:00:00. > :00:00.man who suffered so much for freedom and justice, and the man who threw
:00:00. > :00:15.his dignity and through his triumph inspired millions.
:00:16. > :00:21.Welcome to Newsnight Scotland. We will recall the part Glasgow played
:00:22. > :00:26.in the Mandela story. Also tonight, the Chancellor sets out more of his
:00:27. > :00:29.plans. If an economic recovery is really under way, are his critics
:00:30. > :00:33.merely carping? People across the world have been
:00:34. > :00:37.paying tribute to Nelson Mandela after his death was announced
:00:38. > :00:40.tonight. Here in Scotland, he has been remembered as an inspirational
:00:41. > :00:45.figure in the fight against apartheid, and for his memorable
:00:46. > :00:48.visits to the country. He is also recognised for his diplomatic
:00:49. > :00:52.efforts that led to the Lockerbie trial. We have been looking back at
:00:53. > :00:56.his life. The man that the world has been
:00:57. > :01:07.waiting to see. His first public appearance in nearly three decades.
:01:08. > :01:13.# Nelson Mandela! Bring him back home to say waiter.
:01:14. > :01:16.Walking out of prison, the first steps to create the rainbow nation.
:01:17. > :01:22.Nelson Mandela spent most of his life trying to end white majority
:01:23. > :01:28.rule with many of his supporters miles away in Scotland. I became
:01:29. > :01:33.involved in the 1960s and we establish the Scottish wing of the
:01:34. > :01:43.anti-apartheid movement in the 1970s. This week to uprising sparked
:01:44. > :01:47.protests throughout the world. -- the Soweto uprising. We coordinated
:01:48. > :01:52.local groups of the anti-apartheid movement. It took off from there. At
:01:53. > :01:56.the time it was not fashionable to be associated with him, because he
:01:57. > :02:02.was widely regarded as an reported in the media as a terrorist. People
:02:03. > :02:07.did not want to associate with him. Despite that, the fight continued.
:02:08. > :02:11.In a brave move, Glasgow granted Mandela freedom of the city in 1981.
:02:12. > :02:24.Do you feel that will add weight to your critics who say he should never
:02:25. > :02:27.have been recommended for freedom of the city in the first place? We
:02:28. > :02:30.emphasise the place in which Nelson Mandela stands and the difficulty
:02:31. > :02:33.for him and his country. When I met Mandela in 1993, I was able to ask
:02:34. > :02:37.him if he knew what had happened in Glasgow. He does not get easy access
:02:38. > :02:40.to the news from Robben Island. But he confirmed that there was a
:02:41. > :02:43.grapevine and through the grapevine, they received these
:02:44. > :02:47.snippets of information and at the time he did know that he was awarded
:02:48. > :02:52.the freedom of the city of Glasgow. It kept him and his fellow prisoners
:02:53. > :02:59.going. And Glasgow kept up the pressure. In 1986, Royal exchange
:03:00. > :03:04.Square, home of the South African consulate, had a name change. It was
:03:05. > :03:11.the very first city that offered its freedom to Nelson Mandela. It is the
:03:12. > :03:20.only city where the Lord Provost galvanised 5000 mayors throughout
:03:21. > :03:26.the world to get him his freedom. Freedom which he got in 1990. Later
:03:27. > :03:31.he was able to recognise the freedom the city had bestowed on him.
:03:32. > :03:43.Freedom in the country of our birth was denied. A city 6000 miles away
:03:44. > :03:49.and as renowned as Glasgow refused to accept the legitimacy of the
:03:50. > :03:56.apartheid system. And declared us to be free. Then he became involved in
:03:57. > :04:01.Scottish affairs. He was extremely active in a lot of international
:04:02. > :04:06.matters, and over the Libya trial that was one example that he did
:04:07. > :04:13.help to press the Libyans to try and get the trial in our country and it
:04:14. > :04:19.only happened when he gave it a real post. In 2002, Mandela visited the
:04:20. > :04:26.Lockerbie bomber and explained why he got involved. There was a
:04:27. > :04:32.deadlock and die intervened because I was thinking firstly of the
:04:33. > :04:39.relatives of the victims. They must see justice done. But justice done
:04:40. > :04:43.according to the fundamental principles of the law. Mandela lived
:04:44. > :04:48.to see justice done in his own country and he ensured a lasting
:04:49. > :04:53.peace. A remarkable achievement for those who first backed him. It was
:04:54. > :04:57.always a concern when you are campaigning and he was in prison and
:04:58. > :05:04.so on. Would he live up to the legend that perhaps we had made him,
:05:05. > :05:08.but in fact of course he did. If anything he was greater than what he
:05:09. > :05:17.had been imagined. My colleague knew Nelson Mandela.
:05:18. > :05:22.Your first contact with him was when he voted in his first election. It
:05:23. > :05:27.is certainly the most memorable contact. That was in 1994. I was
:05:28. > :05:35.there to help cover the election. Why was based in Durban, probably
:05:36. > :05:39.one of the least favoured spots. -- I was based. Other reporters were
:05:40. > :05:43.sent to Johannesburg and Cape Town. Mandela decided at the last minute
:05:44. > :05:48.that rather than voting in one of the big cities, the better-known
:05:49. > :05:52.places, he would vote in a little place outside Durban as an act of
:05:53. > :06:00.reconciliation, because there was something close to a civil war going
:06:01. > :06:05.on with the Zulus and with his ANC. This was an act of conciliation. It
:06:06. > :06:08.meant that he voted in front of only a few hundred people and I was one
:06:09. > :06:12.of the journalists who happened to be close enough to be able to get
:06:13. > :06:16.there. Guided the commentary. I watched him stand on the Veranda of
:06:17. > :06:20.this primary School, lean forward and drop his ballot into the box,
:06:21. > :06:28.for the first time in his long life that he had ever voted. I saw him do
:06:29. > :06:34.that. You chased him down when Margaret Thatcher left office. When
:06:35. > :06:38.she stepped down, there was a call for reporters around the world to go
:06:39. > :06:42.and garner opinion of people who knew her. I wondered whether Nelson
:06:43. > :06:47.Mandela would be kind to her, because she did not really support
:06:48. > :06:50.him at all, in fact she regarded him as a terrorist. They found him in
:06:51. > :06:58.the hotel in Swaziland and asked if we could see him. He came down from
:06:59. > :07:02.his room after 20 minutes. He was a mischievous man. He came down with a
:07:03. > :07:11.twinkle in his eye, shook hands and said, when the BBC calls, everyone
:07:12. > :07:16.must come. When he came to Glasgow, US that -- you were there as well
:07:17. > :07:20.and he recognised you. Yes, he came in 1993 and he performed the Mandela
:07:21. > :07:24.shuffle on the stage when he received freedom of the city and the
:07:25. > :07:28.crowd loved it. I had been following him around South Africa, waiting at
:07:29. > :07:32.the end of runways, and he had seen me in the crowd quite a lot. I was
:07:33. > :07:36.astonished. I got out my microphone and welcomed him to Glasgow and he
:07:37. > :07:41.came over and said how nice it was to see me again. An astonishing
:07:42. > :07:45.memory for faces. Thank you. The rather more mundane use of the day
:07:46. > :07:48.is the Chancellor's Autumn Statement. The debate at Westminster
:07:49. > :07:53.may be focused on the general election, as well as how best to
:07:54. > :07:57.improve the economy, but in Scotland there is a more urgent electoral
:07:58. > :08:08.question. Anything a politician says will affect the referendum campaign.
:08:09. > :08:13.First, Huw Williams reports. Autumn Statement, the Chancellor of the
:08:14. > :08:16.extent. George Osborne told the story of a plan that is working but
:08:17. > :08:21.the job not yet done. Labour accused him of being out of touch and
:08:22. > :08:26.tinkering with the edges. The changes to council tax and benefits
:08:27. > :08:33.will be in force in Scotland when they come into force, while other
:08:34. > :08:37.things will not affect us directly but will affect the cash that comes
:08:38. > :08:41.to Scotland. Westminster says it is giving Holyrood an extra ?308
:08:42. > :08:45.million over the next two years for current spending and capital
:08:46. > :08:49.projects. It will mean making cuts of less than 0.2% at the time when
:08:50. > :08:53.most UK departments are having to save more than 1%. But the Scottish
:08:54. > :08:57.Government says that the announcement today does not make up
:08:58. > :09:03.for earlier cuts and shows the damaging consequences of staying in
:09:04. > :09:06.the United Kingdom. There will be almost ?11 million to set up a
:09:07. > :09:10.centre for innovation at the University of Edinburgh to honour
:09:11. > :09:16.Nobel prizewinner Professor Peter Higgs. We commit to building a new
:09:17. > :09:20.centre in his name at Edinburgh University because science is a
:09:21. > :09:24.personal priority. Nobody is willing to say what happens to that
:09:25. > :09:31.innovation centre if Scotland votes for independence by the time it is
:09:32. > :09:33.due to open in 2018. The department for business, innovation and skills
:09:34. > :09:39.said the UK Government is not contingency planning. There are also
:09:40. > :09:43.cheaper loans for Scottish councils and includes Glasgow and Clyde
:09:44. > :09:49.Valley in the city Deal initiative designed to boost building projects.
:09:50. > :09:53.And ?10 million promised for infrastructure building projects in
:09:54. > :09:59.Shetland. Duty on petrol will be frozen. A rise of tuppence per litre
:10:00. > :10:04.plan for next year will be scrapped. I congratulate the Chancellor on the
:10:05. > :10:08.fuel duty frees which will save motorists 20p per litre compared to
:10:09. > :10:13.Labour's plans. But will he confirm that the motorists on the islands in
:10:14. > :10:16.my constituency and promote parts of the mainland that they will save 25p
:10:17. > :10:22.per litre compared to what the Labour Party wants to charge them?
:10:23. > :10:25.He draws particular attention to the rural fuel rebate which is an
:10:26. > :10:28.important scheme we have introduced for the remote islands in Scotland
:10:29. > :10:33.and other parts of the United Kingdom. We would like the scheme to
:10:34. > :10:38.be extended more widely but we are constrained by European Union rules,
:10:39. > :10:45.which we are currently challenging. Am glad it is benefiting some of his
:10:46. > :10:50.constituents. The Chancellor said they should focus on deep new
:10:51. > :10:58.figures and the amount of money raised from North Sea oil and gas.
:10:59. > :11:03.Could you tell me what the office of budget responsible at it is
:11:04. > :11:06.forecasting in relation to North Sea oil revenues in next few years
:11:07. > :11:12.because some people believe it is an unlimited source of funding. They
:11:13. > :11:20.forecast today are for the whole of the UK. All in receipts are 3.5 and
:11:21. > :11:24.in pounds in 2016. This compares to the ?6.8 billion that the SNP
:11:25. > :11:28.Scottish government had been basing their premises upon in their claims
:11:29. > :11:35.for independence. That is twice as much as the independent assessment.
:11:36. > :11:37.It is another example of how they are not being straight with people
:11:38. > :11:45.about the facts around independence. Given this Chancellor
:11:46. > :11:49.has failed on every target he has set himself, how can we possibly
:11:50. > :11:56.trust him on anything he has said today, including oil forecast? So,
:11:57. > :12:02.how can the numbers be so vertically different. It depends on oil
:12:03. > :12:06.prices, gas prices, these are very uncertain. The office of budget
:12:07. > :12:11.responsible to have taken the view that they are likely to fall over
:12:12. > :12:19.the next five years whereas others think not. They think they will rise
:12:20. > :12:24.a bit. And then, we have the difference of production and capital
:12:25. > :12:32.investment is very high at the moment. Will it continue? All these
:12:33. > :12:37.determing taxable income and therefore, the tax receipts. That is
:12:38. > :12:40.the trouble with statistics, you can prove more less whatever you want
:12:41. > :12:44.to, depending on what you do and don't take into account and of
:12:45. > :12:51.course, there is politics at play here as well as economics. The
:12:52. > :12:57.Scottish Government's finance secretary spoke to us. She paid
:12:58. > :13:03.tribute first to Nelson Mandela. This is terribly sad news, this
:13:04. > :13:08.evening. All of our lives have been between transformed by the
:13:09. > :13:13.contribution Nelson Mandela made. The inspiration that he has been to
:13:14. > :13:18.create a society where every individual is treated equally and
:13:19. > :13:22.fairly has been so striking in all of our lives. I do think anybody who
:13:23. > :13:26.has lived through the years of his incarceration and his release and
:13:27. > :13:30.his leadership in the world can feel anything other than an enormous debt
:13:31. > :13:36.of gratitude for a life that has utterly transformed all of our
:13:37. > :13:42.lives. Now, the Chancellor's Autumn Statement, your budget has been
:13:43. > :13:50.increased, hasn't it? You must be delighted. It is always welcome to
:13:51. > :13:53.have additional resources at our disposal but we have to see them in
:13:54. > :13:57.the context of the changes made in the last five years and the Scottish
:13:58. > :14:01.budget has fallen by 10% in real terms. Yes, there are additional
:14:02. > :14:05.resources that have been allocated that it is against a backdrop of
:14:06. > :14:11.significant reduction in public expenditure. Which presumably you
:14:12. > :14:15.would support. I never understand what you are saying. As I understand
:14:16. > :14:20.it, the SNP are not like Labour, you are not saying the whole deficit
:14:21. > :14:24.strategy was wrong, so when you say this is terrible cos our budget has
:14:25. > :14:29.been cut, you are not seriously suggesting that George Osborne
:14:30. > :14:35.should not have cut public spending or somehow Scotland should have an
:14:36. > :14:40.exempt? we have had the reduction in capital spending, which of course is
:14:41. > :14:50.used to support the development... So you support the current cuts but
:14:51. > :14:56.not in capital spending? Economic cookies have been created I
:14:57. > :15:00.reduction is in capital expenditure. What you have never been clear on is
:15:01. > :15:06.that politically and intellectually, cute support -- you support in
:15:07. > :15:14.cutting the current budget even if you don't support cutting the
:15:15. > :15:18.capital budget. I don't think anyone can accuse me of being a supporter
:15:19. > :15:23.of George Osborne. Where he has got his strategy and received from
:15:24. > :15:27.has-been about reductions in capital expenditure and the invitations that
:15:28. > :15:29.purse served for the economic difficulties we have faced as a
:15:30. > :15:37.country. The Chancellor announced today that the level of ring,
:15:38. > :15:43.additional to what he had planned in 2010, has been about ?200 billion.
:15:44. > :15:49.That, essentially, is a number that is paying for the price of failure
:15:50. > :15:52.of his economic strategy. If he had invested more capital expenditure in
:15:53. > :15:56.2010, as we had argued he should do, we wouldn't have looked at all of
:15:57. > :16:02.the economic heartache we have had other country in the intervening few
:16:03. > :16:10.years. Aren't you glad the people he was turning his attention to today?
:16:11. > :16:15.Britain looks to be recovering quite strongly, and if you believe the OBE
:16:16. > :16:22.are, it will be to stable recovery and the point that George Osborne is
:16:23. > :16:27.making is that people like you have moaned and complained at every step
:16:28. > :16:31.of the way. You won't even stay -- say now, George Osborne was right to
:16:32. > :16:38.pursue a deficit reduction strategy. Yet, he says it is demonstrably
:16:39. > :16:43.working. George Osborne for the Mac strategy has not the economy back to
:16:44. > :16:50.its pre-recession levels. Of course it hasn't. It is of recovery. Just
:16:51. > :16:56.hear me out, Gordon. It has been delivered in Canada, Germany, Japan.
:16:57. > :17:00.It has not been delivered in the UK. It has not been delivered in Italy.
:17:01. > :17:03.These are examples and the fact that other countries have got their
:17:04. > :17:09.economies back into prerecession levels of act to video demonstrates
:17:10. > :17:17.that by taking the investment approach... No, it demonstrates that
:17:18. > :17:22.the debt was bigger. George Osborne wasn't response will for that. What
:17:23. > :17:28.he is not possible for is this a fix of our economic strategy. -- the
:17:29. > :17:36.success of our comic strategy. He has had to borrow more money than
:17:37. > :17:40.expected. So, do give him no credit at all? the point I am making is if
:17:41. > :17:45.his strategy had been successful, he would not have had to borrow an
:17:46. > :17:52.extra 200 DM pounds to deal with the cost of failure. If he had just
:17:53. > :17:54.changed the balance of his approach in 2010 and sustained the investment
:17:55. > :17:59.in capital expenditure, we would not have seen the decline in Echo man
:18:00. > :18:09.Mick -- economic opportunity that we have seen in Scotland. You said the
:18:10. > :18:14.things he said were irrelevant. no, I said there was room for the
:18:15. > :18:18.Chancellor. I can remember our interviews very clearly. I was
:18:19. > :18:22.arguing for an extra one billion pounds in capital expenditure for
:18:23. > :18:29.Scotland in a year. That is ten DM pounds proportionally accost the
:18:30. > :18:35.United Kingdom. We would have seen a significant improvement in economic
:18:36. > :18:40.conditions. The UK Government didn't want to join us tonight but I am
:18:41. > :18:47.joined by Christine Jardine in Edinburgh, and Ian Murray -- Ian
:18:48. > :18:50.Murray and Mark Macdonald. Starting with you, Ian Murray, I note you
:18:51. > :18:57.wanted to say the couple of words about Nelson Mandela. I wanted to
:18:58. > :19:02.save the world might has lost a statesman, and inspiration for young
:19:03. > :19:07.and old. Although we have lost him hopefully, his legacy will live on
:19:08. > :19:14.for generations to come and continue to inspire people over the next few
:19:15. > :19:19.days. I studied Mandela's struggle at school and it was a great
:19:20. > :19:24.inspiration to me. I think we, as politicians, or aspire to learn from
:19:25. > :19:28.the way he conducted himself, particularly when he was released
:19:29. > :19:32.from prison, the way he conducted himself to those who had committed a
:19:33. > :19:38.wrong against him. I think it showed the measure of the man. Obviously,
:19:39. > :19:44.he had been ill for some time. He is at peace now. Hopefully, his legacy
:19:45. > :19:51.will continue and live on even stronger. It is difficult to find
:19:52. > :19:55.words which meet the act trawl, the significance of the man. It is
:19:56. > :20:00.difficult to find a figure in any part of the world in modern history,
:20:01. > :20:09.in the 20th century, particularly, who's had such a positive influence
:20:10. > :20:13.but was also very forgiving, had a great deal of humility and was
:20:14. > :20:18.simply looked up to by everyone. Back to the Autumn Statement. Ian
:20:19. > :20:25.Murray, your problem is the same as the SNP, that to adapt a joke that
:20:26. > :20:30.Ed Balls me today, George Osborne hasn't just shut your fox, he has
:20:31. > :20:36.skinned it and made a third hat out of it to keep him warm in the
:20:37. > :20:44.winter. He has got the economy recovering and you said all the way
:20:45. > :20:48.through and he has proved you wrong. The Chancellor spoke for 45 minutes
:20:49. > :20:52.today. He didn't mention the cost of living crisis one. All his forecasts
:20:53. > :20:58.have been downgraded. The UK economy is growing at 2.5 cent over the
:20:59. > :21:04.course of the David... But the economy is recovering. You are not
:21:05. > :21:09.prepared to admit that you opposed every single measure he took and he
:21:10. > :21:15.can point to the figures and if we qualify them as they have been and
:21:16. > :21:21.says there are question marks over the sustainability of it, we are on
:21:22. > :21:26.our way to a sustainable recovery but you give him no credit for that
:21:27. > :21:31.whatsoever. I have read this in detail and it states inflation will
:21:32. > :21:34.still outstrip wages growth which means people will continue, over the
:21:35. > :21:43.course of the next few years, to get poorer. People are feeling the
:21:44. > :21:49.squeeze. Hang on, I don't want to get up down in this. That is
:21:50. > :21:56.actually incorrect. The table you are referring to refers to changes
:21:57. > :22:00.in the forecast, not the forecast themselves. If you look at page 84,
:22:01. > :22:05.you will find that the forecast for disposable income show real term
:22:06. > :22:15.increases. Do you think that is true, Christine Jardine? We have the
:22:16. > :22:20.fastest growing economy in the G-7. We are on the road to recovery and
:22:21. > :22:23.the Autumn Statement has some particular good news for Scotland,
:22:24. > :22:30.the 308 million pounds excess pending you have already mentioned.
:22:31. > :22:35.There will be invested elsewhere in the UK in childcare, free school
:22:36. > :22:37.meals, steps we would like to see in Scotland. It is entirely up to the
:22:38. > :22:42.Scottish Government how they prioritise spending this extra
:22:43. > :22:50.money. I accept that. But they have already said... But the bottom line
:22:51. > :22:54.is not only has John Swinney pointing out the economy is not
:22:55. > :22:59.where it was, in 2008, at the start of the crisis, when you look at
:23:00. > :23:02.these documents, they seem to be suggesting that even when the
:23:03. > :23:08.economy recovers, it will not grow as fast in the future as it was
:23:09. > :23:12.growing before 2008 because we have lost an entire segment of the
:23:13. > :23:16.economy and the government, which you are speaking for, has done
:23:17. > :23:24.nothing to address that. The government is now getting the, meet
:23:25. > :23:27.back on track. It has taken a long time and George Osborne said today,
:23:28. > :23:30.we are not completely recovered yet, there is still a long way to go
:23:31. > :23:38.but what we do know is we have the fastest growing economy in the G-7.
:23:39. > :23:49.There was investment in start-ups, we're going to be investing 45...
:23:50. > :23:53.Mark Macdonald, can you answer that, that this all sounds a bit pathetic
:23:54. > :23:57.comment you can change the subject and talk about living standards, but
:23:58. > :24:03.what George Osborne is able to say, people are not stupid, people, by
:24:04. > :24:08.and large, are prepared to accept a bit of pain if they think it is in
:24:09. > :24:13.the interests of the economy as a whole and he can say it is painful,
:24:14. > :24:17.but I said I was going to propose austerity in order to get economic
:24:18. > :24:20.recovery, I have found got economic recovery, and the SNP and Labour and
:24:21. > :24:28.my other opponents oppose me every step of the way. I think you are
:24:29. > :24:32.overlooking the fact that there are a lot of people for whom the idea
:24:33. > :24:39.that this has all worked splendidly will stick. Nobody is suggesting
:24:40. > :24:44.that. The basic point was you said and Labour said, his economic
:24:45. > :24:48.strategy was a disaster, that it would not make the economy recover,
:24:49. > :24:52.that it would not lead to economic growth and it has led to a comic
:24:53. > :24:55.grow. Of course I am not suggesting for one second that people in
:24:56. > :25:01.society have not suffered through the last few years, that is not the
:25:02. > :25:05.point I am making. The point George Osborne is making is heated what he
:25:06. > :25:11.said he would do and he got what he said he would get at the end of it.
:25:12. > :25:15.We now have the situation that if you are born in 1990, you have to
:25:16. > :25:19.work until the age of 70. In Scotland, we will have the shortest
:25:20. > :25:23.retirement period... We can talk about that in a minute if you like
:25:24. > :25:28.but I don't see how that is woven to the question. You are suggesting we
:25:29. > :25:31.are heading towards recovery and I am suggesting that George Osborne is
:25:32. > :25:36.outlining a rather pessimistic vision of the future which doesn't
:25:37. > :25:43.imply we are in a situation that is recovering, it rather implies things
:25:44. > :25:49.are not getting better for people. Hang on, what did you make of that,
:25:50. > :25:54.Ian Murray? What would you have done as an alternative? What if they
:25:55. > :26:02.abolished the demographic problem by 23rd Dean? It is obviously a
:26:03. > :26:07.difficult process in terms of what has happened in the retirement age.
:26:08. > :26:13.Labour have always at retirement age should reflect longevity but it has
:26:14. > :26:19.to be done fairly and sustainably. George Osborne has actually just
:26:20. > :26:21.gone against his own pension reform bill by covering against the
:26:22. > :26:26.independent body that he has set up through that pension reform bill to
:26:27. > :26:30.look at longevity in terms of the pension age. It is this usually
:26:31. > :26:33.confiscated scenario but I think he has rushed into making a decision
:26:34. > :26:39.when in actual fact, the independent body he hasn't set up should be
:26:40. > :26:45.looking at this. Why should younger people work till they are 70 while
:26:46. > :26:51.short-term pensioners are being protected by practically everything
:26:52. > :26:55.because George Osborne... I don't think that is how they will vote in
:26:56. > :27:01.the future. We do know we have a demographic problem. And we have to
:27:02. > :27:04.solve it. The retirement age, as it was, was designed for a time when we
:27:05. > :27:14.always had a much shorter Wessex Agassi. -- shorter life expectancy.
:27:15. > :27:15.Thank you. A quick look at the front pages. They are all leading with the
:27:16. > :27:27.death of Nelson Mandela. That is all from me on the night at
:27:28. > :27:44.Nelson Mandela died. Good night. Quite a spell of weather for Friday.
:27:45. > :27:45.Winds will be lighter. It will be a