Browse content similar to 16/06/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good afternoon. Welcome to the Daily Politics. The Education | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
Secretary wants to hundred of the worst-performing primary school sin | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
England to be removed from local authority control and transformed | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
into academies under different leadership. | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
Ed Balls has been calling for a temporary cut in VAT to help boost | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
the economy. IVF on the NHS - it's meant to be | :00:51. | :00:57. | |
free for everyone, everywhere. But it's not always the case. | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
Roll up your shirt sleeves, please get your woolly jumpers out because | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
the Lib Dems are having an awayday than we will find out just what | :01:05. | :01:11. | |
they get up to. All of that in the next half an | :01:11. | :01:17. | |
hour. With us for the duration, Robert Winston. Welcome back to the | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
programme. Let's talk about the economy, because the shadow | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
chancellor, Ed Balls, has been delivering a speech on the very | :01:24. | :01:31. | |
subject this morning. He has called for - get this - a tax cut! This is | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
what he said. My suggestion to George Osborne, whilst he won't | :01:36. | :01:41. | |
agree to reverse his mistaken VAT rise permanently, he should reverse | :01:41. | :01:47. | |
its temporarily bed least until the economy is growing strongly again. | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
By putting more money directly into people's pockets, it would boost | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
consumer spending for consumers who are feeling the squeeze from rising | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
prices and taxes, especially pensioners and those on low, fixed | :01:59. | :02:05. | |
incomes. That was Ed Balls this morning. Just as the European | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
sovereign debt crisis is reaching the peak, because countries have | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
borrowed too much. Why would it be sensible for Britain to increase | :02:15. | :02:23. | |
the size of its deficit? Ed Balls's. It is by reducing that you would | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
increase retail spending. Retail spending is in a serious crisis at | :02:27. | :02:34. | |
the moment. You would increase the deficit? You may do, but he is | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
asking for it temporarily to give a boost to the economy. I think it is | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
a good idea and it has been asked for in the House of Lords by a few | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
distinguished economists. We still have a very weak pound. Let's stick | :02:47. | :02:53. | |
to the deficit at the moment. There is no doubt a cut in VAT would | :02:53. | :02:59. | |
increase the size of the deficit. A cut in VAT to 17.5% would cost | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
about �12 billion. We have a deficit which is a percentage of | :03:04. | :03:11. | |
our GDP, about the same as Greece. At the moment, do you know how much | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
Greece has to pay in interest to get its debt away? It is a great | :03:14. | :03:21. | |
deal of money. It has to pay between 16 and 26%. We pay, because | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
the markets think we are getting our deficit down, we pay less than | :03:26. | :03:33. | |
4%. Can you argue if we increased our deficit, if we reversed the | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
deficit reduction plan, we wouldn't be paying a lot more for the debt? | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
I would have to see the exact figures. It is difficult to make | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
that assumption without knowing what the figures involved. Ed Balls | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
is, I think pretty well aware of what that would be. He did not | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
touch on that in his speech. We have a great size deficit but we | :03:55. | :04:01. | |
paid German interest rates. We pay less than 4%. I really don't | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
understand and there would be grateful if you could understand, | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
if we increased our deficit, we would have to pay more in interest | :04:08. | :04:13. | |
payments because of the bigger deficit? At the moment, people are | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
paying vast sums of money we cannot afford. If we increase spending we | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
would boost the economy and that is what Ed Balls is suggesting. | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
will see, this debate is going to go on. | :04:25. | :04:30. | |
Just as you were talking, Greek bank stocks we have been told, have | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
hit 15 year lows because of the political turmoil. | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
Because of the Greek banks hold a huge chunk of Greek Government debt. | :04:41. | :04:46. | |
They were told to buy it. If it has to take a cut, the bank balance | :04:46. | :04:54. | |
sheets will be shot. 15% interest, extraordinary. Only if you are not | :04:54. | :05:03. | |
in full control of your senses! return isn't bad. It is time for | :05:03. | :05:10. | |
the quiz. Since we have a science and fertility expert, we will give | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
you a bit and an exam. Please don't panic, it won't have an impossible | :05:15. | :05:25. | |
:05:25. | :05:42. | ||
At the end of the show, Roberts will sort it out. He will answer it. | :05:42. | :05:47. | |
It is very easy! Regular viewers of this programme, | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
and I have been told there is at least three of you - will be a | :05:52. | :05:59. | |
weather Government's revolutionary drive to organise public services | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
in England has been driven back. Not on education, where Michael | :06:03. | :06:08. | |
Gove is expanding Tony Blair's academies and introducing his own | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
version of three schools. Independent schools that still | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
state funded, depending on the number of pupils you can attract. | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
Anita has the details. The Government's revolutionary | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
drive to reform public services in England has been driven back on a | :06:23. | :06:29. | |
couple of fronts. Just as comrade Lansley about it. But not in | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
education. The Education Secretary Michael Gove is in fact, expanding | :06:34. | :06:44. | |
:06:44. | :06:44. | ||
the role... He is expanding the role of Tony Blair's academies and | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
introducing his own free schools. Independent but state funded, as | :06:49. | :06:56. | |
Andrew said. In December the Education Secretary compared | :06:56. | :07:02. | |
himself to Chairman Mao. He said he was embarking on a long march to | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
freedom of our education system. Promising a cultural revolution. In | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
a speech to headteachers in Birmingham this morning, he laid | :07:10. | :07:15. | |
out the latest thinking from his little red book. At the moment | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
secondary-school so are considered failing if less than 35% of pupils | :07:19. | :07:25. | |
get five GCSEs at grades A to C. This so called for target will rise | :07:25. | :07:30. | |
to 50%. Schools unable to meet this target may be taken over by a | :07:30. | :07:38. | |
neighbouring Academy. 60% of pupils basically reach -- reach basic | :07:38. | :07:44. | |
levels of English and maths. 200 of the worst primary school as will be | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
taken out of local authority control and turned into academies. | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
This could involve significant change in terms of staffing and in | :07:51. | :07:57. | |
some cases, the headteacher would be removed entirely. The glorious | :07:57. | :08:05. | |
Revolution continues. David Blok is head of a primary school in south | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
London. Fans of being with us. Is this a good idea? | :08:09. | :08:15. | |
I don't think it is a very good idea. I worry about the capacity of | :08:15. | :08:21. | |
good or outstanding schools to support failing schools. Parents in | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
the school where I work expect to see me in the playground, expect to | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
see the leadership team in the playground. Expect us to respond to | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
their questions, to meet them regularly. I don't see how we can | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
do this if we were having to look after a second school. I don't | :08:40. | :08:45. | |
think it is about money, it is about the capacity of schools to | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
run another school. I think what would happen is standards in the | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
good or outstanding school would go down. If somebody asked you | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
tomorrow please take over and neighbouring school which is | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
struggling, you would say? I would say no, there aren't enough hours | :09:01. | :09:07. | |
in the day. If we can go back to basics, why does a fine -- primary | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
school fail? What happens there? think the primary reason why | :09:12. | :09:22. | |
schools fail is because there aren't enough good teachers around. | :09:22. | :09:29. | |
It is very, very difficult to find teachers in inner London who can | :09:29. | :09:33. | |
deliver the goods. There is all sorts of reasons for this. Teachers | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
can't afford to live in the inner city. I wonder about the standard | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
of teacher-training. We find it very difficult to find good | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
teachers. We have good teachers in the school, but at this time of | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
year when we are looking for teachers for next year, it is hard. | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
Schools can very, very easily dip into failure if they cannot find | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
adequate staff. I would love you to stay with us because you might be | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
interested in what Andrew and his panel say next. | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
Little gremlins in our electronic script system. I am holding on to | :10:09. | :10:15. | |
the old fashioned paper! With us now, the Conservative MP, | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
chairman of the Education Select Committee, Graham Stuart. We tried | :10:19. | :10:25. | |
to get a minister on, but although we could not get one, we are | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
delighted we have used. You said when the Academy's Bill was going | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
through last summer, not long after the coalition formed power, they | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
may be rushing things. He said he would like to have longer to | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
reflect on these changes, suggest changes and improvements to make | :10:40. | :10:45. | |
sure there aren't any problems that have not been considered. Are they | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
still rushing it? On the question of urgency, it is central. Is this | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
system in need of small adjustments or does it need shock treatment? | :10:55. | :11:01. | |
Are we falling behind competitors? What is the answer? We need to move | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
fast. The Government did move on the passage of the Academy's bill. | :11:05. | :11:11. | |
They said they would change things like special educational needs. You | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
need to combine with careful consideration with a sense of | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
urgency. The warning you gave last July, you wouldn't make? When you | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
are trying to push the pace of changes, there is a risks that | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
unforeseen and perverse consequences... I am not sure what | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
you're saying, are they right to make these changes now or are they | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
rushing them? Depends which changes you are talking about. These | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
primary school is have been identified as failing for a long | :11:40. | :11:48. | |
time. Are we going to continue accepting this? Hopefully we will | :11:49. | :11:58. | |
:11:59. | :12:00. | ||
get answers to the questions from the Government in the next few days. | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
Fundamentally, are they right to say these 200 schools need external | :12:05. | :12:15. | |
:12:15. | :12:15. | ||
support and stimulus - they are. This was Shiv primary school Stiven | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
more independent Academy sector, how does that alleviate the | :12:19. | :12:22. | |
desperate need for more primary school places, which this country | :12:22. | :12:29. | |
has. Financial Times saying we need another 140,000 extra places? | :12:29. | :12:34. | |
about raising the quality, it is a different issue. What is the | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
Government going to do? They are allocating from the devastated | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
capital budget. Too much money was sent on monuments to political | :12:43. | :12:51. | |
vanity. Huge, new schools were they put an existing schools, was a | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
waste of money when there were dilapidated schools that needed | :12:55. | :13:01. | |
repairing. We have a budget which has been overspent and Miss | :13:01. | :13:08. | |
allocated in its use. Do you want these 200 primary schools to become | :13:08. | :13:14. | |
academies? To be the praetorian guard of AC change? Do you want to | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
see a lot more primary schools become academies? I am cautious | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
about that. Primaries, by their nature tend to be smaller and more | :13:23. | :13:29. | |
fragile, making them independent and autonomous without working out | :13:29. | :13:35. | |
there is a whole series of supports around them is risky. Way you have | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
200 schools which have failed repeatedly on a sustained period, | :13:39. | :13:42. | |
there is a case of coming in, gathering whoever will be prepared | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
to contribute... In secondary schools it is no longer just fail | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
schools becoming academies. 47% of children in academies set up by | :13:52. | :13:59. | |
Michael Gove, are from the richest 30% of the population. Under Labour, | :13:59. | :14:05. | |
47 came from the poorest 20%. It is changing now? It is the same vision | :14:05. | :14:14. | |
Tony Blair had, which is to see every school, independent school, | :14:15. | :14:18. | |
secondary-school. Personally I am yet to be convinced on the primary | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
issue. This did start under Tony Blair and the Tories have given it | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
wings? I have a lot of time for Michael Gove, he is thinking very | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
hard. There are big issues, valuing teachers more and getting more | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
teachers in that are better qualified. If you look at the | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
record of the academies, take south London, the Harris academies in | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
Peckham and elsewhere, they have improved the educational standards. | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
People who were underperforming on a performing very well. There is a | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
strong case for what the Secretary of State is saying. A headteacher, | :14:54. | :15:00. | |
just listening to Robert Winston, a Labour peer, he seems to think what | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
Michael Gove is doing is the next logical stage which was started | :15:03. | :15:09. | |
under the last Government? I am not sure how relevant and Academy is a | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
four primary schools, it is a red herring. Are you not just | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
frightened of the competition, you are the Establishment at the | :15:16. | :15:24. | |
moment? No, my school is very oversubscribed. We're not afraid of | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
competition from anybody. Primary school has are being tempted into | :15:28. | :15:31. | |
becoming Academy's because their budget will go up and headteachers | :15:31. | :15:36. | |
are mindful of budgets. All sorts of issues to do with governments | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
and employment law which are not clear to me. We haven't decided at | :15:40. | :15:44. | |
my school which way we will go. The reality is, we don't have enough | :15:44. | :15:53. | |
information on which to make a Robert Winston, we are coming onto | :15:53. | :15:59. | |
the issue you know a lot about. Babies, money and the National | :15:59. | :16:03. | |
Health Service - there are not many issues as emotive as these. What | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
happens when you roll them together? Should the state paid to | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
help infertile couples have a child? Government guidelines say | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
that women between the ages of 23 and 39 should be entitled to three | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
cycles of IVF for free on the NHS, but it has emerged that in many | :16:20. | :16:27. | |
areas, that is not being offered. Technicians at a private IVF clinic, | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
doing some tricky science, but in the middle of an even tougher moral | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
issue. Couples who are infertile are entitled to up to three cycles | :16:35. | :16:41. | |
of IVF treatment for free on the NHS. That is the guidelines set out | :16:41. | :16:46. | |
by the board who advise on the availability of healthcare, the | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
National Institute for Clinical Excellence, NICE. But those are | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
just guidelines. The Primary Care Trusts who administer healthcare in | :16:53. | :16:58. | |
each local area are not obliged to stick to them. Across the country, | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
almost three-quarters of Primary Care Trusts provide less than the | :17:01. | :17:06. | |
recommended number of cycles. That is according to recent research by | :17:06. | :17:11. | |
a Conservative MP. A small handful provide no IVF at all. This doctor | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
at his private clinic sees some of the couples who end up paying for | :17:15. | :17:20. | |
the treatment themselves. Some of them actually cry, because they | :17:20. | :17:29. | |
feel they have been denied what they feel is their right. As | :17:29. | :17:32. | |
taxpayers, they contribute to the economy. The prime minister waded | :17:32. | :17:38. | |
into this emotive issue a week ago. The deputy chief executive of the | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
NHS is writing to all primary care trusts, reminding them of the NICE | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
guidance. Of course, some PCTs have worst deficits than others and a | :17:48. | :17:51. | |
more difficult process to follow, but we want to make sure everyone | :17:51. | :17:56. | |
has access to this treatment. this letter, which was actually | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
cent in January, does not guarantee that anything will change. These | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
decisions are delegated to local PCTs. You are almost bound to get | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
variation between them. We know they will not take the decision not | :18:10. | :18:15. | |
to fund IVF lightly. It will be because of cost pressures elsewhere. | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
You always have to choose between funding cancer, maternity services | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
and mental health services. NICE is revising its guidelines, and new | :18:23. | :18:28. | |
ones will be issued next year. But for this treatment to be free for | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
everyone everywhere, that guidance will have to be toughened up and a | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
lot of money will have to be found to pay for it. | :18:35. | :18:40. | |
Lord Winston is still with us. What you don't know about this is not | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
worth knowing. On the question of health budgets, there is so much | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
pressure. We have an ageing population, you know the arguments. | :18:48. | :18:53. | |
Can we afford to give people the chance to have a child when that is | :18:53. | :19:00. | |
not a life-or-death issue? There are several issues here. Firstly, | :19:00. | :19:06. | |
being infertile of course causes massive pain, and there is a proper | :19:06. | :19:09. | |
case for proper reproductive medicine within the NHS. But the | :19:09. | :19:17. | |
real issue is something more subtle. At present, the NHS is not costing | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
out what it really costs to deliver the service. In my view, they are | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
charging too much. If you centralise these services, you | :19:25. | :19:31. | |
could have staff costs per cycle of around �500 to �800 per cycle. If | :19:31. | :19:37. | |
you add in the drugs, it is still under �1,000. What is it currently? | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
It is based on the private sector, which charges �3,000, which is | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
massive profiteering. It is a big issue for the health bill coming | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
through parliament. The health service is not good at costing a | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
range of packages. If the PCTs were charged what the economic grade | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
really was, they could deliver three cycles, and they could do | :20:00. | :20:05. | |
much better medicine. That is a real issue for the health service. | :20:05. | :20:12. | |
That is a strong word, profiteering. I mean that. You cannot justify, in | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
London, most private clinics are charging more than �3,000 for a | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
bare IVF cycle without the consultation fee and without | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
investigation and without seeing the consultant and without | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
ultrasound, simply as the upfront fee, paid in advance by the patient | :20:28. | :20:33. | |
before they have anything done. What would be the cost to them? To | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
the provider? I think the cost to the provider is about half that. | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
Massive salaries are being made. The freezing of embryos, which will | :20:41. | :20:47. | |
be more important if you are going to reduce multiple birth rates, | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
people are being charged at �350 a year to destroy an embryo. Liquid | :20:52. | :20:59. | |
nitrogen costs 50 pence a litre. To do this eight times will still not | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
cost more than �5. The costs being charged in the private sector, on | :21:03. | :21:10. | |
which the NHS is based in some of its fees, make this and realistic. | :21:10. | :21:15. | |
A let us accept your premise that it is an unfair and an real cost | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
that PCTs are paying. But still, on that price list you have things | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
like hip-replacement, knee replacements, things which are | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
fairly cheap. Some will say, do more of those and fewer of the IVF | :21:29. | :21:34. | |
treatments, because one transforms a life and the other is a choice. | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
That is not true. Having a child transforms your life more than | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
anything else. We are living in a society which does not value the | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
most important thing, the next generation. For people who are | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
unable to have children, of course nobody has a right to have a child. | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
But everybody in the UK has the right to get health treatment which | :21:56. | :22:03. | |
is due to the pain they are suffering. In my view, the pain of | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
infertility is as serious as the treatments you are talking about. | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
We touched on that in the stuttering review added of | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
education policy. Andrew Lansley has been pushed back in some of his | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
ambition. It is called a watered down blueprint. Are you happy with | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
what we have? No, because I have not seen the Bill as it comes | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
through the House of Lords. We know a lot about what is in it. At least | :22:25. | :22:28. | |
they have got some academic medicine and evidence that there | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
will be experts in the commissioning process. But DD10 of | :22:33. | :22:39. | |
that deal, it is still a very big bill. You will have a tough time in | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
the Lords. I think we probably will have a tough time in the Lords. | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
There are situations where the Labour Party will agree with the | :22:46. | :22:55. | |
Government. But I think we will see a considerable extended stage. | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
There is still a big problem in healthcare, which is what you do | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
with the people who need support in the community after they leave the | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
hospital and how you follow them up properly and give them adequate | :23:06. | :23:12. | |
healthcare. Those are big issues which are not fully worked out yet. | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
Now, we love a good awayday on the Daily Politics. We have cake | :23:15. | :23:25. | |
:23:25. | :23:25. | ||
competitions and play petanque. In fact, I came second last year. In | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
the petanque. I did not do the cakes. The Liberal Democrats have | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
not one, but two away-days. And they are off on one now. Giles has | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
more. Roll up your sleeves, be relaxed. | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
Try to forget to buy and your boss. I want you to think about some | :23:43. | :23:49. | |
works stuff, but in a relaxed and fun way. You are probably wondering | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
why I am wearing sunglasses. It is because the future for us is so | :23:53. | :23:59. | |
bright, I have to wear shades. Oh, dear, oh, dear. Yes, the | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
awayday, once the preserve of companies keen to try and get their | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
employees to bond. It was not long before politics had embraced them | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
as well, taking the reins of the Conservative Party in 1997, William | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
Hagues or the awayday as key. He also had a secret weapon to pull | :24:14. | :24:19. | |
over his party's fusty image, the jumper, the dress down look that | :24:19. | :24:24. | |
says, we are all equals. Despite the bijou nature of the Liberal | :24:24. | :24:26. | |
Democrat parliamentary party, its leaders have also seen the awayday | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
as a way of knitting the party together and forging his identity. | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
But does the political awayday served as nothing more than a | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
slightly dodgy photo op? Sadly, paintballing has yet to feature on | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
a political awayday, much favoured by companies. But the politicians | :24:43. | :24:48. | |
do go in for those team problem- solving exercises - building trust. | :24:48. | :24:54. | |
The problem is, one day in politics, your colleagues catch you, the next | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
day they let you fall flat on your face. | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
Just like the office! You saw him in the film and he | :25:01. | :25:06. | |
joins us now - former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik. What do | :25:06. | :25:12. | |
you get up to? It is feel good. Whatever we have said in Parliament, | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
we are all basically pulling the same way. The only thing we do not | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
do is sing the Lib Dem national anthem, the Gland. I will not sing | :25:22. | :25:28. | |
it for you. -- of the Land. would like to keep our viewers! Do | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
you play bonding games? Sometimes, but they tend to be in the evening. | :25:32. | :25:41. | |
In the daytime, there are worthy discussions about policy. There is | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
always the hardy perennial about what went wrong with tuition fees. | :25:44. | :25:49. | |
In the evenings, we have dinner and a quiz. Then there is a surprise so | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
tough questions about politics, and everyone gets competitive. Do you | :25:52. | :25:58. | |
play any other games? Where are you reading with that question? It is | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
an awayday. We do not do the paintballing stuff. I was not | :26:02. | :26:06. | |
thinking of that. Are you being a bit naughty? No, I was just asking | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
if you play any other games. Does anything could come of these | :26:10. | :26:19. | |
events? Sometimes you get clarity in policy areas which have caused | :26:19. | :26:24. | |
controversy. That will be an issue with health. Sometimes you can also | :26:24. | :26:28. | |
get bonding with a leader if he has been controversial. But it is not | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
guaranteed. Sometimes you come back, and everything is the same as it | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
was before. You still hope to be your party's mayor for London | :26:36. | :26:46. | |
:26:46. | :27:08. | ||
candidate. Let's look at your Power to the people! There is | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
nothing like using an old '70s sitcom opening titles for a | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
campaign. Mr Clegg does not seem to want you to be his candidate. | :27:15. | :27:21. | |
he said that? He said it to the Welsh Liberals. He said, we have | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
even had a Liberal Democrat celebrity flying the Welsh flag in | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
the depths of the Australian jungle. That is one fresh tree disaster | :27:28. | :27:32. | |
that we are not responsible for. I would not call that a wholehearted | :27:32. | :27:37. | |
endorsement. He was using me as cover for the Forestry Commission | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
disaster of policy. But we picked upon that and said we thought it | :27:41. | :27:47. | |
was a bit partisan. The leader has withdrawn from that position. I | :27:47. | :27:51. | |
have had a lot of negative briefing from some mysterious sources in the | :27:51. | :27:58. | |
party. What are they afraid of, the fact that I have a profile? We have | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
run out of time. There is just time before we go to | :28:01. | :28:11. | |
:28:11. | :28:16. | ||
find out the answer to our exam. Robert, what is the correct answer? | :28:16. | :28:21. | |
I suppose it is sexual reproduction, isn't it? I do not know if they | :28:21. | :28:24. | |
will be doing that at the Liberal awayday. He is right. | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
Before we go, we didn't have time to pick a winner to our guess the | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
year competition, so you get to pick a winner today, Robert Winston. | :28:31. | :28:40. | |
The answer was 2002. I have two here. End Livingstone guess the | :28:40. | :28:45. | |
year. From Yeovil in Somerset. I will be back tonight for This Week | :28:45. | :28:52. |