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Right. I'm the artist taxi driver. And

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I'm George Galloway.

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The MP for Bradford West. Respect MP.

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Did you know did you start your

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political career when you were 13? Even

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earlier. I uh was born into a political

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family that uh sent me out in short

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trousers at 5 and six to leaflet school

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gates at election day. And uh our house

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was darkened with Labor posters. Harold

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Wilson's face uh darkened our windows

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throughout every election campaign. So,

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uh even earlier. Yeah. But I officially

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joined the party at 13. Although you're

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not supposed to join it till you're 15,

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but hey, I've always looked older than

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my age. Yeah. My son, he he joined the

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Greens already. Caroline Lucas signed

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him up. Okay. What does it mean, George,

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to be an MP? What does it mean? Well,

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I've 26 years sat in this building. I've

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been elected six times.

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On one level, it ought to be something

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to be proud of because it's not a job

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that MD can give you or withhold you.

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The people elect to it. So in an ideal

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country, in an ideal world, we'd all be

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really proud to be MPs. But in fact,

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it's now a parliament of poodles with

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pagers and expense forms in their inside

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pockets, filling those pockets and doing

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whatever somebody else tells them as

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opposed to their own the dictates of

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their own conscience. Uh it wasn't ever

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thus when I came in here in

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1987. Uh there were 100 200 men and

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women of independent mind who you could

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guarantee that when they stood up they

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would say what they believed. It might

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be right. It might be wrong. But you

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knew that they really believed it. They

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weren't saying it cuz some focus group

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had identified it as a useful point of

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view or some page uh had arrived on

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their pager telling them that that was

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the line to take. So, I'm kind of half

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proud, half not, half feel it's

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worthwhile, half feel it's not. Uh, but

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I've just been in this morning. I've

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done a lot of media interviews this

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morning, but I've also dealt with half a

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dozen really quite important urgent

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local Bradford cases. That makes a

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difference to people's lives. You get

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somebody uh a visa, you get somebody uh

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their uh their uh social security money

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reinstated or their housing benefit, you

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find them a house, that sort of thing.

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That's valuable. So So what what do you

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think of this statement? We have a

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bankrupt and corrupt political system,

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one that cares for corporations and not

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people. I agree with that. Uh not

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everyone within the political system.

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There are even some halfdecent MPs still

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but uh generally speaking this is not a

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parliament of the people for the people

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by the people. It's a corporate

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parliament where the main parties as

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I've often said are three cheeks of the

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same ars and you couldn't if you'll

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forgive the grubby metaphor slip a

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cigarette paper between uh either of

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them on the big issues. uh they all uh

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support

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privatization, austerity, war and to one

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extent or another are playing the race

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card and uh terrifying. This current

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government has abolished its duty to

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care uh uh with with the the outsourcing

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and the privatization of the NHS and

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with this this heinous welfare reform

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bill. Yeah. Although the road to this

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particular pdition was paved by the

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Blair and Brown governments. Uh, of

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course I'm the last person to exculpate

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the Tories from their crimes. But none

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of these crimes would have been possible

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but for the Blair uh revolution uh which

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uh effectively declared that public was

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bad, private was good that uh there was

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a market for everything and that that

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market should be as unregulated or in

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Gordon Brown's immortal phrase about the

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banks as light touch regulated as

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possible. Uh even Mrs. Thatcher didn't

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do the things that Cameron is now doing

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and that Blair and Brown did before him.

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Well, they they they've got this

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ideological austerity, this sort of like

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uh where the poor but not for the rich,

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but but the primary purpose of this

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government right now seems to be the

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movement of public money into private

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pockets. Yes, capitalism is now on a

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publicly funded life support system. Has

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been now for years, will be for many

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years to come, maybe forever.

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and uh the capitalism that they used to

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teach us about in economics classes at

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school. Uh all this guff, the Adam Smith

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guff, uh it turns out to be a complete

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illusion that uh in the end the public

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which has been exploited by the

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capitalist system in the first place

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shared little of the uh largest that

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capitalism produces. When capitalism

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fails, they have to bail it out with

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their tax money. It's a clearest

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transfer of public to private, of

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resources from poor to rich that there's

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ever been in this country. It's

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absolutely naked. And and at the same

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time, you touched on it there. At the

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same time, they're pushing through this

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agenda, trying to win the populace vote,

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trying to divide the nation. Yeah. With

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bongo bongo land with racist fans, with

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border, you know, racist profiling of of

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normal normal UK citizens being

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targeted.

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They're uh playing that card and we'll

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see a whole deck of these cards uh still

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to come.

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uh the parties all of them even labor uh

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are to an extent or other playing this

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game. It's terrifyingly dangerous. It

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could set the country on fire literally.

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It could lead to blood and it's divide

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and rule. Nothing uh nothing more or

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less than that. They want to divide the

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so south from the north. Men from women,

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black people from white, Muslims from

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non-Muslims. Uh British from French. Uh

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British from what they call bongo

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bongoland which they mean by which they

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mean the rest of the world. The fear of

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Johnny foreigner. Is he coming here? Is

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he getting something that belongs to us?

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These are all devices to divide and more

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easily control and rule the people. and

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uh and and this this is also attached to

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the war machine which is banks, oil and

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arms which is you you can see in what's

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your what's your thoughts on on on

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places like Syria at the moment? Well,

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Syria has gone disastrously badly for

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the imperial camp. They thought,

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believed, said two years ago that the

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regime in Damascus would have fallen. Uh

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it's not going to fall. Everyone now

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knows it isn't going to fall and

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therefore their new allies or rather

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their renewed allies in al-Qaeda are not

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going to triumph. It's a very important

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setback for them and it's an important

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victory for those of us who stood firm.

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Not because we support Bashar al-Assad.

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I don't and never have. Not because we

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love the Bath party. I don't and never

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have. The reason for supporting the

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unity as an Arab nationalist country of

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Syria is to prevent a descent into a

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vortex of sectarian hatred and madness

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that ends with people eating but the war

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machine they without debt death and

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destruction the war machine that right

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now you're looking at people like in

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power thinking where are we going to get

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go next Iran Venezuela you know they

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want their oil and that's how without it

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the global economy uh would collapse

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What what what about uh Scottish

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independence? Oh, I'm against that. I

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knew you'd ask me uh about that. First

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of all, I don't think it's independence

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at all. Scotland would still have a

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foreign queen. Uh it would still use

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foreign currency, the pound. That

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foreign currency would be controlled by

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the bank of guess what? England. Uh they

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haven't had the courage of their

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convictions to go for the euro. And how

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could they? How's the euro doing? So it

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isn't independence, but what it would

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lead to is a race to the bottom. A

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Scottish government competing with a

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perpetually Tory government in England,

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low tax, low spend and uh free market

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Tory England. uh Scotland would have to

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compete with that and therefore even the

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small number of liberal reforms like

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prescription charges and so on that the

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Scots enjoy would very soon uh

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disappear. Moreover, taking uh scores of

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anti-tori MPs out of Westminster by

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virtue of independence would leave the

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English people, most uh of whom have

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nothing to gain from Tory rule under uh

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Tory Hegman forever. You you've taken a

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lot you've taken a lot of stick for your

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for your stance on basically everything.

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Actually, I was going to say Scottish

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independence, but whenever you say

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something, it seems that that that you

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kind of divide opinion, you know,

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because maybe it's because you just come

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out with things, but especially like

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like you around that uh Julian Assange

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things and some things that you said

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about about rape. There's a lot of

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hatred out there for you you you've

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never um apologized for what you said. I

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I I don't apologize for saying what I

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believe to be true. And if I'm the last

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man standing believing it, that'll be

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okay with me. Obviously, I hope to

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persuade others of the correctness of

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what I am saying. But I will never say

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something I don't believe and I will

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never not say something that I do

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believe. Selma, who was head of the who

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who left respect, she said choosing

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between George

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Galloway anti-imperialist dances and

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standing up for the rights of women was

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a false choice.

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I'm not sure. Were you sure the viewers

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will all know who she who she is, but uh

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were you were you sad about about that

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Salma leaving respect? Uh yeah. Uh and

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uh for those who don't know, he's

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referring to Salma Yakub who was for a

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time uh a leading figure in respect and

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I wish her well. Uh she is a great uh

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figure and I hope she goes on to play a

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big role in uh in public life. Um but uh

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hey, we've gotten over it and most

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people actually don't know that she was

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ever there. Never mind that she left. Uh

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we were right in the stand that we took

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on all the major matters uh over uh the

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eight years, nine years now of our

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existence and I hope we'll continue to

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be right. That's what's important. Uh

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Martin Luther King once said, "Some

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people do things because they're

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popular. Some people do things because

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they're profitable." But do you do you

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understand if people get upset with your

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views and No. Uh you don't understand if

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people get upset. No, not in our own

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party. No. Uh but outside the public.

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Yeah. Of course. Because a lot of people

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is a very divisive uh business. Yeah.

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Politics is a a question of A or B. And

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if you choose A, the people who wanted

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you to choose B and believe in B are

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necessarily upset by your uh by the

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stand that you've taken. Uh, I just say

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what I think is right and I think I say

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it quite well. That's why it attracts

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attention and when it attracts attention

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that accentuates. Are you going to run

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for mayor of London? I probably will.

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Uh, um, I have a committee exploring it

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now. Uh, it's a shrunken field. Uh,

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Boris Johnson won't be running. Ken

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Livingston won't be running. I would

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never have run against Ken Livingston.

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He's a very old friend of mine. Uh, and

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Labour will field Ken Livingston minus.

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The Tories will field Boris Johnson

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minus. So, you think you can win it? I

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can win. Yeah. See, a lot of politics is

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about personality. You only got to look

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at Boris. Boris is like a [ __ ] he he

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he's he's I mean, he's shutting fire

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stations. He's a

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lunat like like laughing when you're

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looking at your children when they're on

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fire because you voted for Boris because

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you thought he was fire. I think that's

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a very powerful way of uh putting it.

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This uh buffoon isn't as uh stupid as he

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looks. Uh this is all being I think he

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is. I think I think we're living in the

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end of our times. I think our species is

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[ __ ] I think it's all over, mate. No,

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I don't agree with that. But what I was

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going to say, I'm the artist taxi

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driver. This, my friends, is George

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Galloway. Who thinks?