Podcasts about Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

In this episode, Daniel J. Levy speaks with Dr Lynette Nusbacher about the future of UK–Israel relations, as viewed from a British strategic perspective. They explore how the Labour government's evolving stance – including threats of sanctions and the suspension of trade talks – is reshaping bilateral ties, and what this means for defence, intelligence and cyber cooperation. Dr Lynette Nusbacher is a strategic consultant and former British Army intelligence officer who was Head of the Strategic Horizons Unit in the UK Cabinet Office and Senior Lecturer in War Studies, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. She was part of Britain's National Security Secretariat working on UK's national security strategy.

In this episode of Life Gets MoCrazy, host Jamie MoCrazy sits down with Jonny Huntington, a former British Army officer who faced paralysis after a brain bleed in 2014. Jonny shares his journey from military training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst to navigating a life-changing health crisis that ended his service career. Refusing to let paralysis define him, Jonny committed to intensive rehabilitation and went on to make history as the first disabled person to complete a South Pole expedition.Jamie and Jonny dive into the emotional and physical challenges of recovery, the power of resilience, and how community support and proper rehabilitation shape long-term outcomes. Jonny also opens up about the behind-the-scenes struggles of fundraising and securing sponsorships, revealing the balance between intrinsic motivation and external validation in pursuing ambitious goals.In this episode, we talk about:Overcoming paralysis through determination, rehabilitation, and adventureThe mental and emotional journey of rebuilding identity after a life-altering injuryThe challenges of funding and finding support for adaptive expeditionsResources:Jonny Huntington: https://www.jonnyhuntington.com/MoCrazy Strong Foundation: https://www.mocrazystrong.org

Glen Grant worked as a defence and reform expert in Ukraine working for the Ukrainian Institute for the Future. He is also a Senior Fellow in the UK Institute for Statecraft on Building Integrity Initiative countering Russian influence. Glen graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, the Junior Staff Course Warminster and the Joint Staff Defence College at the Royal Naval College Greenwich. ----------LINKS:https://x.com/GlenGranthttps://balticsecurity.eu/https://www.linkedin.com/in/glengrant/https://jamestown.org/analyst/glen-grant/ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS:https://www.kyivpost.com/podcasts/31754https://defence-blog.com/ukraines-defense-gaps-threaten-war-effort-says-expert/https://glenhoward.substack.com/p/episode-16-ukraine-at-war-military https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/03/20/2023-is-a-time-and-chance-for-military-change-in-ukraine-glen-grant/https://kyivindependent.com/author/glen-grant-15959/----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Save Ukrainehttps://www.saveukraineua.org/Superhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyślhttps://kharpp.com/NOR DOG Animal Rescuehttps://www.nor-dog.org/home/----------PLATFORMS:Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSiliconInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqmLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain----------Welcome to the Silicon Curtain podcast. Please like and subscribe if you like the content we produce. It will really help to increase the popularity of our content in YouTube's algorithm. Our material is now being made available on popular podcasting platforms as well, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Adapting Leadership for the Modern Workforce In this episode, Michael D. Levitt and Dr. Greg Giuliano explore the evolution of leadership from a rigid, top-down approach to a more coaching-driven model. Greg highlights the shift in workplace dynamics, where employees now seek empathetic, adaptable, and empowering leaders. Using the analogy of a soccer coach, he illustrates how successful organizations recognize that leaders should set the vision, but the team is responsible for delivering results. The Power of Empathy and Curiosity in Leadership Michael and Greg discuss the critical role of empathy and curiosity, especially in times of change. Michael shares his experience transforming a clinic with high turnover into a thriving workplace by truly understanding his team's needs. Greg reinforces that great leaders create environments where people are motivated to give their best—not out of obligation but because they feel valued. They also discuss the importance of allowing employees to operate in their “sweet spot” and equipping them with the necessary resources to succeed. Leveraging Summer Students to Strengthen Work Culture The conversation shifts to the benefits of integrating summer students into an organization. Michael underscores that fostering a strong workplace culture isn't just about productivity—it's about creating an environment where employees feel appreciated and supported, which naturally leads to retention and attraction of top talent. He emphasizes that when leaders prioritize employee well-being, they build a workplace where people want to stay and grow. Fostering Positive Team Culture as Leaders Greg emphasizes that leaders can shape positive team cultures, even within large organizations. Leaders can drive engagement and retention by setting clear expectations, establishing healthy boundaries, and prioritizing team well-being. He introduces the mindset of "serving to lead"—a principle inspired by the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst—highlighting that leadership isn't about authority but creating the conditions for teams to thrive. Building Strong Teams Through Training and Fun Michael shares a powerful story from his time in insurance automation software, where an overlooked installation department wholly transformed under exemplary leadership. The department became a well-respected, high-performing unit through quarterly training sessions and team-building activities. Their teamwork and strategic execution were so impactful that they were handpicked for a significant project in New Orleans, ultimately earning glowing client recommendations. This story reinforces that investing in team culture leads to stronger performance and long-term success. The Connection Between Therapy and Team Building Greg and Michael discuss the parallels between therapy and leadership, emphasizing the importance of emotional intelligence in building resilient teams. With his background in therapy and coaching, Greg explains how leaders who nurture personal connections within their teams create stronger, more engaged workplaces. They conclude that self-awareness and empathy are non-negotiable skills for today's leaders. Greg's Work at Ultra Leadership To wrap up, Greg shares insights into his work at Ultra Leadership, where he provides executive coaching, team development, and change management consulting.    Dr. Greg Giuliano is an advisor and executive coach to senior leaders and teams worldwide. He founded GA | Ultra Leadership, designing leadership and team development strategies that drive organizational transformation. He aims to help leaders and teams grow their capacity to enable positive disruption for markets, organizations, teams, and individuals. Greg is the author of three #1 Amazon Bestsellers—Coaching for (a) Change (2024), The Next Normal (2022), and Ultra Leadership (2016)—as well as The Hero's Journey (2014). Website: ultraleadership.com LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/greggiuliano/ YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@ultraleadership

Send us a textIra Chaleff is an author, speaker, and executive coach in the greater Washington, DC, area. His extensive experience with the US federal government includes directing and chairing the nonpartisan Congressional Management Foundation, where he is now Chair Emeritus. Ira co-authored the original handbook for newly elected Members of Congress, now in its fifteenth edition, and has facilitated over a hundred retreats for congressional offices. He has led and participated in Democracy strengthening programs in Asia and West Africa and consulted for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Eastern Europe.He has been an adjunct faculty member at the Federal Executive Institute and a visiting leadership scholar at Churchill College, Cambridge University in England. Ira served two terms on the Board of Directors of the International Leadership Association and is the founder of its Followership Community.His previous award-winning books include The Courageous Follower: Standing Up To and For Our Leaders and Intelligent Disobedience: Doing Right When What You're Told To Do Is Wrong which has been published in translation in Beijing and Moscow. Ira speaks on courageous followership and intelligent disobedience at a wide variety of institutions, including the US Department of State, the US Naval Academy, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, the European Commission of the EU, and many others.A Quote From Ira Chaleff"If you were a supporter of Kamala Harris, and are feeling frightened by the election results. That is how Trump supporters would be feeling if Harris had won. Each side feared tyranny if the other side won, and neither can imagine how the other side could feel that. The work now is to reduce the chasm between these lived world views and for both sides to be vigilant and protect the rights we cherish.”Resources Mentioned in This EpisodeBook: To Stop a Tyrant by ChaleffBook: Intelligent Disobedience by ChaleffBook: The Courageous Follower by ChaleffAbout The International Leadership Association (ILA)The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!My Approach to HostingThe views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace your reflection, research, and exploration of the topic. ♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.➡️ Follow me on LinkedIn for more on leadership, communication, and tech.

In this episode, Daniel J. Levy speaks with Dr Lynette Nusbacher. Recorded hours before Israel and Hamas agreed to the US, Egyptian, and Qatari-brokered Gaza ceasefire deal on Wednesday, they discuss how it would be implemented as well as what future phases might be and the impact of the deal on the Israeli government.  Dr Nusbacher is a former British Army intelligence officer and served as Head of the Strategic Horizons Unit in the UK Cabinet Office, and the Devil's Advocate to Britain's Joint Intelligence Committee. She was also a Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Glen Grant worked as a defence and reform expert in Ukraine working for the Ukrainian Institute for the Future. He is also a Senior Fellow in the UK Institute for Statecraft on Building Integrity Initiative countering Russian influence. Glen graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, the Junior Staff Course Warminster and the Joint Staff Defence College at the Royal Naval College Greenwich. ---------- LINKS: https://x.com/GlenGrant https://balticsecurity.eu/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/glengrant/ https://jamestown.org/analyst/glen-grant/ ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS: https://www.kyivpost.com/podcasts/31754 https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/03/20/2023-is-a-time-and-chance-for-military-change-in-ukraine-glen-grant/ https://kyivindependent.com/author/glen-grant-15959/ ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.com/en/ UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukraine https://unbroken.org.ua/ Come Back Alive https://savelife.in.ua/en/ Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchen https://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraine UNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyy https://u24.gov.ua/ Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation https://prytulafoundation.org NGO “Herojam Slava” https://heroiamslava.org/ kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyśl https://kharpp.com/ NOR DOG Animal Rescue https://www.nor-dog.org/home/ ---------- PLATFORMS: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSilicon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siliconcurtain/ Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- Welcome to the Silicon Curtain podcast. Please like and subscribe if you like the content we produce. It will really help to increase the popularity of our content in YouTube's algorithm. Our material is now being made available on popular podcasting platforms as well, such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

THIS WEEK! We are discussing The first month of the First World War. From the tension that lured in Europe, to the alliances, and the shot of Sarajevo that would be the casus beli for The First World War. All this, and more this week on "Well That Aged Well. With "Erlend Hedegart". Find Dr. Kempshall on social media here:Twitter/X: @ chriskepmshall Instagram: @ Chriskempshal About Dr. Chris Kempshall About Dr. CHris Kempshall: Dr Chris Kempshall is a public historian and author who specialises both in transnational experiences of warfare and modern media representations of history; predominantly computer games and the Star Wars franchise. He is currently the President for the International Society for First World War Studies and a Senior Research Fellow for the Centre for Army Leadership, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He is also a series editor for the De Gruyter academic book series ‘Video Games and the Humanities‘. He has acted as an academic advisor and consultant to institutions such as the Imperial War Museum, 14-18 Notre-Dame-de-Lorette Memorial and the musée Guerre et Paix en Ardennes as well as providing historical expertise to various computer game developersTHIS WEEK! We are discussing The first month of the First World War. From the tension that lured in Europe, to the alliances, and the shot of Sarajevo that would be the casus beli for The First World War. All this, and more this week on "Well That Aged Well. With "Erlend Hedegart". Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/well-that-aged-well. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A trigger warning- this podcast discusses combat operations in detail, talks about injury, death and the psychological impact of combat, you may want to skip this episode if this will affect you.    In this episode, our Host Ash Bhardwaj, speaks with WO1 Aidan O'Brien, Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) of Oxford Universities Officers Training Corps. Aidan has served a lengthy military career in the Grenadier Guards, with operational tours in Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and played a pivotal role in both state ceremonial duties and front-line operations.    Aidan shares his journey from donning the bearskin and scarlet tunic for state ceremonial duties in Nijmegen Company to leading reconnaissance missions and training soldiers at ITC Catterick and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Throughout the episode, Aidan delves into his experiences as a leader, emphasising the importance of adapting leadership styles to support those around you, especially in moments of failure and adversity. He reflects on the challenges of leadership in both combat and training environments, highlighting the lessons he's learned about resilience, empathy, and teamwork. Aidan also shares personal stories and discusses the evolving nature of leadership in the Army and how junior leaders can be prepared for success on future operations.    This episode offers an insightful look into leadership, resilience, and the personal challenges that come with guiding teams through demanding operational and ceremonial duties. Aidan's experiences serve as a powerful reminder of the critical role leadership plays in both military success and personal development.

A trigger warning- this podcast discusses combat operations in detail, talks about injury, death and the psychological impact of combat, you may want to skip this episode if this will affect you.    In this episode, our Host Ash Bhardwaj, speaks with WO1 Aidan O'Brien, Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) of Oxford Universities Officers Training Corps. Aidan has served a lengthy military career in the Grenadier Guards, with operational tours in Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and played a pivotal role in both state ceremonial duties and front-line operations.    Aidan shares his journey from donning the bearskin and scarlet tunic for state ceremonial duties in Nijmegen Company to leading reconnaissance missions and training soldiers at ITC Catterick and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Throughout the episode, Aidan delves into his experiences as a leader, emphasising the importance of adapting leadership styles to support those around you, especially in moments of failure and adversity. He reflects on the challenges of leadership in both combat and training environments, highlighting the lessons he's learned about resilience, empathy, and teamwork. Aidan also shares personal stories and discusses the evolving nature of leadership in the Army and how junior leaders can be prepared for success on future operations.    This episode offers an insightful look into leadership, resilience, and the personal challenges that come with guiding teams through demanding operational and ceremonial duties. Aidan's experiences serve as a powerful reminder of the critical role leadership plays in both military success and personal development.

In this episode, our host Lt Colonel Dean Canham OBE speaks with Major General Zac Stenning, the Director of Leadership for the British Army, and Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. With an illustrious career spanning nearly three decades, he has commanded forces from Platoon to Brigade across diverse and challenging environments, including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and more. His deep experience in both operational command and strategic leadership positions makes him a uniquely insightful guest.   Throughout the episode, General Zac shares his perspective on what lies at the core of effective leadership: good character, integrity, and the ability to turn vision into action. He discusses the vital importance of humility, the continuous pursuit of feedback, and the central role of ethics and values in leadership. General Stenning also highlights the significance of Mission Command in the British Army, stressing the need for leaders to adapt their styles to the context and human geography of any situation.   As we explore the responsibilities of commanding officers and soldiers alike, General Zac reflects on the privilege of leading not only soldiers but also caring for their families. He concludes by emphasising the importance of resilience, adaptability, and robust leadership skills in shaping the Army's future leaders.   This episode is a deep dive into the principles that underpin leadership in the British Army, offering valuable insights for leaders at all levels.

During the summer break, the 15-Minute History podcast team are republishing some of their favorite episodes. This interview originally aired on June 6, 2022. Go buy, "Anatomy of a Nation". It's an incredible read. __ Join us for part one of our interview with the eminent British historian, Dr. Dominic Selwood about his book, Anatomy of a Nation: A History of British Identity in 50 Documents. In this special discussion, Dr. Selwood explains the origins of the book, the power of story in history, and answers some of our questions about the different documents he covers. Dr. Dominic Selwood is a historian, journalist, and barrister. He is a bestselling author and novelist, and a frequent contributor to national newspapers, radio, and TV including The Telegraph, The Independent, The Spectator, The Catholic Herald, Sky News, and the BBC. He has a doctorate in history from the University of Oxford and a masters from the Sorbonne. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served as an officer in the British Army. He lives in London with his family. https://www.dominicselwood.com/ Twitter: @DominicSelwood. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/15minutehistory/support

The Army's world-renowned Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is undertaking a radical process to modernise. It's conducting what it calls a ‘Critical Mass Trial' – huge efforts to ramp up the numbers of women in its platoons in response to a tragedy at the Academy. BFBS Forces News has been given rare and exclusive access to Sandhurst and has documented it in a new series produced by Rosie Laydon who talks to Sitrep. Something that's really getting people fired up in the military is the prospect of paying 20 per cent VAT on private school fees from January. Some personnel are even threatening to leave the Armed Forces if the Government pushes ahead, whereas others claim it will put new people off joining in the first place. Sitrep talks to the RAF Families Federation and retired Army Officer Hamish de Bretton-Gordon. And former Tornado Navigator and bestselling author John Nichol talks to Kate Gerbeau about the history of the tomb of the unknown warrior and the painstaking efforts of finding, identifying and reburying the fallen, which he explores in his new book.

In this episode, our host Ash Bhardwaj sits down with Major Robin White of The Rifles to explore the intricacies of leadership through the lens of a seasoned military professional. Robin shares his journey from commissioning into the Light Infantry in 2006 to commanding roles in Iraq and Afghanistan. Robin's career has taken him from frontline deployments on OP TELIC 13 in Iraq and OP HERRICK 15 in Afghanistan to pivotal staff roles at NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps and The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Through these experiences, he offers insights into how humility, 360-degree feedback, and effective delegation are essential to leadership development. Robin also highlights how fostering enjoyment in leadership, alongside building a sense of identity and fairness within a team, can inspire individuals to excel. His stories and lessons provide a comprehensive look at what it takes to lead successfully under pressure. Join us as we dive into the vital aspects of leadership, from accepting feedback to building motivated teams that thrive.

In this episode, our host Ash Bhardwaj sits down with Major Robin White of The Rifles to explore the intricacies of leadership through the lens of a seasoned military professional. Robin shares his journey from commissioning into the Light Infantry in 2006 to commanding roles in Iraq and Afghanistan. Robin's career has taken him from frontline deployments on OP TELIC 13 in Iraq and OP HERRICK 15 in Afghanistan to pivotal staff roles at NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps and The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Through these experiences, he offers insights into how humility, 360-degree feedback, and effective delegation are essential to leadership development. Robin also highlights how fostering enjoyment in leadership, alongside building a sense of identity and fairness within a team, can inspire individuals to excel. His stories and lessons provide a comprehensive look at what it takes to lead successfully under pressure. Join us as we dive into the vital aspects of leadership, from accepting feedback to building motivated teams that thrive.

Israeli misdeeds, knowing that they will be rarely challenged by news media outlets. But that doesn't make their claims any closer to the truth. Andrew Fox knows that well. Having served three tours in Afghanistan, as well as in Bosnia, northern Ireland and elsewhere in the Middle East, he is a former major in the British military who served as a paratrooper and a senior lecturer at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he currently is a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society. As an expert on urban warfare, he is also an outspoken advocate seeking to ensure that media outlets articulate the truth, and not just Hamas propaganda. Major Andrew Fox joins us as our guest this week. Welcome to The Honest Report podcast.

Join our live stream with Franc Milburn, who recently revealed an incident of a UFO crash recovery operation in The Daily Mail in the 1980s.  We will dig into other UK UFO sightings.Franc Milburn is a former UK Defence Intelligence officer and alumnus of The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the London School of Economics. He has written peer-reviewed papers for numerous globally ranked think tanks and is an affiliated researcher with the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, which published two UAP reports by him on UAP, cited by Dr Hal Puthoff and Chris Mellon, amongst others. He is a member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies.Recorded 3/24/2024The Good Trouble Show: Linktree:https://linktr.ee/thegoodtroubleshowPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheGoodTroubleShowYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGoodTroubleShowTwitter / X: https://twitter.com/GoodTroubleShowInstagram: @goodtroubleshowTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@goodtroubleshowFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Good-Trouble-Show-With-Matt-Ford-106009712211646 Threads: @TheGoodTroubleShowBlueSky: @TheGoodTroubleShowBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-good-trouble-show-with-matt-ford--5808897/support.

Show Notes and Transcript Mike Yardley joins Hearts of Oak to discuss his varied background, including military service and journalism, addressing censorship in contemporary Britain, particularly concerning vaccines and lockdowns. We examine the impact of censorship on free speech, social media algorithms, and the consequences of opposing mainstream narratives.  The conversation delves into declining democracy, globalist agendas, and the suppression of individual liberties.  Mike highlights concerns about powerful entities controlling public discourse and a lack of open debate on critical issues.  We end on political changes in Europe and the necessity of open discussions to tackle societal issues, particularly the significance of critical thinking, diverse perspectives, and unrestricted dialogue to shape a better future. Mike Yardley is well known as a sporting journalist, shooting instructor, and hunter and has written and broadcast extensively on all aspects of guns and their use. His articles (2000+) have appeared in many journals as well as in the national press. He has appeared as an expert witness in cases which relate to firearms and firearms safety. He is a founding fellow of the Association of Professional Shooting Instructors, and has formal instructing qualifications from a variety of other bodies. He is listed one of The Field's ‘Top Shots.' He retired from the press competition at the CLA Game Fair after winning it three times. As well as his shooting activities he has written books on other subjects including an account of the independent Polish trade union Solidarity, a biography of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), and a history of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst itself. He is a contributing author and ‘Special Researcher' to the Oxford History of the British Army (in which he wrote the concluding chapter and essays on the army in Northern Ireland and the SAS). He is also a frequent broadcaster and has made and presented documentaries for the BBC. Mike has also been involved as a specialist ballistic consultant, and presenter, in many productions for various TV companies including the Discovery and History Channels. He has re-enacted on location worldwide the death of the Red Baron, the Trojan Horse incident from ancient history, and some of the most infamous assassinations, including those of JFK, RFK and Abe Lincoln. Michael has worked a photojournalist and war reporter in Syria, Lebanon, Albania/Kosovo, Africa, and Afghanistan. He was seized off the street in Beirut in 1982 (before Terry Waite and John McCarthy) but released shortly afterwards having befriended one of his captors. In 1986 he made 3 clandestine crossings into Afghanistan with the Mujahedin putting his cameras aside and working as a medic on one mission. In the late 1990s, he ran aid convoys to Kosovan Refugees in Albania and on the Albanian/Kosovo border. The charity he co-founded, ‘Just Help,' was honoured for this work which took 300 tons of relief to desperately needy people. Connect with Mike... X/TWITTER        twitter.com/YardleyShooting WEBSITE            positiveshooting.com Interview recorded 2.5.24 Connect with Hearts of Oak... X/TWITTER        x.com/HeartsofOakUK WEBSITE            heartsofoak.org/ PODCASTS        heartsofoak.podbean.com/ SOCIAL MEDIA  heartsofoak.org/connect/ SHOP                 heartsofoak.org/shop/ *Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast. Check out his art theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com and follow him on X/Twitter twitter.com/TheBoschFawstin  (Hearts of Oak) Hello Hearts of Oak, thank you so much for joining us once again and I'm joined by someone who I've been enjoying watching on Twitter for the last couple of years and delighted that he can join us today and that's Mike Yardley. Mike, thank you so much for your time today. (Mike Yardley) Yeah, great to be here and thank you very much for asking me Peter. Not at all, thoroughly enjoyed. I thought I would But let our audience also enjoy your input. And we had a good chat on the phone the other week about all different issues. And people can find you @YardleyShooting, which introduces the question, Yardley Shooting. Maybe you want to give just a one or two minute introduction of your background. I know you've written. You have a deep passion and understanding of history, along with many other things. But maybe give the viewer just a little bit of your background. Well, I've had a wide and varied career. I studied psychology at university. I went to the army. Wasn't really, you know, content in the army. And I resigned my commission in 1980. But I was in the army at a very interesting time. Height of the Cold War. I was on what was then the West German and East German border watching the East Germans and Russians watching us. So an intriguing place. And I really left the army to become a war reporter, a photographer, particularly initially. And also I went to Poland. I was in Poland for the rise of solidarity. I brought an exhibition back to the UK, which opened at the National Theatre. And memorably with Peggy Ashcroft doing the honours at that event, and Sir John Gielgud as patron. And then I've sort of made my way as an author and as a freelance. And I've also had a parallel career as an arms specialist. I've written a, probably millions of words in that area, but I've also written the final chapter of the Oxford History of the British Army, essays within that, books on the history of Sandhurst and co-written with another ex-officer, a book about the army, lots of technical stuff, a number of technical books. And I'm very interested in mass communication. I have made in the deep and distant past, some documentaries for the BBC. I made one on the history of terrorism for the BBC World Service. I made another on the media and the monarchy for the BBC World Service. And I think they actually let me broadcast once on another subject I'm very interested in, which is doubt. So since then, I've made my living with my pen and my camera. I was in Lebanon in the the early 1980s, again, not a good place to be there. And I made several sneaky beaky trips into Afghanistan, not as a soldier, but as a journalist when the Russians were there. And that was a very interesting time too. And, you know, gave me some ideas that perhaps other people didn't have the advantage of that experience. So yeah, quite an interesting career. I'm still a columnist for one well-known field sports magazine, The Field. And I am still at it. I don't know how long I'm going to be at it for. But one of the interesting things, I suppose, for me has been the advent of social media. And I thought social media was going to give me a chance to see what other people were thinking. But as well as what other people were thinking, to give me a chance for unfettered expression. Because I think it would be fair to say that I do feel that you cannot really say what you think in modern Britain. It comes with all sorts of disadvantages. As you get older and maybe you don't need the income as much, then perhaps not as important. You know, you can harder to cancel you as you get older and you don't really care. But I do think that's an issue in modern Britain. I think since the whole advent of lockdown and all the propaganda that was associated with it, and indeed with the Ukraine war, although I'm a supporter of the Ukrainians, I was rather horrified by the extent of the propaganda campaign to get us involved, as I have been rather shocked by all the propaganda surrounding lockdown and COVID, et cetera. And one other key point of my background is that I got very badly injured after I had the vaccine. I collapsed the next day. I had the worst headache of my life. I was in bed for a month or six weeks. I got a thrombosis in my leg, tinnitus, all sorts of other shingles, all sorts of other horrible stuff. I couldn't really walk. And even as I speak to you now, I've got shingles. I've got this blessed tinnitus ringing in my head, which a lot of other people have had post-vaccination and constant headaches. So I just have to live with that now, which means that you're always having to go through that to talk to people and to get your point across. Well, I've got a feeling that we may have you on a number of times, Mike, because there's so much to unpack there. But maybe we can start with a comment you made on censorship. And certainly we've seen this over the last four years. I've noticed in different areas, but specifically since being in the media space, I think since 2020, I've certainly seen it, had seen a little bit back in my days with UKIP during the Brexit campaign also but we have the BBC in the UK I guess they are the gatekeepers of information or have been up until this point and I know they've just the BBC have just done a series on misinformation or extremism and they of someone they employ full-time to actually cover what they see as misinformation and that kind of re-galvanizes their position as gatekeepers. But what are your thoughts on censorship? And I guess where state media fit into that? Yeah, I've been listening to that BBC series, and there's quite a lot of BBC stuff in that area at the moment. I think the first thing I'd say is this. I used to be one of the main voices heard in the media talking about security and terrorism. I hardly ever broadcast now. I don't get the opportunity because I'm not on narrative. And I think that's often because I present a nuanced position. And that doesn't seem to be popular in the modern media. Is censorship a problem now? Yes, it is. It's a problem because I can't easily broadcast anymore, having spent many years broadcasting and making lots of stuff for all sorts of different programs, as well as making a few programs of my own. I can't do that anymore. I think I may have made half a dozen or seven Discovery shows as well, but the phone no longer rings. And I'm pretty sure it doesn't ring particularly because I took up a vaccine sceptical position. And this is where it starts to get, this is the stuff we should unpack because it's really interesting. I was just listening before we started broadcasting to a BBC program that was talking about Russian operations promoting the anti-vaccine position. Well, I get that. I can see that the Russians have been involved in that. And we can come back to my own Twitter account, where I see clearly that if I put up a comment that is in any way critical of the Russians, it gets no support at all. But it might get probably half a dozen or 10 times as much pro-Russian support. And I've been trying to work out what's going on with that. It's almost as if the Russians have some way of manipulating that particular platform. But on the other hand, coming back to this point about vaccine scepticism, it's not just the Russians who are promoting that. Maybe it was in their interest to do that. But there are people in the UK, myself included, who were genuinely injured by the vaccines and who want to talk about it and feel that their point of view has completely been suppressed by these big social media platforms and by the BBC. It is just a non-subject. They don't really talk about excess deaths. They don't talk about widespread vaccine injury. You hear occasionally about VITT thrombosis with young women who've had these terrible thrombosis in their brains, but you do not hear about quite widespread vaccine injury. Now, I put up a comment on Twitter, do you know of anyone who's had a vaccine injury? I had something like, well, I think two, it depends on how you count them, but something like two million views, but 6,000 replies, and listing a lot more than 6,000 injuries. Now, I'm sure you can't necessarily take that as absolute gospel, but it is indicative of the fact that many people think they have been damaged by the vaccines, but also they can't talk about it. Their doctors aren't interested in it. The BBC don't seem to be interested in it. What in a free country are we meant to do? Well, we do this. We try and get our message out by other means, but it shouldn't be like that. And this seems to be a trend, this big state authoritarianism with a much more controlled media, which is facilitated by all the digitization that's going on. That is a real issue in modern Britain? Certainly, we came across that with YouTube putting videos up, and you daren't put a video up on YouTube critiquing the vaccine narrative or the COVID narrative. But recently, there has been some change. I know that there is legal action against AstraZeneca. I think in the last two days, there have been reports of AstraZeneca admitting that it did in in a tiny amount of cases but they haven't mentioned this before there were side effects. It does seem as though either it's the chipping away of those who've been vaccine injured demanding a voice, either it's been MPs becoming a little bit more vocal, obviously Andrew Bridgen, or it's been maybe a change in Twitter and the information out. I mean how do you see that because it does seem as though the message is slowly getting out? Well, Facebook's interesting because they've changed their policy, obviously, because before I couldn't say anything, it had come up with a note. And I have in the past had blocks from both Facebook and from Twitter. And I've also had apologies from both. I've done my best, because I don't think I ever say anything that is inappropriate or improper. That still doesn't prevent you being censored today. But twice, once with Facebook and once with Twitter, I've managed to get an apology out of them and been reinstated. So this is very disturbing stuff. And we're talking about this small number of injuries that are being acknowledged are about these brain thrombosis, the VITT thrombosis, which is an extremely rare condition, to quote an Oxford medic friend of mine. You know, rare as hen's teeth, hardly affects anyone. But it seems that thrombosis more generally, DVT and pulmonary embolism, and other things like myocarditis are comparatively common, and the re-ignition of possibly dormant cancers, which Professor Angus Dalgleish has been talking about at great length. And these are subjects which should be debated freely. I mean, when you see Andrew Bridgen in the House of Commons talking about excess deaths and he's almost talking to an empty Commons chamber. Albeit you can hear some fairly vociferous shouting coming from or cheering coming from the gallery, which the Speaker or the Assistant Speaker tried to close down, but that is a bit worrying. What has happened to British democracy? What has happened to our birth right of free speech? I mean, it isn't what it used to be. In fact, not only is it not what it used to be, on many subjects, we are not free to speak anymore. Not just the ones I discussed, there are all sorts of other things which might fall within the boundaries of PC and woke, which you simply can't talk about. You might even get prosecuted in some circumstances. I mean, we're living in some sort of mad upside down world at the moment. We've watched in Scotland the SNP collapsing, not least because of some of their very wacky legislation, which has also been enormously expensive. Meantime, I'm of the opinion, and I'm not particularly right wing, but I am of the opinion that ordinary people, sometimes they just want to see the potholes mended. You know, they don't want this sort of bit of PC legislation or another. There are far greater national priorities. And I'm not saying that there aren't small groups in society that haven't been badly treated in the past. They have. I can see that. and there has been real prejudice. But I think we have very immediate problems now. And they were all exacerbated by the COVID calamity and the government's reaction to it. I mean, I'm not afraid to say, did we really do the right thing? Should we have locked down? Should we have gone ahead with the vaccines? Or would it have made more sense to have given everybody in Britain a supply of vitamin C and vitamin D and maybe just vaccinated some people? But we don't talk about these things openly. It's a very controlled environment. And I was talking to a close friend of mine who's across the water in Northern Ireland and who's a very wise and sensible guy and involved in quite a lot of official stuff there. And I said to him, what is it? What is going on now? And he said, well, if I was to sum it up simply, Michael, I'd say that I don't feel free anymore. Well, I don't feel particularly free anymore. Peter, do you feel particularly free anymore? Have you sensed a change in the last 25 years, 20 years? Certainly in the last 10 years, I have. Well, I've certainly sensed a change, and I think that some of us actually want to speak what we believe is true, in spite of what happens, and other people cower away. And I always wonder why some of us accepted the COVID narrative and some didn't. And I mean, in the UK, I've been intrigued with the, I guess, few high profile people who are willing to talk. So you've got Andrew Bridgen in politics, but in the U.S. you've got many politicians. Or in the U.K. you've got Professor Dalgleish, on with us a few weeks ago. In the U.S. you've got much higher profile people like Dr. McCullough or Dr. Malone. And even with the statisticians, you've got Professor Norman Fenton doing the stats. But in the U.S. you've got people like Steve Kirsch who are very high profile. And I'm kind of intrigued at why in the US, those who are opposing the narrative maybe get more free reign, but are lauded more, I think. And those in the UK seem to be really pushing up a brick wall every time. I don't know if you've seen that as well. Of course I have seen that, yes. And in some senses, the US is freer than the UK, and they do have a First Amendment, which means a bit. There is a lot of, America's a strange society and I went to school there so I know it quite well and although America is free on paper and although they do have a first amendment traditionally there has been something of a tyranny of public opinion, but the people that have spoken out, as far as the vaccine is concerned, and indeed about the war in Ukraine. And I think often they're saying the wrong thing on that, but we can come on to that later. But those people have been speaking out in a way that we haven't really seen in the UK, sadly. And you have to ask, what is going on? Why is that? I heard a comment by Ahmed Malik the other day. Do you know how many doctors there are in the UK, qualified medical doctors? I was stunned when I discovered how many, but I believe it's about 300,000. And I think it's something like 75,000 GPs, which is quite a lot. But do you know how many doctors have spoken up and gone counter-narrative? I believe the correct number is 10. I mean, that is extraordinary, isn't it? 10. And I mean, just from our own experience of social media. It's very, very few. And those doctors who risk it, risk everything. They risk being cancelled. They're on comfortable livings. They're on £100,000 a year plus in most cases, sometimes quite a lot more than that. If they speak out, they risk being struck off. They risk losing a comfortable lifestyle, the mortgage, possibly the family and whatever. And the result that hardly any at all have spoken out. But what we can assume is that there are many, like one particular friend I'm thinking of, who are very sceptical of what's been happening, very sceptical of the way the vaccine was launched, the lack of testing, all this stuff that we might draw attention to. And they're not necessarily anti-vaxxers. They're just people that are normally sceptical. But it seems that we're not allowed to be normally sceptical anymore. You have to follow this big state, Big Brother, 1984 line or watch out. And that really does disturb me. And I was listening, as I said, just before we came on with this program to a BBC thing on censorship, where the BBC is chastising the Russians and the Iranians, and, all sorts, the Chinese and talking about the billions that the Russians and the Chinese spread on info spend on information now, which they do. And much of it is mis and disinformation, but they do not talk about their own authoritarianism. And how they limited discussion on anything to do with COVID and indeed on the Ukraine war. And my own position, I'll just interject very briefly. I mean, I think that, Putin has to be stopped and I'm fully with the Ukraine people in what they're doing. But it's also a fact that Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, arguably more corrupt than Russia. And if we're giving them billions and billions and lots of military materiel, some of that is going to go missing. Some of that's going to go to the wrong places. And we never really discuss that. And it's not a particularly democratic place. And it's also the case that we probably pushed it politically in a particular direction because it was to our strategic interest, which is probably the right thing to do. But we can't discuss any of this anymore. And that does disturb me. Open discussion, open intellectual discussion on military matters, on health matters is becoming more and more difficult. And that's not a healthy sign, Peter. It certainly is. And actually, it's intriguing because my line would be, actually, these are, when I was younger, it would be interventionist. No, actually, it's, well, it's a separate country. They can do what they want. And if they want to have a war, they can have a war. But talking to people who have been very supportive, maybe more of the Ukraine side, talking to Krzysztof Bosak, MP in Poland yesterday. Yesterday and he was saying that Poland have given so much actually now Poland have very little to defend themselves and you look at the UK military, we didn't have much before and now it seems that we're short of munitions, short of many items and it seems that the west have poured so much into this without thinking of how to defend themselves. I mean, you understand the military side. What are your thoughts on that? Well, my thoughts at the moment, and it's been something I've been thinking about a lot recently, is that Britain is hopelessly under-defended. Our army is probably half the size it needs to be. Our navy is incapable of undertaking independent operations. It's probably just generally incapable. I think we're down to tiny numbers of jet fighters, tiny numbers of main asset ships. And we're saying, we're being told the army's around 72,000, something like that now. I think in real terms, it's actually smaller than that. And it's not big enough to meet the threat. And what's quite clear from what's going on in Ukraine is that you have to have a supply of ammunition, of missiles, of men. And this is worrying because if they came to a global conflict, it would go nuclear very quickly now, if it did go nuclear, because would our politicians actually ultimately press the button or not? I don't know. But it would have to go nuclear or something because we don't have the conventional resources. You know, they're just not there anymore. And most people have no idea of this. They have no experience of the military. But I would say that, they're talking about increasing defence spending to, you know, something under 3%. I would say that our defence spending at the moment should be probably at least 5% and maybe quite a lot more than that. This is a very, very unstable period in the history of the world. And we are not ready to meet the threat that exists. And of course, the Russians, I mean, they're routinely saying on their media that they're going to sink, you know, they'd sink Britain. They talk about sinking Britain specifically. And I don't think that they could do that. I don't think they would act on that. But we are incredibly vulnerable. We are essentially one big, you know, landing strip and It's not a good situation at all. And most people just block it. It's not that they're not worried about it, but they don't want to be worried about it. It's just one thing more and too much to think about. And they don't have any experience of the military anyway. But we're now looking to Ukraine and we're wondering, will the Ukrainians manage to hold off the Russians before the increased aid reaches them? I don't know. I don't know. No, I think the situation is not as positive for the Russians as some people might think. They do have problems. They can act at a small level. They can act operationally, but they can't necessarily act strategically. They don't have the resources to that, but they are building up resources. And I think something like, is it 30 or 40% of their available national resources are now going into defence, which is a remarkable figure. Now, they've lost a lot of men. we don't know really how many people have died in the Ukraine. It's certainly tens of thousands and maybe into the hundreds of thousands. It's a meat grinder. And the Russians, of course, just threw all their troops into this sort of first world war-like encounter. And they didn't really care about losses initially. It's not the Russian style, but also they were throwing people who'd been recruited from prisons, Pezhorin, the Wagner group, you know, many of those people were sacrificed, and I don't think anyone really cared about them in Russia very much. A dreadful situation. We won't go into the ethics and morality of that. Pretty scary, though. They will want to try and overwhelm those Ukrainian lines, and it's a huge front line. I mean, we're talking a front line, I think it's extending over a thousand kilometres or something. It's massive. They will try and overwhelm that line, and probably with the help of US and our own intelligence and a few other things, they'll probably stem the tide. But it's a 50-50. It's by no means a given. And that is worrying, because what would happen then? What would happen to the Poles? What indeed would happen to us? So yeah, good question. I was, it was fun watching the response from NATO members to Trump's call for them to actually pay the bills. Because I think it was, I remember watching Desert Storm and being just, consumed by it I guess as a young teenager and you've got the cameras following it all, now we come to whenever Britain sent tornadoes supposedly to help Israel and we were just told that's what happened, there was very little independent reporting, who knows if it happened or not. I think it was probably, it hit me, the reduction size of our military, whenever we bought, it was 67 apache attack helicopters, I think 67, wow, what are we going to do with those, I mean, half of them won't work half the time if they're in the desert with sand in their engines. But you realize that if the West do not have a strong military, then that deterrent basically is removed. And it means that other countries like Russia, who will spend more in defence, actually think, well, we can do what we like. They can do what they like because the West just aren't, one, aren't able to intervene, I guess, because of weakness in leadership, which we see in the EU, the US, Europe and in the UK, but also because of lack of military firepower. And I guess that's just a changing of the guard from the power of the West over to other centres of power. Well, I think the strategic implications of the weakness and the perceived weakness of our leadership are big. And, you know, that is in looking from Moscow. I mean, the farce we've seen in Westminster in recent years must be very encouraging to you where, you know, they have the strong, the classic Soviet era and now Russian era strongman. Putin is developing this aura as the strong man, which is a popular one in Russia. He has complete dominance of his home media, so he manages to mislead people as to what's actually going on elsewhere as well. He's looking for an external foe, an external threat, a long-time ploy of any authoritarian leader trying to make sure he stays in power. And of course, Putin doesn't have much choice, does he? If he doesn't succeed in staying in power, he's got a very scary future ahead of him. So that's another intriguing issue. The only good thing I would say, and this is, I don't think I'd like to fight the Poles or indeed the Ukrainians. They're both very, very tough nations. But where this now leads, and this is another critical question, we don't really know what's going on. When this conflict started, and I was a reporter in Lebanon, for Time, I was a photojournalist for Time in the Lebanon and we were sending stuff back that was really from the front line and it was really interesting and people, what I noticed when I went there, intriguingly to Lebanon in the 80s, was I was familiar with it all because i'd seen it all on the evening news. But I wasn't familiar with the feeling and the smell. Now, I can't say that with Ukraine, because for most of this conflict, I didn't know, and most people didn't know what the hell was going on. The quality of the reporting, I thought, was very, very poor. I've seen some better reporting since, but generally, I thought the reporting initially was awful. And there was also a tremendous amount of pro-war propaganda. I know somebody who went to the theatre in London and apparently, you know, when it came to the intermission or something, a huge Ukrainian flag came down and the whole audience were expected to cheer as we're all expected to cheer for the NHS or for all the vaccine stuff. I'm just temperamentally opposed to that sort of control, that sort of psychological manipulation. It concerns me that people should be made to support anything unthinkingly and that seems to be what's happening now and you've got Facebook for example, I mean they were at one stage I think advertising how they could turn opinion to potential advertisers and we've seen all the Cambridge Analytica stuff, we're incredibly vulnerable now to all this online stuff and the thing that bothers me if I go back to Twitter where I have something of a presence, is I can't really tell my stuff now because nobody sees it, there is some sort of censorship algorithm or something in place. I've got 77 000 followers there allegedly, I don't know how many of them are bots but sometimes it's clear that hardly anybody sees something that I put out particularly if it concerns the vaccines or if I'm making critical comment about Mr Putin. I think I blocked 2000 odd, what I thought were probably Russian accounts. But ironically, I'm actually getting taken down myself sometimes by the Twitter algorithms. I don't know who's controlling them. I don't know if they're controlled by Twitter Central or they're controlled somewhere else. But hey, I hope so. I think I'm one of the good guys. But you're not allowed to be a good guy. You've got to be a black and white guy now. That's the thing I think you see on social media, which is also meantime, in a very unhealthy way, polarizing people. It encourages the extremes. You can't be a traditional conservative very easily. You can't be a moderate very easily or a classical liberal very easily. You've got to go to one pole or the other pole. I think that's just very unhealthy. It's unhealthy apart from anything else as far as intellectual debate's concerned. Let me pick up on that with where we fit in and the ability to, I guess, speak your mind and have a position where you put your country first, which I thought was always a normal position, but now supposedly is an extremist position. But how, I mean, I'm curious watching what's happening in Europe which is me slightly separate, the European parliamentary elections and the wave of putting nations first and it's called nationalism. I think it's putting your country first which actually should be what a nation is about and the second thing is your neighbour and those around you, but we haven't really seen that in the UK. I mean do you think that will be a change of how your because Europe is really a declining force in the world, not only economically, but militarily. And of course, we haven't made the best of leaving the EU at all. We've cocked up big time on that. But then you look across to Europe and it is a declining power. And I'm wondering whether this new change, this opposition to unfair immigration. Opposition to control, central control from Brussels, wanting to put the nations first, whether that actually will be a change in Europe's fortunes. Bring me back to central control. But before we say anything else, just look at Norway. They had the wonderful resource of their oil reserves, and they spent it well. They created a sovereign national fund. And I think it means that everyone in Norway's got half a million quid or something like that. We, on the other hand, have squandered our national resources. And the country appears to be in tatters at the moment, and they can't even mend the potholes. Going to this business of Europe and the decline, yes, it's worrying that, Europe almost is losing the will to defend itself, or it seems to. But beyond that, if you look at Brexit, I mean, I was a Brexiteer, and I was a Brexiteer who could see some of the economic arguments for Remain. So again, I had a nuanced position on it. But overall, I wanted to preserve British sovereignty and democracy, and I thought it was disgraceful that we should be turning over that to some body in Brussels. But what we didn't realize, those of us who were pushing for Brexit, that the real threat wasn't Brussels, but the real threat probably was some globalist entity that we didn't even understand. And nobody was really much talking about globalism at that point. They weren't talking about Davos and all that sort of stuff. They were talking about the threat from Brussels but what we've seen since Brexit I think is an even greater threat from, I think what that Greek ex-foreign minister calls techno feudalism and the sort of, the onward march of somewhat Marxist influenced, capitalism facilitated by the whole digital deal, And you have WEF stuff where, you'll own nothing and you'll be happy, although they're withdrawing from that comment now. But who are these people? Did we elect them? We had a sort of interest in the people in Brussels, sort of, but as far as these globalist characters are concerned, they have no democratic mandate whatsoever. And that is pretty scary. Their only mandate is enormous wealth and a sort of arrogance that they know best for us, the peons, what our future should be. I do find that a bit terrifying, but I also, this is where it gets interesting, Peter, because I see where it came from. If you look at the era after the Second World War, the Americans and us, we were very worried about Soviet influencing operations. So we started to do stuff. And one of the things, the European community was perhaps one of those things, NATO was the most obvious, but there were also all sorts of influencing operations to counter the then very common, prolific, and increasingly dangerous Soviet influencing operations directed at Europe, directed at Latin America. So, for example, at Harvard, and I found this out from reading a biography of Henry Kissinger recently. At Harvard in the early 50s, they were running young leaders courses for foreign influencers. And it looked very much like the same sort of deal that the WEF was doing with everyone's Trudeau et al. They've all been a WEF young leader. Now, I would guess that that comes, that WEF stuff probably comes from Harvard or something like that via the State Department pushing into academia and then creating the WEF, maybe or having a hand in it as an influencing op. But this is where it gets really interesting. Has somebody penetrated that influencing op? Has it been turned? Whose interests does it actually operate in now? We know big money. Yeah, big money. But is it really in our individual interest as citizens of these countries and as customers of these massive corporations that seek to influence so much now and trespass onto the realm of politics and social engineering? By what right? You know, what happened to democracy? Aren't we meant to be deciding what's going on in our country, what our values are? It seems not. Democracy seems less important, I mean you look at Andrew Bridgen lecturing to an almost empty House of Commons on excess deaths and you think what on earth is going on there, what is this? I don't get it and I don't get why there is not free discussion on many other subjects in parliament now and it disturbs me. We developed this system, it's a pretty good system with faults as Churchill said, the problem with it is more the case that all the other systems are worse. And I think that's probably true. I mean, I'm a believer in democracy, but our democracy is in a pretty bad way. And it's not just our democracy, all over the Western world. We seem to have rolled over. And I do wonder to what extent the Russians, the Chinese and others have deliberately undermined us, captured our institutions, maybe captured our media. You know, these are things that one isn't allowed to say normally, but I'm saying them now. I mean, to what extent have we been captured and who by? If you saw the Yuri Bezmenov film from the 70s and 80s, have you seen that? Oh, you must, Yuri Bezmenov, about subversion and the long-term KGB operations to subvert the West. Very interesting, and it all seems to have come true. Yuri Bezmenov, you'll find it on YouTube. Yeah. What has happened to us? Our society is almost unrecognizable. Go back 20 years. I mean, think of the restrictions on driving in London, on smoking, let alone lockdown and vaccines, and thou shalt do this, and you must do that, and if you don't, we'll fine you, and you've got no power at all, and we've got complete control over your life, and it's a 200-pound fine for this and for whatever. We are so controlled and put down now. And again, I have an interesting theory and I don't get the chance to talk about it much, but I wonder if when you see a lot of crime and you see a lot of crime, particularly amongst young people, and you see a lot of strange, violent crime, I wonder if that is a consequence of too much central control. I wonder if that's a psychological and sociological consequence of a society which is becoming too controlled. And that's a subject I never hear discussed, but it's a very interesting one because I think a lot of us are concerned about crime, street crime, you know, mad people on the roads, which you see, I noticed personally, a lot more crazy driving than I was aware of maybe five or 10 years ago. But we don't discuss this stuff. We don't discuss the fact that the average person isn't really very happy now, that the average kid, this does get discussed a bit, is very anxious, maybe having treatment for this or that sort of psychological problem, that what used to be the normal tribulations of life now become things that you need to seek out treatment for. Well, maybe what you really need to do is seek out treatment for your society because your society is creating people that just aren't happy. And we should explore that. But again, that's another big subject. Well, I've been intrigued talking to friends growing up behind the Iron Curtain and talking about the Stasi or the state police reporting on people, turning everyone into informers, and then having Xi Van Fleet on the other day. And she was talking about the Red Guards, who were Mao's army, in effect, in communist China. And you realize that control whenever individuals are called out by the media because they go against the narrative. We've seen that under the COVID tyranny or seen that when Andrew Bridgen spoke the last time, the leader of the House, Penny Mordaunt, warned him to be very careful of the dangerous language he is using on social media. She meant that he is saying something which is different than government, and that's not accepted. And in effect, it's the same, I guess, control as you saw under communism that we are now seeing here, where people are called out for having a different opinion and being threatened that if they continue, there will be consequences. Would you have seen that sort of control 50 years ago or before the Second World War? I mean, you know, I'm no communist, but there used to be communist members of parliament. There used to be an extremely wide range of opinion represented in parliament. Now it seems we're entering the age of the monoculture and the mono-party, and alternative opinions just aren't acceptable anymore. There is one canonized text, and you've got to repeat that mantra, and if not, you're a non-person. I mean, where did that come from? That isn't our tradition. But is that the push of the woke agenda, is it the decline of Christianity, is it weak leadership, I mean you kind of look and I want to understand where this is coming from, because if you understand where it's coming from then you can begin to tackle it. But it does seem to be many different facets of it from different angles. I think, was it GK Chesterton 'once we stop believing in anything, we'll start believing in everything' I think that is part of it, I think people don't believe in very much so they just believe in their own selfish bubble and materialism and I think this actually goes back to Oxford, I think there is actually some school of philosophy that encouraged this idea that as the old authorities declined, whether that was the the monarchy or whatever it might be, a faith in authority that you would have to find a new way of controlling the public and that the simplest way to do that was by their material self-interest and this is what Thatcher and Reagan essentially appeared to do, well actually looking back at Reagan now I actually think he said some very sensible stuff, but it appears that we were manipulated by our material desires. That replaced the old world. But it's meant that we're living in a rather scary, chaotic, morally upside down and confused world now. And it's certainly not the world that you and I remember. And it must be very scary for kids. I mean, I was speaking to a young person the other day, and I was really surprised because they told me that they didn't watch the news and they were a bright kid. And they said, well, why? They said, well, I don't want to. I don't want to have anything to do with it. And I don't want to have anything to do with history either. And I thought to myself, my God, if you have a young person who was soon to be a voting age, who's not watching any news, who doesn't want to have anything to do with history, how are they going to be able to make the right decisions for our future? And what sort of world are they living in? You know, where's their thought space now? Yeah, I thought that was very worrying. But that's, I mean, to finish on that, that's really just part of the information war because now young people get, I don't know how to define young people, but they get their information, their worldview from TikTok. So you've got the Chinese government actually pushing that and forcing that. And it is concerning whenever, from a 60 second video someone can decide what the world is and how they fit into it and that's the depth of knowledge they're going to find and I think that shallowness is where we are with the next generation coming. Yeah I mean I've got to hope that there's some young people that aren't as shallow as that and I certainly do talk to to some who aren't, I mean I've got kids of my own, four kids, and generally speaking, they're pretty switched on. We don't have the same views, generally speaking, but they're pretty switched on. But it is scary that there's a whole generation of young people that, I mean, you see them, you wander down the street, you see every kid has got, there they are, they've got the mobile phone and they're like zombies looking at the mobile phone. And it's not just kids for that matter. It's, you see middle-aged people doing the same thing. You see them sitting at tables in a restaurant and they're still tapping at the screen. Whoever controls this controls you, controls your mind, controls what you think are your opinions, because many of your opinions are not really your opinions. They're things that have been implanted in you by these massively influential modern means. Now, television always did that to a degree. The newspapers always did it to a degree. But this seems to be a more direct route into people's heads, particularly young people's heads. And that is genuinely disturbing. Now, if you look to Europe, you mentioned Europe earlier. If you look at Europe, it seems to be swaying to the right. My guess is that, Britain will probably sway to the left until maybe there's a failure of the Starmer dream after probably, they might run for two terms. And then our future is very uncertain and again, rather scary. But what I don't see is enough discussion, enough activity. I don't see a dynamic middle. Hopefully, I mean, very intriguing, isn't it? Who is Starmer? What does he represent? Is he a Blairite? So is that some sort of globalist, centrist, capitalized position? I don't know. I tend to think it is. I tend to think that's where it's coming from. It's not the traditional left. But of course, Starmer has some history of being on the left, not to a great extreme. But it is worrying that the left could still creep into power via Starmer's government. It's also a bit frightening, and am I saying this, that what happens if Starmer's government fails? I mean, as it probably will. The economics are against it. Britain is not looking in a good place at all. But what I think we need, the one thing that will save us is open discussion, proper, unfettered, open discussion about politics, about health, about philosophy, about everything else. And I try in my life in a small way to start those conversations with people. And I do it across politics. I do it across religion. I talk to almost everyone I meet, if I can, and I think I get away with it, and start bringing up some of these difficult subjects. Mike, I really do appreciate coming on. As I said at the beginning, I've really enjoyed your Twitter handle. And I know we've touched on many things on censorship, military and politics. And I'm sure we will have you back on again soon. So thank you so much for your time today. Well, I've really enjoyed the opportunity. And I'll just say this in conclusion. I've actually managed this. I've had the tinnitus and this terrible migraine all through the interview, but we got through it, which is great. I do say to people out there, do take seriously the people who tell you they've been vaccine injured because it's a big deal if you have. God bless you Peter.

“Never again is now, we don't stand for Jews being killed freely anymore, that stays in the 1940s where it belongs.”Andrew Fox served as an officer in the British Army from 2005-2021, leaving with the rank of Major. He completed 3 tours of Afghanistan, including one attached to US Army Special Forces. He also served in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and the Middle East. He studied Law as an undergraduate, and completed a Master's in History & War Studies whilst serving. He now studies Psychology of disinformation at Master's level and is halfway through a PhD on the US Reconstruction. He has been a lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and is a researcher and commentator on the Middle East. We, the people of Israel, and not our government of whom so much has been said, we are the buffer between civilization and the enemies of freedom who seek at every moment to tear down the pillars of the west.Israelis know this because we live it.We are raw and stinging from the fight, from pushing back against this tidal wave of murderous hate.Andrew is uniquely positioned to comment on much of what Israelis are experiencing right at this moment having studied the politics of the Middle East, the psychology of humankind, and lived the experience of fighting for it. He understands the context intimately and more to the point - which questions to ask. Don't miss this discussion.https://twitter.com/Mr_Andrew_Fox Get full access to Ilana Rachel Daniel at ilanaracheldaniel120.substack.com/subscribe

Gwynne Dyer, renowned historian, journalist, broadcaster, and author, joins Banyen for a discussion of his book Intervention Earth: Life-Saving Ideas from the World's Climate Engineers. Gwynne Dyer is an internationally renowned historian, journalist, broadcaster, and author. He is a Member of the Order of Canada, and recipient of the The Southam Fellowship and Canadian Queen's Jubilee Medal. His 7-part documentary series War was nominated for an Academy Award, and his series The Human Race and Protection Force both won Gemini awards. He served in three navies and held academic appointments at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and Oxford University before launching his twice-weekly column on international affairs, which is published by over 175 papers in some 45 countries. He is the author of several books including War: The Lethal Custom and Climate Wars, based on his CBC Ideas series of the same name.

In this episode we speak to Lieutenant Colonel Ed Fraser of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, formerly the 1st Battalion The King's Regiment, which he commissioned into in 2001. He served in Afghanistan on Op HERRICK, and twice in Iraq on Op TELIC. Away from regimental duty, Lt Col Fraser instructed as a Platoon Commander at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, was a Staff Officer in the Army HQ Operational Training and Advisory Group and served as a Military Assistant to the Commanding General US Army Europe. He also led a Mission Support Team for the African Union Mission in Somalia on Op TANGHAM. He attended the Advanced Staff and Command Course at the Defence Academy before his tenure as Commanding Officer of the 4th Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, which saw him oversee their contribution to Op INTERFLEX.  We discussed Lt Col Fraser's self-awareness of his leadership style and how it has developed over time, drawing on two particular examples from training prior to Platoon Command. He comments on competency, the ability to do your job from a technical perspective and knowing your your craft entirely, and the necessity of pairing it with human understanding - knowing your people and what makes them 'tick'. Lt Col Fraser recognises the significance of identity and creating a shared purpose, and references to the experience of creating sub-unit identities which aligned with the purpose of training Ukrainian soldiers, on Op INTERFLEX, to facilitate operational effectiveness across the whole team. 

In this episode we speak to Lieutenant Colonel Ed Fraser of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, formerly the 1st Battalion The King's Regiment, which he commissioned into in 2001. He served in Afghanistan on Op HERRICK, and twice in Iraq on Op TELIC. Away from regimental duty, Lt Col Fraser instructed as a Platoon Commander at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, was a Staff Officer in the Army HQ Operational Training and Advisory Group and served as a Military Assistant to the Commanding General US Army Europe. He also led a Mission Support Team for the African Union Mission in Somalia on Op TANGHAM. He attended the Advanced Staff and Command Course at the Defence Academy before his tenure as Commanding Officer of the 4th Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, which saw him oversee their contribution to Op INTERFLEX.  We discussed Lt Col Fraser's self-awareness of his leadership style and how it has developed over time, drawing on two particular examples from training prior to Platoon Command. He comments on competency, the ability to do your job from a technical perspective and knowing your your craft entirely, and the necessity of pairing it with human understanding - knowing your people and what makes them 'tick'. Lt Col Fraser recognises the significance of identity and creating a shared purpose, and references to the experience of creating sub-unit identities which aligned with the purpose of training Ukrainian soldiers, on Op INTERFLEX, to facilitate operational effectiveness across the whole team. 

Some of us had easy childhoods and happy families. Some of us did not.  Some were exposed to serious early childhood trauma and substance abuse- and flirted with our own demons. Not all of us had the discernment and wisdom to change the trajectory our life was on and forge a path of providence. In this amazingly open conversation, you will be joined by Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Jimmy Carr- veteran of multiple combat tours with his beloved Yorkshire Regiment from his home in the United Kingdom. Jimmy shares the many challenges and life deranging experiences that he faced while growing up in England. He had to deal with serious family trauma and came very close to being overcome by a toxic environment. Jimmy fought through the “imposter syndrome” when he joined the UK's Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and learned to base his career on the great regulator of military standards and values. You will hear of Jimmy's time with the US Army's 10th Mountain Division, and the growth and development of his integrity based leadership style. He met LT GEN Michael Howard, and never forgot his guidance that: Bad teams turn on each other. Good teams turn to each other. Prepare to be moved by a level of honesty and openness that is hard to find in life- always coupled with a laugh and a joke. Please subscribe, share and review our podcast. Let us know what topics you'd like us to cover- we are getting great suggestions on various social media! Goals for 2024: -100  Ratings on Apple Podcasts -50 Written reviews on Apple Podcasts -500 followers on FB, IG & YouTube #PBC #PushingBackChaos #HMG #HeroesMediaGrp #Veterans #leadership #standards #values  #transformation   PushingBackChaos@gmail.com We've created a Link Tree with easy click links to all major podcast players: https://linktr.ee/pushingbackchaos?fbclid=PAAaZykcT6ZW50mWbcnrSm1BnZyAKkF-_v2chG9bjPWzkBowtb9fwuhtV_hyQ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we speak to Doctor and CAL Senior Research Fellow, Lieutenant Tess Morris-Paterson PhD, about what we can learn from her experience in the selection, training, and preparation of astronauts for space flight, and how some of those skills can be applied in a military context to her experience as a Troop commander with 135 Geographic Squadron Royal Engineers. Lt Morris-Paterson joined the Army Reserve in 2018 and completed trade training as a combat engineer before commissioning as an officer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In her civilian career, Tess has worked in elite and professional sport for twelve years, working with Olympic and Paralympic athletes, as well as those in the Premier League and Formula1. In 2019 she began working in Human space flight, culminating in a stint at NASA's Ames Research Centre. Tess obtains a PhD in aerospace physiology, and founded her own company, AstroPerform, which specialises in the selection and training of astronauts for space flight.  She draws on her experience to highlight the importance of attacking difficult conversations, as soon as possible, and the significance of efficiently providing emotionally intelligent feedback at all levels. 

In this episode we speak to Doctor and CAL Senior Research Fellow, Lieutenant Tess Morris-Paterson PhD, about what we can learn from her experience in the selection, training, and preparation of astronauts for space flight, and how some of those skills can be applied in a military context to her experience as a Troop commander with 135 Geographic Squadron Royal Engineers. Lt Morris-Paterson joined the Army Reserve in 2018 and completed trade training as a combat engineer before commissioning as an officer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In her civilian career, Tess has worked in elite and professional sport for twelve years, working with Olympic and Paralympic athletes as well as those, in the Premier League and Formula1. In 2019 she began working in Human space flight, culminating in a stint at NASA's Ames Research Centre. Tess obtains a PhD in aerospace physiology, and founded her own company, AstroPerform, which specialises in the selection and training of astronauts for space flight.  She draws on her experience to highlight the importance of attacking difficult conversations, as soon as possible, and the significance of efficiently providing emotionally intelligent feedback at all levels. 

Welcome to our weekend edition of free speech and straight talking as Godfrey Bloom is back with us for some news driven chat and discussion, giving his unbridled opinions on some of the top stories bouncing around this week on the web, in the tabloids and on his social media. Topics under the spotlight... - Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved bitcoin ETFs.  - Why it seems like everyone is sick right now? — and Covid isn't to blame. - Thousands of Polish patriots take to the streets of Warsaw to protest the illegal jailing of conservative MPs by globalist puppet Tusk. - Not my King? Royal Family faces breaking point as support drops below 50% for the first time. - How disgraced ex-Post Office chief nearly became the Bishop of London after being 'supported' by the woke wet-wipe, Archbishop Canterbury Justin Welby. - Huge blow to EV car revolution as sales to Brits plummet – with electric cars just a quarter of new purchases. - Bus go BANG! Electric double decker bus in London bursts into flames after huge 'bang' heard. - WHITEWASH: Covid inquiry postpones vaccine investigation. - Almost 4,000 migrants caught pretending to be kids to sneak into Britain — with some in their thirties. Godfrey Bloom is a libertarian author with six books published on both military history & Austrian School Economics. He worked in the City of London where he won an international prize for fund management (fixed interest) with Mercury Asset Management. Bloom finished his city career as General Manager of a life assurance company. He represented Yorkshire & Lincolnshire in the European Parliament & was a staunch campaigner for Brexit for twenty five years. During his term of office he attracted over sixty million views on his chamber speeches exposing State bank & tax malpractice on Facebook & You Tube. Thought to be an all time record. He brought experience if not influence to the mainly lay EU Parliamentary Monetary & Economic Affairs Committee, putting both members & European Central Bank President under unaccustomed pressure. Godfrey Bloom passed out of Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1976 & served as logistics liaison officer to 4th Armed Division in Germany. He is an Associate Member of the Royal College of Defence Studies & has presented papers & lectures to The RCDS, Joint Services Staff College, National Defence University Washington & too many universities to list. His speciality is procurement & geo political military strategy. Godfrey Bloom is holder of the Territorial Decoration & bar, Sovereign's Medal, Armed Forces Parliamentary Medal & European Parliamentary silver medal. Connect with Godfrey... WEBSITE:              https://godfreybloom.uk/ X:                           https://x.com/goddersbloom?s=20 SUBSTACK:          https://godfreybloom.substack.com/ Interview recorded 12.1.24 Connect with Hearts of Oak... WEBSITE               https://heartsofoak.org/ PODCASTS           https://heartsofoak.podbean.com/ SOCIAL MEDIA     https://heartsofoak.org/connect/ Support Hearts of Oak by purchasing one of our fancy T-Shirts....  SHOP                  https://heartsofoak.org/shop/ Episode links... bitcoin https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/11/bitcoin-etf-approved-sec-explained-meaning-securities-regulator-tweet everyone is sick https://metro.co.uk/2024/01/07/seems-like-just-everyone-a-cold-right-now-20077354/ Polish patriotshttps://x.com/JackPosobiec/status/1745461397037998519?s=20 https://x.com/EvaVlaar/status/1745425877461037509?s=20 Royal Family https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1853699/royal-family-support-drops-poll-king-charles Post Office chief https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12944243/How-disgraced-ex-Post-Office-chief-Paula-Vennells-nearly-Bishop-London-supported-application-Archbishop-Canterbury-Justin-Welby.html EV car https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/25269522/electric-car-sales-decrease/ bus banghttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12950765/London-electric-double-decker-bus-fire-Wimbledon.html Covid inquiry https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-67935037 migrants https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/25273358/migrants-pretending-kids-britain/#:~:text=NEARLY%204%2C000%20asylum%20seekers%20have,turned%20out%20to%20be%20adults.&text=That%20includes%20887%20rumbled%20from%20January%20to%20September%20last%20year

I first connected with Gavin because I noticed he was born in Keswick, UK.  I live in Keswick, Ontario, Canada.  They are spelled the same but pronounced differently.  This is known as affinity bias - I notice something about you that is similar to my own experience.  It's a tiny story that connects. Gavin and I both love the power of storytelling.  It's essential for the future of work and key to distributed work (hybrid/remote). I'd go as far as to say it's the future of leadership. Join us to understand why.  Also, check out Gavin's newsletter on LinkedIn.  He is a visual thinker and although we forgot to talk about his artistic take on leadership, it's the doodles that make his newsletter resonate.  There's a reason it's featured so often by LinkedIn editors. He works in partnership with Eugene Yoon to craft these visuals. - link at the bottom of the shownotes.   Don't forget to rate, review and comment.  We'd love to hear your insights and stories too. Gavin McMahon Gavin partners with clients to create tailored learning programs. He is rumored to build and run practical, entertaining workshops. He leads the development of newfangled leadership and customer experience products. Gavin's early career crosses the defense, automotive, publishing, and technology industries. He worked in engineering, strategy, and senior product development roles. Gavin graduated from UCLAN with a B(Eng) Hons. in Mechanical Engineering. He served as a platoon commander after graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. After a short stint in the defense industry and working in Africa, Gavin made a career change. A Sainsbury Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, he went on to study at Institute Theseus in France. There, he graduated with an MBA in Innovation, Strategy & Information Technology. Gavin was a founding member of the London Business School's i:Lab. There he co-wrote the case study: Netscape Communications Corporation. One of the first digital case studies, Netscape charted the rise of the first Internet giant. The case featured in MBA and executive education programs at Harvard, London Business School, and INSEAD. Gavin is a proud father of two very handsome basset hounds (and kids). Gavin McMahon | LinkedIn (1) fassforward: Posts | LinkedIn Leadership & Storytelling Training | fassforward | New York Foward Thinking - Gavin's LinkedIn newsletter

I first connected with Gavin because I noticed he was born in Keswick, UK.  I live in Keswick, Ontario, Canada.  They are spelled the same but pronounced differently.  This is known as affinity bias - I notice something about you that is similar to my own experience.  It's a tiny story that connects. Gavin and I both love the power of storytelling.  It's essential for the future of work and key to distributed work (hybrid/remote). I'd go as far as to say it's the future of leadership. Join us to understand why.  Also, check out Gavin's newsletter on LinkedIn.  He is a visual thinker and although we forgot to talk about his artistic take on leadership, it's the doodles that make his newsletter resonate.  There's a reason it's featured so often by LinkedIn editors. He works in partnership with Eugene Yoon to craft these visuals. - link at the bottom of the shownotes.   Don't forget to rate, review and comment.  We'd love to hear your insights and stories too. Gavin McMahon Co-CEO | Founder "Lapsed Engineer, now tinkers with brains." Gavin partners with clients to create tailored learning programs. He is rumored to build and run practical, entertaining workshops. He leads the development of newfangled leadership and customer experience products. Gavin's early career crosses the defense, automotive, publishing, and technology industries. He worked in engineering, strategy, and senior product development roles. Gavin graduated from UCLAN with a B(Eng) Hons. in Mechanical Engineering. He served as a platoon commander after graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. After a short stint in the defense industry and working in Africa, Gavin made a career change. A Sainsbury Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, he went on to study at Institute Theseus in France. There, he graduated with an MBA in Innovation, Strategy & Information Technology. Gavin was a founding member of the London Business School's i:Lab. There he co-wrote the case study: Netscape Communications Corporation. One of the first digital case studies, Netscape charted the rise of the first Internet giant. The case featured in MBA and executive education programs at Harvard, London Business School, and INSEAD. Gavin McMahon | LinkedIn (1) fassforward: Posts | LinkedIn Leadership & Storytelling Training | fassforward | New York Foward Thinking - Gavin's LinkedIn newsletter

14 November 2023 12PM EST - This morning, Joe and David are joined by special guest Katie Hopkins. Katie Hopkins was sponsored through Exeter University by the Intelligence Corps, graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and signed up to serve her country for 35-years. Together they discuss the unique character of the citizens of the United States, and how resistance against tyranny is growing! Later Joe and David talk about meeting our brothers and sister where they are at, having difficult conversations, and standing together! If you'd like to send a message to Congress, it's linked below! Follow us on Social Media: https://libertylinks.io/ConservativeDaily https://libertylinks.io/JoeOltmann https://libertylinks.io/Apollo Message to Congress - IMPEACH Mayorkas - Support MTG and PASS The Motion to Impeach Mayorkas For Failing to Secure the Border! - https://conservative-daily.com/impeachment/impeach-mayorkas-support-mtg-and-pass-the-motion-to-impeach-mayorkas-for-failing-to-secure-the-border

In this episode, our host Captain Ash Bhwardwaj speaks to Sergeant Mo Faye about the importance of ownership over outputs and how soft skills in leaders are hugely valued by followers during periods of training and change. Sergeant Mo Faye was born and raised in Gambia and joined the British Army's Staff and Personnel Support Branch, the Adjutant Generals Corps (AGC, SPS) in 2001. He was then attached to the rifle companies of infantry regiments as a junior HR specialist and admin junior Non Commissioned Officer. As a corporal he administered Officer Cadets at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, before working with the Irish Guards and NATO in the Middle East. As a Sergeant Mo is now the systems coordinator at the Army Medical Service's support unit. Mo has deployed across the world on exercise and on operations and has been awarded the Queen's Commendation for value of service and the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe's Coin. He is also the founder of the Juwara Charity.

In this episode, our host Captain Ash Bhwardwaj speaks to Sergeant Mo Faye about the importance of ownership over outputs and how soft skills in leaders are hugely valued by followers during periods of training and change. Sergeant Mo Faye was born and raised in Gambia and joined the British Army's Staff and Personnel Support Branch, the Adjutant Generals Corps (AGC, SPS) in 2001. He was then attached to the rifle companies of infantry regiments as a junior HR specialist and admin junior Non Commissioned Officer. As a corporal he administered Officer Cadets at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, before working with the Irish Guards and NATO in the Middle East. As a Sergeant Mo is now the systems coordinator at the Army Medical Service's support unit. Mo has deployed across the world on exercise and on operations and has been awarded the Queen's Commendation for value of service and the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe's Coin. He is also the founder of the Juwara Charity.

Major General Paul Nanson is a British Army Officer who serves as Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and General Officer Commanding Recruiting and Initial Training Command. During his thirty year career in the British Army, he has served in the Troubles, the Gulf War, the Bosnian War, the Iraq war, and the war in Afghanistan, which saw him appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for distinguished services. In his tenure at Sandhurst he has established the Centre for Army Leadership, the world's premier centre for army leadership.

Show notes and Transcript Godfrey Bloom is well known for his time as a UKIP MEP in the European Parliament where he served 3 terms, but he joins Hearts of Oak today to discuss all things finance.  Godfrey's career was in the military, financial economics and he spent many years as an investment banker.  He has written many books including 'The Magic Of Banking: The Coming Collapse'.  Godfrey discusses how he has managed to fuse together a life in the army, in politics and in finance.  He then then delves into the shadowy financial institutions which control all our lives and have pushed every government into a spiral of debt that will sooner or later collapse the global financial system.  We finish by looking at gold and why Godfrey believes it is the perfect store of wealth. Godfrey Bloom is a libertarian author with six books published on both military history & Austrian School Economics. He worked in the City of London where he won an international prize for fund management (fixed interest) with Mercury Asset Management. Bloom finished his city career as General Manager of a life assurance company. He represented Yorkshire & Lincolnshire in the European Parliament & was a staunch campaigner for Brexit for twenty five years. During his term of office he attracted over sixty million views on his chamber speeches exposing State bank & tax malpractice on Facebook & You Tube. Thought to be an all time record. He brought experience if not influence to the mainly lay EU Parliamentary Monetary & Economic Affairs Committee, putting both members & European Central Bank President under unaccustomed pressure. Godfrey Bloom passed out of Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1976 & served as logistics liaison officer to 4th Armed Division in Germany. He is an Associate Member of the Royal College of Defence Studies & has presented papers & lectures to The RCDS, Joint Services Staff College, National Defence University Washington & too many universities to list. His speciality is procurement & geo political military strategy. Godfrey Bloom is holder of the Territorial Decoration & bar, Sovereign's Medal, Armed Forces Parliamentary Medal & European Parliamentary silver medal.  Connect with Godfrey... WEBSITE:     https://godfreybloom.uk/ X:                  https://x.com/goddersbloom?s=20 SUBSTACK: https://godfreybloom.substack.com/ Interview recorded 19.9.23 *Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast. Check out his art https://theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com/ and follow him on GETTR https://gettr.com/user/BoschFawstin and Twitter https://twitter.com/TheBoschFawstin?s=20  To sign up for our weekly email, find our social media, podcasts, video, livestreaming platforms and more... https://heartsofoak.org/connect/ Support Hearts of Oak by purchasing one of our fancy T-Shirts.... https://heartsofoak.org/shop/ Please subscribe, like and share! Transcript (Hearts of Oak) Godfrey Bloom, it is wonderful to have you with us today. Thank you so much for your time. (Godfrey Bloom) A pleasure to be here.  Great to have you and people can follow you @GoddersBloom on Twitter. Godfreybloom.uk is the website and godfreybloom.substack.com. On the website you can get about gold and your wealth, the great reset, climate and green energy, COVID, military, all topics that I know our viewers and listeners will be interested in. But for our viewers who may not have come across Godfrey Bloom, he has a long and varied career encompassing financial services, army, politics. It was the politics where I first came across you serving two terms, I think for UKIP in the European Parliament. And one of Godfrey's books, all available on the website, but is The Magic of Banking, the coming collapse paperback. Now Godfrey, how did you manage to fuse together finance, military and politics? It's an interesting mix. Well, of course, it's the only advantage of being very old is that you get lots of opportunities to do lots of stuff. So it's not because I'm particularly clever, it's because I'm particularly old. So just to bear in mind my background in the 1960s, I went into the city with a very prestigious Broking House in the 1960s, about 1966-67, in those days. Now, in those days, if you were going to get anywhere in the city, it was, first of all, you had to wear a bowler hat. You had to have a bowler hat, and it seems a long time ago now, but you didn't have to wear it, you just had to make sure you had it on the hat stand. I still got it. And the other thing, a couple of things, all the senior directors were wartime officers. All the middle management were National Service officers. So you had to have some kind of military connection. Shore Service Commission, Territorial Army Commission, perhaps with a prestigious regiment. And so on and so forth, and you had to play rugger, as we called it in those days. I ticked every box in a fairly modest kind of way. That all fused together. As you go through life, something pops up. My main life was an investment fund manager, a pension investment fund manager, specializing in fixed interest with a view to pension investment. Dull, very un-prestigious. The equity boys were the glamour boys. It was a bit like the difference between a fighter pilot in the war and coastal command. I was more coastal command. So that's what you had to do. And then I was in a territorial regiment and I was then attached, I did a short service with regular back to the territorial army, so on and so forth. Started in life armoured reconnaissance with 4th Armoured Division in Germany. Where we had the sort of stuff that you see now in old black-and-white movies was actually state-of-the-art stuff when I was soldiering. It was all a very long time ago. Then, when I worked for a very prestigious investment house in the city, I was asked to investigate the implications of becoming the common currency, as it was called then in the late 80s and early 90s, what did it entail, so on and so forth. I had a very good team of statisticians and people. I looked at that and I saw the implications. I dug deeper into the implications of our membership of the European Union. And the deeper I dug, the smellier the whole thing got. And that drew me into politics in 2004, where I resigned from the board of financial service companies and went into politics, which was an eye-opening experience. So that's why I came to do all these things. You couldn't do that now, I don't think, because the world has changed and everything is really too focused on micromanagement and micro career patterns and so on and so forth. So I was very lucky to be born when I was, you could have a really holistic kind of career pattern, which gave me my army and politics and business. So I had all three. I don't think you could do that now.  Very true. And I think that connection with the military and our politics public service has gone as well. And I think that's a shame for our country. But let me talk to you. Many people think they are free to vote for what they want. They're free to go where they want. They're free to use their money as they want. But it's that financial freedom or maybe lack of it. I want to talk to you about. There are financial institutions that can operate in the shadows that control our lives. And I know you've written about this, you've done videos about this. Do you want to kind of touch on that and maybe pull the veil slightly back on that? Well, I think it was Jacob Rothschild who actually got it dead right, for better or for worse, and I would suggest worse. And that was, he said, it doesn't matter who you vote for, it's who controls the money. And of course it's been the Rothschilds being part of the cabal that controls money. Since I don't know, probably 120, 130 years at least, not just in this country, in Europe as well. So he who controls the money. And of course, as we become a more secular society, money becomes the primary goal. It is the religion. It is the religion of Western Europe, it's the religion of North America. It's how much money. In a secular society, of course, you lose any form of moral compass. If indeed, perhaps there was any moral compass, I don't know, but I'm sure there was more moral compass in yesteryear than there is now. So the deal is, and which means you can buy any journalist and you can buy any politician. And almost every single journalist and every single politician is bought. There are very few exceptions. It isn't always overt, but you've only got to look at certain responses from journalists. And I'll give you one very easy example of that. In Syria, for example, when the CIA and the Washington neo-cons are trying to destabilize Syria in order to get their pipeline coming from Qatar, it's all about money, it's all about money and influence, and this is what was happening. Then of course you would find the CIA would put out a press release saying Assad has dropped poison gas on his own people and he's a very bad guy. That would be a CIA press release. Now, people like Andrew Neil on BBC TV would read that out within hours of it being circulated. There was no possible question of us checking whether it was true or not. And Andrew Neil, who was a sort of dwyan of supposedly independent broadcasting, joke, joke, would read that out with a straight face, which meant everybody watching BBC would believe that to be true. And of course, subsequently, we find out that it wasn't true at all. It was CIA propaganda. Or indeed, I have to say, sadly, MI6 or MI5 propaganda. So you're getting a constant stream of lies from legacy broadcasting, and people believe that it was the same in the fake pandemic. 80% of people in this country will believe it if it's on the BBC, and psychologically, I did a course with the Smithsonian Institute on trying to get to the bottom of this psychologically. 80% of the people, I don't think it's just true of Britain, I think it's 80% of most of the Western industrialized countries, will believe anything they're told, and people do. The people who push back against it are kicked out or de-platformed. I mean I'm de-platformed. I used to be a regular speaker at Cambridge University and various other universities. I can't get on now. I haven't been interviewed by the BBC now for years. Dissent is verboten. So there's no concept of dissent. But if you do an audit trail of all of it and you if you go right back and find out why is this. You will find it's about money or political power. There are no exceptions and there are no good guys left in politics. Well obviously in finance we've seen, I mean Nigel Farage just talked about his issues with banking, it's happened to many many others and it seems as though banks can punish people for whatever reason and I think that's a world away from the traditional view of the bank being someone who kind of looks after your money, it's safe, it's cared for, it's maybe invested well, and I think what we've seen in the last few months has been a completely different side from the banks. Yes, but of course the banks have been politicized as well, have they not? You're looking at concepts of ESG, so your ratings for stock holdings by BlackRock and Vanguard, who are the biggest investors in the world, together they own the world, basically. They actually own each other, but that's another long story. So you have Larry Fink and people of this Vanguard, of course, and people you don't even know who voted, because it's not publicly quoted, so you don't even quite know who really owns it. So, it's highly politicized. And, of course, the situation with Nigel Farage was interesting, because NatWest and Coutts are 38% owned by the government. So, you couldn't get more to be more of a political bank than NatWest. It is a government bank. And the chief executive was put there because she was a government appointee. She has no knowledge of anything, finance, whatever. I mean, laughable. I mean, when I was the director of a main investment bank years ago, I wouldn't have employed her to clean the cars. She's utterly hopeless. She's a political agitator with a clean, squeaky-clean record, common purpose, WEF, the whole tutti-frutti. Of course. Expertise went out, and so did discretion and confidentiality. She had to go because she broke confidentiality, which is at the basis of banking, and Coutts in particular, where I also used to be a client when I had enough money to be a client of Coutts Bank. So you have all these problems. Of course, it's interesting enough, she's gone. She went with £2.3 million payoff. And I bet you anything you like, in two or three months, she'll pop up somewhere else in a very senior, very highly paid appointment. That's how the game plan works, all right? So, it's all about money and so on and so forth, but of course, I have to say... This has been going for some time. They did the same thing to Tommy Robinson, they did the same thing to Britain First, they did the same thing with the political platform of For Britain. They were debanked, which means it's very difficult to function in modern society if you have no form of bank. You can't collect subscriptions, you can't do anything. Interesting though, I have to say, this has been going on for some time. But when it happened to Nigel? That's a different game, is it? Oh, that's a much different game. It happened to Nigel. Nigel wasn't bothered about this until it happened to him. It's the old theory, isn't it, of Winston Churchill. You placate the crocodile on the basis that you hope he will eat you last. No, it's true. I thought exactly the same, although I was thankful for a high-profile figure to highlight the injustice. But you're right, it's happened to most individuals don't have the ability to have a nationally out program or a newspaper column to talk about this injustice. So at least it is being aired. But as you pointed out, the madness of a bank being partially government owned and the government said, it's not our fault. And you wonder, well, whose fault is this? And they were blaming past regulation. You mentioned some of those companies, BlackRock and Vanguard, and these are shadowy companies. They own parts of many companies. They're very large shareholders of many institutions. Kind of how has it got to that? Should that worry people? Is this just how financing capitalism works or is there a darker side to this? No, one has to just remind everybody, certainly the younger generation, the difference between mercantilism and capitalism. Capitalism is laissez-faire. It means that you invest, you pretty well do what you damn well like, and the only demonstration of true capitalism post-war, of course, was Hong Kong under John Cooperthwaite, where his view was, it's my job to make sure the drains work and the police aren't corrupt, nothing else is my business. That's capitalism and of course that produced one of the most successful territories on the face of the planet in a very short period of time with no natural resources. Hong Kong has no natural resources. What we have now is mercantilism, which is sometimes referred to as crony capitalism, but it's got nothing to do with capitalism. Now, in a nutshell, how these sort of things work, I used to work for a company called Mercury Asset Management, which was part of the Warburg Empire. It was the biggest pension fund manager in Europe. I was the representative of the National Association of Pension Funds, the institution there, as well as being a fund manager. I wasn't on the main board, incidentally. I was on a junior board, but believe me, I knew how the game worked. Now, when you're doing that, Merck Asset Management then owned 4% of the European stock market. That's a very significant number. It doesn't sound like much, but 4% of the stock market is big. Then they were acquired by Merrill Lynch, a big American investment house, and then Merrill Lynch were acquired by BlackRock, and so it goes on, and so it gets bigger and bigger, almost like a sort of an astrophysicist would talk to you about a black hole. It becomes bigger and bigger, and the gravity pull is beyond human imagination. And then of course the oligarchs are part of that, and they're rich beyond most of our dreams. I mean the George Soros's of this world, the Bill Gates of this world, the Mark Zuckerberg's of this world, all these people are wealthy beyond imagination. And so you'd have to go back to the Rockefellers, to find people who were that rich in comparison. And what is interesting then, they would produce organizations, institutions, like the Bill and Melinda Gates and so on and so forth, and the Rockefeller Foundation. And these also get hijacked politically, and you can go back to the Quaker side in this country, to Roundtrees, for example. Quaker, and they were very good to their employees, and they had an ethos, a Quaker ethos. And now there's a very wealthy Roundtree Foundation, which is hijacked, politically, completely. It's woke. The National Trust is woke. Everything has become woke. And woke is really just part of the World Economic Forum's game plan. And this grows and grows in power. So you end up now with a prime minister who is World Economic Forum, no shame about it. No conspiracy theory yet. You know, somebody's always conspiring. That's absolute nonsense. Look at their website. It's perfectly up front. They boast about this. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the opposition, Starmer, when asked, do you think Parliament or Davos, which was the most important, he said, Davos. The King who gives royal assent to our laws now is World Economic Forum agent. In fact, as far as I understand, he could be the top man. I'm never quite sure whether Klaus Schwab reports to him or vice versa but the principle is the same. So now, of course, they control everything, and Bill Gates is the biggest farmer in the United States. He owns more land in the United States than anybody else. It's very difficult for ordinary people to fight against this, and they certainly can't fight against it with a vote. Vote is totally meaningless, and so you have these huge power blocs, and our elected politicians, are simply stooges. Penny Mordaunt, for example, is a stooge to Bill Gates. He wrote a forward for her book. She's an advocate of Bill Gates. All these people are paid, and we have a CIA, who, with a huge budget, an unaudited budget, they could pay you to interview certain people or not interview certain people in a Swiss bank account. Very significant amount of money. And most people have a price. Most people can be bought. And those who can't be bought are people like Neil Oliver, on a much smaller scale, me. You can't buy me, but I'm few. I'm one of the very few, and you can't buy me because money is not my God. I don't know whether you could buy me with other things. I can't imagine what they would be. So some people are incorruptible, but that's a tiny minority, and that certainly doesn't work in politics. How have you seen, looking back at the industry, how finance works, kind of, how have you seen a change? Has part of it been more scrutiny? Has part of it been the internet opens up the ability to question, with the public going direct? I mean, Neil Oliver, obviously on GB News, but having a huge reach on social media. Kind of, how have you seen a change? and how has social media affected the people's awareness of maybe what is happening? Well, social media is a wonderful thing. You know, it's a wonderful thing that you can get a significant footprint on that. But again, most people, it's still sadly legacy TV. It's still the BBC or ITV or whatever it happens to be that calls the shots. People who follow social media of course are the most informed but then if you look at my whole, just let's take me, my whole footprint is probably, I probably in total have overall something like 160,000 subscribers. That really isn't very many. Obviously, Neil Oliver is much bigger, and I'm glad of that because he's, in my view, a great man, a great historian, and a great leader of thought. So I'm a huge supporter of his. But there's still most people, most people go with the flow, they half watch BBC, they half watch ITV, doing something else, putting a shelf up, doing the ironing, whatever it is. So most people accept what they're told. Most people, of course, when it comes to things like pandemics or so-called pandemics, listen to their doctor. People have this divine faith in the National Health Service, which is, of course, ludicrous if you dig down into it, but most people do.  Again, it's a legacy thing, and it goes back to people being brought up on Doctor in the House, black and white, Ealing movies, funny enough, where you are now. Wonderful things when it worked and when it was incorrupt. Now, of course, that's all gone. The Bank of England, central banks are now political appointees. You have your head of your central bank, Carney is a classic example, brought in as a Canadian, ex-Goldman Sachs, most of them are ex-Goldman Sachs, which is known as the vampire squid in the city. Even hard-nosed investment bankers like mine used to regard them as beyond the pale. These are the sort of Vlad the Impaler of the investment banking world, but they're all political appointees, so Carney was a political appointee. So that this nonsense of the Bank of England being independent. So it doesn't work like that and they go on to other political appointments with the UN or the International Monetary Fund or the Bank of International Settlements which of course nobody ever told us about, which is the most powerful institution in the world. So all these things come together to thwart the ordinary guy. In my experience in Britain, and I don't know what your experience is Peter, but my experience is the true guy who questions anything of this nature is what we used to call the artisan class. You're sparky, you're bricky, you're joiner. People who actually do real stuff for a living, they actually put kitchens in, shelves in, drive a cab. People who actually do a real job for a living are very much more highly critical and much better informed. So for example, my window cleaner is simply miles more informed than my friends who read history or law at Oxford. You know, the dinner party set, your English middle class are so gullible and naive. It's unbelievable. A working man having a pint in the pub who's a sparky or a chippy, he's not so gullible because he does a real job and sees stuff every day. So the divide, you have this divide. And people make a big mistake if they think, and people do, that the divide is somehow between class, particularly, or skin colour, or wealth. Well, it isn't. I can tell you. And 10 years in politics showed me this campaigning for Brexit, for example. The people who really understood these matters were the artisan class, but your divide in society is between those in the wealth-creating sector and those in the public sector. Your public sector, your civil servant, your man at the town hall, anybody who works for the government is protected. They have index-linked pension funds, which have long since gone from the private sector. These people are virtually unsackable, the Quangos. All these people are entitled and have the arrogance of office. There's your divide. It's not old or young or black and white. It's who works for the government in some form and who doesn't. There's your divide. Of course, in the last five years, we've seen over 100,000 new civil servants. One might imagine that they won't be happy until everyone is a civil servant and therefore everybody can be controlled. If only we had a conservative government, but I see the same difference in conversations with friends, with colleagues, and I echo what you said. Everything we knew about finance seems to have gone out the window, gone out of fashion. I mean, saving money, don't spend more than you earn, invest wisely, make sure your repayments are manageable, have cash in hand for a rainy day. Now every government worldwide seems to be in a rush to see who can run the biggest deficit, who can get the biggest debt. And governments, maybe at one time, would have been common sense. It's this rush to spend much more than any other government. What are your thoughts on kind of how we have got to that state of financial madness? Well, the problem we've had is Keynesianism. That's from the 1930s, where personal savings were regarded as a bad thing. Public spending and private spending and consumption was regarded as a good thing, and debt doesn't matter. This is your Keynesian theory which has been taught now to generations of people in universities and schools and they don't teach alternatives, they don't teach Austrian school economics, they don't mention some of the great names of yesteryear like you know some of the great French economic philosophers. So they don't talk about this. Debt doesn't matter. They can print money. Of course, in 1971 when America came off the gold standard, the dollar came off the gold standard, which was the reserve currency in 1971, Nixon closed the gold window, which was the technicality of the problem. You see the spending power of the United States dollar from 1971. That 1971dollar now would buy you six cents worth of services and goods, a complete collapse of paper currency. And of course, sterling's worse, and so on and so forth. So it's the degradation of money and it's the unseen tax inflation. So who does inflation hurt? It holds people on fixed income, old-age pensioners. Mainstream society suffers from inflation, but not your public sector. For example, if you're in the public sector, and certainly if you're a pensioner, I have a small pension for the Ministry of Justice, because I worked for them for a while. I won't go into the details there. It's very small. But last year I got an 8.5 percent increase, and I'll get another 8.5 percent, so I'm protected. I live in a small village, but we have retired civil servants in the village, totally protected. Always got new cars, expensive holidays, and extensions to their cottages or houses. Money is no object to them because they're protected. But if you're on fixed income, you're stuck. And it gets back to what I say, there's this divide in society, some people who are affected by inflation and some who are not. So when you consider debt doesn't matter, and of course, to keep up, try and give a modern veneer to it, they've taken away the term Keynesianism by calling it modern monetary theory. There's nothing modern about it. And that somehow, and this is the great key, and I tried to explain this to undergraduates when I was allowed to speak at universities. And the faculties who don't understand it, believe me, the faculties at universities have absolutely no more idea about the economic supply to the moon. So they have these thoughts that debt doesn't matter, that somehow an individual like you or me or a small businessman. Debt doesn't matter. Debt matters. You can't get into debt because debt will catch up with you and your business will go out or you'll go bankrupt. They'll come and take away your furniture, etc. That's for us. Somehow a government doesn't have this problem. Apparently, governments go on spending and spending more money, and borrowing and printing more money with no great effect. It really doesn't matter. Of course, it does matter as we're beginning to see because actually now in the United States, servicing the national debt is exactly the same amount of money as their military budget, which is $1 trillion a year. They're spending $2 trillion in the United States a year, to no purpose, $2 trillion. And then mainstream media, which of course is bought and paid for by the state, the BBC in particular, if you don't pay the BBC you go to prison and that's a government-sponsored idea. Nobody challenges it. For example, you get to the chancellor of the exchequer interviewed. We now have the highest tax regime that we've had basically since the war. Nobody ever suggests, in either political party or in mainstream media, nobody ever suggests that they cut government spending. It never happens. Nobody stands on the platform of cutting government spending. So you have high-speed rail, 100 billion. You have OECD, which incidentally is unaudited, 1 billion pounds a month. Five billion pounds to the Ukraine. God alone knows where that goes. And so on and so forth. So we spend quangos, probably 600 or 700 billion pounds a year in all these things. They could halve income tax. They could standardize income tax. They could halve VAT if they stopped spending. But stopping spending doesn't happen. It doesn't occur to them to stop spending. So when they say, oh, more money for the national health, we need more money for the national health because it's crumbling and breaking down. They don't need any more money. The national health system is rolling in money. Their problem is that out of the 1.2 million employees that they have, half of those aren't medics of any sort. They're not radiographers, physiotherapists, nurses, doctors, surgeons. Goodness knows what they all do. Yes, you need some administrators, you need some sparkies, you need bits and pieces, but do you need 600,000? Procurement. Procurement. My sister used to work for the Norwich Infirmary. She said, I can buy mattresses online, exactly the same, for a third of the price that we spend on them, because nobody's in charge of procurement. Nobody cares about public money, because it's not their money. We have waste on an unprecedented scale. The concept has gone of the public purse. If you went back to before the Great War, if you were a councillor, first of all, you'd be unpaid, there'd be no expenses, and there was a very serious concern about the public purse, taken very seriously from a moral dynamic. Nobody cares about the public purse now. Nobody cares. Does debt matter? Well, yes, it does matter, and we are going to see in the next few years, we're going to see a collapse of the banking system, and we're going to see a collapse of fiat currency. It's paper. It's intrinsically worthless. Then the people who survive that will be the people who have the foresight to buy gold, gold coins.  Well, I want to finish off on gold, but let me just pick up on the move away from fiat, the restrictions on using cash, often in shops and businesses. It's coming more and more, closing of ATMs, closing of bank branches, and this move towards central bank digital currencies, this move towards a new government control. I mean, how have you viewed this? Give us a little bit more of your thoughts on where it's going. Well, the key, of course, to central bank digitalization, which we have to an extent already, of course, nobody, De La Rue do not print notes anymore. It's created electronically. And, of course, I explain this in my book. If you go in and want to borrow £60,000 for an extension, or you want to buy 20,000 pounds of gold, the bank clerk, if you're a good customer, and they know you, they will simply create that electronically by tapping it out and crediting your account. That's digital money. That's electronic money. It doesn't really exist. Of course, then you send it to somewhere else, the person who's sending you a car, so on and so forth. If you look at the international regulation Basel III, for example, and you have to keep 10% reserves. If you put your money, if you put 100,000 pounds into the bank, they only have to keep. 10,000 pounds of that back as a reserve. They can lend it on. Of course, it doesn't matter to whom they lend it. This is one of the problems that we have. It isn't good lending. It's not sound lending. For example, the Euro bond buying process, when I was there and I was trying to look at what they were actually buying, oh, well, it's Asset Bank. Sell them. No, Mr. Bloom, these are asset-backed bonds. Well, they're not. You get BMW or VW Finance, for example. What you're actually buying is a bond and the asset is an aging BMW or Volkswagen. It's not asset-backed at all. We found this out in 2007, did we not, where people thought they were buying a mortgage from a doctor in Washington with a nice big house at Springpool in Arlington. They weren't, they're buying trailer trash in South Chicago. I didn't fall for it. I was in the game at the time, but I knew what I was doing, because I'm an old man. The children that run the city and run pension funds in some of these councils, they fell for it because they simply didn't do their homework. You can't avoid homework. You have all this degradation of everything, bonds, stocks, deposits, not backed, not guaranteed. You have all these problems. The only way it can go is to destroy itself, to collapse. We saw this in 2007 and 2008, but did we change anything? We didn't change anything. Nothing changed. It's the same thing. They've just printed more and more money and borrowed and spent more and more money. Now we're in a situation where it simply must collapse. They want digital currencies so they can control it. They can program it, and for those of subscribers who aren't familiar with the concept, I'm sure they are, otherwise they wouldn't be watching this program, but let's just take it from there. It's programmable. The World Economic Forum, in line with the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of International Settlement will not want you to spend money on travel or petrol or meat. Are all these things that they think are bad under the cover of saving the planet, which of course we all know is absolute nonsense, its fake, its fake science. But they've got to frighten people to comply with it. The planet will boil if you don't do this. And of course most people don't have the benefit of traditional education. So they're being conned by people because a, they can't be bothered to do the homework, and b, they've probably in the main gone to a state school, this generation or the generation before, where they haven't really had an education at all. They're not educated at all. I mean, I speak at universities. Nice kids. Like a beer, play rugby, play cricket. I love going there. Educated? They're not educated at all. They don't even pretend to be. So these are the problems. You have an uneducated workforce. Programmable. So when you go in and it's programmable and the state can control it, the bank can control it, they will say you've had your ration of petrol this month. Just like the war, you've had your ration of meat this month. You've had your holiday, Mr. Bloom. You've had your holiday. You can't go on another holiday. Think of the planet, you nasty man. Of course, you look around and you see the King flying around in his private jet, the Royal Air, and all of them, Candy, all these people, Soros, Bill Gates...  Sadiq Khan, who's just done a transatlantic flight with his entourage to talk about climate change.  Exactly, so, everybody sees this, the question is what can you do? Now in London they reap what they sow. I have very little sympathy for Londoners. It's the second time this man's been elected. So whose fault is it? Well, did you vote against him? The answer is, you clearly didn't. That's why he's there, it's the same as Mark Drakeford, isn't it? In Wales, beautiful country, just got back there, hosted walking. I love Wales. Wales is a wonderful, wonderful country and they've got an idiot running. Well, why is he there? Who put him there? Well, the Welsh voted for him, didn't they? So it's as simple as that. And they've got a Muppet in Scotland. And who voted for him? The Scots voted for him. So stop whinging. Voting doesn't do much good, but it might because you can make more of an effort for whom you vote. And so it's programmable and we know it's going to be programmable, don't we? Because that's the whole point of it. And if you look at the World Economic Forum's spokesman on banking, they say it will be programmable. We'll know exactly how you spend it and what you can and cannot spend it on and they'll cancel it so you can't save because they are modern monetary theorists they will want for you to consume they will want you to consume so if you've got a hundred thousand pounds worth of savings or fifty thousand they say if you don't spend it by the end of the year it will disappear so that will encourage spending which they think is a good thing not saving but if you look at countries with the most successful systems over the years and over generations. It's savings. We built the biggest empire the world's ever seen and led the industrial revolution from about 1815 to 1913. The British led it, but it was based on sound money. And savings and interest rates, which outpaced inflation, although there wasn't hardly any inflation in those days. Savings made a point. Saving money made a point. There's no point in you saving money now. There's no point in you saving money in the traditional sense of saving money because you know if you were saving money for a car, which costs £30,000 today, it'll be £40,000 next year. You might as well buy it now. That, of course, degrades your entire financial system.  I want to finish off on gold. On your website, one of your tabs is gold. People can find it forward slash gold on godfreybloom.uk. It's intriguing, the more control that is being pushed upon us, the more people have talked about gold, also about crypto looking forward, but gold looking at that traditional store of wealth. Tell us why you believe that gold is an important store of wealth and why people should be taking advantage of that personally. Well, gold is a store of wealth. It's not an investment and it's not get rich quick. And as I always say to my undergraduates at universities, I always hold up a sovereign coin. The date on it is 1905. The date isn't really relevant, but it happens to be 1905. I explained that a gold sovereign in 1905 would buy you bed and breakfast in quite a good hotel in Paris, London, New York, or Berlin. It will today, because a sovereign is worth just under 400 pounds, so it will today, and it will in 100 years' time. Then we went back on to the gold standard after the Napoleonic Wars in 1860 and 1817. The Gold Sovereign became money. That was money. That was a preservation of wealth. That was a medium of exchange, which is what money is. I say, I try to explain money in the book. Most people don't know what money really is. They think they do, but they don't. Now let's just take your staple commodity in the 19th century. Let's go from 1816 or 1817 to 1913, a loaf of bread was the same price in 1817 as it was in 1913. You can't have inflation because if politicians and bankers can't print money, you can't print gold. That's the beauty of gold, but it's not an investment, it's not get-rich-quick. It's where you protect your wealth and you have to squirrel it away to protect your family because nobody can bugger it for you. They can't degrade it. Cryptocurrency like Bitcoin has some of the same attributes. It's significantly more volatile and there are all sorts of, situations where that might not do what you want it to do. But I'm not going to go down that route because there are bigger experts than me on Bitcoin, but gold, it's free of VAT. There's no capital gains tax on it because it's coin of the realm. If, let's say, for example, you are 60 years old, you're retired, you're coming up to retirement, something like that, you've worked hard all your life. Let's say you've got about £100,000 worth of saving or £50,000 worth of saving. It doesn't quite matter what it is. You don't need it at the moment. You've got a bit of a pension. You've got a bit of this, you've got a bit of that. You're perfectly okay. What you're worried about is what happens when you get to my age and you're dribbling down your cardigan and you can't recognize your in-laws and you're deaf as a post and all the rest of it, you've got all these things, then you're going to need care, you're going to need private medical care, you can't drive anymore so you're going to need a cab if you're going to go anywhere, so on and so forth. What you want with that £100,000 or £50,000 when you're 60 is the same purchasing power when you're 75. Only gold will do that for you. Only gold, and it's been proven to do that for you, for 5,000 years. If you dig up a Roman gold coin today, or a Saxon gold coin today, it'll buy you just what it bought when it was buried in the ground or sank in the boat. That's your key. And that's where gold comes in, as it has done for 5,000. There really isn't anything else, to be brutally frank. Some people argue for silver, but it's an industrial metal, some for Bitcoin if you can cope with the volatility, so on and so forth. But that's why I'm a gold bug and I've been a gold bug since Gordon Brown sold our gold at something like 270 pounds an ounce to buy Euros. He's still sometimes brought on TV as an elder statement. The man is a buffoon. He's a buffoon. It's £1,600 an ounce now. And he got rid of our reserves. That's your reserves and my reserves. And anybody watching this clip who's British. That was our gold. So, he got rid of it and, of course, now if you look across the world, BRICS nations, Russia and China, are beginning to view perhaps gold as being the medium of exchange for countries and trade. Not buying a newspaper, not buying a pound of sausages, you'll use whatever the currency of the day is for that, of course, that will continue. For us in smaller gauge, it used to be coppers, copper pennies, silver pennies, all that. Yeah, that won't change. But for big deals, for big deals, for individuals, an exchange of trade and goods, it will be done in gold because that's the way it's been done for 5,000 years and nothing's going to change that. Certainly not Muppets like Jeremy Hunt. There's no bigger Muppet than Hunt. We will end on that. Godfrey, I appreciate you coming on and people can follow you on Twitter godfreybloom.uk on the website and godfreybloom.substack.com Are those the best places to find you? Yeah, absolutely. Yes, you can find me and I just, if I may just put a word in quickly here. It is a not-for-profit website. Everything I do is not-for-profit. I do not turn a buck on anything that I do recommending. Even my books are virtually at cost because I don't need to make any money. Now another advantage perhaps of being an old knacker is that I've got nothing to spend my money on except beer at the rugby club. Well thank you, I've looked at the website and your Twitter and thoroughly enjoy them both for the information they provide. So thanks so much for coming on and sharing your thoughts on finance. Great, Peter. Thank you for inviting me.

I always enjoy bringing on consultants whose expertise helps the masses. Neil Jurd has that experience to take your leadership to the next level. He now coaches throughout the United Kingdom, sharing lessons learned and what works (and doesn't work) in high-stakes, high-impact organizations. Neil Jurd is the author of ‘The Leadership Book – A step by step guide to excellent leadership' and the founder of the leadership training company and online leadership video platform Leader-Connect.co.uk.  Leader-Connect delivers leadership and team-development training to a wide range of organisations, current and recent clients ranging from schools and colleges through to Virgin Media, the UK National Health Service, BDP Port of Singapore Authority and the University of Sheffield.  Leader-Connect presents leadership in simple, clear and compelling terms, and the company uses experiential projects to make training engaging and effective.  A former British Army officer, he served in Iraq, Yemen, Bosnia and Sierra Leone, teaching leadership at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, sitting on the Army Officer Selection Board, and graduating from Advanced Command and Staff College. He was injured by enemy mortar fire leading his Gurkha Squadron in Iraq, and was commended for leadership as a junior officer. Neil is the National Director of Initial Officer Training for the Army Cadet Force. In 2020 Neil received a British Citizen Award and he was appointed OBE in the 2021 New Year Honours List. Neil has an MA from Cranfield University, studied Strategy at Manchester Business School, is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Lancaster University Management School, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management and the Institute of Logistics and Transport. Neil lives in the Lake District, in Northern England, with his partner Macarena and their children.Find his company here - https://leader-connect.co.uk/Reach out to Neil here-https://neiljurd.com/Visit my website: https://thehello.llc/THERESACARPENTERRead my writings on my blog: https://www.theresatapestries.com/Listen to other episodes on my podcast: https://storiesofservice.buzzsprout.com

Major General Bill Wright CBE, is the senior British Army officer in charge of Career and Talent Management across the entire British Army, responsible for running and transforming the Army's Career Management organisation covering c.110k personnel from the rank of private soldier up to 3* General.Previously, Bill was Chief Executive/Commander of The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.He joins Richard and Ed Smith to talk about talent, leadership and decision making, with a focus on what links the job of creating and nurturing high performance teams in both sport and the military.Ed Smith is a regular guest on the podcast and founder of the Institute of Sports Humanities (ISH) and is an author, journalist and former National Selector for England cricket. As a professional cricketer, he played for Kent, Middlesex & England.  Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter @UnffclPrtnrWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 300 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner' on Apple, Spotify, Google, Stitcher and every podcast app. If you're interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series, you can reach us via the website.

In this episode, our host Captain Ash Bhardwaj speaks to Major Charlie Lee, who was commissioned into the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment (PWRR) in 2006. After Rifle Platoon Command, he deployed on HERRICK 15 in Afghanistan in 2011 as part of the Police Advisory Team. He returned to Battalion as Officer Commanding of the Mortar Platoon, then Battalion Operations Officer. After Staff College and various Staff Officer roles, he took on Sub Unit command of the Second Battalion PWRR, operating in the Specialised Infantry role with operational tours in East Africa. He is currently the Chief Instructor for the Senior Term at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In this conversation, Major Lee reveals how his early mistakes made him explore the balance between being liked and respected and the application of loyalty and integrity to others and the chain of command.

In this episode, our host Major David Love speaks to Warrant Officer Class 1 Colin Kirkwood shares his experience of rising through the ranks in the Scots Guards to fulfilling the role of Academy Sergeant Major at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst - one of the most coveted appointments in the British Army. He talks of his service in Afghanistan as a Sergeant, where,  following the unexpected wounding of his Platoon Commander, he quickly found himself in command of the Company's lead Platoon as they faced a critical assault on the Taliban. He also focusing on the development of trust as the key ingredient to fostering effective teamwork, providing a personal insight into what makes the most effective leaders from his long and distinguished career.

GUEST OVERVIEW: Major David McBride was an Officer in the British Army and the Australian Army. He did two tours of Afghanistan and one tour of Northern Ireland. He is a graduate of Oxford University and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He became a whistleblower against the Higher Command of the Australian Armed Forces in 2016 alleging that they made scapegoats of good Special Forces soldiers in order to cover up the actions of some who were ‘protected species' due to their connection with Higher Command and politicians. He faces a life time in prison for his actions and faces trial later this year. He remains steadfast in his views, and has his own show on TNT together with Dr Robert Brennan.

GUEST OVERVIEW: Major David McBride was an Officer in the British Army and the Australian Army. He did two tours of Afghanistan and one tour of Northern Ireland. He is a graduate of Oxford University and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He became a whistleblower against the Higher Command of the Australian Armed Forces in 2016 alleging that they made scapegoats of good Special Forces soldiers in order to cover up the actions of some who were ‘protected species' due to their connection with Higher Command and politicians. He faces a life time in prison for his actions and faces trial later this year. He remains steadfast in his views, and has his own show on TNT together with Dr Robert Brennan.

GUEST 1 OVERVIEW: John Larter found himself sacked by NSW Ambulance for failing to comply with a mandatory vaccination order and subsequent policy. As a result he took the Health Minister Brad Hazzard to the NSW Supreme Court to fight what can only be described as medical apartheid. He is passionate about politics and has previously been elected Mayor. He shares a passion for aviation like Graham and holds licences for helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. John teamed up with Drifta in 2022 and opened a store in Tumut. He is married to wife Caitlin(RN) and has six children. John is passionate about serving and answered the call from “Hoody” to assist with the Corakai floods. He has worked in many disasters including assisting with the Bali bombings and our most recent bushfires. GUEST 2 OVERVIEW: Major David McBride was an Officer in the British Army and the Australian Army. He did two tours of Afghanistan and one tour of Northern Ireland. He is a graduate of Oxford University and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He became a whistleblower against the Higher Command of the Australian Armed Forces in 2016 alleging that they made scapegoats of good Special Forces soldiers in order to cover up the actions of some who were ‘protected species' due to their connection with Higher Command and politicians. He faces a life time in prison for his actions and faces trial later this year. He remains steadfast in his views, and has his own show on TNT together with Dr Robert Brennan.

Join us as we discuss the coronation of King Charles III with famed British historian, Dr. Dominic Selwood. In this special discussion, Dr. Selwood explains the impact of the coronation, what the world can expect from the new king, and the effect such events have had on world history. Dr. Dominic Selwood is a historian, journalist, and barrister. Most recently, he is a bestselling author of the critically-acclaimed, "Anatomy of a Nation: A History of British Identity in 50 Documents". In addition to being a bestselling author and novelist, he is a frequent contributor to national newspapers, radio, and TV including The Telegraph, The Independent, The Spectator, The Catholic Herald, Sky News, and the BBC. He has a doctorate in history from the University of Oxford and a master's from the Sorbonne. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served as an officer in the British Army. He lives in London with his family. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/15minutehistory/support

On this Salcedo Storm Podcast:Katie Hopkins is the most banned woman on the planet. She's formerly with British intelligence and a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. She has an economic background. And she's been banned from Australia for outing their totalitarian response to the China-Virus. She's banned from South Africa after exposing the racist violence against white farmers. And she's constantly attacked by the country she took an oath to protect, the U.K.

Neil Jurd is an expert in leadership development. He's the Founder of Leader Connect, and author of The Leadership Book – the bestselling handbook to leadership and team development.  His articles on leadership and team development regularly feature in international business publications and he's often a guest on leadership podcasts. Leader Connect run highly effective leadership development courses for organisations, based on the theory in The Leadership Book.  Neil founded the Michelle Jurd Trust, which promotes character education and adventure for young people, and as a volunteer he is Director of adult leadership development for the Army Cadets UK.   A former Army Officer, Neil has led soldiers on operations and expeditions around the world. He was injured by enemy fire in Iraq, and served as an instructor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Neil has an MA from Cranfield University, is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management and is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Lancaster University. He was awarded the British Citizen Award in 2020 and was appointed OBE in 2021.To find out more about Neil and to get in touch:Website: https://leader-connect.co.uk/His Book: https://tinyurl.com/5c6pc5seLeadership Videos: https://leader-connect.co.uk/videos/leadership-basics/ (Michael Hanson is the host of the COSMIC Bridge podcast that inspires its listeners to find their higher purpose and connect their material and spiritual life through stories of breathwork teachers, shamans and stroke survivors. He is also the CEO of Growth Genie, an international B2B sales consultancy)

Sam Instone is a British businessman who is the founder and current chief executive of AES International. This organization became the fastest growing UK financial services business between 2008 and 2012 and was the winner of Sunday Times/Virgin Fast Track United Kingdom's Best Management Team Award.He has become well known for promoting the mission statement 'Positive Change' as a means for the financial services sector to get better consumer outcomes and evolve from an industry into a profession.A graduate in War Studies from King's College London and The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Instone served as an Airborne Officer in the operational and ceremonial squadrons of The Household Cavalry Regiment. In 2004, he founded AES to initially specialize in the provision of financial services to those in hostile areas or hazardous professions prior to diversifying into mainstream markets. Today, AES delivers wealth advisory, planning and corporate benefits advice to international executives around the globe.Instone aligned the organisation of this business to the core values, mission, structure, doctrine and operations of the western military in a manner that has become known as 'militology'. This led to The Economist Magazine describing Instone as 'The Field Marshal of Finance' and discussing the merits of applying military principles to commercial environments.Instone was a finalist in the 2013 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards and was recognised by Sir Richard Branson for his work in promoting a different way of thought and leadership within financial services characterised as ‘missionary not mercenary'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The book of the moment for today's episode is Spare by Prince Harry. Just a forewarning for those of you listening, this is NOT a spoiler-free zone. We will be discussing this book in all of its glory, which of course includes revealing the ending. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne. Harry was educated at Wetherby School, Ludgrove School, and Eton College. He spent parts of his gap year in Australia and Lesotho, then underwent officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was commissioned as a cornet into the Blues and Royals, serving temporarily with his brother William and completed training as a troop leader. In 2007–2008, he served for over ten weeks in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He returned to Afghanistan for a 20-week deployment in 2012–2013 with the Army Air Corps. In June 2015, he resigned from the army. If you enjoyed this episode, I encourage you to leave a review on whichever platform you are listening on, if applicable. If you have any further questions regarding topics discussed throughout the episode feel free to join our Hardcover Hoes Discord Server via the link in the show notes, or send us an email at hardcoverhoespod@gmail.com. Feel free to recommend books to cover in future episodes as well! Discord Server: https://discord.gg/zpvW4FyuPF TikTok, IG, Twitter: @HardcoverHoes Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/993967071461813/

Dame Vivienne Westwood died yesterday at the age of 81 but she has been called the ‘undisputed Queen of British Fashion'. She made her name with her controversial punk and new wave styles in the 1970s and went on to dress some of the biggest stars in fashion. She was well known for her androgynous designs, slogan T-shirts and irreverent attitude towards the establishment and would use her platform later to bring the causes she cared about like climate change to the forefront. Barjis Chohan is a fashion designer in London who got her first break fresh out of college working with Dame Vivienne Westwood The multi Bafta-winning BBC drama Happy Valley returns to our screens on New Year's Day. It's a long awaited third series – the first came out in 2014, and the second in 2016. It centres on police Sergeant Catherine Cawood (pron. Kay-ward) - played by Sarah Lancashire - and her family in West Yorkshire and is the brainchild of writer and director Sally Wainwright, whose other TV credits include Last Tango in Halifax, Scott and Bailey and Gentleman Jack. Krupa speaks to Sally, who is considered to be one of our greatest television dramatists. Hundreds of servicewomen have experienced sexual abuse during their training at The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, according to Salute Her UK. Their figures show that 177 women have sought help for cases spanning more than 20 years. Paula Edwards, CEO of Salute Her UK discusses the ‘toxic culture' of sexual assault in the military. Salute Her UK is the sister charity of Forward Assist - which supports military veterans struggling to adjust to civilian life. It is the only UK gender-specific support service to offer therapy and interventions for survivors of in-service sexual abuse. Even if you don't know her name, you will almost certainly recognise her face. A former supermodel Czechoslovak-born Paulina Porizkova appeared on the covers of numerous top magazines around the world during the 1980s and 1990s, including Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour and Cosmopolitan. In 1988 she became one of the highest-paid models in the world as the face of Estee Lauder. She also acted in many movies and TV shows and was on the judging panel on cycle 10 of America's Next Top Model. Her novel, A model Summer, was published in 2007. She has now written a memoir, No Filter: The Good, the Bad, and The beautiful. 2022 marks thirty years since Queen Elizabeth II used the term annus horribilis (worst year) in her Ruby Jubilee speech to describe a personal low point. As we approach the New Year, some of us may, instead of celebrating, be looking back at our own personal annus horribilis. But how do we cope when all the bad news seems to come at once? And after a worst year, how do we feel hopeful for a better one? Emily Dean is a radio host and author of Everybody Died So I Got A Dog. Ella Risbridger is a food writer whose books describe how she found solace from grief and mental illness through the comfort of cooking. They both join Krupa Padhy to discuss how we can cope with the lowest points in life. Presenter: Krupa Padhy Producer: Kirsty Starkey Interviewed Guest: Barjis Chohan Interviewed Guest: Sally Wainwright Interviewed Guest: Paula Edwards Interviewed Guest: Paulina Porizkova Photographer: Jill Greenberg Interviewed Guest: Ella Risbridger Interviewed Guest: Emily Dean

I have invited Mark Hughes from DXC technology to join me on Tech Talks Daily to share insights around best practices for securing complex IT environments. We also discuss cyber security approaches for fighting the enemy within and how to make cyber security a top priority for boards and CFOs. Finally, we dare to explore smart security in the metaverse, and Mark shares a few Cyber security tales from the trenches. About Mark: Mark Hughes is president of Security for DXC Technology. He is responsible for DXC's Security business including cyber defense, digital identity, secured infrastructure and security risk management. Mark joined DXC from BT, a world-leading global telecommunications provider, where he most recently served as chief executive of BT Security. He joined BT in 2002 and held a variety of senior appointments, including key government customer-facing roles. In 2013 Mark led the formation of BT Security, which has become a global leader with 3,000 cyber security experts across 15 security operation centers globally and double-digit annual revenue growth. Earlier in his career, Mark was the commercial director at MWB Business Exchange. He began his career in the British Army. Mark has served on national boards, including the Cyber Growth Partnership for the United KingdomKingdom, and the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Cybersecurity Board. Awarded a BS with honors by the University of Leicester, Mark trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and the Junior Division of Staff College. He was awarded advanced military certificates in French and German from the University of Westminster.

We are pleased and excited to welcome back Dr. Dominic Selwood to discuss the passing of Queen Elizabeth, her legacy, and the probable changes to the monarchy as a result. Dr. Selwood also provides historical context for the ceremony, the coming coronation of King Charles III, and explains the true power of the crown in Great Britain. We hope you enjoy every moment as Dr. Selwood provides his authoritative take on this monumental current event. Read more about British history through Dr. Selwood's new book, "Anatomy of a Nation: A History of British Identity in 50 Documents", where he conducts a lively study of, and musings around, 50 documents – spanning 950,000 years of British history – which reads almost like a thriller as we follow the twists and turns of the country's tumultuous fate. "Anatomy of a Nation" is available wherever books are sold. Dominic Selwood is a historian, journalist and barrister. He is a bestselling author and novelist, and a frequent contributor to national newspapers, radio and TV including The Telegraph, The Independent, The Spectator, The Catholic Herald, Sky News, and the BBC. He has a doctorate in history from the University of Oxford and a masters from the Sorbonne. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served as an officer in the British Army. He lives in London with his family. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/15minutehistory/support

The story of a most improbable life... The world should never have heard of Devon Harris yet he became a highly sought after international motivational speaker. Devon Harris was raised in the slums of Kingston, Jamaica, yet he graduated from the prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England and served as an officer in the Jamaica Defense Force. He started off as a barefoot boy trying to win a track race and became a member of his country's first Olympic bobsled team. Circumstances and others constantly told Devon Harris it was impossible but at every step of the way, he kept on pushing and found a way to make it possible. Since his days on the bobsled slope, Devon Harris has become a top corporate motivational keynote speaker and author, sharing his philosophy of Keep On Pushing and never stop dreaming with Fortune 100 companies across many industries. In addition to his work as a top Olympic motivational speaker, he is also the founder and CEO of the Keep On Pushing Foundation, a NY non profit focused on helping children in disadvantaged communities receive a quality education. Devon Harris has devoted time to visiting the troops in the Persian Gulf and around the United States. This show is dedicated to Devon's journey. This conversation is what we make it. This is Counsel Culture.  Learn more at www.ericbrooker.com & www.devonharris.com