In nhs history next month. The Prime Minister says his new years resolution is to keep driving forward. Driving forward. Inflation is set to fall further cutting the cost of living for everyone and were not stopping there. Were going further to grow our economy by reducing debt, cutting taxes and rewarding hard work , building rewarding hard work, building secure supplies of energy here at home, backing British Business and delivering world class education. Meanwhile. The class education. Meanwhile. The labour leader says the power to shape the future of britain rests in everyone hands. Sir Keir Starmers message offered a preview of his partys election campaign, saying 2024 needs to give britain its future back in the labour party. Weve been building to this for four years. Were confident we have a plan that can move our country forward , end the cost of country forward, end the cost of living crisis, take back our streets , get the nhs back on its streets, get the nhs back on its feet, Cheaper Energy bills for your home, more opportunities for your children. For your children. The family of a mother and her son who were killed in an avalanche in the french alps, say their beyond heartbroken kate vokes, who was 54, died when an avalanche swept through an off piste ski slope on mont blanc on thursday. Her 22 year blanc on thursday. Her 22 year old son archie, was also killed. Old son archie, was also killed. He had achieved his level one ski instructor qualification just a year earlier. There family asked for privacy, saying the tragic accident had left a hole in their lives as britons new Year Celebrations are still a few hours away, but the party has already started in other parts of the. World. Happy new parts of the. World. Happy new year to india, hong kong as well as japan, taiwan , thailand and as japan, taiwan, thailand and australia, hong kong celebrated with a huge fireworks display over Victoria Harbour in front of hundreds of thousands of people , while in australia, the people, while in australia, the famous harbour bridge and Sydney Opera House were alight with colours and sparkle , all this is colours and sparkle, all this is gb news across the uk on tv, in your car, on your Digital Radio and on your Smart Speaker by saying play. Gb news usa boxing saying play. Gb news usa boxing allows for transgender women to compete against female boxers, and venice issues a cap on the number of tourists allowed to its city. This is free speech nation. This is free speech nation. On. Welcome to free speech nafion on. Welcome to free speech nation with me andrew doyle. This is the show where we take a look at culture, Current Affairs and politics. Tonight is a bit different because we do have different because we do not have an audience because its new years eve, and who would come out years eve. But out on new years eve. But coming up on the show tonight, i sat with family law sat down with family law barrister phillimore to barrister Sarah Phillimore to discuss brand discuss the Russell Brand controversy. Kc. Going to controversy. Kc. Were going to see of that interview. See a clip of that interview. Also. John cleese gives us an insight into his life and career outside of gb news. David oldroyd bolt gives us a look back on in culture and back on the year in culture and the arts of course, me and the arts and of course, me and my fantastic panel. Well still be answering questions even though have a studio though we dont have a studio audience. Do questions audience. We do have questions coming crossed. All coming in. Fingers crossed. All that and much, much more tonight on speech nation my on free speech nation with my wonderful studio guests Cressida Wetton and jonathan cogan. Feels wetton and jonathan cogan. Feels odd, doesnt it, to be the odd, doesnt it, to be in the room without the crowds. 7 room without the crowds . I miss them . Does i miss them . Does i miss them . Yeah do you . Yeah do you . Yeah about you, john . Waking what about you, john . Waking up to some crowd work finally tonight and now. We cant use it. Now we now we cant use it. Now we cant do but have cant do it. But you do have your new years eve prosecco. Ive got a bottle of, uh, 2000 2002 prosecco. I doubt 2000 and 2002 prosecco. I doubt its 22. Its 2002, 22, 22. I dont think wed exactly. I dont think wed splash out vintage, if im splash out on vintage, if im absolutely honest. Flavoured wine. Flavoured drinking wine. Flavoured drinking wine. Dont you crack that baby flavoured drinking wine. Letslt you crack that baby flavoured drinking wine. Lets do ou crack that baby flavoured drinking wine. Lets do it. Crack that baby open . Lets do it. Its new years eve. Its new years eve. Years eve. Its new years eve. Absolutely um. And, uh, ive got my. Youve got your. Ive got my bucks nice. Bucks fizz and very nice. Cressidas drinking cressidas not drinking because she she does. Now, she gets violent. She does. Now, uh, got some topics to uh, we have got some topics to chat about while. Jonathan is chat about while. Jonathan is attempting to open that in a really inept way. Ive had a manicure. Ive had a manicure. You, uh. Okay were going to start with this story. This is about usa boxing, which is about a usa boxing, which is allowing transgender women to compete against female boxers in 2024, means 2024, and their new policy means that i. Oh good. Carry on. Are you okay . Yeah. The cork went in your eye. Yeah, its all right. Ive had worse from cressida. All right. Absolutely. Uh, let me get back to story. So boxers who back to the story. So boxers who identify as trans will be allowed the category allowed to fight in the category of choice. However they of their choice. However they must criteria, must meet a certain criteria, which gender which includes completing gender reassignment regular reassignment surgery, regular hormone testing and declaring a new identity. So should men who identify as women be allowed to compete against biological women . That is really the question. And cressida, youre question. And cressida, youre probably the best to probably the best place to answer this because youre a boxer. Im im a im not boxer. Youre a woman. It does explain the drinking, as you said earlier. Um, yeah. I mean, its just its just, um, ridiculous. Thank you. Jonathan. No worries. Regret this later. I will uh. Its no worries. Regret this later. I will uh. Its mad, no worries. Regret this later. I will uh. Its mad, isnt it . Will do, uh. Its mad, isnt it . Because these people have been through puberty. Yes through a male puberty. Yes i mean, obviously, it can go both ways. Are who want ways. There are women who want to men who can im to become men who can box. Im less concerned about them. Theres chance of, well, theres less chance of, um, broken skulls. Yeah i mean, its really interesting. Was that, uh, emma who was a fighter . Fallon fox . Fighter . Fallon fox . Yes. In the mma. Ufc. Yeah. Well, anyway, a guy who identifies as female , um, identifies as female, um, boasting fracturing boasting about fracturing womens skulls on online, you know , thats what thats the know, thats what thats the kind of thing were dealing with just from a physical standpoint. Really does seem to be an it really does seem to be an unfair advantage to, you know, i mean, stating the obvious, mean, its stating the obvious, isnt it . Particularly, you know, but particularly, you know, weve discussions weve had these discussions about various you about various sports and, you know, case know, there might be a case with, say, equestrian sports where horse does the where the horse does all the work you know, car work or, you know, the car things. Are they called things. What are they called racing games . Chess. There was i had in chess. There was some issue with, uh, transgender players, uh, male female, players, uh, male to female, joining womens only joining Womens Womens only tournaments there some tournaments. And there was some controversy really . Yeah controversy there. Really . Yeah not bit, as in, i not even a bit, as in, i actually i feel like theres a punch line coming. Do i. Yeah. So do i. There other pieces are there other pieces particularly heavy about queen . Dont know, i mean yeah, i dont know, i mean yeah, but doesnt make sense. But that doesnt make sense. Mean is that if thats what i mean is that if you youre talking about, you if youre talking about, lets say chess still controversy there. But why chess . Horse chess . Backgammon, darts, horse racing, chess . Backgammon, darts, horse raci|can understand why why you can understand why why segregating by sex wouldnt really a difference. But really make a difference. But i think sex think segregating by for sex boxing where boxing in particular, where people kicking hell people are kicking the hell out of other. Of each other. Absolutely. I mean, that people in boxing people are segregated in boxing anyway, arent by the way . Anyway, arent they, by the way . So heavy heavyweights, is anyway, arent they, by the way . That one heavyweight lightweight . You start lightweight . And if you start with bigger, broader shoulders and a larger fist . Yeah it just doesnt make sense. So its going to be the end of womens sport. And i dont know why theyve dropped out yet, but i was talking to sharon davis about this the other day yesterday, fact. Yesterday, in fact. Its interesting and its very interesting because one what i asked her was, know, this something was, you know, this is something that no one i know thinks this is were is sensible. You know, were talking about of the talking about 99. 999 of the country recognise that we segregate a reason by segregate sports for a reason by sex, thats the fair sex, and that thats the fair way it. Its only a tiny way to do it. Its only a tiny minority of activists who think that there is kind of that there is any kind of credence this idea. And yet, credence to this idea. And yet, jonathan, those activists appear credence to this idea. And yet, jorbe1an, those activists appear credence to this idea. And yet, jorbe dominating ctivists appear credence to this idea. And yet, jorbe dominating ctiviststhejear to be dominating all of the major sporting bodies. Think thats through do you think thats through fear of repercussion, do fear of repercussion, or do you think deliberate think theres a deliberate attempt to kind of march through these dont these institutions . I dont know, baffled by it. Im genuinely baffled. Im genuinely baffled. You see the south park did you see the south park parody when had, parody of this when they had, um, was ric ric flair or no, um, was a ric ric flair or no, it was a it was a big, burly wrestler, a different wrestler. Um, compete in the strongwoman competition beating the. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly and that years ago now. That was a few years ago now. Yeah, actually yeah, yeah. And its actually come true. I mean, thats, you know, scary okay. Know, its scary stuff. Okay. Well move on the next well lets move to on the next story. So on this years new years new years honours list is amanda blank. The is amanda blank. This is the boss of aviva. Was boss of aviva. She was recognised for her services to business, equality and business, gender equality and net though she net zero, even though she insists on personally approving all senior white male recruits. She has actually received a damehood now , so cressida , what damehood now, so cressida, what do you think about this . I like that shes called amanda blank. I think thats funny. Great. Great. Its deliberate. I think its deliberate. I think its deliberate. I think when i go to use aviva, im going to sure aviva, im going to make sure that a white man to serve that i get a white man to serve me because we know been me because we know hes been through a more rigorous recruitment process. Okay, everybody else. Yeah. So should she have had the damehood . I dont think she should. No, i think is a bad move on i think this is a bad move on her part. Yeah okay. What do you make of this, jonathan . Because its these peerages and these honours. You it seems to honours. You know, it seems to be of cronyism going on be a bit of cronyism going on a lot the time. Lot of the time. I wonder whether this was sort works before this sort of in the works before this controversy came out, because if not, brilliantly. Not, shes timed it brilliantly. Shes be shes like, im gonna be completely to completely incendiary to a large, um, portion of the population. And get population. And then get a damehood. Doesnt damehood. Yeah, but she doesnt think being incendiary. Think shes being incendiary. She thinks, what shes doing is shes she thinks shes is no, shes she thinks shes pushing equality what is no, shes she thinks shes pushinghappensality what is no, shes she thinks shes pushinghappens aty what is no, shes she thinks shes pushinghappens at the what is no, shes she thinks shes pushinghappens at the levelat is no, shes she thinks shes pushinghappens at the level of always happens at the level of the organisation, they proudly tell you about their prejudices and going and the fact that theyre going to discriminate. Then when down to and then when it gets down to the individual level, they say, oh, everybodys here merit. Oh, everybodys here on merit. But cant both, can it . But it cant be both, can it . Dont they go back why dont they just go back to merit . Why dont why dont you best people you just hire the best people for job . Youll for the job . And what youll find that get diversity find is that you get diversity quite naturally. I would have thought. Idea. Great idea. Great idea. Im genius, you know. Yeah, im a genius, you know. Ive solved it. Ive totally solved it. Racist. Dont be racist. Dont be racist. Oh, yeah . Well, thats the other shes saying other thing. If shes saying that all of the people who were employing within employing people within her company it by her company need to run it by her first she can check, she first so she can check, she presumably that she has presumably thinks that she has a bunch working bunch of racists working at aviva. Mean, aviva. Thats true. I mean, thats the implication. Itd be if shes like, itd be funny if shes like, yep itd be funny if shes like, yep, white man, get him in, get him in. Maybe that was the thing. W what she meant. Maybe thats what she meant. Yeah, she wants more white men. Maybe is. Okay. Yeah, she wants more white men. Maybinow, is. Okay. Yeah, she wants more white men. Maybinow, if is. Okay. Yeah, she wants more white men. Maybinow, if you is. Okay. Yeah, she wants more white men. Maybinow, if you were ;. Okay. Yeah, she wants more white men. Maybinow, if you were planning right now, if you were planning a big group trip to italy next yean a big group trip to italy next year, have to check your year, you may have to check your group because venice is group size because venice is limiting the amount of tourists to city. Its the to its city. Its capping the groups 25 per group. Groups to 25 people per group. Thats and this, thats the cap. And this, apparently, to the apparently, is to ease the pressure mass and pressure of mass tourism. And earlier number of earlier this year, the number of beds tourists surpassed the beds for tourists surpassed the number venetians living number of venetians living there. So popular city, there. So its a popular city, jonathan. Its ive actually never venice. Never been to venice. Been. You . Ive been. Have you . Ive been yeah. Been twice, actually. Yeah. Have you everywhere . Been you been everywhere . Ive been everywhere, man. Youre globetrotter. Yeah. Youre a globetrotter. But think . What do but what do you think . What do you make of this . I mean, well, but what do you think . What do you similarityhis . I mean, well, but what do you think . What do you similarity between an, well, but what do you think . What do you similarity between venice l, one similarity between venice and disney is that you get very sick if you drink the water there. Ive done both. Is that right . Yeah. Do not drink the water. And small world. Water. And its a small world. And got duper and i got super duper gonorrhoea, and it took me a long time to get out of it. You got gonorrhoea . The super duper gonorrhoea. Got gonorrhoea . The super duper goroh, oea. Got gonorrhoea . The super duper goroh, blimey. I hope oh, blimey. Yeah, i hope disney apologised for that. Theyve got their um, well, theyve got their own problems at the moment. Absolutely. They do. Yes. What do i think. Do they think should groups . Think they should limit groups . I if it is the only way i mean if, if it is the only way to save the integrity of the tourist within the tourist industry within the city, then so. I mean, city, then i guess so. I mean, i dont 25 people whos dont know, 25 people whos travelling venice. Dont know, 25 people whos tra\yeah,i venice. Dont know, 25 people whos tra\yeah, it venice. Dont know, 25 people whos tra\yeah, it isenice. Dont know, 25 people whos tra\yeah, it is a1ice. Dont know, 25 people whos tra\yeah, it is a big. Dont know, 25 people whos tra\yeah, it is a big group yeah, it is a big group picturing massive stag do or a picturing a massive stag do or a whole rugby team or something. Who that many friends . Who has that many friends . I dont know. And well, i dont know. And presumably can have presumably can you have 100 smaller dont know how smaller groups . I dont know how the do they know its like covid, do they know its like covid, you say like, these arent do they know its like covid, youfriends. E, these arent do they know its like covid, youfriends. Ive these arent do they know its like covid, youfriends. Ive just se arent do they know its like covid, youfriends. Ive just happened my friends. Ive just happened to be in the next to them. To be in the pub next to them. It does kind of make but it does kind of make sense you sense insofar as to give you an analogy, if go an art analogy, if i go to an art gallery theyve let too many gallery and theyve let too many people you cant see the people in and you cant see the paintings, that does annoy me. People in and you cant see the painings, that does annoy me. People in and you cant see the painings, ofat does annoy me. People in and you cant see the painings, of think s annoy me. People in and you cant see the painings, of think like noy me. People in and you cant see the painings, of think like the me. And i sort of think like the uffizi gallery in florence, they do and when go do have a limit. And when you go in its quite in there, its always quite quiet because they, which is what you need do. Whereas quiet because they, which is what i u need do. Whereas quiet because they, which is what i wented do. Whereas quiet because they, which is what i went to do. Whereas quiet because they, which is what i went to d louvrereas quiet because they, which is what i went to d louvre and if when i went to the louvre and if you try and look at mona you try and look at the mona lisa louvre, about lisa in the louvre, forget abo