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What will you tell your grandkid? Is this the great Britain that we signed up for? Politics is so noisy nowadays. I'm worried about the rise of the far right. I'm worried about the growing divide between people who can afford to feed their families and people who have five yachts. We've been bombarded with leaflets from the Greens. Have you? What do they say? Excuse me, Mr. Green Party man. I think we all have to search our hearts and our conscience here. Who are the more powerful forces at work? or I'll let you investigate that.
You're the journalist. This is the people who decide what pours out of that day in day out. Yeah, 100%. If we give up fighting, then they're just going to win, right? I don't think we have Andy Burnham without Zapansky. Andy Bernham. I like what he's tried to do with connecting with uh working class in terms of me being from up north and you know, salt of the earth, one of the people, you know, a bit that what we do. Yeah. A bit a bit of that, but a bit of walk with our feet out as well. Yeah. But I just in principle I wonder if we're all down here quite disillusioned with any promises that are made.
Right after a searingly hot summer, autumn is upon us. And we all know what that means. Yet another bi-election and our old favorite conference season. Would you like a donut at all? A crispy cream. Thank you. Anyway, every time just like the last fantastic event this evening shifting the balance of power. You don't want to miss Irish TO PALESTINE. THIS IS the physical manifestation of what pours out of every politician's phone every day. Everybody's phone every No issue is left uncovered.
I've got this wonderful sterile area and you two stand right in the middle. Come on. There's no such thing as a sterile area in modern politics. And then I think K. Part of why I voted Labour was their commitment to halting oil and gas licensing. Right. And so if they make the wrong choice on this, what are you going to do? I'll probably be going greens. Would you like a leaflet? This series started when we were sent to party conferences about 15 years ago. We found them ridiculous and irrelevant to the world outside.
We're not in a position obviously to kind of spell out our manifesto point by point in detail, but we do need to put out direction of travel indicators. Have you got or have you seen any direction of travel indicators? I don't think I even know what you mean by that. Um, yes. I think our direction of travel So, you know what they are? You know what a direction of travel indicator is? I've got a vague idea. Even if I don't understand the question, I've always learned that's the best thing to do. Answer it.
The Labour Party. The lack of passion and urgency seem to sum up politics. Don't turned up to bloody network. Get some balls. My favorite is Andy Bernham. He's a good lad. We got to break out of the ex minister lines to take, you know, speak with a bit of feeling, a bit of passion about what's happening. And then I think we'll connect better with the public. There's something very same old about this, isn't there? I don't really want to pour cold water on it, but the world has changed much more than this conference has.
We all know who's calling the shots worldwide. Elon Musk. Exactly. Mark Zuckerberg. Yeah. And it relative to the power they've got, this feels quite small. It does really. Yeah. I mean, when you've got people handing handling, you know, what's effectively trillions of pounds worth of assets, you know, it's like Yeah. But you're still here. Yeah. I mean, if we give up fighting, they're just going to win, right? I'm feeling much more positive than I was, but still, you know, naturally apprehensive and cognizant of the big challenges ahead.
Have you seen any sort of direction of travel indicators? You mean UKwide? I'm being naughty. I asked you that question 10 years ago and I didn't know what it meant. I think it means positive signs. Well, I think we know what the narrative is. John behind the camera just asked me why on earth we came. But the reason is the same reason everyone's in there just cuz that's what we always do. Meanwhile, the world races on. The world's going somewhere else at speed. This is not a time to be doing what you've always done, is it?
We chants upon a protest by people being pushed around by the global forces that are warping our politics. As a carer, I'm speaking from experience. We go through bullying. We go through dehumanizing conditions. So what's your immigration status at the moment? So the visas are issued. You're tied to one employer. So at the end of 5 years, you gain settled status. But the government wants to change that. The government wants to move the goalpost which is very disheartening because you know I have kids. I came into this country. We've built our lives here but at this point since the since the government made this announcement in
March we haven't been able to make any decision to move forward. We don't know what our fate is and we have kids who have made friends who have settled here. We keep hearing oh migrants are benefiting 21 billion from the economy. Migrants are in council. Our visa says zero recourse to public funds. I do not get one penny from the government. My kids don't for everything we have to do in this country. We have to pay for even when it comes to healthcare visa fees. So we're calling on the government to put a human face and a human touch to this. For those of you who think that Germans are the kind of people who crawl out of
bed at about 10 in the morning and write something about Andy Burnham, it's dawn. We've come to meet the care worker we met in Liverpool who happens to work in the burough where yet another political drama is unfolding. Morning. How are you? I'm well. Are you? I'm not used to getting up this early. Well, I am. I'm sorry. I say you are right. What time do you expect to finish? 9:00 p.m. 9:00. Some days later than that, jumping the bus, jumping the train from client to client, you barely have time to even eat.
You barely have time to rest and that is your whole day. Obviously, you get home late, you have to start early again the next morning. It takes a lot on you, a mental toll, physically, psychologically, it takes a lot out of you as well. You know, it's it's not a job where you can really plan and it seems our voices are not being heard. Andy Burnham, he made his big speech the day after we met. I watch closely the people who looked after my dad. I want to speak directly today to our care workers. You are not invisible to me.
I'm a seeing is believing kind of person. Yeah. Until I see it, I don't believe it. And how do you stay positive then working as hard as you do? Sometimes I take a breath. I give myself these pep talks mentally just to, you know, just keep going. And I mean, I've got a family. I do it for my kids as well. The reason we moved here was to give them a better life, right? And I cannot quit now. She goes to Sunland for the day on the coach every Thursday to see her husband and kids. This whole economy is just built on doing people over.
There's a lot of trauma out there and I think it's really shameful that we don't have more adaptable housing for people who are navigating drug abuse, mental health. I could that's just an inevitable part of London life. It sounds like you follow politics. Uh I try to What do you think of the Green Party? Do you know what I really like? Is it Zach? Yeah. I really I want to be I like I'm like come on now. Come on. And I feel like if ever there was a time people who really want to see change really need I mean I still mourn the loss of Jeremy
Corbyn. I know that's quite controversial. I think there was quite an orchestrated kind of uh a framework around what happened to him. He would be someone I would vote for. And I don't know what it is about how he presents that means I say that because Zach I'm trying to we want something else. We want an alternative. We want change. Green party delegates have passed that motion. clear Zionism a form of racism. We were hoping to catch up with the Green Party today. We've contacted them once already, but I'm just putting in another call. I would imagine it's very busy there today.
This is another regular repeated part of our job is I can spot a gaggle of labor activists at 500 paces. Yes, we meet again. Oh, hello. The other week there's a running joke of the question I have to ask you. What's today's direction of travel indicators? Um, the future, not the past. Wait a minute. Isn't that a Blair? Right. Okay. As someone with your experiences as a refugee, how do you feel about those changes the home secretary has floated? We've spent time with a care
worker who's very, very worried about that. Here in Camden, we I've worked really hard to make this a burough sanctuary. So, those are my values. I will work as hard as I can to make sure that the people here have that fair system. Does that mean you'd like to see those proposals changed? I would like to work to make sure that the fairness in the system is there for everyone who's been following the rules. Those conversations are in the midst of a generally pretty toxic national conversation about migration and diversity. The I mean that sort of divisive and retry is something that I've experienced very severely over the last four weeks or so.
I need your help. So we wake up on Friday to a Labour member of parliament. Politics is so noisy now, isn't it? People shout abuse in the background and makes all this noise and yet it seems more incapable than ever of changing the world cuz that's not where the power is in truth. It just so happens that in this constituency is the UK headquarters of Google. one of the forces that really is shaping the world and making politics look very sort of small and often sort of insignificant. I think everyone and
everything we've encountered in this film reflects that in some way, you know. Wow. I'll have to get after these is the green part. Excuse me, Mr. Green Party man. Will you stop so we can talk to you? Do you live locally? Yeah, I do. And how's life? Look at my age. It's wonderful. You know what I mean? You're retired, are you? 84. You're 84. This is the wonders of a green lifestyle keeps you young. I think being positive and active kind of trying to help somebody outside of your own realm.
Yeah. So that's very important. The Green Party um is a party I think of the people whereas the other parties tend to be kind too well organized and pretty much kind of like you know controlled by money and influence. How do you feel about what happened with the Green Party at the weekend? There's a lot of unease and people wondering if the Green Party's gone too far by passing a motion saying, "Well, I think when it comes to genocide, you can't go too far. I mean, there'll be devout Jewish people that are Zionists that are really good people. Um, if they're not standing up against Zionism, it's maybe because they just want a easier life, you know." So, basically, or maybe they believe that after six
million of them were loaded into the ovens in the Second World War, they need a safe haven. Nobody's denying that. And that's the biggest horror story ever. Yeah. you know, but that's nothing to do with today. I mean, I don't see why that's you brought that into the equation. It happened. You take the long view. It happened a couple of historical moments ago. It's recent history. Yeah. But historically, 100,000 Palestinians, women, children, and some are still buried under the rubble, you know. So, at what point does the present genocide mean something to the upstanding people that rule our countries?
Oh, no. I agree with you. But you know, I think politically just on the verge of this bi-election, right, where you were probably in with a shout, particularly after a summer like we've just had, which proves even to people who used to like Nigel Farage that climate change is real. Kicking up a great big stink about Israel Palestine with days to go. It's like just silly politics. If you're only interested in politics, fine, you're right. But if you're interested in some sort of morality, you're totally wrong. What was in your mind when you voted? Which party? Like stop the war while what? Stop war. Yeah. That's one of the main reason coming to vote here, isn't it? To bring the cost of living down. That's good.
Yeah. Who did you vote for? I can't say that, mate. And they're really serious problems here in Summerstown. There's so many problems here with housing, food. People haven't got enough money for food. They can't afford their rent. We just don't stand a chance. When you're hungry, it's really hard to function properly. And who you voting for? Green. It's about change. Do you always vote Labor? Yes. Why? They think about the poor. Yeah. They show love. They show concerns. We're not in summers time anymore. We're really not.
I'm not interviewing. That's a shame. The only thing I care about is anti-semitism and the rise of it. And you do feel like 10 years ago I could have just been more open about being Jewish. Do you feel Do you have to be careful? Yeah. Just because I don't really want to go on. I don't want to talk about Israel. I've had enough of Israel. I mean, you haven't voted Green, have you? I mean, the problem I've got with the Green Party is Zionism is not racism. But you were going to vote Green and then you changed your mind.
Yeah, I was. Yeah, for quite a while. I actually became a member of the Green Party about a year ago. Wow. When Well, when Palansky came in, um I just love the way he kind of disrupted it a bit. And I don't think we have Andy Bernham without Zach Palansky. When you say things have gone a bit far, like give me an example. I thought that the Zionism is racism thing was just a bit silly. I'm totally pro Palestine and like completely in that direction, but I just think it's unnecessarily divisive. A little bit kind of alienating. I don't know. My family What do you do for a living? I'm training to be a primary school teacher at the minute.
Are you? Yeah. So, I born and raised literally 3 minutes down that way. My parents are both educators. My dad's a teacher. My mom taught in nursery schools. She's an artist. But we, you know, at the minute we're struggling, you know, it's we've my parents bought this house in Primrose Hill in the 80s. Didn't cost them very much. It wasn't the same, it wasn't the neighborhood it is now. It's now so affluent and all of our neighbors and our people around us have changed so much, but they managed to just about cling on to the house for as long as they have. And I don't know, it feels like a challenging time for all of us. And I've kind of,
you know, I've thrown away the idea that I'm ever going to own a house in London. It's bad enough, right, that care workers and baristas and street sweepers and the people who keep London running can't really afford to live here and live impossible lives. Mhm. And then and the same applies to primary school teachers. Yeah. It's just seems it's a bit of an impossible equation at the minute. Well, there's two things going on simultaneously, right? which is that a very small number of people are getting richer and richer while for the rest of the population life's getting more and more difficult. And it just so happens that the people
who are getting richer and richer are also driving this shrill polarized horrible nasty sort of politics. This is the Elon Musk problem. Even though, you know, it's probably a boost to the Labour Party and Andy Bernham that he became leader of our bi-election by seeing off the threat from the right and he's won this one by seeing off the threat from the left. Compared to the scale of the world's problems, it's tiny, but not so tiny that it's unimportant, which is why we're here. About as close to Westminster as we can comfortably go. This far and no further.
