Browse content similar to 23/01/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight at 10.00: another defeat in the House of Lords for the | :00:13. | :00:16. | |
Government's welfare plans. The main proposal is to cut benefits | :00:16. | :00:21. | |
for every household. Ministers insist public opinion is on their | :00:21. | :00:26. | |
side. It's a basic issue of fairness. Should people really be | :00:26. | :00:31. | |
able to earn more than �26,000 just through benefits alone? I don't | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
think they should, and I think the overwhelming majority of people in | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
this country would back that. But some of those affected claim they | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
and their children could be made homeless by the changes. I don't | :00:43. | :00:48. | |
have relatives here to support me - going to a new place where I don't | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
know anybody. Why is this cruel decision being imposed on me? | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
be looking at the Government's chances of reversing the defeat | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
within days. Also tonight: | :01:00. | :01:06. | |
The tycoon Asil Nadir is accused of stealing millions from his business | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
empire. Excessive pay in the board room - | :01:09. | :01:15. | |
how businesses want it curbed by giving more to the shareholders. | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
Businesses recognise there is a disconnect between top pay and | :01:19. | :01:21. | |
company performance and that something must be done. Under | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
pressure - the Iranians face a new oil embargo because of their | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
nuclear programme. And in the skies over Britain, a | :01:28. | :01:38. | |
:01:38. | :02:09. | ||
rare glimpse of one of nature's Good evening. Ministers have | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
suffered another defeat in the House of Lords over plans to change | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
the benefits system. Peers voted to take Child Benefit out of the | :02:15. | :02:17. | |
calculations on welfare payments to individual households. But | :02:17. | :02:19. | |
Ministers say they're determined to reverse the defeat, and they reject | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
the view that their policy will force some children into poverty. | :02:22. | :02:30. | |
Our political editor Nick Robinson has the details. | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
The peers versus the people - the bishops versus the Government - | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
that's how Ministers are presenting another defeat in the Lords for | :02:38. | :02:46. | |
their welfare proposals. My Lords, they have voted contents, 252, not | :02:46. | :02:52. | |
contents, 257. So the contents have it. Today we saw a battle of two | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
moralities here in the House of Lords - the bishops versus the | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
Government. The bishops saying no- one should be driven out of their | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
homes by benefit cuts, the Government insisting there simply | :03:04. | :03:10. | |
had to be limits on what anybody could get in hand-outs to the state. | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
Is it moral that we're deliberately pushing families with children | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
below the level of income that Parliament has decided is necessary | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
to meet their most basic needs? course people will have to move. | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
That's what people in the private sector do, but I question the | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
morality of actually having a benefit system which gives people | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
infinitely more money than the take-home pay of people on average | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
earnings. The bishops led a coalition of Labour peers and Lib | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
Dem rebels who said a flat cap on benefits took no account of the | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
cost of bringing up children. cannot be right for someone who | :03:46. | :03:52. | |
becomes unemployed not only to lose their job and have their assessed | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
benefit cut, but also to be told that your children no longer have a | :03:57. | :04:03. | |
right to Child Benefit. Luciana Sena is a single mother who | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
lives in South London with two children. Her high rent puts her | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
benefits claim over the proposed cap. She says it would leave her | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
struggling with her bills. I am in low-pay rent. I don't have | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
relatives here to support me, going to a place where I don't know | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
anybody - why is this cruel decision being imposed on me? | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
Government's plan is for a cap of �26,000 a year on what any family | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
can claim where the parents or parent don't work and aren't | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
disabled. They estimate that 67,000 families could be affected. The | :04:37. | :04:43. | |
Lords today voted to add Child Benefit to that cap. This is one | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
public spending cut where David Cameron believes the public is | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
firmly on his side. Are you happy that your taxes are | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
going towards families where no-one is working, and they're earning | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
over �26,000 in benefits? Is that fair? No, I don't think it's fair | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
either. That's why it's right to have a - thank you for that. That's | :05:05. | :05:10. | |
why it's right to have a welfare cap. Next up in this battle of | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
competing moralities - the Commons will be asked to overturn tonight's | :05:13. | :05:19. | |
decision of the Lords. So the question, Nick, is, is this | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
latest defeat going to lead to any change of policy? If the Lords were | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
to get their way it would mean instead of 67,000 families being | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
hit by a benefit cap, that number would reduce to 40,000 instead of | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
the Government saving �290 million in a year. They would be saving | :05:38. | :05:46. | |
�120 million less than that. In truth, Huw, though, it's not really | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
about numbers at all. That's Ministerial small change. It is | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
about half the sum it costs the Government to persuade councils to | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
clear the bins weekly instead of every fortnight. What it is about | :05:59. | :06:02. | |
is the signals the welfare system is sending, and David Cameron is | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
determined, as you saw in my report, to stick to his guns, and therefore, | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
no, I think the Government will not back this change. They'll try and | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
overturn it in the Commons because their view is that they are on the | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
public's side. Watch out, though, that after that happens the real | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
debate in Whitehall that'll happen between Ministers is about this - | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
how much should they spend on so- called transitional arrangements - | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
not the sort of stuff that's debated here in the House of Lords | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
today, but the money that is paid to help the system be less brutal | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
than otherwise for some people it might be. Thank you very much. | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
At the Old Bailey the businessman Asil Nadir has gone on trial | :06:45. | :06:48. | |
accused of stealing milions of pounds from his former company, | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
Polly Peck International. Mr Nadir built Polly Peck from a small | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
company into a conglomerate in the 1980s, but when it collapsed, he | :06:54. | :07:02. | |
fled to northern Cyprus. He denies all the charges. This report by our | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds contains some flash | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
photography. Asil Nadir, accompanied by | :07:10. | :07:16. | |
bodyguards, arriving to finally face an Old Bailey jury. Dark- | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
suited, appearing relaxed, he greeted reporters waiting outside | :07:19. | :07:25. | |
the courtroom. This was Asil Nadir in the 1980s in the years before | :07:25. | :07:33. | |
the fraud investigation began, and he in the prosecution's words, fled | :07:33. | :07:38. | |
from Britain. The Turkish Cypriot tycoon had built up a huge and | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
thriving business empire. Polly Peck International, PPI, was a | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
network of companies ranging from electronics to fruit production. | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
During the 1980s, it was the most successful company in the FTSE 100, | :07:50. | :07:56. | |
and Mr Nadir was firmly in charge. Opening the case against him, | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
Philip Shears QC, described him as a dominant force who had "abused | :08:00. | :08:06. | |
that power and helped himself to tens of millions of pounds of PPI's | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
money. He maintains direct control over its operations, directing its | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
affairs in an autocratic manner and refusing to tolerate rival sources | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
of power or to accept constraints on his actions". The prosecution | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
alleged Mr Nadir could transfer money from the company with a | :08:26. | :08:32. | |
single signature, his signature. Often he filtered the cash from | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
Britain to companies in Turkish Cyprus, companies owned by Polly | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
Peck International that he had direct control of. From there, it's | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
claimed, he could use the money to buy shares, property, pay his tax | :08:43. | :08:50. | |
bill and even buy his wife a Mercedes. And this isErs ain Tatar, | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
once a treasure of Polly Peck International. The jury was told he | :08:53. | :08:59. | |
helped in the fraud, telling a member of staff who found out to | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
keep his mouth shut. Asil Nadir will argue the money he took out of | :09:03. | :09:13. | |
:09:13. | :09:15. | ||
company accounts was matched by money he paid in. He denies fraud. | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
Proposals to curb excessive pay have been outlined by Ministers. | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
The Business Secretary Vince Cable said he wanted shareholders to be | :09:21. | :09:28. | |
able to block some salary and bonus packages. Mr Cable said it wasn't | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
right that chief executives' pay was rising at 13% a year, while the | :09:31. | :09:33. | |
performance of companies on the stock exchange was much less | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
impressive. But opponents say the proposals are weak and that Mr | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
Cable has missed a great opportunity, as our business editor | :09:39. | :09:45. | |
Robert Peston reports. Tough at the top? Possibly not, as | :09:45. | :09:51. | |
bosses of big companies continue to scoop big pay rises and bankers | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
pocket multi-billion-pound bonuses, while most British people endure | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
the squeeze on living standards for at least 60 years. | :09:59. | :10:05. | |
Vince Cable wants to curb the board room excesses. The evidence is very | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
clear that business and investors recognise that there is a | :10:09. | :10:14. | |
disconnect between top pay and company performance and that | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
something must be done. Shareholder power is at the heart of the | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
Business Secretary's reforms. Investors will be able to veto pay | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
policies they see as either too generous or not linked to the | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
performance of companies. I think that Mr Cable has put forward some | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
good propose which do give shareholders the tools to do the | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
job. They have felt limited in the range of options they have had up | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
until now, so what we're seeing today and tomorrow do give us some | :10:43. | :10:49. | |
cause for optimism. But not everyone agrees that | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
shareholders will rise to the challenge. I think the response of | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
corporate Britain tonight will be nothing serious is going to change. | :10:57. | :11:03. | |
We're going to be able to carry on with business as usual, and that's | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
a real political failure from the Government. It's in the past decade | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
that executive pay has really taken off. Since 2000, those who run our | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
biggest companies have typically seen our pay or remunerations soar | :11:17. | :11:22. | |
from around �1 million to around �4 million. That includes a pay | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
increase of 12% for them over the past year when the economy has been | :11:27. | :11:34. | |
so flat, when for the rest of us pay has risen just 1.4% to just | :11:34. | :11:40. | |
over 26,000 pounds for a typical employee a year. | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
Publishing simpler, clearer pay information, such as a single | :11:43. | :11:48. | |
number for how much an executive is expected to earn is the second | :11:48. | :11:58. | |
:11:58. | :11:58. | ||
reform. It's perfectly justifiable, which - pay a lot of money to a | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
footballer or a pop Starks but what is not acceptable is to reward | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
failure or give out lots of money for a mediocre performance. Finally, | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
Vince Cable want employee's views on pay to be taken into account | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
when executives' rewards are decided, though he isn't going as | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
far as Labour would like. Why will he not back moves for employees to | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
sit on the remuneration committees? Employees play this type of role in | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
Europe and on the board of one of our most successful companies, John | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
Lewis. The Government is the big investor in Royal Bank of Scotland, | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
but Vince Cable said it was above his pay grade to block | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
controversial plans for RBS to pay a �1 million pay bonus to the Chief | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
Executive, which perhaps shows that investors won't find it easy to | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
rein in pay. The pressure on Iran has | :12:52. | :12:58. | |
intensified with a European ban on all imports of Iranian oil. The | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
measure was agreed by EU Foreign Ministers in protest at their | :13:02. | :13:08. | |
nuclear programme. The EU's second biggest market. Ire hans again | :13:08. | :13:15. | |
threatened to close the strait of Hormuz if it is interrupted. It has | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
a daily flow of almost 17 million barrels in 2011, more than 20% of | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
all the oil tradeed worldwide. Our World Affairs Editor sent this | :13:25. | :13:33. | |
report from the strait. Tankers laden with oil from the | :13:33. | :13:38. | |
Gulf headed today towards the Strait of Hormuz and the open sea | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
beyond. Immediately after the European Union's decision to stop | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
buying Iran's oil today, some politicians inside Iran itself were | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
threatening to block the Gulf at this point, as we found when we | :13:52. | :14:01. | |
went out on a local boat from the Armani port of Kassab, these waters | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
are vulnerable. This is it, the Strait of Hormuz. If the weather | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
was better, you could see the mountains of Iran just over there. | :14:09. | :14:13. | |
It's only 18 miles away, yet through this narrow strip of water | :14:13. | :14:18. | |
passes a fifth of all the world's oil supplies - not surprising | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
Iran's tempted to try to cut off this artery, but no surprise either | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
that the Western world simply can't let it happen. | :14:26. | :14:32. | |
Yesterday, this ship, the massive USS Abraham Lincoln, which can | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
embark as many as 90 aircraft, came through the Strait of Hormuz with | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
the British frigate, a French warship and other American ships. | :14:42. | :14:47. | |
Three weeks ago, Iran's Navy carried out a ten-day drill in an | :14:47. | :14:52. | |
effort to show it could block off these waters if it chose. That | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
might look like cutting off its nose to spite its face. Plenty of | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
Iran's own exports of oil come through here. Still, if the price | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
of oil shoots up, that would suit Iran very nicely. There is more to | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
this confrontation than just oil, though. The EU sanctions are | :15:11. | :15:17. | |
intended to head off their nuclear ambitions. Iran continues to defy | :15:17. | :15:24. | |
UN Security Council Resolutions and enriches uranium to 20% calm for | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
which there is no plausible civilian explanation, and so I | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
think it's very important for us to agree these measures today to | :15:32. | :15:37. | |
increase the peaceful legitimate pressure on the Iranian Government. | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
But whatever happens here in the Strait of Hormuz, it's hard to see | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
Iran giving up its nuclear programme. Its leaders believe that | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
if Iran becomes a nuclear power, that would give it strong | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
protection against the West. It's a complex standoff, and it's starting | :15:55. | :16:05. | |
:16:05. | :16:06. | ||
to make the entire region very Coming up on the programme: | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
The Spurs manager, Harry Redknapp appears in court on charges of tax | :16:11. | :16:20. | |
evasion. Syria has rejected a plan byle rab | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
league for a new government of national unity to end the months of | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
violence. The proposal that requires President Bashar al-Assad | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
to engage in proper dialogue with the opposition has been dismissed | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
by the regime as interference. There were more deaths today in the | :16:36. | :16:45. | |
city of Homs, which has seen some of the most serious fighting. | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
Our Middle East correspondent was there today. | :16:49. | :16:55. | |
In Homs, the regime was burying its dead. Three soldiers who, officials | :16:55. | :17:00. | |
said, died in an ak bush that killed 11. In almost a year of | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
rebellion, the regime says that 2,000 of its people have been | :17:03. | :17:06. | |
killed. President Bashar al-Assad claimed | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
last spring without convincing evidence, that he faced a violent | :17:10. | :17:17. | |
uprising. 2012 feels very different already. | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
On the edge of Damascus more foun rals of 11 antiPresident Bashar al- | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
Assad demonstrators. The UN says more than 5,000 protesters have | :17:26. | :17:34. | |
been killed by regime. And many more have been wounded. | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
Back in Homs, the regime's casualties were coming into the | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
Military Hospital. Three dead soldiers as well. | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
The damage is being inflicted by the men's former comrades, | :17:48. | :17:54. | |
defectors from the regime's forces. They were killed an hour ago said | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
the ambulance driver, during a fight with armed men and terrorists | :17:57. | :18:04. | |
it is not a war in Syria. But in parts of Homs this is | :18:04. | :18:09. | |
starting to look like a war. We believe that everyone should | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
anybody peace, but it takes time. There is a lot of shooting here? | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
have gotten used to that. What do you think about President | :18:18. | :18:24. | |
Bashar al-Assad? TRANSLATION: I want to finish my | :18:24. | :18:31. | |
life with my family. Something that I cannot tell. Don't ask me about | :18:31. | :18:37. | |
our President! Don't ask me about him! Homs feels exhausted and | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
despairing. The violence that is now part of | :18:40. | :18:46. | |
the uprising, the protesters say, is a back lash against so many | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
civilian deaths. There is a terrible example here a | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
few hours' drive from here of what can go wrong in the Lebanon in the | :18:55. | :19:01. | |
'70s and the '80s, the country was torn apart by a Civil War. The big | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
fear is that in Syria, that something like that could happen | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
here. The challenge now, to find a way to | :19:08. | :19:17. | |
stop the slide into a future that no-one wants. | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
The Tottenham manager, Harry Redknapp, has appeared in court to | :19:21. | :19:28. | |
face charges of tax evasion. He was accused of setting up on off-shore | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
tax account to avoid payments on bonus payments. Harry Redknapp | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
denies the charges. He was tipped to be a future | :19:36. | :19:41. | |
England manager. There is a flash photography in this report. | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
Harry Redknapp, one of English football's biggest characters, but | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
today in the spotlight for very different reasons. Arriving at | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
court to face charges of tax evasion. | :19:53. | :19:59. | |
He is on trial with Milan Mandaric, seen here in the middle, who is | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
accused of I lift payments to Harry Redknapp for his share in the | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
profits of multi-mill player transfers. This all dates back to | :20:07. | :20:12. | |
2002, whether the pair worked together at Portsmouth FC as the | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
chairman and the manager. So, what are the allegations? The | :20:16. | :20:22. | |
prosecution alleged that Harry Redknapp received �189,000 in two | :20:22. | :20:28. | |
payments between 2002 and twin. The court heard how the money was | :20:28. | :20:35. | |
deposited in a secret bank account in Monaco, an account he called | :20:35. | :20:41. | |
Rosie 47, a combination of his pet dog's name and the year of his | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
birth. The prosecuting counsel claimed that the payments were a | :20:45. | :20:50. | |
bonus, that the party had no intention of paying taxes for. | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
Harry Redknapp has since move on to Tottenham, where he is enjoying the | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
best period of his management career, with Spurs flying high and | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
well set for a place in the Champions League. Harry Redknapp is | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
the most successful English manager in the Premier League. He is the | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
favourite to take over as the English boss when Fabio Capello | :21:10. | :21:15. | |
stands down in the summer, but his future and indeed that of the | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
England team could now rest on the outcome of this trial. Harry | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
Redknapp, who denies the charges will be back in court tomorrow. | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
At a crucial time in the season, he is instead facing the distraction | :21:27. | :21:36. | |
of questions from his past. The police force which investigated | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
the disappearance of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler has | :21:40. | :21:45. | |
admitted it was told that her phone had been hacked in 2002. In a | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
letter to MPs, Sussex Police say that the officers were told that a | :21:49. | :21:55. | |
News of the World journalist had admitted illegally accessing her | :21:55. | :22:00. | |
messages but the force did not investigate. Patricio Mebaha of the | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
BBC Trust told the Leveson Inquiry that politicians in the past had | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
been guilty of allowing newspaper owners and editors to have too much | :22:09. | :22:14. | |
influence. He said that some party leaders had demeaned themselves to | :22:14. | :22:20. | |
the point of gofling. He's been the chairman of the BBC | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
Trust, the corporation's governing body and regulator for almost a | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
year. Back in the year, he was Patricio Mebaha, the Government | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
minister and Conservative Party chairman. In the '90s he was | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
Britain's last governor of Hong Kong, then in 2003, appointed the | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
Chancellor of Oxford University. Today as Patricio Mebaha he brought | :22:41. | :22:46. | |
his experience to the Leveson Inquiry. The first target, party | :22:46. | :22:48. | |
leaders for cosy relationships with media executives. | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
I think that political parties and their leaders over the last 20 to | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
25 years have often demeaned themselves by the extent to which | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
they have paid court on prop identityors and editors. Of course, | :23:03. | :23:08. | |
I'm in favour of talking to editors and journalists, but I'm not in | :23:08. | :23:12. | |
favour of grovelling. As the chairman of the BBC Trust he | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
said that he had little contact with political leaders. | :23:15. | :23:23. | |
I have seen the Prime Minister once. I would, presumably, have seen the | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
Prime Minister and the other party leaders more frequently if I had | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
been a News International executive. Then, the central question of | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
regulation. Patricio Mebaha said that unlike broadcasters, | :23:34. | :23:39. | |
newspapers should be left to sort out their own problems without new | :23:39. | :23:45. | |
laws from Parliament -- Lord Pat en. I think that if possible | :23:45. | :23:48. | |
politicians should be kept from these areas. Unless the press, | :23:48. | :23:56. | |
owners and the edtofrs come up with a convincing scheme, that will be | :23:56. | :24:02. | |
presumably drawn in that direction. Coming from someone with Lord | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
Patten's experience, those comments will have weight to the efforts by | :24:05. | :24:11. | |
the newspaper groups to -- groups to resist fort of control. Earlier, | :24:11. | :24:14. | |
Mark Thompson told the inquiry that there was no evidence of phone | :24:14. | :24:21. | |
hacking at the BBC. Now, many of Britain's amateur | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
astrologers were out in force, hoping to catch a rare glimpse of | :24:25. | :24:30. | |
one of nature's most spectacular displays, the Northern Lights. A | :24:30. | :24:36. | |
view of the night sky usually seen in the Arctic Circle. Last night | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
the lights were visible in the north of Scotland and large parts | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
of the north of England. The Northern noncan be seen dancing in | :24:44. | :24:51. | |
the skies of the high northern latitudes. Last night, this | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
geomagnetic activity was so intense it was seen in northern parts of | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
the UK with photographers capturing colourful light has in the night | :24:59. | :25:07. | |
sky over a wide area. This one with its green and orange was taken at | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
TannInn. High in the Pennines. Tonight they are hoping for a | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
repeat here. It was very special. Numerous | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
people go to Finland, yet you can see them in Yorkshire. It was | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
probably one of the most surreal things I have ever seen in my life. | :25:26. | :25:32. | |
I would like see it again. It was just a special moment in someone's | :25:32. | :25:37. | |
life. This natural phenomena is caused by highly charged particles | :25:37. | :25:41. | |
from solar storms hitting the earth's atmosphere. This evening, | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
the people are scanning the sky to get a glimpse of a natural wonder | :25:44. | :25:49. | |
that is a rare sight this far south. The Northern Lights happen when a | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
stream of particles from the sun come from the atmosphere to make | :25:52. | :25:57. | |
the atmosphere glow. They happens rarely from our latitudes, every 11 | :25:57. | :26:01. | |
years or less, because of the solar activity. | :26:01. | :26:04. | |
The conditions are perfect for seeing the Northern Lights. There | :26:04. | :26:09. | |
are clear skies and a view of the northern horizon. The displays can | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
last anything from a few minutes to hours on end, but they are | :26:12. | :26:18. | |
dependant on the weather in space. Experts say that is unpredictable. | :26:18. | :26:24. | |
So far this evening, people have been seeing them, but not here at | :26:24. | :26:29. |