:00:04. > :00:11.A small humanitarian breakthrough in Syria, as the Red Crescent
:00:11. > :00:14.secures the evacuation of some women and children. After weeks of
:00:14. > :00:18.shelling in the city of Homs, four ambulances are allowed in to
:00:18. > :00:21.evacuate wounded civilians. World leaders gather to condemn the
:00:21. > :00:31.violence in Syria and call for an immediate ceasefire and
:00:31. > :00:31.
:00:31. > :00:36.humanitarian aid. If the Assad regime refuses to allow this life-
:00:37. > :00:40.saving aid to reach people in need, it would have even more blood on
:00:40. > :00:42.its hands. But there's little agreement on how
:00:42. > :00:44.to make Syria's President Assad stop killing his own people.
:00:44. > :00:49.Also tonight: She was the Government's family
:00:49. > :00:51.tsar. Now Emma Harrison steps down as chair of her troubled welfare to
:00:51. > :00:58.work company. The retired British businessman
:00:58. > :01:03.extradited to America. Christoper Tappin says his treatment is unfair.
:01:03. > :01:08.I have no rights. Abu Qatada is walking the streets of London today,
:01:08. > :01:12.and we cannot extradite him. He has more rights than I have.
:01:12. > :01:15.Lloyds posts losses of �3.5 billion but it still pays out hundreds of
:01:15. > :01:25.millions in bonuses. And this time the Oscars could be a
:01:25. > :01:27.
:01:27. > :01:31.In Sportsday at 10:30pm, a full round up of the news, including
:01:31. > :01:41.more on Wales going for the Triple Crown in the Six Nations at
:01:41. > :01:50.
:01:50. > :01:53.Good evening. After urgent negotiations with the
:01:53. > :01:57.Syrian government by the Red Cross and Red Crescent, a handful of
:01:57. > :02:01.ambulances have been allowed into the wreckage of the city of Homs to
:02:01. > :02:04.evacuate 20 women and children and seven wounded. The two foreign
:02:04. > :02:08.journalists who have been seriously injured there are refusing to leave
:02:08. > :02:12.until there is a ceasefire. World leaders have gathered to condemn
:02:12. > :02:16.the violence in Syria. They've called for humanitarian aid to be
:02:16. > :02:19.allowed into the areas devastated by shelling and gunfire. But
:02:19. > :02:29.divisions remain on how to persuade or force President Bashar al-Assad
:02:29. > :02:33.
:02:33. > :02:41.to end the bloodshed. From Tunis, No end to the shelling of Baba Amr
:02:41. > :02:46.in on Saturday. -- in Hom's today. Tonight, glimmer of a breakthrough.
:02:46. > :02:50.Some severely wounded casualties, including women and children in the
:02:50. > :02:54.district, were evacuated to a local hospital. Not be injured foreign
:02:54. > :02:59.journalists, though, who apparently refused to go. Red Cross
:02:59. > :03:03.negotiations on their fate are continuing. Meanwhile, today's
:03:03. > :03:07.conference in Tunis sent a strong political message. Dozens of
:03:07. > :03:10.countries, backing the call for President Assad to go, and
:03:10. > :03:15.endorsing the main opposition grouping, the Syrian National
:03:15. > :03:20.Council. I do believe they justify our intensified support and working
:03:20. > :03:28.with them. So I have offered them whatever additional practical help
:03:28. > :03:31.we can provide from the United Kingdom, the political opposition
:03:31. > :03:35.outside Syria. I believe they are doing the right things and will be
:03:35. > :03:39.able to bring greater unity to the opposition in Syria. Among the
:03:39. > :03:43.points they agreed in Tunis, to promote the Syrian National Council
:03:43. > :03:48.as a legitimate representative of the opposition, to ramp up economic
:03:48. > :03:52.sanctions against Syria and close embassies, and to position
:03:52. > :03:56.humanitarian aid, just in case President Assad ever agrees to a
:03:56. > :04:01.ceasefire. But behind the scenes, there was
:04:01. > :04:05.chaotic disagreement about whether to arm the rebels. Britain has
:04:05. > :04:09.always been against it. The Americans this week hinted they
:04:09. > :04:14.might consider it, but sitting next to Hillary Clinton, the Saudi
:04:14. > :04:18.Foreign Minister said he was all for it. An excellent idea, he
:04:18. > :04:23.called it. REPORTER: What you think about
:04:23. > :04:27.bombing the Syrian opposition? think it is an excellent idea.
:04:27. > :04:31.Because they can't protect themselves. One thing that all here
:04:31. > :04:35.in June is seemed to agree on, the failure of the outside world to
:04:35. > :04:38.take action to stop the violence in Syria is not to do with their own
:04:38. > :04:43.lack of political will, but the fault, they say, of Russia and
:04:43. > :04:52.China, who blocked any UN approval and refused to turn up to this
:04:52. > :04:57.conference. It is quite distressing to see two permanent members of the
:04:57. > :05:03.Security Council using their veto, when people are being murdered,
:05:03. > :05:10.women, children, brave young men, houses are being destroyed. It is
:05:10. > :05:14.just despicable. And I ask, whose side are they on? Not everyone is
:05:14. > :05:17.opposed to President Assad. One noisy rally of his supporters
:05:17. > :05:23.nearly disrupted proceedings. A reminder that there are plenty of
:05:23. > :05:26.people who do not think he has the worst option for Syria. What has
:05:26. > :05:30.emerged at this conference is that even if all the countries are
:05:30. > :05:33.united in wanting to see the violence in Syria stop and to see
:05:33. > :05:37.President Assad go, they do not really have a clear idea about how
:05:37. > :05:41.to do it. They might claim Russia and China for blocking action at
:05:41. > :05:47.the United Nations, but the truth is, there is deep unease about
:05:47. > :05:51.getting sucked into a conflict in Syria with unforeseen consequences.
:05:51. > :05:54.Despite the rising death toll and support for President Assad in some
:05:54. > :05:57.areas, in many towns around Syria people are trying to organise
:05:57. > :06:07.themselves into an embryonic opposition and into armed militias.
:06:07. > :06:17.
:06:17. > :06:23.Ian Pannell has sent this report Soldiers, farmers, mechanics, even
:06:23. > :06:30.greengrocers. Citizens bearing arms. These are the men of the Syrian
:06:31. > :06:36.Liberation Army, a brand new armed group. Britain and the West won the
:06:36. > :06:41.opposition to unite. But in truth, each village, each family is now
:06:41. > :06:45.forming its own separate militia here. More of a self-defence force
:06:45. > :06:52.than a rebel army. But ask them what they want from the diplomats
:06:52. > :06:58.in Tunis, and then they agreed. the people, all the world, they are
:06:58. > :07:04.now watching what is happening inside Syria. Every day more of the
:07:04. > :07:08.killing, from Young, from old, from children, from women. And it is
:07:09. > :07:13.very important to get the victory and a buffer zone and we need a no-
:07:13. > :07:17.fly zone. People gathered across Syria today as the clamour for
:07:17. > :07:23.change grows. Strength in numbers, perhaps, but some still did not
:07:23. > :07:27.dare to show their face. Syrian people want freedom and dignity.
:07:27. > :07:33.Our people are being killed every day. So we want to stop this
:07:33. > :07:36.violence, to stop the killing of civilians. This has become a Friday
:07:36. > :07:42.ritual for almost a year. They don't just want the freedom to
:07:42. > :07:52.speak out, but the right to be heard. You can see them, you can
:07:52. > :07:53.
:07:53. > :07:57.hear them. Freedom, freedom, freedom! This is Syria's revolution
:07:57. > :08:01.in full flow. It is easy to forget that for much of the last 40 years
:08:01. > :08:04.a demonstration like this would have been almost unthinkable. But
:08:04. > :08:08.their sheer strength of numbers is not matched by a fire power, and in
:08:08. > :08:16.the face of overwhelming force, the truth is they have little capacity
:08:16. > :08:19.to resist. Some were attacked today for daring to protest. Our view of
:08:19. > :08:28.the country is limited, but what we have seen is complete desperation
:08:28. > :08:31.at the lack of help from the outside world. And so, as night
:08:31. > :08:36.falls, men with guns stand guard across Syria. There is little
:08:36. > :08:40.reason to think their government would accept today's idea of a
:08:40. > :08:48.ceasefire. And the road ahead is likely to see more bloodshed and
:08:48. > :08:51.The Government's scheme to get the unemployed back into work suffered
:08:51. > :08:55.another blow tonight. The head of the company that handles millions
:08:55. > :08:59.of pounds' worth of welfare to work contracts has resigned. Emma
:08:59. > :09:03.Harrison was chair of the firm A4e which has found itself at the
:09:03. > :09:13.centre of a storm of criticism. Iain Watson is as Westminster. Is
:09:13. > :09:14.
:09:14. > :09:16.It is certainly not hold for when the chairman of the company at the
:09:16. > :09:21.centre of the Government's attempts to get people back into work has
:09:21. > :09:24.put herself out of a job. Emma Harrison is described as
:09:24. > :09:28.inspirational by the Prime Minister recently but she steps down from
:09:29. > :09:32.A4e just one day after resigning as an unpaid Government adviser. This
:09:33. > :09:39.follows news that police are investigating allegations of fraud
:09:39. > :09:42.that her company. I thought you would like to hear it first...
:09:42. > :09:45.events tonight suggests there is such a thing as bad publicity. Emma
:09:45. > :09:50.Harrison built up her employment business over a quarter of the
:09:50. > :09:54.century. Last year she paid herself a dividend of over �8 million. Her
:09:54. > :10:04.company's job is to get the long- term unemployed back to work, but
:10:04. > :10:14.
:10:14. > :10:17.The Government has �180 million of contracts with A4e. It pays by
:10:17. > :10:20.results. So ministers see it as a crucial means of getting people
:10:20. > :10:24.back into work more quickly at a time of high unemployment. Tonight,
:10:24. > :10:31.there are calls for the Government to suspend those contracts and for
:10:31. > :10:35.greater scrutiny of Parliament employment firms. -- private
:10:35. > :10:38.employment firms. The Government must take some blame. The job of
:10:38. > :10:41.Government when it is issuing contracts like this is to make sure
:10:41. > :10:46.they are properly delivered. This comes on top of more gloomy news
:10:46. > :10:50.for the Government, and well-known retailers getting twitchy about
:10:50. > :10:53.their own involvement in back-to- work programmes. The high street
:10:53. > :10:57.store Poundland pulled out of a scheme aimed at the long-term
:10:57. > :11:02.unemployed, saying it is wrong that some people are forced to work for
:11:02. > :11:04.their benefits. And earlier this week, Tesco criticised a scheme for
:11:05. > :11:10.young unemployed people, while the fashion chain Matalan is thinking
:11:10. > :11:14.twice about whether to take part in it in future. David Cameron had
:11:14. > :11:18.seen A4e's chairman as inspirational. Tonight, the company
:11:18. > :11:21.has launched its own investigation into fraud allegations. Wider
:11:21. > :11:26.questions are being asked about the Government's approach to getting
:11:26. > :11:29.people back to work. Ministers are insisting their work programmes are
:11:29. > :11:32.still on track, but let's face it, the last thing the Government
:11:32. > :11:37.needed tonight was a high-profile job loss at a company that is seen
:11:37. > :11:40.as crucial to getting rising unemployment back down.
:11:40. > :11:43.A 65-year-old British businessman is due to arrive in the United
:11:43. > :11:48.States around now in the custody of US Marshals, to face charges of
:11:48. > :11:51.conspiring to supply missile parts to Iran. At Heathrow this morning,
:11:51. > :11:54.Christopher Tappin said his extradition was a disgrace and
:11:54. > :12:02.criticised the Prime Minister for failing to prevent it. June Kelly
:12:02. > :12:07.reports. Christopher Tappin, leaving his
:12:07. > :12:12.home in Kent for possibly the last time. It is already on the market
:12:12. > :12:14.to help to pay the legal bills. The former golf club president and
:12:14. > :12:20.company director wanted as a suspect in an international
:12:20. > :12:28.criminal conspiracy. At Heathrow, before he went into the custody of
:12:28. > :12:33.US air marshals, he went on the attack. I look to Mr Cameron to
:12:33. > :12:38.look after my rights, and he has failed to do so. I have no rights.
:12:38. > :12:43.Abu Qatada is walking the streets of London today, and we cannot
:12:43. > :12:47.extradite him. He has more rights than I have. Downing Street says
:12:47. > :12:52.the cases are completely different. At Christopher Tappin's side, his
:12:52. > :12:57.wife, who has health problems. He is accused of being involved in a
:12:57. > :13:01.plot to export batteries for Hawk air-defence missiles to Iran. The
:13:01. > :13:03.Americans arrested one of his business clients in an undercover
:13:04. > :13:09.operation, and according to Christopher Tappin, this man has
:13:09. > :13:12.falsely implicated him. His case is the latest to highlight what some
:13:12. > :13:17.see as the unfair extradition agreement between Britain and
:13:17. > :13:22.America. Gary McKinnon is one of those also facing charges in the
:13:22. > :13:26.States. He is wanted for hacking into US military computers. Critics
:13:26. > :13:31.of the agreement with the Americans argue that legally it is unbalanced.
:13:31. > :13:35.If we make a request to the United States, we have to provide evidence
:13:35. > :13:39.the quality of which a judge in America will assess before deciding
:13:39. > :13:43.to extradite. If the Americans make a request to us, all they have to
:13:43. > :13:47.do is to give aid their recitation of the essential facts of the
:13:48. > :13:52.allegation, with no detail, so there is no judicial assessment of
:13:52. > :13:57.the quality or reliability of that evidence at all. And that is what
:13:57. > :14:00.is so unjust. A review commissioned by the Government found the system
:14:00. > :14:05.was fair, but David Cameron is still under pressure from many in
:14:05. > :14:08.his own party. Of course, balance in these arrangements is absolutely
:14:09. > :14:12.vital, but it is important that at the same time we remember why we
:14:12. > :14:16.enter into these extradition treaties, which is to show respect
:14:16. > :14:20.to each other's judicial processes and make sure people who were
:14:20. > :14:25.accused of crimes can be tried for those crimes. Christopher Tappin
:14:25. > :14:28.believes he should have been tried in the UK. He boarded the plane in
:14:28. > :14:35.the custody of the Americans and will spend tonight in a detention
:14:35. > :14:38.centre in Texas. Extradition is a sensitive issue, both politically
:14:38. > :14:43.and diplomatically. And there has been no Government response yet to
:14:43. > :14:46.last year's review. No public comment from ministers today on the
:14:46. > :14:48.Christopher Tappin case. A statement said only that the Home
:14:48. > :14:57.Secretary had considered the relevant issues before she signed
:14:57. > :15:03.Lloyds Banking Group says it is in a significantly stronger position
:15:03. > :15:08.than it was 12 months ago, despite announcing losses of �3.5 billion
:15:08. > :15:12.2011. The bank, which is 40% owned by the taxpayer, blamed the result
:15:12. > :15:17.of the compensation it has paid to customers who were mis-sold payment
:15:17. > :15:22.protection products. The bank says it will pay bonuses of �375 million
:15:22. > :15:27.to staff. With the details, business editor Robert Peston.
:15:27. > :15:33.Lloyds, the Black Horse, back in the red again. The previous year's
:15:33. > :15:38.return to profit, the apparent recovery, did not last. A whopping
:15:38. > :15:42.loss of �3.5 billion in 2011, largely because of a �3.2 billion
:15:42. > :15:45.charge to compensate thousands of customers who were mis-sold credit
:15:45. > :15:50.insurance. That has hit the result that we have now seen. They are
:15:50. > :15:55.keen to move away from that. A number of people at bonuses
:15:55. > :15:59.withdrawn because of that mis- selling that took place. But this
:15:59. > :16:02.is what should worry taxpayers, all of us to put �20 billion into
:16:02. > :16:07.Lloyds to rescue this along with Halifax and the Bank of Scotland.
:16:07. > :16:10.Even without the charge, Lloyds would have made a loss of several
:16:10. > :16:15.hundred million pounds. The big story at Lloyds is of a squeeze on
:16:15. > :16:18.what it earns. Increasingly, customers are reluctant to borrow,
:16:18. > :16:23.and some are even repaying their debts because of the general
:16:23. > :16:28.economic uncertainty. When Lloyds is able to lend, it is making less
:16:28. > :16:33.profit, because banks have to borrow what they lend, and the cost
:16:34. > :16:39.of borrowing for banks like Lloyds is going up, quite a lot. In spite
:16:39. > :16:42.of its losses, �375 million of bonuses are being paid by Lloyds,
:16:42. > :16:47.which some believe is not appropriate. These bonuses have
:16:47. > :16:52.gone to thousands of staff, so the average was 3,900 fans, far less
:16:52. > :16:58.than the bonuses at banks like Barclays and RBS, which had become
:16:58. > :17:01.a high pain investment banks. Lloyds was Antonio Horta-Osorio is
:17:01. > :17:07.back in the saddle after his leave of absence for exhaustion. He told
:17:07. > :17:11.me today that Lloyds is just one year into a five-year recovery
:17:11. > :17:18.programme, which means it will be years before the taxpayers' stake
:17:18. > :17:23.in the bank can be sold. Lloyds TSB's motto was for the journey,
:17:23. > :17:27.and we will be with them on a sure we would get our money back
:17:27. > :17:32.eventually, it is just a question of when. Lloyds may be in a red,
:17:32. > :17:36.but it is less at risk of going bust than it was. Even so, it will
:17:36. > :17:44.be a slow trot and tell taxpayers get their �20 billion back, if we
:17:44. > :17:47.ever do. Coming up: The UK's biggest fishing
:17:47. > :17:56.fraud, and the group of Scottish skippers who netted themselves
:17:56. > :18:00.millions of pounds. It was one of the most enduring and
:18:00. > :18:04.shocking images of this summer's riots in England, a family-run
:18:04. > :18:08.furniture shop consumed by fire in Croydon in south London. Today the
:18:08. > :18:11.man who started the blaze pleaded guilty. The judge said 33-year-old
:18:11. > :18:16.Gordon Thompson faces a lengthy jail sentence. The store's owner
:18:16. > :18:21.said parts of him had died when the shot went up in flames. From
:18:21. > :18:27.Croydon, Tom Symonds reports. It was one of the most imitating,
:18:27. > :18:31.destructive acts of the summer riots. -- devastating. A family
:18:31. > :18:36.business deliberately burned to the ground. Now we know who was
:18:36. > :18:41.responsible, Gordon Thompson, 33, admitted arson, burglary and
:18:41. > :18:46.violent disorder. People across the country were appalled and shocked
:18:46. > :18:49.at the level of violence and destruction that was committed on a
:18:49. > :18:55.good Augusts 2011. The images of Reeves Corner are some of the most
:18:55. > :18:58.iconic from that day. Thompson was caught on his CCTV footage. He is
:18:58. > :19:03.one of the figures moving from left to right at the top of the screen.
:19:03. > :19:08.He approaches the store, something is burning in his hand, and he
:19:08. > :19:12.appears to touch it to a sofa. By nightfall, the flames had spread
:19:12. > :19:16.fast, feeding on hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of brand-
:19:16. > :19:20.new furniture. There was little the firefighters could do. The store
:19:20. > :19:26.was reduced to smouldering rubble, and during the fire embers drifted
:19:27. > :19:33.across the street to these flats. Inside, lives were at risk. In his
:19:33. > :19:37.dramatic picture, a shop worker jumped to safety as the fire spread.
:19:37. > :19:42.The burning of the furniture store seemed to symbolise the mindless
:19:42. > :19:47.nature of the summer disorder, and senior politicians came to visit.
:19:47. > :19:51.Six months on, the father and son who owned it are still negotiating
:19:51. > :19:56.with insurers and still disgusted at what happened. The business has
:19:56. > :20:00.been here for so long, as I said before, many times, it has survived
:20:00. > :20:05.two wars, the Great Depression and many other things that have been
:20:05. > :20:11.thrown at it. But this one destructive incident has bedded
:20:11. > :20:15.down. It does not say much for society. The investigation into the
:20:15. > :20:20.summer disorder continues. Thomson will be sentenced in April. --
:20:20. > :20:23.Thompson. 17 men at the heart of the UK's
:20:23. > :20:27.biggest fraud involving illegal catches of fish, or with a
:20:27. > :20:31.processing factory, have been fined almost �1 million. The skippers
:20:31. > :20:37.from Shetland sold vast quantities of mackerel and herring, and aiding
:20:37. > :20:42.strict quotas. Two other factories were also involved in the fraud.
:20:42. > :20:46.Lorna Gordon reports. In the waters off Britain, the
:20:46. > :20:51.largest and most profitable boats in the fleet draw for mattering and
:20:51. > :20:55.heroin. They catch is limited by European quotas to prevent
:20:55. > :20:58.overfishing, but a single trip to see can be worth millions. But
:20:59. > :21:03.these givers have admitted fraud on an industrial scale. They conspired
:21:03. > :21:08.with some factories and industry middlemen, and more than half the
:21:08. > :21:11.Scottish boats were in on the crime. Wealthy people wanted to make
:21:11. > :21:17.themselves even wealthier. Staggering sums are involved, both
:21:17. > :21:20.in terms of the official landing of fish and undeclared fish.
:21:20. > :21:24.investigation started in Shetland, where the authorities discovered
:21:24. > :21:28.that all but one of the large trawlers on the island were
:21:28. > :21:32.ignoring limits on how much they could fish. The skippers involved
:21:32. > :21:36.in the scam were landing their catch our herring and mackerel, and
:21:36. > :21:42.this processing plant on the edge of gnomic handled it. When the
:21:42. > :21:47.factory was raided, it was discovered that Scales had been
:21:48. > :21:52.adopted. The fraud was not confined to the Northern Isles. In Peterhead,
:21:52. > :21:56.two other factories were raided, and police uncovered a pipeline to
:21:56. > :22:00.smuggle fish on shore. The industry says practices have now changed and
:22:00. > :22:03.they have been singled out for breaking quotas. This was quite
:22:03. > :22:07.widespread, not only within the UK but across Europe as well. If you
:22:07. > :22:14.look at the approaches taken by different governments, there is not
:22:14. > :22:17.a level playing field across Europe. But the staggering level of
:22:17. > :22:21.declarations by these boats in Shetland contributed to the EU
:22:21. > :22:25.reducing Britain's allocation armour and the fleet is now being
:22:25. > :22:32.monitored more closely to make sure the quotas, however unpopular, R
:22:32. > :22:37.Ayutthaya is too. Up at hereto. The Green Party's spring conference
:22:37. > :22:40.has opened in Liverpool with Caroline Lucas telling delegates
:22:40. > :22:44.the party is growing on a national and local level because of
:22:44. > :22:47.disillusionment with Westminster politics. She said the image of
:22:47. > :22:51.Britain as a fair country where people have equal access to
:22:51. > :22:55.facilities is being undermined by the economic crisis. The coalition
:22:55. > :22:59.have set out to dismantle the welfare state, to punish the poor,
:22:59. > :23:05.the old and the sick, and to take away those things we can all
:23:05. > :23:10.equally share. And so the libraries are closing, the swimming pools are
:23:10. > :23:14.shutting down, the playing fields sold off for development. But,
:23:14. > :23:19.conference, people are fighting back. We are fighting back,
:23:19. > :23:21.fighting for fairness and for our principles.
:23:21. > :23:25.The leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas.
:23:25. > :23:28.Preparations are under way for the most eagerly awaited show business
:23:28. > :23:33.ceremony of the year. The red carpet is being rolled out, the
:23:33. > :23:36.stars are heading into town for the 84 Oscars ceremony. But this year's
:23:36. > :23:40.events could be remembered as a distinctly European affair, with
:23:40. > :23:44.the French film of The Artist favourite to win several awards.
:23:44. > :23:47.Here is Arts editor Will Gompertz. Preparations are under way for
:23:47. > :23:51.Sunday night's Oscar ceremony. It is the culmination of the eight-
:23:51. > :23:57.month epic that is the award season. Will the winners be as expected, or
:23:58. > :24:01.might there be surprises? You sense the circus a telegram...
:24:01. > :24:03.Could it be that the British star Gary Oldman wins best actor as
:24:03. > :24:07.George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? The right honourable
:24:07. > :24:12.gentleman knows very well that we had no choice but to close the
:24:12. > :24:15.school. This year, the Oscars have been at the centre of heated debate.
:24:15. > :24:17.A survey in the LA Times reveals that the Academy lacks diversity
:24:18. > :24:27.among voting members, which the paper said were predominantly white,
:24:28. > :24:33.male and middle-aged. She doesn't seem to mind. Whose fault is that?
:24:33. > :24:41.Yours! But does the most nominated actress of all time care about the
:24:41. > :24:48.Oscars? Sadly, it still matters! It does, it is so exciting. It
:24:49. > :24:54.really is. I remember the first time I went. Lord Olivier was there,
:24:54. > :25:02.I was next to Gregory Peck, Bette Davis was behind me. I mean, I have
:25:02. > :25:08.been going to that thing for many As for best film, well, all of the
:25:08. > :25:11.talk has been about the French silent-movie The Artist. Everyone
:25:11. > :25:14.from this kid at Harvard, who has got a programme of predicting the
:25:14. > :25:18.Oscars, to all of the people in what they call the blogosphere,
:25:18. > :25:24.making predictions. Everybody seems to think it is a foregone
:25:24. > :25:28.conclusion that The Artist has won. It doesn't seem like it will be the
:25:28. > :25:37.year of the American film. Or maybe it will. The Americans certainly
:25:37. > :25:42.are not out of the picture. There is Steven Spielberg's War Horse.
:25:42. > :25:47.There is Martin Scorsese's family feature, Hugo. And Woody Allen's
:25:47. > :25:50.romantic comedy, Midnight In Paris. I just want to walk around Paris
:25:50. > :25:56.with you. I keep forgetting you're just a tourist. That's putting it
:25:56. > :26:06.mildly. The Help, a story about racial tensions in Mississippi, is
:26:06. > :26:08.
:26:08. > :26:11.another contender. And Viola Davis In the last few minutes, Burger