:00:00. > :00:00.Now on BBC News, foreign correspondents based in London give
:00:00. > :00:00.their views on the week's international news in Dateline
:00:00. > :00:31.London. Hello and welcome to Dateline
:00:32. > :00:41.London. The British government gets nervous about the price of energy
:00:42. > :00:54.and the price of houses. The French President and Europe leaders
:00:55. > :00:59.deficit. The British government is trying to figure out about
:01:00. > :01:04.electricity and gas prices up the major suppliers announced increases
:01:05. > :01:11.of around 10%. A house price bubble has led to a change in policy on
:01:12. > :01:17.lending. How do you see what's been going on this week? The government
:01:18. > :01:20.has denied that they actually leaned on the energy companies to counter
:01:21. > :01:27.prices but that is what some people say. There is a great area there. I
:01:28. > :01:42.don't think they leaned, I think they begged. `` grey area. Once you
:01:43. > :01:51.have been a willing, how can I put it politely? Willing to sell
:01:52. > :01:58.yourself. What I have read is that they have asked, begged, the
:01:59. > :02:04.companies to please, hold prices. And if the prices go up, make sure
:02:05. > :02:10.nobody blames the government. We know that governments don't rule, it
:02:11. > :02:18.is business. Mrs Thatcher always said you can't buck the market. And
:02:19. > :02:29.maybe you can't. Mrs Thatcher, I know I am wearing such a blue, but
:02:30. > :02:35.I'm not. `` Thatcher. You can't have total faith in the market. It was
:02:36. > :02:44.never like this. Not even Adam Smith short what we should have the law of
:02:45. > :02:49.the jungle. `` thought. Even the most capitalist country, the United
:02:50. > :02:56.States, has regulation and sometimes it is a closed market. Someone who
:02:57. > :03:02.has had a lifelong association with the United States, it struck me as
:03:03. > :03:09.being a glaring omission in the privatisation of this country over
:03:10. > :03:13.the last 20 years or so. That they did not, the conservatives in
:03:14. > :03:18.particular, did not institute effective regulation. In the United
:03:19. > :03:28.States when these issues arose for the first time, from the start the
:03:29. > :03:32.Congress are dead a superstructure of regulation, of oversight, which
:03:33. > :03:37.can be pretty tough. It has been pretty effective. Think of Kennedy
:03:38. > :03:44.rolling back the steel prices for example in his first year of office.
:03:45. > :03:52.Privatisation of monopoly utilities in many cases. Without any effective
:03:53. > :04:00.oversight at least as what I have been able to see. I once the energy
:04:01. > :04:04.companies renationalised because I don't think we can give in to the
:04:05. > :04:11.market forces the market isn't working with the energy companies.
:04:12. > :04:19.They put up prices at the same time, at the same level, there is no
:04:20. > :04:25.choice for the consumer. You have no alternatives. Have you looked at how
:04:26. > :04:32.it works? You swap. We tried it, we swapped. Within weeks, that same
:04:33. > :04:36.company had upped its prices. So what do you do? You run around like
:04:37. > :04:43.a mad person looking for a place to buy your energy from. You can't
:04:44. > :04:52.escape. They will keep rising prices. `` raising. Before an
:04:53. > :04:56.election year, an election date mentioned is really influencing the
:04:57. > :05:07.entire politics landscape at the moment. They will try to pressure
:05:08. > :05:12.the energy companies to slow down, that is a reaction to Ed Miliband.
:05:13. > :05:17.Saying he would freeze the prices if Labour comes to power loss of three
:05:18. > :05:26.years or whatever. Everybody is really playing politics with a very
:05:27. > :05:29.substantial issue for the public. 31,000 people have died of
:05:30. > :05:37.hypothermia, that is a huge increase from the previous year. House
:05:38. > :05:42.prices, it is not everywhere, but particularly in London, there have
:05:43. > :05:46.been fears of a house price bubble. Funding for lending has been
:05:47. > :05:53.redirected to small to medium enterprises, smaller businesses. The
:05:54. > :06:08.government wants to cup that. They don't believe `` cap... Aid markets
:06:09. > :06:24.in various ways? It is no longer the national government. Frum and higher
:06:25. > :06:34.institution than that `` from a. Brussels is not breaking... That you
:06:35. > :06:38.have. And that is because the national government puts pressure on
:06:39. > :06:43.Brussels so that they don't regulate. The only solution to all
:06:44. > :07:15.this crisis is that Brussels breaks up. Now it is the ultimate decision
:07:16. > :07:23.maker and they break up the `` oligopoly. It is on energy, not
:07:24. > :07:29.immigration, I think Brussels would be very popular. I think there is
:07:30. > :07:32.immense confusion in this government. They really don't know
:07:33. > :07:36.what they are doing and what they stand for. They change all the time.
:07:37. > :07:42.The warning has come from the governor of the Bank of England that
:07:43. > :07:48.we are overheating the housing market. It is not the government who
:07:49. > :07:53.is rethinking, O God, we have offered to help people who want to
:07:54. > :08:01.help their first homes, actually we are leading somewhere, we might get
:08:02. > :08:08.another catastrophe in this country. I think this is where the government
:08:09. > :08:14.is completely out of its depth. The future of the United Kingdom,
:08:15. > :08:23.Scotland, boat The Independent `` vote for independence, we also have
:08:24. > :08:27.the fact that the EU is saying Scotland would not automatically be
:08:28. > :08:37.a member of the EU if it was independent. That is quite a huge
:08:38. > :08:49.step. That will be a main point. The EU is not the guarantor of its most
:08:50. > :08:54.troublesome member. It is thanks to the EU that the UK would stay
:08:55. > :09:06.together. I say to the people of Britain, keep in the EU and your
:09:07. > :09:08.country will be fine. The United Kingdom get out of the EU the way
:09:09. > :09:17.the politics in this country have gone. That is a possibility. The
:09:18. > :09:28.Scots are very attached to being a part of the European Union. Dear see
:09:29. > :09:37.the European Union as being the saviour is of the United Kingdom? ``
:09:38. > :09:40.do you. It was triumphantly represented as making the
:09:41. > :09:47.declaration of Independence looking like a post` it note. For all the
:09:48. > :09:51.intensive work that has gone in that, they really haven't worked out
:09:52. > :09:59.some of the basic complexity. Keeping the pound. And then relying
:10:00. > :10:05.on the Bank of England and the British taxpayer to support Scottish
:10:06. > :10:12.banks if there is further disasters there. The EU problem that we have
:10:13. > :10:26.already discussed. The NATO problem if they close the base there. I
:10:27. > :10:29.think the Scots will say that you haven't worked this one
:10:30. > :10:39.sufficiently, it is too big of a leap. To remain in the EU or NATO,
:10:40. > :10:49.presumably, the point of leaving the UK since you are a member of the
:10:50. > :10:57.union. And retain the pound as a currency. And retain the sovereignty
:10:58. > :11:05.of the Bank of England over the Scottish economy. I think we can
:11:06. > :11:09.already see what is going to happen. The polls show without a dramatic
:11:10. > :11:19.change over the next ten months, the referendum will fail. But he will
:11:20. > :11:24.get sufficient support which will add new momentum to further
:11:25. > :11:31.decentralisation. And as far as I can tell that is pretty much what
:11:32. > :11:35.the people of Scotland want. All you Scots are taking our jobs of proper
:11:36. > :11:47.English people like myself. We will send you back home I think. The BBC
:11:48. > :12:00.has a branch there. The one thing I wouldn't underestimate is Alex
:12:01. > :12:14.Salmond ability to mobilise people. `` Alex Salmond's. I would not
:12:15. > :12:20.underestimate, there is an emotional swell. Often these things are not
:12:21. > :12:27.about policy and thinking through rationally, it is about an emotional
:12:28. > :12:33.feeling. You sense that. It is something that seems to happen
:12:34. > :12:44.theoretically in nations. `` periodically. Someone is being very
:12:45. > :12:51.clever at manipulating this. When I saw him to discuss this issue, he
:12:52. > :12:58.assigned me to catch a train out to Bannockburn and he said you will
:12:59. > :13:08.understand what this is all about if you go to Bannockburn. I have to say
:13:09. > :13:16.working in the fields `` walking in the fields where the Scots won their
:13:17. > :13:28.independence. I do think the Quebec example is instructive. It seemed
:13:29. > :13:34.evident then that the people of Quebec wanted... They liked the
:13:35. > :13:40.party as a government of the province of Quebec but they weren't
:13:41. > :13:44.prepared to make a leap. We will leave it there and move on to the
:13:45. > :13:52.people of Syria who are now experiencing one of the worst
:13:53. > :13:55.humanitarian crisis is. If we don't act quickly, a generation of
:13:56. > :14:05.innocence will become lasting casualties in an appalling wall. ``
:14:06. > :14:17.war. Into the end of the third year of the crisis and now we have 2.2
:14:18. > :14:26.million children as refugees. More than 50% of the total. Scattered
:14:27. > :14:38.between Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. The trouble is, is really with the
:14:39. > :14:40.political decision`makers. They let this problem, moving from bad to
:14:41. > :14:56.worse and now it is appalling. As you know as you know, they have
:14:57. > :15:06.been people working there for years. Once it has started it is difficult
:15:07. > :15:13.to stop it. The second fastest `` largest camp. There is nothing on
:15:14. > :15:19.the horizon of a solution to this problem. This could go on for ten or
:15:20. > :15:25.15 years. It will transform the United Nations machinery to start
:15:26. > :15:34.thinking along the Palestinian refugee story itself. You mentioned
:15:35. > :15:43.the children and grandchildren. They all have proper schools in the
:15:44. > :15:48.countries is wherever they are. They have local administration to run
:15:49. > :15:55.their affairs. If this is allowed to go on, we may end up... That is a
:15:56. > :16:00.problem itself, isn't it? It except the status quo. In all these
:16:01. > :16:07.countries where the refugees are living, Europe should look at itself
:16:08. > :16:12.the way we go on about all these asylum seekers coming to our doors.
:16:13. > :16:20.Look at these countries and how big a problem they are having to absorb.
:16:21. > :16:24.What was depressing was a programme last week about the amount of
:16:25. > :16:35.hostility in Lebanon towards Syrians. The pure hatred of the
:16:36. > :16:41.children and babies even. It was a form of xenophobia because of the
:16:42. > :16:53.pressure of Lebanon. The children are dirty, have life `` lice in a
:16:54. > :16:59.half`full. You have to take into account in all of that the role that
:17:00. > :17:06.Syria has played in the conflict within Lebanon on which is a very
:17:07. > :17:16.small country of very many years. And the resentment which grew from
:17:17. > :17:24.that. It is not the fault of Europe that it cannot afford to help. After
:17:25. > :17:36.all, they made an agreement with a run `` I run. It is the American who
:17:37. > :17:44.has to have the solution. Every time a big problem happens, you want the
:17:45. > :17:53.United States to help. We are so mean. There are millions of
:17:54. > :18:03.unemployed in Europe. They do everywhere. That is not on! We are
:18:04. > :18:09.among the richest. You have to take some responsibility. I think that
:18:10. > :18:15.we, particularly in the United States, innate post imperialist
:18:16. > :18:22.complex, we still believe that it is our responsibility and within our
:18:23. > :18:25.power and influence to determine or substantiality influence things.
:18:26. > :18:32.Whatever role we may have played with the invasion of Iraq, in
:18:33. > :18:38.releasing this destructive dynamic, the fact is that it is clearly
:18:39. > :18:52.beyond our power. You are misunderstanding. That's all I'm
:18:53. > :19:08.talking about we should be taking Syrian refugees. Not at the moment.
:19:09. > :19:19.How selfish are? ! Please, cannot talk yourself having values. It is a
:19:20. > :19:29.moral question. I want to talk on to something. Other commentators talk
:19:30. > :19:46.of a prerevolutionary situation. There is claiming support. He is in
:19:47. > :19:51.real trouble, is he not? Unemployment is better, but the
:19:52. > :19:58.problem is that every time you have the left in power in France, you
:19:59. > :20:04.have it a very strong nasty right. France is a conservative country. It
:20:05. > :20:14.is rarely on the left. They feel dispossessed of their natural right
:20:15. > :20:21.of all in France. What you have is a man who has insisted on doing
:20:22. > :20:27.reforms to gay marriage, against prostitution. They want the economy
:20:28. > :20:32.right, and they have a point there. The economy has to be put right so
:20:33. > :20:44.the left can stay in power. The economy can only be fixed without
:20:45. > :20:52.changing tax on the middle class. The state in France is too big, and
:20:53. > :21:05.everyone agrees that soft austerity measures have to be taken. It is
:21:06. > :21:15.perceived as not being decisive. Is that perception or reality? I think
:21:16. > :21:20.they're changing, very slowly. I think the public of France is ready
:21:21. > :21:41.to accept the new nation of the state. They also need to tax more.
:21:42. > :21:50.What if Miliband was to gain power and shifts to increasing taxes on a
:21:51. > :21:53.highly taxed population. Would we not see a prerevolutionary
:21:54. > :21:57.situation, but pretty quickly, it might in some ways be a good
:21:58. > :22:03.election for the Conservatives to lose. I wouldn't be surprised if
:22:04. > :22:06.Labour came to power and torque and approach which increases taxes
:22:07. > :22:16.rather than cutting government set spending. That is to say they can
:22:17. > :22:21.never be a left`wing government in Europe. That would be no democracy
:22:22. > :22:34.at all. I think Mark forgot to mention that he has not stopped
:22:35. > :22:38.being Mr Blair on the stage. On immigration, I think we can all
:22:39. > :22:42.admire your passion, which is evident across this table. It is
:22:43. > :22:49.unrealistic when you look at the pulse on immigration right across
:22:50. > :22:59.north`western Europe. There is not a willingness even by the Socialist
:23:00. > :23:06.party. The public will not accept the very large... If we had more
:23:07. > :23:18.gutsy politicians. That's what I was trying to get at here. In Germany he
:23:19. > :23:22.has formed an extra government. Most democratic politicians in Brazil,
:23:23. > :23:27.America, et cetera they are regarded as showing a lack of leadership has
:23:28. > :23:33.that times are so difficult and is difficult to be sympathetic towards
:23:34. > :23:36.them. It is difficult, no doubt. This is the time to show your
:23:37. > :23:45.strength. It is the time to show your colour. Your ability to lead,
:23:46. > :23:51.or not. The standard of leadership in Europe have come down drastically
:23:52. > :24:02.when you compare this decade with the 80s or 70s. There is more
:24:03. > :24:08.visionary and stronger leaders in Europe. When you look around now,
:24:09. > :24:13.most people look down at these leaders. They don't take them
:24:14. > :24:25.seriously. That is certainly true of Obama. I have become to notice that
:24:26. > :24:30.the question is now being raised if this is going to prove to be a
:24:31. > :24:37.failed presidency. That is pretty prominent `` ominous. He is in the
:24:38. > :24:41.finishing his fifth of eight years. He has a long time to recover. He
:24:42. > :24:49.has an economy which is strengthening. The point, it seems
:24:50. > :24:54.unfair to say that we lack vision. These are very complex times. A lot
:24:55. > :25:02.of the old truths don't work any more. I think there are leaders such
:25:03. > :25:08.as in Germany, who should be admired in many ways for what they have
:25:09. > :25:14.done. It seems to me that we have a reactive government. A Prime
:25:15. > :25:21.Minister who, 35 days before the Bulgarian problem, is going to land
:25:22. > :25:25.in the port of Dover at Heathrow. All of a sudden he wants to take
:25:26. > :25:33.emergency measures which could have been adopted at any time in the
:25:34. > :25:44.past. Everyone knew it was coming. Across the whole vertical Horizon,
:25:45. > :25:48.we tend to see the same thing. On banking problems and other things,
:25:49. > :25:54.it is more reactive. This brings us to your point which is that they are
:25:55. > :25:59.is a failure of leadership. That is at first week. We are back next week
:26:00. > :26:00.at the same time. You can comment on Twitter as well. Thanks for
:26:01. > :26:33.watching. It has arrived. December and winter.
:26:34. > :26:37.It is all getting off to a very quiet start. Things will be very
:26:38. > :26:42.different at the end of the week as all sure you in a moment. Plenty of
:26:43. > :26:47.clout filtering around that. If you have enjoyed the sunshine on
:26:48. > :26:51.Saturday, it will be harder to come by a head. It is mainly dry. Pockets