28/07/2011 Newsnight

Tonight, just when you think it could not possibly get any worse,

further revelation about the detective hired by the News of the

World. The phone number of Sara Payne, the mother of the murdered

schoolgirl, was found among Glenn Mulcaire's papers, she says she's

absolutely devastated to learn her phone may have been hacked. We will

discuss that and the impact the scandal could have on James

Murdoch's leadership of BSkyB. What's the real cost of America's

debt crisis in the footsteps of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of

Wrath, Paul Mason takes the trail of misery from Oklahoma to

California, to find lost lands and the newly homeless middle-class.

What is the hardest thing about it? Just having my kids here. America's

top general is back home, David Petraeus talks to us about his

hopes for Afghanistan, and shaky relations with Pakistan. Everyone

is stepping back from the abyss, after looking into it. And can it

really be true that watching this programme can seriously damage your

love life, not everyone thinks so. Newsnight is one of the greatest

aphrodisiacs, political debate, what more could a woman ask for!

Good evening, at every stage of the phone hacking scandal, it seemed

difficult to believe the revelations could be more shocking,

but tonight, again, they may just be. After her daughter was murdered,

Sara Payne, worked together with the News of the World to publicise

information about paedophiles. Now, it turns out, the number of her

mobile phone was discovered among the papers of the disgraced private

detective, Glenn Mulcaire. We don't actually know if she was hacked, or

by whom, but she says she's devastated at the thought she may

have been. Even at the end, the News of the

World had a few friends left. Even after the politicians, and the

advertisers had deserted the title, Sara Payne was still proud to

standby the paper that had fought for her cause.

Sara Payne gave this tribute, having been told by the police that

she was not among those suspected of having their phones hacked by

the News of the World. Now that assurance has been withdrawn.

People will be deeply shocked that the newspaper which was campaigning

for Sarah's Law, was at the same time invading the privacy of her

mother. It is unspeakable that we hear these allegations tonight.

That lady has been through the trauma of what happened to her

daughter, has had serious medical conditions, and thought that

newspaper was on her side. Even at the depths of the phone hacking

scandal, News International executives tried to keep reminding

the public not to lose sight of its role in changing the law. As you

know, part of the, my main focus of my editorship of the News of the

World was in convincing the parliament that there needed to be

radical changes to the 1997 Sex Offenders Act, which became known

as Sarah's Law, which was very similar to laws imposed in America

under Megan's Law. Sarah Payne was murdered in 2000. Her killer, Roy

Whiting, was a known sex offender, Sarah's mother, Sara Payne

campaigned for a change in the law, the News of the World helped.

Parents should have, they argued, controlled access to the sex

offenders' register, to find out if somebody living nearby is danger to

their children. Rebekah Brooks called this law change the

highlight of her tenure as editor The damaging influence that many

are drawing from these allegations that the News of the World only

gave the phone to Sara Payne, in order to hack it. One commentator

believes we should discount this as a theory. They would have been able

to hack her phone, the phone she already had any way. It is not

clear what benefit they get from having a phone that only they know

the number of it, if that was the case who else would leave messages,

on the face of it, it doesn't really add up that is the most

likely explanation. Although, if true, it is a very damaging one

indeed. More likely, what this illustrate, it is a new low,

certainly, the level, the appearance of disloyalty, double

dealing, betrayal, even, no doubt Sara Payne feels it very deeply,

that is shocking, even by gutter tabloid standards, if you like.

Others believe tonight's revelations actually lend credence

to Rebekah Brooks' claim not to have sanctioned phone hacking. One

former senior member of the News of All that is so far alleged is that

Sara Payne's phone was targeted. It is not clear that the private

investigator who allegedly did this was working for the News of the

World at the time, nor that, if he did try, he was successful. Tonight,

the former News of the World employee, Hayley Barlow, who became

very close to Sara Payne tweeted Today the far-reaching inquiry,

triggered by the phone hacking scandal, had its first meeting. The

panel will begin hearing evidence in September. The focus of the

inquiry is the culture, practices ethics of the press, in the context

of the latter's relationship with the public, the police, and

politicians. All these matters overlap, and my goal must be to

consider what lessons, if any, may be learned from past events, and

what recommendations, if any, should be made for the future, in

particular as regards press regulation, governance, and systems

of oversight. It was in this man's notebooks that Sara Payne's details

were allegedly found, along with those of around 4,000 other people.

This evening the News of the World's private investigator, Glenn

Mulcaire, was saying nothing. With fewer than 200 of the possible

victims so far contacted by the police, it is a safe assumption

that there are more revelations to come.

More revelations indeed in just the past few minutes, breaking news,

the police officer who led the investigation into the murder of

Sarah Payne, has told the BBC, that he contacted officers from

Operation Weeting two weeks ago to say he also could have been the

victim of phone hacking. It surrounds an occasion where he was

contacted by a senior news executive from News of the World,

about a story that he believes was gained by listening to his messages.

In yet another development today, the BSkyB board have offered their

unanimous support to their chairman, James Murdoch, on the eve of the

company's results being announced tomorrow, the board will keep a

watching brief on external issues. Not all the shareholders are happy.

What happened today? You had a meeting this afternoon of

the board, it went on for a long time. What is significant is they

came out of the statement saying James Murdoch had their unanimous

support, more or less when the news about Sara Payne was breaking. They

had a few adjustments after. We have been hearing afterwards that

non-executive directors were grilling James Murdoch, he was told

by one he was on probation. He was always a controversial choice,

because it is a listed company, anyone can buy or sell shares in t

it is not meant to be run like family business. Back in 2003,

James Murdoch was a controversial choice for chief executive, when he

became chairman in 2007, it was questioned could he be independent,

can you really represent shareholders equally, when your dad

controls 39% of the company. Sharehold hearse a gripe, as well,

that they weren't quite happy with the price it was suggested to pay.

They won't be as unanimous as the board was. I spoke to one

shareholder from one of the smaller investment groups, he wanted to

remain anonymous, but he was adamant James Murdoch should stand

down. He said: Shareholders wouldn't be doing

their job if they weren't thinking about the money. What will happen

tomorrow? Tomorrow we will get the results and the profits. This is a

highly lucrative business, it made �752 million of profits last year.

This year it is expected to go up to �950 million. This business, as

one shareholder told me, just throws off cash. The days peerns of

the takeover bid has obviously meant - disappearance of the

takeover bid means the price has headed south, they are hoping that

their patience of Sky, when they invested new money into new

technology, that their patience would be rewarded, there is a hope

they will get a special dividend to handsome of their money back. I

asked one supportive shareholder, James Bevan of CCLA investments, he

manages money for churches and charities. I asked him what he

really thought about whether the ethical questions were separate

from the financial ones? Absolutely not, we think that corporate

governance lies at the heart of long-term shareholder value, we are

really very concerned that we do have a chairman, who is going to be

doing the right thing, both in terms of ethic, but also in terms

of the law. That said, it seems to me he has been a first rate steward

of shareholder value over the years. We think that BSkyB is in an

absolutely first rate position. With their thoughts on revelations

from the investigation, and the news about the impact on BSkyB, I'm

joined by the former chairman of the BBC, Christopher Bland, the

Times editor, formerly, David Evans, and Tom Watson on the committee for

investigating the crisis. This story about Sara Payne seems to be

shocking, we don't know if she had her phone hacked or the details?

is a new low, but yet another scandalous revelation, I do very

much, my party goes out to Sara Payne tonight, she must wonder who

her friends are. More importantly, what it shows is this company is

still not showing any contrition. They have hired this highly

expensive PR firm in London to put a statement out. There has been no

apology, no acceptance of the fact that Rebekah Brooks is ultimately

responsible for the culture that allowed these kind of things to

happen. People who know Rebekah Brooks say, this is the last thing

she would have done, she genuinely was friends with Sara Payne, she

would be appalled to learn this went on? I can't speak for Rebekah

Brooks and her personal relations, but she was head of the company,

and she is a former editor of the newspaper. There was a culture

created in that newsroom that allowed a private investigator to

think it was acceptable to do this kind of thing. Unless she carries

responsibility for that, and really accepts that she is, as head of the

company, was responsible for setting the tone. Even if she

didn't know? It is the culture that allows it to happen, not the

specific items of wrongdoing. Rushocked by today's revelations

that - Simon Rushocked by today's revelations? Simon, are you shocked

by today's investigations. The phone was given to her by the paper

and the number is in the pocket of one of the investigator, I'm not

shocked. I don't think it justifies leading Newsnight, it is not a big

news story, it is another sordid chapter in the every day history of

News of the World. Newsnight can look after itself, it is the front

page of the Times tomorrow, the Guardian, I looked at the Telegraph

website, and the Mail, Times of India have been carrying the

stories? I won't defend anything to do with the News of the World, it

is nothing to do with me, it is a shoddy and dreadful newspaper. I'm

glad it is closed. But that's gone. It is still a big story, is my

point, is it not? There is danger of our profession collectively

looking slightly ridiculous in the eyes of the public, we have gone on

about this for three weeks now, at a time when serious stories were

rattling around the world, familiar anyone in Africa, the European

economy is collapsing, the American economy is collapsing, the welfare

state is collapsing. There are serious news stories we have not

covered properly because we have been completely obsessed with the

whole business. Have we got this out of whack? For two years every

media company ignored this scandal on their doorstep, I don't think it

is unusual they played catch-up. The symbolism of Sara Payne herself,

who led a campaign for Sarah's Law, who had the support of News

International, producing leaflets and going to politician, to being

given an assurance that she wasn't targeted, and then to be hold by

the Metropolitan Police that her perch details are held in Glenn

Mulcaire's personal files, ordinary people will be shocked.

telephone number was in the file. We know nothing about this. I'm not

defending T I can see that Tom is on a role here, my paper is on a

role here, the BBC is on a role here, no problem with that at all.

I think the professional journalism, which I care about, and has been

dragged through the mud, rightly so, needs to be careful, how it reports

these stories. I don't think I know that there are a lot of people out

there who think we are just overdoing it. Getting on to BSkyB,

you have particular concerns about that at the moment what do you make

of this part of the story? I think Simon is partly right, this isn't,

it doesn't add a great deal, because already we knew the phone

hacking was endemic in the News of the World, this is just icing,

doesn't seem the appropriate simply, but it is more of the same - simile,

or worse, the key issue is today, the more important one, of what has

happened at BSkyB. Where the board has unanimously voted to retain

James Murdoch as chairman. shouldn't it, we heard Rupert

Murdoch say clearly that the News of the World was 1% or less of his

business, he does many, many other things, which he does, and BSkyB is

a separate company? Well, it is not his company, but it has been

treated as though it was a satellite of News Corporation, and

the reason why James Murdoch should go is very simple, he's damaged

goods. He has a day job in New York as deputy COO of News Corporation,

and most importantly, BSkyB is a big British company, it is actually

the biggest television company in the UK, it is in the FTSE 100, it

is never now going to become a subsidiary of News Corporation. It

needs to cut itself off from News Corp, the shareholdings should go

down to 29%, and it should become a profitable and no longer a cash cow

for News Corporation. But it is hugely profitable, it has been very

successful, and done extremely well? Yes. That doesn't mean it

should ignore all the rules of corporate governance, it shouldn't

be run as a satellite of News Corporation any more. I agree. News

Corp is a serious media company, it has unattractive aspects, as many

media companies do. It has got rid of its worst product, News of the

World, it, I think, should have been allowed to take the rest of

the Sky Broadcasting shareholder, it shouldn't be run by the Murdoch

family any more. Murdoch has done his bit by the world's media, and

the world's media has done its bid by Rupert Murdoch. He has patently

come to the point where he has to step aside. The family rightly have

been castigated by what was happening at the News of the World,

they knew it was going on. It was the worst of the worst. Now the

time has come for what might be called for News Corp to become a

proper krnings and BSkyB to be a proper company. It - company, and

BSkyB to be a report company. do you think? We have had

staggeringly contradictory evidence from the editor of the News of the

World, and the solicitor of the axe crow moany of what James Murdoch

told us at the committee last week. I think we should invite James

Murdoch back along with Myler and Crone to get to the bottom of this,

find the facts and parliament can move on and let the police to do

their inquiry. That is the former editor of the News of the World and

the chief lawyer. You want to get to the bottom of the contradiction

in the evidence about who saw what, particularly one e-mail? We brought

James and Rupert Murdoch in front of u we believed parliament had

been misled, he gave evidence and 24 hours later two chief executives

contradicted. Parliament needs to get to the facts on that and hand

over to the police. Maybe need to look at other things because there

are other big things on in the world? Parliament has known this

stuff is going on since 2003. I don't know any committee inquiring

into the press didn't know that the press was being illegally intrusive

in all sorts of ways. There is no defence for it at all, there are

much more important issues about press ownership and regulation than

this. Final thought. Do you see the shareholders getting very anxious

about this, given that the financial side of it is going very

well? Well, shareholders are a sue pine lot, but they should get very

anxious and make a change. It should be a change financially and

as well as governance changes, better for BSkyB. It would be a

better organisation if it was genuinely independent of News Corp.

Thank you very much. On Capitol Hill tonight, politicians of both

parties are posturing over how to cut America's debt. While they

fiddle around, in the real America they are struggling with the

hardest times many Americans have ever seen, and a sense something

terrible has gone wrong in the supposedly most powerful country on

earth. In The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck wrote about a family

uprooting and hoping find work in California. Paul Mason has retraced

the journey. To the red country and part of the

grey country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not

cut the scarred earth. So begins Steinbeck's novel, The

Grapes of Wrath. The events it describes happened 80 years ago,

but today, once again, America is in the grip of unemployment and

Oklahoma in the grip of drought. I'm about to retrace the journey

Steinbeck describes. At the cattle market in El Reno, business is

brisk, but for the wrong reasons. Farmers are bringing their cows to

market because the drought, worse than any for 60 years leaves them

with no option. To operate my operation, I need

$400,000. A year? To keep it flowing. Credit? Yes. Brett farms

this land, but cotton, brief, it is all failing. I had to sell the

calves earlier than I normally do. Last week I sold half my momma cows.

Does it make you feel like giving up? A lot of nights I don't get

sleep and I stay up worrying about how will I stretch this out, how

will I make this work. But, I believe in the Lord, and he will

get us through it. At the cattle market, prices are

falling, but, unlike in the 1930s, the whole farming system is

underwritten with Government supsidies and loan, but now, even

that is under threat, as America moves to cut federal spending. So,

at knockdown price, they are selling their future.

In the 1930s, tens of thousands left this land and set off west for

California. The experience still haunts the landscape. The old route

west, root 66, has been replaced by interstate 40. But 66 is still

there, just at the side. In Steinbeck, the family make this

journey into a world of conflict, rootlessness, prejudice and there

is plenty of that today. What there is not today, and there was then,

is general agreement about the direction of American economic

policy. Because then, the state was set to play a larger part in crisis

resolution. And now, it is set to shrink.

The journey through Texas and New Mexico, takes you into a whole

different landscape. Today it is normal for Americans to

move home to look for work, the rootlessness that shocked Steinbeck,

is almost a way of life. As a result, amid the desert, boom towns,

and boom suburbs, that have now turned to bust. The families

learned what rights have been observed, the right of privacy in

the tent, the right to keep the past, black, hidden in the heart,

the right to talk and listen. That is how Steinbeck describes the

camp for homeless migrants that the family turned up in. Joy Junction

is a modern shelter for the homeless. Normally the families who

come here are coping with drink, drugs, domestic violence, but now

there is a new kind of customer, the American middle-class. Mime'

Larry Antista, this is my daughter Michelle, we are here - I'm Larry

Antista, we are here for the economic times, my spouse took off

on us, and that cut our income in half, and we lost our house and

here we are.'S A struck driver, and he can't work, he works for his

welfare payments $300 a month. His daughter, Michelle, is still at

school. Do the people at school know where you live? No. They don't

ask I don't tell them. You don't show up as homeless, even in the

school statistics? No. The sort of rich of America, really, the media,

do they understand that every night thousands of people are bedding

down like this? No. No. What would you say to them if you could speak

to them? If they could live one day of our lives they would see how

hard it is. And how good they have it. Because loot of them complain

about what they have got which is really dumb. This man was, not long

ago, the manager of a vehicle fleet. They lived in a moat tell, but his

unemployment money ran out. know when you lose a secure job,

and you have to downgrade, you have to downgrade your lifestyle,

sometimes the bills start racking up, you only get further behind,

after that it catches up and then you start losing stuff. Cars start

getting took, can't pay your note, you end up here. Can I ask you how

it is for you to cope with all of this? It is stressful. What's the

toughest thing, you have been here how many nights? We are on our

second week. What's the hardest thing about it? Well, just having

my kids here. Them. That would be my number one concern.

experience of all ba kurky gives me a whole new take on the moat tells

flashes past on the free way, look closely and many are housing the

hidden homeless. What role does a place like this play in the housing

and homelessness system? Huge. Many of the folks for the first seven to

ten days of each month, on the first or there about they get the

Government welfare cheque. They spend some or all of that forget

ago room for seven to ten day, once the cheque runs out they migrate

down to Joy Junction. It is like an alternating system. It is. It is a

reminder of the basic facts about this recession, it is a housing

crisis. Many Americans can't afford to put a roof over their head, and

home repossessions are still rising. The roads were filled with migrants

80 years a office workers, farmers, all displayed by poverty.

This landscape of Cactuss and vast canyon, must have seemed to them,

like a different planet. If you compare the book to the

actual journey, there is nothing in Steinbeck to prepare you for the

vastness, the aridity, and the distance that the 30s dust ball

migrants had to face. That is because I don't think Steinbeck

actually made the full journey, what Steinbeck knew about what was

was what was lay at the end of the journey, which was social conflict.

Today you don't have to get to the end of the journey to find that.

Arizona has become the political fault line of America, above all,

on the issue of migration. The boom times drew in millions of his

spannic migrant, millions illegal. But Arizona is still in recession

and tensions are rising. In Phoenix, the inmates are forced

to live in tents. The temperature when I went there was 114 degrees

Fahrenheit. They are forbidden to cover their heads in the sun. As

well as pink towels, socks and sheets, they are required to wear

pink underwear, the objective, humiliation. In this something he

gre gated section, every man is a migrant, jailed under the anti-

migrant laws, and destined for deportation. Under a law called

SB1070, if you are stopped by the police and cannot produce documents

to prove your legal residence, you have committed an offence. Other

laws criminalise the hiring of migrants, transporting them.

don't have a name any more, you become a number. They call you

alien, as if you were from another planet.

Fernando Lopez was picked up for driving without a license. He spent

a month in the prison system, and is now on bail, fighting

deportation. How do young Mexican men live, what kind of jobs do they

do? House keeping, land caping, restaurants. Every restaurant you

will find Mexicans in the back. What makes people come here since

it is so inhospitable, why do people still come? It is very hard

for them to live over there. They don't have any other option than to

go to go to another country. Probably the best option is the

United States. But the migrants keep on coming, in the car parks,

at hardware stores, here and across America, men wait for casual work,

for cash. As for the families, at this

Hispanic community centre, there is trepidation. Actually we are living

in state of fear. We can't even go to the store, or go out like we

used to do. Take the kids to the park, or take them somewhere to the

mall, we can't do that, now the kids are feared that the police

might stop their parents, or might stop us. So, right now, we just

stay home, and we don't do nothing, we just stay there.

At the office of the man in charge of law enforcement, there is a

Bailey protest, but fear is what he's aiming at. They are leaving,

they don't want to go into the hot tents, they worry about the Sheriff

rounding them up in the work place, or coming into our county. That is

why they are leaving. If you can do it in this county, you can do it

across the United States, if people have the will to do it and fight

the politics, or not care about the politics, or the his spannic vote,

or the employ - Hispanic vote, or the employers having cheap labour.

To the argument, that his spannics do the jobs nobody else - his

spannics do the jobs nobody wants, he says this? This is the greatest

country in the world, for them to say nobody lels do these jobs, are

you kidding, any time we go into the business and drag the people

out working illegally, they get tonnes of people applying for the

job that are US citizens. We have an economic problem in this country,

we have 10% unemployment. You have people from all professions that

will wash cars, to make money for their families. You are telling me

nobody will do these jobs, that is a cop out.

The last part of the journey would be the most arduous, vigilante

squads, roadblocks, strikes. In the 30s, people made this journey

because at the end of it there were jobs. But for the past year,

America's been going through what economists call a jobless recovery,

and right now, even the recovery itself looks like it is stalling.

In the book, the family crossed the desert by night, and at dawn they

come to the San Joaquimvalley. drove through in the morning glow,

and the sun came up behind them, suddenly they saw all the great

valley below them. In Steinbeck, the migrants come to California to

look for work, and they find work. But the book is a metaphor for

something else, it is about the search for a new economic model

that can create jobs, sustain growth and drive America out of

recession. And that's a question they still face, even in place like

this. The journey ended in bakeserfield,

today, the - Bakersfield, today the biggest employers are oil and

farming, but the biggest employer by far is the US military, when

America boomed the town boomed, the population grew by a quarter in ten

years. But now 15% are unemployed, and one home in 70 has been

repossessed. All across the south, I found the

same basic problem, not enough jobs, and not enough credit to revive the

housing market. And in politics there is plenty of wrath. You can

see and read more about Paul's journey from Oklahoma to California

on our website. General Petraeus pet is regards as

one of America's best - General David Petraeus is regarded as one

of America's brightest. He begins his career as head of the FBI. His

time in Afghanistan ends with troops withdrawing, a suggest of

huge debai. As he headed home, we spoke - huge debate. As he headed

home we spoke to him about it. NATO forces in Afghanistan have a new

commander, General David Petraeus has served for a year, but he has

been called home to head the CIA. The force he left behind is being

cut faster than he recommended, and the insurgency has shown itself

capable of hitting backs, with assassinations and attacks. NATO

insists it is winning. This afternoon I asked the general what

the grounds for optimisim could be? What we have seen now recently is

developing into a trend. In fact, this past week, yet again, the

level of insurgent attacks was a good bit lower, over 20% lower than

the level of attacks the same week last year. That makes now nine of

the last 13 weeks in which this has taken place, in which levels of

attack s are lower than the course ponding month last year. That is

completely contrary to what the intelligence professionals

predicted. Do you think the strategic differences and the death

of Bin Laden has checked political momentum, or is it not really

possible to see it like that on the battlefield? It is a very

significant blow to Al-Qaeda senior leadership, to the overall

franchise of Al-Qaeda as well. He was the iconic figure of the

movement. Even his image has been tarnished, diminished, by the final

pictures seen of him, of just the fact that he is dead it's gone. And

in the Arab world that is a, the biggest blow you can sustain. That,

in a sense, is quite significant, obviously, it turns out he was

quite active with operational guidance and working the movement.

He was also a very effective fundraiser. His replacement is no

Osama Bin Laden. So the movement, the overall Al-Qaeda franchise and

network, has sustained a substantial blow. Having said that,

it is not apparent what effect that has had on the insurgents fighting

in Afghanistan. Although some of their leaders, certainly, have had

second thoughts about how frequently they might move or

relocate at various times, when they are in areas that they deem

safe. There has been talk, particularly I'm thinking about the

chairman of the joint chiefs, but as this process of drawdown goes on,

at this rate there could be risks that are being embraced by going at

that speed. What do you think can be done over the coming year, 18

months, to mitigate the risks in the draw down? The key, of course,

is to maintain the pressure on the insurgents, to reduce their

capabilities, as much as is possible. To disrupt, to dismantle,

in some cases to defeat them, in some local areas. And then to

establish a combination of local security initiatives, Afghan

national security forces, that can back them up, Afghan enablers,

because again, keep in mind, we built the infantry formations first,

now we are helping them build their artillery units, their fixed and

rotary wing aviation, military intelligence, route clearance teams,

engineering units, logistics and all of that. That is an important

component as well. Indeed, to build that more rapidly, than we actually

draw down. How big a risk to what's been achieved is the state of

relations now with Pakistan? Well, clearly the relationship between my

country and Pakistan has seen some challenges, needless to say, in

recent months. Really in the last eight months or so. My hope,

frankly, is that we recognise the mutual objective that is we have,

and that we can indeed begin a process of reviving some elements

of a relationship that has indeed been difficult. We do have a lot of

common aims. It is, well I would say, I wouldn't say it is hard to

imagine things getting worse, there could be a complete shutdown of

relation, but it is at a pretty bad state, they have denied visas to

advisers to their forces, they are claimed by the Afghan Government to

be shelling into Afghanistan. They say they have withdrawn all co-

operation from the US on drone strikes and that kind of thing. Do

you really see the beginnings of a rebuilding of that, or are things

still in the deep freeze? I do, actually. I think everyone has

stepped back from the abyss. After looking into it, realising, once

again, that we have again very important objectives, many of which

we share, and we need to focus on those, and move forward.

The campaign in Afghanistan, it has been a long slog, and there has

been a huge price paid, in lives, in money, do you think that the

patience of the US, the UK, NATO, will hold out over the next few

years, can be depended upon, or do you see exhaustion setting in?

has been a long war, no question about it. And our countries have

shown enormous determination and persistence. My sense is that if

that progress continues, if the people recognise that this does

enable us to achieve our important objective over time, that they will

continue to provide the requisite support, but it is incumbent on us

and our Afghan partner, indeed, to continue to build on that progress,

so that it can be very clearly seen by all those back home, who have

sacrificed so much for this effort. Thank you very much. It is great to

be with you. A former editor of Newsnight once

told me that he thought this programme maybe one of the greatest

contraceptives known to mankind. That therefore didn't entirely come

as a shock that a blog claimed watching Newsnight when your

partner goes to bed, is a sure sign your relationship is in trouble. We

couldn't resist this one, if you are still watching alone or in

couples, this is what Stephen Smith is making of it!

You know how t it is late, it is just the two of you there on the

couch. Time to snuggle up and share your favourite news almanac. Good

luck with that. It turns out the only thing that's getting turgid,

is our analysis, that is according to our highly-trained, eh,

freelance journalist. It is a significant sign if your marriage

is going on. If you watch Newsnight. At all? The scheduling of it, the

timing of it, the attitude of it is not conducive to the end of a good

day and a good marriage really. it ain't so. We turned to a long

time Newsnight viewer and contributor, Edwina Currie.

She would stick up for us, wouldn't she? No she wouldn't. I'm not the

least doubtful that watching Newsnight can have a detrimental

effect on relationships. Afterall, you are sitting on the sofa and

your beloved says you are going up to bed. And you think, do I really

want to follow this rather large, perhaps rather bearded character

who is only interested in watching football on tele, when I could be

with Jeremy Paxman, I think that is # Let me be good to you

# # Let me be good to you 'S more like it. Newsnight unsexy,

I don't think so. What girl, or guy, wouldn't melt a little at the

thought of curling up with one of our box sets. Experts believe this

early erotic print may show a couple watching the programme!

Newsnight is one of the greatest aphrodisiacs, political debate,

what more could a woman ask for. Seriously, and a man. If you are

into mental stimulation, as a bit of foreplay. Are you sure you're

tuned to the right channel? Absolutely positive. As a

professional, doctor, is it possible that Newsnight could be

some kind of aphrodisiac? Ha ha, ...I Want you to think about this,

this is a serious matter? Newsnight can give topics for two people.

pillow talk? To talk about afterwards. Afterwards. After the

programme. After the programme or after the watershed? Ha ha, after

the programme. It can do that. I think people talk a lot about

what's going on today. People should. Everybody is affected in

one degree or another, unless of course people want to shut off from

it, there are a lot of people who do. But the people at the Middle

Class Handbook prefer to see our programme as a dirty little secret.

If you are man it is to be treated like a form of pornography, what

you should do is watch it very quietly perhaps on your iPhone on

the iPlayer during the day, or watch it can friend or discuss it

in the pub with your - watch it with your friends or discuss it in

the pub. Don't let Paxman become the third man in your marriage.

Newsnight is a tonic to my relationship, if you have an

argument and watch Jeremy take um bridge with an unforth coming

politician, or anyone, that apieces my rage, mellows the situation.