Browse content similar to 12/11/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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government's changes to housing benefit. We will hear from Shadow | :00:45. | :00:50. | |
welfare Secretary Rachel Reeves. After Carol Vorderman, Mary Porta | :00:51. | :00:53. | |
San Kirstie Allsopp, who is the latest celebrity to be hired by a | :00:54. | :00:57. | |
party leader to head up a task force? | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
Are we drowning in too much data? We will discuss whether the | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
proliferation of smartphones and tablets is leading us to information | :01:05. | :01:05. | |
overload. And Yes, Statsminister! If you are a | :01:06. | :01:20. | |
fan of scandi-drama Borgen, you are in for a treat. The show's | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
screenwriter joins us to preview the return of the hit political series. | :01:25. | :01:34. | |
And with us for the whole programme and hit series is the author and | :01:35. | :01:54. | |
And with us for the whole programme Kirstie Allsopp on housing policy, | :01:55. | :01:56. | |
Ed Miliband has decided he will not be out done. The Labour leader | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
announced this morning that none other than former Tomorrow's World | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
presenter Maggie Philbin will be heading up a task force on digital | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
skills. Do we need somebody to do this? Absolutely. Think what the | :02:09. | :02:15. | |
world is like today. Ten years ago, there was no Facebook, no iTunes. We | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
are living in this age of technological advance at a speed we | :02:21. | :02:24. | |
can't imagine. Just this week on Twitter floated for 18 billion. We | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
desperately need to have these skills in this country. The geeks | :02:31. | :02:39. | |
will inherit the world. Our kids are definitely not skilled in the right | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
way. White map you think there is a gap? A huge gap. | :02:44. | :03:04. | |
way. White map you think there is a some extent. And there are Yids' | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
clubs that look at IT and technology, but in some ways, they | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
are not sophisticated enough. Should coding be part of the curriculum? | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
Yes. Moving ahead, the government needs to be thinking about how to | :03:19. | :03:25. | |
give our kids the best chance in the future. These technology skills are | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
essential. But we must not forget some of the older skills in the | :03:31. | :03:33. | |
process, because we are also facing this ticking time bomb which is the | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
ageing population. What skills will we need to look after them? Some of | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
the caring skills should also be nurtured. But do you think that will | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
diminish as we used digital technology more? We will lose those | :03:48. | :03:55. | |
caring skills? It is important that we don't, because although machines | :03:56. | :03:56. | |
will we don't, because although machines | :03:57. | :04:16. | |
carers to be there. At my son's secondary school, they have been | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
given mini iPads. Is that a good idea? As long as the kids are using | :04:23. | :04:34. | |
them to actually do useful things! Yes, children should be learning how | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
to use new technology. This morning, another of the big six | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
energy companies announced its winter price rises. EDF Energy says | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
its average gas and electricity price will go up by 3.9%, lower than | :04:49. | :04:54. | |
the other power companies. It comes as the Energy Secretary Ed Davey | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
warns the energy companies not to treat customers ask cash cows. Let's | :05:00. | :05:02. | |
talk to our chief political correspondent, who is outside the | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
energy industry's annual conference in London. They | :05:07. | :05:23. | |
energy industry's annual conference hard, not just with the government, | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
but also with the other energy companies. They are saying, we can | :05:27. | :05:33. | |
keep our price rise down to 3.9%, but if you, the government, don't | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
strip out some of those nasty green bits and pieces in energy bills, we | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
may put up our prices. So we'll hardball on the chancellor to ensure | :05:44. | :05:47. | |
that in the Autumn statement, he strips out some of those obligations | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
such as the energy business obligation, which they regard as | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
crucial in lowering bills. But they are also playing hardball with the | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
other companies, because EDF are saying wholesale prices have hardly | :06:01. | :06:02. | |
gone up at all, when the other energy companies are blaming the big | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
price hikes they have introduced on the rise in wholesale prices. EDF | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
are saying they only account for 0.1% of their price rise. So in | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
are saying they only account for rises? I expect that is what will be | :06:17. | :06:39. | |
the demand now. Just in competitive terms, it seems to place the other | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
companies in a difficult position if they are having to say to customers, | :06:45. | :06:47. | |
here is a 10% rise, and another energy company is only putting them | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
up by 3.9%. The real key is what happens in the autumn statement. Can | :06:53. | :06:58. | |
the chancellor strip out some of these green obligations? If he | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
can't, then EDF are in effect trying to put the blame on the government, | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
saying, this is what we could do if we did not have these nasty bits and | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
pieces piled on us by the government. We could keep prices | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
low. But if you don't deliver, we have to put prices up. They are | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
trying to turn the tables in this debate were so far, all the heat has | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
been on the energy companies. debate were so far, all the heat has | :07:23. | :07:44. | |
David Dimbleby? At the end of the show, Noreena has the honour of | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
giving us the correct answer. Now, what is the difference between | :07:50. | :07:52. | |
a bedroom tax and a spare room subsidy? It depends which side of | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
the green benches you are sitting on. Today, Labour, who argued that | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
it is a welfare tax, have tabled an opposition Day debate on the | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
subject. Neither side refers to it by its real name of the | :08:07. | :08:09. | |
under-occupancy penalty, but what is it and what are the arguments around | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
it? In his first budget in 2010, George Osborne announced a number of | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
welfare reforms. One of them was to reduce housing benefit by 14% for | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
those with one spare bedroom and a 25% reduction for those with two or | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
more spare bedroom is. The idea behind this was to encourage some | :08:31. | :08:32. | |
people whose children have left home to downsize and free | :08:33. | :08:53. | |
the scheme by the University of York found that the savings were likely | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
to be as much as ?160 million less than the government projected for | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
the first year. The study found that the Department for Work and Pensions | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
calculation is assumed that none of the 660,000 households would want to | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
move. In fact, over a fifth want to downsize, with many looking to move | :09:12. | :09:15. | |
into the private rented sector, which can end up costing the | :09:16. | :09:18. | |
taxpayer more. The government say their policy will have the effect of | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
encouraging people to make up their shortfall in rent by moving into | :09:23. | :09:26. | |
work, but Labour say there are not the smaller properties for people to | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
move into. Labour have already pledged to scrap it if they get | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
elected. Even some Liberal Democrats are rocking the coalition boat over | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
this, with four of their MPs describing it as unfair and a | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
mistake. They argue that no one should be subject | :09:46. | :10:02. | |
mistake. They argue that no one it is a tax on people who, through | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
no fault of their own in many cases, live in a bigger house than they | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
need. You take the housing benefit away without offering them any | :10:09. | :10:14. | |
alternative suitable accommodation. That is unfair. It is actually a | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
reduction in benefits, which is supported by 54% of people in a | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
recent opinion poll. It may be supported, but if there is nowhere | :10:24. | :10:31. | |
for people to go, is that fair? Is it fair that we have 375,000 people | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
in overcrowded accommodation that Labour have nothing to say about? | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
There are many options for people to take. They can do more work, they | :10:41. | :10:47. | |
can swap with other people in social rented accommodation, which is a | :10:48. | :10:53. | |
growing area. They can take in a lodger, or there is a | :10:54. | :11:12. | |
people affected are disabled, so it is disingenuous to say they can go | :11:13. | :11:18. | |
to work. Many have chronic long-term conditions. And many do not have a | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
spare bedroom. They have a room where a carer comes to stay | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
sometimes at the weekends. Some of them have grandparents or children | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
coming to stay. Many of those affect it have had specific adaptations | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
done to their home to make it possible for them to live there. It | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
would cost millions more to have those adaptations done on a new | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
property. So this policy is unfair and unworkable, because there just | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
aren't those properties. Councils in Liverpool are looking to demolish | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
larger properties because people cannot afford to live in them. | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
Charlie, do you think this policy now may have looked great on paper, | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
and why should people live in a house that is too big | :12:06. | :12:23. | |
and why should people live in a hours and families who are | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
overcrowded. -- 400,000 families. Is it right that we should have | :12:29. | :12:31. | |
children growing up doing homework in the hallway, and say it is OK for | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
others to have spare rooms? They are not spare rooms. Rachel Reeves, | :12:37. | :12:49. | |
these are rooms that are not always being used and people can be sitting | :12:50. | :12:53. | |
properties that are way too big for them. Charlie knows that two thirds | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
of people affected by this are disabled. It is not feasible for | :12:58. | :13:04. | |
many of them to move. But you don't disagree with the principle of, if | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
there were properties available, of moving into a smaller property? Many | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
would like to move to a smaller property to pay a lower gas and | :13:14. | :13:15. | |
electricity property to pay a lower gas and | :13:16. | :13:33. | |
policy is premised on nobody moving home. That is the only way to earn | :13:34. | :13:40. | |
money. At what is happening is that people are turning to food banks and | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
payday lenders because they can't afford the bedroom tax. Has that | :13:45. | :13:51. | |
been a problem? It will not make the savings that the Department | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
calculator because of the scenario outlined by Rachel Reeves. People | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
would like to move they could, but they can't come up with the money? | :14:00. | :14:05. | |
It is not about saving money. That was part of the welfare programme, | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
to say, we are going to make savings. Rachel Reeves, we will talk | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
to you about how Labour would make savings to the whopping welfare | :14:15. | :14:17. | |
bill, but it will not make the savings you thought. It is more | :14:18. | :14:24. | |
about social justice for overcrowded families | :14:25. | :14:42. | |
about social justice for overcrowded Rachel, your counsel -- you could | :14:43. | :14:48. | |
encourage swapping in your counsel. Then you could have at allocation of | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
our social housing in this country. You are so out of touch. We have | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
more than 400 thousand people who are disabled and affect it. We have | :15:00. | :15:05. | |
ads who now can't have their children to come and stay because | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
they will only have a one-bedroom policy. This policy targets the most | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
vulnerable and disabled people in our community. There is a hardship | :15:15. | :15:21. | |
fund for them. Tyre two thirds of the discretionary housing payments | :15:22. | :15:24. | |
in Leeds have already been used in the first six months, despite the | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
fact that Leeds council top it up by another quarter of a million. Before | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
I ask Noreena about it, four of your coalition partners also | :15:34. | :15:52. | |
I ask Noreena about it, four of your and housing associations, you need | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
to take more of the responsibility in ensuring there is a fair | :15:57. | :15:59. | |
allocation of our housing resources. They have been asleep at the wheel | :16:00. | :16:02. | |
for years. The housing benefit bill has doubled. We ought to have that | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
conversation with housing authorities. This policy has been | :16:08. | :16:17. | |
made without a any real thought about how it is going to work. The | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
mismatch between demand and supply is immense. There is only 3% of | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
one-bedroom homes are available to the people who would want to move. | :16:27. | :16:32. | |
When you think it is the most vulnerable in society who are | :16:33. | :16:36. | |
worried about eviction, potentially having to live away from their | :16:37. | :16:38. | |
social support networks, geographically, it really smacks of | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
a policy that cannot be justified. geographically, it really smacks of | :16:43. | :17:04. | |
policies. I just don't buy this idea that some of these are a spare | :17:05. | :17:11. | |
bedrooms. You have not answered the question. There is not the social | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
housing available because Labour did not build enough and got rid of some | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
when in power. To some extent, the party created this problem. What | :17:20. | :17:26. | |
would you do to cut the welfare bill? Annus horribilis | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
house-building under this government is at the lowest level since 19 -- | :17:32. | :17:38. | |
house-building under this government is at the lowest level since the | :17:39. | :17:46. | |
1920s. Let me and to the question about how Labour would reduce the | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
Social Security Bill. -- answer. First of all, for example, building | :17:52. | :17:53. | |
housing First of all, for example, building | :17:54. | :18:12. | |
than a living wage. If you reduce the number is paid less than the | :18:13. | :18:15. | |
living wage, you would be paying less out in housing benefit and less | :18:16. | :18:22. | |
out in... They are tackling the bill. They are tackling the overall | :18:23. | :18:32. | |
figure. They are not. It is by 9 billion. The benefit bill is | :18:33. | :18:40. | |
rising. You have more people in part-time work, low paid work. If we | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
can get more people into better paid jobs, if we can build social | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
housing, that is a real way to reduce the bill. How much would you | :18:50. | :18:59. | |
want to see come off? I would like to see it come down. I will not put | :19:00. | :19:01. | |
a number on it. to see it come down. I will not put | :19:02. | :19:21. | |
paid enough in their jobs. Charlie Elphicke, do you accept the benefit | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
bill has increased because of some of your policies? To no, I don't. We | :19:27. | :19:35. | |
are reforming welfare. Labour opposed ?81 billion worth of | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
benefits savings. They opposed what we are talking about today, they | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
opposed Universal Credit. They now say they supported. They oppose | :19:46. | :19:52. | |
every single reform we have been putting through. They let the | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
welfare bill get out of control. That is why we have been taking | :19:57. | :19:59. | |
tough decisions. They have opposed them. The welfare bill is rising | :20:00. | :20:07. | |
under the Conservatives because you are not building houses and people | :20:08. | :20:08. | |
are in low paid work. are not building houses and people | :20:09. | :20:30. | |
People with more disabilities are disproportionately housed. To take | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
that protection away from some of the most vulnerable people, that is | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
unjust. What would you do to cut the bill? What needs to be done is a | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
complete evaluation of the affordable housing needs for this | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
country in general. It is estimated we need 1 million more houses by | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
2021 if we're going to make this country's needs. This needs to be | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
part of a whole package of thinking about how people in this country are | :21:02. | :21:06. | |
going to be able to afford homes. Thank you both very much. Now stop | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
it, just stop it. Stop looking at that email when you're meant to be | :21:11. | :21:13. | |
listening to me. Put down that iPhone. You can finish that text | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
later. And checking out your Facebook account can definitely be | :21:19. | :21:20. | |
left until after the programme, because you need to concentrate. | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
left until after the programme, Open, where she offers tips on | :21:24. | :21:42. | |
wading through the deluge of information out there - and which | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
bits to trust. Noreena says studies show that we can only hold seven | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
pieces of information in our minds at once. As much as seven! But we | :21:52. | :22:00. | |
make more than 10,000 decisions every day. And 227 of them are just | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
about food. Yes, that I can understand! Although email can make | :22:07. | :22:09. | |
life easier, it can also be our enemy - last year, more that 200 | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
million emails were sent every minute of every day. On average we | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
change windows and check email or other programmes 37 times an hour. | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
That's a lot of interruptions to the working day. And we've also been | :22:23. | :22:25. | |
joined by Tom Cheshire, associate editor of Wired magazine, who has | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
written about what's been called the hyperstimulation of our | :22:30. | :22:32. | |
touchscreen-based lives. Welcome to the Daily Politics. | :22:33. | :22:50. | |
touchscreen-based lives. Welcome to hunter gatherers, and go direct to | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
the source without the spin of politicians or companies, or | :22:56. | :22:57. | |
journalists. That is a huge opportunity that should be embraced. | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
On the other hand, we are drowning in data. It is estimated that one | :23:03. | :23:08. | |
edition of the New York Times has as much information in it as somebody | :23:09. | :23:12. | |
would have been exposed to in their entire lifetime in the 17th century. | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
Technology is racing ahead faster than our bodies are able to evolve | :23:18. | :23:23. | |
and catch up with. There is a challenge. A challenge navigating | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
who to trust, who to believe, what to do. That is what we are not | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
taught about, how to sit -- sift through that information? Exactly. | :23:35. | :23:41. | |
The reason is it is all so new to us. | :23:42. | :24:02. | |
The reason is it is all so new to themselves a little bit. They are | :24:03. | :24:04. | |
slightly less frazzled by it than we are. Generation worry about the | :24:05. | :24:10. | |
amount of screen time, about losing traditional skills in terms of | :24:11. | :24:13. | |
reading and writer with pen and paper. But actually, recently there | :24:14. | :24:20. | |
has been more written about the advantages of having an agile mind | :24:21. | :24:23. | |
able to deal with these electronic gadgets. Do you think there is | :24:24. | :24:28. | |
something in that? Yes, the way the world is going, we will manage | :24:29. | :24:38. | |
things. The default this will always be there. You lose the ability to | :24:39. | :24:45. | |
concentrate and unless you have the stimulation of flickering lights and | :24:46. | :24:47. | |
everything moving quickly, you lose interest. Our | :24:48. | :25:09. | |
had before. That is our generation versus the digital natives, the kids | :25:10. | :25:12. | |
who have been brought up by your son on the iPad, watching telly and text | :25:13. | :25:20. | |
thing at the same time. These kids are probably, and it is too early to | :25:21. | :25:25. | |
know definitively, they may well be developing skills that are about -- | :25:26. | :25:33. | |
very useful. Digital natives is a problematic term because they still | :25:34. | :25:36. | |
have to learn their stuff. And they learned mainly from their parents. I | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
think what would be really good is if Peter started bringing digital | :25:41. | :25:48. | |
media into the classroom and teach them best practice. -- people. One | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
thing that I am concerned about is that the kind of research skills | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
that we had are being lost. digital literacy. That is about | :26:00. | :26:21. | |
making the right decisions. If you are trusting one piece, if you are | :26:22. | :26:28. | |
using random reason, then you are not going to make the right decision | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
necessarily when it comes to choosing a hospital or a school, or | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
a new vacuum cleaner. How do you know who to trust? We need to be | :26:38. | :26:43. | |
cautious. Up to a third of online reviews are estimated to be fake, | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
false. We need to be cautious navigating this space. The kind of | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
research skills that journalists are taught, are not what kids are being | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
taught today about how you cooperate material, how you research, how you | :26:59. | :27:04. | |
test whether it is potentially reliable are valid. Are people | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
everything put out there. Everything everything put out there. Everything | :27:10. | :27:30. | |
design lead. It is great people want to do that. Because there is so much | :27:31. | :27:36. | |
out there, people realise that. At least they are getting the | :27:37. | :27:40. | |
information they may not have had in the first place. Do you think there | :27:41. | :27:44. | |
is too much information on things like education when it comes to | :27:45. | :27:47. | |
league tables, when it comes to looking at the performance of | :27:48. | :27:50. | |
doctors and consultants? Is that a good thing? There is a danger we | :27:51. | :27:56. | |
succumb to the cult of the measurable. Not everything can be so | :27:57. | :28:11. | |
easily measured. But I think our opportunity to become more informed, | :28:12. | :28:13. | |
not only through these official channels, but by reaching out on | :28:14. | :28:15. | |
Facebook to your network and asking a question, by sharing symptoms of a | :28:16. | :28:18. | |
rare condition that your doctor has not been able to identify, we have | :28:19. | :28:21. | |
the opportunity to become not been able to identify, we have | :28:22. | :28:40. | |
knowledge. Is that potentially a dangerous thing? Yes, I think it is | :28:41. | :28:48. | |
potentially. It is interesting, this social side of it is really good. | :28:49. | :28:55. | |
Because everybody now has got a specific ailment, they are talking | :28:56. | :29:00. | |
with each other. That is really great. That is not hypochondriacs | :29:01. | :29:05. | |
talking about it. What the social web 's letters do is take the first | :29:06. | :29:11. | |
step on which is pure information. We are still finding our way. Are | :29:12. | :29:16. | |
people at risk of being socially excluded that they are not into all | :29:17. | :29:19. | |
of the social networks, or even some of them? Some people spend so much | :29:20. | :29:26. | |
time on them. Could you be socially excluded if you are not part of the | :29:27. | :29:28. | |
Twitter Facebook Brigade? I excluded if you are not part of the | :29:29. | :29:49. | |
Glasses that Google has created when you can get information. And what I | :29:50. | :29:56. | |
discovered is that I have bad eyesight in my left eye. The glasses | :29:57. | :30:01. | |
on your left eye discriminated against me. I couldn't actually get | :30:02. | :30:10. | |
any of the information. Or will it stop? You -- You may not be on | :30:11. | :30:17. | |
Twitter or Facebook and have dodgy eyesight. If you are not accessing | :30:18. | :30:25. | |
the information, you may be at a disadvantage. Is there anything we | :30:26. | :30:30. | |
can do as the adult generation to cope with the deluge, to try and | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
control it and not get overwhelmed? It is about managing your attention. | :30:36. | :30:39. | |
There is a It is about managing your attention. | :30:40. | :30:58. | |
just being aware of it can help. You can think much should I go in and | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
reply to a rural one and have a fun time? It is a discipline. President | :31:04. | :31:12. | |
Obama told David Cameron that the most useful thing you can do in your | :31:13. | :31:15. | |
day is to actively carve out thinking time. There is the allure | :31:16. | :31:19. | |
of checking your Twitter feed or Facebook, and it is even more | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
important to actively carve out 30 minutes a day to think. I can manage | :31:25. | :31:30. | |
that. Over the years, there have been some | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
classic battles across the dispatch box in the House of Commons. Tony | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
Blair versus Michael Howard, John Prescott versus William Hague, David | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
Cameron versus Gordon Brown. But now there was a new game in town. Look | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
at this, from yesterday's education questions. Can the Secretary of | :31:48. | :31:50. | |
State his GCSE reforms, because he has | :31:51. | :32:12. | |
introduced the soft ego tree of low expectations into our education | :32:13. | :32:14. | |
system. He might have enjoyed studying the works of Jane Austin | :32:15. | :32:20. | |
and Wilfred Owen, but the Education Secretary is denying England's | :32:21. | :32:25. | |
pupils the same access to our great national canon if they only take the | :32:26. | :32:30. | |
English language GCSE. If it was all right at him on at Robert Gordon's | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
College, why is it not okayed the kids in Harlow and Blackpool today? | :32:36. | :32:39. | |
Will he now urgently review the changes doing this GCSE, or will he | :32:40. | :32:49. | |
continue to dumb down our syllabus? Tragically, when I was a student in | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
Aberdeen, I was not able to take English GCSE because I was in | :32:54. | :32:57. | |
Scotland, and GCSEs were not on offer at that time. As they hissed | :32:58. | :32:58. | |
Dorian, it offer at that time. As they hissed | :32:59. | :33:20. | |
be the case that English will not count unless students study both | :33:21. | :33:24. | |
English language and literature, and the English baccalaureate, which he | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
supports, will only be conferred on students if they study both the | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
English-language and English literature. He talks about Jane | :33:33. | :33:35. | |
Austin. One of the tragedies at the moment is that fewer than 1% of | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
students who sit there GCSE actually read a word of Jane Austin. I | :33:41. | :33:44. | |
recommend to him one text of Jane Austin's before he asked another | :33:45. | :33:48. | |
question in this house. Pride And Prejudice. A knowledge of both would | :33:49. | :33:52. | |
help him be a more effective opposition spokesman. Ooh! That was | :33:53. | :33:59. | |
the new shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt, tacking Michael Gove | :34:00. | :34:01. | |
across the dispatch box yesterday. We have been joined by the | :34:02. | :34:06. | |
Guardian's sketch writer and assistant editor, Michael White. How | :34:07. | :34:08. | |
did Tristram Hunt do? He assistant editor, Michael White. How | :34:09. | :34:29. | |
do. He is a drop-dead gorgeous looking fella. I can say that | :34:30. | :34:39. | |
because I am a bloke. I was not the only one who likened him to Mr Darcy | :34:40. | :34:42. | |
after that, but Michael Gove dropped him off at the knees. Jane Austin | :34:43. | :34:47. | |
would have been proud. That was a tough baptism of fire. It was | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
Tristram Hunt's first time. This will be great material for the | :34:54. | :34:57. | |
sketch writer. If you have got Mr Darcy, who is Michael Gove 's some | :34:58. | :35:03. | |
caddish vigour. It was the fellow who ran off with Jane's sister? Took | :35:04. | :35:08. | |
her to Brighton and was forced to make an honest woman of her? Why am | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
I saying this about Michael Gove 's I take it all back. At some more | :35:14. | :35:19. | |
caddish fellow out of the Jane Austin can. We will | :35:20. | :35:38. | |
caddish fellow out of the Jane historian. This guy may have | :35:39. | :35:43. | |
potential. He is bright and energetic and he has come into | :35:44. | :35:46. | |
politics when he could have done less demanding things. He is no | :35:47. | :35:50. | |
friend of mine, but you wish him well. You want politics to be run by | :35:51. | :35:56. | |
people who know what they are doing. Do you think it is enlightening? | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
Would you ever watch this sort of debate? I think Tristram Hunt is a | :36:01. | :36:09. | |
catch for Labour. If Labour is to have a serious chance of winning the | :36:10. | :36:14. | |
next election, it needs these charismatic people we can | :36:15. | :36:22. | |
recognise. And he fits very well. Will he be wounded by that exchange? | :36:23. | :36:30. | |
They are always wounded. If your name | :36:31. | :36:30. | |
They are always wounded. If your to check. What about the language? I | :36:31. | :36:50. | |
was there in the House of Commons to listen to some of this debate. The | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
language was quite emotive. Tristram Hunt said the soft bigotry of low | :36:55. | :37:02. | |
expectations. Sounded poetic. It is a bit ground, but he is trying to | :37:03. | :37:05. | |
throw back at the Tories the charge they constantly make against Labour, | :37:06. | :37:10. | |
which is that they lowered expectationss and had grade | :37:11. | :37:13. | |
inflation and all that. There is enough truth in it to stick, but it | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
is mean, because the whole comprehensive system also raised | :37:18. | :37:20. | |
expectations for a lot of people. I am a grammar school boy myself. It | :37:21. | :37:31. | |
was an attempt to throw back at the Tories some class warfare. It was | :37:32. | :37:37. | |
not the only bit of entertainment in the House of Commons yesterday, | :37:38. | :37:40. | |
because we also had an apology from the | :37:41. | :37:40. | |
because we also had an apology from information. I wish to apologise to | :37:41. | :38:02. | |
the house fully for what was a genuinely inadvertent breach of the | :38:03. | :38:05. | |
rules, which I have sought to comply with. She said the media went nuts | :38:06. | :38:13. | |
over this inadvertent breach. Did they? Lee well, they had a good time | :38:14. | :38:25. | |
from it. Nadine Dorries is good business for sketch writers. I don't | :38:26. | :38:31. | |
want to sound snooty about it, but she is a gift, and she has tripped | :38:32. | :38:36. | |
up. She made a bad mistake. How bad was it? Not declaring a high income | :38:37. | :38:43. | |
of that kind? It was a bad mistake. The public don't like it. Do you | :38:44. | :38:48. | |
think she should have been more humble about it? She said | :38:49. | :38:50. | |
got a line there in the small print, but she was caught out. She loves | :38:51. | :39:11. | |
celebrity, let's not pretend she does not relish it. What did she say | :39:12. | :39:16. | |
about Dave and George? Posh boys who don't know the price of a pint of | :39:17. | :39:20. | |
milk. She said that on this programme. It is a good line, and | :39:21. | :39:25. | |
they will not forgive her for it. Now, there is no Prime Minister's | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
Questions tomorrow, because Parliament is in recess. It is just | :39:31. | :39:35. | |
a short break. MPs will be back in action next Monday. At inevitably, | :39:36. | :39:39. | |
the fact that politicians are heading home early this week raises | :39:40. | :39:42. | |
questions about the amount of holiday MPs get. In a moment, we | :39:43. | :39:46. | |
will discuss what politicians get up to during recess, but first, here is | :39:47. | :39:50. | |
Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail, with his A to Z guide to Parliament. | :39:51. | :39:59. | |
R is for They have several recesses a year. | :40:00. | :40:32. | |
The longer is in the summer, which tends to be about seven weeks. Then | :40:33. | :40:36. | |
they have another for the party conference season. They used to go | :40:37. | :40:40. | |
to the seaside for those. These days, it is more like town centres | :40:41. | :40:46. | |
such as Manchester and Birmingham. Christmas is next, for about three | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
weeks. Then you get a week during February for half term and a couple | :40:51. | :40:53. | |
of weeks for Easter, maybe ten days for the Whit holiday at the end of | :40:54. | :40:58. | |
May, and if you are lucky, a couple of days just before the State | :40:59. | :41:01. | |
Opening of Parliament. It is about 14 weeks in all. Elements may halt, | :41:02. | :41:07. | |
but MPs, as they never tire of telling us, | :41:08. | :41:10. | |
but MPs, as they never tire of government gave very little notice | :41:11. | :41:29. | |
of when the house was going to be in recess. Information was power. The | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
lawmaking process is uncertain, and to let an opposition no far in | :41:35. | :41:36. | |
advance when the house was going to be breaking up gave them an | :41:37. | :41:39. | |
advantage. But the government has become more reasonable now. It | :41:40. | :41:45. | |
allows MPs to get those cheap deals on the package holidays. It is | :41:46. | :41:48. | |
possible for Parliament to be recalled if ministers ask them to do | :41:49. | :41:55. | |
that. This happens every two years. In 2011, after the summer riots, it | :41:56. | :42:00. | |
happened. And it happened after the Falkland Islands were invaded and it | :42:01. | :42:03. | |
happened after 911. One good on about the house not sitting is that | :42:04. | :42:06. | |
it stops those MPs passing too many laws. By the way, if you happen to | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
be in London on holiday yourself and the MPs are on recess, don't worry, | :42:12. | :42:14. | |
you can still go into and have a look around Parliament. Mind you, | :42:15. | :42:15. | |
the place might be a bit deserted. Michael White is ill here. We did | :42:16. | :42:38. | |
not manage to get rid of you after the last item. Peter Bone, what are | :42:39. | :42:42. | |
you going to do with recess? If people come to Parliament tomorrow, | :42:43. | :42:45. | |
they can see me, because I will be working on constituent is Miss. On | :42:46. | :42:50. | |
Thursday, I am meeting constituents in the morning and I have a school | :42:51. | :42:54. | |
visit in the afternoon. On Friday, I have a surgery in the morning and a | :42:55. | :42:57. | |
factory visit in the afternoon and a constituent meetings in the evening. | :42:58. | :43:00. | |
Saturday morning, the listening campaign is out all over | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
Wellingborough, listening to people, talking, shaking hands. On Sunday, I | :43:06. | :43:10. | |
go to church and have a constituency meeting in the afternoon. So I am | :43:11. | :43:13. | |
not sure where the recess is getting in. It is useful for all that | :43:14. | :43:21. | |
constituency work. Yes, there is a need to let MPs get back to their | :43:22. | :43:26. | |
constituency and do the proper job of representing, rather than being | :43:27. | :43:27. | |
stuck in the Westminster bubble, of representing, rather than being | :43:28. | :43:46. | |
quick break to Majorca to take advantage of the winter sun. I don't | :43:47. | :43:52. | |
know anyone doing that. I would say lazy voters deserve to be | :43:53. | :43:56. | |
represented in parliament and have a few lazy MPs. If they were all | :43:57. | :44:01. | |
working like Peter Bone all the time, it would be less interesting. | :44:02. | :44:10. | |
There are some who work all the time. One of them always puts the | :44:11. | :44:19. | |
boot in on MPs despite working all the time. But he is consistent in | :44:20. | :44:25. | |
his criticism. Do you want MPs working all the time, or would you | :44:26. | :44:30. | |
like to hear that sort of schedule from every MP? I would like that | :44:31. | :44:34. | |
level of transparency I now feel I have with your diary. That is the | :44:35. | :44:38. | |
problem. There is a public perception | :44:39. | :44:38. | |
a diary like yours. I don't know about that, but maybe I should | :44:39. | :45:05. | |
tweet. People who tweet, I am just getting on a bus, we have better | :45:06. | :45:11. | |
things to do. But you have to justify that you are doing things. | :45:12. | :45:18. | |
Most people know what they're MPs are like. It is MPs in general that | :45:19. | :45:23. | |
they don't like. How do you get rid of that perception? We do things | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
like this. A lot of stuff is perception. I did not get back to | :45:29. | :45:33. | |
the flat in Westminster until after one o'clock this morning because we | :45:34. | :45:36. | |
sat late and I did some more work afterwards. People see the | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
chancellor on at eight in the morning Intellivision and see a vote | :45:41. | :45:43. | |
at 11 in the evening, and do not put the two things together, but the guy | :45:44. | :45:47. | |
has been working the two things together, but the guy | :45:48. | :46:05. | |
many people, it is a sacrifice. It is a miserable job. Everybody hates | :46:06. | :46:10. | |
you. You used to work as a lawyer in the city and got three times more | :46:11. | :46:15. | |
pay. Do you think David Cameron could not make more than the Prime | :46:16. | :46:20. | |
Minister's salary? They just love it. They are addicted to politics. I | :46:21. | :46:27. | |
am quite addicted to it. Do you think they should do other things, | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
have more rounded MPs? Do more things outside the remit of | :46:33. | :46:38. | |
politics? I am also concerned about, is there enough time to give | :46:39. | :46:44. | |
legislation the due emphasis it has two have with the current structure. | :46:45. | :46:53. | |
I think that is a real concern. Why is the chamber so often empty, or so | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
empty during debates, when Parliament is | :46:58. | :47:15. | |
empty during debates, when are right. Traditionally there were | :47:16. | :47:17. | |
lots of MPs who did not go to education and health debates, | :47:18. | :47:20. | |
because they were more interested in defence and foreign affairs. There | :47:21. | :47:26. | |
are still a few MPs who have a lot of outside interests and do not do | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
the job properly. That is the minority. Yes, you should have other | :47:31. | :47:34. | |
outside interests. I have only been an MP for eight years. I think this | :47:35. | :47:39. | |
parliament is made up of a lot more people who are interested in | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
Parliament. We are beginning to move power back from the executive. The | :47:44. | :47:49. | |
fact that Andrew Tyree is chairman of the select committee, giving | :47:50. | :47:57. | |
bankers a hard time. That is a good thing. The odd thing about TV, | :47:58. | :48:03. | |
voters can see the empty benches and reporters, we stay out of the | :48:04. | :48:06. | |
gallery too, because we can watch it on TV in our | :48:07. | :48:07. | |
gallery too, because we can watch it are doing ten other things. We don't | :48:08. | :48:31. | |
know what they are doing. If you go onto the Parliament channel, you can | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
watch the lot. Giving bankers a hard time in committee is a better use of | :48:37. | :48:42. | |
your time than making speeches. Where does the power life a | :48:43. | :48:45. | |
backbench MP? Is it not worth sitting in on those debates? Is it | :48:46. | :48:53. | |
better to go with trying to quiz vested interest? Michael is quite | :48:54. | :48:58. | |
right. The select committee is really getting hold. Keith Vaz does | :48:59. | :49:04. | |
an excellent job. Quizzing witnesses is a big part of the job. But we | :49:05. | :49:08. | |
still have a long way to go. Parliament is to have more power | :49:09. | :49:12. | |
back from the executive. Happy holiday. Thank you. | :49:13. | :49:15. | |
Now, if you're a fan of That was a clip from the new series | :49:16. | :50:06. | |
of the Danish TV series Borgen, which returns on BBC Four this | :50:07. | :50:10. | |
Saturday night. And we've been joined by the writer of Borgen, Adam | :50:11. | :50:23. | |
Price. I loved it. I absolutely love it. I | :50:24. | :50:26. | |
cant wait I loved it. I absolutely love it. I | :50:27. | :50:45. | |
not travel. They thought perhaps the Swedes and Norwegians would buy it. | :50:46. | :50:49. | |
But that would be it. If you were a commissioning editor, would you | :50:50. | :50:54. | |
consider five years ago buying a Danish drama about politics? Why has | :50:55. | :51:03. | |
it been such a hit here? We are very grateful for the killing for paving | :51:04. | :51:08. | |
the way. Then, I think, the characters. When you scratch the | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
surface of the politics, when you get beneath the Danish coalition | :51:14. | :51:17. | |
politics stuff, then you actually get to something which is a | :51:18. | :51:25. | |
universal thing. The dynamics of power, the mechanics of power. It is | :51:26. | :51:30. | |
pretty much the same. What about the fact that Birgitte Nyborg, the | :51:31. | :51:36. | |
woman, is appealing in her role? Do you | :51:37. | :51:56. | |
we don't consider that particular thing as exotic as you probably do | :51:57. | :52:03. | |
here. No. We have had a female Prime Minister but not that quite recently | :52:04. | :52:07. | |
-- not that recently. People speculated that the Denny 's was | :52:08. | :52:14. | |
elected because of the programme. Do you think that is true? -- Danish | :52:15. | :52:23. | |
Prime Minister. Definitely not. That was a coincidence. One of the things | :52:24. | :52:27. | |
as a criticism is, having watched both series, I got the impression in | :52:28. | :52:31. | |
the end you are saying that women just cannot have it all will stop | :52:32. | :52:36. | |
that actually she became Prime Minister but only because her | :52:37. | :52:38. | |
marriage collapsed and her home life was destroyed, if you like. Is that | :52:39. | :52:43. | |
what you are trying to say? That is the price you have to pay? There | :52:44. | :53:04. | |
what you are trying to say? That is we obviously cannot. The series is | :53:05. | :53:06. | |
about that conflict you have to choose all the time. Sometimes those | :53:07. | :53:14. | |
choices bear consequences. She had been a man, would you have given her | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
the same outcome? It would not have been as painful to watch. We have | :53:20. | :53:28. | |
gotten used to men. Men have 10,000 years of practice of letting down | :53:29. | :53:34. | |
their wives and their families. What can you tell us about what is going | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
to happen in this series? She is no longer Prime Minister. No, she is | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
not. That was the big challenge we gave ourselves. What if she loses | :53:46. | :53:51. | |
the election? That was the first question. Then, we meet are doing | :53:52. | :53:55. | |
something completely different. it first started, that I am going to | :53:56. | :54:15. | |
be a little bit narcissistic year, I used it for a piece. We used | :54:16. | :54:22. | |
Birgitte Nyborg. Do you think that is a good rendition of organ? It is | :54:23. | :54:31. | |
perfect! If you do another series, can I be in it? Very noncommittal! | :54:32. | :54:41. | |
We thought it had so much impact, that it was taken up by Sony people | :54:42. | :54:45. | |
here. I wonder if I am going to be disappointed by this third series? I | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
hope not. We really challenge ourselves and our audience. Has | :54:51. | :54:56. | |
reignited a passion for politics in Denmark? According to a survey, it | :54:57. | :55:05. | |
has. Are you surprised it has taken off the way it has? | :55:06. | :55:24. | |
has. Are you surprised it has taken you have got great stories, people | :55:25. | :55:26. | |
trying to get their bit of power is very intriguing for us as viewers. I | :55:27. | :55:31. | |
am looking forward to watching the box set. What about political drama | :55:32. | :55:37. | |
in the UK? What about some kind of programme you could spearhead here? | :55:38. | :55:43. | |
Well, I am working on a project. That is all I can say. Together with | :55:44. | :55:48. | |
Michael Dobbs. We are having great fun. When will you be able to talk | :55:49. | :55:59. | |
about it? Time will tell. To quote the house of cards, I could not | :56:00. | :56:05. | |
possibly comment. You are definitely not going to do another series of | :56:06. | :56:12. | |
Morgan? No. Morgan has ended now. -- organ. We do | :56:13. | :56:35. | |
Morgan? No. Morgan has ended now. -- of its run? I would much rather | :56:36. | :56:41. | |
ended, hopefully, on a mountaintop, hopefully as good as the series can | :56:42. | :56:45. | |
possibly be, instead of letting it died out. What about the characters? | :56:46. | :56:52. | |
They have hit the big-time in Denmark. The advantage of being | :56:53. | :56:56. | |
Scandinavian is that most people can speak English, so travel, too. What | :56:57. | :57:04. | |
happens to their careers? Some of them are developing international | :57:05. | :57:07. | |
careers. Sidse Babett Knudsen has done several things internationally. | :57:08. | :57:13. | |
Will it put Danish TV or drama ahead? I hope it will go further. | :57:14. | :57:25. | |
There are more shows coming. Despite the fact they do not do much | :57:26. | :57:46. | |
There are more shows coming. Despite teamwork. We have been very | :57:47. | :57:50. | |
influenced by the directors, by the actors, obviously. Sidse Babett | :57:51. | :57:55. | |
Knudsen had a great say in her own part. I did learn a bit of Danish by | :57:56. | :58:02. | |
watching it but I have forgotten it now. There's just time before we go | :58:03. | :58:06. | |
to find out the answer to our quiz. The question was: Who of the | :58:07. | :58:09. | |
following doesn't have a tattoo? Cheryl Cole is got one on her | :58:10. | :58:24. | |
bottom. Samantha Cameron has got one on her ankle. David Dimbleby has a | :58:25. | :58:30. | |
scorpion on his shoulder. So it must be Andrew Neil. I'm not sure I could | :58:31. | :58:34. | |
prove it. be Andrew Neil. I'm not sure I could | :58:35. | :58:57. | |
Thank you very much. Have a good afternoon. Goodbye. | :58:58. | :59:03. |