Browse content similar to 27/01/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The bonus backlash - politicians blame each other for allowing the | :00:06. | :00:10. | |
Royal Bank of Scotland payout. The bank's chief executive is under | :00:11. | :00:14. | |
pressure to turn down his near �1 million bonus amid a war of words | :00:14. | :00:24. | |
over who approved the deal. This pays for Stephen Hester, the bonus, | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
was set by the board of RBS under the arrangements that were put in | :00:28. | :00:33. | |
place by the previous Government. It is a disgraceful failure of | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
leadership by the Prime Minister. He had been promising action | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
against excessive bonuses, excessive pay, and now he has | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
nodded through a �1 million bonus. After Government pledges to curb | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
bankers' pay, we'll be looking at how embarrassing the RBS deal is | :00:48. | :00:49. | |
for the Chancellor. Also tonight: | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
In Syria, rebels claim another suburb in the capital as the death | :00:53. | :01:00. | |
toll from government violence increases. This is another section | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
of the suburbs of Damascus which has slipped out of the control of | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
President Assad. The only way he can enforce his authority is by | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
sending in his men and using their guns and bullets. | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
A warm reception for Harry Redknapp at tonight's Spurs game, while in | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
court he insists he's paid a fortune in tax. | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
Anguish in Pakistan after thousands are given faulty drugs that have | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
already killed 100 people. And a glimpse of how the Olympics | :01:26. | :01:36. | |
:01:36. | :01:36. | ||
opening ceremony will look. We want something that touches people in a | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
way that feels important to us and feels like it will transfer to | :01:40. | :01:50. | |
Coming up in Sportsday, Andy Murray's search for his first Grand | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
Slam title goes on, after he was beaten in the Australian Open semi- | :01:55. | :02:05. | |
:02:05. | :02:13. | ||
Good evening. A war of words has broken out about | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
who approved the deal which allowed the head of the Royal Bank of | :02:17. | :02:20. | |
Scotland a bonus worth nearly a million pounds. Stephen Hester has | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
been awarded the payout on top of his salary at the bank which is | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
mainly owned by taxpayers. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, called | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
it a disgraceful failure of leadership by the Prime Minister | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
and called on him to explain why he had allowed it to happen. But the | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
Government is blaming Labour for drawing up the deal when it was in | :02:38. | :02:46. | |
power. Here is our chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym. | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
Royal Bank of Scotland, its future matters to all of us. There is �45 | :02:50. | :02:52. | |
billion of taxpayers' money invested in the bank following the | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
bail out in 2008. That is why there is a big row over the boss, Stephen | :02:57. | :03:03. | |
Hester, being awarded a bonus of �963,000 in shares, on top of a �1 | :03:03. | :03:08. | |
million salary. People will not understand how someone can get a | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
whacking great bonus like that when running a state-owned concern. | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
is a disgraceful failure of leadership by the Prime Minister. | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
He has been promising action against excessive bonuses, | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
excessive pay, and has none nodded through a �1 million bonus. Stephen | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
Hester was brought in to head RBS five the then Chancellor Alistair | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
Darling, after the Bank nearly collapsed. He had worked his way up | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
to the top of the banking ladder. A country house in Oxfordshire is | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
among the fruits of his success. Two years ago, he told MPs his own | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
parents disapproved of his pay packet. If you asked my mother and | :03:44. | :03:49. | |
father about my pay, they would say it is to hide. What is his | :03:49. | :03:55. | |
performance record? A year ago, the RBS share price was 40p, now it is | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
around 27p. He has reduced risky lending by �600 billion since | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
taking the job. He oversaw �68 billion in lending to UK companies | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
in the first nine months of last year, and has successfully sold off | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
16 businesses to reduce the size of RBS. Stephen Hester's bonus this | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
time is half of what it was a year ago. It is all in shares and he | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
will not be able to sell them for another couple of years. There are | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
some in the City who feel this is a sensible way to reward and | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
incentivise a boss in an industry as challenging and competitive as | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
banking. There was a range of opinion amongst City workers I | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
spoke to. These people are in a powerful position. They can create | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
jobs and put the bank back on track, so I think it is worth it. They | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
want talent to do that job so there has to be some incentive. It has | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
been a controversial issue and he probably did not deserve it, given | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
that it is a state-owned bank and has not been performing very well. | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
So how are bonuses worked out? The final decision is made by the RBS | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
board. It consulted shareholders, including UK financial investments, | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
which manages the state of the taxpayers. That body is in regular | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
contact with the Chancellor and today Mr Osborne gave his view. | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
They were determined by the board of RBS under arrangements set up by | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
the previous Government and the alternatives of either a larger | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
bonus of the kind he got a couple of years ago, or the British | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
Government taking over the running of RBS and putting even more | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
taxpayers' money at risk, I think would have been worse for the | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
British people. As to how generous RBS has been with the bonus award, | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
it will be easier to judge once the other big banks reveal what they | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
are paying their bosses. Hugh Pym joins us from outside the | :05:41. | :05:44. | |
Treasury. You have the Government and Labour blamed each other for | :05:44. | :05:50. | |
the payout to Stephen Hester. How awkward is this for the Chancellor? | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
The Treasury tonight is sticking to its line that it always made clear | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
that it wanted a lower bonus this time round for Mr Hester than last | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
year, and below �1 million. The Prime Minister and Chancellor have | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
made that publicly known. That is what the board has come up with, | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
and a bonus which is 60% and no more of what Mr Hester is entitled | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
to. But Labour has let it be known that if it was in power it would | :06:14. | :06:19. | |
have blocked the bonus completely. I think this row will rumble on as | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
private sector banks over the next few weeks unveil their bonus deals, | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
which may raise more questions about whether the Government has | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
any influence over bonus policies. The week began with a Government | :06:30. | :06:32. | |
initiative to give shareholders more power to curb boardroom pay | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
and has ended with a bank where the majority shareholder is the | :06:36. | :06:43. | |
taxpayer allowing a bonus which is controversial to say the least. | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
In Syria, activists are claiming the army has launched renewed | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
assaults on several cities. More than 60 people are believed to have | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
been killed across the country. The United Nations Security Council has | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
just finished a meeting discussing a draft report -- resolution which | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
called on President Assad to hand over power. Jeremy Bowen reports | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
from the Damascus suburb of Saqba, another area where the grip of the | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
Assad government appears to be weakening. | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
To find out the strength of the opposition, drive into the suburbs | :07:15. | :07:22. | |
of Damascus. It is only in the last five days, locals said, that the | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
Free Syria Army has been openly on the streets here in Saqba. They are | :07:26. | :07:32. | |
in other districts near by, too. They are mainly defectors from the | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
State Army. They said they were protecting the people who were | :07:34. | :07:42. | |
about to hold a funeral. One of them showed off his old army | :07:42. | :07:51. | |
identity card. They looked well established, with sandbag firing | :07:51. | :07:58. | |
positions. Everyone was on edge. For 10 months, the regime's forces | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
have been cracking down hard on Friday protests. This commander | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
said he had been a general in the Syrian government forces. A man | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
interrupted to praise the Free Army. Then, something no one wanted to | :08:12. | :08:22. | |
:08:22. | :08:22. | ||
hear. Security are here. Where? Don't be afraid, said the general, | :08:22. | :08:29. | |
our resistance is strong. Some of them got ready to fight. Stay with | :08:29. | :08:38. | |
me, he said, don't be afraid. Sentries were sending information | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
in by phone. They all seemed to know what their jobs were, going to | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
their positions. Others moved deeper into Saqba, where the | :08:46. | :08:56. | |
:08:56. | :09:05. | ||
It felt as if every man in Saqba was there. Her big send-off for | :09:05. | :09:12. | |
someone who had been killed by the security forces. -- a big send-off. | :09:12. | :09:18. | |
Across Syria, funerals are a focus for opposition. They chanted, oh, | :09:18. | :09:26. | |
God, you are all we have, oh, God, we are your men. This is another | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
section of the suburbs of Damascus which has slipped out of the | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
control of President Assad. The only way he can enforce his | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
authority here is by sending in his men and using their guns and their | :09:38. | :09:45. | |
bullets. And for a moment, that is what they thought was about to | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
happen. It shows the tension. Even with the Free Syria Army close by. | :09:50. | :10:00. | |
It was time for us to go. He warned about snipers ahead. Getting out | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
was not easy. The Free Army control a surprisingly big area but it was | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
surrounded. All this does not mean the President is about to fall. He | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
has his own strong support and heavy weapons. But the regime's | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
forces cannot be everywhere at once and the power of the opposition is | :10:19. | :10:25. | |
growing. The Ministry of Defence has | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
announced that a soldier serving with the 1st Battalion the | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
Yorkshire Regiment has died after suffering a gunshot wound while on | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
patrol today in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. His family | :10:35. | :10:41. | |
has been informed. New figures from Spain show that | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
nearly a quarter of the workforce is unemployed. The total number of | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
people out of work reached 5.3 million in the final three months | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
of last year. There was more positive news elsewhere in the | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
eurozone, with optimism that Greece will reach a deal with private | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
creditors over the weekend. But at the World Economic Forum in Davos, | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
the international financier George Soros issued a warning that the | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
eurozone's current problems could lead to the destruction of the | :11:07. | :11:14. | |
whole European Union. The good news here in Davos is that | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
they think the euro is probably going to survive, but some here | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
think the way the leaders are going about saving it will be bad news | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
for Europe's economy. People like George Soros, the billionaire | :11:26. | :11:35. | |
investor, for example. This German insistence on austerity could | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
destroy the European Union. Are you saying now that it will survive, | :11:40. | :11:47. | |
but it won't... It will survive but it will destroy the European Union? | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
That is right, unless the Germans actually see reason. The German | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
Finance Minister today to go different view. I don't agree with | :11:56. | :12:06. | |
George Soros. Not surprisingly. And I would like to tell him, if you | :12:06. | :12:12. | |
want to create more growth, you can't deliver this only by spending | :12:12. | :12:19. | |
more public money. In Spain today, unemployment went over the 5 | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
million mark, to more than 23%. For some, Spain shows the cost of | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
relying on budget cuts alone to fix the euro. Others say the problems | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
go deeper and recovering from a debt fuelled property bubble was | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
always going to be tough. People here know there is no magic wand | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
for fixing the eurozone crisis, all the problems with Europe's economy. | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
They give some credit to the German Chancellor for moving as far as she | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
had. But they don't want the change of mood in the financial markets to | :12:47. | :12:53. | |
take away from the need to do more. I don't think we should ever for a | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
second be complacent about it. I think some of the structural issues, | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
the solidity of the euro base, need to be continuously improved. They | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
have done a lot, no question, but there is still work to be done, and | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
unless that is done, the international support rallying | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
around a comprehensive solution will not come. One way or another, | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
nearly everyone here is living with the legacy of the financial crisis | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
but the news today that the US economy grew at an annual rate of | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
nearly 3% at the end of 2011 was a reminder that some are suffering | :13:25. | :13:35. | |
:13:35. | :13:37. | ||
Harry Redknapp told police he had never been a tax fiddle, and was a | :13:37. | :13:43. | |
giver, not a taker. A taped interview with detectives was | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
played to Southwark Crown Court today. The 64-year-old said he | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
would not risk everything for what he called a few quid. Both he and | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
Milan Mandaric deny two counts of cheating the public revenue. James | :13:57. | :14:06. | |
Pearce reports. This evening, back in more familiar territory, a | :14:06. | :14:12. | |
football ground, taking Tottenham to Watford in the FA Cup. The | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
fanfare of a big sporting occasion is so different from the | :14:16. | :14:18. | |
circumstances in which Harry Redknapp has found himself this | :14:18. | :14:24. | |
week. This morning, he was once again in court for the end of the | :14:24. | :14:30. | |
first week of evidence in his trial. The charges date back to 2002, when | :14:30. | :14:35. | |
Harry Redknapp was working at Portsmouth, with the club's former | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
chairman Milan Mandaric. Mandaric paid money into an account of Harry | :14:39. | :14:45. | |
Redknapp in Monaco, which was named Rosie47, after his dog. The | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
prosecution claimed that the offshore bank was used to avoid tax | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
on a bonus paid by the chairman to his manager. The jury heard | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
recordings of interviews with the police, in which Harry Redknapp | :14:57. | :15:07. | |
:15:07. | :15:11. | ||
The jury was told that Harry Redknapp is a man of hitherto good | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
character. They heard him concede during one of his police interviews | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
that he should have told his accountants about the existence of | :15:19. | :15:26. | |
Herriman Turn, -- of Rosie47, but he simply thought that there was | :15:26. | :15:32. | |
not any tax to pay on it. Redknapp told police that he had paid �1 | :15:32. | :15:38. | |
million in tax the previous year, and that saving another �20,000 or | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
�30,000, would make little difference to him. I am not the | :15:42. | :15:47. | |
cleverest, he said, but I'm not stupid. The trial will continue on | :15:47. | :15:53. | |
Monday. Coming up tonight - Murray's marathon match, but after | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
five sets, he just fails to win through to the final of the | :15:57. | :16:05. | |
Australian Open. In Pakistan, a major health scandal is unfolding | :16:05. | :16:10. | |
which has already claimed the lives of more than 100 people. | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
Contaminated medicine has been handed out to patients with heart | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
conditions who were too poor to pay for their own health care. It has | :16:17. | :16:24. | |
led to panic in Pakistan's second largest city, Lahore, where 40,000 | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
people are thought to have been given the drugs. The owners of the | :16:28. | :16:34. | |
pharmaceutical companies involved have been arrested. Grief for a | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
much loved father and grandfather. The latest victim of the free heart | :16:39. | :16:49. | |
:16:49. | :16:51. | ||
drugs which have cost so many lives. Relatives from Pakistan and Britain | :16:52. | :16:58. | |
gathered today to say a last goodbye to Ashiq Hussain. He was | :16:58. | :17:02. | |
absolutely lovely, he was smiling until the day he passed away. He | :17:02. | :17:09. | |
always said, I am fine, don't worry about me. He never ever complained | :17:09. | :17:16. | |
once in those days that he was in hospital. It was the poor who | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
received the suspect drugs - 46,000 needy patients. They got the | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
tablets here, at the Punjab Institute for Cardiology, in | :17:25. | :17:31. | |
December. Within weeks, some were dying. Initially, doctors suspected | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
dengue fever, not faulty drugs. Patients were not warned until 11th | :17:36. | :17:43. | |
January. In this episode, we have learned our lesson, and God forbid | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
if it happens again, we will be much quicker. Many patients have | :17:47. | :17:54. | |
died. Yes, I know. Do you think they could have been saved? It was | :17:54. | :17:59. | |
possible, but I think we acted as quickly as possible. But not | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
quickly enough to spare these casualties, in a crowded ward, | :18:04. | :18:09. | |
across town. Doctors say these patients are improving, but it | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
could be weeks or even months before they recover. For now, all | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
they can do is treat their symptoms, because they do not know the exact | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
cause of their illness. The suspect heart drugs are still being | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
analysed at laboratories abroad. The patients here are crying out | :18:25. | :18:30. | |
for answers, and for justice. One man gave us his prescription for | :18:30. | :18:36. | |
the drug companies that have left him bedridden. | :18:36. | :18:41. | |
TRANSLATION: They should hang them publicly in the squares, like they | :18:41. | :18:47. | |
do in Saudi Arabia. The patient will die, leaving children behind - | :18:47. | :18:54. | |
what will happen to them? Those left behind, like the relatives of | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
Ashiq Hussain, a wondering if anybody will ever be held to | :18:58. | :19:08. | |
account. Justice can be elusive here, especially for the poor. | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
Doctors say this tragedy could be repeated, because of a lack of | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
regulation, and because state hospitals are compelled to buy the | :19:16. | :19:26. | |
:19:26. | :19:31. | ||
cheapest drugs. This time, they In Egypt, 10,000 people have | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
converged on Tahrir Square in Cairo to mark the first anniversary of | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
the so-called "Friday of Rage". The gathering began with Friday prayers. | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
It commemorated what was one of the bloodiest days of the uprising, | :19:44. | :19:46. | |
when security forces battled protesters, killing and wounding | :19:46. | :19:52. | |
hundreds. The founder of the French company at the centre of the health | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
scare regarding the breast implants has been charged with causing | :19:55. | :20:01. | |
involuntary injury. The 72-year-old has now been released on bail. More | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
than 400,000 women around the world are believed to have received | :20:05. | :20:10. | |
implants made by the company. It has now stopped training. Queens | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
Park Rangers has received what it has described as a may this. It was | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
reportedly addressed to Anton Ferdinand, and is said to have | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
contained a bullet. Tomorrow, QPR play Chelsea for the first time | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
since John Terry was charged with racially abusing Ferdinand in a | :20:27. | :20:33. | |
Premier League match last October, a claim he denies. He came so close, | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
but despite a terrific performance, Andy Murray is a lot of the | :20:37. | :20:42. | |
Australian Open, losing to the defending champion, Novak Djokovic, | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
in a nail-biting semi-final which lasted almost five hours. Djokovic | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
will now take on Rafael Nadal in will now take on Rafael Nadal in | :20:52. | :20:58. | |
the final. So, would this finally be his moment? Andy Murray emerged | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
to feverish expectation. A new year, new hope that he will get that | :21:02. | :21:10. | |
elusive Grand Slam. But in the first sector -- first set, it was | :21:10. | :21:16. | |
the same old frustration. But the famous mental strength of his new | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
coach, Ivan Lendl, seem to rub off, and Andy Murray's game was suddenly | :21:21. | :21:31. | |
:21:31. | :21:35. | ||
scaling the heights. He seemed re- energised. He won the next two sets. | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
Murray now had a remarkable victory in his sights. But back came | :21:38. | :21:46. | |
Djokovic. Both players pushed themselves to the limits. From 5-2 | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
down, Murray came roaring back, but after nearly five hours of pure | :21:51. | :21:58. | |
theatre, he finally faltered. For Djokovic, a mixture of exhaustion | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
and elation, for Murray, another Grand Slam disappointment. He | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
Grand Slam disappointment. He believes he is getting closer. | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
I will take away tonight is that it has taken a great performance from | :22:10. | :22:16. | |
him, he was so dominant in the Grand Slams last year. I am happy | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
about that. But Andy Murray's misfortune is to be up against | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
three of the greatest-ever players. He lost to Rafa Nadal at Wimbledon, | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
to Roger Federer in Australia in 2010, and Judge Djokovic last year. | :22:29. | :22:34. | |
So, will he ever get his hands on that elusive Grand Slam trophy? | :22:34. | :22:38. | |
Mentally, he was up, he was never moping and whining. I thought it | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
was a tremendous performance. Watching that Today has convinced | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
me that he will win a Grand Slam. Murray's next big chance will be | :22:47. | :22:53. | |
the French Open in May. That Grand Slam title is so near, and yet, | :22:53. | :22:59. | |
agonisingly, still so far. In exactly six months' time, the | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
London Olympics' Opening Ceremony will be under way. The show cached | :23:03. | :23:10. | |
event will be called the Isles of Wonder. -- showcase event. It will | :23:10. | :23:18. | |
involve 15,000 volunteers and a group of NHS nurses. Dan Roan has | :23:18. | :23:25. | |
the details. This is what London has to live up to. The opening | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
ceremonies at the last few Olympic Games have reached the highest of | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
standards, setting the tone for the Greatest Show on Earth. Several | :23:32. | :23:36. | |
hundred people have already auditioned to be part of the | :23:36. | :23:43. | |
curtain raiser in lust and -- in London. This is the man they are | :23:43. | :23:48. | |
trying to impress, Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle, who has | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
to deliver an Opening Ceremony the nation can be proud of, on a budget | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
of �27 million. You should be able to do a spectacular show for that | :23:56. | :23:59. | |
amount of money. But more importantly, we want to make | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
something that touches people, in a way which feels important to us, | :24:03. | :24:09. | |
and feels like it will transfer to people. The last time London had a | :24:09. | :24:14. | |
show case like this was at the closing ceremony in Beijing, where | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
buses, Boris Johnson and David Beckham took centre stage. Now, it | :24:18. | :24:23. | |
is time for another of the nation's famous exports. The sense of humour | :24:23. | :24:29. | |
is unique about us. Everybody remarks upon it. Following a | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
personal intervention from the Prime Minister, the budget for the | :24:32. | :24:42. | |
:24:42. | :24:43. | ||
ceremonies has doubled. The giant bell, the largest in Europe, has | :24:43. | :24:53. | |
:24:53. | :24:53. | ||
been specially commissioned. It is all a far cry from the last time | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
London staged the games, in 1948, when the Opening Ceremony centred | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
on a military band and the release of some pigeons. This time, an | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
estimated audience of 4 billion people will be watching, and no | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
detail can be overlooked. This is where the result of all of that | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
planning and preparation will be unveiled to the world, the Olympic | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
Stadium, where, in exactly six months, the Opening Ceremony will | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
get under way, and London's moment will finally have arrived. The | :25:24. | :25:29. | |
ceremonies in Athens, and at the football World Cup in South Africa, | :25:29. | :25:35. | |
were orchestrated by a brick chick. I think an Opening Ceremony can do | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
one of three things. It can reintroduce a city to the world. It | :25:39. | :25:44. | |
can reaffirm the world's perception of a place, like Beijing, or it can | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
completely reinvent itself, a little bit like we did in Athens in | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
2004. Of course, shedding some light on the Olympics ceremony is | :25:52. | :25:56. |