Shadowing Practice: THB Reform is Fit to Govern - Rachel Millward - Opp - Learn English Speaking with Video
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And the final speaker of our competition, Councillor Richard Midler, Deputy Mayor of the Green Bank.
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Good evening, everyone.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Madam President, honourable members, good people of this House, thank you for staying so long.
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If you can still remember what Ben on the proposition said right at the beginning, he actually talked immediately about the anger,
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the fear, the frustration of the British public today.
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I agree actually with much of that and yet we look at this premise
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and think what does make a political party fit to govern?
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We need leaders we can trust to tell the truth with clear values
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and vision otherwise who knows where they'll lead us a party
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with a solid evidence-based plan for leading the nation to the
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best possible life for the majority with a stable economy
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that supports well-being and prosperity for all and above all a government
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that will keep our people safe sounds right on national safety then let's not forget Farage's response to the unnecessary
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illegal war that Trump is raging on Iran.
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The moment it started, he declared we should do all we can to support the operation.
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That we are part of this with the Americans
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and the Israelis leaping into wars without justification at huge expense
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and enormous risk at the whim and the behest of Trump and Netanyahu.
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that is not national security.
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That's recklessness.
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The war in Iran has also shown us that national security is inextricably linked to energy.
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National security is threatened by dependency on fossil fuels linked to unstable nations in the Middle East.
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Now reform would have us abandon the climate targets that will deliver us energy sovereignty.
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It's economically illiterate.
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the office of
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yes thank
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you thank you
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that is a misunderstanding thank you for the point it's a misunderstanding
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if we got more gas and oil from the North Sea it's a misunderstanding what happens it goes on the international market, it doesn't come domestically.
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It's also a very small reserve it should be
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which will be gone soon and actually there was a report
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that came out just last week I think it was
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that said in fact if reforms policies went ahead
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and we did we we went we stopped net zero
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that the impact on employment across Scotland would be devastating
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so in fact it is economic illiteracy in fact the office of budget responsibility has calculated
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that sticking with fossil fuels through to 2050 costs double what transitioning off them would.
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But reform love a bit of flat earth climate denialism.
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You know their draft manifesto contained nonsense like up to 10 times more people die of cold and warmth.
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In Roman Britain 2,000 years ago it was two degrees warmer grapes for wine were grown in Yorkshire.
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Ridiculous.
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Ridiculous though but nothing to do with climate change.
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A total misunderstanding.
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It's ridiculous.
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It's ignorance but friends it is dangerous.
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This January a national security assessment compiled by the Joint Intelligence Committee on
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which sit the heads of MI5 and MI6 concluded
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that every critical ecosystem is on a pathway to collapse and
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that conflict and military escalation will become more likely as nations compete for food, for water and for arable land.
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This report was due to be published in October.
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The government buried it because its conclusions were too negative.
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Our own security services are telling us that we face an existential threat and reforms answer?
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Roman wine in Yorkshire.
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But, you know, I guess you have to, you have to, when your £2.4 million donation comes,
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or £2.4 million of your donations come from people who dispute basic scientific facts about climate change.
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And when £24 million, 67% of your donations come from people with interests in fossil fuels.
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Of course, reform's preference for impulsive international aggression will create
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and would create millions more forcibly displaced people across the world people they would further demonize and maybe that's what they want.
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They are hell-bent on undermining the principle of sanctuary, something we Brits have been proud to offer.
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Tens of million people in the UK were born overseas or children of people who were.
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Our friends, our neighbours, our colleagues, the people who staff our NHS, the people who teach our children.
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Yet reform would have ICE-style mass deportation, policies that would literally rip our country apart,
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unleashing social and economic chaos.
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It's a party whose leader has blatantly incited racially motivated violence on our streets,
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bidding people to respond to horrendous tragedy with pure cold rage.
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And so we have riots and words matter.
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This party does not care about our safety.
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You and Mr. Blackburn said earlier, and you just said words matter, think carefully about how you describe somebody as inciting racial violence.
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I will, thank you.
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And I'll tell you who else who has good reason to feel unsafe.
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Women.
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This is a party that would repeal the Equalities Act on day one.
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Reform has a woman problem.
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What is a woman?
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Absolutely absurd.
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Reform has a woman problem.
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And Matt, as you talked about, you talked about horrendous abuse of women.
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But we know that the vast majority of women who suffer abuse at the hands of men, it is men that they know, often their partners.
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Farage has repeatedly called for the 24-week abortion limit to be cut, working with the American Christian Right Group that helped overturn Roe v.
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Wade.
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Farage describes Andrew Tate as an important voice for young men.
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And Matt, your proposal of a reverse child benefit,
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which would tax which would see childless women paying higher taxes.
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These are not the politics of a party that governs for everyone.
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These are the politics of control.
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I think I'm allowed two points of information.
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I think I'm allowed two points of information.
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I've had about four.
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That point is factually inaccurate.
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I wrote a blog based on the idea of...
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Matt, Matt, Matt.
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Mr. Goodwin, Mr. Goodwin, Mr. Goodwin, Mr. Goodwin, Mr. Goodwin, Mr. Goodwin.
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Can I ask that you sit down?
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Thank you.
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Now, the economy where the mask really slips.
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Farage gave us Brexit.
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Champion for decades, sold on a fantasy, a demonstrable economic disaster, its reduced trade,
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labour shortages, a decade of stagnation, ordinary people paying the price while he moved on to the next thing.
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And then Liz Truss, But when Liz Truss blew up the economy, crashing the pounds, sending mortgages soaring,
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Farage called it the best conservative budget since 1986.
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There's a pattern here.
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Their real agenda, hidden behind anti-immigration rhetoric, is something voters will reject as they see it.
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The UK's biggest problem is inequality.
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the mind-blowing reality
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that the top 50 families in this country have been able to hoard the wealth of the bottom 50 percent.
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Now reform one, I've got too many, reform one that to continue and to get worse.
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A 10-point cut in corporation tax, tax relief on private schools and private health care,
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a proposal to allow wealthy non-domicials to avoid tax altogether in return for a one-off payment,
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A transfer of £34 billion from the public straight to the wealthy.
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While they'd slash public sector pensions affecting 9 million workers, strip benefits from hundreds of thousands of people and bring more privatisation into the NHS.
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Once you accept that this is a party which values the super-rich above everyone else, the question of integrity answers itself.
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It's no surprise that Farage, by far the highest-earning MP in Parliament, has racked up more than one and a half million pounds on top of his salary in 18 months.
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And he's under investigation.
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We know about these donations.
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But be in no doubt, when it comes to a conflict of interest between what makes their donors wealthier and what is best for public good,
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the money will always win.
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It isn't corruption, says the people, says the men who talked on and on and on.
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It isn't corrupt.
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It isn't corruption despite their values.
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It's corruption entirely consistent with their values.
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A party so violently obsessed with the interests of a vanishingly small elite that they will compromise on science,
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stir up violence and risk national security for moments of macho.
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They are categorically not fit to govern and I urge you to vote against this motion.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “THB Reform is Fit to Govern - Rachel Millward - Opp”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: reform, Goodwin, security. This video has 125 sentences and 1390 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:46. The speaker talks at a steady 129 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| misunderstand verb | /mɪs.ʌn.də(ɹ)ˈstænd/ | To understand incorrectly, while believing one has understood correctly. |
| donation noun | /doʊˈneɪʃən/ | A voluntary gift or contribution for a specific cause. |
| govern verb | /ˈɡʌv.ən/ | To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in. |
| fossil noun | /ˈfɑsl̩/ | The mineralized remains of an animal or plant. |
| horrendous adjective | /həˈɹɛndəs/ | Extremely bad; awful; terrible. |
| incite verb | /ɪnˈsaɪt/ | To call into action. |
| arable adjective | /ˈæɹəbl̩/ | Of land, able to be plowed or tilled, capable of growing crops (traditionally contrasted with pasturable lands such as heaths). |
| behest noun | /bɪˈhɛst/ | A command, bidding; sometimes also, an authoritative request; now usually in the phrase at the behest of and at one's behest. |
| blatantly adverb | /ˈbleɪtəntli/ | In a blatant manner; so as to be highly visible or obvious. |
| categorically adverb | /kæt.əˈɡɒ.ɹɪk.(ə.)li/ | By the use of categories; defining a category; defined by, or corollary to, a category. |
| childless adjective | Not having any children. | |
| compile verb | /kəmˈpaɪl/ | To make by gathering pieces from various sources. |
| demonize verb | /ˈdiːmənaɪz/ | To turn into a demon. |
| demonstrable adjective | /dɪˈmɑnstɹəbl̩/ | Able to be demonstrated. |
| denialism noun | /dɪˈnaɪ(j)əlɪzəm/ | The practice of rejecting propositions which are strongly supported by scientific or historical evidence, and often of seeking to influence policy processes… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| blow up verb | To explode or be destroyed by explosion. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| go ahead verb | /ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/ | To proceed with; to begin. |
| hide behind verb | To use someone or something as a shield in order to avoid taking responsibility for something; to avoid attention by using someone or something as a shield. | |
| sit down verb | To assume a sitting position from a standing position. | |
| stir up verb | /ˈstɜː.ɹʌp/ | To arouse or excite (passion or action, etc.). |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has also shown · has calculated · have been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is inextricably linked · is threatened · were grown |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who dispute · people who were · people who staff |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 11 contractions and reduced forms, such as isn't, I'm, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: pathway /ˈpæθˌweɪ/, warmth /wɔɹmθ/, threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/, altogether /ɔl.tuˈɡɛð.ɚ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: donation /doʊˈneɪʃən/, escalation /ˌɛs.kəˈleɪ.ʃən/, existential /ˌɛɡzɪˈstɛnʃl̩/, privatization /ˌpɹaɪvətaɪˈzeɪʃən/, stagnation /stæɡˈneɪʃn̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: misunderstand /mɪs.ʌn.də(ɹ)ˈstænd/, categorically /kæt.əˈɡɒ.ɹɪk.(ə.)li/, denialism /dɪˈnaɪ(j)əlɪzəm/, escalation /ˌɛs.kəˈleɪ.ʃən/, illiteracy /ɪˈlɪtəɹəsi/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like misunderstand, donation, govern.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.