Transcripts For GBN Britains 20240703

Killers sentence was ruled not unduly lenient. Pharmacy closures ten pharmacies are closing every week in england in the first months of this year. Sophie reaper has more. With 177 having closed their doors already this year, are our pharmacies in crisis . Ill have all the latest from this pharmacy in Greater Manchester and the kings official portrait. The First Official portraits of king charles since his coronation has been unveiled at Buckingham Palace. We want to know what you think of it, gbnews. Com yoursay. Gbnews. Com yoursay. Its proving a little controversial. That picture. Picture. I dont know why. I dont know why. I dont know why. I i dont know why. I confess i have seen it in real life. I saw it a couple of weeks ago. It blows your mind when you see it in person. In person. Its. I suppose its controversial because its different, but because its different, but because its different doesnt make it controversial. Its very powerful and the image of the kings face is extraordinary. And its done in the red colour to reflect the welsh guards. Its beautiful in real life. Its beautiful in real life. Hes our colonel in chief. Hes our colonel in chief. And that is Jonathan Yeos style. Hes done tony blair, hes done barack obama, hes done all the celebrities you could name. And that is very much his distinctive style. Its got so much texture to the paintings. Anyway, what do you think . Gbnews. Com forward slash usa is the place to message us this morning. First though, your very latest news with our anne armstrong. Hello there. Very good morning to you. It is 932. Im Aaron Armstrong. The policing minister says new technology will help tackle knife crime. The government says it will invest £3. 5 million to develop technologies, which could help police detect suspects carrying knives from a distance. Just knives from a distance. Just over half £1 million will be given to the met to fund four more vans equipped with live facial recognition cameras, Police Minister chris philp told gb news it will make our streets safer, the kind of technology that can make an enormous difference includes things like, knife scanning technology. I was seeing a demonstration just yesterday in the home office of a handheld scanning device being developed by an american company, which could be ready to deploy on the streets, experimentally this year. That will enable officers to add a distance, scan people as theyre walking down a street to see if they are carrying a knife. That could have an enormous impact on pubuc could have an enormous impact on Public Safety. Public safety. The governments to put forward new proposals that will ban schools in england from teaching students about gender identity. It would also see all identity. It would also see all Sex Education halted for children under the age of nine. The Prime Minister ordered a review into relationships, sex and Health Education last year over concerns some kids were being taught inappropriate content. It and more food parcels were handed out over the past year than ever before, and the Trussell Trust says it donated more than 3 million packages in the year to the end of march. As the cost of living puts more households under strain more than a million of those parcels were for children, and the overall total had almost doubled from five years ago. The trust is calling on the government to do more to tackle the rising problem of Social Security. For the latest security. For the latest stories, you can sign up to our alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Com alerts. Now its over to andrew and. Bev. Andrew and. Bev. Good morning. Welcome to britains newsroom on gb news with me, bev turner and Andrew Pierce. Well, big story on a lot of the front pages today. Mail, telegraph times. Children will not be given Sex Education until the age of nine under new government guidance. And when Sex Education starts, will well no longer teach, will no longer be allowed to teach. There are 72 different genders. It feels like the tide is turning. Turning on some of is turning. Turning on some of this. What you might describe as woke nonsense. Sometimes its woke nonsense. Sometimes its described in that way 32 genders is woke nonsense , 72 genders is is woke nonsense, 72 genders is woke nonsense. Youre absolutely right. But during a distinction, i think, between gender as in whether you are more feminine or more masculine, because we all, we all fit into those sorts of categories and sometimes we fit into them at different stages of our life. And biological sex is a different thing. And i do a different thing. And i do worry that were slightly losing that. I remember writing about this in the mail about four years ago, when wed got up to 56 genders on facebook, and i said, only one more, and its going to be heinz 57, and now its 72, rattling towards 100. It is ludicrous. It is silly, but i do worry that were going to be we could be failing to educate some children who might need to understand things about their body. Were joined in the studio now by sam fowles, barrister and editor at large at the mail on sunday. Charlotte griffiths, what do you both think about this . Charlotte . Youve got three little ones. If i can come to you first. Im concerned as a mum that sometimes this Sex Education puts things in my childrens heads that actually they are too little to really have to contemplate. However, we have to contemplate. However, we do need kids to understand what is acceptable and what is not, particularly in relation to what other people can do to your body i yes, i was beam yes, i was just rereading my daughters Sex Education notes on the way here that they issued out. And there is there are things about that, as you say, what other people can do to your body so they can teach them those kind of guidelines. You know, when its okay to say stop, when its okay to say youre coming too close. But they dont have to then go to they dont have to then go to the next stage and confuse them with jen for 72 different genders. Talk to them about, you know, body parts that maybe theyre not ready to hear about. And ive got a five year old whos the youngest in her class. So this this really troubles me because shes a whole year younger than everyone else in her class, and she is very confused. And she does come back sometimes say, oh, mummy, you know, so and so talks about xyz and, you know, and thats just stuff they hear from their classmates and, you know, to add an extra layer of confusion from the teachers saying there are 72 different genders. Ive always been really worried about that. For her, it should surely be about taking away the confusion though. Education, if its got right, there doesnt seem to be any kind of clarity. Sam, i think we can probably start here by taking away the confusion no one has ever taught in a British School that there are 72 different genders that was entirely made up and has been completely debunked. How do you know that . Because ifact how do you know that . Because i fact in every school, because i fact in every school, because i did the facts. I looked at the fact check in the i did a fact check on it, and they found that when miriam cates claimed this, she had no absolutely no evidence to back it up. And in fact, what she relied on was a study from a completely different, jurisdiction. So its just not true that theyre being taught by 72 different genders. Theyre being told that on social media, there are influencers who will tell them on tiktok, hey guys, there are 130 different genders and you can be whatever you want. Ive seen these videos now. Ive seen these videos now. There are young teachers in schools who might be looking at that, and then regurgitating that, and then regurgitating that information to children in the classroom as though its fact. Yeah. So this is and this is why the this guidance is absolutely bonkers and is going to put children in in peril because i looked up what theyre being taught right now in sexual relations Relationship Education before year five. So thats theyre going to what theyre proposing is stop sex and Relationship Education before year five. So what theyre learning thats 9 or 10. Yeah. What theyre learning before that is to set and communicate their own boundaries and respect the boundaries of others. Staying safe online difference between appropriate and inappropriate and unsafe contact. Respect for different family models. Contact. Respect for different family models. And how to take family models. And how to take care of themselves. Now speaking as someone who has argued Child Protection cases as kids, knowing this at the earliest possible stage is absolutely vital in terms of whether youre talking about paedophiles or whether youre talking about creepy uncles, its absolutely vital kids learn this, and i think its absolutely disgraceful that the education secretary is playing politics, trying to stoke a culture war. And in doing so , putting kids at and in doing so, putting kids at very, very real risk. I mean, what do you say to that . I think its actually a preventative measure because yes, its true. I read these yes, its true. I read these guidelines in my own daughters school. And youre right, it is kind of all safe sort of topics. But sometimes teachers take that to the next level. And i think what this guidance will do will prevent teachers taking it to the next level getting ahead of themselves. And we do hear of themselves. And we do hear of the occasional cases of teachers randomly getting ahead of themselves and saying the wrong thing about gender or pushing their own beliefs, you know, their own beliefs, you know, their own beliefs, you know, their own potentially quite woke beliefs, depending on what school youre at, depending on allowing children to change their pronouns. Exactly. Thats a lot of parents knowing thats been widely reported. I dont even widely reported. I dont even want to say thats made up. Yeah. No, no, exactly. Theres a lot of exactly theres a lot of variables. And i think what this will do is say, look, seriously, do not cross the boundary here. Stop at this. You know, stop at these guidelines. And you know why this is important as well, because you have got some families who might be of a particular religious persuasion who dont believe its okay to be gay, who dont believe that its that , you believe that its that, you know, who might have different relationships in terms of what age is acceptable to do things to girls. And i want those girls to girls. And i want those girls to understand these boundaries that youre talking about. That youre talking about. Yeah. I mean, i think if theres a family that is imposing their beliefs that its not okay to be gay, on on a kid, they you need to get them far away from that kid as as possible, as quickly as they possibly whole schools doing that. Whole religious schools will be doing that. Thats an aps. Thats just an absolute abomination, i think. Do we want six year olds being taught about being gay . Isnt it a bit young . Oh, you can be gay at six. Oh, you can be gay at six. You can be just in the same way. You can be straight at six. I knew, i knew i was, was, was, was straight when i was six. Why couldnt someone know they were gay when i was six . Id never heard of being gay. Id never heard of being gay. Yeah, but isnt that the point . Andrew because the kids are being prevented from understanding the world that they live in. Some people are gay, some people are straight, some people are bi, some people are trans. Thats the world. Just get with it. I dont think most six year olds have made know theyre gay. Sam, i think youre i think youre pushing it a bit, but they must know that other people are gay. They will because. And why cant they be taught some people are gay. Just respect it. And thats all right. Especially within that boundary, charlotte of a different family model. Thats different family model. Thats thats the one that i think that would probably sit under. You know, we might know people who are who have a gay, a gay couple who have a child. Yeah. I think i think thats important. I think its important. But theyll know that anyway when theyll know that anyway when they see that two dads collect their friend from the school gates, theyll know some some kids have two dads, some kids have two mums. And also theyre going to learn all of this anyway on tiktok. I mean, god knows the march of the smartphones is something that we all have to fear and i actually, im a big believer in protecting kids for as long as i can get away with it, because no matter how hard i try, theyre going to get their hands on smartphones soon and theyre going to be on tiktok, and theyre going to be seeing lord knows what i mean. Its going to be horrendous. And actually, i want to protect that innocence. Yeah. So in a way we need more Sex Education at this time to offset some of the nonsense, the trust, of course, its whether you trust the teachers to know the as charlotte said, some of them might push those boundanes some of them might push those boundaries a little into ways that parents would be uncomfortable with. Well, in any education system, youre youre going to get different views, right . Its inevitable. You cant make teachers robots. Whats important is to teach that there are, in some cases , theres are, in some cases, theres disagreement. Theres a majority of views. In some cases, the best thing to do is just be respectful. And again, thats the sheer sort of authoritarianism of this, this guidance where, you know, weve gone past things, simple things like freedom of speech. Were now dictating little what you can learn about your own body parts in this guidance. And the parts in this guidance. And the secretary of state suggesting that you cant be taught that some people are trans and some people feel that they they were born in the wrong body. Theyre theyre not theyre not just saying you have to teach both sides of this. Theyre saying you can only teach one side of this debate. And again, thats this debate. And again, thats not educating children. Not educating children. Sam. Youve got just talking very powerfully about this. Helen joyce, director. She works for the charity sex matters, said this guidance will require schools to stop presenting gender ideology as fact and to stop hiding personal, social, health and Economic Education lessons from parents. Thats important, isnt it . Shouldnt parents know what theyre being taught . These kids parents should know what theyre being taught about all sorts of things. And this isnt happening always. But i dont think what Gillian Keegan says is going to have to stop. Parents are going to have to know, why are you saying thats authoritarian . Oh, because what im saying is authoritarian. Is Gillian Keegan dictating . Is Gillian Keegan dictating . They cant teachers cant teach one side of the debate. They have to only teach the sort of the absurd kind of obsession with peoples private parts that helen joyce and her ilk seem to have. But they cant teach the other side of the debate, which is people. Thats very is people. Thats very disparaging. I am quite disparaging. I am quite disparaging about about rude, i would say. Well, im quite disparaging about the movement of which helen joyce is a part, because i think they are manifestly endangering people in order to place a victor gao fryston understanding of womanhood on people. And i think effectively people need to be better at minding their own business when it comes to trans people. Get your mind out of peoples private parts, out of peoples private parts, out of peoples trousers , and just let peoples trousers, and just let peoples trousers, and just let people live, right . So from one sensitive matter to another, charlotte, a report into birth trauma shows that the state of Maternity Services in this country are at an all time low. Doesnt come as much of a surprise to me. Somebody worked in that industry for ten years, you recently or fairly well, very recently gave birth, didnt you . A year ago , does it come as you . A year ago, does it come as a surprise to you, these findings . It doesnt to be honest. Ive had three births. They were three incredibly different experiences, but the latest one, i was literally ignored. And i have had three babies. So i was saying to the midwife, look, ive had three babies, so i can tell that im currently giving birth. You know, i can pick up birth. You know, i can pick up on the signs. And she just she just said, no, no, youre not. Gave me two paracetamol, put me in a waiting room. And actually, in a waiting room. And actually, in a waiting room. And actually, in a waiting room. And actually, in a strange way, it was so empowering because i just had to get on with it and just give birth on my own in a waiting room, in a hospital. Id made it to the hospital and then just was completely ignored. But after i gave birth, i just thought nothing can ever stop me. Im not going to be afraid of any turbulence on a plane, any sort of bossy boss, you know, because it was incredibly empowering. I just did it on my own. Did did anyone come and help you . Eventually. Eventually i marched myself up to the labour ward, so i was in a midwife led unit for the first time out of my three baths. And thats where i ran into trouble, because i just found the midwives there just found the midwives there just werent responsive. They treated me like an inconvenience, which was found inconvenience, which was found in the report. Definitely did that and just didnt believe me and i just couldnt get through to them. When i marched myself up to the labour ward where there were doctors around and started making a big fuss, actually, i was listened to and at the very end i actually managed to be somewhere where there was a proper bed, you know, it was, but most of the birth was in the waiting room. The depressing thing, all of the research into this 15, ten, 15, 20 years ago was showing that women who have difficult births, they never say it really hurts. They dont talk about that. They say nobody listened to me. Yeah, nobody listened to me. Women who have genuine post traumatic birth issues say nobody listens to me. And were seeing that time and time again. And thats just not changing. And thats just not changing. And midwives will say were understaffed, were overworked, but we dont have the time. We havent got the resources. Its gone horribly wrong and the nhs dont seem to be dont seem to even dont seem to be dont seem to ever. Nobody seems to get a grip on this. Charlotte. No, i think i think one of the reasons they dont get a grip on it is there is this culture that midwives i mean, call the midwife. The programme midwives are these saints and theyre angels, right . Im afraid ive had ive had some good midwives, but im afraid theyre not, you know, theyre quite rude. I had one that was told me off because i was passing out whilst feeding my baby. And she said, you cant fall asleep feeding your baby. Thats lazy. I was passing, i was unconscious, i was i had to have an emergency blood transfusion after that moment and actually she was not, im afraid, a saint and im sorry. I know it sort of sacrilegious to describe midwives as anything less than perfect, but some of them arent, and they are overworked. And our colleague sarah varne has written a very powerful piece in the piece. Some of them are amazing, and some of them are for some reason, theyve lost their way. Includes that poor care is normal. Yeah, it is normal. I mean, its appalling. It seems to be. It seems to be the way that people have got used to just theyre used to being ignored or told off by them. And then youre told youve got a healthy baby and thats what matters. Go away. I wonder if i wonder if men had babies. If it would be different, i think it would be different. Sam, do you think different . Sam, do you think different . I think it would be different. I think i, i hate to say that thats a what a horrible thing to have to say. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Charlotte. Sam, thank you so much. Up next, gb news. Braverman. Its 950 on britains newsroom. So the nhs has warned that on average, ten pharmacies are closing every week in england. Well, lets go live to gb news, north west of england. Reporter sophie reaper, who can tell us why . Sophie, morning to you. You. Very good morning to you both. I mean , these are both. I mean, these are absolutely shocking figures weve seen this morning, 177 closed already this year. So to take in those figures, im joined now by phil mccall, who is the managing director of prestwich pharmacy. Very good morning to you finn. Thank you for joining us. These figures forjoining us. These figures incredibly shocking. What do you make of them . Mayfair sophie is this is only the tip of the iceberg. Its been the easy closure so far for some of the Large Companies to do. Now were companies to do. Now were getting down to the real hub of this and that. People are going to close are people like me who are just going to become bankrupt and not have any resource or remiss to try and get away through this. Obviously, were speaking earlier about the growing problem and figures weve seen this morning. In 2022, it was 91. Closures last year it was over 400 closures. So this this problem is just growing exponentially. What can we do about it. So the only way that this can be resolved is for the government to put a lot more funding into community pharmacy. Were going to talk in a minute about pharmacy first. Pharmacy first is fantastic service for the patients and it takes pressure off gps and even a e and urgent services. But if we cant get if we cant source the drugs, if we cant deliver the drugs, if we cant deliver the drugs to our patients , thats drugs to our patients, thats our core bread and butter, thats the bit thats falling over. Oven you mentioned pharmacy first. Thatis you mentioned pharmacy first. That is of course, rishi sunak scheme thats designed to take pressure off already stressed Services Like gps and hospitals. But if were seeing ten pharmacies close every single week, how can that possibly be working . Its really difficult , right . Its really difficult, right . And ill say this on behalf of all of my colleagues out there who are running pharmacies and being pharmacists day in to day and day out, its really difficult to balance the needs of sourcing the drugs for the patient, preparing them and seeing them when theyre walking through the doors. Now, please bear with our pharmacy teams. Theyre all doing a phenomenal job to do this , but were job to do this, but were struggling. We do know there are queuesin struggling. We do know there are queues in pharmacies and we do know there are problems sourcing drugs, epileptic drugs, diabetes drugs, epileptic drugs, diabetes drugs, heart drugs. But the teams are doing really all they can do to support our patients. And pharmacy first is growing and it is thriving. When weve got the time to deliver it properly. Thank you so much for your time this morning. Fin. There we are. Pharmacies are struggling and they are closing. And if theres not more support its going to continue to be a problem. Thank you sophie. In my home village of prestwich village i grew up in prestwich village. Would you just ask our pharmacist friend . There was the impact of this very much. The tescos opening up the road like years ago now, and therefore it really changed the centre of that area so that the independent shops were really struggling. Struggling. Bevs just asked shes from originally from prestwich and she asked if the tesco opening up the road has had any kind of impact on the smaller pharmacies. No , we worked with tescos no, we worked with tescos quite closely. There is enough pharmacies in the area above. The challenge is now actually the survivor ability of the pharmacies. Tescos been open now for over 20 years. I was here no 30 years i was here when it first opened and but the government are not resourcing us anywhere near enough. Were anywhere near enough. Were probably as much as £1 billion short of what we need to be survival. I know thats not a real number for the government to fund us with today, but thats how big a shortfall there is in the pharmacies requirement to look after our patients and take the pressure off the rest of the nhs. Of the nhs. Ben, thank you so much. There we are. That is a problem across the board. The board. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah it was was many years ago but it very much changed the centre of that village like so many. Whether here we are, whether. Whether. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of whether on gb news. Whos. News. Whos. Good morning. Welcome along to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news many places. Having a fine day today with sunny spells and it will feel pretty warm in that sunshine as well. But some parts, particularly Eastern England, remaining pretty drab. Rain and drizzle on and off across much of yorkshire , across much of yorkshire, lincolnshire and into norfolk as well. A few showers scattered about elsewhere, some getting to the west of the pennines and maybe a few across the south west of england. But many places here through wales, Northern Ireland, much of scotland will be dry. Notice quite murky conditions on the east coast of scotland, however. East coast of scotland, however. Ha returning here thats going to suppress the temperatures in the sunny spells further south. We could easily get up to 20, maybe 21 celsius. That mist and low cloud will be around then through the evening and overnight across the eastern part of scotland, tending to come and go and as i say, suppress the temperatures. But generally a fine warm evening across the highlands. It may across the highlands. It may cloud over a little bit through the central belt. Could be some patchy rain across southwest scotland this evening. Most of Northern Ireland staying dry but maybe again here, clouding over a little bit. Pretty dull and damp across parts of Eastern England through to the east midlands, much of the south having a fine evening, midlands, much of the south having a fine evening , just having a fine evening, just a bit of a breeze picking up along the south coast and say maybe 1 or 2 showers here. Well continue to see some outbreaks of rain and keep the generally pretty drab conditions across the east coast of england. And that will last through the night and into thursday morning, temperature wise. Well, we may temperature wise. Well, we may dip to single figures overnight, but most towns and cities staying in double digits. Onto the details for tomorrow. Again a fairly grey start across much of northern england. Rain at times here. More of it though, to the west of the pennines and well see a bit more of that rain just heading into parts of Northern Ireland south west scotland through the day. A few more showers in the south tomorrow. Some heavy showers likely to develop by the afternoon. Plenty of sunshine afternoon. Plenty of sunshine away from those showers and again a good looking day in western scotland, where temperatures likely to get over 20 celsius. Goodbye that warm feeling inside and from boxt boilers sponsors of gb news. Very good morning. It is 10 00 on wednesday, the 15th of may. This is britains newsroom on gb news with me, bev turner and Andrew Pierce. Well, Sex Education shake up new plans under new plans. Children wont be given Sex Education until the age of nine. And teachers will not be able to talk about contested ideas like the idea. There are 72 different genders. Genders. Also, in just a few moments, were going to be speaking to the mother of barnaby webber. Shes an amazing woman. Barnaby of course, was the 19 year old who was one of three People Killed in nottingham last year by Valdo Calocane. By Valdo Calocane. What do you think of it . The kings official portrait nye bevani kings official portrait nye bevan i love it. Its the first since the kings was, since the coronation. Its been unveiled at Buckingham Palace by. And it was the artist, jonathan yeo. What do you think . What do you think . And two men will appear in court today accused of failing the world famous sycamore gap tree last september. Do you remember that . I for one, am interested to know why they did it. Why would they . And reuniting the right, sir jacob why would they . And reuniting the right, Sirjacob Rees Mogg set out his plan to increase the tory partys election chances with the help of nigel farage in a conservative government as a conservative minister, with bofis conservative minister, with Boris Johnson probably returning as foreign secretary and welcoming the likes of ben habib and richard tice into our party, as well as pursuing genuinely conservative policies. I dont think paris wants to come back as foreign secretary. I think boris wants to come back as leader and Prime Minister also. Jacob, are there no women . Is there not a single woman in that in that area that you think would make a good job . Im sorry that just it just really struck me there. All right. Let us know your thoughts this morning. Gbnews. Com yoursay first though, the very latest news with karen armstrong. Armstrong. All right. Good morning. Its a minute past ten. Im Aaron Armstrong, the policing minister says new technology will help tackle knife crime. The government believes its investment of £3. 5 million in developing technology will help police detect suspects carrying knives from a distance. Just over half £1 million is going to be given to the met to fund four more vans equipped with live facial recognition cameras to policing, minister chris philp told gb news. It will make our streets safer, the kind of technology that can make an enormous difference includes things like, knife scanning technology. I was seeing a demonstration just yesterday in the home office of a handheld scanning device being developed by an american company, which could be ready to deploy on the streets, experimentally. This year. That will enable officers to add a distance , scan people as theyre distance, scan people as theyre walking down a street to see if they are carrying a knife. That could have an enormous impact on pubuc could have an enormous impact on Public Safety. Well, laws are are and zombie knives , machetes and swords are knives, machetes and swords are also due to be tightened from september. Shadow minister also due to be tightened from september. Shadow minister Nick Thomas Symonds says the government isnt doing enough. The government is completely failing. Weve got an 80 increase since 2015 and rises all around the country. Thats the first point on stop and search. Stop and search. That is intelligence led and evidence based is a really important tool and you know, weve had, for example, the inspectorate of constabulary , independent constabulary, independent organisation, looking at this, saying that whats essential is that it saying that whats essential is thatitis saying that whats essential is that it is done in that targeted way , in a non targeted way, when way, in a non targeted way, when it isnt evidence based. It does lead to a lack of community confidence, which we need to make sure is essential. Make sure is essential. The government is to put forward new proposals that will ban schools in england from teaching students about gender identity. It would also see all Sex Education halted for children under the age of nine. The Prime Minister ordered a review into relationships , sex review into relationships, sex and Health Education last year over concerns that some kids were being taught inappropriate content, reports in the times suggest parents will be provided samples of Sex Education content before lessons take place. Ministers will reportedly say gender identity is highly contested , and teaching children contested, and teaching children about it too early could have damaging implications. More food damaging implications. More food parcels were handed out over the past year than ever before. The Trussell Trust says it donated more than 3 million emergency packages in the year to the end of march, as the cost of living puts more households under strain. More than a million of those were for children , and the those were for children, and the overall total has doubled from five years ago. The trusts head of policy, Helen Barnard , says of policy, Helen Barnard, says the government must tackle long term deficiencies in our welfare system. Its more than the cost of living crisis and the pandemic because this trend was starting before even covid hit. So over five years, we found that the need has doubled the number of food parcels were having to provide , because its what weve provide, because its what weve really seen is the uncovering of a longer term crisis, which is dnven a longer term crisis, which is driven mainly by our Social Security system, not providing the protection that it should provide. When times get tough and any of us could need some help, two men will appear in court later charged with criminally damaging the famous sycamore gap tree. Daniel graham, whos 38, and the 31 year old adam crothers, will attend newcastle magistrates court. The tree stood in a dramatic dip on Hadrians Wall in northumberland for more than 200 years, until it was cut down last year, sparking a National Outcry and some good news for fans of the classic comedy legally blonde. It is returning to screens in the form of a prequel series. Actress Reese Witherspoon made the announcement on social media, and the character she portrayed in 2001 will be bending and snapping her way back to the small screen in a series titled elle. The 48 year old was the original character in the hit comedy. She will also serve as executive producer of the series, which will premiere on amazons prime platform. But on amazons prime platform. But for the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts. Scan sign up to gb news alerts. Scan the qr code on your screen. Our website has more details. Now back to andrew and. Bev. Back to andrew and. Bev. Its the time is now. 1006 youre listening to britains newsroom on, gb news with Andrew Pierce and bev turner. I left the room, lost the remote control. Im sure you can relate. At home, its sometimes down the back of the sofa. Now. Valdo calocane sentenced for killing three people in a knife rampage in nottingham last summer. Was found not unduly lenient by judges yesterday. Judges yesterday. If you recall, he was given an indefinite hospital order in january after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of the students. Barnaby webber, Grace Omalley Kumar and the School Caretaker ian coates. So the families of the victims are now calling for a pubuc victims are now calling for a Public Inquiry. And joining us now is barnabys mum, emma webber. Good morning emma, thank you so much forjoining us. Ive seen you do several interviews and im always moved by your stoicism, your strength, your courage, your ability to remain articulate in this face of this much pressure. Just tell us, much pressure. Just tell us, first of all, where were you yesterday when the court case was being heard, and how did you feel as that panned out . Yeah. So good morning both. Thanks for having me. We, david and i, my husband and i stayed at home. We were in taunton, where we live in, in somerset, we were not expecting anything other than the outcome yesterday , i think weve hopefully made it very clear that all three families united, do not accept the plea of diminished responsibility. So therefore, responsibility. So therefore, manslaughter alongside the attempted murder charges. And we feel its the result of a very, very flawed and failed Police Investigation and a weak, cps prosecution from the east midlands and an utter overreliance upon doctors reports , so what happened reports, so what happened yesterday wasnt asked for by us. It came from the attorney general. It came from her office. I think that there was always a glimmer of hope that there might be a modicum of comfort if calocane had some form of penal element, or punishment added to him, but we werent expecting it. I think with what the judges, in high court were presented with and the judge , Justice Turner in the judge, Justice Turner in nottingham back in january, were presented with, i think it was probably an inevitable result, the inquiry youre now seeking, emma, is that thats not just into the, the sentencing. Its is it into the whole conduct of the Police Investigation . Ian. The Police Investigation . Ian. Yeah. And its sometimes its actually hard to know where to begin with all of the catastrophic failings , and catastrophic failings, and missed opportunities. Its very, very clear to us, and to everybody involved that there were massive problems and errors and mishaps leading up to the 13th of june for this individual being out in the community in the first place, you know, warrants not being executed for his arrest, etcetera. And, inadequate at best medical care. However, since the 13th of june, weve raised some very real concerns, which are also being investigated about Nottinghamshire Police , Nottinghamshire Police, obviously leicestershire police, the Mental Health trust, as, as i sit here talking to you guys, weve got eight individual, reports, reviews and investigations taking place about all of it. And its utterly overwhelming, we as families are involved in, in those. And obviously we have to be, but i think our concern is now following how things have been happening, and the quality better with some not so good with others of the reviews and the people leading them is we dont feel its going to be cohesive. We dont feel its going to be joined up, and therefore the really urgent questions arent going to be answered. So it was sort of were now were now feeling that keir starmer was right in january, where he called for a pubuc january, where he called for a Public Inquiry straight away, and we listened to the Prime Minister and said, okay, well, he said, thats not out of the question, but, you know, lets get all these urgent reviews done first, and now were five months down the line, its becoming fairly obvious to us. I think the only way well ever get answers for ourselves, justice and also Public Safety and changes is a Public Inquiry. And because you would want the Public Inquiry to conclude what emma, in a way that should have been done differently first time round. I mean, as you say, there are lots of issues prior to the offence, but also in the subsequent investigation, but i imagine you have a to do list that goes around your head when you wake up at 3 00 in the morning that you would want to see ticked off, and what what is on that to do list for the safety of all the public . Yeah, i think its like you say, its enormous. Its a very big to do list. But its every single thing that went wrong is because of error. Its entirely the murder of my son and of grace and of ian. And the attacks on the others were entirely preventable. And theyre the result of poor treatment of missed opportunities, poor policing from two forces. All of that has to be looked into because , this to be looked into because, this isnt an isolated case. Is it . This is this is going to happen again. Its, its when its going to happen. Not if. And it could happen anywhere. And you know, there have been very, very recent hideous cases about some similarities which which, you know, really, really terrify me. So i dont, you know, the message that im getting from people is people do not feel safe. They dont feel theres adequate protection, theres not adequate protection, theres not adequate treatment for seriously ill people, you know, murder is murder. This this ill people, you know, murder is murder. This this individual knew he was doing. He planned it for months and months on end, however, allegedly, hes hes too diminished to stand trial for a murder , but so, so. Too diminished to stand trial for a murder , but so, so. Im so sorry. No. No. Carry on. So. So is it that you accept the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia . But you think , schizophrenia . But you think, therefore, he should have been in in a in an institution or somehow contained or medicated . Just you accept the diagnosis, but you dont accept the diminished responsibility. What we accept and weve neven what we accept and weve never, ever disputed is Valdo Calocane is a seriously unwell, very dangerous individual. He was symptomatic in 2019. He was diagnosed in 2020. Theres an escalation of incidents and assaults, from that stage onwards , including being onwards, including being sectioned four times, being arrested for assaulting a Police Officer during a Mental Health intervention. An and it was so intervention. An and it was so severe that he ended up being tasered. Thats what the outstanding warrant from nottinghamshire was. They never executed. So i think what were showing is this is an individual who was diagnosed who has chosen to not take his medication. Hes stockpiled his medication. He doesnt actually even believe hes unwell , doesnt actually even believe hes unwell, but he was well enough to make a level a number of rational decisions during his alleged psychosis of this whole period. He completed a21, degree in Mechanical Engineering at nottingham 12 months before he murdered barney, a month before he murdered barney, he had a job in a factory in leicester where he assaulted, two co workers. The police were called, and i cant go into the failings because theyll be made public soon. But its pretty obvious that that was a massive missed opportunity as well. And so this is an individual that the care system has failed him. Hes failed himself, and there has to be accountability and there has to be change. I think its going to be change. I think its going to happen again. And how do you get through each day by my fingernails hanging on to something . If im honest . Hanging on to something . If im honest . Weve got an if im honest . Weve got an Amazing Network of people, weve had just an overwhelming amount of support from from the public. And that really does encourage you. And it keeps you going because, of course, we check ourselves to make sure that its not just us, you know, venting our grief and our anger. And, you know, as i say, that as we as all three families, sadly, we, arent getting the support we, arent getting the support we should be getting from the ministry of justice and justice through , victim support. Youre through, victim support. Youre given a paltry 12 sessions of therapy. Youre allowed to have up to. Were nearly a year in. Up to. Were nearly a year in. My up to. Were nearly a year in. My husband, my son, and myself have have used those just to try and stabilise ourselves. And and stabilise ourselves. And weve now been categorically told. No, thats it. Youre on your own now. You have to go your own now. You have to go into the nhs or pay. And when i know that calocane is, is costing the taxpayer upwards of 350 to 400,000 a year, and we believe hes in receipt of his benefits because hes a patient, not a criminal. It, i think it beggars the question of the ministry of justice says that victims are at the heart of everything, that the criminal Justice System does. It doesnt. Were an appendix. Were an afterthought. And that has to afterthought. And that has to change, too, for the sake of Mental Health and peoples futures. And there must be a sense that you cant you and the kumars and the coates family , kumars and the coates family, you cant really start to grieve properly when youre in this busy stage of grief, because everybody gets busy. When somebody dies, you plan a funeral, but youre busyness in. This has been going on for nearly a year now. What will the nearly a year now. What will the end look like for you in terms of when you can sleep possibly better at night . Better at night . I think that weve made it abundantly clear that until we are getting proper answers to our questions and things are in motion to ensure safety and ensure changes. Look, the laws are archaic. I saw your report are archaic. I saw your report before about knife crime. Thats a obviously its a whole other discussion, i we cannot change the world. We cannot change our law. We cant become armchair law. We cant become armchair experts and everything, but all we can do is use the voice that weve got. You know, were coming up to the first anniversary, which is going to be the worst. First of them all, bless him. I can see him. Bless him. I can see him. I know emma and how and hows charlie doing . Oh , sitting at gcse as oh, sitting at gcse as i speak to you , which is hes speak to you, which is hes utterly thrilled about great timing. Right , timing. Right, yeah. Its great. Its great having your 16th birthday and then your gcses, and you know, having your brother murdered and everything in the pubuc murdered and everything in the public eye. But you know, hes a hero. Hes an absolute legend, charlie. Hes doing so well. Hes engaged with support thats been offered. As i said, thats been offered. As i said, thats now ended. School have been amazing , friends have been amazing, friends have been amazing. But hes lost his hero. Amazing. But hes lost his hero. Hes lost his nemesis, his big brother, his best friend, and hes lost his future with somebody that he thought would always be there. But anyway , always be there. But anyway, thank you for asking, but hes doing all right. We were on air, emma, when this story was breaking, actually. And there are few stories, really that stay with you and your story and that of the other families has really stayed with us. And we will be thinking of you on the anniversary and emma and the best of luck with your campaign , best of luck with your campaign, because i think youve not been denied. Youve been denied the justice you deserve. And im very disappointed with that verdict yesterday. But much love to you and to your husband and to you and to your husband and to charlie. And lets hope his exams go well too. Exams go well too. Yeah. And if you ever want to come and talk to us and we can support you in any way, we are here. So we wish you all. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you. Emma. Thank you, thank you. Emma. Thats bahmans mum. Thats bahmans mum. Emma isnt she remarkable . Emma isnt she remarkable . Shes amazing. I told you i started the interview saying ive seen her and i dont know how she does it, i dont could she get through any day, let alone every day . Its that drive to get something positive, to come out of something. So awful and just on that appeal yesterday. So they they stuck with diminished responsibility, manslaughter , which means he manslaughter, which means he cant get a whole life sentence. And the judge said, like he hell be in prison for the rest of that. But that doesnt mean he will be. But he but they upheld the sentence of attempted murder for driving the van. Ians van that three people. So why is one attempted murder and the other one not murder . It makes no sense. The fact that hes able to claim his benefit. The fact that hes able to claim his benefit. Ipsis calocane now . Yeah. The fact that hes in hospital and not in prison means he can claim his benefits , which he can give. To benefits, which he can give. To who . Family members. Yeah, that makes my blood boil. And hes. And hes. And hes. And its costing us around £350,000 a year. Its so wrong. Everything about that is absolutely wrong. And its all very well to watch a judge in court looking very serious and very professional and saying they listen to the doctors, we listen to the white coats. Weve heard from the doctors completely different. When you see the victim and you see the mother and you see her crying, its not right. And 12 sessions with a therapist from, a victim support 12. Thats enough. Is it awful . 12. Thats enough. Is it awful . Right. Time for a quick break. Yep. Time is right. We are joining the studio by mike parry and former labour mp Stephen Pound. Gentlemen should we talk about how to unite the right or how Jacob Rees Mogg thinks the right should be united . Do we have to you do i think youll be good at this . Its going to be hard work, i can tell you that. Well i think its an amazing story. So this is , Jacob Rees Mogg so this is, Jacob Rees Mogg on this very station. I think, talking about it, i think we were and actually, i think we were and actually, i think it would be a good idea because i, i think how many times have i been on air and said theres a silent majority in this country. I think there might come out on polling day, but that silent majority want to see a bit of, you know, red blood meat, right wing policies. These are the people whove got them. Why not draft them in . And even if you start floating the idea, youll then get a feedback and a response to see whether it would work. Lets have a listen to what jacob said on gb news last night. Answer lies in reuniting the right with the help of nigel farage in a conservative government. As a conservative minister, with Boris Johnson probably returning as foreign secretary and welcoming the likes of ben habib and richard tice into our party. As well as pursuing genuinely conservative policies , winning the next policies, winning the next election suddenly becomes within reach, does it, stephen . Yeah. Yeah. Look, lets give a couple of things straight. Benjamin disraeli said that the tory party is an organised hypocrisy , party is an organised hypocrisy, and to a certain extent, all parties are coalitions. They dont forget theres a huge block of tory mps who are wet, so wet as Margaret Thatcher used to say, you can shoot snipe off them, you know, and they was it whoever somebody said that. But the point is, if you look at the votes this week on on arresting mps whove been charged when, when the government lost the vote, you look at the rwanda bill, where tory mps are voting against it. The fact is, if you move to the right, then you abandon the left. The left could then coalesce around the liberal democrats. Im not entirely sure that theres going to be a complete realignment. What there has to be without a shadow of a doubt, if there has to be a recognition on the conservative party that they should be flipping, conserving something because at the moment theyre conserving nothing but the theyre just liberals without theyre just liberals without the soundbites. No, no. But the trouble is, farage and tice do pronounce on right wing policies, which used to be conservative. Now, as a kid, i remember the first time i ever heard broadchurch was Jim Callaghan of the labour leader, because he had terrible problems inside his party with left wingers and the union, so he used to come. We have a broad church. Even as a teenager i knew broad churches dont work because you cant be all things to all people, so why not step forward and be something very significant to those who you know will support you . Farage is a proven winner. I mean, we had brexit in this country because of nigel farage. Yeah. No, i mean, in many ways nigel farage is up there with blair and thatcher as the most significant politicians in my lifetime. Without a shadow of a doubt. I dont disagree with that. But hes also so divisive. Still, he remains divisive, unfairly, in my opinion. Im not saying that that wasnt i wasnt supporting him, but i mean, was it . Kinnock said that we are a broad church, but sadly were full of knaves. But dont, dont the parties who do well traditionally throughout time are pretty centrist, thinking about tony blair . Yeah, but the Centre Ground shift, that Centre Ground. Yeah, but the Centre Ground in 97 is not where the Centre Ground is today. I totally agree with you. And also i blame david cameron, lord cameron, you know , the foreign cameron, you know, the foreign secretary who thinks hes the Prime Minister again for diluting the party of its core values. Yeah, he and in fact, id go even further back and say john major started diluting the conservative party of its tory values, talking about the wets and, you know, cosying up to europe and all that. And ever europe and all that. And ever since that day, the tory party has just been getting more and more and more liberal and more and more and more diverse. I was at a dinner last night at the carlton club, where a lot of tory Senior Tories were there, and i said to them, so what is the greatest achievement of the last 14 years of conservative government oh my word, a lot of a lot of gazing at peoples shoes. Yeah, yeah. At peoples shoes. Yeah, yeah. Because they were struggling. Because they were struggling. Because you cant say low taxes because theyre very high. Theyre the highest since the Second World War. Somebody, somebody said nhs, the vaccine rollout. Oh my word. I wish id been there. Id have been like, pull up a chair. Ill tell you if you are, youre not a member of the carlton club. No, funnily enough, im not a member. There might be a reason why im not a member i was against, i just said a left wing bofis against, i just said a left wing Boris Johnson. But then who they got rid of . Exactly. But then, having achieved what i thought was a vote winner and decided to shoot him, the key thing here is if you look at the blackpool south by election on may, the second turnout of 30, reform got 17. If reform gets 17 in any other constituencies, basically that gives it to labour on a silver platter. Yeah. And that is its not so much the problem of realignment. It its actually of realignment. It its actually whats going to happen. This could this could be existential threat. In the West Midlands Mayoral Election andy street lost by 1500 votes. Reform had what did they get 30. Is it 15,000 or something . They cost the tories but yaqoob got 30,000. Yes he did. But you see i think if reform were here and represented on this table today, they would say thats okay. Were right with that because our vision is for the british conservative right to be given a kick up the backside in this election. And then we aim for the next. I totally agree, but i wish what theyd say is that instead of, you know, saying were a knight in shining armour, riding up the hill on our own, they would say were knight in shining armour. Were going to rescue the tory party. And the only way you can do that is to infiltrate the tory party. Conservative . Well, no, but if theyif conservative . Well, no, but if they if they worked hard enough and got inside the tory party, couldnt they turn them back to conservatism . Because one one of conservatism . Because one one of the aspects of this is that youd have to find some safe seats for these people to stand up, and that could go way beyond, tice and farage. I also think itd be very difficult to find a safe seat. Indeed. When i was in the whips office, i can remember a labour mp saying to me in 2010, do you know a period in opposition would do us some good . And one of my colleagues thumped him. I dont blame him in the whips office. Yeah, a period of opposition is something that people are not in politics sometimes. Oh, itd be a good idea. Nobody wants a penod be a good idea. Nobody wants a period in opposition. And you say you dont know how long the period is going to be of course not. Because labour were out for 18 years after. Well, tell me about it. Yeah, yeah. Well, how drastically the country might change before you get the chance to try and run it again, you know, with some extreme policies. Talking of change, let me come to the middle aged babe magnet on this. Mike okay, the nhs are now paying men of whom there is rather a lot to love. £400 to lose weight. What . What a load of utter nonsense. No, no, what, what interests me about this story is that the experiment so far has taken place in bristol, glasgow and belfast. Right. Well, you know, glasgow on a saturday night, ten pints of heavy and, the worst nhs record. I think in europe youre losing the bars, right, right. Mars bars. Mars bars in glasgow. Mars bars in glasgow. Ive seen them absolutely. Ive seen them absolutely. Ive seen them absolutely. And i can understand why its going on there. But honestly tried mars bars. The idea, the idea of paying people to lose, like what i believe in very, very strongly is fat shaming. Very strongly is fat shaming. Okay . Because if you make life less, yes. I never thought okay . Because if you make life less, yes. I never thought id hear that, yes i do. I believe in fat shaming and look at me. I could even be, you know, a victim of fat shaming if a democratic society. But what im saying is people have got to be made aware of the fact that if youre overweight in this country , you are not as popular country, you are not as popular as you could be, youre not as fit as you could be, and youre not as welcome anywhere as you could be. So, for instance, fat people should pay more for their airline tickets. Okay and the space they take up on an aeroplane, they take up a lot. Yes can i say youve just heard this, the manifesto of the mike perry party. But look, dont vote for him if theres a bit of a con about this. They talk about £400, the average amount of money. Each one of those individuals gets from from belfast and glasgow after a year is £128. Well why why do they get anything. Why do they get. Well you also get Text Messages every day saying stop. You know, stop scoffing pies. Youre fat. You scoffing pies. Youre fat. You cant. They cant. They just see in the mirror that theyre overweight and fat rather than get a text message. Well, some people cant. And bribed with bribe. With money. Yeah. What do they spend . The £400 on . More fried mars bars . Yeah , yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. No. Hang on. No. Hang on. Its deep fried cadburys creme eggs at a killer. Yeah. Listen, the bottom line is this is working, isnt it . Is it working . Well, its only working in europe somewhere, isnt it . But i think its working, isnt it . This this system. Because like you say, its the continuity of messaging. Its the nudge, nudge nudge nudge nudge. So they get told, like you say, good morning, wake up, have something healthy for breakfast. Dont eat that. It started in europe. We all know the mediterranean diet is slightly to, you know, not put as much weight on. But when youre when youre stuffing haggis down your throat, you know, when youre in bristol and having an oversized jumpers stereotypes sorry are not particularly helpful. Why is it as always you scouse git. So its the larger ones. Scouse git. So its the larger ones. Get the money, but the ones. Get the money, but the people who are good guys stay slim and stay healthy, dont get nothing. They get anything. They get anything. So how is that right . So how is that right . Yeah. So so you say to yourself, im not costing the nhs anything. I should get nhs anything. I should get a reward. Yeah, but they forget over there who is costing the nhs . Something is being rewarded £400 and theyve got the keys to the pie cupboard. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So let me just tell you. So some of the Text Messages theyre getting is things like walk a different route home to avoid the kebab shop. Dont treat your body like a skip. Thats subtle. And these messages being sent. And then they were challenged to lose 10 of their body weight in a year. Keep it off, and theyre given a cash incentive incentive of £400. Typically, the men lost nearly 5 of their body weight and got £128 each. Oh you right. But whats sad about this is theres such a thing as comfort eating. I know a lot of people whove got real problems and real worries and real fears. And as Keith Waterhouse used to say, that confectionary is a substitute for affection. I mean, a number of people i know who are particularly lardy, to use the expression, that was just thrown out here a minute ago. And they comfort eat, and the more they eat, the more depressed they get , the more depressed they get, the more they eat. Thats a separate issue. And i think we should be addressing that. The idea of sending these nudge texts, you know, stop scoffing the pies. Thats a bit pure idea. Its very its very much the state being the parent again. Oh, of course it is. Its enforcing your will be registered. They will know what you weigh from a distance. So itd be like these japanese toilets that actually analyse your body health as soon as you put it on. Yeah its a bit scary. Im starting to think that you may have a point here. Its very intrusive to my side. No matter what i do is i have an effort and reward, health, system. Okay. So if i have one pint too many in the pub, i walk home instead of getting the bus. Do you see what i mean . Right. So i compensate for my excesses. I dont eat or drink to excess. I dont eat or drink to excess. I just have a i dont eat or drink to excess. Ijust have a bit i dont eat or drink to excess. I just have a bit of loose summer muscle occasionally, and, i muscle. Yeah, i work on it, you know, i work, i work on it, you know, i work, i work on it, you know. No problem. Ive never heard it called that before. Loose summer muscle. Well, no, that comes from, well, flab. No , no. No, no. No, no. Unkind. Unkind. Excuse me. That comes. Excuse me. That comes. Hes talking about being fat shamed. No, no, no, that comes from the days when i used to play football in the winter. And i put a weight on the summer loose. Summer, gentlemen. Yeah, right. Okay. Its time for the mornings news. Aaron armstrong is looking baffled. Can he keep a straight. Face . Can he keep a straight. Face . Can he keep a straight. Face . Very good morning to you. Its 1033. Im Aaron Armstrong in the gb newsroom. Stop and search could be ramped up as police, as the policing minister unveils new measures to tackle knife crime. The government says it will invest £3. 5 million to develop technologies which could help police detect suspects carrying knives from a distance. Just over half £1 million will be given to the met to fund four more vans equipped with live facial recognition cameras. Now stop and search powers were curbed. A decade ago by then home secretary theresa may, after a review found black and other ethnic minority people were being disproportionately targeted. New proposals could targeted. New proposals could see schools in england banned from teaching students about gender identity. It would also see all Sex Education halted for children under the age of nine. The Prime Minister ordered a review into relationships, sex and Health Education last year over concerns some kids were being exposed to inappropriate content, while policing minister chris philp says the new measures will be welcomed by all. Well, i think the report is due to come out very shortly. Im sure that the education secretary will then move to make the changes quickly and look as a parent as well. I dont want my children to be honest, to be exposed to inappropriate content at a pretty young age, and i dont, nor do i want politically contested ideas like the trans issues being taught as if theyre facts. I think, you know, childhood is a really like, special time, and i dont think we need to introduce some of these ideas too early. And more food parcels were handed out over the past year than ever before. The Trussell Trust says it donated more than 3 million emergency packages in the year to the end of march, as the year to the end of march, as the cost of living puts more people under strain. More than a million of those were for children, and the overall total has doubled from five years ago. You can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen, or you can find more details on our website. More details on our website. Cheers, britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report. Financial report. A quick look at the markets the pound buys you 1. 2613 ,1. 1646. Gold will cost £1,880. 42 per ounce, and the ftse 100 is at 8459 points. Cheers i britannia wine club cheers britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report. Really apparently 1 in 10 brits really dont know what d day is. Really dont know what d day is. As you can see, my co host is appalled and disgusted. Dont gb news. Now, as the country prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of d day on the 6th of june, the Commonwealth War Graves Commissions torch of commemoration will appear in oxfords botley cemetery today. Oxfords botley cemetery today. The ceremony is designed to engage younger people and inspire them to play their part inspire them to play their part in making the sacrifices of the fallen. So joining us now is our fallen. So joining us now is our reporter, charlie peters, who is in oxford, where theyre holding a torch Lighting Ceremony ahead of the 80th anniversary of d day morning. Charlie morning, bev. Yes, were approaching the 80th anniversary of d day , the largest seaborne of d day, the largest seaborne invasion in history. There were tens of thousands of casualties as allied troops crossed into france, began the liberation of that country , and secured the that country, and secured the allied victory over the western front. And to commemorate that anniversary , the commonwealth anniversary, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has organised the lighting their legacy commemoration event, where torches will be travelling across the country to cemeteries where graves of the fallen are present. Yesterday Prime Minister rishi sunak kicked off the tour and today its in botley in oxfordshire. But on the back of this commemoration, the back of this commemoration, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has released new a new information , some new new information, some new research revealing that 1 in 10 britons dont know what d day actually is and more shockingly, 1 in 5 18 to 24 year olds also dont know , with a third not dont know, with a third not understanding the significance of the event. Well, im pleased to say that im joined now by simon pendry, the head of education at the commission. Simon what was your reaction when you received that report . When you received that report . I wasnt at all surprised by the report. Theres so many the report. Theres so many things that people can be engaged with and interested by that actually, on the surface, it was probably actually better than, i think the worst fears that nobody knows anything. That nobody knows anything. Actually, there is evidence that there is that engagement with it , but actually its a really wonderful sort of starting point and baseline for us as an organisation to do campaigns such as this one, where we are really looking to engage with schools, with young people and with local communities to engage them with the war graves that are in their communities and use those to enable them to learn more about our shared history and to therefore discover the first and the Second World Wars. Youre in london yesterday, oxford today, ahead of june the 6th, the 80th anniversary. Where else will the torches go . So the torch will be travelling the length and breadth of the united kingdom. Breadth of the united kingdom. So, as you say today, yesterday in london, today in oxfordshire , in london, today in oxfordshire, tomorrow across to cambridge and then heading further up north, ending up in scotland , in ending up in scotland, in edinburgh and going across to belfast before the torches then returned to portsmouth where theyll be joining up with the veterans themselves who are travelling to normandy for the commemorations. Travelling to normandy for the commemorations. And the torches commemorations. And the torches will then, as part of this lighting the Legacy Campaign , lighting the Legacy Campaign, travel across to normandy, where the light will then spread to all of the 25,000 war graves that are in normandy. Are you concerned that as veterans pass from that period, that our connection with d day and other significant events from the Second World War are maybe starting to disappear . Maybe starting to disappear . Yeah, i think theres always that fear as generations pass that fear as generations pass that once they. Yeah, those with living memory have gone that there is that loss of interest. But i think what ive found working in education for the last ten years is that in any school that you go in, there are young people who are interested in these events, who are inspired by these events, that there are a coming generation who are engaged and interested by this. But thats a key part of the role that i undertake for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is creating programs that enable us to get out into schools, but also encourage schools, but also encourage schools to come and visit our sites, such as this one here in botley, where the young people can learn more about both the work of the organisation but also about the individuals we commemorate, no matter who they were, from all over the globe, and start to understand that shared history and discover and learn about those we commemorate so immensely. Thank you very much. And at 12 today, this ceremony will be taking place. As you just heard, children, school, children, local to botley will be coming here to this grave stone to this cemetery to hear about those stories, to hear about d day , stories, to hear about d day, over 700 war graves here in botley with several nationalities represented there are, as you can imagine, hundreds of britons, but also kiwis and poles, germans, hauans kiwis and poles, germans, italians and canadians. As the italians and canadians. As the canadian poet john mccrae said in flanders fields, the poppies blow between the crosses. Row on row, and in the third stanza of that famous poem, he said the torch be yours to hold it high. Well, here in botley and across the country ahead of that 80th anniversary, the torch and the memories of those who passed will be held high. Lovely. Thank you. Charlie, im very nice. Im very nice. Its a hugely significant d day 80th anniversary because those some of those men, there were women, of course, on d day. The nurses, theyre not going to be with us for much longer. Yeah. So its really significant and im going to be there. I know d day with gb news, on the beaches, talking to some of those veterans. Brilliant. With the with the wonderful guys from the with the wonderful guys from the taxis who are going to drive those to the every year to, to War Memorials every year. So that would be really important. So, and i cant believe that 1 in 10 dont know what d day is. What are they believe in our schools. Not that, what do you think this portrait of king Charles Brand new portrait painted by jonathan yeo. I am incredibly fortunate. Ive seen it in real fortunate. Ive seen it in real life. And i will tell you what it is like when you are faced with that image, not just on the papers, but in real life. This gb news. So i think its very exciting. The First Official royal portrait of the king since his coronation has been revealed. And its very striking. Thats right. It is the king in his welsh guards uniform. Theres a butterfly just sitting on one shoulder. At the request of charles, while the whole canvasis of charles, while the whole canvas is awash in various shades of red. So lets bring in former royal correspondent michael cole. Michael, you and i have seen many portraits of monarchs and princes over the years. This is this has caused quite a stir and i think in quite a good way. Whats your take on it . Good morning. Good morning andrew. Good morning bev, it will always be known, i think, as the red king. Of course, red tunic of the welsh guards. The red dragon of wales. And i have to say, and ive always thought for a long, long time that jonathan yeo is an absolute genius, as you will know andrew very well. Theres the king unveiling it yesterday. The king unveiling it yesterday. Huge portrait it is, jonathan yeo , of course, is the son of yeo, of course, is the son of tim yeo. And you will remember, he was a minister, a tory minister. His his political career ended in some disarray and put a bit of a hole in john majors back to basics , some majors back to basics, some policies, but he and we see him on the left there. He did that wonderful portrait of Prince Charles when he was prince of wales , sitting in a canvas wales, sitting in a canvas chair, polo, looking into the middle distance. It was a brilliant portrait and also the portrait of the two princes. William and harry, in the mess at the household cavalry, where they were together. So together it was casual. It was a brilliant , it was casual. It was a brilliant, brilliant portrait. Of course, the face is wonderful and i think its a startling, start wing portrait. I think people will come to revere it, not perhaps as some of the great ones from the past, but i think it is a great work of art, the way the king is, is peering out at us. I mean, the face is brilliant the way hes peering out. Do you know what it made me think of . I dont know whether youve ever seen those pub signs where they have the green man. And the green man peers out through a wreath of green leaves. Laurel leaves. Its a little bit like that, but its very arresting. And i think, you know, if you and i, if we were all rich enough to have our portrait painted, i think wed go to jonathan yeo, because, as i say, i think the man is a genius. Genius. He is. Michael, im just going to do a little bit of name dropping here. I was with johnny and his wife, sheba. Ronnie a couple of weeks ago, and sheba said the king is upstairs. Would you like to see him . I said, im sorry. What and so we went upstairs and there is the painting. So i was one of the painting. So i was one of the first people to see it. It is a resting in real life. It is eight foot six high and more than six foot six wide. And it takes your breath away because its got all of this detail in there, but its also just so magnificent. And i think its actually caught his kind of frailty. Of course, at the time. Its taken four years to paint with various sittings and taking photographs, and all the photographs, and all the photographs were on the wall as well of how he pieced it together. And but i think, ironically , looking back, it ironically, looking back, it sort of captured his fragility because obviously, having been diagnosed with cancer throughout this as well , diagnosed with cancer throughout this as well, and, and the gentleness of the butterfly on the shoulder that was King Charless idea as well. He wanted the butterfly to reflect his environmental interests. His environmental interests. If youre going to drop a name, drop a big one, okay. And the king upstairs. Would you like to see the king upstairs . I think thats a that is a great story. And thats one worth keeping because i think you did see something of history there. And i think it will, will be very much enjoyed. Yes. The butterfly to , reflect his butterfly to, reflect his interest in nature. Its called the monarch butterfly, and theyre getting rare. Its theyre getting rare. Its called the monarch because, it was its orange in colour, and it was named after william of orange, of course, who came oven orange, of course, who came over. And when we needed a protestant king, we whipped him over from holland to take over, with, over the throne. Throne. With, over the throne. Throne. So, i mean, its got a bit of bit of, Prince Charles, king charles in there because he started when he started, he, of course, he was prince of wales. And during the transition, the four years, which, as you say, its taken to make this portrait , i think its remarkable, to be honest with you. And i think many people, if its on public display, i believe in a gallery in the west end. Well, thats what i was going to ask, because i think its important people get to see it. Michael. Yeah, i couldnt agree with you more, but, you know, some of the portraits of the queen from the portraits of the queen from the past were highly romanticised , particularly in romanticised, particularly in her early life. But they are wonderful pieces of work. Theyre fantastic. You know, some of them are absolutely great beyond measure. Annigonis portrait of the queen, the romantic one with the long, long cloak and of course, annigoni painted a little portrait of himself sitting in a boatin portrait of himself sitting in a boat in the background to the queens. That was the portrait in the high romanticism of the early elizabethan era, and, of course, another suffolk painter. Was also a big time charlie. Like jonathan yeo, he used to talk about his eight footers and his six footers and that, of course, was john commissioned. Sorry. It was commissioned by the Drapers Company of london, wasnt it . And so i think thats another reason why the fabric is drawn attention to. Yeah the, the, the Livery Companies of london, if theyre lucky enough, they have the king as a member, as a patron, because the city of london has a very, very special status in this country. It is almost like a self governing state. And even to this day, the king, when he enters the city of london, has to pause at temple bar or where temple bar was to almost receive permission to come into the city of london. Such was its power and still is. Its power around the world. As a financial centre, weve run out of time. Michael, always nice to see you, michael cole. There the king and queen are going to be arriving at saint pauls cathedral this morning, and were going to take that live right now here, arriving. Great. Thanks, michael. I wish i was there. Wish i was there. So theyre arriving at the cathedral at the saint pauls, cathedral for the order of the British Empire. Service, a very formal ceremony. So well see the king and queen getting out of their state. Limo and just on that portrait as well , jonathan yeo had actually well, jonathan yeo had actually done a portrait of Queen Camilla before she was queen. Its very good when she was duchess of cornwall. Yes. Right. And it was her recommendation that, king charles sat for johnny. Yeah. And just to say as well, jonathan, hes a lovely, very modest, very humble man. So theyre in their court finery. Theyre both the queen and the king. The king has a page literally holding his cloak as hes walking up the steps of saint pauls magnificent saint paups saint pauls magnificent saint pauls cathedral, isnt it . And look, its fabulous. Were seeing the king doing more official engagements, which gives us all hope. But the treatments working, both wearing very vivid , bright. Wearing very vivid, bright. Its almost like a pink, really, from where were sitting, rather than a red. Like a bright cerise cloak, followed up the steps by other dignitaries, to go there into saint pauls cathedral this morning. This is the British Empire service order. British Empire Service order. British Empire Service. And as you can see, its a lovely sunny day here in london. But lets get the weather where you are. And we think were going to the weather. Were going to go were going to go for a break instead. Im Patrick Christys every weeknight from nine, i bring you two hours of unmissable, explosive debate and headline grabbing interviews. What impact has that had we got Death Threats and the bomb threat and so on. So on. So on. Our job is to do whats in ourjob is to do whats in the best interest of our country. You made my argument for me one at a time. My guests and i tackle the issues that really matter with a sharp take on every story im heanng sharp take on every story im hearing up and down the country. That was a beginning, not an end. Patrick christys tonight from 9 pm. Only on gb news, britains news channel. Britains news channel. Its 11 am. On britains newsroom. This is britains newsroom. This is britains newsroom on gb news with Andrew Pierce and bev turner. So the mother of barnaby webber, the 19 year old killed last year in nottingham by Valdo Calocane , is calling for calocane, is calling for a pubuc calocane, is calling for a Public Inquiry into the attacks. We spoke to emma and asked her how her son charlie is coping. How her son charlie is coping. Hes lost his hero, hes lost his never since his big brother, his never since his big brother, his best friend, and hes lost his best friend, and hes lost his future with somebody that he thought would always be there. Thought would always be there. And a Sex Education shake up under new plans, children wont be given a Sex Education until the age of nine. And teachers will not teach ideas such as there are 72 different genders, which there arent. Which there arent. Two men appear in court today accused of felling the world famous sycamore gap tree last september , and Food Bank Demand september, and Food Bank Demand has spiked. Has spiked. Figures from the Trussell Trust show that 3. 1 million emergency food parcels were provided to people last year, with more than 1. 1 million of those going to children. Jack carson has more. Carson has more. Yes, a 94 increase in the last five years. Im here at a food bank in newcastle under lyme, speaking to people on the front line and the kings official portrait. What do you think of it . It is the first of the king since the coronation. Its been unveiled at Buckingham Palace. Its by the accomplished artist jonathan yeo. And were going to be talking about andrew. No subjects he likes better than that, i dont know whether you read the serialisation in the mail this week. Andrews unbelievable early years life story about finding your adopted, your your birth mother. Sorry. After being raised by loving adoptive parents. So, im going to be asking me a few questions about that. Dont go anywhere. First, though, the news with. Aaron. Though, the news with. Aaron. Very good morning to you. Its 1102. Im Aaron Armstrong. Its 1102. Im Aaron Armstrong. Stop and search could be ramped up as the policing minister unveils new measures to tackle knife crime. The searches were curbed a decade ago by then home secretary theresa may, after it was found black and other ethnic minority people were being disproportion targeted. The government also says it will invest £3. 5 million to develop new technology , which could help new technology, which could help police detect suspects carrying knives from a distance. But the shadow minister, Nick Thomas Symonds, says the government isnt doing enough. The government is completely failing. Weve got an 80 increase since 2015 and rises all around the country. Thats the first point on stop and search. Stop and search. That is intelligence led and evidence based is a really important tool and, you know, weve had, for example, the inspectorate of constabulary , independent constabulary, independent organisation, looking at this, saying that whats essential is that it saying that whats essential is thatitis saying that whats essential is that it is done in that targeted way , in a non targeted way, when way, in a non targeted way, when it isnt evidence based. It does lead to a lack of community confidence, which we need to make sure is essential. Make sure is essential. Well, new proposals could see schools in england banned from teaching students about gender identity. It would also see all Sex Education halted for children under the age of nine. The Prime Minister ordered a review into relationships, sex and Health Education last year over concerns some kids were being taught inappropriate content well. Policing minister chris philp says potentially contentious issues have no place in the classroom. Well, i think the report is due to come out very shortly. Im sure that the education secretary will then move to make the changes quickly and look as a parent as well. I dont want my children to be honest, to be exposed to inappropriate content at a pretty young age. And i dont, nor do i want politically contested ideas like the trans issues being taught as if theyre facts. You know, i think, you know, childhood is a really like special time. And i dont think we need to introduce some of these ideas too early. The mother of barnaby webber, who was stabbed and killed in nottingham last year, told gb news she feels the killers sentence was the result of a flawed and weak Police Investigation. Barnaby webber, Grace Omalley Kumar and ian coates were killed last june by Valdo Calocane. The 32 year old, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, was given an indefinite hospital order. Emma webber has told us the case revealed weaknesses in the legal system. We were not expecting anything other than the outcome yesterday. I think weve hopefully made it very clear that all three families united and, do not accept, the plea of diminished responsibility. So therefore manslaughter alongside therefore manslaughter alongside the attempted murder charges. And we feel its the result of a very, very flawed and failed Police Investigation and a weak, cps prosecution from east midlands and an utter overreliance upon doctors reports gb news can reveal a number of people crossing the channels increased by 40 this year after an apparent switch in people smuggling tactics, sources say criminal gangs are now pushing out fewer boats at any one time, but more often in any one time, but more often in a bid to avoid french beach patrols. Patrols. Its resulted in almost a fortnight of continued low level migrant activity when boats were launched from the french coastline every day over the past 12 days, the biggest single day of arrivals was the 4th of may, when five small boats brought 244 people to british waters. Now, if youve ever waters. Now, if youve ever found yourself stuck on hold, how about waiting 800 years . Well, thats how long britains british people spent waiting to talk to the tax man. Last year, a damning report from the governments spending watchdog has found taxpayers were on hold to hmrc for around 7,000,000 hours in that tax year, which is more than doubled since before the pandemic. The report says advisers are answering fewer calls and those who do get through spend longer on the phone amid whats been described as a declining spiral of Customer Service and good news for fans of the comedy. Legally blonde, it is returning to screens in the form of a prequel series. The character, portrayed by Reese Witherspoon, will be bending and snapping her way back to the small screen in a series titled l, with its clever critique of the dumb blonde stereotype, the original film became an instant classic when it premiered in 2001. Ummer in all of our stories by signing up to the gb news alerts, the qr codes on your screen. The details are also on our website. Now its back to andrew and. Bev. Very good morning. Its 1107. Very good morning. Its1107. This is gb news. Thank you so much for sending us your message. Yes, she has said and they are a member. Thank you. Yes, for being a member. Remember people commenting about the kings picture . Beautys in the kings picture . Beautys in the eye of the beholder. Some people will love it and some will not. Dont get your knickers in a twist if you dont like it. I love, love, love it. Carole says this though. The kings portrait. Well, what can i say . Shocking. He looks like hes pushed his face through a red mass of tomatoes and juliet says, i hate it. Its sinister and eerie, with him wreathed in red mist. Its not meant to be sinister and eerie, though, and i think i would have probably if i hadnt been there and seen it and spoken to the artist, i might have thought it was a little bit sinister. And obviously youve got some people online going, oh, its very satanic. Its not that. That is not what is meant to be depicted here. Its the actually it was his, uniform. Yeah, it was the welsh guards, the welsh guards, which is, which is scarlet red. That was the, inspiration to carry that fabric because its been commissioned by the Drapers Company of, of london. So a Livery Company that is all about texture and fabric and thats, thats kind of explains why a lot of people getting in touch, ross says. I thought the portrait was amazing and unique. Youve got to see it in real life. It will blow your mind. And, what else have you been saying . Jill has , stephen says saying . Jill has, stephen says about the portrait. The portrait is messy. I far prefer i prefer a clear photo image. The butterfly is symbolic, yet the king wanted that there, stephen. Because he wanted it to reflect his great commitment to environmental ism. And then, of course, it became symbolic because he transformed from the prince into the king. During this period of time of the sitting, because it started in in 2020, didnt it . So the chrysalis to the butterfly, very, very, very , butterfly, very, very, very, very powerful imagery. Absolutely. Now i want to, so we were going to talk about andrews book. Why am i making a mess of this . Its because this is a bit weird. Lets be honest. Im sort of interviewing you now about your book. You are a force of nature. You have terrorised politicians for over 30 years. Why do i feel like this is your life . And of course, now being a big part of gb news. But where did it all begin . Well, that was the subject of your book , is it not . Yeah. And the male of suella of serialised. We had three of serialised. We had three extracts in the mail, which is my newspaper, and its called finding margaret solving the missing my birth mother. So i was adopted. The formal adoption was adopted. The formal adoption was when i was three, but i spent the first two, two, two and a half years of my life in and a half years of my life in an orphanage in cheltenham run by Roman Catholic nuns. Coincidentally, my first newspaper job was in cheltenham. The the, the, the orphanage had long been demolished and for years id agonised over whether to track down my birth mother because my mum and dad, who adopted me, were terrific. They were wonderful, they were my mum and dad, but actually my dad used to say to me privately, son, find her because she deserves to know youre okay. Because margaret, she was called margaret connolly, i was Patrick James connolly. I was baptised Patrick James connolly. She was a single mother. She had me at 34, which is much older than i expected. Well, thats one of them. Could have been teenagen thats one of the many surprising elements of this story. But she used to continue to visit me in the orphanage and dad said, you should find her. But the usual thing with dad. But the usual thing with dad. But dont tell your mother. I said so. So eventually i did find her when i was 48, 49 and we met, amanda patel, my great friend. She knocked on the door , friend. She knocked on the door, not me, she said. We went back an hour later. She admitted it was was her. I was around the corner in a taxi, but she wouldnt see me there. And then when she did see me, perversely, she never asked a single question about my upbringing. Not one where i lived, who i lived with, what my parents were like. Was i a catholic . And she never remembered a single thing about the orphanage , about the about the orphanage, about the father, even though he was named in the adoption file, curiously died just a couple of weeks after entering the orphanage. Was that convenient, was was he a toe tag, dad . Because. Yeah he was killed in a car crash. I found the person who was standing next to him when he was killed. Believe it or not, he said news to me. He had a. Yeah a baby or a girlfriend even. Yeah. And so it was. Margaret worked in a hospital. So did she. This body comes in, hell do as a name. So there are many questions. And i never did solve questions. And i never did solve the mystery of my birth mother. But she then went into a care home, and i used to visit her regularly because, unfortunately , i did arrange to see her 3 or 4 times. You could look , doesnt 4 times. You could look, doesnt she . Dont i look like her . Im mistaken. Yes, yes you do actually. And thats when shes in the care home. In the care home. And they looked after her beautifully and all her fear had gone because what she was terrified was people finding out because shed kept this secret for decades and decades. Absolutely nobody knew. And she was very religious, wasnt she . Church once or twice a day . Church once or twice a day . Every day. Yeah. And you said how when you met her, she said she thought being gay was a sin. Yeah, well, you dont you didnt know. Did she know she didnt know. I did not tell her. I already decided. I think ill tell her im gay. And then she said something about Northern Ireland. Oh, i dont approve the having gay marriages there. I dont approve of it at all, but not mentioned, yeah. Yeah ive been out for 40 years, but but she was charming and radiated irish charm and what is it like now for you having this story out there . Out there . Whats the reaction been like from the public . Its extraordinary because as you know, people online can be quite unkind, been overwhelmed with messages, emails, letters and people saying, i never knew my mum. I never knew my dad. Youve given me great hope. Im going to try and find them, because what id say to people, it was a big step for me to find my birth mother a really big step. Jane moore, who people will know. She writes a column in the sun. Shes on loose women. She actually found her using some journalist techniques. It was a huge step. But if you if you are adopted and you never knew who your mom or your dad was, its quite a good thing to do. Because i think you have to know where youre from. Its sort of in two steps for you, though, isnt it, because its finding her in the first place, but then also choosing to share that story with everybody. Share that story with everybody. And even in the book, you talk about the fact that you had counselling therapy i did, and even regression therapy. I was very proud of you. With that, i was like, oh, well done. So i saw a psychologist who took me back to the home and i was in a steel bath under hypnosis , the hypnosis. And it hypnosis, the hypnosis. And it wasnt a particularly nice story. And i suspect theres been lots of stories about the way some children were treated in these orphanages. Theres been no suggestions of any abuse in that particular orphanage, but those orders of nuns have been criticised around the world in pubuc criticised around the world in public inquiries for being a bit was not compassionate. No. No. But. And did it did it bring back memories that you now have that you didnt have prior to the regression . Yeah, yeah. And it and id forgotten this this dream i used to have as a child that i could always see a faceless woman pushing a pram and i wonder, was that an image for my birth mother looking for a home, looking for a husband . And what happened . She met someone. And so, at the age of two and a half years, she decided to give me up for adoption. And then lovely betty george came into my life and she got married to a man and had four children with him. They she never told him he knew nothing about me because i suspect he wouldnt have married her. And now 19 early 1960s times were different , of course. Different, of course. And now . Now this is all come out only in the last week or so. Are you building a relationship now with those siblings that you have . I have . Ihave have . I have been in contact with them. Yeah. And they want to meet me. They want to talk. And they were completely gobsmacked because they they and i did say, dont love your mum any less because, you know, something that you didnt know about her hasnt changed her. She had her reasons for not telling them and for not telling me. Yeah and i dont know what they were because shes shes passed away now. She died a couple of years ago. And i even went to her funeral because she never got a chance to say goodbye to me in the orphanage , because when the the orphanage, because when the decision was made that i was to be given up for adoption, the nuns said, you cant see him again. And what . But what resilience do you have . Because, you know, she in a sense rejected you as a toddler. Yeah. And then when you went to find her, she rejected you all over again. Some people would find that absolutely intolerable. But youve never intolerable. But youve never you never use it as an excuse, do you . You never say, poor me, you have somehow managed to sort of compartmentalise that maybe to some degree. Yeah. And, and rationalise it. Yeah. Yeah. Look, she, she had her reasons and, and i dont blame her and it was pretty rough standing outside British Home Stores for an hour and a half waiting for my birth mother to see me and thinking shes surely not not going to turn up again. Yeah. And she just kept letting you down and then saying, oh, well, i was busy. I had to see the grandchildren or i had to see the children, even sometimes when i was 20 minutes away and i was coming down from london. Yeah, ill be there, ill be there. But she had her reasons and i dont blame her for it. And it was a different time. It was. And even though you would say, well, when you were trying to reconnect with her and she was rejecting you, times have moved on. But if you are born in that age and you are elderly, you still very much subscribe to the norms of those days. She said what happened was a sin. She was a Roman Catholic and she had sex outside of marriage, and she could have being a nurse, shed have known how to have had an illegal abortion. Shed have known where to have gone. But she said, i am the product of sin. And thats the product of sin. And thats why she couldnt remember anything. She said, im being punished for it for the rest of my life. You need to make a drama of this. By the way, im quite good at drama. Be on the telly. Be on the telly. I could create a drama. I could create a drama. Yeah, well, you can create a drama in an empty room on your own, but it would. It is an amazing story. And what i love about it, and i read it when i was on holiday last week. And whats so amazing about it is the unexpected nature. Because you just presume, as we watch long lost family and we see Davina Mccall bringing people together, you presume that theres always a happy ending and that the person who gave away the child is always happy to see them. And life is not like that, not one bit. I think probably shed have preferred it if id never darkened her door with my presence. Presence. Well, lets see what happens with the siblings. Lets see what happens with the nieces and the nephews that you now have. The nephews that you now have. And who knows, it might be that they have questions about their own mother, that your story may then make them think. Thats why she was like this or like that, or, you know, who knows . But a remarkable, i have to say, all credit to you for putting it out there, because i think its a great, amazing. Ive just named it after finding margaret. Some people thought it was when i called it, finding margaret was about finding Margaret Thatcher. I found her years ago. Found her . Yes. Okay. Right up next, who is sadiq khan meeting to discuss ulez. Well, theres a clue. If youre watching on the telly, youre watching on the telly, you might have worked out what a sadiq khan that guy in ulez got in common. If youre listening on the radio, trust me, you do not want to miss gb news. Spider web doodle. Its 1121. Spider web doodle. Its1121. It is. And that was steve step. We have to keep these panellists in order. That was Stephen Pound talking about something that he shouldnt have talked about. Psychoanalysing my doodles. But lets not go there and the broadcaster, mike parry. Now we talked we teased you a little earlier about whos sadiq khanis little earlier about whos sadiq khan is meeting. Oh, right. Oh, right. Who would sadiq khan need to meet to talk about ulez . It is meet to talk about ulez . It is the pope. Can you believe this . Can you believe this . Can you believe this . No, i cant believe it. I mean, ive just been talking to stephen about it. You know, when we look at the crime figures in london, when we look at the, you know, the terrible growing social problems against across the london metropolis, one of the london metropolis, one of the biggest cities in the world. Why is the mayor of london taking time out to go and get pally with the pope . I mean, its not as if theyve got a common interest in religion or anything like that. I just dont understand it. I understand it completely. Of course you do. Yeah. He is the ultimate globalist sadiq khan. He likes to pretend hes interested in, you know, your bin collection in clapham. You know, hes got his eye on the horizon. Hes part of the global elites is how he sees himself. The pope is right up there in that particular group of people. Hes just power hungry. Id love to hear. I can imagine the holy father saying to him, by the way, mr khan, the pope mobile is ulez compliant. Now on your bike. Thats right. Thats right. Yeah, hes the co chair of this c40 group, remember . Which is the mayor from all around the world who are pushing the green agenda down. Absolutely. But he does get a personal hearing with the pope. Now, im probably the only person in this room who has been blessed personally by the pope. No, which one . Which one, Pope John Paul the second. Im sorry. Stephens claiming that he has as well. Claiming that he has as well. Yeah, yeah, but it was the tour of ireland when the pope went to ireland, his first overseas toun ireland, his first overseas tour. I went there, you know, as a fleet street man. And i was nominated to meet the pope as the fleet street representative , the fleet street representative, and he gave me the full blessing. Bless you, my son. Yeah. Pope john paul. Yeah. Theyre like thunder and lightning and steam, you know , i lightning and steam, you know, i felt very honoured, obviously. And, you know, its an occasion which ill never forget. I had i had an audience with Pope John Paul the second, Saint John Paul the second. But i also had an audience with pope benedict. And what was amazingly embarrassing about it was because it was a thing called the all Party Parliamentary group for the holy see. And david amess. Unfortunately, keith vaz was also on this group. Who . And so when we were coming up to meet the holy father , keith vaz suddenly father, keith vaz suddenly pushed himself between me and the pope, and he said , holy the pope, and he said, holy father, can i just introduce you to Stephen Pound . I said, vaz , to Stephen Pound . I said, vaz, you know, see all the pictures of keith vaz me and thats why i did it. Keith vaz, who lets not go there. Yeah, lets not go there for me. Im just looking at, though, and a serious point. This year in london alone, 23 fatal stabbings. Thank you. Sadiq khan is the police and crime commissioner for london. That should be his job. Hes just been re elected mayor. Sadly. Yeah. And thats what you should be doing instead of, parading on the International Stage at the vatican. Dont you agree, steve . I think that what this question. Weve discussed this before about the crime figures and the stabbings in london, and i think its quite interesting that the met are now talking about, as our mps about reintroducing stop and search. Good. And i think thats going to have to happen because , you to have to happen because, you know, were at a Tipping Point now where it is actually becoming too dangerous to walk the streets, parts of london. But he wont have that, will he, if he has his way. Sadiq khan will not, because ive heard it said before, he thinks hell lose half of his support from certain, minority groups in the capital, or even non majority groups who say its discriminatory. But as you explained on this show last week, hes never, ever hes not going to go for a fourth term. You know, hes had this is hes in hes in the, you know, the departure of people. He might need six terms to do it. Oh does he vladimir it aint going to happen. Yeah. No its simply simply isnt going to happen. So this isnt going to happen. So this is the opportunity for him to actually go outside the box and be actually quite bold and quite brave about this. And this may offend some people, but as we all know, who gets killed by knives in london, young black kids, and im afraid the gallery of people who died here, the majority are young black. You look at the pictures, its heartbreaking. Yeah. And its getting worse. And culture. Yeah. Gang culture. And its getting worse because people are now so bold. They dont just conceal knives in their in their clothing. They walk around waving swords around. And thats happened very recently. And its getting worse, you know. Yeah yeah, yeah. £3. 5 million is a paltry amount though is. And by the way, id be id be interested to see the size of the party takes with him because. Oh yeah. Yeah. Believe me, well get it because well foi it. Yeah, absolutely. Last time i went to america, i think half the plane was full of people who were his advisors. So this is the horrible hypocrisy, isnt it . Get used to it. Because were not allowed to drive our cars. Sadiq khan varne anneliese. Like well be flying around all over the world in their private jets for decades to come. If we dont stand up for ourselves now, tell us about this, rock chick that you had a bit of a crush on mike in your day . Anita pallenberg is the original rock chick. Okay, was it reciprocated . Okay, was it reciprocated . I need no, no, no, im going get a personal detail, but, what am i saying . Is she was the original rock and roll chick, you know, along with, Marianne Faithfull , surely. Well, faithfull, surely. Well, Marianne Faithfull, certainly with, with mick jagger. If youre listening, theres a photograph of her in a fur coat looking very beautiful. Looking very beautiful. She. She dated quite a lot of leading men. Well, but a lot of them were all in the same group because bnan all in the same group because brian jones was the founder of the rolling stones, and she was initially brian joness girlfriend , then brian jones, of girlfriend, then brian jones, of course, went wayward and eventually ended up dead in a swimming pool. She made a film called performance with mick jagger, who she wasnt dating at the time, but during the making of the film, we understand she was dating him. You know , on dating him. You know, on a regular daily basis. And after that ended up with keith richards, whos probably, you know, one of the most notorious rock stars of all time. Can we can we say, are we using the word dating as a euphemism here . Well, im polite , im a well, im polite, im a polite man. I sport in polite circles. But in discussing this with my good colleague stephen, just before weve come back into the studio , i didnt realise the studio, i didnt realise that stephen, one of stephens great mates born locally and grew up with his charlie watts. Not not a great mate. I knew him pretty well because we put a plaque up to the ealing jazz club, where the stones first played just opposite Ealing Broadway station, and that was with cyril davies all stars and Dick Heckstall smith and people like that. Charlie watts was an absolute consummate gentleman. Hes a man who loved his jazz. Hes a man who loved his jazz. He was one of the most elegant people. Hes almost the Andrew Pierce of jazz drummers, you know, hes beautifully turned out immaculate and also most unrolling stone sort of person. Well, theres a famous story about you. Remember mick jagger called him the drummer mick jagger gave an interview and said, yeah, ill refer to my drummer, charlie. Drummer, charlie. Charlie was in bed at the time, got out of bed, put his, immaculate suit on, went down to micks room, knocked on the doon micks room, knocked on the door, and when mick opened it, he went, bang. I am not your drummer. You are my singer. Yes. Now the point about news theres a film coming out about her life is it . Theres a film coming out. She died in 2017. Anita pallenberg, the film, the documentary and she died in relative poverty. And i think her son has had a lot to do with the putting together of this films. Is it marvin . Yes. Thats right. Yeah. And you know , it will be a great historic biopic, wont it . , it will be a great historic biopic, wont it . Because, you biopic, wont it . Because, you know, sadly, we are losing those rock stars who created what its all about today in the 60s, you know, and it was a fantastic time for this country. Never out of the newspapers. Never out of the newspapers. Well, she was also in barbarella with jane fonda. Yeah. Right. And i have to say, that ignited a thousand teenage fantasies. Yeah, yeah. And it was amazing. Was amazing. And she wasnt very old when she died and duran duran was in that. Well, no, but i mean, considering the life she had as the rock chick extraordinaire. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Its, the other one. You remember barbarella . There was a thing called the orgasmatron in that which we cannot describe at this time of the day. Well, youre absolutely right. And was it david . Somebody in it. Very famous 60s actor, david hemmings. No. Wasnt david hemmings. No. Wasnt david hemmings. I think he was. I think he was david. And in fact, the way that you consummated sex was to take a tablet each, wasnt it. Oh. Which is pretty much where were heading in the future. So probably very. Yeah , very. Yeah, very. Yeah, very. She was 75. She was 75. She was 75. She actually died. She was 75. She she actually died. She was 75. She had hepatitis c. Yeah. Which was all complicated. Tied which was all complicated. Tied up with her wild lifestyle. Fortunately it was, but we have the way they lived in those days. We have to. We have to bring our wild. We have to bring our wild. We have to bring our wild. We have to take a pill. We have to take a pill. No conclusion. Yes, thank you both so much. What else . What else . If we all took a pill at the same time, lets not. Still to come. Still to come. Over 3 Million People relied on food banks last year. Are people in desperate need of another example of handouts . Britain. This is gb news. Dont pmqs at midday today. Christopher hope and Gloria De Piero will want your questions for the Prime Minister. They wont actually ask the Prime Minister, but they will have two fantastic politicians in the studio with them. I dont know who it is today, but they get great guests on that show. The bust up between estimate and the shadow attorney general , and the shadow attorney general, emily thornberry, a few weeks ago was memorable. It was brilliant. It was brilliant. Gbnews. Com yoursay now though, your very latest headunes though, your very latest headlines with erin. Headlines with erin. Hi there. Its 1133. Headlines with erin. Hi there. Its1133. Im Aaron Armstrong. Stop and search could be ramped up as the policing minister unveils new measures to tackle knife crime. The searches were curbed a decade ago by then home secretary theresa may it was found black and other ethnic minority people were being disproportionately targeted. The government also says it will invest £3. 5 million to develop new technology, which could help police detect suspects carrying knives from a distance. New knives from a distance. New proposals could see schools in england banned from teaching students about gender identity. It would also see all Sex Education halted for children under the age of nine. The Prime Minister ordered a review into Relationship Sex and Health Education last year over concerns some kids were being taught inappropriate content. Policing minister chris philp says politically contentious issues have no place in the classroom. Well, i think the report is due to come out very shortly. Im sure that the education secretary will then move to make the changes quickly and look as a parent as well. I dont want my children, to be honest, to be exposed to inappropriate content at a pretty young age. And i at a pretty young age. And i dont, nor do i want politically contested ideas like the trans issues being taught as if theyre facts. I think, you theyre facts. I think, you know, childhood is a really like special time, and i dont think we need to introduce some of these ideas too early. If you ever find yourself stuck on hold, how about waiting for 800 years . Thats how long british people spent waiting to talk to the tax man. Just last year , according to a report, it year, according to a report, it says fewer calls are being answered and those who do get through spend longer on the phone amid whats been described as a declining spiral of Customer Service. And the king Customer Service. And the king and queen are attending a service in saint pauls cathedral in london, recognising the important work of people who have received honours. It comes as her majesty revealed shell no longer purchase new fur products for her wardrobe. Products for her wardrobe. Camillas move follows the late queen, who switched to faux fur in 2019. Gb news alerts are available if you want more on all of our stories. The qr codes on your screen , you can scan on your screen, you can scan that or go to our website, news. Com. Lets. News. Com. Lets. Cheers britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report , a quick Financial Report, a quick snapshot of the markets at the moment , the pound buys you moment, the pound buys you 1. 2620 and moment, the pound buys you 151. 2620 and ,1. 1655. 1. 2620 and ,1. 1655. 151. 2620 and ,1. 1655. The price of gold £1,877. 47 per ounce. The ftse 100 is at 8450 points. Cheers, britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report. 1136 with britains newsroom on gb news with Andrew Pierce and bev turner so children will not be given Sex Education until the age of nine under new government plans announced today. Yeah, in fact, they talk about it in the cabinet today so that when Sex Education starts in school, it wont be before children are at the age of nine and there will be no longer allowed to teach. There are 72 allowed to teach. There are 72 different genders, which is ridiculous , frankly. So is the ridiculous, frankly. So is the tide turning. Well, joining us now is chief health and Sex Education officer at the epa Family Planning association. Adam jepson. Morning, adam. Thank you so much for coming. Coming on board. For coming. Coming on board. Theres a suspicion that maybe the government are playing politics with this issue a little bit this morning. What what are children currently taught at under the age of nine . Well, youre taught because girls start having periods at about eight years old these days. I mean, any between eight and 13. So girls are taught periods and boys are taught this as well. Periods healthy, normal , well. Periods healthy, normal, natural and fine. And thats what a little girl needs to hean what a little girl needs to hear. And then you can talk about the hygiene. But thats also in the biology curriculum. Also in the biology curriculum. And so rishi may want to talk about not talking about this stuff. But little girls still need to hear this and they will still hear these things, but in terms of Sex Education, this is being sold as theyre not going to get Sex Education anymore. What are they getting . Sex education at the moment in terms of relationships and sexual choices and preferences . Okay. So this is what parents may misunderstand about relationships and Sex Education. So in primary school, about two thirds of it is all about relationships. But the relationships. But the relationships is be kind to your mum and dad. Be kind to the people in the class. Be kind to the teacher. Be kind to people who are different. Thats what relationships is mostly about. Its not talking about sexual relationships. Thats in our heads. Its not whats taught to children. When you say kids under nine, i doubt there are many schools teaching them anything about sex. Right . So, adam, when you say be nice to people who are different, what do you mean by people who are different . Is that different skin colour or disabled . What do you mean by that . Well, anyone whos different to you. So maybe someones youngen to you. So maybe someones younger, maybe someones straight, maybe someones gay, maybe someones got a different skin colour. Just be kind. And also we focus you. The focus is more on the nuance. Its more on be kind rather than be nice , be kind rather than be nice, because nice can have negative connotations of being nice. Little girl and do this for me. Be kind is all about being respectful, but also the ability to say no and you know, for the problem. Talk to your parents. Do you think its about right at the moment, adam, in this country, what is on the actual curriculum that children are taught . And if it is right, why are the government making a fuss about the fact that theyre going to change it, well, theres currently a consultation out at the moment or actually finished the governments had a full review of this, and lets all remember it was the conservatives brought, relationships and health and Sex Education into the curriculum. Education into the curriculum. And we think thats a good thing, but what the government havent done, there was a five person panel who put there whove been looking at whats been happening in schools, but they havent done is released they havent done is released the results. Maybe they dont like the look of what the panel has said, again , relationships has said, again, relationships and health and education is about protecting and helping children. So i think we need to children. So i think we need to remove the idea. Its about training children to have sex. Its quite the opposite. Huge amount of studies say its the opposite. Who are you concerned for if we start to dial down on our Sex Education provision in schools, well, i dont think were looking to. I dont think theyre even looking to dial down on it again under nines. It should be about relationships again. Classmates and other again. Classmates and other people, and the other big portion of that is actually, training kids in building that, having the Building Blocks to help protect themselves from the onune help protect themselves from the online dangers and offline dangers. So thats about a third of what theyre taught in primary schools. Bullying. You know, the very nasty side of sending messages and pictures of themselves that, you know, kids are being taught not to do these things and to check with their parents. What and what about pronouns . Adam, does this crop up with children under the age of nine . They might want to be applied by a different pronoun. A different pronoun. Its it doesnt crop up a great deal. If you talk to the children and then you listen to the kids again, this is where the kids again, this is where the government consultation has gone completely wrong. They havent listened to children and they didnt go looking, listening to children in any way. Its not a big issue for children. They are being taught to be kind. If someones different again , fine. If youre different again, fine. If youre trans, youre different colour, different age group. Its not a problem. Be kind, be respectful. Problem. Be kind, be respectful. What about later in the School Education . What . I have teenagers and i think at high school they are clearly having debates around said gender. And my kids will say, oh, weve got weve got two of them, weve got two of them. Theres mum in our year and they do take it, you know, with a little bit of pinch of salt. They see it as a bit of an attention seeking thing. To be honest. If you decide that youre are they then rather than a he she should the schools be at some situations, do you think leading rather than just listening to the children. Listening to the children. No, no, its a question of listening to children because i think if you get into leading you might start going, hey, this group of people is better than that group of people. Its about everyone having equality and dignity and respect for each other. Its not about leading people in one way or the other. So if a child then at, say, 13 in the class says, i am a im not a girl or a boy, im a they then do you think that the teachers should say, yes, we agree with you. You are not a boy or a girl. I would love for the government. Theyd be sitting on the fence for a very long time on this to come out like wales and scotland have and say, here is the guidance for the teachers because the teachers are in a really tricky place. Yeah. Yeah. With this youre in the middle of a class and some kid wants to be a little bit awkward. What will you do . But then youre actually distracting from all the children who are unfortunately born in the wrong body. And youre not helping them. But when it comes down to it, mostly i think the teachers can distinguish which is pretty bright. People they can distinguish between whos, you know, swinging the lead and actually who just needs to be listened to. Yeah, its not leading , class to say this, this leading, class to say this, this group of people is better than that group of people. Okay. Adam jeffson, theyre from the Family Planning association. Interesting really interesting. So lets come. You figures. Yeah. Come. You figures. Yeah. You go 40 increase in the use of food banks over the last five years. I think this is another sign of people since the pandemic saying, please, sir, can i talk some more . Yeah talking of swinging the lead, gb news. So is this more information . So is this more information . More evidence of broken britain . Or are you a bit more sceptical . New figures from the Trussell Trust apparently show 3 Million People used emergency food parcels from food banks last year alone. So lets go live to our West Midlands reporterjack so lets go live to our West Midlands reporter jack carson, who is at a food bank this morning. Hello, jack. Whats the picture there on the ground . Picture there on the ground . Yeah. Good morning to you both. So that three point, more than 3 million food parcels delivered on the year to march, thats a 94 increase over the past five years. And just in the last year alone, more than a million delivered to children. So to find out really about whats going on, were joined with jane baker, whos the project lead here at the newcastle staffs food bank. Jane, just kind of tell me then, your reaction to those figures that weve got from the Trussell Trust this morning. Its really sad. Its really sad. Its really sad. Its not right that anybody needs to turn to a charity for support with food and putting food on the table for their families. I mean, what kind of are you seeing in terms of you know, what youre having to do . Are you seeing youre having to deliver more food parcels . Whats the situation with yourselves . Yeah. Here in newcastle, staffs, we have given out over 9600 parcels in the last year and were at a 9 increase on the previous yean 9 increase on the previous year, 113 increase on five years ago. So were just reflecting the national picture. That need has gone up and exponentially its got more than 100. I think thats bigger than the national picture. So why what do you think is maybe different in this area . What kind of are you seeing in terms of the type of people that are coming to you for support . Anyone and anyone, everyone can need support from us and were seeing about two thirds of the people we support are families with children. Were seeing an increase in the number of pensioners needing support, but lots are people where the Social Security system is not supporting them or theyre on low wages, and its just not enough income to put food on the table. You mentioned the security system. I mean, what for you is wrong with it . What more needs to be done, of course, is proposals from from both parties. You know, weve got a general election coming up later in this year. I mean, what kind of are you looking for . Somebody that obviously works in it works in a food bank in terms of what would be a better policy to try and catch People Better and i guess kind of make yourselves useless in a way. Yeah. Our first call would be an essentials guarantee, where the basic rate of benefits covers the cost of essentials , covers the cost of essentials, and it doesnt at the moment. Trussell trust have got research that shows that we can see over the last year, when the cost of living payments have been made, our need goes down. So thats showing us that its income. Thats the issue. And so that safety net should provide money to get people through to the end of the month. And its not doing that at the moment. I mean, what goes into a typical food parcel, an item is a little bit about what kind of you send to families on a regular basis, what kind of comes in the typical kind of for food parcel. Its just basic essentials. Theres nothing fancy. We theres nothing fancy. We provide three meals a day for three days. For how many people are in the household . Thats cereal , tins of fruit and veg. Cereal, tins of fruit and veg. Theres nothing extravagant in it. We provide toiletries as well. It is those absolutely bafic well. It is those absolutely basic essentials that were providing for people. Providing for people. All right, jane, thank you so much for joining all right, jane, thank you so much forjoining us this morning much for joining us this morning to give us a little bit of enlightenment about, you know, the reality on the ground at a food bank with those Trussell Trust figures out today. Thank you jack, thank you very much, right. Still to come sir keir starmer takes on rishi sunak at pmqs at midday. Sir keir starmer takes on rishi sunak at pmqs at midday. Join us sunak at pmqs at midday. Join us for the bill. Weve got to think of a question. Weve got to think of a question that we would want to ask the Prime Minister today. I think i might ask the Prime Minister what do you think of the new portrait of the king . Oh, thats a nice one, andrew. And i suspect hed say very diplomatically, very nice. I dont know yet. I need im going to take inspiration from our viewers. What i mean is im going to steal someones idea online. Gbnews. Com yoursay say, send us your questions while we take this very quick break, and then youll have done my homework for me before we see gloria and chris hope in a little while. This is britains newsroom on gb news. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Good morning. Welcome along to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. Many places. Having a fine day today with sunny spells and it will feel pretty warm in that sunshine as well. But some parts, particularly Eastern England, remaining pretty drab. Rain and drizzle on and off across much of yorkshire, lincolnshire and into norfolk as well. A few showers scattered about elsewhere , some getting to about elsewhere, some getting to the west of the pennines and maybe a few across the south west of england. But many places here through wales, Northern Ireland, much of scotland will be dry. Notice quite murky conditions on the east coast of scotland, however, ha returning here thats going to suppress the temperatures in the sunny spells further south. We could easily get up to 20, maybe 21 celsius. That mist and low cloud will be around then through the evening and overnight across the eastern part of scotland , tending to part of scotland, tending to come and go and as i say, suppress the temperatures. But generally a fine warm evening across the highlands. It may cloud over a little bit through the central belt. Could be some patchy rain across southwest scotland this evening, most of Northern Ireland staying dry, but maybe again here, clouding over a little bit. Pretty dull and damp across parts of Eastern England through to the east midlands, much of the south having a fine evening, just a bit of a breeze picking up along the south coast and say maybe 1 or 2 showers here. Well continue to see some outbreaks of rain and keep the generally pretty drab conditions across the east coast of england, and that will last through the night and into thursday morning, temperature wise. Well we may dip to single figures overnight, but most towns and cities staying in double digits. Onto the details for tomorrow. Again a fairly grey start across much of northern england. Rain at times here. More of it though, to the west of the pennines and well see a bit more of that rain just heading into parts of Northern Ireland south west scotland through the day. A few more showers in the south tomorrow. Some heavy showers likely to develop by the afternoon. Plenty of sunshine afternoon. Plenty of sunshine away from those showers and again a good looking day in western scotland, where temperatures likely to get over 20 celsius. Goodbye looks like things are heating up. Boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news. Well, were now going to Gloria De Piero and christopher. Hope for promises. Questions which will be a lively old occasion. Morning, both. Morning, both. Good morning. Yes. We want to good morning. Yes. We want to know what our viewers and listeners , wherever youre listeners, wherever youre watching or listening, get those questions in. What would you like to ask the Prime Minister orindeed like to ask the Prime Minister or indeed the leader of the opposition . Please do send us your questions. Tell us who you are and as importantly, where youre from. Well put your questions to our panel. Gbnews. Com yoursay to our panel. Gbnews. Com yoursay is where you put them. Pmqs live is where you put them. Pmqs live is all about you at home, not me or gloria, but just for now. Andrew and bev briefly, what will you be asking the Prime Minister today . I think im going to ask him what hes does. He what does he what hes does. He what does he what does he think of the new official portrait of the king by jonathan yeo, which has caused quite a stir. The picture. Quite a stir. The picture. What a great question. What a great question. He liked that one. He liked that one. That would be an easy one. And i think i would steal a question from one of our viewers. And who said asking what he thinks of sadiq khan going to see the pope when london is broken and falling down . Two very good questions. Well, thank you, andrew, and thank you bev. Its fast approaching midday on gb news. This is gb news, britains election channel. Pmqs live starts right now i it is 1157 m it is 1157 on wednesday, the 15th of may. This is pmqs live on gb news with Gloria De Piero and christopher hope. Welcome back chris. Great to be here too. Thank you gloria. Just one moment. Rishi sunak and sir keir starmer go head to head in a weekly joust. Prime ministers questions straight from the house of Commons Chamber will have full coverage every moment, every spit and cough. Well be getting the full reaction from Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart and shadow Education Minister matt weston, and weve got a couple of minutes before we go live to the house of commons. So let us go to labours matt western, keir starmer, the labour leader. He gets six questions today. What should he be asking the Prime Minister. Well its a bit of a turkey issue isnt it. I think theres just its wide open, all sorts of areas he could be exploiting. Ive got to say personally , im ive got to say personally, im really concerned about the housing situation in the uk. I was very i picked up this morning that, in scotland, theyve got this motion, thats going through just about a declaring a housing crisis. I think that exists right across the uk. But particularly in england. And so i would really like to personally, id be asking questions about the housing situation because its getting desperate. Certainly in my constituency. My constituency. Okay. Well, but if i can ask you a westminster bubble question , alex, are you going to question, alex, are you going to defect to the labour party . Well, i thought id wait a few moments before spilling those beans. Chris. No, im. Im not going anywhere. And will anyone else do a Natalie Elphicke . I would be amazed. I think it would be all too predictable for , you all too predictable for, you know, to run again. No, i, i just think that, that natalies defection last week made her and the labour party look quite silly. So i dont think any more games like that. They dont like it on your side of the house, do they . Your colleagues are up in arms. Most of them about, Natalie Elphicke being welcomed into the labour fold. You know what some people say is a hardline tory core. Are you back in 2019 . Youll remember what it was like when members deserted our benches back at that time. And also on the conservative benches, it was palpable just how nervous the conservative benches were when they suddenly realised that natalie was on our bench. And i think coming so hotly after dan poulter, i think thats created real nervousness amongst the backbench conservatives. So you know whos going to be next. Its a legitimate question. Well, were looking right now at images of Kemi Badenoch asking questions from mps. So i all eyes on the chamber while were talking, while we wait for, rishi sunak to come out and answer questions from , keir answer questions from, keir starmer. But but to you, Alex Burghart, whats it say to you that youve got your colleagues leaving and joining labour . I mean, i just heard you say about the internal party is a little bit with what matt just said. There wasnt nerves on the tory side. There was just anger because theres no way that Natalie Elphicke shares the views of starmer. We all know alex. Were about to go straight to the chamber now where we have the first questions to the Prime Minister. Mr speaker, this morning i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others in addition to my duties in this house. I shall have further such meetings later today. Meetings later today. Jonathan lord, residents across the eastern villages of woking in byfleet, west byfleet and pickford have seen a large number of proposed developments over recent years. Over recent years. Of particular concern is an area of beautiful fields near westhall, where over 1000 of my constituents have written back to me in recent weeks expressing their deep concerns