The Shelley Tasker Show

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Broadcasts live every Wednesday at 7:00p.m. uk time on Radio Soapbox: http://radiosoapbox.com

Good evening, wonderful people! On this lively midweek show, I’m joined by my co‑host Mr Mallifficus Scott for two hours of candid chat, laughs and a fair few eyebrow‑raisers. We kick off with the tech turmoil of a global Microsoft outage and muse on how fragile our infrastructure has become, before skewering a “simple” BBC explainer on climate change and the media’s outrage machine. We dive into free speech with a jaw‑dropping real court reading on so‑called hate speech, then counterbalance it with Rowan Atkinson’s eloquent defence of robust dialogue—and a classic Steve Hughes bit on being “offended.” Along the way we wander delightfully through life updates: late‑night music jams, turning a home office into a mini‑museum of family history, the joy of decluttering lofts and cutlery drawers, shaggy rugs and scratch‑happy pets, piano practice triumphs, and an unexpectedly wholesome engagement shoot. We also touch on migration headlines, digital ID creep, and the never‑ending budget woes—asking who really benefits from manufactured outrage. Same time next week—bring your favourite beverage and your best scepticism.

P.S. Next week we’ll share a brilliant resource for researching World War I veterans in your family—don’t miss it.

[00:00:00] Unknown:

Oh.  

[00:01:31] Unknown:

Good evening, wonderful people. It's Wednesday night. You're listening to the Shelley Tasker Show.  

[00:01:59] Unknown:

Yeah. Good evening, folks. Mister Scott here. We have got an amazing show for you this evening and a brilliant guest.  

[00:02:17] Unknown:

And a remembrance Sunday parade to discuss   canceled over health and safety fears. Oh. What's the realest news? Health and safety.   It's not what you think neither.  

[00:02:40] Unknown:

Global Microsoft outage?   No Minecraft for the children.   Oh, dear. Shock   horror.  

[00:02:59] Unknown:

An Assyrian migrant with a deep voice and a preceding gray hairline   is ruled to be a child.  

[00:03:16] Unknown:

And what is climate change? A really simple   simple,   explanation for you.   Straight from the BBC, mind you.  

[00:03:34] Unknown:

Snippets and chat is all coming up peeps. We're here with you for the next two hours.  

[00:03:40] Unknown:

Aren't you lucky? You lucky old folks.  

[00:04:31] Unknown:

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. You are listening live to the Shelley Tasco Show   on radiosoapbox.com,   and you might be listening later on Clear Air FM, the sound of freedom. It's good to have your company.   Today's date is Wednesday, October 29.   Happy hump day indeed.   I'm here along with my wonderful cohost, mister Malefika Scott. Good evening, mister Scott.  

[00:04:55] Unknown:

Good evening, missus Tasker. How are you this week?  

[00:04:59] Unknown:

I'm   on the up, sir. On the up.   Good. After a couple of really long days working, and, I mean, I did a twenty four hour shift and then home for six hours and another twelve hour shift,   I'm ready to relax. And I've just poured myself a glass of wine to  

[00:05:17] Unknown:

relax and, have a nice little chat to you. Ah, as sure as Sean Surplus would say, your favorite kicking back with your favorite beverage, mate.  

[00:05:26] Unknown:

Absolutely.   And how are you, mister Scott? I am Is now attractive?  

[00:05:33] Unknown:

I have had actually a great week. I've had a great week. Yeah. I have. I have.   Been doing over the last   do you know I've had three jams in the last seven days? So I know I said I wanted to go half? Yeah. I I know I said I wanted to get an album together before Christmas.   And Uh-huh. By all means, like, the tunes are there probably to make an album with, but the rate we're going, we're probably lucky to get an EP by Christmas.   But,   I have to say the excellent mister Von Kurt, friend of show, has been over doing drumming for me. He's an excellent you know, he's he's so great at just putting up with my really strange timings and and all that kind of thing.   Your creative ways. My creative ways. Yeah. Or yes. Or creative sort of sporadic   waves,   maybe.  

Yeah.   That,   I've also been doing a lot of digging on granddad, or should I say, other people have been doing it for me, but I'll get into a bit of that, later on.   So obviously, granddad being a World War one vet,   I've joined the site. But I'll I'll talk about that in a bit. It's, yeah. It's it's   re could be really useful for some people, including yourself, Shelley. So, yeah, like I said, I'll I'll touch on that a bit later.   But That's good. It's been a good week. It really has. And,   you know, I've also been putting together,   you've seen my little office room, haven't you? Mhmm. A a little while back.  

And, as my missus said to you, oh, it's like a bloody museum in there.   Oh, it's lovely. I love it. I'm not being funny. It's even more like a museum now, because I've just, I've been getting hold, I've been getting hold of loads of really old photographs   and stuff like that. And there were- And there's your talitus in there, is it called that? I can't remember. My Tantalus, yeah, my Tantalus. Tantalus, that's it. My yes. That was our new word of the week last week, wasn't it? Of course. It's your turn this week. I hope you've got a good one. I'm joking.  

[00:07:37] Unknown:

I'm joking. What I really need to ask you,   totally random, but when I think about your house, I need to find   out where you got that lovely shaggy rug in your lounge.   Oh. Because that's the one that I want, I might just have to come to your house and steal it, it will go with my new design in my lounge. We've we've thrown it away.  

[00:07:56] Unknown:

You are joking. No. We've thrown it away.   So yeah.   Really, like, really quick simple solution,   or sip simple explanation.   We've got, like, laminate flooring through through most of the house.   And,   the animals, every time they came in and sat on that rug, they'd start scratching. It's like that that flipping rug has gotta go. So it just won't I think they like using them as, like, a massage mat because we've got one, but it's brown, and I love the color of yours. But every time our dog comes in the lounge, he's on his back rubbing into it, and I was like, oh, no. I just mean scratching like like they've got fleas or something, and I just was paranoid that it was full of fleas, so I just got rid of it. Okay.  

[00:08:40] Unknown:

Fair enough. Fair enough. It got dumped.  

[00:08:43] Unknown:

But, yes, it was a rather nice, like, very deep shag pile rug. It was rather lovely. It was lovely. And it was a it was a if I remember rightly, you it was the royal blue sort of  

[00:08:54] Unknown:

thing going on. One of my favorite colors, whenever I was thinking about it today, your rug, I think of you and your house and your rug.   Not your little office. Not your little museum office, but your rug anyway. Oh, well, yeah. Well, yeah.  

[00:09:09] Unknown:

I don't know how insightful that is for the listeners. Probably rather.   I mean, it's more insightful. My brain works. It's but it's more insightful than the information that was given out on me last week, I have to say.   What was that? I can't remember. Who who is who is Malefika Scott?   Oh, yeah. That was a young gay young actor. Yeah. I'm that young gay actor. Yeah. Yeah.   Apparently. Yeah. As I said before, I'm a bit disappointed that all my personal life is across the Internet.  

[00:09:37] Unknown:

I know. How shameful.  

[00:09:39] Unknown:

Yeah. No. But it's, as I say, I've been putting up loads of photographs.   Well, actually, I've been taking time to actually   get,   fairly good, like, large frames, and getting, like, you know, that sort of foam   backing you can get and just cutting out holes for all the photographs to poke through and and stuff like that. So I've been sort of,  

[00:10:00] Unknown:

being a bit skillful in that way. You've been very creative this week, haven't you? Seven jam has been a bit of designer.   Crikey.  

[00:10:08] Unknown:

Yeah. Well, seven jam I only had three jams. That would have been pretty good. Seven. Sorry. In the last seven days. Been in the night. Three three in the last seven days. That's been going. Yeah. And I've been jamming with a mate of mine who well, he's really he's kind of my brother because I would   we're not related, but I   spent all my youth hanging around with him.   And I used I peered over his cock when I was about 18 old, something like that. That didn't sound right then.  

[00:10:35] Unknown:

I thought you were gonna say I didn't pee  

[00:10:38] Unknown:

over his cot. I I peered. You didn't peer over his neither  

[00:10:42] Unknown:

cot.   Cot.  

[00:10:44] Unknown:

Cot. Sorry. It's my mind. Cot? You are dreadful. Already, we're   not we're not even quarter of an hour in. I know. And I've only had a sip of wine. Oh, well, yes. So that's not an excuse then, is it? It just happens naturally. It does.  

[00:10:58] Unknown:

It does.  

[00:10:59] Unknown:

No. So, yeah. That that was really cool. I I caught up with him a few weeks back, really, like, properly, properly for the first time, really, in about twenty years.   We've we've, you know, crossed paths and stuff. But it was really nice, and he picked up Qatar the same time I did. And it's really nice to know that he's just as crap as I still am. So,  

[00:11:19] Unknown:

You're no crap.  

[00:11:21] Unknown:

No. But we we're pretty much at the same level still. Do you know what I mean? Which is really nice.   But no. All these photographs and stuff I've been putting up,   I've even found one of my grandfather on the other side, on my dad's side,   in all his masonic regalia   with his lodge,   and all that kind of stuff. There's a big sort of, obviously, like an annual masonic photograph where all the lodge got together and held up their little banner. I'm sorry for that granddad because he doesn't get mentioned as much as the other one. Do you know what? He was an I knew him.   And do you know what? He he broke my heart really a little bit when I was a little kid because he said he I remember him getting a bit drunk on Christmas.  

And I went through to the he'd he'd really helped me out that day because, we used to have these horrible windowsills in the in our old house that were just,   they were like   a I don't know, like a plastic vinyl that was made to look like wood.   And,   you know, the sort of thing, I mean, like a laminate, like plastic laminate that looks like wood. Mean? Yeah. Yeah. Horrible stuff. But,   I thought I'd do my dad a favor, because I'd I'd learned how to use sandpaper. So I decided I'd sand the wood and make it even smoother.   And obviously,   it was laminate. I just scratched it   to to to hell. You know what I mean?  

And I got in so much trouble for it. And my granddad my nanny and granddad were down staying for the Christmas for a few weeks around Christmas. I got in so much trouble for it. And my granddad went through and said to me, dad, like, you you didn't have to chew him out like that. So so it's all sortable. Like, you know, it's all sortable. And he went in there, and he spent an hour and a half,   maybe more, with a can of Brasso, you know, the stuff you used to polish brass and stuff,   and buffed out   all the scratches I'd made from this plastic vinyl. And, you know, he was an absolute angel. Anyway,   later on, I think it was probably,   you know, Boxing Day or whatever, later on in the in the sort of holiday period,   He'd had a few few too many drinks, I expect. And he said, you know what? He said, yeah. Your dad was a was was a bit of a tearaway when when he was a kid as well. He said, don't worry about it, you know. And he said, he said, even when I'm dead and gone, I'll still love you kids.  

And,   you know, I I I love you kids so much, she said. And even when I'm dead and gone, I'll still love you kids. And as as a sort of seven year old kid, it it really sort of I don't know. It upset me a bit. You know what I mean? And, I went through to me room and had a little cry, and my mum came in and she was like, what's wrong? You know, and I was like, oh, I just don't want granddad to die, like, you know.   And   my nan, gosh, she was so harsh.   My nan went through and fully chewed it, you stupid old man. She was   so, I mean, don't don't get me wrong. My nan was lovely as well. But, yeah, there you go. There's a mention from the other side of the family, but I actually, on my wall, I've got a photograph of him in all his Freemason   gear.  



[00:14:19] Unknown:

Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Yeah.  

[00:14:21] Unknown:

Yeah. I'm not a Freemason myself, by the way, folks. Just in case you were wondering. And even if I was, I wouldn't be allowed to tell you.  

[00:14:29] Unknown:

No. No.   Well, there we are.   Yeah. Yeah. Well, I wish I could say I've been as creative as you, but I've been busy working, but what I have done today, and oh my crikey, I feel cleansed,   I have thrown   every box out of my loft, and put it out on the recycling. I'm a box saver.   I've purged. Do you save boxes? I save boxes for everything, because I think, oh, might wanna sell that one day. You get more money for it if you've got the box, And I tell you, half of my loft is full of well, was full of empty bloody boxes.   And the last few days, I've been spending time up there looking for things, and I've been slowly clearing it out. And today, I just threw everything, like, because we've got this loft ladder, and I'm just chucking it all the way down. And,   then I squashed it all up. And I said to Darren, my god, you gotta go in that loft. I said, when I go to bed tonight,   my mind is gonna be clear knowing that above me is, like, oh, half the rubbish. There's less clutter between you and heaven. Clutter. Yeah. Love it. Less clutter between me and heaven. Yeah.  



[00:15:33] Unknown:

All about boxes. Which I've only ever kept boxes once.   And when I when I was a bit younger,   when I was a bit younger, not that much younger I have to say quite sadly, but, yeah, probably about fifteen years ago, maybe a bit more than that, I collected the, Force FX lightsabers.   Are you aware of these things?   Yes. Yes. Yeah. And they they they they're all motion sensitive, and they make noises, and they that you switch them on, and they they they they switch on like a lightsaber. They go from, like, the the handle up to the tip of the blade. Oh, it's just it's amazing. And I thought they were great. So I kept a lot I got I bought probably about six of those things, and I kept all the boxes, and do you know what? They've all been jeweled to hell, and they did probably don't work very well anymore and all that kind of thing. I still got the boxes in the loft somewhere, I think.   Oh, cranking. So, yeah, I think I need to do that. You. Yeah. My missus loves a good purge, mate. She has been purging.  

She has been purging for the last two weeks, and she's just like, I'm on a purge. I'm on a per and she she it just the same as you. It just makes her mind feel clearer, and, you know, you're not housing all this junk. Yeah. Yeah. And I usually tend to start doing these things, like, when I'm cooking tea. I mean, yesterday, I was upstairs tidying up, and I burnt the saucepan dry. Done it several times.  

[00:16:53] Unknown:

I just go up and I forget what I'm forget that I'm cooking downstairs, or I'll start tidying up random cupboards, and Darren will be come home from work, and I've got, like, the all the kitchen stuff on the cupboards. But the other day, the cutlery drawer, for the last few weeks, every time I go in that drawer, I would be ashamed if somebody opened that drawer because crumbs and everything fall in it. But But the other day I was cooking tea and I'm like, right, I'm on it. Empty it, throw away crap, and let's get rid of these crumbs. And it was just so therapeutic.  

[00:17:21] Unknown:

Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, nothing exciting. Talking talking of boiling pans dry, when the first year me and my missus got together, right, I was a chef. And,   I went off out to work, because we were we were we were pretty skinned at the time. We decided in our wisdom that we'd move out of, you know, move out move in with each other.   And,   yeah, we didn't really have the money to do it. We just wanted to move in with each other, so we did. And Love to each other.   Yeah. I guess. Like, I I suppose you could say that. Yeah. Yeah. It's large. Large.   I'm joking. It is. Yeah. There it is. Anyway, why we I cooked a roast chicken the night before, and I I thought what I'll do is make a soup out of the carcass.  

You know? And, yeah. You say you just you get a big pan of water, chuck everything in that you haven't eaten, and just you have a few carrots and onions and blah blah blah blah blah, and then just boil it down into a stock, and then use the stock to make a soup. That was the plan. And I,   I I set it going before I went to work, and I just said to, the missus, I said, look,   don't you know, just just keep an eye on it, top it up every so often. And she was like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fine.   Anyway, I came back,   and the whole flat stunk. It was, like, really bad. And I thought, oh my, oh, no. It's not it's not the chicken boiled dry, is it? And I went through.  

And no. There was still water boiling away in the in the in the in the thing   there. It turns out   it turns out, she said to me, she said, oh, no.   I said, something happened. I stirred it around, and it it was all black at the bottom. And I was like, oh my god. Like,   she said, oh, no. I I fell asleep, but it boiled dry. And I was like, oh, oh, we can't eat it now. It's gonna taste horrible. Like, you know, years later, she confessed that she didn't like the idea of eating anything   made from bones. So she kind of let it happen on purpose.  

[00:19:11] Unknown:

Oh, Oh, okay.  

[00:19:13] Unknown:

It took many years many years for that to come out, but yeah.   Yeah.  

[00:19:18] Unknown:

Yeah. I do have a habit. I do it quite often. The last time actually was last year's Christmas cake, and I made it after Christmas because   I just ran out of time, and I thought well I've got all these ingredients I may as well make it. Mhmm. And yeah I just let it burn and went and had a bath, not intentionally.   And I can remember telling my nan and she said what a waste of ingredients.  

[00:19:38] Unknown:

Oh, wow. You know,   I   I got sent a clip, actually, again, friend of show. So mister Von Kurt came around last night. And it actually, it wasn't such a productive jam last night,   because we spent most of it talking, actually, and just gibbering away at each other about various things.   But he bought up, actually, you'll you're gonna love this, Shelley. He bought up   a site   called now where is it? The site is called Dark Cornwall. Have you heard of it?  

[00:20:08] Unknown:

No.  

[00:20:09] Unknown:

Okay. Really simple, folks. Www.darkcornwall,   all one word, darkc0rnwall.com.   All one word.   And   he found this wonderful little video. You're saying about your your nan saying, what a waste. What a waste of ingredients. And people did know how to scrimp and save back then, you know.   So he's he's posted it actually on his own Instagram.   Here's what he said. Okay? He said, I came across this lovely 1964   interview with pensioner,   Amanda Billings. Amanda spelled with an e, by the way. So Amanda  

[00:20:51] Unknown:

Billings. Oh, okay.  

[00:20:53] Unknown:

As she reminisces about her life in the past in Fradin,   her words capture,   a a time and rhythm of life that feels so distant yet still so familiar in its heart.   Most of all, I love her little smile.   So   do go on and look this up, folks. Darkcornwall.com.   I'm gonna play the clip for you anyway. This is an interview   with her. So bearing in mind, she was I think she was 77   when this was   filmed, and it was filmed in 1964.   So it doesn't take much of a mathematician to work out that she was born before   the turn of the last century.   So here we go. This is what Amanda Billings   had to say about   life in 1964   compared to when she grew up and got married and stuff. So here we go. See what you think of this. I might have to boost the volume a little bit. So if I have to start it again, I will. Alright. Okay. Here we go.  



[00:21:55] Unknown:

I remember the day when I went in service.   In,   down White Water near St. Columbager.   Used to milk cows   and make pigs   in the arbor field.   When the first war World War came, I made munitions   at Parnporth.   I was there about   twelve months,   two year, two year. Well, then we was drafted up to, Coventry   and I made shells,   up there in the ordinance work.   I was up there about,   three months. That's all. Then I came home.   And then I went in service, in kitchen girl, in Missus Trelevins, in Truro.   And then I went back to Grandpin Road again.   And then I finished up there and I came back here and I was married.  

And that's all the service I had.   I go to chapel Sunday mornings   and, the bright hour go up Thursdays and sing   when does the members meet and I had to sing a solo.   And   and when does my turn out to wash up and with other woman there, miss and Dean.   I'm seventy seven and five months.   Now do me gardening, scrub me kitchen, scrub the tables, black lit the stove,   do me washing and take out the dog, cut the grass.   And what else do I do? Go do all me shopping   and go errands from his palm and to her   toilet every day and do everything,   but I can for   her. I don't think very much of the young people,   for one thing, they squand away too much money, spend too much money,   And cigarettes and alcohol   spend too much, which they never have it. Never have it, young people. That's what my aunt dress and walk the streets and the lands.  

That's what they do.   They'll never do like we do,   never in their lives. No. They'll never make ends meet   when they come on pension, all age pension.   When I came to Fratton, there was no,   electric lights,   no cars,   all lamps and candles.   When I was first married, my husband used to have £3.12   a week. Now I had to go out to work and that's how I made it go.   See, and coal was cheaper.   Never had paid so much for coal. It's just 10 shillings, $10.11 now.   Well, coal must have been built   6 shillings. 6 shillings then. 5 shillings. 5 shillings, probably recall when I was married first, I think. And I used to go down with a bike and put the   bike, and bring up wood and saw it up   in blocks for the pliers.  



[00:24:46] Unknown:

What do you reckon to that?  

[00:24:47] Unknown:

Oh, it's lovely.  

[00:24:49] Unknown:

That's amazing, isn't it? That's a real honest   view of the past, you know, and how people just used to work an honest day's work for their living.   You know?   Yeah. Yeah. They didn't squander it. Nothing was thrown away. Everything was reusable. Cigarettes or alcohol?   Oh, but she didn't say alcohol. She said alcohol.   Oh, alcohol. Yeah.   I love that. Oh, bless you. They never ought to have it.  

[00:25:15] Unknown:

Yeah. Never ought to have it. I love it. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.  

[00:25:19] Unknown:

So yeah. If if any of you, out there,   especially overseas need any of that translating,   just go to   Dark Cornwall Dot Com and look at look up,   Amanda Billings.   And, the subtitles are at the bottom of the screen for you. Alright? Because that's quite a thick Cornish accent, that one. It's a very thick Cornish accent, isn't it? Yeah. It is booty. Yeah. Tis booty, missus. I love it.   Yeah.   Oh, that is nice. Well done, mister Von Kurt. Yes. Well done, mister Von Kurt. Yeah. Thank you. And and, thanks for thanks thanks for all your efforts on the drums as well. That's that's, it's all going well, Shelley. I'm hoping.   Fingers crossed. Yeah. Good.  



[00:26:02] Unknown:

Yeah. Well, I've still got your song sat in the corner of my,  

[00:26:06] Unknown:

desktop. Oh, I've got other ones that I want you to sing as well. I mean, you I've I've got other ones, actually. No. I've just hours learning that. No. I can just I can just send them to you, and you can rather than just have have one that I've said, can you do that one? You can go, actually, I don't wanna do that one. I cannot do this one.  

[00:26:22] Unknown:

Okay. Okay. That might be a bit of fun too. Be so wanted.   Yeah.   No. It's good. I'm good. I'm glad you got this creative outlet. It's funny because I'm like I don't know. Now I'll slow slow down a bit with work doing all these sleeps because   the money's good, and you think, well, I'm getting paid to go to sleep and stuff. But autumn's here now, and it's dark evenings. I don't wanna be out so much. And, I mean, I've been doing, like, three sleeps a week, and it's like, if you're out on Monday night, you're home for a night, then out at night, then home again.   I just like, I've got two nights at home now. And I think after next Wednesday, I've got, like, eight whole nights off, and I I can't wait. I gotta say because it's it's time, isn't it? In the evenings is when I tend to do my creative stuff, and I can't do it if I'm at work. Yeah. How are you getting on with the piano thing? Are you still tinkering?  

Of course I am. I haven't been, like, kinda the last couple of days because I've been I'm trying to organize a Halloween party for tomorrow when I'm a day early.   But, yeah, I can I can probably pay play   about half a page of that Claire de Lune? Not perfectly. Really?  

[00:27:27] Unknown:

Oh, I'm excited now. Yeah. Some learning.  

[00:27:30] Unknown:

Year deadline. I reckon you're gonna make that Oh, year, you said. Yeah. So I've had it for, what, three weeks now, this piano, and, oh, I do love it. And I look at it in the evenings, and I say to Darren, oh my god. I can't believe that's mine.   And he was saying, first of all, he said, should we get a cover to put on it? I was like, what? The most beautiful thing in our lounge, and you wanna cover it up. And, like, anyone that comes in is like, if you want to have a go, you need to wash your hands. Yeah. But it's quite nice because Piran's been, like, having a bit of a play with it. And you know that song that everyone learns when they're at school? It's called loving hearts or something.   Alright. I'll just do   it.  

And then there's two people. Yeah. Yeah. So he can play the right hand of that. So I said, alright. We'll play a duet, and I did the bottom bit. And it's just been really nice sat down playing with him. Yeah. It's fun. Problem is you can't you can't tell kids anything, can you? I've tried to explain,   like, about fingering and stuff like that, and, he just ignores me. And I've decided now, just let him do it his way. You can't push him. He's let him have fun.  

[00:28:31] Unknown:

Yeah. So, but, you know, just don't bang those keys and be very careful. Yeah. First and foremost, it's got to be fun. As I said to you before, the girl that tried to teach me piano wanted to teach me bye bye black sheep, and I was instantly turned off.  

[00:28:45] Unknown:

Yeah.   Yeah. No wonder. No wonder.   Yeah. So I've been, like, downloaded apps and stuff so I can, like, try to learn sight more sight reading and stuff like that. I mean, there's just so much out there now, isn't there? So Good on you. It's going good on you. Yeah. Yeah. I I'm still going with the I do it all by ear thing because I'm lazy, I guess, maybe, or just maybe the ear thing works. I don't know. I I can do both, but it used to get me into a lot of trouble because I would be playing things how I thought they sound when I was doing exam pieces, and it's like, but it sounds right, but it's like it's not the right note, Shelley.   Not on the music, you know, but Not not for an exam, yes. Not for an exam, even though it sounds right, yeah.  

I suppose we're quite lucky if you've got a good musical, yeah.  

[00:29:28] Unknown:

Yeah. Yeah. I guess I guess it came from it came from not being allowed to touch my dad's guitar because the fun bit to touch on the guitar, obviously, is the tuning pegs, and my dad would get to it, and it will be out of tune. So I learned at a very young age to put it back in tune before when I left it. And I think that's where it comes from.  

[00:29:46] Unknown:

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's good. That's good. It's funny. I got this piano that Perrin said that first night. Does it all come apart like the old one? I was like, yeah. But you are not doing that. It's useful   and everything like that. Yeah. No thanks.  

[00:30:01] Unknown:

Look. We're we're coming very, very dangerously close. Oh, in fact, we are at the bottom of the hour, Shelley.  

[00:30:07] Unknown:

Frikey.  

[00:30:08] Unknown:

We are indeed. Folks, you are listening live on radio soapbox   dot com,   as well as in your   on prerecord,   I I'm assuming,   on Yeah. Radio Clearer.   Clearer. FM. I said free air last last week. I'm I'm sorry. It was it was clear. I'm I'm sorry about that. It's just, you know, what a ludicrous thought, Shelley.   Free air.  

[00:30:33] Unknown:

Come on. Give us a splash of news then. I I'm well aware that we always introduce these, and quite often, we only do a few of them because we run out of time. But, hey, the the ideas are there. Well, you know,  

[00:30:45] Unknown:

don't necessarily mean to cover everything I laugh about at the beginning of the show, but, you know, so one of the things I said at the beginning of the show was about the Microsoft outage   affecting things like NatWest,   Minecraft   sites, and Heathrow Airport,   apparently.   How easy, as I've said so many times before, how easy it is now to shut the entire world down. They don't need COVID.   They just need   an outage of some kind. Or or remember all the shops that got hacked. I remember reading in the news when I was sifting through stuff earlier that   apparently the company Next over here in The UK has done rather well since,   Marks and Spencer is another household name over here,   was cyber attacked earlier in the year and, you know, took them a long time to recover and this, that, and you know, how easy it would be to shut the entire world down, especially when we go over to digital ID and central bank digital currencies.  

But, I'm sure this is something, you know, we are preaching to the choir when we're talking about that sort of thing.   Yeah. There's that. There was a really simple guide to climate change from the BBC.   What is climate change, Shelley? Do you want me to tell you? Go on. Tell me. In a nutshell. Climate change is the long term shift in the Earth's average temperatures and weather conditions.   The world has been warming up quickly over the past hundred years or so.   And as a result, weather patterns are changing. Since the nineteen eighties, each decade has been warmer than the previous one.   The UK Met Office says, at least, isn't aren't the UK Met Office the people that had to delete a lot of data a couple of weeks back? Yeah. Because it was all wrong.  

Anyway Yeah.   And the world's 10 warmest years on record have all happened since 2015.   Oh, wow. Well, we're we're making a magnanimous claim there, aren't we?   According to the World   Meteorological   Organization. Try saying that three times faster. I do like the voice you're using. You could do the news. I I should do. Well, I'm I'm reading from the BBC, darling. So,   the year 2024   was the Earth's hottest   ever record the Earth's hottest ever recorded with climate change mainly responsible for the high temperatures.   Nothing to do with the sun then, folks.  

It was also the first calendar year to surpass   1.5   degrees centigrade of warming   compared to pre industrial levels   of the late eighteen hundreds. Now if that's a simple way of describing it to your average layman, I just don't think it's gonna work.   And if you look at the if you look at the stupid bar chart that's actually underneath it on the BBC web web page,   it is just   utter,   utter nonsense. I'm sorry. It really is. Someone made that they got a school kid to make that bar graph and just said, can you just make it bigger towards the end?  

[00:33:48] Unknown:

You know? I'm I love it. I love it. I just just There there was a good meme out of me, though. Oh, I love a meme, and there was a good meme going around not so long ago, actually, about a colouring insect with just   four coloured crayons to colour in the climate change.   It was funny. Back in the day, didn't we used to refer to it as, like, the ozone layer?   Because I can remember being really paranoid and buying an aerosol can and thinking,  

[00:34:13] Unknown:

what is this doing to the ozone layer? Yeah. Yeah. But were they still allowed to sell them? Can they still sell them now? Oh, yes. But we've taken the CFCs out of them. Now this was the funny thing about supposedly   CFCs, whatever that I can't remember even what that is an acronym for. But this was the funny thing. It only affected   the the ozone layer over the poles of the Earth, so the North And South Pole. I was like, what? So these things are magnetic, are they? They just like they come out of your aerosol can, and they automatically start traveling thousands of miles   to either to one pole or the other. It's just it's utter   utter. It's just amazing what the public believe.  



[00:34:52] Unknown:

It is. And the BBC, I've noticed this week,   I heard it on radio too. You know, I like listening to a bit of radio too. I know you do. Bless you. You'll But the entertainment,   not for the news purposes, for the entertainment side of it. Okay? Alright. But they've got a new advert they that they play, and it's all about how the BBC   is where you'll find the real news. And I've noticed they've started pushing it. I think the BBC was on at work the other day, and they've also got a televised one as well, where they're now saying that don't listen to disinformation,   come to the BBC.  

We will out call any disinformation and stuff like that. But this week, this has come out. Yeah. So it's quite interesting.  

[00:35:34] Unknown:

Yeah. But, you know,   nobody trusts the BBC, which is why they I which is why I believe, which is why I personally believe that GB News was set   up. That's that's my   own personal reflections, and and there is no substance to that whatsoever. I just think in the back of my mind, well, you know, if you go to the old adage of what's the best way to beat the opposition, it's to become the opposition.   Tell people what they think they want to hear, and you've still got them on board because you can still herd them in whatever direction you want. And as I've said many times before, I think it was last year, I commented that there were something like 56,000,000   in debt and still go they're still going now. I mean, if I was 56,000,000   in debt, I wouldn't have a house to live in. So I'd you know? Arnhem world. Barnum World. Yeah. Absolutely. And   and again, mentioning Barnum World, anyone that hasn't been onto YouTube   and put in Barnum World, b a r n u m, Barnum World,   and watch the movie, you definitely should. And if you have watched it already, please just pass it on to some of your normie folks,   because it's yeah. It just   I I just don't think it pulls many punches really, and it does it in a really sort of quite a fun way. Although I know there's some very serious bits in the movie, but,   yeah. I think it I think it does a really good job of doing what it does. I don't know whether I agree with all the the mind control   stuff that's in it purely because they don't need to implant chips in people's brains to control their minds. All they have to do is say, don't listen to anyone else but the BBC because we will fact check everything.  

You know?  

[00:37:16] Unknown:

Oh, yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah.  

[00:37:18] Unknown:

Right.   Yeah. That I think that was they they were the only two bullet points actually I brought up at the beginning of the show. So So that's your that's your week's effort for the show? No. No. I've got a load of other stuff. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I just wondered whether you were gonna talk about anything that you'd bought. Yes. I will. I've I've got two things. Two things. Yeah. I've got nothing, actually.  

[00:37:38] Unknown:

No. Actually, I've I think we ought to go to the funny one first because I was gonna,   mention this last week, but we just ran out of time like we always do. Mhmm.   Right. So this is absolutely   hilarious.   Right. Titled,   a Syrian migrant with deep voice and receding gray hair is ruled to be a child.   Judge Bruce   Judge Gaynor Bruce, a former human rights lawyer, claimed a traumatic life experience can make someone appear older.   A Syrian migrant with a deep voice and receding gray hair has been ruled to be a child in a tribunal.   The migrant claimed he was 16 when he arrived in Britain on a small boat last year.  

But Derby City Council carried out an age assessment after his arrival and said he was significantly   over 18 years of age.   He was judged to be between the ages of 24 and 26 by senior immigration officers   and was said to have a hairy have hairy muscular arms, crow's feet lines around his eyes, and wrinkles on his forehead.   Yeah. The migrant, who is a smoker,   also had stubble,   a deep voice, a visible Adam's apple, and a receding hairline with grey hair all over his head.   According to an immigration officer,   he used his slim body stature to present himself as a child.  

The applicant who was given a nominee and referred to as SMF   appealed the case and has now won in the upper tribunal of the immigration and asylum chamber.   So last year and in the investigation  

[00:39:16] Unknown:

MF, is that some mother  

[00:39:18] Unknown:

MF. Yeah. Plead.   Yep. Yeah. Could be.   It says,   an investigation revealed that thousands of migrants were lying about their age in attempt in an attempt to gain asylum in The UK.   But SMS   claimed his date of birth was 08/12/2008.   And the judge decided in his favor   ruling that he was 16 at the time of his arrival in The UK.   Judge Gaynor Bruce, a former human rights lawyer, said, young men typically start to develop facial hair in adolescence,   but its thickness and rate of growth can vary.   Life experience, in particular traumatic life experience,   can make someone appear older than they actually are, as can genetics and exposure to the elements.  

She added that she did not believe everything he said, added, I do not accept that he is entirely illiterate   to the point of being unable to sign his own name at the bottom of his statements.   This is quite obviously incompatible with his use of a smartphone.   Anyway,   overall, I have found the chronology in the applicant's narrative to be internally and externally consistent   with what is known about events in North Syria.   SMF claimed that while in Syria, he had lived with his mother on a farm. He said that he was scared the entire alarm and the entire time during his journey to The UK.   After his arrival, he was kept at Dover for two days before he was transferred to a migrant hotel in London for two weeks.  

He claimed to be fearful of the other migrants in the hotel, who he said were noisy, took drugs, drank, and smoked cigarettes.   The judge declared,   I quashed the decision of Derby City Council to find that the applicant is clearly an adult.   Derby City Council will   be made to pay the migrants' legal costs.   Further details   of the less immigration status are unknown.   How hilarious  

[00:41:11] Unknown:

though. Oh my word. Well, you know, there's a really simple way to test someone's age, you know,   you can do it, you can do it through their teeth.   Right. Okay. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, all they need to do maybe is just extract as a child. Extract one tooth maybe. Or maybe   no. I'm not even gonna say it. Someone will think I'm. I was gonna crack a joke and say, well, really, we just need to see a skeleton, but, obviously, someone will someone will misinterpret that as some sort of hate speech. So I'm just yeah. It was gonna be a joke, but, yeah, I'll I'll I'll let that one roll. Sorry. I was just being sarcastic.  

[00:41:46] Unknown:

That's okay. Yeah. So the council claimed he was a child and the judge ruled otherwise, basically.   But how funny.  

[00:41:54] Unknown:

Yeah. Absolutely unbelievable. But then I think half of these things are, are being done in order to incite the public,   and,   make   make society less cohesive.   That's that's exactly why all this stuff is but this all these outraging things being put you know? So you you're talking about that migrant. There was a   deported migrant sex offender given £500   to leave the country, Sky News is reporting today.   And that's like, you know, he threatened yeah. Because they, basically, they wanted to deport him, and he said he wouldn't cooperate with the paperwork, so they paid him £500   as an incentive.  

I mean Yeah. Not being funny. Right? With the amount of tax and everything that we pay,   and we'll get into a bit of that in a sec as well, but the the amount of tax and everything we pay, we could easily afford as a country to pay every migrant who doesn't belong here £500 to leave the country. Let's just let's just get it done. It'll be   Yeah. It'll be cheaper. It'll be a hell of a lot cheaper. Yeah. Just just here's £500   and go. And then, you know, this is then we can get our NHS back on the ground and, you know, and we won't need so many houses being built on beautiful farmland all over Cornwall and stuff like that. You know? Just just little things.  

[00:43:10] Unknown:

Little things. Yeah. Yeah. And did I mention last week, I can't remember if I did as well, about the migrant deported to France under the one in one out scheme, getting back on a small boat. And he came back. Yeah.  

[00:43:19] Unknown:

Well, you gotta try your luck. Yeah. I guess. Oh my god.  

[00:43:23] Unknown:

Yeah.  

[00:43:25] Unknown:

Oh, that is So go going on about, you know, £500   to leave the country. You know? So there's all this stuff going on about the budget and stuff in The UK at the moment. And we know the economy is a load of nonsense anyway,   and all they're intending on doing is just making things harder to tighten the thumbscrews on all of us just to keep us, you know, closer to our noses closer to the ground, really, you know.   Reeves could face 20,000,000,000   budget hole as UK   productivity   has been downgraded.   There's another article here also from the BBC saying Reeves   vows to defy the gloomy economic forecasts. And then to add to that as well,   another BBC article. Sorry for quoting the BBC, but, you know, it's all laughable stuff.  

Starmer declines to rule out,   breaking the manifesto   about tax pledges. Basically, he said that taxes wouldn't go up. So   he he, you know, he declines to rule out breaking that. Yeah. We all did. None of these people keep their promises. They never do. Did anyone expect any different? What an absolute none of nonsense. And this whole thing, worry, worry, worry,   worry, worry. Everyone stay worried, will you? And then then you're just you're just that little bit easier to control. I think that's probably the crux of it.  

[00:44:42] Unknown:

You know? Yeah. In a nutshell. Yeah. In a nutshell. Yeah. Yeah. In a nutshell.  

[00:44:48] Unknown:

We were talking about news and stuff. Sorry. Were you gonna say No. No. Sorry. Carry on. I was gonna say we're talking about news and stuff. Now, you'll remember I don't know whether you will remember. It was eons ago when I was on Andy's show. I was talking about a a company that was set up by   Nadine Zahawi,   who was, was he health minister or something at the time during COVID or something like that?   Can't remember. I can't even remember what his position was, and he was also hold over the coals for sort of tax evasion   and and and other or expenses or something like that. I can't remember the details, but he set up a   a he set up,   a knowledge gathering site called yougov.  

Yougov.co.uk.   And,   basically,   it's it's one of these it's basically one of these   sites that just tracks   everything. It tracks all all sorts of surveys and this and that and the other. And it said,   which Britain which news stories have Britons heard the most about,   between the twenty sixth and the October 27?   Okay?   Sex offender mistakenly released from prison. Well, that was another migrant, wasn't it?   That that came in top.   Yeah. Yeah. Just underneath that came   Prince Andrew   as just as a title.   And then it goes down to immigration in The UK and blah blah blah blah blah blah.   And the the percentages drop right off until   you get and I love this. Right? I love this entry.  

Coming in,   joint first place with sex offender mistakenly released from prison,   is don't know, don't watch the news.   Good on that 17%   of people.   Love it. They they still took the time to fill out the survey, though, didn't they, for YouGov?   So, yeah, you kinda lost some points there. But, yeah, don't know, don't watch the news,   was a was a a a good 17%   result.   That's not bad. Yeah. 17%   of the people   that that would suggest that, at least on that day only, 17%   of the people   in Britain   said, don't know. Don't watch the news.  

[00:47:05] Unknown:

So yeah. Well, in interestingly, alongside of that, have you heard of the Fabian Society?  

[00:47:11] Unknown:

Yes. Yes. Yes.  

[00:47:13] Unknown:

I I I first came across them about, like, a month ago. Someone mentioned it, and then,   I think it was brought up on Paul English's   show the other night, actually. And I thought, oh, I wanna look a bit more into this to understand it because I I literally couldn't remember what I'd researched because I am that time of my life. I can't remember last week.   And, yeah, I didn't realize, actually, that the Fabian Society,   all seven members,   they're all Labour.   And, of course, they are they are. They're all Labour.   And this is why it's so prevalent. I think at the moment, lots of people are talking about this society   because they're obviously one of the biggest think tanks in the country.  

So I just thought that was very interesting.   Yeah, indeed. I mean, people should go and look. Their job is to do, to do surveys and everything, but always obviously, cause they're a think tank trying to get it to get their side across. It's almost like,   well,   how how would you phrase it? Well, they're just trying to sell their ideas, but literally all seven members   are all to do with labor.  

[00:48:21] Unknown:

Yeah. Well yeah. But then does it make any difference? Because all these political parties,   they they just, you know, as as I've said so many times before, quote from Disraeli,   our prime minister during   Queen Victoria's time, governments do not govern.   They merely control the machinery of government themselves being controlled   by the hidden hand.  

[00:48:44] Unknown:

Yeah. So at the end of the day I get where you're where you're coming from, but I just thought it was interesting because,   obviously, we are under Labour government at the moment, but this massive think tank, they're all Labour.  

[00:48:56] Unknown:

Yeah. But we're not under a Labour government, really. Only by name. Oh, we're not. No. No. Because the the the the the Labour government have actually managed to to perpetuate   all the global aims of the last government. So I can't see that we've got a different government. And as I said as well so many times that governments   change, but all the civil servants   who operate the machinery   behind the scenes   all remain the same.   So   how a Labour government, when they came in, could say, we had no idea that the economy was in such a bad way. Well, of course, they had because all the civil servants would have told them so because the civil servants don't change when a government changes,   only   the government.  

So,   yeah, these are just as as far as I'm concerned, this is just front men. They're puppets.   They they get told. They get compromised. They get told what they they have to say, and they go and say it.   Yeah. Maybe not all of them are compromised, but some of them probably are. You know? In my own mindset, that's that's just how I find it. I don't believe all West Keys are. No. I don't think so. Some of them, I think that they've got, you know, like Andrew Bridgeman, I quite like him.  

[00:50:07] Unknown:

He's very outspoken, and there's a few actually, not many, but there are a few, and I think, yeah, I like you. I like you, and I don't think your mind could be   changed.   But then   are they put there under the Barnum principle?   You know?  

[00:50:21] Unknown:

Yeah. Well, you know,   that's just,  

[00:50:25] Unknown:

because I wanted to run for, like, council. I know council wasn't quite MP and stuff like that, but you still think you do in your bit to help, don't you? And everybody's like, oh, if you join that, you'll end up corrupt like the rest of them. And one of my friends, Louise Tibbets, she went for counselor for reform, and she got through.   And Yeah. She is just such an amazing woman, and she knows her stuff. And I know that for the greater good, she will do her bit.  

[00:50:50] Unknown:

So I can't believe that we can say they're all of the same cloth. No. I don't know. I as I say, I've some of them At the top. I feel I feel that some of them certainly are compromised, whether it be financially or for, you know, other things, whatever.   And I just feel that, you know,   when you it it's   I I suppose I could probably dig myself a a very dangerous hole by saying things like that. But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, it always turns out that these people never keep their promises.   None of them. They never keep their promises. No surprise that Starmer is going to do might or may well do a u-turn on there'll be no tax rises because they've got a big hole in the budget to fill as they're already saying. And we all know that the economy is a load of nonsense because   money is created out of nothing and printed out interest for our government.  

So Mhmm. What does the government do when it runs out of money? Ask the bank to print more money, and and that's all our interest. So, you know, you think how much tax that equates to, you're never going to pay it off  

[00:51:52] Unknown:

ever. No. It's a debt based society. Which is just crazy and it's crazy.  

[00:51:55] Unknown:

Yeah. It's a debt based society. And it's like all these people wandering around with, oh, I've got a nice credit card. It's a it's a lie. It's as I've said so many times before, it's not a credit   card. You're not getting credit.   You're getting debt. They're actually,   inverting   what they're telling you.   You know, why would you pay a pound 20 for something for everything I pay a pound for?   Well, yeah. Yeah. You know, it's not credit. It's debt.   So I take it you don't have any credit cards then? No. No. I would not touch a credit card. I would not, you know, in actual fact, I wanted to hire a car actually to, to drive up country a couple of weeks back.   I wanted to hire a car because the windscreen wipers on my van were a bit dodgy.  

So, yeah, you don't wanna go on the motorway with no windscreen wipers or washers. So, yeah, because all the crap that gets kicked up,   you get a messy windscreen, yeah, even if it's a dry day, you know.   So I wanted to hire a car. And I went through the process, paid for it all, and then they sent me through everything I needed to,   show up with when I went to pick   up the car. One of the things was a credit card. So I had to cancel it because I don't have a credit card. The credit card had to be in the name of the driver as well.  

[00:53:09] Unknown:

So Right. And and this is where the whole digital ID thing is Absolutely. We can all we can all say,   interview   that Stama did the other day, he basically said, it's not going to be mandatory.   It's up to you.   However,   there are going to be certain companies that are going to then charge you £85   to do that credit check if you haven't got a digital ID.   Yeah.   So he's already thinking like, oh, we'll get you one way or the other. If you're not going to have digital ID, you are gonna be at that point,   oh, you can't get a mortgage or you pay £85   every time you want to, I don't know,  

[00:53:49] Unknown:

get something, a mortgage, a loan. A credit check. Isn't that a wonderful thing? Never no such thing in the eighties.  

[00:53:57] Unknown:

No. You could just go in, couldn't you, when you would I can remember going in and getting a loan for my car when I was about 17, and I sat down within half an hour with an actual person,   and I borrowed £750,   and it was all done and dusted in half an hour. He asked me a few questions.   I I walked away and bought my car. Yeah.   Things have changed slightly.  

[00:54:17] Unknown:

Just a little. Anyway Just so. Maleficus, the rest of the show is down to you. Oh, okay. Well, look. I I have been threatening to play this clip for a very, very long time.   Oh. So you sent you sent me a clip a little while back called Hate Speech.   Oh. Oh, yes. God, that was an issue. You did. It was it was a long time ago, but I've kept it because I think,   it's it's valid. So can you give me a bit of Times like this. Yeah. So yeah. That as well. But can you give me a bit of context to this maybe afterwards, but or or before if you can remember exactly the clip in its entirety?  

[00:54:52] Unknown:

Do you know, I can't remember the clip entirety. I couldn't just remember sending it   to you and thinking, oh, this is another because they don't actually say how long the sentence is, but it was a long sentence for hate speech. Okay. So this is actually   a judgment. This is a genuine judgment though, is it? It's not Yes. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Yes. But it misses the end of it. It doesn't say how long he got sentenced, and this has happened in the last year. But it was just for the actual reason he did get sentenced. The judge reads it all out, obviously. Okay. So, obviously so what we're touching on here is basically freedom of speech in The UK, all that kind of thing.  

[00:55:26] Unknown:

And,   Shelley sent me this clip a couple of and we probably a few weeks ago now, and we just haven't had a chance to get around to play it because we've been so busy, and we've been we've been playing other losses on the on the, nights that Shelley hasn't been here. I hope you all have been enjoying   or maybe not enjoying   the Other Losses program that I've been airing.   You can freely find it on YouTube if you just want to watch it in its in its entirety.   Other Losses by James Bach.   But,   yeah. You you you nowadays,   everyone is a bit worried about what they should or shouldn't be saying in The UK. Or not everyone.  

Some people couldn't give a toss.   Other people,   you know, keep their hands firmly clamped over their mouth on certain subjects,   as it is fairly   duly diligent to do so.   Anyway, it can result if you say the wrong things on social media   in exactly what this speech in exactly what this clip is about to portray. So   here we go. This is a clip called Hate Speech, which Shelley sent me, and she can put it in a bit more context after we after we've played it. So here we go.  

[00:56:38] Unknown:

Post questioning   why you wrote,   because they're over here,   given life of Riley,   off the tax us hardworking people earn,   when it could be put to better use.   Come over here   with no work visa,   no trade to their name, and sit down and dos,   and then there's more people being put out homeless each year.   They get top banned priority   on housing.   You went on to say that you did not want your money   going to immigrants who, quote,   rape our kids and get priority,   end quote.   Although you said that you had no intention of carrying out any act of violence,   there can be no doubt that you were inciting   others to do so.  

Otherwise,   why post the comment?   You expressed remorse, but by that time,   it was too late.   For the offensive publishing   written material   in order to stir up racial hatred, there are sentencing   guidelines which I must and will follow.   The maximum sentence   is seven years imprisonment.   In my judgment, this comes close   to harm category one. However, for the purposes of this sentence,   I will treat you as falling into category two   since there was no direct encouragement   towards activity which threatens   or endangers   life.   However,   you fall towards the top   of category two.  

For a category two a offense, the starting point is two years imprisonment with a range   between one and four years custody.   In mitigation,   I take into account your plea of guilty   for which you will receive full credit of one third   following your earlier admissions.   I take account of the contents of the references   from your mother,   friend, and employer.   These can only be of limited value   in the current circumstances   as can the contents of the presentence report.   I take account too of your expression   of remorse,   your   lack of convictions which are racially aggravated,   that you are in in employment,   and you have a a partner   and family.  

In passing the sentence, I take into account the purposes of sentencing,   in particular, in relation to this case,   punishment   and deterrence.   As is recognized on your behalf, this offense is so serious   that an immediate   custodial sentence is   unavoidable.   Would you stand, please?   The sentence that I pass has been reduced by one third to reflect your guilty plea.   The  

[00:59:58] Unknown:

Well And I don't know why it ended just there, but it was all legit. It was a court hearing. It was shown on x.   And the well, just   so the judge said between one and four years   for that   horrendous   horrendous offence.   The horrendous offence of just airing his own view. Airing his view. Nothing. And I agree with everything he said.  

[01:00:22] Unknown:

Most of the newspapers nowadays   would agree with what he said too. I don't know when that was taken from. But a lot of the newspapers are saying very, very similar things.   And let's face it. He's only really voicing   what he perceives in his own social circles and probably   thousands of other social circles as   normal,   a a normal thought pattern, really. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And and you can't you as we've keep covering on this show,   there is   outrage being incited by the mainstream media. You know, the BBC that you should trust above anyone else   and all that.  

This this is being incited anyway.   So what they're doing is actually   creating a problem. People are falling into the trap of agreeing with it, and then they're stitching them out for it. I just think it's so wrong. It's so wrong.   So that I've I've played that in context   to,   a speech that I've wanted to play for ages. And this is the Rowan Atkinson   talk   about free speech. I don't know whether you've heard it, Shelley. Have you?  

[01:01:34] Unknown:

No. I haven't. But while we're on this topic Yes.   Play the speech. Excuse me. Let me clear my fridge. Please play the speech, and then I want to read you something that is all very relevant to this as well. It's quite a long clip. It's quite a long clip. How long? I can't remember. Six. Half an hour? No. It's not half an hour. No. Sorry. I know what you're like.   Well No. That's alright. Six minutes is fine. Well, I'll tell you what I'll do. It's not gonna take me that long to talk about what I've gotta talk about talk about, but it's just interesting that you've brought this up today. Okay? And I'll take you for a while after work. Only need a few minutes, so don't worry. Yeah. No. Don't worry. I mean, it it might be the full nine minutes  

[01:02:15] Unknown:

speech, but I Okay. If it is if it is That's fine. It's highly entertaining. It's Rowan Atkinson, for goodness sake. Well, there we are. There we are. And that's fine. That still gives me time. This was a public speech, obviously. So there's no copyright involved with this. It's a public speech which could have been heard by anyone even in the next room. So, you know, we are entitled to,   play this on on the show.   And, basically, what he was talking about at the time, this is a long way back where they were trying to reform section five of the Public Order Act, where you could get in trouble for calling a police horse   gay.  

Anyway,   here we go.   This is this is Rowan Atkinson's take on it, and I think it's a great one.  

[01:02:57] Unknown:

My starting point when it comes to the consideration of any issue relating to free speech   is my passionate belief that the second most precious thing in life   is the right to express yourself   freely.   The most precious thing in life, I think, is food in your mouth,   and the third most precious is a roof over your head.   But a fixture for me in the number two slot   is free expression   just below the need to sustain life itself.   That is because I have enjoyed free expression in this country all my professional life   and fully expect to continue to do so.  

Personally, I suspect highly unlikely   to be arrested for whatever laws exist to contain free expression   because of the undoubtedly privileged position that is afforded to those of a high public profile.   So my concerns are less for myself   and more for those more vulnerable   because of their lower profile.   Like the man arrested in Oxford for calling a police horse   gay   or the teenager   arrested for calling the Church of Scientology   a cult,   or the cafe owner arrested for displaying passages from the Bible   on a TV screen.   When I heard of some of these more ludicrous offences and charges, I remembered that I had been here before   in a fictional   context.  

I once did a show called Not the 09:00 News some years ago,   and we did a sketch where Griff Rhys Jones played Constable   Savage,   a manifestly   racist police officer   to whom I, as his station commander, is giving a dressing down for arresting a black man on a whole string of ridiculous   trumped up and ludicrous charges.   The charges for which constable Savage arrested mister Winston Kadogo of 55   were these,   walking on the cracks in the pavement,   walking   in a loud shirt in a built up area during the hours of darkness,   and one of my favorites, walking around   all over the place.  

He was also arrested for urinating   in a public convenience   and looking at me in a funny way.   Who would have thought that we would end up with a law that would allow life to imitate art   so exactly?   I read somewhere a defender of the status quo claiming that the fact that the gay horse case was dropped after the arrested man refused to pay the   to pay the fine and that the Scientology case was also dropped at some point during the court process   was proof that the law was working well,   ignoring the fact that the only reason these cases were dropped was because of the publicity   that they had attracted.  

The police sensed that ridicule was just around the corner   and withdrew   their actions.   But what about the thousands of other cases   that did not enjoy the oxygen of publicity   that weren't quite ludicrous enough   to attract media attention.   Even for those actions that were withdrawn, people were arrested,   questioned, taken to court and then released.   You know, that isn't a law working properly.   That is censoriousness   of the most intimidating   kind   guaranteed to have, as Laudia says, a chilling effect on free expression and free protest.   Parliament's joint committee on human rights   summarized as you may know this whole issue very well by saying,   while arresting a protester for using threatening or abusive speech may, depending on the circumstances,   be a proportionate response.  

We do not think that language or behavior that is merely insulting   should ever be criminalized in this way.   The clear problem   with the outlawing of insult   is that too many things can be interpreted   as such.   Criticism is easily construed as insult by certain parties.   Ridicule easily construed as insult. Sarcasm, unfavorable   comparison, merely stating an alternative   point of view to the orthodoxy   can be interpreted   as insult.   And because so many things can be interpreted as insult, it is hardly surprising that so many things have been,   as the examples I talked about earlier   show.  

Although the law under discussion has been on the statute book for over twenty five years,   It is indicative of a culture   that has taken hold of the programmes of successive governments   that with the reasonable and well intentioned ambition   to contain obnoxious elements in society   has created a society of an extraordinarily   authoritarian   and controlling nature.   That is what you might call the new intolerance,   a new but intense desire to gag uncomfortable   voices of dissent.   I am not intolerant,   say many people, say many softly spoken, highly educated, liberal minded people. I'm only intolerant of intolerance.   And people tend to nod sagely and say, oh, yes, wise words, wise words. And yet if you think about this supposedly inarguable statement for longer than five seconds, you realize that all it is advocating   is the replacement of one kind of intolerance   with another,   which to me doesn't represent any kind of progress at all.  

Underlying prejudices,   injustices, or resentments are not addressed   by arresting people. They are addressed by the issues being aired,   argued, and dealt with preferably outside the legal process.   For me,   the best way to increase society's resistance   to insulting or offensive speech   is to allow a lot more of it.   As with childhood diseases,   you can better resist those germs to which you have been exposed.   We need to build our immunity to taking offense   so that we can deal with the issues that perfectly justified   criticism can raise.  

Our priority should be to deal with the message,   not the messenger.   As President Obama said in an address to the United Nations only a month or so ago,   laudable efforts   to restrict speech   can become a tool to silence critics   or oppress minorities.   The strongest weapon against hateful speech   is not repression.   It is more speech.   And that's the essence of my thesis, more speech.   If we want a robust society, we need more robust dialogue and that must include the right to insult or to offend.   And as even if, as Lord Dear says, you know, the freedom to be inoffensive   is no freedom at all.  

The repeal of this word in this clause will be only a small step, but it will, I hope, be a critical one in what should be a longer term project   to pause   and slowly   rewind the creeping culture of censoriousness.   It is a small skirmish in the battle, in my opinion, to deal with what Sir Salman Rushdie refers to as the outrage industry.   Self appointed arbiters of the public good,   encouraging media stoked outrage to which the police feel under terrible pressure   to react.   A newspaper rings up Scotland Yard. Someone has said something slightly insulting   on Twitter about someone who we think a national treasure.  

What are you going to do about?   The police panic and they scrabble around and then grasp the most inappropriate lifeline of all,   section five of the Public Order Act, that thing where you arrest anybody for saying anything that might be construed by anyone else as insulting.   You know, they don't seem to need a real victim. They need only to make the judgment that somebody could have been offended if they had heard or read what has been said, the most ludicrous   degree of latitude.   The storms that surround Twitter and Facebook comment   have raised some fascinating issues about free speech, which we haven't really yet come to terms with.  

Firstly,   that we all have to take responsibility   for what we say,   which is quite a good lesson to learn.   But secondly,   we've learned how appallingly prickly   and intolerant society has become   of even the mildest adverse comment.   The law should not be aiding and abetting   this new intolerance.   Free speech can only suffer if the law prevents us from dealing with its consequences.   I offer my wholehearted support to the Reform Section five campaign.   Thank you very  

[01:12:02] Unknown:

much. There you go. I I I don't think you can put that more concisely.  

[01:12:07] Unknown:

No. No.   Ineffectiveness.  

[01:12:09] Unknown:

Yeah. Brilliant. What was that for? That was just a sketch. No. That wasn't a sketch. That was him standing up on a political basis and standing up against   section five of the Public Order Act. He actually get stood up and gave a public speech. Oh, I didn't realize he was into politics.   Well, I don't think he really involved he probably is privately, but that's the first time I've ever known him involve himself in politics. But I just you know, as he said, you know,   when he enacted the sketch on not the 09:00 news, not the nine did you remember not the 09:00 news, Shelley?  

[01:12:44] Unknown:

Vaguely.  

[01:12:45] Unknown:

Vaguely. Vaguely. Yeah. Same here. Because we're, like, similar age.   It's like   back in the day, I mean,   Constable Savage,   you know, trying to arrest a black man for walking around all over the place and looking at him in a funny way.   It was a comedy sketch.   Yeah. Whereas   now,   you know, as he said, people are being arrested for calling a police horse gay. And, you know, what's what's what's most interesting about this whole thing and he brought it up,   whether wittingly or unwittingly in his speech, I don't know. Probably wittingly because he's an incredibly intelligent guy. He's well educated and and all that kind of thing. I mean, I know he acts the buffoon, but the guy is actually incredibly intelligent.   He said, you know, a robust   society   essentially needs   robust   dialogue in order to deal with these problems. And these problems shouldn't be dealt with by the law. They should be dealt with by what people consider right or wrong in society. This is not something that can be dictated   by Yeah. Any government that is put in place to dictate certain things, which is why you know   that the the servants of our supposed servants up there in Whitehall are not our servants at all. They are dictators.  

You know? And what he this is the thing that he whether he wittingly or unwittingly brought up.   Media incited   the outrage   and gave oxygen to these people who the police then later threw out the cases because they sense ridicule was around the corner. But then he turns around and and and says later in the speech that, you know, the police are then phoned up by   you know, because of media incited outrage. And then the media cover it. As I said before, with all the migrant stuff at the beginning of the show or partway into the show,   the media then cover it to purposely outrage the public.  

And this is like this is the turmoil that everyone is always put in. They can't and they can't see the wood for the trees because the water becomes so so muddy that nobody knows whether they're coming or going.   It's so frustrating.   I've got another quick,   quick clip to play on this subject.   And I'll I'll I'll just play it now unless you've got any comment.  

[01:15:04] Unknown:

No. I'll just I'll do my thing after you've done this clip because it's all relevant. Yeah. It is. And this this in fact, no.  

[01:15:10] Unknown:

Do your thing now and I will play   this. Do your thing now, because I think this is it's a it's a  

[01:15:16] Unknown:

funny end. It's a funny end to make it quite a serious subject. Yeah. It could be a serious subject. Well, it is a serious subject. Yeah. Four years ago, in my life particularly,   it was a very serious subject. Yeah. It was. I know it was. Now I know you don't do social media, but I do do Facebook.   And four years ago, I was heavily posting every day about what was going on and stuff. So,   with Facebook, you get your mom your memories pop up every day, which I like about it, actually. Anyway, so today,   this is four years ago. This is my post.  

10/29/2021.   I will be visiting my dad on Sunday with my mom and partner.   I've just been sent the paperwork regarding the whole COVID protocol.   I will wear a mask because I want to see my dad.   I will do a shitty lateral flow test because I want to hug my dad.   I actually feel sick thinking that we will all sit there like fucking idiots having to conform to see each other.   All four of us in the visit wearing masks.   Having to endure the bullshit, so we can have a visit.   I hear lots of you saying that you will all wear one and why should I feel so bad about it?   Because that mask resembles being a slave to me.  

It goes against everything I believe in.   I will get over it because I get to spend two hours with my dad and it's been three months.   Who would have thought that such a simple task for many is such a turmoil for others?   Hashtag   conforming for love.   Hashtag   conforming or no contact.   Hashtag   conforming because I fucking have to.  

[01:17:03] Unknown:

Yeah. Wow. That's a powerful post, Shelley.  

[01:17:07] Unknown:

That is a hard person back now with my thoughts, but that was all you should go. You still are.   Yeah. I am I am passionate, but so I reshared that today,   And it was just crikey. When things were so very dystopian.   After all of the stress, it was just paperwork and no one had to wear a mask.   Also, I just typed negative into the lateral flow test box online.   Now there's a word I haven't heard for a while. Lateral flow test. What a load of bollocks.   That was today's comment.   Oh, remember the days, though, when they wear everything?  

[01:17:45] Unknown:

Yeah. Take it off to a file.  

[01:17:48] Unknown:

Yeah. And but that that's the thing. And they were shipped out years before the event. That was the thing. Yeah. Yeah. They were out of date, weren't they? So ready. When they they were shipped out, I think, '2 was it 2017?   I think they were shipped out. It was a it was they were shipped out. We covered it loads on various shows. Covered it on Sean's show. Covered it on Andy's show. Covered it on,   Giuseppe's show. Covered it on so many different shows. The fact that these things were actually shipped out two or three years   before the event actually took place. COVID lateral flow tests. I mean, that's just ridiculous. Is it not? But then every country obviously had to be have everything in place ready for this thing, quote, unquote, to occur.  



[01:18:25] Unknown:

So it's just them getting their well, you've already sworn. It's it's already it's just them getting their shit together, isn't it? You know? Yeah. Yeah. You sometimes you have to swear. You have to. It's been an interesting week, actually, seeing all of these memories on, Facebook come up because I did a post one day basically calling everybody. And I I realize now that although so many people were absolutely frightened for their lives, and at the time, I blamed them and I was very mad with them. But I do understand that side of it now. But I did a big post calling them all fannies and snowflakes.   Oh, good. And the abuse that I got no. I couldn't find it now anyway because that was yesterday's memory.  

But, it is funny   because you just think that's four years ago. We were going through all of that crap. Four years and it just seems like, yeah.   It's like it was yesterday, but then on the other hand, it's like, god, that was years ago.   And this is why with this whole digital ID thing, we've got to remember the bullshit   they were preparing us for. Absolutely.   Absolutely. You know? The tracking and tracing,   all, you know, all parts of something, this digital ID.  

[01:19:34] Unknown:

I'm I'm glad you didn't,   weren't able to repeat that. Because, you know,   the the the other post. Reason being is that, we we   me and my mom did a bit of a journey the other week, and, we were going to see someone that was it was it was a bit of an awkward situation, but it had to be done and dealt with and blah blah blah blah blah. And I said, you know what, mom? I said, I think   there's only a very small handful of people on the planet   that are actually really worthy of your contempt   or my contempt or anyone's.   Everyone else   has simply been deceived.  

And I I you know, I I think that's such a truism, you know. Everyone's running around with their head up there. I said, I don't know what's going on, you know. And we go back to this free speech thing, you know, being offended and all that kind of thing. I just wanna, you know, I just wanna play this little clip here. We can carry on with the conversation after. So I'm gonna play That's fine. I've I've set my bed.   This is this is this is a comedian called Steve Hughes,   and he did a sketch on being offended. So I'm just gonna hopefully, it comes through alright. It was a bit of a crappy recording, but here we go.  

[01:20:51] Unknown:

And then we have political correctness, which which is which is this joy that is the other side of health and safety, which is health and safety, which is a small oppression of our physical movement, so we can't do anything without permission from the state. And political correctness is the oppression of our intellectual movements, so no one says anything anymore in case somebody else gets offended.   What happens if you say that and someone gets offended?   Well, they can be offended.   What's wrong with being offended?   When did sticks and stones may break my bones stop being relevant?  

Isn't that what you teach children, for God's sake? That's what you teach toddlers. He called me an idiot. Don't worry about him. He's a dick.   Now you have adults going, I was offended. I was offended, and I have rights.   Well, so what? Be offended. Nothing happens.   You're an adult. Grow up. Deal with it. I was offended. I don't care.   Nothing happens when you're offended. There's nothing I I went to the comedy show, and and the comedian said something about the Lord, and and I was offended. And when I woke up in the morning, I had leprosy.   Nothing happens.  

I'm gonna live in democracy but I never want to be offended again.   Well, you're an idiot.   How do you make a law about offending people? How do you make an offense to offend people? Being offended is subjective. It has everything to do with you as an individual or a collective or a group or a society or a community, your moral conditioning, your religious beliefs. What offends me may not offend you, and you wanna make laws about this? I'm offended when I see boy bands, for God's sake.   It's a valid offense. I'm offended.   They're corporate shills posing as musicians to further a modeling career, and frankly, I'm disgusted.  

Right? But what am I gonna do? Call the cops? Hello. It's me again.   They're on the telly this time.   Five of them. That's it.   Yeah. White suits dancing like girls. That's them.   Five minutes. I'll be out the front traumatized. Bye.  

[01:23:15] Unknown:

Oh, you say true. You say true. It's so true. It's so true. You know,   Steve Hughes actually was a I I'm not gonna say was. He is a fantastic comedian.   He was what he was one of the few people because I I always find comedy, like stand up comedy, a little bit stiff. Do you know what I mean?   Like, I'll I'll yeah. Freedom of movement and all that kind of thing. But,   he he actually bought out a video, and I think you can still find it on YouTube. I haven't looked for a couple of years. But he bought out a video called, while it's still   legal.  

And I'm telling you, it is so worth a watch. It really is. If you like that little clip, go and look up Steve Hughes while it's still legal.   And,   yeah. And he was attacked after that. And he he ended up going on to do jokes about farts on aeroplanes and stuff because he was worried about  

[01:24:13] Unknown:

losing his life. They did people. Yeah.  

[01:24:16] Unknown:

So many  

[01:24:17] Unknown:

people. So many people. I tell you what though, dude. And then you have, like, I have regular, like, kind of outburst where I say thing and I think, oh my god.   I've said something that I probably shouldn't have said that. That's just me. I went to the dog food shop the other day and we were having a real, good chat about if we could eat dog food and stuff. I might have mentioned this.   And we we have,   then we were talking about, like, resources you could do and things like this for, like and, anyway, they were quite awake, I think. And then he said, what's your name? And this is for the loyalty card. And I said, it's Darren.   And he said,   oh. And I said, obviously, that's my partner's name. And he said: Well, you never know these days, do you? And I started laughing. And I said: I know. I said: It's funny, isn't it? I said: I've just been and did a photo shoot of two women that have just got engaged. And he went: Oh, okay.  

And then I said to him, oh my god. I said, it's quite a normal thing these days. But I said, but for me,   it's quite unusual.   And I said, but I feel now that you could be, like, judging me because   I photographed you lesbians.   And it played on my mind and I just had a day of it. I swear. Then I went to the play group with Phoebe.   And we were talking about that. And I was saying about this and we were talking about blah blah,   trans people and stuff like that.   And I said I was saying about the photoshoot again. I said it's not something I've done many of two women together.   And it doesn't bother me. They were bloody gorgeous. Both of them had a great time. But it's just something I've not really done before.  

So I told them.   And then I looked at one of them and I went, I've just realized your daughter's a lesbian, isn't she?  

[01:26:01] Unknown:

The thing is it's it's a bit different when you're stuck in it. Oh my god.  

[01:26:06] Unknown:

And she said it's different when you step inside someone's life, isn't it? Obviously, you're you're you're a bit you're I was you're a bit paranoid. Different way.   Yeah. But she's she knows me anyway, and she said, Shelley, it's alright. I know you. You're not saying anything bad, but you just feel that you can't say   anything   anymore without offending anyone.   Not about things like that.  

[01:26:27] Unknown:

You know,   you know, I've got to the point in my life   where   I'm very courteous. I'm very polite to people.   But if they ask my opinion,   I'll just tell them. Because,   you know,   life is too short.  

[01:26:46] Unknown:

Life is too short. If they ask, if they ask, but this is a thing. I'm too forward giving, like, oh, I've just done a photo shoot of two ladies and it's new to me.   Just because I gotta share that sort stuff with people. Yeah. No. But I got I get you. They might have been, like, really offended, I think. Well,   lesbians, if there's been lesbians around forever, we all know about that. And I'm not offended. It was just, like, it was new to me. It was different.  

[01:27:10] Unknown:

Yeah. And and it's the it's the first time you've actually put a foot in someone else's life, or maybe not the first time maybe, but it's it's the first time you've put a foot in someone else's life  

[01:27:20] Unknown:

that I didn't realize until I got to the shoot, you see? It was just me and my partner are getting engaged. Can we have an engagement shoot?  

[01:27:28] Unknown:

And I actually knew one of them. The word partner should have rung alarm bells.  

[01:27:34] Unknown:

Well, no. Because look, I refer to Darren as my partner. Yeah. But it's Newspeak.  

[01:27:38] Unknown:

It's Newspeak. What do you mean it's Newspeak? It's Newspeak. You read 1984.  

[01:27:42] Unknown:

It's it's Newspeak. You can't be my boyfriend. We've been together for, like, eight years. He's my partner.   I'm sorry.  

[01:27:49] Unknown:

Sorry. But Let's just sit. My partner. In the other room there. She's my missus.   Yeah. Right. We're not married. We're not married. But she's my missus.  

[01:27:59] Unknown:

Okay. I like that. I like that. So It's it's interesting, isn't it? But It is. Partner. Yeah. Anyway, I mean, crikey.   It was so lovely, actually. I thought, do you know what? I could hang out with you two all all day all day, actually. I'm sure it was a great laugh. And and, you know, obviously, you're not passing judgement anyway. It was just a new experience for you. You know what I mean? New experience when you especially when you're not expecting it. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And you're and you're And she's not gonna put in a message, is she? Or, by the way,   my partner is a woman.  

No. Why should she? Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. I'm not judgmental at all. At all. But anyway  

[01:28:36] Unknown:

Well, look, we are very close to the top of the hour, missus Tasker. Probably just as well.   Oh, nonsense. It's been an absolute pleasure. Now I was gonna mention stuff about research, about my granddad and stuff.   We will mention it next week because there's a website I would like anyone with a World War one veteran   in their family to visit, but we'll get into that next week. Sorry, folks, but we we have just run out of time. Great. Yeah. No. It's fine. It's absolutely fine. It'll safe. Put it on the back burner. Yeah. Absolutely.   So you ever listen live, folks? To which show, Shelley?  

The Shelley Tasker Show. Have you gone? No. No. No. We're still here. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. You've been listening live, folks, to the Shelley Tasker Show. Coming live at radiosoapbox.com.  

[01:29:24] Unknown:

We will catch you at the same time. On the same   On? On prepare.   Clear air FM.  

[01:29:29] Unknown:

Yes. Indeed. Catch you next week, folks. It's been an absolute pleasure to have your company. See you soon.