18/08/2014 The Papers

that they will be driving with him next season. Max Verstappen Is only

17 years old. `` 16 years old. Welcome to the look ahead to what

the newspapers will be bringing us. Richard Walker, Glasgow, you have

popped up in the nick of time. And in the studio, from the daily

record. Thank you the joining us. Some of the front pages:

we are going to start with the front page of the Financial Times. Julian

Assange, he is looking for an exit, according to the Financial Times,

the wiki leaks found is set to quit refuge, he has been deaf to years!

This is a farcical episode today. He called a press conference to

announce that he would be leaving the embassy soon... Although soon

does not mean now, or tomorrow... Julian Assange and his lawyers

thought that a change in extradition law, which he welcomed in this long

rambling press conference he held, he welcomed the change in

extradition law, only to be corrected if you minutes later by

the Home Office to say, yes, the law has been changed but it does not

apply direct respectively. You were wanted for extradition in 2010, you

have got to face the music. The minute he steps outside the

Ecuadorian Embassy, there is a European arrest warrant out for him.

He will be taken to Sweden to face these serious charges. One rape

charge, one charge of sexual offence against a woman. `` sexual assault.

His concern is that he will be sprayed onto an aeroplane to

America. Julian Assange says it is not for health reasons that he is

looking to leave the embassy, the suggestion seems to be that he

thought that he would be able to get asylum in Ecuador. Looks that way.

The health reports are varied, but at their worst, it was said to be a

life`threatening illness that he has contracted while he has been in the

embassy, although he denies that now, there is some suggestion that

episode was a joke. Whole thing is shrouded in mystery and chaos,

nobody is clear about what is happening. He seemed ready to step

outside of the embassy but if he does, he will go to Sweden and then

you will be Robert be sent to America. It would be a good thing

for him to face the charges in Sweden but going to America would be

very difficult and dangerous for him. They would throw the book at

him. You say it is a good bet that he will be extradited from Sweden to

America but that is not clear at all. If I were him, I would not be

putting the suggestion is from some people that he should go to Sweden

and face justice, he is not thinking along those lines. We have reached a

pressure point. Talking about health, he looked pale and drawn, he

looks older than 44. These two years have taken a toll. They have taken a

toll on the budget of the Metropolitan Police as well, ?7

million to keep an eye on the back door of the embassy! But the law is

the law, he has got to face these charges, and one day he is going to

have to walk out and the minute that he does, the minute that he is back

on UK soil, outside the embassy, he is going to go to Sweden. What

happens then is not clear. He is wanted by the US, wiki leaks, that

is the company that he founded and funded, he has spilled the beans on

the most tight secrets that the American military had. The person

who stole the information is rotting in a US jail and Julian Assange does

not want to be there. Bradley Manning, indeed. Staying with the

Financial Times, the Kurdish have read taken eight crucial dam in

Iraq, boosting morale over their extremist enemy, it would seem.

American air strikes have been pivotal in helping this situation.

It would seem that way. The news tonight is good news. I think that

it still puts great pressure on Barack Obama and David Cameron to

have a long`term strategy because the government is clearly did not

have that strategy when they invaded Iraq. Right now they still do not

have one. I think it is a very difficult and fluid situation. We

like to look at these conflicts as good guys and bad guys. In this

situation it is impossible to say who is who. We know who the bad guys

are, but who are the good guys? Anything that can be done to stop

the brutal killings is clearly a good thing. I'm not quite sure what

happens after that, I am not quite sure how stability can be brought

back into the area, I do not think putting troops on the ground would

be the way to do that. David Cameron and Barack Obama are not ruling that

out. `` ruling that out right now. You never know what could happen in

the future. Mission creep, Barack Obama has said that because they are

working together to get a sustainable government on the

ground, that would prevent mission creep. This generation are

reluctant, because of the shadow of 2003, the invasion of Iraq, they are

reluctant. And the losses that were sustained in Afghanistan. Reluctant

to take people in. Also, Barack Obama tonight, has said that they

will not put boots on the ground, but there is talk of a generational

struggle, as talked about on Sunday. The Tornado jets, the British

Tornado jets being used in a reconnaissance role, just now. That

role may expand, we do not know. It is to OPEC for me and lots of other

people, that is why we are getting demands for a recall of Parliament

and Labour calling for a clear start, to spell out where we are

going to be in the next three weeks, three months, and from David

Cameron has said... Echoing what Tony Blair said in 2001, after the

twin towers, that we will be involved in this titanic struggle

against terror, for the rest of our lives. The government at the moment

is making it clear that it is a humanitarian effort that Britain is

involved in and therefore, no need to recall Parliament. According to

the Daily Telegraph, the Pope is giving his blessing to the Iraq

mission. He is giving his blessing to certain procedures, certain

attempts to stop it, but he seems to be stopping short of supporting US

bombing raids, and I'm not quite sure how safety can be brought back

in without those things. But he seems to be stopping short of

confirming those things. A quarter of Iraq's Christians have had to

move their home in the last two weeks. These ED 's cult, a religion,

has been wiped out, on the mountain tops. `` the Yazidi cult. People are

being persecuted across the world, and in Iraq they are being

persecuted because of their religion. The Pope is weighing in on

that. There was a day of prayer, Sunday was a day of prayer for Iraq

all around the world. You can see why he has come in. Quite a good

Pope, new juices his words quite carefully. But he is late coming to

this one. And you can see, when it is being played, played this way in

the Telegraph, you can imagine how it will be played by Isis

themselves. Going to debt threat spells weaker pound. Keeping the

sterling may only be a stopgap as markets get jitters over risks of

default. You are the editor of the Sunday Herald, it has come out in

favour of independence. Scary headline? There is hardly anything

that Alex Salmond can say that will not result in a scary headline. What

is basically happening now, Alex Salmond is coming up with the much

called for plan B, which he now says is sterling for a transitional

period. Using the pound as a formal currency, and then there would be a

period of transition before another decision is taken, I do not know

what that decision would be, it could be a new Scottish currency, it

could be using the euro, although politically that is probably not the

best course of action to advise currently. This is his plan B but

plan B is not good enough. Now there will be calls for a plan C and they

planned the end we will go all of the way to Z and back again! . ``

for a plan C and a plan D, and we will keep going. The pound sterling

is the big millstone around the independence plan, and it is dancing

on the head of a pin. The keywords used today, adopting sterling may be

a transitional option. You are going to weaken the pound, shadow it's

like Panama... It will come crashing down... The keywords to use today,

he would still like to use the pound in a currency union, that is plan

A, that is the best result for Scotland. And the best result for

the UK. We should be asking, why is the Westminster government ruling

that out so decisively? Why is the Labour Party joining in with that?

And indeed the Liberal Democrats. I think that he was full to come up

with a plan D, because of the debate a few weeks ago. He has now done so.

`` plan B. He has still said that plan A, formal currency union, is

the best course of action and the best result. A lot of voters, after

the debate, which Richard was talking about, where Alex Salmond

was pressed repeatedly on what the currency would be of an independent

Scotland, a lot of voters think that Westminster is bluffing. Most of

them do, most of them do. Perhaps that is the messenger as much as the

message, when you tell George Osborne up to Scotland `` when you

send George Osborne up to Scotland to tell people what they cannot

have, people are disinclined to believe them. People do not believe

the Westminster parties, in a poll 45% people did not believe that post

independence the UK Government would not share the pound within

independent Scotland actually, I think that misses the point. The

point is, the English people, would they share the pound and the Bank of

England share it? No politician in Westminster could sell that idea to

the electorate, and survive, it would be a resignation issue. It is

a kind of unknown. Richard, very briefly. There is very little

evidence to support that. As Alex Salmond has said, and it has been

said repeatedly, pound is as much Scotland's as it is England's and

the rest of the UK, there is no reason why you should to be able not

to use it. The Telegraph is putting forward scarce glorious about what

would happen if we defaulted on the debt. `` scare stories. The westerns

to government is arguing the pound does not belong to Scotland, it

belongs to the UK... And if you walk away from the UK, you walk away from

the pound. just the logical extenuation of the

argument. Richard, it is good to speak to you both.

Both of my guests will be back at 11:30pm

for another look at the stories making the news tomorrow.

Richard, I want to talk to you about your circulation and your favour of

coming out independent. At eleven David Cameron defends

his Iraq strategy, as Kurdish forces move to regain territory won

by Islamist militants. But coming up next it's time

for Sportsday. Hello and welcome to Sportsday,

I'm John Acres. Diego Costa scores on his Chelsea

debut as the title favourites get He's not old enough to drive on the

road, but 16`year`old Max Verstappen