Browse content similar to 15/12/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Afternoon, folks. Welcome to the Daily Politics. In the aftermath of | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
the summer's riots the Government promises to turn around the lives | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
of Britain's 120,000 troubled families. Will their �450 million | :00:31. | :00:37. | |
scheme do the trick? It's supposed to be the pupils who cheat, but, | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
now, apparently the examiners are up to it. Can parents, pupils, and | :00:41. | :00:46. | |
employers trust out exams system? Advent's a busy time for Santa and | :00:46. | :00:52. | |
his elves. But not for MPs - the Government's not given them much to | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
do. Still plenty of time to make the mincemeat, steam the puddings | :00:55. | :01:00. | |
and stuff the turkey. And can pop music and politicians ever be a | :01:00. | :01:08. | |
good combination? It is too dangerous for politicians to get | :01:08. | :01:18. | |
:01:18. | :01:19. | ||
involved in youth culture. They end up looking so old! Not sure if that | :01:19. | :01:29. | |
:01:29. | :01:30. | ||
was stiff or stuff the turkey! This is not one of these endless baking | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
cooking programmes, this is the Daily Politics! All that in the | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
next half-hour. And with us for the whole programme today is Baroness | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
Sally Morgan, a Labour Peer, former advisor to Tony Blair, and now | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
chair of the schools' inspectorate Ofsted. Welcome to the programme. | :01:45. | :01:50. | |
Morning. And it's on a school- related matter that we begin. | :01:50. | :01:52. | |
Because this morning the Education Select Committee have been hearing | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
from the exams boards over allegations of cheating. The | :01:55. | :01:57. | |
Telegraph newspaper recorded an examiner working for the Welsh exam | :01:57. | :02:00. | |
board, WJEC, giving teachers prior knowledge of the content of exam | :02:00. | :02:05. | |
papers and apparently admitting to cheating. The story comes amidst | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
concerns that competition between exam boards has led to a dilution | :02:08. | :02:18. | |
:02:18. | :02:19. | ||
of standards. We have not cheated. We have not told them anything at | :02:19. | :02:25. | |
all. Every individual in front of them achieves their best... We are | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
not talking about teachers in the classroom. We are talking about | :02:30. | :02:35. | |
examiners in an Examining Board, teaching the exam to teachers. | :02:35. | :02:44. | |
are not teaching the exam to teachers. I mean, I quite... We are | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
explaining a specification which is a number of words which some | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
teachers will immediately pick up, grasp and get a hold of and others | :02:53. | :03:00. | |
would say, you know, what does this particular statement mean? We have | :03:00. | :03:08. | |
chosen to do this subject on the day Sally Morgan is here! A lot of | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
people who read the Telegraph stuff and watched the secretly-taped | :03:13. | :03:20. | |
video and so on, in addition to the details, teachers paying up to �230 | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
a day to attend seminars with chief examiners. It doesn't pass the | :03:25. | :03:31. | |
smell test? I am pleased there is going to be a full investigation. | :03:31. | :03:41. | |
:03:41. | :03:48. | ||
That is not Ofsted, it is OFQAL. All of us... You don't regulate it? | :03:48. | :03:55. | |
We don't regulate exams. So we have the wrong person?! Send her home! | :03:55. | :04:00. | |
You are happy they are going to do it? On a personal basis, many moons | :04:00. | :04:05. | |
ago I was a geography teacher so when I read the stuff in Telegraph | :04:05. | :04:11. | |
about the geography teacher, I found it incredibly depressing. You | :04:11. | :04:18. | |
want education to be as wide as possible and we have to see what | :04:18. | :04:25. | |
OFQAL come up with. I hope there is a pretty radical look at the system. | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
The exams system is now discredited, would you go that far? There is a | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
real level of concern about it. We all know, if you have had kids who | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
have gone through exams you know how much they put into exams and | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
you know how much teachers put in to helping children prepare. So | :04:43. | :04:49. | |
there's got to be a situation where there is real assurance for | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
children, teachers and employers that the exams mean something. | :04:53. | :04:59. | |
remember there was loads of discussion about past exam papers. | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
Hasn't there always been a bit of it is more likely this is going to | :05:03. | :05:10. | |
come up than that? Maybe not as we saw in that secretly-recorded film. | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
But this idea that there is no communication... You are right. I | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
can remember that, too. I can remember saying, "If volcanoes came | :05:19. | :05:25. | |
up last year, maybe it is not going to come up next." I remember at | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
school and at university, you could go into the library and look out | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
the exam papers... It is whether or not this has gone over a line. I | :05:34. | :05:39. | |
think it's commonsense. Everybody recognises there has to be - there | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
is going to be guesswork and intelligence about what is likely | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
to come up in an exam. It is about whether this has crossed the line. | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
Does it play into a widely-held view beyond the teaching unions, | :05:50. | :05:57. | |
who don't agree, that the exams have got easier? I don't buy that. | :05:57. | :06:04. | |
Let me ask you this. Why is it now that the private schools who do the | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
same A-levels as the state schools they are getting incredible pass | :06:08. | :06:16. | |
rates like five times better than 30 years ago? They are not three or | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
five times better. Standards have come up. I know there is | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
controversy over that. But standards in schools have come up. | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
Coursework has had an impact. I am sure there will be a longer review | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
about the role of coursework. There is coursework. When we did exams... | :06:34. | :06:42. | |
They were three-hour exams. It is very different now. | :06:42. | :06:47. | |
universities say that an A in an A level no longer allows them to | :06:47. | :06:57. | |
:06:57. | :06:58. | ||
distinguish between good and bad. Those getting A-level maths to go | :06:58. | :07:06. | |
to Cambridge have to do remedial courses. The other thing is... | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
some of us went to university, you were interviewed by universities | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
and that was an additional way of making an assessment. | :07:14. | :07:20. | |
There were a lot of universities that did interviews at that point. | :07:20. | :07:28. | |
Even though you are not from OFQAL, we are glad you are here! Now, how | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
can Government turn around problem families? The cost to society in | :07:32. | :07:37. | |
benefits, public services, policing and even prison is well documented. | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
As are the grand gestures of past politicians. Now, David Cameron has | :07:40. | :07:46. | |
unveiled his plans. Jo has more. Yes, Andrew, the aftermath of the | :07:47. | :07:49. | |
summer riots refocused political thought on the UK's problem | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
families. Now, the Government wants to use troubleshooters - a mixture | :07:54. | :07:56. | |
of charity, council and private sector workers who will receive | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
almost �450 million in taxpayers' money to help 120,000 troubled | :07:59. | :08:08. | |
families in England. They will be expected to produce plans which | :08:08. | :08:10. | |
could include targets to return parents to work, stop them from | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
drinking or taking drugs, and ensuring children go to school. The | :08:15. | :08:18. | |
troubleshooters will be paid an average of �3,750 for each family, | :08:18. | :08:28. | |
:08:28. | :08:29. | ||
with 60% of the money paid upfront and the remainder "on results". The | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
Prime Minister explained how troubleshooters will help. They | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
will see the family as a whole and get a plan of action together | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
agreed with the family. This will be basic practical things, like | :08:41. | :08:47. | |
getting the kids to school on time, properly fed. They are the building | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
blocks of any orderly home and a responsible life. These things | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
don't always cost a lot, but they make a big difference. Then they | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
will get on top of the services, sorting out and sometimes fending | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
off the 28 different state services that can come calling at the door. | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
Not a string of well-meaning disconnected officials who end up | :09:07. | :09:13. | |
treating the symptoms and not the causes. But a clear hard-headed | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
recognition of how the family is going wrong and what the family | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
members can do to take responsibility. We are joined by | :09:21. | :09:29. | |
the Communities Minister and for Labour, Jack Dromey. Minister, | :09:29. | :09:35. | |
these problem families already cost us �9 billion a year, �9,000 | :09:35. | :09:40. | |
million, there's still 120,000 of them. So why will another �450 | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
million make any difference? have a programme that has already | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
begun. We have to accelerate that, make it happen all over the country. | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
This is pump-priming money to tackle a deep-seated problem that's | :09:52. | :09:57. | |
been going on for generations. do you pump-prime? You have heard | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
the Prime Minister say we are going to place in each local authority | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
area a troubleshooter, we will be working very closely with local | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
authorities, the Probation Service, with education, with Criminal | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
Justice System, social services take a tremendous hit from families | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
and particularly young children who often for generation after | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
generation are in a cycle which simply repeats itself. Is this | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
troubleshooter going to knock on the doors and say, "Why are you not | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
at work? Why is your kid not at school?" Is that what they are | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
going to do? The most important thing is to co-ordinate... | :10:36. | :10:41. | |
process? No, it is about real action to bring things together. | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
is an interesting initiative. Tell us how it will work. There is a | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
problem family - Jo's. Troubleshooter goes to Jo's door, | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
if they can get through the debris, what will happen? The key thing is | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
to make sure the children are at school and the opportunities for | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
the family to develop their skills to get into work are there. | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
understand that. We have to tackle the anti-social behaviour... | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
Understand all that. Sorry to interrupt you. I understand the | :11:10. | :11:17. | |
problem. I know about the problem. I'm just anxious to know what this | :11:17. | :11:23. | |
person will do when faced with a troubled family. He won't go, or | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
she won't go with a blank sheet of paper. They will have been the work | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
with the Probation Service, with the education service, the social | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
services beforehand so that it is clear for that particular family | :11:34. | :11:40. | |
what needs to be done. So the people... It will be different in | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
different places. The people aren't working, the kids are not at school. | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
What does the troubleshooter do? The first thing is to get those | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
children back into school. How does he do it? Can they force them to | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
go? What we have got at the moment is a system where there are | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
punishments and rewards but it is difficult to enforce them. So the | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
troubleshooter's job is to make sure it is pulled together and it | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
really does happen. It's some stick but also some carrot to make sure | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
that those children are drawn into the system, the adults as well and | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
the anti-social behaviour. We have seen it in examples across the | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
country that you get a reduction in anti-social behaviour when there is | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
that one-to-one engagement. You get children back into school. I can | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
understand how one the one will help. Putting aside my inability to | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
find out exactly how this will work, I assume that Labour supports the | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
principle? Labour in power was always on about early intervention, | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
getting in there. I was looking back at Gordon Brown's speech to | :12:43. | :12:49. | |
the Labour Conference in 2007 - that is what my life is reading his | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
old speeches! New one-to-one support led by the voluntary sector | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
can make all the difference. That's what the Government's doing? | :12:57. | :13:03. | |
are right. We acted in Government. The notion of early intervention - | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
I see some of those families in my own constituency, deep-seated | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
problems. Intergenerational? dad I know who lost his job four | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
times in the 1980s and then lost his confidence, never worked again | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
and no-one else has ever worked in that household for the 25 years | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
subsequently. It is absolutely right that what you do is to have a | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
focus on those families because they are not just a problem for | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
themselves, they are also a problem for the communities in which they | :13:30. | :13:36. | |
live. It's the people around them who are troubled? Sure. Is this a | :13:36. | :13:42. | |
consensus I am seeing here? principle is a good one. We | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
pioneered it. They also abolished Total Place, that brought together | :13:47. | :13:54. | |
all the different agencies in areas where you get... Can I come to the | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
practical problems? You asked how does it work? The idea of having a | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
trusted person working with a family, helping that family and | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
challenging that family is a good thing. I have seen it in my own | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
constituency. There's three problems... A tough job. I wouldn't | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
like it? Very tough job. There are three problems. Briefly. | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
Government says this is what we want to do, we want to put in 40%, | :14:21. | :14:26. | |
local government you put in 60%. The only problem about that, | :14:26. | :14:32. | |
Birmingham cut �212 million from Birmingham City Council... This | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
Andrew! The second thing is that early intervention in areas like | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
children's centres, childcare, mental health, all of the things | :14:40. | :14:46. | |
that matter to - you invest �1 now, you save �10 later on. Those | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
services are being cutback by the Government. The third point is get | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
people back into work without hesitation. Work should be central | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
to people's lives. But just yesterday's figures that came out, | :14:59. | :15:03. | |
Andrew, 500 extra people on the dole in my constituency. The floor | :15:03. | :15:09. | |
is yours. Indeed. Listening to the chair of the Local Enterprise | :15:09. | :15:15. | |
Centre for the West Midlands, they have vacancies they can't fill | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
because they haven't got the skills. There is mass unemployment in | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
Birmingham. I think Jack and I agree, but for the sake of this | :15:22. | :15:29. | |
programme, he has to disagree! LAUGHTER The community budget | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
programme has been running all year. What we have done is to give extra | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
impetus beyond the pilot areas including Birmingham. Do local | :15:39. | :15:45. | |
authorities have to chivvy up some of this �450 million? They will be | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
saving as well. Some of the money they are putting into Children's | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
Services, putting children into care, they will be able to save. | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
it right you are saying to Birmingham, we will put in 40%, but | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
you have to find 60%? No, the police service, the Probation | :16:01. | :16:06. | |
Service, the budget is drawn from Government departments, nine | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
Government departments, across Government. All right. We want to | :16:09. | :16:16. | |
monitor this very carefully. It is interesting. This 120,000 troubled | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
families, they do cause a lot of the crime, a lot of social unrest | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
and they make life miserable for those around them. I think people | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
watching this will only be convinced if this 120,000 figure is | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
a real figure and whether it is Labour or Conservative, or Lib Dem, | :16:33. | :16:39. | |
come back to us in five years' time and say, "It's now 90,000. There is | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
still a way to go but we can say to you, we have moved 30,000 off the | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
troubled list." I'm not sure they will be able to do that? The real | :16:48. | :16:52. | |
issue for me is the children in those families. Some of whom | :16:52. | :16:54. | |
obviously in the end are children who end up causing a lot of | :16:54. | :16:59. | |
problems in schools for other children. In the end, they are very | :16:59. | :17:06. | |
vulnerable. My question is whether or not really there is sufficient | :17:06. | :17:16. | |
:17:16. | :17:18. | ||
resource going into this. I'm convinced about early intervention. | :17:18. | :17:25. | |
Have any of you seen the scheme? have seen what a real difference... | :17:25. | :17:33. | |
No, have you seen the TV programme? None of you have? Correct. | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
should all watch it. It should be compulsory viewing in the Lords and | :17:38. | :17:44. | |
the Commons. It is on BBC Scotland. It's a documentry where they went | :17:44. | :17:49. | |
into a real scheme full of troubled families and watch that before you | :17:49. | :17:59. | |
:17:59. | :18:00. | ||
think you have any answers. I am sure it is on iPlayer. Thank you. | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
Jo. Twas the week before the Christmas break and all through the | :18:05. | :18:11. | |
House not a creature was stirring, not even an MP. Well, not quite. | :18:11. | :18:13. | |
MPs have been holding backbench debates, but the legislation | :18:13. | :18:20. | |
workload has certainly dropped off throughout December. A number of | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
MPs have also taken the opportunity to start their foreign Christmas | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
breaks early, jetting off to warmer climes as the temperatures in | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
Westminster fall. So, is this a well deserved rest for our members | :18:31. | :18:34. | |
and chance for the Lords to get their heads around legislation, or | :18:34. | :18:39. | |
valuable debating time lost? Two MPs that haven't taken off are | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
Labour MP Thomas Docherty and, back by popular demand, Conservative MP | :18:42. | :18:49. | |
Peter Bone, who both join us now from the Commons. I hope you have | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
left that spot since we saw you last, Peter Bone?! Oh yes. Is the | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
Government slacking off before Christmas? It is unusual not to | :18:59. | :19:03. | |
have anything to do? I don't think so. We have come from the Chamber | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
where business questions are being discussed and there are demands | :19:06. | :19:11. | |
from lots of MPs for more and more debate. I think it is rather good | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
that the Government is enforcing more legislation through. We should | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
have less legislation, better scrutiny and better Acts of | :19:19. | :19:22. | |
Parliament. In terms of serious legislation, the Commons isn't and | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
hasn't looked at anything particularly meaty for weeks? | :19:27. | :19:32. | |
Government got it wrong? They had in a sense, that they rushed all | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
their stuff through at the beginning to make an impact. We | :19:36. | :19:39. | |
should have had more times to scrutinise that. We wouldn't be in | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
the situation where we are now where the Lords is having to do | :19:42. | :19:44. | |
most of the scrutiny. That is because the Government controls the | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
business of the Commons and when we get to a House Business Committee, | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
I think Parliament will improve. That is the reason for it. This is | :19:52. | :19:58. | |
really just a screw-up in terms of timings and calendar, isn't it? The | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
legislation has been looked at by the Commons and is now in the | :20:01. | :20:07. | |
Lords? The Commons did not get enough time to do due diligence on | :20:07. | :20:14. | |
these bills. Because the Government railroaded them through, they have | :20:14. | :20:22. | |
gone to the House of Lords who are taking a part in the most badly- | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
drafted bills. The Welfare Reform Bill was defeated and was led by a | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
former Secretary of State for Social Security. Given Peter has | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
nine bills that he is trying to introduce in the House of Commons | :20:33. | :20:38. | |
in the week ahead, I think if anybody needs to look at their own | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
regulation, it might be Peter. do you say to that? The Government | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
was really poor in allowing Private Members' Bills. One of the things | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
we have to do is to reform the House so a Private Members' Bill | :20:50. | :20:56. | |
can be debated. Can I come back to this point? Ill-judged and badly- | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
drafted legislation. That makes all of us cringe with the idea it is | :20:59. | :21:05. | |
going to have to be redone, it will have to be re-debated? We are | :21:05. | :21:12. | |
expecting some badly-drafted legislation to be passed here? | :21:12. | :21:18. | |
It should have been the Commons? This started up under Blair and | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
Brown when they introduced timetabling in the Commons. I would | :21:22. | :21:27. | |
like our guest here to my left to support the idea of getting rid of | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
programme motions because that's the problem, the Commons is | :21:30. | :21:33. | |
restricted on the time it has for debate. That doesn't happen in the | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
Lords. It was brought in by Labour. I would like to see that scrapped. | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
We will talk to Sally Morgan about that in a minute. This is all | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
fascinating for all of us in the Westminster village. Does the | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
public really take an interest in terms of the sort of process of | :21:49. | :21:53. | |
legislation and the timing that's devoted to it? The public has a | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
right to know that why is it the Government's whips collapsed the | :21:57. | :22:03. | |
business yesterday at 5.30 so they can go to a carol concert. Why did | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
we finish last week at 5.00 so they could go to a Christmas party? It | :22:07. | :22:14. | |
is not good for the taxpayer. that note, thank you both very much | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
in the House of Commons and Happy Christmas. Happy Christmas. | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
Lords seem to be coming into their own having plenty of time... We are | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
not finishing at 5.00! We are starting at 10.00 and working | :22:28. | :22:36. | |
through till 10.00 at night. We are doing detailed scrutiny of both the | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
Health and Welfare Reform Bills. it badly drafted? There is real | :22:41. | :22:46. | |
concern about the drafting. will be working right the way | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
through? We are working through to the end of next Wednesday. Glad to | :22:50. | :22:59. | |
hear it! That is great. We are not! Don't tell them! France could be | :22:59. | :23:07. | |
losing its AAA status. Am I looking at the right camera? Remember Cool | :23:07. | :23:12. | |
Britannia? A certain Prime Minister getting down with the kids, | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
entertaining BRIT popstars at Downing Street? I'm sure Sally | :23:16. | :23:24. | |
Morgan does. But does it work? Does a little bit of the stardust rub | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
off on the politicians? Can a good tune change the way we vote? Here's | :23:28. | :23:38. | |
:23:38. | :23:43. | ||
The music studios in London. Some of the biggest names in pop have | :23:43. | :23:48. | |
prepared here. For a rock fan like me, I'm living the dream. There is | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
nothing worse than gentlemen of a certain age pretending they are | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
down with the kids and politicians are some of the worst offenders. | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
Gordon Brown and the Arctic Monkeys? Really? There has always | :24:01. | :24:05. | |
been the strong bond between music and politics. How powerful can a | :24:05. | :24:10. | |
song be? Who better to ask than Professor John Street. He's written | :24:10. | :24:20. | |
:24:20. | :24:22. | ||
a book called Music and Politics. If you think about music and | :24:22. | :24:28. | |
musicians, you do see the use of music to drive political movements | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
of some considerable significance and produce an effect. | :24:32. | :24:39. | |
# Things can only get better. # Take this. Remind you of anything? | :24:39. | :24:49. | |
:24:49. | :24:50. | ||
Me, too. A catchy tune can be a double edged sword. People point at | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
Things Can Only Get Better so when ever you see a New Labour story | :24:55. | :25:01. | |
clip on the TV, that will be the backdrop to it. It is easy to | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
overplay the impact that those things had at the time. The trouble | :25:05. | :25:13. | |
with that song is it is pathetic, it is an awful song. Ouch! Yet, | :25:13. | :25:18. | |
politicians are drawn to pop music and musicians like moths to a flame. | :25:18. | :25:26. | |
Do we like it? Politics is so desperately uncool at the moment. | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
Even more so than it ever was. It is too dangerous for politicians to | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
get involved in youth culture. you are not making any friends at | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
Westminster! Professor Street and I may not be getting backstage at the | :25:41. | :25:48. | |
next U2 gig. You can get pop stars that will put you off. Can we name | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
names? Bono could put people off, the causes he was advocating, | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
because he was almost too familiar, too much of a man who is always | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
advocating causes. Sorry, Bono. If there is one song which shows the | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
power of music can have over politics, it is this one: | :26:07. | :26:15. | |
# Feed the world. # We were all young once! We're | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
joined now by the Conservative MP and rock music fan who used to work | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
in the music industry, Mike Weatherley. Welcome to the | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
programme. Can you think of a song that has changed politics? | :26:25. | :26:34. | |
necessarily a song. There are musicians that have. Frank Zappa | :26:34. | :26:43. | |
campaigned against censorship. you think of one? Feed The World | :26:43. | :26:49. | |
captured the public mood. You don't see much political protest songs in | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
The X Factor? Music is about fun. This is true. That is what people | :26:53. | :26:58. | |
want to hear. They don't want to be preached at quite often. You agree | :26:58. | :27:04. | |
with that remark about Bono? A lot of people don't want to be preached | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
at. They want to have fun with music. Creative people do want to | :27:09. | :27:16. | |
give a message. Whose idea was Cool Britannia? Not mine! LAUGHTER Thank | :27:16. | :27:24. | |
you! Dry your hands. You made a pledge to the people of Hove that | :27:24. | :27:30. | |
you would wear your Iron Maiden T- shirt in the Commons, have you done | :27:30. | :27:36. | |
so? I have. Westminster Hall I have. I asked the Speaker if he would | :27:36. | :27:43. | |
give me permission, he said "no". They are very noisy! That's a genre | :27:43. | :27:48. | |
that I particularly like. You don't often hear that word on this | :27:48. | :27:54. | |
programme! Music is very important to our overseas earnings. We are | :27:54. | :28:03. | |
world beaters at it! It would make it uncool. All right. Stand up for | :28:03. | :28:08. | |
British music! We are the best! Time before we go to give you the | :28:08. | :28:16. | |
answer to yesterday's Guess The Year competition. It was 1987. The | :28:16. | :28:22. | |
first name gets one of our brand- new mugs. 11 more runners-up will | :28:22. | :28:27. | |
get one of the old ones! You can pick the winner of the brand-new | :28:27. | :28:34. | |
mug. This is the first-ever mug. Adam Williams, County Durham. | :28:34. | :28:40. | |
get the first new mug. Thanks to all our guests. I'll be back | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
tonight for This Week's Review of the Year with Michael Portillo, | :28:43. | :28:50. | |
Diane Abbott and Charles Kennedy. And George Clooney! And tomorrow at | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
noon, I'll be here with the final Daily Politics of 2011 and, as | :28:53. | :28:56. |