id never, ever had before. And generally in the middle of the night. So that was quite interesting testing. And then that developed more and more and more until it turned into this musical overnight. May i ask you what made you think of Emma Hamilton of all subjects . Subjects . It was an interesting one that there was an exhibition on her years and years ago, about 4 or 5 years ago in greenwich, and my husbands very interested in nelson and i thought, oh my god, its going to be another exhibition on nelson. And so i thought, well, i dont really want to go. And on the very last day it was pouring with rain. And i thought, well, we may as well go. And it turned out not to be about but to be about to be about him, but to be about emma. It was absolutely emma. And it was absolutely fascinating, know , it showed fascinating, you know, it showed this womans life and how very badly she had been treated by the but by everyone, by the press, but by everyone, by society as well , how much she society as well, how much she had achieved from nowhere. She had achieved from nowhere. She came from nowhere. She was incredibly poor. And she incredibly poor. And then she made it not only to be nelsons mistress , which is what shes mistress, which is what shes known for , but in her known for, but she was in her own right. Trilingual. She was own right. Trilingual. She was an ambassadress in her own right when her husband hamilton , sir when her husband hamilton, sir hamilton, struggling with hamilton, was struggling with the whole issue of becoming of being ambassador he being an ambassador himself. He was much a senior. Being an ambassador himself. He was much a senior. And, you was so much a senior. And, you know , we dont know her for her know, we dont know her for her remarkable talents. We only know her as nelsons mistress, which seems so desperately unfair on her mistreatment. Nelson wrote from the admirals cabin of victory on the night before the battle of trafalgar at which he was killed , saying that his that his widow or sorry that emma and his child , the child by emma and him, should both be invited to his state funeral. And of course, state funeral. And of course, neither was lets lets go slightly more broadly. Youve also been participating in a podcast and this seems to have been very significant for those who have participated in it. Tell me a little bit about that, please. Gillian yeah, no , it is gillian yeah, no, it is significant, but not for just those whove participated in it. I think its been significant for those whove listened to it as well. So the people participating are almost all bbc except for one chap whos a high court judge, or at least he was until two days ago when he retired. And so, yes, its quite retired. And so, yes, its quite a sort of high powered bunch of people, i suppose, to the bbc lot. Im sure youll be familiar with are jeremy paxman, whos no doubt giving you a grilling from time to time. Michael there in there is mark mardell, also from there is mark mardell, also from the bbc, rory catlin jones. Paul mayhew, archer , who wrote the mayhew, archer, who wrote the vicar of dibley and is hilarious. And then theres me. Im the only woman there, which was quite daunting at first, i have to tell you, because all these alpha males, the moment there was a second silence, bush , they was a second silence, bush, they all came in and filled it. So that was quite scary. And i in the first few episodes, you dont hear my voice at all other than saying, um, uh , or excuse than saying, um, uh, or excuse me, i think , um, but by the me, i think, um, but by the third episode id learned my lesson there just carry on and keep talking. Now the, the title is movers and shakers. Obviously theres a pun in there. Shaking, pun in there. Shaking, obviously, is one of the symptoms that you have to cope with. What is what is the with. What is what is the purpose of the podcast . What is purpose of the podcast . What is it doing for all of you . Youre talking about the illness and the way that youre living with it. Is that correct . Yes yes. I mean, its filmed in a pub and we used to meet in a pub and have just have a chat, just us. And then we thought, in fact, it was the judge, nick mostyn, sir nicholas mostyn, i should , who thought should say, who thought initially this could be initially that this could be used more widely and was the used more widely and he was the one for the podcast one who pushed for the podcast and absolutely right to and he was absolutely right to do so because the effect its had is just tremendous. Whats happenedis had is just tremendous. Whats happened is that people, the families often who couldnt talk about it at all, about the illnesses quite interesting. Now sit down. They listen to the podcast on a saturday and then afterwards they discuss the issues that come out of it. And the letters weve had in the correspondence weve had suggest that really had a very big that really its had a very big impact on peoples lives. Youve mentioned a galaxy of stars from the bbc there who are sufferers from parkinsons disease. This is presumably telling us that the spread of the disease is very wide , that the disease is very wide, that there are many people affected by it. Do you have any idea of that number at your fingertips . That number at your fingertips . Yes, i think its 135,000. Is it in the uk . Something is it in the uk . Something like that . I think maybe 150,000 around that number. But the problem is its increasing. Its problem is its increasing. Its very rapidly increasing. And they dont really know why. They dont really understand and very much about the disease. And its rather depressing that really the main medication that im on is the same medication that my grandmother was on. You know, i have the genetic version, it turns out, and not much has changed really in 60 years. But i things are coming, or at i think things are coming, or at least hopeful and tell me least im hopeful and tell me what your hopes are for irrepressible, which premieres tomorrow. My hopes for irrepressible are that it will go to the west end. I hope thats not a ridiculous thing to say, but the actors are so talented. The directors are also fantastic. Its staged beautifully , as you its staged beautifully, as you can see there. Um and i think it has all the elements of a success. But then im only the writer , so i cant really too , writer, so i cant really too, be too pro. I need to be a little bit objective as well. And i know how terribly difficult it is to get to the west end these days. You know, theatre has suffered so much since covid, but nonetheless, let west end first, let me be bold. West end first, broadway second, and global domination third. Domination third. Congratulations on your burst of creativity that has led to this very best wishes with the piece and with the podcast as well. Piece and with the podcast as well. Gillian piece and with the podcast as well. Gillian lacey solymar well. Gillian lacey solymar well, thats coming towards the end of my show for this week, but emily carver is here and about to take over and what do you have for us . I love that confidence. Why not reach for stars . Its not reach for the stars . Its marvel all should in marvel should we all should in everything do . Everything we do . It was a lovely interview. I was really very inspired that. Really lovely. Well, yes, really lovely. Well, were reflecting on yes, really lovely. Well, weitragedy reflecting on yes, really lovely. Well, weitragedy and reflecting on yes, really lovely. Well, weitragedy and the flecting on yes, really lovely. Well, weitragedy and the channel n the tragedy and the channel yesterday. Six migrants died. What for what does this say for government policy . Of course, government policy . Of course, there more and more pressure there is more and more pressure on government to do on the government to do something this. Is something about this. Who is responsive for what happened yesterday . Firstly but then what can we do about it and what does it say about our failures . So far to deal with . Far as a country to deal with . The problem . Isnt it the most extraordinary thing that the government trying devise government is trying to devise ways discouraging this ways of discouraging this Movement People and some of movement of people and some of the people are dying on the way and theyre being and theyre not being discouraged idea that discouraged by the idea that people if it makes the people are dying if it makes the Governments Task really an extraordinary difficult one. How do you discourage people when theres already the danger of death, which is not discouraging them . Well, exactly. And yesterday well, exactly. And yesterday turned out to be the fourth busiest day of the entire year. Over 500 people crossed the channel despite that incident. So as you say, they have to think very carefully about what would suitable deterrent , would be a suitable deterrent, because if death doesnt deter you, then not much going to you, then not much is going to is it really . So theres a lot of questions for french of questions for the french authorities to there are some claims in the papers today that the french essentially escorted this boat that was when it this boat and that was when it sank. Well see if theres sank. So well see if theres some truth to that. But well delve it see can delve into it and see what can stop the crossings, because delve into it and see what can sthink e crossings, because delve into it and see what can sthinke one rossings, because delve into it and see what can sthink e one things s, because delve into it and see what can sthink e one things for ecause delve into it and see what can sthink e one things for sure se i think for one things for sure that has made it even more that this has made it even more important we do. Important that we do. Yes, this is really a story that wont go away. And it comes that wont go away. And it comes at in many different at us in so many different forms, the electoral forms, not least the Electoral Prospects of the government. I prospects of the government. I know that, emily, you will indeed delve into it in great depth. Well, ive really enjoyed depth. Well, ive really enjoyed the show today. Weve had some very good debates thanks to all my guests this week. I will be back at the same time next sunday. I hope that you will enjoy your afternoon. And enjoy your sunday afternoon. And as to southern as im off to Southern Spain this afternoon, say this afternoon, let me just say hasta luego. Looks like things hasta luego. Looks like things are heating up. Are heating up. Boxed boilers, proud sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Of weather on. Gb news. Hello there. Im Greg Dewhurst and welcome to your latest news Weather Forecast looking ahead, rain on monday, particularly across england and wales as low pressure moves through. But it does gradually turn warmer and drier and we can see that on the bigger picture, low pressure dominating the weather pattern. The next few days, but then High Pressure building we head towards building in as we head towards wednesday. So for sunday, starting to go downhill across england and wales as we move through the rest of the day and into the early hours as this wet weather spreads slowly north and eastwards, rain eastwards, some heavy rain developing particularly developing, particularly across north northern north wales into Northern England. By the end of night england. By the end of the night and here could see some and here we could see some localised flooding. A met Office Warning in force drier for Northern Ireland and scotland. Temperatures generally remaining in double figures. So that wet weather first thing across england and outbreaks of england and wales outbreaks of heavy pushing north and heavy rain pushing north and eastwards could some eastwards. We could see some localised issues but it localised Flooding Issues but it does gradually become dry and brighter from the west by the afternoon, Northern Ireland and scotland a brighter day here, a mixture of sunny spells and scattered showers in the best of any sunshine, temperatures reaching around 21 or 22 celsius. But if youre stuck under the cloud and the rain, it will on the chilly side will feel on the chilly side that rain does push away by tuesday , it does start to then tuesday, it does start to then brighten up. Weve plenty of brighten up. Weve got plenty of sunny spells for the ahead. Sunny spells for the day ahead. A of largely a scattering of showers largely across north the west of across the north and the west of the uk wednesday and the uk and into wednesday and thursday. That High Pressure continues to build in plenty of dry weather sunny spells dry weather, sunny spells and temperatures. Temperatures rising. Looks like things are heating up gb news. Hello, welcome to gb news sunday. Thank you very much indeed for joining sunday. Thank you very much indeed forjoining us this indeed for joining us this lunchtime. Im emily carver, and for next two hours, be for the next two hours, ill be keeping on tv, keeping you company on tv, onune keeping you company on tv, online Digital Radio. So online and Digital Radio. So coming the government is coming up, the government is facing pressure than ever facing more pressure than ever to tackle small boat crossings after migrants died after six migrants died yesterday. But who is to blame for what happened . And will the government do trust the government do trust the government ever get a grip government will ever get a grip on this crisis . Then, despite on this crisis . Then, despite the discovery of legionella on the discovery of legionella on the bibby stockholm , ministers the bibby stockholm, ministers are going ahead with more barges for Asylum Seekers and also student halls are being considered as well. And stay considered as well. And stay tuned because coming up at the end of the hour, calling someone a grumpy old man could be considered a hate crime. I know. Anyway, please do get in touch. Send us your thoughts on vaiews gbnews. Uk or tweet me at gb news. But first, lets get the News Headlines with Polly Middlehurst. Middlehurst. Emily, thank you. Good afternoon. The top story from afternoon. The top story from the gb newsroom is that 509 migrants crossed the English Channelin migrants crossed the English Channel in ten small boats yesterday. That brings the total yesterday. That brings the total for the year so far to more than 16,500. And thats according to home office figures. It comes as the government is under renewed pressure to tackle the migrant crisis after six people died crossing the English Channel