17/12/2016 The Papers


17/12/2016

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

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With me are the Assistant Editor of the Times, Anne Ashworth

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and Tony Evans, sports columnist for the London Evening Standard.

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The Observer focuses on the Unite leadership battle,

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featuring an interview with the man challenging Len Mcluskey

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The Mail on Sunday leads with what it describes as the great

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foreign aid freeze - saying the government has agreed

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to halt new contracts after an investigation by the paper.

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The Sunday Times says the head of the rail union behind this week's

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industrial action has vowed to topple the Conservative

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The Sunday Telegraph also focusses on the unions,

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claiming Theresa May is facing pressure to curb their

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The Express says the high street is heading for a record-breaking

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Well, there you go. Probably a discussion we will be for another

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evening. Let's start with the trades unions because that really seems to

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be the dominant story of the papers tomorrow morning. If I didn't know

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this was December 2016, I would think this was 1978. The whole

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question of the union is dominating the front pages. We are going back

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to language like holding the country to ransom, tough talking, somebody

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needs to bring these people to heal. It's every single aspect of unions,

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the power struggles at the top. This interesting story in the Daily

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Telegraph -- Sunday Telegraph saying that Mrs May is being called the axe

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but she is reluctant. The line in the piece says that it is not just

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about Parliamentary time but that might not resonate with the public.

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A crackdown on new restrictions? Yes, new restrictions. People say

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that she should be banning strikes by essential workers. It seems that

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she's not minded to do that because of might offend the just managings.

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Tony, what do you make of this? Unions have never been weaker and

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get we have this sort on them. It surprised me a bit but it does

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deflect the problem of the economy and are not talking about austerity,

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we are not talking about the banks bringing down capitalism in 2008. It

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seems that there is a line which says that two form a Cabinet

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ministers under Margaret Thatcher. Brexit has called a loss of division

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and confusion amongst the Conservative Party and whenever the

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Conservative Party frightens themselves, the anti-union group

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will try and gain ground. I think we are seeing a lot of it here. There

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is pressure on Prime Minister me about the unions running rampant.

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This is interesting, that is the kind of other side of the coin, that

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something must be done is what we would have heard in 1978. And here

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we have a union saying the unions have to bring down the government,

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the idea that the unions are an anti-democratic force, the enemy

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within as Mrs Thatcher called them. It is interesting that you have to

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strive to replace the capitalist system with a socialist order. One

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wonders how many people in those unions actually agree with this?

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What we are seeing on the front pages is what you might call the

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French people, the hard left within the unions and I wonder if these

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stories would be read by quite a lot of dismayed union leaders who do not

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see this as the way to get what they need to get for their members? I

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wonder if, dare I say it because we are all guilty of it and the work in

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London and in the media, I wonder if this is all being seen through the

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prism of the frustration of the Southern rail action which has been

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difficult and bitter for all those affected but is not a picture of

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what is happening elsewhere? There is nothing like a London tube or

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rail strike to give the impression that we are on the verge of civil

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war between the far left and the far right. The reality is... A transport

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system in the capital has to run properly for the benefit of the

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whole economy and I think that whatever we might think about how we

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accomplish that, it is incredibly important. It seems to me that there

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will be an awful lot of people queueing for trains on those

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platforms who think that my job has changed radically, why can these

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drivers not accept change? I think, given the systemic problems within

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Southern rail, it's not quite as simple as blaming the unions. If

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change actually leads to get -- danger for passengers, we should be

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looking to keep things the same. It needs a proper analysis of what is

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best for the transport system and I don't thinks Southern rail are in

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the position to do that. The rhetoric that they are turning on

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the employees hiding a lot of systemic problems. I don't want to

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dwell too much on Southern, because people will be watching this and

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thinking it does not affect their journey. But staying on the union

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point, if we look at the Observer, this is quite interesting in the

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context of the balance of political forces. Those figures influencing

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the Labour Party. Because Len McCluskey, Unite union, one of the

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biggest in the country, perhaps the one most robust as -- in support of

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Jeremy Corbyn, he is effectively calling an election early. He didn't

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have to call this election and decided if he calls it now, it is

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suggested, he has a long enough term to carry up to the general election,

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and the union can continue to play the role he thinks it should play.

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There is no doubt that Len McCluskey is a man that people have to listen

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to at the moment? The Observer is saying that the man who wants his

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job, Len McCluskey, -- Len McCluskey's job, says that he is

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Jeremy Corbyn's puppet master. The language was reversed in the 1970s,

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but I'm not so sure about this story because essentially, this man who

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once Len McCluskey's job will say anything. I don't know whether use

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of emphasising Jeremy Corbyn's power within the Labour Party. I suspect

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that Len McCluskey could stay in that position for 100 years and

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still not get Jeremy Corbyn elected. Unfortunately. This is a spat

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between two union leaders and frankly, it is one of the least

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impressive fringe stories I've seen in the Observer for a long time. A

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real in the Beltway story? A story of one man wanted someone else's job

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who is going to be rude about it. The other side is that Unite

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represents the biggest number of people, working people in this

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country and it has got influence. It is involved in the industrial

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disputes we are talking about, the baggage handlers at the airport. It

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represents a variety of workers. There are people who will be

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affected by what Len McCluskey does. I would have liked to see a few more

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stories about Russia, about espionage, about hacking. This is

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all a little bit parish magazine for unions.

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You have alluded to what is happening in the United States and

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let's move across the front cover to that. That curious photo of Donald

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Trump, not the most interesting photo where seen of him but it is

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allowing us to talk about job taking waiting to task about missing drone.

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Basically he is saying you stole it, give it back. In a week when he

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misspelled unprecedented in a magnificent manner. This also allows

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the Observer to put the Strictly picture on with the minimum of ease.

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You can just lied it out under something more newsworthy. But there

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is a Christmas tree in the background, so there is something

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seasonal. We are now looking forward to job's misspelling of

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unprecedented becoming the norm. But he is determined to take on China

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for the moment. Until he gets bored of that. Massive risk. Massive risk

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for the moment, but he made back down on this. Total reversal of

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American policy, moving away from Russia. We all know about the

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Russian involvement in the American election and Putin's ablation ship

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with Trump. And now going to the Chinese bogeyman. It plays well with

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the rust belt where steel from China has had a huge impact. You can see

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the impact of it on the campaign Trail in those states that have had

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their industries hollered out over the last 30 years, but when it comes

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to actually delivering, confronting China, presumably there are real

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practical difficulties. Not least the amount of American debt that is

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owned by China. It could pull the plug on certain parts of the

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American economy without difficulty. We need to be careful taking Donald

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Trump to literally. During the campaign, what people said is that

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people taken too literally, but they don't take it seriously. We are

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still in the habit of taking him to literally. Is posturing. He knows

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where the interest of his own business are tied up. In a lot of

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the products for his businesses are made in China. He will not find them

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and he is doing sabre rattling to show you is a tough guy. Very much

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posturing for when the real negotiations start after the

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inauguration. It will be an interesting time to observe American

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politics. Fantastic, in a perverse way. What do the Chinese say, the

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curse of what living in interesting times. Interesting stories, we know

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what we will end on but let's talk a bit about this story about cold

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showers being to blame for the right in Birmingham prisons. On the face

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of it, most of the country will think, cold showers, they should

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have those everyday. The reality is that prisons have been outsourced to

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private companies that have been run down and this is the straw that

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broke the camel's back. We risk serious unrest. The problem is no

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one knows whether prisons for punishment or rehabilitation. We

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model along in between. We have too many people in prison and we should

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be thinking about getting people out of and people who get into prison

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should be in conditions that could make them come out and go straight.

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This is a plumbing problem, aren't we supposed to retraining people in

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prisons to give them the skills that will help them to be rehabilitated

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and return to the workforce when they get out? This brutalisation is

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no way connected to real and irritation which is supposed to be

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the Mission statement of the company who runs this prison. Is there an

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argument that it is quite convenient for the public authorities and

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politicians of all used to say that these people can't run a well store

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when the problems of resource related and also about the way that

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the prison estate has been managed over a long period when it was in

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the public sector? This is one of the big questions we will have to

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ask ourselves? What do we want prison to do? Do we have to many

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people in prison? What happens to them when they come out and how do

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we think, as a civilised society, we should treat prisoners? A lotta

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people would have an opinion on this and would probably not veer towards

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brutality and cold showers. Prisons should always stay under government

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control. Railways are another. But the prisons, certainly.

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Let me end on the story we have all been talking about on BBC News.

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There is a swelling of pride in the news that Ore Aduba and his dancing

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partner have one city come dancing. There was a feeling of Ginger Rogers

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and Fred Astaire this evening. It was lyrical, there was something in

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it for everybody. This is a great light entertainment show and

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everybody has found something to love in it. If it gets people

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dancing, it would be great. I thought part of a BBC presenter's

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job was being able to dance! We call this bit over there the catwalk,

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interesting -- interestingly. We are going to get Ore Aduba in. We have

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somebody dancing yesterday afternoon. Look up that one on the

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BBC website because it is quite a sight. I wish I could do what this

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man has done. Congratulations to him and to Ore Aduba and maybe bringing

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back the days of when we had proper dance floors. And people did dance.

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You're like me, you weigh disco man. Maybe we should dance like that

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again, it would be a great thing. We will practice our steps for the

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papers in one hour's time. Thank you to Tom and Aaron, we will

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see you again with the stories making the news at 11:30pm. Coming

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up next, reporters.

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