30/01/2014 The Papers

Sunday. We will tell you which players are on the move today before

Ford ball's January transfer window closes tomorrow, all coming up in

Sportsday in 15 minutes after the papers. -- footballJanuary transfer

window. Welcome to our lookahead to what the

papers will be bringing us tomorrow, with as our author and journalist

Rachel Shabi and Kevin Schofield, chief political correspondent for

the Sun. Starting with the front pages, then, the Guardian main story

is the conviction of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of

British student Meredith Kercher. The independent claims one member,

one vote in the Labour Party is drawing closer as part of Ed

Miliband's reforms. Royal Marines helping with the floods in Somerset

dominate the Telegraph's front page. The FT says the Indian central bank

governor has hit out at industrialised countries for selfish

policies. Detectives hunting the abductor of

Madeleine McCann wants to examine bank records of three suspects,

according to the Daily Express. And the Metro says a mother of three

has become the first woman in Britain ruled to have been poisoned

to death by smoking cannabis. So let's begin, we will start with

the Guardian, and it was pretty quick off the mark to get this on

the front page, the picture of Amanda Knox, waiting at home in

Seattle. She wasn't in court for tonight's verdict, and this is

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, her former Italian boyfriend,

convicted or having their convictions upheld, having

previously been acquitted for the murder of Meredith Kercher in 2007.

Well, as you can see, it is the lead story in the Guardian. They have an

interview with Amanda Knox, and we can listen to a little of that now.

I am a marked person, and no-one, no-one who is unmarked is going to

understand that. Like, I don't even know what my places anymore, what's

my role in society? Who am I after this? After everyone has branded me,

who am I? Part of the interview the Guardian did with Amanda Knox in the

United States before this verdict tonight. And most judicial systems

take a bit of understanding, but the Italian system seems especially

baffling to us from the outside. It goes on. Long. It is seven years now

since the murder actually took place. We had the initial trial,

conviction, the conviction was quashed, and now the conviction has

been upheld, and it is not finished yet. There will be another appeal,

which will be heard by the Supreme Court in Rome, and only then finally

will it be over. And then, I guess the question will be, will Amanda

Knox be extradited from the United States. Particularly baffling to an

American audience, Rachel, they don't have this idea that you can be

tried twice for the same crime, the double jeopardy rule, so looking in

on this, they asked and by this sort of second conviction, if you like,

the conviction being upheld. Yeah, it is a very sort of convoluted

process, and it has gone back and forth, and you kind of thing, as bad

as it is, you know, you think of the family of Meredith Kercher having to

deal with seven years of this, just waiting for justice, conclusive

justice. And even now it hasn't really reached the end. I mean, we

are still going to see an appeal, and then probably an extradition

wrangle between the US and Italy. So excruciating for the family. It will

be surprisingly a lot of commentators if she is extradited,

because the United States do not understand why he would be tried

twice for something when you have been acquitted. She has been very

outspoken tonight in a statement, saying she would expected more from

the Italian justice system, but then you would expect someone in a

position to say that. You would not expected to say much else, but it

will become something of a cause celebre in the United States, and I

do not think the Americans are going to offer her all that easily, and

then it becomes quite a tense stand-off between Rome and the

American government in Washington. But yeah, this whole saga seems to

just go on and on and on. As you say, the sister and brother, Lyle

and Stephanie Kercher, Meredith's siblings, were in court yet again.

You just wonder whether they can trust this verdict this time me and

they say they want to know the truth, but the truth keeps changing.

Well, yeah, the truth keeps evading them, and you know, this report

talks about them both looking confused during this lengthy and

quite dense verdict, as you would. And probably being too stunned to

sort of absorb what is really, you know, it just keeps changing, and to

absorb what this actually means, and unfortunately it doesn't mean

anything definitive yet. And they still have not got that, they are

never going to have their sister back. Let's move on to the

Independent, Labour past and present. Ed Miliband here, we will

start with his party Revolution, one member, one vote draws closer.

Surprising to a lot of people that in 2014 it still is not one member,

one vote in elections within the Labour Party. Yeah, I mean, to be

honest, I look at this story, and I think, well, yeah, that is all very

well, this idea that now they are going to move from having the party

like it has got 180,000 members and they only have one third of the

boat, and now it is going to be one member, one vote, as you say. But

the headline, Miliband's party revolution, the Labour Party finally

be coming and opposition, with divisive opposition politics! I

don't know, austerity, the economy, migration, youth unemployment, stuff

like that. Instead, no, it is a story about... Isn't that rather

unfair? He has been doing well with directing the cost of living crisis

for months, he has made the other parties dance to his tune a bit,

hasn't he? I do not think he has gone anyway near far enough on the

whole austerity debate. I mean, we are still talking very much about a

framework of necessary cuts, and they are avoidable, they are purely

ideological, and the fact that the Labour Party is toying with the

conservative line on migration, I find that extremely disappointing.

So yeah, I was hoping there would be a different story to this headline,

but there wasn't! Leaving the politics, national politics to one

side for a moment... Rather than just addressing the article! I was

addressing the headline! This, in many ways, is a technical, dry

debate, but it is sort of finishing something that John Smith, the

previous but one, but two Labour leader, 20 years ago began, one

member, one vote. A lot of people probably think, don't they have that

already? They have this convoluted electoral college system with a

third of the boats going to trade unions. When they are trying to

elect a leader. They are going to get rid of that and bring in one

member, one vote. However, critics have said that this, are from

watering down the influence that the trade unions have on electing party

leaders, will actually strengthen it, because there are far more trade

union members of the party than ordinary non-trade union members. In

some instances, they could have something like 90% of the vote,

which might not please the chap at the top, Mr Blair! Yes, let's move

on to Tony Blair, we don't seem on the front pages as often as we used

to, and here he is talking to one of our opponents, Egypt's general start

rounding up dissenting journalists, says the headline, guess who has

just announced his support for the military regime. Tony Blair

appearing in this interview to support the army and the army

generals who have sort of wrested control of Egypt. I mean, he is

saying in this article, Kevin, that it is what the Egyptian people

wanted. It is not quite what most of us are taken from the situation.

Well, no, or someone who was a three times elected leader here to be an

opponent of giving ordinary Egyptians their say, they did elect

their government, they may not have agreed with the government, but they

did elect one, it was properly recognise. The military obviously

opposed that and have thrown that properly elected government and have

set up running the country themselves. And Tony Blair, who has

almost become a parody of himself in lots of ways, is now backing a coup,

essentially, by the Egyptian army. And this is a man... The Middle East

Quartet envoy is supposed to remain impartial on matters to do with the

Middle East. Yeah, I'm sure Palestinians wake up every morning

and whether whether it be still, unfortunately, the envoy. This man

has an amazing capacity to get the wrong end of the state when it comes

to the Middle East. And the fact that he is supporting a military

coup, and a melody of regime that is authoritarian -- a military regime

that is authoritarian, that has branded the Muslim brother had at

the democratically elected president as traitors, killed a thousand of

them on the streets, and then had a crackdown on journalists and anyone

who dares to protest them, and Tony Blair says this is the voice of hope

and democracy? I mean, parody does not even cover it! Moving on to the

Telegraph, and the main picture story of the Marines in Somerset.

And we are expecting more rain as well. The idea of having the army on

stand-by at this point, when some villages have been cut off for a

month, seems a little bit too late for some people wanted yes, you look

at this picture, it really sums it up. You have these two Royal Marines

wondering what exactly they are supposed to do. The fact that the

villagers have had to wait a month of dealing with floods, of having to

cope not only with the damage of the floods, but now the aftermath of

trying to get to school and work, seemingly forgotten, and you have to

wonder if it was in the Home Counties, if the story would be

different. I am sure people in Somerset are tinkering that, what

took so long? It is as if they have only just remembered that the Armed

Forces have amphibious vehicles. And there is also this thing about

sending the Army and it looks like they are doing something. But

clearly, I think even these two Royal Marines are thinking, heavens

above, what are we supposed to do?! We were not trained for this! Well,

the Fire Service apparently are helping as well. This is the

cartoon, a police officer, in a boat, going up to a couple in a car.

Completely swamped by the water. He always manages to hit it on the

head. The smoking in cars thing is quite an incredible move by

petitions, really, I think. Anyone who smokes with a kid in the back,

you are crazy. But surely people can make up their own minds about things

like that. Let's look at the last story, middle-class mothers decide

to stay at home. Mothers, if they can afford it, have decided they are

going to stay at home. But the Government has been trying to push

as many people back to work as possible. This is an interesting

choice by women, if they can afford it. That is the crucial line,

according to this article, it is the families which are able to live on

one income, where these women are choosing to leave employment. That

is a major qualifier. I do not know how many families can afford to do

that. They want to spend time with their kids, that is a good thing,

surely. It is perfectly understandable, fathers want to

spend as much time with their kids as well. But it is a big if. Maybe

20 or 30 years ago, it was easier for a family to have only one

income. But not so much now. It is not so much that mothers and fathers

want to go out to work, it is necessity. The cost of living crisis

that we are in is obviously contributing, but obviously, if it

was easier, if there were more child benefits, if there was more in place

to allow for that, I am sure mothers and fathers would be able to stay at

home and look after their children. That is it from the papers for this

hour. We will be back within the next hour to have another look.

Coming up at 11 o'clock, we will have more on that reinstatement of

the guilty verdicts against Raffaele Sollecito and Amanda Knox. Coming up

next, Sportsday. Hello and welcome to Sportsday - I'm

John Watson. On the way tonight... Michael Schumacher is to be brought

out of his medically-induced coma as treatment continues