We’ve come so far in a year, but we haven't even started yet, Happy birthday GB news, says Mark Dolan

A week is a long time in politics, and a year is a long time in broadcasting. This brand-new current affairs TV network celebrates its first anniversary today. We are officially one year and one hour into our journey.

Like Allied air strikes during the Second World War, it's been a bumpy, but ultimately, victorious ride. We started with a few technical problems and yes, we’ve been through more sound engineers than James Corden's been through Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

A few people have gone by the wayside. One of the founding presenters of the channel, the hugely talented Andrew Neil did just over a week of shows and absconded to the south of France, glass of champagne in hand, on the world’s smallest private jet.

He’s now scratching out a living at Channel 4 and good luck to him. Campaigners were trying to get us cancelled before we even started, surely evidence of why this channel was needed. High-profile commentators threatening to boycott GB News advertisers.

Why? Because like so many people working in TV, on the radio, in the press and online, they thought they had the media scene stitched up. They were wrong. We have been the only TV outfit to challenge the narrative across the board – on covid measures, on vaccine mandates and on climate change to name but three.

No other TV network asked what the hell were we thinking, when we shut the economy down for two years. Since April 2022, I challenged the bonkers Communist idea of lockdowns and I believe history will judge me kindly. And on this channel, whether it's Neil Oliver’s mesmerising monologues, Dan Wootton’s feisty debates, Nana Akua’s pitch perfect rants or Michelle Dewberry’s real-world intelligence and common sense, GB news has been calling out the madness of Covid measures since we came on air.

So if you’ve been sat there for two years thinking all of this is bonkers and the world’s is lost its mind, thanks to this place, you're not alone.

For two years, most of the media made you think you were crazy, cruel or stupid for questioning masks, lockdowns, school closures and vaccine mandates. If you think biological men, with a full penis and testicles using female only spaces, participating in female sport, and filling up female jails and in some cases impregnating the inmates is bonkers, thanks to this place, you're not alone. If you think it's ok to love your country, if you think patriotism is the way to bring our nation together, all of its communities, its races, its cultures and every social class, thanks to this place, you are not alone.

If you think that people voted for Brexit by a majority and that decision must be honoured, and we must tap into the huge potential of global Britain, thanks to this place you're not alone.

And if you’re someone that has questions, just questions, about the vaccines – their efficacy and safety, if you wonder why healthy young people need to have them in order to live normal lives, then thanks to us, you're not alone. When the iconic football manager Sir Alex Ferguson took over at Manchester United, he said he was going to knock Liverpool off their perch.

That's what we're here to do with Sky, the Beeb, ITV and all our other rivals. And how will we do that? By being authentic, by saying what we think. And by giving you a voice. We have a world class, talented, diverse team, that reflects modern Britain, both in front of and behind the camera.

Just an hour a go we had a Sunny and Shi’Ite muslim on this channel, debating blasphemy and censorship. Where else would you see that on British TV? And everything we do is rooted in strong stories, balanced, respectful discussion and a diversity of views. But most of the broadcast media don’t like that. They don't want to debate anything. They want to sell one side of the story, whether it comes to Covid, vaccines, the economy and climate change.

So this bouncing baby of a TV network, which they tried to strangle at birth, is now a kicking and screaming toddler. And getting bigger and stronger is our only goal. Why? Because, I'll be blunt, Britain needs GB news, our democracy needs GB news and you need GB news. Well, we're not going anywhere.

Five billion people have watched us digitally since we started. We are regularly beating our closest rivals Sky, and I’m personally usually nosing ahead around now. We are a digital network, with a colossal online footprint which is already rivalling a legacy media that's been around for decades.

We are trending every other day online, demonstrating not just numbers, but editorial impact.

We're talking about what it matters to you.

Over a third of a million people watched my big opinion monologue about the world health organisation, which I like to call the world hell organisation.

Our amazing team have done one hell of a job so far, but it would be nothing, without you.

We are acutely aware of all feedback, good, bad and indifferent. So keep it coming.

We want to get bigger, better, noisier, more compelling and where possible, more fun too.

If you are enjoying this show, and if you are enjoying the channel, tell your friends, tell your family and let's change the world together.

We’ve come so far in a year, but we haven't even started yet. Strap yourselves in folks, the best is yet to come. Happy birthday GB news.