Transcripts For GBN Sunday 20240703

New york city to an Award Winning reimagining of a Tennessee Williams a streetcar named desire. The curtain rises named desire. The curtain rises on all of that again, but first News Headlines with tatiana sanchez. Michael, thank you and good morning. The top stories from the gb newsroom. Shadow health the gb newsroom. Shadow Health Secretary wes streeting says doctor dan poulter has not been offered a peerage to defect to the labour party. Speaking to gb news, camilla tominey, mr streeting defended the move and the nhs , admitting there are the nhs, admitting there are challenges in the Health Service but those are mainly down to the conservative party. Conservative mp doctor dan poulter said hed sit as a labour mp until the general election, then stand down. He described the nhs as being in chaos. The decision comes just days before local elections across england and wales on may the 2nd. The Prime Minister has again this morning refused to rule out a general election in july , amid election in july, amid speculation a disastrous set of local Election Results for the tories could force his hand, while the shadow Health Secretary told gb news this morning that doctor poulter isnt defecting to save his seat. Rather, hes defecting to save the nhs. Save the n hs. Save the nhs. So there would be millions of people, disaffected conservative voters like dan poulter out there, who can see the chaos, and the conservative party see the failure to deliver and are looking at the alternative. And id ask those people to trust the doctor who has seen the conservative party up close , has conservative party up close, has seen the changed labour party of keir starmer up close , and has keir starmer up close, and has decided that ultimately we need a Labour Government in this country to get our nhs back on its feet, to turn the economy around and to make sure that we can look to the future with hope and optimism again. However, policing minister chris philp defended the governments handling of the nhs , pointing to what he calls record levels of spending going into the Health Service of £165 billion a year. Just in the last year alone, the nhs has grown by 68,000 staff and there are today 7000 more doctors and 21,000 more nurses than there were a year ago. Tens of thousands of people ago. Tens of thousands of people each year are fleeing the welsh run nhs. Sorry, the labour run nhs in wales to have treatment in england. The waiting lists in england. The waiting lists the proportion of the public who are on either very long waiting lists or indeed the proportion of the public in wales on a waiting list at all, is higher materially higher than it is in england. So on any measure, the labour party are doing a terrible job. Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick has called for a cap on net immigration, claiming a far more restrictive system is needed. Jenrick has called for a cap of less than 100,000 a year, arguing its the only way to restore voters trust. Writing in the sunday telegraph, he says the sunday telegraph, he says the governments recently passed rwanda bill will soon join the graveyard of policies that failed to tackle illegal migration. But he called legal migration. But he called legal migration a bigger scandal, according to mr jenrick, migration a bigger scandal, according to mrjenrick, net migration needs to be scaled back to the tens of thousands. He resigned as immigration minister last year in december in protest at the Prime Ministers rwanda deportation plan. He said it wasnt a Strong Enough deterrent for Illegal Migrants entering the country and the alba party msp, whose vote could be crucial to scotlands first minister, says its scotlands first minister, says wsfime scotlands first minister, says its time to build relationships. But she said the price of her support will be higher as humza yousaf dithers. She says ash regan hasnt confirmed how shell vote in the motions of no confidence at holyrood next week, writing in the sunday mail, she said she will only use her vote in the way thatll be best for scotland. Meanwhile, yusuf is asking leaders of rival parties to find Common Ground with the snp as his leadership hangs in the balance. It comes after the the balance. It comes after the collapse of the snps power sharing deal with the greens , sharing deal with the greens, and the liberal democrats are pledging to bring back the Family Doctor as older patients struggle to see a gp. Liberal democrat leader sir ed davey has set out plans to give everyone over the age of 70 and those with Long Term Health conditions access to a named gp. The policy would affect almost 19 Million People whove been found to benefit from having continuity of care. The party pointed to british medical Journal Research showing that people whod kept the same gp for more than 15 years had a 25 lower chance of dying than those with a gp relationship lasting a year or less. For the latest stories, less. For the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen. Or you can go to gb news. Com slash alerts. Now its back to michael. Thank you. Tatiana sanchez. Thank you. Tatiana sanchez. Well, a definition of madness is said to be doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. The conservatives have dumped Boris Johnson and liz truss and are on course for electoral catastrophe. Could they contemplate changing leader again . Well, maybe a sort of madness does grip the party. Or rather perhaps irresponsible and self destructive. Fury is a logical and sane reaction to the governments incompetence and the partys predicament. But to consider this, i have with me alice demby, the opinion and features editor of city am, political commentator and trade unionist Andy Macdonald and former chief adviser to Nadhim Zahawi james pryce. Lovely to see you all here on gb news this morning, alice, what do you think . Do you think another leadership bid contest in the conservative party is a possibility . I hope not, i think it would be absolutely insane. I think it would be a terrible thing to do to the country. And i think, i think youre right. I think a sort of madness has gripped the conservative party. Theyre heading for destruction at the next election, and theyre flailing around trying to think what to do. But i think at some point, you know, you just need to, i think. Was it ben wallace who said, you just need to, you know, put your uniform on and march towards the sound of the guns. And i think thats where the conservative party is at the moment. Yes. I mean, my proposition today is that maybe a sort of madness does grip the party or as i say, possibly you could describe it as a sort of sanity, but in any case, possibly in this case, we shouldnt be trying to analyse this by the by the norms of, of common sense. I mean, there are a lot of people in the party who are in despair and they are very angry and theyre not fighting the next election, or theyve now lost hope of winning their seat if they are fighting the next election. And in these circumstances, the way that people react, i think can be unpredictable and we might say illogical. Now, with all of that in mind, do you think there might be a leadership contest . I think i think the problem is, as you as youre saying, there are actually already fighting for the soul of the party in opposition. And the kind of lead contenders in that fight are possibly sort of Kemi Badenoch and penny mordaunt. And why would they want to lead the party now into a massive election loss . I think actually the mistake would be to change leader now put up some sort of hopeless person, when the actual contenders, who were the actual people with kind of ideas who are possibly represent more of the future of the party, would stand aside and have no interest in it. So i dont really see the point at this moment of changing. Leader. No, i mean, thats supposing that the leadership contenders would themselves have any sort of authority in the matter, which i also rather doubt. James, what do you make of this chaos . And do you think that it might lead to another leadership bid . I think that robert conquests third law of politics, the best way to understand how any organisation works is to assume its run by a cabal of its enemies, right . If your keir starmer right now, youre keeping your mouth shut. Youre watching all of this kind of, pantomime. Go on. Its really upsetting. I think part of the problem has been that weve been suddenly untethered from conservative ideologies for, for perhaps too long. There are lots of people who maybe wouldnt have been conservatives in previous generations, and we see from this guy, dan poulter, who we were talking before, im not sure id ever heard of, frankly, being described as a top tory. This is the chap whos defected to labour and i think in the process has probably raised the average iq of both parties. But, you know, when you have these sorts of people being there, how can you know which way to take the country, which direction in which to go . And i think the changing leader isnt going to work. I think we need to be thinking about the kind of ideology that the party needs as well. And its a real pity for rishi because hes had a pretty good week. Hes finally getting to grips with the kind of explosion of welfare thats seen too many people staying out of work. Hes finally realised that the world is becoming a much more unsafe place, and is massively pledging to increase defence spending. Some really good conservative, you know, policies that are starting to come through have maybe a few more of those. That would be the way to perhaps close the gap and show people an alternative. James, what did you make of the rumour that there might be an announcement of an election tomorrow . I think that this is the difficulty that the number 10 operation is in that theyre trying to kind of keep the troops in line ahead of the local Election Results and to sort of threaten the well, you know, if you try and unseat me, ill just take us into an election. Now, i think its an attempt at Party Management more than anything else, which is a problem because its not good for the country. It goes back to the fact that not everybody is unhedin the fact that not everybody is united in one kind of common ideology. I still think that the election is not going to be until late october, november, and theyll be hoping that some more of these five pledges, five priorities will be done. Will we see debt falling . Will we see nhs waiting lists going down and all these sorts of things as well . Because again, if youve got that, then people will start finally paying attention once an election has been called and going actually, to be fair, its looked like a basket case for the last few years. But they said they were going to achieve all these things and theyve achieved it. Lets give them a second look, andy james was saying that this situation is absolutely ideal for the labour party. Theyre rubbing their hands, enjoying the spectacle very much indeed. That is presumably true. Is that what you would say as well . I think thats an ideal situation. Thats what they should be doing. But, you know, as weve seen with a variety of issues over the last few months, whether its Rosie Duffield and the trans issues or whether its the trans issues or whether its the ongoing situation in gaza, the ongoing situation in gaza, the labour party keeps speaking and keeps making mistakes, which i think is absolutely dreadful. When sue gray joined Keir Starmers office as the new labour party chief of staff, everyone said, oh, this is revolutionary, this is going to be huge for the labour party. But honestly, there hasnt been that much change of output from the labour party. So a lot of the labour party. So a lot of the kind of people like me who are members and supporters of the party, but not in the internal workings, are kind of waiting for this. Sue gray effect to come in of keir starmer kind of just shutting up and letting the tories hang themselves. But i think, honestly, the keir starmer is its a weird one with the local elections , the labour party are elections, the labour party are hoping to do quite well in the mayoral and county Council Elections that are coming up on thursday, so its honestly just keir starmer just has to wait and see. Yes, i mean, are you seriously worried about these slips that labour is making because it seems that with the amount of noise that the government makes or the or the conservative party makes, that what the labour does is what the labour party does is still not, you know, pay much attention to. You know, pay much attention to. But i suppose you might be worried that if we get into a long election campaign, then mistakes being made by the labour party could be more consequential. Yes, definitely. With the wider electorate, but also with the labour party members. A lot of members are those that will go out leafleting, would go out doing the phone, banking, all of that. Theyre to the left of the party. They sympathised a lot with corbyn and if we keep making these mistakes on fundamental issues that are theyre very passionate about, we wont have people to go out and knock on doors when its, you know, two degrees in december at 9 pm, i think we are the labour party are a real risk of alienating their own membership base. Who will be the kind of foot soldiers in the election whenever it does come. And this is the real, real tragedy of the situation for the conservatives. Theres no love for Keir Starmers labour party. The labour party cant tell you what a woman is. Any policies that its got, it ends up having to drop out. You know Adam Smith Institute that i work with did some research about their schools, private schools policy. They want to put that on private schools. Its going to be a disaster when you look at the analysis of it. So theyre not coming into the election with any actual policies. And so the conservatives if they did put themselves together, they could really do this. And i think that the comparison is perhaps a bit with 2010 where, you know, the labour party thought, oh, its hopeless. Under gordon brown, the tories will sweep us away. In the end, the tories had a Minority Administration that then turned into that coalition government, and they said themselves, god, if wed have actually, you know, rallied around the flag a little bit more, we could have we could have kept the tories out again. And thats the tragedy. Funnily enough, ive observed the conservatives implementing lots of labour policy, like on expats, and i think starmer mentioned 25 as a target for defence spending as a percentage of gdp ahead of the tories. Lets lets turn to scotland if we can, alice, what do you think is going to happen . Do you think the first minister can survive . What kind of debate . What whats what kind of debate . What whats he going to be asked to do in the coming week . Well, i think you said speaking and making mistakes. I think thats a pretty great way of describing Humza Yousafs administration. I think hes in real trouble , i think even if he real trouble, i think even if he does survive this upcoming confidence vote, he cant do anything. His his whole agenda is sunk and most of that is his own fault. Hes tested terrible policies, like the hate crime bill and the gender recognition reforms have been an absolute disaster. Hes now relying on his former leadership opponent, ash regan, to vote. So shes now represents the alba party. Shes going to be making some very strong demands, likely around another independence referendum , another independence referendum, which again, would be a disaster for scotland. Its no one in scotlands priority at the moment, so i think even if he does survive , hes dead in the does survive, hes dead in the water. He cant do anything. Andy, the labour party supported the snp with the gender recognition legislation. I think with the hate crimes legislation as well. Can labour reap any benefit from this . Well, i think obviously going after the incumbent party is always to a benefit of an opposition party. You know , but opposition party. You know, but people do have long memories. A lot of people who are critical of the snps reforms will be thinking, oh, well, you know, the labour party supported it. People in the alba party supported it a lot of a lot of the people who are hoping to replace the snp did support it. But i think for anas sarwar, you know, his support has been growing. Theres been a few by elections, parliamentary by elections, parliamentary by elections in scotland, the labour party have done very well in them and i think its only good news for anas. If i were him, id be taking my advice from earlier. Sit down and shut up and just let them. Let them in fight. The stars are massively aligning for labour as well. The collapse, i mean the collapse of the snp in scotland is just massive. Good luck for them. I mean, this is huge, although actually some recent polls, the recent poll that gave the conservatives only 98 seats at the next election actually put the snp in a stronger position. This was , you know, using the this was, you know, using the methodology about the characteristics of people in all the different constituencies and actually gave a better result for the snp than other polls have been giving. So well see about that. But whats your about that. But whats your reaction, james, to whats going on in scotland . I mean , the on in scotland . I mean, the conservatives now here, i think the conservatives do have quite a strong card to play because they were on the right side of they were on the right side of the argument as i think its turning out on the gender recognition bill. Can they gain any credit for that, do you think . I hope so, i mean, its hard to think of a less sympathetic character than humza yousaf. Its very easy to have a pop at him, and so we probably should. This is a guy whos been a bit of a race baiter. He gave his most famous speech bemoaning that too many senior people in scotland were white. He seems to care more about gaza than about glasgow. You know, its easy to have a go at this guy. I think what we need to start having a conversation about that will be not helpful to the conservatives Election Results if i open my mouth on this, but just frankly, the sheer failure of devolution, right . It was meant to have killed nationalism stone dead, in the words of blairs supporters when this came along, it hasnt done that. Its threatening to tear the country apart and hopefully it will never happen. But if you just look at Something Like educational outcomes in scotland, its so much worse than it is in england because theyve decided to go in a different route to what the engush different route to what the english reforms have been now. England, for reading and writing and maths at best. Its ever beenin and maths at best. Its ever been in International League tables. Scotland, the birthplace of adam smith and the scottish enlightenment, is dropping down and down and down. And its been and down and down. And its been an absolute tragedy for the people of scotland. I hope they get rid of them. And if that means labour Party Getting in to kill off Scottish Nationalism or separatism, as i like to call it, then i think that surprised, almost willing to pay alex an interesting side effect of all of this is that alex salmond has re emerged in scottish politics as quite an important figure. His face is all over our Television Screens this sunday morning, and this is interesting how do you regard his return to the scene, and what do you thinks in his mind . I think that i think what this whole thing demonstrates is im not sure it is necessarily a question about devolution. I think its a question about this monomaniacal independence ideology. That and the monomaniacal independence ideology. That and the snp have kind of managed to hold it together for the past decades, having had very powerful and charismatic leaders like alex salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. And you see them go and this vacuum it all just it all just crumbles and it seems like it was held together this whole time by sort of by spit and a passion for independence. I think its very, very kind of alex salmond to pop up when humza yousaf is in trouble and a benevolently offer his advice and help , i think his advice and help, i think hell be delighted to return to the fray, but i think people of scotland should look at the record of the snp in government, and recognise that the only thing theyve ever cared about is securing independence and not delivering for the people of scotland, not delivering on pubuc scotland, not delivering on Public Services and the have governed very poorly. Andy, briefly, i wonder whether keir starmer needs to get the Scottish Labour Party back in the bottle. I mean, some of the votes that the Scottish Labour Party has been involved in in the scottish parliament, i think, you know, do not help the labour party nationally. Is there an issue there . I dont think theres necessarily necessarily an issue because theyre in opposition. But i think if they are hoping to go into government and the opportunity presents itself sooner rather than later, i imagine that therell be some serious conversations between the scottish regional director and the leader of the oppositions office, and also between anas sarwar and keir starmer. Theyve got to youve got to have the entire band playing the same tune. And i really do think that keir will be starting to think about that this weekend and the rest of this weekend and the rest of this week, as the no confidence vote plays out. You know, hes got to get the troops in line. Its going to be a very interesting week and that was a very good debate. Alex demby, Andy Macdonald and james price after the break. More on the future of humza yousaf, who has broken up the coalition that kept him in government. Broken up the coalition that kept him in government. What kept him in government. What might save him and at what cost are we continuing the discussion with the political commentator and journalist Iain Macwhirter . Welcome 7 welcome back. As we were discussing, scotlands first minister humza yousaf has said that he would not resign as first minister. But he does face confidence votes in himself and in his government. Following his decision to ditch the scottish greens from scotlands Ruling Coalition after he scrapped the power sharing deal. The scottish greens poured forth bitter words with no majority. Humza needs full support from his own party and abstentions or votes from others to survive. Can he make concessions and can he fight on . Joining me is political commentator and journalist Iain Macwhirter. Ian, thank you very much for joining macwhirter. Ian, thank you very much forjoining us today macwhirter. Ian, thank you very much for joining us today on macwhirter. Ian, thank you very much forjoining us today on gb much for joining us today on gb news. Whats the answer to the to the question, can he make concessions . Can he hang on . Yeah, he can make concessions because the demands being made by, ash regan, who was the alba msp who has a casting vote this week in the, confidence motion. Her terms as shes put them to a humza yousaf are pretty vague. She wants more competence in government. Well, yeah. Who government. Well, yeah. Who doesnt . Shes called for independence to be made the priority again, and shes wanting a clear sign that he takes womens rights seriously and will abandon the agenda of identity politics, which she initially rebelled against, because when she left the snp, she was the Community Safety minister. She rebelled over, the gender recognition reform bill, which of course, gave self id rights to 16 year olds in, in scotland without any , medical scotland without any, medical intervention. So i think humza yousaf was quite capable of getting through that of, you know, making some kind of, presentational concessions sufficient to win her vote this week. Because, after all, you know, shes a nationalist. It know, shes a nationalist. It does not look good for a nationalist politician of whatever party to be siding with the tories and labour to bring down a nationalist and nationalist Scottish Nationalist government. Okay, so that explains , does okay, so that explains, does it why her terms are fairly easy to meet and fairly vague. Lets just think about the gender question. Might there be a tightening up of what she demands there . I mean, for example, might she want scotland to commit itself to full understanding, to commit itself to full understanding , recognition, understanding, recognition, acceptance of the cass report on the treatment of children who may be considering switching gender . Yes, she will, because this is a very strong wish of most of the members of the Scottish National party and many of its msps too. Not all of them, but most of them really. This, break up of the coalition an arrangement with the greens, bizarrely, did not come over Climate Change targets, the abandonment of which the greens support did last week. It came when patrick harvie, the co leader of the scottish greens, refused repeatedly to accept the scientific validity of the cast report and refused to endorse the idea of pausing or banning , puberty blockers. Or banning, puberty blockers. These, you know, life changing drugs to young people. And that really was, i think , the last really was, i think, the last straw. I think that humza yousaf realised that he could not afford to have this lot in government any longer. And so he he unceremoniously showed them the door last wednesday. I mean, hes been widely criticised for doing that. People say he should have been a lot more gracious about it , have been a lot more gracious about it, perhaps he could have given them some kind of future as advisers on climate. I dont know. I dont know what he could do, but he certainly decided. And his advisers had strongly put it to him that he needed to get out from under this. And the best thing to do was just to cauterise the bute house agreement and send them on their way. Way. Youre making it sound as though he may have acted in quite a statesmanlike fashion. I mean, theres been a huge amount of criticism from people saying that, you know, he ditched the coalition and wasnt able to count, but youre making it sound as though this might work out all right for him. And did you say in passing there that you say in passing there that you thought the majority of snp msps would be happy to, to make that commitment to the cast report . Oh yeah, i think so , yeah. I oh yeah, i think so, yeah. I mean, i cant speak for all of them. Some of them would be equivocal about it, but i think most of them realise this is the cast report. You know, its, its the most comprehensive review of gender services to young people. Its young people. Its internationally recognised. Shes a highly respected figure andifs shes a highly respected figure and its a very benign report. I mean, its not this as you see, the greens came out and accused it accused him , accused cast of it accused him, accused cast of being a transphobe and, being a conservative. This is a far right conservative move and that, you know, they just went over the top. I think about it. I think they listened to their own echo chamber in the party. And remember that was another reason why humza yousaf decided to make the break to dump them before they dumped him , because before they dumped him, because he was waiting on the greens now to hold an extraordinary general meeting next month, at which they would decide whether they would stay in the bute house agreement or not. And i think possibly the greens are very split too. I think its very likely the greens would have voted to pull out anyway. So he had to for his own credibility. He had to pre empt that, get them out, before, he, you know, they brought down the temple around his ears. Now, im not saying that this is a great act of statesmanship. I think statesmanship and humza yousaf are not two are two, two words which dont go, together terribly well. Hes hes had a very disastrous time in, office since he replaced, Nicola Sturgeon last year, i mean, theres a whole catalogue of disasters. The hate crime act, the gender recognition act, disasters. The hate crime act, the gender recognition act , the the gender recognition act, the deposit return scheme, not being able to build ferries, problems with roads. I mean, just about everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. Even a ban to a ban on wood burning stoves in the highlands, for heavens sake. Which, has aroused, a kind of highland rebellion against, the scottish government, following on from the earlier moves under the highly protected marine areas to ban fishing in large numbers of inshore , large numbers of inshore, highland communities. I mean, you know, so theres been a catalogue of these problems, ian, a one word answer, if you would. Is it your prediction then , is it your prediction then, that humza yousaf will survive winning by one vote, that vote being the vote of ash regan . Being the vote of ash regan . Well, anything could happen. But my betting is that he will survive. Hell squeak through in on the strength of ash regan , on the strength of ash regan, but he probably wont be around for very much longer after that. For very much longer after that. Got it. Thank you very much indeed. Thank got it. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you. Ian mcwhirter. Coming up, has britains economy become as bloated as frances doctor roger gewolb will be here to compare british and gallic economic flab welcome back. According to the chief economist of the world bank, britains bloated state means that our economy now resembles frances. Whereas once it looked rather american. Its it looked rather american. Its a trend that could help to explain stagnating economic growth. Intimate gill was clear cut in his analysis. Quotes. The country that used to be most like the United States in all of europe was the United Kingdom, and you guys decided to go and become a lot more like continental europe. You look like france, not like the United States. End of quote. Like france, not like the United States. End of quote. Im joined by doctor roger gewolb , a former by doctor roger gewolb, a former adviser to the bank of england. Welcome to gb news to this program. Good morning, well, do you think hes right . Absolutely, yes. The two countries have always been very similar in size and in gdp. France and the United Kingdom. Yes , yes. And the problems yes, yes. And the problems that they face and the advantages that they have, theyve been very, very similar , theyve been very, very similar, andifs theyve been very, very similar, and its just changed. And i think its one of the things that explains the great disarray that explains the great disarray that we live with in the uk right now is that the ethos, the culture, the soul of this country has shifted from a market led light government, low tax , low spending, good public tax, low spending, good Public Services , Market Driven american services, Market Driven american model where things work because the market makes them work to a french style , government driven, french style, government driven, low growth , high tax, high low growth, high tax, high spend, big welfare economy. The difference being, your mr gill came up with a great quote. He came up with a great quote. He said that the uk is now a tribute act for france, but without the hits. So in other words, were paying and doing all the same things and it does look rather bloated. But were not getting the benefits because so much here doesnt work. So much here doesnt work. For example. I mean, obviously transport works pretty well in france , high speed well in france, high speed trains and so on. And it said that the Health Service works better in france. Marvellous, marvellous. Just absolutely. Yeah and one thing you didnt mention on the way through, there has been the transformation in the levels of deficits and debt. But i was deficits and debt. But i was looking back at the graphs, you know, it wasnt all that long ago that Britains National debt was Something Like a quarter of gdp. Its now about 100 of gdp. Right. And that makes it very comparable with france and with Interest Rates at their present levels. This becomes pretty significant, yes. Levels. This becomes pretty significant , yes. Especially if significant, yes. Especially if like and this is one of my pet peeves, the governor of the bank of england, andrew bailey, and others insist on paying the interest out of one pocket to the other and counting that as real money, and therefore having mr hunt tell us that were hard up. Its not true. But thats neither here nor there for this discussion. I think a more important figure not to take away from what you said, but a more important figure, is actually the spend as a percentage of gdp. Sure, weve percentage of gdp. Sure, weve gone from like 39 up to almost 50 during the pandemic. Gone from like 39 up to almost 50 during the pandemic. Well, 50 during the pandemic. Well, thats understandable, but were at about 44 now, closer to frances 58. The states is 36. So weve gone from 39 stabilising at about 44 over a penod stabilising at about 44 over a period of time, spanning the pandemic. Why has all this happened . Do you think . You know, all the reports in all the media that ive read about this, both here and in france . The funny thing is , france . The funny thing is, nobody has said, why . Why are we a tribute act without hits . Why do the french get all this stuff and we dont . I mean, youll and we dont . I mean, youll know as well as anybody that when the french dont get their little benefits and their little gifts , they actually go out in gifts, they actually go out in the street and riot. I mean, we find that quite five years ago we would have that would have made headlines. Its so hysterical, these people are out there because the nanny state isnt treating them well enough, and they start burning tires. And they start burning tires. Isnt that ridiculous . Well, now it doesnt look so ridiculous because were doing some of that, the reason that france is getting the hits and were not is that they planned it, michael. Its been planned by successive governments to have this kind of a state call it bloated or not, but it takes care of you from the cradle to the grave. Medical transport. People are paid to go to University People are you want a doctorate . If you qualify, you doctorate . If you qualify, you get paid to study for a doctorate. Theyre paid for doctorate. Theyre paid for everything. Theyre so well taken care of. It was planned. Ours has happened by accident. Ours has happened by accident. Our success of governments jousting with each other, i think, have been forced into it. And our politicians have had to adopt the worst thing of all half measures to try to satisfy everybody, which is impossible. Everybody, which is impossible. And therefore theyve put in measures like the french measures like the french measures , but they dont work measures, but they dont work because they didnt go all the way. They arent, you know, designed to work. See, ive often wondered whether, an inevitable consequence of democracy is that parties vie with each other to offer people more of their own money, more of the taxpayers money, more of the taxpayers money being spent on benefits. And that drives up public spending over a period of time. However, the United States doesnt conform to that model because that doesnt happen. There but, you know, when i was in politics, particularly under the thatcher era, there was there was a different narrative , there was a different narrative, which was that we would constrain these numbers. We would stop the quantity of pubuc would stop the quantity of public spending rising. We would constrain it as a proportion of gdp that was successful in itself and actually successful electorally. So my question to you really is how has this happened to britain . Is it just a lack of self discipline . Is it a lack of self discipline . Is it a lack of Political Leadership . Why have we wandered into a field without, as you say, a plan . Plan . I think you put your finger on both of those. I mean, i do watch from time to time, very happily. The great ladys speech, where she says there is no such thing as public money, that is, only taxpayers money. Its our money. Yeah. And i think the question really, is answered by both of the things that youve said. I interviewed nigel farage some time ago about why we have such poor leadership. And if you google my surname and farage, youll see the video. And his answer was the video. And his answer was because we have a whole new different class of political leader. They are professional politicians. They arent eisenhowers and trumans and people who did something in life and then wanted to put back. These are forgive me, theyre oxbridge people who want a career as a politician. Thats what its all about. And they have consequently made the wrong decisions. And thats why weve ended up in this, in this position. I think bad judgement. Position. I think bad judgement. I agree with you up to a point. I mean, the idea that Margaret Thatcher was not a professional politician is, of course, absurd. She came into parliament in the 1950s. Shes an exception to everything, and she only became Prime Minister at the end of the 19705. 1970s. So 19705. So shed been a professional politician for a very long time before she got power. Indeed. I mean, you might argue that one of the reasons is that people have become Prime Minister when theyve had very little experience. Well, yeah, but nigel is talking about now. But not back then. It was different. Yeah. We didnt have the situation then, but im saying the rishis and the and even the david camerons, you know, came into parliament, became Prime Minister very, very rapidly , can minister very, very rapidly, can we be clear that this is doing us harm . Us harm . Yes, absolutely. Because were paying out the same thing the french are and not getting the french are and not getting the benefits because were so disorganised. So many institutions dont work. I did a programme here the other day about universal credit. Just its a joke , the dwp tried to its a joke, the dwp tried to switch people from the six legacy benefits. They dont have the data. Theyre not sure whats going on. They dont know why people arent switching and theyre cutting off their benefits. Why would they do that . I mean, they sent me a £67 over and over again for my energy or whatever it was. Why cant they just send them their money . Were just doing things in a very disorganised fashion. We have apparently 150,000 people in the in the British Military and the forces , and we military and the forces, and we have a ministry of defence with over 60,000 employees. I mean, no, its absolutely staggering. But but just one staggering. But but just one thought and im briefly, if you would there are elements of the French Economy which are more mixed than ours. Weve referred to the Health Service, which you say is delivering better in france, but actually its a more mixed model than ours, which kind of goes slightly against the narrative. Yes, but it was designed and planned and tested and put in action without Political Parties tearing it apart, fighting between each other. And i tearing it apart, fighting between each other. And i think thats the difference, is that its more organised. We can do the same. We can take the new model that we have. I mean, we have to admit that we are now more french than american. Were more french than american. Were more european. We i guess we miss the eu so much after brexit that we want to be like them. But i mean, were now more like our european neighbours than we are. Like america, americas another universe. And i think we can fix it. An extraordinary paradox and a very interesting discussion. A very interesting discussion. Thank you very much, doctor roger gewolb. Thank you. Im still ahead. Stefan kyriazis will be centre stage as we hear about his latest theatrical escapade welcome back. Another busy week for theatre goers. And stefan kyriazis, as always, has been one of them. Hello . Hello, two strangers carrying a cake across new york city. Its a catchy title. Its a catchy title. Is it actually the title that is actually the title with some little brackets in it . Its joyous fun. I dont know if youve ever been caught in a hotel room in your bathrobe and a little statue of liberty tiara out of green foam, possibly dancing around the room after the best night of your life . Im sure you have. I certainly have, and thats just one scene in this play, and its basically the two writers are absolutely there. Its jim varne and kit there. Its jim varne and kit buchan, and they love romcoms. Buchan, and they love romcoms. And theyve also pointed out that rom coms sometimes get a bit of a dirty name. But you bit of a dirty name. But you know what . Im like . I just want to love something , have fun and to love something, have fun and enjoy it and relate. So im a bit of a sucker for rom coms, and theyve just taken all the tropes, and weve got a young boy called dougal who turns up in new york for the wedding of his father, who he has never met, and hes met by the brides sister at the airport. And its a 36 hours with them. And weve got a little clip here to give you a taste of it. Good i believe in dreams. Believe in dreams. I knew my love beyond. Ive changed my mind. And this is all changed my mind. And this is all the dreams come true. The dreams come true. Ooh. Not like a lot of five star reviews. A lot of fives. One for me as well, this has come from new york, has it . No, no, no, this was actually a local production , so its just a local production, so its just transferred into the criterion theatre. It was at the kiln before a marvellous. And its on and it was, it was on until july. Its already extended for six weeks just after the first previews and opening night. So theres a lot of audience love for this as well, which is what i want to see. I want to see things that people enjoy. And sam tutty, who you saw there in the aforementioned bathrobe , the aforementioned bathrobe, already has an olivier award for the lead in dear evan hansen. So hugely talented, still only 26, and his character could be like and his character could be like a field full of red flags. He very much invades personal space. He has very few boundanes space. He has very few boundaries , hes a bit clingy boundaries, hes a bit clingy and when he meets the girl who is, robin, shes very standoffish and prickly, new yorker, and a bit unhappy about lots of things, so she finds him very inappropriate. But the way that tutty does it, hes just hes like a golden retriever, a little puppy. Hes so adorable. And then underneath all of this, there are little layers of pain and pathos. The first half is just a romp, you know, an englishman bumbling around new york, and he kind of says, hi, hi, hi to everybody. And he thinks he knows the city because hes watched home alone two, countless times. So hes sure he knows everything already. And yeah, youre smiling. Knows everything already. And yeah, youre smiling. I knows everything already. And yeah, youre smiling. I grinned yeah, youre smiling. I grinned all the way through the first half, just. And were all talking in the interval. And other critics are people i know. And they were like, i havent stopped smiling. The songs are joyous. Poppy. How amazing. There are just two people in it. Yes, both of them. And for once only playing one role each. Not lots of multiple things going on. So we know theres a sister in the background. We know theres something happening to do with the father and why hes never been in touch. And the boy is very much a unit with his mother back home. But its just these two and its their journey, and its very much a story of, of you need a change in your life, and sometimes its the kind of serendipity of rom coms just that meet cute and its only 36 hours. I wont spoil the ending, but they both absolutely needed each other in that moment, and its so beautifully done. And the second half really goes a little bit deepen half really goes a little bit deeper. They both cried. There were little moments where they were little moments where they were both crying. There was a big argument in that very rom com. They get together, they have a big argument and everything else, and the musics up to it. Is it the music . Is it the music . Is it the music . I think so is really up to it. Its poppy. Its a little bit pastiche. They do a sort of a very Musical Theatre dance number. They go splashing a black amex around which they really shouldnt be using, and just go, oh, and they blow it all on this crazy night. And that said, if you saw there again, i dont need things to be enormous. I dont need big ideas. I dont need big, crazy sets. It5. I dont need big, crazy sets. Its just two piles of luggage and then the way that its done, one huge case can actually be used as a hotel bed. They open other ones and their fridges , or other ones and their fridges, or it turns into a Chinese Restaurant in chinatown , and restaurant in chinatown, and they just bring down a little bit of light or a street light somewhere else. Lovely joy, joy, joy, joy, joy somewhere else. Lovely joy, joy, joy, joy, joy criterion. Thats on the criterion. And its on on the criterion. And its on now until the end of august, so please catch that. Now you want to talk a lot about dance today, dont you . Starting with the sleeping beauty. So theres lots swirling around. I think weve got some beautiful pictures of this one. So this is the sleeping beauty. It5 so this is the sleeping beauty. Its the birmingham royal ballet , its sir Peter Wrights beautiful version and directed , beautiful version and directed, as always, by carlos acosta. At the moment, whos in charge up there , it is, its a touring there, it is, its a touring production, but its sumptuous. And what i wanted to bring up was the fact that there is so much going on around the country in all these touring venues, and often they get a little bit of a bad rap that its a touring version. Itll be a little bit sort of cheap and cheerful. This is stunning. The curtains, when they go back, the costumes are sumptuous. Its a beautiful, sumptuous. Its a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful ballet. It has finished. However, carlos da costa has got coming up his own show, which is carmen thats on at sadlers wells. Thats one of the treats that are coming up, and carmen is his new choreography. Its on for four days and i want to highlight that one, because at the moment its sold out until theres returns or until they extend. But you have to move fast on these touring things. Theyre only there for 3 or 4 days. Weve got another one, Tennessee Williams, a streetcar named desire coming up, and weve got a ballet, a ballet, and weve got a little clip of that one. I mean, that just its coming up. So i havent seen it. Thats at sadlers wells from april. Sorry, from may the 16th. It looks beautiful. I cannot wait. And then straight after that, weve got the northern ballet doing romeo and juliet. And thats a bit of a tour. So theyre on at sadlers wells from may the 28th. Again, each time is only for about three days, but theyre also going to be playing at stratford for the new season. And obviously romeo and juliet. But part of how all and juliet. But part of how all the sort of genres are mixing up a bit. So stratford are bringing in dance and other forms of art to interpret shakespeare, so thats quite exciting. And weve thats quite exciting. And weve also got akram khans giselle coming up, and im flagging this because it is far off. But this show sells out, sells out, sells out. Its currently on a bit of a world tour. Its so successful. Its coming back in on september the 18th to sadlers wells, and just a little one to throw in there as well. Weve got, you can find it absolutely everywhere. The glorious annual behemoth that is the English National ballets swan lake in the round, which is at royal albert hall, and i have seen and its thunderous when i think theyve got 60 swans on stage. So they the wings beat stage. So they the wings beat and the feet drum on the floor and the feet drum on the floor and thats a thrilling thing. But i just want to say check all your local theatres because theres always things going on and theres always not just comedies or people that you know from tv shows, but theres amazing dance. And im a southampton boy, and every time i go to the mayflower, im thrilled that everybody is there to see interesting things. And dance things. You know, people love the breadth of it. So i would thoroughly recommend all of those things. You have a famous passion for dance, and you often come on here and talk about dance. I do, but i cannot believe how much dance youre able to offer us today. Thats quite, quite remarkable. Weve just got a moment left. And you wanted to raise a political subject. This is one for you. Now, this is party games, which is opening up soon in guildford. I think on may the second. Now, this is written by Michael Mcmanus , who was at central mcmanus, who was at Central Office in the days of thatcher and major. Oh, it does ring a bell. Does this. Bell. Does this. It does ring a bell. It does ring a bell. So i hope theres no skeletons or a Little Things there. I dont know if youll pop up in some form there and its basically set in two years from now, 2026, and theres a the country is in disarray. Theres a Hung Parliament and theres a centrist party that are trying to hold it all together with a lot of spin, dodgy data, dodgy ai. And lot of spin, dodgy data, dodgy ai. And i lot of spin, dodgy data, dodgy ai. And i think apparently the ai. And i think apparently the cheesemakers are on strike. I dont know if you ever had to face that in your time, but i just, i thought of that one with you. And thats a huge uk tour thats going on from guildford on may the 2nd, all the way through to malvern later in the yeah party games. Yes, that sounds like i absolutely happy. Thank you very much indeed. Stefan kyriazis , you are watching kyriazis, you are watching Michael Portillo on gb news, britains news channel that concludes the first hour of the programme. But please dont go away. After the break well be away. After the break well be discussing the campus clashes taking place across the pond and ill be joined by Award Winning cellist Julian Lloyd Webber as he brings to light an elgar festival, which has lost public funding, apparently because elgar isnt trendy. Funding, apparently because elgar isnt trendy. And ill be elgar isnt trendy. And ill be speaking also to an iranian human rights activist whose recently returned from her first trip to israel whilst her home country launched missiles and drones against it. See you in a moment. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Hello heres your latest weather update from the met office for gb news. Well see an east west split weather wise across the uk today. Generally the best of any brightness the further west you head. Low pressures generally dominating andifs pressures generally dominating and its this weather front, this occlusion here towards the east and northeast thatll bring some more persistent rain to some more persistent rain to some areas through the day today. Notice fairly tightly packed isobars to indicating quite a blustery breeze. And its certainly a wet and fairly blustery picture across those east of the North Eastern areas. As we head through the afternoon. Some of those outbreaks of rain could locally be on the heavy side, brighter out towards the west and eventually across some southern spots. But notice a good scattering of showers here, 1 or 2 of those on the heavy side , 2 of those on the heavy side, and quite a chilly day still for the time of year. Highs of 12 towards the north up to 13 or 14 degrees at best towards the south and southeast as we head through the evening and during the overnight period, the most persistent rain will start to pull away towards the north east, lingering across the northern hours into the early hours of monday. Elsewhere, clearer for a time, but notice a good rash of showers pushing back in from the west, so turning pretty wet out across some western spots into the early hours of monday. Under the clearer skies, we could see a local frost. Temperatures down close to freezing, but mostly frost free. And as we head through monday once again an east west split in our weather. But its the east this time seeing the best of the conditions. The brightest skies out towards the east and across the south east of england and elsewhere. Plenty of showers out towards the west and eventually across many northern spots too. And again, some of those showers turning quite heavy, merging to give some longer spells of rain at times to and temperatures a bit higher than today, though up to 16 or 17 towards the south east near a 12 to 14 across the north of the. That warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news news. Away. Away. Good afternoon and welcome to the second hour of sunday with Michael Portillo on gb news. American youth is divided over the war in gaza, and protests have broken out across university campuses. Students have set up camps inside Columbia University in new york city, and the police have made arrests. Isaac sarfatti, executive director of standwithus uk , will join me to standwithus uk, will join me to discuss whats going on. An Arts Festival that celebrates the work of edward elgar is having to make changes to cope with a cut in funding from arts Council England. Award winning cellist england. Award winning cellist juuan england. Award winning cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, celebrated for his performance of the elgar cello concerto, will be sharing his Fundraising Efforts with us. Irans economy is having to cope with sanctions and a massive devaluation of its currency. Devaluation of its currency. Iranian human rights activist lili mu will be to here give her thoughts on the current situation. And finally, as part of my taste of britain series, ill be speaking to hannah haley young, creator of crazy sexy food and the ceo and founder of chic p hannah mccollum. Following National Stop food waste day, ill seek their ideas on how to convert our leftovers into tasty creations. All of into tasty creations. All of that lies ahead. But first, your headunes that lies ahead. But first, your headlines with tatiana sanchez. Headlines with tatiana sanchez. Michael. Thank you. The top stories this hour. Shadow Health Secretary wes streeting says doctor dan poulter has not been offered a peerage to defect to the labour party. Speaking to gb news camilla tominey, mr streeting defended the move and he also defended the nhs , he also defended the nhs, admitting there are challenges in the Health Service. But those are mainly down to the conservative party. Conservative mp doctor dan poulter said hed sit as a labour mp until the general election, then stand down. Hes described the nhs as being in chaos. The decision comes just days before local elections across england and wales on may the second. The Prime Minister has again this morning refused to rule out a general election in july amid speculation a disastrous set of local Election Results for the tories could force his hand. While wes streeting told gb news that doctor poulter isnt defecting to save his seat. Rather hes defecting to save the nhs. The nhs. There would be millions of people disaffected conservative voters like dan porter out there who can see the chaos, and the conservative party see the failure to deliver and are looking at the alternative. And id ask those people to trust the doctor who has seen the conservative party up close, has seen the changed labour party of keir starmer up close, and has decided that ultimately we need a Labour Government in this country to get our nhs back on its feet, to turn the economy around and to make sure that we can look to the future with hope and optimism again. However, policing minister chris philp defended the governments handling of the nhs, pointing to what he calls record levels of spending just in the last year alone, the nhs has grown by 68,000 staff and there are today 7000 more doctors and 21,000 more nurses than there were a year ago. Than there were a year ago. And tens of thousands of people each year are fleeing the welsh run nhs. Sorry, the labour welsh run nhs. Sorry, the labour run nhs in wales to have treatment in england. The waiting lists the proportion of the public who are on either very long waiting lists or indeed the proportion of the pubucin indeed the proportion of the public in wales on a waiting list at all, is higher , list at all, is higher, materially higher than it is in england. So on any measure, the labour party are doing a terrible job. Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick has called for a cap on net migration, claiming a far more restrictive system is needed. Jenrick has called for a cap of less than 100,000 a year, arguing its the only way to restore voters trust. Writing in the sunday telegraph , he says the sunday telegraph, he says the sunday telegraph, he says the governments recently passed rwanda bill will soon join the graveyard of policies that failed to tackle the illegal migration, but called legal migration, but called legal migration a bigger scandal, according to mr jenrick, migration a bigger scandal, according to mrjenrick, net migration needs to be scaled back to tens of thousands. He resigned as immigration minister last year in protest at the Prime Ministers rwanda deportation plan. He said it wasnt a Strong Enough deterrent for Illegal Migrants entering the country last 30 years. Politicians of all stripes have promised controlled and reduced immigration only to deliver the opposite. And the pubuc deliver the opposite. And the public are rightly furious at whats happened. Its placed immense strain on housing, on pubuc immense strain on housing, on Public Services, on community cohesion, and it hasnt improved the economy. What were proposing is that we return to the tens of thousands, but unlike previously , we have a unlike previously, we have a cap. So parliament itself votes for a democratic lock. So the pubuc for a democratic lock. So the public can have a degree of confidence, which they dont have today. That when politicians say these things, they mean it. They mean it. The alba party msp, whose vote could be crucial to scotlands first minister, says its scotlands first minister, says wsfime scotlands first minister, says its time to build relationships. But she says the price of her support will be higher. As humza yousaf dithers. She says ash regan hasnt confirmed how shell vote in the motions of no confidence that holyrood expected to take place in the coming week. Writing in the sunday mail, she said she will only use her vote in the way that will be best for scotland. Meanwhile yusuf is asking leaders of rival parties to find Common Ground with the snp as his leadership hangs in the balance. It comes after the the balance. It comes after the collapse of the snps power sharing deal with the greens. Sharing deal with the greens. Some breaking news this hour. A second man has died after an unusually strong batch of heroin circulated across north devon. One man from taking the substance died on friday and this second man, whod earlier been admitted to hospital, died late last night. His death is also believed to be as a result of taking the same substance. A total of ten people, including the man who died, have been admitted to hospital for treatment. Two of them remain in hospital. Two men and two women arrested on suspicion of being involved in the supply of a controlled substance have now been released on bail. And in other news, hundreds of Border Force Officers at Heathrow Airport will launch a four day strike tomorrow in a dispute over working conditions. The pubuc over working conditions. The public and commercial Services Union says more than 300 of its members will walk out from 5 00 tomorrow morning until 7 00 on friday. The union says the workers, based at terminals two, three, four and five are taking the action in protest at plans to introduce new rosters. They say would see around 250 of them forced out of their jobs at passport control. A Home Office Spokesperson says they remain open to discussing a resolution with the pcs. For the latest with the pcs. For the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or you can code on your screen or you can 90 code on your screen or you can go to gb news bakhmut alerts now its over to michael i thank 5mm thank you, tatiana sanchez. Tensions have flared across American University campuses this past week with pro palestinian demonstrations, which have Left University leaders struggling to balance demonstrators rights to free speech with the need to maintain order and to ensure that other students in particularly jewish ones, do not feel intimidated. The latest protests, which demand that universities cut ties with organisations that might assist israels military, began after Police Arrested pro palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University last week, leading students at more than 20 colleges to put up tent encampments as expressions of solidarity. But in defiance of police warnings. The israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on wednesday condemned pro palestinian protests at the universities in the United States as horrific, saying that the demonstrations have to be stopped and describing some of the students as anti semitic. To discuss as anti semitic. To discuss this, im joined by the executive director of standwithus uk, isaac safadi. Welcome to gb news, theres nothing very unusual about student unrest. Student protest certainly happened big time in my day. Why does Benjamin Netanyahu get so excited about this . Why does he think that its anti semitic . Why does he its anti semitic . Why does he think that it has to be stopped . Because when you test the slogans and you see the sentiment, you see that they are aiming towards israel as a jewish state. They are calling for the annihilation of israel as a jewish state. When they are chanting river to the sea, palestine will be free. They mean that the jewish people should be removed from israel into i dont know where, so obviously we are seeing a very strong anti semitic , trend. And strong anti semitic, trend. And i think that thats why he meant what he meant. But generally, i think that , what we see right think that, what we see right now on, on campuses is part of a well organised plan , we are well organised plan, we are monitoring the situation on campuses here in the uk for many years. And we saw this growing toxic environment year by year. So for instance, right after october 7th, hours after the massacre, we saw students in Manchester University and other london universities actually celebrating a slaughtered of 1000 200,000 people. So i think that right now we are, moved to a new phase in what we saw in the last few years. So it is your suggestion that what is happening in these american campuses is organised by somebody or something. Do you want to put your finger on that . Yeah, i think that we can we can see signs for that. So first of all, when you see the protest on the streets and when you see the protests on campus, you can see that there are all they all holding the same signs, the same design, the same chants, the same flag. So its well organised in terms of everything that happens around it, and you see the timing , like one might see the timing, like one might ask himself, october 7th happened half a year ago. Why those protests go to their peak specifically, right now . What . Why not before . Obviously, i think the idf is already finished. The most intense part of the war, situation is much calmer right now compared to what it was three months ago. So why now . And i think that one of why now . And i think that one of the reasons is, is in to , order the reasons is, is in to, order prevent and put pressure on israel not to get into rafah in order to eliminate the hamas leadership and for me, these are signs that those protests are part of a well organised structure that, is meant to put pressure not only on israel , but pressure not only on israel, but also on america, on the United States. Thats why i think that states. Thats why i think that those protests are right now or the extreme phase of those protests are taking place in the United States and not in germany, in the uk or any other western countries. Western countries. So i imagine that few cities in the world have a bigger Jewish Population than new york city. So what has been the reaction of the Jewish Population in new york to whats happening in columbia, in the heart of manhattan . So its not only the Jewish Community, its also professors, jewish professors in those universities that are basically prevented from entering campus. Prevented from entering campus. And i think that there is, a significant problem not only in the us, but also here in the uk, when universities choose to tackle this situation in a very odd way, and instead of limiting the protesters, the ones who are using violence in order to prevent freedom of speech from others, they are trying to minimise minimise the presence of the jewish professors and the Jewish Community. And we see it on the streets here as well. In the uk, when there are those rallies around the streets , the rallies around the streets, the police is trying to prevent the jews from entering those areas instead of allowing them the freedom of movement as it should be. So i think that the way that that that the governments and the authorities are running this issue is a very, very problematic. But what i was getting at was i can think of few less promising places to hold a pro palestine demonstration than new york city, given its very large Jewish Population. So what large Jewish Population. So what im saying is that the Jewish Population of new york city getting organised with its with its counter protest, im sure they will. By the way, they did it, i think 3 or 4 months ago when we saw another wave of protests on campus. But we have to bear in mind when that those protests are taking place in new york city, regardless the size of the Jewish Community there, this is the world stage. These universities are the production line. And by the way, every university is a production line of the future leadership of a society. And when you are taking society. And when you are taking oveh society. And when you are taking over, when you are controlling the hearts and minds of students in those prestige universities, specifically in new york city, youre basically shaping the future leadership of the country. And this is also a sign and a call for action for other people. So i think that the reason they chose new york is not necessarily related to the number of jewish people that are there, but because of the importance of those universities , what do you think would be the appropriate reaction of the University Authorities . University authorities . Lets stick with columbia for a moment, youve put your finger on some things you think theyve done wrong. What about the admission of the police to the campus . Was that the right thing to do . Yes, for sure. Because i think that, you know, freedom of speech has its limitations as well. And i think that one of the problems that we are facing, right now is that the, moral systems, the University Systems lost , the distinction between lost, the distinction between right and wrong. And theyre basically dont understand that these protesters and the organisations and the states that are behind those protests are using the freedom of speech and using western values in order to attack the body. And at some point, universities has to draw a line and to say, look, freedom of speech is okay, but we cannot allow violence. And occupying territories on campus to, to, to taking place. And they have to draw a line there. And i think that they did wisely when they let the police get in and remove those protesters, you say that this is organised and its a way of putting pressure on the United States, but the reaction im seeing so far from President Biden and from other leaders, by the way, in both of the main parties in the United States has been pretty hostile and very critical of these protests that are occurring on the campuses, why do you think, then, that anyone would think that getting the campuses to rise up would be an effective way of putting pressure on the administration . It would seem to me that it was possibly quite counterproductive. So i think, first of all, we have to distinguish between the rhetoric and the things on the ground. So there are some things that the government needs to say , but on the ground they understand the pressure that is coming, especially when the elections are very close , so, elections are very close, so, obviously. The pressure is obviously. The pressure is there. And, and i think, as i said, its part of an organised system to put pressure on the Us Government and on israel. And you saw like , i think that one you saw like, i think that one of the things that are hoping is to create maybe a chain effect and to spread those protests and riots to the streets as well, and not. Only to limited them and not. Only to limited them to, to campuses. Im sure that those, protests are doing their effect on the government. And i want to say another thing. When you go to those students and ask them about the reason that they are protesting, when youre trying to understand what is the level of knowledge that they have. And, you know, there was one picture that captured my eye. There is a very viral photo of a student, an american student, sitting on the grass on Columbia University, i believe, with a guitar, a long hair look like a piss kid from the 60s and the hezbollah flag is right underneath him. The hezbollah flag, a terror organisation. Flag, a terror organisation. That killed hundreds of american soldiers. So obviously this kid is rather an ignorant or he knows what he does and is like, and that is another level. But i think that the ignorance, the level of ignorance among those students are huge. And one of the reasons is that universities, especially here in the uk, prevent it from organisations like us to get into universities and to educate kids and to share with them, some other aspects about reality. So those students are basically living in echo chamber of a fake reality about the situation. And thats why situation. And thats why theyre acting this way, rather lazily historically , weve said, lazily historically, weve said, you know, the United States tends to be pro israel because it has a very large Jewish Population and very influential in its elections. What would be your analysis now of the balance of jewish influence and muslim influence influence and muslim influence in the american electorate . Well, its a very hard question , but i think that we question, but i think that we are facing a historic turning point because for the first time at least, to my knowledge , you at least, to my knowledge, you see that the american , see that the american, candidates to presidency are are calculating their steps based on what the. I dont think its muslim. Its the pro palestinian groups in america will do. And groups in america will do. And when you see the president , you know, trying to be very sensitive with regards to his statements and steps towards israel in the war, mixing with his decisions, thats something very problematic. And i think that we will see it growing and growing in the future. And thats something that we need to be very attention to put our attention on. A very interesting analysis from isaac sarfati. Thank you from isaac sarfati. Thank you very much indeed. After the break, i was speaking to Julian Lloyd Webber about his Fundraising Efforts to save an elgar festival, which is taking place in the early summer, so please stay with us for that. Welcome back. An Arts Festival which celebrates the work of edward elgar is having to make changes to cope with a 40 drop in funding. Arts Council England has been accused of cutting resources for the festival because the event is not trendy enough. A Fundraising Campaign to save the festival, dedicated to save the festival, dedicated to a great englishman and a great composer, is supported by cellist and Award Winning musician Julian Lloyd Webber. His performance of elgars cello concerto won a brit and was chosen by bbc Music Magazine as the finest ever recording. Im the finest ever recording. Im delighted to say that julian joins me now , congratulations on joins me now, congratulations on all those things that happened a while ago. All those things that happened a while ago. But to all those things that happened a while ago. But to the festival, while ago. But to the festival, what has been the impact of the cut of the grant . Well, we dont actually know whether certain events will take place because we need to raise money to subsid size. This cut. Its a very strange situation because as this festival is in worcester and the arts council have talked that their whole strategy is to move things out to the regions and some of their decisions are just completely perplexing. And this being one of them, for me , i being one of them, for me, i said there that there had been an accusation that it was because elgar wasnt regarded as friendly where does that come from . I mean, is that that doesnt come from me. I mean, i dont think elgars ever been regarded as particularly trendy, but i just find, i mean, obviously i dont want to sit here and bash the arts council. They have over, i think, thousands of applications every year. It think, thousands of applications every year. It must be extremely difficult to decide exactly who gets what. But surely we can afford as a country to and as an arts council to have a festival once a year in our possibly greatest composers birthplace, that that surely should just be a priority. A priority. Vie tell me a little bit about the economics of a festival. Is it the case that festival. Is it the case that only a minority of the money thats needed comes from the box office . Its just a minority. Is it . I think it is. But the thing is, with the arts council now, you have to take various boxes. You have to take various boxes. And one of them is, and quite rightly, that you try to make the festival for everyone. And so we have concerts called elgar for everyone, which, which are free and as soon as you get into free, the events costs money and they, they need subsidy because you cant get that back from the box office. If the program were implemented in full, what kind of range of events and what range of locations would it occurin range of locations would it occur in it all happens in worcester or around the area , worcester or around the area, quite rightly, and i suppose, theres a whole wide range of events, and the ones that really cost are the orchestral concerts. But we have a concert called our elgar for everyone , called our elgar for everyone, which people can play and take part, and its free, and thats where the costs come. Where the costs come. Now lets talk about elgar and you , i assume that playing and you, i assume that playing the elgar cello concerto was one of the great moments of your life. One of the great artistic achievements. I imagine you played it many times, but on one occasion you played it twice in a day, i did. That was the 150th anniversary of elgars birth in in june two thousand and seven, and i played it at worcester cathedral, i think, at 3 00. Had a rehearsal in the albert hall. It5 a rehearsal in the albert hall. Its about 530, so it wasnt my greenest moment, im afraid. I helicoptered it and played the concerto at the albert hall, royal albert. I concerto at the albert hall, royal albert. I mean, concerto at the albert hall, royal albert. I mean, those were royal albert. I mean, those were two places so associated with elgar that i really, really wanted to make it work and wanted to make it work and wanted to make it work and wanted to do it, tell me about that piece of work. I hope. I hope many people may be able to hearit hope many people may be able to hear it in their minds. Now, as we talk about it. I think of it as an extraordinarily emotive piece. I mean, really, it seizes you as a listener. It really is. What does the piece mean to you . What does the piece mean to you . Everything really, its encompasses the whole range of human emotions. And i think thats what elgar as a composer could do. Hes far more than the tubthumping land of hope and glory that some people might have that image of him. But he was far, far more than that. A very complex man. Which is why literally hundreds of books about different aspects of him and his life and his music have been written, and theyre still coming today. He was a fascinating character, whats your memory of playing on the 150th anniversary in worcester cathedral . Cathedral . Well, it started off, i mean, in worcester. Ill tell you something funny happened on on the morning i was at breakfast. I come up the night before in the, in the nearest hotel to the cathedral, over the world, over the road. And i said i had my 999 the road. And i said i had my egg and bacon. I said, can i have some worcester sauce . And the east european lady had no idea what i was talking about. I said, its made down the road, you know, it still is that was a funny word. So im dodging the question here. It was a wonderful experience, and to play wonderful experience, and to play it twice was to because the adrenaline kicks in and it sees you through and to play in places where, of course, elgar had conducted himself many times. Wonderful feeling. And how was it that that it won the brit . I mean, i dont know how the selection is made for the brit, nor do i, this was a while ago. I made a recording with, lord menuhin conducting, and menuhin had made a legendary recording of the violin. Elgars violin concerto with elgar conducting when he was 16. Yes. And i remember seeing the photograph of the two of them on the record sleeve. Thats it. Absolutely extraordinary. So and absolutely extraordinary. So and so menuhin was conducting as you played he that is extraordinary. Yes. It was. I sort of felt a musical grandson of elgar and. Well, it was well received. Well, it was well received. Thats all i can say. And why do you assess him as perhaps our greatest, english or british composer . Im not quite sure what youre saying. English or british . Lets say english for the moment. Lets say. Lets say, well, lets say british, because we have to be honest and say we havent produced that many. What would globally be called great composer. And elgars music is composer. And elgars music is performed internationally , cello performed internationally, cello concerto being possibly the most played enigma variations , lots played enigma variations, lots of other pieces, hes a very, very great composer and i think we should be able to celebrate his music once a year in his home city. What does it mean to the home city . Do you get a tremendous amount of local support . Yes, i think people are very proud of elgar. He was very proud of worcester and the whole surrounding country. It is. Its the basis of his music. Those beautiful malvern hills, undulating music. Its not urban. It is country. Undulating music. Its not urban. It is country. Yeah, what urban. It is country. Yeah, what are you having to do to try and raise money . I mean, i guess youre in a bit of a flap because this is. Well, it just is the summer coming up . Yeah. I mean, if we dont get funding and people have been, trying to support locally and all over the world, actually, i suppose just some events will be cut and thats a great shame, because the festival has made Great Strides in trying to really open it up, make it for everyone. And i think we should be able to do that in this country for one of our great composers. Shifting the subject a little bit, youve often been on this program before, very often on the subject of promoting Young Musicians, and you made a series of little films for us in which Young Musicians appeared. Yes how are those efforts continuing and whats whats your state of morale . What what do you think morale . What what do you think of the British Music scene as you see youth coming through . Well, the youth coming through is terrific , the british through is terrific, the British Music scene has its challenges and arts, you know, funding is at the basis of that, its. But i think the scene is absolutely vibrant. And in fact, one of those Young Musicians that we talked about on this program, esther abrami, shes taking part in the, elgar for everyone concert. And so i think the, you concert. And so i think the, you know, the music scene is as bright as its ever been. The funding isnt. And practically speaking , and practically speaking, what does that mean to your Young Musicians . What is it that they struggle to do or to achieve . It means there are less opportunities, less sometimes places for them to perform, you know, when i started out, there was a whole network of music clubs in some, some of the smallest towns, villages, even, and theyve mostly gone, which means you dont have those places where you can perfect your craft and where you can learn to, to play to audiences. Learn to, to play to audiences. And, and suddenly when you get your chance, its a massive occasion which perhaps you havent had the right preparation for. Yeah, absolutely. Well, juuan yeah, absolutely. Well, Julian Lloyd Webber, its always lovely to see you on the program and thank you for all your efforts for elgar and for Young Musicians. Efforts for elgar and for Young Musicians. In a few moments, were going to be turning to iran as a rising number of iranian politicians, Media Outlets and senior clerics are voicing criticism of the governments handling of the countrys worsening economic crisis. With inflation at more than 30, the iranian people are facing increasingly difficult conditions. Ill be joined by the iranian human rights activist lili mu. First, your News Headlines. But tatiana sanchez. Michael. Thank you. Its 1230. These are the top stories this afternoon. Shadow Health Secretary wes streeting says doctor dan poulter has not been offered a peerage to defect to the labour party. Speaking to gb the labour party. Speaking to gb news camilla tominey, mr streeting defended the decision. He also admitted there are challenges in the nhs. But he said those are mainly down to the conservative party. Conservative mp doctor dan poulter said hed sit on the labour benches until the general election , then stand down. The election, then stand down. The decision comes just days before local elections across england and wales on the 2nd of may. The Prime Minister has again this morning refused to rule out a general election in july, amid speculation that a disastrous set of local Election Results for the tories could force his hand. For the tories could force his hand. Former immigration hand. Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick has called for a cap on net migration, claiming a far more restrictive system is needed. Jenrick has called for a cap of less than 100,000 a year, arguing thats the only way to restore voters trust. Writing in the sunday telegraph, he says the sunday telegraph, he says the governments recently passed rwanda bill will soon join the graveyard of policies that failed to tackle illegal migration. But he called legal migration. But he called legal migration a bigger scandal, according to mr jenrick, migration a bigger scandal, according to mrjenrick, net migration needs to be scaled back to the tens of thousands. He resigned as immigration minister last year in protest at the Prime Ministers rwanda deportation plan. The alba party deportation plan. The alba party msp, whose vote could be crucial to scotlands first minister, says its time to build relationships. But she says the relationships. But she says the price of her support will be higher as humza yousaf dithers. She says ash regan hasnt confirmed how shell vote in the motions of no confidence at holyrood , expected to take place holyrood, expected to take place in the coming week. Writing in the sunday mail, she said she will only use her vote in the way that will be best for scotland. Meanwhile, yusuf is asking leaders of rival parties to find Common Ground with the snp as his leadership hangs in the balance. It comes after the the balance. It comes after the collapse of the snps power sharing deal with the greens and hundreds of Border Force Officers at Heathrow Airport will launch a four day strike tomorrow in a dispute over working conditions. The public and commercial Services Union says that more than 300 of its members will walk out from 5 00 tomorrow until 7 am. On friday. The union says the workers are taking the action in protest at plans to introduce new rosters that they say would see around 250 of their staff forced out of their jobs at passport control. A Home Office Spokesperson says they remain open to discussing a resolution with the union. For the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen. Or the qr code on your screen. Or you can go to gb news. Common alerts i welcome back. Iranian politicians. Media outlets , and politicians. Media outlets, and senior clerics are voicing criticism of the governments handung criticism of the governments handling of irans worsening economic crisis. With inflation at over 30, the iranian people do face difficult conditions following the regimes ineffective missile and drone attack on israel, but its reluctance to prolong the for tat. It is speculated that iran cannot afford an all out war because of the fragility of the economy. Joining me now to economy. Joining me now to discuss this is the iranian human rights activist lilymu. Very good to see you. Welcome to gb news. Just before we turn to that, would you tell us, please, about tomaj salehi, who i think is a sort of hip hop artist who presently stands condemned to death . Yes. Thank you, michael, for having me on this rainy sunday afternoon. Tom moore salahi tomaj is a civilian artist who spoke up against the islamic repubuc spoke up against the Islamic Republic and he stood with the people of iran when , they people of iran when, they started their uprising in the november of 2019 when we had the bloody november, 3500 iranians were murdered at the hand of the Islamic Republic in a very similar manner as october seventh in the uprising. In the september of 2022, too much started rapping a track where he spoke about his involvement in auburn november of 2019 and his continuing of joining the people of iran against the islamic repubuc. Of iran against the Islamic Republic. Since then, hes been republic. Since then, hes been brutalised and taken into kidnapped into unknown custodies. He spent more than 250 days in solitary confinement , and now only for the purpose of speaking, hes going to be executed. Do you think that will actually happen . Its already happened. Not too much. But this act has already taken place since the september of 2022. We had mohsen shekari, the first ever executed of this uprising, shekari, the first ever executed of this uprising , for just shekari, the first ever executed of this uprising , forjust being of this uprising, for just being out in the street. A 16 year old was executed for setting been to a fire, 500. More than 500 iranian young people were murdered and executed, illegally. Well, every execution in iran is illegal by the way, because they are they are executing on they are they are executing on the cause that the law is you have waged war against god, which god put that law does this does this uprising , this revolt does this uprising, this revolt continue . Absolutely. This uprising , continue . Absolutely. This uprising, what form does it continue . Absolutely. This uprising , what form does it take uprising, what form does it take now in the form of not wearing the hijab, the compulsory hijab . This is people are not currently experiencing new freedoms in iran. Its not that, oh, women are walking out without their huab are walking out without their hijab and theyre not getting any consequences. The hijab penalty charge is higher than three times higher than a, penalty charge for, cause of like cross , crash and death in like cross, crash and death in iran, youre causing death , iran, youre causing death, causing death in an accident. So if you have to pay a compensation to whoever is taking you to court for the right reason for wearing, for not wearing the compulsory hijab, you would be fined ridiculous amounts in like 300,000. It5 ridiculous amounts in like 300,000. Its like a dollar at the moment in iran is about 70,000 iranian toman. Thats 70,000. Thats 1000. N0 70,000 iranian toman. Thats 70,000. Thats 1000. No thats literally 70,000. Thats 10,000. A lot of money, but thats 10,000 more. More than what it was when the shah left iran. They have to understand this. 1 used to be seven toman. We are talking about inflation and irans economy. At the moment, irans economy. At the moment, a dollar is more than 70,000. Toman. Ive got you the absolute collapse of the currency over a penod collapse of the currency over a period of time. Absolute collapse. Absolute collapse. What are the consequences of that for the population . And also were talking about a very high inflation rate. So one thing we need to realise is that the Islamic Republics rulers are billionaires, and they are imposing a forced poverty on the nafion imposing a forced poverty on the nation of iran, on the people of iran, as they are holding them hostage. The iranians are not hostage. The iranians are not citizens and civilians of a free nation. They are held hostage in a country which does not allow them to travel, which forces them to travel, which forces them to travel, which forces them to vote for sham. Elections. And they are. The elections. And they are. The they are literally they are in a state of poverty when they are working hard, multiple jobs in each family, and theyre still not making ends meet. Do you do you think that iran is incapable of fighting a war with israel at the moment because of the state of its economy . I want to first, i apologise for doing this. I want to correct you on this. Iran is the people of iran. The islamic repubucis people of iran. The Islamic Republic is the capital of iran, and the captives of iran who have destroyed the economy of iran, are not capable of fighting a war for two reasons. One, a family in poverty is not willing to fight for a country thats destroyed them, but they are willing to fight to keep their nation and they are fighting against the government. If iranians are given arms to fight against israel, if iranians are given arms to fight against israel , they will fight against israel, they will not use those arms against israel. They will use them against the irgc that has been holding them hostage. And that is why in iran, people are not given any sort of encouragement to go to war. The irgc is getting encouragement and all kinds of slogans, but no , where kinds of slogans, but no, where is their movement . Where are the buses of all of these irgc supporters of palestine going to gaza . Where are they . Theyre gaza . Where are they . Theyre not theyre not existing. Theyre only speaking and in spewing violence and destruction and disorder in the whole of the middle east while oppressing iranians. So if they issued weapons to the people who say the people would use those weapons against the regime, absolutely. But is it also the case, do you think that the economy is just too weak to go to war . Absolutely. The thing is, absolutely. The thing is, its not about sanctions. Its not about, foreign movements against irans economy. The against irans economy. The Islamic Republic has collapsed irans economy by stealing, by corruption, and by only causing , corruption, and by only causing, breaking bridges with the International Community. Now it shocks me that the International Community is still shaking hands with these mullahs. Mullahs are not equipped to run a country. They are not educated enough to run a country, and they are not educated enough to speak with world leaders. So please stop treating them like they are. Treating them like they are. A clear message from lilymu. And thank you very much for being on the program after the break. Can your leftovers food thats about to be thrown away be turned into culinary delights . Ill be joined by two hannahs who believe they can convince us that waste is the way forward. Stay with us, please. Welcome back. Earlier this week, we marked National Stop food waste day across the globe. A third of all food that is produced is thrown away. And in the United Kingdom alone, around 9 million tons every year is chucked out, producing most food waste in all of europe. How can we turn this around and start to make waste the way forward . Im joined now by two guests who may have the recipe. Hannah harley young and the ceo and founder of chic p hannah mccallum, hannahs , let us first of all, discuss what is the cause of waste. Now, i think some of it is about supermarkets saying that vegetables have to be a beautiful shape and a beautiful colour. And i beautiful shape and a beautiful colour. And i think some of it is that we buy too much and we look in our fridge and we throw it away. Is that, broadly speaking, whats going on . Yes, i think thats very correct. But also its across the whole supply chain. So from farm gate farms throwing away a lot of food on the farms because it gets rejected by supermarkets , then waste at the supermarkets, end of day use by dates. Massive problem with short shelf life. And then, Household Waste is a massive issue where, i think its six meals a week. Is the estimated amount of meals that families waste, and also behind the scenes , hugely in the food scenes, hugely in the food service world, which is events. Service world, which is events. Yeah. So much, so much food produced. Dont want to, dont want to run out. And masses of, pre cooked meals. Haaland best before. Yes. Haaland best before. Yes. Tell me about that. Well, i mean me just as much as everyone else. Theres a big difference between a best before date and a use by date , and im date and a use by date, and im going to sort of demystify it. So essentially , a best before so essentially, a best before date is the period during which the manufacturer guarantees that your fruit and vegetables are at their optimum quality. Theyre vibrant, theyre fresh, they look good, they smell good, but you can still eat them past the said date. But for me, i like to look at, i like to call it courgette theory. Ive coined this term i love courgettes, i always have them in my fridge. I think theyre really versatile. Think theyre really versatile. If a if the end bit of it has gone a bit mouldy ill chop that bit off. I look at the rest. Im using my common sense. Does it look okay . Does it smell okay . Have a little nibble. Does it taste all right . Its fine to eat. Good for you. Good for you. But what you risky, riskier with meat and fish. So thats where we talk about the use by date. That is a safety guideline. You dont want to mess with that okay. If it says use by the 24th of april, use it by the 24th of april, use it by the 24th of april, use it by the 24th of april. Do not start eating raw. Eating meat, fish, dairy past that personally, you know its not worth. Can i just quickly say on that note , though, i think a lot that note, though, i think a lot of manufacturers put 3 to 4 days extra on the use by just in case because they dont know how the consumers are treating the food give themselves a margin. Yes. So were the consumers seen as stupid. And so that thats therefore their risk. So actually so if you see yourself as sensible you might add four days to it. You use your senses basically smell first use your eyes. Whats all this got to do with hummus which is your product and what we see in front of us here. And what a beautiful display of hummus is. This is. But how are the two connected, i did a lot of work in events and hospitality and saw colossal amounts of food go to waste. And im very passionate about british farming. And at the time, there was a lot about Hugh Fearnley whittingstall seeing and his documentary , where and his documentary, where farmers were going under because a lot of their vegetables were going to waste due to non aesthetically pleasing, produce. And so i wanted to raise awareness. Im a private chef and was always turning my leftovers into dips and hummus. And so it was a way of educating the consumers about ways to use waste and leftovers. And also we waste and leftovers. And also we started by using lots of surplus from london, for example, this velvety hummus. Yes. You would have used vegetables that might otherwise have gone to waste. Well, thats the newest one, which doesnt have the vegetables, but the spinach and parsley and the beetroot and horseradish. When i was going around, wholesale markets, there was a lot of beetroot bags which were sometimes cracked open. Therefore they wouldnt be sold or they were too large and spinach and parsley bruise very easily. And so that the shelf life is a lot shorter. So they were just being just discarded. So i would take it all and make hummus. And that is absolutely marvellous. Hannah my goodness. What have you got here for instance. That is very, very intriguing. Yes. Would you like to describe that to me . That looks like two hot cross buns. It is sitting in a dish that is warm. I know i bring everything nice and heated up for you. You do . Brilliant. So ive just sort of. Im not reinventing the wheel here. Im just showcasing three dishes that you can make with leftovers. And its interesting that you picked up this one first. This is a take on a bread and butter pudding and the actual history of the bread and butter pudding, which sort of stems from the 11th century, is the whole idea that they were using up the leftover stale bread. And if you look at stale bread. And if you look at any recipe for bread and butter pudding, it actually says stale bread, because thats what its got slightly more density, its a bit more structure to sit in the custard and soak for 30 minutes before you put it into the oven, but this is just an example that you can use pastries, you could use croissants. You could use panettone. And would you mind passing me a spoon here we go. This has got a bit of marmalade, put into it as well. And obviously some cream. Did you put some custard in there as well . Oh theres custard. Theres everything. All the good stuff. Good stuff. That is phenomenal because you are all the taste of the cinnamon. Absolutely. Bum, and then these two are just really simple sort of dinner ideas. This is a great idea for using up leftover Roast Chicken. Today is sunday. Everyones making their roasts, im sure. So what have you done to your Roast Chicken . So youve. Ive just pulled all the remainders, remaining bits off the carcase and remember the carcase. You can also use cook that off and make a nice stock. And ive made a bit of an asian inspired fried rice. And ive just sort of flavoured it with some garlic, ginger chilli. Have a little taste of that, some coriander i will. I probably shouldnt have eaten this after the cinnamon bun, but never mind. First, what do we think . Easy. Its such a good job. Its such a good job. And then this one is what i like to call the Green Goddess pasta. And this is a great idea for using up bits of vegetables in the fridge you sort of cooked. Ive cooked down a bit of kale , leek, the good old of kale, leek, the good old courgette, and then ive put it into a blender. I cooked off it with an onion and garlic in a blender with some parmesan and some milk. And whats great about this sauce is that i make about this sauce is that i make a load of it, and then i put it into the freezer. So ive got two, three meals out of that. Thats a brilliant term. Pasta al pesto more or less. Yes. And its, amazing thing that might have gone to waste. That might have gone to waste. So whats whats the message to people . I mean, food Waste Matters , doesnt it . Matters, doesnt it . Food Waste Matters hugely. I think a third of the worlds Food Production is. Or food is wasted, which is, a massive , wasted, which is, a massive, addition to greenhouse emissions. It5 addition to greenhouse emissions. Its eight, 10, and we can all do something about it. Its eight, 10, and we can all do something about it. Yeah. Do something about it. Yeah. Either by buying your lovely hummus or by following hannah. Your lovely tips. Thank you very much. Hannah. Hello young and hannah mccollum. Indeed. Thank you to all my guests whove come in today on a sunday or talk to me from their homes. I will take a short break from hosting next week, but i will be back. U back with you in a fortnight. I shall miss you the week that im not here. Until then. Goodbye ladies i looks like things are heating up. Boxt boilers sponsors of whether on gb news. Hello. Heres your latest weather update from the met office for gb news. Well see an east west split weather wise across the uk today. Generally the best of any brightness the further west you head. Low pressure is generally dominating andifs pressure is generally dominating and its this weather front , and its this weather front, this occlusion here towards the east and northeast that will bnng east and northeast that will bring some more persistent rain to some areas through the day today. Notice fairly tightly packed isobars two indicating quite a blustery breeze. And its certainly a wet and fairly blustery picture across those east of the North Eastern areas. As we head through the afternoon. Some of those outbreaks of rain could locally be on the heavy side, brighter out towards the west and eventually across some southern spots. But notice a good scattering of showers here. 1 or 2 of those on the heavy side, and quite a chilly day still for the time of year. Highs of 12 towards the north up to 13 or 14 degrees at best towards the south and southeast as we head through the evening and during the overnight period, the most persistent rain will start to pull away towards the north east, lingering across the northern hours into the early hours of monday. Elsewhere clearer for a time, but notice a good rash of showers pushing back in from the west. So turning pretty wet out across some western spots into the early hours of monday. Some western spots into the early hours of monday. Under the clearer skies, we could see a local frost. Temperatures down close to freezing, but mostly frost free. And as we head through monday, once again an east west split in our weather. But its the east this time, seeing the best of the conditions, the brightest skies out towards the east and across the south east of england and elsewhere. Plenty of showers out towards the west and eventually across many northern spots too. And again, some of those showers turning quite heavy, merging to give some longer spells of rain at times to and temperatures a bit higher than today, though up to 16 or 17 towards the south east near a 12 to 14 across the north of the. That warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news. Hello and welcome to gb news sunday. Thank you very much for joining us this lunchtime. Im darren grimes, and for the next two hours, ill be keeping you company on tv, online and on digital radio. Coming up between now and 3 00. The pressure on rishi sunak has been cranked up after suffolk mp doctor dan poulter defected to labour. Well cross live to the republic of ireland , where anger is of ireland, where anger is brewing over the governments approach to housing so called Asylum Seekers , and king charles Asylum Seekers, and king charles wants to play a leading role at the trooping the colour birthday celebrations this year. But will doctors stop him as he continues his recovery from cancer . Now, his recovery from cancer . Now, as you well know by now, this show is absolutely nothing without you and your views. Let without you and your views. Let me know your thoughts on all of the stories well be discussing today by visiting gbnews. Com. Forward slash yours and join the conversation. Ive got it open right in front of me right now or message us on our socials. Were gbnews. First of all, though , heres the news with though, heres the news with tatiana sanchez