Browse content similar to 02/09/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Junior doctors come under pressure to abandon their plans to strike. | :00:00. | :00:07. | |
Will they go ahead despite criticism from within their own profession? | :00:08. | :00:11. | |
CHANTING: Hunt must go! | :00:12. | :00:14. | |
And has their union - the BMA - mishandled the whole thing? | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
I'm going on strike because I feel I don't have any choice. | :00:21. | :00:23. | |
The government aren't listening to us. | :00:24. | :00:26. | |
They are trying to impose a contract on us that stretches us from five | :00:27. | :00:29. | |
days to seven, when we are already struggling with five. | :00:30. | :00:31. | |
We have an ageing population, posing a demographic bomb | :00:32. | :00:34. | |
Also tonight, Brexit makes Europe weaker - | :00:35. | :00:41. | |
a rare intervention from Russia as the Deputy PM tells Newsnight | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
what the Kremlin really thinks about Britain's vote to leave. | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
Britain's decision to leave Europe makes Europe a little weaker. | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
Individual countries cannot affect international politics | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
in the same way that a united Europe can do. | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
And Georgetown University announces preferential admissions policies | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
to help those descended from the slaves that it used to trade. | :01:05. | :01:07. | |
Is this the right way to redress the ills of history? | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
Until now, the consensus within the medical community has | :01:12. | :01:25. | |
been staunchly behind the junior doctors. | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
Today, that support is starting to show cracks. | :01:30. | :01:31. | |
English junior doctors and their representatives | :01:32. | :01:35. | |
are coming under increasing pressure to drop their five day strike - | :01:36. | :01:38. | |
for four consecutive months - a level of industrial action | :01:39. | :01:40. | |
that NHS England is calling "unprecedented" in its history. | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
The government has warned it will risk lives, but it is | :01:46. | :01:47. | |
the more measured criticism from within their own medical profession | :01:48. | :01:50. | |
So has the British Medical Association mishandled this action - | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
both in misjudging the mood, and in the strategy | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
After have few months away from the picket line, the doctors union will | :02:02. | :02:17. | |
soon return. The junior doctors industrial action has been expanded | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
and extended. They've been on strike before but the junior doctors have | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
never been in such conflict with the government. We don't want to take | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
industrial action at all. All this will take is the government saying | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
to us, we will stop the imposition. We are not going to force a contract | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
on junior doctors. The government is putting patients first, the BMA | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
should be doing that and not playing politics. How did we get here? The | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
British Medical Association and the government cut a deal earlier this | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
year. That was put to the BMA members in a referendum but they | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
rejected it. Government imposed at contract anyway. As a consequence, | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
the BMA has gone on strike again. This time, not for one or two days | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
at a time but for five comp leak days in working hours at a stretch. | :03:18. | :03:25. | |
-- complete days. The junior doctors are preparing to give up a lot to | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
signal their seriousness about this contract being imposed. The | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
government are trying to impose a contract that stretches as from five | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
days to seven while we are already struggling with five. We are facing | :03:42. | :03:47. | |
a demographic bomb exploding all around is. There are gaps in | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
hospitals. Units closing in Oxfordshire today because there | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
aren't enough doctors to stop them. This isn't the time to stretch | :03:56. | :04:04. | |
elective services to seven days. A striking aspect of this has been | :04:05. | :04:08. | |
discussion in other trade unions about the striking air BMA. On some | :04:09. | :04:15. | |
issues there was a bitter division. The question on whether BMA members | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
were shrewd to reject the contract. Some from the radical left union | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
said they thought it was a good idea because the government will have to | :04:26. | :04:28. | |
make a much better off if it is to win over members. They thought it | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
would stop chumminess between the BMA and the government. The majority | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
of union officials however thought it was a disaster. They thought it | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
meant that the BMA's leadership were cut off at the knees and that their | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
leadership couldn't speak for their members. The BMA is also in the | :04:49. | :04:58. | |
awkward position of striking to a pose a contract that was agreed by | :04:59. | :05:05. | |
its managers months ago. We have agreed a contract that is fair for | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
junior doctors and its values them as part of the workforce. I don't | :05:09. | :05:15. | |
think the union has changed its mind. The members have decided that | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
they don't accept this contract, 58% of as, that is in contradiction to | :05:22. | :05:24. | |
some members of the executive committee googled it was a good | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
contract stop the majority don't and the union is representing as as it | :05:30. | :05:35. | |
should. The BMA has an unusual structure as a union and it puts a | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
lot of responsibility in the hands of inexperienced union officials. | :05:40. | :05:47. | |
You can see that in context of leaks from the union. Union leaders were | :05:48. | :05:55. | |
shocked at an apparent lack of strategy but union leaders in the | :05:56. | :06:03. | |
BMA will have to be skilful to avoid conflict from members. They are | :06:04. | :06:11. | |
likely to losing, and patients will end up waiting longer so they have | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
the opportunity to fail on both of their targets. They could then lose | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
a lot of money which given that their finances are on a knife edge | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
will see hospitals running into further difficulty as a consequence | :06:24. | :06:30. | |
of the strike. For all that, the Department of Health sounded unfazed | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
at the BMA's new plans. Right now, there is no sign of peace. | :06:36. | :06:38. | |
We asked to speak to the BMA and the government tonight | :06:39. | :06:41. | |
to respond to the criticisms made, but they were unavailable. | :06:42. | :06:43. | |
Joining me now, Junior Doctor Rachel Clark who's been a vocal | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
Thanks for coming in. A lot of people understand that there are | :06:47. | :06:55. | |
junior doctors, medics, who have frankly been pushed | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
to medics, the end of their tether and are being forced to reach | :07:01. | :07:03. | |
for the nuclear option. But fundamentally its quite hard | :07:04. | :07:05. | |
for you to explain to the public this change of heart | :07:06. | :07:08. | |
when you seemed so close to a deal. to some extent I absolutely agree | :07:09. | :07:18. | |
with that. How do we as doctors forsake our patients for five days | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
at a stretch? I know that every day I went on strike in the preceding | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
year I cried on my way to the baguette line, I felt guilty, it was | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
something I absolutely didn't want to do. Ashya macro picket line. | :07:33. | :07:39. | |
Every doctor is going to go through that. This goes against the grain of | :07:40. | :07:48. | |
our work ethic. When questioning the proportionality of age dry, I think | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
you have to do that in the context of assessing the potential harm of | :07:53. | :08:01. | |
the strike. -- assessing a strike. You have to assess that against the | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
harm of the action you are trying to avoid. It's understandable but a | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
slightly different point to the one I have made. It is very hard to turn | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
to the public and say that we were close to that deal but were not | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
going to go with that now because of reasons that we could have made six | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
months earlier. That rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of this | :08:31. | :08:37. | |
dispute. There has been a year of negotiation and you are right, in | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
that interview, one of my BMA representatives thought it was a | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
good deal. I never thought that was a good deal and nor did I great many | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
of my fellow doctors. You were prepared to support it at one point? | :08:52. | :08:58. | |
It is one thing to think it is the best of a bad series of options on | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
the table. That is not the same as supporting it. But you would have | :09:05. | :09:12. | |
voted yes and we have heard that many thought it was safe for | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
doctors, say for the workforce and patients. Why has the mindset | :09:19. | :09:26. | |
changed? For the last year, the BMA has sought to negotiate a new | :09:27. | :09:29. | |
contract that will deliver a seven-day NHS, cost neutrally. This | :09:30. | :09:37. | |
stipulation of the government was that the contract must be cost | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
neutral and delivered these fantastic new services that we | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
support and are committed to at the weekend. In the absence of funds and | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
staff. We know that not only do junior doctors feel deeply anxious | :09:52. | :09:55. | |
about the idea that we can be stretched more thinly and still be | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
safe at the weekend, we know that Jeremy Hunt's own officials shared | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
that queasiness, through leaked internal documents, their own risk | :10:06. | :10:09. | |
assessments, a five out of five severity risk of that there aren't | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
enough staff. Do you think that the BMA screwed this up for all of you? | :10:15. | :10:22. | |
I don't. I wish that BMA had called out the government on the | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
ludicrousness of... They spent eight days at ACAS negotiating with the | :10:28. | :10:33. | |
government and we are now back with an unprecedented strike. Why would | :10:34. | :10:37. | |
the government trust any new negotiation at this point when the | :10:38. | :10:45. | |
last one was renege? This is the democratic process. The BMA may have | :10:46. | :10:48. | |
delivered what they thought was the best deal on the table they are out | :10:49. | :10:55. | |
of step with their members? Indeed. Jeremy Hunt has portrayed the BMA as | :10:56. | :11:02. | |
radicals, militants leading us into a dreadful fight that we were too | :11:03. | :11:10. | |
misguided to recognise? They weren't hardline enough for you? Far from | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
it. What I object to is the political gameplaying, Theresa May | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
is wholly wrong when she says doctors are playing games, it is the | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
political gameplaying of presenting the electorate with an unfunded | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
sound bite and pretending it is a policy. Nobody gets something for | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
nothing and we know that and that is why we have public support. The | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
public knows that if the government were genuinely committed to safer | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
weekends, they would fund and stuff them. In Oxfordshire, my local | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
hospital, a District General Hospital in Banbury has just closed | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
its entire maternity services because they don't have enough | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
junior doctors. Do you think you can win this or will it turn into | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
something akin to the miners strike, as one doctor described it to me | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
tonight? We have to do everything humanly possible to prevent the | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
strike and I think that if Jeremy Hunt had any shred of commitment to | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
patients, literally, all he needs to do is pause in position. He could | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
have a pause. He is not giving up on the seven-day NHS and losing face, | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
simply saying that we must come together with patients and pause | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
this. That is all he needs to do. Then the strike goes away. Why he is | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
not doing that, I simply can't understand. Doctor Clark, thank you | :12:36. | :12:38. | |
for coming in. Russia's Deputy Prime minister | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
has told this programme that Brexit has weakened Europe and created | :12:43. | :12:45. | |
new uncertainties about its future. In a rare interview, | :12:46. | :12:47. | |
Arkady Dvorkovich - who oversees economic | :12:48. | :12:48. | |
policy for the Kremlin - has confounded what many believed | :12:49. | :12:51. | |
to be the view of Russia, telling Newsnight that it was more | :12:52. | :12:53. | |
important for Europe to be strong - and that Britain's referendum | :12:54. | :12:56. | |
decision has hurt Europe. He also refuted the idea | :12:57. | :12:59. | |
that President Putin was rooting for Brexit as a way | :13:00. | :13:01. | |
of undermining European unity. He was speaking to Mark Urban | :13:02. | :13:04. | |
at The European House - Ambrosetti Forum | :13:05. | :13:07. | |
at Villa d'Este in Italy. For Russia it's important | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
that Europe is strong, we don't need weak partners, | :13:12. | :13:13. | |
we need strong partners to go forward and provide | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
for a better future for Russian The British, the decision to leave | :13:19. | :13:20. | |
Europe, may make Europe The whole process of getting away | :13:21. | :13:28. | |
from Europe is a difficult one, increases more uncertainties | :13:29. | :13:35. | |
from point A to point B. Strong politics makes Europe really | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
a big player in the international landscape, and individual countries | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
cannot affect international politics in the same way that Europe, | :13:46. | :13:48. | |
a united Europe can do. There was a narrative | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
during the campaign in Britain that Russia wanted Britain | :13:54. | :13:56. | |
to leave the EU. That Mr Putin wants disunity, | :13:57. | :13:59. | |
that if Britain leaves, the case for sanctions | :14:00. | :14:02. | |
against Russia is weakened. First, we do not have any particular | :14:03. | :14:05. | |
opinion whether UK should stay It's a sovereign affair | :14:06. | :14:17. | |
of the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, | :14:18. | :14:24. | |
and Russia is not a player The second thing, the sanctions | :14:25. | :14:26. | |
are not because of British politics. Mostly it's the influence | :14:27. | :14:33. | |
of the United States, and overall attitude of European | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
governments towards events around Even if it is the wrong attitude, | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
it's a mistake, it's counter-productive and brings big | :14:43. | :14:49. | |
losses to all parties in this game, but we do not believe that any | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
political process in Europe There has been a little bit | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
of discussion around our Foreign Ministry about a reset, | :14:59. | :15:11. | |
or a chance to have a different type Perhaps an intensified | :15:12. | :15:14. | |
trading relationship... Let's see how it goes, we are open, | :15:15. | :15:17. | |
we are ready at any point in time. I'm personally co-chairing | :15:18. | :15:20. | |
the Russian-British energy dialogue. It is frozen for the moment, | :15:21. | :15:23. | |
but our President Putin will see the British Prime Minister | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
at the G20 forum in China, and hopefully they will agree | :15:29. | :15:34. | |
to restore some of the things I've seen estimates that Russia's | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
economy contracted by 3.7% in 2015. There is an impact of sanctions, | :15:39. | :15:46. | |
I think you would agree, but now it would seem | :15:47. | :15:54. | |
that the discussion in mid-September in the EU will be for renewing | :15:55. | :15:57. | |
sanctions on Russia. Does that disappoint you, | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
and for how long, realistically, do you think this is | :16:02. | :16:03. | |
going to be a factor? First of all, the effect | :16:04. | :16:05. | |
of the sanctions... Our estimate, and this is supported | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
by leading international economists, that out of 3.7% contraction, | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
0.5% related to sanctions, and the rest is relating | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
to the oil prices falling So sanctions had an effect, | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
but it was not the overwhelming thing in in the overall | :16:28. | :16:41. | |
economic trend in Russia. Again, sanctions are negative, | :16:42. | :16:43. | |
both for Russia and those countries Continued sanctions will also bring | :16:44. | :16:45. | |
more negative effects to the global economy and to Russia, | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
as part of this global economy, but most of the issues we have | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
are our domestic issues We know which structural reforms | :16:54. | :16:56. | |
we should implement and continue. We know that we need to conduct | :16:57. | :17:06. | |
fiscal consolidation, that we need to promote innovations | :17:07. | :17:10. | |
and diversification of the Russian And looking forward, | :17:11. | :17:13. | |
presidential election in the US. Once again there is a narrative | :17:14. | :17:20. | |
that President Putin I think President Putin | :17:21. | :17:22. | |
was very clear about that. He believes that Donald Trump | :17:23. | :17:30. | |
is a strong man, but that doesn't We will work with any American | :17:31. | :17:34. | |
president, since we believe that the United States is a big | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
and very influential global force, and we need to be in dialogue, | :17:39. | :17:47. | |
we need to be in partnership and hopefully any new | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
American president... Now the polls show that | :17:53. | :17:54. | |
Hillary will win that, but we will work with any American | :17:55. | :18:00. | |
president, to restore Deputy Prime Minister, | :18:01. | :18:02. | |
thank you very much. Georgetown University in Washington | :18:03. | :18:05. | |
has announced plans to apologise for its role in the slave trade | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
by offering preferential treatment to the descendants | :18:12. | :18:14. | |
of certain slaves. In 1838, nearly 300 men women | :18:15. | :18:17. | |
and children were sold by the institution to clear | :18:18. | :18:20. | |
the colleges debts. Now, it wants to redress the past | :18:21. | :18:23. | |
in the form of help with admissions of their descendents - | :18:24. | :18:27. | |
the same kind offered Here's how Georgetown President | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
announced the move. We will offer a mass | :18:32. | :18:41. | |
of reconciliation, in which we will seek | :18:42. | :18:42. | |
forgiveness from participation in the institution of slavery, | :18:43. | :18:44. | |
and specifically for the sale of 272 Other US schools - | :18:45. | :18:47. | |
including Harvard and Virginia - have acknowledged the debt they owe | :18:48. | :18:53. | |
to slavery, but Georgetown is thought to be the first to | :18:54. | :18:56. | |
offer to attempt practical amends. Is this the right way | :18:57. | :18:59. | |
to go about redressing Joining me now are the | :19:00. | :19:01. | |
historian David Olusoga A warm welcome to both of you. Does | :19:02. | :19:14. | |
this work? Does this make you think, David, that something is being done | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
to correct past wrongs? This is the most brave and forward-thinking and | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
American institution has done. It is partly able to do it because the | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
records are so These 202 272 slaves were sold. The sale of these people | :19:30. | :19:40. | |
saved the University. They gave, involuntarily, the money produced | :19:41. | :19:44. | |
from that sale is why Georgetown is still there now. If somebody had | :19:45. | :19:47. | |
written a check in 1984 for the money, I'm sure his children would | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
be automatically welcomed into Georgetown. I don't really see the | :19:53. | :19:59. | |
difference. Harry? I think it is a form of historic virtue, where | :20:00. | :20:02. | |
somebody apologises not only for something they didn't do, but was | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
done decades before they were born. We have seen a lot of this, it | :20:07. | :20:10. | |
started with Tony Blair apologising the potato five famine in Ireland. | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
He has a lot of things to apologise for, Tony Blair, but potato famine | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
in Ireland is not one of them. I don't agree we are guilty for the | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
sins, the very real sins, committed by our ancestors and I don't think | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
we should be compensated for those sins inflicted upon them. It has | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
nothing to do with guilt, you can't inherit guilt, you're absolutely | :20:35. | :20:37. | |
right. You cannot inherit the guilt of your forefathers. There is no one | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
around today who was a slave owner. This is about money, money was | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
inherited, it was reinvested and the University 's rich. It is not about | :20:48. | :20:53. | |
guilt, it's about money. Ferran. The second thing is it's fair to offer | :20:54. | :21:02. | |
scholarships. -- fair enough. What they're saying, they are not | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
offering scholarships but the same thing may offer to somebody whose | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
parents or grandparents or great-grandparents attended that | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
university... David, if you do believe it is about money. I | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
disagree with that as well, the idea that just because you're ancestors | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
are a long night you should have easier access to university. That is | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
part of the American system. David, if you think it is about money and | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
inherited wealth is that the right gesture? If these they have great | :21:37. | :21:47. | |
records, why don't they pay out rather than these admissions? | :21:48. | :21:55. | |
Slavery prevented African-Americans from accumulating generation upon | :21:56. | :21:58. | |
generation, the sort of wealth and property and land that many people | :21:59. | :22:04. | |
in America were able to accumulate. African-Americans struggle in many | :22:05. | :22:08. | |
cases to attend university. One of the ways of re-dressing these things | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
is further higher education those of you have an institution financially | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
saved by the sale of slaves and is perfectly placed to help the | :22:18. | :22:20. | |
descendants of those people. How far would you hold out against that | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
principle? If it came down to the restitution of stolen Nazi artworks, | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
would you say those should be returned? Are you saying it's just | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
an apology? I think it's hard to come up with a precise date you | :22:36. | :22:38. | |
could say as a starting point within living memory. I think it is | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
perfectly acceptable for David Cameron to apologise for Bloody | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
Sunday in 1972, there are people who survived. There is a stage where you | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
go too far back in history where I don't think 1's own difficulties in | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
life can be ascribed back to a particular horror. Of course, it was | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
completely disgusting, inflicted on ancestors. History is full of | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
disgusting behaviour by disgusting people. I don't think it is the | :23:08. | :23:10. | |
descendants of those who have done the Di death disgusting things. If | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
that example of having money that could have gone to you went | :23:16. | :23:21. | |
elsewhere, is that... We're talking about two different things. As I | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
said to begin with, it is completely acceptable to offer money as | :23:26. | :23:28. | |
scholarships to people. Which they are not doing. I wish they would. | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
That is fair enough, but there is a particular point about what | :23:35. | :23:36. | |
Georgetown are doing, offering these lowered standards. They are not | :23:37. | :23:42. | |
lowered standards. People with the same grades, the same | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
qualifications, one of them was a legacy, either grandparents or | :23:47. | :23:50. | |
parents on one of them was an ancestor... Do worry about that | :23:51. | :23:54. | |
perception? It is an unfair advantage. If I was in that | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
position, a descendant of slaves and got into university because of that | :24:02. | :24:04. | |
I would feel cheap and don't patronise. I don't think it is the | :24:05. | :24:08. | |
way to do it. There is that insidious sense that if you are part | :24:09. | :24:12. | |
of that community, who knows they have been given access, what happens | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
if you think everyone is looking at you thinking, they are only here | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
because they are descendants of slaves? Universities in America are | :24:22. | :24:24. | |
full of people because they are descendants of people who gave money | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
to that university. It doesn't make you uncomfortable? That is the | :24:29. | :24:31. | |
American system and they are extending that system to men, women | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
and children, descendants of those sold. This could be a very clever PR | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
coup by an American university, wants to do the right thing? Look at | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
the words you think of redemption, Atonement. It's not surprising. This | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
is a Catholic institution, looking at its past and using these terms of | :24:52. | :24:55. | |
atonement. I think this is genuine and I applaud it. Thank you both | :24:56. | :24:57. | |
very much for coming in. When Donald Trump went | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
to Mexico earlier this week, some thought he might be rowing back | :25:02. | :25:03. | |
on his rhetoric about immigrants, and about building a wall | :25:04. | :25:06. | |
across the border. But no - in a speech just hours | :25:07. | :25:08. | |
later, he made it clear his stance Multi Grammy award winning singer | :25:09. | :25:11. | |
Lila Downs grew up both sides of that border between the US | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
and Mexico - Secunder Kermani has been speaking to her about Trump, | :25:16. | :25:18. | |
about her role as an activist When you listen to Mexican singer | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
Lila Downs, as with so much in the country, you're struck | :25:22. | :25:42. | |
by the constant and even often It's poetic, I believe, | :25:43. | :25:45. | |
but it's also about confronting, So we have that contradiction, | :25:46. | :25:54. | |
and in the arts it expresses itself with melancholy and what we call | :25:55. | :26:03. | |
sentimento, and with joy and celebration | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
and a lot drinking! # Lila Downs - | :26:09. | :26:10. | |
El Palomo del Comalito #. Her music celebrates her | :26:11. | :26:18. | |
indigenous Mixtec heritage. Downs was born to a Mexican mother | :26:19. | :26:23. | |
from the State of Oaxaca and a white She grew up in both | :26:24. | :26:27. | |
America and Mexico. So Donald Trump's bid to be | :26:28. | :26:35. | |
president and his repeated calls for a wall at the border, | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
in spite of a recent trip to Mexico, is something Downs | :26:40. | :26:42. | |
takes very personally. We will build a great wall along | :26:43. | :26:45. | |
the southern border. It hurts because I consider | :26:46. | :26:49. | |
myself a border person, I think about my Anglo father, | :26:50. | :27:01. | |
and I think it would be very sad... I've been working on music that | :27:02. | :27:15. | |
tries to bring these worlds together, and here we have | :27:16. | :27:24. | |
something that is, you know, contrary of what I have been working | :27:25. | :27:33. | |
on all my life. Downs has also been vocal | :27:34. | :27:36. | |
on issues within Mexico, like the disappearance of 43 student | :27:37. | :27:39. | |
teachers two years Corrupt local police in a drugs gang | :27:40. | :27:41. | |
have been blamed, but relatives think the role of senior officials | :27:42. | :27:47. | |
is being covered up. You think about people who haven't | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
had a chance to defend themselves, and it is the scariest | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
form of terrorism, And in this case, of course, | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
they were kids, they were students, and this was something that, | :28:05. | :28:11. | |
for me personally, I had How free do you feel as an artist, | :28:12. | :28:18. | |
as an individual, as I have seen female journalists | :28:19. | :28:46. | |
in Mexico disappeared and threatened, as well, | :28:47. | :28:56. | |
because of looking for the truth about disappeared people | :28:57. | :29:04. | |
and this is, it's appalling, the way that you can be | :29:05. | :29:08. | |
treated in our country. I actually wrote a song dedicated | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
to journalists who are We put smoke on the alter | :29:14. | :29:15. | |
on the Day of the Dead, and our belief is it's the way | :29:16. | :29:25. | |
that the dead can find their way That's it for tonight, | :29:26. | :29:32. | |
in the week that JK Rowling went to war with the Corbynistas | :29:33. | :30:08. | |
on Twitter over who should Getting into a scrap with one | :30:09. | :30:11. | |
of the country's most influential authors probably | :30:12. | :30:17. | |
wasn't a good idea though, as we discovered when Warner | :30:18. | :30:19. | |
Brothers gave us a sneak peak Good evening, if your weekend starts | :30:20. | :31:09. | |
drying bright, make the most of it, because it is not last. All of this | :31:10. | :31:13. | |
rain out West will | :31:14. | :31:14. |