21/08/2014 The Papers

women's World Cup finals in Canada after beating Wales 4`0. And more

gold medals for England in the athletic Championships and aquatic

Championships. That is after the papers.

Welcome to our look ahead at what the papers will be bringing us

tomorrow, I am joined by Jennie Bond and the journalist Rob Merrick.

Let's look at the front pages. The Metro leads with the comments of

a fellow hostage, Didier Francois, He says he "roughly" recognises

the man behind the beheading. And the Daily Express saying as

many as a thousand British Jihadis who fought in Iraq and Syria could

be back on the streets of the UK. The Daily Telegraph says

the net is closing in on the Jihadist who killed Foley,

with the SAS on standby. And the Guardian leads with

a call from MPs to toughen domestic The Daily Mail has the same comments

from the fellow hostage, Didier Francois about the identity of the

man doing the beheading. The Independent newspaper

has an image of the Yazidis who have apparently converted to Islam, it is

a video released by Islamic State The Daily Mirror leads with

a different story, saying the footballer Paul Gascoigne is in

trouble because of his alcohol It is of no surprise that all of the

papers apart from the last one are dominated by the news that has been

going on this week. The Daily Express, the headline "Jihadist

killer on our streets. " The first paragraph, as many as 1000 British

jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq are believed to

threat in Britain from the jihadists returning but sometimes I think that

these headlines, they think of a number and they double it. I don't

know where they get the number of 1000 from. The Downing Street says

that it's best estimate is that 400`500 have gone to Iraq and

Syria, a much lower number. You think that most people who have gone

out there to fight will stay there to fight, which is what they have

gone to do. There is a threat at home. It strikes me, the Daily

Express is talking about ministers being urged to introduce tougher

border checks to stop the fanatics coming home, ironic in the week

where we have read more about the disaster, the Borders Project, an

attempt to toughen the border checks, which failed to do the job

and was three costly. `` very costly. This is going to dominate

the papers now. Of course, with every reason, but we have to be

careful not to have what may be called scare stories. This is a

frightening headline, Jihadist killer on our streets, is it backed

up? Are they feared to be back? It is frightening to think, to know

that this chap, "John", might have grown up in London, but we have to

be aware of scaring ourselves and the population. The Daily Express

has taken a UK perspective. Indeed, same story, a different angle,

hunting for this character, John, the headline in the Metro newspaper.

All of the papers will be trying to do their own investigations. Yes, a

number of people in the security services say that the net will close

quickly on John, with social media the way it is, they can track him

down. I think this is quite frightening, the freed hostage,

Didier Francois, who was locked up for seven months with James Foley,

and one would assume clearly knows who is holding the other hostages

and who killed him, he can only say, in a measured way, when asked if he

knows John, he would say that knows John, he would say

"recognised is a big word. " He is terrified, if he talks, then the

guys who are being held, may get it. He was warned of that. An

intriguing insight into the mind of the hostages who have been freed,

their motive is to try and save the lives of the people who are still

out there. It isn't clear, I suppose the quote suggests that he doesn't

really have any idea who the person is, he may think that the person was

there at the time, that's a long way from identifying him meaningfully.

The person may be identified soon. It is indicative of the Catch`22 we

are in, this man feels he cannot talk even though he we have two

consider whether Ransomes should be paid, a huge ransom was asked. Some

countries pay them, we and America don't, should we? Are the terrorists

getting more pop the city and spreading more terror by doing what

they are doing, instead of us quietly paying the ransom? ``

getting more publicity. If you pay it, you will get more Stooges.

Talking to the security analyst, he said that this is big business. The

same story in the Daily Telegraph, the headline, the SAS put on

stand`by. That was in one or two other newspapers, some alleging that

they had already gone in. This continues, saying that the net is

closing on John. It struck me yesterday, talking to people,

government sources, there is a different focus. The media are

focused on who he is and how they will catch him. That is part of the

government focus but are more concerned about the large number of

Britons who have gone out there, and jihadi John is not the first Briton

to go to Syria and Iraq and behead someone. Several have done this, the

difference is that this person is an American. It isn't just about

identifying John, that is the media focus. One has to question the

headline. Is the net closing in? I don't know, it seems to be based on

a former MI6 chief, who said that the long arm of justice was closing

in as the SAS was put on stand`by. That is the sole fact. You are in a

sceptical mood! There are other stories but all of the papers are

dominated for a second day running. Let us look at some of the other

stories, one of them affecting thousands of youngsters and their

parents, GCSEs and the legacy of Michael Gove, the former Education

Secretary, giving the results and added interest. Definitely, there

was great interest. Michael Gove, no longer the Education Secretary, he

had to be taken outside and shot, metaphorically, because he was too

scary for the voters. His imprint is on the results, in particular the

English results, where I gather there is a 2% fall in the number of

people getting the right grades, because Michael Gove move towards a

focus on the exam rather than modular assessments, no longer

speaking and listening. Interesting about the resits, because the

government is getting tough on them because they feel it is gaming the

system. I spoke to a headteacher who was various about the change, saying

that they take pupils who lack confidence in exams, they ask them

to sit early, and then they gain confidence to go on and take the

exam next year and get the grades, which could be important. It isn't

gaming the system, it is giving them the confidence. I am confused by

this story because they seem to be suggesting that they are endorsing

Michael Gove's legacy. Kids who work incredibly hard for these GCSEs, it

means the world to them, you saw the emotions, they should be judged

purely on this, the idea that we have league tables and we talk about

the stories going `` the grades going up and down, it is imperative

that they are given the confidence to go on learning and measuring it

the way we do should be stopped. OK, a lot of people shouting and

screaming, saying it has to be done. The gap between girls and

boys, very gracious of Jenny not to point it out! It goes without

saying! Onto the Guardian, this story about the new and passed for

safety, a drug to treat the it bowler virus `` the Ebola virus,

which is wonderful news. Yes, if I was unlucky enough to contract it I

would certainly take an experimental drug. Of course. It takes a long

time to process these things, to get the permission to try them on

patients and maybe this is a salutary lesson, if there is a

chance to use them earlier, it is life`saving. They showed Kent

Brantley returning to the States, he couldn't walk, he was being carried

by people wearing those dramatic white coats. What we were hearing is

that they are far from sure that it is the experimental drug that has

caused them to get well. It may be a coincidence. They do think they have

learned things that they can pass on. We have heard that Senegal has

closed its border with Guinea over the Ebola virus epidemic fears,

three months after they reopen them. They have closed the border. Changes

going on there. Very briefly because we almost out of time, the Guardian,

save British television from US takeover says the Channel four

chief. They fear that TV is about to be changed for good, for worse.

Another scare story, about television. I say, here, here, save

us from an American takeover. David Abraham, who suggests the industry

is being brought up almost wholesale by US companies, and please don't

let us go down that road. Is it a scare story, or a realistic

possibility? He says it is realistic, he says that if you care

about creativity, speak up now. Wouldn't you be more worried about

20 years ago, when US television was terrible, you think about the Dukes

of hazard. Since then we have been bringing those programmes over. We

will have more later. My thanks to my guests. They will be back at

11:30pm for the stories making the papers. At 11pm, the latest on the

attempts to identify the Jihadist who was filmed beheading the

American journalist, James Foley. Hello I'm John Acres,

welcome to Sportsday.