Is that all folks?

14:56president of the National Farmers' Union:Well this morning Guy today we're these latest reports there's a report in Variety that says Warner Brothers Discovery are likely to take the new Paramount Skydance bid under review while still recommending the Netflix transaction that is up for a vote on March the 20th. So we've still got that date etched in our diaries. Guy, I suspect we may well be talking before then. If not, do keep that March the 20th date in free just for that 10 minutes or so this time of the day.

15:23Sean Farrington:Absolutely.

15:24president of the National Farmers' Union:Thank you, Guy. The saga continues. Guy Petty, their former Paramount executive media consultant. Ashanti, in the investment world, have you noticed ripple effects? Other businesses, investors like yourself, maybe changing their view of what certain things are worth because of this you know when we see maybe the the industry here in the UK and all the platforms that we pay for here how we go about

15:49Sean Farrington:doing it as it change things I don't think it's changed things dramatically I think you know this was an industry where all the streaming stuff had this massive period of growth then we had it go out to all these different providers you know that's kind of where we are now with you know so many different options. And I think this is just it consolidating back a bit so that it can be profitable again. I had a thought the other day, though, it's like, in a way, airlines were actually ahead of their time. Because if you think about airlines had these like abilities to watch these things on demand, you know, a decade before Netflix did.

16:24Sean Farrington:And now in some ways, you know, Netflix has gone well beyond what you can get on an airline. So yeah, so sometimes you get futuristic things in odd places.

16:34president of the National Farmers' Union:That's true. Never considered that. People who were maybe getting those long-haul flights decades ago and watching a film didn't realise what they were tapping into. There we go. 85058, what other industries were actually well ahead of their time in areas you might not have thought. Shanti, with us this morning to chew over plenty more. We're going to be talking more about the impact on tariffs and AI as well. And Shanti mentioned that was the one move in markets. I see IBM has had its biggest share price fall for 20-odd years because of various developments elsewhere in artificial intelligence, a bit of a theme of recent weeks.

17:10president of the National Farmers' Union:Now, at almost exactly this time, four years ago, sirens rang out across Ukraine.

17:23president of the National Farmers' Union:Tanks, troops, planes crossed from their staging posts in occupied Crimea, Belarus, Western Russia, and the Kremlin had launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Outside Russia, it was widely seen as an attempt to force Kiev back into Moscow's orbit and to overturn the entire post-Cold War security architecture in Europe. The Russian leadership envisaged a short and successful military operation. That didn't go to plan. The war still rages to this day. Here's how the news broke on this programme four years ago.

17:56Sean Farrington:Wake Up To Money from BBC Five Live.

17:59president of the National Farmers' Union:Hello, welcome to Wake Up To Money. Russia has launched a major military operation in Ukraine. Panic is the very worst of all outcomes and that's what we are trying to avoid. We'll be live from Ukraine very shortly. The price of oil has gone above$100 a barrel for the first time since 2014 and stock markets in Asia have fallen overnight. Of course, we saw many of a ripple effect of that, but very much the focus this morning is from how things are in Ukraine. First, let's hear from Ukraine's President Vladimir Zelensky, who's been speaking to the BBC's international editor, Jeremy Bowen. Some people, I think including President Trump, say Ukraine cannot win this war.

18:38president of the National Farmers' Union:Are they correct? Where are you now? Today you're in Kiev. You're in the capital of our homeland. You are in Ukraine. I'm grateful for this. Will we lose? Of course not, because we are fighting for Ukraine's independence. So, if you can win this war, and I know you've said that, what does victory look like? Today we speak about stopping this war. I believe that stopping Putin today and preventing him from occupying Ukraine is a victory for the whole world, because Putin will not stop at Ukraine. You're not saying that victory means getting all the land back, are you? In any case, we will achieve that.

19:26president of the National Farmers' Union:That is absolutely clear. It's only a matter of time. To do it today would mean losing a huge number of people, millions of people, because the Russian army is large, and we understand the cost of such steps. We would not have enough people. We would be losing them. And what is land without people? Honestly, nothing. And we also do not have a sufficient amount of weapons. That depends not only on us, but on our partners. As of today, this is not available. But returning to the just borders of 1991 is without a doubt a victory for justice. President Zelensky talking to our international editor Jeremy Bone.

20:09president of the National Farmers' Union:I'm joined by Olga Rudenko, who's the founding editor-in-chief of the English-language newspaper, The Kiev Independent, and Christian Boris, who's founder of the social enterprise Saint Javelin, which raises money for Ukrainian causes. Morning to you both. Thank you for joining us. Olga, as somebody who's lived this and also as an editor-in-chief of a newspaper, has had to tell the story of the last four years, as we're focusing on this morning. How do you see where Ukraine is today?

20:46Sean Farrington:Well, you know, if we were speaking at this day one year ago, I would probably tell you that I expect the world to end or to come to a ceasefire at least within the coming year. And this moment now is different from any other during this full-scale invasion because it now seems undesirable but very realistic that the war can go on for years and years. And it brings a new level of the sense of tiredness and exhaustion on everybody in Ukraine.

21:24president of the National Farmers' Union:how does that play out Olga in you know day-to-day life and of course in many different parts of Ukraine the experience will be hugely different but that that change in view of the future compared to a year ago how do you see that being in in the you know the the shops the the families you speak with your friends you're in contact with and and people's prospects

21:53Sean Farrington:you know you can always hear that the morale is probably at all-time low among Ukrainian civilians especially now but at the same time you know what what you need to of course take into account is that we are at the end of the most difficult winter that Ukraine has ever had Russia has unfortunately done a lot of damage to Ukraine electricity rate and they have done it this winter during the coldest winter that Ukraine had in I think something like 16 years. The temperatures have been very cold in Ukraine since the beginning of January and for many weeks now, since the beginning of January, most of my city, Kyiv, has been experiencing extreme power cuts.

22:51Sean Farrington:And there are millions of people in Ukraine right now who have been without heating for weeks now, amid a very brutal winter. So all that, of course, adds up. And it is a tactic of Russia to put pressure on the civilian population away from the front line. It adds up to the exhaustion. But at the same time, after every major attack almost, we go to the people, we go to the streets and we ask them what it does to you, what do you think? And just in the big picture, is it working? Does it make you want to maybe demand that the war ends in any possible way? Does it make you want to go and tell President Zininski that you personally want this to end as soon as possible in any way, just for the suffering to end?

23:44Sean Farrington:And we never hear that. We never hear people say, you know, this is not worth bearing this suffering. We just need to end it. That's not what people say. What people say is, this is making me more angry. This is making me more angry at Russia.

24:00president of the National Farmers' Union:Christian Boris, the founder of the social enterprise St Javelin that's been raising money for Ukrainian causes. Thank you for joining us this morning Christian. Have the nature of the kind of causes that you've been raising money for over these four years, has that changed when you hear what Olga's reflecting there as the life in Ukraine at the moment for many?

24:23Sean Farrington:oh definitely um you know when it first started St. Javelin started February 16th 2022 so it was it was several days before the full-scale invasion started the reason I started it is because I used to be a journalist and I worked in Ukraine from 2015 and and I left in 2018 but in the lead-up to the full-scale invasion, I was speaking to my old colleagues and I was reading what they were writing. I was listening to what they were saying and I understood what was about to happen. So at that point, I was just trying to raise money to help people that I had met along the way. So the goal was to raise money for the children of parents who had been killed in the war since 2014.

25:16Sean Farrington:And then the full-scale invasion happened and our trajectory changed completely to helping victims of violence right away. So we started basically putting money towards everything that can protect people, first aid kits, bulletproof vests, helmets. We worked with a foundation called the 2402 Foundation, which worked with Ukrainian journalists across Ukraine who didn't have the right kit to be able to cover a full-scale invasion like this, right? Providing training programs and stuff like that. And those were a lot of the early days. It was like medical aid. And then as the scale of the war changed, and now the war is so different than what it was when it first started, Um, we started to go into things like generators the first winter because there became an understanding that, you know, the Russians were going to attack and try to cause chaos and, and, um, havoc on the civilian population.

26:28Sean Farrington:Right. So you're still seeing that now to a much greater extent now, but, uh, also on the other side, things like drones have have played a huge huge huge role so it's yeah it's it's changed enormously

26:42president of the National Farmers' Union:and christian what about the ability to raise that money what where's the money coming from

26:47Sean Farrington:has that changed at all over the years oh yeah for sure when we first started it was uh there was no big plan you know uh it was basically me i had this sticker saint javelin which was uh based on artwork done by an American artist named Chris Shaw, and he painted this thing called Madonna Kalashnikov. So it was essentially Madonna holding a Kalashnikov. And then as a joke, someone online replaced the Kalashnikov with a javelin, which was, you know, at that time, one of the first and only Western weapons that were being given to Ukraine. And I knew about that symbol and i made it into a sticker it it started to take on a life of its own it went viral but then people started to ask can you put it on a t-shirt can you put on a hat and um so that was

27:42president of the National Farmers' Union:a lot of individuals was it at that at that time coming together to raise that money yeah i mean

27:49Sean Farrington:people were just buying from our website right and then and then we turned that into a sustainable operation by just making better and better products and and our promise became that we were we would make everything in ukraine so that the the economic benefit of it would actually go into you know different manufacturers and whatnot in ukraine as well and is that has that

28:14president of the National Farmers' Union:been a way of of measuring how engaged the world are with the issues in ukraine right now have you seen that sort of go have its ups and downs in terms of the amount of money coming in?

28:28Sean Farrington:Yeah, I'll give you an example. So last year, when President Zelensky went to the White House, and there was this, you know, debacle of a meeting at the White House, that caused a huge spike for us, and I'm sure for a lot of other organizations. And that was something that, you know, we didn't anticipate we never could have forecast for. But it just showed me that three years into this, and there's still so many people who really, really, truly care. And I know it doesn't make the news as much as it used to. And in a very sad way, it feels like people have become accustomed to it. But the interest, the desire to support is still very much there.

29:20president of the National Farmers' Union:And Olga, just to sum up for this small conversation that we've had, a small part of it here now, how do you think the mood you described and the low morale you described, is there a way do you see on the horizon for that to be changing? If you were thinking, what does the year ahead, what is that going to bring for residents of Kyiv, for those right across Ukraine?

29:50Sean Farrington:Well, I surely hope that there's a way to change that. You know, something that really came to us last year with the change, of course, of the U.S. administration is the realization of, you know, for all the support that we've been getting from our partners, including the U.K., you know, at the end of the day, Ukraine is kind of on our own. And I think that, you know, it was a sobering realization, but it also added up to the morale issue. And I think partners stepping up, especially Europe stepping up and showing more support to Ukraine and even increasing their commitment to helping end this in a fair way and putting more pressure to Russia, that could help with the morale issue.

30:38Sean Farrington:Like, look what is being down to the Russian shuttle fleet now. We need more of that. We need much more of that because Russia actually feels the consequences of that. And you see reports now that the Russian economy is not doing as well as it used to because it is also exhausted. And there are many people smarter than me saying that this year actually can bring some form of collapse on the Russian economy if pressure is put on Russia, if additional pressure, additional sanctions is put on Russia. So, you know, I think there is a way to change the morale But I just want to emphasize Even with the, you know, with morale being low There is no, there is still It shows even in the polls that the majority still does not want a piece at any price And that's very important to understand Because, you know, I think especially with the US They often think, they make this mistake That it is President Zelensky who is choosing to continue the war That it is him being stubborn And actually, that's not the case.

31:45Sean Farrington:It's the people of Ukraine who wouldn't want him to go into a peace deal that makes no sense.

31:52president of the National Farmers' Union:Olga, thank you very much for your time this morning, sharing that. Olga Rodenko, who's the founding editor-in-chief of the Kiev Independent, and to Christian Boris as well, founder of that social enterprise St. Javelin that has been raising money for Ukraine.

32:10Sean Farrington:Got a business problem? There's a TED Talk for that. Stay updated on everything business on TED Business, a podcast hosted by Columbia Business School professor Modupe Akinola. Every week, she'll introduce you to leaders with unique insights on work, answering questions like, how do four-day work weeks work? Do will a machine ever take my job? Get some surprising answers on TED Business wherever you listen to podcasts.

32:38Sean Farrington:Wake Up To Money with Sean Farrington.

32:41president of the National Farmers' Union:Good morning to you. Wake Up To Money on BBC Five Live on this Tuesday morning, 24th of February. Joined as well in Wake Up To Money by Louise McLean, who is the director at Signature Group. Got more than 20 pubs and hospitality venues under her watch across Scotland. Louise, thank you for joining us again this morning. How are you?

33:01shopkeeper:Very well, thank you.

33:02president of the National Farmers' Union:And Louise, we always are intrigued by the check-in with you about the mood amongst the hospitality sector, what it's like in Edinburgh at the moment, whatever that might be. We've heard your frustrations over the years. We've heard your enthusiasm over the years as well. How has 2026 kicked off now that you've had January? You've got a bit of the Six Nations going on through February as well. What's it like?

33:29shopkeeper:January was overwhelmingly good. We did a very good sale. We promoted it very well. So the sales were there. Can't ask any more of either teams or customers. The profit's not there. But what we feel is if we can go into, come off a buoyant Christmas, go into January riding high, then straight into the Six Nations, it means that if you fall less in January, the climb to February is easier. and so far that is paying off. Six Nations started, okay, poorly in Italy but since then it's been a bit of an upward trajectory for the Scotland team and customers react to that. All of a sudden they want to go out to the venues, they want to go and create a bit of a party when the hope is there.

34:27shopkeeper:Italy, we took a bit of a blip but there wasn't much hope but then you're straight into the Calcutta Cup which is just the best weekend And whether it's at Twickenham or Morrifield, it is the best game of the championship.

34:39president of the National Farmers' Union:Well, it's great. And obviously every February you have those events to focus on. It helps when the Scotland team is doing a bit better, you know, and recent years have been pretty decent. But even aside from that, you still need those customers to have some underlying confidence to think this is how I'm going to after Christmas. This is how I'm going to be spending my money after January into February as well. Have you got a bit of a view on how people are doing for 2026? I remember a year ago you were using that phrase, survive 25. Is there something? I'm not expecting you to come up with a slogan for every single year we have you on.

35:18president of the National Farmers' Union:But do you feel different to that? You know, we just need to try and cope that you had a year ago.

35:25shopkeeper:Yeah, I mean, that's because the fundamentals haven't changed. There is precious little profit in the sector just now. But we are a very resilient industry. We are definitely seeing customers coming out less and we're definitely seeing people drinking less. But I don't know, if I'm honest, whether that is a health-conscious decision or whether it's just a lack of disposable income decision. What we are seeing with the Six Nations is people are travelling for a shorter period of time. So it used to be the Welsh would make the trip to Scotland and they would have a Thursday to a Monday. That's really gone now.

36:03shopkeeper:That's much less. The Irish tend to travel just for one night. A lot of the English visitors do a thing called the Home in Time for Tea Tour. So they literally come up for the game and they're heading away from the city before the night is over.

36:20president of the National Farmers' Union:That sounds like a huge change in income that might be coming through the tills.

36:26shopkeeper:it is it is it it means you've got it all to play for on the match day and perhaps the morning sorry and perhaps the night before we don't love sunday matches sunday matches are not good for for the trade they're kind of a bit oh right okay fine we'll go out if we have to it's a sunday game so we it's saturday games is is where it's all the thursday match interestingly the the opening match this year did absolutely nothing for for the trade so that's certainly something i hope we don't see repeated. Obviously, I understand why it had to happen this year with the Olympics, but that's definitely not something we'd like to see repeated next year.

37:04president of the National Farmers' Union:I'm interested by that. When you say did absolutely nothing, does that mean, was the Thursday as quiet, but like any typical Thursday, or was it the whole weekend was just the same as it ordinarily is?

37:15shopkeeper:No, no. I mean, the weekend was good because we opened our campaign in Italy and there's obviously the hope that kills you every year. but no the Thursday match didn't drive any football at all it was just a normal Thursday kind of the same when we have a Friday match really if it's not Scotland

37:35president of the National Farmers' Union:because it was Ireland France was it that kicked off on that Thursday

37:39shopkeeper:and that did absolutely nothing Friday matches don't tend to do much we like Saturdays Saturdays is where the fun is

37:48president of the National Farmers' Union:whether Scotland or not

37:49shopkeeper:yeah yeah no no I mean, Super Saturday is massive for us. This year, Scotland is the first match. But, you know, the whole campaign is a gift to the trade and not just in Edinburgh. Glasgow as well have massive amounts of people that want to go out and watch the game and make a bit of a party of it. And that's what the industry needs. We just need experiences. We need reasons for people to leave their houses, reasons for people to support hospitality rather than perhaps supporting supermarkets or whatever. I mean, 80 % of alcohol consumed in Scotland is bought in supermarkets. So we're still massively up against it.

38:33shopkeeper:But if we can keep events like that happening, sport is massive for our industry, then we will win out of it.

38:41president of the National Farmers' Union:And have you seen, when you talk about the health aspect, maybe impacting how people are behaving, again, you know, we know there's been that trend towards 0 % beers. Are you noticing it get stronger and stronger? Was there more 0 %ers being sold through the games this year than they were last year?

39:01shopkeeper:No, we really are behind England and Wales on 0 % consumption and low and no. It is still a component. It's still part of our repertoire that we will offer our guests. But it's not something we see massively in increase on the big days. Yes, we'll see a bit of an increase in January. We tend to support government messaging with low and no in December. So designated driver and whatnot. So we will definitely make sure that that sector of the category is represented and represented well. But I think in general, the people drinking less, in my opinion, is linked towards money in pockets and not coming out.

39:46president of the National Farmers' Union:Shanti Kellerman, who's also with us this morning, co-chief investment officer at Severn Investment Management. but regular listeners will know that whenever there's any opportunity, an Olympics, the Winter Olympics, and Ashanti, Summer Olympics have been more the thing that I've talked to you about in the past in your interest, your love. Was that too strong a word for some of the events there? Do you get involved with the Winter Olympics too?

40:09Sean Farrington:I watched a lot of the Winter Olympics this year because I was off last week. So that was great. And I think all those sports are incredibly difficult. so I think the best thing to do is to try a little bit of them and then watch it and it gives you more of an appreciation.

40:26president of the National Farmers' Union:Which one did you come out with? You know, time zones were great. It looked like there will be in four years' time as well. Which one are you thinking, right, I might follow this for four years now?

40:36Sean Farrington:I think I really enjoy the cross-country skiing and the biathlon because of the challenge of trying to calm your heart rate enough to shoot. I've never shot a gun in my life or been pigeon shooting But I think that one, the precision and the endurance was just amazing. And I think I also appreciate a lot of the snowboarding tricks. I don't know how high up those people are in the air. It's amazing.

41:01president of the National Farmers' Union:Oh, yeah, that was crazy. And Zori Atkin with the skiing as well on that half. Was it the half pipe? That was pretty outrageous stuff going on there as well. Shanti, is it gymnastics? Yeah, gymnastics was my first love. Gotcha. But figure skating and all of that, are there fair comparisons to be making? Sometimes being not the expert I feel, I like to think I am for the Summer Olympics at the Winter Olympics. I wonder how much crossover there might be. If you were a gymnast and you may be somebody who's been throwing themselves into gymnastics at the local club and the kids are getting involved, and then you watch the Winter Olympics, which one would you say is the most transferable?

41:40Sean Farrington:well i'd say figure skating definitely is the most similar outfits to gymnastics so we can we can start there but and you need a lot of leg strength um but but you don't need the same amount of arm strength in figure skating so but yeah i think there's there's something for everyone in a lot of those sports and even with the introduction of curling you know kind of anyone can have a go at curling so i think that's you know and it's similar to like running you know anyone can do. You don't need a club or a gym.

42:09president of the National Farmers' Union:We all feel like anybody can have a go at curling. We'll probably be getting out there over the next few years thinking, blimey, this is a lot harder than it looks, but definitely one that's captured the imagination. 85058, want to join in our chat? We'll keep any Winter Olympics chat going on 5 Live for as long as we can. Right, it is 48 minutes past five. Let's have a look at these reports of violence and abuse towards retailers that fell by fifth in the year to September to 1 ,600 incidents a day, according to the British Retail Consortium's Retail Crime Report that's out this morning. But this year's figure is still the second highest on record.

42:44president of the National Farmers' Union:So almost four times the 450 odd incidents that were recorded per day pre-pandemic. Amrit Singh is the owner of H &J's Nisa convenience store in Walsall. They've got a wholesale side to the business as well. Amrit, morning. Morning Sean, how are you? I'm well thank you, good to talk to you again Amrit Have you noticed this? Are these figures laid out by what you felt in your shops over the last year?

43:11Sean Farrington:Yeah I mean I definitely resonate with the report this year I could say that the overall scene has calmed down but we're a long way away from where we'd like to be if that makes sense

43:22president of the National Farmers' Union:What has changed do you think, if anything in the last year? You know, it's one year's number. They've fallen by a fifth to those 1 ,600 incidents a day. Still a huge amount. But have you detected any either a way you've had to change things with your business that has reduced it or, you know, behaviour from shoppers? Well, not shoppers, is it? It's criminals. And from, you know, local authorities, has anything impacted?

43:49Sean Farrington:I think there's a twofold change that's happened. Largely, a lot of investment's gone in on the retail side for me and my colleagues across the sector have invested heavily in this new AI software that can sit on the camera systems, which alerts you to crime and can even scan people's faces and send your phone a ping of when regular offenders are in. So there's been a lot of investment from myself and other people I know in the industry to clamp down on this. And that sadly has been one, because we've had to, because we can't rely on the support from the police due to the poor response time. And so we've had to take it upon ourselves to invest in better technology to really try and deter these criminals and get, you know, better footage.

44:36Sean Farrington:So we have a higher conviction rate to show the police X, Y, Z. And the other thing is as well, there's a lot of fatigue in the space. so a lot of retailers do feel completely let down and sadly they're just not reporting the crime so as much as I support the view that the incidents have dropped by a fifth it's almost how much of that is reported and actually how much of it is unreported because I know people that just don't even bother calling anymore because they just know that no one's coming.

45:06president of the National Farmers' Union:Louise McLean is with us, director at Signature Group also a spokesperson, Louise, for the Scottish Hospitality Group does any of this whether it's the trend or the the story that amrit is reflecting there get reflected across the hospitality industry the high streets they share with so many of these

45:24shopkeeper:retailers yeah i think the point that resonated there with me was the investment um now we have door stewards to prevent um any sort such incidents and that is a huge cost to the to the business. But it's also a commitment we make with the licensing laws that we will keep our patrons safe. So the doors, they're there twofold. They're there to protect the customers and they're there to protect our staff. And you will always get idiots. But it's the fact that we have to invest in that. And yes, we have CCTV all over venues. I think the other big thing is collaboration within the industry. I'm sure that's the same in retail, that we will all tip each other off if there's any problems looming.

46:10shopkeeper:If you're in a street, we've got forums that will say, like, you know, here's a screenshot of this person. They've just behaved like this in this venue. Look out for them. And I think that's the big thing. I'm sure that's the same with retail as a collaborative approach will ensure prevention of any potential disorderly behaviour.

46:28president of the National Farmers' Union:Amrit, a story that many might well be waking up to, one of the most read on the BBC website this morning, is about chocolate bars being locked in plastic boxes in some UK shops. Retailers, police forces are warning that thieves are stealing them to order. Individual forces telling the BBC they've seen a trend of chocolate being targeted. Have you noticed that?

46:51Sean Farrington:Yeah, well, I can say that. I can say it because retail crime, sadly, has not been taken seriously enough. And I think I've been here and we discussed it before, Sean, in the sense that, in our opinion, it's a gateway crime. So it leads to other things. But sadly, it's almost like criminals are being given a list of what to go and steal. And the results are there's wider chains and stuff where they're just putting them in boxes and making it harder for them to do that. And all that comes at a cost to the business, as mentioned, in the hospitality sector. I think according to this report, it's£5 billion spent in the last five years across the retail sector in the security infrastructure.

47:40Sean Farrington:Now, obviously, that's a massive burden to carry to protect your ability just to be able to trade.

47:48president of the National Farmers' Union:And Amrit, as a retailer, you know, we speak to so many people running retail stores on Wake Up To Money, including yourself. If you're having to box, put a bar of chocolate, Cadbury Dairy Milk£2.60 bar of chocolate locked up in a plastic box, that sort of relationship you have with your community, how does that change things? How does that feel running a retail store when you're having to do things like that?

48:14Sean Farrington:So it makes the whole experience very unpleasant is the best way I can put it. But the boxing of the chocolate is one thing. It makes the customers feel a bit unsafe because they're a bit confused as to why is this happening in their area? If they weren't aware, then they're made aware to the harsh reality of the community that perhaps they live in and that they were unaware of. But there's a whole second part to this, which is the abuse side that occurs and the violent side of the criminals that come in. and that's on the rise and it actually makes it difficult for the staff to feel safe, colleagues to feel safe whilst they're at work.

48:58Sean Farrington:And then equally, when let's say these colleagues leave, it makes the recruitment process even harder because who wants to come into a sector where crime's not taken seriously and who wants to be abused at work just for doing the job? Sorry?

49:13president of the National Farmers' Union:No, sorry, I thought it finished. Go on.

49:15Sean Farrington:Yeah, yeah, it just makes it horrible. It makes it horrible across the board.

49:20president of the National Farmers' Union:Well, Amrit, thank you for laying out what it's actually like, you know, running a store at the moment and how that tallies with some of the numbers we're hearing this morning. Amrit Singh there, who's the owner of H &J's Nisa convenience store in Warsaw. Now, over the past few weeks, we've been hearing quite a bit about the challenges facing farmers from falling milk prices to the impact of the weather. The National Farmers Union will use its conference today to say a resilient food system is key to tackling food inflation, bolstering national security, driving growth. Tom Bradshaw is the president there, Arable Farmer himself as well.

49:54president of the National Farmers' Union:Tom, good morning to you. This won't be the first case you've made for a resilient food system. Is anything changing?

50:00Sean Farrington:Well, we've got the words that food security is a critical part of our national security, but now we need the policy that's going to keep people fed. And at the moment, confidence of the farming industry is at rock bottom. We've had so much policy change over the last seven, eight years where that confidence has been eroded. We've had all of the battle around inheritance tax, and now we've got farmers facing flooded fields once again. So we need a long-term plan and a prioritisation of our domestic food production so that farmers can look forwards and invest with belief that this food is really valued and that society really want domestic food production.

50:36president of the National Farmers' Union:Have you seen any sign of that policy coming your way? There are other industries we'll speak to on this show quite a lot, And they might have actually heard quite a lot of the words and attempts to push policy in a certain direction in the last year or so, maybe not seeing it play out yet. Do you have any of that?

50:53Sean Farrington:Well, the Secretary of State, Emma Reynolds, is saying that they're going to work in partnership, that they really value the important role of farmers. But those words aren't enough. You know, what we need is a concrete ambition for domestic food production. We need targets sector by sector so that everyone can be accountable. and when I look at the geopolitical situation around the world it's never been more important to have a plan for how we're going to feed 70 million people living here on this island and at the moment that food production is completely taken for granted and we hear a lot about defence spending, we hear a lot about energy but the third leg of that stall has to be food production and food security and at the moment it's missing.

51:33president of the National Farmers' Union:And is there a part of the farming industry in the UK at the moment given, I mentioned a few of the stories we've talked about in recent weeks that is more urgently vulnerable right now? You know, less long-term policy, but something that needs really gripping at the moment.

51:49Sean Farrington:Well, I mean, if you're a farmer that's had your fields underwater for three or four weeks, then clearly you are feeling the brunt of the extreme weather that we're facing. Our river network is a critical part of our national infrastructure, but we're not maintaining it. We're not investing in it. If you're a dairy farmer and your prices have fallen off a cliff over the last six months, Cash flow is absolutely pivotal. And our arable sector has probably faced the biggest challenge from the removal of support and the old support schemes that we had in place. And the market is not currently viable.

52:23Sean Farrington:We're producing below the, or the selling below the cost of production. So there are many challenges out there.

52:28president of the National Farmers' Union:Are there, sorry to interrupt you, Tom, but are the, you know, the big, say, supermarkets or whatever, the big food, big buyers of your produce, do they get it?

52:37Sean Farrington:Look, I think they have genuinely been concerned at times over the last 12, 24 months about the continuity of food supply. Now, if the retailers are worried, if the processors are worried and the farmers are worried, surely the government must listen and think we need a long term plan for food production in this country.

52:55president of the National Farmers' Union:Tom Bradshaw, thank you for your time this morning. National Farmers Union President, Arable Farmer himself. Thank you for your messages this morning. And a big thanks to Louise McLean, director at Signature Group, and to Shanti Kellerman as well from Seven Investment Management. There's been plenty to get into and there'll be plenty more coming up as well. But that is it from Wake Up To Money this morning. Wake Up To Money from BBC5 Live. That's it from Wake Up To Money. You can download the podcast every Monday to Friday, so please make sure you subscribe. We'd also love it if you left us a review when you do.

53:31president of the National Farmers' Union:Get in touch, keep the conversation going anytime as well on social media. Use the hashtag WakeUpToMoney.

53:39Sean Farrington:A new era of Formula One is about to dawn.

53:43shopkeeper:I think the biggest step the sport has ever seen.

53:45Sean Farrington:There are new rules, new cars and a brand new team. In Formula One it's just absolute, brutal, pure competition. And the next generation of star drivers are taking us along for the ride too.

53:57shopkeeper:I'm going to go like a madman. If you want to make it, first of all, you have to believe that you have what it takes.

54:01Sean Farrington:The biggest shakeup of F1's rulebook has been years in the making.

54:06president of the National Farmers' Union:Somebody's going to get it right and somebody's going to get it wrong.

54:08Sean Farrington:I'm Rosamund Pike, and this is F1 Back at Base. A new era. Listen on BBC Sounds.

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