Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool

All Episodes

Previous Next

Jan. 18, 2022 - The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters

01:29:56

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters #309

Large

Audio Only |

Scroll

Time	Text
	Hello and welcome to the podcast of the Lotus Eaters for the 18th of January 2022.
	I'm joined by John.
	Hello, Lotus Eaters.
	And today we're going to be talking about why does the media want Trump versus DeSantis, politicians sell out to China, yet again, and also Operation Shoot or Save the Dog is a debate that we're having in the UK, or at least politicians are.
	So I thought we'd have a look at that because that's funny.
	Without further ado, some stuff to mention first on the website.
	The first thing here being the career opportunities.
	So software engineer, web developer, this is a position which we are hiring for.
	There's a video there from Carl explaining, but also the requirements.
	If you don't read the requirements, don't apply because you won't get it.
	Fairly simple.
	If you're interested, go and have a look.
	It's a great working environment here.
	I'm sure you'll enjoy coming and working with us if you take the opportunity.
	Anyway, here we go.
	So we go to the next one.
	We have an article that's been republished on there with an audio track now.
	So Central Park Karen and the absurdity of critical therapy.
	So do you remember the Central Park Karen?
	Vaguely, yes.
	The lady screaming about there's a black guy here.
	I can't remember who it was.
	I think she works for the Spectator.
	She grew up under the Westboro Baptist Church.
	Of course.
	But she was talking about this a long time ago.
	And when you go and get the audio files as well, and you look into the police side of that phone call, the reason she's repeating, there's a black guy, there's a black guy, is because they're actually asking her, lady, we can't understand you.
	What the hell are you saying?
	Right.
	So anyway, go and read Josh's article about that, or give it a listen if you don't like reading, and instead want to be a silver uncle.
	Wasn't she given some kind of...
	She had to attend mandatory classes.
	That's exactly what the article is about.
	Yes, yes.
	Go and find out.
	If we go to the next link, we have the premium hangout number one.
	Defund the NHS to bring back the Empire.
	So this is the new test we're going to be doing.
	So me and Carl are going to be doing a sort of like premium podcast live for just premium members.
	So if you are premium, come and hang out.
	And I have no idea what we're going to be doing.
	He's the one planning it right now.
	So I'm sure it'll be good.
	Let's go to the last thing here, which is Getter.
	So if you want to follow us as well, of course, follow us on Getter at LotusEaters underscore com.
	But, without further ado, let's start the news.
	So, why does the media want Trump versus DeSantis?
	At least that's the question on my mind.
	Because I didn't think this was a thing, and I was incredibly surprised to read that apparently there is a kerfuffle between these two.
	And we can at least see in the media here, for example.
	So, first one up, CNN. Trump takes thinly veiled shot at gutless DeSantis over COVID booster.
	That's what CNN went with.
	We've got the next one, we have Vanity Fair also reporting on this.
	Looks like Ron DeSantis could turn into Trump's personal nightmare.
	We go to the next one.
	We have the New York Times saying, who is the king of Florida?
	Tensions rise between Trump and former accolade.
	And if we keep going, we have the Independent as well reporting on this.
	Trump is briefed insiders that DeSantis is too dull to be president.
	What's with all the attention?
	What's with all the media coverage of this?
	Because I haven't even heard there was a single spat.
	No.
	So this was a big shock to me to see loads of them all publishing essentially the same article on the same day.
	Well, the Republicans aren't exactly in a position that they can be infighting either, are they?
	Nor do they look like a group that would be infighting right now just by the support for Donald Trump.
	I mean, regardless of if you like or dislike the man within the Republican Party, he is the man.
	And so if we go to the last article here, so this one from the Times, I decided to just pick this one at random from the various types of articles talking about this, because it seemed to have all the information necessary, and I thought we'd go through.
	So, there's A in here.
	You can see the title there again.
	Trump Takes Aim at Gutless Republican Rival Ron DeSantis.
	Endorsed by Trump for the Florida Governor's Post in 2017, DeSantis has emerged as his strongest opponent.
	What?
	What the hell are you talking about?
	We'll get into the spat in a minute, but the idea that he's the strongest opponent of Donald Trump.
	I'm supposed to say the sitting president.
	He must be very weak if he's a sitting president and he's not the strongest opponent of the former president.
	But also, for that to be true, you'd have to expect DeSantis to be, like, threatening Donald Trump's kids.
	Sure, sure.
	Or something.
	Strongest opponent.
	Okay.
	And he continues.
	To the fury of the former president, DeSantis has gone on the attack, criticizing Trump's handling of the pandemic.
	Trump has been irritated that DeSantis has refused to rule out running against him.
	And, okay, so he said that he didn't agree with him on a thing and thought he might run if Donald Trump doesn't run.
	I'm like, what?
	This is what I find so strange, because of course you can see there as well, some polling.
	So this is the Republican ticket.
	If we can scroll down, John, to get the polling up, please.
	You can see Donald Trump at 54%, DeSantis at 11%, for who would you like to run as the presidential candidate for 2024?
	It's not a competition.
	It's very clear.
	You know, I'm not seeing Mitt Romney on that list.
	Oh, no.
	Strange.
	I mean, in second place is not sure.
	Yeah.
	So the idea that there is some concordance on this or that Ron DeSantis is about to challenge him for the position doesn't look like it from just the evidence on the ground.
	I mean, I know DeSantis' position is, I'm here if you need me, essentially.
	So if Donald Trump gets hit by a bus or lightning, then okay, well, we have someone who's agreeing with him on a lot of stuff.
	So, quote, He says DeSantis has no personal charisma and has a dull personality, a source told the Axios website.
	Quote, So this is the paragraph that they got the headline from.
	That seems very oblique.
	That's a real reach.
	So, Trump said that politicians who don't say whether or not they got the vaccine are gutless.
	DeSantis has dodged that question.
	Therefore, he is gutless.
	The context for that as well is DeSantis just said, my medical history is none of your damn business.
	Get lost.
	Which, again, just makes him look like a rock star on that issue.
	No, like, this is not a, how did he put it?
	I'm trying to remember now.
	A medical, biomedical state or something like that was his term.
	We're not going to live in some kind of medical security state instead.
	Is it a matter of public interest whether this particular politician has been vaccinated?
	Not really.
	I saw his press secretary, she was just getting sent random messages from loads of different journos, endlessly harassing her, being like, has he got the booster?
	When's he getting the booster?
	She's just like, go to hell.
	Get lost.
	Smear merchant.
	Sounds like we should hire her with that sort of thing.
	Good lady.
	The pandemic and Trump's handling of it have emerged as a weakness, the author writes here.
	In the year since he left the White House, the war over vaccines and masks...
	No.
	Like, they've been whipped up because he's been mandating them.
	And if you mandate things, well, that's anti-American by definition because it's anti-freedom.
	I recall as well, the Democrats were already drawing partisan lines over this issue when it was the so-called Trump vaccine.
	They were like, I'm never going to take the Trump vaccine, blah, blah, blah.
	Would you trust the Trump vaccine?
	Exactly.
	Right?
	We all remember this.
	We have memories longer than a goldfish.
	And to say that this has been entirely whipped up by the right, or even by the Republicans, is just nonsense.
	Yeah.
	But the argument being that being forced to wear a mask and carry vaccine papers is the same as death or taxes.
	It's not.
	It is a government decision and not one that needs to be taken, and therefore anti-freedom.
	So, that has left Trump out of step with the extreme right of the party, the author writes, to which he gave a voice from 2016.
	No, I don't agree.
	If there's an extreme right of the party for defining people as vaccine-hesitant or whatever, as the extreme right of the Republican Party, I think most of them are just like, I just want to be free.
	Which is why when Trump gave a speech about this, I don't know if you remember, he just said, yeah, get the vaccine.
	It's good for you.
	I think it's great.
	We shouldn't let them take the credit for it.
	But we need to have freedom.
	That was Trump's stance on that, which everyone can respect because it's like, okay, you can agree or disagree, but whatever.
	The freedom part is the important part and therefore the point of unity.
	So, he said it also undermined his effort to claim credit for the vaccination program.
	Trump was booed by some supporters when he revealed that he had received the booster.
	And he, of course, doesn't mention the clip.
	I'll show the clip because, well, it's an article.
	But also, if you go and watch the clip, it's like five people in the back.
	I mean, he even says, like, it's a small group over there.
	Okay.
	DeSantis has seized the opportunity to launch his most explicit attack on Trump so far, speaking last week to Ruthless, a conservative podcast.
	he said one of his biggest regrets was not speaking out much louder when trump advised that the nation stay at home to contain the spread of the virus in early 2020 advice because trump can't lock down the country yeah not his job it was the the people in charge of the states to do that if they wanted to and uh his position was of course it's early february no one has any idea what the hell's going on so people were confused at the time but i imagine if he were to look back at that he wouldn't support such a move never mind it just being advice anyway but obvious
	But DeSantis says, I never thought in February, early March that COVID-19 would lead to locking down the country, said DeSantis, who counseled Trump in the early stages of the crisis.
	It seems like a moot point, but I imagine DeSantis and Trump agree on this.
	Driving even harder to the right, DeSantis has blocked the mandates on vaccines and wearing masks at work and in schools imposed by Biden.
	Yes!
	Also a point of unity for Trump and DeSantis.
	This is why I find the story strange.
	Like, all of these media outlets going with, oh, don't you know there's a fracas?
	Don't you know that he's challenging him for the crown or something?
	But every single issue you keep bringing up, it's a point of unity.
	It's them both agreeing on, we need freedom.
	You should be free to do this.
	If you want to wear the mask, go for it.
	It's your choice.
	You want to get the vaccine, go for it.
	It's your choice.
	But with no mandates.
	COVID-19 infections have surged in Florida, but his stance has boosted his popularity among Republicans.
	Okay, we're going to stop it there, because Florida.
	Don't you know that COVID is surging in Florida, John?
	Oh no.
	It's terrible.
	I thought we'd check out the CDC for a fact check on that.
	Let's see how Florida is doing compared to the rest of the country.
	For people listening, we're looking at a map of the United States by county.
	Every single county except like a handful in Montana or whatever are colored in deep red as high transmission.
	How could Ron DeSantis do this?
	Why has Ron DeSantis done this?
	Does Ron DeSantis just want everyone to get COVID and that's why he banned these mandates, which are clearly stopping elsewhere?
	Doesn't it also depend on how they've measured this?
	High transmission, but sorry, do carry on.
	But it's also just strange where they're just like, yeah, don't you know it's surging in Florida?
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Literally every other state is in the same situation, so this criticism makes no sense whatsoever.
	But, I know, how could DeSantis do this?
	Bad man.
	If we go to the next link as well, I just want to mention, I won't stay on COVID because who isn't tired of talking about COVID, but I thought I'd just mention it here as well.
	I don't know if you can get these images up.
	I did notice this morning that Vox has also come to terms with the fact that the tools aren't working.
	So this is an article from them saying, the most vaccinated places in America can't avoid Omicron.
	And then in the text in their own article, remember Vox, Vox.com, progressive leftist outlet.
	Go to the next image here, please, John.
	We can read that they wrote...
	All concert goers were required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination and wear masks, else risked a $100 fine, and as a result, 2,000 attendees tested positive.
	That's 3%, the attendees got COVID, even though they had everything in there as tyrannical as possible.
	If we go to the next image, you can see them also being like, yeah, you know those masks?
	Vox's opinion, not mine on YouTube.
	I'm just saying what Vox said here.
	We need better masks, says Vox.
	Cloth masks won't cut it against Omicron, says Vox, not us.
	We would never do such a thing.
	Remember?
	Because it's against YouTube terms of service.
	I'm keeping my mouth shut.
	And if we go to the next one here, again, Vox, not us.
	New York Magazine, I don't know, some far-right wingers at Vox.com.
	Cloth masks and face coverings don't filter aerosols, the particles through which coronavirus spreads particularly well, writes Vox.
	The means of surgical masks and N95 masks are the way to go in 2022.
	Yeah, so all this conversation is about really is the size of the particulates in question, the little bits and the droplets in the air.
	And the size of essentially the links in the fence of the barrier that's the mask.
	And if you have a higher level mask, then those bars in the fence are closer together and they can stop the aerosols getting in.
	Whereas with a poorer mask, they're further apart.
	Well, I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
	I think I will give the official government, or at least YouTube, editorial standard light on it, because if not, I'll be shot, which is that masks can play a role in combating COVID-19, obviously, and, well, N95 certainly works.
	Mm.
	Moving on.
	Let's go to the next link here, so we'll go back to the article for a minute, just to finish off this weird writing.
	Last month he proposed the Stop Woke Act, DeSantis here, that would allow Florida parents to sue schools for teaching critical race theory, which says that the law and other institutions are inherently racist and is a bugbear of conservatives.
	Well, it also is built on the premise that whiteness is evil and white people are bad.
	But also, civil rights movement bad.
	Because it desegregated the schools.
	If you're in any debate at any point about critical race, just bring that up.
	Because the thing is, it's the foundational text.
	I got Carl's book over there.
	I've read the first article.
	The first essay, sorry.
	It's literally just a guy being like, then you know desegregation was bad, because now we have to mix with the whites.
	Right.
	Okay.
	But also the idea that only Conservatives should be concerned about such things and such people.
	Baseball hats have appeared declaring DeSantis 2024 make America Florida.
	You know, just lol.
	It's just funny.
	I don't even care if he runs or not.
	I still want one of those hats.
	Opinion polls consistently place him as the frontrunner of the Republican nomination if Trump chooses not to run again.
	Other likely contenders, such as Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, have stated that they will not run against Trump because they'd lose.
	But DeSantis has been coy about his ambitions.
	You mean stating that he'll run if Trump doesn't?
	Again, it's so clear-cut, and yet the media is so hyped for a fight between the two of them.
	At a rally in Arizona on Saturday, Trump appeared to quash any lingering doubts.
	Quote, Crystal clear.
	I mean, this is what I find so strange.
	Why so many articles?
	Why so much hubbub about the fight here?
	Well, there are some thoughts, and we'll get to those in just a minute, but I thought I'd mention The Guardian's version of events this day.
	Oh, no.
	They went with denial.
	Florida man, DeSantis, focusing on non-existent issues as election looms.
	Critics say.
	I love it.
	There are no issues.
	I love it.
	It's a line which the left is using more and more.
	Issues are non-existent.
	Problems are non-existent if there are other people's.
	Planes don't crash in Soviet Union.
	Right, right, right.
	It's got the same vibe.
	It's just like, there's nothing going on.
	What's he campaigning against?
	Nothing.
	Okay, that's why it's such a problem for you.
	Then we'll get to the reaction as to why some people, at least DeSantis' press secretary, thinks that there's all this hubbub about him running against Trump or something.
	She says on Twitter, not a coincidence this narrative emerged as Brandon had the worst week of his presidency.
	Yeah, I think she's probably right.
	So, him pointing out that Fauci made terrible decisions, gave terrible advice, a terrible guy, and therefore did a bad job.
	Well, no, that's them attacking Trump.
	And it's like, eh, no.
	And I think the media is actually trying to cock something up here, because, well, they can't focus on Brandon's cock-ups.
	Well, that wouldn't be allowed.
	Hmm.
	If we go to the next link, we can see her also just having fun.
	And I thought I'd mention it just because I like having fun, too.
	And there's this stupid meme here from Crafty Feminist who decided to put it out so we can scroll down, John, so everyone can see it.
	What authoritarian regimes do?
	Limit ideas taught in schools.
	Intimidate educators.
	Suppress votes and ban protests.
	I'll just go through them for a minute because that's amazing.
	So authoritarianism is when the government lets you make your own decisions.
	That's what Christina put there because, of course, what are they saying?
	If you limit racism in schools, that's what authoritarian does, forces teachers not to whine about black queer theory to children.
	Yeah, that's suppression right there.
	Suppress votes.
	Illegal votes.
	Illegal votes aren't votes.
	They're allowed.
	Simple as.
	But I just love the last one there.
	Ban protests.
	Do you see the image they've used?
	Do you see what's behind DeSantis in the text?
	It looks like something burning, doesn't it?
	Burning building.
	A burning building.
	Where from?
	Oh, could you guess?
	It's not a BLM riot, is it?
	I have a hunch.
	I couldn't get the specific image.
	If we just go to the next...
	I mean, come on.
	If you just Google George Floyd riots fires, then you will get endless images after images of exactly that.
	And lots of them are different buildings as well.
	It's not just lots of photos of the same building.
	I can't get over how they literally put it like he's banning protests.
	Here's an image of a burning building.
	Mm-hmm.
	That's our protest.
	Thanks for living the meme.
	Yeah, that's not a protest, is it, really?
	That image isn't screaming protest to me.
	Martin Luther King stood outside.
	It's a peaceful gathering.
	And it's telling that you had to Google riots and fires rather than protests to get this image up.
	It's almost as if leftist journalists have forgotten the meaning of words.
	You know what's funny, though?
	Know Your Meme also has exactly the same definition.
	Really?
	Yeah.
	I kind of think that it's maybe a joke by the people editing it, presumably.
	As you can see here, 2020 George Floyd protests.
	That's what the meme is called.
	How do they describe the meme?
	The meme being 2020 George Floyd protests.
	The 2020 George Floyd protests refers to the riots that occurred across the United States which sparked by the death of George Floyd.
	The protests refer to the riots...
	Brilliant.
	Like, it's such a meme at this point, know your meme has an entry for it, and yeah, that is the leftist double-think in action right there.
	But I thought I'd just cover that, because the weird obsession with trying to make a fight where there doesn't seem to be one, I mean, maybe, two years from now.
	Well, isn't this just fake news?
	That's how Christina pointed it.
	She's just like, this is fake nudes.
	Get out.
	Absolutely nothing.
	Yeah, it's a completely manufactured controversy, representative of nothing on the ground that's relevant to the actual view.
	But they're trying to drum up this thing to...
	I mean, it does really...
	I remember someone said on one of our podcasts earlier that Trump's knowledge of the media in America comes from his background in wrestling.
	And when I hear this sort of nonsense, I really get that impression, because it sounds as flimsy as a wrestling narrative.
	Do you see what I mean?
	I'm going to be in the ring.
	Just slip with my wife.
	Although maybe also, some people have pointed to this, which is that, as Christina says, while Brandon's having the worst week of his life, the worst time of his life, probably, as well.
	the democrats look like crap they're all covered in mud from their failures of the last two years god knows how the next two years are going to go for them well in which case well what can they do except try and sow discontent among the rights of the united states what else have they got and uh maybe this is a vector of attack at least they think so but uh i i don't think that that de santos has any such ambitions as he has publicly stated many a time at his own press secretary it It's just, no, we're criticizing Brandon for being crap.
	And if Trump doesn't want to run, you know, we'll step in for him if he wants to.
	But if not, got him wrong.
	And speaking of ambitions and vectors of attack, let's move on to our next segment.
	China has been in the news this week.
	It's not pandas or pagodas this time.
	It's spies.
	Have you heard about this?
	I saw a little bit.
	I was away when all this went down.
	So wasn't it like there's a spy in Westminster?
	Yes, according to MI5. So if we go to this article, Britain's intelligence agency MI5 has warned MPs that an alleged spy has infiltrated Parliament to engage in political interference activities on behalf of China.
	Christine Lee was accused of attempting to influence UK politicians while facilitating donations from figures in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, according to a security briefing circulated to MPs and peers on Thursday.
	It emerged that former Labour Minister Barry Gardner received more than £500,000 from Miss Lee's firm to cover staffing costs, while much smaller sums were given to Labour HQ and Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey.
	Right.
	£500,000.
	First thing on my mind, though, is that in this country, I don't know about other countries, you can look up MP expenses on every MP and see how much of their money you're wasting.
	And one of the major expenses is staffing costs to run their offices.
	And that's publicly available and you can learn about it.
	Well, what's going on with this?
	Is that going to be on the expenses list?
	I presume not.
	Well, it's not public expenses, is it?
	But also, who's he spending it on?
	Because he's already presumably getting like 200 grand from the taxpayer to pay for his staff.
	So this is not, well, I just need a researcher, presumably.
	It's something worse.
	Well, that's a very good question, to be honest.
	I'm focusing more on the Chinese espionage that we will see here, because there's quite a lot of it, and I actually struggle to cram it all into this segment.
	But if we want to do a deep dive on his expenses later, I'm sure that would be very useful.
	I'm just saying about the level of corruption.
	It won't just be because, oh, I just need some money.
	He would have known what's going on.
	Yeah, he's got money already.
	So here we go.
	The alleged agent, a London-based solicitor, was given an award by Theresa May when she was Prime Minister in 2019, and former Prime Minister David Cameron was photographed speaking at a 2016 event for a Chinese engagement group that Miss Lee founded.
	And there are some photos in this article of that.
	Asked on Sky News whether he had conversations about government policy with regards to China, Mr Gardiner said no, not in great detail.
	The MP denied he acted as a cheerleader for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station project funded by a Chinese state-backed firm.
	Interesting.
	Who believes him?
	Miss Lee's firm, Christine Lee& Co, helped fund staffing costs over a five-year period until June 2020, but Mr Gardiner insisted that he had not personally benefited from those donations in any way.
	This is why I was saying about the staffing costs, because the idea that they spent $500,000 on that and not just pocketing the money somehow, I'm very suspicious of.
	I mean, the fact that he may have, I don't know, a new, what's the one from Yes Minister?
	Rosewater vase that he gets in his house that's worth 200 quid, he swears.
	That's what's on my mind about the amount of money, though.
	She also gave £5,000 at least directly to the Labour Party and £5,000 to Lib Dem leader Ed Davey.
	So as far as we know, the evidence for Chinese Communist Party collusion comes from MI5 and is not yet public.
	What we do know is that Christine Lee engaged in political influence campaigns to lobby the UK government on behalf of Chinese communities, including organising mass letter-writing campaigns to MPs.
	Now, that's perfectly legitimate behaviour for a British citizen involved in politics.
	However, issues doing this on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, I would say this is an obvious subversion of the democratic process.
	It's also not unique to, let's say, Chinese communities.
	I mean, the overlap between Islamist groups and the Pakistani, let's say, lobby in the UK, politicized groups, is very strong as well.
	Well, you don't even have to limit yourself to the UK. In Europe, there's large amounts of Turkish diaspora who get actively involved in Turkish politics while also being involved in the politics of the country they live in.
	And it does seem that the presence of large minority groups with large political interests outside of the country is a potential weak point for subversion of the democratic process in these countries.
	But let's move on to corrupt politicians and businessmen, because all of the usual suspects are in the trough again.
	David Cameron!
	Oh, look at that!
	Oh, look at that.
	I wonder what's under the table there.
	Couldn't be a pig's head, could it?
	So he attempted to set up a £1 billion UK-China investment fund, which he would have been the vice chair of.
	David Cameron discussed the establishment of a $1 billion UK-China investment fund in meeting with then-Chancellor Philip Hammond just 15 months after leaving Office of Prime Minister, despite the convention aimed at preventing former ministers from lobbying for two years.
	So this was a controversy that he had got involved in politics and lobbying and that too early.
	The thing is, it is just a convention.
	As far as I'm aware, it's not actually a law.
	I don't know if you know, in my politics textbook, there is a whole section on corruption and lobbying.
	And it was written before the scandal came out.
	And there's quotes from David Cameron saying it's a huge problem.
	It needs to be clamped down on.
	Really?
	Yeah, I'll have to dig it out.
	Yeah, yeah, that's brilliant.
	He finally gave up on this because this lasted for years in 2021.
	There's a quick article here from the Financial Times.
	A lovely photo of him in front of two Chinese flags.
	It's a good photo, actually.
	But what other prime ministers of this country do you think might be getting their hands dirty?
	Can you think of anyone?
	Blair?
	Yes!
	Oh, how'd I get it?
	So we go to the next one.
	How Tony Blair built a business empire in China.
	Tony Blair has privately begun acting as a broker between Abu Dhabi and China, a Telegraph investigation reveals.
	This was back in 2015.
	A series of documents show how the former Prime Minister has been courting some of the most influential Chinese political and business leaders, and then introducing them to the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund he works for.
	He has also facilitated talks between the chief executive of Dow Chemical and a series of Chinese government and business figures.
	The role assumed by Mr Blair shows his prominence in one of the most important areas of global economic cooperation this century, between the extremely wealthy and strategically important Middle Eastern Emirate and the emerging superpower of China.
	I hate the way they always describe China as an emerging superpower.
	As if it's a foregone conclusion.
	There's a lot of internal problems with China, which reporters like this don't seem to get very interested in.
	I also love how he's sort of rimming Blair there.
	He's like, this shows that Mr.
	Blair and his prominence in the global...
	No, it shows that he's corrupt.
	Like, that's the line.
	This isn't making him look good.
	Right.
	Exactly.
	The disclosures came after the Telegraph on Thursday revealed the scale of Mr Blair's international business and advisory activities for the first time, providing details from documents that suggest the taxpayer is contributing up to £16,000 a week to support him.
	Oh, wonderful.
	If he's getting £16,000 a week for support, then he shouldn't be involved in any of these ventures.
	And if he is involved in these ventures, he doesn't need taxpayers' money.
	I thought the only reason that he would get taxpayers' money would be so that he doesn't have to prostitute his political experience like this.
	Anyway, he has visited China more than 20 times since stepping down as Prime Minister, compared with just five trips as leader.
	A spokesman for Mr Blair said he received no payment for the introductions involving his Abu Dhabi client.
	This is like a Hillary Clinton foundation, isn't it?
	Yeah, yeah.
	So you could say that Tony Blair is pandering to China.
	But if we go to the next one, this is from 2007.
	Straight after he had finished as Prime Minister, he was over to China, and he raked in half a million dollars for one speech where he said nothing.
	What?
	Yep.
	And the Chinese press reported on it because this was 2007 and they could actually talk.
	So here we go.
	Tony Blair has been panned by the Chinese media after he was allegedly paid $500,000 for a speech that revealed nothing new.
	The British former prime minister made a three-hour trip to a luxury housing estate in China's southern province of Guangdong, during which he delivered a speech that left newspaper commentators far from impressed.
	The Chinese Youth Daily, which is affiliated to the Communist Party's Youth League, said Mr. Blaine, Blair was forthcoming with pleasantries and clichés without offering any insight.
	Yeah, we got used to that.
	Like reports made by some local officials, there was nothing new in his views.
	So was the speech worth the large sums of money paid out by local officials and businesses?
	It questioned.
	We should exercise less ostentatiousness and vanity and learn more new and genuine knowledge, especially when we are using even a penny of taxpayers' money, it said, quite based from the China Youth Daily.
	In a 2005 survey found the average salary of a production worker in China was £1,200.
	They give half a million dollars to Blair.
	Okay, fair enough.
	The sponsor of Mr.
	Blair's China trip, the Guangda Real Estate Group, offered him a house worth 38 million yuan, 2.4 million pounds, according to the Guangzhou Daily.
	Why?
	Goodwill?
	Interesting.
	It has nothing to do with his last name being Blair.
	The newspaper did not say whether he accepted the property, but described Mr Blair's visit to Dongguan as another of his money-raking trips that had also taken him to Beijing and Hong Kong.
	In a mark of how rapidly China has descended into authoritarianism under President Xi Jinping, it's hard to imagine the China Youth Daily being nearly as forthcoming in its criticisms of government spending in 2022 as it was in 2007.
	Could you imagine if he turned down the house?
	Because they said he won't say whether he turned down the house.
	He'll take the half a mil, but he'll turn down the house.
	I'm not corrupt.
	I'm going to take half a mil.
	Not the £2.4 million house as well.
	That would be too far.
	Who buys that?
	I wonder what half a million dollars is per word of his speech.
	That must be well above the going rate.
	A couple of bucks per word, surely.
	More than that, surely.
	I mean...
	Spends how long he blathered, I suppose.
	Blair is a man of many words.
	So that's true.
	He's not the only one.
	Let's have a quick look inside of the business world.
	And this is from last year.
	Sir Mike Rake steps down from Huawei UK board.
	Former BT chairman Sir Mike Rake has announced he will be stepping down from the board of Huawei in the UK. In the latest blow to the Chinese company's presidents in the UK, Sir Mike Rake said that he will leave his role as a non-executive director next month.
	He had joined the board in 2019 and helped advise Huawei through an extremely tumultuous period that has seen it struggle worldwide.
	Hmm.
	Why might Huawei have struggled, do you think, in 2019?
	Was there any controversy to do with Huawei in that year?
	Someone being arrested in Canada, perhaps?
	So I'm just going to take a break here to say that one reason it's difficult to separate espionage and influence from above-board business dealings is that most above-board business dealings are crooked anyway.
	But apart from that, it's that we live in a globalised world economy and there seems to be revolving doors between all of these top companies.
	And top governments.
	We in the West are used to these companies being essentially unaligned with national interests or to some extent.
	And they exist in their own multinational world.
	So when a multinational company arrives in the UK, it's not like an enemy military base is being set up.
	We tolerate Amazon being set up in Swindon, but perhaps not a base.
	It depends.
	But this is not the case in China.
	Successful Chinese companies are often heavily infiltrated by the Chinese Communist Party to ensure political obedience, which reminds me of the mid-century Germans.
	And larger businesses like Huawei are in many places almost synonymous with Chinese intelligence.
	They are described as literal arms of the Chinese Communist Party, even though they run technology, in fact.
	Because they run technology, it makes them very useful for espionage, you would imagine.
	I mean, if Apple were a subdivision of the CIA, that would be quite something, I would think.
	Now, it's worth mentioning as well that this behaviour, which in the West would be described as nepotism and corruption, and things that Tony Blair does, is more of the norm in Chinese business.
	So, guangxi, or networking, is extremely important, and business takes place through these personal channels, rather than necessarily according to rules or laws.
	Of course, Guangxi gets rather more complicated when it comes to foreign spies.
	So let's have a quick look at the USA. And this is a 2019 article on China's intelligence gathering activities.
	China's spies are on the offensive.
	And it just goes through a list of US operatives who are basically selling out for Chinese money.
	We have this Kevin Mallory chap who's working for the military and the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
	Behind on his mortgage, $230,000 in debt.
	And so he basically ended up getting recruited via LinkedIn, flying over to China and selling his state secrets for cash.
	Debt is a horrible thing, by the way.
	But, yeah.
	I'm halfway through the, well, about to finish the active measures book, and every single spy they recruit is always just someone in debt.
	Well, how is it that all these spies are ending up in debt?
	Well, they start off in debt, and then here's a bunch of money, give us your secrets.
	No, but how do they end up in debt to then get...
	Oh, they're not spies to begin with, usually.
	Oh, okay, right.
	But lots of these people are here, and...
	Yeah.
	No, debt is a pretty horrible thing.
	And you can see how it makes these people vulnerable to selling out and betraying all of their morals such they may have.
	But it's also worth pointing out that with the sort of fractured state of the West and the betrayal of many of the peoples of these countries by their governments...
	It's hard.
	When you ask the question, okay, who is he actually selling out?
	In these particular cases, it's quite clear.
	But in some cases, you could imagine someone is selling out the establishment, rather than necessarily selling out the American people.
	I think that's just a mark of how disunited the West has become and how fractured.
	So I'm not going to go deeply into this.
	You can check it out in the references if you want to.
	There's lots of information there.
	I want to talk about universities for a bit.
	The universities are also recognized as a vector of attack for Chinese espionage.
	And the raw number of PRC exchange students are very high.
	Are there lots of Chinese students in your university?
	Yeah.
	Universities have long been criticised for over-reliance on fees from Chinese students, especially considering the rampant intellectual property theft in which China has long been implicated.
	If we go down here, this is Imperial College.
	And here in 2015, we have 15.7% of the student body is from China.
	That's nearly a sixth.
	One in six students straight in from China at one of the UK's top Russell Group universities.
	But if we go to 2020...
	We see how the picture's changed on the next tab.
	So that's not the one.
	Go back to the graph.
	So there's a tab on the graphic showing 2020 under nationality of full-time student admissions.
	Well, anyway, I've got the numbers here.
	In 2020, it goes up to 23.4% of students coming from China.
	So that's a quarter.
	A quarter of students at Imperial are coming from China.
	And that's not mentioning any of the ones who have other nationalities.
	It might be other or British nationality, but also Chinese or related to that.
	That's a lot.
	And then we go to the US statistics, we see that this is also huge.
	If you can read that one there, it goes up to 372,500 people in the year ending 2020.
	Now, of course, most Chinese exchange students are not spies.
	The vast majority have nothing to do with this.
	And I must emphasize with this segment, don't blame ordinary, didn't do nothing wrong Chinese people for the handful of lunatic Chinese Communist Party spies.
	But you have to recognize, when you have a base rate of nearly 400,000 foreign nationals from an ambiguously hostile country in your universities, you are going to have spies.
	If you had 300,000 Soviet students coming over, what would you expect?
	Right, how many of them would be spies?
	Most of these spies are concerned, curiously enough, with spying on other Chinese exchange students and diaspora rather than foreigners, necessarily.
	Take the example of this student, whose case we're going to go into, who was given asylum in Australia after the Chinese government attempted to pressure him into spying on Chinese nationals abroad.
	If we scroll down to point 25 here, it's quite long.
	This is the whole court application.
	So this is his story here.
	After I graduated from high school in China, I was recommended by the school to the police academy.
	I then studied at political education department about one and a half years from September 2008 to December 2009.
	In December 2009, I went to country one as a private overseas student studying at school three.
	Sorry, it's legal, so a lot's been redacted to preserve his identity.
	But everything in relation to my study in country one, including my passport, was actually prepared and organised by the National Security Bureau, In other words, I was in fact sent by the NSB to Country 1.
	Before I left China, I was interviewed by Mr.
	A, who was a senior officer of the NSB. He told me that many young people around my age had studied in the overseas countries, such as in Country 1, during recent years, and that the NSB expected me to keep eyes on those young people and report their activities, as many as possible.
	I was particularly asked to pay attention to those who had actively been involved in anti-communist organizations or evil cults, such as Falun Gong.
	Frankly speaking, I just wanted to have a chance to study overseas from the beginning, and I never intended to do anything for the NSB. On the other hand, I detest in my heart very much that the Communist government always infringe upon basic human rights of Chinese citizens, as I firmly believe that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
	Therefore, I always found some excuses not to contact the people from the NSB after I arrived in Country 1, and I did not send reports back to the NSB. So you
	can see, again, the levers of pressure here are financial.
	It's that, okay, if you don't do what we say, if you don't work as a spy, then we're going to essentially gouge your parents for more money than they can possibly pay off and destroy your entire family.
	But this is also the kind of incredibly creepy Orwellian behaviour that we should make as a rule.
	If you are going to send students to our country, you are not going to send students doing this sort of thing.
	Yeah, absolutely.
	To their fellow students.
	Yeah.
	To be spying on them.
	Right, because it makes it worse for literally everyone at our universities if there are Chinese spies around spying on all the other Chinese spies who then have to be really careful about everything they do and everyone they talk to because they are being watched.
	Yeah, that's not the sort of free and open atmosphere of intellectual inquiry we aspire to in Western universities.
	I should correct you, sir.
	Spy spying on spies?
	No, is it spies spying on the citizens?
	Yes, that's true.
	But, I mean, if there are enough spies, it does become spies spying on spies spying on spies spying on spies.
	Yeah, it probably also is taking place.
	But thanks for the correction.
	In June 2011, I finally arrived in Australia, he says.
	In July 2011, Mr A took some police to go to my home in my hometown in Fujian.
	They firstly searched my home with an excuse of seeking anti-communist and anti-government materials, and then took my father to the NSB in City 2 for interrogation.
	During the interrogation, Mr A formally informed my father that I had been regarded as a traitor of the NSB, and that I had leaked top-secret information to Falun Gong practitioner Miss D, and that I had seriously violated against the national security law, and that I must be punished severely.
	In the end, Mr.
	A told my father that due to my anti-communist and anti-government activities, my family now owed 500,000 yuan to the Chinese government up to now, and that my father had to make the payment within three months.
	So again, like the story we covered last week, it's just pure arbitrary extortion.
	How much is that?
	It is definitely impossible for my father to repay the debt to the government.
	A few days after then, my parents and sibling had to leave home.
	Since then, they have gone into hiding in order to escape from persecution by the authorities.
	80 grand, apparently.
	He's got payback in three months.
	Yeah.
	Because his son refused to be a spy.
	Right.
	Yeah.
	And so I thought I would just wrap up this segment with some conclusions.
	We have just touched the surface of China's influence and explanation activities abroad.
	You could do an entire podcast on it, and indeed some people do.
	ATV podcasts are quite good on this, I do believe.
	I should have put a link in the references.
	So there's a lot that's going on.
	This is an evergreen topic that we're going to have to keep an eye on if we want to avoid our countries being subverted by Chinese communist spies.
	The Chinese people, however, are the biggest victims of Xi Jinping's increasingly totalitarian and authoritarian surveillance state, so that has to be remembered.
	Chinese communist espionage is full spectrum, particularly affecting universities.
	The economic prosperity brought about by exporting the entire world's manufacturing sectors to the PRC is now being used to buy off disillusioned Western spies and also pay the way of Chinese spies into British universities.
	Fabulous.
	Every nation does engage in espionage, but can we really justify this degree of openness to a state that coerces its citizens into spying by threatening their families?
	I would say no.
	I'll have to try and bring up the mood with a story about whether or not to shoot a dog.
	Oh no.
	Not a real dog, isn't it?
	No, well, I mean, the real dog in this story has already been shot, so...
	So, Operation Shooter saved the big dog.
	The big dog in question apparently being Boris Johnson.
	So this is a story within the Westminster bubble, let's say, of them having a discussion, but of course it reflects the situation in the country, which is...
	Everyone hates Boris.
	I mean not everyone.
	What were they all, like 40-something percent?
	And now they're in a pathetic state and thinking about getting rid of him.
	So this is the Guardian article here, written, Operation Rinker.
	Tory rebels raise pressure on Boris Johnson to resign.
	And Rinker here is a reference to a scandal in British politics that was ages ago, so I had to look it up.
	Reading the details of it.
	Apparently Rinker was the dog of a gay politician's lover And the gay politician wanted the lover to stay quiet about their gay relationship.
	So he ended up getting a hitman that went around and shot the dog as a threat.
	And it didn't work.
	The scandal in the coming out anyway.
	Also, you shot a dog.
	I don't think this made it any better.
	Makes you look worse.
	I'm sorry, but aren't you just entitled to go full John Wick when someone sends a hitman to shoot your dog?
	Yes.
	So I don't know why he thought this would shut the guy up.
	No.
	Apparently he pointed the gun at the guy and then tried to fire a few times and it jammed and then got in a car and ran off.
	Presumably it was all about just threatening the guy's life, not actually trying to kill him.
	But still, if I was the guy and I had my dog shot, I'd just make everything worse.
	Why would I work with you?
	Yeah.
	Anyway, so this is a reference.
	So Downing Street insiders have reportedly devised a plan to sack officials and save Johnson referred to Operation Save Big Dog.
	And this is the Boris Johnson camp.
	They're coming up with Operation Save Big Dog by trying to fire everyone and say that all the failures are theirs, not ours.
	We didn't do nothing.
	Also, stop looking at the parties.
	This is like a children's cartoon level scheme.
	Eh, well, you know.
	Why not?
	But the Tory rebels are raising pressure on Boris Johnson to quit over the Downing Street party scandal.
	Parties, because there are many.
	With naming the operation Operation Rinker.
	So, the idea that they're going to shoot the dog.
	And he's the big dog.
	So, kind of genius, sort of referencing there from the Tory MPs, so, you know, hats off to that.
	But I thought we'd go back for the parties a minute, just to check out how all that's going.
	I was away when he gave his apology, not apology.
	But if we go to the next link, you can see the BBC here.
	How many COVID lockdown parties are holding down the street?
	Alright, look, when the headline is parties, and we're looking at how many, you've buggered up.
	You've buggered up big.
	And, John, I don't know if you can scroll down.
	I don't know how much you uploaded on this.
	There should be, yeah, you see the button there, show more?
	Because this is a timeline, and there's just, there's loads.
	There's lots.
	Got quite the actual active social life, don't they, Downing Street staffers?
	Yeah, and we can't go through them all, because we beer all evening.
	And I thought we'd just mention the worst ones.
	Someone should just go on Google Maps and change Downing Street's metadata to party venue.
	Yeah, I mean, there were, what was it, like 30 people down there with Boris Johnson masks, screaming, you know, with drinks, being like, it's a work event, I swear, at the cops.
	So, the worst parties here being about 100 people were invited by email to socially distance drinks in the number 10 garden.
	On behalf of the Prime Minister's Principal Private Secretary, Martin Reynolds, Boris Johnson has confirmed he attended the event, saying he was there for 25 minutes and believed implicitly that this was a work event, which is why there are 100 people there, all drinking.
	As I do, at this work, every day.
	You know, we have all the people around, all the mates, and we all get drunk every day at work.
	No.
	No one's believing that.
	It's bullshit.
	I stole myself.
	But there is the worst one in here, because that's just an obvious lie, in which it's just...
	I mean, just if we were heartless for a minute, just realpolitik, I can't think of the worst optics on planet Earth.
	Which is, two parties were held by Downing Street staff at number 10 the night before Prince Philip's funeral, in which Boris Johnson was not at either party.
	At least, that's the position of his team.
	You reckon that's going to stay the same?
	I don't know.
	Facts have a strange way of changing, don't they?
	The day before, they're burying Prince Philip and the Queen has to sit on her own at her husband's funeral.
	All the family have to be separated from her.
	And the entire public are watching.
	You're having drinks at number 10.
	And you've logged down the country.
	I... Not a good look.
	Just really stupid.
	But of course, just the absolute breach of the rules of how things are meant to work here, which is that, well, the king is meant to abide by the same rules as servants, or the plebs or whatever as well.
	This is an ancient English tradition that, okay, we have the law, but kings can also be abiding by the law, and the prime minister being the modern encampment of that.
	So he enforces rules on us to save us all from the virus, but the rules cannot be enforced on him because he doesn't need saving from the virus.
	That was something about the virus, doesn't it?
	But if we go to the next link, we can see the polling on this, the real-world effect across the country, and this is just Politico, who I use for generally polls of polls, and you can see here, I don't know if you can scroll to the right drum, because this isn't showing the full thing, that only goes to October, in which we can see the Conservatives slowly losing more and more gap.
	It's not loading on the screen for some reason, I don't know why, but then the Conservatives end up going below Labour, and now Labour is consistently beating the Conservatives in every poll by being Labour.
	And, come on, you guys have seen the compilations I put together of the Labour Party conference.
	They're winning.
	They're the most popular people in the country.
	How has this happened?
	And if you go to the next link, we can see how this has happened, which is that people are just leaving en masse from the Conservatives.
	I mean, as you can see here, this is the worst of the worst polling for the Conservatives.
	27%.
	They used to be on 45.
	They're 14 points behind.
	I mean, I never thought a party could have this much...
	Well, you know, ten parties could have this much effect.
	I haven't known the number he's been at now.
	But just, yeah, dead in the water politically.
	And if we go to the next link, we can see where the support...
	Are they all rushing to the Labour Party?
	If you scroll down this new statements article, you'll eventually get to, like, a...
	I don't know what it's called.
	Stanky chart?
	I can't remember.
	Keep going, keep going, keep scrolling.
	There's a chart here, and as you can see, Conservatives, and then Apathy.
	So, these of 2019 Conservative voters, 33% now say that they've become part of the Apathy Party.
	Which is meaning that they're just not involved.
	Not there.
	Only 5% going to Labour.
	So this is not some surge for the Labour Party.
	This is not loads of people supporting the lunatics as we've seen at the conference.
	But it also shows, like, if you're one of those apathetic voters out there, if you switched your support to someone like Reform UK, then there would be a sizable shift in a country's politics.
	So it is worth it to shift to alternative parties.
	I mean, you can see there's 6% going to Reform UK, even more than Labour.
	So, I mean, if you want fertile ground or where you should be looking for where you might want to go if you're not happy with a Conservative Party, I mean, that's there, isn't it?
	And, of course, there are other alternatives as well.
	So shop around.
	Find something better than just not.
	But I can also sympathise with just not because, I mean, the state of it.
	I thought we'd also check in with the best person.
	Actually, one more thing.
	If you scroll down again, John, there is some more numbers here I forgot to mention, which is the polling of the seats which the Conservatives won.
	Remember that red wall?
	62% disapproval rating for Boris now.
	Just that.
	Ooh, dear.
	Yeah.
	So in all the seats that he has just won, are therefore kind of marginal and he needs to keep, and all the MPs who got him into the position he's in, are all going to lose their seats.
	At least that's how the polling shows.
	So yeah, right to be unhappy.
	It's a shame because the Northern MPs have been some of the better backbenchers as well.
	Yeah.
	The Red Wall Conservatives.
	I do love there was a presumption that they'd all be kind of socialist light or something and they're all Thatcherites because they're like, no, free market.
	If I was a socialist, I would have joined the Labour Party.
	What's wrong with the rest of this party?
	Why are you all thinking I'm like that?
	Yeah.
	But if we go to the next link, we can see Cummings still dropping bombs.
	And as you can see here, updated blog, PM was told about the invite.
	He knew it was a drinks party.
	He lied to Parliament.
	And you can have him listing there on his link, which apparently you have to pay for.
	The PM's Prime Minister Private Secretary invited people to a drinks party.
	He said the Prime Minister Private Secretary was told to cancel the invite by at least two people.
	He checked with the Prime Minister whether it should go ahead.
	The Prime Minister agreed it should.
	They both went.
	It was actually a drinks party.
	PM's just talking crap.
	And...
	Yeah.
	To be honest, I still think this is all Dominic Cummings doing, like the taking down of the whole system on his way out, which I have to just give hats off to, regardless of how you feel, because it's just kind of cool, if nothing else.
	So Operation Big Dog, in response to all this, is of course to try and make the PN popular, as if that was so hard, or something that he shouldn't have done, or been expecting to do.
	The thing is, in politics, when you've blown it, you've blown it.
	Yeah, but what's the things they're going to come up with at least, or at least what we've seen?
	So if we go to the next leg.
	I have a suggestion.
	Orchestrate an Invasion of the Falkland Islands.
	That does work.
	That would be pretty based.
	West Falklands does need to go.
	That's about it.
	I'm out of ideas.
	So this is defund the BBC coming out with the news, or at least the brownest of red meat you've ever seen.
	Nadine Doris confirms that despite the BBC wanting the licence fee to rise up to £108, it will be frozen for two years.
	But that's it, really.
	Good.
	The three men and the dogs still paying their licence fee.
	That's good news.
	But also, the promise given by the Conservatives, especially the MPs, was that they were going to get rid of the licence fee or at least decriminalise it, so that if you don't want to pay it, no one's going to come round to your house.
	They have set a date to abolish it, though, haven't they?
	I believe so, but it's like 2028 or something.
	It's like, okay, that's as useless as anything else.
	So the idea, oh yeah, we've frozen the license fee.
	Good job!
	Big dog saved!
	Big dog totally not going to be shot tomorrow, is he?
	It's just, it's not good enough.
	And as you can see here, the argument from the BBC being, we need to increase the fee 13% for what?
	Diversity hires, presumably.
	They've got nothing else.
	And Dominic's coming, responding to all this by saying, Tory MPs, every day you delay the inevitable is a day that the new PM isn't spending doing stuff to save your seat.
	In 2024, you're asking for 18 years and a fifth term.
	Very, very tough.
	Promises won't cut it.
	New PM must be delivered.
	TikTok.
	Yeah, yeah.
	He's right, but also...
	Tories need to completely reinvent their party, I think.
	Yeah.
	I thought we'd also just check out the BBC stuff, because I love the Defund the BBC movement and campaign, let's say, because they're right.
	And there were some defenders of the BBC who went out trying to defend them in response to this freeze.
	And this guy here, for example, putting up a poll saying, should Boris Johnson's government defund the BBC? And him being pro-BBC expected it to be yes, sorry, no.
	And instead it was 85% of the people saying yes, defund it.
	Go to hell with it.
	It is pointless.
	It is a...
	Yeah, having said that, the way they're going about this, I suspect when the license is abolished, they will find another way of funding it.
	But you can talk about that more on there.
	I'm sure they can go private, and if you want to pay for that crap, go for it.
	Not my problem.
	So if these losers want to spend their money on this, but they won't.
	They're all getting paid by the BBC currently, and they won't be throwing the money back in.
	I also think the government is going to want to retain its financial leverage on the BBC rather than let them go private.
	Maybe if they're corrupt, but that's not the right thing to do.
	When has that ever stopped the British government?
	Hey, I'm still going to call them out and say it's wrong.
	But if we go to the other people who are wrong, then we can see the defenders.
	And this one made me laugh, which is some paid shill going 33 pence a day for all this crap that you don't use, no one uses.
	What about BBC Radio Asian Network, Callum?
	I don't care.
	I'm very sorry to the Asian community I've sinned for saying that the BBC Radio Asian Network is a piece of crap, but...
	I'm not paying for it.
	If you want it, pay for it yourself.
	And as you can see here, Lawrence Fox responding with, Netflix is 33 pence a day.
	Defund the BBC. Yeah, I mean, if you want some non-Flix, then you can go pay for that.
	And they've got a leftist bent as well.
	And, well, there's your choice.
	Except at least non-Flix doesn't, well, put a tax on you to watch their programming, which you must pay if you want to watch TV. If we go to the next link, I saw the BeFund the BBC campaign putting out the point that these individuals promoting all these posts, all these verified checkmarks, literal paid shills.
	As you can see here, Dan earns £295,000 per year.
	What, one guy spends...
	Oh, gosh.
	It's a good job.
	It's a good job.
	And spend £600 a week on taxis.
	I thought that was for an organisation.
	Oh my goodness.
	Dan himself, apparently.
	He doesn't want to lose the gig.
	Oh, I'm shocked.
	I am very shook about the idea that this guy is desperately defending the BBC. I mean, I would too if I was getting paid that much.
	I mean, you don't want to continue to get paid that much?
	For what, as well?
	So he thinks people on minimum wage who occasionally watch live broadcast TV should be forced to pay via the threat of imprisonment.
	Absolutely correct.
	I mean, this is why I love the Defund the BBC campaign, if nothing else.
	They're just so good at laying it out.
	If we go to the next one, we can also see the stupid argument of, like, trying to replay the dumb John Cleese advert from, what was it, the 70s?
	The 80s, sorry.
	And this person making the clear point, which is, if the best defenders of the BBC can do is find a piece of its license fee propaganda from 1985, when there were only four channels and no internet, then they must be running out of arguments.
	Yep.
	Adel Ray there, another verified checkmark who works for the BBC, or at least did for at least the last 14 years or whatever the hell it was, doing a number of things and getting an unknown amount of money.
	But even if you want to make the argument of, oh, I like the BBC and I want it to exist because I like this show, or this particular piece of media...
	Should the people be forced to pay for your show?
	How about you pay for it?
	How about if you want to watch a thing and you give money and then you get the thing, like everything else in society that isn't death or taxes?
	So, what about also the structural leftism involved in the BBC? Because I thought I'd just bring this up because...
	You know, if you want to find arguments why the BBC should die, Voltaire's Ghost, very good.
	Go and check him out, and also his videos.
	But if you want some small pointers, in case you're not convinced, maybe we can take a look at the unhealthy obsession with race, as we've mentioned previously in the past.
	I mean, that's just one image.
	I can't remember where that was.
	I think it was just, like, recommended viewing on iPlayer.
	Right.
	What do you want to watch next?
	Can you get that up, John, just so we can see it bigger?
	Because, just read some of the titles.
	What do you want to watch?
	What is white privilege?
	Special programming on protests and racism.
	Advice if you're upset about racism.
	Do you notice the race of characters in your books?
	No.
	White privilege needs not having to worry about racism.
	Black History Month.
	UK kids on how George Floyd's death in America has affected them.
	It's not propaganda, guys.
	The white privilege TikTok challenge.
	Come on!
	No one needs to be paying for this crap.
	I'm not taking anything from any defender of the BBC. And the fact that the Conservatives are so weak that their position is, well, we're going to freeze the increase for two years.
	It's not good enough.
	You know it's not good enough.
	We go to the next link.
	I thought we'd also just take a look at the other obsession which they have, which is just openly discriminating against white applicants.
	This is one example.
	Also, various other government organizations in there.
	Just saying, whitey need not apply.
	They do this at the same time as lecturing you about racism.
	They will say white people cannot apply for these jobs, but also black people suffer because of racism.
	How about you look in the mirror?
	Nope.
	But if we continue, I'd also just mention that the content they produce just looks horrific.
	We'll go to the next link.
	We can see an example.
	BBC News beat here.
	Where would we be without BBC News?
	I am rewriting black, queer, and trans visual history in South Africa, says non-binary artist Zanila Mouli.
	What would we do without the BBC? What has the BBC ever done for us?
	We've probably never heard of non-binary artist Zanele Muholi.
	From South Africa.
	Very relevant.
	I am glad that this tax exists.
	Meanwhile, at GB News, I thought we'd check in with that.
	Let's go to the next leg.
	What are they doing?
	Michael Fabricant here.
	I think he's a former Conservative MP. BBC TV dropped the national anthem 24 years ago.
	This is GB News starting their programming this morning.
	The anthem will be broadcast every morning at 6pm.
	Which, yeah, I love.
	It's a little bit of the British aesthetic.
	Yeah.
	Also, I love how it's kind of a jab at the BBC, because the BBC has always been the place that played that every day for 24 years, as Michael points out.
	And then they dropped it as soon as they could, because, well, I don't for a minute believe that anyone was patriotic there.
	But the GB News trying to fill that role there, or at least celebrating some patriotism, which no other channel is.
	So, good for them.
	And if we go to the next link, we can see the effect this is having, or at least the programming GB News is having, which is...
	Oh, good stuff.
	Yeah, they've now surpassed LBC, apparently, on YouTube, which is always good to see.
	Well, I remember back when the Brexit debate was going on and LBC had a plurality of opinion on it, people were recommending me, just people in my hometown, oh, I've stopped watching the BBC, but I listened to LBC. I dare say they're not listening to LBC now, now that they've got rid of Nigel Farage and Majid Nawaz and...
	Everyone.
	Everyone else.
	Yeah.
	Now it's just James O'Brien.
	I love...
	I can't remember his name.
	The chap who makes graphics for us sometimes.
	Where he just replaced it with NPC and I redid the logo and it fits perfectly.
	Yes.
	Because if that's what they want it to be, that's what they want it to be.
	But not everything else.
	But you've also got...
	So you've got Boris's team trying to do Operation Save Big Dog.
	And they're crap at it because they're crap.
	And instead we can talk at the other team which is trying to save Big Dog.
	The Labour Party.
	Because even though they're winning they can't help themselves.
	Diane Abbott here.
	Our disgraceful Home Secretary, Prita Patel, wants to use sonic booms against desperate asylum seekers trying to cross the English Channel in small boats.
	I would say very based, but it's not true, because that doesn't make any sense.
	Just, like, read that as a sentence.
	She wants to use sonic booms against the asylum seekers.
	Well, she's misunderstood acoustic weaponry, clearly.
	Yeah, as I said, she's got to get the planes to go over and, like, go boom underneath for something.
	No.
	No.
	For people listening, she provided a low-res image of Priti Patel, because she couldn't use Google, and then some image of a sonic weapon, which is not always a weapon, apparently.
	So I looked up the manufacturer's specs before we started this, just to make sure.
	Apparently you can use it in two modes.
	So you can use it primarily, as it is meant to, which is a long-range communication device.
	Like a megaphone.
	Yeah, as you would use on a boat to talk to another boat that doesn't have a radio or anything, because there are a bunch of migrants on the dinghy.
	Apparently, according to the manufacturer, you can transmit your voice 5,000 meters.
	5 kilometers, not bad.
	Pretty good.
	And probably what they're using it for.
	Probably not for the sonic booms, as Diane Abbott thinks.
	But in the weapon configuration, it's just that it makes a lot of noise because it's meant for long-range talking.
	And therefore, you could also use it to make a bunt ton of noise and deafen people.
	Sounds good.
	Why are a guitar amp up to that?
	That sounds pretty good.
	Yeah, which, um, also, why are you trying to break into the country?
	Here's some noise, go away, you get closer, you get deaf.
	I mean, that would be actually something to look at, and if they are looking at it, yeah, why not?
	It's up to there if they want to keep sailing towards the White Coast.
	I also think that would be the most glorious way to repel the migrants from our shores, just wire it up to an electric guitar and have a Royal Marine riffing out a mad solo.
	Well, you can have them playing Rule Britannia.
	Britannia rules the waves.
	A series of PT boats just around the coast.
	If you get too close, you get deafened by Rule Britannia.
	That's the payment.
	You want to come in illegally?
	You must be deafened by Rule Britannia.
	Or you could just buy a plane ticket like everyone else.
	And the last thing here I just wanted to mention before we go to the last link here, which is, just before we started, I saw Dominic Cummings also releasing that...
	Apparently Jeremy Hunt is looking at running.
	So he says in here, it would take a lot of persuading me to put my hat in the ring.
	And Dominic Cummings saying that this is Westminster bubble talk.
	That's brilliant.
	This is SW1 code for leadership contest is imminent.
	Sign up early if you want a seat in cabinet.
	I'm on phones, donors and getting office set up.
	There has to be one non-Brexit nutter in last two.
	So yes, apparently that is what we're looking forward to, because Operation Big Dog, probably going to fail.
	Operation Shoot the Dog in the Head, probably going to succeed.
	Let's end that there.
	Let's go to the video comments.
	So I found some official Warhammer artwork, where a psycho-inquisitor is captured by some tyranid hive-mind people, some gene-stealers, and eventually, due to plot shenanigans and, you know...
	Psychos and all that jazz.
	He sees these images.
	This is official art of the Milky Way galaxy compared to the full size of the Tyranid biomass.
	Everything that has been fought so far in the galaxy is just one fingernail of this.
	The galaxy is doomed, basically.
	Official in the lore.
	Yeah.
	It is kind of sad with the Tyranids, because do you follow 40k at all?
	Not really.
	I understand the races.
	But there's like the Milky Way, right?
	Yeah, and that's the Tyranids.
	The Imperium holding hundreds and hundreds of planets, but it doesn't matter.
	I mean, the really scary thing as well, because my understanding is the universe in 40k is basically the same.
	So there's loads of other galaxies, endless numbers, and they all might as well be covered with Tyranids.
	And then, I don't know, maybe our own galaxy is the only one left.
	So yeah, the Imperium is definitely doomed, if that's how the lore is playing now.
	Let's go to the next one.
	While Wokis loved to state that Roald Dahl was once anti-semitic, he was a superb storyteller.
	If you can watch any of the Tales of the Unexpected, I'd encourage you to, particularly Lamb to the Slaughter.
	We were staying the weekend at a house in Vermont, and at dinner, the roast leg of Lamb was so dry and tough that Ian looked across to me and whispered, this ruddy thing must have been under deep freeze for ten years.
	She ought to be shot.
	No, I said, not shot.
	I think there must be a more interesting punishment than that.
	That is a very, very good story.
	I've read it.
	It's really good.
	It's one of the all-time greats.
	All right, well, I might check that out.
	That's awesome.
	Yeah, I so appreciate the message.
	Thanks.
	Let's go to the next one.
	So, some of you guys were asking what song felt for you.
	She's a brown man.
	So!
	This is a good girl.
	I won't.
	She's a brown Labrador, one and a half years old, so she's full of energy.
	Aw, yeah, good doggo.
	Labradors are also just full of energy.
	Yeah, yeah.
	I hope you're okay, though.
	Good dog.
	I hope you gave him the stick.
	Let's go to the next one.
	Witch.
	I wanted to talk about an incident that happened earlier today that outright pissed me the F off.
	There was this woman who was telling everybody who wasn't wearing a mask to put a mask on and outright swearing at everybody, you know.
	It wasn't even in a store, this was like literally outside.
	Bloody paranoid from Omicron, which has been shown not to kill anybody, but try telling that to the Australian media.
	Yeah, this is why people call it massive COVID hysteria.
	Is it still nobody's died of it?
	Or not?
	Omicron.
	I don't know.
	I know there have been some people who've died with it.
	I haven't.
	I'm not sure if people have died of it.
	Okay.
	I suppose technically that's also true of all COVID, but...
	Well.
	Another situation with that.
	Yeah.
	I'm glad, though, that at least Vox came out.
	We couldn't say this in the segments, obviously, but just...
	The masks don't bloody work.
	But the thing is, I remember when we started doing stuff on COVID, when it was first a thing, and I'm sorry to go off on one, but everyone hates talking about COVID. But we got some, I think it was me and John found some article from the World Health Organization that just listed their own data of how the different masks worked in their experiments, and they measured it by particulars.
	So what percentage of particulars did it stop?
	It was like, okay, the cloth ones, the dental ones, it was like 30% maximum.
	The cloth ones, like a biker, you know the ones you put underneath, I don't know what they're called.
	They increased the number of particulates.
	What?
	So it went from 100 to 100 and like 14% because the larger particulates just got carbon, the smaller ones.
	So it did less than nothing.
	It made it worse.
	So this was already known at the outset and...
	I think the idea is, with the cotton face masks, it's like trying to stop a mosquito with a chain-link fence.
	Well, to steel man it, the argument is that if you are wearing a dental wand, the cotton face masks do almost nothing in terms of stopping, obviously, or increasing.
	But the dental ones could lower the dosage you'd get.
	That's the argument?
	But by what percent to help how much?
	In hospitals, they call them spit masks, because that's basically what they're useful for.
	If someone literally spits at you, then yeah, sure, it'll stop that droplet.
	But that's not, my understanding is the main mode of transmission for COVID, as everyone knows by now, is aerosol transmission, which is very small particulates in the air, and it won't do airfall against that.
	And yet, for some reason, people still insist that everyone wears them.
	That they wear them, that you wear them, that your dog wears them.
	It drives me mad.
	It's pure psychological norms at work.
	That's why I sympathise with the guy who was saying someone with no face mask on at all shouting at everyone.
	But put that piece of cloth on you.
	Anyway, let's go to the next one.
	Greetings!
	Uh, don't mind the huge mess.
	You don't realize how much you move into a space when you've worked there for three years.
	But I have, like, news.
	My last day was Friday.
	Obviously, I have all this junk I haven't, like, packed yet.
	Um, so my employer thought I was so valuable that they basically made me a position to work remotely, part-time.
	That's, like, how valuable I guess they thought I was.
	And they told me I could take as much of a break as I needed to before I start work.
	So I'm going to still be employed, which is good because I was worried about the whole having purpose thing.
	All right.
	Well, that's good to hear.
	That's lovely.
	That's great news.
	Well, presuming your job is a good job.
	I assume that still means that she's moving.
	She's becoming one of the refugees from California that's fleeing because it's an asshole.
	So I can't blame her either.
	But yeah, that's good.
	All the best.
	Tony D and Little Joan with another Legend of the Pines from Urban Legends Online.
	It's the tale of the Hooker Man.
	Now this tale is as far north as Bud Lake, New Jersey, and it's far south right near me in Washington Township.
	And it's the story of a train worker who used to hold the lanterns for the train at night, getting hit by one of the trains and losing his hand.
	And now his ghost haunts the railways at night, and sometimes you can see the strange green glow on the train tracks.
	That's such a good nickname.
	Yeah.
	He's got a hug for a hand, so we call him Hook-A-Man.
	How many ghosts are there in this part of the world?
	It must be the most haunted square acreage.
	You know, everyone over there just dies and turns into a spooky ghost.
	Let's go to the written comments on the side.
	So, Baron Von Warhawk says, I don't buy this Trump versus DeSantis nonsense.
	This is just fake news.
	Turing to get the conservatives to fight amongst themselves.
	It's the old divide and conquer strategy.
	I doubt any true conservatives will have a spat now that Biden is giving them total victory at a golden platter.
	Divide et impera.
	Yeah, not very much.
	It seems to be the case.
	And I love that DeFanis' own press secretary is just calling out, and she'll be like, all you guys are just trying to make drama where there is no drama.
	So George Happ says, The fake news have decided to manufacture a weird story.
	I don't think there are many points of conflict between Trump and DeSantis.
	If it ever comes to a choice between the two, I'd rather give Ron a chance, considering how Trump abandoned the January 6th protesters and didn't use his presidential pardon on Julian Assange or Edward Snowden.
	Um...
	Yeah, there's that argument.
	I did hear, because I followed the Assange stuff quite closely for a while, and apparently a lot of his advisors like Bannon and so on were very much, no, you need to pardon this guy, and it was Pence's faction who basically delayed and stalled and made sure it didn't happen, is the gossip that I heard at the time.
	Did you see Candace Owens asking him about it?
	No.
	Candace had an interview with him and said, well, why didn't you pardon Assange?
	And he said, well, you know, there are arguments on both sides of that that are very compelling, so...
	I don't know, but I got to the point in the Active Measures book where it's in the modern day, so now we are looking at...
	He mentions Assange and Snowden, and the consensus from the guy who wrote it at least is that there is international recognition that no foreign government had anything to do with their leaks.
	It was all just themselves, in which case...
	I don't see why it's a threat to pardon them.
	Anyway, so that island guy says if Ron DeSantis isn't interested in running in 2024, could someone possibly find some British blood in him so he can run for PM over here?
	Please.
	I don't think you'd get on with the parliamentary system.
	No, I think he'd end up irritating too many cucks.
	Freewill2112 says, There is, in the rug section, but it is one of the weird things about the Conservative Party.
	It doesn't seem to want people to be incredibly imaginative or outspoken or even advocate their own position.
	It wants them to just shut up and wait for Labour to F up, which...
	I can see why some people prefer Trump or prefer DeSantis over their different styles, but it is evidently clear that as long as Trump wants to run, it's Trump's show.
	DeSantis is a man of Trump.
	Student of history, Florida has so few problems.
	Leftist media says, Florida man campaigning on nothing.
	Yeah, he should make that a campaign.
	Yeah, that's actually good.
	He should make that as a leaflet or something.
	did you know the media says i have there are so few problems here i'm campaigning on nothing student of history says divide and et imperata divide and conquer if they make them fight and split the vote possibly but there's no real fight and frankly de santa's is probably better in florida at the moment to keep fighting the good fight there yeah he also has said previously i'm running for governor in a few months I'm staying as governor.
	I've got good work to do.
	I can do it.
	Yeah, we think you can have a very powerful and positive impact as governor of Florida.
	In fact, perhaps more so than as president because, yes, it's less powerful, but also you have more power relative to your constituency.
	Yeah, you can actually save the place for when you retire.
	It's all going to be in good shape.
	Yes, it'll be somewhere worth saving.
	Justin B., it may end up being DeSantis by default soon, now that they have charged some people with sedition.
	That may attempt to invoke the newest amendment, 24th, I think, that allows them to block anyone who committed or supported anyone who took part in sedition from holding office.
	Though, of course, that may just trigger even more civil unrest with the favourite candidate being unfairly blocked.
	If they legally blocked Trump from running, that would be...
	That would be cause for civil war.
	That would be quite something, yeah.
	I mean, armed insurrection.
	Yeah.
	Actual armed insurrection.
	That would be completely mask off, you know, no democracy left.
	You can only run the candidate we approve of.
	No.
	Yeah.
	There is no democracy, though.
	Right.
	The purpose of the Second Amendment is to be fulfilled at that point.
	Mm-hmm.
	Let's go to the politician side.
	Yeah, so Free Will 2112 says, China has played a blinder.
	She knows our politicians are feckless and greedy, so she's extended her influence amongst them and the billionaire class so that their interests are now aligned more with China and less with their own countries.
	China also has the goodwill of ideological politicians like Diane Abbott and John McDonnell, who have made apologies for the mass murder of Mao in Parliament and on TV. Abbott and McDonnell are allies of Corbyn.
	So is Barry Gardner.
	The West will not prosper again and our liberties are in jeopardy until we purge ourselves of this fifth column.
	This is why I was worried as well, because it's very, like we did the segments before on how the Chinese think about America, and it's just two stacks.
	Yeah, Di Dongsheng.
	Two more kind of thing.
	But in the UK, we don't have that kind of spending on campaigns or anything, so money's not really seen as easy to bribe someone.
	But if he's taking 500,000 pounds, this is why I'm thinking it wasn't really spent on costs for his own staff.
	He's just pocketing that somehow, presumably.
	Yeah, exactly.
	I think it's a really interesting point he makes that the billionaire class's interests are now more aligned with China than with their own countries.
	What does Wall Street look?
	I think they look more to Beijing than to Washington for what to be told to do.
	Yeah.
	Well, it's just the fact that when you don't have a unifying national ideology as well, then people, or a unifying national idea, it means that all of your people in positions of power and influence just do what's best for their own personal interest, which includes taking large stacks of cash from foreigners to betray their country.
	It's not their country.
	Sure, but I mean, this is where government should step in.
	I mean, the fact that it's a openly Maoist country, you know, it's a communist state.
	You never had this kind of trade with the Soviet Union.
	People have made this point many a time, but let's reiterate it, which is that if you want Wall Street to not be looking to Beijing all the time, well, don't allow them to engage with them.
	Well, absolutely.
	And it's always baffled me that we've had this degree of openness towards China when none of that has been reciprocated, really.
	They're not an open society.
	They're increasingly authoritarian.
	There is no rule of law, as we would understand it, in China or anything like this.
	And yet a quarter of students at Imperial come directly from mainland China.
	Anyway, David Fisher says, on CCP spies, Chinese students may not be spies when they first travel, but be under no illusions.
	They are seen as assets in place by the CCP to be activated when needed.
	I don't think, I would like to emphasize that's not true of all Chinese students, because there are a lot of Chinese students who are as fed up of the CCP BS as we are.
	So in living memory, there have been intellectual purges in communist China.
	Right.
	And these are usually the children of the middle classes who are particularly affected by that.
	And so the whole Chinese espionage thing is, if anything, more dangerous to them than to us.
	I mean, I agree, but in my head I'm immediately just reminded of Eric Cartman talking about when there was an episode where, like, this Syrian kid moves into the school, and he's like, eh, they might not all be terrorists, but it only takes most of them.
	John Ball says, society has convinced people they must go into debt in order to be successful or happy.
	There is a reason usury was a sin.
	Yeah.
	Well, there is an argument that when people get into debt, so to speak, and taking out mortgages and this sort of thing, when they leverage debts against assets, what they're actually doing is freeing up the value of those assets to be used in investments, which then helps to fuel the whole economy.
	So that's the argument behind it.
	But on a personal level, it means that everyone has this crippling leverage against them.
	And it's been recognized for a long period of time in literature and history and religion that when someone goes into debt, they are partially enslaved.
	That's what the whole Merchant of Venice play by Shakespeare explores, for example.
	And Yeah, the story of Faust 2 by Goethe is all about a debt that drives this whole story.
	So there is something deeply toxic about debt.
	Look at the situation Greece is in.
	Sorry, I know I'm going on a bit, but I do quite despise the way that debt works in the modern world.
	Greece is in basically a perpetual debt, which means that its creditors can take whatever they want whenever they want.
	Like, anyway...
	No, I completely agree.
	It's actually a topic I don't think we talk enough about, frankly.
	No, partly because it's quite hard to understand in a way that...
	For me, it's very hard to understand how and what way the global economy makes any kind of sense, because a lot of it seems utterly arbitrary and thoroughly corrupt at the top levels, which is where all of the meaningful amounts of capital are moving.
	But also the culture that you should take on more debt because it stimulates the economy in aggregate, therefore everyone in the country should end up in some level of debt...
	Well, yeah, that's what encourages governments to encourage people to take on debt in order to stimulate the economy.
	It would be like some of the stories, I mean, when I hear about the 2008 financial crisis and some of the behaviours people were doing, especially in the United States, of taking on just huge amounts of debt for just, you know, I could get a new car.
	But you don't have the money.
	Yeah, I'll just take on the debt.
	This is not a good way to live.
	Sorry.
	No, you're absolutely right.
	Ignacio Junquera says, The Chinese government keeps sending spies and bribes slash lobbyists to undermine our countries for their benefit, and we still don't treat them as a rogue enemy nation.
	Yeah, I mean, there is obviously a sliding scale of hostility to friendliness, and they're definitely on the hostility side of it.
	And I am frustrated with our governments, our businessmen, our politicians for not engaging with that reality.
	Hmm.
	George Windsor says, Are you Chinese spies?
	I suspect you two are too young to remember the spy versus spy versus spy comics from Mad Magazine, but this intra-espionage situation is less comically reminiscent of it.
	Also, I want to shill my Saturday afternoon livestream on the Ardent Party YouTube channel, 3pm Newfoundland time, 1.30 EST. Thanks for the good work and inspiration.
	Thanks to you.
	You can check out George's stuff on the Ardent Party YouTube channel.
	And if it's good, it's good.
	I think we can say we don't endorse it because I've not seen it and I've no idea what's on there.
	But he paid for the super chat effectively.
	Exactly.
	On the operation to shoot or save the dog.
	I can't believe they actually were like, yeah, we're going to save Big Dog.
	The rebel MPs are just so open, they're just like, yeah, no, we're going to shoot him.
	It's your own leader.
	Sorry, Captain Charlie the Beagle, unfortunate name for this segment.
	Regarding the big dog, this is a clear political example of biting the hands that feeds you.
	If you betray the voters, they will put you down, and they'll be righteous in doing it.
	George Windsor, read the BBC. But is the BBC pigeon website not important?
	Well, clearly not, because you didn't translate that super chat into pigeon, but give me a moment and I will.
	Are the BBC Pigeon sites important to you or not?
	Don't be racist, Callum.
	Have you not been on BBC Pigeon?
	I have, yes.
	I'm going to produce the proper translation.
	Do you want to read us some articles or is there an actual translator?
	I've got a translator.
	I checked that out earlier because I was looking at some of the waste.
	It's just embarrassing every time I see it.
	You know, it's got to be, what, five people at least work on that?
	No translations.
	No?
	No.
	Go to BBC Pigeon, just find a headline.
	Okay.
	For people who don't know what it is.
	And also, if you don't know what it is, look up BBC Pigeon.
	You'll have a laugh, if nothing else.
	Mm-hmm.
	What has the BBC ever done for us?
	See what's happened with Ndami Kanuke, so feather-like otabuja today.
	Do you want to put that in English?
	What happened with the Ndamu Kanu case at the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria, today?
	Yeah, for anyone who is not understanding, he's not speaking a foreign language.
	It's just English, but, like, made weird, and then written as if it's the official version of English.
	Like, it's endorsed.
	Can Ubin de fae seven count charge we border on terrorism, treason, secession, and dat him be member of IPOP group we government don't outlaw.
	He also de fae saccuse se him de broadcast lie about President Mohamedou Buhari, but Can Ubin don't deny all the allegations.
	I'm sorry, it's just ridiculous.
	I know.
	Yeah, me too, man.
	Really enjoyed David Tennant's seasons.
	An iconic piece of British culture that has lasted for half a century, destroyed by wokeism in just a few years.
	So yeah, the BBC deserved to die.
	Sadly, I don't think it will.
	We had this discussion just before it started.
	It'll live on in some form, I imagine.
	Even if they do decide to pull the plug?
	I cannot see.
	Even if they pull the license fee, they'll just fund it through taxation.
	They will not give up their control over the narrative that they get from it.
	Absolutely not.
	I've got a black pill over here.
	Sorry, it's just a political reality.
	No, no, it's fine.
	It's fine.
	I mean, you can see the evidence.
	I mean, the people who are meant to go and do it aren't doing it, and it's bloody embarrassing.
	Yeah, having said that, sorry, yeah, I don't want to be too much of a downer.
	Yes, absolutely.
	Abolish the license fee.
	Totally on board with that.
	But it's just the campaign doesn't stop there.
	There will be more after that.
	So Natalie Collier says, don't defund the BBC. Where else will we get such high-quality programming, such as Bargain Hunt?
	Or Holmes Under the Hammer.
	All reruns, by the way.
	Yeah.
	I think so.
	I think there is a game you can play in this country where you put on BBC One and you just scroll through the guide and just check how many are reruns.
	It's always like 90%.
	Justin B says, I, the abolishment date for the license fee is when the Royal Charter runs out in 2027.
	Unfortunately, they can't really do anything sooner unless the BBC does something seriously wrong, which I doubt they think the BBC's behavior is bad yet, despite the public opinion.
	I just don't buy it.
	They won't let it lapse.
	They're just going to redo it if it's that far ahead.
	Doesn't affect me, though.
	I've not had a license fee for about a decade and haven't watched TV in all that time.
	And if you do have a license fee and don't want to fund this crap, do go and check out CrimeBodge on YouTube.
	I believe his videos are all back up.
	Oh, good.
	Excellent.
	I don't know if you've seen his video on the BBC. Yes, I have.
	He's been quite good.
	Basically, if the bailiffs come to your door, they will bring police, but it doesn't matter, because BBC instruction is not to use force.
	So if you just say no, they can't legally come in.
	Well, they can legally come in, but they won't, because it's guidance not to.
	So if you have bailiffs at your door, just say no.
	Yeah.
	And there is also another article I just saw on BBC Pigeon.
	Prince Andrew, who in be Duke of York, which title him, they lose...
	I don't even know what you've said.
	I understood every word.
	Queen and Imgur Stockday used their title is Royal Inus officially.
	Sorry.
	Returning to the comments.
	Do you remember the Bible was republished in Cockney a few years ago?
	Oh, no.
	Do you remember that?
	No, no, no.
	It was like the big guv up above, made the world in a few days.
	I remember they, um, didn't they release a Scots-English version of Harry Potter?
	I'm pretty sure they did.
	You're going to do a reading for that?
	I might do.
	Titch Potato says, I'm happy to pay for the infrastructure of the BBC, but not the contents the infrastructure is used for.
	The BBC runs some fantastic analogue technology that no one else does, and it'll be a shame to see it go, but it's a necessary casualty.
	Yeah, I mean, I think it's just the time has come.
	Things move on.
	We don't have one channel anymore.
	Edward Woodstock, no guys, they misunderstood.
	The plan was to sit migrants down and make them watch an episode of the animated series Sonic Boom starring Sonic the Hedgehog.
	They will come to the conclusion that the West isn't worth it and just leave.
	God I wish.
	There is a channel.
	I know it's a leftist channel, but it does make me laugh.
	They love to take, let's say, eccentric quotes and make them through the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog.
	So it's just like Sonic the Hedgehog quoting someone being like, in a Petersonian way, speedrunners are very much leftist.
	I'll have to show you the clips.
	I will admit, even though the author is clear that it is good content.
	Kevin Fox, Thailand yesterday claimed to have its second Omicron death, an 86-year-old cancer patient.
	The previous was a geriatric Alzheimer's patient.
	Obviously, the level of English in Thailand is low.
	Only two countries lower and known of those is that island where the fire arrows at helicopters coming at the islands.
	The English level is so bad they can't distinguish from with with.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, well, funnily enough, the English education in this part of the world doesn't seem to be much better because that's another thing that they've got mixed up.
	Yeah.
	I mean, everyone just refers to if he died with COVID, he died from COVID. George Floyd died of COVID. Freewill2112 says, not paid the fee for a year, nothing on there that I would want to watch, and most decent programmings from there you can get on Prime or on a second-hand DVD for a few quits.
	Or just find another totally legal venue of watching your programming.
	Indeed.
	Supreme Duck says, Denmark have DR, which is just like the BBC, but they succeed in changing the rules.
	So now, as long as we have access to the internet from home or our phones, we have to pay the DR tax license.
	Oh, that sucks.
	Yeah.
	So even if they don't have a TV, but they've got a phone, they've got to pay the license.
	Mm-hmm.
	Well, that was one of the suggestions that the BBC made, that they want to change it to if you have broadband instead of if you watch TV, then you also have to pay the license.
	Because of the iPlayer.
	You ever checked out half the stuff on iPlayer?
	It's not even there anymore.
	Just stuff gets deleted over time.
	But I paid for this.
	It's not like you have to, oh no, there's not enough advertisers funding this for it to be up.
	It's all paid for.
	So they can call us on our phones and check.
	We have to pick up and check if people have decided to pay or not, which is awful.
	Honorable mention, so Callum Dayton says we need Leo on for a talk about the Tony Blair stuff at some point.
	Yeah, I know his background is, what was it, criminal intelligence?
	And he thinks Blade did a lot of good stuff there, or at least the reforms that took place in the Belize era.
	I can't speak to that.
	I did have a friend who was working with police at the time, and he ended up getting seconded to Uganda, at which point he basically got dishonourably discharged for corruption for refusing to take a bribe.
	It's a pretty good way to get discharged.
	Yeah, in Uganda.
	Supreme Duck says, Make America Florida.
	What a perfect slogan.
	Even Trump could use it as Florida is based.
	Yeah, I think also Trump is based there, isn't he?
	Like, that's where Mar-a-Lago is.
	Yeah, but hang on.
	Having said that, like, if you make America Florida, doesn't that just mean you have alligators just running wild throughout the prairies?
	That doesn't sound like a good look.
	Yeah, why not?
	What about the snakes as well?
	They had too many snakes in Florida, I'm just saying.
	I mean, would you rather have Democrats in power or literal snakes but freedom?
	Hang on, give me a second.
	I mean, this is the choice that a lot of Americans are making.
	How many snakes is freedom worth?
	Well, no, because you can look at the migration over the last year, and what was it, like 300,000 left California, 300,000 left New York, and hundreds of thousands, I can't remember if it was 300,000 or 600,000, something ridiculous, went to Texas and Florida.
	So clearly, Democrats worse than snakes.
	You heard it here first.
	Look, according to the migrants of the United States...
	Goodness me.
	And on Immy says, my Floridian friends say that DeSantis' run is a trap.
	If DeSantis runs, Florida will be a loss.
	It'll become part of a democratic machine.
	Well, that goes back to the point we made earlier, doesn't it?
	That he can do more good as governor rather than as president.
	Seemingly so.
	It's not like there is no candidate for president either because Trump's openly standing there being like, I'm doing it.
	Yeah.
	So, Free Will 2112 says, sadly, the spat in the Republicans only serves the Democrat globalists divide and conquer.
	Yes, which is why I think that a lot of the story, I think, is hyped up.
	Not just because journalists are smear merchants and need something to sell their crappy papers, but also because I think they want to create a storm in a teacup and try and make it something that it isn't.
	Yeah.
	But anyway, we're out of time otherwise.
	But if you'd like more from us, always go to theloadseasons.com.
	You can subscribe there to get access to the premium content, as mentioned a million times.
	You know the drill.
	Otherwise, we'll be back tomorrow at one o'clock.
	Thank you and goodbye.

▲