:00:28. > :00:31.prices. Now it is time for Dateline London.
:00:31. > :00:36.More eurozone countries are downgraded, while the Greek debt
:00:36. > :00:46.talks ran into trouble. Is the UK about to fall apart? Is Mitt Romney
:00:46. > :00:52.the Republican's best choice to defeat Barack?
:00:52. > :00:56.The credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded France,
:00:56. > :01:00.Austria and some other eurozone countries. This comes as talks to
:01:00. > :01:09.restructure a Greek debt runs into difficulties. How much worse can
:01:09. > :01:13.the eurozone problems become? Friday the 13th was a non-event.
:01:13. > :01:17.France was downgraded, Austria was downgraded - this is simply because
:01:18. > :01:22.of the situation in Hungary, which is not part of the eurozone.
:01:22. > :01:28.Basically it does not change any of the fundamental problems of the
:01:28. > :01:38.eurozone. Not only the eurozone, also of the British economy. The
:01:38. > :01:40.
:01:40. > :01:50.lack of job creation, and the fact that we have the situation increase.
:01:50. > :01:53.
:01:53. > :01:59.(INAUDIBLE). It is no problem, the euro is low at the moment... The
:01:59. > :02:04.eurozone is much better placed in the world and Britain is. I see, it
:02:04. > :02:08.is a success, is it? I don't think it is a success. But Standard &
:02:08. > :02:14.Poor's has got it wrong several times. It is an American agency who
:02:14. > :02:20.should have downgraded Britain as well. I see, right. I will argue
:02:20. > :02:27.with that point. I love the idea that it has gotten better, not
:02:27. > :02:32.worse. Let's stay with that. It makes me feel nice and warm. In
:02:32. > :02:36.terms of the Britain versus France argument here - if you look at GDP
:02:36. > :02:41.figures and competitiveness, you have a good argument. If you look
:02:41. > :02:46.at when the debt needs refinancing, if you look at the fact that
:02:46. > :02:56.Britain isn't in the euro so it has a lot more control over its fiscal
:02:56. > :02:57.
:02:57. > :03:01.policy, if you look at a lot of other factors, including things
:03:01. > :03:05.like that our government is here until 2015, whereas in France
:03:05. > :03:08.you're coming up to elections - there are a lot of reasons to say
:03:08. > :03:15.there is a strong argument for not treating the British economy for
:03:15. > :03:24.being in such a perilous situation as the French. (LAUGHTER). If you
:03:24. > :03:29.read the statement of Standard & Poor's, they say the problems
:03:29. > :03:39.include not enough growth. Where will the growth come from when all
:03:39. > :03:40.
:03:40. > :03:44.the emphasis is on austerity? there you are. (LAUGHTER). I can't
:03:44. > :03:50.even command growth in my own sector - the newspaper sector, let
:03:50. > :03:59.alone in the rest of the economy. That is an interesting point. There
:03:59. > :04:08.was, embedded in Standard & Poor's report - this assumption about
:04:08. > :04:12.growth. Since austerity measures were employed, there seems to be
:04:12. > :04:21.this demand from Standard & Poor's that people's where the impossible
:04:21. > :04:24.circle. That we suddenly moved from austerity to growth by some kind of
:04:24. > :04:28.construction in the private sector. I can't quite see how that will
:04:28. > :04:31.work. I would like to spend their days sitting there with the
:04:31. > :04:38.Standard & Poor's people and say - make those calculations, are they
:04:38. > :04:46.any good? These are the geniuses who didn't bother to tell us in
:04:46. > :04:50.2005 and 2006 who didn't tell us what was going to hit us in 2080.
:04:50. > :04:55.have always said - if you're so clever, why didn't you tell us
:04:55. > :05:02.about the banking collapse. That would have helped. I think this
:05:02. > :05:06.problem was expected. The question is - when you have to share a load
:05:07. > :05:13.of problems with different economies which are not controlled
:05:13. > :05:20.by a Central Bank policy, you know the European Central Bank does not
:05:20. > :05:26.have a jurisdiction in European countries - every country does not
:05:26. > :05:36.abide by the policy - they have their own national preference. How
:05:36. > :05:38.
:05:38. > :05:43.big question mark about these agencies. This needs to be
:05:43. > :05:51.addressed as well. How bad is it for Nicolas Sarkozy facing the
:05:51. > :05:56.election and trying to pretend that he is as big as Angela Merkel.
:05:56. > :06:02.made a mistake a few months ago by saying - if we are downgraded, I am
:06:02. > :06:11.dead. (LAUGHTER). He's not dead, there are elections coming which
:06:11. > :06:16.will be on jobs and growth. It is not their real problem for him. The
:06:16. > :06:23.problem is for Europe. There is a slight imbalance between France and
:06:23. > :06:33.Germany. Germany has a triple A, which I don't think it deserves.
:06:33. > :06:36.
:06:36. > :06:44.(LAUGHTER). ( GENERAL clamour). It will not change the cost of
:06:44. > :06:50.borrowing... I think now the Germans have completely taken
:06:50. > :07:00.control because France has lost prestige. That was the case anyway.
:07:00. > :07:04.
:07:04. > :07:14.No, No. It was. (LAUGHTER). saved the row? France and Germany.
:07:14. > :07:16.
:07:16. > :07:24.No, Germany and France. (LAUGHTER). The government in Westminster said
:07:24. > :07:27.any referendum which it does not agree to could be overturned in the
:07:27. > :07:36.courts. This has caused delight among sq the newspapers,
:07:36. > :07:39.particularly for Alex Salmond. know as a columnist it is
:07:39. > :07:43.impossible to get people interested in this question most of the year
:07:43. > :07:53.around. It is only when it flares up that you get a discussion. David
:07:53. > :07:58.Cameron decided that not discussing the referendum and not discussing
:07:58. > :08:06.when it was supposed to happen was doing a tremendous favour to the
:08:06. > :08:10.nationals and possibly... He decided to provoke a major
:08:10. > :08:14.discussion and flush Alex Salmond out. That is what has happened. It
:08:14. > :08:20.is a risky strategy. Everyone in Scotland has said - you cannot talk
:08:20. > :08:23.about Scotland, you are at English! You are being patronising! As soon
:08:23. > :08:26.as you tweet anything about Scotland you get a whole lot of
:08:26. > :08:35.nationalist sympathisers coming forward and saying - you are
:08:35. > :08:39.English, but out of our discussions. This was the risk that David
:08:39. > :08:45.Cameron talk in trying to flush Alex Salmond out. One of the things
:08:45. > :08:51.he got was the date. Alex Salmond thinks the Scots are so stupid it
:08:51. > :08:56.would take them three years to decide an argument like this. Why
:08:56. > :09:03.wait three years? The Egyptians haven't waited three years until
:09:03. > :09:09.their elections. (LAUGHTER). This is regarded as an insult. Why are
:09:09. > :09:13.the Scots are so dim, according to Alex Salmond? Well, there you are.
:09:13. > :09:20.I am sure people will tweet you're very appropriate answer. (LAUGHTER).
:09:20. > :09:23.I feel surprised that so many questions within the United Kingdom
:09:23. > :09:29.between the different nationalities have not been resolved over such a
:09:29. > :09:36.long period of time. It has taken the more than three centuries to
:09:36. > :09:44.try and framed the argument about these things. Even in the 1950s
:09:44. > :09:51.there was the constitution - there was an argument... These questions
:09:51. > :09:58.have to be resolved. We are accusing the Arab world... But we
:09:58. > :10:02.are still addressing 18th century questions. (LAUGHTER). It has come
:10:02. > :10:11.at a difficult time when there is a Tory government in power because
:10:11. > :10:20.there is only one Tory MP coming from Scotland to Westminster. Also
:10:20. > :10:30.this question about the West Lothian inquiries... This is a
:10:30. > :10:32.
:10:32. > :10:40.contradiction in terms. Also the question about itself jurisdiction
:10:40. > :10:47.for Scotland. As David Cameron points out, all these questions
:10:47. > :10:51.about process, which quite often make the eyes glaze over... It is
:10:51. > :10:56.almost the opposite. What it fears is that all the arguments have been
:10:56. > :11:02.about emotion, about what people feel would be the best and the
:11:02. > :11:09.fairest and the most just. Writing historical roles that are 300 years
:11:09. > :11:16.old. One of the things that the past few years have done is to make
:11:16. > :11:21.people focus on what the United Kingdom, disunited, look like. What
:11:21. > :11:25.would Scotland look like on its own? Alex Salmond at one point said
:11:25. > :11:32.Scotland should look like Ice land. Then for reasons, I can't imagine
:11:32. > :11:36.what they were, he took that back. (LAUGHTER). It is the same question
:11:36. > :11:41.with the eurozone - how do you dismantle something, leave the
:11:41. > :11:45.burning building without jumping off the roof? There is a very real
:11:45. > :11:50.sense in which people make emotionally feel they would like
:11:50. > :11:55.Scotland to be independent. David Cameron is gambling on the fact
:11:55. > :12:01.that when we look at the mechanics of what it would mean, particularly
:12:01. > :12:06.with the eurozone crisis going on, whereas before you had this notion
:12:06. > :12:10.at as an independent nation you could become a eurozone country...
:12:10. > :12:20.That has been put off indefinitely until another referendum. Alex
:12:20. > :12:21.
:12:21. > :12:25.Salmond was very clear on that. Even so, the idea of independence,
:12:25. > :12:29.this independence where you could locate yourself in another
:12:29. > :12:34.framework, whether at the eurozone or just the European Union, it was
:12:34. > :12:39.a stable entity and an alternative. That has been called into question.
:12:39. > :12:49.It is an interesting time. People have to think, what does this
:12:49. > :12:53.
:12:53. > :13:01.really mean? Have you been writing about this? Extensively. It has a
:13:01. > :13:11.good industry in hi-tech between Glasgow and Edinburgh. It is more
:13:11. > :13:16.
:13:16. > :13:25.open and pro-European than England. It is like Canada with Tibet. Tibet
:13:25. > :13:34.is viable as an independent country -- Quebec. Am I right in thinking
:13:34. > :13:38.that Quebec is still a part of Canada? Yes, it is. I think that an
:13:38. > :13:42.independent Scotland is very good for Europe. I support it because we
:13:42. > :13:48.will have one more member. Scotland will come to us, they are pro-
:13:48. > :13:54.European. The UK will not be as powerful as it is today. So what
:13:54. > :14:04.you really want is an independent Bavaria (LAUGHTER). You have really
:14:04. > :14:04.
:14:04. > :14:11.put the cat among the pigeons. I think it is a viable argument.
:14:11. > :14:20.Looking at the opinion polls, all of a Scots do not want that.
:14:20. > :14:23.Interestingly, this week - Alex Salmond suggested he is open to the
:14:23. > :14:31.thought of more devolution. What is wrong with that? It would give more
:14:31. > :14:35.fiscal responsibility to the government. I don't think, in
:14:35. > :14:42.principle... I don't think most people would argue with additional
:14:42. > :14:49.devolution if that is what the Scots wanted. If that was about
:14:49. > :14:52.equality of contribution. When the debates start a lot of people start
:14:52. > :14:58.talking about how Scotland is better than the rest of the UK and
:14:58. > :15:04.would be better run than the s of the UK. How its people are cleverer
:15:04. > :15:11.than the rest of the UK. Because all those things are questionable,
:15:11. > :15:16.to say the least, you know that what is being sold here is emotion.
:15:16. > :15:21.What I feel about this, quite strongly, apart from being somebody
:15:21. > :15:28.who likes the idea of being in a Britain that Scotland is part of,
:15:28. > :15:38.it is that it seems to be an odd thing to do at this time. When, in
:15:38. > :15:38.
:15:38. > :15:48.fact, what we need to do is to work I would like to draw an analogy
:15:48. > :15:50.
:15:50. > :15:55.between Scotland and Sudan. Where there is a new country? Yes. The
:15:55. > :16:04.separation of the South. I think this is extremely difficult to
:16:04. > :16:07.approach and this is why the Government is trying to... The
:16:07. > :16:13.foreign powers scramble to try to keep the options as open as
:16:13. > :16:23.possible in regard to Sudan. The separation of skol and would be
:16:23. > :16:28.
:16:28. > :16:38.safe within the European Union. -- of Scotland. In a South Sudan...
:16:38. > :16:42.
:16:42. > :16:48.Which would he be? A citizen of Scotland or... Does they one man
:16:48. > :16:53.independence referendum? I would like to point out, while not quite
:16:53. > :17:01.sure that postponing the date until 2014 is because the Scottish people
:17:01. > :17:09.are doomed. (LAUGHTER). Mitt Romney, as expected, roared home in the New
:17:09. > :17:15.Hampshire primary. Is he likely to face Obama in November and what
:17:15. > :17:21.kind of America would he stand for? Is he the best of the Lott? He's
:17:21. > :17:29.the best of this lot. This has been a very interesting start to the
:17:29. > :17:33.election. You see how all week a candidate he is. Everyone who knows
:17:33. > :17:40.him says he is miles better at this time around, he has learnt a lot
:17:40. > :17:45.but that does not making a strong candidate. The reason that we have
:17:45. > :17:54.this Roughead cycling through the options, it is because the
:17:54. > :18:01.Republican Party is so spit. -- it is so split, that is why we have
:18:01. > :18:07.these Roughead cycling through the options. That is why we have had
:18:07. > :18:12.candidates chewed up and spit out. If I was a Republican strategist,
:18:12. > :18:16.which I definitely am not, this would be an election to lose rather
:18:16. > :18:26.than to win because this would be a thankless time to take over in
:18:26. > :18:27.
:18:27. > :18:34.Washington. They are going a very good way around it. You are an avid
:18:34. > :18:39.follower of for what they would do if they were in power. It is quite
:18:39. > :18:46.interesting that the second placed candidate at the moment to Mitt
:18:46. > :18:56.Romney is a so-called a libertarian candidate called Ron Paul with a
:18:56. > :19:01.
:19:01. > :19:06.questionable past and links to far- right parties. There is so much
:19:06. > :19:11.liberty it has freed itself of political history in order to do
:19:11. > :19:17.what it does. Mitt Romney is the obvious candidate because he is
:19:17. > :19:23.centrist. If you're going to have somebody who is going to beat a
:19:23. > :19:29.centrist Democrat you need a centrist candidate to do that.
:19:29. > :19:37.Huntsman, if it was on that basis, he would have been... No-one has
:19:37. > :19:45.heard of him before and Mitt Romney... I will take better notice
:19:45. > :19:52.of him. Republicans are not. What do you make of this exercise in
:19:52. > :19:58.democracy? I regret the fact that Egyptians and other citizens of the
:19:59. > :20:08.world don't have a say in the election of the American President.
:20:09. > :20:14.
:20:14. > :20:22.Even some internal affairs, everything affects us. You have --
:20:22. > :20:30.they are from the England and he's going to South Carolina next. --
:20:30. > :20:40.new England. Two failures under his belt from the 2,000 bandaid
:20:40. > :20:44.
:20:44. > :20:51.elections when he dropped out, failing to get 10 Kennedy's seat. -
:20:51. > :20:54.- Ted Kennedy. It is a fascinating question for me - how the Americans
:20:54. > :20:59.make a profession out of the elections in order to spend more
:20:59. > :21:06.time coming to the voter and electing people. Whenever you
:21:06. > :21:10.choose someone who is a Washington outsider, when he goes to
:21:10. > :21:19.Washington he becomes an insider. How can you guarantee that he will
:21:19. > :21:25.be an outsider? You can. Looking at what would happen if some of these
:21:25. > :21:30.people were elected, people overplayed the decline of the
:21:30. > :21:38.American influence, the American empire. If some of the candidates
:21:38. > :21:48.were elected you would see it decline really fast! Normally a
:21:48. > :21:51.
:21:51. > :21:57.sitting president with a bad economy should be defeated. The
:21:57. > :22:04.Republicans have all the cards in their hand. Everyone expects Obama
:22:04. > :22:14.to win, we have a feeling. The only good sign - one of them speaks
:22:14. > :22:21.
:22:21. > :22:28.French. That did not work for John Terry. -- John Kerry. I think he
:22:28. > :22:32.will be a good candidate. problem is to placate the social
:22:32. > :22:42.conservative you need a running mate... Religion is a problem as
:22:42. > :22:46.
:22:46. > :22:50.well. He is a Mormon. So is Jon Huntsman. It is extraordinarily
:22:50. > :22:56.ironic for someone who is not religious, people saying that
:22:56. > :23:06.Mormonism is not a proper religion because the gold plates were
:23:06. > :23:18.
:23:18. > :23:23.uncovered in the modern era. These things do account. It is a sect.
:23:23. > :23:31.you think about what the other fastest growing religion is, how
:23:31. > :23:39.Americans feel about that... You can see where the problem lies.
:23:39. > :23:49.understand that mum and his are polygamous. -- Mormons are
:23:49. > :23:54.
:23:54. > :24:04.polygamous. Moving on. We have seen one very common a potential
:24:04. > :24:04.
:24:04. > :24:10.candidate running and dropping out. What do you think will happen now
:24:10. > :24:18.with Mohamed ElBaradei dropping out in Egypt? There are some people who
:24:18. > :24:23.can work to motivate but they cannot become number one. I expect
:24:23. > :24:26.many of the others will drop out as well along the course of the next
:24:26. > :24:33.six months. The question that now is to get the parliament in place
:24:33. > :24:43.and see how the consensus will come about in drafting the constitution
:24:43. > :24:49.and looking after minority issues - and women are included and other
:24:49. > :24:54.issues related to rebuilding the state. Women are obviously very
:24:54. > :24:57.prominent in the protests, played a leadership role. Do you think some
:24:57. > :25:04.of them are somewhat disappointed with the way things are going
:25:04. > :25:14.politically? Yes they are. They hold it against the army more than
:25:14. > :25:15.
:25:15. > :25:25.the Islamists in that respect. The question of dragging the lady with
:25:25. > :25:29.
:25:29. > :25:34.the blue Brutt in Tahrir Square. -- the blue bra. We have to understand
:25:34. > :25:38.it is the army that takes full responsibility. We have to say that
:25:38. > :25:42.everyone in Egypt is learning. The problem is that not everyone learns