This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. So, we can now listen to your podcast. Act of Treachery. I don't know whether you were watching Newsnight this week, but the former SNP MP, Murray Black, said that that intervention from Mr Sauer has in fact saved Keir Starmer because now all Labour MPs are going to feel they have to rally around him. So it's basically saved him. But I wonder what you think, if you're a Labour voter in particular, has it galvanised you or has it made you pause for thought? 03700 100 444 is the number. The Mandelson involvement in the Epstein files, the loss of very senior members, both of government and civil service. Does that draw the line under this? What do you have Keir Starmer do? And this is the question that was posed on the Brigham. Would maybe more women at the top solve problems like these? 03700 100 444. And your reactions to the High Court's decision on Palestine action. So judges ruled that Palestine action should not have been banned under anti-terrorism laws, potentially leaving thousands of its alleged supporters in something of a legal limbo. According to the court, prescribing the group was disproportionate and it was unlawful. But that ban remains in place for now, the Home Secretary says. She is going to appeal. So where do you stand on this? is the government right to challenge? And I'd really like to hear from police officers on this. We heard that the Met Police has said yesterday that in view of what has happened in the High Court, they're not going to arrest people holding placards saying I support Palestine action, but they will carry on taking details and taking information for a future date if necessary. If you work for another police force, do you have clear guidance on what to do? 03 700 100 444 is the number. But all of that and another question that was posed on the programme, why do we appear to pay more tax than ever, but the governments are still skint? So any of those, grab your fancy today, give us a call. Let's start, though, with Palestine action and the High Court's decision yesterday. Grace Dalton, you're our first caller calling from Ealing. Hello. Hi. Hi. Welcome. One of the things that strikes me is that the biggest humanitarian crisis in our world right now is actually in Sudan. And so I've been wondering, why isn't the BBC talking more about this? I think that the BBC's coverage of the catastrophe in Gaza, which is obviously just horrific beyond words, has been relatively balanced. But I'm really concerned that most of the news coverage doesn't talk much about other places in our world where people are suffering. There was rightly some brilliant coverage earlier today on Radio 4 of how cuts to aid programs are really affecting some of the most disadvantaged people on the planet. But it's quite rare that we hear about those people. And so what I don't understand is why people who theoretically are concerned about human suffering, as I really think we should be, are often only interested, seemingly, in Palestine. Can I just redirect you to the question that was asked, actually, which was, and what happened yesterday in the High Court, which was specifically about Palestine action, and about the High Court's decision to say, actually, you know what, the government's overstepped. What did you think about that? I mean, has the government overstepped? Are the courts right? Is the Home Secretary right to challenge this? I think it would seem to me erroneous to regard it as a terrorist group, particularly given the severity of other terrorist threats that we have to contend with. But at the same time, I do think it's concerning that there has been violence carried out. by one of the Palestine action members when they broke into Albert Systems. And I'm concerned about the way that our society is kind of moving towards this tribalism. And there's kind of this quasi-religious fervor, demonstrative of how we're kind of going away from the ideology we did have in this country, whereby a Jewish man taught that salvation is through him and that we should love our neighbors and our enemies. We're moving towards thinking the way that I can be really great is by hating people on the other side of the political spectrum. And it feels to me like Palestine action is showing off how great they are by being angry and aggressive. And actually what we need is more attention to the suffering in our world and how we can tackle it rather than feeling ourselves to be righteous and noble because we're angrily and aggressively attacking people we disagree with. Sure. But again, I mean, on the issue of this idea of prescribing an organisation and putting Palestine action in the same basket as, say, Al-Qaeda or ISIS, you're saying that doesn't make sense to you? I think so far as I have looked into the details, and I probably ought to research it far further, I do think that it's not necessarily right to put them into that basket. Okay, thank you. And I wonder if it might just stir up more interest, frankly, from some people who are looking to join something that they find to be exciting. Okay, well, thank you very much. I'm just to remind you, there are some 84 organisations that are prescribed currently under the Terrorism Act. It's just called the Terrorism Act of 2000. And Al-Qaeda, I've mentioned, a neo-Nazi group called National Action. That's on the group. The Wagner group is on that group. So I want your thoughts on what happened yesterday, right or wrong. Is the government right to challenge? Is the court right to say, you know what, you've gone too far? Sarah Mulholland's been in touch via email. I abhor the actions of Netanyahu's government, but I question why people would support a group which has carried out violent protests and criminal actions. Peaceful protest is a powerful weapon in itself. I see no advantage in allying ourselves with a group that doesn't protest peacefully. We should protest loudly, determinedly and peacefully. We have to ally ourselves with groups. We have no need to ally ourselves with groups that utilise violence, even if we share the same goal. This one here, Richard Warner, though, disagrees very strongly. The government's got it wrong again with this appeal. Why doesn't Starmer just do us all a favour and resign? That sort of segues into another subject that we can talk about on this programme, which is whether the intervention of Anas Elwes actually saved him or not. Mark Onyxa said the prescription of Palestine action was always an over-the-top move, which stems from many politicians in the UK bending over backwards to please Israel, leading to all of this nonsense. Let's take another on this. Victor Gonzalez is calling. You live in London, but also in Spain. I don't know where you're calling us from at the moment, Victor. I'm in Spain at the moment, but I live in London. I'm in Spain at the moment. I'm very well. Okay, so tell me what you make of what happened in the High Quartz yesterday and what might happen in the future. I agree with the judges' decision to regard the ban as unlawful. And as many people had predicted before the ban came into force last year, the ban would criminalize people who support Palestine, not only through Palestinian action, but through any other peaceful manner. And I am a case in point. Okay. I was detained on the street by police last year wearing a badge that says two words, free Palestine. I was asked if I had been to the protest. I did not know what protest. But apparently there had been on that particular day a Palestine action protest in another part of London, which I wasn't aware of. The police officer pointed at my badge and kept saying, Palestine Action is a proscribed organization. I said, my badge has nothing to do with Palestine Action. And the police officer kept saying, it's a proscribed organization. So I was detained, handcuffed for 45 minutes. And in the end, after being searched, my details being checked, I was released with no further action. However, afterwards, even though I have no criminal record whatsoever, following the detention, the police wrote what is called a police intelligence report on me. And a police intelligence report gives discretion to a police officer to say about any person. We haven't found any evidence against this person. However, we believe that he might be linked to criminality. So, Victor, I mean, others are also using the phrase today, saying that having you know Palestine action on a prescribed list actually having a chilling on anybody who is protesting at what is going on in the Middle East And that I take it is also your position that you will be deterred from expressing yourself, that freedom of expression, the freedom of support, if this prescribed list or Palestine action remains on that list. Yes, it has already had that effect. I think that it was foreseeable that it would have that effect. And if you have police officers who cannot differentiate between Palestine action and support for Palestine, then it's even more concerning. Well, you know what, that is actually something that I would love to hear from police officers about this. if you are a serving police officer, do you have clarity? Have you perhaps done things that have been in an area that you yourself don't feel comfortable being in? Victor, thank you for your call. This one's from Alan M on X, who says, prescribing Palestine action as a terrorist organisation debases the term terrorist. John Ward calling us from Woodhull Spa in Lincolnshire. Welcome to the programme, John. Good afternoon. So, what do you make of what has happened? by the court, all distracting from what's really going on in Israel, in Palestine, in that area of the world. So would you say, I mean, if you had the ear of the Home Secretary now, because as things stand at the moment, it is a criminal offence to be a member or support Palestine action. That remains in place despite what the High Court has said because there may be an appeal in the future. If you had the ear of the Home Secretary right now, what would you say directly to her? I'd say, good God, stop wasting public money on an appeal and come clean, come off the fence. Too many spineless, hand-wringing, fence-sitting people are in government positions and won't make a decision. Genocide is happening in Palestine right now. It was made clear just a few days ago by the US ambassador to Israel. He made it quite clear that there's absolutely no way that Palestinians will have any place in that part of the world. They talked about the settlement being encouraged, the spreading of the settlement, to make sure there's absolutely no contiguous area of the region that can be used as a Palestinian state. In other words, the Palestinians are just an embarrassment. So what you're saying is get off the fence. I should say that the International Court of Justice is currently considering that question following the case brought by South Africa in 2023. They haven't yet reached a verdict, but they have agreed to hear the case. Let's move to another Jonathan, John Hill, calling from Manchester. John, hello. Hello, Anita. Hi there. So, where do you stand on this, John? where I stand is that the court has made a decision I may or may not like it but I'm not qualified to comment on the legality of it and it's a legal matter that the court has has judged and saying effectively that there hasn't been enough terrorism to justify the prescription and that's of course very worrying the court was very clear that terrorist acts have been committed but they were not severe enough. And that's a major concern. I'd like to hear how somebody would explain that to the police officer whose back was broken by a sledgehammer or to the security guards who were attacked on the same occasion. It's a very major concern. And when it comes to the Home Secretary's deliberations now, what would you urge her to do? I would urge her to appeal because I think there's a legal point here to be debated. And if the appeal court and maybe the Supreme Court have to get involved, so much the better. Parliament made the decision to prescribe, and it did so in the environment and the atmosphere of people being killed in this country and later on in Australia, simply because they were Jewish. And they were killed by people who were active supporters of Palestine action and of Hamas and Hezbollah. Well, what I'm looking at is Dame Victoria Sharp, who read out while reading out this 46-page judgment that the court had considered the prescription of Palestine action disproportionate, she said, and I'll quote it directly. A very small number of Palestine actions activities amounted to acts of terrorism within the definition of Section 1 of the 2000 Act. And for these and for Palestine actions, other criminal activities, the general criminal law remains available. And the nature and scale of Palestine actions activities falling within the definition of terrorism had not yet been reached. The level, scale and persistence to warrant any prescription. prescription. Let's take another call on this and also lots of your thoughts coming in on text and email as well. It should never have been up to the Home Secretary, even if endorsed by Parliament, which organisations are or not prescribed. In an open parliamentary democracy, there is a legal judgment that should be left to the judiciary, writes his correspondent. The current process undermines the freedom of speech and puts it under the control of the government of the day. that's plain wrong and infringed on the separation of legislature and executive and judiciary. We should put your name on these. Susie says, the recent High Court judgment restores somewhat my faith in the independence of the judiciary. I hope the appeal judges will not bow to pressure. Let's take another on this. Bea Sims, hello. Calling from Sheffield. Welcome. Welcome to the programme. Thank you very much. What did you want to say, Bea? I mean, quite a few things. Firstly, I wanted to say that I welcome this ruling, but I'm frustrated that we're in this situation in the first place. I myself have been arrested four times now for the crime of writing words on a sign. And for this, I've been dragged through the mud by police, ended up with bruises, spent hours in the back of a van, spent overnight in a cell. Something that I think highlights the ridiculousness of all of this. My white peace poppy and marker pen were put in a police evidence bag, a dangerous evidence of me being a terrorist supporter. This is happening in the UK, and I feel like the media and public at large would be much more willing to criticise this more vocally if it were elsewhere. How can we take any kind of moral high ground in criticising other countries for their repression of speech, whilst we're criminalising people sitting silently with placards? I think whether you agree with the actions of Palestine action or not, we can see that they're clearly not comparable to ISIS, national action, or the maniac murder cult. And I think it's quite obvious Yvette Cooper herself must have known this. But when we talk about violence, I think we're getting mixed up between harm caused to people and property damage. Labelling Palestine as terrorists just takes all of the nuance out of the situation and makes people think that they themselves are at risk. When we think of serious property damage and terrorism, we think of arson, bombing campaigns, things that target the public, not smashing up drones with crowbars. I think the government has briefed the times, actually, about Palestine actually being funded by Iran, and I think that underlines some of the ridiculousness. If it's so proportionate to prescribe this group, then we wouldn't need to be making things up. nudge, nudge, wink, wink is what I believe the independent advisor Jonathan Hall has said. It's not just the 2,700 of us sign holders who have had our rights infringed upon. You see the case of a lady threatened with arrest for sign saying free Gaza or the gentleman arrested for holding up the private eye cover. This all makes people who disagree with the framing of Palestine action as terrorists too frightened of illegal consequences to stand up and say anything that could be construed as supportive. I think you yourself have asked about how the police feel about this. Well, the Met Police actually had to issue guidance to its officers to remind them to stop arresting people who have signed saying... Well, I mean, that was happening yesterday. In fact, while I was on air, the Metropolitan Police were saying, look, you know, in view of this, we're not going to arrest anyone. We will carry on documenting. We will carry on taking details, but we won't do that. And just to remind people where we stand on this, It currently remains a criminal offence to express support for this group or be a member of this group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Taking your thoughts on this, 03700 100 444, Dr. Adrian Thees is with us from Worcester. Hello, Adrian. Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your 1 euro per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.nl. That's Shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. I understand that you want to listen to your podcast, so I'll keep it short. Because if you think it's important to make a lot of choices, maybe ASR can help. Now I hear you think, how then? Well, for example, when you pay a cost of money, you love to pay a cost. Will you know more about the insurance where a cost of money can be? Go to asr.nl slash duurzamekeuzes. This is for you and a cost of money. Asr does it. So, we can now listen to your podcast. I think this is a much smaller part of a much bigger puzzle. I'm absolutely delighted that Palestine action has been taken off to terrorist list. It seems daft to me please forgive me I got to tell a chat to you but it seems daft to me that a small group of people may find these demonstrations difficult but at the same time, they're quietly ignoring what these people are demonstrating against, which is absolutely a horrific thing when the Palestinian people. in Israel. So just to remind people, I mean, the prescribing took place. It was, I think it was on July the 5th. And this is a break-in or provoked by a break-in that happened to Elbit Systems. I mean, somebody's mentioned this before, a building near Bristol in August 2024. and as another caller pointed out, this is a company that is involved in the manufacture and supply of weapons to the Israeli army. They said that's what the demonstrators said and the company has strongly denied that. Adrian, your line is a little bit fuzzy, so either we'll try and clean it up or we will move on to Salah Safi, who's calling us from Edinburgh. Hi, Salah. Hi, Anita. How are you? I'm very well, thank you. Welcome to the programme. What did you want to say? Well, simple. There's many things. Most peaceful demonstrations will have elements of some damage. I don't like to say criminal damage, but some damage of things. And what Palestine Action have done, a small number of them have done some damage to the system, not to human beings. And for them to be prescribed as terrorism or as a terrorist group also support them. It's really up front to human dignity and freedom of speech. Freedom of speech means to speak anything you believe in. And the freedom for Palestinians, it is now, in the UK and most Western countries, it's something like paramount. Palestinians have suffered over 100 years, not like one day or two. And to see the destruction that's happening in Gaza right on their faces, Basically, it's almost as if they're living it day in and day out. So they have to take action. And the action starts by demonstration and then taking action against companies which are supporting the genocide. And this company, Elbeit, which is an Israeli company, is 100% supportive of the genocide in Gaza and in the West Bank, where I actually belong to. Yeah. I mean, as I said before, I mean, the company itself has said, look, we're not doing this. This is not what we do. They've denied it. If you look at most people who have actually worked with Epstein, they said we have not even met him, and they've met him many times. A denial does not mean nothing. Okay, so can I ask you another question then? This is something that others have asked on text and email. Is it necessary to support Palestine action to voice your support for the people who are suffering in the Middle East? It is not necessarily supporting, but they are a group which support, they call for the freedom of the Palestinians, so supporting is a great thing because they are an organization amongst many organizations which actually call for the freedom of the Palestinians, the equal rights of the Palestinians, because at the end of the day, 100 years of suffering, the only time this will change is not going to be within. Nelson Mandela was in jail for 27 years. The change came from the West. It did not come from South Africa. The change, it was... I remember myself as a student in the 70s where we demonstrated with many tens of thousands all over the world for the freedom of Nelson Mandela. He was prescribed as a terrorist. He was not prescribed as a freedom fighter. And thank you very much for making the point. 03700-100-444 is the number. Just some more of your thoughts here. And worth reiterating again, it is currently, I mean, somebody said it's good that it's no longer a prescribed organisation. It is actually the recommendation of the High Court that the government overstepped. But it is still currently a criminal offence to be a member of or support Palestine action. And I think I highlighted some of the penalties that were involved with that. Now, the question, did the government overstep by doing this? The High Court said, yes, they did. The Home Secretary says, no, we didn't, and we are going to appeal this. Still really looking to hear from people who are involved in law enforcement on this. Where does this leave you? Because we've heard from people who have protested, and they've said, you know, this is where we are, and this is, you know, we too feel in a grey area. But I really want to hear from police officers. If you are out on the streets, if you're being told to police a demonstration, what is it that you are going to do now? Some thoughts here from David in Wembley. People may say the prescription of Palestine action was unjust, but do they not think that people who cause millions of pounds worth of criminal damage should be put in prison? Neil Price on email. Governments, to use the word terrorism to describe people they like, is becoming more and more common. Duncan in Hazelmere says, nothing will change until more politicians come forward and governments across the West apply meaningful sanctions against Israel. Let's take another on this, and then we are going to talk about some of the other subjects that were on the programme. I mean, particularly, I want to know what you've made of these heads rolling in the last week or so. Does that draw a line, do you think, under the great, well, sort of, the Mandelson affair. We can call it that, I guess. The involvement in the Epstein files. Who knew what and where and why was he made an ambassador? Does this actually question the judgment of the Prime Minister? Should he stay or should he go? Anna Sawa, who is Labour, Scotland, says, go, just go, you've made too many mistakes. Now, does that galvanise your support for him if you're a Labour supporter? or does that make you think, yeah, no, good point, he ought to go. Bad judgment, not the man who should be leading us through to the next election. Paul Simmons, though, on protests, on Palestine action, on the High Court's decision, calling us from Twickenham in West London. Hello, Paul. Hello, Anita, thank you. Anita, my main feeling was relief at the judge's decision. My heart had sunk when the original proscription was announced. To make my point in essence, Anita, if one remembers the film Mutiny on the Bounty, when Captain Bly is finally hauled up before the Admiralty, they say to him, the King's regulations may be on board, they may be on the bookshelf, but if justice isn't in the heart of the captain, then justice is not aboard that ship. And that is how I feel about the government at the present time. One of the results of the intervention of the court is that elderly people, for example, will not be confronted with the prospect of up to 14 years in prison for holding up a piece of paper. And the fact that neither Yvette Cooper nor Shabana Mahmood, who says she's disappointed with the decision, can see that, I find very troubling. It troubles my heart in a way that I haven't been troubled by British politics for many years. I think it's a frightening development. And it's part of, I'm housebound, I spend a lot of time watching the Parliament Channel. Over the last two years, since the horrific events of October the 7th, which I condemn as the vilest possible acts of inhumanity, deserving of all our condemnation, there's been a government approach across the board to suppress any support for Gaza. I watched the select committee hearing on whether we should be supplying F-35 parts to jets. They are all, in my view, have been duplicitous. And that's a point that's been picked up even by one or two outspoken conservative MPs on the floor of the House. But it is troubling, Anita, that a Home Secretary can be disappointed that the prospect of sending elderly people or anyone to prison for 14 years for holding up a piece of paper counts as terrorism and that they're disappointed not to be able to continue to threaten them with it. I would just say finally, Anita, that the right of free assembly and free speech go predate the ECHR and our principles of humanity, which long predate it and long may they continue in this country. Paul, thank you very much for your call. 03 700 100 444. Let's talk about the future of the Prime Minister. Let's talk about whether he has been helped or hindered by the contribution of Anna Sawa of Scottish Labour. What do you think about this? And what do you think about the response to what has emerged from the Epstein files, particularly about Peter Mandelson? What about the judgment? Too many mistakes have been made, is what Anasawa has said. Where is the judgment? What are the mistakes? Who is to blame? Have the right heads rolled. Christopher Pettit, Reverend Christopher Pettit, or are you Christopher Pettit, Reverend? It's very hard to tell. Chris is fine. Chris is fine, okay. All right, well, nice to speak to you from Winchester. Should Keir Starmer step down, step aside, let somebody else... No, no, no, no. If he does, I think it will make the whole situation, first of all, okay, people might think this isn't so important, but I do. He shown himself to be a very important person within the European situation at the moment as evidenced by the Munich talks that he been at this morning and shown himself a very good leader My point which you may think is off the ball but is that can you imagine what a laughingstock we would be if Trump and I'm afraid I don't feel very Christianly about Trump at all. I think he's a despicable man. Can you imagine what it would feel like for him to remain in post? Unfortunately, there seems to be almost no way of getting rid of him until the next two and a half years. If he's still in post and Starmer has gone, Starmer, who's showing himself to be a man of integrity, a decent man, a moral man, who is doing the very best he can for this country and indeed for Europe. And if he was to go because of this, I'm not denying that there's been mistakes made. Clearly there have been. And it's been very unfortunate. And hopefully it's a learning experience for Starmer and the Labour Party, which I now support. But I think to actually have Trump imposed with, I mean, one of the great ironies, I think, of everything at the moment is that he's got the goal, Trump, to call his social media thing, truth social. I'm sorry, Trump doesn't know anything about truth. I mean, I can see your gaze shifting over the Atlantic towards America, but just staying here. I mean, you know, what you've said, the substance of what you've said is pretty much the substance of what Anasarwa said, which is, you know, he didn't deny that Keir Starmer was a decent man. And he, like you, said mistakes have been made. Now, he thinks that too many mistakes have been made, too many U-turns, too many embarrassments. And you're saying, yes, mistakes have been made, but not enough. I mean, how many would be enough mistakes then? Christopher? Oh, how can you answer that? I don't know. It seems ridiculous. I'm afraid I've just, I'm not a very good person at all, because I'm not very balanced. I think I despise all that Farage stands for, as you probably realise. I'd like to hear Farage stand up and defend Trump. What I'm hoping and praying, almost literally, is that people will wake up to the fact that Trump and Farage are seemingly great mates. And that Farage just hasn't got any way of... Anyway, I'm changing the subject now. I'm sorry. No, no, you're not. No, it's OK. It's OK. Listen, you're entitled to answer the question whichever way you want. But, I mean, clearly you think that Keir Starmer is the only person who can stop Reform UK. Tony Porter's been in touch on email. Sarwa was correct. Starmer has mistaken, misjudged, hesitated, and appeased Trump and Netanyahu over the last 18 months. But it is too late to change the result of the upcoming May elections. says Tony. And from Essex on text, although I don't usually vote Labour, I do appreciate the fact that Keir Starmer is very measured in his speech. He thinks before he speaks, unlike many other politicians, particularly Nigel Farage. Tony Bridge on email, give Keir a chance! Let's take another on this. Michael Collins calling us from Herefordshire. Hello. Hello, yes. Hello, welcome to the programme. OK, so has he made too many mistakes? Is Anna Sawa right? Or is the Labour Party right to say, you know what, actually we stand by him? Because there wasn't the deluge of support. There wasn't sort of name, you know, just minded of when Boris Johnson was called on to go. It was like a popcorn effect. One name, then three names, then five names. That's not happened here. So what do you make of the situation we find ourselves in? Is the best man leading the Labour Party in government? At the moment, yes. Has Anwar Starod helped or hindered the Scottish Labour Party's election for the next election? He might have helped it a bit, but not in the way he thought. He thought that by getting rid of Keir Starmer, it would help his prospects, because he would no longer be associated with the mistakes that Keir Starmer has made. But what has happened, of course, is he's triggered the disunited Labour Party to actually rally around Keir Starmer and keep him in office, which, in my opinion, is a good thing. OK. Yeah. OK, I mean, that was the point that Mari Black, formerly of the SNP, SNP-MP, was saying as well, that actually, you know what happens if you feel that your leader is under attack in the Labour Party, the wagons circle. Taking a response to that, 03700 100 444, George Antony has said the Prime Minister has not, in my opinion, demonstrated any level of intelligence and decency when it comes to his leadership. The amount of rhetoric evoked from scandal upon scandal upon scandal. The country has lost its reputation as a country that is tolerant and decent. The media is having a field day, pushing all the right buttons to inspire the far right to emerge as the real threat to democracy. Starmer should go if he cannot change course. This one here from somebody called Marshall Somerville on email. The fact is that the government, which wants to make changes, faces a difficult task, which can't be achieved in five minutes. Starmer has been much distracted from home affairs by radical threats overseas and has risen pretty spectacularly well to deal with it. At home, the party has made some rash promises before the election and didn't do enough advanced planning before coming into office, but it's making good progress, just not enough noise about it. Let's squeeze in a few more calls on this. Dr Brendan Hamill calling us from Kinross. Hello. Hi, how are you doing? I'm doing really well. And since you're in Scotland, I'm particularly interested to hear from you. Right. Anasawa, is that a helpful interjection from him? Do you agree with him? Do you applaud him? Well, I was particularly struck by the figure that Gerry Hassan came up with on your programme, which was that after five years in office, Anasawa has only managed to accumulate 17% support of the Scottish electorate, whereas more than 40% are undecided about how to use their votes in the forthcoming election. So where are you? Are you undecided or have you made up your mind? Well, I'm voting for myself, basically, because I've decided, you know, if this share of idiots are going to stand, I may as well stand myself. Are you serious? I'm in my 70s, yeah. I mean, you've got to do something in life. You've got to do something. Okay. You can't just sit around doing nothing. Okay, so Brendan, you are that disillusioned with the offering in Scotland that you say, right, none of the above. Might as well be me. Absolutely. Absolutely. Why not? Okay. And what, you know, your friends, family, what are they saying? Actually, you know, this is the problem that Brendan is the answer for. I've only told a couple of friends, you know. You're going to find out now, Brendan. We're doing a focus group for you by accident. Brendan, thank you very much for your call. Nicholas Allen calling from Suffolk. Hello. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Should he stay or should he go as leader? I don't think he should go. No, I don't. I say that as someone who's never voted Labour. The reason I say it is that I don't believe there's anybody jockeying for position who is of calibre to be prime minister. I don't think it's a very satisfactory situation in the Labour Party that the deputy is appointed by the party and not by the not by the prime minister. So there's no coherence or unity there. The situation is extremely unsatisfactory. I think the best and fairest thing to do would be if things continue to decline as they have been, would be for Sir Keir Starmer to call a general election, because the Labour Party certainly does not have a mandate. on the small turnout at the last election to move their policies further to the left, which seems to be one of the ideas that's being rooted at the moment. OK, thank you very much. Let's take another on this. Ian Kennedy calling us from Norwich. Hello, Ian. Hello there. Hi there. Should he step down? Has the Mandelson affair been the straw that breaks the camel's back or actually do you agree with some of our other correspondents that give him a chance? I think that it's been a very difficult situation for him. As leader and with the circumstances, he does have a bit of responsibility. But, I mean, that storm is going to potentially carry on for a long period of time. OK, so can I ask you actually a pointed question? Because, you know, it sort of bleeds into one of the other subjects, which is, is the problem, particularly with the latest Mandelson stuff, that there aren't enough senior women in the party? And actually, if you had more women at the top, fewer of these kinds of mistakes would be made. That would take a long... That could take potentially a long time to get women in and get... if we haven't heard of them politically before, I mean, back in the day, there was a couple of women whose names would spring to mind, but I don't think they're in the political spotlight at the moment. OK, we're almost out of time. I've got like 10 seconds to read you some other thoughts. Keir Starmer absolutely needs to stay, writes this correspondent. I think those in his party who are speaking out against him are undermining him. I don't agree with everything Labour does, but I believe Starmer's an honest leader who needs to stay. And another one here, purportedly from Bob Geldof, Starmer is decent, moral, and with integrity. I wonder if it really is. That's it from us. We'll be back same time next week. Moord, mysterie, and an accent where you're immediately in your service, mom. On BBCNL you find the best British misdaad series. From the sun-strands of paradise to the dark streets of Belfast. Put your helmet on, me. Good humor, serious misdating, very unfulfilled characters and exactly the same dose of sarcasm. Bingo. BBCNL, the place for the best British misdating series. Just on your NEDELANDSE TV.
