UK Column News - 6th October 2025

Good afternoon. Today is Monday the 6th of October 2025, just after 1:00. Welcome to UK column News. I'm your host Brian Garish, delighted to have Ben Rubin with me in the studio. And we'll be joined by Sandy and Adams who'll be coming in on Live Link. Well, a very nice day here in Plymouth and we did have a beautiful day yesterday, which is always good for uplifting the

mood. And probably most people in the UK today need a little bit of uplift to balance out what is generally a pretty dark news front. We're going to try and do a bit of both. We're going to be reporting what's been happening with the Palestine action protests. We're going to be having a look at protest angst, which of course is being driven up by the mainstream media. We'll also be having a look at

uniparty politics. Ben is going to be getting into the Judeo Islamic Alliance, which is absolutely fascinating. Sandy Adams is going to be taking a look at drones over Somerset. And we're also going to be majoring in on transformational change. Now some of this is at the global and I'll say high level nationalist level. Of course, Tony Blair's name

comes into the mix. And we're also going to be having a look at the bottom end, what's happening with transformational change at community levels. And finally, we're going to have a look at digital ID, but with a bit of a boost, which is essentially a little bit of focus in on what people can actually do. Well, let's kick off with a an excellent report which will Will Coleshill sent in for the UK column. And this is about the protests in London.

This is Will Coleshill reporting for UK column today. I'm here in Trafalgar Square where we have a protest against the ban on Palestine action. The police have just moved in behind me and we're about to witness the first arrest. We have people here with the signs saying that they support Palestine action, which under current legislation has been prescribed as a terrorist organization over criminal damage. We have the police making a cordon now. This is the first arrest that

I've seen so far today. What first led you to come out with this sign and face up to what they're going to throw at you, I guess. Well. What they're going to throw at us, whatever it is, is nothing compared to what Israel is throwing at the Palestinians. And it's completely out of proportion to the Hamas attack. And it's been almost universally condemned from our own government. And that's why I'm here.

And the idea that people like Palestine Action are terrorists and therefore we who are now supporting them are deemed to be terrorist is just preposterous. Our government is trying to shut down our protest against a genocide and against the war crimes that our government is committing with our tax money. And we need to hold on to our our right to free speech and the

prescription. We are protesting the prescription of Palestine action, which was an overreach of the law, even by the standards of the UN human rights chief Volcker Turk, and also, I believe by Amnesty International. So we're here to to make sure we hang on to our right to free speech and to protest.

As a Jewish person whose relatives were killed in the Holocaust, and I'm outraged that the Israeli government and our government used the Holocaust as a shield for a Jewish state to commit genocide and to lump all Jewish people together.

Assume that all Jewish people support Israel, which in my mind has resulted in anti-Semitism in this country, which resulted in the other day in Manchester. I knew that was going to happen because they lump everybody together, all Jews with the genocide that Israel is committing and it's Zionism. It's not Jewish people. You're a little maybe a little weary that you know, we will, there will be a charge even seen again that that we will be charged if, if we're repeat

offenders. But I think, well, I don't think I know that we all feel so strongly that that we're prepared to take that chance and take the consequences. Are you worried that you might go to prison? Well. It, I mean, makes no difference to me. I'm retired. It won't affect my career. For younger people, I can see it be more of an issue because it could affect their careers. That's why I think it's important that older people like

myself come and do our bit. The strength of this type of protest is it has brought out the establishment. You know, you can see the average age looking around. They're people who don't have to worry about their employment prospects largely. That's part of the reason. But they're professional people. They're retired teachers, doctors, lawyers, you know, Armed Services people. They're establishment people. And it's very hard for the country to ignore that. And it's even hard for the

mainstream media to ignore that. So I think the exposure that this protest has had has made a big difference in terms of public opinion. Are you going to try and challenge this through conscientious acquittal by the jury system? So you're likely to go not guilty and then rely on the jury out of conscience to say not guilty? I might do that, yeah. I mean, the problem sometimes is that don't let you say why you're doing it. And that's a ridiculous.

Why shouldn't we be allowed to say what we're doing? So. I haven't really decided that. This issue was only going to be solved by the grassroots, and that seems to be what's happening. World public opinion has shifted monumentally on the Palestine issue, and any politician who ignores that does so at their peril. OK, so I've spoken to some of the people here today holding up these placards and get a little bit of insight into how they think.

One thing that's quite interesting seems to be pivotal is this judicial review and whether this entire prescription of Palestine action is going to be thrown out. Also key to this is the role of juries, whether those juries are going to be able to get these people off through conscientious acquittal, and therefore whether the entire state apparatus trying to label them as terrorists is going to be rendered ineffective. This is Will Coleshill reporting

for UK column. Well, a big thank you to Will Coleshill for that report. That was only a a small selection of the interviews that he actually carried out. We've given our audience 5 minutes of that. Of course, the beat. Nobody will ever see an equivalent of local opinion, opinion of people on the streets, on the BBC, for example.

So we're really going to say that Will did a great job by getting up there and seeing those very dangerous protesters, some 500 people arrested from 18 to 89, one blind gentleman LED away by the police. So this is the state of the country. If you dare challenge the government. And notice what that Jewish lady

said. She was very concerned about Zionism. She said that Jewish people can effectively tell the difference between what's Zionist policy and what's reality, what should be in the hearts of human beings. But according to the government, there must be no criticism of Israel. Let's reinforce that point by having a look at the Conservative Conference. Thank you, Conference. Thank you. Conservatives love Manchester, it is a great city. Of.

Free trade and free thinking. 240 years ago, in the 1780s, this was still a small market town, but something was stirring, a spirit of enterprise that would turn Manchester into a global economic powerhouse. And it was back in the 1780s that the very first Jewish community was established in this city, a small group of families worshipping in a rented room in a back alley just a short walk from where I am

standing. And right from the very start, Jewish people have been part of the fabric of Manchester. They've been adding their distinct, unique contribution to this fantastic city while at the same time embracing Britain as their home. The horrific and despicable attack at Heaton Park Synagogue on Thursday has shocked us all. But for many in the Jewish community it did not come as a surprise. Many have been living with a sense of rising dread that an attack like this was becoming

inevitable. Yesterday I met members of the congregation and visited the site of the attack. The strength of Manchester's Jewish community is humbling, targeting the centre of community life on the holiest day of the year. Was not just an attack on British Jews, it was an attack on all of us.

It was an attack on the idea that Britain is a safe place for Jews. On Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Jews take time for introspection, to ask themselves where have we gone wrong in the past and what do we need to do to be better in the future? These are questions we urgently need to ask ourselves as a nation. Extremism has gone unchecked. You see it manifest in the shameful behaviour on the streets of our cities, protests which are in fact carnivals of hatred directed at the Jewish

homeland. Well, that that was a very short excerpt from what Bananock had to say.

And essentially the nation got a lecture which was everything to do with matters Jewish. Now, my personal opinion of this is that if she'd started out with a minute's silence for the for, for the attack on the synagogue and the people killed, that would have been an appropriate statement to give over the feeling of human sympathy for the event, to make it known that the Conservative Party was feeling for the Jewish

community. But in fact, she gave the audience and the country at at large a lecture about the fact that it was the Jewish community that had set up Manchester. That's effectively what the message was. This this then I found just incredible that the party should focus in nothing about the state of the nation, nothing about what's happening to many, many other people in the UK, nothing about the people killed overseas.

This was just simply a political statement in support of the Zionist government as the start of the of the Conservative Conference. So we must move on from that. But people can go online and see the full clip. Now let's compare it with Owen Jones, who we do not always see eye to eye with, but he was at the Labour Party conference and he challenged Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. Let's have a little look at this clip. But it means the Labour Party's official position is that Israel

is committing genocide. And that's quite an odd situation to be in where the Labour Party officially says it's genocide as democratic side about its members whilst the government continues to arm and. Facilitate it? I want to see what. People think about that. Yvette, the UN Commission, the independent Commission says genocide has been committed. You're still arming the

genocide. There is a really important peace process and set of discussions that are underway at the moment, which is all about trying to get a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages and also the return of humanitarian aid. You're supplying the components to F35 jets which are bombing children in Gaza. We've had discussions at the UN General Assembly involving the recognition, the historic recognition. Now in fact, Owen Jones followed Yvette Cooper for several more

minutes. She would not address the issue. The Labour Party had just admitted in conference that Israel was guilty of genocide. And yet when he pressed her on the fact that UK is still pumping in the arms for Israel to use, the Foreign Secretary wouldn't engage. So essentially we're now living in a country where the government says you must not criticise the Zionist state, you must not criticise the UK government's support of that

state. And even the Conservatives as an opposition party clearly have an agenda which is more important than looking after the people in this country. So how can we really emphasise what's going on here and why we need to look deeper? Well let's jump back to 2023 when the Guardian had this report. It was talking about right wing personalities using X to bring anti-Semitic theories to light in the US.

I'll just bring it a bit of text over this because this article, when you got into it, suddenly started about talking, sorry, suddenly started talking about the global project on hate and extremism. And suddenly we're told that this organization is capable of influencing how Twitter was censoring reports. And it's said here that following the report's publication that's by GPAHE, 3031 Generation of Identity accounts were suspended,

although 26 were reinstated. What point am I making here? I'm talking about the immense power and indeed money behind organisations protecting the reputation of the Zionist government. Now if we look at the organization itself, Global Project Against Satan Extremism, this is their website. But if I come in on to the two key women involved, we've got Wendy Vier and Heidi Bierick. If we just have a look at the first lady, Wendy, you haven't

got to read all of this. We're just putting this up on screen. But the first thing you can see is huge engagement with the world media, The Guardian, The New York Times, Wired, NBC News, BBC, etcetera. But what you really need to understand is that this lady comes from the Southern Poverty Law Centre. Why is that of interest? All you'll see in just a moment. Here's her colleague Heidi. Let's bring her CV summary up on

the screen. And again, you can see the power in the media as an influencer with the New York Times, Washington Post, Austin Globe, Guardian, BBC, Wired, Financial Times. But if we get into the depths of it, she's also formerly the Southern Poverty Law Centre. And if we look at that organization itself, which says it is there particularly targeting anti-Semitism, well, this is the killer because this organization is dealing in huge

amounts of money. It has the facilities in an endowment of 822 million as a conservative online figure. So immense power driving the agenda as to what we can and cannot criticize. But it's very clear from really the last few days that both the Labour government and the Conservative opposition are going down the lines that thou shalt not criticize the Zionist state. Over to you, man. Thank you, Brian.

Good afternoon, everybody. We're going to have a little look at the state of Muslim Jewish relations in the UK, which based on the introduction to the news today, one might assume they're quite fragile. But actually I think they might be more robust than people realise if we look behind the scenes. And we're going to focus in immediately on the new, relatively new president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

This is Phil Rosenberg, a youthful 38 year old and he was when he was elected in as president in May last year and he is now running the centuries old Board of Deputies is the oldest Jewish community group established in 1760, which very proudly presents itself as the voice of British Jews. So Phil Rosenberg there is now the voice of British Jews and he told Jewish News in this article.

Provide a link to it, as ever, that he hopes to become a unifying figure for the community in this country while also becoming a leader who in the aftermath of the 7th of October, can build bridges outside of the Jewish community. Importantly, and come back to Mr. Rosenberg later.

But one of the key initiatives that he's been progressing, we particularly progressed at the start of this year, was this, which is the Drum Lanrigg Accords, the Muslim Jewish Reconciliation Accords, a framework for reconciliation, understanding and solidarity. And this was quite an incredible undertaking. It was agreed and signed at the Drumland Rig Castle in Scotland back in January this year.

This castle is owned by Richard Scott, 10th Duke, 10th Duke of Bucklew and also the 12th Duke of Queensbury. It's quite an esteemed chap and also he was up until very recently the largest private landowner in Scotland, owning 217,000 acres. And they gathered together in this castle a number of senior clerics and community leaders from the Jewish and the Muslim community in the UK. And there was much convening and much discussion. And I will read out some of the accords.

Actually, I think this is very interesting and important for us to understand. So they say that Muslim and Jewish communities around the world share a profound spiritual heritage. Both traditions are rooted in monotheism, the sanctity of life, and a commitment to justice. Global tensions, particularly in the Middle East, often strain relationships between these two communities, leading to misunderstandings and fractures

at a local level. In times of crisis, these fractures can deepen, escalating Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and societal polarisation. Such tensions do not occur in isolation. They impact daily life on our streets and online. This includes instances in which children face bullying in school, students encounter hostility on campuses, and individuals and communities feel isolated, mistrusted and afraid. This underscores the urgent need for sustained dialogue, mutual understanding and practical

collaboration. And the basis for reconciliation and mutual respect exists within both Jewish and Islamic sacred texts. Importantly, they route this into the sacred text all the way through with reference to the Torah, to the Mishnah, Talmud and also to the Koran. There are a bunch of things agreed out of this. So they established some foundational principles for reconciliation, talking about unity and diversity, sacred texts as a guide, commitment to non harm, recognizing the impact

of global crises. They're also establishing mutual commitments, respect and reconciliation, education and awareness, safe spaces for worship and reflection, shared civic responsibility, crisis response and advocacy. And this was signed by quite an amazing group. Price. We've just seen the image of them. They're sitting together.

But we have from the Muslim community the chief Imam Dr. Syed Razawi, who's a Shia Muslim, the senior Imam Khari Aseem NBE, who is Sunni, Imam Sheikh Mohammed Ishmael who is Sunni Hed Imam Dr. Sheikh Khalifa Azad Sunni. Now Shaddivrav, who is president of His Highness the Aga Khan National Council for the UK and also His Excellency Kinana Jamaluddin by Sahib, who is Bora, which is another Muslim sectors. I understand it.

And on the Jewish side we have Chief Rabbi Sir Efrain Mervis KBE, who is actually now being presented as the chief rabbi for the whole of the Commonwealth, not just the UK. So he's got this kind of imperial remit which is ultimately what the Commonwealth is.

It's the the former colonies also have Rabbi Josh Levy from Reform duties and Rabbi Charlie Baginski from Liberal Judaism, Senior Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg OBE Masotti, Senior Rabbi Joseph Dweck Safari, and Senior Rabbi Elshanon Feldman, Orthodox Jewish, representing the Jewish community there. And they were very pleased with themselves for the agreement that they made, as they well should be.

They made some commitments to practical implementation to establish a Muslim Jewish Leadership Council, an educational collaboration committee, civic engagement and joint charitable projects to work on university and campus outreach together, Religious freedoms Committee. And they're also committed to moving forward in solidarity.

And they say that these accords lay the foundation for a transformative relationship between the Jewish and Muslim communities here in the UK. Quite a big deal there. And we haven't seen a lot of mainstream media about. This. I've not seen anything about it at all. The public is being fed all the strife and the supposed division. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, it's fine wine and dining in order to set up this, whatever we call it, memorandum of

understanding. Some. Of this, Yeah. I mean, that's quite a profound statement by quite a significant bunch of men. Yeah. And. And who else was there? Obviously Charles the King, He was there. This is exactly his sort of things and the defender of faith. There he is. I'm looking very carefully. Is he where wearing a kipper is that? No, no, that's a reflect. It's a reflection in the mirror. It's a good question because I thought that too. Initially, yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

So, and this is obviously playing out right. So this is having an impact on society. You know, we, we, we've, as we've talked about, there are things going on in in the Middle East at the moment in Gaza that often does get presented as a kind of Jew versus Muslim issue. But actually many Palestinians are Christians, many Palestinians are atheists. It's not just about Islam. Ultimately it's, it's a much broader issue than that.

But we did in Manchester last week see an attack on a synagogue by what is ostensibly an Islamic terrorist, a man named Jihad, quite literally, right. So there are there are bad things playing out at a ground

level. But then as we say, these things are going on behind the scenes and we've seen in response to attack in Manchester last week, phenomenal level of collaboration actually already here between the Jewish and the Muslim community because we've got Shabana Mahmoud who was sworn in as home secretary on a Quran.

She is Muslim at the Community Security Trust, the CST, the charity that protects British Jews from terrorism and anti-Semitism, with Keir Starmer, whose wife is Jewish, talking about the measures that would need to be taken in the wake of the attacks. We've already seen over the weekend some new restrictions being put in place on repeated protests, which are going to be introduced with police being

being given fresh powers. And actually, we've got a little video clip from the home secretary explaining what that means. The strengthening of the legislation that I'm going to bring about is based on the ability of the police to place conditions and restrictions on protests. And what I will be making explicit is that cumulative disruption, that is to say, the frequency of particular protests in particular places is in a in and of itself a reason for the police to be able to restrict

and place conditions. That is to say, they can move them to a different place. They can restrict the time that those protests can occur on. So that will unlock all of the broader measures that the police can already do on on, on protests. It's been clear to me in conversations in the last couple of days that there is a gap in the law and there is an inconsistency of practice. So I'll be taking measures immediately to put that right.

And I will be reviewing our wider OK protest legislation as well to make sure the arrangements we have can meet the scale of the challenge that we face, which is protecting the right to protest but ensuring that our communities can go about their daily business without feeling intimidated and also that public order can be maintained.

So fascinating Bennett's protecting the right to protest as long as your protest is permitted by the government and effectively you are saying all the things which the government is going to allow you to say. But if you dare challenge the government, particularly on matters to do with the state of Israel, then they're going to come in very hard. And although we haven't got time in today's news, what is being set up of course fits very well with the policies over

migration. So we're creating more state assets to deal with people in large numbers that the government is going to remove. So there's some very, very dangerous things happening under the surface, but luckily we can see them. Yes, well, luckily, yeah. They protecting the right to protest by restricting the right to process. It's like censoring speech to protect speech. It's it's the same, same nonsense. You say the right things, you've got nothing to fear but. Yes, absolutely.

And I think we know which kind of protests are going to be cracking down on, right, which is the the ones that as you say that they don't like. So anything that is anti Zionist, pro Palestine and also the people outside the hotels protesting about migrants, I think those are the ones that really going to be pushed back on, unfortunately. And this aligns very, very, very neatly.

I'm sure it's just a complete coincidence with this statement that came from the Board of Deputies over the weekend calling for more than 400 protest terror arrests to also be investigated for stirring up racial hatred. So it's not just enough that you've been arrested for supposedly terror offences, we've also got to come in hard on you as a racist. We're going to throw the book at you, right? So this is what the Board of

Deputies is looking for. This is what the home secretary is delivering, not necessarily just for the Board of Deputies, but they are very closely aligned. Over the weekend, this was so this coming thick and fast at the moment. So this was also on on Sunday,

we saw a another protest. So I think we had Trafalgar Square on Saturday, Palestine protests, and then on Sunday we had the commemorative event honouring the lives of those lost on the 7th of October 2023, calling for the release of the hostages. And we've got a short clip of Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mervis speaking at that event. Today we remember the determination of the Jewish people, despite everything that has happened, that we will guarantee, with the help of Almighty God, that.

I'm Yisrael Thai. We as a nation will continue to live on, and to live on in even greater strength in the future. Today we remember. All subsequent atrocities since that original 7th of October day. On Friday, Valerie and I spent the day in Manchester with a grieving community. We came to give strength, but we emerged strengthened. What a remarkable community it is, their tenacity, their resilience. And hasn't this been the story of the Jewish people over the

past two years? We will definitely emerge stronger. And with the help of God, I'm Israel Kai, the Jewish people will live on and thrive for all time. Just one point to make that if he's passionate, we may or may not agree with what what he's saying, but if we we accept that the man is passionate, it's certainly something that is in contrast to the Archbishop of Canterbury's delivery over the last few years. We will see what the new incumbent has to say. I don't suppose much will change.

But no, he was talking about the atrocity of October the 7th and then all subsequent atrocities, none of which relate to what we've been watching happening in in Gaza, as far as I could tell. And he was talking about what happened last week, wasn't talking about the 10s, potentially hundreds of thousands of people that have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military over the past two years, Right.

So very clear set of priorities there from the from the chief rather, I suppose as we should expect ultimately and just to kind of draw us back into this sort of very interesting interrelationship between the Jewish and the Muslim community in the country. One of the one of many organisations who helped to fund and organise that event is this one, which Brian will be very familiar with. This is the Peers Foundation. You can just see them tucked

away in the bottom there. And actually just having talked about the Drum Ranri Records, which got signed back in January, this report, the Commission into countering online conspiracies in schools was issued in February, which may or may not have been influenced by that. I'm guessing that it might be, you know, it's likely that it was, to be honest, is a very small group of people who are very intimately connected with each other.

And this was a collaboration between Sir Trevor Pairs, who is a Jewish gentleman, and Sir Mufti Hamid Patel CBE, who is then subsequently gone on to become the interim chair of Ofsted. Yeah. So this again, aligns very neatly to that agreement that we've described between these two groups. I think that's that's quite interesting. And that's happening at A at a UK level, as we talked about, but also really importantly, at a global level as well.

And I'll just draw your attention to this organization. This is the World Jewish Congress, which is an International Federation of Jewish communities and organisations founded in 1936, which describes itself as the diplomatic arm of the Jewish people. We'll put a link to the website. You can go and have a little

look. This is the website page and you can see there the president gentleman called Ron Lauder from the SD Lauder Dynasty, and he's on the executive committee with Phil Rosenberg from the Board of British Deputies, Board of Deputies of British Jews. She links us right back into where we were at the start of this.

And just last week over in New York at the UN General Assembly, Ron Lauder was very happy to put this post up, talking about having the opportunity to have a first meeting with Syria's President Ahmed Al Sharar on the sidelines of last week's UNGA, very positive discussion about normalisation between Israel and Syria. And regular viewers of the UK column will know that the the Syrian currency president is actually a former al Qaeda leader.

And we've reported on that extensively, including in this excellent article by by Vanessa Bailey, which came out in August, which I think puts a rather interesting and potentially quite concerning spin on the relationship between Israel and Syria and then also between the Jewish and the Muslim communities that could potentially be playing out here in the UK. Excellent, one more image to

bring on screen. Oh yes, Mr. Rosenberg, let's bring him back and see how it goes for Phil Rosenberg, the new voice of British Jews. Ben, thank you very much for that analysis. Now obviously this is UK column news, so we can't spend huge amounts of time on this subject, but clearly there are lots and lots of questions to be asked and we would like to thank the members of the Jewish community who are now speaking to the UK Column to express their

concerns. What they see is inappropriate political behaviour by Zionist Israel. So we're not making these comments alienated from the Jewish viewpoint, we're actually reflecting Jewish viewpoint. And of course the Jewish lady who spoke in the Little World Council clip at the beginning of our news today expressing some of those concerns. Well, let's move on. And as always, a huge thank you to people that support UK

column. It's your subscriptions and memberships and donations and purchases from the shop that keeps us going. If you're watching from overseas and you're not a member or you're not assisting us financially, then you can go to the UK column website and Click to support our work to get involved. We want to do more of what what we're doing at the moment. We want to expand and to do that we need your financial support. So thank you very much to everybody supporting to date.

And if you're not, not, please come on board now. Just a few words on the UK column on location event Saturday 18th of October in York. That's fully sold out, but you can still get involved by purchasing a Where are we a live stream ticket and join us remotely. So if you're overseas, get involved and we'd love to have you there. And of course, we want the information to go out as far as

possible. Now, an important administrative announcement for the day is that UK Column team will actually be on site at the venue on Friday the 17th of October. And we're going to encourage everybody else who is in the

area. You may be staying at different hotels, but if you're local and you're coming to this event, please can you come in on Friday, the 17th of October between about 6:00 and 8:30 in the evening to register because this will help us take pressure off getting people through the doors and into the actual conference hall itself on the Saturday morning. Plus, if you're there on Friday, you can come and talk to the team and we'd love to see you.

Now, just a few words about UK column material. We've got the German warfare edition going out tonight at 7:00 PM. He's going to be talking from in China with Carl Zoa. And this is Part 2. So I'm sure that's going to be very interesting. And Sandy, let's bring you in here because we've got the interview here with Doctor Noel McRae. Yes, thank you, Brian. Yes, I, I interviewed Nile McRae, doctor Nile McRae last week and it's going out tomorrow, I believe. Was it today?

Can't remember. Oh, it's tomorrow at 1:00 PM. Tomorrow at. 1:00 PM Yeah, and he's a it was a really good conversation about the the deception of climate change. And we discussed one of his many books, but the one that we discussed was Green in Tooth and Claw, which is a fantastic dive into the deception of climate change. So if you really want to get in on the argument, then do TuneIn and and and learn learn a little bit too.

Thank you. Excellent, Sandy. Now your key segment for today is on the subject of drones in Somerset. People will be saying, well, how does this fit into the rest of the news? We're going to we're going to try and show people some of the linkage, but take us into what's happening with Somerset, the

Somerset Levels and drones. Well, um, this is not just kind of, um, Somerset specific because I think this is, this is part of a bigger project that's being, uh, rolled out really across the UK. And as we know, Deloitte, um, did, uh, put out a few months ago that they, they're going to have their, their, their, their aim is to have 900,000 drones across the UK between 2030 and onwards.

So, yeah, the, the, this is from the, the Country Gazette in Somerset and the, the Somerset Council have been been given an award of 191,370 lbs. And this project, this, this money comes from the Future Flight Regional Demonstration Fund and they call it Project Rescue. Now this is the, this is the acronym for the Resilience and Emergency Services coordination using enabled drones. And that that actually equates to rescued.

The project will also bring together local emergency services, resilience teams, government agencies and drone service operators to develop the case for adopting the scheme in Somerset. Now in 2015, Sorry, yeah, it was 20. Was it 2015? Yes, it was 2015. We had 14. We had a massive flood in Somerset and we have here a company called Horizon 51 and they put drones across Somerset, but it was purely photography. This is a different kind of exercise they're using over Somerset.

And in my I believe it's, it's to normalise the use of drones because as we know they're, they're, they're, they've, they're priming the Somerset people for major flooding this year. And a lot of that is to do with the fact that they've, they've actually the Environment Agency are not maintaining the reins and the ditches and the pumping

stations and the culverts. They've been told they haven't got the money to do that and that we in Somerset have to get used to the fact that we are going to flood and they've got. Flood wardens and they've got lots of pamphlets they're putting through doors about resilience, but all this could be avoided if they were to actually maintain the means for which it is built for it not to flood.

So unfortunately, I think this is an exercise in in getting us used, you know, to, to all these drones in the sky. So I'm going to look at the, the, the funding given to the, to the, the future flight regional demonstration fund comes from the governments innovation funding organization Innovate. Um, and you know, the innovate really is about inspiring innovation in the UK And, uh, we'll just look at some of the, the things that they're actually funding. Can we take, Yeah, the next

slide? Um, it's, you know, the future of indoor farming and they've, they've got a thing here that's all about, you know, the mindset of, of, of winning at war. And then you've got, you've got apply for your funding. So they, they will fund anyone who's got big innovation ideas. Now, one of those companies is a company called Limacero and they are a data collection company. They're a drone company.

Um, now they're called they're pioneering solar powered fixed wing drones capable of flying long distances and uh. There's a, there's also the, uh, Somerset based land and minerals consulting company, which again, all of this is big money into these, these, these companies and they're funded by, by all sorts of stakeholders. And then one of the other companies is the Southwest Future Flight Innovation Zone. Now I've got a little bit, they are sort of they've got lots of

stakeholders and partners. Now they are based in Yeovil and they, they're working alongside Leonardo, which was the, the, the big helicopter factory, which used to be called Westland in, in the West Country. So we have a video now of the the future Aviation test zone, the heart of Southwest.

So the future aerospace test environment is a test and demonstration zone for low carbon aviation in the heart of the southwest of England. So in effect it is a living laboratory for the aviation industry to develop low carbon aircraft technology, for example from the electric fueled or hydrogen fueled or maybe unmanned vehicles such as drones. Key thing about the Southwest is it's the second biggest aerospace cluster in Europe.

We have the capability of building whole aircraft with Leonardo helicopters and we have a fantastic opportunity in terms of design, manufacture, test and maintenance repair in the Southwest. So as a region, we're actually quite unique. I know I speak for all of the employees here when we're very proud that we've got a very long manufacturing history here, over 100 years. And we're very proud that we consider ourselves the home of

British helicopters. And it's exciting for us therefore, that we're sat here this morning in IRA, which we very much see as the next chapter of that history for us. So what we want to do here is allow this to be a free space, A sandbox for creativity, to allow us to have all of those different parties come together. In November 2021 at Centre Line Bristol, we equipped our latest generation military helicopter, the AW149, with a blend of sustainable aviation fuel.

The capability is now there and not only on the AW149 but across the entire Leonardo helicopter fleet. That's enabling our operators to make greener choices for future flights. So the G7 Summit was held, was held last year and we were able to support that operation down in Newquay by having the Ospreys based here.

They were here for a week and they were supporting the US President. So these are these are very, very big, quite advanced drones they're using and developing in Somerset. And I think this is an exercise really, it's the perfect place to trial it all and get ready for the the big drone roll out that Deloitte have in mind.

Now we have the Councillor Mike Rigby from Somerset Council's lead and he's, he's, he's, he says the potential for drones is exciting and shows that Somerset is the forefront of imaginative and innovative, innovative solutions to real problems that affect our communities. I'm delighted that Innovate UK is showing faith in our county through this funding. We've demonstrated clearly that Summitset can lead the way in the future of flight with Iero. That's another company they're

using so that. He's also said Somerset suffered devastating floods more than 10 years ago, leaving communities maroon, homes underwater and farmland swamped. The economic costs were up to 147.5 million, but the cost in human terms were immeasurable. It's going to happen again, you know, and, and it's, I think it's a deliberate flooding. They also he. There was also a quote from Aviation Minister Keir Keir Mather.

Now you'd be forgiven. I think we have a oh, sorry, that's, that's that slide is just what I've said. So it's just a, it's just a little text slide. Yeah. We've got Kier Mather here now. He is one of the youngest members of Parliament. He you could be forgiven. I mean, that suit looks a little bit big for him. He looks about 12, bless him, but he's not. He's 20. He was 25 when he won the Selby election and he is now the Minister for Transport, so he also has he's a Minister for

Aviation as well. And umm. He said investing in emerging technologies like drones and unmanned aircraft is key to build a greener and more efficient transport system. But this isn't just good news for the environment. This tech will also save our public sector and businesses valuable time in cash while helping to boost skills and support for high quality jobs across the country. And it's interesting.

Now I've, I've done a bit of a dive into Mather and he's incredibly young to be a minister of, of transport. And it looks as though that some of these young candidates are groomed through the elite universities, think tanks and lobbying circles rather than trade unions or local activism, which is the way they used to get recruited.

They, you know, they're, they're kind of put on a trajectory, a sort of rapid, rapid advancement due to ideological reliability obviously in networking within the central party machine. It's a shift in Labour's recruitment from grassroots sort of messaging to technocratic management and messaging with them, with them. It's kind of in line with the post Blair professional politician model. So as of September 2025, he's parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Transport.

So he has all the, you know, he's going to be in charge of all these drones over over the UK. In that role, his responsibilities include oversight of aviation, maritime affairs, decarbonisation, electric vehicles, freight and borders. And before this appointment, he served as an assistant whip in the House of Commons. He was active in Labour students and the Oxford University Labour Club. But he also was a, he was, he worked with W Streeting before

he was elected. And so he's been very, very well taught by West Streeting about what, what it's all about. So that's, that's really what Mather seems to be about. And he's so young. I'm, I, you know, you can see that he's been absolutely put there for a purpose. He'll probably be Prime Minister one day. Sandy, thank you very much for that. Really it's it's quite unpleasant to think of the skies covered in drones, whatever else we have to put up with.

But of course, this is policy that's coming from somewhere. So where does the policy come from? What type of people are pushing the policy for all of the drone technology, the AI technology, the transformational technology? Well, of course, absolutely. At the top of the tree is Tony Blair. Let's have a look at this little clip where he's talking about AI coming into government.

We could have chosen another clip where he was talking about transforming governments by new agenda, but this particular one he's into AI. The world is just beginning a revolution in the way in which identity is secured and trusted. Identity is 2 things. It's a set of facts about you, and it's the process of ensuring that you are the human being who

owns those facts. And in trusted wallets, we can put trusted information, things like our passport, our driving license, education information, employment information, health information, to enable me to prove not just who I am, but things about myself that enable me to instantly access services. Imagine the ability to deliver money and aid in places where they weren't able to do that fairly and equitably. Those things are quite extraordinary.

I think the opportunity for the UK to adopt digital identity is enormous. I think it can drive efficiencies in government. If we can have digital identity and financial services, it provides opportunity to provide better customer experience, produce fraud, provide real efficiency. I think there's opportunity in the education system. I think there's opportunities in travel. When the Internet was first built, it wasn't built with an identity layer. This is our new chance of getting it.

Right. Digital identity is essential. We need government to get behind it, put the regulation in place and to really drive the adoption of it and support the development of digital identity in the UK. Must apologise there. That wasn't the video with Tony Blair. We will show that now, but just to comment on the video that's just streamed, this is a video, of course, telling you what's happening behind the scenes with governments, particularly in relation to UK.

And note, we have an Australian banker, the lady talking about what she thinks is best for UK. So we're now into the transnational agenda. We're into bankers deciding what's good for us and what's good for us is to transform national government and to bring in AI because at the end of the day, we're just stupid little people that can't manage

ourselves. So on top of that clip talking about the wider transformational change, let's have a listen to Tony Blair talking about AI. Great to see so many of you here. Thank you for joining us decided despite it being lunchtime. And thank you 2 for being here today and such an exciting panel about how AI can make government better. Now, you've both talked a lot about the potential of AI and how it'll empower citizens and make government more functional. Let's cut the buzzwords and the

jargon. I really want to know what this actually means. Now, Mr. Blair, over to you. How would you? How could AI make government better? What does that mean? How does AI make government better? Because it allows you, number one, to transform the process of government and #2 to transform public services for which government's responsible. So no, it's absolutely

transformative. And look, I I am, I'm not an expert on AI, But when I stand back and I look at what it's doing, I think we're in the foothills of the most transformative revolution since the Industrial revolution of the 19th century. And but concretely, how is it going to change things? Well, for example, government's all about process. So you can use AI to speed up

the processes of government. You could use it for everything from making sure that you do, for example, all the routine jobs of government much more efficiently. You could be responding to people in a much more sensitive, faster, better, more efficient way. If, for example, you're able to merge data sets across departments, you're going to save money. You're going to better analyse, for example, your health data in a way that allows you to make better health policy.

And then when you look at public services, you should be able to personalize education in the future. You, you're going to have AI tutors. You you should have AI nurses, AI doctors, you're going to be able we. Already do a lot of imaging much, much better through using artificial intelligence. Well, there's a Tony Blair waxing lyrical on the advantages of of AIAI teachers, AI doctors, AI to make government better.

But of course, later on in the interview, he admits there's a lot he doesn't know and he doesn't understand. And he says to the other gentleman gentleman with him on the stage, I'm sure you know more than I do. But at the end of the day, Tony Blair is one of the key front Enders backed by a huge amount of money that is pushing this

globe global AI agenda. So look, let's look at this next clip of where Tony Blair has, has has interfaced with the Prime Minister of Albania and what has resulted. So this is Tony Blair working in Albania with the Prime Minister of Albania. And what has transpired in the Albanian parliament uproar? In Albania's parliament, opposition politicians block the lectern, hurl papers and hurl their disapproval, insulted that an artificial intelligence

should be appointed. To the cabinet, Prime Minister Eddie Rama defended his decision. Introducing artificial intelligence in the service of good governance, anti corruption and accelerated socio economic progress will be an unwavering priority for all the country's ministries and agencies. It's a vitigenous promotion for the AI called Diella earlier. This year she was rolled out on a public service website as a virtual assistant.

Now she's a full blown government minister tasked with making corruption free decisions on public tenders. The opposition accuses her of being unconstitutional since she's not a real Albanian. It's true that I do not have citizenship, but nor do I have any personal ambition or interests. Well, there you are.

This is the the sheer madness coming in and and it resulted in paperwork being thrown in the Albanian parliament as that parliament at least realises that what's happening by having an AI minister is utter madness driven by Tony Blair who's been working in the background. Let's have a look at the next should we should have a new another clip on that? I think maybe not OK, well, just on the explanation.

The key thing to remember is that clearly emerging countries and particularly countries that have been very poor prior to the arrival of the European Union on the scene are now absolutely being targeted as AI test vehicles as a nation state to bring this madness in. And Tony Blair, one of the key figures in Albania going as far as helping the agenda to to bring in an an AI robot. So just quite, quite extraordinary. But this is reality, Sandy.

Let's bring you in at the end of the news today because many people are listening to the very dark topics that we are forced to report on as reality in the country. But let's have a look at not only what's happening at the local level, but what people can actually do to prevent it. Yeah. I mean, we, we've got, we've got to Keir Starmer's announcement and all the noise about

mandatory digital ID schemes. But actually, you know, and there's a big March going on in London this coming week, not, not this weekend, the following weekend, 18th. And really this is not the way it's going to happen. I mean, we've already got digital ID infrastructure here now and it's operational and I don't think people fully realise. They think we're going to be given something that we can reject.

And I think that is a little bit of the trick that they think that that that we don't understand. So I'm just going to give you a, you know, a little bit of an idea now. If we just look at the five pillars of technocracy, you've got digital ID, track and trace, surveillance, biometric monitoring, social credit systems, central bank, digital currencies. Well, the first three we've pretty much already got in

place. And I'm just going to explain how, and people may know, may or may not know this, but it's that whole thing that I, I would think after that March in, in London on the 18th, that there will be almost like they will probably say they'll stall it or stop it or something. And we'll be lulled into thinking, oh, it's all OK. But covertly it's continuing through the back door.

So I just want to just flag up a few of the, the bills that are in place now that are, you know, that we are Co, you know, quietly of, you know, kind of signing up to without really understanding what, what, what we're doing. Umm, and I don't want to sort of put anybody down, but this is just to, uh, highlight it. So we've got the, uh, the data use and access bill, which was put in place in 2025.

Umm, which is really, umm, it's a, you know, it's, it's there and it's, it's operational and it gives birth to things like the, the next one, the register of digital identity and attribute services. So all this is rolling out underneath the radar. And then you've got the, the digital verification service that people have been talking about where you have to verify your, your business.

So that is a form of digital ID and you've got the government one login, which is coming where you, you, in order to get your driving licence, your uh, or renew your driving licence or your pensions, which is coming, you'll have to verify and all of that is going in through and it will all end up in a digital wallet. Now it, this is how they, they,

they, they want it to work. Now, people that, you know, that, you know, in order to get your driving licence and things like that, This is what people are signing up to, umm, without. And you've got NHS apps, supermarket biometrics, QR codes, cookies and apps and HMRC apps as well. They're building the whole thing under the guise of efficiency and convenience, not forcing it on you by getting you to opt in

voluntarily. And this isn't just the UK, It's happening right across the EU and the Five Eyes countries. Different flags, but the same playbook. The real system's already here it. It's not a thing that you get given or choose to reject or whatever. Whitehall has quietly built foundations of a national digital ID system. So at the moment we. You know, the clever bit is that the ministers keep saying there's no centralized database and technically that's true for now.

Instead, it's what they call a Federated model, which means certified providers, banks, employers, tech companies, all verifying your identity through the government, government's framework. So politicians can stand there and say no, there isn't a national identity database while still still helping to build one in all but name basically.

So every time you verify yourself for a job, a tenancy, a phone contract, a benefit claim, your data's linked across these systems and paper alternatives will remain, but they'll be made deliberately slower and more expensive and inconvenient. So over time everyone takes a digital route and once everybody's doing it and that's, that's when it becomes the default. The so-called voluntary system is now effectively mandatory. So the beauty is.

Or rather, the danger of the system is that you'll never have to say yes. You just have to take an easier option. Take HMRC. 97% of people now file their tax returns online because paper forms are awkward, slow and discouraged. The same nudges are being built into every public service and soon you'll need your one login for for your pensions, your benefits or your healthcare. You'll be asked to verify your identity with a certified provider and that creates A credential that follows you

everywhere. So you'll think you've just logged into your pension, but in reality you've just been on boarded to a digital identity system. That is the trick. So, and when the with government wallet pops up, you know, would you like to save your credentials for next time you click yes. And now your government proofs are in, in, you know, they're stored in one sort of place, one container.

So banks and employers already being integrated, landlords too, especially for more housing gets followed up by corporate owners like Black Rock and Lloyd's. So paper alternatives will exist, but they will be slower, costlier and and that's what they they're relying on. Now there's, there are ways round this and this is how we can possibly push back. Just, you know, avoid the centralised database for now. This, you know, this, this is the way we do it.

We, we, we can, we can actually use the, the, the system against them. Because what we can do is I can put it, put it, put it up on what we can do is don't accept cookies or apps on your phone. Better still, get rid of your smartphone or severely limit its use. Be awkward. Insist on paper documents. You can do this because the government has made provisions for those people who don't have access to technology. Millions of pensioners. We can use this and fill in

forms at the post office. Verify through your accountant. For instance, like a lot of people who thought they'd have to verify through the digital app thing, the digital verification system, they, you can actually do it with your accountant and your passport and any other ID you have. So we just, you just have to be awkward and, and do it, you know, act dumb. And the, The thing is that the Equality Act is there to support this.

They've made the government have made provisions to people who don't have access to technology and who can't use the technology and just act dumb and say I can't use this. And there's always an option. It's called find, find another way. And you click on that and there is a way out of it. I did it with my driving licence. I, I didn't go through their system, I did it through the post office and my passport. So if we have enough people doing this, it will delay and

frustrate the whole system. And I think if we can just be awkward just, and I know it's awful, but it's about, it's about ditching these for a bit. Ditch them or don't use them or don't use these for doing, for doing anything online for verification. OK, over to you, Brian. Sandy, thank you very much for that. And significantly you've ended up your segment there of how to challenge the system with a smile on your face.

And this is the beauty of it that what what you're suggesting people can do. There are there's facility for it within the government's own system. You don't have to go down the the AI digitised route. You can challenge it, but maybe you've got to look for that alternative route. And while you're taking this route of protest, you can also be a perfectly happy, smiley, reasonable person. If you're engaging with a member of the government staff. That's another huge tick in the

book, in the box. But the key point is that if a million people are protesting, yes, that brings people together. But your point is that what we really need is for the million people to then go away and take that protest everywhere they can, and particularly when they're interfacing with these new controlling government systems. So I think this is really excellent advice. And yes, on many occasions we

don't need a smartphone. We could simply have a a push and old fashioned push button phone. And that stops a lot of the interaction. With the government dead in its tracks. We must leave it. There a lot happening in the world. You always feel better about yourself if you're actually challenging it. So action conquers fear. Don't get dragged into the pure darkness of what's happening. Do something and you will feel better. And of course, stay watching the

UK column. We're going to bring you as much information as we can as to this draconian one world government system that's coming into place. We must end there. Sandy, thank you very much for joining me. Ben, thank you for being here in the studio. Huge thank you to all our audience, wherever you are in the world. If you're AUK column member, stay with us because we'll be back into UK column extra in

just a few minutes. If you're anywhere else, we look forward to seeing you at 1:00 on Wednesday. See you then. Bye bye.