Browse content similar to 20/06/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock. | :00:00. | :00:09. | |
UK authorities launch criminal proceedings against Barclays bank | :00:10. | :00:12. | |
over claims it committed fraud in a deal with Qatar at the height | :00:13. | :00:18. | |
Live from London, that's our top story on Tuesday 20th June. | :00:19. | :00:36. | |
The former chief executive and three other ex Barclays staff are ALSO | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
We'll get the latest from our Business Editor. | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
Also in the programme, setting a course for Brexit, | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
the UK's finance minister outlines his vision | :00:49. | :00:51. | |
This is what the European markets are looking like. We'll tell you all | :00:52. | :01:12. | |
you need to know for the day ahead. Banks Down Under in trouble as well. | :01:13. | :01:19. | |
Some down-graded by Moody's. Today, as Venetians vote to ban the big | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
cruise ships, let us know what you think. Are you a fan of a cruise or | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
is it possibly the worst holiday idea that you could even come | :01:30. | :01:35. | |
across? ! Use # Bizlive. | :01:36. | :01:42. | |
The former chief executive and three other ex Barclays staff are ALSO | :01:43. | :01:57. | |
The charge relate to the emergency funding. At the height of the | :01:58. | :02:08. | |
financial crisis in 2008 this was. It was at the same time that rival | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
banks, RBS and Lloyds turned to the Government here in the UK for help, | :02:13. | :02:18. | |
but Barclays instead opted to seek money from Qatar, the Gulf state. | :02:19. | :02:21. | |
There are now questions over how the funds were raised and what Barclays | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
offered to Qatar in return. Let's get the details with our Business | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
Editor Simon jack who is in Central London for us. This has been | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
rumbling on for a time. It's interesting to look at the detail. | :02:36. | :02:38. | |
RBS and Lloyds went one way, turned to the Government, Barclays said we | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
are going to ask Qatar for money? Yes. There are two bits of that | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
transaction and fund-raising in Kay far which prompted this five-year | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
investigation. The first was advisory fees that were not | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
disclosed first and eventually it was disclosed at ?332 million, that | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
was the amount paid to Qatar holdings who supplied the investment | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
in advisory fees. There was a question mark over whether that | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
advice was non-existent and this was really just like a bung to their new | :03:12. | :03:14. | |
benefactors in the Middle East, if you like. The second was a loan that | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
was made from the bank to Qatar Holdings at around the same time as | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
this investment and the charge there is that essentially the bank was | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
lending Qatar money to buy shares in Barclays Bank. That's what's known | :03:27. | :03:33. | |
as unlawful financial assistance, a big no-no for regulators. The most | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
interesting thing is, this is the first time senior executives have | :03:38. | :03:39. | |
been personally charged with criminal conduct for their role in | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
the financial crisis. Now, as you say, around this time, RBS and | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
Lloyds were turning to the Government, Barclays was desperate | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
not to do that and some wild say the SFA may eventually get their man one | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
day when it goes to court, but have they got the right person, because | :04:00. | :04:10. | |
in a way it was Barclays attemptses that ousted this person. Barclays is | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
considering its position. We are yet to hear from John Varley, the former | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
Chief Executive and the other executives. One very important point | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
I should point out, this is Barclays Plc, this is the holding company | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
that has been charged. It's an operating company which is Barclays | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
Bank. That has not been charged. That is important because, if | :04:33. | :04:35. | |
Barclays Bank, the operating company, was to be convicted of | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
criminal charges, they would find it very difficult to do business in | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
other areas of the world, including at least 50% of their business in | :04:44. | :04:46. | |
the US in their investment banking business. It's very important, the | :04:47. | :04:49. | |
distinction between the holding company and the operating company. | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
The operating company's not been charged. I'm told if they can get a | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
fine in the low hundreds of millions and carry on with their business in | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
the US and Barclays Bank wasn't charged, they might plead guilty to | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
this so they can move on with their lives and start rebuilding the | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
business. They're considering their position as we speak this morning. | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
Just a brief word on what it tells us about the culture of banking, we | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
know since the financial crisis so much has changed in terms of | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
regulation. What does it tell us about what was happening in that | :05:24. | :05:31. | |
fateful weekend in 2008? Yes, it tells us that the powerful bankers | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
were well connected to some of the wealthiest people in the world, | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
Sheikh Mansuhr for example in Qatar. There are claims from other parties | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
saying they were owed money as well and that rumbles on. They were | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
desperate for the Government not to be a shareholder. If you watched RBS | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
over the last ten years, you will remember the boss there had to | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
forego his bonus year after year because it was Government-owned and | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
it was felt the Government couldn't sanction big payouts like that, so | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
by keeping the Government out of their business, they were able to | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
keep paying themselves by industry standards pretty well. | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
Thank you very much. We have heard from Roger Jenkins, one of the four | :06:16. | :06:22. | |
individuals being charged. He said he'll vigorously defend himself | :06:23. | :06:24. | |
against the criminal charges filed by the Serious Fraud Office. That's | :06:25. | :06:26. | |
Roger Jenkins, the first to respond. Let's take a look at some of | :06:27. | :06:41. | |
the other stories making the news. The republican house speaker | :06:42. | :06:44. | |
has vowed to complete Paul Ryan says President Trump | :06:45. | :06:46. | |
and his fellow Republicans in Congress cannot allow the chance | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
of overhauling the US It's no longer just | :06:51. | :06:52. | |
about funny faces and filters. Snapchat users will be able to watch | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
scripted dramas and comedies after Time Warner and Snap agreed | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
a deal to develop original content. Time Warner brands HBO, | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
Turner and Warner Bros will also The deal is reportedly | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
worth US $100 million. Tokyo's Nikkei finished | :07:11. | :07:24. | |
at its highest level since august 2015 boosted by optimism over | :07:25. | :07:26. | |
the health of the US economy - Comments from the New York Fed Chief | :07:27. | :07:29. | |
suggesting that the outlook Oil prices hitting a new seven month | :07:30. | :07:40. | |
low, as increasing shale production, along with rising output from Libya | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
and Nigeria undermined OPEC In Europe there's a lot going | :07:47. | :07:50. | |
on today not least here in London. Bank of England governor Mark Carney | :07:51. | :07:59. | |
is speaking this morning, One to watch after last week's wide | :08:00. | :08:02. | |
spilt on the monetary policy committee with three policymakers | :08:03. | :08:10. | |
voting to raise UK interest rates. The pound didn't do much | :08:11. | :08:15. | |
as the first day of Brexit talks got And as we've been reporting - | :08:16. | :08:18. | |
Barclays and four individuals, including former boss John Varley, | :08:19. | :08:27. | |
have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud relating | :08:28. | :08:29. | |
to the bank's emergency fundraising And, the details about what's ahead | :08:30. | :08:32. | |
on Wall Street Today. Here is Samira. FedEx's shipping | :08:33. | :08:58. | |
company's bottom line will be revealed. Investors will be | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
interested on what is coming up looking at forecasts for the new | :09:03. | :09:06. | |
fiscal year and on the cost measures. The maker of photo shop | :09:07. | :09:15. | |
will be reporting earnings. Its higher demand for software on the | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
cloud will be boosting revenue. And the second largest US home builder | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
will also be reporting earnings, that is Lennar. Better job | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
opportunities for young people have boosted home sale else. Investors | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
will be looking to the spring selling season and what the company | :09:35. | :09:37. | |
expects going forward. Joining us is James Bevan, | :09:38. | :09:39. | |
Chief Investment Officer at CCLA Nice to see you, James. Good to be | :09:40. | :09:49. | |
here. Whilst we are chatting away, Mark Carney's delivering his speech, | :09:50. | :09:52. | |
this is all ongoing in London at the moment. Absolutely. We can see there | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
the Governor of the Bank of England, just following on from Philip | :09:59. | :10:01. | |
Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, they are all discussing | :10:02. | :10:03. | |
Brexit, the negotiating stance. At the same time, we have Barclays | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
unfolding, a Serious Fraud Office investigation, criminal charges, | :10:09. | :10:10. | |
just gives your thoughts on all of this? A busy day? As a microcosm for | :10:11. | :10:17. | |
Barclays itself, this is relatively old news, and if there is a fine of | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
say ?200 million, that's worth around two bases points off capital. | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
This is a bank trading on 0.7 with tangible book value, in other words | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
cheap given that banks tiply shouldn't trade to discount to their | :10:32. | :10:35. | |
tangible book value. Can I ask though, four individual bankers are | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
also being charged, John Varley one of them to who is really | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
respected... A man of immense integrity, absolutely. He's being | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
charged, criminal charges by the SFO, him and three others? Exactly. | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
I want to separate out the extraordinary personal misery Mr | :10:53. | :10:55. | |
Varley will be feeling on the back of the charges and the fact that he | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
is a man of immense integrity from our position as market commentators | :11:02. | :11:04. | |
and investors where frankly we have to let that go. Mr Varley has | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
retired. Where is bay clays? It has ruffly a 5% return. It has an | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
opportunity to do much better. That is why people don't want to sell the | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
shares. That is why the shares are down a bit, not a big reaction? | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
People are saying, it's still sorting problems out from the past. | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
It's not affecting Barclays, they have a huge opportunity, shares | :11:28. | :11:32. | |
could go a lot better. Let us talk about the other big UK story, Mark | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
Carney speaking, the Governor of the Bank of England. We got the interest | :11:37. | :11:39. | |
rate decision last week, no change? Quite right. The split was what | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
everyone was looking at; three voting for a rate rise. We are not | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
there yet, of course rates aren't going up, but they're looking to the | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
US where rates are going up, what does it tell us? We might get three | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
more hikes in the US to a peak in the current cycle of around 2% in | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
the States and that would be consistent with a climate of really | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
quite low growth and also low inflation, so we have this | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
extraordinary situation where we have bond yields falling and equity | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
markets rising. On the face of it that appears odd, if it's correct | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
that we have a climate now of sustainable noninflationary growth, | :12:19. | :12:20. | |
we can see bond yields continuing to stay low. We keep talking about | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
rates going up but they are going up to historically low levels, | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
emergency levels, we have to keep remembering we are emergency low | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
levels? We absolutely are and the UK economy faces many hurdles, Brexit | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
clearly is the headline issue but we have a composition challenge, we | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
have an economy that cannot deliver strong productivity growth because | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
it's overly dependent on financial services that not enough | :12:48. | :12:49. | |
manufacturing production is happening. Where does the | :12:50. | :12:52. | |
productivity come from? Historically it's come because we put more money | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
into the economy. We don't want to have more debt. Productivity debt is | :12:56. | :12:58. | |
challenging. That will be a big challenge for the May Government. | :12:59. | :13:04. | |
James will be back later to talk about more stories, including his | :13:05. | :13:10. | |
take on cruise holidays. Don't forget that one! Lots of comments | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
coming in already on that one, cruising holidays - your idea of | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
heaven or hell. Or somewhere in-between! | :13:20. | :13:32. | |
Moodies has downgraded 12 Australian banks. Hywel Griffith is in Sydney | :13:33. | :13:39. | |
for us. Talk us through this, they have said in big cities like | :13:40. | :13:42. | |
Melbourne and Sydney, prices are booming and that is not sustainable? | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
Yes, and they have been booming for several years, it's what everyone | :13:48. | :13:50. | |
here in Sydney talks about, when will that boom finally come to an | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
end, the bubble burst? Moodies weren't expecting a sharp | :13:57. | :13:59. | |
correction. A month ago we heard from Standard Poor, they thought | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
things could go south quickly as they downgraded the ratings of the | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
banks, so there is concern about how much debt has been carried, about | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
how wages growth is slow and the number of interest-only mortgages | :14:13. | :14:15. | |
being offered by the banks. The Australian reserve bank is also | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
worried. We had the minutes of its last meetings two weeks ago, it's | :14:21. | :14:26. | |
kept interest rates low, it's trying to follow things really day-by-day. | :14:27. | :14:29. | |
But everyone expecting some sort of correction. We know already that the | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
prices of apartments have started to cool. That's where we have seen a | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
lot of money spent in the last couple of years. Thank you very much | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
indeed. Still to come: The UK Finance Minister, Philip Hammond, | :14:43. | :14:46. | |
has just set out his vision of Britain after Brexit. We'll be | :14:47. | :14:50. | |
assessing what he had to say right now, as we speak, Mark Carney, the | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
Governor of the Bank of England, is in the same place delivering his | :14:55. | :14:56. | |
speech as well. That is the scene live now at the | :14:57. | :14:58. | |
Mansion House. Stay with us. Day two of Brexit negotiations - | :14:59. | :15:13. | |
and more calls from business The latest is from the Society | :15:14. | :15:15. | |
of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. It says the Government needs to make | :15:16. | :15:25. | |
sure there's a transitional Brexit deal to protect | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
the car industry. The boss - Mike Hawes - | :15:32. | :15:38. | |
told us a full deal We need a back-up plan. Something | :15:39. | :15:47. | |
that gives us part of the customs union, ideally part of the single | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
market so we can maintain the success that we're currently | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
enjoying. We have a trading relationship with over 160 countries | :15:56. | :15:58. | |
around the world. We benefit from some of the existing trade | :15:59. | :16:03. | |
aagreements that the EU already has with Europe. What happens with those | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
existing arrangements and the new deals that are currently already | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
being negotiated, we really want to see the UK trading and being | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
successful around the world, but not at the jeopardy what we currently | :16:17. | :16:17. | |
have. In his speech today Mr Hawes | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
will say that a lot A lot of cars are made in the UK, | :16:22. | :16:33. | |
but they say it is Europe that's their priority not necessarily the | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
home market, the UK. If we look at where we are, there is less than 20 | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
months before we leave the EU and we recognise we're leaving the EU. For | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
our sector to be a success we need to have a new arrangement with our | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
biggest market. The chances of doing that in less than 20 months and | :16:51. | :16:54. | |
having to be approved by all the respective parliaments, I think is | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
slim. So we need that back-up plan. We certainly don't want | :16:59. | :17:01. | |
brinksmanship and we don't want to go near the cliff edge without | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
having some arrangement supporting us. We are part of the European | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
automotive industry and yes, we are a big market, but Europe is a bigger | :17:11. | :17:18. | |
market and I have been talking to various member states, organisations | :17:19. | :17:21. | |
across Europe and they say the future is more Europe than the UK | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
automotive market and that makes sense. | :17:27. | :17:39. | |
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, has just been | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
delivering his speech at Mansion House. | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
Our top story, Barclays Bank and four individuals | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
including its former chief executive, John Varley, | :17:55. | :17:56. | |
have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud. | :17:57. | :17:58. | |
The charges relate to the bank's emergency fundraising | :17:59. | :18:00. | |
during the financial crisis in 2008 and agreements between Barclays | :18:01. | :18:02. | |
Barclays shares down a touch on the news. | :18:03. | :18:18. | |
All eyes are on the UK's Finance Minister today | :18:19. | :18:20. | |
as he outlines his vision of Britain after Brexit. | :18:21. | :18:23. | |
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond has been | :18:24. | :18:25. | |
delivering his famous Mansion House speech in London - | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
one of the biggest set-piece events of Britain's economic calendar. | :18:31. | :18:32. | |
Mr Hammond is hoping to calm fears of an abrupt shift in relations | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
He acknowledges the UK will leave the single market and customs union, | :18:36. | :18:42. | |
but insists it should reach a deal that allows British goods | :18:43. | :18:45. | |
to flow without tariffs, delays and bureaucracy. | :18:46. | :18:51. | |
And he stresses it would be "a very, very bad outcome" | :18:52. | :18:54. | |
That's despite the Prime Minister Theresa May's mantra that no deal | :18:55. | :19:02. | |
One of the biggest issues, of course, is immigration and the | :19:03. | :19:18. | |
Chancellor says that while the UK seeks to manage migration t doesn't | :19:19. | :19:19. | |
want to shut it down entirely. We are not about to turn inward, but | :19:20. | :19:32. | |
we want to make sure that the arrangements that we have in place | :19:33. | :19:35. | |
work for our economy just as the British people understand the | :19:36. | :19:38. | |
benefits of trade so too they understand how important it is to | :19:39. | :19:41. | |
business to be able to access global talent and to move individuals | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
around their organisations. So while we seek to manage migration, we do | :19:47. | :19:49. | |
not seek to shut 2 it down. Neil Williams, Chief economist, | :19:50. | :19:59. | |
Hermes joins us now. The governor of the Bank of England | :20:00. | :20:07. | |
is delivering his speech. What did you make of what he had to say? | :20:08. | :20:12. | |
Well, a softer tone. Many of us in business would welcome that. Talking | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
about free trade and not turning inward and also encouragingly | :20:18. | :20:19. | |
pointing out the importance of services and financial services | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
which respectively are about 80% and 10% of what we do in the UK. This is | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
the start of a negotiating process. There is a lot of cherry-picking | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
here at the beginning and after 12 months of being in the departure | :20:33. | :20:36. | |
lounge in terms of Brexit, I for one are buckling up for a long journey. | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
It will take way beyond the two years we're hoping for for Article | :20:42. | :20:48. | |
50. It's only day two. So much more to deal with. It's interesting | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
because we heard earlier from UK car makers, we hear from the City of | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
London, we hear from so many different parts of industry and | :20:57. | :20:59. | |
business. As you say, it is a balancing act. Who gets what at | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
these negotiations and who for the UK should be a priority. Who do you | :21:04. | :21:06. | |
think should be a priority? Well, the bottom line as well is that we | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
have possibly chosen one of the worst times to go into these | :21:12. | :21:14. | |
negotiations because of course elsewhere in Europe there are | :21:15. | :21:17. | |
elections almost everywhere. We have managed to get through France and | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
Holland without too much disruption, but we've got Germany and Italy next | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
spring to come. It is surely not in the interests of those mrushtions to | :21:26. | :21:29. | |
give us a no strings attached deal otherwise it will look like we're | :21:30. | :21:32. | |
opening the trap door for other countries to follow suit. There will | :21:33. | :21:38. | |
be a lot of position swapping on the way and that slope that Mr Haloned | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
talks about out of the EU, I hope that that is a slope that doesn't | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
lead to a path that effectively gets us back to square one which takes | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
many years. What's your view on our position now on this side of the | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
general election? Well, if you believe the process is going to be a | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
long one then the election upheaval was an additional speed bump on the | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
way. En route to the calendar we're going to have to get this through | :22:07. | :22:09. | |
Parliament and looking at it briefly, what Mr Hammond seems to | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
want is negotiations leading to November 2018 and then sign off in | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
2019. We then effectively try to get the whole thing sorted after a two | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
year settling in period. Has he factored in the 27 other countries | :22:25. | :22:27. | |
signing off as well though in his timetable? Well, I hoe he hasn't. It | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
is often at stages like this, to look at what presidents, the only | :22:34. | :22:40. | |
two we have is Greenland in the mid-1980s, it took three years to | :22:41. | :22:43. | |
sign itself out of the EU. They had one issue which was fishing rights | :22:44. | :22:46. | |
and Canada, you may remember, last year signed a deal. That took seven | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
years and it was almost derailed by a small state in Belgium. So, | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
straightforward probably, it's not going to be. I think you're right on | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
that! That's something we can be certain of, Neil, thank you. | :23:01. | :23:07. | |
Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England is still talking! | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
Lots to get through. People call him the George Clooney of Central | :23:14. | :23:15. | |
Bankers. Did you know that? I did that. But maybe George Clooney moves | :23:16. | :23:18. | |
a bit quicker. In a moment we'll take a look | :23:19. | :23:21. | |
through the Business Pages but first here's a quick reminder of how | :23:22. | :23:24. | |
to get in touch with us. The Business Live page | :23:25. | :23:27. | |
is where you can stay ahead of all the day's | :23:28. | :23:29. | |
breaking business news. We'll keep you up-to-date | :23:30. | :23:31. | |
with all the latest details, with insight and analysis | :23:32. | :23:33. | |
from the BBC's team of editors Get involved on the BBC business | :23:34. | :23:36. | |
live web page: bbc.com/business. on Twitter: @BBCBusiness | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
and you can find us on Facebook Business Live on TV and online, | :23:42. | :23:44. | |
whenever you need to know. We have touched on a subject that | :23:45. | :24:01. | |
gets you talking. That's the cruise holiday. It's like Marmite, you love | :24:02. | :24:07. | |
it or you hate it. James is back. Where are you? Just | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
declare... Well, I have been a non participant, but I don't have much | :24:14. | :24:16. | |
of a view either way. Come on, James. Are you sitting on the fence? | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
I am because I have no visceral appetite to go cruising and yet if | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
you said look, this there is this marvellous opportunity I'd probably | :24:27. | :24:30. | |
take it. If you lived in Venice... Definitely. What would be your take | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
on it? Many are saying and this is the story in the press the nations | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
have voted against these cruise ships docking, coming in to Venice | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
and yet many are saying the economy relies on the people on those ships? | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
I don't buy this issue of reliance on cruises. Venice gets one million | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
tourists in round figures. One of these large cruise ships has 4,000 | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
people. So, the number of people who come, via aeroplanes or cars or | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
trains is huge. Equally, the vote which is non binding and indicative | :25:07. | :25:10. | |
only is saying we want you to come, but we don't want you to actually | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
have your big boats here, come in small boats and park outside. The | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
reason I'm laughing is because a lot of you have been getting in touch | :25:19. | :25:20. | |
with your tweets this morning talking about them. Lesley, a big | :25:21. | :25:23. | |
fan. Yes, I have been on three already this year. Cruising is big | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
business and the Venice economy will suffer says Lesley. Jonathan says | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
"Great news they have been banned." Naomi says, "A friend of mine went | :25:34. | :25:40. | |
on a cruise and the ship was so big, it was like walking around Croydon! | :25:41. | :25:45. | |
" I have been on a cruise to the Falklands and the other was North | :25:46. | :25:50. | |
Cape and spits burg. Thank you, we know your holiday calendar so far. | :25:51. | :25:58. | |
More on those stories that we have been covering on the website. | :25:59. | :25:59. | |
Bye-bye. Hello there. Good morning. Yesterday | :26:00. | :26:12. | |
was the hottest day of the year so far. Temperatures got to 32.5 | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
Celsius in South West | :26:17. | :26:17. |