Browse content similar to 21/07/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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A new eurozone bailout, but is it simply delaying the inevitable | :00:08. | :00:13. | |
final act of a Greek tragedy. France and Germany lead the way on | :00:13. | :00:18. | |
the compromise. Is it more of the same old sticking plaster. We will | :00:18. | :00:23. | |
hear the verdict of the new head of the International Monetary Fund. | :00:23. | :00:28. | |
If possible, the News International story just got a bit murkier. | :00:28. | :00:34. | |
Newsnight has been told that three lawyers acting for the phone | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
hackings were themselves put under surveillance by the News of the | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
World.Another argument in the high echelons of the legal world on who | :00:41. | :00:48. | |
should have acted on allegations of criminality in news international. | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
News Corporation is under attack by some of the people who invest in it. | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
This man thinks the way that Mr Murdoch runs his empire is an abuse | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
of power, do the biggest shareholders care | :01:00. | :01:10. | |
:01:10. | :01:12. | ||
The British artist Lucian Freud has died 88. | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
Good evening, decisive leadership or simply staving off an inevitable | :01:16. | :01:20. | |
default. This is one of the many days deemed crucial for the leaders | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
of the eurozone, as they try to stem the tide of fear over the | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
crisis gripping the continent. The latest summit does appear on the | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
surface to have gone further than before, making it easier for Greece | :01:32. | :01:38. | |
to pay back its debts and getting the private sector to help out too. | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
Will it just be another stopgap measure. | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
You know the journalists are still arguing here about the figures in | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
tonight's package, and whether or not they add up, the first kalde | :01:49. | :01:56. | |
tails are very complex. But the - fiscal details are very complex. | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
But the diplomatic issues are stark and simple, well known to people in | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
European politics, is when the Franco German motor works well the | :02:04. | :02:11. | |
EU can move forward. In recent weeks Franco German differences | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
over Greek debt created an unstable situation that was punished by the | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
markets. Overnight President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel had | :02:19. | :02:25. | |
meetings and patched up their differences. It was clear from the | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
details of a plan released, that things would be different at the | :02:28. | :02:35. | |
summit, it is a began today. Brussels awoke to the Belgian | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
national holiday, and yet another emergency summit on the euro. That | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
brought tanks to the streets, and Europe's political big guns to slug | :02:43. | :02:51. | |
it out over Greece. But their battle has caused | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
consternation in the markets, as faith in the euro as faltered, so | :02:55. | :03:02. | |
giving a sense of urgency to today's meeting. | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
TRANSLATION: I assume we will be able to sign off a new programme | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
for Greece, that is an important signal to give out. European | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
compromise often demands looking glass solutions. This place is | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
certainly no stranger to them. But the leaders coming here knew that | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
those who had already lent money to Greece were bound to take a hit, a | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
partial default was on the cards, but few wanted to acknowledge it, | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
for fear of the harm that might do to Europe's other big debtor | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
nations. It is worrying, we have to have a formal default or something | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
considered by Credit Rating Agencies as a default, it is | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
something to be avoided. A lot of these financial markets still | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
relies on forms of self-regulations or regulation by big market | :03:46. | :03:48. | |
organisations what are the markets doing now, reading what is going on, | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
they see a lot of uncertainty and disagreement on member states on | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
how to handle this, of course they are selling. If they see there is a | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
consensus and a strong willingness to go together in the one direction, | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
they think probably they have been overdoing the situation. | :04:06. | :04:09. | |
President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel came hotfoot from meeting | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
last night in Berlin. They brought to Brussels agreement to shelf a | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
German idea that the new bailout be funded in part by a tax on European | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
banks. Instead, the leaders promised to underwrite the new loan, | :04:22. | :04:28. | |
and gave Greece twice as long to repay the old one. I think it is | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
satisfactory, especially for the Greeks. Because the burden now goes | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
down, that's very important, but it is also a very good sign to the | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
market, we have already seen that the markets reacted positively. And | :04:41. | :04:46. | |
I wonder why this sign, this important big sign, couldn't have | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
been made earlier. A couple of hours ago the leaders emerged to | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
announce that those draft proposals had been adopted. It was a better | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
outcome than many expected, and it is intended, its architects say, to | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
seal off the Greek situation, and prevent uncertainty from | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
undermining other debt ridden European economies. Today we | :05:09. | :05:15. | |
tackled a prob blem by addressing two main - problem by addressing | :05:15. | :05:21. | |
two main factor, investors feared that losss were being posed on a | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
non-voluntary basis on bond holders Greece and maybe in other countries | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
as well. The second fear, market uncertainty over the eurozone's | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
ability to resolve the crisis. it comes to the looking glass | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
quality of this summit, Britain's position is even curiouser, David | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
Cameron is not here, Britain is not part of the euro, of course, but he | :05:41. | :05:44. | |
declined to come as an observer, either. But his Chancellor, this | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
week, has urged the eurozone countries to integrate their | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
finances more closely, to avoid similar crises in the future. What | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
reality could be more inverted than a British Conservative Chancellor | :05:57. | :06:03. | |
trying to urge forward the process of European integration? | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
Despite today's agreement, Britain's intervention has struck a | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
chord, the eurocrats are quaking in their boots at the prospect of a | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
Spanish or Italian crisis and want a proper system to even out the | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
debt imbalances within the euro. There is some scepticism, that | :06:22. | :06:28. | |
today's package alone can prevent spreading of the Greek contagion. | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
I think it is absolutely necessary now, to make the next big step | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
ahead. We were discussing too long about the no bail out rule b things | :06:38. | :06:45. | |
out of the past. We have now to think not of federal Europe, but of, | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
especially concerning fiscal affairs, and the monetary union, a | :06:49. | :06:58. | |
very united European Union. The Belgian national day parade | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
went on outside the summit. The last few months have shown the | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
consequences of what happens when Europe's nations can't keep in step. | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
It will take careful coaxing, new political and fiscal language, even, | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
to form the eurozone recruits into a disciplined force. If they fail, | :07:16. | :07:22. | |
there is little doubt that defeat awaits them in the markets. | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
Just before we came on air I spoke to the head of the IMF, Christine | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
Lagarde, she was in Brussels, and was instrumental in today's deal. I | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
suggested what had been agreed was, effectively, a Greek default? | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
not at all, that is not what I have seen and heard today. It is | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
certainly not the spirit in which discussions were held. It was most | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
amazing, from my perspective, as new managing director of the IMF, | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
to see the European leaders of the eurozone come together in the way | :07:52. | :07:57. | |
they did. And clearly it was a new experience, I used to be minister | :07:57. | :08:02. | |
of finance, for France, but it was very comforting, and I found it, it | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
was a combination of being, you know, collective, comprehensive and | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
constructive. I was very impressed. It is great to hear there was such | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
a great spirit, looking at the detail of what was decided, debts | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
are being rescheduled, the amount to be repaid is reduced, the | :08:18. | :08:24. | |
interest rates are being taken down, it is some kind of default, surely? | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
You can't prevent members of the eurozone to actually decide that | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
they are going to reduce the interest rate, simply because they | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
want to make sure that one of the partners, who has been under severe | :08:34. | :08:40. | |
attack, who has delivered under the programme so far, needs to be | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
supported, and needs help. That's really what happened tonight. What | :08:45. | :08:51. | |
I found really most amazing is the collective resolve to actually | :08:51. | :08:57. | |
continue to support countries until such a time when they regain access | :08:57. | :08:59. | |
to markets, provided they deliver under the programme. I think it is | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
am combination of give and take. You deliver, you do what you have | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
to do, and we will back you. But it is not just the verdict of the IMF | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
and the other countries in the eurozone that matter, it is | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
organisations like the Credit Rating Agencies, and all these | :09:16. | :09:19. | |
countries will be vulnerable to what they decide you did today? | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
rating agencies will have to take a view, they will have to decide | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
whether a group of banks that are concerned about being part of the | :09:29. | :09:33. | |
pack, who are volunteering into negotiations, who sit at the table | :09:33. | :09:39. | |
together with the Greeks, eventually coming to terms, if that | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
is you know, voluntary, or otherwise, it is for them to decide, | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
what I regard as critically important from my perspective, and | :09:47. | :09:53. | |
forgive me, but I'm not a rating agency, nor do I pretend to be one. | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
From my perspective what was important was the determination of | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
the members of the zone, to continue to back and support the | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
country that is delivering under its commitment, until it returns to | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
market. But you can understand, you can understand, can't you, or | :10:08. | :10:10. | |
acknowledge why whether it is Credit Rating Agencies, whether it | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
is investor, and right around the world, look at what is happening in | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
the eurozone, over more than a year now, and wonder about the | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
leadership, everything seems to be so incremental, almost grudging, we | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
have to reach one crisis point after another, before anything | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
happens? I concede to you, because that is really what you are after, | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
but it has been, up until now, incremental, sometimes labourous, | :10:35. | :10:40. | |
but I can tell you today that it was game changing. It was quite | :10:40. | :10:46. | |
amazing to see premiers and heads, as different as the premier of | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
Slovenia or that of Italy, of Germany, as of Slovakia, come | :10:51. | :10:57. | |
together and say, yes, we have to do that collectively, we all have | :10:57. | :11:01. | |
to do it, because what happens to one could happen to another, and | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
what affects one could affect another. What must happen to get to | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
this resolve, we see the risk of contagion spreading around the | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
eurozone? What matters today is they have decided to transform the | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
European financial stability fund to make it precisely flexible, so | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
it can be used as guarantee, and a precautionary instrument, it can be | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
used to buy on the secondary market. Those are things that the IMF has | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
been advocating for a long time. And it is a plan that is | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
comprehensive, and you are right. For a long period of time it was | :11:36. | :11:40. | |
piecemeal, it was sporadic, it was fragmented, but this one is | :11:40. | :11:45. | |
different. It is clearly comprehensive, it addresses the | :11:45. | :11:50. | |
case of Greece, it encompasses Ireland and Portugal, although | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
clearly Greece is a unique case, in the sense it is the only one that | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
will attract a degree of private sector involvement, although | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
voluntarily. But the other two countries are going to benefit from | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
the same extension of maturity and reduction of interest rate. Forgive | :12:07. | :12:13. | |
me for being sceptical, we have heard many of these kinds of terms | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
before. Whatever, however comprehensive the plan you have | :12:16. | :12:18. | |
come out with today, it is still really the taxpayer who is bearing | :12:18. | :12:23. | |
the burden of all of this. The idea that was floated of the private | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
sector sharing the pain, that has been dropped, hasn't it? There are | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
quite a few numbers floating around, you have clearly looked at the | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
document, you can look at the charts as well, they are real | :12:34. | :12:39. | |
numbers on the table. But there is no danking tax, and the involvement | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
of the private sector is voluntary, it is up to them to decide whether | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
they want to get involved any more in this? You before wanted it to be | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
a selective report now it is not, I have convinced you! The private | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
sector has largely been let off the hook, the whole idea it is | :12:57. | :12:59. | |
voluntary, their involvement? is important is there are gives and | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
takes. On the one hand, the partners are saying, you, Greece, | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
have performed for a period of time, there was an element of reform | :13:08. | :13:14. | |
fatigue, well it is time to get back on that trend of structural | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
reform, privatisations, fiscal consolidation, and in argues for | :13:18. | :13:23. | |
that, we will back you up, and we have trust, that confidence is | :13:23. | :13:28. | |
restored amongst the members. The markets will see as they feel, as | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
they see fit, they will characterise as they wish, but, | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
sorry, the truth of the pudding is in the eating. At this time tonight, | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
I can tell you that the heads of state, heads of Government, are | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
determined to close ranks and be together. When you say fiscal | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
consolidation, how far does that actually go, let's think further | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
ahead for a moment. Your friend, George Osborne, here in Britain, | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
believes there is a remorseless logic for monetary union on to | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
fiscal union, is he right? There were heads of states and | :14:00. | :14:06. | |
Governments tonight saying there had to be a federation at the | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
financial, fiscal and economic levels. That is a change as well. | :14:09. | :14:14. | |
So that is a step in the direction that you would welcome, a logical | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
step? At the moment, where I stand, and in my new capacity as managing | :14:18. | :14:24. | |
director of the IMF, what is of most concern to me is Greece, and | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
other countries on the programme, can actually get back to the | :14:27. | :14:34. | |
markets, in due course, and they can restore growth, that they can | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
create jobs and their debt sustainability be significantly | :14:37. | :14:46. | |
improved. That is what matters to Thank you for your time. | :14:46. | :14:51. | |
Mark Urban is with us and we're joined by our economics editor, | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
Paul Mason, who is on the road in the United States but managing to | :14:54. | :15:00. | |
be with us. Not surprisingly, Christine Lagarde talking about how | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
positive today was. Will this deal hold, do you think? I might allow | :15:04. | :15:07. | |
Paul to give you the key verdict on whether or not it will hold. I can | :15:07. | :15:12. | |
tell you more of the detail. It seems that the state element of | :15:12. | :15:18. | |
this amounts to about 109 billion euros between now and 2014. The | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
private sector is estimated over that time scale at about 50 billion. | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
The interesting thing is, the state sector has been hemmed in, because | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
of the political lack of willingness on the part of some EU | :15:30. | :15:35. | |
members to extend this across the whole of the eurozone, it is hemmed | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
in to the debtor countries, Greece and a couple of others, it is | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
limited in how far this mark an extension and loosening of all the | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
rules around the stablisation fund. The private sector thing you hit | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
upon in your interview with Christine Lagarde, that is really | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
interesting. We have heard widely delivering estimates of what the | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
private sector could be. Including President Sarkozy who said at a | :16:00. | :16:06. | |
briefing this evening, that it could be up to 155 euros, right | :16:06. | :16:12. | |
from the low estimates to 50, to 106 which is in the commune Kay. We | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
don't know to what degree the people lending one in the private | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
sector will accept the guarantees made today, and take up the offers | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
putt on the table, being underwritten by the European | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
Governments. That is the big unknown, one of them, the other one | :16:28. | :16:33. | |
is how far can the principles laid down today to deepen co-operation, | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
be exlended more in the coming months. - extended more in the | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
coming months. President Sarkozy talked about this in the briefing, | :16:41. | :16:45. | |
they would be working on this summer, moving towards what George | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
Osborne has said today, closer fiscal union. Those are the two big | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
unknowns. The degree of private sector involvement, and the degree | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
to which eurozone members are really willing to move towards a | :16:57. | :16:59. | |
much, of closer fiscal co- ordination. | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
Paul, you get the job of telling us, Christine Lagarde thinks this is a | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
game changer of a deal, do you think it is one that will hold? | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
Games changer when we look at some of the details. The 109 billion | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
bailout of Greece is on top of a significant reduction in the | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
interest rate that Ireland and Portugal, as well as Greece, have | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
to pay. Then we get this expansion of the stability fund. This was | :17:24. | :17:30. | |
created last May, May 2010, to save Greece, but it is now looking | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
something like a mini-European scale IMF, with powers not simply | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
to bail out the countries that need bailing out a lot more money we | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
understand, but also to bail out banks in countries that are not | :17:42. | :17:48. | |
being bailed out, aka, Germany and France. This is game changer, as to | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
whether it work, as Mark says, the crucial thing in the short-term is | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
whether the banks and hedge funds, and the pension funds, who have | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
bought this Greek debt, accept the losses they will have to take on it. | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
My understanding is it is something like 17 billion in losses out of | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
the 50 billion they are puting into it. If they do accept it, as the | :18:09. | :18:15. | |
briefing said, the private sector has agreed to do X, Y and Z, we | :18:15. | :18:20. | |
don't get a contagion level event. What we have had today, let's be | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
clear, is the transfer of risk from the private sector, from banks to | :18:24. | :18:27. | |
pension fund, to Governments. It will be the Government who is bear | :18:27. | :18:32. | |
the risk of the Greek bail out, and the risk of the Greek bail out | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
going wrong. There is no guarantee that Greece does recover and start | :18:35. | :18:40. | |
to pay its way in the world F in two or three years time we come to | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
the place where Greece defaults again and this is a selective | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
default, the rating agencies will say it is a selective default, if | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
it does it again it is the European taxpayer, that includes people in | :18:52. | :18:57. | |
the UK, who are on the hook for it. I know we will be hearing more from | :18:57. | :19:04. | |
you in America on America's debt issues next week. Thank you to you | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
both. Apologise for the quality of the line to Paul Mason in Arizona. | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
If you thought that the phone hacking story was going into pause | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
mode, I am afraid you were mistaken. The stories are still coming thick | :19:14. | :19:19. | |
and fast. There was another sacking tonight, this time of the Sun's | :19:19. | :19:25. | |
features editor, Matt Nixon, apparently during the time he | :19:25. | :19:32. | |
carried out his work on News of the World. | :19:32. | :19:37. | |
It is a pretty major story this time. It is a major development. | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
Let's paint some context to the story. For News International the | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
whole phone hacking scandal unravelled in 2008 with the out of | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
court settlement with Gordon Taylor, the former head of the professional | :19:50. | :19:56. | |
Football Association. It is thought to have cost News International �1 | :19:56. | :20:02. | |
million to keep key evidence out of court. It was Mark Lewis, | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
representing Mr Taylor who was behind it, he went on to get a | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
strong reputation for the phone hacking cases, celebrities came to | :20:09. | :20:16. | |
him, such as Chris tarnt, and many others, - Tarrant, resulting him in | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
representing 70 people, most significantly of all he's | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
representing the Dowler family. Is it Mark Lewis at the heart of | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
the allegations we are talking about now? Clearly Mark Lewis has | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
been a major thorn in the side to News International over the last | :20:32. | :20:37. | |
two or three years. A well mazeed source has told me today, that not | :20:37. | :20:42. | |
only was - a well placed source has told me today, that not only was | :20:42. | :20:49. | |
Mark Lewis's phone hacked, but someone at News of the World set a | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
private investigator on to him and trailing him, and put him on | :20:54. | :20:57. | |
surveillance, covert surveillance and fofd photographed him. I can't | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
name the individual for legal reasons, we do have his name. I | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
have been told by other sources that two other solicitors, also | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
involved in the phone hacking scandal, representing claimants, | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
have also been targeted in a similar way. I'm told that one of | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
these solicitors was shown a dossier of confidential information, | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
quite recently, earlier this year. That information could only have | :21:19. | :21:25. | |
come from illegal means. That was a very serious development. If we | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
have three solicitors targeted in this way, it raises fundamental | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
questions about what News of the World were doing at that time. | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
We did try to put this to News International tonight, there was no | :21:36. | :21:39. | |
comment at this time, there was nobody available to give a comment | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
on. That the curious thing about this, finally, is my understanding | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
is that News of the World weren't doing this for actual story | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
research. That raises the possibility they were doing it to | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
discredit solicitors who were their opponents, if that is true, it is | :21:55. | :21:59. | |
pretty serious. Also tonight, other information has | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
emerged about senior legal figures in the scandal, when they were | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
first made aware of hacking allegations, what they actually did | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
with that knowledge. We will be exploring this issue with the | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
former Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith in a moment. First of all, | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
Mark Lewis, who we were just talking about is with me now. You | :22:16. | :22:20. | |
found out about this when Newsnight put it to you, what did you think? | :22:20. | :22:28. | |
It was something that n a way, was scary, but not intimidating. It | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
wasn't a surprise that they would try to find out what they could | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
about me. But the idea of intimidating a lawyer, at all was | :22:38. | :22:44. | |
not a surprise, because they tried it in 2009, when the story came out | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
in the Guardian, they threatened me with an injunction to stop me | :22:48. | :22:54. | |
acting. They threatened me throughout the cases. I haven't | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
been scared of them, and been standing up to them. Did you have | :22:58. | :23:05. | |
springss, when we put this to you, you weren't all together surprised? | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
There are things - did you have suspicions, when we put this to you | :23:10. | :23:16. | |
you weren't at all together surprised? They shouldn't and can't | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
intimidate lawyers and witnesses, you have to stand up to them. It is | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
a very serious matter, I have had to refer it to the police because | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
of the nature of what is going on. You have already told the police | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
about this? As soon as I was notified I had to notify the police, | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
because this is such a fundamental matter. It goes to the very issue | :23:35. | :23:44. | |
of representation of a client, who leave me messages, tactical | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
decisions, barristers might leave messages for me. They shouldn't be | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
listening to them. They are not about getting stories, it is about | :23:51. | :23:54. | |
legal cases. You have taken this to the police today. Ideally what | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
would you like to see them to do, how would you like them to act? | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
Undoubtedly the police would have to investigate. They will obtain | :24:02. | :24:08. | |
records from phone companies as to what was happening in terms of my | :24:08. | :24:15. | |
phone messages. They will try to obtain any report that is exist | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
about me. News of the World, newsgroup newspapers to find out | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
what is in their possession. And take action against the individuals, | :24:22. | :24:27. | |
it is a very, very serious matter. Thank you very much for coming in | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
to the studio tonight. As I mentioned earlier, in the | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
Westminster studio now is the former Attorney-General, Lord | :24:35. | :24:40. | |
Goldsmith. Your name came up in parliament yesterday in connection | :24:40. | :24:45. | |
with all of this, Geoffrey Cox MP was asking questions about what you | :24:45. | :24:49. | |
knew about the allegations at the time they first surfaced in your | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
role as Attorney-General, when did you first come to hear of them? | :24:52. | :24:57. | |
glad you asked me about this, what he said yesterday is I had approved | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
and indeed instructed the police to conduct only a narrow investigation | :25:01. | :25:04. | |
into phone hacking, that is absolutely not true. I'm very glad | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
of the opportunity to correct that, that is certainly not the case. | :25:07. | :25:12. | |
What did you do when you first became aware of the allegations? | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
was briefed about the case and we are all aware of what that was, I | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
was told there were other cases and we talked about those in due course. | :25:20. | :25:27. | |
That particular case went ahead, we know that, that was Mulcaire and | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
Goodman later that year they pleaded guilty. Was that the only | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
case you were aware of, were you aware of the other allegations? | :25:35. | :25:38. | |
wasn't aware of them. In background from the briefing I had about that | :25:39. | :25:43. | |
case, or those cases, I was told that the police whreefd there were | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
other cases as well. - believed there were other cases as well. | :25:47. | :25:50. | |
There was probably further investigations in due course. I | :25:50. | :25:56. | |
think the point to make absolutely plain, there was never any request | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
from me or answer from me suggesting that the inquiry should | :25:59. | :26:04. | |
be kept narrow. Let's focus on what you did with the information you | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
received in that briefing? You were told there were a series of | :26:08. | :26:12. | |
allegations, not just a single case, did you follow up on it at a later | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
date? I'm not the Metropolitan Police commissioner or Director of | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
Public Prosecutions. As I understand it, you do supervise the | :26:21. | :26:27. | |
role of the DPP? I have general oversight. What I was told is there | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
was a particular case or cases that ended up quite rightly in | :26:31. | :26:34. | |
conviction, I was told the details of that, they were sensitive cases | :26:34. | :26:39. | |
for reasons we all know. Because of the individuals who were involved | :26:39. | :26:44. | |
in that particular case. I was told as background there were other | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
cases and those were, it was said that they would be or might be the | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
subject of investigation in due course. That is what I expect it to | :26:53. | :27:00. | |
be. The superintending role that the Attorney General has over the | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
DPP, does that not involve following up on things to see | :27:03. | :27:07. | |
whether they have moved along or not? The particular case I was | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
talking about went along to a conviction last year. One case? | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
That was the case I was told about. As to what happened afterwards, as | :27:15. | :27:18. | |
to why this wider investigation that was referred to didn't take | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
place, you will, let me finish, please let me finish, you will have | :27:22. | :27:27. | |
to ask the police, or the director of public prosecutions, Ken | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
McDonald, what they did afterwards, that wasn't my responsibility. They | :27:31. | :27:37. | |
didn't ask me for any advice, they didn't give me any advice, that is | :27:37. | :27:45. | |
not what the Attorney-General do. - does. We have asked Ken McDonald | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
before we came on? I will look forward to what he has to say. | :27:49. | :27:53. | |
said there was one case in particular, that is The Good Muslmi | :27:53. | :28:00. | |
good and Glenn Mulcaire case. You were aware there - that is the | :28:00. | :28:05. | |
Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire case. It is not my job to do that. | :28:05. | :28:10. | |
I was told about the particular case that led to conviction, not | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
one case, several cases. I was told the police, whose job it is to | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
investigate, let's be clear about it, in this country politicians and | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
even prosecutors don't tell the police what to do. Thank goodness | :28:21. | :28:24. | |
for that. They are operationally independent, it is their job to | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
investigate. My understanding, from the briefing I had, was that they | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
were investigating, that they had contacted a number of other people | :28:33. | :28:36. | |
who had been accessed, and didn't want to help them, that is what I | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
was told. As to what happened afterwards, then the police and the | :28:40. | :28:42. | |
Director of Public Prosecutions need to answer the question of what | :28:42. | :28:46. | |
happened. Do you think that there is a case for the former DPP to | :28:46. | :28:49. | |
answer, then, do you believe he should have done more? I think it | :28:49. | :28:53. | |
is not for me to say at the moment. I think it is important to know | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
what he says about T it is important to know what the police | :28:57. | :29:04. | |
say happened afterwards, what I'm making clear is that the suggestion | :29:04. | :29:08. | |
that I instructed, still less Government ministers, I don't think | :29:08. | :29:12. | |
Government ministers knew about this, as it would be quite wrong as | :29:12. | :29:15. | |
Attorney-General to tell other ministers about on going police | :29:15. | :29:20. | |
investigations. What I'm a saying is neither I nor any other minister | :29:20. | :29:24. | |
instructed anybody, or approve. you wish you had done more and | :29:24. | :29:31. | |
asked more questions? I have asked meself why not ask Ken McDonald | :29:31. | :29:39. | |
more about what took place. I look forward to what he said about it. | :29:39. | :29:43. | |
My job was done by responding on a particular briefing, the police are | :29:43. | :29:48. | |
there, good police force too, that is what we absolutely rightly | :29:48. | :29:52. | |
believe, investigating this cases, and an independent Crown | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
Prosecution Service, under its independent head, giving the police | :29:55. | :30:01. | |
advice. It would be interesting to know what it was to cause the | :30:01. | :30:05. | |
investigation not to continue in the way it seemed to be, from the | :30:05. | :30:10. | |
briefing I had, going to go. suggestion is you think the DPP | :30:10. | :30:14. | |
could have done more, you have mentioned him several times in this | :30:14. | :30:19. | |
conversation? The D psm P is the conduit to the Attorney General, | :30:20. | :30:27. | |
the DPP is the conduit to the Attorney General, not the police. | :30:27. | :30:35. | |
It appears they were seeking advice of the DPP. The answer they give | :30:35. | :30:39. | |
should be what people are looking The Murdochs' appearance in | :30:39. | :30:42. | |
parliament on Tuesday has ramped up the debate about the way their | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
company is run, both the fact it is not a one share one vote system, | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
and also the way Rupert Murdoch remains as the chief executive and | :30:51. | :30:56. | |
chairman of the business. Some sharehold rrs not happy, is there | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
anything they - shareholders are not happy, but is there anything | :30:59. | :31:06. | |
they can do about it? Phone hacking has dominated | :31:07. | :31:16. | |
:31:17. | :31:19. | ||
politics here for weeks. Is it just a storm in a British tea cup? | :31:19. | :31:24. | |
A global tycoon like Rupert Murdoch must hope so. The News of the World | :31:24. | :31:30. | |
is less than 1% of our company, I employ 5 3,000 people around the | :31:30. | :31:38. | |
world. Who are proud and great and ethical, and distinguished people. | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
The scandal that has engulfed Rupert Murdoch, directly concerns | :31:42. | :31:47. | |
one tiny part of his empire, but it has the potential to damage his | :31:47. | :31:52. | |
business worldwide. His biggest problem now may be that | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
in denying knowledge of events involving the News of the World, he | :31:56. | :31:59. | |
has raised wider questions among News Corporation shareholders | :31:59. | :32:03. | |
worldwide, about the way the company is governed and about his | :32:03. | :32:07. | |
own competence as its head. One of the concerns I think shareholders | :32:08. | :32:13. | |
will have with that, is that we look to senior management to have a | :32:13. | :32:18. | |
strong grasp as to what's actually going on within the company. The | :32:18. | :32:23. | |
admission from Rupert Murdoch that he knew little or nothing as to | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
what was happening in certain parts of his business empire, was not | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
something which would encourage confidence in the systems and | :32:30. | :32:36. | |
controls that were in place within the group. | :32:36. | :32:45. | |
In the US some shareholders want change. The trade union ownedAm | :32:45. | :32:51. | |
Malagaated Bank of America have filed suits, and others have said | :32:51. | :32:54. | |
that News Corp doesn't have one share one vote, a corruption, it | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
says, of the governance system. Other city voices also want more | :32:58. | :33:06. | |
democracy in the company. If I look at the way the board is | :33:06. | :33:10. | |
structured, you might want to question the prevalence of one | :33:10. | :33:16. | |
particular family within that board. Whether there should be a greater | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
representation of genuinely independent non-executives, and | :33:19. | :33:26. | |
potentially a smaller representation for the family. | :33:26. | :33:31. | |
Besides its ethical mistakes in Britain, News Corp has made big | :33:31. | :33:36. | |
business mistakes in America. It bought Dow Jones, publishers of the | :33:36. | :33:43. | |
Wall Street Journal, for $5.6 billion in 2007, two years later it | :33:43. | :33:49. | |
was worth just $2.8 million. MySpace, the social networking | :33:49. | :33:59. | |
website was bought by $580 million in 2005, sold for only $35 million | :33:59. | :34:02. | |
this year. But one of the larger shareholders still has huge | :34:02. | :34:06. | |
confidence in the company. You have seen a business in the last 20 | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
years that has evolved, moving from strictly newspapers into other | :34:10. | :34:15. | |
media, and moving more into a fee- based business model as opposed to | :34:15. | :34:21. | |
an advertising business model. I think there are an awfully lot of | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
good steps that have been made. I'm very impressed overall with the | :34:25. | :34:30. | |
company's success. Rupert Murdoch's now back in | :34:30. | :34:34. | |
America. More comfortable perhaps in a country where some big | :34:34. | :34:39. | |
investors still back him as News Corp's chief executive. Here is a | :34:39. | :34:46. | |
man, who has, even though he is 80 years old, Warren Buffet is 890 | :34:46. | :34:51. | |
years old and doing well. These are - 80 years old and doing well. | :34:51. | :34:55. | |
These are men with long track records of great success. To not | :34:55. | :35:02. | |
want some of that wisdom in there, I think would be a mistake. As Will | :35:02. | :35:06. | |
Rogers said, good judgment comes from experience, a lot of that | :35:06. | :35:10. | |
comes from bad judgment. The phone hacking scandal has sparked | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
political reform in the UK, which some Americans are calling a | :35:14. | :35:21. | |
British spring. How much reform there will be in News Corp itself | :35:21. | :35:27. | |
depend on the markets to come. We are joined now in the studio by | :35:27. | :35:34. | |
Terry Smith, head of his company my other guest from Reuters. | :35:34. | :35:38. | |
Do you have issues with the way it is run? The voting structure thing | :35:38. | :35:46. | |
is important. The Murdochs only own 13% of the company, but pause 30% | :35:46. | :35:49. | |
don't have a vote they virtually control T other people put up the | :35:49. | :35:54. | |
majority of the money. You might this that won't matter and people | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
would ignore it when things are going well, but it is when things | :35:58. | :36:06. | |
are going badly, because there isn't a correct mechanism of scale. | :36:06. | :36:09. | |
Family-run businesses are like the poem, when she was good she was | :36:09. | :36:14. | |
very, very good, but when she was bad she was horrid. Do the funds | :36:14. | :36:21. | |
you run have shareholding? No. this reason? This is one of the two | :36:21. | :36:24. | |
prime reasons. One is the newspaper interests, not very profitable. The | :36:24. | :36:29. | |
other one is, we would never own shares in a company where a family | :36:29. | :36:32. | |
has control, without putting up most of the money. Contrary to the | :36:32. | :36:39. | |
view that Mr Murdoch seems to have, we don't think the ideal candidate | :36:39. | :36:43. | |
to run the country needs to be called Murdoch. Some of the smaller | :36:43. | :36:48. | |
shareholders are getting worked up by it, the big names don't seem | :36:48. | :36:53. | |
that bothered? They are being polite, Mr Jacman, you have to bear | :36:53. | :36:58. | |
in mind this is 12% of his fund. He's unlikely to be rude about it | :36:58. | :37:02. | |
at the moment. Yofpbg he's really very - I don't think he's really | :37:02. | :37:09. | |
very pleased. Do you think times are changing or is this some blip | :37:09. | :37:16. | |
shareholders will worry about and then it will blow over? Terry has | :37:16. | :37:22. | |
pointed to one of the key corporate governance issues which is the dual | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
shareholder. You have had one shareholder speak out about t it is | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
the biggest American pension fund, known as a campaigner on corporate | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
governance. They have been speaking out on the point Terry makes. That | :37:35. | :37:38. | |
is an important and influential voice. The interesting thing, I | :37:38. | :37:45. | |
think, in America, is going to be two things. First of all, whether | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
the crisis is of the corporate culture spreads to what News Corp | :37:48. | :37:53. | |
was doing in the United States. If you see any evidence that the | :37:53. | :37:58. | |
hacking extended to 9/11 victims, I think that will have a huge public | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
impact, you will see a lot more action from US shareholders. | :38:03. | :38:06. | |
just wondering on the corporate governance side of things, the | :38:06. | :38:12. | |
other issue that stands out is the fact he's both the chairman and the | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
CEO, is that again the kind of thing that seemed fine at the time, | :38:16. | :38:26. | |
:38:26. | :38:26. | ||
but now it looks suspect? In the American side of things, it is, I | :38:26. | :38:31. | |
think it is best prak tus, but in the US it is more common than in US, | :38:31. | :38:35. | |
a lot of companies have the CEO and the chairman. Are there changes to | :38:35. | :38:40. | |
come in the wake of all of this? Yes, as we were saying, I think | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
there is pressure right now on the dual shareholding structure, the | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
other issue you are going to see is something Terry pointed to, which | :38:49. | :38:52. | |
is the question of nepotism, it is the sort of thing that doesn't | :38:52. | :38:57. | |
matter to anyone, as long as the company is making tonnes of money | :38:57. | :39:00. | |
and there is no clouds over it. Now there will be big questions over | :39:00. | :39:07. | |
Rupert Murdoch's age, and over whether he should have the right to | :39:07. | :39:12. | |
treat News Corp like a hereditary monarchy. If tomorrow we did have a | :39:12. | :39:17. | |
different heir apparent, a non- Murdoch heir apparent, Chase Carey, | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
for example, would that make you feel differently about News Corp? | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
It would make me feel differently. I would look at his strategy. It is | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
not just the phone hacking scandal that poipbtsdz to problems with the | :39:30. | :39:38. | |
country. They bought the Wall Street Journal for $5.7 billion and | :39:38. | :39:46. | |
lost �2 billion on it. MySpace was another loser. They bought the | :39:46. | :39:51. | |
company Shine, which the lawyers suing them called it rampant | :39:51. | :39:57. | |
nepotism. We have to find out whether the same capital | :39:57. | :40:00. | |
allocations practices would be the same. It is the same as flushing | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
money down the drain. Hearing a list like that, it sounds like a | :40:04. | :40:08. | |
company that could have done better, is this again one of the things | :40:08. | :40:12. | |
with the benefit of hindsight investors take a different view on? | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
Well the fact is that News Corp still has a lot of properties that | :40:16. | :40:21. | |
are making a lot of money. That is why shareholders haven't been | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
kicking up a fuss. In terms of corporate strategy, will the News | :40:26. | :40:30. | |
Corp of the future be run to maximise shareholder value to make | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
more money, or will it be run to maximise its public influence. Some | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
of the investments which Terry has pointed to, which haven't made | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
financial sense, have had the effect of giving News Corp a bigger | :40:44. | :40:50. | |
public platform. Most notably the Dow Jones purchase. That is | :40:50. | :40:53. | |
connected to Rupert Murdoch and the kind of man he wants to be. He has | :40:53. | :40:59. | |
shaped the country in his imanimal. You have pointed out the issues | :40:59. | :41:02. | |
that there r even after the appearance in parliament, which was | :41:02. | :41:11. | |
pretty ref latery in many ways, we which they faced a grilling, on | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
that the shares went up. It is a vote of confidence? You don't know, | :41:14. | :41:18. | |
the shares can't tell you, it may be somebody takes the view that | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
will be the end of the dynasty, as a result of him behave anything way | :41:23. | :41:28. | |
that is aged. I wouldn't read that much into it. There are a couple of | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
things that will lead to a conclusion, one of the things | :41:31. | :41:34. | |
touched upon already, what happens with regard to the allegations | :41:34. | :41:40. | |
about hacking of 9/11 victims, or their families. It is such an | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
emotive subject of the United States of America, it would be an | :41:43. | :41:50. | |
absolute bombshell if there are revelations to suggest that is true. | :41:50. | :41:54. | |
There was some sad news from the art world with the announcement | :41:54. | :42:01. | |
that the artist Lucian Freud had died at the age of 88. | :42:01. | :42:06. | |
We're here to talk about him. How do you think we will remember him, | :42:06. | :42:12. | |
his ligcy. I think undoubtedly somebody who removed the whole | :42:12. | :42:16. | |
traditional process, really, of inviting people to come into our | :42:16. | :42:22. | |
studio, either sit down in a chair, lie on a sofa, or even actually | :42:22. | :42:28. | |
recline on bare floorboards and submit yourself to the gaze of the | :42:28. | :42:32. | |
painter, who is there in the room with you. It is very much a kind of | :42:32. | :42:37. | |
intense relationship between the artist and the person he is | :42:37. | :42:41. | |
painting. It is such a distinctive style, I think lots of people, who | :42:41. | :42:46. | |
perhaps never even would have known the name, Lucian Freud would know | :42:46. | :42:53. | |
one of the paintings when they see them. Was there anything derivative | :42:53. | :42:58. | |
or somebody he would have made up on his own. When he was emerging, | :42:58. | :43:04. | |
it was a time when modern art was at its most experimental. Most | :43:04. | :43:09. | |
avant garde. A lot of people tended to dismiss him as somebody very | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
traditional. Somebody who was just going over old ground, and not | :43:13. | :43:19. | |
coming up with the goods. But gradually, by the 1970s, I think it | :43:19. | :43:27. | |
is true to say, that Lucian Freud had established himself as somebody | :43:27. | :43:37. | |
:43:37. | :43:38. | ||
who was taking that skill and making it ref latery. He did paint | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
to the end? That was one of the most extraordinary thing about him. | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
Whenever I went to see him he was painting, not just one project, but | :43:46. | :43:56. | |
:43:56. | :43:56. | ||
maybe two or three. He had two big studios in London, he would go back | :43:56. | :44:00. | |
and forth. He would shoot off and you would ask where he's going, and | :44:00. | :44:06. | |
he would say he's painting a horse in stable down the road. And he | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
would have a horse somewhere that would be a subject? The horse would | :44:09. | :44:14. | |
be in stable, it is a were, waiting for him to come and be painted. He | :44:14. | :44:19. | |
did do landscapes, sometimes, he painted his garden, he painted | :44:19. | :44:23. | |
views of streets in London sometimes. But he was one of those | :44:23. | :44:28. | |
guys, actually, who doesn't really like to travel very much. He was | :44:28. | :44:33. | |
never happier than when he was at home, in London, with the brush in | :44:33. | :44:37. | |
his hand, and with a lot of paint on the wall around him. You should | :44:37. | :44:42. | |
have seen the paint, that was attached to the wall in the studio, | :44:42. | :44:48. | |
it was extraordinary. Incredibly valuable works of art, but does the | :44:48. | :44:55. | |
value go up overright as well? overnight as well? It is hard to | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
imagine they could shoot up in value as they are so expensive. | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
That tends to happen when artists die, sometimes. | :45:01. | :45:07. | |
Thank you very much. Before we go let's have a quick look at the | :45:07. | :45:17. | |
:45:17. | :45:40. | ||
This story is based on a statement that came out from Colin Myler and | :45:40. | :45:46. | |
Tom Crone. The Mail wants to know how many more poison victims, the | :45:46. | :45:51. | |
debts at the hotel. We will leave you with the pictures | :45:51. | :45:57. | |
of a journey that came to a final end today. After 30 years NASA's | :45:57. | :46:04. | |
space shuttle has entered aviation history, no more Cape Canaveral | :46:04. | :46:12. | |
countdowns and lift offs. The telescope is lifted up out of | :46:12. | :46:22. | |
:46:22. | :46:42. | ||
This is President Obama, whoam I talking to. You are talking to the | :46:42. | :46:48. | |
crew of the space shuttle Atlantis. That was funny, I was just dialing | :46:48. | :46:53. | |
out for pizza! A ship like no other, its place in | :46:53. | :47:03. | |
:47:03. | :47:07. | ||
history secured, the space shuttle As advertised for some time now, | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
the weekend is looking dryer and brighter than it has been. There | :47:10. | :47:16. | |
will be a few notable exceptions as we will see. Friday is shaping up | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
OK. There will be a few showers around, not as widespread as we | :47:20. | :47:23. | |
have seen. Across the Midland there may be one or two heavy showers by | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
the afternoon. Some sunshine inbetween. One or two of those | :47:27. | :47:32. | |
showers could effect affect the Test Match at Lords, we might get | :47:32. | :47:41. | |
away with T showers across the West Country, but the tip of worn wall | :47:41. | :47:46. | |
will be dry. Most of the showers further east. - Cornwall will be | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
dry. Most of the showers further east. Sunshine and light winds at | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
this time of year it feels pretty pleasant. One or two showers for | :47:53. | :47:56. | |
Northern Ireland, one or two showers for Scotland as well. | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
Nothing like as heavy or widespread as we have seen recently. 19 | :48:00. | :48:03. | |
degrees in Glasgow. Further ahead into Saturday, across northern | :48:03. | :48:06. | |
areas, the improvement continues, a lot of dry and bright and warmer | :48:07. | :48:12. | |
weather, along the east coast it will be cloudier and breezy, the | :48:12. | :48:18. | |
same applies for England and Wales, the east coast is not too bad. This | :48:18. | :48:22. | |
is the big picture on Saturday. Dry and bright for many, along the east | :48:22. | :48:26. |