The duchess of edinburgh visits ukraine, a certain pugnacious panellist has a thing or two to say about the sussexes upcoming visit to nigeria, plus the row over whether britain made its wealth from slavery may have been decisively settled , as been decisively settled, as a new report claims. Slavery may have even made britain poorer. State of the nation starts now. Ill also be joined by my most pugnacious panel this evening. Former editor of the sun, Kelvin Mackenzie, and the historian and broadcaster tessa dunlop. As you broadcaster tessa dunlop. As you know, as always, i want to hear from you. Its a crucial part of the programme. Email me mailmogg gbnews. Com. But now its what youve all been waiting for. The news bulletin with ray addison. Thanks, jacob. Good evening. Our top stories tonight. The government looks set to face more legal challenges over its rwanda plan. After detaining the first group of migrants to be deported, both men and women have been taken into custody in a series of operations across the country. Officials wont confirm how many people have been detained or where they were taken into custody. So far , the taken into custody. So far, the fda trade union, which represents senior Civil Servants, is threatening legal action over the plan. Well, action over the plan. Well, meanwhile, gb news can reveal that more than 1700 small boat migrants have crossed the engush migrants have crossed the English Channel in just over a week. Early this morning, a boatload of around 70 people was taken to dover harbour by lifeboat. In total, around 400 people have been taken to the border force. Migrant processing centre. Today, the 14 year old boy killed in a sword attack in North East London yesterday has been named as daniel anderson. The met police says a 36 year old man remains in custody on suspicion of the teenagers murder. Daniel was a pupil at bancrofts same school in east london, attended by Grace Omalley Kumar , who was murdered omalley kumar, who was murdered in a knife attack in nottingham last summer. In a knife attack in nottingham last summer. Four other people were injured during yesterdays attack. Police believe a piece attack. Police believe a piece of glass may have been used as a weapon during an incident at a school in sheffield, a 17 year old boy has been arrested for attempted murder after three people were hurt at the Birley Academy this morning. Police academy this morning. Police have praised the actions of school staff during what theyre calling a frightening ordeal. Scotlands snp government has survived a confidence vote at the scottish parliament. The leader of scottish labour, anas sarwar , tabled the motion after sarwar, tabled the motion after a power sharing deal between the snp and the greens collapsed. The motion was defeated by 70 votes to 58. Meanwhile, two msps thought to be considering running to replace scotlands first minister have held private talks. John swinney and kate forbes met at holyrood yesterday. Both have received support from senior members of their party after humza yousaf announced that he was stepping down. The meeting has been described as informal, with both politicians still weighing up their options. And finally , their options. And finally, vickers occupied the Labour Party Headquarters earlier to protest against an oilfield field licence. Five members of field licence. Five members of the christian Climate Action group took over the lobby of the building in Central London. They then held a Church Service to protest against labours refusal to cancel the Rosebank Oil Field licence. 20 others protested outside. Police responded to the scene. For the latest stories sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Common shirts back now to. Jacob. Shirts back now to. Jacob. Welcome back to state of the nafion welcome back to state of the nation. 21st century britain has nation. 21st century britain has become obsessed with diversity, eqtu become obsessed with diversity, equity and inclusion. Seems that just about everything nowadays amounts to protected characteristic. Every week we hear of another reason why the left is outraged about the treatment of a religious ethnic or sexual minority. Theres one group to whom the most vile abuse is completely acceptable in the eyes of the british commentariat. Christians Senior Writer for the times, kenny farquharson, has written a vicious and nasty piece about prospective snp leader candidate kate forbes. Mr farquharson opens saying kate forbes is unfit to be first minister of a 21st century scotland. A 1920s scotland may be and 1950s scotland may be and 1950s scotland perhaps, but not scotland. In 2024. He goes to on say, revealing his ugly bigotry, what a message would kate forbes send first ministership. 7 send that single mothers are sinners, that single mothers are sinners, that sex outside marriage is wrong , that ghouls should be wrong, that ghouls should be allowed to stand in the street outside abortion clinics muttering incantations that most of us in secular scotland are going to hell. Well, mrs. Forbes has never tried to enforce her religious views on others, and she is not aiming to turn scotland into a theocracy. She is a devout christian and puts her faith into practice in her private life. Ferguson is private life. Ferguson is clearly very ignorant about christianity, which is a faith of forgiveness, not of condemnation. Christ when asked by saint peter how many times you should forgive, replied , i you should forgive, replied, i say not unto thee until seven times, but until 70 times seven, meaning basically an infinite number of times. Kate forbes will know as a christian that we are all sinners. The only words said out loud in the canon of the old right mast nobis quoque peccatoribus. But that god is ever merciful. Her beliefs are not dissimilar from those of many devout muslims, but farquharson, being a muslim is worthy while being a devout christian is wrong. This is the bigotry of the new left. Freedom to agree with our fashionable nostrums, but not to hold fast your own beliefs. The rottenness, the viciousness and sheer nastiness of his column is in his desire to root out people from public life, purge people from public life, purge people from public life who do not share his sad secularist world view. He should be share his sad secularist world view. He should be ashamed of himself and learn from his fellow times columnist matthew parris, who was remarkably generous to kate forbes. In his article also published in the times today. Fortunately for farquharson, the loving and merciful lord and the Christian Kate forbes will probably forgive him and we can all pray forgive him and we can all pray for him to become a nicer person as ever. Let me know your thoughts. Mail margaret gbnews. Com. Well, im joined now by a veteran human rights campaigner, peter tatchell. Peter, thank you so much for coming in. Youre always a great defender of free speech. So i would have thought that you would have thought that you would defend kate forbes right, to hold her views. Absolutely you know, i may not agree with her point of view , but she with her point of view, but she and other people of faith have a right to hold those views. The right to hold those views. The question is not whether she should hold the views, but whether she is a fit and proper person to be first minister. Now she does hold some quite extreme views which are not shared by many christians in scotland. So she opposes gay marriage, trans rights, abortion and is very critical of parents who have children outside of marriage. Now thats very insulting to millions of scottish people. Its a view that is the orthodox view of the catholic church. I know kate forbes is not a catholic, which has a billion adherents across the world. Its not a tiny minority of christians who hold this view pretty mainstream, but i think in britain and in scotland, that is not the majority view of most christians. Christians. Most christians have embraced a more compassionate, loving interpretation of scripture to Love Thy Neighbour as the scriptures say. And i think we need to ask ourselves, well, hold on, none of what youve said about her views mean that you dont love your neighbour. Its a recognition, as i quoted, that we are all sinners and that we are all in need of gods forgiveness. Its no good saying , 0h, forgiveness. Its no good saying , oh, its not sin. Its saying, yes, we all do things wrong and therefore we all need forgiveness. And thats a very traditional and loving view of christianity. Well, that may be, but, you know, to have someone holding those views in a position of first minister of scotland, the highest elected office in the country , i think that would send country, i think that would send a very bad signal to millions of scottish people who do not share those views. And i would ask you to consider this if she had expressed similar views about black people that would have been condemned outright as racism, she would not be entertained. Thats actually what im saying about ferguson, that if he said these views about anybody else, if you said these views about muslims, that because they hold these views and these are very traditional muslim views too, there would have been absolute outrage. The times would not have published it. Well i agree, kate forbes is entirely justified and legitimate in holding those views. The question is whether such a person should be chief minister, first minister of scotland, but shes not trying to make these views. The law, these are her views. This is how she believes she will save her own soul. And shes not trying to make that the law of the land in scotland. Well, we will see how she behaves in future. But yes, maybe thats the case. The important thing is to have someone holding those views as the head of scotland and in charge of scotland, the first minister, that sends the wrong signal. We want someone. I think signal. We want someone. I think most scottish people want someone in that position who is open and kind and accepts equal rights for all people. But fundamental to christian teaching is the equal value of all souls. That everybody is of value to and loved by god. That doesnt mean every action they take is right. Well, that is true. But again, i draw the analogy with racism. You know, we would not tolerate someone as first minister of scotland who held racist views. Even if they held them privately, we would say that person is not fit and proper to be first minister. Racism is completely different from the views of the Christian Churches throughout the ages. That thats saying that somebody, because they have a particular colour skin or come from a particular origin is not as equal under the law as anybody else. And that is entirely different from saying that if people dont go to church on sunday, theyre committing a sin. I think the analogy is if someone said that a black person did not deserve equal rights, we would condemn that as racist. What kate forbes is saying is that, in her view, gay people and single parents, shes not saying they dont deserve equal. Shes not saying they dont deserve equal rights. Shes never said that. Well, shes saying she she opposes the rights of gay people to marry the person they love. She, she she believes, which is what everybody believed until a few years ago, that marriage is between a man and a woman. Is between a man and a woman. Thats not an outlandish view to hold, but shes accepted that the law has changed and isnt seeking to change it. Well, that may be the case, but the point is , she holds that but the point is, she holds that view, and to have the person with greatest political power in scotland to hold that view symbolically, that sends the wrong message. Its not. I just dont see why it does. Because this is a view that is held still by many millions of people in this country. Its not an unreasonable view to believe that marriage is a sacrament ordained by god between a man and a woman. The state can make whatever legal arrangements it likes, but marriage is something fundamentally different. Well, as i said, kate forbes is entitled to her view. Ill defend her right to hold it. I defend her right to hold it. I just dont think shes the right person to be first minister saying that anybody who is a traditional christian is excluded from high office. Well, im saying that someone who doesnt accept equality, but shes human rights. Equality. Shes not denying equality of people before the law. She just doesnt believe in some things you believe in. And she has a concept of sin that is the traditional christian concept and muslim concept and jewish concept of sin. Well, i said that may well be the case, and shes not trying to enforce it on other people. To enforce it on other people. I dont really understand why you want to stop somebody Holding Private beliefs about the salvation of their own soul that theyre not enforcing on people . Well, its not my position to stop. Kate forbes. Thats up to the members of the Scottish National party and the people of scotland. But as a human rights defender, im saying that its a very bad look to have People HoldingHigh Political Office who do not believe in equality for everyone and fi harrison to go back to him is very pleased that there was a muslim leader in scotland, but the muslim faith has much tougher views, almost these matters than the christian faith. Well, again. Christian faith. Well, again. That may well be the case, but so would you rule out a muslim as well . Well, it depends on their views. A traditional muslim, if they hold, would you rule out a traditional muslim if they held views against the rights of women and lgbt plus people . Yes i would okay, thats not acceptable. We have to have the leaders of our country, including in scotland, people who believe in the principle of equality for all and who reflect that in their own personal views. They are symbols of the nation. And for scotland to have a leader of the nation, a symbol of the nation, who doesnt believe that loving heterosexual couples who have children but are not married, she thinks they are not married, she thinks they are unfit. She thinks thats she doesnt think she thinks its unrwa. She thinks she hasnt said anything of the kind. Anything of the kind. I retract that she thinks she thinks she thinks its wrong. Thinks she thinks its wrong. She thinks its wrong. Were going to have finished with that retraction. So thank you. Peter. Coming up, should sir keir starmer be investigated by bbc verify for spreading misinformation . Plus we may now have solved the debate over whether slavery was caused behind britains wealth well, weve been talking about the really nasty piece in the times. Attacking kate forbes for her christian views. And the mail mogs have been coming in on the feast of saint joseph. The workman george says the eradication of christianity has been the end play for many years by the hard left and others. And leakey says i think scotland wants a first minister who can actually do the job regardless of their religion. Those in glass houses should not throw stones, and it seems the leader of the opposition may have just shattered his islington conservatory have a look at this clip from a Labour Party Campaign video, shared online by the great leader of the party himself. Himself. The main thing that really made me change my mind was i was watching the duke of edinburghs funeral on the television and there was the queen sitting all on her own. No family , no on her own. No family, no friends. And then later i found out that at the same time, Boris Johnson and his friends were partying in downing street , johnson and his friends were partying in downing street, and that was just in my opinion, was was just unacceptable. Was just unacceptable. Well, im afraid whether its unacceptable or not, that was simply a lie. That gent was not telling you the truth. It was a lie being spread by the labour party. Borisjohnson lie being spread by the labour party. Boris johnson did not attend a so called Lockdown Party during the late duke of edinburghs funeral in number 10, downing street, because its well documented that he was in fact at chequers at the time. Its quite difficult to bilocate padre pio believed, i believe managed it, but other than great saints, its a rare attribute. But when its the left who always go on about the need to crackdown on the spread of misinformation, will they be consistent and challenge those in their own ranks . Will we see bbc verify publish a lengthy feature on this matter . My breath is bated. Well, im joined now by my pugnacious panel joined now by my pugnacious panel, former editor of the sun, Kelvin Mackenzie, and the historian and broadcaster tessa dunlop. Tessa la la pants on fire to, keir starmer and his crew today. Crew today. Gosh, do you think that theyre following the lead of bofis theyre following the lead of Boris Johnson where angels fear to tread, who i believe lost his seat and his political career because he lied to parliament . I think you are, however , jacob, think you are, however, jacob, by the way, good evening. Being something of a pedant. By the way, good evening. Being something of a pedant. Clearly something of a pedant. Clearly the precedent had been set, led by the blonde bombshell not me, but Boris Johnson in downing street. Consistent parties throughout the year before its not true. By april it is. I just looked up the dates throughout december. I mean, there were so many christmas parties. Im surprised anybody got. Surprised anybody got. Boris was not at parties. The only thing that he was criticised for was having a slice of cake on his birthday. Dan slice of cake on his birthday. Drink that was brought to him. He didnt have anything to drink. The precedent was set, wasnt it . No. The problem is, yes, we all know that if something dodgy goes on in the home office, the head of state resigns. The head of the home ofsted should know the. You know the king, know the head. Dont deport somebody and the king abdicates. Come on. Teslas getting a bit confused. Kelvin. Do you want her proud . Well, the two issues. First of all, i hadnt seen this before tonight. So where did it actually go . Out did it go out on television . Its on a labour propaganda video. A labour propaganda, and its been r