27/12/2015 The Papers

extra troops are deployed to flood hit areas with thousands -- about

more on stand-by. Islamic militants had been holding

out in the key city of Ramadi which has been taken by Iraqi forces.

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

us tomorrow. With us are Michael Booker from the Daily Express and

financial analyst Louise Cooper. Seasons greetings to you both.

Louise and I look like baubles. Michael looks more sober but you

should see his shoes! The Guardian says filed flood defences cast doubt

on UK readiness for a new weather era and features pictures of elderly

people being rescued. There is a similar picture in the i.

David Cameron has put troops on alert. The mail includes an aerial

picture of flood damage and asks why the UK is donating to overseas flood

prevention schemes. The Daily Telegraph says Britain relies more

heavily on foreign doctors than any other EU nation and it includes a

picture of two young children helping out with the flood clean-up

in Hebden Bridge. The Daily Express says there will be

no letup in the bad weather. The Daily Mirror carries an aerial

photo of the flood damage in York and also says 500 prisoners,

including a murderer, have been released by mistake.

The Financial Times says the floods have already cost ?1.5 billion, but

it leads on a story about quantitive easing in the euro zone.

That will sap any festive spirit! We will leave Mario Draghi to his QE.

We will start with the i and a picture of one of the boat is being

used to rescue people in I assume it is York. There are thousands without

power. Many evacuated. I feel like we have seen flooding a lot in this

country in the last few years that these pictures seem to be beyond

anything we have seen. Extraordinary. There is not a lot of

news around but even so, every single paper has pretty much lead on

this story. They have all chosen different photographs but they are

really quite extraordinary. The Mirror has picture of York and

ruined homes. The i has this emotional picture with old people

being rescued by the army. The FT has chosen the same picture as the

Mirror. There are two young children in the mud after the floods. Quite

extraordinary images we are seeing. Awful to be flooded at any time. I

have never lived in a part of the country which has suffered in this

way but for it to happen at Christmas. To see these people, they

are being told the levels are still rising. There will be more storms

later on in the week, more rainfall on Tuesday or Wednesday. They have

no letup in all of this. Their houses are ruined. They hear the

government saying, we will look at reviewing flood defences and the

money for it. We had the Cobra committee meeting this morning. It

is all to show that the government care but at the end of the day,

there is not a lot practically that they can do. There are troops on

alert but what can they do? They cannot go in and clean your house

up. They cannot go and replace all the things which have been ruined in

your house. Troops cannot sort the insurance and this is what all these

people have to look forward to it in the New Year. Especially people with

businesses. You rely on a business to bring you an income. If you do

not have a business, you do not have an income. For businesses, it is

doubly worse. Not only have you lost a home that you have lost your

source of income to provide for your family. What we saw in Cumbria and

Lancashire before Christmas when they were flooded, it is the

incredible support we have seen for people turning out for a Java. As

soon as the water has gone down, I have been amazed how quickly people

do turn things around. I remember as a child, our house was flooded. In

the 70s our house was flooded. I was a child so I thought it was a big

adventure. Clearly it was not for my parents. It brought neighbours

together because everybody was in the same boat. Or were they? It is

all well and good and people showing their spirit, but we do not want

this every two weeks like it is in Cumbria and without any reaction

from the government to show they are doing something. But at the same

time, what can they practically do? Indeed. Let's move on to the Daily

Mirror. Floodgate fury. This shows how many of the buildings have been

ruined by this water. Tell us about this story. They had to raise the

Foss barrier because the pumps were going to be in danger and they would

be overwhelmed and not able to pump the water. They allowed certain

parts of the city to be flooded and others were not. It will not be

popular with anybody in that flooded area. If they feel it is for a

greater good, that is for them to argue, obviously. Depends where your

property is. The Thames flood barrier, the whole point of it is to

flood other bits of the country rather than central London, because

the economic impact of flooding in London would be so severe. It is

these cruel decisions that have to be made by somebody, where is

somewhere has to be flooded, where should it be? That is a very tough

decision to be made. We have seen pictures of York flooded before but

it is rare to see Leeds flooded. I have lived in Leeds. I don't

remember it ever happening. There seem to be huge areas in the centre

of Leeds which will be affected. As we go forward, this seems to be

something which is more prevalent everywhere. Headline on your paper,

store chaos to last until the New Year -- storm chaos. That can only

mean the water levels will go up and that will not be immediately as we

have been seeing, the water levels peak overnight and it comes up and

people will have this at least until the end of the week and then they

are cleaning up again. The times are going with this Met Office forecast

saying there are 70 mph gales, heavy rain set to fall on Cumbria where

communities have been flooded three times in less than a month, so

again, the Times as saying the same thing, clearly, the Met Office is

issuing these warnings. We will move on and talk about something other

than flooding. The FT, stores notch up ox and a bonanza. This is

extraordinary when you think of how many sales we had in the run-up to

Christmas. It has gone out of fashion, shopping in shops! Mr

Booker took his wife to the shops and bought a kettle and a test! If

you do it online, there is no fun. If you go out there and take your

good lady with you. Your good lady! And is glad that you did not call

her the Mrs. This is high Street shopping, not just any old online

shopping. We know Black Friday, online was phenomenal that high

streets were not great. Why would you want to go into a store and

battle over a telly with somebody else or a toaster or even a kettle

if you are a lucky lady! Clearly, this is the first year where Britons

have had money to spend. We have had inflation zero but average earnings

going up 2.5 to 3%. That is the first time in eight years this has

happened. This should have been the year retailers had a good time.

Unfortunately, two things happened. One was warm weather which

particularly hit the clothing retailers. We have had a number of

retailers saying this has not been a great autumn or winter for us. The

other thing is massive discounting. I get at least 50 offers in my inbox

every day, 30% off, 50% off, even before we got to Christmas day. On

Christmas Eve I was getting the same. The retailers have got

themselves into this discounting game and none of them have been able

to get out of it. How many will be spending on credit cards? A lot.

There seem to be a lot of foreign tourists. I think they said in

London 50% were foreign tourists. I was at the Science Museum today,

there were a lot of foreign tourists. All spending money, good

for the economy. The quest heats up for chocolate which does not melt

when the mercury rises. You prefer yours straight from the fridge. Or

the freezer, I am a bit weird. I am worried about your teeth. You like

it one? Not melting but I like it to be soft. This is a Zurich -based

chocolate ears who have started looking at heat resistant chocolate

-- chocolate ears. You would have quite a hot mouth.

This is a game changer. The big chocolate markets Europe and America

and they are trying to take chocolate to the emerging markets,

places which tend to be a lot hotter which do not have refrigeration or

air conditioning. Therefore, the chocolate melts in these hot

countries. What they are trying to do is develop heat resistant

chocolate in order to sell it to the rest of the world and make them fat

and teeth decay as well. Her shoes, the American chocolate company have

been doing this for years. They sold tropical chocolate bars to American

soldiers in the Second World War. That is American chocolate. Does not

the same as ours. If you have ever had a Hershey's kiss. I am not going

to comment. Other chocolate is available. Are the stock markets

opened tomorrow? The Daily Telegraph, moody Monday, the

Christmas come down. It is all over. The gifts are opened, the turkey has

gone. Not in my house! We have a lot of turkey left and goose as well.

Ours has gone. We were very hungry in our house. Everybody is starting

to get grumpy. The drive home, bank holiday jams tomorrow as well.

Everybody will be fed up, back to work. You start having a row with

your sister-in-law, that sort of thing. Is this autobiographical?

Criticising relations is the most common cause of what? The goodwill

cracking? I think so. The best thing is not to have anyone over. Sit on

your own. With your new toaster. Connect with other family members by

phone or e-mail. My brother is in York, he will not be able to get

out. Identity. I don't know what is wrong with me. I have had the best

Christmas -- I don't agree. You will not have a moody Monday. This is my

Friday night. I have got the week. We are being flippant, but if you

speak to charities about divorce or law years to deal with divorce or

charities which deal with suicide, this time of year is very stressful,

because we are all supposed to be enjoying ourselves, and for those

who are not or having difficult times, this can be difficult times

for some. The lawyers love the beginning of January because that is

when they get all the calls about divorce. A very depressing topic!

Along with the Jims! That is it for That Papers. We will be back with

more at 11:30pm with Michael and Louise. At 11 o'clock we will have

plenty more on the floods which have hit northern England. Coming up, it

is Click.