‘Labour’s Another FAILED Policy' | ‘Kids Will Find Way Around Social Media Ban’

[00:00:00]We It's not the first time. It's not the last time. And he is among a number of parents who actually is saying we don't think this social media ban that the prime minister announced this morning is going to be the way to keep our children safe. What did you make of it?

[00:00:12]>> Well, I share his skepticism about a ban because I think uh governments are very bad at this.

[00:00:19]>> They're bad at regulating things. People will find ways around it. The evidence from Australia is overwhelming on that.

[00:00:26]Uh now Brazil's introduced a ban. not going that well there either. I think his idea and he's the one that's lost a child. So yeah, >> he's obviously thought about this more deeply than most other people that that you at least to begin with you sit down with the tech companies, outline the problem and ask them right what are you going to do about this and you do that with a ban in the background. That's always the the the threat there in the background and you may even have tougher threats but these tech companies can do almost anything. They seem to know almost everything about us. You can see that from the stuff they throw at us.

[00:01:03]They put our way and so on. So it cannot be beyond their competence or technological >> to put this right. How concerned are you about the impact for not just children but adults? Because by definition, if you have to prove you're not a child, you're having to show who you are and give ID. There's lots of talk about double blind ID just with a photograph.

[00:01:23]But again, that's not going to be clear.

[00:01:24]There are plenty of 16y olds who look older. There are plenty of 25 year olds look younger. Um, you know, the actually this is going to be a way of to all intents and purposes introducing digital ID by the back door. Something which the public have made very clear they don't want.

[00:01:38]>> Yeah. But I think the government's too incompetent to do it this way. I mean when when it comes to digital matters, governments are in the dark ages.

[00:01:46]>> Uh and for every um electronic measure, as we used to call them in the pre-digital age, for every electronic measure, there is a counter electronic measure. And and the kids will be the first to find that out.

[00:02:01]>> Oh yes.

[00:02:02]>> You know, they they know what VPNs are.

[00:02:04]A lot of people over 50 might not, but they do. And they'll find that and they'll find ways around it. And the one in in a sense why it would be better to have some fundamental reform of the platforms themselves that stop a lot of this garbage being pushed out.

[00:02:19]>> Well, exactly. As as an adult, I don't want to see it either.

[00:02:21]>> Yeah. No. Exact. Exactly. I know there's a lot of terrible stuff on there and I think these platforms need to start taking more responsibility for what appears on their platforms >> as indeed as indeed we all do. We're controlled by and you know you've been in broadcasting for many many years and indeed what you when you're a newspaper editor you know you have to be accountable for what is in your paper or on your radio show or television show >> and I think we need another given that uh these platforms are the 21st century version of publishing then I think we need a bit of that kind of coming in okay as well and uh and therefore they need to be held more to account they've had a pretty free ride for quite a long time the technological breakthrough they've made in many ways has been wonderful. There is a hugely positive side to this. It gives young people basically access to all the knowledge in the world.

[00:03:12]>> But sadly not using it for knowledge, using it to look at cat videos, >> but some are. You know, >> can I ask you you mention >> the ones we don't know about are the ones that end up in a in a terrible situation. They're the ones we know about.

[00:03:25]>> Exactly. There's so much I want to talk to you about. You mentioned accountability. Um, in terms of the prime minister, he made that announcement this morning and we had that uh uh seizing of the Russian tanker from their their their sort of shadow fleet in trying to breach Ukraine oil embargos yesterday. Um, and lots, you know, lots of action suddenly from Mr. Action Man, Prime Minister facing this threat of the make the Makerville bi-election and a possible arrival of Andy Burnham if he wins in the in the the parliament. Um he though lost his defense secretary and uh his armed forces minister last Thursday over his plans for the uh for defense spending and basically the new defense secretary we're told Dan Jarvis is going to get the same amount of money that was rejected as making this country unsafe by the last defense secretary. Um do you do you think that uh that it is tenable for this country to go forward with only a 10 billion pound in real terms increase in our defense spending given the numerous threats we face around the world?

[00:04:24]>> No, it's not credible at all which is why John Healey resigned. John Healey is a decent man, a labor patriot who believed in the defense of the country and he just didn't think 10 million was enough and it is nowhere near enough uh to to do that. And the money is available plenty of things you could take the money from if defense was a priority. But I think in their in their bones neither Kia Star nor Rachel Reeves really care that enough about it to make it the priority. I don't I think they think they didn't come into politics to spend more on defense. Yeah, >> that's not what got them out of bed in the morning. And I think deep down this is just not the priority for them. And what and what John Healey was pointing out last week was essentially the basic hypocrisy of the prime minister's position because he struck the world stage. You'll be probably be attempting it again at the G7 in France this week for the next three days about, you know, we're going to form a coalition of the willing and we're going to help get ships through the street.

[00:05:24]>> Willing but not able. But God knows how he's going to do that. I mean, he's only got two pedalers in the serpentine to deploy on the Gulf from the Navy. Um, and he's been prepared as as John Hill was basically saying, "Yeah, you talk the talk, but you're not walking the walk." Uh, and I don't think Rachel Reeves cares about defense. She cares more about our fiscal rules. I don't, again, I don't think she got into politics to spend more on defense. But here's the rub. This is a dangerous time. This is in many ways the 1930s.

[00:05:55]all over again. The dictators are on the rise. The autocrats are on the march.

[00:05:59]The bad people are winning. The good people are losing. It's a time when you have to spend more on defense whether you like it or not. And I think this government has failed that test. And they're all over the place. We listened yesterday, Julie, to uh uh Lisa Nandi was on the >> broadcast round and she kind of implied that there would be more money for Dan Jarvis, the new defense minister. Oh, no. It wasn't all settled and lo and behold within 24 hours that's blown out the water. I mean why you would ask Lisa and Nancy Nandandy a question about defense. I mean >> well presumably she had before she does the media round on behalf of the government I imagine everyone else was calling in sick that day. She might have asked number 10 what's going to be the state of play. But again >> if you're going to ask her about defense Julie I'm surprised you're you are not asking me about quantum physics and brain surgery.

[00:06:50]>> Right. Next question. I tell you what I will ask you about though while we've been on air. The Home Office has won its appeal at the Court of Appeal against uh the decision to overturn their ban on Palestine Action being a terror organization. To clarify that Palestine Action is lawfully banned as a terror organization. Of course, we had uh those convictions and sentencing last week of those who uh had well, not only just caused huge amount of damage on a a military site, but also had smashed a police woman's back and broke some of her back with a with a a sledgehammer.

[00:07:29]Uh pretty lengthy sentences they got. Do you think that was the right decision by the court?

[00:07:33]>> Uh I'm in the default position of this government if it doesn't like something is to ban it. Uh, and I'm not that keen on that. Uh, I mean, I don't like what Palestine Action stands for, but there's lots of things I don't like, what people stand for, but my default position is not to ban them. I would say two things.

[00:07:52]One, the people who carried out that damage, uh, the book should was thrown at them, and it should have been, and they should live with, they need to take the consequences of their criminal activities. I have no problem with that at all. They broke the law, and they harmed our defense at a dangerous time, you know. So they got what was coming to them. Does that mean that something like Palestine action should be banned? Well, I'm not so sure. Uh simply being banned for being pro Palestine and uh being anti-Israeli, it's not my view.

[00:08:25]>> I think it is their actions regarded that they are >> the action is the key. If it's an action, fine. But if they are simply protesting gumming up London streets at the weekend, which is a bit of a pain, but that's not enough. not that's not quite the same thing. Um let's also talk about the big political event on Thursday, the Makerfield bi-election. Um this is a bi-election we're told is that you know the most consequential bi-election in a century because one of the men standing in it is of course the Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham who is being seen as the great white hope to take Labor to another election victory amid the failures of Kesta. It's no doubt at all a lot of the things that are going on in government in the last couple of days are basically a a sort of a action by the prime minister to look like Mr. Mr. action ahead of uh a possible victory by Andy Bernham which the polls suggest he will he will get and an early challenge as early as Friday or next Monday a challenge from Andy Bernham. Do you think he'd make a better prime minister than Kier Starmmer judging from what we know already?

[00:09:24]>> Well, my initial reaction would say it could hardly be worse.

[00:09:29]Uh but whether it would be better is another matter because one of the things we learned quite early on was that Kio came to power in July of 2024 totally unprepared for power. He didn't really have a proper program. He didn't have thought through policies. He basically just didn't do his homework in opposition. Well, if that was bad enough for Karma, Andy Bernham is nowhere prepared for power. He's done nowhere.

[00:09:55]You've seen that. I mean, he's dizzy from the U-turns he's done in the in the camp campaign itself. I mean, every time he says something, he then says the opposite. Look at the waspy women. The support for them, I think, lasted for just under 24 hours. Or, uh, we shouldn't be in hawk to the bond markets. Oh, I'll stick with Rachel Reeves's fiscal rules, >> which he won't state. He doesn't not sure he knows them.

[00:10:20]>> No, because I'm not quite sure he knows them. There are two fiscal rules plus a supplementary welfare rule. So you could argue there were up to three of them, but he didn't tell the BBC what they were. He is totally unprepared for power. Look, he's a likable lad. He speaks human, unlike the current prime minister. Uh he's from the north. It' be good to get away from a yet another liberal London lawyer and so on. But is he prep? I mean, it's it's quite amazing the the way in which we allow people who are not in any way prepared for the most important position in the country to get that position. And I suspect he'll be immediately in deep trouble >> because there'll be huge expectations on the left of the Labor Party for him to deliver all manner of spending and wealth taxes and all the rest of it. Tax Elon Musk. If only we could get a hold of him, all our problems would be solved. If only he was British. Oh, he's not British, right? Fine. Well, I guess we can't tax them. All of that. You'll be in real trouble. It won't work well.

[00:11:21]The bond markets will have their say.

[00:11:23]And lo and behold, if you and I are to talk, let's say before spring has sprung next year, if Mr. Burnham has taken over in September of this year, say just before the Labour conference in Liverpool, I won't be surprised if his approval ratings are as low as Karan was on.

[00:11:39]>> Neither would I. Just finally, and I'm sorry, it's going to be very, very, very brief. Um, we learned last night the death of the former Labour deputy leader Roy Hassy at 93. I have a family link here because my dad was his election agent in the 1970s. You wouldn't guess that now, would you? Um, I remember meeting him as a child. Um, sad death that he's been suffering from Parkinson's uh has been very But in terms of the deputy leaders we have now, we've had, you know, Angela Raina, we've had we've got David Lambie right now.

[00:12:07]Um, what do you Well, sorry, Lucy Lucy Pali the deputy as deputy prime minister. Um Um, they don't make them like that anymore, do they?

[00:12:15]>> No. Roy had a hint of land. He was a great writer. He had another career other than politics. He had a wide variety of interests. He was a bit of a character. Uh he could be pompous. He wasn't quite as accomplished as he thought he was himself. He was a bit of a nearly man as a politician. He never quite made it into the premier division.

[00:12:34]He was only a cabinet minister briefly.

[00:12:37]But he was good company. He thought about things. He was serious about politics. He could have a laugh because he came from Yorkshire. So he he he uh he had a bit of a character about him and he wasn't he doesn't fit into the kind of identicate career politicians that now dominate our >> Absolutely. Now Andrew, before I let you go, I must point out to us and I'm definitely going to be tuning in. You've got a new podcast, The Andrew Neil Report. It's on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast. The show features analysis of major domestic and global stories alongside guests discussing issues shaping the week. When is it first? When's the first one out? first one was out last Thursday when we look to see whether are we heading for another great crash or not because of AI and all this excess lending. Uh I'm about to do one on the so-called peace deal that Mr. Trump is boasting about to see if there's anything to it. And then later this week we're going to turn on Thursday when we put one out every Thursday, the big one, the flagship one.

[00:13:36]We're going to really dig in to what Europe and Britain have to do to defend ourselves if we can no longer count on America.

[00:13:45]>> Great stuff. It's the Andrew Neil Report on YouTube and wherever you get your postcards. Thank you so much.