22/06/2011 Newsnight

Tonight, is the long arm of the Syrian police state even at work on

the streets of London. Is the Syrian embassy monitoring dissent

here to pressure the families of protestors at home. As the Foreign

Office consults with the police, what are the acceptable limits to

what are the acceptable limits to the behaviour of foreign diplomats?

Then they started harassing her. They asked her to ask me to behave

myself, otherwise she will be kicked out of her job. They claim

they can defeat cancer with their healing hands. No, no. Do you still

say you can cure cancer? Go away. Why are the faith healers so afraid

of the questions, we go undercover. There was baby I worked on over the

telephone, and from one day to the next the cancer in his stomach had

just disappeared. Obama tells America it's the beginning of the

end for troops in Afghanistan. Mark Urban is here. We have been told

how many troops the President plans to pull out, I will have the

details, we will be asking where that leaves the British military.

The turkeys won't vote for Christmas. Nick Clegg's scheme to

abolish the House of Lords, torn to shreds by the people it proposes to

replace. The Chinese release the dissident artist, Ai Weiwei, what

has happened to him during his time Foreign Office officials spoke to

Scotland Yard today about what the Syrian embassy may or may not be up

to in London. This follows allegations we put to the Foreign

Office minister, Alistair Burt, on last night's programme, that Syrian

nationals allege they are being filmed at demonstrations and being

intimidated by officials from their own home state. Tonight we have

firsthand accounts of this intimidation from Syrian protestors.

It leads to the question, what is legitimate for a foreign mission to

do in promoting the interests of the state.

The street outside Syria's embassy in London, a it has seen protests

every week for the last three months, some supporting the regime,

others, like this one, against. But if many of President Assad's

opponents here were confident, even high spirited, back in April, they

are no longer. They have been scared by had a they say are Syrian

Government attempts to identify them, whether they like it or not.

One of the embassy officers started videoing from inside the embassy,

from waind dough, using a video camera - a window, using a video

camera, aiming it at the anti- Government protestor, people were

angry at that, that definitely put their lives at risk. What were they

doing it for, what was the purpose? They were doing the pictures and

sending it to Damascus and send it to the Secret Services, and put

pressure on the family of the protestors, intimidate them.

filming, according to several protestors Newsnight has talked to,

was only the beginning. These Syrian workers in London say they

were told, after one demonstration, to attend a meeting with men they

had seen before at the embassy. were asked to either go on the pro-

Government demonstrations, otherwise, not only would our

photos be sent to Syria, but we would also be brandished as people

who are against the Government, either working together with the

Muslim Brotherhood, and that would bring serious problems both to us

and our families. Who were these people that came to see you?

have come across these people with our every day dealings inside the

embassy. Each time we have had to go in for a new document, passport,

or other documentation, these individuals have been inside the

embassy. Newsnight's also been given the

name of an accredited Syrian diplomat, whom several protestors

say has been involved in attempts to intimidate them. That is

strongly denied by the embassy itself. The Syrian Ambassador told

us he wasn't available for an interview today. But the embassy

has just sent us a statement, saying allegations about its

approach to Syrian dissenters here, are completely without foundation.

It says that the embassy's doors and services are open to all

Syrians in Britain, regardless of their political affiliations.

We have got statement from the embassy saying they have never

spyed on anyone, and the CCTV is only there to protect the building?

It is a standard statement and it is meaningless. I have seen them

videoing from inside the embassy and from outside. I have evidence,

I have witnesses, we have seen them, we have seen them standing behind

the window, from inside the building, with a video camera in

their hands. This protestor, also afraid to show her face, says

pictures of her outside the embassy were shown by Syrian security

forces to her mother in Syria. told me that someone from the

security agency, the security forces, has come to our house, they

were asking about me, what I'm doing here, where I'm going, what

I'm doing. And then they asked her why I am protesting against the

Syrian regime. She told them she denied it at first, she told them

she's not, then they told her they have evidence, and photos for me in

front of the Syrian embassy. So she said they doesn't know. Then they

started harassing her, they asked her to ask me to behave myself,

otherwise she will be kicked out of her job. She's working in the

Government offices. How did you react to that, did you change your

activities? I stopped protesting, because I know they are capable of

doing horrible things, I'm afraid for her. I had to stop protesting,

and if I want to protest I think I'm going to think twice, and I'm

going to be hidden behind the sunglasses or scarf or whatever.

They are capable of doing anything. The Foreign Office

minister...$$NEWLINE On Newsnight last night, Foreign Office minister,

Alistair Burt, promised to look into the allegations against Syrian

diplomats. We have taken action against diplomats in the past and

we will do so again. I have heard of the allegations during the

course of the evening, they must be investigated by the police. If we

had evidence that people were being intimidated in this country by

diplomats working in another country, we have taken action

before and we would do again. the Foreign Office said it had

already discussed the issue with the police, and urged anyone with

allegations of intimidation to come forward. These workers haven't

complained to the UK authorities yet. They say they are now afraid

to return to Syria. Our major fear is that if the regime stays with

that approach, in Syria, neither will we be able to return to Syria,

and nor will our families actually be able to live in peace. What do

you feel, how worried are you now? We know what this regime is capable

of, particularly the Secret Services. We would not be surprised

if we got a phone call tomorrow telling us our families had been

arrested. They may have been protesting on British soil, even

that now take as lot more courage than it used to.

As you heard in that report, we did ask to speak to a representative

from the Syrian embassy, but they claim no-one was available. I am

joined in the studio by the Syrian humam rights activist and blogger,

Mahmoud Ali Hamad, and by the MP, Ann Clwyd, who sits on the foreign

affairs select committee, and chairs the parliamentary human

rights group. How swidpraed is this prak - widespread is this practice?

It is not unusual for the Syrian embassy to make threats on behalf

of the Syrian secret police, this is an old practice, actually,

people have suffered because of that. Have you had personal

experience of it? I have, actually. I have on several occasions, and

actually the lady who appeared in the video, I was actually standing

next to her in that particular demonstration, and another person

who was with me, his family was contacted, straight after that.

They were told your son is involved in this, and this should not happen

again. So I was personally approached after an interview I

have done with the BBC, back in the 23rd of March, in the first week of

the uprising, I was told we know who you are, cut it out. I used

only my first name at that point, I did not reveal my identity, it was

a radio interview and I used my Christian name. This is somebody

from the embassy? The Syrian person called me a week after that, after

an interview I have done where the ambassador, the Syrian Ambassador

was involved, and in that particular interview he said to the

interviewer that you are interviewing the wrong kind of

Syrians, that was his exact words. And right after that I got the same

phone call from what appeared to be the same person saying cut it out,

those were his exact words. practice of videoing people and

showing the photographs to their family, or saying to the family

back in Syria, we have evidence that your son, daughter, brother,

whatever it is, is agitating against the state, you better watch

your step, how common is that? is very common, and there is now a

new thing that the Syrian Government is doing, that is

getting the families of those activists, or demonstrators, to

disown their children, or their relatives. If they appear to be

involved in any political activities that goes against the

will of the Government. So it is very common unfortunately.

Clwyd, three people named a particular individual who had

telephoned them, with the telephone number and everything. That

individual we traced to the Syrian embassy, the Syrian embassy

confirmed this individual was on their staff. At first sight, this

looks like something we shouldn't tolerate in this country, doesn't

it? I agree. It is practice we was also done by the bathe regime of

Saddam Hussein. They used to do exactly the same, to Iraqis who

protested in this country, used to intimidate them, used to follow

them. I know the child of one of my friend, they tried to kidnap him

off the streets in Cardiff. So, you know, amongst the Ba' ath regime it

is a familiar pattern. What should the British Government do about it?

If somebody from the Syrian embassy is guilty of this, we should ask

them to leave the country, this is unacceptable, threats against

Syrians living, working at university, or whatever in this

country, is it is not something we should tolerate. That is a

particularly flagrant example, but there are lots of other cases that

are in the margins of what is diplomatic activity? I imagine so.

I have had some experience of the Syrian regime myself. The MP that

you showed on the programme last night, Riad Seif, I tried to go and

see him on behalf of the interparliamentary union myself

three years ago, it was agreed by the speaker of the Syrian

parliament we should go there. When we went there they played around

for three day, sent us round the houses, saying it was the minister

of justice that should decide, next day it was minister of the interior,

and back to the speaker who said he was sorry. I'm not surprised this

kind of thing happens at all. difficulties difficulty is the

police in this country can only act if someone make as complaint. Are

you and your friends and colleagues reporting matters to the police or

not? I don't think we are looking at it from that point of view, we

are looking at this regime as a regime on its way out. So we don't

want to be distracted by prosecuting, trying to prosecute

individuals, this is a matter for the British Government to handle.

Of course it is the responsibility of...They Can't do anything without

being given the evidence? Lots of people are still scared to come out,

Syrians, to come out and actually do it. In fear of the regime

touching their relatives and intimidating their families. It is

not easy for everyone to have the same level of courage to take such

action. It is quite hard decisions to make.

Ever since witch doctors offered to cure with toad and chicken blood,

some quack has been offering health in exchange.

Is it possible that potentially fatal diseases can be stopped in

their tracks by allowing a healer to channel thought and prayer into

our brains, it is an astonishing claim, intriguing enough to get

Anna Adams interested. Faith healers have been around even

longer than snake oil salesmen. Now they are throwing in something that

sounds like scenes and calling it ThetaHealing. It has been showcased

on Fox News. What if someone told you the chronic pain you were

living with could go away within the hour. The theory is that

healers create positive brain wave that is can cure illness, including

cancer and HIV. A look into the world of ThetaHealing, and the

people who say they are proof it works. There are now more than

20,000 faith healers operating in the UK. But, of course, not all do

it for the money, but ThetaHealing usually charge by the hour. Some of

the work here in Harley Street is from them, but others from their

house. We sent an jumped cover worker to see Jenny Johnstone. - a

undercover worker to see Jenny Johnstone. She's one of

ThetaHealing followers, she charges �30 an hour or a course to learn.

The researcher asked what she could do for her. There was baby on the

telephone I worked with, one day to the next the cancer disappeared.

The researcher told Jenny she had been diagnosed with certificate

value cancer REPORTER: Have you - cervical cancer. REPORTER: Have you

of anyone with cancer like mine? Yes. REPORTER: Have you had

success? It is not me who heals, you heal yourself, I create the

conditions. Cancer, in many ways, is one of the easier things.

must be easy, apparently she has also healed a man's bowel cancer.

He opened his eyes, and I opened my eyes and we knew it was gone.

Science can't prove it. How much of it is true, how do you go about

trying to prove T we are here to speak to the professor who has

carried out more clinical trials into alternative medicine than

anyone else. He has been doing it for 20 years. We showed our footage

to Professor Edzard Ernst. There was baby I spoke to over the phone

and from one day to the next the cancer disappeared. What do you

think of that kind of thing? think it is most irresponsible and

criminal to make claims of that nature. They are not supported by

any type of evidence. Therefore, she's breaking the law. They give

themselves a veneer of science, it is still nonsense, though. There

have been 50 clinical trials into faith healing, and the professor

says while they might make people feel good, the trials show they

didn't actually cure anything. one trial we compared healers to

people who pretended to be healers, actors, basically. The bottom line

result was that, if anything, the actors were slightly better than

the healers. What are the dangers then? The dangers are you remain

untreated, most cancers are very treatable these days. And that you

actually die because of listening to these people. But Jenny's not

the only ThetaHealing, there are more than 600 in the UK, when we

talked to others, we heard similar pseudo scientific claims. We spoke

to one man, who feels so embarrassed when he went there with

an illness that he didn't want to be identified. They come over very

caring, and they claim to heal any desee, any time you go for a

healing it ends up costing �150 for 50 minutes. How much did you spend?

About �1,200, possibly more. What did you get back? Absolutely

nothing, it didn't work at all. I feel angry at myself, I wasted

money and time. I missed two years of proper medical treatment, there

was never any suggestion I should go back to my doctor, which is what

I needed to do. Were you at a low ebb? I was ill and needed to be

cured. I was desperate. You are slowing your brain down and

connecting to God. This is Vianna Stibal, the founder of ThetaHealing,

she writes books and set up an Institute of Healing in Utah. She

spends a fortune training her troops at lectures around the world.

I want to introduce to you ThetaHealing in the bahamas.

last appearance was in a slightly less exotic location, it was here,

One of the audience even asked her if healing could make an amputated

leg grow back. I believe it is possible to grow it back, a lady in

Italy grew back her ovary, I think if you can grow back an ovary you

can tkwro back a leg. One of the biggest claims is ThetaHealing can

make HIV disappear. That might be of interest to the Terence Higgins

Trust. There are people we have worked on who have viral loads that

haven't been detected for a very long time, like five years. So

that's kind of cool. What do you think? Well, she says it is cool, I

say it is unbelievable. It is simply not the case, once your HIV

has started to progress, and your viral load is rising, the only

thing that's going to reduce it to undetectable and keep it there for

significant lengths of time is anti-retroviral treatment. What do

you think about the idea that brain waves can actually cure you of HIV?

I think that it is dangerous to say things like that. I also think it

is a false claim and I think if someone is taking money for that,

though I would like to see them investigated, by the correct

consumer regulators, the fact is that we have seen Charlatans of

this kind all the way down through the HIV epidemic, those Charlatans

are more dangerous than ever, now that we have effective treatment.

And yet, she is saying that you can do that with brain waves. I'm sorry,

that's bullshit, in plain layman's terms. We asked for a interview

with Vianna Stibal about the claims she said at the London School of

Economics. We were told she didn't have time. REPORTER: BBC we would

like to ask you some questions? no. This time there seemed to be

another kind of laying on of hands. Go away. Then her husband attacked

our cameraman. No. REPORTER: We have every right,

this is Britain. No, go on. REPORTER: Are you going to hide

from the questions, are you going to hide from the questions. Go on.

It is far cry from the positive brain waves that ThetaHealing

promised can bring health, wealth and happiness. The London School of

Economics said they did not endorse Vianna Stibal's lecture, it was

just a commercial booking. We went back to Warrington to see Jenny,

she wouldn't give us an interview either. This is where Jenny

Johnstone treats her patients, we wanted to come and ask her why she

was still charging people, claiming she could cure their cancer, when

there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that it works. She said

there was no point in her trying to prove she had cured baby of stomach

cancer, because we just wouldn't believe her. Thank you very much

then. OK. See you then. Goodbye. Now, in an hour or so's time,

President Obama will tell the American people how he plans to

start bringing troops home from Afghanistan. The implications are

unmistakable for the thousands of British troops there, and not a

moment too soon. In the last few days, one senior military figure

after another has worried in public about whether the country can

sustain wars in both Afghanistan and Libya at the same time. David

Cameron has clearly been national curriculumed by their comments. Our

defence editor is here. What's President Obama going to say

tonight? As you say the speech hasn't happened, but the headlines

have been briefed out to the press. Essentially 10,000 US troops will

leave Afghanistan before the end of this year, and by September of 2012,

September next year, something in the region of 30-35,000 will have

left. That is deeper and faster than we understand, the military

advice that was given to him by General Petraeus in Kabul. If we

look at the figures in broad terms, we can track how historically from

a very Lightfoot brint, right up to the 9 8,000 - 1,300 troops up to 9

8,000, then coming down through October this year, and into next

year, and down to 6dld 5,000 by September 12, which is about the

same when President Obama came into office and announced this surge in

the first place. Where are they going to come from? It seems,

talking to people, that the feeling is that the great weight of the

American troops is in the south, in a few provinces, if we sketch it

out on a map. The regional command South-West, which includes Helmand

and neighbouring provinces, then regional command south, the area

around Kandahar in pink there. Between them they have the

equivalent of seven American brigades at the moment. It is

something approaching 50,000 troops in there. And that's where we will

deaf vitly she reduction, 0 - definitely see reductions, some of

the people marked in blue in the east where the Americans feel the

fighting is fiercest, on the most difficult mountainous part of the

Pakistani border and they need help. What are the implications for

Britain? The UK has its own political timetable and imperatives

here. David Cameron has said that all British troops must stop being

involved in combat operations by 2015, he reiterated on BBC Two

earlier this evening a guarantee is a guarantee. While it is not the

American or NATO formulation on this, this is a British, come what

may withdrawal. At the same time the UK is trying to sustain air

operations over Libya at quite an intense rate. Inevitably in the

last few days, that seemed to have produced some friction between

Downing Street and the service chiefs.

On the ground, in places like Nad Ali, British troops think they are

having the right effect. They point to big changes in the security

picture over the past year. So it sends to be just a shoot and scoot

type of thing, rather than a sustained exchanging of fire?

That's most of what we are seeing, shoot and scoot tactic, IEDs

followed by an ambush. But the move towards the exit by NATO's two

biggest contributors, could undermine any progress, causing

local allies to doubt the west's commitment, fears the Government is

keen to allay. We are friends of Afghanistan for the long-term. We

have said very clearly that of a transition in 2014, that means by

2015 we will not have troops here in a combat role or in anything

like the numbers. We will be friends for the long-term with our

expertise w our economic co- operation, and development said.

And it is, of course, important to plan ahead for those things now.

These are difficult times in relations between the service

chiefs and Number Ten. The forces know the Government is committed to

leave Afghanistan, regardless of conditions on the ground. And

complaints by senior officers, that operating simultaneously over Libya

is stretching their capabilities, produced this prime ministerial

rebuke. There are moments when I wake up and read the newspapers and

think, you do the fighting and I will do the talking. Today the

leader of the opposition took Mr Cameron to task for those words.

When our military chief raised legitimate concerns about the

conduct of our operations, surely it is not the right thing to say,

you do the fighting and I will do the talking. In retrospect, Mr

Speaker, wasn't that very crass and highhanded. The only point that I

tried to make in recent days, is I think when you are at war, and we

are in both Afghanistan and Libya, it is very important, whether you

are a political leader or whether you are a military leader to think

very carefully about what you are about to say.

With the Afghan fighting season fully under way, casualties have

risen again, sceptics in London and Washington argue that the military

has had its chance and the time has come to staunch the loss of life

and treasure in this violent land. So, with the President's speech

tonight, we enter a new phase, one which is far less predictable. We

simply don't know whether Afghan, in these districts, where the

British and Americans have been trying to build governance and

security, will regard this beginning of the drawdown as a spur

to get their act together and take control of their destiny, or

whether they will lose confidence and switch to the insurgency.

The River Thames will be running with much blood, according to a

former head of the Civil Service, and it will all be Nick Clegg's

fault. The apocalypse will happen if the deputy Prime Minister's

plans to reform the House of Lords get through. There was lots more

purple language in the House of Lords today, as their Noble

Lordships contemplated the prospect of being engulfed by some form of

democracy. It is hardly a matter of life and death, although it is

entirely possible that the bill to give effect to a promise first made

100 years ago, is, as was claimed, a dog's breakfast. Before we talk

about it here is this report. Before the last election, Nick

Clegg was seen as the heroic outsider who had come to save

politics from the politicians. But, in coalition with the

Conservatives, it looked more like Clarke Kent. Recently he has been

championing muscular liberalism, taking credit for saving the NHS

and pushing the reform of the House of Lords. But while he has been out

of the country this week, some of our more senior and superannuated

politicians have been hitting back. It is ludicrous that parliament

should be being treated as a kind of political football in a game

which comes at its roots from the failure of the liberal party to

retain the trust of the people, because they did not keep their

promises made at a general election. The proposal on which we are asked

to take note, must rank amongst the most inappropriate political events

minuteser in row fiddled while Rome burned. According to Mr Clegg we

are not directly accountable to the British people, that is absolutely

true, nor is the monarchy, nor is the judiciary directly accountable,

nor are the chiefs of the armed services directly accountable, nor

is the Prime Minister directly accountable, nor is his deputy, Mr

Clegg, directly accountable, nor is their cabinet. In the traft

The Government also made it clear they would listen to alternative

points of view, in an attempt to reach consensus. Following today's

mauling in the House of Lords, the draft bill will be scrutinised by a

committee of peers and MPs, until member next year. Then the

Government really will have to decide whether to push ahead, or

push off. 100 years ago a liberal Government

passed the Parliament Act, allowing the House of Commons, under certain

circumstances, to overrule the peers here in the House of Lords.

It has only been used handful of times since. Last month Nick Clegg

got David Cameron's approval to use it once again, if necessary to push

through the long-awaited reforms of the Upper House. That may sound

like a famous victory for the deputy Prime Minister, but there

are some rather substantial snags. Snag number one, while there is

official Conservative backing for using the Parliament Act, there is

not much enthusiasm. We are a long way from using the Parliament Act,

that is part of a process when both houses are disagreeing with each

other, when there is a Government bill before them. And at the moment

there is no bill, there is only a draft bill. Snag number two, the

opposition say they would create a storm of protest. It would be

utterly wrong to use the Parliament Act to introduce major

constitutional reform, which is is what this would be. And if the

Parliament Act were used, what would the consequences be for the

Government's programme? Completely screwed, they would get none of

their policies through. Snag number three, Nick Clegg has to get the

support of MPs here in the House of Commons in the first place. Up to

70 Conservatives might fail to back him, that is because, they say, the

coalition agreement, only committed the Government to bring forward

proposelias for reform, not actual legislation. As for the Labour

opposition, despite being fully committed to an elected House of

Lords, they might just prefer to give Nick Clegg a bloody nose

instead. Isn't this political opportunism? No, what I'm oppose

something the draft bill, this is bad bill, I want good reform and a

good bill, that is while the whole of my front benchers are opposing

this bill because it is a bad bill. Dinosaurs took a long way to die,

and if the time is not right now, when will be it. There are many for

the bill but enormous numbers are against. It looks as if Nick Clegg

will have to be more muscular if he wants to force through reform some

time in this century. With us is Lord Lawson, a former Tory

Chancellor and opponent of the reform, we are joined by the former

Liberal Democrat leader, Lord Ashdown, who supports the

Government's plans. Would you not like to be legitimate, Lord Lawson?

I am legitimate, you are legitimate, the judiciary are legitimate, the

monetary policy committee who decide interest rates are

legitimate. When I was chat Chancellor, I was an elected

politician, and I decided interest rates, it was an elected politician,

there is a reform, we have an independent Bank of England, with

an appointed Monetary Policy Committee and everyone says that is

better. What proportion of members of the House of Lords do you reckon

support this plan? Do you know, Jeremy, it is an unusual turkey

that looks forward to December, and the House of Commons, the House of

Lords today showed it didn't very much, who can be surprised at that.

Very few, is the answer. The Liberal Democrat bench, mostly,

overwhelmingly support it, as indeed do I. It, by the way, has

been in the manifesto of clearly all three parties. The Conservative

Party in Tony Blair manifesto was committed to this, Labour was as

well. Labour are committed to things in theory but when it comes

to practice they choose opportunism. Let's take up that point, your

party leader supports these ideas? There was support from the party

leader, never support from the party as a whole. We form our own

judgment. I have to tell you that I am amazed, that we're spending time

on this issue. We have as a country a whole range of problems, and a

whole range of problems would need to be addressed, serious problems

would need to be addressed. The House of Lords, Jeremy, is not

problem. It is a vanity project for Nick Clegg, isn't it? No, it is a

project about delivering. We are fighting wars abroad. Sacrificing

some of our own people, in favour of democracy. We don't even have it

at home. Look there is a basic principle, Jeremy, and it is a very

valuable principle, power in a democracy springs from the ballot

box, from nowhere else, we have a second chamber, the House of Lords,

whose existence depends on the patronage of the powerful. We are

placemen, nothing else but that, we're jolly polite and wise but we

are still placemen, put there by the Government of the day, to do

the Government's business. I thought that principle of democracy

went out with the Stuart kings, but it seems we still want to preserve

it one of the chambers of the House of Commons. What is wrong with

having what 61 nations of the world have with an elected second chamber.

He's wrong about that. I'm not wrong about you being a placemen so,

am I. What is democracy, this is crucially important, democracy is a

situation in which the people have the ability, peacefully, to chuck

out the Government of the day. That is the position in this country.

The fact that the House of Lords is not elected is neither here nor

there. If it is the Commons, the majority in the Commons, who form

the Government, and it is the majority of the Commons incidently

from where the major offices of state are filled. Paddy Ashdown,

one is bound to think after Nick Clegg's triumph with the other

wheeze, the alternative vote, if you want to defend the status quo,

get Nick Clegg to oppose an alternative. The issue is, are you

prepared to have a second chamber. The first act of an elected

Government is to take the majority it has in the House of Commons on a

particular Thursday afternoon in May, and replicate it in the House

of Lords, so that the House of Lords capacity to act as a check a

balance on the excessive power of the executive, using an

overwhelming majority in the House of Commons, to drive through stupid

legislation, legislation like the poll tax, legislation like going to

war in a silly war which was illegal, can be checked by the

House of Lords. I don't say we have a veto, but we have the right to

say no, and we would say no. If you want to continue with what is a

bicalm ral parliament in theory, but a mono camoral parliament with

something at the other end, in practice, don't call it a democracy.

Why won'ts the Conservatives use the Parliament Act to force it

through? I don't think it is helpful to threaten that. The

Parliament Act is brought into operation when three conditions are

in place, the first is, that it was in party manifestos, it was, the

country voted for this, all three party manifestos. The second is,

when the primary institution of our parliament, that is the Commons,

votes for something, and by the way, everybody who spoke against the

bill today went on asserting the primacy of the House of Commons.

When that is passed, the House of Lords must accept that primacy, and

if they don't, and I hope they would not be so foolish as to do

that if the House of Commons were to pass this backed by manifesto,

the Parliament Act becomes something we can use. I hope the

House of Lords wouldn't be put in this position. That is you banged

to rights? I don't know what you mean. He's threatening you? I'm not

threatening him, I'm saying to the House of Lords accept the primacy

of the House of Commons. To use the Parliament Act, distinguished

lawyers in the debate over the past couple of days who ugt ised, and it

may well be the case, that it would be illegal to use the Parliament

Act in this context, let me try to reach out to Paddy Ashdown, Paddy

is terribly confused. He would like to have a much stronger second

chamber, and if you had a much, much stronger second chamber,

something like the United States Senate, then I would agree it would

have to be elected, obviously, that would be a democratic imperative,

that is not what we are offered. The coalition Government, including

his party, have made it absolutely clear that the very puny House of

Lords will not get an iota more power than it has at the present

time. How do you get a second chamber which has no power at all

to stop anything like wars in Afghans or Iraq or whatever, how do

you get people of calibre to go into it and scrutinise legislation,

you have to appoint them, that is the only way to do it. Thank you

very much. The Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, who

was arrested and held in April, has been freed. He was picked up as

part of a crackdown on over 100 humam rights activists. The Chinese

authorities claim to have released him on bail, because, they say, he

has confess today tax evasion. It was widely agreed he was picked up

and left without access to a lawyer, less for his accounting practices

than his beliefs in freedoms. Ai Weiwei was arrested in April on tax

evasion charges, but many activists suspect he was detained as part of

a larger crackdown on critics of the Beijing Government. Released on

bail today, he posedouts side his In the past he has had plenty to

say, and was a well known critic of the Government. In this country,

though, he became best known for his huge installation of porcelain

sunflower seeds in the Tate Modern gallery. His art in China have been

more political. He made these sculptures of CCTV cameras to

satirise his own life under surveillance. This is made of

thousands of children's back packs to represent those killed in the

earthquake three years ago. The question, why so many schools

collapsed. His criticisms also appeared in constant blogging and

tweeting. Speaking to Newsnight last October, he had no doubt China

has to change. They have to come to a much more liberal and democratic

society, everybody knows it. It is just a matter of time and what will

trigger the change. Let's talk now to Alison Klayman, a film maker and

good friend of Ai Weiwei. You spoke to him on the phone when he was

released, how did he sound? sounded really happy to be home,

and said he was with his mom right then. As I'm sure all of us would

feel not really wanting to spend too much time on the phone with

other people. I know that a lot of people reached out to him, and he

made it sort of clear that he wasn't going to speak about what's

been happening right now. He said to me what he said to a lot of

people, which is that he's happy and he's OK, and that he can't

really talk too much about anything else. There is talk that's not well,

as regards his health, did he sound OK to you? He did sound OK, and

insisted he was OK, but that was something from day one when he was

taken into detention, with no word about his treatment, or location,

that everyone that knows him was worried about, that he does take

medication every day, that people were concerned about how his health

would be treated. It is really great to see that he does look OK,

maybe a little bit lighter, but he looked OK and happy to be home.

are a good friend of his, have you known where he has been during this

time he has been detained? No, I have been asked by lots of people

where he is, and nobody knew. Even his wife who was brought to visit

him didn't quite know where they were, or if that was really where

he was regularly kept. I'm not sure whether we are going to get those

details, that is kind of a big question right now, about what and

if the terms of his release are. Typically when people are held and

then released, you don't always get the full story, because there are

conditions for being released. It is a question right now, because Ai

Weiwei is someone who pushes so much for transparency, and you know,

I think we're all waiting to see what his first tweet will be. To

see to what extent he can communicate with the rest of the

world openly and freely right now, there is a lot of unknowns now. We

may not know right away how it will all play out? What do you make of

his alleged confession to tax evasion charges? I don't know what

to make of it. I think we will wait and see also how those play out and

whether's going to have any trial, if the charges stay. That's all I

think to be determined. There must be a concern that it will, being

released on bail under these circumstances will effect what's

able to do with his art. There must be that concern, isn't there?

a big question, for sure, because art and speech, expressing yourself,

no artist would want to work under the conditions that we can't create

as they want to. There is always the question of whether there is a

dichotomy there, whether you can even say with him whether there is

art and actism and if if - activism, and whether those are separate or

not. If there is going to be travel re strictions and on his

communication, all of this would affect an artist in practice. There

is demand around the world for him, it shows you that this is

definitely a happy day. But there is a lot of being questions about

how this will work in the coming year and beyond that for him. The

That's all from tonight, shad news from the news of shape shifting

Superhero news, Peter Parker's Spiderman will be killed off by its

makers. Here is the theme tune synonymous with the character they

promise a second coming so don't # Spiderman Spiderman

# Does whatever a spider can # Spins a web

# Any size # Catches thieves

# Just like flies # Look out

# Here comes the Spiderman # Is he strong

# He's got radioactive blood # Can he swing from a thread

# Take a look overhead # Hey there there goes the

Before it gets very much warmer later in the weekend it will turn

wetter. We have got some rain in had the morning tomorrow, across

northern England, and then we are left with some heavy showers in the

afternoon for eastern England, sunshine and scattered showers

around elsewhere. In the afternoon heavy showers over the Pennines in

particular, across Yorkshire down into Lincolnshire, scattering light

showers through the Midland, sharp ones in East Anglia, the threat of

showers in Wimbledon during tomorrow. The driest weather will

be in the south west of England, very few showers in the afternoon.

Not as breezy as it was today. Temperatures still startling, 16,

17 at best. Wales, South Wales seeing plenty of sunshine in the

afternoon. North Wales seeing more showers. Across Northern Ireland a

lot of cloud around, more showers to come again. Those temperatures

only 15 degrees. Not much warmer in Scotland, where we will see more

showers in the north-east compared with today. Turning dryer in the

south west. We have some showers in Edinburgh on Thursday, there may be

the odd one around even on to Friday as well. Most of the showers

in the north-east of Scotland t has to be said on Friday. Further south,

heavy showers, London fewer showers in Cardiff, but it does cloud over