Browse content similar to 13/08/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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wealthier. It's not that we've done anything much. No brilliant idea, no | :00:09. | :00:12. | |
productive overtime. It's just that some title deeds are worth more now | :00:12. | :00:21. | |
than they were a year ago. Nice if you own your own home. | :00:21. | :00:25. | |
So long boys. It's like that Disney cartoon with | :00:25. | :00:27. | |
housing rising ever higher, supposedly taking our spirits with | :00:27. | :00:33. | |
it. Of course you have to be old enough or lucky enough to own | :00:33. | :00:35. | |
property. Is this any way to run an economy? | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
This sight is something plenty of Israelis don't like - Palestinian | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
prisoners being freed to help along negotiations. Is there any sensible | :00:41. | :00:46. | |
prospect of settlement talks achieving anything? | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
America insists the two sides can do it, but to some even the idea of a | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
two state solution now seems far-fetched. | :00:54. | :01:02. | |
Who writes letters nowadays? Der Mr President, first I would like to | :01:02. | :01:12. | |
:01:12. | :01:14. | ||
introduce myself, I'm Elvis press rid and -- Presley. | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
Has the tyranny of the kilobyte killed letter writing. A poet and a | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
tweeter cross pen and stylus. And publicans across the country are | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
calling last orders and closing down their pubs. Is drinking beer now an | :01:25. | :01:35. | |
:01:35. | :01:42. | ||
Britain is becoming even more expensive than it already is. This | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
is held to be a sign that the economy is shuffling out of the | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
intensive care ward. House prices are rising at their fastest pace in | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
seven years. The Government has proclaimed its commitment to | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
boosting the cost of property, despite the advice that they're | :01:56. | :02:02. | |
playing with fire, by stoking up a potential property bubble. Before we | :02:02. | :02:12. | |
:02:12. | :02:12. | ||
talk, Sancha Berg has been out in a spring in their step. House prices | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
rose most in London, but next is the West Midlands. After years of a | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
sluggish housing market, here in Coventry, agents are busy again. | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
Well, I would say there is a increase and interest probably from | :02:27. | :02:33. | |
the beginning of 2013. It started to move from then, but most especially | :02:33. | :02:39. | |
in the last couple of months. And very much geared on first time | :02:39. | :02:45. | |
buyer market to the release of the Government incentive scheme which | :02:45. | :02:51. | |
was April 2013. So it has moved from there. | :02:51. | :02:58. | |
This new house is on sale at �125,000. That's affordable for many | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
Coventry couples. Max told me the average salary for first-time buyers | :03:02. | :03:07. | |
is about �25,000. And he is found lenders can be more generous if | :03:07. | :03:13. | |
people are helped by the Government to buy. With the Government scheme, | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
the Government will give you a loan up to 20% and you only have to find | :03:19. | :03:26. | |
5%. And with those parameters, the building societies are taking a it a | :03:26. | :03:33. | |
little bit easier. They are less tough. So you will get an easier | :03:33. | :03:39. | |
ride if you are on the Government scheme? Definitely.Around the | :03:39. | :03:45. | |
corner, a bigger new estate with almost all the houses sold. I spoke | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
to one couple in their 20s who just arrived. I moved in at the end of | :03:51. | :03:57. | |
June. And it is your first house? Yes and | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
we used the help to buy scheme. that make the difference for you? | :04:01. | :04:08. | |
Yes, it is like a 5% deposit down and the Government covered 20% of | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
the value of the property. Tell us about the house? It is a | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
three bed. It has a kitchen and down stair toilet, lounge and all we | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
could ask for. Dwo double bedrooms as well. | :04:19. | :04:25. | |
A garden so it is perfect for us and especially if marriage comes along | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
and children. Yeah, we are not going to need to | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
move for a long time. He is a teacher, she works in a | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
bank. In London, their peers couldn't afford a house like this. | :04:37. | :04:43. | |
Even with Government help. House prices in London slumped in 2009 | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
ever since they have been rising. In the West Midlands and other regions | :04:48. | :04:54. | |
they didn't increase so fast. So the affordability gap between the | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
capital and other areas has widened. In 2005 you needed he nearly seven | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
times the average salary to buy a house in London. Nearly six times | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
the average salary for the UK as a whole. Over the years, that | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
difference has grown. Now, you need eight times the average salary for a | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
London home just over five times the average salary for the UK as a | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
whole. The Government scheme has allowed families to buy new houses | :05:22. | :05:28. | |
like these. But generally across the country, a number of new housing | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
starts remains low. So according to the laws of supply and demand, as | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
long as the number of new homes remains relatively small, the price | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
of housing is likely to keep rising. Many believe the Government scheme | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
is supporting an unsustainable housing bubble. It is really about | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
looking at the underlying issues here and there isn't a single | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
economist that I have spoken to who thinks that the Government's current | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
scheme help to buy is a good idea. Basically, what they are doing is, | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
it is printing money for banks so they can lend more to keep house | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
prices high rather than actually creating more capital which ie | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
building more homes. Next year, the help to buy scheme is | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
to be extended. What that will mean, looks very different from London and | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
from Coventry. As the rules are lifted, the | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
restrictions are lifted and everyone gets in on this tax payer funded | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
bonanza and then again, house prices will rise and a lot more people will | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
be left behind. We will have house price increases, | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
but we will have a steady growth which is good for everyone because | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
house prices in this area are very, very affordable. As you will see | :06:43. | :06:49. | |
from this house. So is the Government in danger of | :06:49. | :06:56. | |
blowing bubbles? Ed Howker is a journalist and co-author of Jilted | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
Generation. Gillian Tett is Assistant Editor at the Financial | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
Times and from the Home Builders' Federation, John Stewart. Do you | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
think this is something we should be celebrating? Absolutely not. I think | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
help to buy is stupid because in the medium-term to long-term we will | :07:09. | :07:14. | |
find ourselves in a situation where people will not be able to afford | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
houses unless they get into incredible amounts of debt. Debt | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
which previous generations could not imagine and didn't have to get into | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
when they bought houses. You are pleased because the | :07:24. | :07:31. | |
Chancellor is making your job easier for you Yes, we are. Help to buy and | :07:31. | :07:34. | |
helpfully has two different parts. The first part which is operating | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
now is helping boost new home production. There is no doubt about | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
that. The second part, the mortgage guarantee scheme doesn't kick in | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
until next year and that is the one that caused the angst. | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
And when that kicks in next year, Gillian? There are two parts of the | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
scheme. What the Government is trying to do with help to buy is | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
like putting a fire lighter on a damp, summer barbecue and they are | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
hoping you will get a blaze and that will get everyone feeling more | :08:03. | :08:09. | |
positive and most importantly, get more home builders building more | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
homes. It is helping sentiment. It is like having the Royal baby and | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
Andy Murray winning Wimbledon. Suddenly everyone feels better and | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
that's good for the economy, but the missing piece is whether we are | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
going to get more homes coming through to help meet the supply | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
issue as well. Is there any prospect realistically | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
and does any of you think there is a realistic prospect of houses coming | :08:34. | :08:39. | |
more into line with people's earnings? Well, the real issue is | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
you need to get demand and supply in balance and you have had tremendous | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
under investment now for the best part of two decades in the housing | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
stock and that's what needs to be addressed. We need to get more home | :08:51. | :08:58. | |
builders building homes. Gillian is right. With a problem that built up | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
20 years, it will take 20 years to solve it. There is no way we can | :09:02. | :09:08. | |
solve it in 18 months. You have had 25 years where you as | :09:08. | :09:14. | |
private developsers had control over the UK housing stock. Year after | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
year you have failed to build the required amount of houses. Now, at | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
the moment, you say that's because you can't get the lending or there | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
is insufficient demand, but what are your ex-excuses going back over 25 | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
years? You can't solve this problem on your own and you know this. | :09:29. | :09:35. | |
It has been a mortgage issue. But going back 20 years, we are talking | :09:35. | :09:40. | |
about the planning system. We have a system where the amount of land | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
available for house building is rationed by the planning system. We | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
have a plan-led system and that was introduced in 1991. | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
This is the argument about building over the green belt, is it? No. We | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
need a small increase in terms of the housing stock in numbers and | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
that would entail brown field, eight out of ten homes are built on brown | :10:00. | :10:02. | |
field land and a little bit of green field. | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
When you look at that tape and you look at what's going on in Coventry | :10:07. | :10:11. | |
and London, it doesn't make sense to have a national policy, does it? | :10:12. | :10:18. | |
Things are so seriously out of kilter. You can't see how one, the | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
same policy can have a desirable effect in both places? Well, the key | :10:23. | :10:28. | |
question is whether boosting demand will be enough to get the industry | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
producing more homes where they are needed and the problem has been a | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
time lag effect that home builders say we want to see evidence of | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
demand before we build, but it takes a long time to get homes coming | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
through and so by the time you get demand, you get a bubble and the | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
bubble starts to burst. It is the classic stop, start pattern within | :10:48. | :10:53. | |
the UK economy. Is the Government going to respond with more sticking | :10:53. | :10:59. | |
plaster sclutions -- solutions or will they address the questions | :10:59. | :11:04. | |
about why we don't have enough homes? Are you can have the dent you | :11:04. | :11:06. | |
are not participating in the inflation of a bubble? | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
Government's figures come out on Thursday which is unhelpful tonight, | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
but there are a lot of indicators which suggest that house builders | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
are gearing up. The figures from the Government today, they sold 10,000 | :11:16. | :11:21. | |
new homes in the first four months of the scheme. They only build | :11:21. | :11:24. | |
100,000 a year so you can see the scale is enormous. | :11:24. | :11:29. | |
How many homes do you need a year to address a gap? It is 300,000. | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
It is 100,000 this year. That's going to take 20 years. | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
Which is more than twice what you are building. You you have had 25 | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
years and it hasn't happened. If the Government wants to have a long-term | :11:41. | :11:46. | |
solution to the problem of housing, we need to push all the leavers that | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
will create production of houses. That's the fundamental and vital | :11:50. | :11:57. | |
point and that means social housing, it can mean private sector build to | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
he let and another point which makes this more difficult for the next | :12:02. | :12:04. | |
generation who are trying to get on the housing ladder and pay the | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
mortgages and find a way of raising the capital. In the last 10 or 15 | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
years, there has been a massive introduction of speculation and | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
buy-to-let has been driving the increase in homes and the value of | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
homes. This is a massive problem because there is a new entrant which | :12:19. | :12:22. | |
makes it more difficult for young people to get into the housing | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
market. Let's put that question of justice | :12:26. | :12:31. | |
to one side and ask a bigger question which is or another | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
question which is this any sensible way to run an economy? Relying upon | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
this sort of stimulus coming from housing? Well, an economy where the | :12:39. | :12:43. | |
only thing that makes people feel good is rising house prices is not a | :12:43. | :12:48. | |
good way to run an economy. I think Britain needs to get away from its | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
obsession with owning houses and an obsession of house prices as the | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
basis of wealth. You are seeing a rising split between the older | :12:56. | :12:58. | |
generation and the younger generation that does not. | :12:58. | :13:04. | |
The solution is to build more homes. More than double for a sustained | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
period, 15, 20 years and only then will we see the problem solved. It | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
took us 20 years to get where we are today and it will take us 20 years | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
to get out of it. 20 years is longer than the election | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
cycle. In the meantime, you have a | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
situation where people are priced out of the areas where there are | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
jobs. By 2020, 40% of those under 30 will be living with their parents. | :13:27. | :13:32. | |
One of my favourite stats from the data today if you knock out London | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
and the South East, the actual house price growth is nearer to 1%. London | :13:37. | :13:45. | |
has seen 8% rises and that's a stark discrepancy between London which is | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
about international money and the rest of the country. OK, there are a | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
lot of rich people who find London an easy place to come. International | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
rich people who find London an easy place to move to, to buy property | :13:57. | :14:04. | |
in, to generally make life difficult for anyone who wants to get on | :14:04. | :14:10. | |
locally. Let's take that as read. If the effect is only 1% only 1% | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
increase in value across the country, it argues, does it not | :14:15. | :14:18. | |
that, that policy is not being effective? In terms of not getting | :14:19. | :14:20. | |
enough of the bubble, enough of the increase. | :14:21. | :14:26. | |
The bubble is too small. The policy is whether the policy is to make us | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
feel good or to get more people in housing. Yes, rising house prices | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
and nice front newspaper stories boost sentiment, but it doesn't | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
really address the fundamental question about how do you get more | :14:37. | :14:44. | |
people in descent houses? You have got two look the at the two schemes. | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
You wouldn't expect that to have a significant impact on new house | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
prices, house prices across the piece. The scheme that comes in in | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
January will be for all housing, new and second-hand and across the whole | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
of the UK. You are judging today for a scheme which has not started yet. | :15:01. | :15:07. | |
Is it worth going ahead with the second part of this scheme? It is | :15:07. | :15:12. | |
like a nationalised version of sub-prime, isn't it? It is no the a | :15:12. | :15:22. | |
brilliant long-term strategy. and Freddie and has been something | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
of a disaster in terms of wasting money and distorting incentre tifrs, | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
the idea the UK would be picking up that same scheme is bonkers. If you | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
want to use Government policy, use it on the supply end of the | :15:34. | :15:42. | |
equation, not the demand end. I don't think it is sub-prime. The | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
lenders are under strict rules after the mortgage market review to not | :15:45. | :15:52. | |
lend to what we would have classified sub-prime. | :15:52. | :15:58. | |
People will be able to buy with a 5% deposit, but they will be assessed | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
by the lenders for affordability. It is not sub-prime lending. We are not | :16:02. | :16:09. | |
talking about a sub-prime boom. It is nothing like the US pre-2006. | :16:09. | :16:19. | |
Thank you very much. Coming up: | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
I'm right in the middle of the whole thing. I would love to meet you just | :16:22. | :16:30. | |
to say hello if you are not too busy. | :16:30. | :16:33. | |
The Israeli government announced today it is going to release 26 | :16:33. | :16:35. | |
Palestinian prisoners, most convicted for murder, to mark | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
another set of talks to try to find some way of brining peace to that | :16:39. | :16:49. | |
:16:49. | :17:03. | ||
troubled part of the world. The meetings begin tomorrow. Mark is | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
here. What do you think? Well, there has been a start of sorts. Those 26 | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
prisoners have left the Israeli prison, most going to Gaza, some to | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
the West Bank. There were demonstrators outside, clearly some | :17:16. | :17:22. | |
on the right of Israeli politics don't like it. There are supposed to | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
be 130 released. The two sides will convene for proper negotiations | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
tomorrow in Jerusalem. What else can you tell us about the | :17:32. | :17:40. | |
House of Commons? Well, this process has been if you like through several | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
different philosophical evolutions. You had the Madrid process in 1991 | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
which was to deal with the Middle East problem in one swoop. That | :17:48. | :17:54. | |
failed and then Oslo 20 years ago. It said OK, let's leave the | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
difficult issues to one side, the issues about Jerusalem, Palestinian | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
refugees, five million now in the Middle East and deal with what we | :18:01. | :18:07. | |
can deal with. That subsided into violence and you had President | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
Clinton who brought the sides to within a whisker of success and | :18:11. | :18:16. | |
since then they have been trying to deal with the sensitive issues such | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
as refugees, Jerusalem and settlements. | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
Any chance of it succeeding, do you think? You have only got to look at | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
the Israeli Government authorising 3,000 new housing units in the past | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
couple of days on East Jerusalem on land they conquered in 1967 and the | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
world does not recognise as sovereign Israeli land. The | :18:38. | :18:42. | |
Palestinians put that in a very, very pessimistic frame of mind, but | :18:42. | :18:45. | |
when you talk to the diplomats who dealt with these issues, they will | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
say, an Israeli Prime Minister at Camp David was prepared to discuss | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
dividing Jerusalem in 2008. We know the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud | :18:55. | :19:01. | |
Abbas, was prepared to make concessions on the refugee issues. | :19:02. | :19:06. | |
This is what John Carey says he wants the two sides to achieve in | :19:06. | :19:11. | |
nine months. The really serious blocks are I think on the Israeli | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
side, is there really a will to make the hard national choices at this | :19:14. | :19:20. | |
particular moment? Is their heart really in the peace process. On the | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
Palestinian side how can Mahmoud Abbas with his Fatah based State in | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
the West Bank deliver something or a state in the West Bank when Ham mass | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
still runs Gaza and you have to have the whole of the Palestinian | :19:32. | :19:42. | |
:19:42. | :19:46. | ||
community signing up to to any deal. Two people who have taken part in | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
previous talks are Dr Ron Pundak, a key negotiator at the start of the | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
Oslo peace process in 1993. In Ramallah is Khaled Elginy, who | :19:52. | :19:55. | |
advised in the most recent rounds of major negotiations in Annapolis | :19:55. | :20:03. | |
2007. Are you holding out hopes for these talks? | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
Well, the situation is clearly not very easy because the gap between | :20:09. | :20:16. | |
what is the maximum that the Israeli Government can offer versus the | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
minimum the Palestinians can accept is too big. It is too huge. I think | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
that the differences are unbridgeable. Now, here comes the | :20:25. | :20:31. | |
American role which must be very dominant and not allow the two sides | :20:31. | :20:37. | |
after one session or two sessions just to blow up and go away. And to | :20:37. | :20:42. | |
be very brief, I think, that the solution which we can speak about is | :20:42. | :20:48. | |
a kind of a two approach solution in which the Americans will gradually | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
build the process which will be a first stage towards final status, | :20:52. | :20:59. | |
dealing with the interim condition with a parallel position, and | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
activity of a dominant American intermediator in which they will | :21:04. | :21:11. | |
bring to the scene the final vision because without the final status | :21:11. | :21:17. | |
vision will won't be any progress. How do you see it going? Are you | :21:17. | :21:19. | |
optimistic about whether the talks about produce a settlement of any | :21:19. | :21:29. | |
:21:29. | :21:33. | ||
kind? I am not sure that I would cal ify | :21:33. | :21:38. | |
-- qualify myself as an optimist. We are seeing something we have seen | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
quite a bit before. Even the spike in settlement activity on the eve of | :21:42. | :21:48. | |
resuming negotiations is not new. It is precisely the same thing which | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
happened after the talks were launched and just as the parties | :21:52. | :21:58. | |
were about to sit down and resume negotiations we saw an increase in | :21:58. | :22:04. | |
settlement activity. So this is something of a peace process ritual | :22:04. | :22:13. | |
unfortunately. And it is really one of the flaws in this process, the | :22:13. | :22:19. | |
allowing really kind of unbridled settlement activity in the very | :22:20. | :22:27. | |
areas that Palestinians are supposed to have a State. Let me ask you | :22:27. | :22:32. | |
this. Forgive me cutting across you, we have a cheap satellite tonight | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
and there is a delay. Let me ask you, what are the areas in which you | :22:37. | :22:47. | |
:22:47. | :22:50. | ||
think there might be progress? I think that on all core issues | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
which means final status border, refugees, Jerusalem, on the core | :22:54. | :23:01. | |
issues, the chances of really moving forward are less than small. And | :23:01. | :23:06. | |
because of this and because of the lack of interest of both sides, just | :23:06. | :23:12. | |
not to move forward, and specifically when we have such a I | :23:12. | :23:21. | |
would say poor active administration American add Mark -- administration, | :23:21. | :23:25. | |
especially John Kerry, at an early stage one should concentrate not on | :23:25. | :23:31. | |
the final status issues, but on the interim issue in order to bring a | :23:31. | :23:37. | |
Palestinian State on interim borders which are familiar to us from the | :23:37. | :23:44. | |
second phase of the road map of 2003. But this can only be with a | :23:44. | :23:49. | |
vision of a final status, but to speak about borders, Jerusalem today | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
is impossible. Let's talk about leaders. Do the two | :23:53. | :23:59. | |
sides have leaders who are sufficiently self-confident to make | :23:59. | :24:08. | |
progress? It is not just a matter of | :24:08. | :24:16. | |
self-confidence, it is a matter of inclin nation. -- inclination. | :24:16. | :24:22. | |
on. We have an Israeli Government that does not appear inclined | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
frankly towards a genuine two State solution. You have settlers in the | :24:26. | :24:36. | |
Government. You have people in the Government open to a solution and | :24:36. | :24:42. | |
this it is difficult to see how this Israeli Government will be able to | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
orientate itself towards a two State solution. You have a Palestinian | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
leadership that's weak and dysfunctional and it is difficult to | :24:50. | :24:56. | |
see how a leader leadership like that is going to have the mandate to | :24:56. | :25:03. | |
negotiate the broad, sweeping concessions. Do you think then | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
gentlemen... You have two leaderships. | :25:06. | :25:11. | |
Gentlemen, do you think the two of you that this idea of a two State | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
solution is now something that really ought just to be put to one | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
side for a moment to see if there are any sort of practical issues | :25:20. | :25:27. | |
that could be addressed in the meantime? Well, first of all, I | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
think that the two State solution is the only solution which would bring | :25:31. | :25:37. | |
peace and stability to the region. The ideas of one State, or any idea | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
of managing the conflict is impossible. The conflict should be | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
solved through a process of two States. Currently, unfortunately, | :25:46. | :25:50. | |
and I am agreeing with my Palestinian partner here. I don't | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
think that on the Israeli side we have a Government which will be able | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
to go through the process towards a two State solution and I believe | :25:59. | :26:07. | |
that we have a Palestinian partner. I am more optimistically regarding | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
Mahmoud Abbas to move towards a two State solution if the opportunity | :26:11. | :26:18. | |
will come. But having said this, we need two for a tango. The other | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
option which I'm trying to foster now is something which will be less | :26:21. | :26:28. | |
than two States, but again, within a vision that we are heading without a | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
compass, without a direction towards the future, we will not be able to | :26:32. | :26:41. | |
move one step towards any agreement between the two sides. Briefly. | :26:41. | :26:51. | |
:26:51. | :26:55. | ||
Well, I think with all due respect to the doctor, the days of interim | :26:55. | :27:01. | |
arrangements are long gone. Of the irony is that if does not look good | :27:01. | :27:07. | |
now, but it maybe worse down the road as far as prospects for a two | :27:07. | :27:13. | |
State solution. I think -- I think more changes need to happen in the | :27:13. | :27:15. | |
Israeli leadership and the Palestinian leadership. | :27:15. | :27:21. | |
Thank you very much indeed. When did you last sit down and write | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
a letter? I'm not talking to you with your nib quivering like a | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
hummingbird over the green ink. Chances are it's been a fair while | :27:30. | :27:33. | |
since you received a letter either. Perhaps then, the only thing left to | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
do is to read other peoples' outpourings. The popular website | :27:36. | :27:39. | |
Letters of Note is to publish its first book in October, filled with | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
the personal scribblings of the rich and famous from yesteryear and the | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
site has given Newsnight access to some of the letters. So with his | :27:47. | :27:50. | |
tongue curled heartbreakingly over his upper lip, the unlettered | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
Stephen Smith, has compiled this August filler - I mean, urgent | :27:53. | :28:03. | |
:28:03. | :28:07. | ||
rock'n'roll. You might not be so familiar of him as a sparking con | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
verisationist on the page. Here he is offering to keep tabs on | :28:11. | :28:18. | |
the youth of America on behalf of President Nixon whom he looks | :28:18. | :28:22. | |
forwarding forwarding -- forward to meeting on a trip to Washington DC. | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
Dear Mr President, I would like to introduce myself. I'm Elvis Presley | :28:26. | :28:31. | |
and admire you as have great respect for your office. I'm registering | :28:31. | :28:39. | |
under the name of John Borrows. I have done an in-depth study of drug | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
abuse and communist brain washing techniques and I'm right in the | :28:43. | :28:50. | |
middle of the whole thing. I would love to meet you say hell yes -- | :28:51. | :28:57. | |
hello if you are not too busy. was, I wouldn't say famously, but he | :28:57. | :29:02. | |
was a collector of police badges and he tried to obtain police badges | :29:02. | :29:08. | |
from every State. The one he didn't have was a badge of the bureau of | :29:08. | :29:11. | |
narcotics and dangerous drug use. The only way he could think of | :29:11. | :29:20. | |
getting one of these badges was to write to Nixon. | :29:20. | :29:30. | |
This is a calligrapher. He has given Cupid a nudge from time to time, | :29:30. | :29:40. | |
writing love letters on behalf of shy gents. The Queen herself with | :29:40. | :29:43. | |
Princess Margaret await his arrival. You know how it is when you go | :29:43. | :29:49. | |
abroad. You meet a nice couple, promise to keep in touch, president | :29:49. | :29:54. | |
was treated to tea by the Queen and complimented her on her scones and | :29:54. | :29:59. | |
then this happens. Dear Mr President, seeing a picture | :29:59. | :30:04. | |
of you in today's newspaper standing in front of a barbecue grilling | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
quail reminded me that I have never sent you the recipe of the drop | :30:08. | :30:13. | |
scones which I promised you at Balmoral. We have followed | :30:13. | :30:17. | |
worthwhile intense interest and much admiration your tremendous journey | :30:18. | :30:22. | |
to so many countries. But feel we shall never again be able to claim | :30:22. | :30:28. | |
that we are being made to do too much on our future tours. | :30:28. | :30:35. | |
Yours sincerely, e Elizabeth R. This is an interesting letter | :30:35. | :30:42. | |
because it is trying to impersonate an intimate private letter. | :30:42. | :30:49. | |
Personally, I think it is a little bit fake. The idea that the Queen | :30:49. | :30:55. | |
had this recipe for drop scones to hand, or she typed out the recipe | :30:55. | :31:05. | |
herself is a little bit unconvincing. | :31:05. | :31:09. | |
Research for this programme from the internet shows that the volume of | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
mail including letters handled by the Post Office reached a peak of | :31:13. | :31:20. | |
some 20 billion items a year by 2000 and has slipped back to 15 billion. | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
Handwriting and the handwriting of letters still matters because it | :31:24. | :31:30. | |
just shows so much investment in the subject, in the occasional | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
communication. I think for most of us, there are still important | :31:35. | :31:41. | |
occasions in our lives when we would specify that a letter needs to be | :31:41. | :31:48. | |
handwritten on paper. We would probably write for instance to a | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
bereaved friend with a pen on paper. I think most people would still do | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
that. Of course, there are some letters | :31:57. | :32:06. | |
:32:07. | :32:09. | ||
you might prefer not to get like a Sangin notelet from Jack the Ripper. | :32:10. | :32:15. | |
From hell. I send you half the kidney I took from one woman. | :32:15. | :32:20. | |
Preserved it for you. The other piece I fried and ate. It was very | :32:20. | :32:25. | |
nice. I may send you the bloody knife that took it out if you only | :32:25. | :32:32. | |
wait a while longer. Signed catch me when you can will Lusk. | :32:32. | :32:37. | |
It is the perfect time to look back at this thing and try and make it | :32:37. | :32:40. | |
accessible to as many people as possible. A lot of the letters exist | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
in archives and in museums and in old books and I just find it very | :32:45. | :32:52. | |
satisfying to bring them into one kind of place. | :32:52. | :32:55. | |
Einstein wrote to the White House in 1939 voicing his concern that | :32:55. | :33:00. | |
scientists were on the brink of developing a terrible new weapon, | :33:00. | :33:05. | |
the acomic bomb. Certain aspects of the situation which has arisen seem | :33:05. | :33:09. | |
to call for watchfulness and if necessary, quick action on the part | :33:09. | :33:13. | |
of the administration. I believe therefore that it is my duty to | :33:13. | :33:18. | |
bring to your attention the following facts and recommendations. | :33:18. | :33:24. | |
That it may become possible to set-up a nuclear chain reaction in a | :33:24. | :33:28. | |
large massive Ukraine stadium, by which vast amounts of pou with are | :33:28. | :33:34. | |
and large quantities of raid stadium would be generated. This would lead | :33:34. | :33:39. | |
to the construction of bombs, a single bomb of this type carried by | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
boat and exploded in a port might very well destroy the whole port | :33:42. | :33:50. | |
together with the surrounding territory. | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
If you have enjoyed our coverage of letters, you might like to forward a | :33:54. | :33:58. | |
link to Newsnight to a friend or a loved one. | :33:58. | :34:08. | |
:34:08. | :34:10. | ||
The modern equivalent of the chain Well, joining me now is the | :34:10. | :34:12. | |
Telegraph's social media editor, Kate Day and the poet, Roger | :34:12. | :34:16. | |
McGough. Is this something we need to worry about, Roger? Well, I do. I | :34:16. | :34:20. | |
think it might be a lost art. I think, it is very important when | :34:20. | :34:25. | |
children are at school to learn how to write and we are losing that. | :34:25. | :34:31. | |
That's a handwriting thing? Yes. They hand write and they write | :34:31. | :34:34. | |
letters, if they are typing in and tweeting and using the internet, | :34:34. | :34:38. | |
people will lose the ability to write, aren't they? It is a tactile, | :34:38. | :34:42. | |
centre suous and good for the soul. Do you worry about it, Kate? | :34:42. | :34:45. | |
particularly. I agree with Roger that it is important that children | :34:45. | :34:51. | |
can write, but I think that also children need to rern learn to using | :34:51. | :34:55. | |
language and learning to write a well constructed e-mail could teach | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
them as well as writing a letter. are moving from the considered | :35:00. | :35:08. | |
letter, a series of expressions of feelings and on a piece of paper | :35:08. | :35:13. | |
which has been composed to instantous communication? The willer | :35:13. | :35:22. | |
is a conversation. It is a whisper, isn't it? The e-mail is, you no | :35:22. | :35:26. | |
know, it tends, you know, it tends fob informative. | :35:26. | :35:31. | |
Does it not depend on the e-mail. You can throw an e-mail quickly and | :35:31. | :35:35. | |
tell someone you will be five minutes late. Or you can write | :35:35. | :35:37. | |
something considered. Do you do that? Yeah, from time to | :35:37. | :35:43. | |
time. Not hugely... Do you post things too? Yeah, particularly | :35:43. | :35:47. | |
private messages on Facebook and Twitter. I wouldn't want to make the | :35:47. | :35:50. | |
messages public because they are more intimate and intended for one | :35:50. | :35:55. | |
person, but I sit down and write considered e-mails and receive | :35:55. | :36:00. | |
considered e-mails and you know when you get an e-mail whether somebody | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
put time into it or whether it is a thrown away message. | :36:04. | :36:09. | |
I was talking to my son of 22 about this before he came out. He said he | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
would find it pretentious to write a letter. A lot of young people find | :36:13. | :36:19. | |
this except if you are, you know, writing a bereavement or a farewell | :36:19. | :36:28. | |
letter or something and e-mails are used, except he wouldn't like a | :36:28. | :36:35. | |
value Valentine in an e-mail e-mail? Did you receive that? Would you not | :36:35. | :36:44. | |
like a nice letter? I remember when I was at university and we used to | :36:44. | :36:49. | |
get letters from mum and dad. My mum, she wrote a lot. She was very | :36:49. | :36:54. | |
chatty and very gossipy. My dad, who wasn't good at writing, he wrote in | :36:54. | :36:58. | |
capital letters, but when I got his letters, it was wonderful. They were | :36:58. | :37:02. | |
few and far between, but you could almost smell the tobacco and the | :37:02. | :37:09. | |
time he had taken to do. E-mail, they would have just done and... | :37:09. | :37:13. | |
look at some of those examples of letters given there. There is a | :37:13. | :37:18. | |
physical artefact. You get some sense of the person from that in a | :37:18. | :37:22. | |
way you would never really get it, do you, from electronic | :37:22. | :37:29. | |
communication? Well, you lose the physicalality, but you get an | :37:29. | :37:32. | |
intimacy by sharing the moment in a way you can't with the lettermed | :37:32. | :37:39. | |
Supposing you were a historian or a biographer and you are going through | :37:39. | :37:41. | |
someone's correspondence and all you have got is e-mails sent and | :37:42. | :37:46. | |
received. Is it anything good as letters? Well, you could argue it is | :37:46. | :37:50. | |
better. Why?You are going to have more stored. You are going to get a | :37:50. | :37:55. | |
wider picture of that person's life and wouldn't you want to he read the | :37:55. | :37:59. | |
Pope's e-mails or the Queen's e-mails. Do you think it is more | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
honest in a way? I think you get a broader picture so you will get some | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
of the formal messages from very public figures that they are sending | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
as head of State, but you might also get their private communications | :38:12. | :38:17. | |
that are much more casual and so you get a much richer picture about who | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
they are because we can store that now in a way it was much more ad hoc | :38:21. | :38:26. | |
in the past with physical letters. Isn't it something about the letter? | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
It is the letter and someone has been out doing the gartening, there | :38:30. | :38:38. | |
might be ksh gardening, there might be soil on the letter. I remember | :38:38. | :38:44. | |
judging children's poetry competitions, ten or 15 years ago, | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
the children children sent their poetry with mistakes and bad | :38:50. | :38:55. | |
spelling and now they compere effectually written and typed and | :38:55. | :39:00. | |
with spell check and something has lost. | :39:00. | :39:04. | |
In the same way that I think e-mail is cold. | :39:04. | :39:07. | |
Isn't there something wonderful about sharing a moment with somebody | :39:07. | :39:14. | |
that the instand tinnious nature that -- instantous nature, if you | :39:14. | :39:17. | |
are sending something a tweet and you know they are thinking about it | :39:18. | :39:21. | |
at the same moment. There is something lovely about it. | :39:21. | :39:27. | |
That's a point. I am an occasional tweeter, but I like reading. I mean, | :39:27. | :39:37. | |
:39:37. | :39:38. | ||
reading the paper about the fam famous beard. There is a lot of | :39:38. | :39:42. | |
rubbish on Twitter. I think we will stop this | :39:42. | :39:50. | |
conversation! Sorry. We all need to drink more beer. This | :39:50. | :39:53. | |
is the sort of political instruction Homer Simpson can understand. No | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
less a figure than the hitherto unknown Brandon Lewis - apparently | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
he is minister for pubs - has endorsed a scheme to list 100 pubs | :40:00. | :40:03. | |
to save them from being bulldozed. If that's his idea of dramatic | :40:03. | :40:07. | |
action, don't ask him to buy a round. The fate of pubs is normally | :40:07. | :40:14. | |
a worry of men with beards. But according to the Campaign for Real | :40:14. | :40:17. | |
Ale, great numbers of human beings without the Y sex chromosome are | :40:17. | :40:21. | |
also worrying about the fate of beer. Robin Denselow is our man in | :40:21. | :40:31. | |
:40:31. | :40:35. | ||
British Beer Festival. An annual event it attracts 55,000 people most | :40:35. | :40:42. | |
of them male, to the London Olympia where they can sample over 800 real | :40:42. | :40:46. | |
ales and ciders and celebrate the now endangered great British | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
institution, the pub. I like it. Pubs are closing so fast | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
across the country that there is a Government backed campaign to | :40:54. | :40:57. | |
protect them. I think they are unique community assets. There is | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
nothing else in our society that provides the same sort of benefit I | :41:01. | :41:05. | |
think for people in terms of meeting places and quite often particularly | :41:05. | :41:09. | |
in rural communities they are the only place where people can get | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
together and enjoy a drink responsibly and sociably with their | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
family ands friends so nothing else can provide that amenity. | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
But if people are not going there anymore, shouldn't they just close? | :41:22. | :41:27. | |
It is not as simple as saying they are not economically viable. The | :41:27. | :41:31. | |
land can be worth more in alternative use and so, you know, we | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
had to have a. Proper planning procedure in place to protect pubs | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
so people have a say on the future of the amenities before they are | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
closed and turned into flats or shops or any other use. | :41:43. | :41:46. | |
So there is serious business behind the booze-up. The industry employs | :41:46. | :41:49. | |
around one million people in breweries and pubs across the | :41:49. | :41:55. | |
country. Half of them under 25. Which is why 100 pubs are to be | :41:55. | :42:00. | |
given a special status in a bid to stop them being sold off for | :42:00. | :42:05. | |
redevelopment. Pubs are closing at a an astonishing rate. 26 a week | :42:05. | :42:11. | |
across the UK, that's nearly 5,000 over four years. But now if a pub | :42:11. | :42:14. | |
becomes an asset of community value, the local authority has to be told | :42:14. | :42:22. | |
when it is on sale, and a local groups up to six months to put in a | :42:22. | :42:26. | |
bid to buy it. What difference do you think the measures will make? | :42:27. | :42:29. | |
just means the communities get a chance to say this is a pub that | :42:29. | :42:33. | |
matters to our community. We want to list it. We want to protect it. If | :42:33. | :42:36. | |
anybody looks at selling that pub or moving it on, community gets a | :42:36. | :42:39. | |
period of time where it can come together and many have already | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
around the country and buy it as a community and when they do that, it | :42:43. | :42:46. | |
is a proper community pub, coming together and generally, they are | :42:46. | :42:51. | |
successful. We have got 100,000 and we are looking to get 300 by the end | :42:51. | :42:54. | |
of the year. The amount of beer and lager sold in | :42:54. | :42:59. | |
pubs and hotels in the UK has dropped. In the first six months of | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
1999, it was just under 50,000 barrels. The figure for the same | :43:03. | :43:08. | |
period this. Year was just over 28,000 barrels. | :43:08. | :43:12. | |
Keeping a pub going by making it an asset of community value may help, | :43:12. | :43:19. |