Browse content similar to 08/08/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
American fighter aircraft have been dropping bombs on Islamic State | :00:00. | :00:08. | |
fighters marching on Iraq's Kurdish capital. | :00:09. | :00:12. | |
So what is President Obama's gameplan? | :00:13. | :00:16. | |
A new humanitarian intervention, but familiar dilemmas - | :00:17. | :00:20. | |
once you've started, how long are you willing to keep going? | :00:21. | :00:22. | |
The US State Department's Marie Herth will try to answer that. | :00:23. | :00:30. | |
It was reported in The Guardian this morning that a "jihadist" flag was | :00:31. | :00:33. | |
Newsnight went there to try and find out. | :00:34. | :00:39. | |
And Nick Clegg has come up with a new drugs policy - | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
no prison sentences for possession of drugs for personal use. | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
Is this a half-baked attempt to get the stoner vote? | :00:46. | :00:56. | |
Would drug policy change your vote in the next general election? Yes, | :00:57. | :01:03. | |
it is a human rights issue and a civil rights issue. People are going | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
to prison for absolutely no reason over this. | :01:08. | :01:08. | |
I'll put that to the Justice and Civil Liberties Minister, | :01:09. | :01:11. | |
President Obama assured the American people the US would not be dragged | :01:12. | :01:21. | |
into fighting another war in Iraq, but the bombs began to drop today | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
in the north of the country, as he finally responded to the advance of | :01:27. | :01:29. | |
Islamic State militants, formerly known as ISIS, who now | :01:30. | :01:32. | |
The reasoning the President gave was to prevent | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
a possible act of genocide against minority groups, including | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
Christians and Yazidis, who are stranded, starving and surrounded | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
The US expanded its offensive tonight with air | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
strikes on a seven-vehicle convoy near the Kurdish capital, Irbil. | :01:50. | :01:52. | |
Earlier, I reached the BBC's reporter, | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
who is in a church being used by Christian refugees in the city. | :01:57. | :02:00. | |
Can you describe to me what is happening in Irbil tonight? I am in | :02:01. | :02:20. | |
St Joe Joseph Church in Irbil. Here, hundreds of families, children, | :02:21. | :02:25. | |
elderly people, or in the backyard of the church, lying down, most of | :02:26. | :02:31. | |
them having recently escaped from ISIS. Many of these people are from | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
Mosul as well. A month ago, they ran away from Mosul and found refuge in | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
Qaraqosh. They stayed with their family and relatives, but two days | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
ago, ISIS took over that city as well. There are hundreds of people | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
in this church. Many community centres and schools in the town are | :02:52. | :02:59. | |
packed with Christian refugees. They will know that the Americans have | :03:00. | :03:02. | |
come in with air strikes. What do they want from the United States? I | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
have talked to many people, and they said, we don't want anything, we | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
just want to go back to our homes. It is difficult to live like this. I | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
have seen hundreds of children lying down on the ground in the backyard, | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
sleeping over a blanket. A family of 12 showed me ten loaves of bread. | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
They said, that is all we have had all day. What do they make of the | :03:29. | :03:35. | |
American bombing? I think many of them believe the Americans take | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
action very late. They said, they could have stopped ISIS a long time | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
ago, when they were a small group. Many are angry. They are hoping the | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
Americans will be able to push back ISIS so that these people can go | :03:51. | :03:52. | |
home. So given President Obama's clear | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
reluctance to be the world's policeman since he took office, | :03:56. | :03:57. | |
why is American firepower now once Here's our Diplomatic Editor, | :03:58. | :04:00. | |
Mark Urban. The United States is bombing Iraq | :04:01. | :04:12. | |
once again ma and that is the last thing a president who got American | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
forces out of their three years ago would have wanted. This is a | :04:17. | :04:23. | |
situation that is a difficult challenge, but it cannot be solved | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
by the American military. Support can be provided by the military, but | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
this situation will only be solved by the Iraqi people and a government | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
that reflects the views of Iraq's diverse population. The president | :04:38. | :04:40. | |
comfort with the King of Jordan today as well, trying to form a | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
common front against the ISIS advance and support an Iraqi | :04:46. | :04:48. | |
government widely felt to be the author of its own misfortunes. The | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
stakes have been raised as a result of what ISIS did in June. That means | :04:53. | :05:01. | |
Iraq was facing a word many people use, but correctly in this context, | :05:02. | :05:07. | |
an existential threat. Was it going to hang together as a country? If | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
ISIS establish themselves for any length of time in the north-west of | :05:14. | :05:23. | |
Iraq, in the Sunni Arab areas, the Kurds to go their way would have | :05:24. | :05:25. | |
increased and the country would have cracked. In recent days, ISIS has | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
been pushing outwards on every point of the compass. To the west, they | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
have taken the Yazidis city and Kurdish posts on the Syrian border. | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
To the north, they have hit the curb. Pushing eastwards, Christians | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
have been driven from Qaraqosh, and ISIS fighters have got within 30 | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
miles of Irbil. To the south, they have continued to press on Samarra. | :05:51. | :05:57. | |
Now, the response. American supply drops for refugees on Mount Sinjar | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
last night. Then a Kurdish push to force a grand corridor for the | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
Yazidis to escape into Syria. And this afternoon, US planes bombed | :06:08. | :06:14. | |
ISIS artillery close to Irbil. The Iraqi air force also has been | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
delivering aid to the Yazidi refugees. These pictures are sent to | :06:18. | :06:20. | |
show its drop this morning on Mount Sinjar. Further assistance is on its | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
way, and Britain is likely to join in. We welcome what the Americans | :06:27. | :06:33. | |
are doing, in particular to bring humanitarian relief and prevent any | :06:34. | :06:36. | |
further suffering. But our focus is on assisting that humanitarian | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
mission and using our military in support of the Americans in terms of | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
refuelling and surveillance to underpin their mission and add to it | :06:47. | :06:49. | |
with food drops of our own. As for ISIS, they have been preparing for | :06:50. | :06:59. | |
this moment. They understood only too well that if American bombs | :07:00. | :07:02. | |
started falling, the dynamic of their struggle with change. | :07:03. | :07:09. | |
TRANSLATION: Don't be cowards and attack us with drugs. Instead, send | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
your soldiers, the ones we humiliated in Iraq. We will | :07:14. | :07:16. | |
humiliate them everywhere, God willing, and we will raise the frag | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
-- flag of Allah in the White House. Where is all this leading? | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
Well, American boots are already on the ground. Special force is | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
directing those air force tracks around Irbil. They are helping the | :07:33. | :07:36. | |
Kurds at the same time as the Kurds are pulling away from Iraq. What if | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
those Kurdish forces buckled? Well, the Americans seem determined to | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
limit their military commitment. So its effect may also be limited in | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
the military sense, although politically, it is a big change. It | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
is the plight of refugees that finally tipped the scales for this | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
American intervention. In Iraq, it puts them on the same side as Iran | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
and Syria. The politics of the Middle East just got harder still. | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
Earlier this evening, I spoke to Marie Harf of the US State | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
Department. President Obama really does not want | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
to be doing this, does he? He was forced into it. I totally disagree. | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
The president did not hesitate to authorised action to assist in | :08:29. | :08:35. | |
humanitarian terms, but also takes that to protect our people in Irbil. | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
He was also clear that we will not get bogged down in Iraq, but we do | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
have a long-term relationship here. We will help them fight ISIL. But he | :08:45. | :08:50. | |
pledged to get the US out of Iraq, and now a Rubicon has been crossed | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
because you are back in. Isn't this a failure of foreign policy? Not at | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
all. We are back in a different way. The president pledged to bring a | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
large contingent of US troops home, and he did. But he also said we | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
would have a long-term relationship and help Iraq with security | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
challenges. What you have seen is very different from the situation he | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
inherited. It is appropriate to help them fight ISIL, to help the deck | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
our people and to help bring water and food to people starving, | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
potentially a genocide on top of this mountain. But do you keep | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
arming until ISIS is no longer a threat and everyone is safe? There | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
is no long-term US military solution here. Our goal is to stop ISIS's | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
advance towards Irbil. That underpins what we are doing in terms | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
of air strikes to protect our people have there. Longer term, it is to | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
give space for the Iraqi forces to get back on their feet and help them | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
fight this on their own. Ultimately, we cannot be fighting this fight for | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
them. But that is not enough. You have to keep at ISIS because they | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
keep coming back. We know that people in Irbil wish things had | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
happened earlier, because ISIS is 40 kilometres from Irbil. Will there be | :10:09. | :10:14. | |
more military strikes? When this crisis first started in June, we | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
took immediate steps. We created joint operation centres in Irbil and | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
Baghdad to help the Iraqis fight this threat. We also increased our | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
surveillance to get more eyes on the ground. But they could not do it on | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
their own, so you have had to come in. It is a tough challenge here. | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
One reason we have unable to act so quickly over the past 24 hours is | :10:37. | :10:41. | |
because we increased our eyes on the ground. We will continue working | :10:42. | :10:44. | |
with the Iraqis to help them fight this threat. Two things have | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
happened. There was confirmation tonight that ISIS have taken the | :10:50. | :10:52. | |
biggest dam in Iraq and there is a possibility of flooding cities and | :10:53. | :10:57. | |
also cutting electricity. Will you act militarily to get the dam back? | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
I am not going to preview where we take military action. That is not a | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
smart strategic move. But it is very concerning to us that the Mosul Dam | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
appears to have been taken. It is a fluid situation. We will continue | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
working with our partners to see what we can do. | :11:18. | :11:19. | |
In the studio with me now is Sundas Abbas, the High Representative | :11:20. | :11:22. | |
The Turkmens are one of the minority groups who have been | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
targeted by Islamic State militants in Northern Iraq. | :11:27. | :11:33. | |
Are you relieved that the Americans are in militarily? We are definitely | :11:34. | :11:43. | |
relieved that the Americans took steps which should have been taken | :11:44. | :11:49. | |
months ago, when Mosul was taken control of by ISIS. All abilities | :11:50. | :11:57. | |
and towns around Mosul -- the villages and towns around Mosul, the | :11:58. | :12:05. | |
Turkmens fled their towns. Whoever was left was executed by ISIS. Even | :12:06. | :12:13. | |
the other towns and villages around Kirkuk have been under the control | :12:14. | :12:20. | |
of ISIS. One of them has been under siege. So actually already, 250,000 | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
Turkmen have been displaced by ISIS, and at that point, the | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
Americans did nothing? That is correct. It was overlooked by all of | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
the international community. It was not acknowledged by them and they | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
have not taken action. Do you feel that the international community | :12:42. | :12:44. | |
thinks that Turkmen do not count? This is what we think. They do not | :12:45. | :12:51. | |
count us as part of Iraq. A month ago, 250,000 people fled the town of | :12:52. | :13:02. | |
Tal Afar. They are losing their children every day. You heard | :13:03. | :13:06. | |
Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, saying they would help. | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
What do you want Britain to do? People urgently need help. I would | :13:12. | :13:18. | |
like to highlight what is happening in one place which has been under | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
siege by ISIS for two months now. There is no electricity, no water. | :13:23. | :13:30. | |
There is a lack of health care. That's each must be broken. Do you | :13:31. | :13:38. | |
think that Iraq can exist without tolerance of religious and ethnic | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
minorities? -- with a tolerance of minorities? This is a good question. | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
I think it could, if they believe in it and they get help from the | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
Americans to get over this crisis. And is it worse or better than when | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
Saddam Hussein was in power? This is a very good question. Many people | :13:57. | :14:02. | |
ask me, and I am asking myself as well. Under Saddam Hussein's | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
regime, we suffered a lot, especially Turkmen. But I think we | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
knew who was our enemy. Now, we don't know who is our enemy. | :14:13. | :14:23. | |
where Israel resumed air strikes in Gaza today | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
after Palestinian militants fired rockets into the country following | :14:28. | :14:29. | |
With two wars seemingly without an end in sight, | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
what effects are they having among communities back in the UK? | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
This morning the Guardian newspaper reported from an East London housing | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
estate on what it called the highly provocative raising of a black flag | :14:43. | :14:45. | |
with white writing, similar to those flown by jihadist groups. | :14:46. | :14:48. | |
Guardian journalists who approached Asian youths on the estate said | :14:49. | :14:51. | |
So was this an act of support for Islamic State militants? | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
We sent Secunder Kermani to investigate. | :14:56. | :15:04. | |
This is the predominantly Bangladeshi estate in the East End | :15:05. | :15:12. | |
Borough of Tower Hamlets. Today, it was reported that a black flag had | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
been hung up here amongst various pro-Palestinian messages. It was | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
later taken down. Police told us other reporters had been threatened | :15:22. | :15:24. | |
on the estates. Some of the residents, who did not want to be | :15:25. | :15:27. | |
named, did agree to talk to us and even brought the flag back out. | :15:28. | :15:31. | |
Although controversial nowadays, it is believed to go dance -- go back | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
centuries. They felt angry about being labelled as a jihadist. Do you | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
think, in hindsight, perhaps putting up the flag was a mistake? People | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
have put the wrong spin on it. Not at all. Look, what does that say? Do | :15:45. | :15:54. | |
they know what it is even says? What does it say? One Muslim, one | :15:55. | :16:03. | |
community. It is a declaration of faith. We believe in one God, | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
Mohammed. It is not sake, we are terrorists. If I put a union flag | :16:08. | :16:15. | |
up, would that make me a far right, EDL member will stop I would put it | :16:16. | :16:22. | |
up to show I am a member of the community and I'm supporting the | :16:23. | :16:26. | |
team, and this is the country I grew up in. This is just my faith. Do any | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
of you guys support the Islamic State? Do you think they are a group | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
that you would admire? We are Muslims. They are killing Muslims. | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
Why would we support somebody killing their own brothers and | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
sisters? It doesn't make sense. Like many British Muslims, these men feel | :16:48. | :16:49. | |
passionate about events in Palestine. How many times have the | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
Israelis on children's question of who is questioning it question mark | :16:55. | :17:02. | |
no one. No one. -- who is questioning it? Art British Muslims | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
expressing the passion you feel they are going on about. Are they | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
relaying those views? Trust me, they are not. Have you seen what is going | :17:14. | :17:20. | |
on in the House of Commons? There are like Forum five people sitting | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
there in the House of Commons. -- four or five people. Halal meat | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
though, they want to get on the bandwagon. What is that about? | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
Concern has been growing about support of British Muslims was | :17:36. | :17:47. | |
groups like bashful groups like ISIS. The groups have said tonight | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
that the flag would go up again -- groups like ISIS. They will go up | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
again at some point this evening. Trust me. | :17:59. | :18:01. | |
Cocaine, cannabis, heroin, amphetamines - any drug of choice. | :18:02. | :18:04. | |
Today, the Liberal Democrats have said if it's for personal use nobody | :18:05. | :18:07. | |
should go to prison, and they are trumpeting this as the first step to | :18:08. | :18:10. | |
Roughly 1,000 people in England and Wales were imprisoned for | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
possession for personal use last year and the Deputy Prime Minister | :18:16. | :18:17. | |
So is this really a thought through attempt to tackle | :18:18. | :18:25. | |
drug addiction, or just an attempt to grab some summer headlines? | :18:26. | :18:28. | |
From Central America, through Afghanistan, from Turkey, drugs are | :18:29. | :18:41. | |
a worldwide business, transaction, that in this case, ends here on the | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
streets of London. What the Liberal Democrats are announcing today is | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
not legalisation, it isn't decriminalisation, but it is a move | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
in that direction. We have to take this step-by-step. The first thing | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
we want to end, and we are committing as a party that we will | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
end, is chucking people behind bars they have -- because they have in | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
their possession, for their own personal use, drugs. The only thing | :19:09. | :19:15. | |
negative is people 's perceptions. One in ten have taken an illegal | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
drug in the last year. On a summer night in west London, this group of | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
activists are happy to smoke and show their faces on camera. The | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
question is, how far will the UK go with this over time? In terms of | :19:29. | :19:31. | |
cannabis, that will definitely be legalised in everybody's life time. | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
If I had to be asked, in the next five or ten years in the UK, a | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
legalised market with medical cannabis available. Is it | :19:41. | :19:49. | |
inevitable? It is. Would a change in policy on drugs change your vote in | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
the next election? Yes, absolutely. It would have a massive effect | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
because it is an important issue, a human rights issue, a civil rights | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
issue. There are people going to prison for this and being | :20:02. | :20:03. | |
criminalised for absolutely no reason at all. The number of people | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
locked up after getting caught with a controlled substance has dipped in | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
recent years, but in 2013, more than 1000 ended up with a custodial | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
sentence where possession was the main offence. Interestingly, around | :20:18. | :20:23. | |
half of those were caught with a class B drug, most likely cannabis. | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
But still, the numbers jailed are a tiny fraction of those cautioned at | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
more than 30,000 per year. In the last 15 years we have criminalised | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
1.5 million people for possession of drugs for their own personal use. We | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
cannot overestimate the damage that that does to an individual. We have | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
to remember as well that the majority of those who have been | :20:48. | :20:50. | |
criminalised our young people. We are giving these children criminal | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
records, which affects their choices in terms of education, their | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
employment opportunities. But the Lib Dems in this building behind me | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
are taking a bit of a risk with this policy. For some, it is a let down, | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
not the big announcement on decriminalisation they hoped for. | :21:11. | :21:13. | |
For those on the other side of the debate, it is dangerous and sending | :21:14. | :21:16. | |
out the wrong message at the wrong time. It is basically legalisation | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
by the back door. There is so much with that policy proposal. In the | :21:22. | :21:27. | |
UK, we are seeing the greatest reductions in levels of drug use we | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
have seen for decades. So the suggestion to weaken the criminal | :21:32. | :21:34. | |
justice contribution here risks turning round the decrease in levels | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
of drug use we have seen for decades. So the suggestion to weaken | :21:38. | :21:39. | |
the criminal justice contribution here risks turning round the | :21:40. | :21:41. | |
decreasing drug use and risks escalating drug use. All this comes | :21:42. | :21:43. | |
when there is a clear worldwide shift towards liberalisation. | :21:44. | :21:49. | |
Colorado and Washington in the US have now legalise cannabis. | :21:50. | :21:53. | |
California could follow soon. Other countries from Uruguay to Portugal | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
have changed their laws. In many of those places, the shift has been led | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
by groups of cannabis users getting together to grow and share the drug. | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
We are starting to see that happen in the UK, where 60,000 have joined | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
Internet-based social clubs like this in the last three years. We are | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
not the only country in the world that are going down this social club | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
option. There are 11 countries in Europe that have adopted this, just | :22:20. | :22:25. | |
cannabis consuming citizens who want safer and fairer laws. The misuse of | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
drugs act is there to control cannabis and it is not controlling | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
it by any means, or any drug in this country. Today's Newsnight not make | :22:34. | :22:38. | |
a difference to the people sat around this table, but it's a small | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
part of a wider trend -- today's news might not. But it is part of a | :22:45. | :22:47. | |
larger trend across the world changing drug laws. | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
Here with me is Simon Hughes, the Justice and Civil Liberties | :22:51. | :22:53. | |
This applies to all drugs and is about personal use, but how do you | :22:54. | :23:00. | |
define the amount used for personal use? If somebody gets stopped, the | :23:01. | :23:09. | |
police decide whether it is for personal use or therefore supply. | :23:10. | :23:11. | |
And they charge appropriately, and they would do the same. But people | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
need to know themselves whether what they are carrying would be | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
reasonable for personal use? How can people feel safe and comfortable | :23:21. | :23:26. | |
what they need? The law has been clear that if you are caught with a | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
very small amount, clearly something you are able to use only, and it is | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
regarded for your own use. If you're the law thinks you are carrying a | :23:36. | :23:39. | |
stash. There is no legal definition. That is correct. I'm going to do | :23:40. | :23:46. | |
this, because it is to give people a sense of what this is. Here we have | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
some powder. I'm glad you are producing this and not me. Here is | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
some powder. Let's say this was cocaine. That would be about three | :23:57. | :24:03. | |
or ?400 worth. A tiny amount. That would be regarded as personal use? | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
I'm not the judge or the police officer or the Crown Prosecution | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
Service. Let's put it another way. Let's say you have a great capacity | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
for it, so this is worth ?2500, and it is whatever it is, and it will | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
last you a long time, and you live in a rural area and you want to get | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
enough for a year. Here you are, and you live in rural Cornwall and you | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
want to get a supply every year. This is for personal use. What do | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
you do with that? The police do the same all the time. If they stop | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
somebody in Cornwall with that stash, they would question them, and | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
if the answer was I go to London once a year and collect what I need, | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
and you can check, they have to decide whether they believe what | :24:52. | :24:56. | |
they are being told. But that is disastrous the people. Actually, I | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
will throw half of this over my shoulder, because then it won't be | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
too upsetting for the police. I will come at the issue in another way and | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
I understand what you are asking, and we are not changing the law to | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
make it legal where it is not. But the law is not clear. And if you | :25:16. | :25:18. | |
were being radical, you would change the law. We need a definition of | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
what is actually for personal use and not. The law is clear enough | :25:23. | :25:29. | |
that every year 80,000 people get convicted in this country for drugs | :25:30. | :25:31. | |
for personal use in England and Wales. The law is clear that when | :25:32. | :25:37. | |
they get to the courts, there is a distinction between a caution... | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
This will be such a lot of police time. No, it is the opposite. Only | :25:42. | :25:48. | |
4% of people who are convicted for personal use" link, so actually, | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
this is a fuss about nothing. -- in the clink. My department is a prison | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
service. Last year there were 2000 and more people who went inside for | :26:00. | :26:02. | |
possession and they came out after three months or six months. There | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
are a lot of drugs in prison and the evidence is, counterintuitively, | :26:08. | :26:10. | |
that the reconviction rate for those who go inside for drug possession is | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
higher than those who get dealt with in another way, so we are trying to | :26:16. | :26:18. | |
move this from a law and order, Home Office way. You have been banging on | :26:19. | :26:25. | |
about this since 2002 and you haven't got anywhere. If you are | :26:26. | :26:28. | |
going to get somewhere, wouldn't you say decriminalise and be done with | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
it? That would be the radical way. It would be, and some people | :26:34. | :26:40. | |
supported. Do you support it? No, because the evidence around the | :26:41. | :26:43. | |
world is that if you move it from Loren order to a health issue, the | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
benefit is dealing with drug addicts and give them a better lifestyle at | :26:49. | :26:50. | |
the end of it -- law and order. You can't have an event, | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
or a protest, or a charity these days without | :26:55. | :26:56. | |
a wristband to mark your support - Now there's a new craze | :26:57. | :26:59. | |
for looping multicoloured rubber bands together which are nothing to | :27:00. | :27:02. | |
do with good works, but which has made their inventor ?80 million in | :27:03. | :27:06. | |
three years and spawned warnings of The Pope and the Duchess | :27:07. | :27:09. | |
of Cambridge are both fans but unless you have young children | :27:10. | :27:12. | |
or grandchildren, or nothing to do, loom bands have possibly passed you | :27:13. | :27:15. | |
by. How exactly have tiny multi-coloured | :27:16. | :27:16. | |
rubber bands come to rule the world? As part of Newsnight's commitment to | :27:17. | :27:37. | |
the plastic arts, we have commissioned Rosie Emerson to make a | :27:38. | :27:40. | |
work that could hardly be more provocative and timely. Miss | :27:41. | :27:47. | |
Emerson, who specialises in exposing materials to sunlight is creating a | :27:48. | :27:57. | |
piece inspired by the two. -- loom bands. Deal with that, culture show. | :27:58. | :27:59. | |
Everyone is wearing them it seems. You told us what you wanted, and we | :28:00. | :28:14. | |
were listening. A major Newsnight take on loom bands, this summer's | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
must have bad. They came about when a crash test engineer was enjoying | :28:21. | :28:25. | |
down time with his family. I got the idea for my daughters. They were | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
making bracelets, so I wanted to impress them. That is why I came out | :28:31. | :28:39. | |
with the tool to make great designs, and also one that they can make by | :28:40. | :28:45. | |
hand. The tool of his is now worth millions. He is no dummy. What he | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
dreamt up was essentially a little plastic loom around which deaf | :28:51. | :28:57. | |
fingers can weave coloured rubber bands into various pleasing designs | :28:58. | :29:05. | |
and patterns. And that reminds me, how is the artist getting on with | :29:06. | :29:10. | |
them? As the paper behind them changes colour in the sun, the bands | :29:11. | :29:14. | |
remain stubbornly resistant to the elements, like cockroaches. I have | :29:15. | :29:21. | |
come to meet a group of youngsters in a village just outside Cambridge | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
to show them how to make loom bands. This would be the loom, hence the | :29:27. | :29:32. | |
name, loom bands. Actually, they seem to be doing all right by | :29:33. | :29:36. | |
themselves. Try and make me look good in this, OK? | :29:37. | :29:44. | |
They are involved in a national project to get kids making art in | :29:45. | :29:50. | |
school, using loom bands to create sculptures in praise of summer. At | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
least it keeps them off their phones and computers, sort of. It's like | :29:56. | :30:03. | |
the things we did in the 70s, macram? and French knitting, but | :30:04. | :30:09. | |
they were comparatively boring, but now with the you Tube, they have | :30:10. | :30:16. | |
this sort of inspiration feeding in. It is taking it beyond, I think, | :30:17. | :30:20. | |
what any one person would do in their house and we are all using | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
tablets to get the inspiration. Is it as fun as playing a computer | :30:25. | :30:30. | |
game? I think so. Maybe even better. It is sharing. A shared agenda | :30:31. | :30:38. | |
plaything? My goodness. They shared gender plaything. -- a shared gender | :30:39. | :30:46. | |
plaything. It is easy to sneer at loom bands, but I like the idea it's | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
getting people to do things. At the end of the day, its creator. At the | :30:53. | :30:56. | |
end of the day, it could lead to somebody being a designer. I have | :30:57. | :31:00. | |
seen dresses made out of it. It is aimed primarily at kids, so to get | :31:01. | :31:03. | |
them to become the extras with their fingers, the earlier the better. | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
Bring it on. -- to become dextrous with their fingers. Don't get the | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
idea we are endorsing the product. After all it has been linked to | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
rubber bands in eyes, severely twanged fingers and it is in the | :31:17. | :31:22. | |
greenest thing in the world either. We were caught by surprise that the | :31:23. | :31:26. | |
craft would be that popular. So we are thinking about how to instruct | :31:27. | :31:32. | |
the customer on how to recycle the product. Artist Rosie Emerson is | :31:33. | :31:41. | |
doing her bit for recycling the loom bands. Will LeCras soon be a shadow | :31:42. | :31:47. | |
of itself? -- Will this craze soon be? | :31:48. | :31:50. | |
Somebody needs to give me their bracelets so I can pretend I have | :31:51. | :31:58. | |
made a good one. There. I've just finished that. That's not bad. I'm | :31:59. | :32:04. | |
quite proud of that. Pretend you made them all. Something for the | :32:05. | :32:10. | |
weekend. Have a nice weekend. Good night. | :32:11. | :32:12. |