Aged 11, 13 2022 data on 280,000 children aged 11,13 and 15 2022 data on 280,000 children aged 11, 13 and 15 from 44 countries and regions. Girls were found to be more likely than boys to be drinking and getting drunk aged 15. In england, wales and scotland, the World Health Organisations report said alcohol, which can damage childrens brains, has been normalised. It called on countries to introduce more measures to protect children. Measures to protect children. Tensions are high in edinburgh this evening, with the scottish greens planning to vote against first minister humza yousaf in a vote of no confidence. This its vote of no confidence. This its after the snps power sharing deal with the greens collapsed this morning, leaving mr yousaf in charge of a minority government. Losing the vote wouldnt automatically spell the end for mr yousaf, but it would throw serious doubt over his ability to govern. The no confidence motion was proposed by scottish conservative leader douglas ross, who branded the snp leader weak and a failed first minister. The government says more people should be using britains trains despite widespread dissatisfaction with services. Labour is promising to establish a publicly owned network led by Rail Industry experts, ensuring efficient and accountable Services Without burdening taxpayers. The government commissioned an independent review into railways independent review into railways in 2018, but little has changed since then. Transport secretary mark harper says the network is still recovering from covid lockdowns. A 13 year old lockdowns. A 13 year old schoolgirl has been charged with three counts of attempted murder , after two teachers and a pupil were stabbed at a school in wales. A man Valley School was put into lockdown yesterday when the student carried out the attack. The victims injuries are not life threatening. Theyve been released from hospital. The attack was halted when a heroic teacher, Daryl Campbell , intervened, placing campbell, intervened, placing the attacker in an arm lock until Emergency Services arrived. The schoolgirl will appearin arrived. The schoolgirl will appear in court tomorrow. A 15 appear in court tomorrow. A 15 year old boy has been arrested and remains in Police Custody on suspicion of making threats. Referencing the incident and the system of grading schools with one word judgements should stay. Thats according to the department of education. The government says grades such as outstanding or inadequate provide significant benefits and give parents a succinct summary of schools. The grading system came under scrutiny following the death of headteacher ruth perry, who took her own life after a report downgraded her school. Her sister julie says school. Her sisterjulie says the governments response is woefully inadequate. For the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Comments now its back to. Jacob. Welcome back to state of the nafion welcome back to state of the nation. Roger scruton once said, nation. Roger scruton once said, you could say that wine is probably as old as civilisation. I prefer to say that it is civilisation modern, and that the distinction between civilised and uncivilised countries is the distinction between the places where it is drunk and the places where it isnt. Its not often i begin a programme praising the french, but what im about to say our gallic cousins have the right attitude across the channel, raising children with a watered down glass of wine over dinner is still commonplace. However. Is still commonplace. However. Such a culture that encouraged maturation is absent sometimes in these islands. Or why do i mention this. 7 well, the world mention this . Well, the World Health Organisation has issued its latest report into child alcohol use, and england has topped the charts at 44 countries examined. England came first over third of 11 year olds and more than half of 13 year olds having tried alcohol. The World Health Organisation, what would you expect has pushed for countries to implement more measures to interfere in family life . It is perhaps a little known fact that it is entirely legal in this country to give your children alcohol in the home if they are over the age of five. Medical professionals have been trying to have this law changed or repealed for some years, mainly citing w. H. O. Studies that claim to debunk what is called the French Family myth, the phenomenon to which ive already alluded this week. New ons figures confirmed concerns that the increase in alcohol linked deaths over the covid period carried on into 2022, but hidden in these figures is alcohol per capita. Actually decreased in this period, which suggests that moderate and occasional drinkers drank less over the period. And it was heavy drinkers who drank more. This detail didnt deter the Health Fanatics from calling for a minimum price for a unit of alcohol. However this has already been tried in scotland and has not had an effect on the people. It was mainly aimed at. Scotlands alcohol specific death rate is 56 higher than in england. Health fanatics and pubuc england. Health fanatics and Public Health lobby always insist on population wide measures run targeted and focused policies that help those who need it follows the very principle of lockdown. In october 2020, the Great Barrington declaration was issued calling for focused protection, but the Public Health lobby ignored it and besmirched the scientists who had advocated it. But these had advocated it. But these scientists, in the end, turned out to be right and the real question is who decides . Parents question is who decides . Parents or the state . Can mothers and fathers across the land who love their children be trusted to allow a sip of champagne on new years eve . Or must the bossy hand of the state override them . Being comfortable with alcohol in adulthood is a good and enjoyable thing, allowing children to grow into drinking sensibly is wise. Banning things sensibly is wise. Banning things leads to deceit and excess. Oh, leads to deceit and excess. Oh, and it has biblical sanction. After all, jesus christ our lord and saviour turned water into wine, not orange juice, soy milk, or any other beverage without alcohol. In it. As ever. Let me know your thoughts mailmogg gbnews. Com im well, im very pleased to be joined now by Sandra Parker from the wonderfully named just the tonic. Sandra thank you for coming in. Thank you. Most parents are perfectly sensible about this, and may allow a little sip of wine to their children. Isnt it right that children. Isnt it right that they should decide, rather than they should decide, rather than the state needing to intervene . Well, like you, im not a fan of the nanny state, but what i can tell you from my work in just the tonic is that when people drink younger in this country , in the uk, theyre more country, in the uk, theyre more likely to have a problem with alcohol. So i speak to a lot of people that talk about Drinking Alcohol when they were quite young, and i know that you mentioned, you know, having a sip of champagne, or sitting down with a family, having a drink. But the studies have shown that when people do that, theyre also more likely to dnnk theyre also more likely to drink excessively. As a teenager and when theyre older. And the thing that we understand is that when people experiment at that young age , when theyre, you young age, when theyre, you know, were talking about age 11, when theyre going through puberty, if they use alcohol to cope with things like social anxiety, it can quickly become a powerful learned behaviour. Yes, but they shouldnt be able and theyre not able to buy alcohol for themselves. And so if theyre doing it under parental supervision now, there are always there are some parents who are careless and that applies to all sorts of situations within the home. But most parents wont be giving their children alcohol on a daily basis to deal with stress. It will be something that they have on a special occasion, and it seems to me that an overall ban is a very heavy instrument to use against. These high numbers are mainly of children who perfectly safely drink small amounts of alcohol. Nobody is saying that whatever it is, a third of 13 year olds have an alcohol problem. Understand and look , im not understand and look, im not saying that parents shouldnt be allowed to decide for their children, but i just think its interesting when children are that young, you know, we wouldnt give them cigarettes. So you know, cigarettes are different , arent they . Different, arent they . Because cigarettes are always bad for you. And thats the bad for you. And thats the point about banning cigarettes, is that there is no safe amount of smoking that you can do, whereas millions of people drink perfectly safely. And the studies on drink are inconclusive as to whether they have Health Benefits or health defects in moderation. Defects in moderation. Look, i agree that some of the studies are inconclusive, but things that we have learned recently, for example , things recently, for example, things like breast cancer, theres actually no such thing as a safe limit. So i agree that its up to parents to decide what they want to do with their children. But i also think that if the World Health Organisation is saying that, you know, it damages childrens brains at a young age , then its worth young age, then its worth taking that into account. And i agree with you that children should not be drinking excessively , they should only be excessively, they should only be drinking very modest quantities. And i dont think even the World Health Organisation is saying that if people have a sip or they have half a glass thats going to damage them, its the point you were making about children on a pathway to drinking, but that probably indicates other problems in the family anyway, doesnt it . Well i think that i guess i would just see, like, why would you want your children to start drinking at 11 . Why not 18 . Why not 18 . Well, ill tell you why. Well, ill tell you why. Because i think that children who learn to drink sensibly are then going to be able to cope with it when they become old enough to drink under their own steam. Its not something that is forbidden. Its not the is forbidden. Its not the forbidden fruit. And there are lots of stories about america where people get to be able to dnnk where people get to be able to drink , and then all they want to drink, and then all they want to do is to get themselves drunk because it was forbidden. They couldnt do it. And i just think introducing things to people in a mature way is helpful. Now, in my own case, ive got lots of children and i certainly wouldnt let the younger ones drink. But the older ones dont actually like the taste. So the fact that its there but they dont like it is , to my mind, dont like it is, to my mind, very positive because they will grow up knowing that they can dnnk grow up knowing that they can drink if they want to. But its not this exciting forbidden thing. Yeah, its a difficult balance to get right because i understand the argument. If you make it forbidden, then it can become more attractive. And im not a fan of banning things because i dont think that has the right effect. But i also know from the work that i do in just a tonic that i speak to, you know, hundreds and hundreds of people. And one of the common themes that comes up is people talk about learning to rely on alcohol from an early age. Nobody says, im glad i started drinking when i was younger. But do you think that is indicative of other problems within the household, or is it purely that the child is drinking . Because it seems to me that if parents are allowing a child to have that much to drink , then that should be setting off alarm bells that social services should be looking into. Anyway, i think that you can have a very sensible attitude as a parent and you can allow your children to try it, but what the studies have shown that if we start drinking when were going through things like puberty, some people, no matter how safe your family unit is , will will your family unit is, will will struggle with it. In those start to rely on it. To rely on it. But dont some people end up with a drinking problem who havent had a drop until theyre 18 . But its not as as simple . Yeah. Its not. Its absolutely not black and white, but we do know that studies show that when we start relying on alcohol because, say we have social anxiety , it becomes social anxiety, it becomes a powerful learned behaviour. And im not saying thats the case for everyone, but the studies have shown that the younger people try it, and theyve also shown that if people are allowed to drink at home, theyre more likely to experiment outside as well. Well. Is that right . Because i would have thought that if people are able to drink at home, then its less exciting. The point that if its bad, its more exciting, and if theyre drinking outside the home, there are other laws that are there to protect them, which clearly arent being enforced because they shouldnt be able to buy a drink, they wouldnt be buying it in the home, but they wouldnt be able to buy it in an off licence or in a pub. Yeah. I mean, the studies have shown that if parents kind of condone it, then then people like, yes, in one hand people might say if its not allowed, it makes it more attractive. And ive certainly got clients that have said that. But ive also had a lot of clients that have said that theyve been allowed to drink from a very young age, and they feel that that was part of the reason they built a dependency. And ultimately, the final question who should decide . The parents or the state . The parents or the state . I think any parent wants to make that decision, but they want to make an informed decision, with, you know, things like the World Health Organisation that can give them helpful information. I think we agree. I want the parents to decide, but i want them to have information. Thank you so much, sandra, for coming on. Coming up, you may have been fooled that Keir Starmers labour party is pro business, but news today suggests the socialist impulse remains alive and kicking. Plus is m16, a sheep in wolfs clothing pretending to be tough but really being unutterably wet. You wont believe the latest wokery that britains spies are indulging in. Well, the mailbox have been pounng well, the mailbox have been pouring in, and adam says introducing youngsters to alcohol gradually is sensible. But pubs were better when they excluded children. Groups should have their own spaces. Just like have their own spaces. Just like men. Only clubs and women only places like the glorious Womens Institute and possibly also the garrick club. David on the face of it, it is concerning that this story smacks of being a precursor to banning alcohol. Similarly to rishis ridiculous tobacco ban. Another unwelcome who interference. My children always had a small glass at sunday dinner and are now very moderate drinkers and anthony, who is very blunt, says tell the w. H. O. To who is very blunt, says tell the who. To mind their own w. H. O. To mind their own business. Mind your own beeswax. As people used to say. Anyway, labour has promised to nationalise the railways within five years. If it wins the next election, could this be a great leap forward for the countrys transport system, or returned the dark decades after the transport act of 1947, when the railways were brought under the control of Clement Attlees socialist government . If this is to be the case, one would at least wish for a return of government issue. Gammon and government issue. Gammon and pineapple steak served on china in shabby, smoke filled dining cars. But who knows . Labour cars. But who knows . Labour doesnt appear to have costed the plan because louise hague , the plan because louise hague, the plan because louise hague, the shadow transport secretary, couldnt even rule out price rises on the bbcs today programme. Well, im joined now by my most intellectual panel, gb news senior political commentator nigel nelson, and the journalist and conservative peer paul goodman. Nigel keir starmer is marching us safely back to the 1940s. I think probably the railways have improved a bit since brief encounter, so were probably not going all the way back there, its a sensible thing to do. I happen to think that, all Public Utilities and services ought to be in public control, rather than giving money to shareholder , as it should be reinvested in the in those services. So what the in those services. So what hes what hes done today. Its promising. Hes what hes done today. Its promising. Im not hes what hes done today. Its promising. Im not sure itll promising. Im not sure itll come quite without any cost whatsoever. Youd have to come quite without any cost whatsoever. Youd have to pick up liabilities, debts, Pension Funds from the existing 14 operators. But it will make ticketing much simpler , to make ticketing much simpler, to make fares simpler, whether theyll go down or not remains to be seen, so its a reverse of the clause four moment of tony blair, and its bringing things back into Public Ownership, in spite of all the evidence that pubuc spite of all the evidence that Public Ownership runs things pretty poorly. Well, there isnt i mean, i remember british rail towards the end, actually ran rather rather well. There may have been times, times sort of in the 50s and 60s when it didnt, but certainly before it was it was privatised 30 years ago. I found british rail pretty good, but but i mean, i dont think that nationalisation is not kind of an ideological thing anymore. With labour, he scrapped the idea of, of the utilities, rail is the only thing on the list at the moment that is to be nationalised. No, paul, the one point that labour makes that i think is easy to make, but so fundamentally flawed is that profit is waste. Profit is actually what you pay for efficiency. Its worth pointing out at the start , the system is the start, the system is actually so nationalised already. I mean, what were talking about here is the trains and not the track, and theres been a tendency towards nationalisation since covid. But just getting back to the sort of thrust of your question, i think the weakness in the national nationalisation position is the answer to the question, wheres the investment going to come from . Because since privatisation happened, one, theres been a massive expansion in the amount of rail travel. And two, the private sector has put up the money for much of the investment in it. So if the weakness or so called weakness of the private solution is shareholders, the pluses you get the investment. And my challenge to labour would oh, be, so the investment is going to come from the treasury. Is it be careful what you wish for. Well, because theres already a £4 billion annual subsidy for the trains. And if you add investment on top of that for Rolling Stock and so on, that, that could go up by many billions. Were in a period following covid where we have got used since furlough and everything thats followed to the state and therefore the long term, the taxpayer shelling out for everything. But its really not sustainable. I suspect with the levels of investment youre going to need to support railways, which after all, not always or even often profitable , always or even often profitable, still not profitable or necessarily very well run because the private sector hasnt been able to get rid of the spanish practices which have beenin the spanish practices which have been in the railways for decades. They havent been able to introduce driverless trains and things like that , they have, as things like that, they have, as nigel was saying, an immeasurably complex ticketing system. And they wont use the governments powers to allow them to break the strikes when they, in fairness to the apostles of nationalisation, railways are an unusual business. And, mrs. Thatcher, lady thatcher, i should say, never privatised them. Probably for precisely that reason. I think she thought they were intrinsically loss making , and intrinsically loss making, and therefore something the private sector should keep out of. But sector should keep out of. But as i say, what the private sector does bring to the table is the investment, even if it cant always deal with all the spanish practices. Spanish practices. Do you think a government, particularly a labour government, will be robust enough to deal with the spanish practices . Yes. Well i mean, there will be different because the one thing they will do is theyll sit down with the unions. And so its something that. Well, but experience tells you, sitting down with the unions doesnt help. Well i mean look at the 1970s. They bear and sandwiches at number 10. Im not sure. You know, the unions have been the train drivers. Unions are very, very obdurate. Are very, very obdurate. But the transport secretary has not sat down with the trade unions for 18 months. Good. But. Well because it wouldnt change anything, but it did. But once we actually had negotiations going properly, the rmt ended their strike. I know weve still got aslef out there, but at least youve got the rmt sorted out. That could have been done earlier if youd had proper negotiations. So thats naive. That aslef has earned that. Aslef has very unreasonable requirements for what it wants, and the unions havent given in on the spanish practices. So sunday is still voluntary. Working day. Voluntary. Working day. But when it comes down to what happened with the rmt, there was a solution to that dispute cost a costly solution without sufficient improvements in working practices. Well , the idea you want to well, the idea you want to get rid of, manned stations and so on. So on. So on. I dont think thats actually a good way of dealing with working practices. I mean, how do disabled people operate . Theyll make stations more dangerous. So its not so much those things. There was a pay those things. There was a pay claim that went in. The pay claim that went in. The pay claim was sought out by negotiation. You see, i think nigel reveals why the labour party wont do anything about spanish practices because they actually believe the argument of the union that if you take a guard off a train, it makes a train. I do think, i do think up to a point it does depend on the union. I think in some cases, of course, you can talk to the unions and reach a settlement. One of the interesting things about this discussion is, we all assume almost without thinking about it, that its natural to do business with lots of unions. You know, why arent you doing business with a single union . And it was the weakness of the British Trade union system in the 70s, precisely that you had lots of different unions out competing or trying to out compete each other with wage demands that brought down or weaken. So many of the governments in the 1970s. And however it happens. Do you think the subsidy for rail is justified . Does £4 billion a year get value for the taxpayer against spending that money on other things . Are the railways and Outdated Technology that actually is kept because we have actually is kept because we have a romantic attraction . A romantic attraction . Well, one of mrs. Thatchers main advisers at the time may remember an eccentric and colourful gentleman called sir Alfred Sherman believed in tarmacking over all the railways and turning them into the roads. But there is a conservative strand that doesnt see railways like that, and i confess im a part of it. Theyve sort of somewhat romantic idea of railways, even if they dont necessarily pay their way. Of necessarily pay their way. Of course, the government youve been supporting since 2019 really came in on quite a populist wave of reversing some of the beeching cuts to the railways in the 1950s and opening up new lines again. Theyre a service, arent they . And the whole point of the railways is to be a service. Were not actually looking at something to make a profit. You only start making wanting profits when you bring in the private sector. Well, why not . Airlines make a profit, motorcars make a profit. Profit. Well, airlines are motorcars are both in the private sector were talking about. They make money. Were talking about something coming back into the pubuc something coming back into the Public Sector where its good. Theyre good. Anyway, thank you very much. My anyway, thank you very much. My panel coming up, more damning evidence has emerged proving our Intelligence Services have been infected by wokery. Plus, the infected by wokery. Plus, the man who turned the black lives matter on its head, tony lord sewell, will join me to discuss his book, the state of the nafions his book, the state of the nations book club well, the mailbox have been steaming in. As you might expect. As weve been talking about trains, milan and ross say nationalising railways would be fine as long as the taxpayer funded Railway Employees agree that they will never strike. And cheney says whoever has control of the Railway Needs to have control of the unions as they are at the bottom of all the problems. Cheney, i think youre absolutely right. And this tells you where the labour party is in the hands of the unions again. And our young says riding the rails for many is a treat because its so expensive now, there is no way prices can rise. If anything, the railways should be made more competitive with private competition. Last year, state of the nation revealed the fact that m15 was being institutionally racist to white people by offering summer internships exclusively for non white people, discriminating against over 90 of my constituents in somerset. But the infection of wokery in our Intelligence Services didnt end there. Gb news us correspondent there. Gb news us correspondent Stephen Edgington has released gb news investigates latest report. A leaked diversity document has shown spies are being to told avoid all white panels, use gender neutral bathrooms and nominate each other for 13 separate diversity awards. The document also shows that spies were told to avoid shaking hands with muslims and copy Justin Trudeaus hand on heart technique to avoid offence. Well, with me now is my all white panel, gb news senior political commentator nigel nelson and journalist and conservative peer paul goodman, so m16 conservative peer paul goodman, so mi6 , when we talk to you, id so mi6, when we talk to you, id like to see the original reports. I mean, the summary is, is certainly intriguing, the bit of it i know just a very little bit about not not a lot is dealing with muslims. And really the answer is it depends. Id like answer is it depends. Id like to know who wrote this report. I mean, in a lot of cases, they often i think its still to do with class shaking hands is perfectly unexceptional, some times it is, sometimes it isnt. And i just dont think reports like this should make the assumption that it isnt. No, i completely agree with that. And that people are also intelligent and sensitive. So if you go to japan, you slot into what i rather like this gentle bowing at people. I think its bowing at people. I think its extremely courteous and a friendly way of greeting. I wouldnt mind at all if we adopted the japanese way of greeting people quite new. I will now sort of semi bow to you solemnly. Just look more deeply because you are here and more senior than i am. I have to both of you. I have to both of you. I have to both of you. So. So. No, on this, on this one. I think that i used to work with the Intelligence Services a lot over the, over the years. They really pride themselves on their inclusivity and diversity , and inclusivity and diversity, and its the right thing to do in the first place, but also it is actually good for the nations security. Youve got theyre deaung security. Youve got theyre dealing with 70 of their their resources go on islamist terrorism. They need arabic speakers to listen to the internet chatter. Internet chatter. Youre about to well, thats so obviously right that they need arabic speakers, but they dont need to tell people patronising nonsense about the type of loos they should use and the people theyve got on panels i no, but the point that that comes into the inclusivity thing that if you have gender neutral or ideally unisex toilets, i think thats what workplaces should have. So why should m15 or mi6 be any different . This is hang on a sec. What are your devout muslims going to make of unisex toilets . Toilets there you go. There you go. Well, they can they can use them in the same way as anybody else. If they might not, they might not want to. And my point is, its all about the sheer complexity of getting into this. Once you start issuing guidelines, because a unisex toilet is actually they are separate, private areas. Theyre not theyre not like like gender neutral toilets, which are much more open. These are places with their own washing facilities. Theyre all sealed up, so thered be no problem for a muslim going in there. Then anybody else they might not be. But the initial reaction of being told that you have to do something other than go to the male or the female, i think its a conversation about lavatories and toilets, about not going to the standard male and female ones that youre used to. I mean , this might not be something that they want to do. No, it may not be. I presume that they they deal with those things inside both m15 and m16. Then they should deal. Why do you need a guide to it . Thats right, thats right. Why do you need this guide when actually youve got to work out how people rub along with each other . And its the patronising tone of it, but its also dont have all, white male panels. Well, there may be occasions when thats the right thing to have. Theres the people who have. Theres the people who have the expertise. Well , it rather have the expertise. Well, it rather depends on the panel, doesnt it . I think rather like paul. Id rather like to read the full report on that, the idea of the idea of having a Diverse Panel seems an awful lot better. And bearin seems an awful lot better. And bear in mind, historically , vie, bear in mind, historically, vie, it has been a kind of middle class white type of organisation, and thats what theyve been trying to change. Well, the Cabinet Office has issued a statement. A spokesman said a lot of work has been done to review equality, diversity and inclusion spending across government, particularly over the last year. It is right taxpayers have value for money and we are considering a presumption against this type of spending in the civil service. Well, thats excellent news. Lets stop this sort of wasteful spending and lets have spies who get on with spying and catching baddies rather than being woke like that fellow who said he was changing the garrick from the inside until he resigned the next morning and he was wet. Wipe of the week. I forget his name, but hes m or c or m c squared, anyway, my apologies if my next segment causes you offence, but another classic british sitcom has fallen victim to the tedious trigger warning travesty the bbcs 19805 hit trigger warning travesty the bbcs 1980s hit terry trigger warning travesty the bbcs1980s hit terry and june, which follows the lives of an inoffensive, middle aged, middle class couple, is now available to watch on streaming platform britbox. However viewers are being warned that it contains discriminatory language of the period. Are we not all weary of the sitcom snowflakes who have already labelled cult shows like hi de hi and Fawlty Towers with these silly trigger warnings . Have they not grown tired of this woke nonsense . Well, the great advocate of woke wokery on my panel. They never nonsense, nigel nelson, what are they doing . Well id rather say a trigger warning put on these shows rather than have them censored or not shown at all, so, i mean, some trigger warnings if they, if it says , warnings if they, if it says, oh, bad language and sex from the star, theyre often acts like an advert or a great. Well, watch. Well watch that. Like the romans in britain, which everyone went to because exactly. Mary whitehouse. Yes, exactly , but i dont see any harm in having a trigger warning at the beginning of any show to tell you what youre about to about to see, especially if youve got kids around. The reason i do is that it assumes people are idiots and they cant work out when they watch something, what its likely to be. But if you want to watch terry and june, you can quickly google it, see what its going to be about. Youre done and dusted. You dont need a trigger warning, but why . Why is the trigger trigger warning problem . Because its unnecessary. Because its unnecessary. But if people would be offended who dont know anything about terry and june, but fancy watching it anyway , it does also watching it anyway, it does also seem difficult to be offended by terry and june. I mean, i do remember watching it as a as a child about the least offensive thing on television. The general discussion is quite interesting because theres a parallel with going to railway stations and seeing those signs that say , come up those signs that say, come up this way or go down that way, or hold on to the handrail. And i think what youre getting at is the same sort of debate, which is do we want to be, as you would say, and i think rightly, richly nana and shepherd around in this way that somehow assumes that were not capable of doing, you know, of making a decision ourselves about what we see, or if climbing the staircase safely or or, you know, do we want to live in a country in a society where were endlessly warned all the time about endless numbers of things and about things that may be obvious . Comedy shows may have things in them that people dont like, and a lot of comedy is funny because its, slightly marginal and being a bit cheery about the show. Its a terrible thing to say on tv. Ive never actually seen it, but i do know that you can climb a stair at a railway station, right . Okay, safely. If youve got independence of judgement without having to have a notice that tells you, well, it may, it may be nigel, to your point that this trigger warning is going to boost viewings on britbox of terry and june with lots of people like paul who have never watched it before. Yes, but but you dont know what youre getting. A trigger warning would actually give you give you an indication whats coming up. But we weve had sort of things like Fawlty Towers having a trigger warning on great that they dont cut scenes from that. But but some of those things, the example would be where, basil takes a step backwards when he sees a black doctor face to face. Exactly the sort of thing basil would do. But that. But you know, hes a closet racist. Its fair to warn people a scene like thats coming up very funny, but it is fair to warn them. But do you think they need that . I mean, its just this idea that people are so stupid. I dont think people are that stupid, but if they dont like it, they can switch off. Weve all grown up with with Fawlty Towers. Yes. People who havent grown up with Fawlty Towers may indeed be offended. I think you warn people and say dont watch it if it actually offends you, im afraid. I then feel, taaffe, that i dont see why they need to be spoon fed, that if they feel offended, they can switch off. Well, but i just see why these tropes by which trigger warnings have actually youve actually seen something thats offensive. Seen something thats offensive. Every programme now is carrying something that tells you about the programme. I mean, in all modern television, everything you actually watch, theyll give you an idea what youre watching, which is why i dont think you need trigger warning. So its just the fashion of the times that if theres going to be something that you think is going to be in that vogue, word or everywhere unacceptable to have a word, you have to be warned, itll be unacceptable. But i am wondering what people in 30 or 40 years time will make of the way were behaving now, just as the way some people think now, what on earth were they doing . 30. They doing . 30. Well have trigger warnings 30 or 40 years on the rebroadcast of state of the nation. There will be trigger warnings. I remember salman at farm street pointing out that unacceptable merely went wrong. And if you meant wrong, you should say it. Rather than using a i think weasel word is completely unacceptable and inappropriate and probably disappointing as well. Well, thank you very much to my panel for their fantastic company this evening. The intellect burning away, coming up next, state of the nations book club returns with the former chairman of the commission on race and ethnic disparities, tony the lord sewell, who shattered the black lives matter narrative on race and equality. Ill be discussing black success. The surprising truth with the man himself. After the break. Well, i probably ought to say, as the male mugs were on m15 and six, that theyre too secret to read out. But jeff has written in to say m15 and six are merely added to a long list of the british institutions captured by wokery time for a restoration of britain before its abolition. Simon order of Saint Michael and saint george. Omg, you couldnt anything more tame than terry and june. Whatever next . And greta, trigger warnings trigger me here. Here. Very fine point. Well, in 2020, amidst the global backdrop of the black lives matter protests and riots following the murder of george floyd in the united states, the then Prime MinisterBoris Johnson announced the commission on race and ethnic disparities, which was set up to investigate race and ethnic disparities in the uk. The black lives matter the uk. The black lives matter movement, primarily driven by Critical Race Theory , advanced Critical Race Theory, advanced the narrative that Racial Disparities are caused by discrimination. This was discrimination. This was a serious charge for a purportedly liberal country like the united kingdom. But as my next guest has argued, this is a debilitating narrative that denies ethnic minorities agency and responsibility. The commission on race and ethnic disparities , chaired by tony the disparities, chaired by tony the lord sewell, found that Structural Racism was not a key factor in determining Racial Disparities , shattering the disparities, shattering the prevailing consensus. His new book , black success the book, black success the surprising truth, builds on the challenging of victimhood narratives exploring the Untold Stories of success, ambition, and achievement in britains black community. State of the nafion black community. State of the nation book club starts now. Well, im joined by the man himself, tony. The lord sewell, author of black success the surprising truth. Tony, thank you so much for coming in, your bookis you so much for coming in, your book is really interesting because you actually spent your life making yourself and others successful. Yeah. And that goes successful. Yeah. And that goes away from the narrative that youre stuck in whatever youre born in, and you have obstacles that will prevent you ever moving out of the society you started with. Thats right. And i think that what ive tried to do in the book and also to show, i mean, theres an irony in the title of black success because in the end, what we find out is its nothing to do with being black at all. Weve had race has nothing to do with it at all. Thats the irony of it. And i think that youre absolutely right that you come back in the end to your own agency, to your own kind of will to prevail. And also, i think in a sense, you affirm yourself, you know, and you dont allow, structures and systems to hold you back. I must correct one thing, though, in your intro, structural things that do exist, and im not here denying that there are a factor. I think what it is with that black lives narrative and some other narrative. Its this notion that this institutional, almost systemic thing that locks you in like a prisoner. And i was really interested because youve come to this report and to this book, having faced some challenges, that i was very struck, what you wrote about the 1981 brixton riots and you went to a Christian Church that was primarily white, and you felt they just didnt understand. And you stopped going there . Yeah. Look, i come back on yeah. Look, i come back on reflection. I think they were helpful and they really did a great job. And i have nothing against them. And i am not here in any way to feel or say to anybody around me or anything else that i had obstacles at all. Yeah, but but yes, there was a point where you where after i mean, weve got to admit that those riots in 1981 were really linked to , to direct really linked to, to direct racism from the police. It was quite clear , however, we britain quite clear, however, we britain has changed, you know, 40 years on, whatever. Were a completely different world. And i love the stories about your mother, whos clearly inspired to you, and that when she went into the market, she was so tough. She got the best cuts of meat and my favourite story. She gets a job. What if your cousin, she goes to her boss and says, we need a job for this man . The boss says we havent got any. He starts the next day. Thats right. Your mother must have been a wonderful influence. I always tell this story that you know this nonsense about white privilege. I mean, my mother was in a workplace, a small, Electronics Manufacturing place, and there were, 30 white men, and she was the only black woman in there. The only woman. And i felt sorry for the 30 black white men in there because they. And they were there, they actually forget her birthday. But but but its quite interesting. But she knew their interesting. But she knew their birthdays. Yeah. And it was , it birthdays. Yeah. And it was, it was this very dynamic relationship. So you could imagine my mother then kind of having that kind of power , you having that kind of power, you know, and not really dealing with this thing. Yes. There was racism, but at the other hand, she, she just walked right through it. Another thing about my mother was the interesting its this notion all the time that you have to keep telling your children the world is against them. My mother kept telling me one thing. She said, tony, youre a genius. Thats all i was so pleased to hear read that, because thats what i say to my children. And i think, and i think this gets the heart of what you were saying, both in your report in the book that actually its family, isnt it . And you see the disappointing results of White Working Class children that they dont have the Family Support and the Family Network thatis support and the Family Network that is telling them they can succeed. Yeah. And some people succeed. Yeah. And some people in other communities dont have that as well. Yeah. Yeah. I think whats happening here is theres not a distinction between disparities which are which are clear and have Different Reasons for having them. And discrimination where its, you know, something that somebody deliberately stopping you from moving on. Im quite disappointed when i do see, black celebrities or people like coming on and really , almost coming on and really, almost inventing stories. And sometimes those stories are not fair where they actually have to have some kind of jeopardy something stopping them. But jacob, i have no jeopardy story for you, i have nothing, im sorry. Today, today i have to apologise for that. I the world, the white world is not against me today. You know, i cant. I cant give you that narrative because its not in my experience. And you write about the wonderful west Indies Cricket side. Thats right. Im a little bit younger than you, but i remember them in the 1980 rather than 1976. But i was obsessed by cricket when i was a schoolboy and read all about the 1976 matches and Michael Holdings amazing performance at the oval when he got eight wickets. Yeah, and youre quite critical of him for then, saying it was all very tough. Yeah. And i think that black lives matter thing didnt help in a sense, because i think he felt that. You see, what is interesting for him was that Different Things come out in crisis that are not necessarily what people tend to exaggerate them. So for example, i, i think his major crisis was what happened to him back in jamaica, where there was where there was colorism in his family. And this whole kind of race thing brought that out. But then to sort of that out. But then to sort of almost extrapolate that out to the whole of britain as against you is very strange because everybody loved michael holding. Yes. I mean , he was a great yes. I mean, he was a great hero, right . Somebody i admire enormously. The most beautiful bowling action. Yeah, but i cant take everything back to cricket. I have a tendency to do this. I was also very interested in what you wrote about the success of nigerians in your book, particularly southern nigerians, particularly southern nigerians, particularly christian nigerians. I think i may have marked a page about how important the christianity was and how they actually adopted it, and now bringing it back to re evangelize england. Thats right. The its the its the sort of new evangelism that they bring to it. But that evangelism is also infecting in the Education System as well. In the Education System as well. In fact, the Education System, because you get you get, you get a sense that i mean, ill just give you some quick numbers here. I mean, compared to the canbbean here. I mean, compared to the caribbean scores, those nigerian scores are a lot higher, you know, and theyre the, the what part of the reason is that if you look at the caribbean story, were running at 60, nearly 70 Single Parents where theyre running nearly 30, 40 and theyre in the same classrooms as those caribbean students, yet doing completely different. And again, family. That is important. And thats the thing you point out, is that Success Builds success. So jamaicas wonderfully successful in terms of runners, not because theyre some miracle gene, but because the School System is very competitive for running. Nigeria competitive for running. Nigeria is very good at scrabble because theyre very competitive at scrabble. Yeah. And this shatters a lot of the myths about inherited characteristics. Thats right. And thats what youve got to do with this. It comes back then to the humanity story. Yeah. And yet you got a pasting in the press for your report, it was as if you, i dont know , blowing a raspberry dont know, blowing a raspberry at the late queen. I think what happened . We were talking about this earlier was that a lot of people didnt read it a lot of people came to this story. They didnt read it. They had perceptions of it. Some people were criticising it before it was even came out. You know, and i think what the report did was essentially did this. It made it said, look out there, racism does exist. Were not were not naive to it. Majority of us were were ethnic minorities on that report that did it. And what we found was did it. And what we found was that it was rooted in things like geography, like, class , like geography, like, class, like, for example, your family background, these factors you had to take into consideration. Well, tony, thank you very much for coming on. I would strongly recommend black success to any of my viewers, im now going to hand over to patrick. Patrick, what have you got on your program this evening on the bill of fare . Great show. Jacob loads on its official the ministry of justice wants to hide how many Asylum Seekers are murderers and rapists. Ill be revealing what theyve said to me very shortly. Humza yousaf is on the way out. The french are apparently about to leave the calais beaches defenceless and are the police too fat to protect us . And your favourite, jacob sam smith is going to be performing at the proms. Sam smith isnt he a brewer . I think there is a sam smiths brewery in yorkshire , so thatll brewery in yorkshire, so thatll be more. Nigel farages ticket. Thats all coming up after the weather. Ill be back on monday 8 00. Im jacob rees mogg. This has been saved. Nation and the weather in somerset will be fantastic. Glorious, wonderful. Fantastic. Glorious, wonderful. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news. News. News. News. Good evening. Heres your latest gb news. Weather forecast brought to you by the met office. Its going to be another rather chilly night for many of us, and there will be some showers around and more showers to come as we go through tomorrow. Due to an area of low pressure just out in the north sea, bringing a showery theme to many places. Some further showery rain through this evening and overnight across southern parts. And here it is going to stay pretty cloudy, keeping temperatures up elsewhere. There will be some clearer skies further north, albeit with a few showers around across some northern and eastern coastal parts , perhaps the odd coastal parts, perhaps the odd wintry one over the Higher Ground of scotland, where we see the skies clear. We are going to see temperatures dropping so they will fall a few degrees below freezing in some rural spots. A touch of frost for some of us first thing tomorrow morning. Otherwise, as we go through tomorrow, staying pretty cloudy across some far southern areas and watch out for some heavy, perhaps even torrential downpours across parts of the southwest into the afternoon. Elsewhere, the showers across the far north and east will become more widespread, feeding inland, so a greater chance that many of us will catch one into the afternoon temperatures staying a little bit on the low side. Not feeling too bad in the sunshine, otherwise a bit cool for the time of year into saturday and there will be some showery rain feeding its way northwards across parts of england and wales. Could be a little bit heavy at times. Also a scattering of showers for northern and western parts of scotland and northern ireland, but in between these two areas staying largely dry. There may staying largely dry. There may even be some sunshine at times. Sunday brings some heavy , sunday brings some heavy, persistent rain to some eastern southeastern parts, but temperatures are gradually climbing by. By looks like things are heating up. Boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news. Good evening. The top stories from the gb newsroom. Tensions are high in edinburgh this evening, with the scottish greens planning to vote against first minister humza yousaf in a vote of no confidence. Its after the snps power sharing deal with the greens collapsed this morning, leaving mr yousaf in charge of a minority government losing the vote would not automatically spell the end for mr yousaf, but it would throw serious doubt over his ability to govern. The over his ability to govern. The no confidence motion was proposed by scottish conservative leader douglas ross, who branded the snp leader weak. Scottish green party weak. Scottish Green Party Co leader lorna slater says the party have no choice. The scottish green position is that we still have a clear vision for a progressive, independent scotland. Weve always been clear on that. We think the bute house agreement was the best mechanism to deliver that, with scottish greens in government. Were now greens in government. Were now back to being an opposition party. We will continue to. We havent changed our stripes. We are the consistent party. We will continue to work for what we believe in. Tenants rights , we believe in. Tenants rights, supporting biodiversity, working for climate and nature and making scotland a fairer and more equal place. A moroccan Asylum Seeker has been found guilty of murdering a pensioner in an attack motivated by the conflict in gaza. Ahmed halid stabbed 70 year old Terence Carney six times in hartlepool in what was intended as revenge for the israel hamas conflict. He told police the attack, a week after the hamas attacks on israel, was for the people of gaza. He also said he wanted to kill more victims , as wanted to kill more victims, as al fayed was also found guilty of the attempted murder of his housemate, who he had attacked before the fatal stabbing of mr carney. Hell be sentenced on the 17th of may. Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a torso was found in a nature reserve. The body part was found wrapped in plastic by a passer by at kersal dale wetlands in salford. Early this month. The victim is believed to be a man aged over 40, who had only been dead for a matter of days. Two men from salford, who