that seems to be playing a part in this, and i'm tracking down the people connected to it. do you think that calls for action in the paper, for people to take action, to do something, could result in action that is not peaceful? of course, i mean, people make their own decisions. the search for answers will take us across the uk and to berlin. at the extreme end, there have been conspiracy theory driven riots at the us capitol and a coup attempt foiled in germany. you cannot say, "ok, on twitter, i'm nice," and on telegram, i say, "kill them all." but what's happening in the uk? the small devon town of totnes is known for its warmth and open mindedness. but something has gone awry. the conspiracy theory movement that boomed during the pandemic has taken hold in the town, and a motivated minority continue to protest and hand out a conspiracy theory newspaper. it's a rival to peter shearne's local paper, the totnes pulse. i'm hoping that he can help uncover more clues about what's happening. tell me about the light newspaper. when did you first come across it? that was during the pandemic, and they appeared through our doorways. they targeted totnes because i think... ..they thought it was fertile ground. that is the worst aspect of the light newspaper, and the theorists, they come up with these conspiracy theories, is they are very divisive within the community. totnes is often regarded as a bit crazy and of course the reality of alt right is that genuinely, it, for me, is crazy. and the fact that totnes might be getting a reputation for an alt right agenda being pushed is upsetting because whilst, yeah, totnes is a little bit crazy, but it's our crazy. at first glance, the light looks like a normal newspaper but, as well as more mundane articles, there are others promoting disinformation about covid and vaccines, financial control and extreme theories, like the great reset and agenda 21. ultimately, all about the idea there is a sinister plot looking to do us harm. articles also talk about the use of force against aggressors, the government and whoever else they oppose. in its pages and on its telegram channel, there are posts about wars and battles. there are also calls for modern day nuremberg style trials for the government, medics and journalists who they see as complicit in these sinister plots. the light and its telegram channel have shared far—right figures and groups with extremist links. that includes conspiracy theorist pauljoseph watson, holocaust denierjohn hamer and anti—semitic blogger lasha darkmoon. it shared details of rallies from far—right group patriotic alternative and content from its leader, mark collette. the group alpha men assemble, which offers military style training to anti—vaxxers, has also had its messages shared by the light on telegram. former mayor ben piper says he became a key target for the conspiracy theory movement in totnes because of his role enforcing coronavirus restrictions. he fears a campaign of harassment mounted against him has been exacerbated by publications like the light paper, which featured him. i canjoke about it, but it was pretty upsetting, actually, to be accused of being... ..a tyrant and a totalitarian and a fascist. there was an aggression that bled through the editorial that was not as innocent as it was making out to be. i've had people drive their car at me, i've been shouted at in the street, i've had people confront me in the supermarket, and shoving their phones in my face, you know, and trying to provoke me, you know? and, you know, sinister telephone calls from strangers who don't identify themselves, you know, of an evening and stuff like that. and the people who i've known for decades who went down those rabbit holes, they'd rather actuallyjust buy into somebody else's paranoid logic, you know? and that was really disappointing and sad. you know, ifeel quite battered by it, i really do. i want to know more about the movement in totnes. a local former doctor called stephen hopwood, who says he specialises in alternative medicine, seems to be a big part of it. a group he was involved in setting up hands out the light paper every week and organises monthly rallies. the truth is what we're looking for and here's an opportunity to discover exactly that by reading the light newspaper. i spot the latest march advertised online, talking about revolution. so i get in touch with stephen and he invites me along. there's an undercurrent of hostility and suspicion when i arrive. everything i do is filmed. six, seven, eight, nine, ten. protesters and stephen talk about the government wanting to control everything from vaccines and money, to how plans to reduce pollution are actually part of plots to limit our freedom. it goes beyond the pandemic and straightforward political opposition. what are your priorities as a movement now? is itjust the vaccine? no, it's to have a conversation. so i keep coming back to, we don't think that we know the absolute nature of reality beyond all doubt. but we do find vast inconsistencies with the government narrative that cannot be ignored if you're an intelligent, caring, discriminating individual. and we have a lot of those in totnes that think for themselves. tell me about the light paper, what is it? it's an alternative newspaper with alternative journalists writing alternative perspectives on a whole spectrum of issues. what's your response to allegations that something like the light has pushed ideas that are anti—semitic, that are far—right, that are denying the holocaust? yeah, well, again, you know, it's one of the things that annoys me, you know, is that our movement, you know, bbc especially and all the rest of it try and, you know, chuck mud at us and say we're far—right or anti—semitic and all the rest of it. i mean, really, it couldn't be farther from the truth. a lot of the language that's online accompanying some of the ideas that you're talking about... ..i�*ve seen, it talks about war, it talks about hanging, it talks about capital punishment. not on my website. no, no, on telegram. well, that's nothing to do with me. just because some person has a belief or says something, it doesn't mean that somebody else believes that. try and drop that as a reality. just because one person says something... but you do seem quite angry, and i have this sense that there's a lot of anger in the movement... with you, for your misrepresentation. i'm angry with you for your editorial policy being dictated to by government and corporations. i'm angry with you. that's not true. i get the sense... we don't feel you're representing the people or the facts in a proper evidencial—based way. do you worry about... because you are angry. i'm frustrated. do you worry about anger and violence? that translating, ever, into violent action? no, i'm notangry, i'm frustrated. so, again, you know, you're trying to label me as angry, if i was angry, i'd be goin- and whatever. i'm just asking... i'm not saying that. that would be angry. this is just talking in an animated way because, you know, we're having an intense moment and i'm going to communicate clearly to you, i'm not, you know, angry. we'll give you a nice hug at the end, you know, i'm a nice chap, you know that. brilliant, thank you so much for your time. 0k, and thank you, too. thank you. no financial privacy and much more. access to your money will be owned by and controlled by the state and how you spend your money... we've just left the march and one prominent feature was the light paper. it was being handed out, there were lots and lots of copies and it strikes me that people like that, well, maybe theyjust don't even realise the kinds of ideologies that they might be exposed to or drawn into. people being handed out the light, they had a mixture of different reactions, some people said they're open to it, other people who took it did not agree, or were almost laughing at the movement. i just want to know more about the light and i want to understand how this paper, that's not made in totnes, is influencing the community here and other communities across the uk. so, who's responsible for this paper? the editor's name is darren nesbit, but he also goes by smith. he performs in a band and his facebook page features posts about coming for those at the top and building underground economies to avoid financial control. he rarely gives interviews to the mainstream media, but he has agreed to meet with me. i'm on my way to meet darren nesbit, who is the editor of the light paper, that paper that's at the heart of this investigation, and i want answers about it. i want to know how it's funded, i want to know who it's linked to, and i want to know more about the people behind it. the build up to this interview has been pretty hostile, and darren has insisted that he will ask me questions as well as me asking him questions. but i do hope that i'll be able to get some answers. darren�*s views are immediately apparent. he's open to conspiracy theories suggesting that covid was a hoax. terror attacks like 9/11 were orchestrated and that almost everything is part of a sinister plot. i'm surprised we got to the second issue, in all honesty. i'm certainly surprised it's still going. at the end of the day, you know, people want the paper. and for as long as what they want the paper, we'll keep publishing it. the paper's been criticised for links to figures who are considered far—right figures or anti—semitic figures, what's your relationship with these groups? i don't have any relationship with them. why do you allow them in your paper? because, if they write good articles on topics that are, you know, useful, topics that are interesting to people, then we should have them. do you worry that, by defending those individuals or giving them a platform, you are effectively condoning these kinds of views for your readership, or, at the very least, advertising these kinds of characters and views to your readership? well, we definitely hold our readership in a higher regard than the bbc hold its viewers because we credit them with the ability to make the same kind of decisions on each piece of information as they go along. how do you... as an editor, do you feel responsible for what you put? because i do think that there's a certain amount of editorial responsibility that we all talk about. how do we make sure that we are giving our readership accurate and fair information but also that we are not promoting hate or hateful ideas or anti—semitism? we don't promote hateful ideas. but you have... no, we haven't. what about someone like graham hart? so the paper directly defended graham hart. he was sentenced to 32 months in prison for making anti—semitic remarks on his radio show. and in the article about him, there was no mention of those comments. it was suggested that it was just a conversation, but he said things likejews are filth, they're like rats and they deserve to be wiped out. yeah, that's pretty harsh stuff. yeah, well, why defend someone like that? we didn't, we defended his right to say it. but you think it's right for him to spread hate like that? and you think it's right to condone the spreading of hate in that way? again, people should be adults and make their own decisions. we believe in the right of people to hold ideas, hold thoughts, ideas, and express their views. if we don't have that, if you take that away in one... if you take one iota from that away, and we're now down the road of censorship, of thought control. do you think that calls for action in the paper, for people to take action, to do something could result in action that is not peaceful? of course. i mean, you know, people make their own decisions and they need to be responsible for their own actions. people should not be passive and just let the world change around them because there is an agenda and a purpose behind it and it's not for their own best interests. are you concerned that there is some violent rhetoric and that actually that's not something that could happen in a peaceful way? because there are quotes i've read in the paper, for example, one that says from the most recent edition, "i condone the use of force only to defend against aggressors, which necessarily means i'm 100% anti—government since government is always an aggressor. and if that makes me an extremist because i want you to have more freedom than you want for yourself, then so be it." what do you think of a quote like that? is that, you know, do you endorse violence against the government, is that what that is? that's not what he's saying. so what's he saying? he's talking about self—defence. but in what... in what situation would you employ that? if the government said, right, we want to take your property, or you have to come and lock down, you have to leave your house and come to a vaccination, say, i don't know, it could be a gazillion different scenarios. it surprises me, if that's what you think, why you don't say there's no place for violence in our movement, and so we don't include these kinds of people in the paper and we don't allow them to share their posts on the telegram channels? because i might be wrong. so you think violence is justified? no, i don't, but i might be wrong. my aim is not to do anything else apart from get to the truth and then obviously let other people have a bash at seeing that information as well. thank you, thank you. what really struck me about that interview with darren was just how topsy turvy it felt. it seemed like we were talking about different realities, and that's quite scary and quite tricky when you're trying to challenge someone. because what they're saying, or some of what they're saying, seems to contradict reality in the evidence. i noticed how darren washed his hands of responsibility when it came to hateful ideologies, far—right figures, even calls to action or violent rhetoric that have been promoted in the paper and on its telegram channel. and no amount of saying that something is peaceful or that you don't condone violence changes that, changes the fact that that content exists and has existed. there's evidence to back up the idea that calls to action, like those featured in the light and on its telegram channel, could be affecting attitudes. the logo is laid out exactly the way that you would expect. dr rod dacombe is an academic from kings college who's been studying the paper and wider conspiracy theory movement more generally. so we did a nationally representative survey of around about 2,500 people. we were really interested in conspiracy beliefs. so whether people were kind of consistently believing the same things they have done over the last couple of years. the other thing we were interested in doing was connecting that to the idea of participation. so were people who, say, read the light, were people who engaged in alternative media more likely to participate in rallies, in direct action and so on, than other people? so, first of all, we need to be really very clear that most people who are interested in these ideas, or who take part in the movement and go on rallies, that kind of thing, do not engage in violent acts and do not think that they should be justified. however, according to the survey, around 60% of those people, a higher proportion of men than women, but around 60% of people felt that, in some circumstances, violence could be justified at one of the rallies or protests. so it's a very small proportion of people, but a larger, perhaps, than we were expecting proportion of people from the survey who attend those rallies. the nature of the conspiracy theories that people engage with are different, they're qualitatively different in the sense that they don't just require you to accept information passively, but you are almost obligated to take part, to do something. and that call for action, that call for participation, which is embedded in lots of the things say that you read in the light, i think characterises recent trends in conspiracy theories. and i think the issue that we're faced with is that we have a whole set of ideas, which are based on the idea that you can assign blame for what's been going on, whether it's for lockdown, or for supposed vaccine harms, or whatever — on individual people. once you start highlighting individual people and saying that retribution and punishment needs to result, which is of course a really big thing in these ideas, then there's a clear pathway through to violence that we see in the literature that's obviously going to be reflected here. there are related papers to the light in ireland, australia and canada. the light also has links with the german paper democratic resistance. the light's editor darren says he speaks to its editor two or three times a year. the german paper refers to the light as its partner paper. i turned to whistle—blowers who used to write for the paper in germany. they reveal how some of the paper's writers and one of its key donors have met with members of the reichsburger group, a fringe group that sprung to prominence in december 2022. 25 people have been arrested in germany on suspicion of being involved in a plot to overthrow the government. 3,000 police were involved in raids on several properties right across the country. at the time, its members said they were prepared to kill to achieve their aim, and prosecutors said the group was extremely dangerous. 0ne whistle—blower also said members of the wider conspiracy theory movement in germany have been offered money by kremlin—linked figures to push disinformation. he's a lawyer called markus haintz. he recently stopped writing for the paper because he says it's become more extreme. the newspaper went more radical. the most problem is the telegram channel. you cannot ask the question, is it ok to beat people wearing masks and then, later, is it ok to get a death penalty for those who made these covid measures? what are you doing, yeah? for me, the biggest problem is that the people who write in this newspaper... ..do not say anything about it. i don't understand it. so they won't disavow it? yeah. some of them should say, ok, i'm a lawyer, i'm a doctor, i'm a journalist, i'm a professor. i cannot give my name for that newspaper any more. you cannot say, ok, on twitter, i'm nice and on telegram, i say, "kill them all," and this has to stop. and a lot of people should say, "anselm, no, it's enough." what do you think the goal is of the paper now? i don't know. i think it's a private vendetta from anselm lenz. when we spoke before, you described him as an extremist. do you think he is an extremist? his wording is at the moment the wording of an extremist, yes. and how would you define an extremist? everyone who brings people... ..in a position where they at least could think about getting violent. markus is still convinced that the risk of violence is low, although others i spoke to in germany are worried about isolated attacks. the german paper editor, anselm lenz, did not reply directly to any of the points raised by the bbc. he called me a "highly paid nato and bbc—propagandist," and said, "if needed, we are willing to take the fight by all means." being here in berlin has really brought to life the risk posed by these kinds of movements and the alternative media and papers that sit at their heart. i think here, more so than anywhere else, people have been willing to go that step further, to really recognise the violence and hostility and how it's escalated and the very real—world consequences that all of this can have. but even then, there still does seem to be this disconnect between the violent language and the hate and what that really means in practice. i think this is a real warning sign to us in the uk about where our movement could be headed. what this all really means and how it can translate in the real world. closer to home, referring to concerns about the uk's conspiracy theory movement more generally, the uk's head of counter—terrorism policing, mattjukes, has told the bbc they are currently seeing evidence of conspiracy theories being interwoven with extremism and that this connection is very much on their radar as investigators. telegram has not responded to the bbc�*s request for comment. the light's editor says he isn't in charge of its telegram channels, although he acknowledges it is directly linked to the paper. various posts are signed off by him and the paper's team. i felt the hate of the movement first—hand with abuse posted on social media by people linked to these papers. and i'm waiting for my face to appear on the front pages of both the light and the democratic resistance. the inclination towards violent rhetoric and hate brings with it a risk of action offline. a risk that's impossible to ignore. hello there. 0ur week so far has been dominated once again with above average temperatures, but a real mixed bag of weather — sunny spells and scattered showers from time to time. take a look at wednesday. well, yes, in kent, it was a beautiful summer solstice for most, but we had some threatening—looking skies. this was inverness and highland. and when those showers arrived, they were heavy and thundery once again. now, as we move through thursday, we've got high pressure dominating. but this weather front here actually, across the near continent, may welljust interfere, just act a little bit more instability in the atmosphere and trigger off the showers in a different area, across central and eastern england as we go through the day. they will be fairly widespread, but if you catch them, they could be heavy and thundery once again. top temperatures, though, on the warm side — 28 degrees, that's 82 fahrenheit. now, as we move out of thursday into friday, we've got this high pressure building from the south. but at the same time, weather fronts toppling across the high will bring some wetter and breezier conditions for a time. some rain where we're desperate for it, across parts of scotland and northwest england, drifting its way steadily eastwards. a little more cloud around generally on friday, so not quite as warm, but still 25 is 77 fahrenheit and above where it should be for this time of year. now, as we move into the weekend, we've got this north—south divide developing. high pressure still dominates to the south, weather fronts trying to squeeze in across the top of the high. and all the time, we've got this warmth coming up from the near continent. in fact, as the weekend progresses, across central and southern england, it will start to feel increasingly more humid. so on saturday, there will be some cloud around, the best of the dry weather, central and southern areas. outbreaks of rain starting to push in from the northwest as those frontal systems arrive. here a little bit fresher, 18 to 23 degrees, but once again, mid to high 20s not out of the question elsewhere. that's into the low 80s fahrenheit. moving into the second half of the weekend, another weather front starts to push in from the far north and west, bringing yet the threat of more rain to come. so we've got this contrasting story — increasingly humid with that southerly flow into the southeast, but that could trigger off some sharp showers or longer spells of rain further north and west. highs between 17 and 20 degrees, or maybe 28 in the far southeast. now, as we move out of sunday into monday, that weather front clears through, so there might be some useful rain down to the southeast for a time. and then the wind direction, albeit fairly briefly, swings round to a light but north—westerly. so a fresher feel, a cleaner day generally on monday, largely dry, largely fine, with top temperatures between 15 and 25 degrees. looking further ahead, the story is going to turn a little bit more unsettled, with areas of low pressure starting to move in from the atlantic. so, for areas that are starting to get pretty desperate for rain, we could see a spell of showers or longer spells of rain as we move further ahead. and take a look at this — we start off relatively dry and warm in the london area, but there's a risk of more showers, and that will probably come as welcome news, certainly for gardeners and growers, as mother nature is starting to get a little desperate. that's it. take care. live from washington. live from washington. this is bbc news. this is bbc news. welcome to viewers welcome to viewers on pbs in america. in size, covering thouands on pbs in america. the search for the missing the search for the missing submersible intensifies submersible intensifies as officials fear their oxygen as officials fear their oxygen is running low. is running low. rescue efforts have doubled rescue efforts have doubled in size, covering thouands of miles of the atlantic ocean. and the bbc speaks with ukraine's president zelensky.

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