:00:08. > :00:13.Tonight, is the long arm of the Syrian police state even at work on
:00:13. > :00:16.the streets of London. Is the Syrian embassy monitoring dissent
:00:17. > :00:20.here to pressure the families of protestors at home. As the Foreign
:00:20. > :00:24.Office consults with the police, what are the acceptable limits to
:00:24. > :00:30.what are the acceptable limits to the behaviour of foreign diplomats?
:00:30. > :00:36.Then they started harassing her. They asked her to ask me to behave
:00:36. > :00:41.myself, otherwise she will be kicked out of her job. They claim
:00:41. > :00:46.they can defeat cancer with their healing hands. No, no. Do you still
:00:46. > :00:51.say you can cure cancer? Go away. Why are the faith healers so afraid
:00:51. > :00:56.of the questions, we go undercover. There was baby I worked on over the
:00:56. > :00:59.telephone, and from one day to the next the cancer in his stomach had
:00:59. > :01:04.just disappeared. Obama tells America it's the beginning of the
:01:04. > :01:07.end for troops in Afghanistan. Mark Urban is here. We have been told
:01:07. > :01:12.how many troops the President plans to pull out, I will have the
:01:12. > :01:17.details, we will be asking where that leaves the British military.
:01:17. > :01:21.The turkeys won't vote for Christmas. Nick Clegg's scheme to
:01:21. > :01:25.abolish the House of Lords, torn to shreds by the people it proposes to
:01:25. > :01:35.replace. The Chinese release the dissident artist, Ai Weiwei, what
:01:35. > :01:37.
:01:37. > :01:40.has happened to him during his time Foreign Office officials spoke to
:01:40. > :01:46.Scotland Yard today about what the Syrian embassy may or may not be up
:01:46. > :01:50.to in London. This follows allegations we put to the Foreign
:01:50. > :01:53.Office minister, Alistair Burt, on last night's programme, that Syrian
:01:53. > :01:58.nationals allege they are being filmed at demonstrations and being
:01:58. > :02:00.intimidated by officials from their own home state. Tonight we have
:02:00. > :02:05.firsthand accounts of this intimidation from Syrian protestors.
:02:05. > :02:11.It leads to the question, what is legitimate for a foreign mission to
:02:11. > :02:16.do in promoting the interests of the state.
:02:16. > :02:19.The street outside Syria's embassy in London, a it has seen protests
:02:19. > :02:24.every week for the last three months, some supporting the regime,
:02:24. > :02:28.others, like this one, against. But if many of President Assad's
:02:29. > :02:32.opponents here were confident, even high spirited, back in April, they
:02:32. > :02:37.are no longer. They have been scared by had a they say are Syrian
:02:37. > :02:43.Government attempts to identify them, whether they like it or not.
:02:43. > :02:48.One of the embassy officers started videoing from inside the embassy,
:02:48. > :02:53.from waind dough, using a video camera - a window, using a video
:02:53. > :03:02.camera, aiming it at the anti- Government protestor, people were
:03:02. > :03:07.angry at that, that definitely put their lives at risk. What were they
:03:07. > :03:11.doing it for, what was the purpose? They were doing the pictures and
:03:11. > :03:14.sending it to Damascus and send it to the Secret Services, and put
:03:14. > :03:18.pressure on the family of the protestors, intimidate them.
:03:18. > :03:21.filming, according to several protestors Newsnight has talked to,
:03:21. > :03:25.was only the beginning. These Syrian workers in London say they
:03:25. > :03:32.were told, after one demonstration, to attend a meeting with men they
:03:32. > :03:35.had seen before at the embassy. were asked to either go on the pro-
:03:35. > :03:39.Government demonstrations, otherwise, not only would our
:03:39. > :03:42.photos be sent to Syria, but we would also be brandished as people
:03:42. > :03:46.who are against the Government, either working together with the
:03:46. > :03:50.Muslim Brotherhood, and that would bring serious problems both to us
:03:50. > :03:55.and our families. Who were these people that came to see you?
:03:55. > :03:59.have come across these people with our every day dealings inside the
:04:00. > :04:05.embassy. Each time we have had to go in for a new document, passport,
:04:05. > :04:08.or other documentation, these individuals have been inside the
:04:08. > :04:11.embassy. Newsnight's also been given the
:04:11. > :04:15.name of an accredited Syrian diplomat, whom several protestors
:04:15. > :04:19.say has been involved in attempts to intimidate them. That is
:04:19. > :04:23.strongly denied by the embassy itself. The Syrian Ambassador told
:04:23. > :04:28.us he wasn't available for an interview today. But the embassy
:04:28. > :04:33.has just sent us a statement, saying allegations about its
:04:33. > :04:37.approach to Syrian dissenters here, are completely without foundation.
:04:38. > :04:44.It says that the embassy's doors and services are open to all
:04:44. > :04:47.Syrians in Britain, regardless of their political affiliations.
:04:47. > :04:52.We have got statement from the embassy saying they have never
:04:52. > :04:56.spyed on anyone, and the CCTV is only there to protect the building?
:04:56. > :05:00.It is a standard statement and it is meaningless. I have seen them
:05:00. > :05:05.videoing from inside the embassy and from outside. I have evidence,
:05:05. > :05:10.I have witnesses, we have seen them, we have seen them standing behind
:05:10. > :05:15.the window, from inside the building, with a video camera in
:05:15. > :05:18.their hands. This protestor, also afraid to show her face, says
:05:18. > :05:24.pictures of her outside the embassy were shown by Syrian security
:05:24. > :05:27.forces to her mother in Syria. told me that someone from the
:05:27. > :05:32.security agency, the security forces, has come to our house, they
:05:32. > :05:37.were asking about me, what I'm doing here, where I'm going, what
:05:37. > :05:42.I'm doing. And then they asked her why I am protesting against the
:05:42. > :05:46.Syrian regime. She told them she denied it at first, she told them
:05:46. > :05:52.she's not, then they told her they have evidence, and photos for me in
:05:52. > :05:58.front of the Syrian embassy. So she said they doesn't know. Then they
:05:58. > :06:06.started harassing her, they asked her to ask me to behave myself,
:06:06. > :06:10.otherwise she will be kicked out of her job. She's working in the
:06:10. > :06:14.Government offices. How did you react to that, did you change your
:06:14. > :06:18.activities? I stopped protesting, because I know they are capable of
:06:18. > :06:23.doing horrible things, I'm afraid for her. I had to stop protesting,
:06:23. > :06:27.and if I want to protest I think I'm going to think twice, and I'm
:06:27. > :06:31.going to be hidden behind the sunglasses or scarf or whatever.
:06:31. > :06:36.They are capable of doing anything. The Foreign Office
:06:36. > :06:42.minister...$$NEWLINE On Newsnight last night, Foreign Office minister,
:06:42. > :06:44.Alistair Burt, promised to look into the allegations against Syrian
:06:45. > :06:47.diplomats. We have taken action against diplomats in the past and
:06:47. > :06:50.we will do so again. I have heard of the allegations during the
:06:50. > :06:53.course of the evening, they must be investigated by the police. If we
:06:53. > :06:56.had evidence that people were being intimidated in this country by
:06:56. > :07:00.diplomats working in another country, we have taken action
:07:00. > :07:03.before and we would do again. the Foreign Office said it had
:07:03. > :07:07.already discussed the issue with the police, and urged anyone with
:07:07. > :07:10.allegations of intimidation to come forward. These workers haven't
:07:10. > :07:15.complained to the UK authorities yet. They say they are now afraid
:07:16. > :07:21.to return to Syria. Our major fear is that if the regime stays with
:07:21. > :07:24.that approach, in Syria, neither will we be able to return to Syria,
:07:24. > :07:30.and nor will our families actually be able to live in peace. What do
:07:30. > :07:33.you feel, how worried are you now? We know what this regime is capable
:07:33. > :07:37.of, particularly the Secret Services. We would not be surprised
:07:37. > :07:40.if we got a phone call tomorrow telling us our families had been
:07:40. > :07:43.arrested. They may have been protesting on British soil, even
:07:43. > :07:47.that now take as lot more courage than it used to.
:07:47. > :07:51.As you heard in that report, we did ask to speak to a representative
:07:51. > :07:55.from the Syrian embassy, but they claim no-one was available. I am
:07:55. > :08:00.joined in the studio by the Syrian humam rights activist and blogger,
:08:00. > :08:05.Mahmoud Ali Hamad, and by the MP, Ann Clwyd, who sits on the foreign
:08:05. > :08:10.affairs select committee, and chairs the parliamentary human
:08:10. > :08:15.rights group. How swidpraed is this prak - widespread is this practice?
:08:15. > :08:18.It is not unusual for the Syrian embassy to make threats on behalf
:08:18. > :08:21.of the Syrian secret police, this is an old practice, actually,
:08:21. > :08:26.people have suffered because of that. Have you had personal
:08:26. > :08:30.experience of it? I have, actually. I have on several occasions, and
:08:31. > :08:35.actually the lady who appeared in the video, I was actually standing
:08:35. > :08:41.next to her in that particular demonstration, and another person
:08:41. > :08:45.who was with me, his family was contacted, straight after that.
:08:45. > :08:49.They were told your son is involved in this, and this should not happen
:08:49. > :08:57.again. So I was personally approached after an interview I
:08:57. > :09:00.have done with the BBC, back in the 23rd of March, in the first week of
:09:00. > :09:05.the uprising, I was told we know who you are, cut it out. I used
:09:05. > :09:10.only my first name at that point, I did not reveal my identity, it was
:09:10. > :09:14.a radio interview and I used my Christian name. This is somebody
:09:14. > :09:18.from the embassy? The Syrian person called me a week after that, after
:09:18. > :09:22.an interview I have done where the ambassador, the Syrian Ambassador
:09:22. > :09:25.was involved, and in that particular interview he said to the
:09:25. > :09:31.interviewer that you are interviewing the wrong kind of
:09:31. > :09:36.Syrians, that was his exact words. And right after that I got the same
:09:36. > :09:44.phone call from what appeared to be the same person saying cut it out,
:09:44. > :09:47.those were his exact words. practice of videoing people and
:09:47. > :09:51.showing the photographs to their family, or saying to the family
:09:51. > :09:55.back in Syria, we have evidence that your son, daughter, brother,
:09:55. > :10:00.whatever it is, is agitating against the state, you better watch
:10:00. > :10:03.your step, how common is that? is very common, and there is now a
:10:03. > :10:07.new thing that the Syrian Government is doing, that is
:10:07. > :10:13.getting the families of those activists, or demonstrators, to
:10:13. > :10:15.disown their children, or their relatives. If they appear to be
:10:15. > :10:21.involved in any political activities that goes against the
:10:21. > :10:25.will of the Government. So it is very common unfortunately.
:10:25. > :10:29.Clwyd, three people named a particular individual who had
:10:29. > :10:32.telephoned them, with the telephone number and everything. That
:10:32. > :10:38.individual we traced to the Syrian embassy, the Syrian embassy
:10:38. > :10:41.confirmed this individual was on their staff. At first sight, this
:10:41. > :10:48.looks like something we shouldn't tolerate in this country, doesn't
:10:48. > :10:51.it? I agree. It is practice we was also done by the bathe regime of
:10:51. > :10:55.Saddam Hussein. They used to do exactly the same, to Iraqis who
:10:55. > :11:00.protested in this country, used to intimidate them, used to follow
:11:00. > :11:10.them. I know the child of one of my friend, they tried to kidnap him
:11:10. > :11:11.
:11:11. > :11:15.off the streets in Cardiff. So, you know, amongst the Ba' ath regime it
:11:15. > :11:19.is a familiar pattern. What should the British Government do about it?
:11:19. > :11:25.If somebody from the Syrian embassy is guilty of this, we should ask
:11:25. > :11:28.them to leave the country, this is unacceptable, threats against
:11:28. > :11:35.Syrians living, working at university, or whatever in this
:11:35. > :11:39.country, is it is not something we should tolerate. That is a
:11:39. > :11:44.particularly flagrant example, but there are lots of other cases that
:11:44. > :11:51.are in the margins of what is diplomatic activity? I imagine so.
:11:51. > :11:57.I have had some experience of the Syrian regime myself. The MP that
:11:57. > :12:03.you showed on the programme last night, Riad Seif, I tried to go and
:12:03. > :12:07.see him on behalf of the interparliamentary union myself
:12:07. > :12:10.three years ago, it was agreed by the speaker of the Syrian
:12:10. > :12:14.parliament we should go there. When we went there they played around
:12:14. > :12:17.for three day, sent us round the houses, saying it was the minister
:12:18. > :12:22.of justice that should decide, next day it was minister of the interior,
:12:22. > :12:29.and back to the speaker who said he was sorry. I'm not surprised this
:12:29. > :12:33.kind of thing happens at all. difficulties difficulty is the
:12:33. > :12:38.police in this country can only act if someone make as complaint. Are
:12:38. > :12:42.you and your friends and colleagues reporting matters to the police or
:12:42. > :12:51.not? I don't think we are looking at it from that point of view, we
:12:51. > :12:55.are looking at this regime as a regime on its way out. So we don't
:12:55. > :12:59.want to be distracted by prosecuting, trying to prosecute
:12:59. > :13:03.individuals, this is a matter for the British Government to handle.
:13:03. > :13:07.Of course it is the responsibility of...They Can't do anything without
:13:07. > :13:13.being given the evidence? Lots of people are still scared to come out,
:13:13. > :13:17.Syrians, to come out and actually do it. In fear of the regime
:13:17. > :13:22.touching their relatives and intimidating their families. It is
:13:22. > :13:30.not easy for everyone to have the same level of courage to take such
:13:30. > :13:35.action. It is quite hard decisions to make.
:13:35. > :13:41.Ever since witch doctors offered to cure with toad and chicken blood,
:13:41. > :13:45.some quack has been offering health in exchange.
:13:45. > :13:49.Is it possible that potentially fatal diseases can be stopped in
:13:49. > :13:54.their tracks by allowing a healer to channel thought and prayer into
:13:54. > :14:00.our brains, it is an astonishing claim, intriguing enough to get
:14:00. > :14:05.Anna Adams interested. Faith healers have been around even
:14:05. > :14:09.longer than snake oil salesmen. Now they are throwing in something that
:14:09. > :14:13.sounds like scenes and calling it ThetaHealing. It has been showcased
:14:13. > :14:17.on Fox News. What if someone told you the chronic pain you were
:14:17. > :14:21.living with could go away within the hour. The theory is that
:14:21. > :14:24.healers create positive brain wave that is can cure illness, including
:14:24. > :14:29.cancer and HIV. A look into the world of ThetaHealing, and the
:14:29. > :14:32.people who say they are proof it works. There are now more than
:14:32. > :14:37.20,000 faith healers operating in the UK. But, of course, not all do
:14:37. > :14:44.it for the money, but ThetaHealing usually charge by the hour. Some of
:14:44. > :14:51.the work here in Harley Street is from them, but others from their
:14:51. > :14:56.house. We sent an jumped cover worker to see Jenny Johnstone. - a
:14:56. > :15:03.undercover worker to see Jenny Johnstone. She's one of
:15:03. > :15:07.ThetaHealing followers, she charges �30 an hour or a course to learn.
:15:07. > :15:14.The researcher asked what she could do for her. There was baby on the
:15:14. > :15:20.telephone I worked with, one day to the next the cancer disappeared.
:15:20. > :15:26.The researcher told Jenny she had been diagnosed with certificate
:15:26. > :15:31.value cancer REPORTER: Have you - cervical cancer. REPORTER: Have you
:15:31. > :15:37.of anyone with cancer like mine? Yes. REPORTER: Have you had
:15:37. > :15:43.success? It is not me who heals, you heal yourself, I create the
:15:43. > :15:48.conditions. Cancer, in many ways, is one of the easier things.
:15:48. > :15:53.must be easy, apparently she has also healed a man's bowel cancer.
:15:53. > :15:58.He opened his eyes, and I opened my eyes and we knew it was gone.
:15:58. > :16:02.Science can't prove it. How much of it is true, how do you go about
:16:02. > :16:04.trying to prove T we are here to speak to the professor who has
:16:04. > :16:11.carried out more clinical trials into alternative medicine than
:16:11. > :16:17.anyone else. He has been doing it for 20 years. We showed our footage
:16:18. > :16:22.to Professor Edzard Ernst. There was baby I spoke to over the phone
:16:22. > :16:26.and from one day to the next the cancer disappeared. What do you
:16:26. > :16:30.think of that kind of thing? think it is most irresponsible and
:16:30. > :16:36.criminal to make claims of that nature. They are not supported by
:16:36. > :16:41.any type of evidence. Therefore, she's breaking the law. They give
:16:41. > :16:46.themselves a veneer of science, it is still nonsense, though. There
:16:46. > :16:49.have been 50 clinical trials into faith healing, and the professor
:16:49. > :16:54.says while they might make people feel good, the trials show they
:16:54. > :16:59.didn't actually cure anything. one trial we compared healers to
:16:59. > :17:04.people who pretended to be healers, actors, basically. The bottom line
:17:04. > :17:10.result was that, if anything, the actors were slightly better than
:17:10. > :17:16.the healers. What are the dangers then? The dangers are you remain
:17:16. > :17:20.untreated, most cancers are very treatable these days. And that you
:17:20. > :17:24.actually die because of listening to these people. But Jenny's not
:17:24. > :17:28.the only ThetaHealing, there are more than 600 in the UK, when we
:17:28. > :17:35.talked to others, we heard similar pseudo scientific claims. We spoke
:17:35. > :17:42.to one man, who feels so embarrassed when he went there with
:17:42. > :17:46.an illness that he didn't want to be identified. They come over very
:17:46. > :17:53.caring, and they claim to heal any desee, any time you go for a
:17:53. > :17:57.healing it ends up costing �150 for 50 minutes. How much did you spend?
:17:57. > :18:01.About �1,200, possibly more. What did you get back? Absolutely
:18:01. > :18:06.nothing, it didn't work at all. I feel angry at myself, I wasted
:18:06. > :18:09.money and time. I missed two years of proper medical treatment, there
:18:09. > :18:15.was never any suggestion I should go back to my doctor, which is what
:18:15. > :18:18.I needed to do. Were you at a low ebb? I was ill and needed to be
:18:18. > :18:25.cured. I was desperate. You are slowing your brain down and
:18:25. > :18:31.connecting to God. This is Vianna Stibal, the founder of ThetaHealing,
:18:31. > :18:35.she writes books and set up an Institute of Healing in Utah. She
:18:36. > :18:39.spends a fortune training her troops at lectures around the world.
:18:39. > :18:45.I want to introduce to you ThetaHealing in the bahamas.
:18:45. > :18:55.last appearance was in a slightly less exotic location, it was here,
:18:55. > :19:03.
:19:03. > :19:09.One of the audience even asked her if healing could make an amputated
:19:09. > :19:14.leg grow back. I believe it is possible to grow it back, a lady in
:19:14. > :19:18.Italy grew back her ovary, I think if you can grow back an ovary you
:19:18. > :19:23.can tkwro back a leg. One of the biggest claims is ThetaHealing can
:19:23. > :19:26.make HIV disappear. That might be of interest to the Terence Higgins
:19:26. > :19:31.Trust. There are people we have worked on who have viral loads that
:19:31. > :19:36.haven't been detected for a very long time, like five years. So
:19:36. > :19:41.that's kind of cool. What do you think? Well, she says it is cool, I
:19:41. > :19:45.say it is unbelievable. It is simply not the case, once your HIV
:19:45. > :19:50.has started to progress, and your viral load is rising, the only
:19:50. > :19:54.thing that's going to reduce it to undetectable and keep it there for
:19:54. > :20:01.significant lengths of time is anti-retroviral treatment. What do
:20:01. > :20:07.you think about the idea that brain waves can actually cure you of HIV?
:20:07. > :20:11.I think that it is dangerous to say things like that. I also think it
:20:11. > :20:17.is a false claim and I think if someone is taking money for that,
:20:17. > :20:20.though I would like to see them investigated, by the correct
:20:21. > :20:25.consumer regulators, the fact is that we have seen Charlatans of
:20:25. > :20:29.this kind all the way down through the HIV epidemic, those Charlatans
:20:29. > :20:36.are more dangerous than ever, now that we have effective treatment.
:20:36. > :20:44.And yet, she is saying that you can do that with brain waves. I'm sorry,
:20:44. > :20:48.that's bullshit, in plain layman's terms. We asked for a interview
:20:48. > :20:52.with Vianna Stibal about the claims she said at the London School of
:20:52. > :20:56.Economics. We were told she didn't have time. REPORTER: BBC we would
:20:56. > :21:01.like to ask you some questions? no. This time there seemed to be
:21:01. > :21:10.another kind of laying on of hands. Go away. Then her husband attacked
:21:10. > :21:14.our cameraman. No. REPORTER: We have every right,
:21:14. > :21:19.this is Britain. No, go on. REPORTER: Are you going to hide
:21:19. > :21:23.from the questions, are you going to hide from the questions. Go on.
:21:23. > :21:28.It is far cry from the positive brain waves that ThetaHealing
:21:28. > :21:33.promised can bring health, wealth and happiness. The London School of
:21:33. > :21:37.Economics said they did not endorse Vianna Stibal's lecture, it was
:21:37. > :21:41.just a commercial booking. We went back to Warrington to see Jenny,
:21:41. > :21:43.she wouldn't give us an interview either. This is where Jenny
:21:44. > :21:47.Johnstone treats her patients, we wanted to come and ask her why she
:21:47. > :21:51.was still charging people, claiming she could cure their cancer, when
:21:51. > :21:55.there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that it works. She said
:21:55. > :22:00.there was no point in her trying to prove she had cured baby of stomach
:22:00. > :22:06.cancer, because we just wouldn't believe her. Thank you very much
:22:06. > :22:09.then. OK. See you then. Goodbye. Now, in an hour or so's time,
:22:09. > :22:13.President Obama will tell the American people how he plans to
:22:13. > :22:16.start bringing troops home from Afghanistan. The implications are
:22:16. > :22:20.unmistakable for the thousands of British troops there, and not a
:22:20. > :22:24.moment too soon. In the last few days, one senior military figure
:22:24. > :22:29.after another has worried in public about whether the country can
:22:29. > :22:32.sustain wars in both Afghanistan and Libya at the same time. David
:22:32. > :22:35.Cameron has clearly been national curriculumed by their comments. Our
:22:35. > :22:38.defence editor is here. What's President Obama going to say
:22:38. > :22:43.tonight? As you say the speech hasn't happened, but the headlines
:22:43. > :22:48.have been briefed out to the press. Essentially 10,000 US troops will
:22:48. > :22:52.leave Afghanistan before the end of this year, and by September of 2012,
:22:52. > :22:57.September next year, something in the region of 30-35,000 will have
:22:57. > :23:01.left. That is deeper and faster than we understand, the military
:23:01. > :23:08.advice that was given to him by General Petraeus in Kabul. If we
:23:08. > :23:16.look at the figures in broad terms, we can track how historically from
:23:16. > :23:19.a very Lightfoot brint, right up to the 9 8,000 - 1,300 troops up to 9
:23:19. > :23:26.8,000, then coming down through October this year, and into next
:23:26. > :23:30.year, and down to 6dld 5,000 by September 12, which is about the
:23:30. > :23:34.same when President Obama came into office and announced this surge in
:23:34. > :23:38.the first place. Where are they going to come from? It seems,
:23:38. > :23:42.talking to people, that the feeling is that the great weight of the
:23:42. > :23:47.American troops is in the south, in a few provinces, if we sketch it
:23:48. > :23:52.out on a map. The regional command South-West, which includes Helmand
:23:52. > :23:56.and neighbouring provinces, then regional command south, the area
:23:56. > :23:59.around Kandahar in pink there. Between them they have the
:23:59. > :24:07.equivalent of seven American brigades at the moment. It is
:24:07. > :24:11.something approaching 50,000 troops in there. And that's where we will
:24:11. > :24:14.deaf vitly she reduction, 0 - definitely see reductions, some of
:24:15. > :24:19.the people marked in blue in the east where the Americans feel the
:24:19. > :24:23.fighting is fiercest, on the most difficult mountainous part of the
:24:23. > :24:27.Pakistani border and they need help. What are the implications for
:24:27. > :24:33.Britain? The UK has its own political timetable and imperatives
:24:33. > :24:39.here. David Cameron has said that all British troops must stop being
:24:39. > :24:43.involved in combat operations by 2015, he reiterated on BBC Two
:24:43. > :24:47.earlier this evening a guarantee is a guarantee. While it is not the
:24:47. > :24:50.American or NATO formulation on this, this is a British, come what
:24:50. > :24:53.may withdrawal. At the same time the UK is trying to sustain air
:24:53. > :24:58.operations over Libya at quite an intense rate. Inevitably in the
:24:58. > :24:59.last few days, that seemed to have produced some friction between
:24:59. > :25:04.Downing Street and the service chiefs.
:25:04. > :25:09.On the ground, in places like Nad Ali, British troops think they are
:25:09. > :25:13.having the right effect. They point to big changes in the security
:25:13. > :25:18.picture over the past year. So it sends to be just a shoot and scoot
:25:18. > :25:22.type of thing, rather than a sustained exchanging of fire?
:25:23. > :25:28.That's most of what we are seeing, shoot and scoot tactic, IEDs
:25:28. > :25:31.followed by an ambush. But the move towards the exit by NATO's two
:25:31. > :25:35.biggest contributors, could undermine any progress, causing
:25:35. > :25:42.local allies to doubt the west's commitment, fears the Government is
:25:42. > :25:49.keen to allay. We are friends of Afghanistan for the long-term. We
:25:49. > :25:56.have said very clearly that of a transition in 2014, that means by
:25:56. > :25:59.2015 we will not have troops here in a combat role or in anything
:25:59. > :26:03.like the numbers. We will be friends for the long-term with our
:26:03. > :26:09.expertise w our economic co- operation, and development said.
:26:10. > :26:13.And it is, of course, important to plan ahead for those things now.
:26:13. > :26:18.These are difficult times in relations between the service
:26:18. > :26:22.chiefs and Number Ten. The forces know the Government is committed to
:26:22. > :26:26.leave Afghanistan, regardless of conditions on the ground. And
:26:26. > :26:31.complaints by senior officers, that operating simultaneously over Libya
:26:31. > :26:34.is stretching their capabilities, produced this prime ministerial
:26:34. > :26:39.rebuke. There are moments when I wake up and read the newspapers and
:26:39. > :26:44.think, you do the fighting and I will do the talking. Today the
:26:44. > :26:46.leader of the opposition took Mr Cameron to task for those words.
:26:46. > :26:49.When our military chief raised legitimate concerns about the
:26:49. > :26:54.conduct of our operations, surely it is not the right thing to say,
:26:54. > :27:00.you do the fighting and I will do the talking. In retrospect, Mr
:27:00. > :27:03.Speaker, wasn't that very crass and highhanded. The only point that I
:27:04. > :27:07.tried to make in recent days, is I think when you are at war, and we
:27:07. > :27:10.are in both Afghanistan and Libya, it is very important, whether you
:27:10. > :27:16.are a political leader or whether you are a military leader to think
:27:16. > :27:22.very carefully about what you are about to say.
:27:22. > :27:25.With the Afghan fighting season fully under way, casualties have
:27:25. > :27:28.risen again, sceptics in London and Washington argue that the military
:27:28. > :27:32.has had its chance and the time has come to staunch the loss of life
:27:32. > :27:37.and treasure in this violent land. So, with the President's speech
:27:37. > :27:40.tonight, we enter a new phase, one which is far less predictable. We
:27:40. > :27:43.simply don't know whether Afghan, in these districts, where the
:27:43. > :27:47.British and Americans have been trying to build governance and
:27:48. > :27:51.security, will regard this beginning of the drawdown as a spur
:27:51. > :27:55.to get their act together and take control of their destiny, or
:27:55. > :27:59.whether they will lose confidence and switch to the insurgency.
:27:59. > :28:02.The River Thames will be running with much blood, according to a
:28:02. > :28:05.former head of the Civil Service, and it will all be Nick Clegg's
:28:05. > :28:09.fault. The apocalypse will happen if the deputy Prime Minister's
:28:09. > :28:13.plans to reform the House of Lords get through. There was lots more
:28:13. > :28:16.purple language in the House of Lords today, as their Noble
:28:17. > :28:20.Lordships contemplated the prospect of being engulfed by some form of
:28:20. > :28:24.democracy. It is hardly a matter of life and death, although it is
:28:24. > :28:28.entirely possible that the bill to give effect to a promise first made
:28:29. > :28:33.100 years ago, is, as was claimed, a dog's breakfast. Before we talk
:28:33. > :28:36.about it here is this report. Before the last election, Nick
:28:36. > :28:40.Clegg was seen as the heroic outsider who had come to save
:28:40. > :28:46.politics from the politicians. But, in coalition with the
:28:46. > :28:49.Conservatives, it looked more like Clarke Kent. Recently he has been
:28:50. > :28:53.championing muscular liberalism, taking credit for saving the NHS
:28:53. > :28:57.and pushing the reform of the House of Lords. But while he has been out
:28:57. > :29:01.of the country this week, some of our more senior and superannuated
:29:01. > :29:06.politicians have been hitting back. It is ludicrous that parliament
:29:06. > :29:10.should be being treated as a kind of political football in a game
:29:10. > :29:14.which comes at its roots from the failure of the liberal party to
:29:14. > :29:20.retain the trust of the people, because they did not keep their
:29:20. > :29:26.promises made at a general election. The proposal on which we are asked
:29:26. > :29:34.to take note, must rank amongst the most inappropriate political events
:29:34. > :29:38.minuteser in row fiddled while Rome burned. According to Mr Clegg we
:29:38. > :29:42.are not directly accountable to the British people, that is absolutely
:29:42. > :29:46.true, nor is the monarchy, nor is the judiciary directly accountable,
:29:46. > :29:51.nor are the chiefs of the armed services directly accountable, nor
:29:51. > :29:57.is the Prime Minister directly accountable, nor is his deputy, Mr
:29:57. > :30:07.Clegg, directly accountable, nor is their cabinet. In the traft
:30:07. > :30:10.
:30:10. > :30:15.The Government also made it clear they would listen to alternative
:30:15. > :30:18.points of view, in an attempt to reach consensus. Following today's
:30:18. > :30:22.mauling in the House of Lords, the draft bill will be scrutinised by a
:30:22. > :30:24.committee of peers and MPs, until member next year. Then the
:30:24. > :30:30.Government really will have to decide whether to push ahead, or
:30:30. > :30:33.push off. 100 years ago a liberal Government
:30:33. > :30:37.passed the Parliament Act, allowing the House of Commons, under certain
:30:37. > :30:41.circumstances, to overrule the peers here in the House of Lords.
:30:41. > :30:45.It has only been used handful of times since. Last month Nick Clegg
:30:45. > :30:49.got David Cameron's approval to use it once again, if necessary to push
:30:49. > :30:53.through the long-awaited reforms of the Upper House. That may sound
:30:53. > :30:58.like a famous victory for the deputy Prime Minister, but there
:30:58. > :31:01.are some rather substantial snags. Snag number one, while there is
:31:01. > :31:05.official Conservative backing for using the Parliament Act, there is
:31:05. > :31:09.not much enthusiasm. We are a long way from using the Parliament Act,
:31:09. > :31:12.that is part of a process when both houses are disagreeing with each
:31:12. > :31:16.other, when there is a Government bill before them. And at the moment
:31:16. > :31:20.there is no bill, there is only a draft bill. Snag number two, the
:31:20. > :31:24.opposition say they would create a storm of protest. It would be
:31:25. > :31:28.utterly wrong to use the Parliament Act to introduce major
:31:28. > :31:33.constitutional reform, which is is what this would be. And if the
:31:33. > :31:35.Parliament Act were used, what would the consequences be for the
:31:35. > :31:39.Government's programme? Completely screwed, they would get none of
:31:39. > :31:43.their policies through. Snag number three, Nick Clegg has to get the
:31:43. > :31:47.support of MPs here in the House of Commons in the first place. Up to
:31:47. > :31:50.70 Conservatives might fail to back him, that is because, they say, the
:31:50. > :31:55.coalition agreement, only committed the Government to bring forward
:31:55. > :31:59.proposelias for reform, not actual legislation. As for the Labour
:31:59. > :32:06.opposition, despite being fully committed to an elected House of
:32:06. > :32:10.Lords, they might just prefer to give Nick Clegg a bloody nose
:32:10. > :32:15.instead. Isn't this political opportunism? No, what I'm oppose
:32:15. > :32:20.something the draft bill, this is bad bill, I want good reform and a
:32:20. > :32:26.good bill, that is while the whole of my front benchers are opposing
:32:26. > :32:34.this bill because it is a bad bill. Dinosaurs took a long way to die,
:32:34. > :32:39.and if the time is not right now, when will be it. There are many for
:32:39. > :32:43.the bill but enormous numbers are against. It looks as if Nick Clegg
:32:43. > :32:48.will have to be more muscular if he wants to force through reform some
:32:48. > :32:51.time in this century. With us is Lord Lawson, a former Tory
:32:51. > :32:54.Chancellor and opponent of the reform, we are joined by the former
:32:54. > :32:58.Liberal Democrat leader, Lord Ashdown, who supports the
:32:58. > :33:06.Government's plans. Would you not like to be legitimate, Lord Lawson?
:33:06. > :33:11.I am legitimate, you are legitimate, the judiciary are legitimate, the
:33:11. > :33:14.monetary policy committee who decide interest rates are
:33:14. > :33:17.legitimate. When I was chat Chancellor, I was an elected
:33:17. > :33:22.politician, and I decided interest rates, it was an elected politician,
:33:22. > :33:24.there is a reform, we have an independent Bank of England, with
:33:24. > :33:28.an appointed Monetary Policy Committee and everyone says that is
:33:28. > :33:34.better. What proportion of members of the House of Lords do you reckon
:33:34. > :33:38.support this plan? Do you know, Jeremy, it is an unusual turkey
:33:38. > :33:42.that looks forward to December, and the House of Commons, the House of
:33:42. > :33:47.Lords today showed it didn't very much, who can be surprised at that.
:33:47. > :33:52.Very few, is the answer. The Liberal Democrat bench, mostly,
:33:52. > :33:56.overwhelmingly support it, as indeed do I. It, by the way, has
:33:56. > :33:58.been in the manifesto of clearly all three parties. The Conservative
:33:58. > :34:03.Party in Tony Blair manifesto was committed to this, Labour was as
:34:03. > :34:08.well. Labour are committed to things in theory but when it comes
:34:08. > :34:11.to practice they choose opportunism. Let's take up that point, your
:34:11. > :34:14.party leader supports these ideas? There was support from the party
:34:14. > :34:20.leader, never support from the party as a whole. We form our own
:34:20. > :34:23.judgment. I have to tell you that I am amazed, that we're spending time
:34:23. > :34:27.on this issue. We have as a country a whole range of problems, and a
:34:27. > :34:32.whole range of problems would need to be addressed, serious problems
:34:32. > :34:37.would need to be addressed. The House of Lords, Jeremy, is not
:34:37. > :34:41.problem. It is a vanity project for Nick Clegg, isn't it? No, it is a
:34:41. > :34:46.project about delivering. We are fighting wars abroad. Sacrificing
:34:46. > :34:51.some of our own people, in favour of democracy. We don't even have it
:34:51. > :34:55.at home. Look there is a basic principle, Jeremy, and it is a very
:34:55. > :34:59.valuable principle, power in a democracy springs from the ballot
:34:59. > :35:05.box, from nowhere else, we have a second chamber, the House of Lords,
:35:06. > :35:15.whose existence depends on the patronage of the powerful. We are
:35:15. > :35:18.placemen, nothing else but that, we're jolly polite and wise but we
:35:18. > :35:22.are still placemen, put there by the Government of the day, to do
:35:22. > :35:28.the Government's business. I thought that principle of democracy
:35:28. > :35:32.went out with the Stuart kings, but it seems we still want to preserve
:35:32. > :35:37.it one of the chambers of the House of Commons. What is wrong with
:35:37. > :35:44.having what 61 nations of the world have with an elected second chamber.
:35:44. > :35:48.He's wrong about that. I'm not wrong about you being a placemen so,
:35:48. > :35:53.am I. What is democracy, this is crucially important, democracy is a
:35:53. > :35:56.situation in which the people have the ability, peacefully, to chuck
:35:56. > :36:00.out the Government of the day. That is the position in this country.
:36:00. > :36:04.The fact that the House of Lords is not elected is neither here nor
:36:04. > :36:08.there. If it is the Commons, the majority in the Commons, who form
:36:09. > :36:15.the Government, and it is the majority of the Commons incidently
:36:15. > :36:20.from where the major offices of state are filled. Paddy Ashdown,
:36:20. > :36:25.one is bound to think after Nick Clegg's triumph with the other
:36:25. > :36:31.wheeze, the alternative vote, if you want to defend the status quo,
:36:31. > :36:34.get Nick Clegg to oppose an alternative. The issue is, are you
:36:34. > :36:38.prepared to have a second chamber. The first act of an elected
:36:38. > :36:41.Government is to take the majority it has in the House of Commons on a
:36:41. > :36:45.particular Thursday afternoon in May, and replicate it in the House
:36:45. > :36:49.of Lords, so that the House of Lords capacity to act as a check a
:36:49. > :36:53.balance on the excessive power of the executive, using an
:36:54. > :36:57.overwhelming majority in the House of Commons, to drive through stupid
:36:57. > :37:01.legislation, legislation like the poll tax, legislation like going to
:37:01. > :37:05.war in a silly war which was illegal, can be checked by the
:37:05. > :37:11.House of Lords. I don't say we have a veto, but we have the right to
:37:11. > :37:19.say no, and we would say no. If you want to continue with what is a
:37:19. > :37:25.bicalm ral parliament in theory, but a mono camoral parliament with
:37:25. > :37:32.something at the other end, in practice, don't call it a democracy.
:37:32. > :37:35.Why won'ts the Conservatives use the Parliament Act to force it
:37:35. > :37:38.through? I don't think it is helpful to threaten that. The
:37:38. > :37:42.Parliament Act is brought into operation when three conditions are
:37:42. > :37:47.in place, the first is, that it was in party manifestos, it was, the
:37:47. > :37:50.country voted for this, all three party manifestos. The second is,
:37:50. > :37:55.when the primary institution of our parliament, that is the Commons,
:37:55. > :37:58.votes for something, and by the way, everybody who spoke against the
:37:58. > :38:01.bill today went on asserting the primacy of the House of Commons.
:38:01. > :38:06.When that is passed, the House of Lords must accept that primacy, and
:38:06. > :38:14.if they don't, and I hope they would not be so foolish as to do
:38:14. > :38:17.that if the House of Commons were to pass this backed by manifesto,
:38:17. > :38:20.the Parliament Act becomes something we can use. I hope the
:38:20. > :38:27.House of Lords wouldn't be put in this position. That is you banged
:38:27. > :38:30.to rights? I don't know what you mean. He's threatening you? I'm not
:38:30. > :38:34.threatening him, I'm saying to the House of Lords accept the primacy
:38:34. > :38:38.of the House of Commons. To use the Parliament Act, distinguished
:38:38. > :38:42.lawyers in the debate over the past couple of days who ugt ised, and it
:38:42. > :38:51.may well be the case, that it would be illegal to use the Parliament
:38:51. > :38:56.Act in this context, let me try to reach out to Paddy Ashdown, Paddy
:38:56. > :39:00.is terribly confused. He would like to have a much stronger second
:39:00. > :39:04.chamber, and if you had a much, much stronger second chamber,
:39:04. > :39:09.something like the United States Senate, then I would agree it would
:39:09. > :39:13.have to be elected, obviously, that would be a democratic imperative,
:39:13. > :39:18.that is not what we are offered. The coalition Government, including
:39:18. > :39:24.his party, have made it absolutely clear that the very puny House of
:39:24. > :39:28.Lords will not get an iota more power than it has at the present
:39:28. > :39:34.time. How do you get a second chamber which has no power at all
:39:34. > :39:37.to stop anything like wars in Afghans or Iraq or whatever, how do
:39:37. > :39:41.you get people of calibre to go into it and scrutinise legislation,
:39:41. > :39:46.you have to appoint them, that is the only way to do it. Thank you
:39:46. > :39:49.very much. The Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, who
:39:49. > :39:53.was arrested and held in April, has been freed. He was picked up as
:39:53. > :39:57.part of a crackdown on over 100 humam rights activists. The Chinese
:39:57. > :40:03.authorities claim to have released him on bail, because, they say, he
:40:03. > :40:08.has confess today tax evasion. It was widely agreed he was picked up
:40:08. > :40:12.and left without access to a lawyer, less for his accounting practices
:40:12. > :40:16.than his beliefs in freedoms. Ai Weiwei was arrested in April on tax
:40:16. > :40:21.evasion charges, but many activists suspect he was detained as part of
:40:21. > :40:30.a larger crackdown on critics of the Beijing Government. Released on
:40:30. > :40:36.bail today, he posedouts side his In the past he has had plenty to
:40:36. > :40:45.say, and was a well known critic of the Government. In this country,
:40:45. > :40:51.though, he became best known for his huge installation of porcelain
:40:51. > :40:58.sunflower seeds in the Tate Modern gallery. His art in China have been
:40:58. > :41:02.more political. He made these sculptures of CCTV cameras to
:41:02. > :41:05.satirise his own life under surveillance. This is made of
:41:05. > :41:08.thousands of children's back packs to represent those killed in the
:41:08. > :41:13.earthquake three years ago. The question, why so many schools
:41:13. > :41:17.collapsed. His criticisms also appeared in constant blogging and
:41:17. > :41:24.tweeting. Speaking to Newsnight last October, he had no doubt China
:41:24. > :41:30.has to change. They have to come to a much more liberal and democratic
:41:30. > :41:36.society, everybody knows it. It is just a matter of time and what will
:41:36. > :41:41.trigger the change. Let's talk now to Alison Klayman, a film maker and
:41:41. > :41:45.good friend of Ai Weiwei. You spoke to him on the phone when he was
:41:45. > :41:49.released, how did he sound? sounded really happy to be home,
:41:49. > :41:53.and said he was with his mom right then. As I'm sure all of us would
:41:53. > :41:58.feel not really wanting to spend too much time on the phone with
:41:58. > :42:03.other people. I know that a lot of people reached out to him, and he
:42:03. > :42:06.made it sort of clear that he wasn't going to speak about what's
:42:06. > :42:12.been happening right now. He said to me what he said to a lot of
:42:12. > :42:18.people, which is that he's happy and he's OK, and that he can't
:42:18. > :42:23.really talk too much about anything else. There is talk that's not well,
:42:23. > :42:28.as regards his health, did he sound OK to you? He did sound OK, and
:42:28. > :42:32.insisted he was OK, but that was something from day one when he was
:42:32. > :42:36.taken into detention, with no word about his treatment, or location,
:42:36. > :42:41.that everyone that knows him was worried about, that he does take
:42:41. > :42:46.medication every day, that people were concerned about how his health
:42:46. > :42:54.would be treated. It is really great to see that he does look OK,
:42:54. > :42:58.maybe a little bit lighter, but he looked OK and happy to be home.
:42:58. > :43:04.are a good friend of his, have you known where he has been during this
:43:04. > :43:09.time he has been detained? No, I have been asked by lots of people
:43:09. > :43:12.where he is, and nobody knew. Even his wife who was brought to visit
:43:12. > :43:16.him didn't quite know where they were, or if that was really where
:43:16. > :43:20.he was regularly kept. I'm not sure whether we are going to get those
:43:20. > :43:25.details, that is kind of a big question right now, about what and
:43:25. > :43:30.if the terms of his release are. Typically when people are held and
:43:30. > :43:34.then released, you don't always get the full story, because there are
:43:34. > :43:38.conditions for being released. It is a question right now, because Ai
:43:38. > :43:44.Weiwei is someone who pushes so much for transparency, and you know,
:43:44. > :43:47.I think we're all waiting to see what his first tweet will be. To
:43:47. > :43:53.see to what extent he can communicate with the rest of the
:43:53. > :43:59.world openly and freely right now, there is a lot of unknowns now. We
:43:59. > :44:02.may not know right away how it will all play out? What do you make of
:44:02. > :44:11.his alleged confession to tax evasion charges? I don't know what
:44:11. > :44:15.to make of it. I think we will wait and see also how those play out and
:44:15. > :44:22.whether's going to have any trial, if the charges stay. That's all I
:44:22. > :44:25.think to be determined. There must be a concern that it will, being
:44:25. > :44:29.released on bail under these circumstances will effect what's
:44:30. > :44:38.able to do with his art. There must be that concern, isn't there?
:44:38. > :44:44.a big question, for sure, because art and speech, expressing yourself,
:44:44. > :44:48.no artist would want to work under the conditions that we can't create
:44:48. > :44:52.as they want to. There is always the question of whether there is a
:44:52. > :44:59.dichotomy there, whether you can even say with him whether there is
:44:59. > :45:05.art and actism and if if - activism, and whether those are separate or
:45:05. > :45:11.not. If there is going to be travel re strictions and on his
:45:11. > :45:15.communication, all of this would affect an artist in practice. There
:45:15. > :45:18.is demand around the world for him, it shows you that this is
:45:18. > :45:28.definitely a happy day. But there is a lot of being questions about
:45:28. > :45:29.
:45:29. > :45:39.how this will work in the coming year and beyond that for him. The
:45:39. > :45:56.
:45:56. > :46:06.That's all from tonight, shad news from the news of shape shifting
:46:06. > :46:07.
:46:07. > :46:13.Superhero news, Peter Parker's Spiderman will be killed off by its
:46:14. > :46:23.makers. Here is the theme tune synonymous with the character they
:46:24. > :46:26.
:46:26. > :46:29.promise a second coming so don't # Spiderman Spiderman
:46:30. > :46:33.# Does whatever a spider can # Spins a web
:46:33. > :46:36.# Any size # Catches thieves
:46:36. > :46:40.# Just like flies # Look out
:46:40. > :46:43.# Here comes the Spiderman # Is he strong
:46:43. > :46:48.# He's got radioactive blood # Can he swing from a thread
:46:48. > :46:57.# Take a look overhead # Hey there there goes the
:46:57. > :47:00.Before it gets very much warmer later in the weekend it will turn
:47:00. > :47:04.wetter. We have got some rain in had the morning tomorrow, across
:47:04. > :47:08.northern England, and then we are left with some heavy showers in the
:47:08. > :47:12.afternoon for eastern England, sunshine and scattered showers
:47:12. > :47:15.around elsewhere. In the afternoon heavy showers over the Pennines in
:47:15. > :47:19.particular, across Yorkshire down into Lincolnshire, scattering light
:47:19. > :47:22.showers through the Midland, sharp ones in East Anglia, the threat of
:47:22. > :47:25.showers in Wimbledon during tomorrow. The driest weather will
:47:25. > :47:30.be in the south west of England, very few showers in the afternoon.
:47:30. > :47:35.Not as breezy as it was today. Temperatures still startling, 16,
:47:35. > :47:37.17 at best. Wales, South Wales seeing plenty of sunshine in the
:47:37. > :47:42.afternoon. North Wales seeing more showers. Across Northern Ireland a
:47:42. > :47:46.lot of cloud around, more showers to come again. Those temperatures
:47:46. > :47:49.only 15 degrees. Not much warmer in Scotland, where we will see more
:47:49. > :47:53.showers in the north-east compared with today. Turning dryer in the
:47:53. > :47:56.south west. We have some showers in Edinburgh on Thursday, there may be
:47:56. > :48:00.the odd one around even on to Friday as well. Most of the showers
:48:00. > :48:05.in the north-east of Scotland t has to be said on Friday. Further south,
:48:05. > :48:10.heavy showers, London fewer showers in Cardiff, but it does cloud over