0:05

Hello and welcome to Navarro Live,

0:07

I'm Moira Laidan-McLean and tonight I'm

0:09

joined by Helena, aka No Justice

0:11

MTG on YouTube and Twitch. Helena.

0:15

Always good to see you, I love joining you on

0:17

the show Moira and I look forward to it today. Coming

0:20

up later tonight, a damning inquiry

0:23

into murderer Wayne Cousins has found

0:25

police forces missed multiple red flags

0:27

in hiring him and

0:29

we examine the Tory safe-seat candidate

0:31

who prosecuted a man over an

0:33

emoji. Let's go

0:36

to our first story. Israeli

0:38

tanks are reported to have opened

0:40

fire on hundreds of Palestinians waiting

0:43

for food aid in northern Gaza.

0:45

Al Jazeera Arabic reports that this was

0:47

the moment that the shooting began. The

1:04

assault took place west of Gaza

1:06

City. The Gaza Health Authority reports

1:08

that more than 100 Palestinians were

1:11

killed, calling it a quote, blood-stained

1:13

massacre. As no ambulances could

1:15

reach the area, bodies were loaded

1:17

onto trucks. A further 700 people have

1:20

been reported to be injured, with reports

1:22

that tanks ran over the injured and

1:24

the dead. However, Israel

1:26

is telling a different story. In

1:29

fact, it's telling three different stories.

1:32

The IDF released this footage showing large

1:34

crowds of Palestinians surrounding aid trucks,

1:36

which is no surprise. The Gazans

1:38

are starving to death, and with

1:40

Israel blocking aid into the enclave

1:42

and disabling its distribution systems, they

1:45

are obviously desperate. But Israel went

1:47

further, saying the video shows looting

1:49

with the result that dozens of

1:51

Gazans were injured as a result

1:53

of pushing and trampling. After

1:56

images of large numbers of dead appeared,

1:58

a Second story. it

2:00

emerged from the idea of can't

2:02

speak even saw sky. This was

2:05

Israeli government spokesperson Abby Hyman. My.

2:08

understanding. I'm.

2:10

Currently. Is. That some.

2:14

Lorries were coming in with a with

2:16

aid. From the

2:18

Rafah crossing which connects Egypt and

2:20

and the Gaza Strip. And

2:23

as those lorries of aid was com

2:25

were coming in, they were. Overpowered,

2:27

they were ram overwhelmed

2:29

by should say by

2:32

Garzon civilians trying so

2:34

violently loot. From. Our

2:36

for as a drugs. And

2:38

at some points. Or. The

2:40

driver. Who. Was himself a

2:42

goals and civilian. Ah, I'm.

2:45

Plowed into the crowd. And.

2:48

The my understanding is that is

2:50

tens of casualties. Again, it's

2:52

it's unfolding and I would encourage

2:54

you to be in close

2:56

touch with the Israel Defense Forces.

2:59

Who are investigating his see an

3:01

old looking into up what happened

3:03

there. At. The same time

3:06

as as security minister. it's map

3:08

and they're posted at different fashion

3:10

sense saying that this this is

3:12

the rough translation. Of. A

3:14

sweet. On X Social support must be

3:17

given time. Heroic Site is operating

3:19

in Gaza. He acted excellently against

3:21

a thousand mob that tried to

3:23

harm them. Today it was proven

3:25

that the Trans fat humanitarian aid

3:27

the cause of is not only

3:29

madness one are abductees a big

3:31

held in the strips under substandard

3:33

conditions but also endangers the Idea

3:35

soldiers. This is another clear reason

3:37

why we must stop transferring the

3:39

sites which is in fact a

3:41

to harm the Idea Soldiers and

3:43

the oxygen to amass. What

3:46

we're seeing here is the development

3:48

of a narrative from Israel at

3:51

the has just one aim at

3:53

once. You sure that no matter

3:55

what information emerges. Somehow.

3:58

The Palestinians who. Killed will be

4:01

responsible for their own death. Phan they

4:03

were mob. He killed each other. Than.

4:05

They were mope killed by palestinian lorry

4:07

driver. Then they were mob that the

4:10

idea for forced seven run over with

4:12

tanks in order to protect themselves. And

4:15

even if any of that matches the tree which. Found.

4:18

Responsibility for the conditions that

4:20

have led to such large

4:22

crowds desperate for siege. Long

4:24

since highly to Israel. Food. And

4:27

Strip is now so scarce that

4:29

six children have died of malnutrition

4:31

and costs hospitals according to the

4:33

health ministry. But it's not just

4:35

Aljazeera reporting on the starvation in

4:37

the Enclave. this is an opinion

4:39

piece New York Times Not exactly

4:41

a Palestinian from the newspaper. Starvation

4:44

is stalking causes children leads

4:47

the headline. The article says

4:49

this: Relief. Organizations in

4:51

Gaza struggle to figure out whether

4:54

the crisis has crossed formerly into

4:56

salmon. Statistically, the clearest indication is

4:58

that at least two people of

5:00

every ten thousand and die every

5:02

day from starvation. They measure the

5:04

circumference of children's upper arms to

5:06

document the perils of their weight

5:08

loss. Be. Children and not

5:10

suffering from drought to crop failure

5:13

or some other natural disaster, that

5:15

hunger is a man made catastrophe.

5:17

The Israeli government has slowed and

5:19

even prevented food aid from entering

5:22

the besieged Gaza Strip. Even

5:24

when trucks do that through Israeli

5:26

bombardment. More recently, the growing desperation

5:28

of hungry mobs have turned food

5:31

distribution into an arduous and sometimes

5:33

deadly and death. Somehow.

5:35

Is as managed to try make

5:38

this all the fault of Palestinians

5:40

to this is Government spokesperson Abby

5:42

Hyman again. The. Problem

5:44

with facing. His words. We

5:47

are doing our utmost is

5:49

Israel and together with international

5:51

community to get in as

5:54

much humanitarian aid as possible.

5:56

To. go and we're trying to make sure that gets

5:58

the people that need it most Now, what

6:00

Hamas is trying to do constantly is to

6:03

steal that aid. So

6:05

you have a situation like what we

6:07

saw today where people are desperate to

6:09

get aid because Hamas is not allowing

6:11

them to get the aid that we

6:13

are pushing through. Now, there are no limit...

6:16

People who live in the Gaza Strip will

6:19

say, you know, I'm not at all denying

6:21

what you're saying about Hamas and what they

6:23

are doing inside Gaza. But also there is

6:25

a clear issue getting aid into Gaza. And

6:27

that is controlled by Israel, the amount of

6:30

aid that gets in. And if you look

6:32

at what happened today, perhaps does that tell

6:34

us anything about the desperation of some people

6:36

for the meager amounts of aid that do

6:38

get in? There are no

6:41

limits on the amount of aid that can

6:43

go into Gaza. Let me say that again.

6:45

There are no limits from the Israeli side.

6:49

Oh, really? This is the

6:51

Karim Shalom crossing on the border shared

6:53

by Gaza, Egypt and Israel, where Israeli

6:56

protesters have gathered to stop aid trucks

6:58

from entering the territory, among them are

7:00

relatives of the hostages still held in

7:03

the Strip. And this is

7:05

the era's crossing on the Israeli-Gaza border. Right-wing

7:07

Israeli settlers have been trying to build

7:10

a structure near the border wall with

7:12

the Palestinian territory, which is exceedingly illegal.

7:14

Now, settlers were herded back into Israel

7:17

by the idea, but no arrests were

7:19

made. And they're calling

7:21

on the government to allow them to settle in

7:23

Gaza. Bombs shooting

7:25

starvation and disease have now resulted in the killing

7:27

of more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza. It's

7:31

incredibly bleak figure and is thought to

7:33

be a conservative estimate by many analysts.

7:36

Why? Because as we've covered, it's not yet

7:38

known how many thousands or even tens of

7:41

thousands of bodies lie under the ruins of

7:43

buildings shelled across the territory. Children

7:46

and women have been disproportionately affected by

7:48

the slaughter. Today, US Defense

7:50

Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that 25,000 of

7:53

those killed have been women and children.

7:57

And Joe Biden suggested that

7:59

figure could be killed. could now interfere with the

8:01

prospects of a peace deal. It's

8:03

remarkable to think that just a few weeks ago,

8:05

Biden was warned that the figures from the Guards

8:07

and Health Authority shouldn't be trusted. But then

8:10

just a few weeks ago, less people

8:12

have died. So how much did the life of

8:14

a Palestinian cost to the US president? Now

8:16

the killing of 30,000 Palestinians represents

8:18

the passing of a horrific point in

8:20

this war, one that we all hoped would never

8:23

be reached. Marking it, UN rights chief

8:25

for Qatar said this. There

8:28

appear to be no bounds to,

8:31

no words to capture the horrors that

8:34

are unfolding before our eyes in

8:36

Gaza. Since early

8:38

October, over 100,000 people have

8:42

been killed or wounded. Let

8:44

me repeat that. About one

8:46

in every 20 children, women and

8:48

men, are now dead or

8:50

wounded. At least

8:53

17,000 children are orphaned or separated

8:55

from their families, while many

8:57

more will carry the scars of physical and

9:00

emotional trauma lifelong. Today,

9:03

the total number of people killed has

9:05

exceeded 30,000. And

9:08

tens of thousands of people are missing. Many

9:11

presumed buried under

9:13

the rubble of their homes. This

9:16

is carnage. It

9:18

is carnage. But in the UK,

9:20

the response of our political parties,

9:22

the unfolding catastrophe, has been far

9:24

from adequate. Only the S&P

9:26

have been serious about applying pressure

9:28

to Israel. The Tories have never

9:31

managed to call for anything more

9:33

than a humanitarian pause. And Labour

9:35

has pulled every possible punch when

9:37

it comes to a tougher approach

9:39

to Israel. So who's opposing?

9:41

Well, now the Lib Dems, surprisingly,

9:44

have made their own suggestion for how

9:46

to intervene in the crisis. The

9:48

UK already sanctions a small number of

9:51

extremist settlers in the West Bank. But

9:53

Lib Dems leader, Adevi, has suggested sanctions

9:55

be extended to include members of the

9:58

Israeli government, like national security men. Minister

10:00

Ismaa Ben Gewir and Finance

10:02

Minister Vizar Smoltrich. Speaking

10:05

to the Guardian, David said this. The

10:07

settlements are a massive barrier to peace and to

10:09

a two-state solution. I think we've got to take

10:12

some strong action now. I think we've got to

10:14

send the strongest possible signal. Because

10:16

of the trauma, there's a sense the prospects of

10:18

peace around a two-state solution have been reduced. Helena,

10:22

we've had the S&P pushing Guards of these

10:24

five votes on their rare opposition days in

10:26

Parliament. Now the Lib Dem

10:28

leader has said this. This

10:31

is much stronger than two main parties in Westminster,

10:33

isn't it? And why is that?

10:37

I think the first reason why they have the

10:39

room to expand their position

10:41

further than what you see

10:43

from Labour and Conservatives is

10:45

their proximity to power within

10:47

Westminster. Because of course, as

10:49

we've seen many times throughout this conflict, when

10:51

you're in the position of

10:53

being close to power in Westminster,

10:55

you're usually expected under the assumed

10:57

positions that they take to be

10:59

in some way beholden to the

11:02

US State Department line or a

11:04

lot of these things. We've seen

11:06

zero deviation in earnest from

11:08

neither David Lamy, David Cameron, Rishisunak Kiersstammer,

11:10

from what the US State Department say

11:13

on any of these issues. Because of

11:15

course, the punishment of certain extremist settlers

11:17

has been a blinkin' position, which was

11:19

adopted by our own government and our

11:21

own opposition, but has been expanded on

11:24

here by Adavi. I mean, the Greens,

11:26

for a very, very long time, have

11:28

held a position of sanctioning high-level members

11:30

of government within Israel. And

11:32

now the Lib Dems are catching up on that

11:34

one there too. And really and truly, when it

11:36

comes to people like Ben Gevir and Smartridge, this

11:39

should be like the level zero position. Because when

11:41

we look at the context of why Adavi proposes

11:44

these sanctions, it's

11:46

actually not even around specifically this conflict,

11:48

it's about the broader movement to peace,

11:50

the broader violations of international law, and

11:53

those barriers towards a two-state solution that

11:55

is kind of the de facto liberal

11:57

position on the peace agreement. process,

12:00

sorry, at this point. Because of

12:02

course the first barrier is

12:04

the incursions by the settlers and the

12:06

outposts into the West Bank. Once you've

12:08

gone past the green line and you're

12:10

violating international law, which again, this is

12:12

the liberal international rules based order that

12:14

we get told all the time, that

12:17

we are the upstanding moral arbiters

12:19

of when we violate it constantly. And

12:21

so indeed to do our allies

12:23

and whilst we may have words of

12:25

condemnation for it, as Michael has

12:27

played said many times on this channel,

12:30

words mean nothing without actual pressure,

12:32

actual material action to force Israel's

12:34

hands on this through policy. Now, sanctions

12:36

on people like Ben Givir, who let's

12:39

be real, is a convicted terrorist in

12:41

Israel under Israel's own law, who is

12:43

now in government. For

12:45

him to be in a position where he's

12:48

not having sanctions, despite the fact that all

12:50

of the things that have been going on,

12:52

not just throughout this conflict, but all of

12:54

the decades leading up to this have been

12:57

violations of international law. The fact that it's

12:59

now not a united position on this front

13:01

in terms of the international rules based order,

13:03

so and so, is it's honestly nonsensical to

13:05

me, I would be going further at this

13:08

point, we have so many statements of genocidal

13:10

intent coming from plenty of ministers who have

13:12

also been the ones who have been engaging

13:14

in direct involvement

13:17

with the genocidal actions, people like Yov

13:19

Evgenyev, for example, we've got people like

13:22

Daniel Hagari, the things that they have

13:24

done, in threat actual conflict, which

13:26

hasn't been touched on so far, Edevi only

13:28

mentioned, well, this is a barrier because of

13:30

the West Bank and the two state solution.

13:33

When we what we really and truly need

13:36

is enough pressure to stop the war and

13:38

have an immediate ceasefire. And

13:40

that involves also punishing people who are

13:42

engaging in crimes of genocide while

13:44

that case is ongoing at the ICJ, and

13:47

trying to put so much pressure on for a

13:49

long term peace deal, at least in terms of

13:51

a two state solution to make sure Israel withdraws

13:53

past the green line. Because if they don't withdraw

13:55

past the green line, then I don't think there's

13:57

really any hope for peace. We

14:00

know the government can act because you

14:02

know just last week to mark

14:04

the two-year anniversary of Russia's invasion

14:07

of Ukraine, the UK and the US,

14:09

and out the bunch load

14:12

a bunch more of sanctions against

14:15

businesses and individuals including

14:18

weapons exporters. But when it comes to Israel,

14:22

we are the ones exporting weapons to them, which

14:25

the government is trying to cover up

14:27

still. They claim there's been no weapons

14:29

exported since 7 October yet there's 28

14:31

current licenses for exporting you know parts

14:33

of aircrafts, munitions to Israel.

14:37

You can draw your own conclusions. Let's

14:39

go on to our next story and a quick

14:41

warning because this report does contain details

14:44

of assault that some may

14:46

find particularly distressing. An

14:49

inquiry found that serving Metropolitan Police

14:51

Officer who kidnapped, raped and murdered

14:54

Sarah Everard had been previously reported

14:56

to police for indecent exposure eight

14:58

times before he killed her. Wayne

15:01

Cousins is a legative also committed

15:03

to other sexual offences over many

15:05

years including a serious assault against

15:08

a child. It has

15:10

led the inquiry to conclude that he should

15:12

have never been given a job in law

15:14

enforcement and to warn police leaders to ensure

15:16

another Wayne Cousins isn't operating in plain sight.

15:19

Here is inquiry chair Eilish

15:21

Angioloni. Sarah's

15:24

murder by an off-duty police officer shocked

15:26

the nation. It triggered a

15:28

assertive discourse about women's safety in

15:30

public spaces and started

15:32

a tidal wave of reporting on peaceful

15:34

conduct, particularly where

15:36

officers misused their powers to commit

15:38

sexual offences. What

15:41

is already clear is how much damage Cousins

15:43

has done to the social contract on

15:45

which policing is based and

15:48

how significant improvements are required. The

15:52

evidence seen by an inquiry has shown that failures

15:54

in recruitment and vetting meant Cousins was able

15:56

to continue a policing career which should

15:59

have been denied. to him. Failures

16:02

and investigations into allegations of

16:04

indecent exposure meant opportunities

16:07

to disrupt President's offending and

16:09

bring his policing career to a halt where

16:11

missed. It

16:14

is clear that Cousins carefully managed the impression

16:16

he gave people of himself. This

16:19

included the way he manipulated information

16:21

on application forms and

16:24

his troubled finances. It

16:26

also included the way he shared his callous

16:28

views towards women, though in a very

16:30

small group of like-minded people, or

16:32

a social media group. This

16:36

all enabled him to target vulnerable women

16:38

while operating in plain sight as

16:41

an apparently unremarkable officer.

16:44

However, the fact remains that three separate

16:46

police forces allowed him the privilege

16:49

of being a police officer when they

16:51

could and should have stopped him. The

16:53

inquiry report details Cousins' 25-year

16:56

history of sexual offences. Those

16:59

were factors that should have been

17:01

flagged in multiple vetting procedures across

17:03

three police forces. Cousins actually failed

17:05

vetting by Kent Police but was

17:07

later allowed to become a special

17:09

constable anyway. This is

17:12

Angie Olini again. The inquiry

17:14

has seen evidence that Cousins allegedly

17:16

committed a very serious sexual assault

17:18

against a child, barely in

17:20

her teens, before his policing

17:22

career even started. Problems

17:25

of money also predated his career with

17:27

the police. Cousins

17:29

had substantial unsecured debt by the time

17:31

he was arrested for Sarah's murder. At

17:35

the same time, the Metropolitan Police

17:37

Service were taking action to recover up to 15,000

17:39

pounds that had

17:41

been paid to him in error, and

17:44

a year-long mortgage holdie was about to

17:46

expire that month. These

17:49

pressures undoubtedly affected his ability

17:51

to serve as an authorised firearms officer

17:53

at that time. I've

17:57

seen evidence of Cousins' diverse and deviant

17:59

sexual interests and understand

18:01

these to be potential drivers for

18:03

his offending. It is alleged that on

18:06

a number of occasions cousins tried to show

18:08

friends and colleagues pornography, including

18:10

some of a violent and extreme nature.

18:14

It is further alleged that on at least

18:16

two occasions he shared unsolicited

18:18

photographs of his penis with a young

18:20

woman and that he paid

18:22

female online retailers to masturbate into

18:24

clothes and send them to him. Other

18:28

alleged offences committed by cousins

18:30

include possessing indecent images of

18:32

children and attempted

18:34

kidnapping at knife point, the rape of a

18:36

woman under a bridge in 2019 and sexually

18:40

assaulting a person in drag. The

18:42

three police forces that cousins worked for

18:44

didn't just fail in their vetting though,

18:47

they also failed to take seriously multiple

18:49

reports by the women he abused. This

18:52

was another example Eilish Angiolini

18:54

gave. In

18:56

2015 a member of the

18:58

public telephoned Kent police having

19:00

just seen a man driving a car

19:02

while indecently exposing himself. This

19:06

same witness gave the police the make, model,

19:09

colour and registration number of the car,

19:12

information that was confirmed by automatic

19:15

number plate recognition cameras operating in

19:17

the area. In

19:20

almost no time checks by the

19:22

police identified cousins as the registered keeper

19:24

of the car. However,

19:27

despite having his home addressed and knowing that he

19:29

was the only male insured to drive the

19:31

car, Kent please close the

19:33

case and take no further

19:36

action. They

19:38

did so without making any attempt to speak

19:40

to a further witness or to cousins himself.

19:44

This was a grave error and a

19:46

very obvious red flag. By

19:49

failing to properly investigate the allegation,

19:52

Kent police missed a valuable opportunity

19:54

to disrupt or even prevent cousins

19:56

future offending and to bring

19:59

into question his decision. as an authorised

20:01

firearms officer with the CNC.

20:04

One case like that is a clear

20:07

indictment of police procedures and is also

20:09

emblematic of the ways in which members

20:12

of these institutions go out of their way

20:14

to protect one another. That

20:16

example alone should be enough to shake

20:18

anyone's face in the police, assuming

20:21

you had me. But tellingly, the

20:23

list of police failures went on.

20:27

CNCs reported allegations of indecent exposure

20:29

to the police on four occasions before CNCs

20:33

arrest. The two allegations reported to

20:35

Kent were inadequately investigated. In addition

20:38

to the 2015 allegation, Kent

20:41

police also responded to an

20:44

allegation of masturbatory indecent exposure

20:46

directed to lone cyclists in a

20:48

narrow country lane in 2020. With

20:53

limited investigation, the

20:56

case was closed. Had

20:58

the investigation been more thorough, it

21:00

is possible that cousins might have been

21:02

identified as an alleged sex offender and

21:05

is offending and policing career-disrupted.

21:10

Just days before he abducted Sarah Everard,

21:13

cousins were reported for exposing himself at

21:15

a drive-through. The

21:17

investigation into these allegations by the

21:20

Metropolitan Police Service also fell

21:22

below the standards any victim of crime

21:24

should expect. For

21:26

example, available evidence such

21:29

as CCTV was not

21:31

collected or considered. He

21:35

was only interviewed and charged for those

21:37

further offences of indecent exposure after his

21:39

conviction for Sarah's murder. He

21:41

was convicted for two of the reported times at

21:43

the drive-through and the crime where

21:46

he was reported for masturbating towards a lone

21:48

cyclist on a narrow country lane. The

21:52

inquiry is aware of five other alleged

21:54

incidents of sexual offending involving cousins,

21:57

which for many understandable reasons were

22:00

never reported to the police. Given

22:03

the known underreporting of sexual offences,

22:06

I believe there may be even more victims of

22:08

cousins offending. Andy

22:11

Olini's report makes 16

22:13

recommendations for reforms to police setting

22:16

and investigation procedures, but

22:18

it's difficult to be told that many

22:20

of them aren't already a part of

22:22

these procedures, including these. Any

22:24

individual identified as having a conviction or

22:27

caution for sexual offence should be rejected

22:29

during police vetting. Conduct a

22:31

review of the circumstances of all

22:33

allegations of indecent exposure and other

22:35

sexual offences recorded on the

22:38

police national database and the

22:40

police national computer against serving

22:42

officers. Previous failures to

22:44

achieve vetting should be recorded by all

22:47

forces and flagged to recruiting forces. This

22:49

should also trigger a revet with the

22:51

current or recruiting force. Every

22:53

police force should commit publicly

22:56

to being an anti-sexist, anti-misogynistic

22:58

and anti-racist organisation in order

23:00

to address, understand, eradicate sexism,

23:02

racism and misogyny. Well

23:05

talk tends to be cheap is all I'll say. The

23:08

report shows that time and time again

23:10

multiple police forces failed to respond to

23:13

the allegations made largely by women about

23:16

Wayne Cousins' misogynistic and

23:18

violent behaviour, allowing him

23:20

to continue to wield the power

23:23

of a police officer and an armed one at that.

23:25

In response to the report Sarah Everard's family

23:28

released this statement. It

23:30

is obvious that Wayne Cousins should never have

23:32

been a police officer while holding

23:34

a position of trust in reality he was

23:36

a serial sex offender. Warning signs

23:38

were overlooked throughout his career and opportunity

23:40

to confront him were missed. We

23:43

believe that Sarah died because he was a

23:45

police officer. She never would have got into

23:47

a stranger's car. Angelina's

23:49

report was laid before parliament this

23:51

morning so the government hasn't considered

23:53

it in full yet but this

23:55

was Home Secretary James Cleverley's initial

23:57

response to its findings. We

24:00

are taking action to address public

24:02

confidence in the police. There has

24:04

already been progress in a

24:06

number of areas that have been

24:08

highlighted by the inquiry. Anyone

24:11

who is not fit to wear

24:13

the uniform for whatever reason must

24:15

be removed from policing. And every

24:18

effort must be made to

24:20

ensure that similar people never join. That

24:24

is why we're providing funding to

24:26

the National Police Chiefs Council to

24:28

develop an automated system for flagging

24:30

intelligence about officers in a

24:32

much quicker time than is currently the case. We're

24:35

changing the rules to make it

24:37

easier for forces to remove those who

24:40

cannot hold the minimum level of

24:42

clearance. And police chiefs

24:44

are getting back the responsibility for

24:46

chairing misconduct hearings so that they

24:48

can better uphold the standards in

24:50

the forces that they lead. And

24:53

there will be a presumption for dismissal

24:56

for any officer found to have

24:58

committed gross misconduct. And I

25:01

can announce today that there will also

25:03

be an automatic suspension of

25:05

police officers charged with

25:07

certain criminal offences. That's

25:10

James Cleverley, the man who made a

25:12

date rape drug joke about his own

25:14

wife. If you think

25:17

that what Cleverley is saying doesn't

25:19

seem like much, you would be right.

25:21

The Angelini report is just the latest

25:24

in a series of scathing reports into

25:26

policing in the UK. These

25:28

include last year's case review, which found

25:31

the Met Police to be institutionally racist,

25:33

sexist and homophobic. And yet little appears

25:35

to have actually changed, a

25:37

point that Shadow Home Secretary Ivette Cooper

25:39

made. When Cousins should

25:42

never have been a police officer,

25:44

he should have been stopped and

25:46

he could have been stopped from

25:48

being a police officer. It is

25:50

truly appalling his history of alleged

25:52

sexual offending stretches back so many

25:54

years and yet opportunities to investigate

25:57

were repeatedly missed and most disturbing

25:59

of all. Lady Angelini

26:01

says there is nothing

26:04

to stop another Wayne cousin's

26:06

operating in plain sight. So

26:09

although I agree with most of what

26:11

the Home Secretary has said, I have

26:13

to be really blunt about this. His response

26:16

is too weak, it is too

26:18

little and it is too late. And

26:21

the lack of urgency is unfathomable

26:23

to me. The government has

26:26

been repeatedly warned about failures around

26:28

vetting and misconduct, independent and inspector

26:30

reports in 2012, in 2019, in

26:32

2022, in 2023, all

26:36

highlighting serious failures in

26:39

vetting procedures. That's

26:41

why Labour called two years ago, I called

26:43

two years ago, for mandatory national

26:45

vetting standards. Individuals

26:48

are working, forces are working

26:50

hard, but there isn't

26:52

mandatory standards for all forces. All

26:54

the government has done is brought in a

26:56

code of practice two and a

26:58

half years after Sarah Everard's murder,

27:01

which isn't strong enough. Frankly, it isn't

27:03

even clear that Wayne cousins or

27:05

officers like David Carrick or Cliff Mitchell, both

27:09

now convicted, would definitely have failed

27:11

for vetting standards and the code

27:13

of practice, even if it had

27:15

been in at the time. He has to

27:17

go further and it has to be driven

27:19

by the Home Office. On the misconduct

27:21

changes that he's referred to, most of

27:24

them aren't even in place yet, again,

27:26

three years after Sarah Everard was

27:28

murdered. And I don't

27:30

know what to say, because I feel like

27:32

we're asking questions over and over again about

27:35

policing in the UK. Is

27:37

there any expectation of institutional

27:39

change? What really should we be

27:41

pushing for here? When

27:44

it comes to institutional change, can we expect

27:46

it? I think the answer to that is no. I

27:49

think there's two main reasons as to why,

27:51

and there's a cultural reason and there's a

27:53

political reason to why. There's so many barriers

27:55

to institutional change. The first, when you look

27:57

at the kind of a code of practice,

28:00

cultural issues that we have. But when you

28:02

look at when we've seen the history

28:04

of policing in this country never ever get

28:06

better from the Stephen Morris movement, it's where

28:08

we are now. Is

28:11

that because no one

28:13

ever cried foul throughout all

28:15

of this, continual slipping

28:17

through the cracks because there is no

28:19

material interest in calling out your peers

28:22

within the police force. There is no

28:24

reason to be a whistleblower when you

28:26

know that all you're going to be

28:28

able to gain from that is further

28:31

distrust of the role that you hold,

28:33

regardless of how noble your own

28:35

personal goals or beliefs are in

28:37

a way to approach that. Of

28:39

course, from a leftist perspective, we

28:41

all have a broader structural critique

28:43

of why we don't think that

28:45

policing can be reformed based upon

28:47

the material interests that the police

28:49

are there systemically to protect. But

28:51

even outside of that, I don't

28:54

subscribe to the idea that every

28:56

single personal police person who is within

28:58

the force is somehow tainted by their

29:00

engagement. It's engaging in the role that

29:02

I think that is the problem when

29:04

you think about ACAB, for example. But

29:07

given that this culture

29:09

has allowed to continue, impede it

29:11

as to now, the idea that

29:13

without huge top to bottom reform, that

29:16

we don't have the resources or the

29:18

funding, nor the actual

29:20

amount of boots on the ground to actually

29:22

maintain, I think that's a real pipe dream

29:25

at this point. The second political impediment that

29:27

we have to any kind of reform on

29:29

this is that one thing that's broadly a

29:31

British value on this is that

29:33

we have a belief in institutionalism in

29:36

this country. It's one of the reasons why the

29:38

Conservative Party have such a loyal voter base, both

29:40

within the party and without

29:42

the party, is the belief in

29:44

our institutions because we're an old

29:46

country. We're a country with strong

29:49

ties to its own past. That

29:51

is really difficult to be able to move

29:54

when you have the Conservatives in power, the

29:56

vast majority of the time. They have this

29:58

reverence towards the people. the appeal of

30:00

reforms, which is the basis of the founding

30:02

of the Metropolitan Police, which their party was

30:04

literally responsible for. So if you have to

30:07

try and get them to see there's not

30:09

a problem with individuals or a problem with

30:11

certain bad eggs that you can then change

30:13

the personnel for, rather than a systemic problem

30:15

that needs reforming from the top down, you're

30:17

personally impugning their own sense of moral values.

30:19

But I think that a lot of people in

30:21

this country share, even people on the broader

30:24

liberal left, when you talk to them about

30:26

House of Lords reform, they say, well, actually,

30:28

that's an institution that we've had for a

30:30

long time, the problems really the kind of

30:32

people that you appoint. I'm like, well, no,

30:34

because that's always going to be a problem

30:36

based on the system that you have. So

30:38

having trying to engender a political change towards

30:41

a century he's old

30:43

institution, I think is a

30:45

really, really difficult, that's

30:48

really kind of difficult thing to cement into

30:50

not just the political consciousness, but the public

30:52

consciousness as well. I think it

30:55

is really interesting to have watched

30:58

the public confidence drop

31:01

in the police. And I'd take my own mother

31:03

as an actual example of this, who is 70

31:05

years old, she once made me

31:08

correct the article that actually had her

31:10

age lower than it was, who

31:13

was 70 years old. And as

31:15

a result, I would say of the

31:17

death of Sarah Everard, her

31:20

trust in policing has dropped so much that I

31:22

have watched her actually yell at

31:25

police officers in the street that they're wasting

31:27

taxpayer money by apprehending, you

31:29

know, shoplifters instead of focusing on solving real crimes.

31:32

And she's also got very involved

31:35

in local initiatives around

31:37

trying to tackle violence against women where

31:40

she lives. So

31:42

I guess I'm trying to say that and

31:45

there might be some hope in that people

31:47

who previously would have taken as

31:49

a given that the

31:51

police engender safety upon us are

31:53

now questioning that and trying to take

31:56

action to change that.

31:58

So the loss of public... confidence

32:00

can obviously be a pessimistic

32:02

thing but it can also be somewhere where

32:04

you see people starting to take action in

32:07

demographics where they may not

32:09

previously have done it. Let's

32:13

go on to our next story. Before

32:15

we do, please note this story does

32:17

contain language some may

32:19

find distasteful because we're

32:21

going to cover an unusual and

32:23

tricky story now. One that

32:26

will likely become more frequent which is trial

32:29

by emoji. A

32:31

26-year-old black man has just been

32:34

acquitted of malicious communications after a

32:36

three-day trial by Jory. Now

32:39

we're keeping this man's identity anonymous to further

32:41

protect him and this man

32:43

was first attained in January 2023.

32:45

In the early hours of the morning

32:48

his house was raided by police, he

32:50

was searched, taken to a police station

32:52

and held in a cell for

32:55

10 hours. He was then searched

32:57

again, headed electronic devices seized and

32:59

he was eventually arrested and charged

33:01

under the Malicious Communications Act 1998.

33:06

What was his crime? Well the

33:08

young black man had sent

33:10

a raccoon emoji to this person,

33:13

Ben Obsegekty. Now

33:15

who is Obsegekty? Well he's

33:17

a hard right conservative

33:19

who is currently the Tory

33:21

candidate for John Major's former

33:23

seat in Huntington, Cambridge, one

33:26

of the safest safest in

33:28

the country. A little taste

33:30

of his opinions. Obsegekty

33:32

is firmly embroiled in

33:35

anti-woke, anti-identity discourse.

33:38

He's also falsely boosted acclaim that

33:40

a visibly Muslim contestant on University

33:42

Challenge had brought along a stuffed

33:45

octopus toy in a supposed anti-Semitic

33:47

gesture after October 7th. The University

33:49

Challenge episode turned out was recorded

33:52

in March. Just to give

33:54

you an idea of where this man sits.

33:56

Now the young black man he found himself on trial had

33:58

been responding to a tweet that Obsy Jekty

34:00

wrote in September 2022. Earlier

34:04

that month, of course, 24-year-old Chris Kaba

34:06

had been killed in London by a

34:08

single shot to the head by a

34:10

Met police officer after he was followed

34:13

by an unmarked police car. After

34:15

his death, Chris Kaba was found to be

34:17

unarmed. Obsy Jekty shared a

34:19

news story about Chris Kaba's family

34:22

deciding to step back from campaigning

34:24

for justice after viewing body cam

34:26

footage of the shooting. This

34:28

is what Obsy Jekty wrote. Interesting

34:31

that seeing the police body cam

34:33

footage of Chris Kaba shooting has

34:36

rapidly de-escalated the story, MPs and

34:38

commentators who reacted so hysterically now

34:41

conspicuously absent. When he's

34:43

talking about reacting hysterically there, he's talking

34:45

about the people saying, you know, this

34:47

was a crime. And he's saying,

34:49

no, they now see the body cam footage

34:51

there stepping back. Obviously, we now

34:53

know that the Met police officer has been

34:55

indicted under a charge of murder. That was

34:57

a year later. But at the time, in

35:00

a now deleted tweet responding to Obsy Jekty's

35:02

message, this 26-year-old black man who

35:04

wound up in court had quoted

35:06

it and preferred the provided context for

35:08

Kaba's killing and he used this word,

35:11

Coons. He also replied

35:13

directly to Obsy Jekty's tweet with a

35:16

raccoon emoji. And it was the use

35:18

of that term, Coon, that

35:20

Obsy Jekty reported to police

35:22

as malicious communications. Now

35:24

Coon was popularized as a racial slur

35:27

initially in the 1800s. And

35:29

it was used predominantly against people

35:32

of African heritage in America and

35:34

of indigenous heritage in

35:36

Australia by white people.

35:40

But in the 20th century, it took

35:42

on an additional function, one that I

35:44

recognise. The words began to be used

35:46

internally by members of those communities to

35:48

describe someone of the same ethnic background

35:50

who was seen to be acting

35:52

against racial solidarity. Or to put

35:55

it bluntly, siding with,

35:58

as we would say, the white oppressor. And

36:00

it's under that meaning that a black

36:03

man was prosecuted for malicious communications. Now

36:06

this case and the word is controversial

36:08

and it's also important on several

36:10

levels. And to find out

36:12

more, earlier today I spoke to a

36:14

writer and broadcaster who attended the trial

36:16

Nels Abbey and I started by asking

36:18

Nels if the word coon was racist

36:20

when used in this context. The

36:22

word coon or so when it's uttered from a white

36:24

person to a black person, at the end word is

36:26

almost blankly racist. When it's

36:29

uttered within the community, it

36:31

requires a lot more context than that

36:33

because often it's often used to describe

36:36

a particular type of politics that is

36:38

pandering to racism. Ben

36:40

Oversea-Jekty, who is the politician in question,

36:43

has argued that the word coon

36:45

is still a racial slur even

36:48

if repurposed by other black people

36:50

because in his words it's

36:52

quote, silencing dissent. Where

36:55

do you stand on that interpretation? Ben

36:58

Oncents, it's not an oncents. Actually

37:01

beyond just what I stand on, where I stand

37:03

on it also too, I wrote

37:05

an organisation called Apity which is an intellectual playground

37:08

which means that we have intellectual debates and

37:10

many other different things. You've got

37:12

to come along to it one of these days, Moira, we should get you

37:15

up there. You'll see what exactly I mean in a bit more detail. We

37:18

have a debate on these terms,

37:20

coconut, coon, Uncle Tom, apple

37:23

as the native Americans actually say,

37:26

meaning red on the outside, white on

37:28

the inside or so, meaning you're behaving like

37:30

a coloniser or so. You're behaving like a

37:32

coloniser, it's historically done. Chinese

37:34

or Japanese people use the term banana. These

37:37

colonised people developed short hands

37:39

and codes to describe the politics of the

37:41

actual coloniser and the behaviour that's actually done.

37:46

The idea that this is racist language

37:48

is an absolute, particularly the idea that

37:50

it's racist language or the word coon

37:52

is racist when uttered within the black

37:55

community is a complete and utter nonsense.

37:57

It demonstrates the fact that you either

37:59

A, don't really know much

38:01

about the black community whatsoever, or

38:03

B, are maliciously interpreting it, or

38:05

C, it could just be, in

38:07

my view or so, and I don't know whether

38:10

it's A, B, or C, or if there's a

38:12

D or E or so, it could just be

38:14

that this is somebody who is being willfully ignorant

38:16

in order to actually put in order to develop

38:18

a platform and to curry favor with a particular

38:21

party that he's trying, that he knows that saying

38:23

certain things will actually make himself, it will endear

38:25

himself to them, and it might give them a

38:27

powerful position or so. And it

38:29

would appear that that looks like what may or may

38:31

not have happened. But the

38:33

key thing here, as far as the

38:36

actual language, the actual language is no,

38:38

it is not racist language

38:40

when uttered in the black community.

38:42

In fact, it is often 99%

38:45

of the time anti-racist language.

38:50

What do you mean by that when you say it's anti-racist

38:52

language? Could you elaborate a bit further? So

38:55

it is describing, so the norm is

38:57

the term that people, when people use

38:59

the term kunrokton, it

39:02

is a critique of a particular

39:04

type of politics, a politics that

39:06

is pandering to racism. And

39:09

you and I, everybody watching this probably knows that.

39:11

Look, the idea that British, some

39:14

British have been minority politicians, not

39:16

just on the conservative side too, pander

39:19

to racism is a known

39:21

thing. I don't think it's controversial to say that

39:23

we've had a home secretary who was effectively a

39:25

brown white supremacist, at least one of them is

39:28

well-evident, maybe more than one of them or so

39:30

too. So when

39:32

people come and describe this type of,

39:34

describe them in these type of terms

39:36

or so, they're doing it to

39:38

describe, to pretty much to

39:40

give a shorthand that this person is

39:42

behaving, not as like a generic white

39:45

person, let's say, but behaving

39:47

in a racist manner that could

39:49

potentially be harmful to us. Moya,

39:52

systemic racism is real and

39:54

systems don't create themselves and they

39:56

don't maintain or sustain themselves. They

39:59

are created. and maintain the sustain

40:01

by people and behaviors and things that people

40:03

are willing to turn a blind eye to.

40:05

And what we are seeing, particularly

40:07

the post Windrush scandal, in which

40:10

we've had nothing but ethnic minority

40:13

home secretaries, it pretty much became clear that

40:16

landmark moment or so, as far as the

40:18

Windrush scandal was concerned, there was a sea

40:20

change that the state racism, which is often

40:22

curtailed principally to the home office, could

40:25

no longer be waged as effectively as it

40:27

could be with a white face. So they

40:29

found brown faces to actually do the exact

40:31

same thing. And so

40:33

the idea, the liberal

40:35

expectation, is that black and brown

40:37

people are just going to have

40:40

to either eat it or just pretend as if this black and

40:42

brown person who's pretty much being

40:44

the face of state racism or so, is

40:47

a normal politician. In reality is that we

40:49

do that, but sometimes too we also use

40:51

language to describe it. Is language that is

40:54

rooted in our history as colonized

40:57

people, as

40:59

historically oppressed people, but it's also

41:01

rooted in today, in reality

41:03

of the fact that, look, this is somebody's

41:05

pandering to racism. This is the language we

41:07

use to describe it. It is anti-racist language.

41:09

We recently saw the Met Police interview a

41:12

woman of South Asian heritage under

41:16

caution after she was

41:18

suspected of committing a racially aggravated offense, I

41:20

think under the Public Order Act. And that

41:22

offense was holding up a sign showing

41:26

Rishi Zunak and Sowela Braverman to

41:29

picture as coconuts, the term that we've outlined what it means here. What

41:32

do these cases tell us about

41:35

policing of offense?

41:37

Who gets to be offended?

41:40

I am not aware of anybody

41:42

being prosecuted for being racist towards,

41:45

say, Diane Abbott, or

41:47

any other, or Dawn Butler, or

41:51

any other number of black MPs or black public figures

41:53

or so. Maybe that might be as a result of

41:55

the fact that they don't, every time

41:57

they receive a piece of racist abuse, they

41:59

don't walk. the rest of the room to the police

42:01

station and go and report it. And therefore, Clark got the time

42:03

with the court, so there was three girls. Excuse

42:06

me. That

42:10

might be as a result of that. But

42:13

what we're seeing here is, yes, that

42:16

the hate crime laws that

42:19

were meant to be used effectively

42:21

to protect in the principle ethnic

42:23

minorities, gender orientation minorities,

42:25

sexual orientation minorities, you name it

42:28

also, has been effectively

42:31

weaponized against us, essentially.

42:34

So it is

42:36

nothing short of the trial,

42:38

the emoji trial that I

42:40

sat through was nothing short

42:42

of insane, nothing short of

42:44

it. It was one of the most surreal experiences

42:47

I've ever been through. I also

42:49

found it bizarre that somebody

42:52

who complained to the state

42:54

or complained to the police that this

42:56

was so racist now, so hurt or

42:58

so, everybody had to stay in

43:01

that court for three days. Ben

43:03

Obeistejekte showed up for about 20, 25

43:05

minutes, said what he had to say and left, and that was it. It

43:09

was a complete waste of everybody's time. Flagler

43:11

wasted everybody's time, that was it. And we're

43:13

seeing the same thing. I don't want to

43:15

say too much about the young lady who

43:17

held the placard at the Palestine march because

43:20

of the fact she came along to Uppity

43:22

and actually told her story there. She told

43:24

us everything she's been through. It is insane

43:26

what she's been through already. I

43:28

want to point one thing out to you two. I'm

43:31

not going to say who, but

43:33

this is actually, I'm a little bit worth it

43:35

clearly, this is not Ben's

43:38

first radio. Ben has actually secured prosecutions

43:40

of black people for this language. So

43:44

it's not his first radio. I don't even think, I'm

43:46

not sure how many people he's done, but I know

43:48

there are other people out there. He even, he's quoted

43:50

about it on Twitter and he even said it on

43:53

the stand too. So, but

43:55

more importantly too, one of the things we found interesting,

43:57

one of the cases that somebody came to me. with

44:00

that they were going for that somebody spoke to me about

44:03

when the person was a question of

44:06

the caution or interviewed of the caution, the

44:10

police pulled out the

44:12

tweets of a comment of a,

44:14

I'll say a liberal,

44:16

a fairly prominent liberal commentator who's of

44:18

ethnic minority because he was an ethnic

44:21

minority and put him in front

44:23

of her, which he said, no, the placard or

44:25

whatever it might be or so, this was not

44:27

racist, it was satirical. They

44:30

pulled out the tweets of

44:32

a prominent liberal ethnic minority

44:34

commentator and said, well, this guy is

44:36

a very prominent ethnic minority and he

44:39

thinks it is racist. From

44:41

what you said, what is happening

44:44

in police questioning is that social media

44:46

is becoming very real and

44:48

not only that, but right

44:51

wing figures of ethnic minority are

44:54

leveraging their platforms to be able to

44:57

attack critics also from

44:59

ethnic minority backgrounds. How

45:02

do we as anti-racists or even

45:04

as leftists handle discussions like

45:06

that because it seems like it's going to

45:08

come up more and more in the social

45:11

media age and now that we're seeing these

45:13

court cases actually prosecuted? I

45:15

think that's a very, very

45:18

good question and you're right.

45:20

Yes, some of these voices

45:22

on the right are definitely

45:24

using the lives and

45:27

livelihoods and the odd

45:29

flagrant tweet here and there to

45:32

pretty much promote themselves and give themselves bigger

45:35

platforms than they would have otherwise and it

45:37

works. It really does work. We're going to

45:39

have a black or brown prime minister very,

45:41

very soon who's probably going to be as

45:43

right when you give lots of other things to the right

45:45

and say, he's not power and that is no exaggeration because

45:47

there's some of the people who are coming right now, one

45:51

of them in particular so I

45:53

would say is certainly, certainly, certainly

45:56

much more effective and

45:58

committed a racist than, you know, power

46:00

ever was. So how do we respond

46:02

to this? I really and truly do.

46:04

Kiasztana himself made it clear

46:07

that we need to be careful about

46:09

the instant nature of social media responses

46:11

or so, and the flippant nature of

46:13

it, and how we potentially police that,

46:15

and be careful of how we prosecute

46:17

it too. Because somebody, when the malicious

46:20

communications act was developed in 1988, if

46:23

you wanted to send, say, a hate letter to

46:25

somebody, it was the old school cut out a

46:27

newspaper and copy and

46:29

paste, literally old school cut

46:33

and paste glue words

46:35

together on a sheet of paper and then put it into that

46:37

person's address and then see what happens there. Then the police have

46:39

to track the person down. This is

46:41

very, very different right now. This

46:43

is instant communication of which people

46:45

have loads upon loads upon loads

46:47

upon loads of tweets going around

46:49

every single day. Today

46:52

is the 29th of February. I have received

46:54

over 12 pieces of racism today alone. If

46:56

I walked into the police station, I would

46:58

have been 12 minutes to visit the police

47:00

station already today alone. I'm not in the

47:02

business of doing that. How do we respond

47:04

to it? I think we have to recognize

47:06

the difference. In this unique situation,

47:08

we have to recognize the difference between intra-communal

47:12

political critique, which may be serious or

47:15

may be satirical. But we have to

47:17

recognize that these communities sometimes have their

47:19

own methods in which way to criticize

47:21

people and some of the

47:23

language might sound a bit alarming to you.

47:26

If you just split the terms, whatever white

47:28

person said that, would that be racist? Whites

47:31

and Blacks, changing the terms or so is

47:33

simple to do. Changing the history and putting

47:35

it in context of where we are right

47:37

now is impossible to do.

47:40

I think we need to be very, very careful

47:42

with that. We have to put pressure on the

47:44

CPS to make sure that they are doing their

47:46

culture. They have people who can actually advise them

47:49

on what is cultural awareness of the students, what

47:51

is really a hate crime and what is just

47:53

somebody trying to promote themselves or

47:55

pretty much flirt with the Conservative Party, being

47:58

a pick me to racist or something. And

48:00

then also to I'll say it

48:02

finally above all there has to

48:04

be a support mechanism For

48:07

people who are going through these

48:09

horrors that young man was lucky

48:12

He had a legal aid barrister and a legal

48:14

aid lawyer and truth be told at first They

48:16

didn't fill me with the most confidence in the

48:19

world. He just got lucky He wanted

48:21

to go private to get himself a good lawyer or so

48:23

and it was going to cost him 13,000 pounds He

48:26

just didn't have that money is a very very young

48:28

man But we need to make

48:30

sure on the right also They've developed the

48:32

freedom of speech union or the free speech

48:34

unit So on the left where we are

48:36

more susceptible to prosecution as a result of

48:38

these things So we have to develop some

48:41

sort of mechanism to support and help people

48:43

through these things That was

48:45

Nels Abby speaking to me earlier today. Let's

48:47

go on to our next story The

48:49

government have released annual figures on homelessness

48:51

and they're not pleasant reading the number

48:53

of people sleeping rough In England has

48:56

more than doubled since the Tories came

48:58

to power in 2010

49:00

and the last 12 months have seen especially

49:03

big jumps in street homelessness Nearly

49:05

4,000 people recorded have been

49:07

sleeping rough in England on a single night

49:09

in autumn last year It's the

49:11

largest annual increase in rough sleeping since 2015

49:15

record numbers of people also found to be

49:17

staying in temporary accommodation in the same period

49:19

too now the Tory 2019

49:22

manifesto promised that they would end rough sleeping

49:24

by 2024 it's now

49:26

2024 and rough sleeping is at a

49:28

record high According to the

49:30

housing charity shelter The main cause of homelessness

49:33

is not being able to afford to rent

49:35

or buy a home which makes sense Parent

49:38

rents in Great Britain hit a record

49:40

high in January 2024 London unsurprisingly had

49:42

the biggest jump The average rent

49:44

of new property coming onto the market in the

49:46

capital is now nearly 3,000 pounds But

49:49

outside London monthly rates have jumped by 9% too

49:53

Meanwhile when it comes to home ownership

49:55

has been celebration about recovery in the

49:57

UK housing market buying and selling

49:59

activities is increasing again after a

50:01

slump driven mainly by the south of

50:03

England. But who is actually doing the

50:05

buying? Well, an investigation by the iNewspaper

50:07

warns that it might not be first-time

50:10

buyers picking up the keys. According

50:12

to this research, first-time

50:14

buyers have been priced out as

50:17

Wall Street mega-landal's buy-up UK new

50:19

builds. So North

50:21

American private equity firms have

50:23

massively scaled up their investment in

50:25

UK new build property. In 2023, more than

50:27

38% of

50:29

investment in the UK property market came

50:32

from private equity firms. The year before,

50:34

it was only 16% and it

50:36

was North American companies who accounted for

50:38

more than a third of that investment.

50:40

There are reports that these companies have

50:43

quote increasingly expanded their focus from flats

50:45

to family houses in the UK. Essentially,

50:48

people not on the property ladder can't

50:50

afford to buy homes and small-time landlords

50:52

such as pensioners with one or two

50:54

homes are being pushed out by higher

50:56

interest rates and tax changes. Into

50:59

the breach steps massive private equity

51:01

firms like the Backstone Backs Leaf

51:03

Living which bought 1500 family

51:05

houses across the UK in a single 2023

51:09

purchase. These firms sniffing around

51:12

in the weather vane. This is what

51:14

a representative from London Renters Union told

51:16

the eye about the boom in private

51:18

equity UK property investments. Often

51:20

the rent is going up but there's

51:22

really serious issues with the building that

51:24

haven't been fixed. Their entire business model

51:26

is these really high returns, really short-term

51:28

thinking, get money in quick and then

51:30

get out again in seven years. They

51:32

don't really don't have any interest in

51:34

the long-term stewardship of the quality of

51:36

the buildings. For a while, these kind

51:38

of investors were left interested in the

51:41

UK. The fact that they are now

51:43

taking more interest tells us something about

51:45

the UK housing system particularly since Covid

51:47

with these just skyrocketing rents.

51:50

Helena, is there anything on the

51:52

horizon that could ease this housing

51:55

crisis? Well to understand

51:57

where the positions of say for example the

51:59

major parties in this country stand and also

52:01

where potential better solutions could be, we

52:03

have to really understand how we got

52:05

here. And of course, the real problem

52:07

that we have with the housing crisis

52:09

is house prices overall continually for the

52:11

last 40 years, ever since right to

52:13

buy happened, which is one of the

52:15

biggest kind of patient zeros for the

52:17

problems that we have at the moment,

52:19

is the continual over-marketisation of a housing

52:21

sector and a very large demographic, the

52:23

boomer demographic of an electoral

52:25

cohort that every single party relies

52:27

on to win elections, and their

52:29

overall ownership of large amounts of

52:31

equity within the housing market. And this

52:34

has incentivised governments to continually ratchet up

52:36

house prices year after year, decade after

52:38

decade, election after election. What happened in

52:40

the wake of 2008 was that we

52:42

had this really long

52:44

period of 0% interest rates

52:46

and the shift of quantitative easing

52:48

in the Brown era, which usually

52:50

went into influencing supply, into the

52:53

conservative era where this quantitative easing

52:55

continually went into bumping up asset

52:57

prices, especially from the financial sector

52:59

and those who owned assets, housing

53:01

being one of those things. On

53:03

the other side of that too,

53:05

we've also restricted supply of housing

53:08

through planning laws and through not

53:10

building via the state. So what's

53:12

happened, the confluence of all of these

53:14

things is that during the 0% rate era, mortgages

53:17

were easy to come by, affordability was easy

53:22

on them because nopcent rates kept mortgage

53:24

costs low. And also because house prices

53:26

just crashed after 2008, there was an

53:28

ability for people to have the deposits

53:30

together to be able to get onto

53:32

the housing ladder. Then of course, those

53:34

house prices have continued increasing because this

53:36

is the conservative electoral demographic, and it's

53:38

never come down since. The reason why

53:40

cash buyers are getting involved into the

53:42

market now is because the massive increase

53:44

in mortgage rates has left normal buyers

53:46

far less likely to be able to

53:48

be getting into the

53:50

affordability for mortgages on these properties. So cash

53:52

buyers are the only people who can buy. The

53:54

restrictions on supply means that people who are using

53:56

property as a large scale investment like Blackstone, like

53:59

TSP, and other companies all of

54:01

those investment companies know that restrictions on

54:03

supply means it's a guaranteed investment. Matt Darling

54:05

from the Miss Canaan Centre has done

54:07

really good work on showing how

54:10

these supply restrictions have allowed in

54:12

over-marketized housing sectors, private equity firms

54:14

to use this as a guaranteed,

54:17

continual, increasing equity

54:19

investment. So how

54:21

do we solve this? What's the solution to these

54:23

problems? Now we will have to look to the

54:25

country and the world, which is the only one

54:27

in the European Union where the homeless population is

54:29

falling, and that is in Finland, where they have social

54:31

housing and then they take homeless people and put them

54:33

in the houses. That's the easiest way to

54:35

solve the problem with rough sweeping and homelessness, as we

54:37

saw at the start of this segment. And of course,

54:39

the way we would do it in the UK is

54:41

by building council housing. We need to build

54:44

council housing and it needs to happen now.

54:46

We can't let private developers into it, otherwise

54:48

we'll get what's happening in Woodbury, Dan and

54:50

Hackney, where they're demolishing a council housing estate

54:52

and they're replacing it with 17% social housing

54:55

and loads of luxury waterfront flats, which gentrifies

54:57

the area and is also unaffordable for most

54:59

people, unless we actually change what affordable even

55:01

means because it's still not even affordable at

55:03

80% of market rents. So

55:07

given we know that we have to build

55:09

council housing and we need to build it

55:11

now, not tomorrow, not after breakfast, now, what

55:13

are the parties going to do? Well, Labour

55:16

have already ruled out spending new state money

55:18

on council houses. This was what Rachel Reeves

55:20

said on Laura Coonsburg last year on her

55:22

show of Well, I've been in 2022 and

55:24

they've not changed their position on right to

55:26

buy either, which is patient zero for this

55:29

whole problem. Ironically, the Conservative Party have said

55:31

that they want to allocate a very small

55:33

amount of money to council housing, but neither

55:35

of these are in any way close

55:38

to the scale of how many new council

55:40

houses we need to build to replenish our

55:42

social housing stock to end the whole social

55:44

housing crisis and to be able to actually

55:46

have the stock available to put homeless people

55:48

into the houses and those who can't afford

55:50

into the private sector. And also it would

55:52

bring rents down by increasing supply and competing

55:55

with the private sector too. On

55:57

top of that, I think we need to have more draconian

55:59

legislation. population, stopping these private equity firms

56:02

being able to buy huge rows

56:04

of houses at a time. Andrew

56:06

Fisher's talked about this on BBC

56:08

Politics Live too. I fully support

56:10

his policy prescriptions on these. We

56:12

just have to ban overseas private

56:14

investors from buying houses just

56:16

to be able to use an investment vehicle. Then you

56:18

have a society utility, and that is for people

56:20

to live in. We have to

56:22

ensure that that is what happens, rather than just being

56:24

used as a way for the super rich to be

56:26

able to further enrich themselves even more than they have

56:29

done over the last 45 years. Thank

56:32

you, Elena, for joining me

56:34

tonight. Thanks so much to

56:36

all of you watching at

56:38

home. Come back tomorrow for

56:40

another live stream from 6pm. You

56:43

have, as always, been watching Novara Media. Good night.