14/07/2016 The Papers

Good evening. I want to bring you up to date with the developing story in

Nice this evening, it is Bastille Day in France. This is right in the

south of the country and we are seeing some quite horrific pictures,

a Bastille Day celebration on going in the city tonight. It appears that

a truck ploughed into a crowd celebrating as fireworks were going

off in the city, customary on Bastille Day, you can see an area

close to the promenade which is on the front, people running away from

that area. Some of the pictures on social media, quite distressing,

obviously we cannot show you those. Unconfirmed reports about

fatalities, some correspondence saying the local prefecture is

saying at least 12 people dead, and many injured, the prefect talking

about a terrorist attack. Some reports of gunfire but that is

perhaps a little premature because at the moment, anyone who has been

to a Bastille Day Day celebration in France knows there are lots of

explosions and bangs and fireworks so it will be perhaps difficult to

differentiate between what is gunfire and not what is certain is

that there has been what seems to be at this stage, an attack of some

description, perhaps a terror attack, a truck driving into the

crowd celebrating on the front. You see these pictures, crowds including

a woman with a pushchair running for safety, clambering over each other

in their bid to escape. And we are still waiting for some of the

reports from police on the scene. There was a spate of these sorts of

attacks, you might remember last year, around the time of Christmas

markets, a number of vehicles that drove into crowds of people either

at bus stops or in markets and of course, France still on a high state

of alert, Francois Hollande, in his speech the other day, a customary

speech ahead of Bastille Day, said they were thinking of relaxing the

highest terror alert sometime in the middle of July. If this proves to be

a terror attack, that will be reassessed. Some other interesting

lines of news from France, but we glossed over in the last few days

with all the events in Downing Street, there was a report yesterday

that in fact the intelligence services in France were looking for

someone who might have been linked to Bataclan attacks, they were

saying the ringleader may not have been the man who was pulling that

attack together in November and so there is still a very life and

ongoing investigation into that attack in November. France is still

on the highest alert, they just had the football tournament and they had

a record number of police on the on the streets, and it passed off

peacefully, we are pleased to say but if these reports are true,

terror has returned to the streets of France tonight. For those of you

just joining us, just to remind you... We have these pictures coming

in from the front in Nice, you can see people running away in panic.

This is, on this area, it is a Corniche, there is a long coastal

road which goes around the Corniche in Nice, that is the promenade and

it is in that sort of area, we have seen pictures of the truck, we will

see if we can get you some pictures that we can show you because some of

these pictures are quite distressing, but it is quite a big

truck that has driven straight through the middle of the crowd and

had appeared they were gathering and standing together as this firework

display was ongoing. I think that is all I can tell you about that at the

moment. We will plug on with the paper review. The job easily we do

at this time in the evening. When we get more news, I may well break into

the paper review and bring you that. Let's look at what is on the front

pages. With me are the Daily Mirror

columnist, Susie Boniface, and the Daily Telegraph columnist,

Tim Stanley. Thank you both for your patience.

You will understand as the story breaks, we may have to dip into it.

Tomorrow's front pages first of all.

So... Let's begin, starting with The Daily Express. I just wonder, Susie,

what you make of the constant comparing... You know what I make of

it, I just told you. The new Prime Minister, with the iron lady, she

has steel. But you don't like this. She's only been in the job for

24-hour race and it's kind of, I think it's appalling, as a nation,

the only way we can look and consider what the new Prime Minister

is doing is to compare her to 125 years ago who happens to share a

similar set of features. Why isn't Theresa May compared to Tony Blair

are David Cameron or John Major or lots of different people in

different ways? 20 of the May leaders, we can compare to other

female leaders of that than Maggie. The idea that she must be like the

iron lady or not like the iron lady and she will have this throughout

her Premiership, whether she does well or appallingly, right-wing or

left-wing, successful or not, the economy tanks or brooms, she will be

told she is just like Maggie, better than Maggie, not as good as Maggie.

She is not Maggie, she is Theresa May. We can only regard her through

the prism of Margaret Thatcher, I think it lets all of us down. In a

similar style, Tim, the front page of the Guardian, a host of women and

they are not as tightly cropped in terms of the picture as the men with

the, you see a lot of what they are wearing. What are you dry to say? It

is almost as if it invites us to make a comment on the dress, which

you wouldn't do with men. There is no point, because they are wearing

the same damn thing! Look at you. This is true but the narrative of

this Cabinet is that it is a Cabinet of people we have not seen go so

far. A lot of the talk is about how many women are in it. I take your

point, it is frustrating that of and Premier will become Perdita Maggie

but I think, in one sense, the comparison is actually quite

fruitful, in the last 24 hours. If you are a woman in politics, not

through any fault of your own, operate outside the usual networks

of influence on friendship and one thing we saw with the sackings, is

the death of chum Chrissy, the government up by best friends... The

Notting Hill set. You cannot have that, women in politics don't

operate those networks because they are very often the only woman in the

room so I think the whole style of government will change because we

won't be led by a bunch of files. Is it possible we can be friends... All

the men in Cabinet could be great chums offer us? Particularly when

you're dealing with Tory men who see life entirely in metaphors of

cricket... Nanny or mummy... To be led by a woman changes the dynamics.

Let me change it a little, is this the winning Cabinet we were

expecting, I counted eight, seven B four out of 22... Appointments based

on talent, I don't think it's got anything to do with that, I don't

think she's the kind of leader who had to follow a 50-50 split. You

talk about times, she has not rewarded chums but rewarded those

who were loyal. All the people working with her at the Home Office.

The advisers will come in but you can't possibly argue that these are

all appointments based on talent, when one of them is Andrea Leadsom

who was regarded as the worst treasury minister they have ever

had... By whom? Completely unnamed Whitehall mandarins. And Liz Truss

or didn't do terribly well... That is the key thing, she is for Brexit.

The reshuffle, it's not just the death of chums, it's about making

breaks it happen, we thought the was a possibility she would seek a post

coming consensus but no, every portfolio that has something to do

with Europe, she has put brakes a person in there, that explains

Andrea Leadsom, she will be heading up an buyer and in one the things

she will be doing is repatriating control over agriculture and

fisheries so she's saying to people like her, you wanted it so now you

make it happen. It's not just sweeping... She has got to unify the

party, she has got to have Brexiteers and remainders in the

party but there were other more copper don't Brexiteers who could

give interviews to the press without saying the wrong stupid thing. I am

going to have to posit because I will remind people about what is

going on in France at the moment. Tim and Suzy, thank you for the

moment. If you are joining us, we are hearing reports of what appears

to be an attack in the southern French city of Nice, people

celebrating Bastille Day in Nice this evening, gathered for a

firework display and you can see pictures of people running away from

an area right on the front, alongside the promenade which is an

area that runs around the Corniche in Nice and it appears that this

lorry drove into a big crowd of people as they were watching the

fireworks display. The early reports from the prefect, 12 people have

killed and several injured, those are unconfirmed reports at the

moment. But the prefect also saying that he thinks it is a terror

attack. We are seeing these pictures of people running away and some

quite distressing pictures as well of the street where there are people

lying in the road who have clearly been killed and run over by this

track, the prefect saying a dozen people killed but there are other

reports that it could be dozens, there could be many more than 12 and

so, you will appreciate, it's quite early at the moment but this looks

like a rather serious attack in Nice and an Bastille Day, at a time when

the country is at a heightened sense of alert. The President saying in

his interview for Bastille Day the other day he was thinking of

relaxing the highest terror threat in mid-July, a record nine birth of

police and security services, the Army as well on the streets through

the football tournament, the European Championships which passed

off peacefully but were always these fears that something like this might

happen and we are now getting reports that it could be many more

than 12, one report I am seeing, perhaps as many as 30 people killed,

if that proves to be the case, is very serious indeed. Will be a huge

concern in France this evening. We will bring you much more on this

from our sister station, BBC world, we will be with you over the course

of the next hour, stay