We will not be silent. We will not be silent. We will raise the voice of gaza. We will raise the voice of palestine. Hello . Come back hello . Come back hello . Come back caroline. Lucas. All is forgiven. Meanwhile, in my take forgiven. Meanwhile, in my take at ten, prince harry returns to britain next week. This will surprise you, but i think he should have a heros welcome. Find out why at ten. So, two hours of big opinion, big debate and big entertainment. Ill be deaung and big entertainment. Ill be dealing with the bbc in two minutes time. You will not believe the alleged discrimination thats happening. But first News Headlines and some breaking news with sam francis. Francis. Mark, thank you very much and good evening to you from the newsroom. Its 9 00. And as mark said, we start with some breaking news in the england local elections. There has been local elections. There has been a surprise upset tonight in the last few minutes for the conservative party in the West Midlands, with labours Richard Parker beating conservative andy street to become mayor. There. Labour had declared it was confident of a narrow win ahead of the votes. Official announcement. But in the very announcement. But in the very last few minutes that has now be confirmed. If youre watching on tv, you can see here the scenes live where andy street is now giving his statement. We have giving his statement. We have just also heard from the mayor of the labour party, Richard Parker. He of the labour party, Richard Parker. He had been giving his victory speech after, as i say , victory speech after, as i say, beating conservative andy street by 1508 votes to now become mayor of the West Midlands. Well, the conservative loss there is a double blow for the Prime Minister after earlier today labours sadiq khan secured a historic third term as mayor of london. This, though, was the moment that he was heckled and booed as he started his acceptance speech to london from london cornfield, london. Well, sadiq khan beat his nearest rival, conservative candidate susan hall, in a contest full of criticism over his decision to expand the caphaps his decision to expand the capitals ultra low emission zone however, mr khan insisted he is keeping positive notes who inspire me every day to continue our mission of building a fairer , safer and greener london and in what i hope will be a year of great change a future Labour Government led by keir starmer. Government led by keir starmer. Working with us in city hall will mean we can go much further and accomplish so much more. And accomplish so much more. And labours also been celebrating success in liverpool, in South Yorkshire and in West Yorkshire today, and in greater manchester, where andy burnham was re elected. He andy burnham was re elected. He picked up just over 63 of the vote there and said hell always give his best to the job. Im overwhelmed, so have so many people prepared to put their trust in me . Is overwhelming. Its humbling, and i recognise that people who vote for other parties at a general election of lent me their support, and its why i will be very, very rigid in taking a place first rather than a party first approach. Seems to me thats what the role of the mayor is all about, bringing people together , you know, get people together, you know, get everybody pulling in the same direction for a great city region like this one. And thats what i will be doing. What i will be doing. Well, lets take a quick look at the results in those local elections across england as they stand now at 9 00 tonight, labour gaining control of eight councils up to a total of 50. The liberal democrats have also won more Council Seats overall than the conservative party. And as we were just mentioning, results from the West Midlands, where labour have also secured victory for that mayoral seat. In other news, the family of Daniel Anjorin say they are devastated after he was killed walking to school in london on tuesday. The 14 year old, whos been described as loving and precious , was attacked by a man precious, was attacked by a man with a sword in hainault. Four other people, including two police officers, were also injured. Marcus monzo, a spanish brazilian dual national, was charged with murdering the teenager and he appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on thursday. Weve heard tonight thursday. Weve heard tonight that more than 20 dogs have been seized after police raided a suspected illegal xl bully Breeding Farm in sheffield. 16 Breeding Farm in sheffield. 16 of the animals are being looked after now in Police Kennels after now in Police Kennels after they were discovered in what officers described as appalling conditions. Six other dogs were sadly so unwell that they did have to be put to sleep. The breed was added to a banned list in october last yean banned list in october last year, following a series of attacks. However, campaigners attacks. However, campaigners have argued that ban is unlawful and tens of thousands of homes in east sussex tonight are still without water and could be until at least tomorrow after a pipe burst. Southern water says the burst. Southern water says the disruption in Saint Leonards on sea and hastings started on thursday. The firm, though, insists it is working tirelessly. They say, to get suppues tirelessly. They say, to get supplies back to properties. But supplies back to properties. But residents in response say its been disastrous. Schools, a Leisure Centre and a theatre have been closed. Those are the have been closed. Those are the headlines. Plenty more still to come with mark this evening. Until then, you can sign up to gb news alerts. Just scan the code on your screen or go to gbnews. Com slash alerts. Gbnews. Com slash alerts. Thanks, sam. Welcome to a busy market tonight in the big story shock. New polls suggest that sir keir starmer will fail to win an overall majority at the next election. So could the tories achieve the unthinkable, drag themselves out of the gutter and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat . Ill be speaking to someone whos been where the tories are and done it before. What does it take to before. What does it take to become a winner . Ill be asking. Tonights mark meets guest olympic sprinting legend. You and thomas , who also reveals how and thomas, who also reveals how he nearly lost his first baby son to a devastating infection. He tells his extraordinary story before the end of the hour. Now, before the end of the hour. Now, what do you imagine . A Green Party Election victory looks like . Hippie types a message about recycling or Carbon Emissions . No, its this week will not be silent. We will raise the voice of gaza. We will raise the voice of palestine. Hello hello. Thats the green party. Is britain now in the grip of political extremism . Ill get reaction from tonights top pundits. And in my take at ten, prince harry returns to the uk next week. This will surprise next week. This will surprise you, but i think he should have a heros welcome. Find out why at ten. Reacting to the big stories of the day, my top punst stories of the day, my top pundits diana moran, nina meshkov and Benedict Spence plus the most important part of the show your views. They come straight to my laptop. Gbnews. Com yoursay essay. And this show has a golden rule we dont do boring. Not on my dont do boring. Not on my watch. I just wont have it a big two hours to come. Mark dolan tonight is your perfect saturday night in . Lets start with my big opinion. In shocking with my big opinion. In shocking news that will surprise no one, a bbc trainee journalism scheme stands accused of discrimination, with white brits making up just a third of places. Even making up just a third of places. Even though this cohort represents three quarters of the population. And in a further development that mps have described as concerning , the described as concerning, the Daily Telegraph revealed that nearly 75 of places on the course were taken by women. Even though and you dont need me to tell you this , the population is tell you this, the population is split roughly 5050 now. Im a great believer in diversity. Great believer in diversity. Its critically important to represent our rich, vibrant and Diverse Society and historically underrepresented voices and talents must come to the fore in the media and in the boardroom. The media and in the boardroom. But this policy has been called out as something quite different. Positive discrimination , which is in fact discrimination, which is in fact unlawful under the equality act of 2010. Its an outrage that our national broadcaster, funded to the tune of billions by hard working brits, should be discriminating against anyone. Whilst the bbcs output and staffing should be diverse. Right now the message is clear dont be a white bloke. How is that progress . Doctor rakib hasan , an expert on social hasan, an expert on social integration and part of the multi ethnic Pressure Group dont divide us, says that white britons, being woefully underrepresented in the bbcs flagship journalism training scheme is no surprise. He said scheme is no surprise. He said under the mantra of diversity , under the mantra of diversity, more and more young and aspirational, White Working Class people in the regions will be left by the wayside. The be left by the wayside. The bottom line is that discrimination is wrong. Whatever your skin colour and diversity, which remains a critically important principle , critically important principle, has become an ideology which often has the opposite effect. Your funding for a phd shouldnt be based upon your ethnic background, your place on a bbc journalism course shouldnt be based on skin colour. Your employment in a public or private sector job employment in a public or private sectorjob should not be private sector job should not be based on your gender identity, your Sexual Orientation or your religion. Who bloody cares . This box ticking works against merit and is therefore patronising to minority groups and works strongly against Martin Luther kings dream of a colour blind society. Vie. The bbc is sailing society. Vie. The bbc is sailing very close to the wind legally, and that is the national scandal. But its endemic in the media, in the Public Sector and in our corporations. The brilliant actor john nettles remember him . He played bergerac in the hit bbc series in the 19805, in the hit bbc series in the 1980s, said this weekend that when that programme was originally made, actors were employed on the show for their talent. It wasnt about inclusivity. The public are sick of this. Of course, talented brits of all backgrounds dont want positive discrimination. They dont want equality of outcome. They want equality of opportunity and the lifting of barriers, not more barriers. And the ideology of two wrongs making a right. The push back on this divisive nonsense is strong. Here is the very popular us comedian Jerry Seinfeld , dealing comedian Jerry Seinfeld, dealing with an interviewer who complained that there were too many white men on his show. Well, Jerry Seinfelds response is delicious. I have noticed that most of the guests are mostly white males of 22 episodes. Yeah, lets get into that. No but but you take a look over here, peter, what do you see . A lot of a lot of whiteness. Whats going on here . But but oh, this really pisses me off. But go ahead. No, really pisses me off. People think its the census or something. I mean, this has got to represent the actual pie chart of america. Who cares . Its just funny. You cares . Its just funny. You know, funny is the is the world that i live in. Youre funny. Im interested. Youre not funny. Im not interested. And i funny. Im not interested. And i have no interest in gender or race or anything like that. But everyone else is kind of with their little calculating. Is this the exact right mix . You know, i think thats , to me its know, i think thats, to me its anti comedy. Anti comedy. What a hero. I love these figures who speak out and promoting his new netflix comedy film. This week, seinfeld is once again in the news with this rant about Political Correctness destroying comedy. Of course, destroying comedy. Of course, hes right. Nothing really affects comedy. People always need it. They need it . So badly and they dont get it. It used to be need it . So badly and they dont get it. It used to be you need it . So badly and they dont get it. It used to be you would get it. It used to be you would go home. At the end of the day, most people would go, oh, cheers is on. Oh, mash is on. A Mary Tyler Moore is on. All in, the family is on. You just expected therell be some funny stuff we can watch on tv tonight. Well, guess what . Where is it . This is the result of the extreme left and pc crap and people worrying so much about offending other people. People. Brilliant stuff. In the end, talent in this country and around the world is spread equally across all backgrounds, races, religions and cultures. Races, religions and cultures. Which is why opportunity must be equal to. Which is why the equal to. Which is why the so called dei policies diversity , equity and inclusion are so wrong. Nobody should be wrong. Nobody should be discriminated against for their skin colour. They should be discriminated for against being a weak candidate and positive discrimination should only be deployed for the people best suhed deployed for the people best suited to do the job. Do you really want the brain surgeon thats operating on your cerebral cortex . Being a diversity hire . Do you want the Airline Pilot transporting you at 36,000ft to be the product of box ticking, rather than ability qualifications and experience . I think i know the answer in the end, diversity policies are not diverse and inclusivity seeks to exclude the bbc is there to bnng exclude the bbc is there to bring our nation together and to deploy all of its talents. But right now, its fast becoming the weakest link. Your reaction the weakest link. Your reaction gb news com forward slash your say ill get to your messages shortly. But first tonights top pundits. Im delighted to have broadcaster and author nina myskow of model, tv personality and legend diana moran and the brilliant political commentator and journalist Benedict Spence. Great to see all three of you here. Diana moran. Your reaction to this box ticking exercise at the bbc . Its just dreadful. I the bbc . Itsjust dreadful. I mean, its just dreadful. I mean, at the end of the day, the basic thing is talent. At the end of the day, the basic thing is talent. Youve either thing is talent. Youve either got talent or you havent got talent. Doesnt matter what talent. Doesnt matter what colour you are, what age you are ehhen colour you are, what age you are either. Its the talent that really matters and this really makes me cross diversity , makes me cross diversity, equality and inclusion. It isnt is it . It isnt. I mean, thats my issue. Benedict, is that diversity increasingly is not diverse. Inclusivity seeks to exclude one of the i suppose id have a little bit more sympathy with what the bbc is doing, is if it was protecting one of the things it used to do very well, which was its foreign services, its Foreign Language services was providing information to people around the world who couldnt necessarily rely on the state media that they had to consume. From that perspective, id entirely understand if they were trying to appeal to and hire a broad range of journalists from different ethnic backgrounds who perhaps spoke different languages, had better understandings of local cultures. But thats not what theyre doing. Theyre actively cutting back on those services, to which you then have to sort of answer, well, ask rather well, what exactly is all of this for . Is it to just sort of make yourself feel better if actually youre not diversifying, diversifying your output and the quality of that and youre not trying to appeal to as many audiences. And i hate the expression soft power, but the expression soft power, but the bbc was one of the very few examples that i think you could say was a good example of british soft power. If youre not actually leaning into that, whats the point of this diversity other than to make the higher ups feel good . Okay, nina, what do you think about this story . Well, of course, talent is the most important thing. And firstly, we dont know that these these people might be the most talented. We absolutely do not know that. And if youre also complaining about the percentage of women involved , percentage of women involved, well, frankly, welcome to our world as women , we for world as women, we for centuries, literally centuries , centuries, literally centuries, we have been discriminated against in the workplace. Its only the last couple of decades that things are balancing out andifs that things are balancing out and its still not balanced yet. The world is run by middle aged white men, basically. White men, basically. But the bottom line is that britain is populated by a lot of middle aged white men. I mean, this is whats forgotten in these diversity policies , is these diversity policies, is that 75 of the population is non ethnic. Yes. Non ethnic. Yes. But theres a very nuanced, slanted report in the telegraph. What were talking about is not the entire bbc training scheme. This is a course where theyre only been 39 people on it. So its a tiny, tiny percentage, its a tiny, tiny percentage, its also what it doesnt actually point up. Ive got the figures here. It says that if were talking about skin colour, it says that individuals from bri