22/02/2014 The Papers

Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow. With me are Craig Woodhouse, Political

Correspondent with The Sun on Sunday, and Joanne Hart, Investments

Editor at the Mail on Sunday. The Observer leads with the story

we've been covering all day here on BBC News - the historic events in

Ukraine. The paper says the opposition has taken control in Kiev

and shows a picture of the former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who

was today released from prison. Ukraine's opposition leader also

appears on the front of the Telegraph with the caption: The Day

A Nation Said "Enough". Ukraine also dominates the Sunday Telegraph,

which has a picture of Yulia Tymoshenko, who the paper calls

Ukraine's Iron Lady. She appears again on the front cover of The

Sunday Times, with the headline The Dictatorship Has Fallen. And a

different story on the front of The Mail on Sunday. It shows a picture

of Shadow Floods Minister Barry Gardiner, enjoying a dip in Cancun.

On holiday. Let's begin with the Observer. Like many papers, it is

showing a picture of Yulia Tymoshenko, the first time we have

seen her in public for some time, taking to the stage in front of

thousands of people this evening. The papers have done well to get all

of this in, because developments have been happening so quickly. Yes,

I was in the newsroom, writing some of our coverage on this, and it

seemed that every time I checked the wires after writing 200 words, the

story was wrong. I must have torn it up several times. It has been an

incredible day across Ukraine, culminating in the speech by the

freed Yulia Tymoshenko, straight out of prison, into a taxi and on a

plane down to Kiev. And amazing pictures. Almost everyone has led

with it. Joanne, what did you make of some of the things she had to

say? It appeared to our correspondents that it was rather

much a pitch for election as the new president. Absolutely, but it is

scary that these elections are now being set for May. We are now in

February, so there is a three-month vacuum. What will happen? It is all

very well her standing on stage and being cheered by most of the

supporters, although not all, in independent Square. But there are

three months, and as we have seen with the Arab Spring, the difference

between a coup or a revolution and long-lasting democracy is a very

different thing. And this is not even a revolution, you can't call it

that, because you have an elected leader who has been accused of

colluding with Russia and taking the country towards Russia rather than

Europe. This is a relatively new country, still searching for an

identity, which makes it so much more complicated than a revolution,

if that was even straightforward. Yes, I am sure many people in

Ukraine would have some sympathy with Viktor Yanukovych, who

described it as a coup. When you see protesters taking over a square and

then presidential palaces and then the resignation of the Speaker of

Parliament and then the appointment of several of Tymoshenko's allies to

key positions, if it was happening in other parts of the world, we

would describe it as a coup. Where we go from here is a scary thing,

because we have Russia still heavily supportive of Yanukovych. The US and

the West are supportive of letting the Ukrainian people have their

say. And as you say, we have a three-month power vacuum. The

Independent on Sunday's headline perhaps sums it up best, the day a

nation said enough. But as John was saying, -- as Joanne was saying, now

what? Things could fall apart, particularly with the East being so

close to Russia. They speak Russia and there, and there have been

threats by officials there breaking away from Ukraine. Absolutely. It is

not really a nation, it is half a nation. Kiev and the western half of

the nation are saying enough, but the South and the East are saying

actually, we like being close to Russia. That is a third of the

country. It is only three years since the nation said enough to

Yulia Tymoshenko and kicked her out after not as successful a prime

ministership as she might have liked. So it is very difficult. The

box of Italy Klitschko, who has been one of the leading opposition

figures while Tymoshenko has been in prison, we don't know what he will

do -- the boxer Vitali Klitschko. He might come forward and perhaps win

the elections when they happen. America and the European Union have

been key to the negotiations leading to that peace plan that all sides

signed. It did put Ukraine in the middle of a kind of new Cold War as

well, with Russia versus America and the European Union. Do you think

Ukraine has become a pawn in that severed relationship, particularly

between America and Russia? Through history, Ukraine has unfortunately

been at the centre of power struggles between East and West

almost as long as those struggles have been happening. It is easy to

say they are a pawn in the new Cold War. I actually don't think they are

being used like that at the moment. But that is because it has not got

to that stage. You fear that if Putin entrenches position as he has

done over Syria, maybe the patience of Western nations will get as thin

as it can. But having a harmonious relationship is valuable to all

concerned, despite the posturing. It is also hard, because you have the

Russian oil and gas situation. It is hard for Ukraine to be independent

without Russian support. And their economy is on its knees at the

moment, so they do rely on Russia. The Sunday Telegraph calls

Tymoshenko Ukraine's Iron Lady, saying that she hails revolution,

saying, this is a country of free people. That title they have given

her says a lot about their history. She made a lot of money out of the

gas industry, but my gosh, she has been central to the Orange

Revolution and very central to this. She's tough. Well, anybody who has

spent as many years in prison as she has has to be tough. And I suppose

her imprisonment will perhaps have won a lot of people over that

perhaps she did not have the support of during the presidential

elections. Yes. Perhaps it is a case of better the devil you know when

the elections finally come around. You saw the consummate politician in

her which she was so good at in 2004. She has dark hair, but she

died it blonde and put it up into the plat of the present people of

her country. When let out of risen, she went straight to the square,

stayed in her wheelchair. The cynic in me doubts whether she needs it,

but it looks effective, given rousing speeches from a wheelchair.

She is playing the politics game very well if she wants, as we all

think she does, to be the person leading Ukraine towards Europe.

Let's look at other stories in the Sunday Telegraph. Give us the

background to this one? Apart from anything else, it is hard to know

whether the Telegraph thinks this is a good or a bad. They are basically

saying that it has come about that schools have catchment areas that

middle-class families will flock to if the school is good. A lot of

schools think this is not fair, so they are trying to create a more

balanced intake, rather than simply relying on who is nearest school.

And that is because the best schools tend to be in the best areas. They

seem to have the best funding and therefore the best opportunities.

But how are they selecting which children from the most deprived

areas get into those schools? Is it an entrance exam? Do they pollinate

out of a hat 's there seemed to be two ways they are doing it. We

should say that this means schools where there is too much demand,

schools which are oversubscribed. The schools are faced with a

dilemma, so there are two ways. One is to stick everyone in a hat and

draw them out by random allocation, which does not give you a ballot

school, and the other is something called fair banding, where

applicants sit tests and then they take abortion numbers of what is

described here as bright -- they take proportionate numbers of

bright, average and lower ability pupils, as described here. Cameron

once described pushy parents are spending thousands of pounds on

moving to the best postcodes and forcing everybody out. This is

designed to prevent that, which is a good thing, particularly in London,

where we have seen that happening a lot. Moving on to the Sunday Times

and back to Ukraine. Their headline is, the dictatorship has fallen.

Another picture of Yulia Tymoshenko on stage, wheelchair-bound, having

just left hospital. She has been pleading for German doctors to help

her with her back problems. She spoke for around 45 minutes, off

script as well. But I am sure it is a speech she has been planning in

her head for a long time! Also on the front page of the Times, the

latest developments in what we all now know as Plebgate. What is the

latest here? Five Metropolitan police officers are to face secret

trials, starting this week, amid claims that they colluded to bring

down Andrew Mitchell, the cabinet minister in question. This is one of

the most extraordinary stories. It has rumbled on and on. It is almost

like a web of lies and deceit. Nobody dares say what is really

going on. And meanwhile, he is still out of power, suing people left,

right and centre. It just seems a very clear story. Do you think we

will get more information from these so-called secret trials? Not if they

stay secret! It does say details of the alleged plot and apparent

attempts will be disclosed for the first time at the hearings. Later,

it says the media are barred from reporting, so great! Maybe one day.

The Mail on Sunday, your paper, has dedicated its front page not to

Ukraine, a brave decision. They have a picture of the shadow floods

minister, hailed as the floods supremo for Ed Miliband, on holiday.

Yes, this is a cracking story. We should point out that this is not a

fake photo. He is not up to his waist in water on the Somerset

Levels where some think he ought to be, he has jetted off with his

wife. The Mail on Sunday have it inside, promising four more pages.

You have to think, politicians, what goes through their heads? They seem

to do this a lot, go on holiday at the wrong time. It gives off the

wrong signal, because there are so many thousands of families now still

up to their waist in water in their own homes, screaming out for help.

Yes, thousands of people are either not allowed into their homes or up

to their wasting water. And even those who aren't, people who are

comfortable, are not able to afford to go to places like Cancun, where

Barry is sunning himself. So the squeezed middle of this country will

not be impressed. It is also embarrassing for Ed Miliband, who

has made the government's handling of this entry to his line of

criticism that they have to be doing everything they can, and they have

taken their eye off the ball, and why aren't they working on flood

defences? Why aren't they dredging? He was calling for a coalition

movement to tackle floods and climate change. Exactly, and this

was the guy from his party who was meant to be leading. And what is he

doing? Getting first-hand experience of water. Thanks for taking us

through the papers. You will be back at 11:30pm with more stories and

more on the Ukrainian coverage. Thank you for joining us. Stay with

us on BBC News. At 11, Moore on the developing situation in Ukraine.

Coming up next, this week's edition of Reporters.