S8 Ep205: Simon Constable discusses the political troubles of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the suspension of a US-UK tech deal due to clashes over AI regulation. He explains that Britain's "Online Safety Act" aims to tax and regulate tech giants, which threat
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 18 December 2025
⏱️ 4 minutes
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1940 THE BLITZ
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| 0:00.0 | I'm John Betts with my very good colleague, Simon Constable, in South of France, |
| 0:09.0 | but we're going to Merry Old England, Great Britain. |
| 0:12.7 | As I understand it, the Starmer government wants to regulate artificial intelligence in some fashion. |
| 0:19.2 | Who can do what, where, who's responsible for misdeeds online, who's responsible for bad |
| 0:27.7 | answers. |
| 0:28.3 | Regulate. |
| 0:29.3 | Labor is keen on this. |
| 0:30.8 | And suddenly Donald Trump cancels parts of the UK trade deal. |
| 0:35.8 | It was much Ballyhood weeks ago when Mr. Trump was entertained with |
| 0:40.4 | the state visit to Windsor Castle and the King. And Simon, why I emphasize this item is because |
| 0:47.8 | labor once more is in trouble with its own people and with the United Kingdom and with the ambitions of Europe to grow. |
| 0:57.6 | That is a puzzle that no one on this side of the Atlantic can solve. |
| 1:03.0 | Why Europe is fearful of growth. |
| 1:05.4 | The regulation they know slows down entrepreneurship. |
| 1:09.0 | They know young people leave Europe to go where the pickings are good, |
| 1:14.0 | which is Silicon Valley for one and other parts of the globe like Southeast Asia. And yet they |
| 1:20.1 | continue to regulate, regulate, regulate. And if I understand it, Mr. Starrmer's in trouble with his |
| 1:26.7 | own people, they want him to regulate more. |
| 1:29.2 | They want more labor policies. |
| 1:30.8 | They want more taxes. |
| 1:32.0 | Is that correct? |
| 1:34.3 | Pretty much, yes, that's a bullseye situation. |
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