09/05/2014 The Papers

Britain. And Lewis Hamilton leads the way in prep is ahead of the

Spanish Grand Prix. `` practice. Welcome to our lookahead to the

papers tomorrow. With me are the journalist Jeremy Cliffe and the

novelist Dreda Say Mitchell. First of all, the Rolf Harris trial

on many of the front pages. The Daily Mail focusing on a letter he

claimed he wrote to the father of one of his alleged victims.

The Mirror also leading with Rolf Harris.

Then Britain's Camp Bastion shame, a photograph of a serviceman posing

with a dead insurgent. One of the two serviceman apparently sent home

from Afghanistan. A special report from Ukraine, where

there have been violent clashes between government forces and pro`

Russian separatists. Russia celebrating victory Day, the

defeat of Nazi Germany. That is in the FT. President Putin prompted

protests from the Ukrainian government by visiting Crimea.

The Guardian claims that NHS hospitals are in need of thousands

of extra nurses. Then take that Gary Barlow, the front page of the Times.

A hefty tax bill after signing up to it tax avoidance scheme.

And the Express has a story that the Queen has been told to take it easy

after Prince Charles stood in for her during an official ceremony.

Let us begin. As we were saying, the Rolf Harris trial really featuring

on a lot of the front pages. We start off with the Daily Mirror.

That quote apparently coming from a letter that the court heard. All of

the court reporters have picked up on this letter in the first page of

this trial. He was apparently writing to the father of one of the

alleged victims. Begging for his forgiveness and dramatic language.

He said that although he was saying he had this relationship, he

disputed the relationship had begun when the alleged victim was

underage. Absolutely. He said that it was when she was 18. She is

alleging that it was going on for 16 years. One of the incidents took

place in the same room that his daughter was in. This was his

friend's daughter. I think it is interesting with that headline.

People would look at it and I hope that they do read the letter to see

that he is alleging that she was not underage. Just looking at that, you

might think that he is confessing to the allegations put before him. We

will leave that to the jury. Let us move on to the Guardian. The story

at the bottom, Nigerian forces were warned over the kidnapping. Amnesty

International alleging that there was a tipoff and Nigerian security

forces failed to act. Absolutely. Jeremy put it well earlier when he

said that Amnesty International have been talking to a range of people. A

number of things have come out. One of the things that Amnesty

International is alleging is that the Nigerian security forces did not

do anything because they had a lack of resources and they were not

prepared to engage with well armed men. We are talking about the Armed

Forces. The economy is one of the most buoyant economies in Africa.

One of the other thing that Amnesty International says is that they

talked to residents and they said they got calls warning them and when

they called the local military post, people did not answer the

phone. This is really disturbing if this is true. Given those accounts

by locals, the response from the Nigerian army is really bizarre.

They have called these rumours and allegations. It seems oddly casual.

You were talking about resources and they were making the case that they

did not have the wherewithal to go in against Boko Haram. The change

might be that British and American advisers on the ground. What kind of

strategy might we see? In the short term, hopefully all the resources

will be there to try and find these girls. The terrain they have to go

into is very difficult, but there is the issue of whether they are still

in Nigeria or Cameroon. Who knows. This has brought up so many things

about Nigeria that need unfitting. It almost seems like the

international community cannot do that for them, only the Nigerian

government and its people. There seems to be so many divisions, so

many geographical divisions, religious divisions, this country

needs to stop for a moment. Britain and America say they are sending

experts. But this is not going to be a military intervention. They are

being very cautious. People are keeping hope, but it is a difficult

situation. Gary Barlow. Take that, Gary Barlow. This is apparently a

?20 million bill for tax avoidance. To be fair, it does not appear to be

a comment from him or his accountant. The allegation made by

the judge in this case was that he was using an investment vehicle to

put their money in something that would avoid tax. If it transpires

that he was involved in this decision or was simply ignorant, you

would wonder what it would do to his image? He trades on his patriotic

credentials. You wonder whether this will damage that. Celebrities have

gotten into pretty hot water on this before. Absolutely. We are not sure

what his comments. As a British citizen sitting here, I am thinking

that everybody should pay their taxes. ?63 million from world tours

and see these. `` CDs. If people are doing tax avoidance and they are in

the public eye, they have two think very carefully. It is not just about

money, it is an issue about themselves. For somebody like Gary

Barlow, think of all the young people looking up to him. What would

they think of this? The fact that somebody so famous has been caught

avoiding tax is great for the Treasury. This will persuade a lot

of other people to find out how they are managing to secure such a low

tax bill. This is part of a drive by the government to crack down on tax

avoidance. Let us turn our attention to a very different thing. These

reports were fairly disturbing pictures dating back to 2012.

Britain's Camp Bastion shame. British service personnel rejoicing

over the bodies of dead Taliban fighters. I hope not. People

rejoicing. Some of the servicemen who did this, if it is proved that

they did this, it was one of those moments and they look back and

think, I really wish I had not done that. It makes me think sometimes

about the whole issue about war when we go into particular countries. How

it sometimes can change people and how people actually behave. The

important thing about this story is how the Ministry of Defence react to

it. That this cannot happen again. We heard that two members of the

staff have been from frontline duties. Britain is pulling out of

Afghanistan by this year. By September there should be no troops

left. The Taliban has started its attacks on coalition forces. This is

grotesque in and of itself. It poses a risk to soldiers still out there.

It is a fantastic recruiting agent for the Taliban. That is yet another

reason beyond the horror of the images that they should take it

seriously. There is a quote from another serving member of the Armed

Forces saying that these incidents and an extra weapon to the Taliban.

`` are an. And another story having parents and, I knew it. Schools have

been told to let some children start a year later. Guidance from the

Department of education. This refers to children born between April and

August. The younger half of the school year. They do slightly less

well because they are slightly less developed than their peers. A lot of

parents would like the opportunity to hold back their children's

starting point. So that they have the extra bit of time to develop. A

lot of councils have said no to this. But thanks to guidelines from

the Department of education, from now schools will have two give

parents the chance to put children in the group below. Will we see a

lot of people doing this? But also you have the problem being passed

along. Exactly. I would like to see where the evidence comes from. I do

not think that everybody believes that is the case, that some children

are less developed. `` summer. It depends on your educational

experience. Some schools, a lot of schools what they do is that they

will stagger their intake. A lot of children coming in in the autumn

tomes and then in the summer terms you have younger children. Children

develop at different speeds. We are agreeing a lot. Going to the FT. One

that will make people chuckle. Rooms with a view. A dreadful pun. How

does this work? This has made me laugh so much. It seems to have had

so many problems from the get go. This is about its wonderfully

luxurious hotel. The architect has designed some of the corners so they

have got class. When it becomes evening, a act like mirrors. People

are able to see in other people 's rooms. Plus the hotel give people

the Nokia was so that they can look at London. `` binoculars. The

problem is, people do not want to put down deadlines because they pay

a lot of money to get a good view. `` the blinds. Let us finish on the

Express. The Queen told to take it easy. We were mentioning the

suggestion that Prince Charles had stepped in because she was

struggling a little bit. You have to feel sorry for her. The description

on the front page of the Express is that she was struggling to get up

the wooden steps. You just think, poor old dear. Isn't it time we let

her go off and watch the horses? The did that in the Netherlands. The

suggestion is that she would never agree to that. She seems very

committed. She is and 88`year`old woman who seems committed to her

job. She does appear to recognise that sometimes she cannot meet those

commitments. She would pass them on to her son. I felt for her. I find

it hard enough to get up this as myself. `` these days. Thank you.

We will get an update at midnight on the latest developments on the

violent clashes between Ukrainian troops and pro` Russian separatists.

Coming up next, it is time to Sportsday.

Katherine Downes. Peter Moores is Katherine Downes. Peter Moores is

back at