Browse content similar to 26/11/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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This programme contains strong language. | :00:00. | :00:07. | |
Out today, the Scottish government's blueprint for an independent | :00:08. | :00:11. | |
country, but is it a game-changer? Journalists from all over the world | :00:12. | :00:16. | |
descended on Glasgow to hear the pitch for independence. A Newsnight, | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
Alex Salmond throws down the gauntlet. We are entitled to a share | :00:22. | :00:25. | |
of the asset. This is as much our pound as London's pound. It's | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
certainly not George Osborne's pound. The children's commissioner | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
for England find out children as young as 11 mete out sexual violence | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
to others just as young. Loads of stories, you will be at a party, and | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
see one girl and go to different boys. I've been at a party and seen | :00:44. | :00:46. | |
one girl go through about ten different boys in one night. We talk | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
to a former gang member and David Lamy MP. Another twist in the | :00:51. | :00:57. | |
plebgate row: one out of the eight officers involved will face criminal | :00:58. | :01:04. | |
charges. After a ?250,000 spend and one year on, we still don't know who | :01:05. | :01:07. | |
said what at the gates of Downing Street. My reputation was destroyed. | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
I was vilified relentlessly over 33 days. | :01:14. | :01:27. | |
Good evening, it's not War and Peace, and it's very long, and its | :01:28. | :01:30. | |
critics have dubbed it a work of fiction, but today the Scottish | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
government made clear what they want to happen if Scotland votes yes next | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
September. The document reiterates the desire to keep the pound and a | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
currency union and retain membership of the EU and NATO, but the desire | :01:44. | :01:46. | |
and the hard reality might be very different. What we do know for sure | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
is that an independent Scotland would keep the monarchy and | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
EastEnders. Allan Little is in Edinburgh. What is actually new? | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
What did we learn today? Not very much for a document that runs to 670 | :02:01. | :02:06. | |
pages, except this: the detail, the detail is new, and it is new that it | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
is a comprehensive account of the shape, and character, and spirit of | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
the kind of society and independent Scotland that Alex Salmond and | :02:17. | :02:19. | |
others want to see. This is meant to be a comprehensive account. This is | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
meant to ask all the questions that people ask when they say, "I haven't | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
yet got information information." Ask when they say, "I haven't yet | :02:28. | :02:30. | |
got information information. " -- enough information." They hope the | :02:31. | :02:32. | |
Scottish public will turn to this online or in any paper forms it | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
comes in, and seek reassurance about the kind of ambitions that the | :02:36. | :02:37. | |
Scottish government has. One big thing that is new is that they're | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
promising what they call a revolutionary spans, an extension of | :02:43. | :02:45. | |
childcare for children under school age so that they can encourage more | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
women to go back into the workplace on a kind of Scandinavian model, if | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
you like, encourage more women to become part of the productive | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
economy, and help the kind of economic growth that they would want | :02:57. | :02:59. | |
in a independent Scotland, and it would pay for many of the | :03:00. | :03:02. | |
commitments that they make in this document. What is new, really, is | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
the comprehensive nature of the aspiration that they are make. What | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
do you think is their biggest asset? It was impressive watching Salmond | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
who, as everybody knows, is a master political operator, and increasingly | :03:20. | :03:22. | |
Nicola Sturgeon, speak today, because although it was an | :03:23. | :03:25. | |
exhilarating moment for their supporters, you could taste the | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
excitement in the air. Many of the members of the Scottish government | :03:30. | :03:32. | |
were there and for them it was a major landmark on their long, long | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
march for what they think is independence - remember, many have | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
been in it for 30 to 40 years. Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon spoke | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
dispassionately, almost as if they wanted to take the political grand | :03:46. | :03:47. | |
standing out of it and speak as if there was nothing controversial | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
left, nothing was controversial at all from the way they were speaking, | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
speaking about it as if it was a technocratic now from now to | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
independence. I think the danger for the Better Together campaign, the | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
pro-union campaign is that as the campaign goes on, they will be | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
sounding more and more negative, and many pro-independence people will | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
see this as a simple choice between the sunny optimism of the | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
possibility of a new start, as they see it, and the can you remember | :04:19. | :04:27. | |
amongonly fearful caution of the Curmogeolnly fearful caution of the | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
Better Together, and people are perceiving it that way. And It had | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
to fall to several of our team to drill down into the white | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
It is a big moment in the independence debate, and I think | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
people will enjoy reading. It's going to be a substantial mark in | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
our politics. I would say the most important political document in | :04:53. | :04:55. | |
Scotland's history. Described in some quarters as the most | :04:56. | :04:58. | |
significant document in Scottish history. The other great analogy is | :04:59. | :05:04. | |
to the declaration of independence. Ultimately, at the heart of this | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
debate, there's only one question, or one choice: do we, the people who | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
live and work in Scotland, believe that we are the best people to take | :05:13. | :05:19. | |
the big decisions about our future? This is a brochure for a country | :05:20. | :05:25. | |
that doesn't yet exist - an independent Scotland. A 650-page | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
travel guide to try and tempt people to live here. Many opinion polls | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
suggest, for plenty, they don't yet wish to be here. This brochure will | :05:34. | :05:42. | |
try to change that. The guide book is clear: an | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
independent Scotland would keep the pound. | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
We've putting forward an objective position of why a sterling area is | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
not just in the best interests of Scotland but the best interests of | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
the rest of the United Kingdom. But critics watching on campaigning to | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
keep the union are simply not convinced. I think the most | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
significant area of weakness is the fundamental one, and that is what | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
currency would we use? If we didn't agree to the terms and conditions | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
like the Eurozone, a currency union, what would that mean? Would we have | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
our own currency? Join the Euro. They need to answer these questions, | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
and they've ducked it. Amongst the big stuff, the pound, the Euro-or | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
whatever it might be rattling around your pocket, Alex Salmond wanted to | :06:32. | :06:34. | |
set out some economic goodies he would promise as for him, so there | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
would be help for childcare, he would raise the personal allowance | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
for income tax, he would raise the minimum wage at least in line with | :06:43. | :06:45. | |
inflation. He would also cut corporation tax and cut the air | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
passenger duty - retail political offers rather than just a big | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
constitutional argument. But the question is how will this be | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
paid for? The general principles that were set out for reform of the | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
tax and welfare system in an independent Scotland were very | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
laudable but there was an awful lot more detail about areas where they | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
would choose to give money away, so in particular mentioning cutting the | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
corporation tax rate, cutting employers' National Insurance, and | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
reversing the bedroom tax that the current UK government has | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
implemented in the longer run, what there was less mention of in the | :07:25. | :07:27. | |
white paper is the fact that Scotland may have to face a more | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
challenging fiscal tightening over the next few decades than the UK as | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
a whole would. So what does our travel guide say about defence and | :07:36. | :07:39. | |
relations with the European Union? Well, it sets out that we will | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
continue to be a member of the EU. There's a view to remove Trident | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
within the first term of the Scottish Parliament following | :07:50. | :07:51. | |
independence, and Scotland would take its place as one of the many | :07:52. | :07:58. | |
non-nuclear members of NATO. Why do we think Scotland will be | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
welcomed into NATO? It's a North Atlantic treaty organisation. It | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
would have a slight difficulty if a large part of the territorial area | :08:08. | :08:10. | |
of the north Atlantic weren't part of NATO. But some are sceptical, and | :08:11. | :08:19. | |
think the nationalists are naive. 670 pages of assertion, uncertainty. | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
The much-vaunted legal opinion on our EU membership, noticeable only | :08:24. | :08:31. | |
by its absence. The brochure commits an independent | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
Scotland to create a new public service broadcaster. Scotland will | :08:37. | :08:39. | |
remain a constitutional monarchy, and there will be no border checks. | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
All of this isn't just about weighty fodder like the public finances, | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
sovereignty, and nationalism, what about being able to see Strictly | :08:50. | :08:56. | |
Come Dancing? Panic not, says Alex Salmond, that will still be on the | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
telly. What about using a passport to visit here or travel elsewhere | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
around the parish isles? You wouldn't need one. What about the | :09:04. | :09:06. | |
National Anthem. There wouldn't be one at first. That would be decided | :09:07. | :09:13. | |
after the referendum. Of of us watch Scottish football. I | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
know Alex Hansen is leaving Match of the Day, but not to watch this | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
regular slot, and have to be reduced to endless Celtic versus Rangers | :09:22. | :09:24. | |
games, that could be a deciding factor in the vote for some of us. | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
So plenty for people here to consider before next autumn's | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
referendum, and plenty of reading for those consulting this guide book | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
on Scotland's possible future. Earlier, I spoke to Alex Salmond and | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
put it to him that today's white paper was little more than a wish | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
list and won't necessarily deliver on a single promise. No, it is a | :09:47. | :09:52. | |
very substantial document that accounts to people not just how we | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
get to independence but perhaps crucially, and this is why it is a | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
game-change, of the sort of things we can do with the independent | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
Scotland once we have it, and the commits on childcare, pensions, | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
getting back to work, unbidding the bedroom tax - all of these are | :10:10. | :10:12. | |
things which are of huge interest to hundreds of thousands of families in | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
Scotland, they're a positive vision and that's why we will win the | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
campaign. They're a vision, and they will be determined by a lot of | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
factor before that, not least things, for example, currency union. | :10:25. | :10:27. | |
That is your plan A. You say you have no plan B. But currency union | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
requires the goodwill of the rest of the United Kingdom, and they may not | :10:32. | :10:34. | |
be minded to give you it. In fact, right now, they're saying it is not | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
an option. We put forward an argument as to why it is in the | :10:40. | :10:42. | |
interests of Scotland and in the interests of the rest of the UK to | :10:43. | :10:45. | |
retain sterling, the pound, as our currency. That option of course was | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
described as logical and desirable and Newsnight by Alistair Darling, | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
the leader of the no campaign earlier this year. I know he has | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
been got at by the campaign fever since, but nonetheless, at the going | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
to have to decide why he thought it was logical and desirable in January | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
but now argue, the opposite position. What we put forward is the | :11:08. | :11:10. | |
consistent argument that keeping the pound is as much in our interests as | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
in the interests of the rest of the UK, and on that basis it is a | :11:15. | :11:17. | |
reasonable proposition to put forward. If the rest of the United | :11:18. | :11:20. | |
Kingdom doesn't agree, then what happens? Because there seems to be a | :11:21. | :11:24. | |
situation where you're saying if they don't agree, then you may well | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
withhold the debt. Isn't that just a straightforward thuggish threat? No. | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
The arguments mutual self-interest and trade. England is our biggest | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
market; we're England's second biggest market. It would cost the UK | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
businesses ?500 million in transaction costs to try and force | :11:43. | :11:45. | |
Scotland out of a currency union. Secondly, we provide about 39 | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
billion of protection for the sterling balance of payments from | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
oil and gas, it would knock a huge hole and sterling if that wasn't | :11:55. | :11:57. | |
available. Thirdly, Kirsty, it is an argument about assets and | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
liabilities: the Bank of England, sterling, is part of the assets of | :12:02. | :12:04. | |
the country. We are entitled to a share of the assets. This is as much | :12:05. | :12:07. | |
our pound as London's pound. It is certainly not George Osborne's | :12:08. | :12:10. | |
pound, and the reason that we have accounted for paying a share of t | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
liabilities, financing the incredible debt that George Osborne | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
and Alistair Darling have built up - Can you go into these negotiations | :12:20. | :12:22. | |
when you've already said, and it is not a gesture of goodwill, you said | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
you're going to cut corporation tax for up to three per cent, that will, | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
in order to try and put businesses a better position than they are in | :12:31. | :12:33. | |
England, that's not a gesture of goodwill, is it? I was going to | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
complete the point that we are saying we will accept the share of | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
assets. We are entitled to that, and therefore will accept a share of | :12:41. | :12:43. | |
finance and liabilities of the enormous debt that the two previous | :12:44. | :12:46. | |
chancellors have built up. On the question of corporation tax, we put | :12:47. | :12:49. | |
forward a competitive policy for Scotland. There have been many | :12:50. | :12:52. | |
countries - Belgium and Luxembourg, for example - shared a currency for | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
generations and had different rates of corporation tax because they did | :12:58. | :13:00. | |
what they thought was best for their economies and their countries. | :13:01. | :13:03. | |
That's a perfectly viable thing to put forward. Of course, the UK | :13:04. | :13:06. | |
government can put forward its taxation policies as it wishes. | :13:07. | :13:09. | |
That's the way you can handle these things: do what is in the interests | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
of your economy to generate jobs and investment. Let's take something | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
like Trident. What has been said in the Scotland's future is we are | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
going for the speediest, safe withdrawal of nuclear weapons from | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
Scotland, and you say it should be within the lifetime of the first | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
parliament, 2020. What if that is not the speediest, safest | :13:29. | :13:31. | |
withdrawal. Will you be prepared to delay? Safety will be paramount. | :13:32. | :13:34. | |
That's why we expressed the commitment in the way that we do, | :13:35. | :13:37. | |
the speediest safe withdrawal, but estimates have been provided for | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
that, including by Commons committees which have very short | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
timescale indeed. So much of this is comes down to Scotland voting yes, | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
that you might have to trade Trident for staying? Currency union. It | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
might be as crude as that? No, you know the position of a lot of the | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
Scottish public, the SNP, and the Green Party, and others well enough | :14:02. | :14:03. | |
to know that, for us, the nuclear weapons are something that must be | :14:04. | :14:06. | |
removed from Scotland as speedily and as safely as possible. Let's | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
deal with Europe now. What you're banking on is Scotland, an | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
independent Scotland, being a continuum in the EU. You can't | :14:16. | :14:18. | |
guarantee that, either. You may have to reapply, and if you do reapply, | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
you have to to have the unanimous say-so of the other member | :14:25. | :14:27. | |
countries. Spain might say no? Well, we put forward a position under | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
Article 48 which obviously is consistent with the advice we've | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
received from the Lord Advocate of Scotland which puts forward the | :14:35. | :14:37. | |
mechanism by which Scotland can continue as a member of the European | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
Union. Of course, there is a threat to Scotland's membership of the | :14:43. | :14:45. | |
European Union, and that comes quite clearly from the commitment by David | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
Cameron to hold an in-out referendum in the UK. That is the threat to | :14:50. | :14:52. | |
Scotland's membership of the European Union. This is all | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
predicated on a particular position of whoever is Chancellor or on the | :15:00. | :15:05. | |
question of currency, Trident. You can't deliver any of these things, | :15:06. | :15:11. | |
and elements like the bedroom tax, and childcare, they're promises that | :15:12. | :15:15. | |
you might not be able to deliver either? Well, obviously, we can bin | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
the bedroom tax. When Scotland becomes independent, we will have | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
control of our social security. We can decide not to have a bedroom tax | :15:24. | :15:26. | |
and do that in the first year. On the childcare, that's an interesting | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
debate to open up. We point out if we move to Scandinavian levels of | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
childcare, we attract far more women back into the worse workforce, give | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
people an equal chance to work, that generates up to ?700 million much | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
extra revenue. Right now under devolution, that will fall into the | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
maws of George Osborne. It will accrue to a Scottish exchequer and | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
make the policy affordable and sustainable. This is no more than an | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
SNP manifesto. If Scotland were to vote yes next September, then on 24 | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
March 2016, you would have independence day, you would have a | :16:07. | :16:08. | |
general election less than six weeks later, you might not be in power? | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
We've not acknowledged that point, we embrace that point in the white | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
paper published today, and, of course, the whole essence of | :16:17. | :16:18. | |
independence is that people would have the choice. We would always in | :16:19. | :16:21. | |
Scotland get the government that we vote for as opposed to having | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
governments foisted upon us like at present which we didn't vote for. | :16:26. | :16:28. | |
Alex Salmond, thank you very much. Great pleasure, thank you. Boys are | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
predators, girls are prey - that remark by one teenager sums up the | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
findings of a two-year report into young people and sexual violence | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
published today by the children's commissioner for England. It makes | :16:43. | :16:45. | |
for some tough reading, pointed to thousands of cases of invisible | :16:46. | :16:48. | |
sexual abuse committed by children on children which the authorities | :16:49. | :16:50. | |
are missing. Those problems are greatest in parts | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
of the country where street gangs operate with impunity. | :16:56. | :16:58. | |
This film contains some strong language. | :16:59. | :17:11. | |
Hidden away in towns and cities, behind closed doors, and shut | :17:12. | :17:19. | |
windows, what is described by the Children's | :17:20. | :17:20. | |
Hidden away in towns and cities, behind closed doors, and shut | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
windows, what is described by the Children's Commissioner as an | :17:26. | :17:26. | |
"invisible problem, a disturbing reality". | :17:27. | :17:28. | |
A young woman considering, or even belonging to a gang faces the | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
possibility of rape. That can be rape and a relationship | :17:34. | :17:37. | |
or group rape. If a girl is easy, and they boast about possibility of | :17:38. | :17:40. | |
rape. That can be rape and a relationship | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
or group rape. If a girl is easy, and they boast about it, "I got this | :17:44. | :17:46. | |
girl" the friends are like, "I might as well have a go." They get | :17:47. | :17:49. | |
involved, tell their friends, and the girl is getting the name quick. | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
If you're seen as a slag, you can risk a lot with loads of different | :17:55. | :17:57. | |
men, she's not getting rid of that name, to every boy she will be | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
nothing but sex. Today's report is warning that some | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
forms of sexual violence are being completely missed by police, social | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
workers, teachers, everyone. Teenagers often face abuse not from | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
much older men but from other young teenagers, and much of the time, | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
that abuse is hidden away, well beneath the surface. | :18:20. | :18:27. | |
Michelle - not her real name - had just started secondary school when | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
she was taken in a park in East London by a gang of boys aged 13 and | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
14. It happened more than once. I was out with friends. Some of the | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
girls knew the boys, so they approached us. | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
As soon as I saw them, I had this kind of I don't know, impression | :18:45. | :18:47. | |
that they were not nice people and they were kind of aggressive. They | :18:48. | :18:50. | |
told us to get on the bus. We went to the local park and... | :18:51. | :18:58. | |
Then it just happened. I don't know how to say it. | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
Did you think of it as rape at the time? No. I didn't know what rape | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
was at the time. To me, it was just something terrible because it made | :19:09. | :19:11. | |
me feel upset. It frightened me. I said no. | :19:12. | :19:14. | |
But it wasn't a thing where they were listening to me, like I could | :19:15. | :19:20. | |
cry. I could scream. They wasn't ever listening. Did you ever come | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
forward and tell anyone about it? I didn't tell anyone. All the young | :19:25. | :19:27. | |
people knew it was going on. But they made out I wanted to do it. | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
And they didn't know the full story. But as far as me telling somebody, I | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
didn't feel like I could. Michelle's Nan eventually found out and two of | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
the gang were convicted. Certainliual violence is not just a | :19:44. | :19:49. | |
big-city phenomenon, but today's report based on two years of field | :19:50. | :19:52. | |
work by the University of Bedfordshire suggests teenagers are | :19:53. | :19:55. | |
particularly at risk in neighbourhoods like this one in | :19:56. | :19:57. | |
South London where local gangs have power and influence. | :19:58. | :20:06. | |
The authors spoke to 188 young people in six research sites across | :20:07. | :20:10. | |
England. Of those prepared to talk about sex, 65 per cent knew of cases | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
of girlsing pressured into sexual activity. 41 per cent identified | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
cases of rape; 44 per cent of gang rape. We are all trained youth | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
workers, social workers, we've got a lot of experience. We would very - | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
we were very genuinely shocked by the amount of sexual violence that | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
we were coming across. As time went on, we began to find that we were | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
accepting it almost as normal in a similar sort of way as the young | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
people were, and that really frightened us. Speak to teenagers in | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
places like this, and what comes across is just how routine that sort | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
of abuse can feel. Loads of stories like you will be at | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
a party, and you'll see one girl go through different boys, like I've | :20:58. | :21:00. | |
been at a party, and I've seen one girl go through about ten different | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
boys in one night. You don't know if that boy has drugged them in their | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
drink or spiked their drink, and then like they obviously take them | :21:08. | :21:10. | |
to the bedroom and then they get all their mates to do it. Would anyone | :21:11. | :21:14. | |
ever report it? No, because they're too scared because what about if | :21:15. | :21:17. | |
they threaten them while they're doing it, if you go to the police, I | :21:18. | :21:21. | |
will do it again but with different people, I am going to slap you up. | :21:22. | :21:24. | |
Not just that, if you report it, like not just could happen to you | :21:25. | :21:28. | |
but what could happen to your family, you get labelled as a snake. | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
Once you've got labelled as a snake, you're known as a snake, you can't | :21:33. | :21:35. | |
be trusted because you run to the police. You're just their little | :21:36. | :21:39. | |
like informer. You're nothing. You're just a snake. | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
The scale of this problem still is not clear, but the best guess is | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
that 5,000 young women are at risk of gang-related sexual violence in | :21:49. | :21:51. | |
London alone. There is no national figure. | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
Very loving, very safe to live in... Cherie Johnson grew up in | :21:57. | :22:00. | |
South London. Her mother spent time in prison for smuggling drugs. Her | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
dad was a well-known dealer. She qualified as a probation officer and | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
social worker, and now runs her own project helping other girls trying | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
to leave that ceremony environment. Girls have two roles: you are either | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
the victim of the group or you're a perpetrator with the group. So if | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
you're a victim, you will be used as a sex toy, you will be passed | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
around, you will be shared, you will be encouraged to hold drugs, store | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
guns, and stuff like that. If you're the perpetrator, your status is a | :22:32. | :22:35. | |
little bit more high. For example, the males in the gangs respect you a | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
little bit more. Just one in 12 of the young people | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
in the study said they would ever talk about or report an incident of | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
sexual violence. Young women often viewed abuse from boyfriends or | :22:49. | :22:51. | |
partners as simply part of life. Those victims were often seen as | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
having brought harm on themselves by their own actions. | :22:56. | :23:01. | |
Among some young men, there is a sharp distinction between | :23:02. | :23:04. | |
girlfriends who might be treated with respect and another type of | :23:05. | :23:08. | |
girl used for casual sex. Those connected to gangs would only speak | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
openly if we agreed to hide their identities. | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
You've got your hood, girls. Would you class as hood chicks? And your | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
wife which is a girl you keep at home and nobody knows. | :23:22. | :23:24. | |
You don't bring her involved or anything. | :23:25. | :23:27. | |
She's the one you treat nice. What is the difference in the way you | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
treat the hood girls and the wives in terms of the way they get | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
treated? It's the way you speak to them. | :23:37. | :23:39. | |
What you do after you finish after having sex with them. They don't | :23:40. | :23:42. | |
mean nothing to you. It is just there for convenience. | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
It could happen anywhere, just the boys chilling together, and they're | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
they're lying, you know, I want to get my Dick out, let's phone | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
whoever, phone someone and say, "Yes, we are here chilling, come and | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
suck our dicks." Then the girl will turn up, she will know what it is | :24:01. | :24:04. | |
before she even got there, so I don't know. It's like they think it | :24:05. | :24:07. | |
is cool. They don't see it as a problem. | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
If you're in a gang and you see a girl who is a slag, then you ask | :24:12. | :24:15. | |
them, are you on it? They will be like, yes, yes, yes, and then take | :24:16. | :24:22. | |
them wherever, in the block, you and your friends, and just lock them, | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
innit. I know people that have done it. They enjoyed it. What do the | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
girls say afterwards? Nothing. They just get ready and leave. Are they | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
upset, look upset, worried or not? Normal day to them, isn't it? If | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
they wear short skirts, high heels, belly tops, that's putting yourself | :24:41. | :24:46. | |
out there saying, "Look at me, come and lock me." Do they deserve to get | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
- Raped? Of course they do, not really, but if you're like that | :24:52. | :24:57. | |
every day then expect to get raped - innit. It might be the way they want | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
to dress. Yes, true, never know, though. | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
Of course, not all teenage boys living in estates will think like | :25:07. | :25:10. | |
that. These three are not directly connected to gangs at all but all | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
have grown up in areas where gang culture is strong, and losing your | :25:16. | :25:19. | |
virginity is crucial for your reputation. | :25:20. | :25:22. | |
In school mainly, like when you're in school them times, like there's a | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
lot of pressure on them times, and then if you haven't lost it as you | :25:28. | :25:31. | |
get older, people look at you like you've got no game, nothing like | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
this, and so it's embarrassing sort of thing. Another thing, if you're | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
in a gang and you haven't lost your virginity, if you don't have sex | :25:43. | :25:45. | |
with the girl, they're going to beat you up, like you're going to take a | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
beating, and you have to phone the beating, so you don't have no | :25:50. | :25:52. | |
option, no nothing. So basically you have to do it. That could be the | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
case even if the girl doesn't really want to do it? Yes. | :25:57. | :26:03. | |
Pressure to have sex has long been part of teenage life, but in pockets | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
of our inner cities, and even outside those areas, this report | :26:08. | :26:12. | |
argues a culture of violence and sex has emerged. It is a culture adults | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
know very little about that will have to change if young victims of | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
abuse are going to get the help they really need. | :26:22. | :26:27. | |
Joining me now is Isha Nembhar, a former gang member who now works | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
with young offenders, including those in gangs at Foundation For | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
Life, and David Lamy. First of all, in London alone, five girls, subject | :26:39. | :26:40. | |
to this kind of sexual violence and rape. Does it surprise you at all? | :26:41. | :26:48. | |
No, it doesn't. I've been working alongside Foundation for Life for a | :26:49. | :26:52. | |
long time now, and this is what the problem is. It has been the problem, | :26:53. | :26:54. | |
and the longer and longer it has been, it has been normalised as | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
well. But why do young boys have this attitude towards women, towards | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
girls? A lot of these young men, they don't have no role models at | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
home, first of all, so they've got a broken home. A lot of - nine out of | :27:09. | :27:14. | |
ten, they don't have father figures at home. They haven't got that | :27:15. | :27:16. | |
positive role model to say you must treat a woman like this. They know | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
right and wrong because they've got this one woman at home that's okay | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
and they rape others. Because some girls, as they say, put it out | :27:26. | :27:28. | |
there, they feel like they deserve it. David Lamy, you've written about | :27:29. | :27:33. | |
this before, but even since you've written about it, it seems to have | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
got worse, not better. Look, I think that the gang issue in Britain has | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
been going on now for, or the acceleration of it, for at least 15 | :27:43. | :27:45. | |
years, and, frankly, it's getting worse. We have had reports, we had | :27:46. | :27:49. | |
one recently into the riots - nothing has happened. Where does the | :27:50. | :27:58. | |
problem lie in attitudes? Is it male role models or something else that | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
is driving this? Of course it's role models but you can do something | :28:03. | :28:05. | |
about it with mentors, and supporting young fathers. Where is | :28:06. | :28:08. | |
the sex education in our schools of any quality? It is totally about the | :28:09. | :28:11. | |
mechanics and not about the real life. That's how you intervene to | :28:12. | :28:15. | |
make a difference. These young women doesn't feel, one in 12 of these | :28:16. | :28:18. | |
girls wouldn't ever dream of going anywhere and reporting it. There is | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
no safe space for them to report it. Because the community let these | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
young kids do what they need to do and leave them to do it. They need | :28:28. | :28:33. | |
local schools, you know, projects like Families For Life, social | :28:34. | :28:37. | |
workers, the police, they need to have relationships with these young | :28:38. | :28:42. | |
people. It is interesting one of the young women didn't know it was rape. | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
That, frankly, is a regression in where we've come to understand a | :28:47. | :28:50. | |
woman's privacy, her intimacy, and the fact that her body is her own. | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
We've relessed, allowed that -- regressed, and allowed that to | :28:56. | :28:58. | |
happen and it is happening because schools are not able to grip this in | :28:59. | :29:01. | |
education. Families certainly are where they are broken, and we need | :29:02. | :29:07. | |
the intervention of all services working together to challenge the | :29:08. | :29:12. | |
idea that casual sex is fine. Are boys hearing this from other | :29:13. | :29:16. | |
boys? What do they do? Why do they think that this is normal behaviour? | :29:17. | :29:21. | |
Is it anything to do with online. What drives it apart from the fact | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
there are no male models? The media, a lot of young males are watching | :29:27. | :29:30. | |
porn on TV, so the way they feel they should have sex and treat a | :29:31. | :29:36. | |
woman is wrong, its violent, and the way they certain songs that they | :29:37. | :29:39. | |
listen to, I think that's got to do with it as well. I think two things: | :29:40. | :29:43. | |
where there's a turf war - and there is in some of these communities - | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
violence, status symbols, and, of course, sex and women defined by | :29:49. | :29:51. | |
that is what you get. That's why we've got to intervene to challenge | :29:52. | :29:58. | |
it, and there are cultural norms around grime, and popular culture, | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
the games industry that is driving this -- crime. Many of these young | :30:03. | :30:05. | |
people are exposed to nothing else. That's where it becomes a challenge. | :30:06. | :30:09. | |
The idea if there is an idea, there are charities of course and there is | :30:10. | :30:12. | |
work that you're doing, and there is work the young woman was doing in | :30:13. | :30:15. | |
the film, but for many people they report it, and the reprisals will be | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
horrific. Yes, there is definitely a culture of not grassing, if you | :30:21. | :30:25. | |
like. Yes. That gets back to policing, people's attitude to what | :30:26. | :30:28. | |
happens when you grass, who gets convicted, who doesn't, and the way | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
in which some of these communities are not just local they are | :30:34. | :30:36. | |
parochial - that's why you get the post code. Very, very small, your | :30:37. | :30:43. | |
life is very small. Literally, the gangs develops because a few streets | :30:44. | :30:48. | |
away another gang owns the turf. This phenomenon is American, it is | :30:49. | :30:51. | |
come to Britain in a real and deep way and it is now endemic. What will | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
it take to sort this out? It will take the whole community, schools, | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
police, local services to work alongside with males and females, | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
you know? You know, you need one-to-ones, you need intervention. | :31:05. | :31:07. | |
You need all of these things to stop this going on, really. | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
Is it because it is so localised and hidden that actually it takes | :31:13. | :31:15. | |
something like the Children's Commission to do a two-year report | :31:16. | :31:19. | |
to find out about it comprehensively or should it be known toe all of us? | :31:20. | :31:25. | |
It should be known to everyone. If we tackle this, like we tackle the | :31:26. | :31:30. | |
economy - That's about the will. That will solve the problem. Do you | :31:31. | :31:33. | |
think there is the will to make this a priority? No. We would have done | :31:34. | :31:36. | |
something. We are sleep-walking towards some of the worst scenes | :31:37. | :31:42. | |
that we see in the United States in this country, and the pace at which | :31:43. | :31:45. | |
we are challenging some of this, the fact that we are having this | :31:46. | :31:48. | |
conversation, and this has been on Newsnight on regular occasions, is | :31:49. | :31:52. | |
deeply worrying. Thank you both very much indeed. | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
The Co-Op Bank saga rumbles on, with police arresting two men today in | :31:58. | :32:00. | |
connection with allegations of supplying drugs to the bank's | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
disgraced former boss, Paul Flowers. I think that's 300. Let me check it. | :32:06. | :32:13. | |
20, 40, 60... The dramatic fall from grace of Reverend Flowers has | :32:14. | :32:17. | |
grabbed the headlines, but the Co-Op's financial difficulties | :32:18. | :32:21. | |
predated his arrival at chairman. The bank's disastrous merger with | :32:22. | :32:25. | |
the Britannia building society left it with ?500 million of bad loans on | :32:26. | :32:31. | |
its books, and a 1.5 billion capital short fall. How could this have | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
happened at the height of the banking crisis when regulators | :32:36. | :32:38. | |
should have been on their guard? Questions are being asked about how | :32:39. | :32:42. | |
the Co-Op was allowed to get into this mess, and how a man like the | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
Reverend flowers with in connection to no banking experience was allowed | :32:48. | :32:51. | |
to run the company. Lord Turner was chair of the now defunct financial | :32:52. | :32:57. | |
services watchdog, the FSA, when the Britannia merger and the appointment | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
of Paul Flowers all took place. He joins me now. When you approved Paul | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
Flowers as non-executive director at the Co-Op, what went wrong? That is | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
what the inquiry will have to look at. I mean, broadly speaking, the | :33:11. | :33:16. | |
story of the FSA on this particular issue of how we approved people for | :33:17. | :33:22. | |
a directorship or chairmanships was a process of continual change during | :33:23. | :33:26. | |
the four years that I was there, and we greatly improved the procedures, | :33:27. | :33:31. | |
moved to aggressive interviews, moved to more searching approach. | :33:32. | :33:36. | |
Now, I don't know where in that transition this particular event | :33:37. | :33:39. | |
occurred; it was completely different by the time I ended at the | :33:40. | :33:44. | |
FSA than we were at the beginning. I think it has fundamentally changed. | :33:45. | :33:47. | |
We've got to look at it again, and see whether there are lessons to be | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
learned about still further improvements in that. Having said | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
that, I think we should be very cautious of believing that the | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
problems of the Co-Op can be strongly identified with this | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
particular individual. There were lots of executives at the Co-Op who | :34:05. | :34:07. | |
had lots of banking experience, and let us remember that there were lots | :34:08. | :34:12. | |
of people with lots and lots of banking experience at the big banks | :34:13. | :34:17. | |
which went bankrupt, which failed, with far bigger impact on the | :34:18. | :34:21. | |
economy, in the UK and the US, in 2008. So we've got to be very | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
careful leaping in and staying just if behad good professional bankers, | :34:26. | :34:28. | |
we will solve the problem. We come on to that, because that makes the | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
task of whoever is sorting the wheat from the chaff very different if | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
they are faced with all these banking qualifications. Just on the | :34:38. | :34:40. | |
question of Paul Flowers, did his appointment cross your desk? No, it | :34:41. | :34:43. | |
wouldn't have. Again, I am pretty sure that that is the case. I don't | :34:44. | :34:46. | |
want to get into the details of that because it is subject to an | :34:47. | :34:49. | |
inquiries process, they will be exploring that, but it wouldn't | :34:50. | :34:52. | |
normally have been something. At this stage of a non-executive | :34:53. | :34:55. | |
director? I may have been informed of it, but I wouldn't imagine I | :34:56. | :34:58. | |
would have even been informed about it. One non-executive director of | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
what is a relatively small bank wouldn't necessarily or not | :35:04. | :35:05. | |
naturally come to the level of the Chairman of the board. That is | :35:06. | :35:08. | |
interesting because I think what we understand is as a non-executive | :35:09. | :35:11. | |
director, the person who dealt with that was a kind of case load worker | :35:12. | :35:18. | |
who looked at non-ex-ex, but but the time you became Chairman, we knew | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
the Co-Op was in a really difficult situation, and yet. I am not sure | :35:23. | :35:25. | |
that that is the case. I think again, I don't want to go through | :35:26. | :35:28. | |
the details of this, because this is something that should come out with | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
public information from the PRA itself, but if you actually look at | :35:34. | :35:36. | |
the very good description that Andrew Bailey, the head of the PRA | :35:37. | :35:40. | |
who was previously head of banking supervision at the - I think he | :35:41. | :35:45. | |
might have - Gave to the TFC. I think he might have interviewed Paul | :35:46. | :35:48. | |
Flowers. I am not sure that's the case, but I can't comment on that | :35:49. | :35:50. | |
because I haven't looked at the files, but he gave a very good | :35:51. | :35:56. | |
examine the to the TFC a couple of weeks ago of what occurred, and that | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
makes it plain that a lot of the problems of the Co-Op really only | :36:01. | :36:06. | |
became clear in the course of 2011 and 2012 when I actually think the | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
FSA did a very good job of making sure that the fundamental questions | :36:11. | :36:13. | |
were being asked before, and making sure they didn't go ahead with the | :36:14. | :36:19. | |
Veridat decision unless those questions were asked. On the vetting | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
procedure yourself, have you ever turned a candidate down? Yes, | :36:25. | :36:27. | |
they've been turned down occasionally. The difficulty is of | :36:28. | :36:31. | |
course when you have people not like Paul Flowers with such a limited | :36:32. | :36:34. | |
banking experience, but you're having senior bankers making massive | :36:35. | :36:37. | |
mistakes. I think this is the crucial point. The Co-Op is an | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
important issue, but it has not involved taxpayer support, and it | :36:43. | :36:47. | |
has not involved a deposit and losses, and it is not a massive big | :36:48. | :36:55. | |
bank. Back in2008, in order to stop depositor losses and a complete | :36:56. | :36:58. | |
collapse of the banking system, we had to put taxpayer money in the UK | :36:59. | :37:03. | |
and in the US into banks which had people with thousands and thousands | :37:04. | :37:06. | |
of years of banking experience. There was nothing about that banking | :37:07. | :37:11. | |
experience which stopped those banks reaching problems. What I think that | :37:12. | :37:15. | |
illustrates, actually, is that although we talk about these issues | :37:16. | :37:19. | |
of interviews and vetting, and licensing, I think they're less | :37:20. | :37:22. | |
important than some really structural issues about why the | :37:23. | :37:25. | |
banking system is unstable. When it comes to the takeover of Britannia | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
and the possible takeover of Lloyds, do you think there was pressure put | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
there for the Code to be successful? No, the FSA, I think, did its job | :37:36. | :37:42. | |
correctly. The FSA looked at the capital requirements in relation in | :37:43. | :37:45. | |
particular to the - They can look good for a challenger bank to be | :37:46. | :37:50. | |
won? Again, I think that has to be left to the inquiries, et cetera, | :37:51. | :37:55. | |
but you will say is the FSA quite clearly, as Andrew Bailey said out | :37:56. | :38:03. | |
in the TSC, did its job in relation to the Verdiac. It asked the right | :38:04. | :38:08. | |
questions. Moving on to the question of payday loans, the whole | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
application for payday loans doubled under your tenureship of the FSA. | :38:14. | :38:17. | |
Are you glad now the government has put a cap on it? Personally, I am. | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
The FCA only gets responsibility for anything to do with consumer credit | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
in March of next year. I remember saying to the board, and to my suck | :38:28. | :38:31. | |
severs, one of your biggest issues will be consumer credit, and I think | :38:32. | :38:34. | |
it is a very big issue for society, and I think we need to take some | :38:35. | :38:38. | |
pretty tough action. Thank you very much indeed. At its height, the | :38:39. | :38:42. | |
plebgate investigation involved 30 police officers and overall 1,000 | :38:43. | :38:47. | |
statements, 500 exhibits and seized documents. Now, the former Chief | :38:48. | :38:51. | |
Whip, Andrew Mitchell, said he has been stitched up after just o of | :38:52. | :38:54. | |
eight officers under criminal investigation has been charged. That | :38:55. | :38:57. | |
is not the Downing Street police officer who claimed Andrew Mitchell | :38:58. | :39:00. | |
called eet police officer who claimed Andrew Mitchell called him a | :39:01. | :39:03. | |
"pleb". He is standing by his account, and the Conservative MP who | :39:04. | :39:06. | |
has always denied using the word is calling for the Constable to give | :39:07. | :39:10. | |
evidence under oath. As a press conference today, Andrew Mitchell | :39:11. | :39:13. | |
firm lip blamed police for the cost of his job and his reputation. I was | :39:14. | :39:19. | |
vilified relentlessly over 33 days with over 800 hate e-mails received | :39:20. | :39:23. | |
during the course of that first week. | :39:24. | :39:27. | |
Eight I and my family were driven from our home with as many as 20 | :39:28. | :39:30. | |
journalists and photographers camped outside. | :39:31. | :39:33. | |
My children were followed by the press. | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
My 92-year-old mother-in-law was pursued in Swansea. I was spat at in | :39:38. | :39:41. | |
the street. I lost my job after a career | :39:42. | :39:46. | |
spanning more than 25 years in parliament, serving my constituents, | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
my party, and my country. Well, I am joined now in the studio | :39:52. | :39:55. | |
by the BBC's home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw. Danny, | :39:56. | :39:59. | |
first of all, we've just heard about the trouble caused for Andrew | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
Mitchell. However, of the affair damaged the police. This is very | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
damaging to the police. Whenever you talk to police officers about | :40:09. | :40:12. | |
plebgate, they sigh, they gasp, they're frustrated that such a minor | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
incident could do such damage to the reputation of the service. But, | :40:17. | :40:22. | |
today -- but today could have been a lot worse for police. You've got one | :40:23. | :40:26. | |
officer facing criminal charges, and the other disciplinary charges, | :40:27. | :40:29. | |
serious nonetheless, and the central account of the officer at the gate, | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
that remains in place. He is not facing criminal charges, he is not | :40:35. | :40:40. | |
facing disciplinary charges, and the Crown Prosecution Service and the I | :40:41. | :40:42. | |
wanted pen police complaints commission say we can't prove either | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
way whether he was telling the truth. Where does this leave the | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
Metropolitan Police police commissioner Bernhard hoeing Juanan. | :40:53. | :40:58. | |
He was heaviliorised today for undermining what Andrew Mitchell | :40:59. | :41:01. | |
said because he said he made comments which appeared to support | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
the experts very earliy on in the investigation. This raises questions | :41:06. | :41:08. | |
over his judgment of the matter. Is this the end of this? Are regoing to | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
hear a lot more of this? We will probably still be talking about it | :41:14. | :41:17. | |
in a year's time. We've got a criminal trial coming up; we've got | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
disciplinaries proceedings, and also the prospect of the after libel case | :41:22. | :41:25. | |
coming up between Andrew Mitchell and the Sun newspaper which tonight | :41:26. | :41:27. | |
has issued a statement saying effectively, "See you in court." | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
Toby Rowland, the officer at the centre of all this, has also issued | :41:32. | :41:34. | |
a statement tonight saying he stands by every word that he has said, and | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
he will, as Andrew Mitchell has challenged him to, take the oath and | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
swear by what he said in a court of law. Thank you very much indeed. | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
The publication of the Scottish government's blueprint for | :41:50. | :41:52. | |
independence meant Scotland got to steal of of the limelight today, so | :41:53. | :41:56. | |
we thought we would fish tonight south of the border. Colchester is | :41:57. | :42:01. | |
best known as the town destroyed by Boudica, but it was on the map long | :42:02. | :42:09. | |
before the Romans pitched up. We asked the residents there what they | :42:10. | :42:14. | |
made of this historic day. England doesn't get a lot more | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
English than Colchester, the oldest recorded town in the country, and | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
birthplace of John Constable, and Blur. | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
Not only have the people of Colchester been poring over the SNP | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
blueprint today, but there was a breakout at the town zoo. | :42:33. | :42:43. | |
ANSMIT (wolf howls) three wolves escaped. It's a perfect storm much | :42:44. | :42:46. | |
news - Scottish politicians and wolves. Their defensive and mark out | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
their ground by howling at each other. These wolves behave much the | :42:52. | :42:59. | |
same way. By this evening, much of the wolves | :43:00. | :43:06. | |
had sadly been put down, leaving one rogue animal at large. | :43:07. | :43:11. | |
The streets of Colchester are all but decertificatesed tonight. Is | :43:12. | :43:14. | |
everyone inside reading the SNP document? Or have they bolted their | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
doors against that escaped wolf? Lupus Lupus, so bad they named it | :43:20. | :43:24. | |
twice. We do have quite a big Scottish community here, so the | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
independence of Scotland, I think, would probably be of interest to a | :43:29. | :43:35. | |
lot of people in Colchester. We have an annual event called Scotland in | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
Colchester where we have pipe bands. Why on earth do they do that? | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
Because there is a huge Scottish community here in Colchester, not | :43:45. | :43:47. | |
only is Colchester the second largest guardries son outside of | :43:48. | :43:52. | |
Aldershot, so we have a lot of Scottish people who have been here | :43:53. | :43:55. | |
through the army, a lot of people came down from Scotland, at the turn | :43:56. | :43:58. | |
of the 19th century to farm here. What changed your mind about the | :43:59. | :44:02. | |
news today? It made me think are we doing the right thing or not, yes. I | :44:03. | :44:06. | |
don't like the idea of the break-up of Great Britain, quite honestly. We | :44:07. | :44:10. | |
are one island. It seems silly to sort of break it up into little | :44:11. | :44:15. | |
pieces again. I met the people there, and they're very different to | :44:16. | :44:18. | |
the people in the rest of Britain. I would say that they already are | :44:19. | :44:24. | |
fairly independent, and I think it would be a much more peaceful and | :44:25. | :44:29. | |
better situation if they were fully independent. I've lived in Glasgow | :44:30. | :44:32. | |
the majority of my life, and I've obviously had an experience of | :44:33. | :44:37. | |
living down south in England for a number of years, so I am very much | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
of the opinion that Scotland are in a position to contribute enough to | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
go independent. If opponents of Scottish | :44:47. | :44:50. | |
independence claim that the English are against it, our unreliable | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
evidence from very English Colchester is that they may be | :44:56. | :44:59. | |
crying wolf. Tomorrow morning's front pages, | :45:00. | :45:03. | |
giving with the FT: Royal Bank of Scotland faces criminal proceed into | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
SME cases. The Guardian claims of police lies | :45:09. | :45:13. | |
reignites the plebgate row, and the cross word master dies at 92. | :45:14. | :45:17. | |
The Daily Mirror and the Daily Express both have sensational | :45:18. | :45:22. | |
allegations about Nigella Lawson that she was off her head every day | :45:23. | :45:30. | |
for a decade. Saatchi's fury over the guilty secret, court is told. | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
The Daily Express says that allegations that Nigella was off her | :45:36. | :45:40. | |
head on cocaine, she took drugs daily for ten years, the court | :45:41. | :45:43. | |
hears. That is all for tonight. We leave | :45:44. | :45:47. | |
you with images from the latest exhibition of the National Maritime | :45:48. | :45:51. | |
Museum, Turner and the Sea. Good night. | :45:52. | :45:58. |