gb news. >> good evening. the top stories from the be newsroom . from the be newsroom. slovakia's prime minister has been undergoing emergency surgery today after he was shot following a government meeting in handlova, outside the capital bratislava . officials could be bratislava. officials could be seen bundling robert fico into a car shortly after the attacker shot him. five times in the assassination attempt. there are now reports that he's no longer in a life threatening condition . in a life threatening condition. one man has been detained by authorities, mr feet.so won power for a fourth time last october and has implemented more pro—russian policies. he's pledged to stop military support for ukraine and threatened to veto the country's membership in nato. slovakia's interior minister has said they believe the attacker had political motivation . new proposals could motivation. new proposals could see schools in england banned

from teaching students about gender identity. the government's review would also see all sex education halted for children under the age of nine. the prime minister ordered the review last year amid concerns some children were being exposed to inappropriate content. reports suggest parents will be provided samples of sex education content before lessons take place . police could make take place. police could make more use of existing stop and search powers as part of new measures to tackle knife crime. the searches were curbed a decade ago by then home secretary theresa may, after it was found minorities were being disproportionally targeted. £55 million will be invested into developing new technology, which could help police detect suspects carrying knives by scanning them from a distance . a scanning them from a distance. a red notice search warrant for an escaped french prisoner has been issued by interpol. 30 year old mohamed amara, also known as the fly , escaped from a prison van

fly, escaped from a prison van in northern france yesterday , in northern france yesterday, sparking a major manhunt. he was broken free by gunmen in an ambush that killed two prison guards . if ambush that killed two prison guards. if you've ambush that killed two prison guards . if you've ever ambush that killed two prison guards. if you've ever found yourself stuck on hold , how yourself stuck on hold, how about waiting 800 years? that is how long people in britain spent waiting to talk to the taxman. last year , a damning report from last year, a damning report from the government's spending watchdog found taxpayers were on hold to hmrc for around 7,000,000 hours in that tax yeah 7,000,000 hours in that tax year. it was less than half that time before the pandemic. fewer calls are now being answered and those who do manage to get through spend longer on the phone amid what's being called a declining spiral of customer service . and junior doctors in service. and junior doctors in england have entered mediated talks with the government with a view to end their long running dispute over pay. the british medical association said that its junior doctors committee had entered a new intensive phase of talks. junior doctors have staged a series of walkouts over the past year as part of a

campaign by the bma calling for pay campaign by the bma calling for pay restoration. the health secretary, victoria atkins, said she was pleased the bma have agreed to explore mediation . agreed to explore mediation. fought the latest stories? you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen, or you can go to gb news. com slash alerts. now it's time for headliners . time for headliners. >> hello and welcome to headliners. >> you'll run through of tomorrow's front pages with three comedians, two and a half voices. tonight possibly. i'm one of them. simon evans. i'm joined by the fabulous josh howie and paul cox, who's suffering some laryngitis challenges. >> i am . >> i am. >> i am. >> it's the worse. >> it's the worse. >> it's the worse. >> it's getting better. gradually you feel fine. i feel absolutely fine. i'm getting lots of sympathy i don't deserve. sure you're not going

through puberty? well, i could well be a squeak. i'm 44 now. so is that when puberty sinner fullerton, who used to have that lovely, croaky voice in the old carry on films? yeah, but mine keeps breaking, so the carry on films? yeah, but mine keeps breaking , so the allure carry on films? yeah, but mine keeps breaking, so the allure is taken away. when your voice breaks, you're gonna have a fan base by the end of the season. >> let's have a look at thursday . his front pages, the daily mail. have you on edge after pro—russian slovak pm is gunned down. nasty. the guardian also lead with that slovakian leader fighting for his life after assassination attempt and the magician david copperfield on the front page. the telegraph nhs turns on doctors who blow whistle after safety, the times starmer sets out to woo voters with six pledges. daily mirror my six fixes for britain and the daily star doctor dolittle we can chinwag with apes. those were your front page . so no

were your front page. so no overwhelming concern . ipsis overwhelming concern. ipsis tonight, let's kick off with the guardian. josh slovakian leader fighting for his life after assassination attempt. >> and then you got a picture of david copperfield underneath that, looking like he's happy about it. >> well, he knows where he is. >> well, he knows where he is. >> weird, isn't it? yeah, he's. he's like , i would have dodged he's like, i would have dodged those bullets, but. yeah. so david copperfield has also been done for, well, been accused of sexual misconduct . you know sexual misconduct. you know what? i find it easier to believe a magician would do it than a stand up comedian than anybody, really? because magicians are just a bunch of losers . oh, that's very slanderous. >> i know some. >> i know some. >> oh , what an image. what are >> oh, what an image. what are you going to do about it? magicians. yeah. we have magic tricks. >> we'll see what we might do about it after the break. you should do. >> what did a magician do to you ? i just, i think magicians, by and large, you know, there is a

tranche of magicians who are, you know, faintly annoying, possibly slightly introspective or spent a bit too much time practising. >> david copperfield achieved international global celebrity. you know, he cracked the code. he had claudia schiffer , i he had claudia schiffer, i think, on his arm at one point. >> maybe she was drugged up. >> maybe she was drugged up. >> well, possibly , i don't know. >> well, possibly, i don't know. she presumably isn't the one who's made the allegations . who's made the allegations. >> no, not as far as i know. no. but anyway. but yes, obviously the big yes slovakian leader, i mean. all right, let's talk about the slovakian leader, if that's what you want to talk about out there. you don't want to talk about magicians, yes. he's fighting for his life after an assassination attempt, slovakia is a country . correct. slovakia is a country. correct. that's the research that i have done so far, they're saying that it could be political. that would be a shock. shock but it does. it's. yes. a 70 year old man or a 71 year old man who's got a youtube channel, and he wants to form a political movement on youtube. and i don't think that's the best way to go about it. shot him? yeah. who

shot him? yeah. and his sons come forward and be like, oh, dad. yeah yeah , moving on to the dad. yeah yeah, moving on to the telegraph pool. >> well, the telegraph is, nhs doctors turns. are we doing the telegraph ? telegraph? >> i say telegraph on the screen, but it's the times. sorry, you're smashing a starmer sets out to woo voters with six pledges. >> so this is an effort to distil labour's detailed policies. i've not seen too much of that in a retail offer to voters. look, i think at this stage he probably only needs one point. and that is to say that he's not rishi sunak and could probably save himself, a lot of effort. however i would like to see these six pledges reminiscent of the five pledges that tony blair and gordon brown made in the 1997. >> wow. didn't remember that. i remember ed miliband's gravestone. do you remember that one? the yes, the pledge, the ten commandments. yeah, yeah. which didn't turn out to be particularly well, but this one is he's got six rishi's got had five pledges. >> okay. this year he's got labour's got one better. yeah.

they've gone you know what we're going to we're going to do six pledges. what. so the spinal tap. yeah. exactly six. and we're going to do six and a half. interesting. not on there , half. interesting. not on there, is the stuff about homes, which i think is a big one, but they have put, immigration right up there and, but the line that i like is he says it's our determination to begin a decade of national renewal . and i think of national renewal. and i think thatis of national renewal. and i think that is something that could tap into a lot of people's interests, a lot of people's hopes for some sort of bland, some sort of, like, i think people are empty. >> promise. >> promise. >> i've got to be honest. i think people will take an empty, bland promise . i think they bland promise. i think they will. they like, i could handle some national renewal. you can all handle a national renewal. it makes very little sense, doesn't it ? yeah. national makes doesn't it? yeah. national makes sense to me. yeah national. we need some renewal, and we need it on a national level. >> give an actual decisions to make. and, and in the moment and so on. the last week has not been particularly good for, for keir starmer. i would say his, his decision to welcome a named

natalie elphicke, a hard right minister. >> well welcome, natalie. >> well welcome, natalie. >> welcome. who basically disgraced herself by petitioning for her husband. >> yeah, that wasn't a good decision . they made a political decision. they made a political call there, and i think they they probably think now it was they probably think now it was the wrong one. they wanted to put it over sunak and it sort of backfired. it's like one of those poisoned chalices. maybe rishi is actually getting people to go over to labour. that could be like 4d chess. >> it probably won't be enough to win them the election, but i still do get the feeling that every time keir starmer is actually asked to make a decision in the heat of the moment, he's extraordinarily reliably bad at them. >> it's going to be interesting to see, when we get down to the heat of the general election in those in those six weeks leading up where these policies, i mean, the times here, i think are being very, very generous by saying that there are detailed policies available for labour. i there is a manifesto to some degree. i don't think there's detailed policies. okay. we published a manifesto yet, to be fair. so it's not you can't really say so. i'm not, i'm not i'm desperately trying not to be critical because i do think there needs to be a change. and it will have to move away from

the conservative party >> and it could be reform, daily star to finish with paul, the daily star. >> i mean, we've got the big news here, doctor dolittle. we can chinwag with apes so our orang—utans could soon be letting us know their thoughts on the world events after boffins. i'm just so pleased boffins. i'm just so pleased boffins are involved. boffins revealed they're close to decoding their signs and roars. can you imagine world events? that's the first place the star are gone. can you imagine if the first thing they communicate is the resolution to the gaza problem? >> well, maybe it's going to be a pincer movement with apes on the one hand and agi closing in fast. the one hand and agi closing in fast . yeah. with chat, gpt five, fast. yeah. with chat, gpt five, you know, next summer's blockbuster sort of terminator meets planet of the apes, a bit like, barbie and oppenheimer. i suppose. yeah, they're all coming from different sides , i coming from different sides, i mean, and then there was harambee, of course, the gorilla, who was tragically murdered, which a lot of people think, unleashed the hell that we've experienced. i think that was early 2016, wasn't it? was that was that the one that around the same time that david

bowie died and they shot the gorilla who was who was harmlessly protecting a child that had fallen into the enclosure? yeah. and a lot of people feel that that was basically the unleashed. do you feel that? >> that's. yes, i do you think that that's what it was. that's what you big boy. is that the little butterfly that is now created a storm? >> many people. >> many people. >> many people. okay, >> many people. okay, okay. follow simon on twitter. >> that's the front page is deau >> that's the front page is dealt with coming up. overflowing prisons. still no excuse for bad cyclists. we'll see you in

and welcome back to headliners. i'm simon evans, still here with josh howie and paul cox. so, josh, the times have further news from the overflowing bathtub that is our national correctional facility. indeed. >> emergency halt to bail heanngs >> emergency halt to bail hearings as prisons run out of cells. so this is they're basically stopping any bail heanngs basically stopping any bail hearings because there might be a terrible thing that happens where someone might need to go

to jail. yeah in which case we have no spaces or we have none of the spaces that are appropriate for people to on not be on bail with. so bail held on remand, you would think if anything, a bail hearing if i obviously misunderstood. >> but i thought bail hearings might allow people out. >> yes, but there might be a risk of people being put in and that's the risk that they can't handle. so now they have to keep everybody in, which is counterintuitive , as you rightly counterintuitive, as you rightly say. yeah. so, so they're just basically bail hearing where you are. >> you would normally be in default let out. it's not that, is it? you're already on remand. >> you're already on. yeah. not that i know from personal. maybe they should do all the ones that they should do all the ones that they pretty certain would get out. yeah. like. oh yeah. you just, you know, anyway , the, the just, you know, anyway, the, the subtext paul is not good is it. >> no, it's not good. >> no, it's not good. >> sorry. state of affairs if anything. and i can't help but mention population . it is almost mention population. it is almost as if the population is growing faster than infrastructure investment. the reason i say , investment. the reason i say, i'm not sure whether i'm going to say this, because every time

i do say it, i'm with josh and he counters me. well, no, i just, i in this particular case that isn't doesn't seem to be what it really is, is that they've been catching up their backlog because of covid. and there's a whole thing about all there's a whole thing about all the criminal bar associations, like we've just been doing our job really amazingly and we've put loads of people in jail and that's what they've done. so now, because of that, it says 5000 extra places. the normal or would it be a covid backlog of criminal offences though jail worthy criminal offenders? >> that seems unlikely to me. a covid backlog loads of press demand for holidays or something. i'm only reading the times , running out and times, running out and committing crimes that they are being able to do when they were, they've been solving more crimes, or now they've been going to court or whatever it is, i don't think. >> but there are more than with paul >> it seems to me like we've got 10 million more people in here, and there are predominantly criminal bunch anyway, we all know, and that's why they're only, you know what, the population, the prison population, the prison population has hit the highest level for 50 years, which suggests that 50 years ago it was higher with a lower population in the country. >> so like back in the day, our

grandparents or great grandparents or great grandparents were like bigger criminals. that's interesting. yeah porridge okay. >> that is what that means. i'd be astonished if it is. i suspect that means 50 years is when they started. so just to clarify. >> yeah i don't think that every immigrants are criminal. no a lot of our criminals are home—grown. that's what you were saying . you were saying before saying. you were saying before the show, you were like every every immigrants. i was shouting here, the production stuff. but i think just for the purposes of being on screen, it, you know, it can it can be that we, you know, that we got some lovely home—grown criminals, but we just don't have the infrastructure investment. and our population is growing and growing and growing. >> that could be they could be just frustrated about not being able to get an nhs dentist. yeah. you know, being forced into a life of crime. the telegraph pole and the walls are closing in. the net begins to tighten on jeremy vine specifically, this is specific to jeremy, a cyclist who killed people, faced life in prison. >> for the record, all fine has not done that yet. jeremy vine has not done that, and all people that we know of. yeah, all people that kill people face

life in prison irrespective of cyclists, whether are cyclists or not. however, that's the point of this story really. the transport secretary , mark transport secretary, mark harper, has promised to change the law so that dangerous cyclists face the same punishments for those as dangerous drivers, with the maximum sentence causing a death by dangerous driving, of maximum sentence causing a death by dangerous driving , of course, by dangerous driving, of course, being life imprisonment. >> so yes, it's the point is , if >> so yes, it's the point is, if they commit murder, then they're obviously. >> but there is a case where, the telegraph can reveal. i have to say that because that's what it says here. a speeding cyclist going timed laps around regent's park involved a fatal collision with an 81 year old woman. right. you know, that can be put down as an accident. which, of course, it was. as are a lot of fatal car crashes. yeah, was it dangerous? was it dangerous riding reckless enough? >> i would say so. >> i would say so. >> i don't know the details about the cyclist, but i would say, you know, we've all been to the parks in london and parks in brighton or wherever you happen to be from cyclists charging around a 30 miles an hour is dangerous. yeah, there's a 20 mile limit. he's saying it

doesn't appropriate. it doesn't apply to him because he was on a bicycle and whatever. and this woman died. so the fact and he got away with nothing, there's nothing happened to him. i agree with this in the idea of it. i just wonder whether this is the best use of governmental time, to be putting through this. it affects, i think there's nine deaths a year caused by cycling, and obviously not all of them are going to be murder or killing or whatever it is. so it just doesn't seem to be an opfion just doesn't seem to be an option for the judge, though, does it? that's the point of this. i guess. ijust i mean, how much time is this going to take up? how much other stuff have they got to do? maybe invest in, prison service or whatever? i just, i think that's fine. like, it makes sense to bnng fine. like, it makes sense to bring it on par with dangerous driving . driving. >> it does seem to me, anecdotally, that there are a lot faster cyclists in london, certainly than there were before lockdown . they kind of burst lockdown. they kind of burst out, i've done, whether it's lockdown or whether it might give them a false sense of security. >> obviously the cycling infrastructure, road, infrastructure, road, infrastructure, highway infrastructure, highway infrastructure in london has grown exponentially since about 2010 and there are very fast

cycling electric scooters, electric, the electric ones, you know, they've got the little motors on them. so i don't know whether they go that doesn't seem to be what this this seems to be like road bike kind of super fit uber alpha kind of. but i think in order to be dangerous, you've probably got to be going relatively fast. saying that, i do vaguely remember something . maybe it was remember something. maybe it was stretham or something like that some years ago where, somebody stepped out in front of a cyclist and there was there was a debate on whether the person who stepped out or whether it was the cyclist, and that could be considered not dangerous. i mean, yeah, the pedestrians have right of way. yes. that's very important in this, you know, but if you step off the path into a into a cycle path. >> yeah . >> yeah. >> yeah. >> what about doing wheelies. they didn't go into that. no they didn't. no but that makes you cool. i'm just saying dangerous wheelie guardian have more news of the success of government. >> anti landlord policies. josh. yeah. >> landlords selling up leaving 2000 households a month in uk facing homelessness . so 4 in 10 facing homelessness. so 4 in 10 households that are seeking council help say it's because of the property they're in is being

sold, there's been this , renting sold, there's been this, renting reform delays that's been put back. reform delays that's been put back . they promised it five back. they promised it five years ago. it's been in even if it passed, it's still going through the process. but even if it's passed, it's not going to come into the summer 2025. and landlord is, saying that they need or landlords association are saying that they need some kind of security to understand these laws that that happen in these laws that that happen in the meantime, people are selling up, although of course, high mortgage rates are partly why people are selling up as well. yeah, but it seems like the worst of both worlds. it doesn't seem like anybody has the protection that they need. >> there's certainly been, you know, a sequence of legislative changes which have been intended to make private landlord, you know , a less attractive option. know, a less attractive option. they've tried to they tried to free up property . and of course, free up property. and of course, it's not. and this is a sense freeing up property , isn't it, freeing up property, isn't it, if landlords sell them, unfortunately, if people are trying to rent them at the time, it's every level as well. >> i remember asking financial advice about, >> i remember asking financial advice about , getting >> i remember asking financial advice about, getting a second home to rent and you're doing all right. hello? humblebrag.

yeah, yeah. i mean, i didn't i was just trying to show off, but, the advice that came back was it's not a good idea because of the extra stamp duty and tax. there was lots of resistance put up. i found it fascinating. i mean, because this is in the guardian. it is. it is against the landlord. and because they don't like capitalism and anyone making money in any way shape or form, however, there is an inherent risk, particularly with contracts and the termination of contracts. and if you are renting from a private landlord, you go into this knowing there is an inherent risk. i understand this new legislation does have some benefits. the benefit? renee reform bill would, stop? sort of. no excuse. >> no no no no, no default . >> no no no no, no default. >> no no no no, no default. >> no. yeah. you just basically can't, you know, randomly kick someone out. you can and people do do it. i was talking to a comedian friend the other day who literally had gone into his house in london with his family. six months in fee under the table. you've got to get out . table. you've got to get out. yeah. and then it was back on the market just a few months later. >> they have different plans for it. i do remember in the early

2000, no fault evictions. >> that's what i was trying to. sorry. excuses. yes. come on. sorry, simon. that's all right. >> let's move on. independent pool and check billionaire has upped his bid for the royal mail to 370 pence a share, or three first class stamps. yeah which totals quite a lot, actually. >> a royal mail group minded to back £55 billion bid proposal for czech from czech billionaire. so royal mail's owners, which i learned today is international distribution services. are looking to agree a takeover by shareholder daniel kretinsky after the czech billionaire put forward a higher proposed bid, initially put one in for a 320 pence. £3.20 is coming at £3.70 now. it's a bit unfortunate that the guy's name is cretin, given what we know about the post office and recent history, but i have a lot of nostalgia for the post office. i have a lot of nostalgia for snail mail. i barely use it anymore because of the way the

competitors work. >> there's a post office and royal mail. are they the same thing now? >> this is such a good point. >> this is such a good point. >> this is such a good point. >> this is such yeah , this is >> this is such yeah, this is such a good point. >> in my head, they're the same thing. yeah, i agree, but i think international distribution services owns royal mail, which don't necessarily own all the post offices. >> no, i think they're quite separate. it is interesting though, that we got the czechs of buying the royal mail, just as the slovaks are in the midst of a violent coup. >> here we go again. >> here we go again. >> yeah , i don't know. history >> yeah, i don't know. history has a way of rhyming, doesn't it? yes. do you have anything? well, just. >> i just feel very uneasy when there are these services without necessarily viable alternatives going, you know, private . going, you know, private. >> they're not viable alternative. >> well, well, not not letters as such. i mean there are on the parcels certainly . yeah. but parcels certainly. yeah. but letters is different. and then they're saying that this could be the same thing. the danger here is what happened with like thames water a company comes in, takes all the money out, takes the money out of the pensions. no there's loads of sewage coming through. well yeah. well yeah. no, seriously. and then , yeah. no, seriously. and then, and then the consumer ends up paying and then the consumer ends up paying for it. yeah. which is what's happened. so that is of course. but then i do have

shares in it. so i don't think it is quite the same insofar as i know what you mean. >> but it's hard to see how the royal mail would sort of socialise their costs by polluting rivers or anything. >> wow. well, no, it just imagine the next shot story. >> i meant more figurative loads of junk mail down the rabbit, netherlands. now, josh, our last story, i think of this section. barely three years since his election, geert wilders has formed a tentative coalition. >> yeah. far right, wilders and they say far right. of course, because it's the guardian, agrees. deal for dutch coalition government. this is the, pleasure of a of coalition politics. you have for parties that have finally come together after six months. he will not be the prime minister. we thought we knew that was going to happen. he would just be sitting in their house of parliament or their equivalent with a high range, high velocity rifle. well, this is it. i mean, he has supposedly taken away a couple of the policies that people were particularly upset about, and, we'll have to see if it works. the thing is, it's, coalition politics is difficult when it's just like normal politics.

there's winners and losers. and we saw from the conservatives and the lib dems, who were obviously the losers of that equation, that we'll see if that's going to play out the biggest i mean, it's you're absolutely right. >> it's very interesting how coalition governments get formed on the continent. and we should pay on the continent. and we should pay attention because there is the possibility at some point we will end up with a vie or whatever it is. and people always assume that it just forms always assume that it just forms a nice, smooth representation of the country's best interests and wishes. you know, everyone gets a meaningful vote. in reality, you get all these kind of weird negotiations after the fact. whereas with first past the post, weird coalitions are formed before the fact, you know, and they call themselves the labour party or the. >> but look at the snp and the green party and look how the green party and look how the green party and look how the green party have destroyed the snp. arguably by forcing them down that route. >> and i would also say even though the, yes, the lib dem and tory thing and clegg was forced into backing down on student fees and id. cards and as a consequence ended up as a, you know, on the facebook for 13

million a year. but, more significantly, cameron assumed there would be another such coalition which would give him the opportunity to bin the commitment to a referendum . commitment to a referendum. yeah. and there wasn't. and so that's a great point. >> so, you know, i think we i think there's still a probability that we obviously there's always a probability. but i think there's a significant probability. we end up with a labour lib dem coalition and i don't i know you don't. and everyone tells me there isn't. but there's still something within what i see in society that says people can't differentiate between rishi and starmer. and i can just see. >> i can't even tell you who's in charge of the lib dems at the moment. >> no, somewhere maybe there'll be a conservative labour coalition >> ed davey it might be ed davey. yeah. it's not that tall lady anymore , is it? the scary lady anymore, is it? the scary lady? >> no, no, no one heard my idea there. but i thought it was genius. what was it, josh? i just said a conservative labour coalition yeah, but killer. absolute juggernaut. i love that you heard it here first. >> yeah, well, it worked it more time. we've made it halfway . time. we've made it halfway. join us in a moment for plans to ban var, which i assume is some

sort of bedroom toy and a way back for in kevin spacey, so to speak. we'll see you

well, we're back with the third part of, of headliners. my teleprompter seems to jam to an entire halt, so i should be free wheeling through the next one. but, paul, you're going to. we are. >> we've got the daily mail now, and they've got a story about the premier league. will next month vote on proposals to scrap var, which is a video assistant referee. but its chances of success have been described as unlikely. a resolution to bin the highly controversial system, which was introduced in 2019, has been submitted by wolverhampton wanderers in what is a highly significant and potentially historic move. now, simon, i'm not aware of your into football or not. i know josh isn't. i am not particularly into football, but i am aware that var is proving

very controversial, mainly because of the delays rather than the yeah , it's it takes than the yeah, it's it takes some of the essence out of football for me now. it's often right. i mean, you hear a lot of times about when it's wrong. however, it's still subject to human error, which means it can be incredibly, incredibly frustrating. i think part of top level sport and the excitement of it is, is some of that human error, though, where the referee. because when you stop , referee. because when you stop, you can't really celebrate a goal anymore because you don't know if it was offside or if the third movement of offside was offside. and for me, it takes some of the essence out of it. it's very much by the book. and do you know what? the rules aren't always as fun as they sound. >> no, i think you're right. and it's, you know, it's all part of a of a piece with, a general trend at the moment that people fear that, a degree of efficiency and accuracy, that machines and computers and ai and so on can bring a rendering and so on can bring a rendering a lot of things rather pointless. there's without any kind of, opportunity for error

or judgement, you kind of, opportunity for error orjudgement, you know, i understand they're still human beings trying to get the ball in the back of the net, but it starts to feel just slightly joyless, doesn't it? in a funny way. >> and we cause sorry, josh, we got good comparison because all of the leagues below the premier league in english football do not use var, right? so if you, like myself, are a portsmouth fan. yeah, you are seeing games that have not got var and they're more exciting. and yeah, they're more exciting. and yeah, the mistakes are made but it is, it does. you don't have those big stops. >> i think a lot of people are switching to them. i've got a mate who's very into football and he still follows. he follows chelsea and i think part of his disappointment in the last season has been that they've been bought by a bunch of americans who have no idea about the game, but they have tried to use a lot of science and sort of euclidean geometry and sportsball and what have you. what do they call it? is it not a sports moneyball? moneyball yeah, yeah. this kind of, you know, algorithmic statistics. yeah anyway, i mean, he says he would much rather watch, australian rugby league now because it's just a, it feels like a good old fashioned punch up, you know. yeah. >> i mean, i don't know, ijust,

i read the whole big long article. they don't say what var is . i thought article. they don't say what var is. i thought it was article. they don't say what var is . i thought it was actually is. i thought it was actually what it is, i thought, i thought it was groyne cream or something. >> that's what it they're, it's a everybody's using groyne cream i >> -- >> they're not an assistant referee video assistant referee . referee video assistant referee. >> and it appears in his era after a couple of minutes. but you know there is one reason where i think it could be used and that would be, for shirt pulling and diving and calling, you know, crying wolf. and but that wouldn't need to hold the game up. that would be studied after the match to see if you had managed to get another player booked or even just got a free kick off the back of a faked offence, i would quite happily see a player miss a couple of games. >> i'd like one for my wife, me for our arguments. yeah, just just be. look, i told you, you said that and you were saying you didn't. that would. this is. i'm excited now about revolutionary. it would cause just as much problems as it does in football. josh, i'm sure staying with, with your wife, josh, the headteachers are in revolt over sex education. yeah. this is in the times. and this

was the news that is out that, it came out yesterday, basically that now the government is going to set limits on, on the age that children are going to learn stuff. most importantly, they're also banning gender ideology in the classroom. now that seems like a really big win, a real sensible , policy because the sensible, policy because the castes are review showed how so much of it was due to, social pressure. but also it was a, it was a social contagion, basically . so by these schools basically. so by these schools teaching the stuff to kids, then of course they're going on and they're going, oh, now i'm actually a boy. and the gender spectrum and the gingerbread man and all this stuff. so this is exciting. this article, though, is more about when general normal sex education. my gut feeling is what they call biological biological sex. and they're saying for years sort of like nine years, like nine years old year five. that would be like just the basic mechanics of it all. that seems fair enough. and then teaching, the more

intricate stuff a little bit older, i suppose part of the problem, paul, is that, pornography of a quite eye—watering, explicit nature is just available on everyone's smartphone now, and even if you don't give your kid a smartphone, they're bound to see somebody else on their friends. and i think head teachers here are describing that as a particular problem in the sense that they want to be able to point that out. and if they can't talk to young children about it, it might be difficult. i think that's a nuanced part of the issue. i you know what sex education, biology. brilliant. year five is a good time to talk about it, which is nine years old. as josh says, no issue with that whatsoever. we don't want to chuck the baby out with the bath water. the ideology thing for me. >> why don't you've got a baby in the bath water? >> yeah, to be honest, it's too late. >> it's a good point. my parents bought me a little book or brought me home a little book. anyway, from the gp surgery, which was all about the birds. and it was literally about fruit flies for about the first 20 pages, and in the last five pages, and in the last five pages there were, you know, waking up feeling sticky and stuff and, and the stuff about

the fruit flies was so boring . i the fruit flies was so boring. i never got on to it. and to this day, i don't know why you're having an idea. no i have two children, but there's a matter of luck , liam neeson, paul, very of luck, liam neeson, paul, very particular set of skills. one of them is standing up for his mates. >> yeah, maybe a little late, but, at least they're doing it. sharon stone of open legged fame and liam neeson demand kevin spacey be allowed to resume hollywood careers . kevin, stay hollywood careers. kevin, stay there saying that kevin spacey must be allowed to resume his career after being wrongly cancelled for seven years, leading stars including sharon liam neeson have told the telegraph. now ironic, isn't it? >> seven after that role he played in that film ? played in that film? >> yes, that's a good point. >> yes, that's a good point. >> oh yeah. who comes round, doesn't it? >> look, this is all about risk and hollywood and these big corporations. that's all they care about. they care about saving their own skin. and we've been far too quick to just throw the person being accused under the person being accused under the bus. and you know what? there's a lot of things that

surround kevin spacey. but unless you know, he's not convicted of anything here. >> no, i think there was obviously, you know, we all know that there's the difference between criminal conviction and civil cases and so on. as donald trump found out, it's a similar thing. they didn't have enough on him to make a criminal case stick. but i think there is some suggestion. i think he even has acknowledged that some of his behaviour was unacceptable . behaviour was unacceptable. >> there's a difference between that and going into criminality. but then of course, we're talking about power. we're talking about power. we're talking about power. we're talking about there's levels of abuse. >> and i suppose also the question is at a certain age, would he still be the draw if it was if he if he had kind of committed these sins in his early 30s, that would be one thing, but he would be coming back in his 60s now. >> and this is why i think that whilst good on them, sharon stone and liam neeson , they are stone and liam neeson, they are a little bit late to the game here. if they'd said this during the case or just after the case. yeah, because this is a little bit easy now for me because he's unlikely to get some roles. he could, well, direct stuff, he could, well, direct stuff, he could produce stuff and he could find himself back into movies.

but ultimately, like you say, he's not the draw he once was. no. is it be interesting to see if his career is, you know, i would go and see him in a, in a sort of role, that of philip seymour hoffman or someone. yeah. no, he's a great he's a great he's a great character. he's just not going to be like a massive channel for this on the back of channel 4 doing a documentary on him. and it's one of the it's sort of a bit like russell brand, but even less, you know, a bunch of guys kind of like, oh, he was in it. and he says here he was clumsy. or steve, stephen fry is defending him, saying he was clumsy, inappropriate on many occasions . inappropriate on many occasions. that's not criminal. no, you could argue the morality of it. yeah. and you could argue that it was a different time. there's lots of explanations for it, but. yeah, whether that means he should never, ever work again. yeah. >> totally agree. christian. josh well, not a good question. no good answer obviously. josh we also have to be very careful what we say about this hypothetical scenario in the daily mail online. >> yeah. why it pays to have a narcissistic boss. companies that are run by women with a bit of an ego are more successful, but at the same doesn't apply to men. and this is quite a long,

bonng men. and this is quite a long, boring article, about different personality traits and whatnot. but the gist of it is, is that women who are psychos or narcissistic was were they dark triad? yeah, the dark triad and all of that stuff. the point is, they're better at manipulating people so they can have the aggression to , to put themselves aggression to, to put themselves ahead and to become bosses. >> is it that they can manipulate people in a nicer way? >> maybe. >> maybe. >> is it that they, that that tendency in a woman offsets or mitigates the wider tendency within women to not be egotistical, vain, or narcissistic enough? would it be that at all, do you think? >> no, no, no. okay that's nice. wishful. >> i'm just wondering whether why it's good in a woman and not in a man. i'm just wondering. because men. >> because men are too aggressive, then that's the point. they don't have the ability to play the room better. and so women will get better outcomes of people whilst being ego driven. >> so basically, it's another girlboss story. >> anyway, it didn't feel as deep as they're trying to make out to me. it felt as if they

were trying to say without maybe saying it. the women that are slightly more masculine can be more successful as a result, whereas and when and when you compare men and women, particularly narcissistic women, that were showing egotistical traits with one another, then it's easier for women to win because, you know, than it would because, you know, than it would be for, you know, somebody who was less. so. yeah, for me, it just feels like they're saying, you know, if you want to succeed, just be kind of more male. >> the trouble with it is they use this kind of pseudo therapeutic language like narcissism. and narcissism is quite a specific disorder, isn't it? which is not quite the same as what we all think it is, which is just fancying yourself a bit. yeah. you know, but anyway, never mind the times, paul anyway, never mind the times, paul. they have the second greatest portrait story in as many days. and this one has some wonderful illustrations, which they too. >> this is australia s richest woman demands gallery remove unflattering portrait unflattering portrait unflattering in her opinion of herself . herself. >> and this, i think you can say objectively unflattering. but let's have a look at it. >> absolutely. so she's which

which which one is she? which one's the picture? so that the pictures on the left. oh no sorry. it's not it's on the right . gina rinehart sorry. it's not it's on the right. gina rinehart is the which is the heiress of, mining magnate is demanded that national gallery of australia take down the unflattering nude portrait . but it's painted by take down the unflattering nude portrait. but it's painted by an indigenous australian . indigenous australian. >> it has an indigenous way of knowing what she looks like. >> exactly . and, you know, like >> exactly. and, you know, like you say, this week we've seen king charles's first portrait, which was, oh, yeah. yes. look i don't think as grotesque because his his facial images are representative. the rest of it, the fingers are quite accurate. >> you know, people say it's hard carlos sainz and they've got the first picture. >> the one before looked a bit like the baby reindeer lady a little bit. >> the funny thing is, i went onune >> the funny thing is, i went online when i saw that one, i saw that that artist, i can't remember his name, but, it will be in the in the story. but he vincent nama nama giraffe. yeah. so he is, as you say, an aboriginal australian artist. and, so he's got a whole range of paintings in the gallery or in a gallery at least. and

they're all absolutely dreadful. i wondered initially whether he had taken against her, because she is in mining, and i wonder whether some of those mines had perhaps, you know, it's been contrived in tribal lands. but no, he's a terrible paintings of jimi hendrix as well. >> yeah, it's been contrived to look that way because she who is who she is and he is, he is. but he generally just does rubbish drawings. >> so there's, two terrible paintings in as many days. that's the main thing. just the final section to go. we've got cash prizes for losing weight. the lowest bar yet for racism and why men weren't meant to gather after all. see you

and welcome back to headliners for our final wacky section . for our final wacky section. josh, women, lovers and pink men still prefer hard cash in the guardian. >> they do. cash incentives may help men lose weight. research finds this is the continuing european congress of obesity,

which, as we know, a huge problem. but yeah, some men were offered £400 along with text messages saying, you know, yeah, lose weight, fatty or whatever , lose weight, fatty or whatever, and healthy tips. and that helped them to lose weight , helped them to lose weight, believe it or not. and it was a more the incentive was quite clever because we are more incentivised to not lose money than we are to gain money. yes. so they said like if you if you meet these targets, you will not lose this amount of money. so it did work to a degree. >> people feel that so much more. it's interesting, a lot of money. i always thought if you could somehow, you know, when you're like, you're trying to get your kids to do homework or whatever or study for their exams, and you kind of go, if you if you get lots of a's or buy you a camera, it kind of works a little bit. but if you were allowed to say if you don't get at least a b in english, i am going to take away take away your playstation. >> yeah, yeah. take away. >> yeah, yeah. take away. >> but you know, that's considered cruelty. but the weird thing is effective. >> it did work in terms of losing weight, but actually it seems like what was so genius about it was that they were

like, there was like, if you lose 5% of your weight, you're going to not lose £50 or £200 if you get to 10. but everyone lost . the average was 4.8. so it seems like also they didn't have to pay out any money. >> yeah. interesting. so they were struggling and they didn't even make it to first base. yeah. >> but they did lose weight . >> but they did lose weight. >> but they did lose weight. >> good for you. it would be. i do think making a bet with your friends is a good way to do it. the times now, paul and, are we pleased this case was dismissed or are we alarmed? it never saw the light of day. >> both. both? absolutely both. i like sushi, remarked to japanese colleague. not racist. judge rules, she said in an accent . yeah, i can't even do my accent. yeah, i can't even do my own accent tonight, so i'm not going to try an accent and nana sato rosberg interpreted the comment as racist, accused claire ozanne of prejudice, then sued the school of oriental and african studies at london university. the whole thing just sounds like sort of some irony, doesn't it? yeah. a judge chairing an employment tribunal has ruled that sato rosberg , a

has ruled that sato rosberg, a linguistics and culture professor, has was sorry, hypersensitive and predisposed to finding fault in her colleague. now, i love this predispose comment because i find society now has been programmed to be predisposed to be offended by whatever it is they can choose to be offended by, and i we don't get the full context here, she is not like she just walked into the room and saw a japanese person and went, i like sushi, i like sushl went, i like sushi, i like sushi. that's not what happened. she just seemed to have said, i like sushi in her presence. i was , which would suggest to me was, which would suggest to me that there was maybe more going on than than we're aware of. >> as you say, predisposed to find fault is the key, isn't it? was the big question when we had that row about the queen's lady in waiting who wanted to know where the african lady was really from or whatever, you know, and obviously that one maybe swung the other way. but, this is always the big question . this is always the big question. >> but she was accusing that like, accused it of a, of a racist microaggression , which racist microaggression, which is. that's ridiculous. like, you know, you guys , if you like

know, you guys, if you like bagels, i'm perfectly happy to accept that. yeah yeah. >> let's see one from you. very, very happy. i found it quite interesting that she has, she says ozanne, an oxford graduate and insect specialist . yeah. and insect specialist. yeah. which does does some vaguely suggest that she's not 100% cued up on sort of human nature? >> yeah, she did say also sorry that she would she she wouldn't have said to, this is the person the saturday roseburg said she wouldn't have said to a german person, i like sausage. and i think it really depends on how attractive he was. yeah. >> now, from sushi .josh, attractive he was. yeah. >> now, from sushi . josh, we're, >> now, from sushi. josh, we're, we're moving on to further cultural war territory , men are cultural war territory, men are back on top. according to eminent anthropologists . could eminent anthropologists. could this be the beginning of the end for my having to shop ? for my having to shop? >> yeah, well, this is, you know. yeah, possibly. yeah. titan in the times ancient man did most of the hunting, after all. claim scientists. now, believe it or not, i did an anthropology degree, and a lot of it was studying hunter gatherer societies. last year there was this study that came

out that kind of proved that actually women did hunt as much as men. yeah. and whatever. but it's rubbish . it was total it's rubbish. it was total rubbish. it didn't seem to make sense at the time, and there's someone else who was an anthropologist. some was like, well, that doesn't sound right. went back through, looked at this, this study and went and realised that they made a bunch of ridiculous mistakes. they included societies they shouldn't have, or possibly quite simply. >> well, you know , motivated. yeah. >> yeah. to, to prove this sort of present thing that men and women are exactly the same when they're, when they aren't and sort of like the different types of hunting. if women were mentioned to hunt at all within a hunter gatherer society, then that instantly put them on par with men who would go away for weeks to find bigger game. so it is a big deal. and when confronted with this proof that essentially their study was made up, this, the women sort of went, yeah , she's like, yeah, went, yeah, she's like, yeah, no. typical, you know . yeah. no. typical, you know. yeah. >> paul, do you want to have a say? >> there's a very salient line in this which captures

everything brilliantly . and it's everything brilliantly. and it's it was dismissed as an erroneous and agenda driven attempt to impose modern sensibilities on the distant past. and that erroneous agenda driven attempt is, you know, is extrapolated across the whole of society. >> there it is. we all know who has the upper body strength. finally, paul, we get down to the fundamentals. you've got 10s the fundamentals. you've got 10s the correct post evacuation protocols in the daily star. >> yeah, brits have been pooing all wrong , says top bum doctor all wrong, says top bum doctor as he warns us. and don't wipe top bum doctor. love it. wonder if he's one of the boffins because he's in the star. a poo boffin . he is a boffin is boffin. he is a boffin is recommending we ditch bog roll and take a poo shower. >> fantastic. thank you for that, paul. the show is nearly oven that, paul. the show is nearly over, so let's take another quick look at thursday's front pages. we have the daily mail europe on edge after pro—russian slovak pm is gunned down. the guardian slovakian leader fighting for his life after assassination attempt. the

telegraph nhs turn on doctors who blow whistle over safety. the times starmer sets out to woo voters with six pledges. the daily mirror my six fixes for britain and the daily star , britain and the daily star, doctor doolittle we can chinwag with the eighth. that's all we have time for. thank you to my guest josh howie and paul cox, headliners we'll be back tomorrow with andrew doyle, nick dixon and scott capurro . it's dixon and scott capurro. it's the dream team if you're watching a five, stay tuned for breakfast. otherwise thank you. good night . good night. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> evening. welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. sunny spells for many tomorrow, but there will be some heavy showers across the south yet again. northern scotland may well see the highest temperatures low pressure dominating down to the southwest, and this weather fronts provided a thicker zone of cloud across central areas that rain from that weather

front, though, is tending to peter out, as are the heavier showers we saw earlier. just a bit of rain just returning to parts of the east coast as we go through the night. for many it will be a dry night, quite murky and misty on eastern coast, and some fog is possible across parts of the south as temperatures generally drop to about 10 to 12 celsius. any mist and fog in the south should be clearing away, so generally out of the way by the time we get to the morning rush hour. but quite a lot of cloud across east anglia and parts of the southeast where there may well be 1 or 2 showers, some of that rain feeding into lincolnshire as well. generally a fine start for wales. most of northern ireland as well, and a good part of scotland again. dry and fine with sunny spells, the breeze coming in from the north sea, so the east coast will be chilly, but again northern scotland in the sunshine. we'll see those temperatures really jumping up through the course of the day . through the course of the day. it's going to stay fairly dull and cool though. in northeast england some outbreaks of rain here and we'll see a bit more rain coming into east anglia, lincolnshire then across the midlands during the afternoon,

the potential for some quite heavy showers breaking out across the midlands, southern england and south wales, some torrential downpours are possible in the brighter spells in the south 20 degrees, but the highest temperatures likely to be across parts of scotland. in the northwest, 2324 is possible cooler on the north sea coast, with that breeze coming in which is still around on friday, again turning things misty at times. again on friday we'll watch the showers developing across parts of england and wales, especially again some heavy ones are possible, but they'll be very hit and miss. a good part of the day will be dry and bright, and in the sunny spells it'll feel pretty warm once more. bye for now . how. >> now. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> good evening. the conservative government say they want a ban on sex education and relationship advice for kids at primary school. yet wasn't it them that brought this in in 2020? are they being hypocrites? maybe but the subject matters. what is the appropriate age? 50 mps sign a letter to say we should take palestinian refugees. but wouldn't that just mean a whole load of pro—hamas people coming into britain? and today , may we begin this today, may we begin this programme's countdown to the 80th anniversary of d—day, and we ask the question, why do so few british youngsters seem to know what really happened? but before all of that, let's get the news with tatiana sanchez . the news with tatiana sanchez. >> nigel, thank you and good evening. the top stories from the gb newsroom. slovakia's prime minister robert fico, is in a critical condition after he

was shot following a government meeting in handlova, outside the capital bratislava. officials could be seen bundling the prime minister into a car. shortly after several shots were heard hitting mr fico in the abdomen, he was then airlifted to hospital, where his condition is now life threatening. one man has now been detained by authorities as the country's president condemned the assassination attempt , assassination attempt, describing it as a brutal attack. mr fico won power for a fourth time last october and has implemented more pro—russian policies. he's pledged to stop military support for ukraine and threatened to veto the country's membership in nato. in other news, emergency measures are now in place across england to deal with overcrowded prisons. it means defendants in police custody will remain there and won't be transferred to courts for bail hearings. the labour leader used today's prime minister's questions to reference a report saying high risk prisoners are being let out up to 70 days early without

sufficient planning