Browse content similar to 19/09/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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There's no easy way to say this, we made a pledge, we didn't stick to | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
it, and for that I'm sorry. The leader of the Liberal Democrats | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
tries to look like he's eating humble pie, the most naked | :00:22. | :00:29. | |
political stunt in recent years was a mistake. He wants to say sorry. | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
Haven't we heard this stuff before. Broken promises. There have been | :00:34. | :00:40. | |
too many in the last few years, too many in the last 30 years. I will | :00:40. | :00:44. | |
be asking the second-best known Lib Dem in Britain, whether there's any | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
more reason to believe them this time than last. | :00:48. | :00:55. | |
Coming soon to a Government service near you, we gain look through how | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
the public spending savings will be made. | :00:58. | :01:04. | |
Tonight for the first time, a further sense of cuts come down the | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
track, and how more welfare cuts, is the pain elsewhere. | :01:08. | :01:15. | |
If only European magazines were more deferential, they would never | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
publish the photos. A Swedish magazine defends its decision to | :01:19. | :01:26. | |
print the photos. What does royal biographer Andrew Morton think. | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
And bankers say they are prepared to throw billions at Spain, we ask | :01:30. | :01:40. | |
:01:40. | :01:41. | ||
is Spain prepared to take the medicine in return. | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
Well, Hallelujah, a politician has apologised for breaking his promise. | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
The leader of the Liberal Democrats couldn't quite bring himself to put | :01:48. | :01:54. | |
it so bluntly, but he is going to say sorry. Oddly, he's chosen the | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
most desCid dited form of communication known to man, the -- | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
discredited form of communication known to man, the party political | :02:03. | :02:10. | |
broadcast. He now admits he hadn't a clue what he was doing when he | :02:10. | :02:14. | |
voted voted about student fees. The apology to be broadcast the week of | :02:14. | :02:23. | |
their party conference is a collector's item. | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
Stkpwhrp the symbolism of a country in a mess was no accident. At the | :02:27. | :02:34. | |
last election Nick Clegg promised to clean things up. | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
Broken promises. There have been too many in the last few years, too | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
many in the last 30 years. In fact, our nation has been littered with | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
them. Whilst all the parties are suffering from low levels of voter | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
trust, perhaps this is why the Liberal Democrats are suffering | :02:48. | :02:54. | |
most. That the people who voted for them feel most let down. Choose | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
real change. Short of opening a vain and sign anything blood, Nick | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
Clegg could -- vein and signing in blood, Nick Clegg could not have | :03:04. | :03:10. | |
made his apology about tuition fees any stronger. The plans I believe | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
the Labour Party and Conservative Partys are cooking up together to | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
raise the cap on tuition fees, we will resist and vote against any | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
lifting of the cap. The students and Liberal Democrat activists | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
loved it, only one problem, skip forward a few months, and Nick | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
Clegg is not only in Government, but instructing his party to vote | :03:28. | :03:37. | |
for an increase in the cap of tuition fees from �3,000 to �9,000. | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
Skip forward quite a few more months, to the eve of this year's | :03:41. | :03:50. | |
Lib Dem party conference, and Nick Clegg decides he has to apologise, | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
profusely, without his tie or jacket. We made a promise before | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
the election that we would vote against any rise in fees under any | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
circumstances, that was a mistake. It was a pledge made with the best | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
of intentions, but we shouldn't have made a promise we weren't | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
absolutely sure we could deliver. I shouldn't have committed to a | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
policy that was so expensive when there was no money around. Not | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
least when the most likely way we would end up in Government was in | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
coalition with Labour or the Conservatives. Who were both | :04:18. | :04:23. | |
committed to put fees up. This is a move straight out of the Tony Blair | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
PlayBook, concede, apologise, and move on. It is just that many of | :04:28. | :04:30. | |
the people who voted for Nick Clegg at the last election have already | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
moved on, according to the polls, to other parties. This isn't really | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
aimed at them, more at his nervous party activists and members who are | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
meeting in Brighton this weekend for the party conference. The | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
question is, will it make the blindest bit of difference. | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
Although I don't expect them all to come blooding back tomorrow, I | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
think people can say, OK, we thought they were wrong about that, | :04:55. | :04:58. | |
now they have admitted they were wrong about that, now let's look at | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
what else they are saying. If they like what else we are saying, and I | :05:01. | :05:04. | |
hope a lot of people will recognise that the Liberal Democrats are | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
making this Government a better and fairer Government, and if they like | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
what they see now, there is no reason not to come back and vote | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
for you. So, I hope that we will have succeeded in drawing a line | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
under what wasn't a happy episode for us as a party, and that people | :05:20. | :05:29. | |
will start to come back eventually. The Lib Dem's polls haven't | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
improved since last year's party conference. Not only has it lost | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
half of its support since the election, the majority of those | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
that are left Iasi the polls, declare themselves -- left, say the | :05:41. | :05:47. | |
polls, declare themselves dissatisfied with Nick Clegg. This | :05:47. | :05:53. | |
broadcast seems an appeal to the few. We were right to leave the | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
comfort of opposition to face the realities of Government, we are | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
fighting for the right things too, rebuilding the economy to make it | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
strong, changing the tax system to make it fair. Defending the | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
vulnerable in the tough times. That is what my party believes in, that | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
is what I believe in. And if we have lost your trust, that's how I | :06:12. | :06:19. | |
hope we can start to win it back. So, has Mr Clegg got anything to | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
fear from his party? Some senior Liberal Democrats close to the | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
Deputy Prime Minister think the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, is | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
on manoeuvres. In July, he told a newspaper, that he didn't exclude | :06:31. | :06:36. | |
being party leader one day, now that "the worship of youth has | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
diminished", who on earth could he have mefpbt. Our political editor - | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
- meant. Our political editor is with us. This is a pretty fine | :06:45. | :06:50. | |
kettle of fish? It is so nuanced. The political problem will be, that | :06:50. | :06:56. | |
it isn't a straight forward apology, it is an apology for process, for | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
making the promise in the first place, and then the nature of the | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
U-turn. There will be trouble on. That let's accept he has done T I | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
will explain what I think. What is odd, in the polls you would expect | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
this to be a leader on his knees. If you look around the country in | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
seats where the Lib Dems have MPs, they are bearing up well in | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
elections and by-elections, this is Nick Clegg ahead of the elections, | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
two-and-a-half years away from a general election, trying to clear | :07:23. | :07:29. | |
the decks, get some credit. As it was said in that package, he's very | :07:29. | :07:32. | |
critical of Clegg before, this is Nick Clegg trying to get credit for | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
some of the things like increasing the personal tax allowance, and | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
possibly be able to lead the party into the next election. This is | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
basically Nick Clegg trying to save his leadership. I think that it | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
will be difficult, given what we have said about the nature of the 0 | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
apology. One of the things, it is also going to be difficult because | :07:48. | :07:53. | |
Vince Cable, when put to people in polls, polls better than Nick Clegg. | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
That is becoming the concrete truth. Very fortunate we have him here. | :07:57. | :08:03. | |
Indeed. Vince, why has it taken two years to get around to apologising | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
for this? We have apologised before. But I think, to be frank, people | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
were so angry, that people weren't listening. Now they are listening. | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
I think the other reason for the timing is Nick wants to make it | :08:17. | :08:19. | |
absolutely clear, it is a distinction between the pledge, | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
which was wrong, and which he and we have apologised for, and the | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
policy which we are now operating, which we don't apologise for, is | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
actually in many ways an improvement and now in operation. | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
You also want to apologise do you for what you said and did before | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
the election? Yes, we are collectively responsible, we all | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
participateed in that. It is not just Nick Clegg, it is the whole | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
parliamentary party wants it apologise? Yes, it is, he has said | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
this as part of it, I share the responsibility, I don't shirk from | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
it. The odd thing is, you were warned before the election that the | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
policy was unaffordable by Danny Alexander, weren't you? Indeed. | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
That's where the apology is justified. Yet you chose to make a | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
commitment in the manifesto that it was affordable? There is a | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
distinction between the manifesto and the pledge. The manifesto, 80% | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
of which we carried into the coalition agreement, that we knew, | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
when we joined the coalition, we would have to compromise on that. | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
The pledge was different, that's what Nick Clegg is referring to. | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
But you had been told, you have just conceded, before the election, | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
that the pledge was unaffordable? If it had been affordable other | :09:31. | :09:37. | |
things would have had to go. were told by Danny Alexander in a | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
confidential memo? I worked in economic affairs, he was part of | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
the team. We realised we would have to make cuts in Government. Yet you | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
chose to say it was affordable, you chose to say it was all costed out? | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
That is where the apology is due, and rightly so. Did you personally | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
believe it was affordable? I was sceptical about the pledge, but we | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
agreed collectively to do it. I take my share of responsibility for | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
that. Did you personally believe it was affordable? I personally was | :10:04. | :10:10. | |
sceptical about the whole fees policy. You signed this pledge | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
knowing it was possibly unaffordable? I signed the pledge | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
on the basis that had we been in Government on our own, which was | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
the commitment, we would have put through that policy. And we have | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
done so. Nick Clegg in that broadcast appeared to suggest that | :10:28. | :10:30. | |
had you formed a Government other than in coalition with Labour or | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
Conservatives, you might have been able to implement it? Is that what | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
thought, if so you are living in fantasy world? I wasn't living in | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
fantasy world, because for a year before the election, as wul | :10:41. | :10:47. | |
remember, probably more than any of the other -- as you well remember, | :10:47. | :10:52. | |
probably more than any of the other people, was spelling out the need | :10:52. | :10:54. | |
for cuts. It was a policy commitment that would have cost | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
money, had we implemented it, other things would have to go. Did you | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
tell Nick Clegg it was unaffordable? It was an unwise | :11:02. | :11:07. | |
commitment to have made. We regret that. That was the basis of the | :11:07. | :11:12. | |
apology. Did you tell Nick Clegg it was probably unaffordable? | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
discussed this between ourselves, as part of our leadership team, | :11:16. | :11:24. | |
there was scepticism, as part of the whole fees debate. We agreed | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
collectively to support it, I take my share of responsibility for that. | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
Who in the leadership team agreed with you that it was possibly | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
unaffordable? It is not a question of individuals. It clearly is? You | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
had deep reservations, you were sceptical about it, you have just | :11:42. | :11:44. | |
said? I was sceptical about any significant financial commitment | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
before the election, for reasons we have spelt out. But the parties | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
agree their policies, we agree them collectively, we take on board | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
things, we personally feel unhappy about, that is how decisions are | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
made in parties, and in Government. It is called collective | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
responsibility, and I was part of that. It was a stunt? No, it was | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
not a stunt. It was part of a genuinely felt wish to assist the | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
student population. We weren't able to carry through with it, but it | :12:12. | :12:17. | |
was certainly deeper than the stunt. What else would you call something | :12:17. | :12:22. | |
that you would deeply -- you were deeply sceptical about being able | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
to afford, and you were advised was unaffordable, yet your leader chose | :12:26. | :12:30. | |
to go through with, nonetheless? One has to make a distinction | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
between the manifesto, that we had already agreed to, that was | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
actually even more radical. It talked about phasing out fees, and | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
the pledge, which was about freezing them, actually the pledge | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
didn't go as far as the manifesto, that our party had decided it | :12:45. | :12:51. | |
wanted to campaign on. You know, with the luxury of behind sight, | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
people like me will say we were sceptical of the whole thing at the | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
time. That is not the point, the point was, whatever views we had at | :12:58. | :13:04. | |
the time, we all collectively signed this pledge, it was wrong, | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
and Nick has apologised, and we collectively apologise for it. We | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
now wish to have the debate about what is the sensible policy on | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
universities. I think what we have done in office, something we are | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
pleased of having done, we are careful to advocate. Can you give | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
us a guarantee now, that everything, be it in this narrow distinction, | :13:24. | :13:30. | |
either in the manifesto, or in some election stunt, anything you prob | :13:30. | :13:37. | |
miswill be stuck to at the next election? After our experience -- | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
you promise will be stuck to at the next election? After our experience | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
we will not go in with a lot of expensive commitments. We have been | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
apologetic, all three parties in the past have made pledges to | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
students about either not increasing or not introducing fee, | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
all three parties went back on those commitments in office. We | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
have been badly punished for it. We have lost a lot of trust. And we | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
are acknowledging it. But this is not unique to our party. Do you | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
recognise the damage you have done to trust in politics? It has done | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
damage. That is why Nick is speaking in such heart felt terms. | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
It is tragic in the way, I knew young people who weren't going to | :14:16. | :14:19. | |
vote, who saw your campaign and pledge and went out. I know people | :14:19. | :14:25. | |
who went leafleting for you, and then they were betrayed? Certainly | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
they were very disillusion, we have had that anger, I have encountered | :14:30. | :14:37. | |
it on a one-to-one basis with students I have met. I go around to | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
university Camron pusses and there is a significant reappraisal, and | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
people understand the fee, not paying cash, what we introduced in | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
practice is a form of graduate tax. People pay in relation to their | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
income, over their lifetime. It is a more progressive system, the one | :14:53. | :14:58. | |
we inherited nobody pays upfront fees. You didn't say that at that | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
time? No we didn't. Now that is embedded, we have a good policy for | :15:03. | :15:09. | |
higheredcation, I'm very happy to go out and defend it. We want to | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
make a distinction and having made a pledge we shouldn't have done. | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
There are bad times just around the corner. Already Government | :15:18. | :15:21. | |
departments spending tax-payers' money are having to make serious | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
savings, right now, this Government, which came to power promising to | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
sort out the vast debt run up by Labour predecessors, is running a | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
big debt than they did. And whichever party takes power after | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
the next election will have to find more savings, the worst is yet to | :15:37. | :15:47. | |
:15:47. | :15:48. | ||
come. What will that be like the - the Institute for Fiscal Studies | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
has thought the unthinkable, and we have looked at the conclusions. | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
You have seen incisions to public policing, to hospitals to libraries, | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
right now, these cuts only go as deep as 2014, the scissors only | :16:01. | :16:06. | |
keep on snipping for two years. Then they stop abruptly the year | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
after next. Currently there are detailed plans, right now there is | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
a great big white piece of paper. No cutting, let alone spending. But | :16:15. | :16:21. | |
there will be, and the first cuts won't have been the deepest. | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
Newsnight has been given a simulation of the next round of | :16:25. | :16:28. | |
spending cuts, on tonight tonight's programme for the first time we | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
give you the figures and implications of the figure. The | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
current spending round lasts until 2014, after that there will have to | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
be new cuts, fresh cuts, cuts upon cut, behind closed doors, in the | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
Treasury, they are looking at these figure, they will loom large in | :16:42. | :16:52. | |
:16:52. | :16:53. | ||
your lives, and they will loom large in the next general election. | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
Here is the number cruncher in chief? What people haven't done now | :16:57. | :17:02. | |
is to look at what the pain would be like for spending departments, | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
we have calculated if you held NHS spending constant, or you cut | :17:07. | :17:16. | |
welfare, or decided to increase taxes. | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
We have already seen cuts 2.3% to all Government departments, in | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
order for the Chancellor to meet his own target of bringing the | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
budget into surplus by the end of 2017, he would have to do more than | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
the 2.3, he would have to do 3.8%. These are new items to be cut, not | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
a continuation of the same. For the first time tonight, the Institute | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
for Public Policy Research for Newsnight, tells us what they | :17:41. | :17:46. | |
actually mean, from 2015-2017, �8 billion less on the NHS, education | :17:46. | :17:56. | |
:17:56. | :17:57. | ||
would see a cut of �4 billion. The eagle eyed among you will say | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
we have forgotten the ring-fenced departments, it is not certain, but | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
likely, that any Conservative Government will maintain the ring- | :18:04. | :18:09. | |
fence, Westminster is humming about keeping the ring-fence but stuffing | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
it with new responsibilities like social care. The IPPR is clear, | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
keeping the ring-fence for the NHS and Department for International | :18:18. | :18:21. | |
Development would mean 6% cuts to other departments, if you protected | :18:21. | :18:27. | |
education too, it would be cuts of 8% to other departments. If this is | :18:27. | :18:33. | |
too be a straubgt and you forgive crude calculation, it would mean | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
the lost of some 70 though defence personal, and 20,000 police | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
officers. -- 0,000 defence personal and | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
20,000 police officers. What a painful future, that is why they | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
are looking to make cuts to the welfare putting, it polls very well | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
with target voters t would allow the Government to cut no further | :18:53. | :18:58. | |
than the amount it is cutting right now, 2.3% in budgets that aren't | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
ring-fenced, it wouldn't have to go as deep as the 3.8%. Cutting | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
welfare effectively halves the cuts other departments, defence, home | :19:07. | :19:13. | |
and education, must undergo. The Chancellor thinks the �10 | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
billion to the welfare budget have a logic, and Lib Dems have to | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
accept them, otherwise they are sanctioning deeper cuts elsewhere. | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
The IPPR think-tank think it is a choice. You can choose to raise | :19:26. | :19:31. | |
more tax, cut certain forms of spending and not others, or cut | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
welfare, that is the public debate, whether we have the right inkind of | :19:35. | :19:41. | |
mix of options ashrailable. There are Lib Dems wondering out loud if | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
it needs jump leads in the economy for more spending. The think-tank | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
says more capital spending means more cuts to departments, large | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
ones, of 5.4%. If it all sounds like too much pain. In order to | :19:54. | :19:56. | |
meet its target the Government could go for a different kind of | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
pain, tax rises instead of spending cuts. It could try and bring in �20 | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
billion in tax revenue, a mansion tax, the Lib Dem favoured option, | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
would only bring in a tenth of that, �2 billion, in order to get up to | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
that scale, you are looking at putting 4p on the basic rate of | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
income tax. After an election, the Government | :20:16. | :20:23. | |
could delay the whole thing, choosing to spend an extra �20 | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
billion, investment in capital projects, lower than average cuts | :20:28. | :20:31. | |
to departmental spending, without cutting welfare. They could even | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
temporarily cut taxes. At this, those concerned about the UK's | :20:35. | :20:41. | |
level of debt shake their head. absolutely would not delay, because | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
delay costs, it costs you more money, particularly in debt | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
interest payment, and also you get political uncertainty because | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
everybody starts to wonder are you serious about this or not. All | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
politicians in all parties, I think, should be focused on doing this as | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
quickly as possible. All of this sound incredibly difficult for a | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
Government to do one year ahead of a general election. The suspicion | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
is they won't do it, they won't do a vast Comprehensive Spending | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
Review, but instead hand out one- year spending pots, to tie | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
departments over to the other side of the election. When they get to | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
the other side, if this Government is elected, maybe they will chose | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
to delay the whole thing. When you look at the numbers it is quite an | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
attractive option. Our artist, Patrick Blower, and the | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
IPPR, have tried to help you find forms and colour between the lines, | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
in what is ominously a blank piece of paper. | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
Now, it was Sweden today, and some fearless journalist in Denmark says | :21:41. | :21:46. | |
it will be there tomorrow. The editors of celebrities magazines | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
across Europe remain resolute, they will not be gagged by the threat of | :21:50. | :21:53. | |
lawsuit. The public must be free to gawp at the breasts of the wife of | :21:53. | :21:58. | |
the second in line to the British thrown throne. It is in the British | :21:58. | :22:06. | |
interest, you see -- throne. It is in the British interest. When we | :22:06. | :22:16. | |
have Magna Carta, Voltaire, ends with a huge lens pointed at the | :22:16. | :22:23. | |
future Queen. I will talk to my guests in a minute. | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
According to some reports this was William and Kate dancing to | :22:27. | :22:32. | |
celebrate their victory in France. True, yesterday, a French court | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
ordered Closer magazine to hand over all copies of the photographs | :22:37. | :22:44. | |
within 24 hours or face punitive daily fines. The mood was buoyant. | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
TRANSLATION: This is great result. This morning French police tried 0 | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
close in on the photographer, raiding Closer's offices for clues | :22:54. | :23:00. | |
to his or her identity. Today a Swedish celebrity magazine, joined | :23:00. | :23:03. | |
France, Ireland and Italy, in publishing the pictures, a Danish | :23:03. | :23:11. | |
weekly also promises what it calls a 16-page spread, full of photos of | :23:11. | :23:14. | |
England's future Queen, to be published tomorrow. In all this | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
will bring the total number of countries to see these images on | :23:17. | :23:24. | |
their news stands, to five. The royal decision to sue early in the | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
public life of their marriage, has been viewed by many as an attempt | :23:28. | :23:33. | |
to draw what is inevitably called a line in the sand, and prevent the | :23:33. | :23:37. | |
level of press harassment experienced by William's mother, | :23:37. | :23:42. | |
Diana. With this topless story following them around their Far | :23:42. | :23:49. | |
East tour, has it backfired. We have the editor of the Swedish | :23:49. | :23:55. | |
magazine, she's in Stockholm now. From Los Angeles we are joined by | :23:55. | :23:59. | |
royal biographer, Andrew Morton. Would you be happy to have yours | :23:59. | :24:04. | |
gawped at around the world? sorry, I didn't hear the question. | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
What would you feel if somebody were to take photographs of you | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
sunbathing top lesson holiday, in private, and publish them in | :24:13. | :24:20. | |
magazines around the world? It is quite OK, because even as a private | :24:20. | :24:27. | |
citizen you always rufpb the risk, because it has -- run the risking, | :24:27. | :24:31. | |
it has been happening to people sunbathing and published in ads and | :24:31. | :24:39. | |
so on. What is the public interest in publishing these? This is | :24:39. | :24:47. | |
nothing unusual for our magazines here, because we write about | :24:47. | :24:53. | |
relationships, amongst celebrities, and we have published pictures of | :24:53. | :24:59. | |
Sienna Miller, Sharon Stone, et cetera, they have been more nude | :24:59. | :25:07. | |
than Kate. It is nothing unusual. It may not be unusual, I'm just | :25:07. | :25:14. | |
asking you what the public interest is? Because there was such a fuss | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
about the pictures, even though they were very nice in the context. | :25:19. | :25:25. | |
I mean it is photographs of a loving couple, who is married, it | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
is nothing scandalous, they are not something adult rouse, or cheating | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
or something like that. It is a married couple, it is a very nice | :25:33. | :25:43. | |
:25:43. | :25:44. | ||
relationship, It is celebrities. They are not entitled to their | :25:44. | :25:50. | |
privacy? Of course they are, but, I mean. Not according to you (under | :25:50. | :25:53. | |
his breath) We report these pictures like any other pictures. | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
How much did you pay for them? very much. How much? I can't tell | :25:58. | :26:05. | |
you that. Why not? Because it is among. Because we don't disclose | :26:05. | :26:10. | |
that because we have competitors that want to know what we pay for | :26:10. | :26:16. | |
pictures and so on, so I can't tell you that. But it is not much, it is | :26:16. | :26:24. | |
nothing amazing. It is just what we pay for other pictures of this kind. | :26:24. | :26:29. | |
The invasion of other people's lives? Do you know who the | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
photographer was? I can't tell you. Can you tell us the name of the | :26:33. | :26:36. | |
photographer? No, I can't tell you anything about, that I have no | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
comment about that issue, I'm sorry. Do you know who took them? | :26:40. | :26:45. | |
bought them, like we buy any other pictures. We get an offer, and we | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
say yes or no. In this case we said yes, because we think they are | :26:51. | :26:56. | |
quite lovely pictures of the couple. You know they specifically asked | :26:56. | :27:00. | |
for these photographs not to be published? We bought them on Friday | :27:00. | :27:07. | |
the 14th. We are a weekly magazine, it takes some time to print it. We | :27:07. | :27:16. | |
bought them on Friday the 14th of. Do you regret -- Friday the 14th. | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
Do you regret publishing them? don't. You don't care they wanted | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
to keep them private? That was after. We had already bought the | :27:25. | :27:33. | |
pictures and done the work. We treat any celebrity, whether they | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
are royal or they are actors or actresses or singers the same. We | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
don't treat them any different if they are royal. So ...You Treat | :27:44. | :27:50. | |
them with contempt? That is your opinion. You clearly don't respect | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
their right to privacy. Andrew Morton, how much does this sort of | :27:55. | :28:00. | |
event remind you of Diana's troubles with the media? I think | :28:00. | :28:06. | |
the irony about this whole event, which has gone from a storm in a B- | :28:06. | :28:13. | |
cup, to a storm in a DD-cup, if Diana and Charles in the early days | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
of their marriage on a similar kind of holiday, you would have 20, 30 | :28:18. | :28:22. | |
photographers trying to get pictures. In a curious kind of way, | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
Prince William is getting a fraction, a mere taste of what | :28:26. | :28:31. | |
Diana went through in her life. Although he's clearly distressed by | :28:31. | :28:41. | |
it. Yes, what you are seeing by Prince William is a genuine step | :28:41. | :28:44. | |
change in the way they are handling it. They have used the Middleton | :28:45. | :28:49. | |
family over the past few years as a kind of stacking horse with regards | :28:49. | :28:54. | |
to privacy. Prince Charles in the past would standby the old royal | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
motto, never complain, never explain. Prince William seems to be | :28:58. | :29:02. | |
of a different generation. He believes that part of his life is | :29:02. | :29:06. | |
private, and part of his is public, when it is public he's on display, | :29:06. | :29:11. | |
when it is private there is a red line there. And he's prepared to go | :29:11. | :29:16. | |
to court. That does seem to me to set a precedent. Is he going to be | :29:16. | :29:19. | |
taking photographers, editors, magazines around the world to court | :29:19. | :29:24. | |
for the next 60 years. But he's entitled to expect that if he's, | :29:24. | :29:30. | |
the best part of a kilometer from any public position, that he is in | :29:30. | :29:34. | |
private, and that privacy should be respected, isn't he entitled to | :29:34. | :29:37. | |
respect that? Yes, of course, everybody is entitled to respect | :29:37. | :29:43. | |
that. But it is a bit like the Harry thing as well. When you are a | :29:43. | :29:48. | |
celebrity, and it doesn't matter if you are a Hollywood celebrity or a | :29:48. | :29:58. | |
:29:58. | :29:59. | ||
British royal, you are never really private. So, in a sense, you are at | :29:59. | :30:09. | |
the mercy of photographers. As far as William is concerned, he clearly | :30:09. | :30:12. | |
is seeing this through the prism of his mother's experience of the | :30:12. | :30:18. | |
media, which eventually, accidentally, was fatal. That is a | :30:18. | :30:22. | |
difficult thing to live with, isn't it? Yeah, I think there is a huge | :30:22. | :30:26. | |
overstatement in the public about what's been said about this. I | :30:26. | :30:31. | |
doian that, as we all know, died as a result of a drunk driver, driving | :30:31. | :30:37. | |
too fast in a built-up area. This is a long-range photograph taken of | :30:37. | :30:41. | |
Kate Middleton taking her top off. I think that the reaction of | :30:41. | :30:50. | |
William has been disproportionate, because it is ratchetted up the | :30:50. | :30:56. | |
ante. And counter-productive? Ultimately yes. This has gone from | :30:56. | :31:03. | |
being what was a small magazine in France, to being a worldwide could | :31:03. | :31:08. | |
go flagellation and talking point - - conflagration and talking point, | :31:08. | :31:13. | |
William is very different to his father, his father is what you call | :31:13. | :31:18. | |
a Downton Abbey royal, a patrician, and aristocrat, believing his life | :31:18. | :31:26. | |
is essentially lived in public, and Prince William seems more of an | :31:26. | :31:31. | |
Archasica Avenue royal, who thinks he's leading a private life and | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
from time to time dips in and out of the royal world. We are in a | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
phoney war sort of state in the euro crisis, the basic problem, the | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
bankruptcy of some incompetently or dishonestly run southern European | :31:43. | :31:48. | |
states, is as bad as it ever of, but the European Central Bank's | :31:48. | :31:55. | |
promise to stand behind them, seems to have stayed the hands of the | :31:55. | :32:00. | |
gamblers who make-or-break national economies. But people in Germany | :32:00. | :32:03. | |
have yet to be convinced that propping up these countries is a | :32:03. | :32:09. | |
worthwhile spend of their taxes. Paul Mason, our answer to no sir | :32:09. | :32:14. | |
tro dam mus is here. -- no sir dam mus is here. | :32:14. | :32:19. | |
Tell us what is going on? If you can sort Spain out you sort the | :32:19. | :32:21. | |
acute phase of the eurocrisis, everything the European Central | :32:21. | :32:28. | |
Bank did over the summer was aimed at Spain. Just to recap, Mario | :32:28. | :32:38. | |
:32:38. | :32:51. | ||
And? The effect, let's have a look. Here is the Spanish Stock Exchange. | :32:51. | :32:56. | |
It falls by a third over the year. And as soon as Draghi speaks in | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
July, not when he acts in September, when he speaks in July, there it is, | :33:00. | :33:03. | |
it is back, it is significantly back up already. And now let as | :33:04. | :33:08. | |
look at the all-important bond yield, this is what it costs Spain | :33:08. | :33:12. | |
to borrow over ten years, it is rising as the panic rises towards | :33:13. | :33:17. | |
July, Draghi speaks and down it has gone. This creates for the Spanish | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
Government a bit of a dilemma, things are getting better, before | :33:20. | :33:23. | |
they have done anything. And there is a temptation, with the Spanish | :33:23. | :33:28. | |
Government, to do nothing. The only problem is, things are also falling | :33:29. | :33:35. | |
apart. Tomorrow you will seal the boss of Catalonia, a major region, | :33:35. | :33:38. | |
go and demand fiscal autonomy with Spain, he will call an election, | :33:38. | :33:41. | |
and won't get it. We had disturbances on the streets tonight, | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
and a huge demonstration at the weekend. I have been speaking to | :33:45. | :33:48. | |
two veteran Spanish politicians, about how to get out of this | :33:48. | :33:55. | |
impasse. For the railway workers who took over Madrid's main station | :33:55. | :34:05. | |
this week, time is running out. 65 billion euros worth of cuts and tax | :34:05. | :34:13. | |
increases are hitting wages and jobs hard. That is what brought | :34:13. | :34:17. | |
more than 100,000 on to the streets last Saturday. But there is more | :34:17. | :34:24. | |
austerity to come. Soon the Spanish Prime Minister, | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
will be forced to take a bail out. The conditions are likely to be | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
tougher still. It has become an article of faith in Spain that the | :34:31. | :34:36. | |
country has to modernise and become competitive. But the closer you get | :34:36. | :34:40. | |
to the politicians here, the more you realise how few of them are | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
prepared to accept what that means, for them, their supporters, their | :34:44. | :34:52. | |
party and system they have been running for the past ten years. | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
So, is Europe really prepared to throw hundreds of billions of bail | :34:57. | :34:59. | |
out cash at the political class that brought this country to its | :34:59. | :35:04. | |
knees? One man who helped design modern | :35:04. | :35:14. | |
Spain is former socialist Prime Minister, gone sal lays, he's -- | :35:14. | :35:19. | |
Gonzales, he's scathing about Mr Rajoy's Government. TRANSLATION: | :35:20. | :35:23. | |
impression is the Government doesn't know what to do. It is not | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
that it doesn't know what to do, it doesn't know what to do with the | :35:27. | :35:31. | |
Spanish economy, nor does it know what role Europe should play. | :35:31. | :35:38. | |
believes Spain should take a bail out, but based on the austerity | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
plan, it should stop waiting and propose its own solution now. | :35:42. | :35:47. | |
TRANSLATION: It has to be a Spanish proposal, this "proposal" from the | :35:47. | :35:51. | |
Government, let's wait and see what the others are doing, is wrong, | :35:51. | :35:54. | |
they should say this is my position and this is what we want and the | :35:54. | :35:59. | |
answer will be either yes or no. All this year, Spanish politicians | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
have had to live with the specter of social unrest. Last week one- | :36:04. | :36:08. | |
and-a-half million Catalans took to the streets of Barcelona, demanding | :36:08. | :36:15. | |
outride independence. The region, one of Spain's richest, is bust. | :36:15. | :36:18. | |
TRANSLATION: People protest with good reason, they don't know where | :36:18. | :36:24. | |
we are heading. Including the Catalan mobilise and the one in | :36:24. | :36:26. | |
Madrid, nobody has a serious explanation of what the Government | :36:26. | :36:29. | |
wants to do, except for what the Prime Minister says, we do what we | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
have to do, even if we don't like it T you have to explain what you | :36:33. | :36:43. | |
are doing and why. Spain's banks, part nationalised, | :36:43. | :36:48. | |
are to be bailed out to the tune of 100 billion euro, with EU tax- | :36:48. | :36:52. | |
payers' money. But it will be politically | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
sensitive, tens of thousands of ordinary savers were encouraged to | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
buy shares in the busted banks, and they could lose a lot. But the | :37:01. | :37:04. | |
crucial question for Madrid remains the conditions on the sovereign | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
bail out. Germany wants them tough, Spain's man on the European | :37:08. | :37:13. | |
Commission begs to differ. I think more strict surveillance or | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
monitoring, on how the different obligations and commitments are | :37:17. | :37:22. | |
implemented, is always good. you don't think Spain needs any | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
additional, substantive, austerity measures, imposed from outside? | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
With the information available right now, I don't think so. I | :37:30. | :37:35. | |
think what Spain needs is to regain confidence in the way those | :37:35. | :37:40. | |
recommendations and those commitments have been implemented. | :37:40. | :37:46. | |
Even as Spain waits, and protests, the pro-euro political class sees | :37:46. | :37:49. | |
this as a moment to go forward. There have been strong calls out of | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
Brussels for a rapid move to fiscal union, political union, and calls | :37:53. | :38:01. | |
here in Britain for a referendum. Which he does not agree. What we | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
need is to see how the European Parliament and the European | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
Commission, that we are accountable before the European Parliament, we | :38:10. | :38:15. | |
show the citizens that our decision, our strategies, our discussions, | :38:15. | :38:19. | |
are as democratic and as transparent and understandable as | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
the ones that are taking place in the national parliament. What does | :38:23. | :38:28. | |
that, I'm not sure what that means does that mean there will be a | :38:28. | :38:34. | |
referendum? I'm in favour of a parliamentary democracy. I think | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
this democratic election, in 2014, the European Parliament election in | :38:38. | :38:44. | |
less than two years, is a very, very important day for all the | :38:44. | :38:48. | |
Europeans, because there the majority of the representive of the | :38:48. | :38:52. | |
people that will be sitting there, will be those who will have in | :38:52. | :38:59. | |
their hand most of the most important decisions for our future. | :38:59. | :39:03. | |
These are the massive stake, solve the Spanish crisis, and for some, | :39:03. | :39:07. | |
it is fast forward, to political and fiscal union. But few expect | :39:07. | :39:12. | |
the coming bail out to be welcomed by Spain's people, and if Spain | :39:12. | :39:18. | |
does get the bail out demanded by the senior politician, will Germany, | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
so vilified here, buy it? Here to discuss this we have the | :39:23. | :39:31. | |
chairman of business for New Europe, the UK Independence Party MEP, and | :39:31. | :39:35. | |
the Pref fesor of economics and strategy at the LSE. -- Professor | :39:35. | :39:41. | |
of economics and Strategy at the LSE. Would you say it appears the | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
strategy appears to be working? does, it is an extraordinary | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
decision by Mario Draghi to say he would do whatever it take, | :39:49. | :39:52. | |
including buying bonds. It was a brave decision and the Governments | :39:52. | :39:57. | |
have to ask for it. Even though some things he's doing is right, he | :39:57. | :40:03. | |
needs a greater sense of urgency. One thing is asking right now for | :40:03. | :40:08. | |
the bail out that is needed. Can it last? I don't think so, it is a | :40:08. | :40:11. | |
short-term solution, in the end, when the conditions for this bail | :40:11. | :40:16. | |
out are laid out, the Spanish Government will have to face | :40:16. | :40:21. | |
reality. And the people will react to this. I don't think this will | :40:21. | :40:26. | |
solve the problem. I think the European Union is part of the | :40:26. | :40:33. | |
problem. And the European Union is not going to bring the solution for | :40:33. | :40:38. | |
this situation. I think you know, they need to think differently. | :40:38. | :40:43. | |
Just before we talk about Spain, the Germans, the head of the | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
Bundesbank was saying the other day that this was like something out of | :40:46. | :40:51. | |
Faust, they are really, really worried, aren't they? And rightly | :40:51. | :40:55. | |
so? They are of two mind, this solution allows them not to | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
actually pay, but to find another way to pay. As long as the bluff | :40:59. | :41:04. | |
works? I mean the problem is, exactly, if you are not supporting | :41:04. | :41:08. | |
the solution, it is not really credible, and in the end it might | :41:08. | :41:13. | |
fall apart. For it to work it needs real strong support, and for people | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
to believe these can be implement. Is there a logical inconsistentcy | :41:18. | :41:23. | |
in all of this, how can you say you will do whatever it take, to keep | :41:23. | :41:27. | |
every country within the euro, and at the same time say, there are | :41:27. | :41:31. | |
going to be conditions for any kind of bail out? You are right in the | :41:31. | :41:34. | |
sense of who is actually going to blink first, that is going to be | :41:34. | :41:38. | |
one of the big things in the whole of this bail out, but I think Mario | :41:38. | :41:43. | |
Draghi has made very clear, it is irreversible, once ask you for the | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
help, you get the help, you will have to embark on the structural | :41:47. | :41:50. | |
reform. The sense of momentum will take the countries through that, | :41:50. | :41:54. | |
and it will be helpful. You are seeing the structural reform | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
actually happening already in Spain and in Greece, we need more of it | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
and with a sense of urgency. Do you get the feeling the Spanish will | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
accept the conditions? Government is hesitating to long. | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
They really need to step forward and ask. It is better to ask now | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
when the situation is relatively calm, than to wait for the next | :42:13. | :42:16. | |
panic and suddenly on Friday night say you are desperate. Then the | :42:16. | :42:20. | |
Dutch and Germans will come piling on with extra condition. That is | :42:20. | :42:25. | |
what happened with the bank rescue. The bank rescue was supposed to be | :42:25. | :42:31. | |
just that. It is about printing money, to sort out the situation. | :42:31. | :42:37. | |
And to keep the eurozone going. It would be much better to allow these | :42:37. | :42:43. | |
countries that do not really have the economies at the level they | :42:43. | :42:50. | |
should be, to allow them to leave the eurozone, and the value and | :42:50. | :42:53. | |
default. They won't leave the eurozone, they don't want to. | :42:53. | :42:58. | |
don't want to leave. Printing money for the UK and the US they have | :42:58. | :43:03. | |
been doing that. When the euro of introduced, the Spanish people were | :43:03. | :43:10. | |
mad, because a coffee of worth one pesata, the following day it was | :43:10. | :43:20. | |
:43:20. | :43:20. | ||
worth one euro. That is a very cheap coffee? 100 pesetas, the | :43:20. | :43:29. | |
following day it was 166pesetass, the people weren't happy, then the | :43:29. | :43:34. | |
European comes in and injects the funding, but it was short-term. | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
the moment you think Spain would be better off out of the euro? I think | :43:38. | :43:44. | |
that not only Spain, not only Spain, but you know, many of the countries | :43:44. | :43:49. | |
in the southern part of Europe, that do not have the level. What | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
about the alternative being canvased, which is this fast | :43:54. | :43:58. | |
progress towards fiscal union and all sorts of other institutions | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
which make it impossible for that sort of thing to happen? The key | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
thing is the banking union, basically what has been happening | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
is this vicious look between the banks of the country get weak, then | :44:10. | :44:15. | |
the state, back the banks, gets also weakened. Or indeed the other | :44:15. | :44:20. | |
way round. You can't have a bad Government pulling down a good bank | :44:20. | :44:28. | |
or visa versa. With fiscal union you only need a minimum amount of | :44:28. | :44:35. | |
fiscal union to get through. You don't need eurobonds and that. | :44:35. | :44:42. | |
essence of the banking union is a European deposit insurance. And you | :44:42. | :44:46. | |
are playing regulator and resolution authority. It is deposit | :44:46. | :44:49. | |
insurance, this has not been agreed by Germany, I don't think that | :44:49. | :44:55. | |
Germany is ever going it agree to this deposit insurance. This | :44:55. | :45:00. | |
banking union is a treem of Mr Barroso, that's all -- a dream of | :45:00. | :45:06. | |
Mr Barroso, that is all. I'm afraid that is not it. Talking about | :45:06. | :45:09. | |
dreams among the European political class, the difficulty is when they | :45:09. | :45:15. | |
choose to act them out? Exactly. They come up and the commission has | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
been drawing policies and proposals for the last decade. They have | :45:19. | :45:24. | |
injected money and it money has been wasted. Things that two weeks | :45:24. | :45:34. | |
ago. Nothing has happened. Things that two years ago would have been | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
considered unconceivable have happened. This is acting like any | :45:38. | :45:42. | |
grown-up Central Bank. He saved a crisis, we would have had a huge | :45:42. | :45:47. | |
financial crisis in July if he hadn't done that. He has postponed | :45:47. | :45:52. | |
the cry he is.S That is the key point. Has he postponed the crisis, | :45:52. | :45:55. | |
and mixed it, flattened it? because you can already see big | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
changes in Spain, there have been proper labour reform. No way. | :46:00. | :46:03. | |
there are. There are greater variations of pay in Spain. The | :46:03. | :46:07. | |
fact is he needs to do more, and the best thing to do is ask for the | :46:07. | :46:13. | |
help so it can happen now. comparison between the UK and Spain | :46:13. | :46:18. | |
is very useful. The UK had the worst problem in the financial | :46:18. | :46:22. | |
sector, the reason the financial sector didn't drag the state, is | :46:22. | :46:27. | |
you have the a Central Bank that can back the state with pounds. | :46:27. | :46:37. | |
:46:37. | :46:37. | ||
Spain doesn't have that, the state is being dragged down by the | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
financial sector. In the UK we had an effective bail out of the banks | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
done with recapitalisation. In Spain you have had had four | :46:45. | :46:49. | |
attempts, that is why you need the European Stability Mechanism, where | :46:49. | :46:54. | |
actually you get an independent institution that actually | :46:54. | :46:58. | |
recapitalises a bank, not going through the nation. That is wrong, | :46:58. | :47:02. | |
it should be closed down. I want you to ask you a simple and trivial | :47:02. | :47:07. | |
question, these two clearly think this is going to work, what is your | :47:07. | :47:09. | |
prediction for, well you have reservations, but a lot of things | :47:09. | :47:15. | |
need to be done. I'm an optimist. What is your prediction for 18 | :47:15. | :47:19. | |
months time, how many countries will still be in the euro? I think | :47:19. | :47:25. | |
know, I know the EU from the bottom of my heart, so I know that they | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
will drag on and on and on. They will drag on.S What the | :47:29. | :47:35. | |
answer? The answer is, that I think Greece is going to leave in the | :47:35. | :47:43. | |
near future. We are down to 16, and then? Spain will follow. Spain will | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
take some time, Spain will be the end of the eurozone. If Spain | :47:46. | :47:53. | |
leaves it will be the end of the eurozone. And I am sure. No such | :47:53. | :47:56. | |
look luck. We will have all 17 this. The commission will do all it can | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
to save it. That is all from Newsnight tonight, more tomorrow, | :48:00. | :48:10. | |
:48:10. | :48:14. | ||
until then, gie good night. -- good Hello, there was plenty of | :48:14. | :48:17. | |
Hello, there was plenty of September sunshine around today. | :48:17. | :48:20. | |
Much less tomorrow. We will see some rain across that central slice | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
of the UK. Quite a wet day for northern England, southern Scotland | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
and Northern Ireland. Chilly too, 11 in the castle. Further south the | :48:29. | :48:33. | |
temperatures are higher, some breaking through now and again | :48:33. | :48:37. | |
across southern counties of London. It will feel reasonably pleasant | :48:37. | :48:41. | |
when the sun comes through. The winds fairly light as well. A fine | :48:41. | :48:45. | |
afternoon across south-west England, across most places in Wales, a fair | :48:45. | :48:51. | |
bit of cloud. North Wales still prone to patchy | :48:51. | :48:53. | |
light rain. Northern Ireland the rain may ease for a time, it is | :48:53. | :48:57. | |
likely to come back in again through the afternoon, turning | :48:57. | :49:04. | |
fairly heavy at times. The rain assisting across the central belt | :49:04. | :49:07. | |
of Scotland. Scotland at the sidedly on the low side, 10-11 or | :49:07. | :49:14. | |
best. Brightening up through Friday. It | :49:14. | :49:17. | |
goes the other way for southern part. Generally dry for Thursday, | :49:17. | :49:21. | |
the rain moving in, as we go into Friday. The weather front that has | :49:21. | :49:25. |