15/09/2011

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:00:10. > :00:14.Tonight, why have so many of this summer's rioters a string of

:00:14. > :00:18.criminal conviction, what's wrong with the criminal justice system

:00:18. > :00:22.that cannot deter them from a life of crime, or rehabilitate them or

:00:22. > :00:26.keep them off the streets. Charities are going to the wall,

:00:26. > :00:31.community agencies are going to wall. Then they finally realise

:00:31. > :00:37.what started this and what needs to be addressed there will be no-one

:00:37. > :00:43.there. We ask the Justice Secretary what he means by a "feral

:00:43. > :00:48.underKlasnic" and there is - "feral underclass".

:00:48. > :00:51.A desperate attempt to save the euro, will it work lt Three years

:00:51. > :00:55.to the day since Lehman Brothers collapsed, is it case of here we go

:00:55. > :01:00.again. And, they may be steady in the poll,

:01:00. > :01:06.but the Conservatives are losing a lot of women voters, why?

:01:06. > :01:16.Far too often they are not looking at policy through a female lens,

:01:16. > :01:17.

:01:17. > :01:20.this has become more evident over recent months. Good evening, the

:01:20. > :01:27.Ministry of Justice issued new figure today about the find kind of

:01:28. > :01:32.people arrested in the riots. The vast majority had existing

:01:32. > :01:36.criminal records. What is surprise something a vast majority with over

:01:36. > :01:41.15 convictions have never been in prison. Keneth Clarke will discuss

:01:41. > :01:45.whether we have a broken justice system that neither deters or

:01:46. > :01:50.rehabilitates criminalsment The shard, that gleaming symbol of

:01:50. > :01:58.Britain's wealth rises above the council estates at its feet, that

:01:58. > :02:04.is the nature of London the rich overlooking the power, the

:02:04. > :02:08.juxtaposition some feel is the cause of the riots. Southwark has

:02:08. > :02:12.written to 50 council tenants, allegedly involved in the riot, and

:02:12. > :02:16.today the community safety officer is on a home visit. We are going to

:02:16. > :02:20.talk through the issues, try to identify some issues they may be

:02:20. > :02:23.facing, the challenges they might be facing and talk through the

:02:23. > :02:26.reprecussions of what they have been involved in. Is there anything

:02:26. > :02:31.else we can do in terms of helping them, but also looking at some of

:02:31. > :02:35.the issues that took place that night. Ultimately, eviction would

:02:36. > :02:39.be a possibility? We have to do it proportionally whatever decision we

:02:39. > :02:45.make. I think what we are trying to do is the council has put that

:02:45. > :02:49.level of proportionality in. further detail emerged today about

:02:49. > :02:53.the backgrounds of the rioters. Statistics reached by the Ministry

:02:53. > :02:58.of Justice showed that 73% of those charged had a previous caution or

:02:58. > :03:03.conviction. 40% had more than five previous offences, and 5% had more

:03:03. > :03:08.than 50 previous offences. Southwark Council spends millions

:03:08. > :03:11.of pounds trying to keep young people out of prison. But a recent

:03:11. > :03:15.Government funding cut is hitting social programmes hard. We don't

:03:15. > :03:20.have the whole range of things we may have had a year ago, but we

:03:20. > :03:24.certainly do have, and we certainly retained that one-to-one work, that

:03:24. > :03:27.intensive work, that work with families, dealing with all the

:03:27. > :03:30.complexties that they find within their daily lives.

:03:30. > :03:35.As the Justice Secretary, Keneth Clarke, said today, you can't

:03:35. > :03:39.simply prosecute your way out of this situation. You have to tackle

:03:39. > :03:47.the underlying causes behind the riots. But that costs money. At a

:03:47. > :03:54.time of severe pressure on budgets. This is Dave Walk, from a charity

:03:54. > :03:57.called sut work Mediation Centre. Here he is defusing another

:03:57. > :04:02.neighbourhood row. The boyfriend deliberately antagonised me, I said

:04:02. > :04:07.don't stand there taking the BEEP out of me, come over and have a go.

:04:07. > :04:12.What would you like to live here in peace why your neighbour, Sharon,

:04:12. > :04:16.what do you need? Dave's mediation charity has been funded for more

:04:16. > :04:23.than 20 years by Southwark Council, that all changed this year when the

:04:23. > :04:26.money was axed. So you lost �240,000 a year. Bang, gone, it is

:04:26. > :04:32.devastating. It now means that we can't operate the service for the

:04:32. > :04:35.whole of the borough, the staff at the centre have been working,

:04:35. > :04:39.keeping the centre going whilst on benefits to keep the service going.

:04:39. > :04:43.We can't continue that forever. Most of Dave's team are now on

:04:43. > :04:47.benefits and the rent is six months late. His work continues, just. The

:04:47. > :04:50.police have asked him to work a group of 50 youths. They have asked

:04:50. > :04:54.us to get involved, so we can engage directly with the young

:04:54. > :04:59.people and their parents, and look at ways in which this sort of

:04:59. > :05:04.behaviour can be addressed and reduced. His counterpart in the

:05:04. > :05:09.neighbouring borough of Lambeth, is still funded by the council, but

:05:09. > :05:13.worried. While I'm lucky currently, my funding is insecurement come

:05:13. > :05:15.next April I could be on the employment line looking for a job.

:05:15. > :05:18.It doesn't matter about qualification, there are lots of

:05:18. > :05:22.people with lots of qualifications, who are still finding it hard. So

:05:22. > :05:27.if we're in that position, what opportunities for the younger

:05:27. > :05:31.people, and what do they see as their future. Back in Southwark,

:05:31. > :05:38.the man who holds the purse strings for the council says hard choices

:05:38. > :05:40.are being made. We had �6 million taken off us in the last financial

:05:41. > :05:45.year, that George Osborne introduced a month into power. We

:05:46. > :05:49.had a further �34 million taken off us for this current fnction

:05:49. > :05:53.financial year. We know that those cuts are going to continue in

:05:53. > :05:58.future years, which makes things really difficult for us, clearly we

:05:58. > :06:01.need, as a council, to deliver those statutory services. Some of

:06:01. > :06:07.those things which are really important to us, but more

:06:07. > :06:12.discretionary, such as some of our intervention around anti-social

:06:12. > :06:17.behaviour and community safety and youth provision, have been under

:06:17. > :06:22.severe pressure. Massive wealth inequality, thwarted

:06:22. > :06:27.aspirations, the breakdown of family value, rampant materialism,

:06:27. > :06:30.social media, the list of cause force the riots is long, but one

:06:30. > :06:34.thing is clear, working with young people is vital and it will cost

:06:34. > :06:39.money. I caught up with the Justice

:06:39. > :06:42.Secretary in Westminster a little earlier.Looking at your

:06:42. > :06:47.department's statistics about who is doing the rioting, do you think

:06:48. > :06:51.there is a lost generation of young men who are, frankly, unsavable?

:06:51. > :06:59.There is obviously far too many, and the danger is they are getting

:06:59. > :07:03.more of them. Actually, although I have personally remembered riots 30

:07:03. > :07:06.years ago, these were widespread and serious. The sheer casual

:07:06. > :07:10.criminality troubles me. It was almost instantly people were

:07:10. > :07:15.responding to things on their mobile and BlackBerry, and turning

:07:15. > :07:20.out to loot what they wanted. There was no undertone of anything except

:07:20. > :07:24.criminal people, just straight away to repeat crimes they had already

:07:24. > :07:29.been convicted for in the past, sentenced in the past, and nothing

:07:29. > :07:33.would stop them, just responding in this way. Quite outside the values

:07:33. > :07:37.of ordinary, decent people in this country. Implicit in that, it

:07:37. > :07:40.suggests, I'm sure you would recognise is there must be

:07:40. > :07:44.something seriously wrong with the criminal justice system, if young

:07:44. > :07:49.people who are repeat offenders in that way are not deterred, they are

:07:49. > :07:52.not rehabilitated, and nothing really is working? Some things are.

:07:52. > :07:55.Don't let's dismiss everything that goes on, it is an appalling sort of

:07:55. > :08:02.picture, it bears out what I have been going on about ever since I

:08:02. > :08:07.got toe the department. That the reoffending figures in this country

:08:07. > :08:12.are really a disgrace. If all we do is punish them and turn them out

:08:12. > :08:15.with still criminal intent, they spontaneously almost take part in

:08:15. > :08:18.criminality, and you have more victims. That is why we will

:08:18. > :08:22.introduce more work into prisons and make them places of disciplined

:08:22. > :08:26.working week, why we are going to tackle the drugs in prison, why we

:08:26. > :08:30.will tackle problems with alcohol. Why we are going to make sure the

:08:30. > :08:35.mentally ill ones are actually treated somewhere more sensibly

:08:35. > :08:40.than in prison. And also why, both in prison and outside, we will try

:08:40. > :08:45.to pay by results. People who think that they can get hold of these

:08:45. > :08:49.people when they are being punished, after they are being punished, to

:08:49. > :08:54.stop them reoffending. Are you writing off many of these people,

:08:54. > :08:58.if they have done ten or 15 offences, it doesn't sound as if

:08:58. > :09:03.rehabilitating them will work, you may be talking about future

:09:03. > :09:06.generations and all those things may be of benefit? I'm not naive

:09:06. > :09:10.about all of this, there are some who, whatever you try to do, they

:09:10. > :09:14.will keep going back into criminality. But they are starting

:09:14. > :09:19.from a situation where 50%, half the people we have in prison we

:09:19. > :09:22.know will be back within a year. And there are three quarters of

:09:23. > :09:27.them committing more offences, although some good work has been at

:09:27. > :09:34.the moment, it is neglected, it is not the priority for years, the

:09:34. > :09:37.priority now is to build up what we are doing in prisons to stop

:09:37. > :09:40.reoffending. Punishment was given swiftly and frmly by the court

:09:40. > :09:44.system. That worked. There are keen people in the Prison Service who

:09:44. > :09:47.want to be allowed to do more, actually to improve this

:09:47. > :09:51.reoffending position. We will have to write off the ones where we fail,

:09:51. > :09:56.but some of these people probably could be induced to go back to a

:09:56. > :10:03.proper way of life with the ordinary values of society. Do you

:10:03. > :10:07.think the public mood on this has changed as a result of the riots?

:10:07. > :10:10.think the public mood is predictable on these occasions.

:10:10. > :10:14.what way? The vast majority of people in this country, rich and

:10:14. > :10:19.poor, are honest b one in three adult, males has a criminal record,

:10:19. > :10:23.but it is a long distance one in their youth, the values of British

:10:24. > :10:28.society are extremely good. They are appalled by wanton lawlessness

:10:28. > :10:31.of this kind. People get very angry. Then you get predictable reactions

:10:31. > :10:35.to it, all the way from why don't we hang and flog them on the one

:10:35. > :10:40.hand to why not give them all social workers at the other. But

:10:40. > :10:45.the real sensible mainstream of British opinion, I think, is punish

:10:45. > :10:51.firmly, make it more intelligent, it must be possible to get some of

:10:51. > :10:56.these people back into a decent way of life with a job and no more

:10:56. > :10:59.reoffending. Last week on Newsnight, your junior minister said it was

:10:59. > :11:03.not an aim of the Government to reduce the prison population, do

:11:03. > :11:06.you agree with it? I have never stated it. I think the prison

:11:06. > :11:10.population has soared pointlessly, I would like to stablise the

:11:10. > :11:16.situation. If it was allowed to sore as Labour were planning to see

:11:16. > :11:21.it increased when they handed over - soar as Labour were planning to

:11:21. > :11:25.when they handed it over to us, it was not good to accommodate people

:11:25. > :11:29.for a time and make no progress in stopping them being criminals. We

:11:29. > :11:35.will put in prison whoever the courts send, I want to make it more

:11:35. > :11:39.sensible. Now is not a good time to cut prison officers and probation

:11:39. > :11:43.officers? Like many parts of the public services, if you try hard

:11:43. > :11:50.people can improve the way it runs. I'm a great believer in competitive

:11:50. > :11:54.tendering, we did well last time, I'm putting more out this time, the

:11:54. > :11:57.public sector will respond by seeing how they can avoid waste and

:11:57. > :12:02.save money. The idea that this means I shouldn't try to save money

:12:02. > :12:04.on the running costs of prisons I think is a mistake. Do you think

:12:04. > :12:08.you have made it clear that you are interested in the practicalities

:12:08. > :12:13.and what works, in that sense, does it help when the Prime Minister

:12:13. > :12:18.talks of a broken society, or a sick society, or Iain Duncan Smith

:12:18. > :12:23.talking today of "distorted morality" in our society. Does that

:12:23. > :12:28.kind of language help practically? It is language I use occasionally

:12:28. > :12:32.I'm not a great moraliser in politics, but my reaction to the

:12:32. > :12:40.riots was good gracious what kind of society have we in a certain

:12:40. > :12:46.section of the population. There are many parts and honest people,

:12:46. > :12:50.but very dishonest rich people. One or two sorted out recently. But

:12:50. > :12:55.these people, what just, feral was one word I described them, they

:12:55. > :12:59.were casually and spontaneously engaging in violence, it varied

:12:59. > :13:04.from city-to-city. Some were the well established criminals having a

:13:04. > :13:08.go at the police, and coming behind the violence. But the looting was

:13:08. > :13:13.extraordinary. That society is broken. What I'm talking about,

:13:13. > :13:18.because I'm Justice Secretary, is where the criminal justice system,

:13:18. > :13:21.and the rehabilitation effect of sentences is trying to help. If

:13:21. > :13:24.anybody experienced the riots, whether they were hardline, one

:13:24. > :13:30.side or the other, there is something wrong with a society

:13:30. > :13:34.where this kind of thing can flare up for no apparent reason so

:13:34. > :13:37.spontaneously. I disagree with them. The criminal justice system can

:13:37. > :13:41.contribute. A minute left, I wouldn't let the opportunity pass,

:13:41. > :13:47.talking to a former Chancellor, without asking you about-to-reflect

:13:47. > :13:51.on the euro, when you look at that, how big a mess is it? With the

:13:51. > :13:54.credit crunch it is very worrying indeed. We need agreement, and an

:13:54. > :13:58.orderly way of getting through this crisis in Greek debt, which will

:13:58. > :14:01.rapidly become a crisis in the debt of Portugal and Ireland and other

:14:01. > :14:05.places if it is not resolved. Plainly, we must have stability.

:14:06. > :14:09.I'm not sure we can just run on like this for some years. I do have

:14:09. > :14:13.my own view, but I'm not in the Treasury about what the Europeans

:14:13. > :14:19.should be doing. A bit of leadership might not go amiss?

:14:19. > :14:22.The main thing I take from this crisis is unfortunately, the

:14:22. > :14:28.political leadership in the United States of America, and in large

:14:28. > :14:32.parts of western Europe, has been totally overwhelmed by the

:14:32. > :14:37.dimensions of this financial crisis, it is not able to cope, you have

:14:37. > :14:40.patrol ral sis in Washington and large parts of - paralysis in

:14:40. > :14:43.Washington and large parts of Europe, everyone is fighting short-

:14:43. > :14:47.term politics. I don't think the British Government is coming out

:14:47. > :14:53.too badly when you make that comparison, but our fate partly

:14:53. > :14:59.rests on how these people are sort it out. The euro will survive, it

:14:59. > :15:02.is in British interests are in that, because we will be badly hit if it

:15:02. > :15:06.doesn't. The euro needs fiscal discipline, not the same level of

:15:06. > :15:10.tax and spending everywhere, Governments can decide for

:15:10. > :15:14.themselves whether they are high tax high spend, low tax, low spend,

:15:14. > :15:18.but disciplined fiscal discipline, control of deficits is required. We

:15:18. > :15:22.agreed it when I was Chancellor, and the Germans led the way in

:15:22. > :15:26.breaking it, because there wasn't a mechanism to enforce it. In the

:15:26. > :15:32.longer run, let us hope they get back to fiscal discipline, if the

:15:32. > :15:35.eurozone can be kept intact. Thank you very much.

:15:35. > :15:38.That was Keneth Clarke speaking earlier about the riots. They are

:15:38. > :15:42.on the euro, and on that issue of the single currency, it might be

:15:42. > :15:46.this time lucky for Greece, as yet again, France and Germany pledged

:15:46. > :15:50.they do whatever it takes to bail out the Athens Government and keep

:15:50. > :15:54.the country in the euro. Or it might be another sticking plaster

:15:54. > :16:01.that copes the markets happy for a few weeks before - keeps the

:16:01. > :16:05.markets happy for a few weeks before the wound leaks. Five

:16:05. > :16:09.European banks move to provide loans for Greece in the crisis that

:16:09. > :16:12.won't go away. Another meeting on the crisis begins in Poland

:16:12. > :16:16.tomorrow. Why have the central banks been forced into doing this?

:16:16. > :16:19.Keneth Clarke said it there, there is an on going credit crunch, and

:16:19. > :16:23.there is not much political leadership. The credit crunch in

:16:23. > :16:28.Europe takes the form of money draink out of the system back to

:16:28. > :16:30.America, and some small European - draining out of the system back to

:16:30. > :16:34.America, and some small European banks not lending to each other.

:16:34. > :16:39.The source of fear is obvious, Greece going bust, Greece going

:16:39. > :16:42.bust takes down two French, one German, one Belgian bank that we

:16:42. > :16:45.know about and are worried about. This came to a head this week,

:16:45. > :16:49.because you have the troika, this is a group of experts, in Athens,

:16:49. > :16:54.who have the right to say to the Greek, you are not doing enough, so

:16:54. > :16:59.we are not giving you the next tranche of your bailout money. This

:16:59. > :17:03.they intimated to them by leaving the city, before last weekend. We

:17:03. > :17:08.start this week with the real possibility that Greece company pay

:17:08. > :17:13.civil servants in a month's time N the last 24 hours three things have

:17:13. > :17:16.ob viated that. The authorities have slashed interest rates on the

:17:16. > :17:21.bailout money, not just to Greece but also Ireland and Portugal to

:17:21. > :17:25.about zero. You remember about a year ago people insisted the

:17:25. > :17:29.bailout would be at market rates, but it is zero interest. More

:17:29. > :17:35.importantly, they had the meeting to pledge to keep the Greeks inside

:17:35. > :17:40.the euro, at all costs. They didn't say that they will avoid a default

:17:40. > :17:42.at all cost, but keeping them in the euro, even with a default is

:17:42. > :17:47.very important. It is the difference between taking three or

:17:47. > :17:49.four banks out, and taking a lot of the banking system out, if it

:17:50. > :17:54.sparks a domino effect of people leaving the euro. The other thing

:17:54. > :17:57.they have done today, as you say, five central banks have decided to

:17:57. > :18:01.flood the European banking system with dollars, you can borrow

:18:01. > :18:06.dollars to an unlimited amount until the new year. What does that

:18:06. > :18:10.sort out? Liquidity. The problem we might have, late at night, we look

:18:10. > :18:13.for a minicab and no money in the wallet. That is liquidity, it

:18:13. > :18:18.doesn't solve your bank account. The bank account is the problem.

:18:18. > :18:27.That is why the IMF boss, Christine Lagarde, today, urged Governments

:18:27. > :18:30.to sort the bank account, the sol vncy issue out. - solvency issue.

:18:30. > :18:36.Weak growth of Governments, households, are feeding negatively

:18:36. > :18:41.on each other. Fuel ago crisis of confidence, and holding back demand,

:18:41. > :18:48.holding back investments and job creation. This vicious cycle is

:18:48. > :18:53.gaining momentum, and frankly, it has been exacerbated by policy and

:18:53. > :18:56.uncertainty and political lack of resolve and collective

:18:56. > :19:04.determination. She called it a vicious cycle, we have talked about

:19:04. > :19:07.this again and again and again. What would break the cycle? A lot

:19:07. > :19:10.of economists and historians believe the circuit breaker is

:19:10. > :19:15.Greece leaving the euro and for them to default. Everyone is

:19:15. > :19:22.reading every book they can find on the gold standard crisis in the

:19:22. > :19:26.1930s, where one after another the parties left the gold standard.

:19:26. > :19:31.However, that is not the mainstream view, the mainstream view among

:19:31. > :19:35.European economists, and you are about to talk to some of them s

:19:35. > :19:40.keep everybody in the euro and break the circuit in another way.

:19:41. > :19:44.There is one way, to recapitalise the European banks to the union of

:19:44. > :19:48.500 billion, some think to a trillion, even more, you need a lot

:19:48. > :19:52.of money, and you throw everything at it quite soon. The other things

:19:52. > :19:57.you do is do what Keneth Clarke was talking about there, you create a

:19:57. > :20:01.framework for fiscal discipline. That is, once and for all, fiscal

:20:01. > :20:04.discipline, but in return fiscal transfer, north Europe gives money

:20:04. > :20:07.to south Europe to stop the problem of everything spiralling way down

:20:07. > :20:14.the plughole. Until you do that, there is no circuit breaker. Keneth

:20:14. > :20:18.Clarke also talked about this lack of leadership and paralysis and so

:20:18. > :20:21.on. What happens tomorrow? There is the finance ministers of the

:20:21. > :20:26.eurozone meeting tomorrow in Poland. Timothy Geithner turning up from

:20:26. > :20:32.America, he knows how to do one of these major bailouts. What they

:20:32. > :20:36.have to play with is the ESSF, the 40 billion euro fund, they expanded

:20:36. > :20:40.it on in July, that, importantly, is now available to bail out

:20:40. > :20:45.countries like Greece, ports GAL, Ireland, Spain maybe, Italy, and

:20:45. > :20:48.also to bail out banks and also to do very any of they intervention

:20:48. > :20:54.noose markets that we haven't thought up yet. The - into markets

:20:54. > :21:00.that we haven't thought up yet. The choice they may have and they will

:21:00. > :21:03.have some say it is a no-brain he, do you save Greece by pumping money

:21:03. > :21:08.into an economy that can't grow and take the deficit down. Or do you

:21:09. > :21:11.let it go, and take the money destined for it and pump it into

:21:11. > :21:17.the banking system. That is the choice.

:21:17. > :21:21.Thank you very much. A little earlier I was joined by

:21:21. > :21:25.Finland's minister for European affairs, Alexander Stubb. I asked

:21:25. > :21:29.him if President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel's latest attempt

:21:29. > :21:32.to calm the markets had any chance of working this time? I think it

:21:32. > :21:36.has worked for the past three years. We have to realise that every

:21:36. > :21:39.solution here is ad hoc, what we actually need are long-term,

:21:40. > :21:45.stricter, tougher rules, so that we will never face this situation

:21:45. > :21:50.again. Really, for me, it is all about some member states missinging

:21:50. > :21:55.their public funding, that is whyer - mismanaging their public funding,

:21:55. > :22:00.that is why we are in this mess. Are we throwing good money after in

:22:00. > :22:04.bad unless we have those kinds of conditions, is that the mood in

:22:04. > :22:07.Finland? That is the mood we have, we are Protestant testant EU

:22:07. > :22:17.believers, we believe when we joined the euro we have a set of

:22:17. > :22:20.rulesment when we do well we save, when we do badly we use the money.

:22:20. > :22:26.Now we feel let down that some countries haven't stuck to the

:22:26. > :22:32.rules. That is why the mood is what it is in Finland right now.

:22:32. > :22:35.then, that perhaps why you want collateral, but what does that

:22:35. > :22:39.actually mean? We want collateral because it was a political deal

:22:39. > :22:44.through which we were able to form a Government. We wanted guarantees

:22:45. > :22:47.that the money is not thrown out, if you will. The collateral deal

:22:47. > :22:52.that is emerging between Finland and Greece is probably something

:22:52. > :22:57.that can be accepted by all of the member states. Hopefully we will

:22:57. > :23:00.have a deal within the next few days, a couple of weeks at the

:23:00. > :23:04.latest. I notice Austria is interested in it this kind of deal,

:23:04. > :23:08.and those who feel they are fiscally strict, want more

:23:08. > :23:13.conditions. In other words, they want to be more onerous on Greece,

:23:13. > :23:20.it sucts a lack of confidence, in the - sucts a lack of confidence

:23:20. > :23:26.about the way - suggests the lack of confidence in the way the

:23:26. > :23:29.European policies have been going. We have to start thinking about -

:23:30. > :23:33.outside the box. We can't have economic union without policy co-

:23:33. > :23:36.ordination. We need to give more powers to the commission, to if not

:23:36. > :23:41.control, at least guard national budgets. We can't be driven to the

:23:41. > :23:45.same situation again. Does it worry you, however, even if you are

:23:45. > :23:48.trying to safeguard Finnish tax- payers' money, that you are

:23:48. > :23:52.undercutting what the IMF and European Central Bank have been

:23:52. > :23:55.trying to do, because you are asking for more conditions on

:23:55. > :24:00.Greece? Never underestimate the capacity of European civil servants

:24:00. > :24:06.to find a creative solution. Never underestimate the capacity for Fins

:24:06. > :24:09.to be pragmatic. We will find a solution by the end of the day. It

:24:09. > :24:14.will be comfortable for us and not damaging anybody else. I'm sure

:24:14. > :24:19.this does not undermine the IMF, the European Central Bank, in any

:24:19. > :24:24.way. One way things have been pragmatic is to become more anti-

:24:24. > :24:32.European, the True Finns Party have been doing quite well. Is that a

:24:32. > :24:38.worry? That is big worry, that is a mood pretty much everywhere. My

:24:38. > :24:40.answer is not to retract and close shop and going into a

:24:40. > :24:44.protectionist/nationalist mood, saying we don't need Europe. For a

:24:44. > :24:48.small country like Finland, completely export dependant, 40% of

:24:48. > :24:52.our GDP is from experts wrecks need to be pro-European in order to be

:24:52. > :24:56.able to survive. We just need to communicate things better and do

:24:56. > :25:00.smart solutions. But do you think there will come a point where the

:25:00. > :25:04.Finnish people say, that's it, we are AAA rated, we are a really good

:25:04. > :25:10.risk, and we are bailing out people who are exactly the opposite?

:25:10. > :25:14.situation will emerge, if we do not get the current euro/financial/debt

:25:14. > :25:19.crisis under control. And if other countries, such as Greece emerge,

:25:19. > :25:23.as not taking care of their public finances. If we get strict rules,

:25:23. > :25:33.new sets of rules, which prevent this, then I think we will be quite

:25:33. > :25:35.

:25:35. > :25:38.all right. Joining me is Elena Panaritis who advises the Prime

:25:38. > :25:43.Minister, George Papandreou. should anyone have any confidence

:25:43. > :25:48.that this will work out when you, in Greece, have not met the

:25:48. > :25:55.austerity targets that have been set? Actually, that's not very

:25:55. > :26:01.correct as a statement. We have met the targets. It is the fact we are

:26:01. > :26:05.waiting for the sixth franch, that is the sixth set of targets. And as

:26:05. > :26:09.a matter of fact...You Won't get it if you don't meet the targets. It

:26:09. > :26:12.is true that the troika. Precisely, that is why we will meet the

:26:12. > :26:17.targets. If you don't meet the targets you won't get the money?

:26:17. > :26:21.That is why we have met the targets all along. We will meet the targets

:26:21. > :26:27.again. Why aren't you getting the money? There is no conversation of

:26:27. > :26:31.not getting the money. We are meeting the targets, and the troika

:26:31. > :26:37.meeting is showing up next week, where they are going to make an

:26:37. > :26:43.assessment of whether or not we are progressing appropriately. We have

:26:43. > :26:48.actually reduced our deficit in a year by 6%, by is a historical

:26:48. > :26:51.successful target that has not been met by any other European country

:26:51. > :26:56.since the Second World War. other European countries don't have

:26:56. > :27:03.quite your problems? I don't know what do you mean by not having our

:27:03. > :27:06.problem. We have the strongest, the most serious economic crisis in the

:27:06. > :27:14.Second World War, so it is the first time where all of Europe is

:27:14. > :27:17.seeing a crisis like that. It is a euro crisis. But is it true, as

:27:17. > :27:23.reported, that the troikka, the inspectors from the European Union,

:27:23. > :27:27.- the troika, the inspectors from the European and the IMF, are said

:27:27. > :27:35.to be almost in despair at the way Greece's debt problem is out of

:27:35. > :27:39.control? The words "in despair" and "out of control" have not been

:27:39. > :27:49.reached by our monitors yet. If they do, maybe we will have a

:27:49. > :27:49.

:27:49. > :27:55.response to those. We have a 1% deviation from our target. We have

:27:55. > :28:02.just had a series of meetings with parliamentarian, in accepting to

:28:02. > :28:06.take additional austerity measures to meet the 1% point we are missing

:28:06. > :28:10.from the 6% points that are there. We are supposed to be at seven and

:28:10. > :28:15.we are at six. That is a point. you accept that this is pretty much

:28:15. > :28:20.your last chance, that even President Sarkozy and Chancellor

:28:20. > :28:25.Merkel, are losing patience with you, and we just heard, the Europe

:28:25. > :28:35.minister, from Finland, saying so are the people in his country, they

:28:35. > :28:35.

:28:36. > :28:41.want more from you, not less? we need to make and see the whole

:28:41. > :28:48.problem as it is, versus isolating the problem to one of the 17 member

:28:48. > :28:53.countries of the euro. The euro zone has had a rather tough few

:28:53. > :29:01.years, last few years, as a matter of fact, no member country of the

:29:01. > :29:05.eurozone would be able to submit to meet the Maastricht treaty

:29:05. > :29:12.agreements right now, meaning we are all going through a very, very

:29:12. > :29:16.tough period. Greece is the weakest link, it is true. We have had a

:29:16. > :29:21.very badly run public sector, we are very much aware of that. And we

:29:21. > :29:28.have been engaged in a programme, for 16 months now. But it has been

:29:28. > :29:32.16 months. And our crisis is not a liquidity crisis yet. We have

:29:32. > :29:40.undertaken fiscal measures that reduced three times the salaries

:29:40. > :29:45.and the pensions of regular citizens. We get close to about 45%

:29:45. > :29:54.reduction. We already have started from a low percentage, we have

:29:54. > :29:58.salies that are below the average of the salaries that are below the

:29:58. > :30:03.average of Europe. Keeping talking about the lick quittity problems

:30:03. > :30:07.will generate problems for the rest upy. Are you saying Greece is

:30:07. > :30:11.unfairly - the rest of Europe. Are you saying Greece is unfairly

:30:11. > :30:14.singled out, not just Finland, Austria is interested in the

:30:15. > :30:18.collateral question too, and Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy are

:30:18. > :30:24.indeed losing patience with you, are they not? I believe they are

:30:24. > :30:31.very much aware that we are just 2.7% of the euro contributors to

:30:31. > :30:36.the euro GDP. It is basically the tale of the euro. So if the euro is

:30:36. > :30:42.not handling itself very well, only because of Greece, that would be a

:30:42. > :30:47.problem for the euro in the system that is managing, the monetary

:30:47. > :30:52.system managing the euro. How are the Greek people taking this, you

:30:52. > :30:55.are imposing tough cuts on them, on your public service, as public

:30:55. > :31:00.sector, you are not getting much credit from some of these others,

:31:00. > :31:07.I'm suggesting to you, and Greece's reputation in this is pretty

:31:07. > :31:12.appalling? Actually, the correct question is how are the Greek

:31:12. > :31:20.people handling this, very correctly said. Because, as I

:31:20. > :31:29.expressed earlier, they are the ones doing all the, taking all the

:31:29. > :31:32.slack, if you wish and they are tired of it. They are tired to get

:31:32. > :31:39.out and demonstrate even. We have some demonstrations but not the

:31:39. > :31:44.strong wave of demonstrations we had six weeks ago. Yet they do

:31:44. > :31:49.expect a better life for the future, and a better economic recovery, a

:31:49. > :31:53.faster economic recovery. So there is, if you wish, impatience from

:31:53. > :31:58.within. I'm assuming, as you say very well, that there is a lot of

:31:58. > :32:06.impatience from outside. We do need to focus on what will make the

:32:06. > :32:09.recovery work, versus focusing on blaming games, or fringeer pointing.

:32:09. > :32:15.There are several countries in trouble, not just that one, right.

:32:15. > :32:19.I just wondered who you blamed for pointing the finger then? Excuse me.

:32:19. > :32:26.Who do you blame for the finger pointing? I'm not blaming anybody,

:32:26. > :32:31.I'm just saying, blaming games are not, they don't always work.

:32:31. > :32:40.Just a final thought, come Christmas s Greece still going to

:32:40. > :32:44.be in the euro? Absolutely. Thank you very much.

:32:44. > :32:49.Is the Conservative Party anti- women, or to put it another way,

:32:49. > :32:55.how worried should the Tories be about their apparent lack of appeal

:32:55. > :32:59.to women voters. A leaked document said many woman find the

:32:59. > :33:03.Conservatives a turn off. - women find the Conservatives a turn off.

:33:03. > :33:12.We asked the former Tory candidate, launching a think-tank on women's

:33:12. > :33:17.issues, to give us her views. Women's roles have turned upside

:33:17. > :33:24.down since they won the vote in 1918.

:33:24. > :33:29.Out of the home and into the work place. Teaching, inventing, leading.

:33:29. > :33:31.But despite obvious improvements, women continue to be the junior

:33:31. > :33:36.partner. And the Conservatives haven't done

:33:36. > :33:41.enough to help. In fact, they have been mostly missing from the debate

:33:41. > :33:45.on women. Far too often they are not looking at policy through a

:33:45. > :33:51.female lens, and this has become more evident over recent months.

:33:51. > :33:56.Government cuts are hitting women more than men. Smaller budgets for

:33:56. > :33:59.Sure Start, and a change in the retirement age have caused problems.

:33:59. > :34:02.So in Government blamed single mothers for the riots. Rhetoric

:34:02. > :34:07.like this has led to calls that the Conservatives are anti-women, but

:34:07. > :34:11.this week, we have seen the start of a charm offensive. A leaked

:34:11. > :34:16.Downing Street memo mooted some good ideas around child benefit,

:34:16. > :34:20.but do these ideas go far enough. It is not just about party politics.

:34:20. > :34:28.It is much bigger than that. When it comes to talking about women,

:34:28. > :34:33.there is only one game in town. Feminism. I think feminism is a

:34:33. > :34:37.toxic, battled hardened and arrogant philosophy, that is

:34:37. > :34:46.manipulated by those at the extreme of politics. Feminism has had its

:34:46. > :34:52.day, we need women to stand up and shout feminism, not moo in my name.

:34:52. > :34:56.- not in name. Feminism is mostly seen as being anti-men. Take

:34:56. > :35:00.Harriet Harman's recent decision to hold women-only meetings at Labour

:35:00. > :35:06.Party Conference. Feminists have alienated men, and in some cases

:35:06. > :35:12.caused quite a backlash. Who can forget the Conservative Party MP

:35:12. > :35:16.calling some feminists obnoxious bigots. Feminists prop up the

:35:16. > :35:21.bloated public sector with their blinkered adherence to the radical

:35:21. > :35:24.anti-cuts agenda, which is helping nobody, least of all, women. They

:35:24. > :35:28.vilify the private sector, businesses are blamed for not

:35:28. > :35:31.bending over backwards and dancing to the feminist tune. And feminism

:35:31. > :35:36.is obsessed with equality of numbers, rather than the

:35:36. > :35:41.aspirations of women. We see endless diversity co-ordinator,

:35:41. > :35:50.shoe horning women into jobs. Can this really be good for women?

:35:50. > :35:55.Conservative MP, Nadie Zahawi has written a book about avoiding

:35:55. > :36:00.financial meltdown in the future. He thinks women need to play a

:36:00. > :36:03.bigger role. We have looked at the psychology of groups and the

:36:03. > :36:07.behaviour of groups and have found that having more women does make a

:36:07. > :36:11.difference to the outcomes of decisions. We believe that having

:36:11. > :36:14.more women will make a real difference, not just to the

:36:14. > :36:18.diversity of the trading floor or the boardroom, but a real

:36:18. > :36:22.difference to the bottom line in terms of profitability. Now we have

:36:23. > :36:27.to sell it to the banks what is the next step? What we are calling for

:36:27. > :36:31.at board level is for banks to look at having a threshold of 0%

:36:31. > :36:35.representation of women on the board. The reason for the 30% is

:36:35. > :36:40.there is plenty of evidence to show that the 30% is the tipping point

:36:40. > :36:43.to change behaviour. Now, I hope you don't mind me asking, are these

:36:43. > :36:48.proposals for a quota, do you think they are anti-men? I don't,

:36:48. > :36:56.obviously we would like to see the banks implement this voluntarily.

:36:56. > :37:01.But sometimes, to really make a big difference to cull ure, we callor -

:37:01. > :37:04.culture, we talk about this in different areas, you need the big

:37:04. > :37:08.stick. Does the Prime Minister agree with me that we need more

:37:08. > :37:13.women on the corporate boards. week the Prime Minister hinted at

:37:13. > :37:17.action to increase women's representation in the boardroom.

:37:17. > :37:21.Only 14% of FTSE 100 company directors are women. We should do

:37:21. > :37:25.better, we have some experience from the problems we had in our own

:37:25. > :37:29.party, and the need to take more pro-active action. The Home

:37:29. > :37:35.Secretary set out a new Government scheme to encourage equal pay. I

:37:35. > :37:38.don't think they go far enough. We need a fundamental review of all

:37:38. > :37:42.childcare benefits, we need to focus on the needs of older women.

:37:42. > :37:48.Women tend to have smaller pension provisions than men, why is that?

:37:48. > :37:51.We need to eliminate policies that pit men against women. Quotas are

:37:51. > :37:56.superficially attractive, but they won't achieve the change we need.

:37:56. > :38:00.We need a powerful Ministry for Women w a cabinet-level minister.

:38:00. > :38:06.Ahead of the party conferences, these issues are finally creeping

:38:06. > :38:12.on to the agenda. Can we keep them there?

:38:12. > :38:17.Charlotte Vere is with me now, and we're joined by Eagle, famously

:38:17. > :38:22.told in the Commons this year to "calm down dear" by the Prime

:38:22. > :38:26.Minister. The serious point is the

:38:26. > :38:29.Conservatives have a plan to offer a number of things in the hope of

:38:29. > :38:33.attracting women voters which, presumably you can't really

:38:33. > :38:37.disagree with. Cutting school summer hole day, banning

:38:37. > :38:42.advertising, front loading child benefit, more women on corporate

:38:42. > :38:46.boards, you can't disagree with that I think it is window dressing

:38:46. > :38:49.to cover up a much bigger problem they realise they have with women.

:38:50. > :38:56.That millions of women up and down the country know that they have got

:38:56. > :39:02.with this Government. That is, that the cuts agenda is being aimed at

:39:02. > :39:07.them more than other people, that more money is being taken from

:39:07. > :39:12.women and children, for example, in George Osborne's cuts to benefits

:39:12. > :39:20.and support, than tax increases, on the banks, who caused a lot of the

:39:20. > :39:24.economic troubles in the first place. We know from when we get

:39:24. > :39:28.nasty little glimpses of what people think that there is really

:39:28. > :39:32.quite an anti-women approach to the Government. We had the Universities

:39:32. > :39:37.Minister, David Willetts, blaming women for the lack of job

:39:37. > :39:43.opportunities for working-class men. We have heard these rumours that

:39:43. > :39:47.Steve Hilton, the Prime Minister's policy guru in Number Ten is want

:39:47. > :39:50.to go abolish maternity rights for women. We have seen half a million

:39:50. > :39:54.women suffering from having their pension age rise, women aren't

:39:54. > :39:59.silly out there, they know when the Government is doing things. Another

:39:59. > :40:02.go in the minute. The main point here is this is window dressing,

:40:02. > :40:07.you haven't covered yourself in glory, you go some of the way in

:40:07. > :40:11.thinking you need to do for more women? I agree one point with

:40:11. > :40:15.Angela, the Government needs to do much, much more. Some of the items

:40:15. > :40:19.in that list do look a little bit like window dressing. What is

:40:19. > :40:23.absolutely critical is the Government is now focusing on women.

:40:23. > :40:26.And as you say, women have come out poorly from the cuts. That is not

:40:26. > :40:29.because they are women, it is because we have to make the cuts.

:40:29. > :40:33.And women represent the sort of jobs that actually are being cut.

:40:33. > :40:37.But that is the complex issue, why are women in those jobs, not that

:40:37. > :40:40.they are being cut. George Osborne said that we were all going to be

:40:40. > :40:45.in this together and this Government promised the electorate

:40:45. > :40:48.before the election that this would be the most family-friendly

:40:48. > :40:52.Government ever. What's that got to do with women, I don't understand.

:40:53. > :40:56.What they have actually done is the opposite. They are aiming cuts and

:40:56. > :40:59.policies, disadvantaging women more than anything. But if there is more

:40:59. > :41:02.women in public service jobs, and public services are going, they are

:41:02. > :41:06.going not because they are women, but because public service jobs are

:41:06. > :41:10.going, that is the argument? think it all started off pretty

:41:10. > :41:16.badly, didn't it. The first thing that Government did was actually to

:41:16. > :41:19.say that people who are accused of rape should have anonymity for no

:41:19. > :41:23.reason, and there had to be a cross-party campaign to stop that

:41:23. > :41:27.happening. And then they forget to do an equality assessment of the

:41:27. > :41:31.budget, required by law, when we actually looked at George Osborne's

:41:31. > :41:37.choices and the choices that were made in last year's budget, we saw

:41:37. > :41:41.that women were affected three times more than men by the budget,

:41:41. > :41:45.and twice as much as men by the cuts. Women aren't silly they know

:41:45. > :41:49.when they are being disadvantaged. Women certainly aren't silly. The

:41:49. > :41:54.problem we have at the moment is women are being treated like second

:41:54. > :41:57.class citizens. By your Government. No indeed not, by the previous

:41:57. > :42:01.Government. The issue is women need to be treated like grown-up, we

:42:01. > :42:05.need to put into place things that benefit women not just because they

:42:05. > :42:08.are women. Not equality for equality's sake, we need to make

:42:08. > :42:16.sure that women within their working and non-working life can

:42:16. > :42:19.fulfil their potential. That is what is critical. That is when in

:42:19. > :42:22.the leaked Number Ten document talking about the child benefit

:42:22. > :42:26.being flexible. All the Government have done with child benefit is

:42:26. > :42:30.freeze it, and secondly, take it off some women in a year-and-a-

:42:30. > :42:36.half's time, some families are going to lose that child benefit.

:42:36. > :42:41.They are cutting Child Tax Credits? There is no money. When you have to

:42:41. > :42:45.make deficit reduction choices, you have to grow as well as make cuts,

:42:45. > :42:49.this Government is failing, the economy is flatlining, what we have

:42:49. > :42:56.seen is a Government that seems content to punish women and the way

:42:56. > :43:01.in which they have to live their lives. I was struck by your take on

:43:01. > :43:05.feminism there, is it impossible to be a Conservative and a feminist?

:43:05. > :43:08.The issue is that feminism nowadays and I have been out on the streets

:43:08. > :43:11.talking to people about this, people see feminism in a very

:43:11. > :43:17.negative light. If I talk about my beliefs, and say want to do

:43:17. > :43:19.something for women and broaden the debate for women. You go and ask

:43:19. > :43:23.most normal, politically moderate people they will roll their eyes,

:43:24. > :43:30.they are expecting quotas and special jobs for Jews women, women

:43:30. > :43:36.need to earn their jobs, and I'm sorry, but men see feminism as an

:43:36. > :43:40.take on them now. We have to work collaboratively. Is that an excuse

:43:40. > :43:45.for Conservative ministers who have a particular tone about this,

:43:45. > :43:49.perhaps, that Eagle suggests, to say we don't need to do that,

:43:49. > :43:52.because this is "feminists" and we don't have to represent them?

:43:52. > :43:56.need to broaden the debate and somebody tols speak up and say on

:43:56. > :43:59.the one side you have feminism who want 50% of all firefighters to be

:43:59. > :44:07.women, which is a nonsense. On the other side we are talking about

:44:07. > :44:12.sensible, hard working whim who want a - women who want to have a

:44:12. > :44:17.successful life. I can't believe I'm hearing feminism caricatured by

:44:17. > :44:20.someone making a bizarre point I don't understand. Feminism is

:44:20. > :44:25.empowering women to have equal opportunities and empowering them

:44:25. > :44:28.to make choice, it is choices this Government are taking away from

:44:28. > :44:32.women. I'm a proud feminist, if the Conservative Party wants to think

:44:32. > :44:38.feminism is something alien to it, that is fine. We are a talking

:44:38. > :44:41.about empowering women, giving them choices, allowing them to reach

:44:41. > :44:44.their full potential. What David Willetts was taking about was

:44:44. > :44:47.saying you can either have working- class men having opportunities or

:44:47. > :44:51.women. That shouldn't be the choice. You have the last word on that, in

:44:51. > :44:58.erms it of tone. The thing the Prime Minister said "calm down

:44:58. > :45:05.dear" which some took at a joke. Don't forget what he said to Nadine

:45:05. > :45:08.Dorries last week which was really offensive. Has he got the tone

:45:08. > :45:11.wrong? There should be improvements in tone. That is widely recognised.

:45:11. > :45:14.I do think that transferring the focus to women, there is a huge

:45:14. > :45:18.amount that can be done, for the economy and for our society.

:45:18. > :45:23.We will leave it there. Thank you very much.

:45:23. > :45:26.We can't do the papers tonight, which some technical reason, that

:45:26. > :45:30.is all from Newsnight tonight, on the day the Guinness Book of

:45:30. > :45:33.Records has been showing off its latest clutch of world beaters.

:45:33. > :45:43.Their dedication of something which the late Roy Castle would surely

:45:43. > :45:49.# Dedication # That's what you need

:45:49. > :45:59.# If you want to be the best # And you want beat the best

:45:59. > :46:20.

:46:20. > :46:23.It is not as cold tonight, thanks to blanket of cloud. Fine bright

:46:23. > :46:27.conditions across the south. One or two showers here. Further north

:46:27. > :46:30.lots of cloud and outbreaks of rain. Some of which could be heavy at

:46:30. > :46:35.times. Particularly across North West England. As a result it will

:46:35. > :46:39.be noticably cooler. Some showers across the Midlands, certainly, one

:46:39. > :46:44.or two across East Anglia. Much of the south will be dry and bright.

:46:44. > :46:49.Hazy sunshine, warm, we could reach temperatures of up to 2 in London

:46:49. > :46:52.the high teens in the south west. A few showers drifting into parts of

:46:52. > :46:56.South Wales. A wet morning in North Wales, dry here in the afternoon.

:46:56. > :47:00.The same story for Northern Ireland, a wet, wet start, but the afternoon

:47:00. > :47:03.promises brighter conditions, some sunny spells, but there will be

:47:03. > :47:06.showers. The showery rain becoming more extensive across Scotland

:47:06. > :47:09.through the day. It will feel cooler without the sunshine that we

:47:09. > :47:13.saw during Thursday. Saturday promises another cool day.

:47:13. > :47:16.There will be some stiff winds blowing, and there will be lots of

:47:16. > :47:21.blustery showers across the country. Further south the showers will be

:47:21. > :47:24.more hit and miss a bit more in the way of sunny spells, but the

:47:24. > :47:28.showers never the less when they come along could be heavy.

:47:28. > :47:32.Particularly because parts of North Wales and North West England, a wet