Browse content similar to 23/07/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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given the go ahead by the United States Congress to begin arming the | :00:16. | :00:18. | |
Syrian rebels. Light weapons and ammunition will begin to flow | :00:18. | :00:23. | |
within weeks along with training, logistics and intelligence. With | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
America's top soldier in uniform fretting about possible mission | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
creep and unintended consequences, we hear from both sides of the | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
debate in Washington. Everyone remembers their first baby | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
pictures, but this baby will need to get used to a life under the | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
microscope. What kind of childhood can the infant Prince look forward | :00:41. | :00:46. | |
to. We're still working on a name, so we will have that as soon as we | :00:46. | :00:54. | |
can. And what name is fit for a modern king? William, Heny. Stephen. | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
Richard John. Hey. David Starkey and Martin Bashir | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
share their expertise. The children in Brazil born to poor mothers | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
being treated for leprosy with a drug banned after causing birth | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
defects in the 1950s. Where is thalidomide being handed out again. | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
TRANSLATION: His father said the doctor didn't tell him that women | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
couldn't take it. He said they didn't tell him anything about it. | :01:19. | :01:28. | |
What of the baby-boomers and what have they done for you? Quite a lot | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
actually, according to a new study of the way grandparents give their | :01:33. | :01:43. | |
:01:43. | :01:44. | ||
wealth and time to their grandchildren. Good evening, | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
American military intervention in Syria means the guns will now | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
arrive within weeks. The United States House and Senate | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
intelligence committees have given the go ahead to the CIA to ship | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
weapons to the Syrian opposition. Big doubts remain. America's top | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
soldier in uniform, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General | :02:04. | :02:10. | |
Sir Martin Demsey, has warned of the unintended consequence, that | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
could empower extremists or unleash the very chemical weapons we seek | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
to control. We have been assessing whether this marks a significant | :02:17. | :02:19. | |
turning point for western intervention. | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
It is very significant, no doubt about it. It was back in early June | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
that the White House briefed that America would supply weapons, they | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
then deflected all further questions on the topic and we were | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
left wondering what's happening. As we have pursued it and tried to | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
follow it up over the last few weeks we heard the thing had moved | :02:37. | :02:44. | |
to the Hill, to the Senate and the House Intelligence Committees. Some | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
doubt as if there was a constitutional need for them to | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
sign off it on it, it seems there was a political need. Doubts within | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
both committees about whether these weapons could be kept under a | :02:53. | :02:55. | |
reasonable degree of control, whether it was a sufficient measure. | :02:55. | :03:04. | |
All of these types of things had been to be assuageed, they have | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
received the go ahead from the committee. We have heard weapons | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
could be arriving in two weeks, the beginning of August, it is clear it | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
could be very soon. The American programme will channel | :03:15. | :03:20. | |
guns, anti-tank weapons and even mortars through Jordan. The | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
operation could cost $500 million in the first year. Washington | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
insiders say it is ready to go. think that they would expect to | :03:29. | :03:35. | |
send the first shipments within the next couple of weeks, ramping it up | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
over a period of months. They already have the infrastructure | :03:39. | :03:45. | |
largely in place in Jordan. Training, intelligence, logistics, | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
and so I think that the first of it would be there within the next few | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
weeks. It is months since President Obama | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
said he would do more to help the opposition. He had been stung by | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
criticism that he had done nothing to punish the Assad regime for | :04:01. | :04:07. | |
crossing a red line by using chemical weapons. When it comes to | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
using chemical weapons, the entire world should be concerned. In terms | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
of what that means in terms of American action, keep in mind, we | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
are already taking a whole range of actions, we are going to continue | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
taking a whole range of actions, separate and apart from the | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
chemical weapon use, we have tens of thousands of people being killed | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
inside of Syria, we want to see that stopped. For humanitarian | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
reasons but also for strategic reasons. | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
Although the White House refused to elaborate it ordered troops in | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
Jordan for military exercises to stay put and speculation soon began | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
that they were there to set up training camps for the Free Syrian | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
Army. Back home the battle continued between those who thought | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
this would mark a slippery slope of intervention and those who think it | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
is barely an adequate response to the Syrian crisis. The response of | :04:56. | :05:02. | |
the administration has been slow and piecemeal, especially as the | :05:02. | :05:07. | |
complexity of the Syria crisis has truly unfolded before us, where he | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
it started out as peaceful uprising against a largely tyrannical regime | :05:11. | :05:18. | |
and has movered into a sectarian -- morphed into a sectarian war that | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
has divided the country into three parts and threatened to destroy | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
Syria and the architectural region around Syria. The Pentagon has been | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
siding with the non- interventionists recently. Its | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
chief yesterday gave a downbeat assessment of military operations | :05:31. | :05:41. | |
:05:41. | :05:41. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds | :05:41. | :06:25. | |
It could require thousands of Special Forces but only expected to | :06:25. | :06:33. | |
control the, of the some but not all chemical weapons and might make | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
it easier for extremists to get hold of others. A lot in Congress | :06:36. | :06:42. | |
have been saying let's have a no- fly zone and attack Syrian air | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
bases to down the Syrian air force. Dempsey has said it is a very | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
difficult thing to do and will require a lot of resources. He has | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
made no secret of his lack of enthusiasm. That is reflected in | :06:53. | :06:58. | |
his letter. By pushing ahead with the plan to arm rebel groups the | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
White House will channel lethal support via the CIA. Keeping the US | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
military, if all goes to plan at arms length from it. But the | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
problem is, as General Dempsey knows only too well, that | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
intervention can rarely be managed in such a neat way. | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
A little earlier I spoke to Congressman Adam Schiff, on the US | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
House of 7 presentives -- House of Representatives Intelligence | :07:23. | :07:30. | |
Committee. And to Danielle Pletka, author of Dissent in the Arab World, | :07:30. | :07:36. | |
and director of the think-tank the American institute. | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
Why why did did you choose to vote against the plan to use the CIA to | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
arm Syrian rebels? I have a great deal of concern about getting | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
involved in yet another civil war. I think that there are better steps | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
that we can take than providing arms. Arms that we can't be sure | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
even if they get in the right hands that they will stay in the right | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
hands. I think we should retain our focus on getting the parties to | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
negotiate a settlement on providing humanitarian relief, on taking | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
action with the international community on a chemical weapons | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
threat and try to degrade Assad's ability to deliver chemical weapons | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
again. But, becoming an armed supplier in a civil war is not | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
something I favour and that's something I have been speaking out | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
on. Just so I understand the kind of consensus within the House and | :08:24. | :08:30. | |
Senate Intelligence Committee, the House chairman Mike Rogers spoke of | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
"very strong concern". Even though most have been seen to go along | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
with the Obama add minutes trace, is there some people who think he's | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
making a mistake? There is a broad concern in Congress about getting | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
involved in this sectarian civil war. That a small amount of weapons | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
is unlikely toe make a difference, and that we would have to provide | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
such a massive quantity of arms and sophisticated weapons to tilt the | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
balance on the battlefield that inevitably we would be drawn | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
further and further into the civil war. Again there is the fear most | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
members of Congress have on both sides of the aisle that even if you | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
can vet members of the opposition that you provide weapons to, you | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
can't be sure that they will stay with that vetted opposition. Many | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
of the rebel groups are now fighting each other, and we have to | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
prudently expect that some percentage of whatever weapons we | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
might supply would get into the wrong hands. So without getting | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
into any specific about what the administration is asking for | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
calling for, I want to express my general concern without becoming a | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
weapons supplier in the civil war. You have heard those reservations | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
but also General Sir Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs is | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
warning of unintended consequences and deeper involvement might be | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
hard to avoid. You must be uncomfortable that a senior general | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
with real experience of Iraq is so unenthusiastic of this? I'm not | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
surprised at what General Dempsey is saying. The military is always | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
unenthusiastic about war, that is why we have a civilian Commander- | :10:01. | :10:03. | |
in-Chief who leads them. The President has made a decision about | :10:03. | :10:09. | |
arming the rebels in Syria. The Congressman raises some reasonable | :10:09. | :10:16. | |
calf youths. The honest truth -- caveats. The honest truth is if we | :10:16. | :10:19. | |
could seal Syria off and keep it there, perhaps the American | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
Congress could sit by and watch as hundreds of thousands of people are | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
killed without fear that there would be an expansion regionally. | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
As for the question of arms getting into the wrong hands, I'm afraid | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
that horse has already left the stable. Arms are already in the | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
wrong hands, that is one of the reasons why the balance has tilted | :10:38. | :10:44. | |
as the chairman said last week, in favour of Assad. I wonder how you | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
will judge as you monitor the CIA's arming of these rebels how it is | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
working? Presumably you will rely on the intelligence coming from the | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
CIA on a policy they are expect to go implement. They may not be | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
entirely straight on telling you whether it is working? Of course it | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
will be very difficult to monitor exactly how the provision of any | :11:05. | :11:11. | |
material support is helping the opposition. But that's part of our | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
responsibility to oversee anything that might be understaken. I will | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
say this in response to the comments that were made. It is very | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
seductive to want to help the opposition here to want to get | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
involved and balance out what Hezbollah or the Russians are doing. | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
That is why it is so easy to get involved in conflicts. | :11:30. | :11:33. | |
Unfortunately we find as easy as it is to get in, it is very difficult | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
to get out, to extricate yourself from a civil war. I fear we will | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
simply be drawn further and further into this conflict. You know there | :11:41. | :11:46. | |
is a question that we have the capability of doing this, we have | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
the capability of deciding the course of this conflict in the | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
sense of who wins militarily and who does not, but as we see in | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
Afghanistan, as we saw in Iraq, the military equation is only one part | :11:58. | :12:03. | |
of the equation. As General Dempsey pointed out so forcefully the other | :12:03. | :12:08. | |
day, when you change the trajectory on the battlefield, that is not the | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
end of the story, if it was, the war in Afghanistan would have been | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
over a long time. You have to be concerned about what comes in after. | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
Let me bring in Danielle Pletka, that is the core of with what | :12:19. | :12:22. | |
General Dempsey is saying, I wonder what your judgment is, whatever the | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
policy appears to be now, in another year's time the United | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
States will be more deeply involved in Syria? No I don't know that we | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
will be more deeply involved. I'm waiting for the President to | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
actually implement the arms transfers that he suggested were | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
going to happen. It is funny the Congressman suggests that it is | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
easy to be seduced by ideas of helping people. Well I do find | :12:42. | :12:48. | |
ideas of helping people rather seductive. But I think that the | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
notion of getting inbetween Assad and Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda is not a | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
terribly attractive one. On the other hand, I think that anyone who | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
is, as the Congressman is, in ardent and a correct supporter of | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
Israel and the relationship between the United States and Israel needs | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
to understand that the Syrian conflict is not staying in Syria. | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
It is already spilling over to Iraq, it is spilling over to Lebanon. It | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
is spilling into Turkey and Jordan and Hezbollah is gaining a foothold | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
on the hills in the Golan which will open a second front towards | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
Israel. The notion that this isn't going to drag in other parties | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
where we do have great interests I am afraid is a bit of a pipe dream. | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
A final thought from Congressman Schiff, in your judgment, whatever | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
the disagreements we have heard here, in your judgment do you think | :13:34. | :13:40. | |
the United States will be more deeply involved in a year's time in | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
Syria? Yes I do. If we take this step now of getting more militarily | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
involved we will inevitably be called upon to do for more all the | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
reasons mentioned. Once we make this a proxy war with Russia and | :13:53. | :13:55. | |
Hezbollah. Once we put the credibility of the United States on | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
the line to that degree, then the arguments become irresistable that | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
we have to do more. If the battle is still not going well then we | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
have to do more, we have to provide more weapons, meer sophisticated | :14:07. | :14:12. | |
weapons. That is how you end -- more sophisticated weapons. That is | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
how you end up with mission creep and get more involved in and | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
getting sucked in. After two wars, drawing down from one and another | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
one there is little appetite to get involved in a third war in yet | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
another Muslim country. Thank you very much both of you. | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
The first public glimpse of the new royal babey a few hours ago is the | :14:31. | :14:36. | |
beginning of a life lived under the flash bulbs and the TV lens. The | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
little Prince, unnamed as yet, is being born into a society where | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
privacy is, if not dead, is difficult to achieve. His | :14:45. | :14:50. | |
grandmother, Diana, was a victim of the the insatible appetite for | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
information about the Royals. Since she died everybody who has a mobile | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
phone is capable of publishing information. The Duke and Duchess | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
of Cambridge looking like normal and happy parents, how normal can | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
their baby's life possibly be. In a moment we will hear from David | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
Starkey and Martin Bashir. First we report, as you might expect there | :15:09. | :15:17. | |
is some flash photography. The new Prince makes his bow in the | :15:17. | :15:23. | |
arms of his mother. If the movement had been choreographed to look | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
relaxed and natural, and perhaps it was, it could scarcely have gone | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
any better. The proud parents in their informal, co-ordinating gear. | :15:32. | :15:40. | |
Body guards and flunkies well out of site. He has a God pair of lungs | :15:40. | :15:46. | |
on him, that's for -- a good pair of lungs on him, that's for sure. | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
He is a big boy, and we are working on a name. It is the first time we | :15:50. | :15:56. | |
have seen him so we are catching up. It wasn't only the new father who | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
handled reporter's questions. emotional, it is very emotional, it | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
is such a special time, any parent I think will probably know what | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
this feeling feels like. It is very special. Prince William was asked | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
about the delay between the birth and when it was announced. Was that | :16:12. | :16:18. | |
time for the family? It was, and I will remind him of his tardiness | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
when he's older, I know how long you have been waiting out here. | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
Hopefully you and the hospital can go back to normal and we can look | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
after them. It has felt like a bit of a wait for the sight of the | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
royal infant. In a spectacle witnessed only once in a generation, | :16:34. | :16:40. | |
bulletins about a future heir to the throne are displayed on | :16:40. | :16:50. | |
:16:50. | :16:53. | ||
Newsnight's called easal of news! Some day my Prince will come, but | :16:53. | :17:01. | |
when? Through the song sultry day, on-lookers took in the scene, where | :17:01. | :17:07. | |
photographers kept their watch of wandering lens. Caught between the | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
irresistable force of air time to fill, and the immovable object of | :17:11. | :17:16. | |
nothing to say, one man stood out. Daniella thank you very much, that | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
won't stop the fevered speculation here but as far as what is going on | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
at the hospital right now the news here is that we have no news. | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
People have found your take on it refreshing, they look at you and | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
see something has perhaps died in your eyes for the time being? | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
hasn't dyed. I have covered the Royal Family for many years in a | :17:35. | :17:39. | |
previous life. You have got to be very careful that you are not | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
speculating to the point where you lose the viewers' trust. I speak as | :17:42. | :17:47. | |
I find. I think you have to. If you walk outside a hospital, hour upon | :17:47. | :17:52. | |
hour and nothing has happened, it is a bit difficult to sustain hour | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
after hour. We are expected today do that and I will do my best at it, | :17:58. | :18:04. | |
but I won't lie about with what I'm saying. | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
The Prince was asked if he had changed add nappy yet. I have done | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
that already. He's done a few already. It is very, very good. | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
different from the home life of our own dear Queen who reportedly | :18:18. | :18:26. | |
outsourced a lot of the hands on childcare to servants. Kate | :18:26. | :18:32. | |
Middleton and Prince William put their DNA into a Kenwood blender, | :18:32. | :18:38. | |
and the resulting smoothie is an extraordinary combination of royal | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
and middle-class. The challenge for the pair is to enjoy bringing up a | :18:41. | :18:51. | |
:18:51. | :18:51. | ||
child that is essentially the first royal middle-class baby. They will | :18:51. | :19:00. | |
attempt to give this child as normal an upbringing, if you regard | :19:00. | :19:05. | |
Weatherby, Ludgrove follow bid Eton as normal. In the current | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
configuration of our Government it is normal and quite common. They | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
will do that for this child, but I think there will be a lot of | :19:11. | :19:21. | |
:19:21. | :19:21. | ||
Berkshire, and there will be a lot of Malborough rather than Eton. We | :19:21. | :19:27. | |
may see them looking at upper middle-class rather than royal. | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
Admittedly a prosperous middle- class father, Prince William | :19:30. | :19:39. | |
strapped his son into his 4X4 and drove his family home from hospital. | :19:39. | :19:45. | |
All unknowing, the newest royal has had his first encounter with a huge | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
media interest, which has been repellent to members of hits family | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
at times, which these days is a large part of what they are -- of | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
his family at times, which these days is a large part of what they | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
are here for. David Starkey is here in the studio and Martin Bashir, | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
who famously interviewed Princess Diana for Panorama at a troubled | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
time for the House of Windsor joins us from New York. | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
First of all, Princess Diana lived her life under a great deal of | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
scrutiny and was very unhappy about it at times. Do you think that's | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
the kind of fate that awaits the new Prince? It could, but I think | :20:21. | :20:27. | |
there are three encouraging signs. This is largely to do with Prince | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
William. First of all Prince William has beefed up the media | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
operation following his father Prince Charles to the extent that | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
now they have a media and marketing department that's akin to any | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
institution in the United Kingdom. No longer do we have a couple of | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
thumpingly good chaps who have come down from military service that are | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
dabbling a bit in the media, these are now professional media | :20:52. | :20:58. | |
operators. Secondly, the Duchess of Cambridge shows no inclination to | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
breach any of the royal protocols of privacy that of course people | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
like myself and others in journalism were able to exploit | :21:05. | :21:13. | |
with the late Princess of Wales. She doesn't display any willingness | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
to disclose her feelings or troubles to anyone outside the | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
Royal Family. The third reason why people don't need to be so | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
pessimistic about this child's future in front of the lens is the | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
British press is to some extent could youed and bowed following the | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
phone hacking inquire -- cowed and bowed following the phone hacking | :21:30. | :21:35. | |
inquiry. It was a text message on Prince William's cellphone that | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
provoked inquiries about whether someone was hacking a member of the | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
Royal Family's home. This was a reference to a knee injury. That | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
then spawned all the other inquiries. This year alone we have | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
seen public servants go to jail for selling information to national | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
newspapers. I think that kind of example has probably discouraged | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
people. In the past I'm sure some of the tabloids would have been | :22:00. | :22:07. | |
thinking about offering a few quid to people who work at the Lindo | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
Wing at St Mary's Paddington. They are discouraged in doing that at | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
the moment because of Leveson and what we have seen. How do you view | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
this, clearly this was a very beautifully choreographed bit of | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
normality, and ordinariness. The father, we can run some pictures of | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
some of those scenes, the father strapping the baby into the car. | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
The immensely expensive 4X4. Very beautifully polished, which clearly | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
we hadn't polished. But yes. That is part of the story that we are | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
watching? I think it is. We have been talking, remember, about | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
middle-class monarchy ever since Victoria and Albert, the embrace of | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
middle-class values, the middle- class style of living, the contempt | :22:52. | :22:58. | |
of the high aristocracy for the Victorian monarchy. They sneered | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
that this royal "can I". What is new about The Middles and Kate and | :23:03. | :23:09. | |
William is the reality -- the Middleton, and Kate and William is | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
the reality is notching towards the myth. We are seeing this incredibly | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
delicate balance between totally ordinary behaviour, William has got | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
himself a new estuary accent, and at the same time the specialness, | :23:21. | :23:25. | |
which we never want to lose. The myth is between those two things. | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
Do you think, the way you said that makes me think that British people | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
get both sides of it, they get their sort of just like us, but | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
they are not at all like us? Celebrity is the same, you want | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
them to be the same, but at the same time you fantasise about | :23:43. | :23:52. | |
becking ham palace in exactly the - - BeckinghamPalace in exactly the | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
same way. And Kate understands, saying every family having a baby | :23:56. | :23:59. | |
goes through this. The reason family monarchy that we have got | :24:00. | :24:07. | |
works so well is it taps into universal experiences, slightly | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
tipsy grandmas, some what off uncles, boisterous younger brothers, | :24:11. | :24:17. | |
and the whole process of birth, marriage and death. I want to bring | :24:17. | :24:22. | |
that point about boisterous younger brothers, you are sure they will | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
retain a degree of privacy. We also know the media is just not pulling | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
in the editors and giving them a telling off and whatever Leveson | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
will do to cow them. It is also Prince Harry having photographs | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
taken in a hotel room in Las Vegas and published so everyone can see. | :24:39. | :24:44. | |
It is no so easy to control? It is not, but it is not the most helpful | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
thing playing strip poker with young ladies who are attractive and | :24:50. | :24:54. | |
drunk that you met a few hours before commencing your game. That | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
is not the most sensible thing. We accept this is a digital world, and | :24:57. | :25:05. | |
all of these forces are at work. They apply to anybody who is a | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
public figure. I was photographed recently coming out of a jazz club, | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
and the photo-grat appeared to suggest that I wasn't entirely | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
sober. I was actually and I had just been there on my own without | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
any alcohol. That is part of what this means. But I do think keep in | :25:21. | :25:25. | |
mind the power and force of Her Majesty the Queen throughout this. | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
David Starkey and yourself were talking earlier about that | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
difficult period, I did that interview and it was broadcast in | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
1995. Windsor Castle fire happened, the divorce and death of Princess | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
Diana. That was a terribly difficult time, one of the things | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
that has been continuous has been Her Majesty's absolute | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
unimpeachable character and service to the nation. And I think that | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
British people feel well disposed to the Royal Family, principally | :25:55. | :26:00. | |
because of her role. This is not an ordinary bunch of celebrities on to | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
whom we can project our own aspirations and expectations. This | :26:05. | :26:11. | |
has at the centre a woman who, as I said, has a profound character of | :26:11. | :26:14. | |
commitment and service and duty that British people respect | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
enormously. I want to bring in David Starkey on the other part of | :26:18. | :26:23. | |
the family, which is the Middletons themselves. We touched on middle- | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
class values, people say it is the first time commoners will be the | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
grandparents to king. That isn't true? Look at the family tree of | :26:32. | :26:37. | |
most of Henry's wife. Queen Elizabeth had a second cousin who | :26:37. | :26:44. | |
was a blacksmith. Ranking a good deal below the Middletons. The | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
Middletons are not all that ordinary middle-class, ordinary | :26:49. | :26:57. | |
children don't send three children to Malborough at �26,000 a year. | :26:57. | :27:03. | |
They are self-made people and people can relate to that? With the | :27:03. | :27:09. | |
Middleton the myth of the middle- class monarchy has made another | :27:09. | :27:14. | |
edging towards that. You are edging away from a great Victorian Vision | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
of enormous households service, and a vast family, towards something | :27:18. | :27:23. | |
which is much more like a modern nuclear family. That is an | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
interesting point, because a Royal Courtier said to me that people | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
love the monarchy and the Queen but they don't like too much of the | :27:31. | :27:33. | |
extended family? That's right. But the really important thing about | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
changing the rules of the succession, to the rage of | :27:37. | :27:40. | |
assembled feminists, this is a boy, so we will have three kings in a | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
row. But when you say that the eldest succeeds irrespective, why | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
do we need HRH hangers on. To use that rather unkind term. Why do we | :27:49. | :27:53. | |
need the Kents and Gloucesters any more, we don't. I think what we are | :27:53. | :28:02. | |
going to see is a move ever closer to a standard upper-class family. | :28:02. | :28:06. | |
It is only the upper-classes that marry, and marriage is key here. It | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
is not quite pop but it will be more normal, with a gradual discard | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
of the hangers on. Thank you very much both of you. | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
Now, in the 1950s, what was billed at a new wonder drug, thalidomide | :28:20. | :28:25. | |
was prescribeed to some pregnant women to help them overcome the | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
symptoms of morning sick test, the side-effects were severe and the | :28:28. | :28:33. | |
drug was banned. Now a new scientific study seen exclusively | :28:33. | :28:38. | |
by Newsnight shows that thalidomide is still causing birth defects | :28:38. | :28:45. | |
today. It has been relicensed in Brazil to help leprosy. It is | :28:45. | :28:52. | |
believed 100 babies have been born with 200 -- since 205 with injuries | :28:52. | :28:56. | |
caused by the thalidomide of the past. We were told this could never | :28:56. | :29:04. | |
happen again. That no child would be so terribly damaged. No family | :29:04. | :29:12. | |
forced to live with the stigma. But Alan is living proof that is not | :29:12. | :29:19. | |
true. Thalidomide was meant to be been contained, controlled and made | :29:20. | :29:25. | |
safe. But it is still mutilating limbs and continuitying lives. Alan | :29:25. | :29:33. | |
lives in a small town in rural Brazil. His response to the wrong | :29:33. | :29:39. | |
the drug has done him is to improvise and adapt, with an eight- | :29:39. | :29:43. | |
year-old's energy and appetite for life. And he has ambitions too. His | :29:43. | :29:51. | |
mother wants him to be a lawyer, but Alan has other plans. When you | :29:51. | :29:56. | |
get older and you go and get a job, what do you think you want to do | :29:56. | :30:06. | |
:30:06. | :30:10. | ||
with your life? TRANSLATION: professional footballer. First | :30:10. | :30:14. | |
marketed in the late 1950s, thalidomide was sold as a wonder | :30:14. | :30:22. | |
drug, so safe it was given to pregnant women for morning sickness. | :30:22. | :30:26. | |
10,000 thalidomide babies were worn worldwide, more than 400 in Britain | :30:26. | :30:32. | |
before it was officially withdrawn in 1962. But thalidomide never | :30:32. | :30:36. | |
really went away. This factory produces about eight million pills | :30:36. | :30:42. | |
a year. It is cheap and highly effective at streeting a disease | :30:42. | :30:50. | |
that stalks Brazil's slums. Leprosy. Here health workers spread out | :30:50. | :30:55. | |
across a favela near Rio deJanuary near row, showing people how to | :30:55. | :31:01. | |
spot signs of the disease and encouraging them to come for free | :31:01. | :31:08. | |
testing. Artur Custodio is from the National Leprosy Organisation. | :31:09. | :31:14. | |
TRANSLATION: Brazil is number one in the world for leprosy cases, | :31:14. | :31:19. | |
after Brazils Congo, and East Timor. In absolute numbers Brazil is | :31:19. | :31:22. | |
behind India which has a bigger population. It varies around the | :31:22. | :31:29. | |
country because leprosy is a disease of forgotten populations. | :31:29. | :31:35. | |
On the surface Brazil may look like it is booming. It has the sixth- | :31:35. | :31:41. | |
biggest economy in the world, larger than Britain's, and a GDP of | :31:41. | :31:45. | |
�1.6 trillion. But there is a very different Brazil beyond the | :31:45. | :31:50. | |
playgrounds of the elite. The gap between rich and poor is immense | :31:50. | :31:55. | |
here. While Brazil has as many billionares as France and Spain put | :31:55. | :32:01. | |
together, 16 million people here have to live on less than �1 a day. | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
With poor healthcare and massive overcrowding. Perfect conditions | :32:05. | :32:12. | |
for leprosy to thrive. Favelas crowd in on all the big | :32:12. | :32:15. | |
cities here. People leaving the countryside gain a precarious | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
foothold on the fringes of this society. The country's boom seems | :32:19. | :32:25. | |
barely to have touched them. After years of Government inaction, | :32:25. | :32:30. | |
leprosy is now being tackled head on. Mass education campaigns are | :32:30. | :32:36. | |
reaching out into the slums. At this event even Miss Brazil puts in | :32:36. | :32:42. | |
an appearence to encourage people to come and use this testing van. | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
TRANSLATION: People give greater support and look for more | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
information. We want to get the message out about early treatment. | :32:49. | :32:52. | |
Because from the moment the person takes the medicine for the first | :32:52. | :32:57. | |
time, he or she stops being able to pass on the disease to other people. | :32:57. | :33:03. | |
So this information is very important. And come they do. A | :33:03. | :33:07. | |
detailed medical history is taken, blood test too, then an examination | :33:07. | :33:12. | |
by a doctor. For this man it is a quick diagnosis, much of his back | :33:12. | :33:22. | |
is disfigured by the illness. But as more sufferers are identified, | :33:22. | :33:27. | |
so the need for thalidomide grows. And at this clinic in the suburbs | :33:27. | :33:30. | |
of Rio half the patients use the medicine. Such is the taboo that | :33:30. | :33:36. | |
still cloaks the illness, we are asked not to show their faces. But | :33:37. | :33:46. | |
:33:47. | :33:47. | ||
one patient, being examined by her doctor let us see how thalidomide | :33:47. | :33:56. | |
has reduced the painful leisons on her arm. And she proudly shows us | :33:56. | :34:01. | |
her son Pedro she had him before she began the treatment. | :34:01. | :34:06. | |
TRANSLATION: I know that I need the medicine, that if I don't take the | :34:06. | :34:09. | |
contraceptive pills I could get pregnant and have a disabled child. | :34:10. | :34:13. | |
I don't think it is fair to bring a disabled kid into the world just | :34:13. | :34:17. | |
because of being careless. I have already had my son, who is my whole | :34:17. | :34:22. | |
life, and I don't think it would be right to have another child who was | :34:22. | :34:27. | |
disabled. But she believes others aren't as careful as she is. | :34:27. | :34:30. | |
TRANSLATION: No because if they were more careful there wouldn't be | :34:30. | :34:34. | |
children with so many defects. There are people who don't think | :34:34. | :34:42. | |
about their child, just about themselves. Thalidomide is kept | :34:42. | :34:48. | |
looked away in a secure room. Dr Fernanda Vianna is shown how it is | :34:48. | :34:55. | |
stored and dispensed. She's an epidemiologyist, a chemist who has | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
carried out the largest study in the effects of the drug. How | :34:58. | :35:04. | |
dangerous potentially is this drug? This drug it is possible to produce | :35:04. | :35:13. | |
malformations, very difficult to manage throughout life. | :35:13. | :35:19. | |
analysed 17 million births between 2005-2010. The study shows in | :35:20. | :35:23. | |
places where more thalidomide is used there is a higher than | :35:23. | :35:32. | |
expected number of birth defects. TRANSLATION: So we found after the | :35:32. | :35:37. | |
six years of research a strong correlation, a significant and | :35:37. | :35:41. | |
positive correlation between the amount of thalidomide dispensed and | :35:41. | :35:46. | |
the type of congenital defects and the occurrance of these defects and | :35:46. | :35:53. | |
in particular limb reduction reeffects. The research also showed | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
the highest number of cases were in areas of extreme poverty, where | :35:57. | :36:02. | |
leprosy is pref vent. She admits to being shocked by the -- prevalent. | :36:02. | :36:09. | |
She admits to be shocked by the results. TRANSLATION: We had 100 | :36:09. | :36:14. | |
cases in six years similar to thalidomide syndrome. We couldn't | :36:14. | :36:18. | |
evaluate each case, we couldn't say all cases are thalidomide syndrome. | :36:18. | :36:24. | |
But this type of defect is very rare. These are just some of the | :36:24. | :36:29. | |
forms that a woman last to fill out. There should be tight controls when | :36:29. | :36:34. | |
thalidomide is prescribeed. A woman must be using two forms of birth | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
control and agree to regular pregnancy tests, but the system | :36:37. | :36:40. | |
isn't fail safe. Some patients don't understand the prestrixs and | :36:40. | :36:47. | |
in Brazil it is common for people to share medication. Are these | :36:47. | :36:52. | |
controls enough? We have some problems and some situations that | :36:52. | :37:00. | |
some patients don't have a lot of information. The exchange of the | :37:00. | :37:05. | |
information is so difficult in some situations that the physicians | :37:05. | :37:09. | |
explains but the patient doesn't understand so it is difficult in | :37:09. | :37:16. | |
some situations. This is what seems to have happened to Alan. His | :37:16. | :37:21. | |
father had leprosy and was taking thalidomide. His mother says she | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
was feeling ill and took several different pills from the medicine | :37:24. | :37:31. | |
cabinet, without knowing she was pregnant. TRANSLATION: I got it and | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
took it when I was feeling sick, not well. So I got the medicine and | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
took it. I had already taken others like paracetamol to make myself | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
feel better without knowing I was pregnant. His father said that the | :37:43. | :37:46. | |
doctor didn't tell him that women couldn't take it. He said they | :37:46. | :37:54. | |
didn't tell him anything about it. For doctors who use the drug every | :37:54. | :38:00. | |
day, there is no dilemma. How good is it as a drug? The best.The | :38:00. | :38:05. | |
best? For this type of reaction it is the best drug. There will be | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
many people in my country who say I'm shocked that thalidomide is | :38:10. | :38:19. | |
still used. You have the ghosts of thalidomide in the 50s, I | :38:19. | :38:28. | |
understand, but they should forget their ghosts. It is a drug. We have | :38:28. | :38:38. | |
:38:38. | :38:38. | ||
other drugs why thalidomide, only thalidomide. I think these ghosts | :38:38. | :38:46. | |
will disappear as soon as the older people die. Such is the need for | :38:46. | :38:52. | |
thalidomide that the Government has more than doubled its order from | :38:52. | :38:57. | |
this factory. TRANSLATION: Nowadays there is a myth about thalidomide. | :38:57. | :39:02. | |
People are afraid of thalidomide. People are afraid of taking it and | :39:02. | :39:07. | |
people are afraid of being anywhere near it. But I think with | :39:07. | :39:12. | |
information and publicity about the benefits that thalidomide brings to | :39:12. | :39:16. | |
patients, this myth can be overcome. Because the benefits outweigh the | :39:16. | :39:21. | |
risks. No-one is saying that thalidomide | :39:21. | :39:24. | |
should be banned, it is far too important a medicine for that. But | :39:25. | :39:30. | |
this is a deeply unequal country. It is the poor who suffer most from | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
leprosy, and because of bad education and inadequate healthcare | :39:34. | :39:41. | |
it is the children of the poor most likely to be damaged by thalidomide. | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
Thalidomide is a terrifying part of medical history, that it is still | :39:45. | :39:54. | |
able to mutilate young bodies today will horrify many. The complex | :39:54. | :39:59. | |
causes makes poverty with disease, ignorance and simple bad luck. Alan | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
is living proof that more than 50 years after thalidomide was first | :40:03. | :40:05. | |
withdrawn there is a second generation of children who are | :40:06. | :40:14. | |
having to live with the terrible damage it can cause. Now, we can | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
assume that with grandparents like Prince Charles and the Middletons, | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
not to mention a great-grand mother of some influence, that the new | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
royal baby can count on a considerable amount of financial | :40:26. | :40:31. | |
system from the Bank of Granny and Granddad. So do others, | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
grandparents are paying for mortgages, holidays, and even | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
school uniforms. They shell almost �2,000 a year to support family | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
life. According to a new report the grey pound is keeping a big role in | :40:43. | :40:49. | |
keeping families afloat. For years we have been told that the baby- | :40:49. | :40:53. | |
boomers have had it all, secure jobs, final salary pensions and | :40:53. | :40:59. | |
often a second or third home thanks to a massive housing boom. But is a | :40:59. | :41:05. | |
quiet and voluntary redistribution going on between the generations? A | :41:05. | :41:09. | |
survey by GP Morgan suggests more than a third of grandparents | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
contribute to their families' living costs, helping pay for | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
mortgages, school clothes and even the family car. It adds up to | :41:18. | :41:25. | |
almost �1500 a year, plus another �1,000 of free childcare. So is | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
that sustainable? Or even desirable. Or is redistribution from old to | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
young really the Government's job. By scrapping free TV licenses and | :41:35. | :41:38. | |
increasing the retirement age, or even higher taxes on pensions. All | :41:38. | :41:46. | |
have been suggested to pass money to a struggling next generation. We | :41:46. | :41:49. | |
have the editor with saga magazine aimed at the over 50s, and we have | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
the author of Jilted Generation, a book about how those in their 20s | :41:54. | :41:59. | |
and 30s may be losing out. Do you think we understatement how much | :41:59. | :42:05. | |
grandparents do? I think it is a very visceral thing to want to give | :42:05. | :42:11. | |
money to your family. I think that when times are hard the impact that | :42:11. | :42:15. | |
grandparents can have on keeping families afloat is greater than | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
when we are going through good times. Do you think that however | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
much people in their 20s and 30s feel they may be losing out, | :42:24. | :42:28. | |
grandparents are filling up a lot of the holes in our social life and | :42:28. | :42:32. | |
apparently our financial life as well? And families will be families | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
as Emma has said, you can't really legislate against that, that would | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
be utterly ensane. The question is really why do young families in | :42:41. | :42:51. | |
:42:51. | :42:52. | ||
their late 20s and early 30s need this kind of help. Why if they are | :42:52. | :42:55. | |
in work are they not able to do these things themselves without | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
relying on older parents. answer to that is these are really | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
hard times for everybody, as you say families will do the best they | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
can, grandparents will do the best they can. There is no going back to | :43:07. | :43:12. | |
the golden age where the baby- boomers got MIRAS and free | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
university places, it is not going to happen again? Why not. The | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
question is this, we know that young adults today are suffering | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
massively in terms of housing costs, if they want to buy a house they | :43:23. | :43:26. | |
have to pay over the odds for it. Historically speaking if they are | :43:26. | :43:28. | |
renting they are paying over the odds in the private sector and | :43:29. | :43:32. | |
there isn't enough social housing to go around and yet we don't, we | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
are not really doing anything about the housing issue in this country | :43:35. | :43:39. | |
except to chuck some loan guarantees at it, which all | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
economyists agree will boost the price of those who already own | :43:43. | :43:49. | |
homes. What do you think of this? In a way grandparents are | :43:49. | :43:51. | |
redistributing some wealth, is that the Government's role? Should they | :43:51. | :43:57. | |
do more about it? Or should people get used to the fact? The key word | :43:57. | :44:02. | |
in the introduction was the word "voluntary", people are much | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
happier choosing where they give their money. So they give it to | :44:06. | :44:11. | |
their families and to the very generations that we're talking | :44:11. | :44:18. | |
about. The other thing is that they are actually taking, if you like, | :44:18. | :44:25. | |
the value of their houses, this is what is enabling them to give the | :44:25. | :44:28. | |
money. But they have the security that perhaps owning your own home | :44:28. | :44:32. | |
and having paid off the mortgage gives them. Disposable income in | :44:32. | :44:37. | |
the over 60s is now greater than people in their 20s, is that the | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
Government's job to change that or should they just say that is fine? | :44:40. | :44:45. | |
There is no doubt that this is a very lucky generation. I couldn't | :44:45. | :44:51. | |
possibly argue against that, it is a sort of whatever, it is a perfect | :44:51. | :44:56. | |
storm of the last of the final salary pension, and the property | :44:56. | :45:02. | |
boom. But it isn't going to last. Already final salary pensions are | :45:02. | :45:09. | |
dying. Even I'm in my early 60s, I'm not going to get that. So this | :45:09. | :45:17. | |
isn't going to last. When these the wealth from this important is | :45:17. | :45:22. | |
passed down it is exactly filtered down to the very people that we | :45:23. | :45:27. | |
want to help. About the sort of things being handed down things. | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
When people are having families it is biologically limited, if that | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
doesn't happen for another 30, 40 years then that generation then | :45:35. | :45:38. | |
what do they do. The other aspect of this is what you have been | :45:38. | :45:42. | |
saying underlies the point really, it is well look yes we have done | :45:42. | :45:48. | |
very well, but you know get off our backs now none the less, the future | :45:48. | :45:51. | |
will look after itself, but we don't want to pay any cost towards | :45:51. | :45:55. | |
making that happen. There isn't a plan in this country actually to | :45:56. | :45:59. | |
figure out what we are going to do over the next 20 years. We do have | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
a plan about the ageing society and the social care costs, we are | :46:02. | :46:05. | |
starting to put that together. We don't have a plan about housing, we | :46:05. | :46:09. | |
don't have a plan about how to get extra school places now there is a | :46:09. | :46:13. | |
mini-baby-boom going on at this point in time. We are really, | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
really bad in this country about future planning. The Office of | :46:17. | :46:19. | |
Budget Responsibility last week was saying this is a problem that | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
affects all of us. Looking forward healthcare costs for an ageing | :46:23. | :46:26. | |
population, increasing pension costs, public pension costs are | :46:26. | :46:29. | |
going to suck money out of the economy. There will be a black hole. | :46:29. | :46:35. | |
Do you not see any argument for either taxing those who work of a | :46:35. | :46:39. | |
certain age or taxing people who are older to help pay for the | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
younger generation to get a better standard of living? But I don't | :46:42. | :46:47. | |
think you can run a taxation system, you can't put in a special tax rate | :46:47. | :46:52. | |
just because people are over 60s and prosperous. The answer is there | :46:52. | :46:57. | |
are perfectly good tax bands and if you are working you pay tax on it. | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
Yeah the over 60s already enjoy special tax and favours, one | :47:01. | :47:05. | |
example, national insurance, if you are over 65 you don't pay national | :47:05. | :47:10. | |
insurance, why? The reason is you can claim a pension, it would be | :47:10. | :47:18. | |
ludicrous to pay a pension and give it back. A million over 60s work. | :47:18. | :47:24. | |
There are small ano mam lease in the system. I will stick my head on | :47:24. | :47:29. | |
to the block of the bus pass and say I do think it is a huge | :47:29. | :47:37. | |
anomally of wealthy pensioners getting free bus passes, et cetera. | :47:37. | :47:41. | |
Prince William says they are still working on a name, here is a | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
reminder of a few options on the table. This is curtesy of a | :47:44. | :47:50. | |
children's programme that all grown-ups secretly watch, BBC's | :47:50. | :48:00. | |
:48:00. | :48:22. | ||
Good evening, certainly not done with the storms yet. In fact in the | :48:22. | :48:26. | |
last few hours it has certainly been very thundery across northern | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
parts of Britain. As far as Wednesday goes, I don't think the | :48:29. | :48:33. | |
thunder showers and the downpours will be as widespread as what we | :48:33. | :48:37. | |
have had in the last day or so. In Northern Ireland certainly a chance | :48:37. | :48:39. | |
of some showers growing through the course of the afternoon, that is | :48:39. | :48:44. | |
the case also for parts of Scotland. I think the morning across eastern | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
Scotland and the borders will be wetter and more thundery than the | :48:47. | :48:50. | |
afternoon. Looking at the rest of the country, the heat of the day | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
will develop big shower clouds and one or two locations, but they will | :48:54. | :48:58. | |
be well scattered. That means there will be plenty of fine and dry | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
weather, temperatures will get up to around 25 degrees, still very | :49:01. | :49:06. | |
humid. These thunder storms we have recently had, they haven't cleared | :49:06. | :49:11. | |
away, all that humidity. Quite often when we talk about a thundery | :49:11. | :49:13. | |
breakdown, we mean fresher conditions reach the country. That | :49:13. | :49:17. | |
has not really been the case. Nor will it be the case on Thursday. We | :49:17. | :49:22. | |
will see the area of rain splashing its way across the UK. Thunder | :49:22. | :49:25. | |
storms too and thunderstorms with sunshine to the south. Look at the | :49:25. | :49:30. | |
temperatures still well into the 20s, we are not getting that fresh | :49:30. | :49:33. |