Across the UK, online, on DAB and on your smart speaker, the Independent Republic of Mike Graham, on Talk Radio.

Good morning, happy VE Day and welcome to the Independent Republic of Mike Graham right here on Talk Radio.

75 years ago today, the world stopped and stood still.

The war in Europe was over.

People all over the country stood in the bombed out streets and listened to Winston Churchill's address that told them the Nazi war machine had surrendered to Allied forces on the previous afternoon.

A nation rejoiced then, as we do now, in celebration at the end of the death and destruction

that had wreaked havoc over a continent for six years. The people of Great Britain were free once more.

This morning, as we hold two minutes

silence for the fallen, please take a moment to think of your family members, your friends,

and those that you hold dear, and by all means, share your stories with us if you wish.

0344-49-1,000 is a number. This bank holiday morning, we will be taking stock of where we are,

where we are going, and when we can expect things to improve slightly on the economic front. Last week, Dominic Raab made it clear that

lockdown will need to continue for the next few weeks unless conditions dramatically improve

in terms of the spread of COVID-19. The Foreign Secretary explained that the infection rate

is still too high for the measure to be relaxed, but we still await Prime Minister Boris Johnson's speech on Sunday night

where more announcements may follow.

But it is bank holiday weekend and the weather is scorching,

so I'm assuming there will be a lot of people out and about today.

The streets of London are much quieter than normal

because fewer people are actually going to work this morning,

but we need to know from all of you what you are seeing out there, what you are hearing, and what you are doing this weekend as well. 344-49-1,000. Coming up later on,

Georgie Frost joins us with some money-saving tips on mortgage holidays and because it's Friday,

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