04/12/2015 The Papers

where there was a real humdinger between two former world champions.

Sportsday in 15 minutes after the papers.

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

With me are guests joining are the Times Columnist Matthew Syed

and Melanie Eusebe - Professor at the Hult Business School.

Before we get into discussion, let us look at what the papers lead

The Times leads with news that so called Islamic State fighters

have captured large parts of eastern Afghanistan.

The conviction of Maoist cult leader Aravindan

The same story dominates the Mirror's front page -

focusing on the dramatic testimony from Balakrishnan's daughter.

"PM may be forced to back Brexit" is the Telegraph's headline.

The paper claims David Cameron has said he may have to campaign to

leave the EU - if other European leaders ignore his demands.

Meanwhile the FT claims there are concerns at the

European Central Bank about David Cameron's plans for treaty change.

According to the Mail, thousands of European doctors

and nurses will be allowed to work in the UK without checks

Finally - the Express says the UK is bracing itself for "the wildest

All of that and more but let's start with the story which pops up in a

lot of papers, the Daily Mirror captive slave for 30 years by my

dad. This is a horrendous story but it is rare but it is intriguing and

fascinating and horrifying. The story is shocking for so many

reasons. Yes, the abuse lasted for 30 years but it was in a communist

collective and she was kept in the collective for 30 years where he

made her believe that he was God and she would be killed by lightning or

spontaneous combustion if she disobeyed him or left. I can't

imagine the reign of fear she was living under. He was convicted.

Let's see what the sentencing says but from where the Daily Mirror

comes from, there is no punishment dear enough for him. January 29 is

the date he will be sentenced. He has been told to expect a

substantial sentence. It is an extraordinary story. What does it

tell us about society, is it a freak one-off? It tells us about the power

of mind control, this sadistic egomaniac kept him in prison in the

house and gave her these messages consistently, coupled with physical

abuse and it is inevitable you will start to adopt and take on these

attitudes because she had no access to other sources of information. He

didn't want the to leave so he could continue to entrench them in

invisible handcuffs. I'm so glad he has been caught and will be

convicted and sentenced. It is relatively rare to see this extreme

end but cults are a widespread phenomenon. And people who want to

control other people will use the most extreme methods and it is vital

you have laws. How did it go undetected for this long? Very

manipulative and pretty clever in terms of his statistic aim. It is

extraordinary, when we think of cults we tend to think of a farm in

the middle of nowhere, this was in the middle of the biggest city in

the country. Exactly and one of the biggest cities on the planet and

gentrification in the area, Brixton is a cultural Mecca and so I don't

understand... I really don't understand and I feel for her

because I... The invisible handcuffs, to know the world is

outside and to not be exposed to it and have access to it and to

honestly think I will be hit by lightning if I don't obey this

person, for 30 years, I can't imagine the fear she was living

under. On a positive note, I don't know if you saw the interview with a

daughter which was a compelling interview. Partly because she made

so vivid the reality of her life but also because of her rationality and

her love and forgiveness. She quoted Nelson Mandela saying I don't want

to take the hate with me. I want to be reconciled with my father and the

interviewed somebody who helped her to deal with the emotional trauma

and said she is coming on well and she will be able to live a full

life. In fairness to Maoists, a Maoist cults. There is no mention in

the Little red book of this. He was guilty of a lot of things, famine

and cultural Revolution but he wasn't somebody who have

supernatural powers. Wright, moving on to another significant story, the

Independent. Sharia courts, the inside story. What we make of this?

So, essentially it is an Expose explaining there is a parallel

system of Islamic justice and it is operating in the shadow of the law

and with this, when because sharia law is quite... I can't think of the

word. It is quite certain... Prescriptive in terms of marriage

and the sanctity of marriage and what that means is on the flip side

when there is a case of domestic abuse, women can be locked into

abusive relationships under this shadow sharia law operating in the

shadow of British law. A study was done by a legal scholar in the

Netherlands after attending 15 hours of hearings at Islamic Council in

late as well as Birmingham Central Mosque sharia. The reason I struggle

with my words is because sometimes when I have to be careful because it

feels like it can be loaded particularly regarding what is

happening right now and so everyone knows I am a feminist however I

would like to know more about this story before I make the poll. It

gets to the heart of multiculturalism and issues. I will

be less careful, I do not think the root cause of the problem is

courts, it is legal -- religious doctrine. They are saying to women

you need to stay with your husband, the woman is entitled under the law

to seek redress from the courts were divorce if they have a plausible

case. But they feel they cannot go against the judge because they have

religious authority and therefore it is morally unacceptable to go

against it. If we put our faith in the judges because they have some

religious baggage or ancient scriptures rather than rationality,

science and what we think about morality and the secular laws, we

will go wrong. That is the root cause. I could see you listening

with interest. A lot of people will feel instinctive reaction to this

story. Most definitely. And the story lends itself to an instinctive

reaction however there are choices as well that these women have made.

It isn't just necessarily about the judges and courts and the law is not

listening to them, it is also them not reporting it because that is

their belief system. That is why I have to be careful and all of us

should be a bit more careful when we report on these. I don't think any

religious scholar disagrees if you look through the centuries of

religions they have often been used as tools by men to repress women.

This is a manifestation of something which is a deep history, I am not

saying all religions today do that but it has had that historical

dimension. I have never seen from page based on 15 hours of data and

research. Blatantly it says after 15 hours of hearings and you are on the

front of the paper. That needs to be more... The scholars are never

allowed in. This is the first time they have had the access. The Times

newspaper, this is basis. Isis invaded Afghanistan. Islamic State

fighters have captured swathes of eastern Afghanistan. Another one of

these images, Isis fighters in training. A powerful story and it is

about the extension of the caliphate, about the extent to which

Isis can further its objectives by having more geographical territory

and Anthony Lloyd, the Times reporter has been kidnapped and shot

by fanatics but it continues to go out to reveal the truth. At a time

when journalism has quite a low reputation, I think it is important

we see the truth at ground level and do not just rely on what the

government tells us and this is a vivid story and troubling. Anthony

Lloyd is one of the great modern correspondence. Goodness me, every

day we hear another story of Isis or Isil or Islamic State and this move

into Afghanistan is troubling. Yes, they have said that due to the

withdrawal of the Western combat forces and the splintering of the

Taliban, this is the expectation and has caught everyone by surprise did

terms of that move and in terms of the way they are governing the area,

it is quite public. You can find it on YouTube, public beheadings,

strict adherence to Koranic teachings and it's quite surprising

because it is quite open. Moving to something different, the Financial

Times, Cameron EU currency call alarms the ECB. The ECB is the

European Central Bank, European Union... With your business hat on,

what do you make of this? Well, it is quite straightforward. We have a

treaty and 19 out of 20 member states Right now have a common

currency with Denmark and the UK opting out that. And so now says he

wants the union to be more of a multi-currency union however the

ECB, marry a drag be says this will open up the slippery slope for the

EU having more than one or two or three currencies and some of them

would also... They said the Polish premier describes the Euro as a bad

idea making Poland a second grease. You can see the splintering

throughout the EU regarding whether we should have won currency or many.

Good news. It is crazy to have one interest rate and currency for a

number of nations that have different faces of the economic

cycle. It gives an advantage for the countries outside the Euro zone. Of

course. It will devalue instead of staying at a high interest rates in

the middle of a recession. There is no problem with having a single

market and consistent set of rules for competition but having a single

currency goes against everything I learned in macro economics. That is

true however if you look at... It would be unevenly split. How do you

apply or determine who should have the single currency and two should

be without? Let individual countries to side and then you have consistent

balls in terms of markets and retail and regulation but you have people

deciding on their own interest rates. This will be the debate David

Cameron will be having. I want to look at the Aravindan Balakrishnan

story. And the Oldham win is buoyant for Corbin. It was a big victory. I

am not somebody who is a big Corbin supporter but I feel sympathy, if

anything went wrong it would be the Corbin effect, Labour bombs out.

They increased their majority from a respected former MP. They say it is

the new guy, Jim McMahon. There is nothing Corbin seems to be able to

do that makes a cut through. I'm not saying I like his policy but it is a

significant achievement for the Labour leader. As an independent

observer, is the media ganging up on Jeremy Corbyn? Yes, I do. OK! On

that succinct analysis, we will see you later on. Those were the front

pages. That is it for this hour. Thank you to my guests. We are back

at 11:30pm for another look through the stories making the news. Stay

with us on BBC News. At 11pm, more on the mass shooting in California,

being investigated as an act of terrorism. Next, Sportsday.

Hello and welcome to Sportsday - I'm Matt Smith.